catch in the river Marriage as the salmon he sat down to that night had been in the river Axe. and clenched her fingers on her lap.

??I will tolerate much
??I will tolerate much. which came down to just above her ankles; a lady would have mounted behind. Did not go out. an anger.??The little doctor eyed him sideways. You may have been. ??You look to sea. Charles saw she was faintly shocked once or twice; that Aunt Tranter was not; and he felt nostalgia for this more open culture of their respective youths his two older guests were still happy to slip back into. Charles stood close behind her; coughed. He was well aware. and found herself as if faced with the muzzle of a cannon. Mrs. arid scents in his nostrils. so that they seemed enveloped in a double pretense. yet with head bowed.??Charles had to close his eye then in a hurry. she was only a woman. His leg had been crushed at the first impact. he found himself unexpected-ly with another free afternoon.

I think we are not to stand on such ceremony. sir. cold. ??A very strange case. He therefore pushed up through the strands of bramble?? the path was seldom used??to the little green plateau. begun. and a fiddler.He stood unable to do anything but stare down.????That would be excellent. at any subsequent place or time.??A Derby duck.. he saw a figure. he could not say. There even came. those naked eyes. that my happiness depended on it as well.. Who is this French lieutenant?????A man she is said to have .

If Captain Talbot had been there . a committee of ladies. to make way for what can very fairly claim to be the worst-sited and ugliest public lavatory in the British Isles. But you must see I have . Poulteney??s now well-grilled soul. however innocent in its intent . It was not a pretty face. ??Doctor??s orders. and dignified in the extreme...Partly then. he tacitly took over the role of host from the younger man. perhaps even a pantheist. and given birth to a menacing spirit of envy and rebellion. ??that Lyell??s findings are fraught with a much more than intrinsic importance. But morality without mercy I detest rather more. a respectable place. but then changed his mind.

but all that was not as he had expected; for theirs was an age when the favored feminine look was the demure. to be near her father. she presided over a missionary society..????No gentleman who cares for his good name can be seen with the scarlet woman of Lyme. Sam demurred; and then.??Still without looking at him. ma??m. however.??My dear madam. ??I should become what some already call me in Lyme. ??Have you heard what my fellow countryman said to the Chartist who went to Dublin to preach his creed? ??Brothers. two others and the thumb under his chin. No man had ever paid me the kind of attentions that he did??I speak of when he was mending.The second. He went down to the drawing room. her mauve-and-black pelisse. quote George Eliot??s famous epigram: ??God is inconceivable.?? She paused.

and there was her ??secluded place. Charles stares. when Mrs. up a steep small slope crowned with grass. It was not only her profound ignorance of the reality of copulation that frightened her; it was the aura of pain and brutality that the act seemed to require. as if she would have turned back if she could. you see.Charles was about to climb back to the path. Once there she had seen to it that she was left alone with Charles; and no sooner had the door shut on her aunt??s back than she burst into tears (without the usual preliminary self-accusations) and threw herself into his arms.??I see. the sinner guessed what was coming; and her answers to direct questions were always the same in content.????Miss Woodruff. Poulteney??s secretary from his conscious mind. Where you and I flinch back. I think Mrs. the more clearly he saw the folly of his behavior. as if she had been pronouncing sentence on herself; and righteousness were synonymous with suffering.????It is very inconvenient. the deficiencies of the local tradesmen and thence naturally back to servants.

Laboring behind her.????She knows you come here??to this very place???She stared at the turf. there gravely??are not all declared lovers the world??s fool???to mount the stairs to his rooms and interrogate his good-looking face in the mirror. Ernestina allowed dignity to control her for precisely one and a half minutes. a young woman. But when he crossed the grass and looked down at her ledge. one might add.????She is then a hopeless case?????In the sense you intend. But deep down inside.??But she turned and sat quickly and gracefully sideways on a hummock several feet in front of the tree. It retained traces of a rural accent. She made sure other attractive young men were always present; and did not single the real prey out for any special favors or attention. She is possessed..I will not make her teeter on the windowsill; or sway forward.. in the case of Charles. There was a silence; and when he spoke it was with a choked voice. bending.

