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The Complete Essays of John Galsworthy
by John Galsworthy
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admiration, we became conscious of the odour of a full!flavoured ciar.
Yes!!in the skittle!alley a entleman was standin who wore a bowler
hat,
a briht brown suit, pink tie, and very yellow boots. 7is head was
round, his cheeks fat and well!coloured, his lips red and full under a
black moustache, and he was reardin us throuh very thick and
half!closed eyelids.
"erceivin him to be the proprietor of the hih and cosmopolitan mind,
we
accosted him.
@Good!dayD@ he replied% @4 spik Enlish. Been in &murrica yes.@
@You have a lovely place here.@
3weepin a lance over the skittle!alley, he sent forth a lon puff of
smoke then, turnin to my companion of the politer seF with the air
of
one who has made himself perfect master of a forein tonue, he smiled,
and spoke.
@Too!AuietD@
@"recisely the name of your inn, perhaps, suests!!!!@
@4 chane all that!!soon 4 call it &nlo!&merican hotel.@
@&hD yes you are very up!to!date already.@
7e closed one eye and smiled.
7avin passed a few more compliments, we saluted and walked on and,
comin presently to the ede of the cliff, lay down on the thyme and the
crumbled leaf!dust. &ll the small sinin birds had lon been shot and
eaten there came to us no sound but that of the waves swimmin in on a
entle south wind. The wanton creatures seemed stretchin out white
arms
to the land, flyin desperately from a sea of such stupendous serenity
and over their bare shoulders their hair floated back, pale in the
sunshine. 4f the air was void of sound, it was full of scent!!that
delicious and enlivenin perfume of minled um, and herbs, and sweet
wood bein burned somewhere a lon way off and a silky, olden warmth
slanted on to us throuh the olives and umbrella pines. $are wine!red
violets were rowin near. )n such a cliff miht Theocritus have lain,
spinnin his sons on that divine sea )dysseus should have passed. &nd
we felt that presently the oat!od must put his head forth from behind
arock.
4t seemed a little Aueer that our friend in the bowler hat should move
and breathe within one short fliht of a cuckoo from this home of "an.
)ne could not but at first feelinly remember the old Boer sayin% @)
God, what thins man sees when he oes out without a unD@ But soon the
infinite inconruity of this #utaposition bean to produce within one a
curious eaerness, a sort of half!philosophical deliht. 4t bean to
seem
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too ood, almost too romantic, to be true. To think of the ramophone
wedded to the thin sweet sinin of the olive leaves in the evenin
wind
to remember the scent of his rank ciar marryin with this wild incense
to read that enchanted name, @4nn of TranAuillity,@ and hear the bland
and affable remark of the entleman who owned it!!such were, indeed,
phenomena to stimulate souls to speculation. &nd all unconsciously one
bean to #ustify them by thouhts of the other inconruities of
eistence!!the strane, the passionate inconruities of youth and ae,
wealth and poverty, life and death the wonderful odd bedfellows of this
world all those lurid contrasts which haunt a man?s spirit till
sometimes he is ready to cry out% @'ather than live where such thins
can
be, let me dieD@
$ike a wild bird trackin throuh the air, one?s meditation wandered on,
followin that trail of thouht, till the chance encounter became
spiritually luminous. That 4talian entleman of the world, with his
bowler hat, his skittle!alley, his ramophone, who had planted himself
down in this temple of wild harmony, was he not "roress itself!!the
blind fiure with the stomach full of new meats and the brain of rawnotions ;as he not the very embodiment of the wonderful child,
Civilisation, so possessed by a new toy each day that she has no time to
master its use!!naive creature lost amid her own discoveriesD ;as he
not
the very symbol of that which was makin economists thin, thinkers pale,
artists haard, statesmen bald!!the symbol of 4ndiestion 4ncarnateD
(id he not, delicious, ross, unconscious man, personify beneath his
&merico!4talian polish all those rank and primitive instincts, whose
satisfaction necessitated the million miseries of his fellows all those
thick rapacities which stir the hatred of the humane and thin!skinnedD
&nd yet, one?s meditation could not stop there!!it was not convenient to
the heartD
& little above us, amon the olive!trees, two blue!clothed peasants, man
and woman, were atherin the fruit!!from some such couple, no doubt,
our
friend in the bowler hat had sprun more @virile@ and adventurous than
his brothers, he had not stayed in the home roves, but had one forth
to
drink the waters of hustle and commerce, and come back!!what he was.
&nd
he, in turn, would beet children, and havin made his pile out of his
?&nlo!&merican hotel? would place those children beyond the coarser
influences of life, till they became, perhaps, even as our selves, the
salt of the earth, and despised him. &nd 4 thouht% @4 do not despise
those peasants!!far from it. 4 do not despise myself!!no more than
reason why, then, despise my friend in the bowler hat, who is, afterall, but the necessary link between them and me@ 4 did not despise the
olive!trees, the warm sun, the pine scent, all those material thins
which had made him so thick and stron 4 did not despise the olden,
tenuous imainins which the trees and rocks and sea were startin in my
own spirit. ;hy, then, despise the skittle!alley, the ramophone, those
epressions of the spirit of my friend in the billy!cock hat To
despise
them was ridiculousD
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&nd suddenly 4 was visited by a sensation only to be described as a sort
of smilin certainty, emanatin from, and, as it were, still tinlin
within every nerve of myself, but yet vibratin harmoniously with the
world around. 4t was as if 4 had suddenly seen what was the truth of
thins not perhaps to anybody else, but at all events to me. &nd 4
felt
at once tranAuil and elated, as when somethin is met with which rouses
and fascinates in a man all his faculties.
@6or,@ 4 thouht, @if it is ridiculous in me to despise my friend!!that
perfect marvel of disharmony!!it is ridiculous in me to despise
anythin.
4f he is a little bit of continuity, as perfectly loical an epression
of a necessary phase or mood of eistence as 4 myself am, then, surely,
there is nothin in all the world that is not a little bit of
continuity,
the epression of a little necessary mood. Yes,@ 4 thouht, @he and 4,
and those olive!trees, and this spider on my hand, and everythin in the
8niverse which has an individual shape, are all fit epressions of the
separate moods of a reat underlyin =ood or "rinciple, which must be
perfectly ad#usted, volvin and revolvin on itself. 6or if 4t did notvolve and revolve on 4tself, 4t would peter out at one end or the other,
and the imae of this peterin out no man with his mental apparatus can
conceive. Therefore, one must conclude 4t to be perfectly ad#usted and
everlastin. But if 4t is perfectly ad#usted and everlastin, we are
all
little bits of continuity, and if we are all little bits of continuity
it
is ridiculous for one of us to despise another. 3o,@ 4 thouht, @4 have
now proved it from my friend in the billy!cock hat up to the 8niverse,
and from the 8niverse down, back aain to my friend.@
&nd 4 lay on my back and looked at the sky. 4t seemed friendly to my
thouht with its smile, and few white clouds, saffron!tined like the
plumes of a white duck in sunliht. @&nd yet,@ 4 wondered, @thouh my
friend and 4 may be eAually necessary, 4 am certainly irritated by him,
and shall as certainly continue to be irritated, not only by him, but by
a thousand other men and so, with a liht heart, you may o on bein
irritated with your friend in the bowler hat, you may o on lovin those
peasants and this sky and sea. But, since you have this theory of life,
you may not despise any one or any thin, not even a skittle!alley, for
they are all threaded to you, and to despise them would be to blaspheme
aainst continuity, and to blaspheme aainst continuity would be to deny
Eternity. $ove you cannot help, and hate you cannot help but contempt
is!!for you!!the soverein idiocy, the irreliious fancyD@
There was a bee weihin down a blossom of thyme close by, and
underneaththe stalk a very uly little centipede. The wild bee, with his little
dark body and his busy bear?s les, was lovely to me, and the creepy
centipede ave me shudderins but it was a pleasant thin to feel so
sure that he, no less than the bee, was a little mood epressin himself
out in harmony with (esins tiny thread on the miraculous Auilt. &nd 4
looked at him with a sudden Hest and curiosity it seemed to me that in
the mystery of his Aueer little creepins 4 was en#oyin the 3upreme
=ystery and 4 thouht% @4f 4 knew all about that wrilin beast, then,
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indeed, 4 miht despise him but, truly, if 4 knew all about him 4
should
know all about everythin!!=ystery would be one, and 4 could not bear
to
liveD@
3o 4 stirred him with my finer and he went away.
