knowledge of a larger world. He could not say what had lured him on. it was charming.

an intensity of feeling that in part denied her last sentence
an intensity of feeling that in part denied her last sentence. and already vivid green clumps of marjoram reached up to bloom. Por-tions of the Cobb are paved with fossil-bearing stone. these two innocents; and let us return to that other more rational. Poulteney and dumb incomprehension??like abashed sheep rather than converted sinners. into which they would eventually move. whence she would return to Lyme. Charles had many generations of servant-handlers behind him; the new rich of his time had none?? indeed. Their nor-mal face was a mixture of fear at Mrs. He had rather the face of the Duke of Wellington; but His character was more that of a shrewd lawyer. was out.?? Sarah made no response. he raised his wideawake and bowed. almost running. On the Cobb it had seemed to him a dark brown; now he saw that it had red tints. giving the faintest suspicion of a curtsy before she took the reginal hand. Miss Woodruff went to Weymouth in the belief that she was to marry. Please.????I will swear on the Bible????But Mrs. very cool; a slate floor; and heavy with the smell of ripening cheese.????I could not tell the truth before Mrs. The veil before my eyes dropped.

and a keg or two of cider. ??Is that not kind of me???Sam stared stonily over his master??s head. men-strual.He had had graver faults than these. for your offer of assistance. It is many years since anything but fox or badger cubs tumbled over Donkey??s Green on Midsummer??s Night. ??The whole town would be out. with their spacious proportions and windows facing the sea. rather than emotional. perhaps even a pantheist. as if it were some expiatory offering. seemingly across a plain. ??And for the heven more lovely one down. you hateful mutton-bone!?? A silence.????I am not disposed to be jealous of the fossils.?? His own cheeks were now red as well. At worst. quite a number could not read anything??never mind that not one in ten of those who could and did read them understood what the reverend writers were on about .So perhaps I am writing a transposed autobiography; per-haps I now live in one of the houses I have brought into the fiction; perhaps Charles is myself disguised. I may add..[* Perhaps.

where the tunnel of ivy ended. Perhaps Ernestina??s puzzlement and distress were not far removed from those of Charles. Ware Cliffs??these names may mean very little to you. watched to make sure that the couple did not themselves take the Dairy track; then retraced her footsteps and entered her sanctuary unob-served. then. I understand she has been doing a littleneedlework. in everything but looks and history. with a quick and elastic step very different from his usual languid town stroll. That??s the trouble with provincial life. where the large ??family?? Bible??not what you may think of as a family Bible. ma??m. mum.??There was a longer silence. He believed he had a flair for knowing the latest fashion. There too I can be put to proof. AH sorts. It was all. Such folk-costume relics of a much older England had become pic-turesque by 1867. Tranter is an affectionate old soul. For Charles had faults. 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. that vivacious green.

His listener felt needed.????Most certainly I should hope to place a charitable con-struction upon your conduct.??E.????Very well. Mrs. and stood in front of her mistress.One needs no further explanation.?? a familiar justification for spending too much time in too small a field.????He did say that he would not let his daughter marry a man who considered his grandfather to be an ape. It was a very simple secret. good-looking sort of man??above all.?? She bore some resemblance to a white Pekinese; to be exact. Once again Sarah??s simplicity took all the wind from her swelling spite. she murmured. you say. two excellent Micraster tests.For a while they said nothing. but from closer acquaintance with London girls he had never got much beyond a reflection of his own cynicism. And yet once again it bore in upon him.?? cried Ernestina.??And I wish to hear what passed between you and Papa last Thursday.????To do with me?????I should never have listened to the doctor.

a kind of Mayfair equivalent of Mrs. miss. Laboring behind her. He had not traveled abroad those last two years; and he had realized that previously traveling had been a substitute for not having a wife. politely but firmly. The first artificial aids to a well-shaped bosom had begun to be commonly worn; eyelashes and eyebrows were painted. and he tried to remember a line from Homer that would make it a classical moment. should have handed back the tests. as if she was seeing what she said clearly herself for the first time. He was well aware. he saw a figure. rose steeply from the shingled beach where Monmouth entered upon his idiocy.??Never mind now. A gardener would be dismissed for being seen to come into the house with earth on his hands; a butler for having a spot of wine on his stock; a maid for having slut??s wool under her bed.??Charles craned out of the window. I had no idea such places existed in England. Poulteney was not a stupid woman; indeed. did you not? . Poulteney had to be read to alone; and it was in these more intimate ceremonies that Sarah??s voice was heard at its best and most effective. their freedom as well. People have been lost in it for hours. for instead of getting straight into bed after she had risen from her knees.

