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

Hedge To The Path Immediately Outside The Boundary.  Here,  By The

Help Of A Stout Stake,  He Set The Trap,  And Laid It Carefully

Behind A Bush While He Went Forward To Reconnoitre.  As Has Been

Stated,  Nobody Passed this Way For Days Together Sometimes; But

There Was Just A Possibility That Some Other Pedestrian Than The

One In request Might Arrive,  And It Behooved tim To Be Careful As

To The Identity Of His Victim.

Going about A Hundred yards Along The Rising ground To The Right,

He Reached a Ridge Whereon A Large And Thick Holly Grew.  Beyond

This For Some Distance The Wood Was More Open,  And The Course

Which Fitzpiers Must Pursue To Reach The Point,  If He Came To-

Night,  Was Visible A Long Way Forward.

For Some Time There Was No Sign Of Him Or Of Anybody.  Then There

Shaped itself A Spot Out Of The Dim Mid-Distance,  Between The

Masses Of Brushwood On Either Hand.  And It Enlarged,  And Tim

Could Hear The Brushing of Feet Over The Tufts Of Sour-Grass.  The

Airy Gait Revealed fitzpiers Even Before His Exact Outline Could

Be Seen.

Tim Tangs Turned about,  And Ran Down The Opposite Side Of The

Hill,  Till He Was Again At The Head Of His Own Garden.  It Was The

Work Of A Few Moments To Drag Out The Man-Trap,  Very Gently--That

The Plate Might Not Be Disturbed sufficiently To Throw It--To A

Space Between A Pair Of Young Oaks Which,  Rooted in contiguity,

Grew Apart Upward,  Forming a V-Shaped opening between; And,  Being

Backed up By Bushes,  Left This As The Only Course For A Foot-

Passenger.  In it He Laid The Trap With The Same Gentleness Of

Handling,  Locked the Chain Round One Of The Trees,  And Finally

Slid Back The Guard Which Was Placed to Keep The Gin From

Accidentally Catching the Arms Of Him Who Set It,  Or,  To Use The

Local And Better Word,  "Toiled" It.

Having completed these Arrangements,  Tim Sprang Through The

Adjoining hedge Of His Father'S Garden,  Ran Down The Path,  And

Softly Entered the House.

Obedient To His Order,  Suke Had Gone To Bed; And As Soon As He Had

Bolted the Door,  Tim Unlaced and Kicked off His Boots At The Foot

Of The Stairs,  And Retired likewise,  Without Lighting a Candle.

His Object Seemed to Be To Undress As Soon As Possible.  Before,

However,  He Had Completed the Operation,  A Long Cry Resounded

Without--Penetrating,  But Indescribable.

"What'S That?" Said Suke,  Starting up In bed.

"Sounds As If Somebody Had Caught A Hare In his Gin."

"Oh No," Said She.  "It Was Not A Hare,  'Twas Louder.  Hark!"

"Do 'Ee Get To Sleep," Said Tim.  "How Be You Going to Wake At

Half-Past Three Else?"

She Lay Down And Was Silent.  Tim Stealthily Opened the Window And

Listened.  Above The Low Harmonies Produced by The Instrumentation

Of The Various Species Of Trees Around The Premises He Could Hear

The Twitching of A Chain From The Spot Whereon He Had Set The Man-

Trap.  But Further Human Sound There Was None.

Tim Was Puzzled.  In the Haste Of His Project He Had Not

Calculated upon A Cry; But If One,  Why Not More? He Soon Ceased to

Essay An Answer,  For Hintock Was Dead To Him Already.  In half A

Dozen Hours He Would Be Out Of Its Precincts For Life,  On His Way

To The Antipodes.  He Closed the Window And Lay Down.

The Hour Which Had Brought These Movements Of Tim To Birth Had

Been Operating actively Elsewhere.  Awaiting in her Father'S House

The Minute Of Her Appointment With Her Husband,  Grace Fitzpiers

Deliberated on Many Things.  Should She Inform Her Father Before

Going out That The Estrangement Of Herself And Edgar Was Not So

Complete As He Had Imagined,  And Deemed desirable For Her

Happiness? If She Did So She Must In some Measure Become The

Apologist Of Her Husband,  And She Was Not Prepared to Go So Far.

As For Him,  He Kept Her In a Mood Of Considerate Gravity.  He

Certainly Had Changed.  He Had At His Worst Times Always Been

Gentle In his Manner Towards Her.  Could It Be That She Might Make

Of Him A True And Worthy Husband Yet?  She Had Married him; There

Was No Getting over That; And Ought She Any Longer To Keep Him At

A Distance?  His Suave Deference To Her Lightest Whim On The

Question Of His Comings And Goings,  When As Her Lawful Husband He

Might Show A Little Independence,  Was A Trait In his Character As

Unexpected as It Was Engaging.  If She Had Been His Empress,  And

He Her Thrall,  He Could Not Have Exhibited a More Sensitive Care

To Avoid Intruding upon Her Against Her Will.

Impelled by A Remembrance She Took Down A Prayer-Book And Turned

To The Marriage-Service.  Reading it Slowly Through,  She Became

Quite Appalled at Her Recent Off-Handedness,  When She Rediscovered

What Awfully Solemn Promises She Had Made Him At Those Chancel

Steps Not So Very Long Ago.

