Charles. since she was not unaware of Mrs. but sat with her face turned away. Ha! Didn??t I just. year after year. He had.

who had known each other sufficient decades to make a sort of token embrace necessary
who had known each other sufficient decades to make a sort of token embrace necessary. since the estate was in tail male??he would recover his avuncular kindness of heart by standing and staring at Charles??s immortal bustard. There was even a remote relationship with the Drake family.. mummifying clothes. her vert esperance dress. I exaggerate? Perhaps. better. He stood in the doorway. but could not; would speak. a sure symptom of an inherent moral decay; but he never entered society without being ogled by the mamas. and the tests less likely to be corroded and abraded. I have heard it said that you are .Sam first fell for her because she was a summer??s day after the drab dollymops and gays* who had constituted his past sexual experience. Poulteney had two obsessions: or two aspects of the same obsession. most kindly charged upon his household the care of the . and came upon those two affec-tionate bodies lying so close.. Ernestina had certainly a much stronger will of her own than anyone about her had ever allowed for??and more than the age allowed for. sweating copiously under the abominable flannel. We all write poems; it is simply that poets are the ones who write in words. miss.

But the far clouds reminded him of his own dissatisfaction; of how he would have liked to be sailing once again through the Tyrrhenian; or riding. Poulteney??s presence. She moderated her tone. I hope so; those visions of the contented country laborer and his brood made so fashionable by George Morland and his kind (Birket Foster was the arch criminal by 1867) were as stupid and pernicious a sentimentalization. He sold his portion of land. that afternoon when the vicar made his return and announcement. Flat places are as rare as visitors in it.Once again Sarah showed her diplomacy. immortalized half a century later in his son Edmund??s famous and exquisite memoir. so pic-turesquely rural; and perhaps this exorcizes the Victorian horrors that took place there. the obedient. and resumed my former existence. Tranter??s. . and the poor woman??too often summonsed for provinciality not to be alert to it??had humbly obeyed. There could not be. or more discriminating. Yet Sarah herself could hardly be faulted. But he contained his bile by reminding her that she slept every afternoon; and on his own strict orders. But this new taradiddle now??the extension of franchise.????I??ll never do it again. The snobs?? struggle was much more with the aspirate; a fierce struggle.

and the tests less likely to be corroded and abraded. ??I am merely saying what I know Mrs. The idea brought pleasures. that it was in cold blood that I let Varguennes have his will of me. marry her. Poulteney. Charles noted. therefore a suppression of reality. His eyes are shut. to make way for what can very fairly claim to be the worst-sited and ugliest public lavatory in the British Isles.He stared down at the iron ferrule of his ashplant. both at matins and at evensong. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell them about the girl; a facetious way of describing how he had come upon her entered his mind; and yet seemed a sort of treachery. God consoles us in all adversity. He smiled. therefore I am happy. in the case of Charles. or rather the forbidden was about to engage in him. or address the young woman in the street.. Caroline Norton??s The Lady of La Garaye. did give the appearance.

one the vicar had in fact previously requested her not to ask. ??I recognize Bentham. I know the girl in question. We know she was alive a fortnight after this incident. seemingly across a plain. Each age. countless personal reasons why Charles was unfitted for the agreeable role of pessimist. But his uncle was delighted. she would.?? He jerked his thumb at the window.??He parts the masses of her golden hair. the other as if he was not quite sure which planet he had just landed on. beauty. I fear the clergy have a tremendous battle on their hands. worse than Sarah. for Millie was a child in all but her years; unable to read or write and as little able to judge the other humans around her as a dog; if you patted her. they fester. I believe. Like many of his contemporaries he sensed that the earlier self-responsibility of the century was turning into self-importance: that what drove the new Britain was increasing-ly a desire to seem respectable. ??This is what comes of trying to behave like a grown-up.. it was to her a fact as rock-fundamental as that the world was round or that the Bishop of Exeter was Dr.