. for the very next lunchtime he had the courage to complain when Ernestina proposed for the nineteenth time to discuss the furnishings of his study in the as yet unfound house. let me add). I say her heart.. and she worried for her more; but Ernestina she saw only once or twice a year.????It was a warning. than what one would expect of niece and aunt. with free-dom our first principle.??Still the mouth remained clamped shut; and a third party might well have wondered what horror could be coming. I cannot pretend that your circumstances have not been discussed in front of me .????Rest assured that I shall not present anyone unsuitable. for he was at that time specializing in a branch of which the Old Fossil Shop had few examples for sale. poor man. and a keg or two of cider. Finally he put the two tests carefully in his own pocket. It was true that she looked suspiciously what she indeed was?? nearer twenty-five than ??thirty or perhaps more. Mr. Sarah stood shyly.The poor girl had had to suffer the agony of every only child since time began??that is.There runs.????It is beyond my powers??the powers of far wiser men than myself??to help you here.

perhaps. The cottage walls have crumbled into ivied stumps. that was a good deal better than the frigid barrier so many of the new rich in an age drenched in new riches were by that time erecting between themselves and their domestics. too informally youthful. of failing her.All this (and incidentally.??Mrs. She made the least response possible; and still avoided his eyes.??Miss Woodruff!??She took a step or two more.Traveling no longer attracted him; but women did. When he came down to the impatient Mrs. as Coleridge once discovered. and Sarah. ??My life has been steeped in loneliness. Had you described that fruit. Though set in the seventeenth century it is transparently a eulogy of Florence Nightingale. by Mrs. which hid the awkward fact that it was also his pleasure to do so.. They had left shortly following the exchange described above. And he could no more have avoided his fate than a plump mouse dropping between the claws of a hungry cat??several dozen hungry cats. was as much despised by the ??snobs?? as by the bourgeois novelists who continued for some time.

as well as the state.????Where is Mr.??By jove. demanded of a color was brilliance.Also.??It was outrageous.. Yellow ribbons and daffodils.So if you think all this unlucky (but it is Chapter Thir-teen) digression has nothing to do with your Time. ma??m. a product of so many long hours of hypocrisy??or at least a not always complete frankness??at Mrs. It is true also that she took some minimal precautions of a military kind. must seem to a stranger to my nature and circum-stances at that time so great that it cannot be but criminal. celebrated ones like Matthew Arnold. I fear the clergy have a tremendous battle on their hands.?? She stood with bowed head. He had nothing very much against the horse in itself.??For astronomical purposes only. No house lay visibly then or. It was??forgive the pun?? common knowledge that the gypsies had taken her. his recent passage of arms with Ernestina??s father on the subject of Charles Darwin. not knowledge of the latest London taste.

One was her social inferior. ??Sometimes I almost pity them. she might throw away the interest accruing to her on those heavenly ledgers. Never mind how much a summer??s day sweltered. Hide reality. what remained? A vapid selfishness. as he had sweated and stumbled his way along the shore.The doctor put a finger on his nose. for a substantial fraction of the running costs of his church and also for the happy performance of his nonliturgical duties among the poor; and the other was the representa-tive of God. but genuinely. And their directness of look??he did not know it. a skill with her needle. a petrified mud in texture. It was very clear that any moment Mrs. People knew less of each other. and therefore am sad.??Will you permit me to say something first? Something I have perhaps. since he had moved commercially into central London. he found himself greeted only by that lady: Ernestina had passed a slightly disturbed night. Without being able to say how. besides..

Poulteney was not a stupid woman; indeed. in the most brutish of the urban poor. and in her barouche only to the houses of her equals. smiling; and although her expression was one of now ordinary enough surprise. on principle. the unalloyed wildness of growth and burgeoning fertility. After some days he returned to France. 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. She frowned and stared at her deep-piled carpet. Poulteney??s secretary. He told me foolish things about myself.. The madness was in the empty sea.. unable to look at him. And I will not have that heart broken. I insisted he be sent for.??To be spoken to again as if . Their traverse brought them to a steeper shoulder.??We??re not ??orses. the anus. her fat arms shiny with suds.

and became entangled with that of a child who had disappeared about the same time from a nearby village. and saw on the beach some way to his right the square black silhouettes of the bathing-machines from which the nereids emerged. But this time it brought him to his senses. And with His infinite compassion He will??????But supposing He did not?????My dear Mrs. I know the girl in question.But what of Sarah??s motives? As regards lesbianism. because he was frequently amused by him; not because there were not better ??machines?? to be found. when Mrs. Certhidium portlandicum.????What does that signify. Placing her own hands back in their muff. Nothing in the house was allowed to be changed.??Charles had known women??frequently Ernestina herself?? contradict him playfully.?? He pressed her hand and moved towards the door. but emerged in the clear (voyant trop pour nier. no blame. Ware Cliffs??these names may mean very little to you.?????Most pitifully. silly Tina.????Doan believe ??ee.Charles called himself a Darwinist. She believed me to be going to Sher-borne.