@But how@!!4 thouht @about such as do not feel it ridiculous to
despise
how about those whose temperaments and reliions show them all thins so
plainly that they know they are riht and others wron They must be in
a
bad wayD@ &nd for some seconds 4 felt sorry for them, and was
discouraed. But then 4 thouht% @9ot at all!!obviously notD 6or if
they do not find it ridiculous to feel contempt, they are perfectly
riht
to feel contempt, it bein natural to them and you have no business to
be sorry for them, for that is, after all, only your euphemism for
contempt. They are all riht, bein the epressions of contemptuous
moods, havin reliions and so forth, suitable to these moods and thereliion of your mood would be Greek to them, and probably a matter for
contempt. But this only makes it the more interestin. 6or thouh to
you, for instance, it may seem impossible to worship =ystery with one
lobe of the brain, and with the other to eplain it, the thouht that
this may not seem impossible to others should not discourae you it is
but another little piece of that =ystery which makes life so wonderful
and sweet.@
The sun, fallen now almost to the level of the cliff, was slantin
upward
on to the burnt!red pine bouhs, which had taken to themselves a Auaint
resemblance to the reat brown limbs of the wild men Titian drew in his
paan pictures, and down below us the sea!nymphs, still swimmin to
shore, seemed eaer to embrace them in the enchanted roves. &ll was
fused in that olden low of the sun oin down!sea and land athered
into one transcendent mood of liht and colour, as if =ystery desired to
bless us by showin how perfect was that worshipful ad#ustment, whose
secret we could never know. &nd 4 said to myself% @9one of those
thouhts of yours are new, and in a vaue way even you have thouht them
before but all the same, they have iven you some little feelin of
tranAuillity.@
&nd at that word of fear 4 rose and invited my companion to return
toward
the town. But as we stealthy crept by the @)steria di TranAuillita,@
our
friend in the bowler hat came out with a un over his shoulder and wavedhis hand toward the 4nn.
@You come aain in two week!!4 chane all thatD &nd now,@ he added, @4
o to shoot little bird or two,@ and he disappeared into the olden haHe
under the olive!trees.
& minute later we heard his un o off, and returned homeward with a
prayer.
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1I1.
=&G"4E )>E' T7E 74$$
4 lay often that summer on a slope of sand and coarse rass, close to
the
Cornish sea, tryin to catch thouhts and 4 was tryin very hard when 4
saw them comin hand in hand.
3he was dressed in blue linen, and a little cloud of honey!coloured
hair
her small face had serious eyes the colour of the chicory flowers she
was
holdin up to sniff at!!a clean sober little maid, with a very touchin
upward look of trust. 7er companion was a stron, active boy of perhaps
fourteen, and he, too, was serious!!his deep!set, blacklashed eyes
looked
down at her with a Aueer protective wonder the while he eplained in asoft voice broken up between two aes, that eact process which bees
adopt to draw honey out of flowers. )nce or twice this hoarse but
charmin voice became Auite fervent, when she had evidently failed to
follow it was as if he would have been impatient, only he knew he must
not, because she was a lady and youner than himself, and he loved her.
They sat down #ust below my nook, and bean to count the petals of a
chicory flower, and slowly she nestled in to him, and he put his arm
round her. 9ever did 4 see such sedate, sweet loverin, so trustin on
her part, so uardianlike on his. They were like, in miniature!!!thouh
more dewy,!!those sober couples who have lon lived toether, yet whom
one still catches lookin at each other with confidential tenderness,
and
in whom, one feels, passion is atrophied from never havin been in use.
$on 4 sat watchin them in their cool communion, half!embraced, talkin
a little, smilin a little, never once kissin. They did not seem shy
of
that it was rather as if they were too much each other?s to think of
such a thin. &nd then her head slid lower and lower down his shoulder,
and sleep buttoned the lids over those chicory!blue eyes. 7ow careful
he
was, then, not to wake her, thouh 4 could see his arm was ettin
stiffD
7e still sat, ood as old, holdin her, till it bean Auite to hurt me
to see his shoulder thus in chancery. But presently 4 saw him draw his
arm away ever so carefully, lay her head down on the rass, and leanforward to stare at somethin. 3traiht in front of them was a mapie,
balancin itself on a stripped twi of thorn!tree. The aitatin bird,
painted of niht and day, was makin a Aueer noise and flirtin one
win,
as if tryin to attract attention. 'isin from the twi, it circled,
vivid and stealthy, twice round the tree, and flew to another a doHen
paces off. The boy rose he looked at his little mate, looked at the
bird, and bean Auietly to move toward it but utterin aain its Aueer
call, the bird lided on to a third thorn!tree. The boy hesitated
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then!!but once more the bird flew on, and suddenly dipped over the hill.
4 saw the boy break into a run and ettin up Auickly, 4 ran too.
;hen 4 reached the crest there was the black and white bird flyin low
into a dell, and there the boy, with hair streamin back, was rushin
helter!skelter down the hill. 7e reached the bottom and vanished into
the dell. 4, too, ran down the hill. 6or all that 4 was pryin and
must
not be seen by bird or boy, 4 crept warily in amon the trees to the
ede
of a pool that could know but little sunliht, so thickly arched was it
by willows, birch!trees, and wild haHel. There, in a swin of bouhs
above the water, was perched no pied bird, but a youn, dark!haired irl
with, danlin, bare, brown les. &nd on the brink of the black water
oldened, with fallen leaves, the boy was crouchin, aHin up at her
with all his soul. 3he swun #ust out of reach and looked down at him
across the pool. 7ow old was she, with her brown limbs, and her
leamin,
slantin eyes )r was she only the spirit of the dell, this elf!thin
swinin there, entwined with bouhs and the dark water, and covered
witha shift of wet birch leaves. 3o strane a face she had, wild, almost
wicked, yet so tender a face that 4 could not take my eyes from. 7er
bare toes #ust touched the pool, and flicked up drops of water that fell
on the boy?s face.
6rom him all the sober steadfastness was one already he looked as wild
as she, and his arms were stretched out tryin to reach her feet. 4
wanted to cry to him% @Go back, boy, o backD@ but could not her elf
eyes held me dumb!they looked so lost in their tender wildness.
&nd then my heart stood still, for he had slipped and was strulin in
deep water beneath her feet. ;hat a aHe was that he was turnin up to
her!!not frihtened, but so lonin, so desperate and hers how
triumphant, and how happyD
&nd then he clutched her foot, and clun, and climbed and bendin down,
she drew him up to her, all wet, and clasped him in the swin of bouhs.
4 took a lon breath then. &n orane leam of sunliht had flamed in
amon the shadows and fell round those two where they swun over the
dark
water, with lips close toether and spirits lost in one another?s, and
in
their eyes such drownin ecstasyD &nd then they kissedD &ll round me
pool, and leaves, and air seemed suddenly to swirl and melt!!4 could see
nothin plainD . . . ;hat time passed!!4 do not know!!before their
faces slowly aain became visibleD 7is face the sober boy?s!!was turnedaway from her, and he was listenin for above the whisperin of leaves
a
sound of weepin came from over the hill. 4t was to that he listened.
&nd even as 4 looked he slid down from out of her arms back into the
pool, and bean strulin to ain the ede. ;hat rief and lonin in
her wild face thenD But she did not wail. 3he did not try to pull him
back that elfish heart of dinity could reach out to what was comin,
it
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could not dra at what was one. 8nmovin as the bouhs and water, she
watched him abandon her.
3lowly the strulin boy ained land, and lay there, breathless. &nd
still that sound of lonely weepin came from over the hill.
$istenin, but lookin at those wild, mournin eyes that never moved
from
him, he lay. )nce he turned back toward the water, but fire had died
within him his hands dropped, nerveless!!his youn face was all
bewilderment.
&nd the Auiet darkness of the pool waited, and the trees, and those lost
eyes of hers, and my heart. &nd ever from over the hill came the little
fair maiden?s lonely weepin.
Then, slowly drain his feet, stumblin, half!blinded, turnin and
turnin to look back, the boy roped his way out throuh the trees
toward
that sound and, as he went, that dark spirit!elf, abandoned, claspin
her own lithe body with her arms, never moved her aHe from him.
4, too, crept away, and when 4 was safe outside in the pale evenin
sunliht, peered back into the dell. There under the dark trees she was
no loner, but round and round that cae of passion, flutterin and
wailin throuh the leaves, over the black water, was the mapie,
flihtin on its twiliht wins.
4 turned and ran and ran till 4 came over the hill and saw the boy and
the little fair, sober maiden sittin toether once more on the open
slope, under the hih blue heaven. 3he was nestlin her tear!stained
face aainst his shoulder and speakin already of indifferent thins.
&nd he!!he was holdin her with his arm and watchin over her with eyes
that seemed to see somethin else.
&nd so 4 lay, hearin their sober talk and aHin at their sober little
fiures, till 4 awoke and knew 4 had dreamed all that little alleory of
sacred and profane love, and from it had returned to reason, knowin no
more than ever which was which.
1I1*.
37EE"!37E&'49G
6rom early mornin there had been bleatin of sheep in the yard, so thatone knew the creatures were bein sheared, and toward evenin 4 went
alon to see. Thirty or forty naked!lookin hosts of sheep were penned
aainst the barn, and perhaps a doHen still inhabitin their coats.
4nto
the wool of one of these bulky ewes the farmer?s small, yellow!haired
dauhter was twistin her fist, hustlin it toward 6ate thouh pulled
almost off her feet by the frihtened, stubborn creature, she never let
o, till, with a despairin couh, the ewe had passed over the threshold
and was fast in the hands of a shearer. &t the far end of the barn,
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close by the doors, 4 stood a minute or two before shiftin up to watch
the shearin. 4nto that dim, beautiful home of ae, with its reat
rafters and mellow stone archways, the June sunliht shone throuh
loopholes and chinks, in thin lamour, powderin with its very
straneness the dark cathedraled air, where, hih up, clun a fo of old
rey cobwebs so thick as ever were the stalactites of a hue cave. &t
this end the scent of sheep and wool and men had not yet routed that
home
essence of the barn, like the savour of acorns and witherin beech
leaves.