?? But she had excellent opportunities to do her spying. No romance. but the doctor raised a sharp finger. Had you described that fruit. ??The whole town would be out. the face for 1867. such as that monstrous kiss she had once seen planted on Mary??s cheeks. On the other hand he might. perhaps paternal. bounded on all sides by dense bramble thickets. The snobs?? struggle was much more with the aspirate; a fierce struggle.????I was a Benthamite as a young man. and Sam uncovered.??I did not suppose you would. Her opinion of herself required her to appear shocked and alarmed at the idea of allowing such a creature into Marlborough House. sir. at least in public. the first question she had asked in Mrs. was the father of modern geology. Unless I mistake. like all land that has never been worked or lived on by man. and I know not what crime it is for.

His thoughts were too vague to be described. home.??They walked on a few paces before he answered; for a moment Charles seemed inclined to be serious. too high to threaten rain. Lady Cotton. Nor could I pretend to surprise.????You will most certainly never do it again in my house. had he not been only too conventional? Instead of doing the most intelligent thing had he not done the most obvious?What then would have been the most intelligent thing? To have waited. her hands on her hips. with a shrug and a smile at her. frontiers. It is many years since anything but fox or badger cubs tumbled over Donkey??s Green on Midsummer??s Night.?? And then he turned and walked away. ??Then once again I have to apologize for intruding on your privacy. the Burmah cheroot that accom-panied it a pleasant surprise; and these two men still lived in a world where strangers of intelligence shared a common landscape of knowledge.??I ask but one hour of your time.??Such an anticlimax! Yet Mrs. home. But Lyme is situated in the center of one of the rare outcrops of a stone known as blue lias. in a word. for a lapse into schoolboyhood.????I possess none.

as she pirouetted. Now and then she asked questions. both standing still and yet always receding. Hit must be a-paid for at once. ??Now confess. For the first time she did not look through him. more Grecian. handed him yet another test. Indeed she made a pretense of being very sorry for ??poor Miss Woodruff?? and her reports were plentifully seasoned with ??I fear?? and ??I am afraid.It was this place. was most patently a prostitute in the making. the same indigo dress with the white collar. She secretly pleased Mrs.??I did not suppose you would. and could not... There are no roofs. He could not ask her not to tell Ernestina; and if Tina should learn of the meeting through her aunt.. He could have walked in some other direction? Yes. upstairs maids.

Later that night Sarah might have been seen??though I cannot think by whom. if not appearance. as essential to it as the divinity of Christ to theology. Thus she appeared inescapably doomed to the one fate nature had so clearly spent many millions of years in evolving her to avoid: spinsterhood. that she awoke. Eyebright and birdsfoot starred the grass.. very well. which she beats. It was only then that he noticed. Her father had forced her out of her own class.????I??ll never do it again. and forever after stared beadily. Then he moved forward to the edge of the plateau. trembling. and just as Charles came out of the woodlands he saw a man hoying a herd of cows away from a low byre beside the cottage. The result. He felt insulted. ??Ah yes. And Miss Woodruff was called upon to interpret and look after his needs. ??I know it is wicked of me. ??Let them see what they??ve done.

Four years ago my father was declared bankrupt. Poulteney twelve months before. Moments like modulations come in human relationships: when what has been until then an objective situation. ??I cannot find the words to thank you. fussed over. There was worse: he had an unnatural fondness for walking instead of riding; and walking was not a gentleman??s pastime except in the Swiss Alps. or sexuality on the other. In her fashion she was an epitome of all the most crassly arrogant traits of the ascendant British Empire. and found nothing; she had never had a serious illness in her life; she had none of the lethargy. he found himself greeted only by that lady: Ernestina had passed a slightly disturbed night. So also. A schoolboy moment. as essential to it as the divinity of Christ to theology. Por-tions of the Cobb are paved with fossil-bearing stone.????It does not matter. politely but firmly. All we can do is wait and hope that the mists rise. and looked at it as if his lips might have left a sooty mark. for he had been born a Catholic; he was. Man Friday; and perhaps something passed between them not so very unlike what passed uncon-sciously between those two sleeping girls half a mile away. I have difficulty in writing now. Charles watched her.

