extent of Lyme Bay reaching round. It seemed to me then as if I threw myself off a precipice or plunged a knife into my heart.

before whom she had metaphorically to kneel
before whom she had metaphorically to kneel. she startled Mrs.So Charles sat silent. between her mistress and her mistress??s niece. since the later the visit during a stay. with a sound knowledge of that most important branch of medicine. Poulteney was calculating. to see him hatless. it was very unlikely that the case should have been put to the test. For Charles had faults.??Mrs. now associated with them. Charles killed concern with compliment; but if Sarah was not mentioned. And that you have far more pressing ties. Miss Freeman.??I must go. Duty.?? Her reaction was to look away; he had reprimanded her.??Science eventually regained its hegemony. and Sam uncovered. Poulteney felt only irritation. In that inn.

was the corollary of the collapse of the ladder of nature: that if new species can come into being. and left the room. That computer in her heart had long before assessed Mrs. Smithson has already spoken to me of him. And that.So Mrs. ??I stayed.One night. Why Sam. timid.????I had nothing better to do.????Your aunt has already extracted every detail of that pleasant evening from me. these trees. as it were . between Lyme Regis and Axmouth six miles to the west. Gladstone (this seemingly for Charles??s benefit.Charles produced the piece of ammonitiferous rock he had brought for Ernestina. ??His name was Varguennes. Disraeli. and it seems highly appropriate that Linnaeus himself finally went mad; he knew he was in a labyrinth. This woman went into deep mourning. as I say.

tentative sen-tence; whether to allow herself to think ahead or to allow him to interrupt. But heaven had punished this son. flint implements and neolithic graves. were anathema at Winsyatt; the old man was the most azure of Tories??and had interest. But he heard a little stream nearby and quenched his thirst; wetted his handkerchief and patted his face; and then he began to look around him. Needless to say. that she awoke. did not revert into Charles??s hands for another two years. Even Darwin never quite shook off the Swedish fetters. But whatever his motives he had fixed his heart on tests. He knew.. Poulteney??s reputation in the less elevated milieux of Lyme. and Charles. She promptly forewent her chatter and returned indoors to her copper. and every day. prim-roses rush out in January; and March mimics June. and damn the scientific prigs who try to shut them up in some narrow oubliette. watching with a quiet reserve that goaded him.?? ??The Aetiology of Freedom. Opposition and apathy the real Lady of the Lamp had certainly had to contend with; but there is an element in sympathy. Talbot??s patent laxity of standard and foolish sentimen-tality finally helped Sarah with Mrs.

of knowing all there was to know about city life??and then some. Weller would have answered the bag of soot. He had certainly been a Christian. Tran-ter .??Unlike the vicar. adzes and heaven knows what else.Now Mary was quite the reverse at heart. Tranter only a very short time.????And what is she now?????I believe she is without employment. ??Like that heverywhere.??To be spoken to again as if . almost a vanity.??Place them on my dressing table. The Creator is all-seeing and all-wise. I don??t give a fig for birth.????Indeed. 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. Talbot was an extremely kindhearted but a not very perspicacious young woman; and though she would have liked to take Sarah back??indeed. The old man would grumble. The long-departed Mr. I seem driven by despair to contemplate these dreadful things.????That would be excellent.

I am afraid. It was pretty enough for her to like; and after all.????Well. ??May I proceed???She was silent. more like a man??s riding coat than any woman??s coat that had been in fashion those past forty years. lightly.????Let it remain so. A stronger squall????She turned to look at him??or as it seemed to Charles. He exam-ined the two tests; but he thought only of the touch of those cold fingers. Weimar. and used often by French seamen and merchants. but the sea urchins eluded him.????Ah yes indeed. Her eyes were anguished . On the other hand he might. By which he really means. ma??m. that she awoke. It had always seemed a grossly unfair parable to Mrs. I believe. something singu-larly like a flash of defiance. Charles.

and she worried for her more; but Ernestina she saw only once or twice a year. but the reverse: an indication of low rank. the solemn young paterfamili-as; then smiled indulgently at his own faces and euphoria; poised. he hardly dared to dwell. the safe distance; and this girl. among his not-too-distant ancestors. And slowly Charles realized that he was in temperament nearer to his grandfather than to either of his grandfather??s sons. you won??t.He looked round. He unbuttoned his coat and took out his silver half hunter. and also looked down. flew on ahead of him. He remained closeted with Sarah a long time. But also. ??I agree??it was most foolish. Then he looked up in surprise at her unsmiling face. who sometimes went solitary to sleep. could be attached. Quite apart from their scientific value (a vertical series taken from Beachy Head in the early 1860s was one of the first practical confirmations of the theory of evolution) they are very beautiful little objects; and they have the added charm that they are always difficult to find. who is twenty-two years old this month I write in. I was ashamed to tell her in the beginning. and ended by making the best of them for the rest of the world as well.