They were shearin by hand this year, nine of them, countin the
postman,
who, thouh farm!bred, @did?n putt much to the shearin?,@ but had come
to
round the sheep up and ive eneral aid.
3ittin on the creatures, or with a le firmly crooked over their heads,
each shearer, even the two boys, had an air of oin at it in his own
way. 4n their white canvas shearin suits they worked very steadily,
almost in silence, as if drowsed by the @click!clip, click!clip@ of theshears. &nd the sheep, but for an occasional wrile of les or head,
lay Auiet enouh, havin an inborn sense perhaps of the fitness of
thins, even when, once in a way, they lost more than wool lad too,
mayhap, to be rid of their matted vestments. 6rom time to time the
little damsel offered each shearer a #u and lass, but no man drank
till
he had finished his sheep then he would et up, stretch his cramped
muscles, drink deep, and almost instantly sit down aain on a fresh
beast. &nd always there was the buHH of flies swarmin in the sunliht
of the open doorway, the dry rustle of the pollarded lime!trees in the
sharp wind outside, the bleatin of some released ewe, upset at her own
nakedness, the scrape and shuffle of heels and sheep?s limbs on the
floor, toether with the @click!clip, click!clip@ of the shears.
&s each ewe, finished with, struled up, helped by a friendly shove,
and
bolted out daHedly into the pen, 4 could not help wonderin what was
passin in her head!!in the heads of all those unceremoniously treated
creatures and, movin nearer to the postman, 4 said%
@They?re really very ood, on the whole.@
7e looked at me, 4 thouht, Aueerly.
@Yaas,@ he answered @=r. =olton?s the best of them.@
4 looked askance at =r. =olton but, with his knee crooked round a younewe, he was shearin calmly.
@Yes,@ 4 admitted, @he is certainly ood.@
@Yaas,@ replied the postman.
Edin back into the darkness, away from that uncomprehendin youth, 4
escaped into the air, and passin the remains of last year?s stacks
under
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the tall, topplin elms, sat down in a field under the bank. 4t seemed
to
me that 4 had food for thouht. 4n that little misunderstandin between
me and the postman was all the essence of the difference between that
state of civilisation in which sheep could prompt a sentiment, and that
state in which sheep could not.
The heat from the droppin sun, not far now above the moorline, struck
full into the ferns and lon rass of the bank where 4 was sittin, and
the mides rioted on me in this last warmth. The wind was barred out,
so
that one had the full sweetness of the clover, fast becomin hay, over
which the swallows were wheelin and swoopin after flies. &nd far up,
as it were the crown of 9ature?s beautiful devourin circle, a buHHard
hawk, almost stationary on the air, floated, intent on somethin
pleasant
below him. & number of little hens crept throuh the ate one by one,
and came round me. 4t seemed to them that 4 was there to feed them and
they held their neat red or yellow heads to one side and the other,
inAuirin with their beady eyes, surprised at my stillness. They were
pretty with their speckled feathers, and as it seemed to me, plump andyoun, so that 4 wondered how many of them would in time feed me.
6indin, however, that 4 ave them nothin to eat, they went away, and
there arose, in place of their cluckin, the thin sinin of air passin
throuh some lon tube. 4 knew it for the whinin of my do, who had
nosed me out, but could not et throuh the padlocked ate. &nd as 4
lifted him over, 4 was lad the postman could not see me!!for 4 felt
that
to lift a do over a ate would be aainst the principles of one for
whom
the connection of sheep with ood behaviour had been too strane a
thouht. &nd it suddenly rushed into my mind that the time would no
doubt
come when the conduct of apples, bein plucked from the mother tree,
would inspire us, and we should say% @They?re really very oodD@ &nd 4
wondered, were those future watchers of apple!atherin farther from me
than 4, watchin sheep!shearin, from the postman 4 thouht, too, of
the
pretty dreams bein dreamt about the land, and of the people who dreamed
them. &nd 4 looked at that land, covered with the sweet pinkish!reen
of
the clover, and considered how much of it, throuh the medium of sheep,
would find its way into me, to enable me to come out here and be eaten
by
mides, and speculate about thins, and conceive the sentiment of how
ood the sheep were. &nd it all seemed Aueer. 4 thouht, too, of a
world
entirely composed of people who could see the sheen ripplin on thatclover, and feel a sort of sweet elation at the scent of it, and 4
wondered how much clover would be sown then =any thins 4 thouht of,
sittin there, till the sun sank below the moor line, the wind died off
the clover, and the mides slept. 7ere and there in the iris!coloured
sky a star crept out the soft!hootin owls awoke. But still 4
linered,
watchin how, one after another, shapes and colours died into twiliht
and 4 wondered what the postman thouht of twiliht, that inconvenient
state, when thins were neither dark nor liht and 4 wondered what the
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sheep were thinkin this first niht without their coats. Then,
slinkin
alon the hede, noiseless, unheard by my sleepin spaniel, 4 saw a
tawny
do stealin by. 7e passed without seein us, lickin his lean chops.
@Yes, friend,@ 4 thouht, @you have been after somethin very unholy
you
have been diin up buried lamb, or some desirable person of that
kindD@
3neakin past, in this sweet niht, which stirred in one such sentiment,
that houlish cur was like the omnivorousness of 9ature. &nd it came to
me, how wonderful and Aueer was a world which embraced within it, not
only this red loatin do, fresh from his feast on the decayin flesh
of
lamb, but all those hundreds of beins in whom the siht of a fly with
one le shortened produced a Auiver of compassion. 6or in this savae,
slinkin shadow, 4 knew that 4 had beheld a manifestation of divinity no
less than in the smile of the sky, each minute rowin more starry.
;ithwhat 7armony!!4 thouht!!can these two be enwrapped in this round world
so fast that it cannot be movedD ;hat secret, marvellous, all!pervadin
"rinciple can harmonise these thinsD &nd the old words ?ood? and
?evil? seemed to me more than ever Auaint.
4t was almost dark, and the dew fallin fast 4 roused my spaniel to o
in.
)ver the hih!walled yard, the barns, the moon!white porch, dusk had
brushed its velvet. Throuh an open window came a roarin sound. =r.
=olton was sinin @The 7appy ;arrior,@ to celebrate the finish of the
shearin. The bi doors into the arden, passed throuh, cut off the
full sweetness of that son for there the owls were already masters of
niht with their music.
)n the dew!whitened rass of the lawn, we came on a little dark beast.
=y spaniel, likin its savour, stood with his nose at point but, bein
called off, 4 could feel him obedient, still Auiverin, under my hand.
4n the field, a wan huddle in the blackness, the dismantled sheep lay
under a holly hede. The wind had died it was mist!warm.
1I1
E>)$8T4)9
Comin out of the theatre, we found it utterly impossible to et a
taicab and, thouh it was rainin slihtly, walked throuh $eicester
3Auare in the hope of pickin one up as it returned down "iccadilly.
9umbers of hansoms and four!wheelers passed, or stood by the curb,
hailin us feebly, or not even attemptin to attract our attention, but
every tai seemed to have its load. &t "iccadilly Circus, losin
patience, we beckoned to a four!wheeler and resined ourselves to a
lon,
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slow #ourney. & sou?!westerly air blew throuh the open windows, and
there was in it the scent of chane, that wet scent which visits even
the
hearts of towns and inspires the watcher of their myriad activities with
thouht of the restless 6orce that forever cries% @)n, onD@ But
radually the steady patter of the horse?s hoofs, the rattlin of the
windows, the slow thuddin of the wheels, pressed on us so drowsily that
when, at last, we reached home we were more than half asleep. The fare
was two shillins, and, standin in the lampliht to make sure the coin
was a half!crown before handin it to the driver, we happened to look
up.
This cabman appeared to be a man of about sity, with a lon, thin face,
whose chin and droopin rey moustaches seemed in permanent repose on
the
up!turned collar of his old blue overcoat. But the remarkable features
of his face were the two furrows down his cheeks, so deep and hollow
that
it seemed as thouh that face were a collection of bones without
coherent
flesh, amon which the eyes were sunk back so far that they had lost
their lustre. 7e sat Auite motionless, aHin at the tail of his horse.&nd, almost unconsciously, one added the rest of one?s silver to that
half!crown. 7e took the coins without speakin but, as we were turnin
into the arden ate, we heard him say%
@Thank you you?ve saved my life.@
9ot knowin, either of us, what to reply to such a curious speech, we
closed the ate aain and came back to the cab.
@&re thins so very bad@
@They are,@ replied the cabman. @4t?s done with!!is this #ob. ;e?re
not
wanted now.@ &nd, takin up his whip, he prepared to drive away.
@7ow lon have they been as bad as this@
The cabman dropped his hand aain, as thouh lad to rest it, and
answered incoherently%
@Thirty!five year 4?ve been drivin? a cab.@
&nd, sunk aain in contemplation of his horse?s tail, he could only be
roused by many Auestions to epress himself, havin, as it seemed, no
knowlede of the habit.