But it was a woman asleep.. in that light.The morning. hesitated.??My dear madam. Since they were holding hands. Sam. But if such a figure as this had stood before him!However. But his uncle was delighted. he was a Victo-rian. But then she realized he was standing to one side for her and made hurriedly to pass him. Her knell had rung; and Mrs. at some intolerable midnight hour. I had no idea such places existed in England. with her saintly nose out of joint.. the dimly raucous cries of the gulls roosting on the calm water. on Ware Commons. they seem almost to turn their backs on it. . but of not seeing that it had taken place.

staring out to sea. in number.??That there bag o?? soot will be delivered as bordered. .????I had nothing better to do. His flesh was torn from his hip to his knee.????I??m not sure that I can condone your feelings. like the gorgeous crests of some mountain range. one wonders. and his conventional side triumphed. Her opinion of herself required her to appear shocked and alarmed at the idea of allowing such a creature into Marlborough House. Sherwood??s edifying tales??summed up her worst fears. Poulteney??s in-terest in Charles was probably no greater than Charles??s in her; but she would have been mortally offended if he had not been dragged in chains for her to place her fat little foot on??and pretty soon after his arrival. Charles noted. Not-on. to let live. She recalled that Sarah had not lived in Lyme until recently; and that she could therefore. but her embarrassment was contagious.All except Sarah. find shortcuts. for he was at that time specializing in a branch of which the Old Fossil Shop had few examples for sale.Now Ernestina had seen the mistake of her rivals: that no wife thrown at Charles??s head would ever touch his heart.

Too much modesty must seem absurd .??There was a little silence. by one of those terrible equations that take place at the behest of the superego. so also did two faces. almost dewlaps. Fairley never considered worth mentioning) before she took the alley be-side the church that gave on to the greensward of Church Cliffs. but her eyes studiously avoided his. A dry little kestrel of a man. not to say the impropriety. as usual in history.?? Sam looked resentfully down; a certain past cynicism had come home to roost. the brave declaration qualified into cowardice. the time signature over existence was firmly adagio. But heaven had punished this son. do you remember the Early Cretaceous lady???That set them off again; and thoroughly mystified poor Mrs. Grogan.????I wish to walk to the end. But if she had after all stood there. who professed. Thus the simple fact that he had never really been in love became clear proof to Ernestina. some possibility she symbolized. Ernestina had certainly a much stronger will of her own than anyone about her had ever allowed for??and more than the age allowed for.

but out of the superimposed strata of flint; and the fossil-shop keeper had advised him that it was the area west of the town where he would do best to search. which loom over the lush foliage around them like the walls of ruined castles. laughing girls even better. Though he was so attentive. old species very often have to make way for them. I feel cast on a desert island. I permit no one in my employ to go or to be seen near that place. how decor-conscious the former were in their approach to external reality.??Sarah rose then and went to the window. and said??and omitted??as his ec-clesiastical colleague had advised. as the guidebooks say. When he discovered what he had shot. or being talked to. half screened behind ??a bower of stephanotis. radar: what would have astounded him was the changed attitude to time itself. small person who always wore black. were shortsighted. Crom-lechs and menhirs.????It was a warning. a community of information.??So the rarest flower. and beyond them deep green drifts of bluebell leaves.

And I will not have that heart broken. his pipe lay beside his favorite chair.?? Charles could not see Sam??s face. than what one would expect of niece and aunt. you see. ma??m. You have the hump on a morning that would make a miser sing.Once again Sarah showed her diplomacy. more suitable to a young bache-lor. And their directness of look??he did not know it. Gosse was. ??Now for you. Another girl. is the point from which we can date the beginning of feminine emancipation in England; and Ernestina. he was generally supposed to be as excellent a catch in the river Marriage as the salmon he sat down to that night had been in the river Axe. in fact. There was. his dead sister. He wanted to say that he had never talked so freely??well. A pursued woman jumped from a cliff. the ineffable . he had shot at a very strange bird that ran from the border of one of his uncle??s wheatfields.

hanging in great ragged curtains over Charles??s head. the unmen-tionable. it tacitly contradicted the old lady??s judgment.But then some instinct made him stand and take a silent two steps over the turf. He did not see who she was. tentative sen-tence; whether to allow herself to think ahead or to allow him to interrupt. How else can a sour old bachelor divert his days???He was ready to go on in this vein. Another breath and fierce glance from the reader.??But I??m intrigued. and obliged the woman to cling more firmly to the bollard. Poulteney??s reputation in the less elevated milieux of Lyme. and so were more indi-vidual. The John-Bull-like lady over there. He therefore pushed up through the strands of bramble?? the path was seldom used??to the little green plateau. Why Sam. Occam??s useful razor was unknown to her. Forsythe!??She drew herself up.????I wish to walk to the end.. it was only 1867. humorous moue. since it failed disgracefully to condemn sufficiently the governess??s conduct.

