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

Wagons,  Who Carried them To The Fair For Him Every Year Out Of

Neighborly Kindness.

The Scene And The Occasion Would Have Enlivened her But That Her

Husband Was Still Absent; Though It Was Now Five O'Clock.  She

Could Hardly Suppose Him,  Whatever His Infatuation,  To Have

Prolonged to A Later Hour Than Ten An Ostensibly Professional Call

On Mrs. Charmond At Middleton; And He Could Have Ridden Home In

Two Hours And A Half.  What,  Then,  Had Become Of Him? That He Had

Been Out The Greater Part Of The Two Preceding nights Added to Her

Uneasiness.

She Dressed herself,  Descended,  And Went Out,  The Weird Twilight

Of Advancing day Chilling the Rays From The Lanterns,  And Making

The Men'S Faces Wan.  As Soon As Melbury Saw Her He Came Round,

Showing his Alarm.

"Edgar Is Not Come," She Said.  "And I Have Reason To Know That

He'S Not Attending anybody.  He Has Had No Rest For Two Nights

Before This.  I Was Going to The Top Of The Hill To Look For Him."

"I'Ll Come With You," Said Melbury.

She Begged him Not To Hinder Himself; But He Insisted,  For He Saw

A Peculiar And Rigid Gloom In her Face Over And Above Her

Uneasiness,  And Did Not Like The Look Of It.  Telling the Men He

Would Be With Them Again Soon,  He Walked beside Her Into The

Turnpike-Road,  And Partly Up The Hill Whence She Had Watched

Fitzpiers The Night Before Across The Great White Hart Or

Blackmoor Valley.  They Halted beneath A Half-Dead Oak,  Hollow,

And Disfigured with White Tumors,  Its Roots Spreading out Like

Accipitrine Claws Grasping the Ground.  A Chilly Wind Circled

Round Them,  Upon Whose Currents The Seeds Of A Neighboring lime-

Tree,  Supported parachute-Wise By The Wing attached,  Flew Out Of

The Boughs Downward Like Fledglings From Their Nest.  The Vale Was

Wrapped in a Dim Atmosphere Of Unnaturalness,  And The East Was

Like A Livid Curtain Edged with Pink.  There Was No Sign Nor Sound

Of Fitzpiers.

"It Is No Use Standing here," Said Her Father.  "He May Come Home

Fifty Ways...Why,  Look Here!--Here Be Darling'S Tracks--Turned

Homeward And Nearly Blown Dry And Hard! He Must Have Come In hours

Ago Without Your Seeing him."

"He Has Not Done That," Said She.

They Went Back Hastily.  On Entering their Own Gates They

Perceived that The Men Had Left The Wagons,  And Were Standing

Round The Door Of The Stable Which Had Been Appropriated to The

Doctor'S Use.  "Is There Anything the Matter?" Cried grace.

"Oh No,  Ma'Am.  All'S Well That Ends Well," Said Old Timothy

Tangs.  "I'Ve Heard Of Such Things Before--Among Workfolk,  Though

Not Among Your Gentle People--That'S True."

They Entered the Stable,  And Saw The Pale Shape Of Darling

Standing in the Middle Of Her Stall,  With Fitzpiers On Her Back,

Sound Asleep.  Darling was Munching hay As Well As She Could With

The Bit In her Month,  And The Reins,  Which Had Fallen From

Fitzpiers'S Hand,  Hung Upon Her Neck.

Grace Went And Touched his Hand; Shook It Before She Could Arouse

Him.  He Moved,  Started,  Opened his Eyes,  And Exclaimed,  "Ah,

Felice!...Oh,  It'S Grace.  I Could Not See In the Gloom.  What--Am

I In the Saddle?"

"Yes," Said She.  "How Do You Come Here?"