as if the clearing was her drawing room. since Sarah.?? These. by Mrs. Poulteney had been dictating letters. founded by the remarkable Mary Anning. I had to dismiss her. Charles. Mrs. well the cause is plain??six weeks. Like most of us when such mo-ments come??who has not been embraced by a drunk???he sought for a hasty though diplomatic restoration of the status quo. Thus he had gained a reputation for aloofness and coldness. He would have advised me. I was afraid lest you had been taken ill. sure proof of abundant soli-tude. Another girl. But halfway down the stairs to the ground floor.Charles paused before going into the dark-green shade beneath the ivy; and looked round nefariously to be sure that no one saw him. And my false love will weep for me after I??m gone.??The Sam who had presented himself at the door had in fact borne very little resemblance to the mournful and indig-nant young man who had stropped the razor. good-looking sort of man??above all. as well as outer.

a pink bloom. ??Oh dear. The inn sign??a white lion with the face of an unfed Pekinese and a distinct resemblance. he saw a figure. It was true that she looked suspiciously what she indeed was?? nearer twenty-five than ??thirty or perhaps more. Poulteney kept one for herself and one for company??had omitted to do so. that life was passing him by. that were not quite comme il faut in the society Ernestina had been trained to grace. was that Sarah??s every movement and expression?? darkly exaggerated and abundantly glossed??in her free hours was soon known to Mrs.Ernestina gave her a look that would have not disgraced Mrs..??Upon my word. Perhaps more. beneath the demure knowingness.000 males.Mrs.Charles liked him. The madness was in the empty sea. Now do you see how it is? Her sadness becomes her hap-piness. Poulteney therefore found themselves being defended from the horror of seeing their menials one step nearer the vote by the leader of the party they abhorred on practically every other ground. without the amputation.????Would ??ee???He winked then.

I will not be called a sinner for that. A day came when I thought myself cruel as well. the jet engine. You have the hump on a morning that would make a miser sing. tried for the tenth time to span too wide a gap between boulders and slipped ignominiously on his back. good-looking sort of man??above all. perhaps. and she smiled at him.????I was a Benthamite as a young man. and twice as many tears as before began to fall. more expectable item on Mrs. of which The Edinburgh Review. Poulteney??s secretary from his conscious mind.All would be well when she was truly his; in his bed and in his bank . his pipe lay beside his favorite chair. curlews cried.??Her eyes flashed round at him then.Having duly and maliciously allowed her health and cheer-fulness to register on the invalid. I should rather spend the rest of my life in the poorhouse than live another week under this roof. She sat very upright. Poulteney??s now well-grilled soul. From your request to me last week I presume you don??t wish Mrs.

she would turn and fling herself out of his sight. as if it were some expiatory offering. long before he came there he turned north-ward. ran to her at the door and kissed her on both cheeks. Charles was smiling; and Sarah stared at him with profound suspicion. during which Charles could. She bit her pretty lips. the first question she had asked in Mrs. waiting for the concert to begin. once again. almost ruddy. And if you smile like that. ma??m. that he had taken Miss Woodruff altogether too seriously??in his stumble. If for no other reason. There was little wind. and she knew she was late for her reading.Again and again. but in those brief poised secondsabove the waiting sea.??She looked at the turf between them. tho?? it is very fine. He knew he was overfastidious.

There his tarnished virginity was soon blackened out of recognition; but so. had that been the chief place of worship. But how could one write history with Macaulay so close behind? Fiction or poetry. one of the impertinent little flat ??pork-pie?? hats with a delicate tuft of egret plumes at the side??a millinery style that the resident ladies of Lyme would not dare to wear for at least another year; while the taller man. It seemed to both envelop and reject him; as if he was a figure in a dream. He found he had not the courage to look the doctor in the eyes when he asked his next question. that he doesn??t know what the devil it is that causes it. ??Of course not. who sometimes went solitary to sleep.??Silence. The first artificial aids to a well-shaped bosom had begun to be commonly worn; eyelashes and eyebrows were painted. He was brought to Captain Talbot??s after the wreck of his ship. The rest of Aunt Tranter??s house was inexorably. ??But a most distressing case. He exam-ined the two tests; but he thought only of the touch of those cold fingers. it was slightly less solitary a hundred years ago than it is today. ??He was very handsome. It may be better for humanity that we should communicate more and more. She is possessed.??But what is the sin in walking on Ware Commons?????The sin! You. because Monmouth landed beside it . It is not for us to doubt His mercy??or His justice.

a withdrawnness.????If they know my story. then with the greatest pleasure. helpless. you gild it or blacken it.. Perhaps it was the gloom of so much Handel and Bach. Charles saw what stood behind the seductive appeal of the Oxford Movement??Roman Catholicism propria terra. as compared with 7. cramped. and Mrs. After all. 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. on principle. when he finally resumed his stockings and gaiters and boots. not Charles behind her. to see him hatless. Dr. Half a mile to the east lay. He hesitated a while; but the events that passed before his eyes as he stood at the bay window of his room were so few. . together with the water from the countless springs that have caused the erosion.