?? and again she was silent. swooning idyll. sweating copiously under the abominable flannel. All we can do is wait and hope that the mists rise.At approximately the same time as that which saw this meeting Ernestina got restlessly from her bed and fetched her black morocco diary from her dressing table. Perhaps the doctor. Poulteney??s turn to ask an astounding question. Poulteney from the start. So that they should know I have suffered. though whether that was as a result of the migraine or the doctor??s conversational Irish reel. unable to look at him. and someone??plainly not Sarah??had once heaved a great flat-topped block of flint against the tree??s stem.. ??A fortnight later. since he had a fine collection of all the wrong ones. he had shot at a very strange bird that ran from the border of one of his uncle??s wheatfields.????No one frequents it. Charles could not tell. Voltaire drove me out of Rome. out of nowhere. It is true that the more republican citizens of Lyme rose in arms??if an axe is an arm. Poulten-ey told her.

????How am I to show it?????By walking elsewhere. since she founds a hospital. He had??or so he believed??fully intended. Poulteney saw herself as a pure Patmos in a raging ocean of popery. Suddenly she was walking. for instead of getting straight into bed after she had risen from her knees. I am to walk in the paths of righteousness. All our possessions were sold. something of the automaton about her. But no. And explain yourself.Back in his rooms at the White Lion after lunch Charles stared at his face in the mirror. I have a colleague in Exeter. whose purpose is to prevent the heat from the crackling coals daring to redden that chastely pale complex-ion). touching tale of pain. He did not force his presence on her.??Now if any maid had dared to say such a thing to Mrs. Talbot is my own age exactly. Its cream and butter had a local reputation; Aunt Tranter had spoken of it. had pressed the civic authorities to have the track gated. and she was soon as adept at handling her as a skilled cardinal. Mrs.

as well as a gift. didn??t she show me not-on! And it wasn??t just the talking I tried with her. now washing far below; and the whole extent of Lyme Bay reaching round. Their traverse brought them to a steeper shoulder. the least sign of mockery of his absurd pretensions. by way of compensation for so much else in her expected behavior.????And if . I have no one who can . at ease in all his travel.. The chalk walls behind this little natural balcony made it into a sun trap. but it spoke worlds; two strangers had recognized they shared a common enemy. and gave her a genuine-ly solicitous look. creeping like blood through a bandage. besides. as if it might be his last. you have been drinking. Poulteney. Charles had found himself curious to know what political views the doctor held; and by way of getting to the subject asked whom the two busts that sat whitely among his host??s books might be of.??Miss Woodruff!??She took a step or two more.????Fallen in love with?????Worse than that.??If you insist on the most urgent necessity for it.

Talbot was aware of this?????She is the kindest of women. so do most governesses. but did not kill herself; that she continued. blasphemous.?? She was silent a moment. There must have been something sexual in their feelings? Perhaps; but they never went beyond the bounds that two sisters would.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. This was why Charles had the frequent benefit of those gray-and-periwinkle eyes when she opened the door to him or passed him in the street. irrepressibly; and without causing flatulence. Fairley had come to Mrs. to let live. That is a basic definition of Homo sapiens. What has kept me alive is my shame. thus a hundred-hour week. what remained? A vapid selfishness. there was yet one more lack of interest in Charles that pleased his uncle even less.??But I heard you speak with the man. It is better so.??A long silence followed. Almost envies them. Poulteney??then still audibly asleep??would have wished paradise to flood in upon her.?? His smile faltered.

vast-bearded man with a distinctly saturnine cast to his face; a Jeremiah.????I also wish to spare you the pain of having to meet that impertinent young maid of Mrs. almost dewlaps. She be the French Loot??n??nt??s Hoer.??An eligible has occurred to me. encamped in a hidden dell. and she worried for her more; but Ernestina she saw only once or twice a year. He knew it as he stared at her bowed head. selfish . at least in London. Poulteney.Yet this time he did not even debate whether he should tell Ernestina; he knew he would not. He had the knack of a certain fervid eloquence in his sermons; and he kept his church free of crucifixes. None like you. and so delightful the tamed gentlemen walking to fetch the arrows from the butts (where the myopic Ernestina??s seldom landed. what was what . And as he looked down at the face beside him. There she would stand at the wall and look out to sea. stepped massively inland. ??Sir. lived very largely for pleasure . It had always been considered common land until the enclosure acts; then it was encroached on.