He Collected his Thoughts,  And In a Few Minutes Stammered,  "I Was

Riding along Homeward Through The Vale,  Very,  Very Sleepy,  Having

Been Up So Much Of Late.  When I Came Opposite Holywell Spring the

Mare Turned her Head That Way,  As If She Wanted to Drink.  I Let

Her Go In,  And She Drank; I Thought She Would Never Finish.  While

She Was Drinking,  The Clock Of Owlscombe Church Struck Twelve.  I

Distinctly Remember Counting the Strokes.  From That Moment I

Positively Recollect Nothing till I Saw You Here By My Side."

"The Name! If It Had Been Any Other Horse He'D Have Had A Broken

Neck!" Murmured melbury.

"'Tis Wonderful,  Sure,  How A Quiet Hoss Will Bring a Man Home At

Such Times!" Said John Upjohn.  "And What'S More Wonderful Than

Keeping your Seat In a Deep,  Slumbering sleep?  I'Ve Knowed men

Drowze Off Walking home From Randies Where The Mead And Other

Liquors Have Gone Round Well,  And Keep Walking for More Than A

Mile On End Without Waking.  Well,  Doctor,  I Don'T Care Who The

Man Is,  'Tis A Mercy You Wasn'T A Drownded,  Or A Splintered,  Or A

Hanged up To A Tree Like Absalom--Also A Handsome Gentleman Like

Yerself,  As The Prophets Say."

"True," Murmured old Timothy.  "From The Soul Of His Foot To The

Crown Of His Head There Was No Blemish In him."

"Or Leastwise You Might Ha' Been A-Wownded into Tatters A'Most,

And No Doctor To Jine Your Few Limbs Together Within Seven Mile!"

While This Grim Address Was Proceeding,  Fitzpiers Had Dismounted,

And Taking grace'S Arm Walked stiffly In-Doors With Her.  Melbury

Stood Staring at The Horse,  Which,  In addition To Being very

Weary,  Was Spattered with Mud.  There Was No Mud To Speak Of About

The Hintocks Just Now--Only In the Clammy Hollows Of The Vale

Beyond Owlscombe,  The Stiff Soil Of Which Retained moisture For

Weeks After The Uplands Were Dry.  While They Were Rubbing down

The Mare,  Melbury'S Mind Coupled with The Foreign Quality Of The

Mud The Name He Had Heard Unconsciously Muttered by The Surgeon

When Grace Took His Hand--"Felice."  Who Was Felice? Why,  Mrs.

Charmond; And She,  As He Knew,  Was Staying at Middleton.

Melbury Had Indeed pounced upon The Image That Filled fitzpiers'S

Half-Awakened soul--Wherein There Had Been A Picture Of A Recent

Interview On A Lawn With A Capriciously Passionate Woman Who Had

Begged him Not To Come Again In tones Whose Vibration Incited him

To Disobey.  "What Are You Doing here? Why Do You Pursue Me?

Another Belongs To You.  If They Were To See You They Would Seize

You As A Thief!" And She Had Turbulently Admitted to His Wringing

Questions That Her Visit To Middleton Had Been Undertaken Less

Because Of The Invalid Relative Than In shamefaced fear Of Her Own

Weakness If She Remained near His Home.  A Triumph Then It Was To

Fitzpiers,  Poor And Hampered as He Had Become,  To Recognize His

Real Conquest Of This Beauty,  Delayed so Many Years.  His Was The

Selfish Passion Of Congreve'S Millamont,  To Whom Love'S Supreme

Delight Lay In "That Heart Which Others Bleed for,  Bleed for Me."

When The Horse Had Been Attended to Melbury Stood Uneasily Here

And There About His Premises; He Was Rudely Disturbed in the

Comfortable Views Which Had Lately Possessed him On His Domestic

Concerns.  It Is True That He Had For Some Days Discerned that

Grace More And More Sought His Company,  Preferred supervising his

Kitchen And Bakehouse With Her Step-Mother To Occupying herself

With The Lighter Details Of Her Own Apartments.  She Seemed no

Longer Able To Find In her Own Hearth An Adequate Focus For Her

Life,  And Hence,  Like A Weak Queen-Bee After Leading off To An

Independent Home,  Had Hovered again Into The Parent Hive.  But He

Had Not Construed these And Other Incidents Of The Kind Till Now.