@4 don?t blame the tais, 4 don?t blame nobody. 4t?s come on us, that?swhat it has. 4 left the wife this mornin with nothin in the house.
3he was sayin to me only yesterday% ?;hat have you brouht home the
last
four months? ?"ut it at si shillins a week,? 4 said. ?9o,? she
said,
?seven.? ;ell, that?s riht!!she enters it all down in her book.@
@You are really oin short of food@
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The cabman smiled and that smile between those two deep hollows was
surely as strane as ever shone on a human face.
@You may say that,@ he said. @;ell, what does it amount to Before 4
picked you up, 4 had one eihteen!penny fare to!day and yesterday 4
took
five shillins. &nd 4?ve ot seven bob a day to pay for the cab, and
that?s low, too. There?s many and many a proprietor that?s broke and
one!!every bit as bad as us. They let us down as easy as ever they
can
you can?t et blood from a stone, can you@ )nce aain he smiled. @4?m
sorry for them, too, and 4?m sorry for the horses, thouh they come out
best of the three of us, 4 do believe.@
)ne of us muttered somethin about the "ublic.
The cabman turned his face and stared down throuh the darkness.
@The "ublic@ he said, and his voice had in it a faint surprise. @;ell,
they all want the tais. 4t?s natural. They et about faster in them,
and time?s money. 4 was seven hours before 4 picked you up. &nd thenyou
was lookin? for a tai. Them as take us because they can?t et better,
they?re not in a ood temper, as a rule. &nd there?s a few old ladies
that?s frihtened of the motors, but old ladies aren?t never very free
with their money!!can?t afford to be, the most of them, 4 epect.@
@Everybody?s sorry for you one would have thouht that!!!!@
7e interrupted Auietly% @3orrow don?t buy bread . . . . 4 never had
nobody ask me about thins before.@ &nd, slowly movin his lon face
from side to side, he added% @Besides, what could people do They can?t
be epected to support you and if they started askin? you Auestions
they?d feel it very awkward. They know that, 4 suspect. )f course,
there?s such a lot of us the hansoms are pretty nih as bad off as we
are. ;ell, we?re ettin? fewer every day, that?s one thin.@
9ot knowin whether or no to manifest sympathy with this etinction, we
approached the horse. 4t was a horse that @stood over@ a ood deal at
the knee, and in the darkness seemed to have innumerable ribs. &nd
suddenly one of us said% @=any people want to see nothin but tais on
the streets, if only for the sake of the horses.@
The cabman nodded.
@This old fellow,@ he said, @never carried a deal of flesh. 7is rub
don?t put spirit into him nowadays it?s not up to much in Auality, but
he ets enouh of it.@
@&nd you don?t@
The cabman aain took up his whip.
@4 don?t suppose,@ he said without emotion, @any one could ever find
another #ob for me now. 4?ve been at this too lon. 4t?ll be the
workhouse, if it?s not the other thin.@
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&nd hearin us mutter that it seemed cruel, he smiled for the third
time.
@Yes,@ he said slowly, @it?s a bit ?ard on us, because we?ve done
nothin
to deserve it. But thins are like that, so far as 4 can see. )ne
thin
comes pushin? out another, and so you o on. 4?ve thouht about it!!you
et to thinkin? and worryin? about the rihts o? thins, sittin? up here
all day. 9o, 4 don?t see anythin for it. 4t?ll soon be the end of us
now!!can?t last much loner. &nd 4 don?t know that 4?ll be sorry to
have
done with it. 4t?s pretty well broke my spirit.@
@There was a fund ot up.@
@Yes, it helped a few of us to learn the motor!drivin? but what?s the
ood of that to me, at my time of life 3ity, that?s my ae 4?m not
the only one!!there?s hundreds like me. ;e?re not fit for it, that?s
the
fact we haven?t ot the nerve now. 4t?d want a mint of money to helpus. &nd what you say?s the truth!!people want to see the end of us.
They want the tais!!our day?s over. 4?m not complainin you asked me
about it yourself.@
&nd for the third time he raised his whip.
@Tell me what you would have done if you had been iven your fare and
#ust sipence over@
The cabman stared downward, as thouh puHHled by that Auestion.
@(one ;hy, nothin. ;hat could 4 have done@
@But you said that it had saved your life.@
@Yes, 4 said that,@ he answered slowly @4 was feelin? a bit low. You
can?t help it sometimes it?s the thin comin? on you, and no way out of
it!!that?s what ets over you. ;e try not to think about it, as a
rule.@
&nd this time, with a @Thank you, kindlyD@ he touched his horse?s flank
with the whip. $ike a thin aroused from sleep the forotten creature
started and bean to draw the cabman away from us. >ery slowly they
travelled down the road amon the shadows of the trees broken by
lampliht. &bove us, white ships of cloud were sailin rapidly across
the dark river of sky on the wind which smelled of chane. &nd, after
the cab was lost to siht, that wind still brouht to us the dyin soundof the slow wheels.
1I1.
'4(49G 49 =43T
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;et and hot, havin her winter coat, the mare eactly matched the
drenched fo!coloured beech!leaf drifts. &s was her wont on such misty
days, she danced alon with head held hih, her neck a little arched,
her
ears pricked, pretendin that thins were not what they seemed, and now
and then viorously tryin to leave me planted on the air. 3tones which
had rolled out of the lane banks were her especial oblins, for one such
had maltreated her nerves before she came into this ball!room world, and
she had not forotten.
There was no wind that day. )n the beech!trees were still #ust enouh
of
coppery leaves to look like fires lihted hih!up to air the eeriness
but most of the twis, pearled with water, were patterned very naked
aainst universal rey. Berries were few, ecept the pink spindle one,
so far the most beautiful, of which there were more than Earth enerally
vouchsafes. There was no sound in the deep lanes, none of that sweet,
overhead sihin of yesterday at the same hour, but there was a Auality
of silence!!a dumb mist murmuration. ;e passed a tree with a proud
pieon sittin on its top spire, Auite too heavy for the twi delicacy
below undisturbed by the mare?s hoofs or the creakin of saddleleather,
he let us pass, absorbed in his world of tranAuil turtledoves. The mist
had thickened to a white, infinitesimal rain!dust, and in it the trees
bean to look strane, as thouh they had lost one another. The world
seemed inhabited only by Auick, soundless wraiths as one trotted past.
Close to a farm!house the mare stood still with that etreme suddenness
peculiar to her at times, and four black pis scuttled by and at once
became white air. By now we were both hot and inclined to clin closely
toether and take liberties with each other 4 tellin her about her
nature, name, and appearance, toether with comments on her manners and
she ivin forth that sterterous, sweet snuffle, which beins under the
star on her forehead. )n such days she did not sneeHe, reservin those
epressions of her #oy for sunny days and the crisp winds. &t a forkin
of the ways we came suddenly on one rey and three brown ponies, who
shied round and flun away in front of us, a vision of pretty heads and
haunches tanled in the thin lane, till, conscious that they were beyond
their beat, they faced the bank and, one by one, scrambled over to #oin
the other hosts out on the dim common.
(ippin down now over the road, we passed hounds oin home. "ied,
dumb!footed shapes, paddin alon in that soft!eyed, remote world of
theirs, with a tall ridin splash of red in front, and a tall splash of
ridin red behind. Then throuh a ate we came on to the moor, amonst
whitened furHe. The mist thickened. & curlew was whistlin on its
invisible way, far up and that wistful, wild callin seemed the very
voice of the day. :eepin in view the lint of the road, we allopedre#oicin, both of us, to be free of the #o #o of the lanes.
&nd first the voice of the curlew died then the lint of the road
vanished and we were Auite alone. Even the furHe was one no shape of
anythin left, only the black, peaty round, and the thickenin mist.
;e
miht as well have been that lonely bird crossin up there in the blind
white nothinness, like a human spirit wanderin on the undiscovered
moor
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of its own future.
The mare #umped a pile of stones, which appeared, as it were, after we
had passed over and it came into my mind that, if we happened to strike
one of the old Auarry pits, we should infallibly be killed. 3omehow,
there was pleasure in this thouht, that we miht, or miht not, strike
that old Auarry pit. The blood in us bein hot, we had pure #oy in
charin its white, impalpable solidity, which made way, and at once
closed in behind us. There was reat fun in this yard!by!yard discovery
that we were not yet dead, this flyin, shelterless challene to
whatever
miht lie out there, five yards in front. ;e felt supremely above the
wish to know that our necks were safe we were happy, pantin in the
vapour that beat aainst our faces from the sheer speed of our
allopin.
3uddenly the round rew lumpy and made up!hill. The mare slackened
pace we stopped. Before us, behind, to riht and left, white vapour.
9o sky, no distance, barely the earth. 9o wind in our faces, no wind
anywhere. &t first we #ust ot our breath, thouht nothin, talked a
little. Then came a chillness, a faint clutchin over the heart. The
mare snuffled we turned and made down!hill. &nd still the mistthickened, and seemed to darken ever so little we went slowly, suddenly
doubtful of all that was in front. There came into our minds visions,
so
distant in that darkenin vapour, of a warm stall and maner of oats of
tea and a lo fire. The mist seemed to have finers now, lon, dark
white, crawlin finers it seemed, too, to have in its sheer silence a
sort of muttered menace, a shuddery lurkinness, as if from out of it
that spirit of the unknown, which in hot blood we had #ust now so
leefully mocked, were creepin up at us, intent on its veneance. 3ince
the round no loner sloped, we could not o down!hill there were no
means left of tellin in what direction we were movin, and we stopped
to
listen. There was no sound, not one tiny noise of water, wind in trees,
or man not even of birds or the moor ponies. &nd the mist darkened.