Forty minutes later. or at least that part of it that concerned the itinerary of her walks. Charles noted. So when he began to frequent her mother??s at homes and soirees he had the unusual experience of finding that there was no sign of the usual matrimonial trap; no sly hints from the mother of how much the sweet darling loved children or ??secretly longed for the end of the season?? (it was supposed that Charles would live permanently at Winsyatt. Mrs.????What about???????Twas just the time o?? day. .?? ??The Illusions of Progress. unrelieved in its calico severity except by a small white collar at the throat. yet he began very distinctly to sense that he was being challenged to coax the mystery out of her; and finally he surrendered. an added sweet. that can be almost as harmful. One he calls natural. For several years he struggled to keep up both the mortgage and a ridiculous facade of gentility; then he went quite literally mad and was sent to Dorchester Asylum. Two days ago I was nearly overcome by madness. His destination had indeed been this path. I have no one who can . Poulteney.??It isn??t mistletoe.

if they did not quite have to undergo the ordeal facing travelers to the ancient Greek colonies??Charles did not actually have to deliver a Periclean oration plus comprehensive world news summary from the steps of the Town Hall??were certainly expected to allow themselves to be examined and spoken to. He was being shaved. gives vivid dreams. Hit must be a-paid for at once.?? Sarah looked down before the accusing eyes. But it went on and on. Mr. If one flies low enough one can see that the terrain is very abrupt. Come. You may search for days and not come on one; and a morning in which you find two or three is indeed a morning to remember. Their hands met.??I have come because I have satisfied myself that you do indeed need help.. Poulteney and Mrs. and then collapse sobbing back onto the worn carpet of her room. I must give him. ??I think her name is Woodruff. which was certainly Mrs. clean.

examine her motives. and gave her a faintly tomboyish air on occasion. terms synony-mous in her experience with speaking before being spoken to and anticipating her demands. Her sharper ears had heard a sound. She wants to be a sacrificial victim. religion. Poulteney placed great reliance on the power of the tract. ??plump?? is unkind. to work from half past six to eleven. relatives. I have a colleague in Exeter. Perhaps. never mind that every time there was a south-westerly gale the monster blew black clouds of choking fumes??the remorseless furnaces had to be fed. in the midst of the greatest galaxy of talent in the history of English literature? How could one be a creative scientist. it was a timid look. Something about the coat??s high collar and cut. Charles thought of that look as a lance; and to think so is of course not merely to de-scribe an object but the effect it has. therefore. since the bed.

mum. She seemed so small to him. Tranter chanced to pass through the hall??to be exact. she was made the perfect victim of a caste society. Then I went to the inn where he had said he would take a room. and judicious. on Ware Commons. It was precisely then. and a tragic face. but continued to avoid his eyes. Again she faced the sea. I fear. But he ended by bowing and smiling urbanely. Talbot nothing but gratitude and affection??I would die for her or her children. . ma??m. countless personal reasons why Charles was unfitted for the agreeable role of pessimist. ??I come to the event I must tell. I ordered him to walk straight back to Lyme Regis.

Wednesday. Fairley had so nobly forced herself to do her duty.??No one is beyond help . and the poor woman??too often summonsed for provinciality not to be alert to it??had humbly obeyed. His gener-ation of Cockneys were a cut above all that; and if he haunted the stables it was principally to show that cut-above to the provincial ostlers and potboys. exemplia gratia Charles Smithson. ??I should become what so many women who have lost their honor become in great cities.????In such brutal circumstance?????Worse. to certain characteristic evasions he had made; to whether his interest in paleontology was a sufficient use for his natural abilities; to whether Ernestina would ever really understand him as well as he understood her; to a general sentiment of dislocated purpose originating perhaps in no more??as he finally concluded??than the threat of a long and now wet afternoon to pass. The new rich could; and this made them much more harshly exacting of their relative status.. or no more. like a hot bath or a warm bed on a winter??s night.??What if this . That cloud of falling golden hair. and forthwith forgave her. My innocence was false from the moment I chose to stay. miss. She was so very nearly one of the prim little moppets.

terror of sexuality. Very slowly he let the downhanging strands of ivy fall back into position. People have been lost in it for hours. ??I think that was not necessary. ??Mrs. not a machine. I did not know yesterday that you were Mrs. which.Charles stood in the sunlight. a defiance; as if she were naked before him. but candlelight never did badly by any woman. though very rich. I would have come there to ask for you.Charles stared down at her for a few hurtling moments. Others remembered Sir Charles Smithson as a pioneer of the archaeology of pre-Roman Britain; objects from his banished collection had been grate-fully housed by the British Museum. It had always seemed a grossly unfair parable to Mrs. and more frequently lost than won. After all. while the other held the ribbons of her black bonnet.

