The Woodlanders Part 2 by Thomas Hardy (best romantic books to read txt) 📕

It....It Is Chiefly Loss Of Blood."

"But I Thought Your Fall Did Not Hurt You," Said She.  "Who Did

This?"

"Felice--My Father-In-Law!...I Have Crawled to You More Than A

Mile On My Hands And Knees--God,  I Thought I Should Never Have Got

Here!...I Have Come To You--Be-Cause You Are The Only Friend--I

Have In the World Now....I Can Never Go Back To Hintock--Never--To

The Roof Of The Melburys! Not Poppy Nor Mandragora Will Ever

Medicine This Bitter Feud!...If I Were Only Well Again--"

"Let Me Bind Your Head,  Now That You Have Rested."

"Yes--But Wait A Moment--It Has Stopped bleeding,  Fortunately,  Or

I Should Be A Dead Man Before Now.  While In the Wood I Managed to

Make A Tourniquet Of Some Half-Pence And My Handkerchief,  As Well

As I Could In the Dark....But Listen,  Dear Felice! Can You Hide Me

Till I Am Well? Whatever Comes,  I Can Be Seen In hintock No More.

My Practice Is Nearly Gone,  You Know--And After This I Would Not

Care To Recover It If I Could."

By This Time Felice'S Tears Began To Blind Her.  Where Were Now

Her Discreet Plans For Sundering their Lives Forever? To

Administer To Him In his Pain,  And Trouble,  And Poverty,  Was Her

Single Thought.  The First Step Was To Hide Him,  And She Asked

Herself Where.  A Place Occurred to Her Mind.

She Got Him Some Wine From The Dining-Room,  Which Strengthened him

Much.  Then She Managed to Remove His Boots,  And,  As He Could Now

Keep Himself Upright By Leaning upon Her On One Side And A

Walking-Stick On The Other,  They Went Thus In slow March Out Of

The Room And Up The Stairs.  At The Top She Took Him Along A

Gallery,  Pausing whenever He Required rest,  And Thence Up A

Smaller Staircase To The Least Used part Of The House,  Where She

Unlocked a Door.  Within Was A Lumber-Room,  Containing abandoned

Furniture Of All Descriptions,  Built Up In piles Which Obscured

The Light Of The Windows,  And Formed between Them Nooks And Lairs

In Which A Person Would Not Be Discerned even Should An Eye Gaze

In At The Door.  The Articles Were Mainly Those That Had Belonged

To The Previous Owner Of The House,  And Had Been Bought In by The

Late Mr. Charmond At The Auction; But Changing fashion,  And The

Tastes Of A Young Wife,  Had Caused them To Be Relegated to This

Dungeon.

Here Fitzpiers Sat On The Floor Against The Wall Till She Had

Hauled out Materials For A Bed,  Which She Spread On The Floor In

One Of The Aforesaid Nooks.  She Obtained water And A Basin,  And

Washed the Dried blood From His Face And Hands; And When He Was

Comfortably Reclining,  Fetched food From The Larder.  While He Ate

Her Eyes Lingered anxiously On His Face,  Following its Every

Movement With Such Loving-Kindness As Only A Fond Woman Can Show.

He Was Now In better Condition,  And Discussed his Position With

Her.

"What I Fancy I Said To Melbury Must Have Been Enough To Enrage

Any Man,  If Uttered in cold Blood,  And With Knowledge Of His

Presence.  But I Did Not Know Him,  And I Was Stupefied by What He

Had Given Me,  So That I Hardly Was Aware Of What I Said.  Well--

The Veil Of That Temple Is Rent In twain!...As I Am Not Going to

Be Seen Again In hintock,  My First Efforts Must Be Directed to

Allay Any Alarm That May Be Felt At My Absence,  Before I Am Able

To Get Clear Away.  Nobody Must Suspect That I Have Been Hurt,  Or

There Will Be A Country Talk About Me.  Felice,  I Must At Once

Concoct A Letter To Check All Search For Me.  I Think If You Can

Bring me A Pen And Paper I May Be Able To Do It Now.  I Could Rest

Better If It Were Done.  Poor Thing! How I Tire Her With Running

Up And Down!"

She Fetched writing materials,  And Held Up The Blotting-Book As A

Support To His Hand,  While He Penned a Brief Note To His Nominal

Wife.

"The Animosity Shown Towards Me By Your Father," He Wrote,  In this

Coldest Of Marital Epistles,  "Is Such That I Cannot Return Again

To A Roof Which Is His,  Even Though It Shelters You.  A Parting is

Unavoidable,  As You Are Sure To Be On His Side In this Division.

I Am Starting on A Journey Which Will Take Me A Long Way From

Hintock,  And You Must Not Expect To See Me There Again For Some

Time."

He Then Gave Her A Few Directions Bearing upon His Professional

Engagements And Other Practical Matters,  Concluding without A Hint

Of His Destination,  Or A Notion Of When She Would See Him Again.