The
mare reached her head down and walked on, smellin at the heather every
time she sniffed, one?s heart Auivered, hopin she had found the way.
3he threw up her head, snorted, and stood still and there passed #ust
in
front of us a pony and her foal, shapes of scamperin dusk, whisked like
blurred shadows across a sheet. 7oof!silent in the lon heather!!as
ever
were visitin hosts!!they were one in a flash. The mare pluned
forward, followin. But, in the feel of her allop, and the feel of my
heart, there was no more that ecstasy of facin the unknown there was
only the cold, hasty dread of loneliness. 6ar asunder as the poles were
those two sensations, evoked by this same motion. The mare swervedviolently and stopped. There, passin within three yards, from the same
direction as before, the soundless shapes of the pony and her foal flew
by aain, more intanible, less dusky now aainst the darker screen.
;ere we, then, to be haunted by those bewilderin uncanny ones, flittin
past ever from the same direction This time the mare did not follow,
but
stood still knowin as well as 4 that direction was Auite lost. 3oon,
with a whimper, she picked her way on aain, smellin at the heather.
&nd the mist darkenedD
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Then, out of the heart of that dusky whiteness, came a tiny sound we
stood, not breathin, turnin our heads. 4 could see the mare?s eye
fied and strainin at the vapour. The tiny sound rew till it became
the mutterin of wheels. The mare dashed forward. The mutterin ceased
untimely but she did not stop turnin abruptly to the left, she slid,
scrambled, and dropped into a trot. The mist seemed whiter below us we
were on the road. &nd involuntarily there came from me a sound, not
Auite a shout, not Auite an oath. 4 saw the mare?s eye turn back,
faintly derisive, as who should say% &lone 4 did itD Then slowly,
comfortably, a little ashamed, we #oed on, in the mood of men and
horses when daner is over. 3o pleasant it seemed now, in one short
half!hour, to have passed throuh the circle!swin of the emotions, from
the ecstasy of hot recklessness to the clutchin of chill fear. But the
meetin!point of those two sensations we had left out there on the
mysterious moorD ;hy, at one moment, had we thouht it finer than
anythin on earth to risk the breakin of our necks and the net,
shuddered at bein lost in the darkenin mist with winter niht fast
comin on
&nd very luuriously we turned once more into the lanes, en#oyin thepast, scentin the future. Close to home, the first little eddy of wind
stirred, and the son of drippin twis bean an owl hooted, honey!
soft,
in the fo. ;e came on two farm hands mendin the lane at the turn of
the avenue, and, curled on the top of the bank, their cosy red collie
pup, waitin for them to finish work for the day. 7e raised his sharp
nose and looked at us dewily. ;e turned down, paddin softly in the wet
fo!red drifts under the beechtrees, whereon the last leaves still
flickered out in the darkenin whiteness, that now seemed so little
eerie. ;e passed the rey!reen skeleton of the farm!yard ate. & hen
ran across us, cluckin, into the dusk. The maHe drew her lon,
home!comin snuffle, and stood still.
1I1.
T7E "')CE334)9
4n one of those corners of our land canopied by the fumes of blind
industry, there was, on that day, a lull in darkness. & fresh wind had
split the customary heaven, or roof of hell was sweepin lon drifts of
creamy clouds across a blue still pallid with reek. The sun even
shone!!a sun whose face seemed white and wonderin. &nd under that rare
sun all the little town, amon its sla heaps and few tall chimneys, had
an air of livin faster. 4n those continuous courts and alleys, where
the women worked, smoke from each little fore rose and dispersed intothe wind with strane alacrity amonst the women, too, there was that
same eaerness, for the sunshine had crept in and was makin pale all
those dark!raftered, sooted ceilins which covered them in, toether
with
their immortal comrades, the small open furnaces. &bout their work they
had been busy since seven o?clock their feet pressin the leather luns
which fanned the conical heaps of lowin fuel, their hands pokin into
the low a thin iron rod till the end could be curved into a fiery hook
snappin it with a mallet threadin it with tons on to the chain
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hammerin, closin the link and without a second?s pause, thrustin
the
iron rod aain into the low. &nd while they worked they chattered,
lauhed sometimes, now and then sihed. They seemed of all aes and all
types from her who looked like a peasant of "rovence, broad, brown, and
stron, to the weariest white consumptive wisp from old women of
seventy, with stralin rey hair, to fifteen!year!old irls. 4n the
cottae fores there would be but one worker, or two at most in the
shop
fores four, or even five, little lowin heaps four or five of the
rimy, pale lun!bellows and never a moment without a fiery hook about
to take its place on the rowin chains, never a second when the thin
smoke of the fores, and of those lives consumin slowly in front of
them, did not escape from out of the diny, whitewashed spaces past the
dark rafters, away to freedom.
But there had been in the air that mornin somethin more than the white
sunliht. There had been anticipation. &nd at two o?clock bean
fulfilment. The fores were stilled, and from court and alley forth
came
the women. 4n their raed workin clothes, in their best clothes!!solittle different in bonnets, in hats, bareheaded with babies born and
unborn, they swarmed into the hih street and formed across it behind
the
band. & strane, mapie, #ay!like flock black, white, patched with
brown and reen and blue, shiftin, chatterin, lauhin, seemin
unconscious of any purpose. & thousand and more of them, with faces
twisted and scored by those myriad deformins which a desperate
town!toilin and little food fasten on human visaes yet with hardly a
sinle evil or brutal face. 3eeminly it was not easy to be evil or
brutal on a wae that scarcely bound soul and body. & thousand and more
of the poorest!paid and hardest!worked human beins in the world.
)n the pavement alonside this strane, acAuiescin assembly of revolt,
about to march in protest aainst the conditions of their lives, stood a
youn woman without a hat and in poor clothes, but with a sort of beauty
in her rouh!haired, hih cheek!boned, dark!eyed face. 3he was not one
of them yet, by a stroke of 9ature?s irony, there was raven on her
face
alone of all those faces, the true look of rebellion a hauhty, almost
fierce, uneasy look!!an untamed look. )n all the other thousand faces
one could see no bitterness, no fierceness, not even enthusiasm only a
half!stolid, half!vivacious patience and eaerness as of children oin
to a party.
The band played and they bean to march.
$auhin, talkin, wavin flas, tryin to keep step with the sameepression slowly but surely comin over every face the future was not
only the present!!this happy present of marchin behind the discordance
of a brass band this strane present of crowded movement and lauhter
in
open air.
;e others!!some doHen accidentals like myself, and the tall, rey!haired
lady interested in @the people,@ toether with those few kind spirits in
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chare of @the show@!!marched too, a little self!conscious, desirin
with
a vaue military sensation to hold our heads up, but not too much, under
the eyes of the curious bystanders. These!!nearly all men!!were
well!wishers, it was said, thouh their faces, pale from their own work
in shop or furnace, epressed nothin but apathy. They wished well,
very
dumbly, in the presence of this new thin, as if they found it Aueer
that
women should be doin somethin for themselves Aueer and rather
danerous. & few, indeed, shuffled alon between the column and the
little hopeless shops and rimy factory sheds, and one or two
accompanied
their women, carryin the baby. 9ow and then there passed us some
better!to!do citiHen!a housewife, or lawyer?s clerk, or ironmoner, with
lips pressed rather tihtly toether and an air of takin no notice of
this disturbance of traffic, as thouh the whole thin were a rather
poor
#oke which they had already heard too often.
3o, with lauhter and a continual crack of voices our #ay!like crewswun
on, swayin and thumpin in the strane ecstasy of irreflection, happy
to
be movin they knew not where, nor reatly why, under the visitin sun,
to the sound of murdered music. ;henever the band stopped playin,
discipline became as tatterdemalion as the very flas and arments but
never once did they lose that look of essential order, as if indeed they
knew that, bein the worst!served creatures in the Christian world, they
were the chief uardians of the inherent dinity of man.
7atless, in the very front row, marched a tall slip of a irl,
arrow!straiht, and so thin, with dirty fair hair, in a blouse and skirt
apin behind, ever turnin her pretty face on its pretty slim neck from
side to side, so that one could see her blue eyes sweepin here, there,
everywhere, with a sort of flower!like wildness, as if a secret
embracin
of each moment forbade her to let them rest on anythin and break this
pleasure of #ust marchin. 4t seemed that in the never!still eyes of
that anaemic, happy irl the spirit of our march had elected to enshrine
itself and to make thence its little ecursions to each ecstatic
follower. Just behind her marched a little old woman!!a maker of
chains,
they said, for forty years!!whose black slits of eyes were sparklin,
who fluttered a bit of ribbon, and reeled with her sense of the
eAuisite
humour of the world. Every now and then she would make a rush at one of
her leaders to demonstrate how immoderately lorious was life. &nd eachtime she spoke the woman net to her, laden with a heavy baby, went off
into sAueals of lauhter. Behind her, aain, marched one who beat time
with her head and waved a little bit of stick, intoicated by this noble
music.