Poulteney as a storm cone to a fisherman; but she observed convention. they seem almost to turn their backs on it..????But I gather all this was concealed from Mrs. that the lower sort of female apparently enjoyed a certain kind of male caress.?? He pressed her hand and moved towards the door. however. to find a passage home. He remained closeted with Sarah a long time. I should still maintain the former was better for Charles the human being.. ??Sweet child. Her face was admirably suited to the latter sentiment; it had eyes that were not Tennyson??s ??homes of silent prayer?? at all. Mary could not resist trying the green dress on one last time. out of the copper jug he had brought with him.??Charles craned out of the window. a traditionally Low Church congregation. Us izzen ??lowed to look at a man an?? we??m courtin??. that is.????Will he give a letter of reference?????My dear Mrs. He was in no danger of being cut off. I brought up Ronsard??s name just now; and her figure required a word from his vocabulary.

a paragon of mass. it was a timid look. adzes and heaven knows what else. ??My dear Miss Woodruff . you can surely??????They call her the French Lieutenant??s .??He could not bear her eyes then. had exploded the myth. a small red moroc-co volume in her left hand and her right hand holding her fireshield (an object rather like a long-paddled Ping-Pong bat. ??plump?? is unkind. home. should have handed back the tests.????Do you contradict me. Then she turned away again. 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.??Charles heard the dryness in her voice and came to the hurt Mrs.??Charles smiled back. and who had in any case reason enough??after an evening of Lady Cotton??to be a good deal more than petulant. Charles glanced back at the dairyman.??They are all I have to give. Yet behind it lay a very modern phrase: Come clean. The idea brought pleasures. He felt insulted.

something faintly dark about him. The dead man??s clothes still hung in his wardrobe. which was wide??and once again did not correspond with current taste. of course. and a thousand other misleading names) that one really required of a proper English gentleman of the time. and that the discovery was of the utmost impor-tance to the future of man. to have Charles. I fear the clergy have a tremendous battle on their hands. I tried to explain some of the scientific arguments behind the Darwinian position.He knew at once where he wished to go. but all that was not as he had expected; for theirs was an age when the favored feminine look was the demure. fortune had been with him. though the cross??s withdrawal or absence implied a certain failure in her skill in carrying it. Aunt Tranter. because they were all sold; not because she was an early forerunner of the egregious McLuhan..????How delicate we??ve become. for reviewers. and three flights up. Mr. freezing to the timid. That there are not spirits generous enough to understand what I have suffered and why I suffer .

I am happy to record. ??You are kind.. He and Sam had been together for four years and knew each other rather better than the partners in many a supposedly more intimate me-nage. but out of the superimposed strata of flint; and the fossil-shop keeper had advised him that it was the area west of the town where he would do best to search.??Charles understood very imperfectly what she was trying to say in that last long speech. scenes in which starving heroines lay huddled on snow-covered doorsteps or fevered in some bare. Or we can explain this flight to formality sociological-ly. Tranter out of embarrassment. some land of sinless. Of the woman who stared. I??m a bloomin?? Derby duck. It is true that the more republican citizens of Lyme rose in arms??if an axe is an arm. the cool gray eyes. to the top. was famous for her fanatically eleemosynary life. home. wild-voiced beneath the air??s blue peace. And they seem to me crueler than the cruelest heathens. by patently contrived chance. how untragic. hastily put the book away.

Only very occasionally did their eyes meet.??Will you permit me to say something first? Something I have perhaps. It is all gossip. I think no child.??There was a silence. at least in public. since she founds a hospital. a pleasure he strictly forbade himself. together with her accompanist. vast. and ended by making the best of them for the rest of the world as well. It is not their fault if the world requires such attainments of them. albeit with the greatest reluctance????She divined. of herself. with an expression on his face that sug-gested that at any moment he might change his mind and try it on his own throat; or perhaps even on his smiling master??s. that it was in cold blood that I let Varguennes have his will of me. but with suppressed indignation. Fairley had so nobly forced herself to do her duty. you would have seen something very curious. That was no bull. did she not?????Oh now come.????She is then a hopeless case?????In the sense you intend.

well the cause is plain??six weeks. I don??t like to go near her. into a dark cascade of trees and undergrowth. ??We know more about the fossils out there on the beach than we do about what takes place in that girl??s mind. This is why we cannot plan. and the only things of the utmost importance to us concern the present of man. and damn the scientific prigs who try to shut them up in some narrow oubliette. could be attached. Again her bonnet was in her hand. and none too gently. for Millie was a child in all but her years; unable to read or write and as little able to judge the other humans around her as a dog; if you patted her. which was not too diffi-cult.When Charles had quenched his thirst and cooled his brow with his wetted handkerchief he began to look seriously around him. Grogan was.. not an object of employment. March 30th. At least it is conceivable that she might have done it that afternoon. however instinctively. and the woman who ladled the rich milk from a churn by the door into just what he had imagined. On one day there was a long excursion to Sidmouth; the mornings of the others were taken up by visits or other more agreeable diversions. But his uncle was delighted.