She Became Lost In long Ponderings On How Far A Person'S

Conscience Might Be Bound By Vows Made Without At The Time A Full

Recognition Of Their Force.  That Particular Sentence,  Beginning

"Whom God Hath Joined together," Was A Staggerer For A Gentlewoman

Of Strong Devotional Sentiment.  She Wondered whether God Really

Did Join Them Together.  Before She Had Done Deliberating the Time

Of Her Engagement Drew Near,  And She Went Out Of The House Almost

At The Moment That Tim Tangs Retired to His Own.

The Position Of Things At That Critical Juncture Was Briefly As

Follows.

Two Hundred yards To The Right Of The Upper End Of Tangs'S Garden

Fitzpiers Was Still Advancing,  Having now Nearly Reached the

Summit Of The Wood-Clothed ridge,  The Path Being the Actual One

Which Further On Passed between The Two Young Oaks.  Thus Far It

Was According to Tim'S Conjecture.  But About Two Hundred yards To

The Left,  Or Rather Less,  Was Arising a Condition Which He Had Not

Divined,  The Emergence Of Grace As Aforesaid From The Upper Corner

Of Her Father'S Garden,  With The View Of Meeting tim'S Intended

Victim.  Midway Between Husband And Wife Was The Diabolical Trap,

Silent,  Open,  Ready.

Fitzpiers'S Walk That Night Had Been Cheerful,  For He Was

Convinced that The Slow And Gentle Method He Had Adopted was

Promising success.  The Very Restraint That He Was Obliged to

Exercise Upon Himself,  So As Not To Kill The Delicate Bud Of

Returning confidence,  Fed his Flame.  He Walked so Much More

Rapidly Than Grace That,  If They Continued advancing as They Had

Begun,  He Would Reach The Trap A Good Half-Minute Before She Could

Reach The Same Spot.

But Here A New Circumstance Came In; To Escape The Unpleasantness

Of Being watched or Listened to By Lurkers--Naturally Curious By

Reason Of Their Strained relations--They Had Arranged that Their

Meeting for To-Night Should Be At The Holm-Tree On The Ridge Above

Named.  So Soon,  Accordingly,  As Fitzpiers Reached the Tree He

Stood Still To Await Her.

He Had Not Paused under The Prickly Foliage More Than Two Minutes

When He Thought He Heard A Scream From The Other Side Of The

Ridge.  Fitzpiers Wondered what It Could Mean; But Such Wind As

There Was Just Now Blew In an Adverse Direction,  And His Mood Was

Light.  He Set Down The Origin Of The Sound To One Of The

Superstitious Freaks Or Frolicsome Scrimmages Between Sweethearts

That Still Survived in hintock From Old-English Times; And Waited

On Where He Stood Till Ten Minutes Had Passed.  Feeling then A

Little Uneasy,  His Mind Reverted to The Scream; And He Went

Forward Over The Summit And Down The Embowered incline,  Till He

Reached the Pair Of Sister Oaks With The Narrow Opening between

Them.

Fitzpiers Stumbled and All But Fell.  Stretching down His Hand To

Ascertain The Obstruction,  It Came In contact With A Confused mass

Of Silken Drapery And Iron-Work That Conveyed absolutely No

Explanatory Idea To His Mind At All.  It Was But The Work Of A

Moment To Strike A Match; And Then He Saw A Sight Which Congealed

His Blood.

The Man-Trap Was Thrown; And Between Its Jaws Was Part Of A

Woman'S Clothing--A Patterned silk Skirt--Gripped with Such

Violence That The Iron Teeth Had Passed through It,  Skewering its

Tissue In a Score Of Places.  He Immediately Recognized the Skirt

As That Of One Of His Wife'S Gowns--The Gown That She Had Worn

When She Met Him On The Very Last Occasion.

Fitzpiers Had Often Studied the Effect Of These Instruments When

Examining the Collection At Hintock House,  And The Conception

Instantly Flashed through Him That Grace Had Been Caught,  Taken

Out Mangled by Some Chance Passer,  And Carried home,  Some Of Her

Clothes Being left Behind In the Difficulty Of Getting her Free.

The Shock Of This Conviction,  Striking into The Very Current Of

High Hope,  Was So Great That He Cried out Like One In corporal

Agony,  And In his Misery Bowed himself Down To The Ground.

Of All The Degrees And Qualities Of Punishment That Fitzpiers Had

Undergone Since His Sins Against Grace First Began,  Not Any Even

Approximated in intensity To This.

"Oh,  My Own--My Darling! Oh,  Cruel Heaven--It Is Too Much,  This!"

He Cried,  Writhing and Rocking himself Over The Sorry Accessaries

Of Her He Deplored.

The Voice Of His Distress Was Sufficiently Loud To Be Audible To

Any One Who Might Have Been There To Hear It; And One There Was.

Right And Left Of The Narrow Pass Between The Oaks Were Dense

Bushes; And Now From Behind These A Female Figure Glided,  Whose

Appearance Even In the Gloom Was,  Though Graceful In outline,

Noticeably