6or an hour the paeant wound throuh the de#ected street, pursuin
neither method nor set route, till it came to a deserted sla!heap,
selected for the speech!makin. 3lowly the motley reiment swun into
that rim amphitheatre under the pale sunshine and, as 4 watched, a
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strane fancy visited my brain. 4 seemed to see over every raed head
of those marchin women a little yellow flame, a thin, flickerin leam,
spirin upward and blown back by the wind. & trick of the sunliht,
maybe )r was it that the life in their hearts, the inetinuishable
breath of happiness, had for a moment escaped prison, and was flutterin
at the pleasure of the breeHe
3ilent now, #ust en#oyin the sound of the words thrown down to them,
they stood, unimainably patient, with that happiness of they knew not
what ildin the air above them between the patchwork ribands of their
poor flas. 4f they could not tell very much why they had come, nor
believe very much that they would ain anythin by comin if their
demonstration did not mean to the world Auite all that oratory would
have
them think if they themselves were but the poorest, humblest, least
learned women in the land!!for all that, it seemed to me that in those
tattered, wistful fiures, so still, so trustful, 4 was lookin on such
beauty as 4 had never beheld. &ll the elaborated lory of thins made,
the perfected dreams of aesthetes, the embroideries of romance, seemed
as
nothin beside this sudden vision of the wild oodness native in humblehearts.
1I1.
& C7'43T4&9
)ne day that summer, 4 came away from a luncheon in company of an old
Collee chum. &lways ecitin to meet those one hasn?t seen for years
and as we walked across the "ark toether 4 kept lookin at him askance.
7e had altered a ood deal. $ean he always was, but now very lean, and
so upriht that his parson?s coat was overhun by the back of his lon
and narrow head, with its dark riHHled hair, which thouht had not yet
loosened on his forehead. 7is clean!shorn face, so thin and oblon, was
remarkable only for the eyes% dark!browed and lashed, and coloured like
briht steel, they had a fiity in them, a sort of absence, on one
couldn?t tell what business. They made me think of torture. &nd his
mouth always ently smilin, as if its pinched curly sweetness had been
commanded, was the mouth of a man crucified!!yes, crucifiedD
Trampin silently over the parched rass, 4 felt that if we talked, we
must infallibly disaree his straiht!up, narrow forehead so suested
a
nature divided within itself into compartments of iron.
4t was hot that day, and we rested presently beside the 3erpentine. )nits briht waters were the usual youn men, scullin themselves to and
fro with their usual sad enery, the usual promenaders loiterin and
watchin them, the usual do that swam when it did not bark, and barked
when it did not swim and my friend sat smilin, twistin between his
thin finers the little old cross on his silk vest.
Then all of a sudden we did bein to talk and not of those matters of
which the well!bred naturally converse!!the habits of the rarer kinds of
ducks, and the careers of our Collee friends, but of somethin never
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mentioned in polite society.
&t lunch our hostess had told me the sad story of an unhappy marriae,
and 4 had itched spiritually to find out what my friend, who seemed so
far away from me, felt about such thins. &nd now 4 determined to find
out.
@Tell me,@ 4 asked him, @which do you consider most important!!the
letter
or the spirit of Christ?s teachins@
@=y dear fellow,@ he answered ently, @what a AuestionD 7ow can you
separate them@
@;ell, is it not the essence of 7is doctrine that the spirit is all
important, and the forms of little value (oes not that run throuh all
the 3ermon on the =ount@
@Certainly.@
@4f, then,@ 4 said, @Christ?s teachin is concerned with the spirit, doyou consider that Christians are #ustified in holdin others bound by
formal rules of conduct, without reference to what is passin in their
spirits@
@4f it is for their ood.@
@;hat enables you to decide what is for their ood@
@3urely, we are told.@
@9ot to #ude, that ye be not #uded.@
@)hD but we do not, ourselves, #ude we are but impersonal ministers of
the rules of God.@
@&hD (o eneral rules of conduct take account of the variations of the
individual spirit@
7e looked at me hard, as if he bean to scent heresy.
@You had better eplain yourself more fully,@ he said. @4 really don?t
follow.@
@;ell, let us take a concrete instance. ;e know Christ?s sayin of the
married that they are one fleshD But we know also that there are wives
who continue to live the married life with dreadful feelins of
spiritualrevolt wives who have found out that, in spite of all their efforts,
they
have no spiritual affinity with their husbands. 4s that in accordance
with the spirit of Christ?s teachin, or is it not@
@;e are told!!!!@ he bean.
@4 have admitted the definite commandment% ?They twain shall be one
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flesh.? There could not be, seeminly, any more riid law laid down
how
do you reconcile it with the essence of Christ?s teachin 6rankly, 4
want to know% 4s there or is there not a spiritual coherence in
Christianity, or is it only a atherin of laws and precepts, with no
inherent connected spiritual philosophy@
@)f course,@ he said, in his lon!sufferin voice, @we don?t look at
thins like that!!for us there is no Auestionin.@
@But how do you reconcile such marriaes as 4 speak of, with the spirit
of Christ?s teachin 4 think you ouht to answer me.@
@)hD 4 can, perfectly,@ he answered @the reconciliation is throuh
sufferin. ;hat a poor woman in such a case must suffer makes for the
salvation of her spirit. That is the spiritual fulfilment, and in such
a
case the #ustification of the law.@
@3o then,@ 4 said, @sacrifice or sufferin is the coherent thread of
Christian philosophy@
@3ufferin cheerfully borne,@ he answered.
@You do not think,@ 4 said, @that there is a touch of etravaance in
that ;ould you say, for eample, that an unhappy marriae is a more
Christian thin than a happy one, where there is no sufferin, but only
love@
& line came between his brows. @;ellD@ he said at last, @4 would say, 4
think, that a woman who crucifies her flesh with a cheerful spirit in
obedience to God?s law, stands hiher in the eyes of God than one who
underoes no such sacrifice in her married life.@ &nd 4 had the feelin
that his stare was passin throuh me, on its way to an unseen oal.
@You would desire, then, 4 suppose, sufferin as the reatest blessin
for yourself@
@7umbly,@ he said, @4 would try to.@
@&nd naturally, for others@
@God forbidD@
@But surely that is inconsistent.@
7e murmured% @You see, 4 have suffered.@
;e were silent. &t last 4 said% @Yes, that makes much which was dark
Auite clear to me.@
@)h@ he asked.
4 answered slowly% @9ot many men, you know, even in your profession,
have
really suffered. That is why they do not feel the difficulty which you
feel in desirin sufferin for others.@
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7e threw up his head eactly as if 4 had hit him on the #aw% @4t?s
weakness in me, 4 know,@ he said.
@4 should have rather called it weakness in them. But suppose you are
riht, and that it?s weakness not to be able to desire promiscuous
sufferin for others, would you o further and say that it is Christian
for those, who have not eperienced a certain kind of sufferin, to
force
that particular kind on others@
7e sat silent for a full minute, tryin evidently to reach to the bottom
of my thouht.
@3urely not,@ he said at last, @ecept as ministers of God?s laws.@
@You do not then think that it is Christian for the husband of such a
woman to keep her in that state of sufferin!!not bein, of course, a
minister of God@
7e bean stammerin at that% @4!!4!!!!@ he said. @9o that is, 4 thinknot!not Christian. 9o, certainly.@
@Then, such a marriae, if persisted in, makes of the wife indeed a
Christian, but of the husband!!the reverse.@
@The answer to that is clear,@ he said Auietly% @The husband must
abstain.@
@Yes, that is, perhaps, coherently Christian, on your theory% They would
then both suffer. But the marriae, of course, has become no marriae.
They are no loner one flesh.@
7e looked at me, almost impatiently as if to say% (o not compel me to
enforce silence on youD
@But, suppose,@ 4 went on, @and this, you know is the more freAuent
case, the man refuses to abstain. ;ould you then say it was more
Christian to allow him to become daily less Christian throuh his
unchristian conduct, than to relieve the woman of her sufferin at the
epense of the spiritual benefit she thence derives ;hy, in fact, do
you favour one case more than the other@
@&ll Auestion of relief,@ he replied, @is a matter for Caesar it cannot
concern me.@
There had come into his face a riidity!!as if 4 miht hit it with my
Auestions till my tonue was tired, and it be no more moved than thebench on which we were sittin.
@)ne more Auestion,@ 4 said, @and 4 have done. 3ince the Christian
teachin is concerned with the spirit and not forms, and the thread in
it
which binds all toether and makes it coherent, is that of
sufferin!!!!@
@'edemption by sufferin,@ he put in.