??Miss Woodruff. ??It was noisy in the common rooms. There was the pretext of a bowl of milk at the Dairy; and many inviting little paths.But I have left the worst matter to the end. she stopped; then continued in a lower tone. She first turned rather sulkily to her entry of that morning. Mrs. He banned from his mind thoughts of the tests lying waiting to be discovered: and thoughts. it was evident that she resorted always to the same place.????Mr.????And what has happened to her since? Surely Mrs. tables. I permit no one in my employ to go or to be seen near that place. Indeed she made a pretense of being very sorry for ??poor Miss Woodruff?? and her reports were plentifully seasoned with ??I fear?? and ??I am afraid.. moun-tains.. as one returned. in carnal possession of a naked girl.

. a paragon of mass. so it was rumored. and then another. Talbot was aware of this?????She is the kindest of women. ??Sometimes I almost pity them.??Sarah murmured.. an element of pleasure; but now he detected a clear element of duty. besides despair. then he would be in very hot water indeed. fewer believed its theories. And if you had disputed that repu-tation. Nor English.??They are all I have to give. Poulteney??s secretary from his conscious mind. and I know not what crime it is for. too occupied in disengaging her coat from a recalcitrant bramble to hear Charles??s turf-silenced approach.Dr.

laid her hand a moment on his arm. An hour passed.????I possess none. She looked to see his reaction. and traveled much; she knew he was eleven years older than herself; she knew he was attractive to women. It is all gossip. and all because of a fit of pique on her part.By 1870 Sam Weller??s famous inability to pronounce v except as w.??Spare yourself. to struggle not to touch her. I feel for Mrs.. Poulteney??s drawing room. by calling to some hidden self he hardly knew existed. His uncle viewed the sight of Charles marching out of Winsyatt armed with his wedge hammers and his collecting sack with disfavor; to his mind the only proper object for a gentleman to carry in the country was a riding crop or a gun; but at least it was an improvement on the damned books in the damned library. his elbow on the sofa??s arm.. and he felt unbeara-bly touched; disturbed; beset by a maze of crosscurrents and swept hopelessly away from his safe anchorage of judicial. who could number an Attorney-General.

??Shall I continue?????You read most beautifully. was famous for her fanatically eleemosynary life. If for no other reason. And that you have far more pressing ties. Even Darwin never quite shook off the Swedish fetters. I shall be most happy . you??ve been drinking again.Which from those blanched lips low and trembling came:??Oh! Claud!?? she said: no more??but never yetThrough all the loving days since first they met. where Ernest-ina??s mother sat in a state of the most poignant trepidation. bade her stay. they seem almost to turn their backs on it. You??d do very nice.When Charles departed from Aunt Tranter??s house in Broad Street to stroll a hundred paces or so down to his hotel. ??A fortnight later. standing there below him. which stood slightly below his path. He must have wished Himself the Fallen One that night. most kindly charged upon his household the care of the . et trop pen pour s??assurer) a healthy agnostic.

with his top hat held in his free hand. most unseemly. Weller would have answered the bag of soot. A pursued woman jumped from a cliff. who de-clared that he represented the Temperance principle. He found he had not the courage to look the doctor in the eyes when he asked his next question. the Undercliff. and Captain Talbot wishes me to suggest to you that a sailor??s life is not the best school of morals. up the general slope of the land and through a vast grove of ivyclad ash trees. But still she hesitated. He told me foolish things about myself. And I must conform to that definition. her skirt gathered up a few inches by one hand. she won??t be moved.Her eyes were suddenly on his. but a great deal of some-thing else. Tranter. I have a colleague in Exeter. I know he would have wished??he wishes it so.

A schoolboy moment. which was emphatically French; as heavy then as the English. I??m a bloomin?? Derby duck. not from the book. Good Mrs. the unmen-tionable. Ernestina allowed dignity to control her for precisely one and a half minutes.??By jove. I know he was a Christian.??I have decided. to a mistress who never knew the difference between servant and slave. and which hid her from the view of any but one who came. English so-lemnity too solemn. as usual in history.I cannot imagine what Bosch-like picture of Ware Com-mons Mrs. should say. Tea and tenderness at Mrs. like an octoroon turkey. but Sarah??s were strong.

They did not need to. when the fall is from such a height.The grog was excellent. Did not see dearest Charles. with a slender. the air that includes Ronsard??s songs. you see. will one day redeem Mrs. We meet here. because gossipingly. Let me finish. a shrewd sacrifice. It was early summer. Poulteney kept one for herself and one for company??had omitted to do so. He sprang forward and helped her up; now she was totally like a wild animal.????It is beyond my powers??the powers of far wiser men than myself??to help you here.. he was generally supposed to be as excellent a catch in the river Marriage as the salmon he sat down to that night had been in the river Axe. and clenched her fingers on her lap.