Then Ernestina was presented. Many who fought for the first Reform Bills of the 1830s fought against those of three decades later.?? There was silence.????My dear madam. when it was stripped of its formal outdoor mask; too little achieved. Hus-bands could often murder their wives??and the reverse??and get away with it. as Sicilians like emptying a shotgun into an enemy??s back. And perhaps an emotion not absolutely unconnected with malice. but was distracted by the necessity of catching a small crab that scuttled where the gigantic subaqueous shadow fell on its vigilant stalked eyes. quote George Eliot??s famous epigram: ??God is inconceivable.?? And she went and pressed Sarah??s hand. Sun and clouds rapidly succeeded each other in proper April fashion. but there seemed to Charles something rather infra dig. small person who always wore black. He hesitated a moment. ??You shall not have a drop of tea until you have accounted for every moment of your day. smiling; and although her expression was one of now ordinary enough surprise. Mrs. who maintained that their influence was best exerted from the home.. agreeable conformity to the epoch??s current. Fairley that she had a little less work.

It is also treacherous. He had a very sharp sense of clothes style?? quite as sharp as a ??mod?? of the 1960s; and he spent most of his wages on keeping in fashion. I was ashamed to tell her in the beginning. immor-tality is unbelievable. She was charming when she blushed. The eye in the telescope might have glimpsed a magenta skirt of an almost daring narrowness??and shortness. and forgave Charles everything for such a labor of Hercules.??Then.?? Charles could not see Sam??s face. carefully quartering the ground with his eyes. I have no right to desire these things. Poulteney??s soul. I can??t hide that.Sarah was intelligent. as Charles found when he took the better seat. to communicate to me???Again that fixed stare. he foresaw only too vividly that she might put foolish female questions.Her eyes were suddenly on his. It has also. a little irregularly.. to a patch of turf known as Donkey??s Green in the heart of the woods and there celebrate the solstice with dancing.

It was. He had traveled abroad with Charles. P.He stared down at the iron ferrule of his ashplant. Smithson. picked on the parable of the widow??s mite.?? One turns to the other: ??Ah! Fanny! How long have you been gay???]This sudden deeper awareness of each other had come that morning of the visit to Mrs. on principle. the closest spectator of a happy marriage.?? he added for Mrs. Jem!???? and the sound of racing footsteps. but in ??Charles??s time private minds did not admit the desires banned by the public mind; and when the consciousness was sprung on by these lurking tigers it was ludicrously unprepared. I think our ancestors?? isolation was like the greater space they enjoyed: it can only be envied.?? and ??I am sure it is an oversight??Mrs. Lightning flashed. can any pleasure have been left? How. it is because I am writing in (just as I have assumed some of the vocabulary and ??voice?? of) a convention universally accepted at the time of my story: that the novelist stands next to God. But she was then in the first possessive pleasure of her new toy. am I not kind to bring you here? And look. gives vivid dreams. You are not too fond.????I sees her.

??Sam flashed an indignant look. She be the French Loot??n??nt??s Hoer. However. I know what I should become. The ferns looked greenly forgiving; but Mrs.????We must never fear what is our duty. Progress. he the vicar of Lyme had described as ??a man of excellent principles. I am well aware how fond you are of her. . so direct that he smiled: one of those smiles the smiler knows are weak. moun-tains. Twelve ewes and rather more lambs stood nervously in mid-street. Poulteney. But always someone else??s.??She teased him then: the scientist.????But it would most certainly matter. an anger. I should be happy to provide a home for such a person.????Mrs. quote George Eliot??s famous epigram: ??God is inconceivable.??She turned then and looked at Charles??s puzzled and solici-tous face.

A girl of nineteen or so. They did not kiss. When Mrs. ??It??s no matter. The singer required applause.His ambition was very simple: he wanted to be a haber-dasher. for this was one of the last Great Bustards shot on Salisbury Plain. her fat arms shiny with suds. glanced desperately round. Poulteney on her own account.????If you ??ad the clothes.??And she has confided the real state of her mind to no one?????Her closest friend is certainly Mrs..??I have come to bid my adieux. He moved. of women lying asleep on sunlit ledges. a young woman without children paid to look after children.??That girl I dismissed??she has given you no further trou-ble???Mrs. below him. his knowledge of a larger world. He could not say what had lured him on. it was charming.