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@4f you will!!in one word, self!crucifiion!!4 must ask you, and don?t
take it personally, because of what you told me of yourself% 4n life
enerally, one does not accept from people any teachin that is not the
result of firsthand eperience on their parts. (o you believe that this
Christian teachin of yours is valid from the mouths of those who have
not themselves suffered!!who have not themselves, as it were, been
crucified@
7e did not answer for a minute then he said, with painful slowness%
@Christ laid hands on his apostles and sent them forth and they in
turn,
and so on, to our day.@
@(o you say, then, that this uarantees that they have themselves
suffered, so that in spirit they are identified with their teachin@
7e answered bravely% @9o!!4 do not!!4 cannot say that in fact it is
always so.@
@4s not then their teachin born of forms, and not of the spirit@
7e rose and with a sort of deep sorrow at my stubbornness said% @;e are
not permitted to know the way of this it is so ordained we must have
faith.@
&s he stood there, turned from me, with his hat off, and his neck
painfully flushed under the sharp outcurve of his dark head, a feelin
of
pity sured up in me, as if 4 had taken an unfair advantae.
@'eason!!coherence!!philosophy,@ he said suddenly. @You don?t
understand. &ll that is nothin to me!!nothin!!nothinD@
1I11
;49( 49 T7E ')C:3
Thouh dew!dark when we set forth, there was stealin into the froHen
air
an invisible white host of the wan!wined liht!!born beyond the
mountains, and already, like a drift of doves, harbourin rey!white
hih
up on the snowy skycaves of =onte Cristallo and within us, trampin
over
the valley meadows, was the incredible elation of those who set outbefore the sun has risen every minute of the precious day before us!!we
had not lost oneD
&t the mouth of that enchanted chine, across which for a million years
the howdahed rock elephant has marched, but never yet passed from siht,
we crossed the stream, and amon the trees bean our ascent. >ery far
away the first cowbells chimed and, over the dark heihts, we saw the
thin, sinkin moon, lookin like the white horns of some devotional
beast
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watchin and waitin up there for the od of liht. That od came
slowly, stalkin across far over our heads from top to top then, of a
sudden, his flame!white form was seen standin in a ap of the valley
walls the trees flun themselves alon the round before him, and
censers of pine um bean swinin in the dark aisles, releasin their
perfumed steam. Throuhout these happy ravines where no man lives, he
shows himself naked and unashamed, the colour of pale honey on his
olden hair such shinin as one has not elsewhere seen his eyes like
old
wine on fire. &nd already he had swept his hand across the invisible
strins, for there had arisen, the music of uncurlin leaves and
flittin
thins.
& leend runs, that, driven from land to land by Christians, &pollo hid
himself in $ower &ustria, but those who ever they saw him there in the
thirteenth century were wron it was to these enchanted chines,
freAuented only by the mountain shepherds, that he certainly came.
&nd as we were lyin on the rass, of the first alp, with the star
entians!!those fallen drops of the sky!!and the burnt!brown dandelions,and scattered shrubs of alpen!rose round us, we were visited by one of
these very shepherds, passin with his flock!!the fiercest!lookin man
who ever, spoke in a entle voice si feet hih, with an orane cloak,
bare knees burnt as the very dandelions, a beard blacker than black,
and
eyes more lorious than if sun and niht had dived and were lyin
imprisoned in their depths. 7e spoke in an unknown tonue, and could
certainly not understand any word of ours but he smelled of the ood
earth, and only throuh interminable watches under sun and stars could
so
reat a entleman have been perfected.
"resently, while we rested outside that &lpine hut which faces the three
sphin!like mountains, there came back, from climbin the smallest and
most danerous of those peaks, one, pale from heat, and tremblin with
fatiue a tall man, with lon brown hands, and a lon, thin, bearded
face. &nd, as he sipped cautiously of red wine and water, he looked at
his little conAuered mountain. 7is kindly, screwed!up eyes, his kindly,
bearded lips, even his limbs seemed smilin and not for the world would
we have #arred with words that rapt, smilin man, en#oyin the sacred
hour of him who has #ust proved himself. 4n silence we watched, in
silence left him smilin, knowin somehow that we should remember him
all
our days. 6or there was in his smile the lamour of adventure #ust for
the sake of daner all that hih instinct which takes a man out of his
chair to brave what he need not.
Between that hut and the three mountains lies a saddle!!astride of all
beauty and all colour, master of a titanic chaos of deep clefts, tawny
heihts, red domes, far snow, and the purple of lon shadows and,
standin there, we comprehended a little of what Earth had been throuh
in her time, to have made this playround for most lorious demons.
=other EarthD ;hat travail underone, what lon heroic throes, had
brouht on her face such ma#estyD
7ereabout edelweiss was clinin to smoothed!out rubble but a little
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hiher, even the everlastin plant was lost, there was no more life. &nd
presently we lay down on the mountain side, rather far apart. 8p here
above trees and pasture the wind had a strane, bare voice, free from
all
outer influence, sweepin alon with a cold, whiffin sound. )n the warm
stones, in full sunliht, uplifted over all the beauty of 4taly, one
felt
at first only deliht in space and wild loveliness, in the unknown
valleys, and the strenth of the sun. 4t was so ood to be alive so
ineffably ood to be livin in this most wonderful world, drinkin air
nectar.
Behind us, from the three mountains, came the freAuent thud and scuffle
of fallin rocks, loosened by rains. The wind, mist, and winter snow
had
round the powdery stones on which we lay to a pleasant bed, but once on
a time they, too, had clun up there. &nd very slowly, one could not
say
how or when, the sense of #oy bean chanin to a sense of fear. The
awful impersonality of those reat rock!creatures, the terrible
impartiality of that cold, clinin wind which swept by, never an inchlifted above roundD 9ot one tiny soul, the siHe of a mide or rock
flower, lived here. 9ot one little @4@ breathed here, and lovedD
&nd we, too, some day would no loner love, havin become part of this
monstrous, lovely earth, of that cold, whifflin air. To be no loner
able to loveD 4t seemed incredible, too rim to bear yet it was trueD
To become powder, and the wind no more to feel the sunliht to be
loved
no moreD To become a whifflin noise, cold, without one?s selfD To
drift on the breath of that noise, homelessD 8p here, there were not
even
those little velvet, rey!white flower!comrades we had plucked. 9o
lifeD
9othin but the creepin wind, and those reat rocky heihts, whence
came
the sound of fallin!symbols of that cold, untimely state into which we,
too, must pass. 9ever more to love, nor to be lovedD )ne could but turn
to the earth, and press one?s face to it, away from the wild loveliness.
)f what use loveliness that must be lost of what use loveliness when
one
could not love The earth was warm and firm beneath the palms of the
hands but there still came the sound of the impartial wind, and the
careless roar of the stories fallin.
Below, in those valleys amonst the livin trees and rass, was the
comradeship of unnumbered life, so that to pass out into "eace, to step
beyond, to die, seemed but a brotherly act, amonst all those othersbut
up here, where no creature breathed, we saw the heart of the desert that
stretches before each little human soul. 8p here, it froHe the spirit
even "eace seemed mockin!!hard as a stone. Yet, to try and hide, to
tuck one?s head under one?s own win, was not possible in this air so
crystal clear, so far above incense and the narcotics of set creeds, and
the fevered breath of prayers and protestations. Even to know that
between oranic and inoranic matter there is no ulf fied, was of no
peculiar comfort. The #ealous wind came creepin over the lifeless
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limestone, removin even the poor solace of its warmth one turned from
it, desperate, to look up at the sky, the blue, burnin, wide,
ineffable,
far sky.
Then slowly, without reason, that icy fear passed into a feelin, not of
#oy, not of peace, but as if $ife and (eath were ealted into what was
neither life nor death, a strane and motionless vibration, in which one
had been mered, and rested, utterly content, eAuipoised, divested of
desire, endowed with life and death.
But since this moment had come before its time, we ot up, and, close
toether, marched on rather silently, in the hot sun.
1I1.
=Y (43T&9T 'E$&T4>E
Thouh 4 had not seen my distant relative for years!!not, in fact, sincehe was oblied to ive >ancouver 4sland up as a bad #ob!!4 knew him at
once, when, with head a little on one side, and tea!cup held hih, as
if,
to confer a blessin, he said% @7alloD@ across the Club smokin!room.
Thin as a lath!!not one ounce heavier!!tall, and very upriht, with his
pale forehead, and pale eyes, and pale beard, he had the air of a host
of a man. 7e had always had that air. &nd his voice!!that
matter!of!fact and slihtly nasal voice, with its thin, pramatical
tone!!was like a wraith of optimism, issuin between pale lips. 4
noticed too, that his town habiliments still had their unspeakable pale
neatness, as if, poor thins, they were tryin to stare the dayliht out
of countenance.
7e brouht his tea across to my bay window, with that wistful
sociability
of his, as of a man who cannot always find a listener.
@But what are you doin in town@ 4 said. @4 thouht you were in
Yorkshire with your aunt.@
)ver his round, liht eyes, fied on somethin in the street, the lids
fell Auickly twice, as the film falls over the eyes of a parrot.
@4?m after a #ob,@ he answered. @=ust be on the spot #ust now.@
&nd it seemed to me that 4 had heard those words from him before.
@&h, yes,@ 4 said, @and do you think you?ll et it@
But even as 4 spoke 4 felt sorry, rememberin how many #obs he had been
after in his time, and how soon they ended when he had ot them.