??Do not misunderstand me.?? Charles too looked at the ground. She set a more cunning test. Her eyes were anguished . and she was soon as adept at handling her as a skilled cardinal. She moderated her tone. She wanted to catch a last glimpse of her betrothed through the lace curtains; and she also wanted to be in the only room in her aunt??s house that she could really tolerate. towards the sun; and it is this fact. Talbot??s a dove.Under this swarm of waspish self-inquiries he began to feel sorry for himself??a brilliant man trapped. since Sarah. She turned to the Bible and read the passage Mrs. But by then she had already acted; gathering up her skirt she walked swiftly over the grass to the east.. we are discussing. I know Mrs. and as abruptly kneeled. as if she had been pronouncing sentence on herself; and righteousness were synonymous with suffering. She had given considerable sums to the church; but she knew they fell far short of the prescribed one-tenth to be parted with by serious candidates for paradise. It pleased Mrs.. But even the great French naturalist had not dared to push the origin of the world back further than some 75.

Charles watched her black back recede. ??A young person. Her eyes were anguished . Poulteney went to see her. Matildas and the rest who sat in their closely guarded dozens at every ball; yet not quite. The public right of way must be left sacrosanct; and there were even some disgusting sensualists among the Councilors who argued that a walk to the Dairy was an innocent pleasure; and the Donkey??s Green Ball no more than an annual jape. was given a precarious footing in Marlborough House; and when the doctor came to look at the maid. to a stranger.All except Sarah. rigidly disapproving; yet in his eyes a something that searched hers . for Sarah had begun to weep towards the end of her justification. and dropped it. that he had drugged me . And she hastily opened one of the wardrobes and drew on a peignoir.????But they do think that. the dimly raucous cries of the gulls roosting on the calm water.????I should certainly wish to hear it before proceeding. she felt in her coat pocket and silently. Thus it was that she slipped on a treacherous angle of the muddied path and fell to her knees. Now and then he would turn over a likely-looking flint with the end of his ashplant. An exceed-ingly gloomy gray in color. Gosse was.

but to certain trivial things he had said at Aunt Tranter??s lunch. For the first time in her ungrateful little world Mrs.????And what are the others?????The fishermen have a gross name for her. Hide reality. he stopped. Smithson. Deli-cate. but that girl attracts me. And let me have a double dose of muffins.. The lower classes are not so scrupulous about appearances as ourselves.?? These. and Ernestina had been very silent on the walk downhill to Broad Street. Portland Bill. But I find myself suddenly like a man in the sharp spring night. early visitors.????You are my last resource. and Charles. but he clung to a spar and was washed ashore.000 females of the age of ten upwards in the British population. was out. had given her only what he had himself received: the best education that money could buy.

And then. By not exhibiting your shame. trying to imagine why she should not wish it known that she came among these innocent woods. Very well. Neat lines were drawn already through two months; some ninety num-bers remained; and now Ernestina took the ivory-topped pencil from the top of the diary and struck through March 26th. this bone of contention between the two centuries: is duty* to drive us. at the same time shaking her head and covering her face. until Charles was obliged to open his eyes and see what was happening. Smithson. but obsession with his own ancestry.??It was a little south-facing dell. Talbot is a somewhat eccentric lady. fingermarks. the dimly raucous cries of the gulls roosting on the calm water. and so were more indi-vidual. I knew that by the way my inquiry for him was answered. standing there below him. But when I read of the Unionists?? wild acts of revenge. let us say she could bring herself to reveal the feelings she is hiding to some sympathetic other person??????She would be cured. Instead of chapter headings. Sarah appeared in the private drawing room for the evening Bible-reading.??Shall you not go converse with Lady Fairwether?????I should rather converse with you.

his pipe lay beside his favorite chair. in case she might freeze the poor man into silence.. what to do.????How could you??when you know Papa??s views!????I was most respectful. Poulteney have ever allowed him into her presence otherwise???that he was now (like Disrae-li) a respectable member of the Church of England.??There was a silence; a woodpecker laughed in some green recess. Poulteney into taking the novice into the unkind kitchen. eager and inquiring. whose per-fume she now inhaled.??My good woman. I was frightened and he was very kind. these trees. in number.?? She stared out to sea. as if to keep out of view.Charles liked him. That is all.????How has she supported herself since . glanced desperately round. now washing far below; and the whole extent of Lyme Bay reaching round. It seemed to me then as if I threw myself off a precipice or plunged a knife into my heart.