Something was Wrong In the Dove-Cot.  A Ghastly Sense That He

Alone Would Be Responsible For Whatever Unhappiness Should Be

Brought Upon Her For Whom He Almost Solely Lived,  Whom To Retain

Under His Roof He Had Faced the Numerous Inconveniences Involved

In Giving up The Best Part Of His House To Fitzpiers.  There Was

No Room For Doubt That,  Had He Allowed events To Take Their

Natural Course,  She Would Have Accepted winterborne,  And Realized

His Old Dream Of Restitution To That Young Man'S Family.

That Fitzpiers Could Allow Himself To Look On Any Other Creature

For A Moment Than Grace Filled melbury With Grief And

Astonishment.  In the Pure And Simple Life He Had Led it Had

Scarcely Occurred to Him That After Marriage A Man Might Be

Faithless.  That He Could Sweep To The Heights Of Mrs. Charmond'S

Position,  Lift The Veil Of Isis,  So To Speak,  Would Have Amazed

Melbury By Its Audacity If He Had Not Suspected encouragement From

That Quarter.  What Could He And His Simple Grace Do To

Countervail The Passions Of Such As Those Two Sophisticated

Beings--Versed in the World'S Ways,  Armed with Every Apparatus For

Victory?  In such An Encounter The Homely Timber-Dealer Felt As

Inferior As A Bow-And-Arrow Savage Before The Precise Weapons Of

Modern Warfare.

Grace Came Out Of The House As The Morning drew On.  The Village

Was Silent,  Most Of The Folk Having gone To The Fair.  Fitzpiers

Had Retired to Bed,  And Was Sleeping off His Fatigue.  She Went To

The Stable And Looked at Poor Darling: In all Probability Giles

Winterborne,  By Obtaining for Her A Horse Of Such Intelligence And

Docility,  Had Been The Means Of Saving her Husband'S Life.  She

Paused over The Strange Thought; And Then There Appeared her

Father Behind Her.  She Saw That He Knew Things Were Not As They

Ought To Be,  From The Troubled dulness Of His Eye,  And From His

Face,  Different Points Of Which Had Independent Motions,

Twitchings,  And Tremblings,  Unknown To Himself,  And Involuntary.

"He Was Detained,  I Suppose,  Last Night?" Said Melbury.

"Oh Yes; A Bad Case In the Vale," She Replied,  Calmly.

"Nevertheless,  He Should Have Stayed at Home."

"But He Couldn'T,  Father."

Her Father Turned away.  He Could Hardly Bear To See His Whilom

Truthful Girl Brought To The Humiliation Of Having to Talk Like

That.

That Night Carking care Sat Beside Melbury'S Pillow,  And His Stiff

Limbs Tossed at Its Presence.  "I Can'T Lie Here Any Longer," He

Muttered.  Striking a Light,  He Wandered about The Room.  "What

Have I Done--What Have I Done For Her?" He Said To His Wife,  Who

Had Anxiously Awakened.  "I Had Long Planned that She Should Marry

The Son Of The Man I Wanted to Make Amends To; Do Ye Mind How I

Told You All About It,  Lucy,  The Night Before She Came Home? Ah!

But I Was Not Content With Doing right,  I Wanted to Do More!"

"Don'T Raft Yourself Without Good Need,  George," She Replied.  "I

Won'T Quite Believe That Things Are So Much Amiss.  I Won'T

Believe That Mrs. Charmond Has Encouraged him.  Even Supposing she

Has Encouraged a Great Many,  She Can Have No Motive To Do It Now.

What So Likely As That She Is Not Yet Quite Well,  And Doesn'T Care

To Let Another Doctor Come Near Her?"

He Did Not Heed.  "Grace Used to Be So Busy Every Day,  With Fixing

A Curtain Here And Driving