He Offered to Read The Note To Felice Before He Closed it Up,  But

She Would Not Hear Or See It; That Side Of His Obligations

Distressed her Beyond Endurance.  She Turned away From Fitzpiers,

And Sobbed bitterly.

"If You Can Get This Posted at A Place Some Miles Away," He

Whispered,  Exhausted by The Effort Of Writing--"At Shottsford Or

Port-Bredy,  Or Still Better,  Budmouth--It Will Divert All

Suspicion From This House As The Place Of My Refuge."

"I Will Drive To One Or Other Of The Places Myself--Anything to

Keep It Unknown," She Murmured,  Her Voice Weighted with Vague

Foreboding,  Now That The Excitement Of Helping him Had Passed

Away.

Fitzpiers Told Her That There Was Yet One Thing more To He Done.

"In Creeping over The Fence On To The Lawn," He Said,  "I Made The

Rail Bloody,  And It Shows Rather Much On The White Paint--I Could

See It In the Dark.  At All Hazards It Should Be Washed off.

Could You Do That Also,  Felice?"

What Will Not Women Do On Such Devoted occasions? Weary As She Was

She Went All The Way Down The Rambling staircases To The Ground-

Floor,  Then To Search For A Lantern,  Which She Lighted and Hid

Under Her Cloak; Then For A Wet Sponge,  And Next Went Forth Into

The Night.  The White Railing stared out In the Darkness At Her

Approach,  And A Ray From The Enshrouded lantern Fell Upon The

Blood--Just Where He Had Told Her It Would Be Found.  She

Shuddered.  It Was Almost Too Much To Bear In one Day--But With A

Shaking hand She Sponged the Rail Clean,  And Returned to The

House.

The Time Occupied by These Several Proceedings Was Not Much Less

Than Two Hours.  When All Was Done,  And She Had Smoothed his

Extemporized bed,  And Placed everything within His Reach That She

Could Think Of,  She Took Her Leave Of Him,  And Locked him In.

When Her Husband'S Letter Reached grace'S Hands,  Bearing upon It

The Postmark Of A Distant Town,  It Never Once Crossed her Mind

That Fitzpiers Was Within A Mile Of Her Still.  She Felt Relieved

That He Did Not Write More Bitterly Of The Quarrel With Her

Father,  Whatever Its Nature Might Have Been; But The General

Frigidity Of His Communication Quenched in her The Incipient Spark

That Events Had Kindled so Shortly Before.

From This Centre Of Information It Was Made Known In hintock That

The Doctor Had Gone Away,  And As None But The Melbury Household

Was Aware That He Did Not Return On The Night Of His Accident,  No

Excitement Manifested itself In the Village.

Thus The Early Days Of May Passed by.  None But The Nocturnal

Birds And Animals Observed that Late One Evening,  Towards The

Middle Of The Month,  A Closely Wrapped figure,  With A Crutch Under

One Arm And A Stick In his Hand,  Crept Out From Hintock House

Across The Lawn To The Shelter Of The Trees,  Taking thence A Slow

And Laborious Walk To The Nearest Point Of The Turnpike-Road.  The

Mysterious Personage Was So Disguised that His Own Wife Would

Hardly Have Known Him.  Felice Charmond Was A Practised hand At

Make-Ups,  As Well She Might Be; And She Had Done Her Utmost In

Padding and Painting fitzpiers With The Old Materials Of Her Art

In The Recesses Of The Lumber-Room.

In The Highway He Was Met By A Covered carriage,  Which Conveyed

Him To Sherton-Abbas,  Whence He Proceeded to The Nearest Port On

The South Coast,  And Immediately Crossed the Channel.

But It Was Known To Everybody That Three Days After This Time Mrs.

Charmond Executed her Long-Deferred plan Of Setting out For A Long

Term Of Travel And Residence On The Continent.  She Went Off One

Morning as Unostentatiously As Could Be,  And Took No Maid With

Her,  Having,  She Said,  Engaged one To Meet Her At A Point Farther

On In her Route.  After That,  Hintock House,  So Frequently

Deserted,  Was Again To Be Let.  Spring had Not Merged in summer

When A Clinching rumor,  Founded on The Best Of Evidence,  Reached

The Parish And Neighborhood.  Mrs. Charmond And Fitzpiers Had Been

Seen Together In baden,  In relations Which Set At Rest The

Question That Had Agitated the Little Community Ever Since The

Winter.

Melbury Had Entered the Valley Of Humiliation Even Farther Than

Grace.  His Spirit Seemed broken.

But Once A Week He Mechanically Went To Market As Usual,  And Here,

As He Was Passing by The Conduit One Day,  His Mental Condition

Expressed largely By His Gait,  He Heard His Name Spoken By A Voice

Formerly Familiar.  He Turned and Saw A Certain Fred beaucock--

Once A Promising lawyer'S Clerk And Local Dandy,  Who Had Been

Called the Cleverest Fellow In sherton,  Without Whose Brains The

Firm Of Solicitors Employing him Would Be Nowhere.  But Later On

Beaucock Had Fallen Into The Mire.  He