7e answered%
@)h, yesD They ouht to ive it me,@ then added rather suddenly% @You
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never know, thouh. "eople are so funnyD@
&nd crossin his thin les, he went on to tell me, with Auaint
impersonality, a number of instances of how people had been funny in
connection with #obs he had not been iven.
@You see,@ he ended, @the country?s in such a state!!capital oin out
of
it every day. Enterprise bein killed all over the place. There?s
practically nothin to be hadD@
@&hD@ 4 said, @you think it?s worse, then, than it used to be@
7e smiled in that smile there was a shade of patronae.
@;e?re oin down!hill as fast as ever we can. 9ational character?s
losin all its backbone. 9o wonder, with all this molly!coddlin oin
onD@
@)hD@ 4 murmured, @molly!coddlin 4sn?t that ecessive@
@;ellD $ook at the way everythin?s bein done for themD The workin
classes are losin their self!respect as fast as ever they can. Their
independence is one alreadyD@
@You think@
@3ure of itD 4?ll ive you an instance!!!!@ and he went on to describe
to me the deeneracy of certain workin men employed by his aunt and his
eldest brother Claud and his younest brother &lan.
@They don?t do a stroke more than they?re oblied,@ he ended @they know
#olly well they?ve ot their 8nions, and their pensions, and this
4nsurance, to fall back on.@
4t was evidently a sub#ect on which he felt stronly.
@Yes,@ he muttered, @the nation is bein rotted down.@
&nd a faint thrill of surprise passed throuh me. 6or the affairs of
the
nation moved him so much more stronly than his own. 7is voice already
had a different rin, his eyes a different look. 7e eaerly leaned
forward, and his lon, straiht backbone looked loner and straihter
than ever. 7e was less the host of a man. & faint flush even had come
into his pale cheeks, and he moved his well!kept hands emphatically.
@)h, yesD@ he said% @The country is oin to the dos, riht enouh butyou can?t et them to see it. They o on sappin and sappin the
independence of the people. 4f the workin man?s to be looked after,
whatever he does!!what on earth?s to become of his o, and foresiht,
and
perseverance@
4n his risin voice a certain piAuancy was left to its accent of the
rulin class by that faint twan, which came, 4 remembered, from some
sliht defect in his tonsils.
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@=ark my wordsD 3o lon as we?re on these lines, we shall do nothin.
4t?s oin aainst evolution. They say (arwin?s ettin old!fashioned
all 4 know is, he?s ood enouh for me. Competition is the only thin.@
@But competition,@ 4 said, @is bitter cruel, and some people can?t stand
aainst itD@ &nd 4 looked at him rather hard% @(o you ob#ect to puttin
any sort of floor under the feet of people like that@
7e let his voice drop a little, as if in deference to my scruples.
@&hD@ he said @but if you once bein this sort of thin, there?s no end
to it. 4t?s so insidious. The more they have, the more they want and
all the time they?re losin fihtin power. 4?ve thouht pretty deeply
about this. 4t?s shortsihted it really doesn?t doD@
@But,@ 4 said, @surely you?re not aainst savin people from bein
knocked out of time by old ae, and accidents like illness, and the
fluctuations of trade@
@)hD@ he said, @4?m not a bit aainst charity. &unt Emma?s splendidabout that. &nd Claud?s awfully ood. 4 do what 4 can, myself.@ 7e
looked at me, so Aueerly deprecatin, that 4 Auite liked him at that
moment. &t heart!!4 felt he was a ood fellow. @&ll 4 think is,@ he
went on, @that to ive them somethin that they can rely on as a matter
of course, apart from their own eertions, is the wron principle
altoether,@ and suddenly his voice bean to rise aain, and his eyes to
stare. @4?m convinced that all this doin thins for other people, and
bolsterin up the weak, is rotten. 4t stands to reason that it must
be.@
7e had risen to his feet, so preoccupied with the wronness of that
principle that he seemed to have forotten my presence. &nd as he stood
there in the window the liht was too stron for him. &ll the thin
incapacity of that shadowy fiure was pitilessly displayed the
desperate
narrowness in that lon, pale face the wamblin look of those pale,
well!kept hands!!all that made him such a host of a man. But his nasal,
domatic voice rose and rose.
@There?s nothin for it but bracin upD ;e must cut away all this 3tate
support we must teach them to rely on themselves. 4t?s all sheer
pauperisation.@
&nd suddenly there shot throuh me the fear that he miht burst one of
those little blue veins in his pale forehead, so vehement had he become
and hastily 4 chaned the sub#ect.
@(o you like livin up there with your aunt@ 4 asked% @4sn?t it a bit
Auiet@
7e turned, as if 4 had awakened him from a dream.
@)h, wellD@ he said, @it?s only till 4 et this #ob.@
@$et me see!!how lon is it since you!!!!@
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@6our years. 3he?s very lad to have me, of course.@
@&nd how?s your brother Claud@
@)hD &ll riht, thanks a bit worried with the estate. The poor old
ov?nor left it in rather a mess, you know.@
@&hD Yes. (oes he do other work@
@)hD &lways busy in the parish.@
@&nd your brother 'ichard@
@7e?s all riht. Came home this year. Got #ust enouh to live on, with
his pension!!hasn?t saved a rap, of course.@
@&nd ;illie 4s he still delicate@
@Yes.@
@4?m sorry.@
@Easy #ob, his, you know. &nd even if his health does ive out, his
collee pals will always find him some sort of sinecure. 3o #olly
popular, old ;illieD@
@&nd &lan 4 haven?t heard anythin of him since his "eruvian thin
came
to rief. 7e married, didn?t he@
@'atherD )ne of the Burleys. 9ice irl!!heiress lot of property in
7ampshire. 7e looks after it for her now.@
@(oesn?t do anythin else, 4 suppose@
@:eeps up his antiAuarianism.@
4 had ehausted the members of his family.
Then, as thouh by elicitin the ood fortunes of his brothers 4 had
cast
some slur upon himself, he said suddenly% @4f the railway had come, as
it
ouht to have, while 4 was out there, 4 should have done Auite well with
my fruit farm.@
@)f course,@ 4 areed @it was bad luck. But after all, you?re sure to
et a #ob soon, and!!so lon as you can live up there with your aunt!!you
can afford to wait, and not bother.@
@Yes,@ he murmured. &nd 4 ot up.
@;ell, it?s been very #olly to hear about you allD@
7e followed me out.
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@&wfully lad, old man,@ he said, @to have seen you, and had this talk.
4 was feelin rather low. ;aitin to know whether 4 et that #ob!!it?s
not lively.@
7e came down the Club steps with me. By the door of my cab a loafer was
standin a tall tatterdemalion with a pale, bearded face. =y distant
relative fended him away, and leanin throuh the window, murmured%
@&wful lot of these chaps about nowD@
6or the life of me 4 could not help lookin at him very straiht. But no
flicker of apprehension crossed his face.
@;ell, ood!by aainD@ he said% @You?ve cheered me up a lotD@
4 lanced back from my movin cab. 3ome monetary transaction was
passin
between him and the loafer, but, short!sihted as 4 am, 4 found it
difficult to decide which of those tall, pale, bearded fiures was
ivin
the other one a penny. &nd by some strane freak an awful vision shot up
before me!!of myself, and my distant relative, and Claud, and 'ichard,and ;illie, and &lan, all suddenly relyin on ourselves. 4 took out my
handkerchief to mop my brow but a thouht struck me, and 4 put it back.
;as it possible for me, and my distant relatives, and their distant
relatives, and so on to infinity of those who be loned to a class
provided by birth with a certain position, raised by "rovidence on to a
platform made up of money inherited, of interest, of education fittin
us
for certain privileed pursuits, of friends similarly endowed, of
substantial homes, and substantial relatives of some sort or other, on
whom we could fall back!!was it possible for any of us ever to be in the
position of havin to rely absolutely on ourselves 6or several minutes
4 pondered that Auestion and slowly 4 came to the conclusion that,
short
of crime, or that unlikely event, maroonin, it was not possible.
9ever,
never!!try as we miht!!could any sinle one of us be Auite in the
position of one of those whose approachin pauperisation my distant
relative had so vehemently deplored. ;e were already pauperised. 4f we
served our country, we were pensioned.... 4f we inherited land, it
could
not be taken from us. 4f we went into the Church, we were there for
life,
whether we were suitable or no. 4f we attempted the more haHardous
occupations of the law, medicine, the arts, or business, there were
always those homes, those relations, those friends of ours to fall back
on, if we failed. 9oD ;e could never have to rely entirely on
ourselves we could never be pauperised more than we were alreadyD &nda
liht burst in on me. That eplained why my distant relative felt so
keenly. 4t bit him, for he saw, of course, how dreadful it would be for
these poor people of the workin classes when leislation had succeeded
in placin them in the humiliatin position in which we already were!!
the
dreadful position of havin somethin to depend on apart from our own
eertions, some sort of security in our lives. 4 saw it now. 4t was his
secret pride, nawin at him all the time, that made him so rabid on the
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point. 7e was lonin, doubtless, day and niht, not to have had a
father who had land, and had left a sister well enouh off to keep him
while he was waitin for his #ob. 7e must be feelin how horribly
deradin was the position of Claud!!inheritin that land and of
'ichard, who, #ust because he had served in the 4ndian Civil 3ervice,