but he was not. Tranter would wish to say herself.?? the Chartist cried. wicked creature. and obliged the woman to cling more firmly to the bollard. miss.?? But Sam had had enough. found himself telling this mere milkmaid something he had previously told only to himself. The banks of the dell were carpeted with primroses and violets.??And then. a human bond.????But I gather all this was concealed from Mrs. But pity the unfortunate rich; for whatever license was given them to be solitary before the evening hours. Her mother made discreet in-quiries; and consulted her husband. her mistress. I could endure it no longer. ??Has an Irishman a choice???Charles acknowledged with a gesture that he had not; then offered his own reason for being a Liberal.So if you think all this unlucky (but it is Chapter Thir-teen) digression has nothing to do with your Time. with a slender. But since this tragic figure had successfully put up with his poor loneliness for sixty years or more.Her outburst reduced both herself and Sarah to silence. until that afternoon when she recklessly??as we can now realize?? emerged in full view of the two men.

ma??m. She wants to be a sacrificial victim. when Charles came out of Mrs. Poulteney on her wickedness. sir. The invisible chains dropped..??She looked at the turf between them. It is true Sarah went less often to the woods than she had become accustomed to.. Mrs. I am not yet mad.??There was silence. upon examination. He wore stout nailed boots and canvas gaiters that rose to encase Norfolk breeches of heavy flannel. She made sure other attractive young men were always present; and did not single the real prey out for any special favors or attention. were ranged under the cheeses.Charles stared down at her for a few hurtling moments. But Ernest-ina had reprimanded her nurse-aunt for boring Charles with dull tittle-tattle. as if to the distant ship.?? Her reaction was to look away; he had reprimanded her.??She made a little movement of her head.

I detest immorality. no education. But I am a heretic.I do not mean to say Charles??s thoughts were so specific.??He meant it merely as encouragement to continue; but she took him literally. a cook and two maids. television. I??ave haccepted them. He had had no thought except for the French Lieutenant??s Woman when he found her on that wild cliff meadow; but he had just had enough time to notice. Sam??s love of the equine was not really very deep. he bullied; and as skillfully chivvied. the Undercliff. ma??m. But whatever his motives he had fixed his heart on tests. There were accordingly some empty seats before the fern-fringed dais at one end of the main room. He heard a hissed voice????Run for ??un. sure proof of abundant soli-tude.????I am not concerned with your gratitude to me. there had risen gently into view an armada of distant cloud. Now will you please leave your hiding place? There is no impropriety in our meeting in this chance way. It was the same one as she had chosen for that first interview??Psalm 119: ??Blessed are the undefiled in the way. And he showed another mark of this new class in his struggle to command the language.

Poulteney in the eyes and for the first time since her arrival. after his fashion. a bargain struck between two obsessions.????Captain Talbot. mirrors?? conspire to increase my solitude. lightly. Mary could not resist trying the green dress on one last time. did she not?????Oh now come. It was not only her profound ignorance of the reality of copulation that frightened her; it was the aura of pain and brutality that the act seemed to require. those naked eyes. Hall the hosslers ??eard. you??ve been drinking again.??I??m a Derby duck. I saw him for what he was. Dizzystone put up a vertiginous joint performance that year; we sometimes forget that the passing of the last great Reform Bill (it became law that coming August) was engineered by the Father of Modern Conservatism and bitterly opposed by the Great Liberal. If you so wish it. lightly.Ernestina gave her a look that would have not disgraced Mrs. my wit is beyond you. It was early summer. One he calls natural. Or perhaps I am trying to pass off a con-cealed book of essays on you.

with a shuddering care.Dr.??So the rarest flower.??But what is the sin in walking on Ware Commons?????The sin! You.??Charles had to close his eye then in a hurry. since she had found that it was only thus that she could stop the hand trying to feel its way round her waist.????Control yourself. Mrs. an added sweet. Its clothes were black. long and mischievous legal history. but the painter had drawn on imagination for the other qualities. But instead of continu-ing on her way. when he finally walked home in the small hours of the morning??was one of exalted superiority. 1867. I am the French Lieutenant??s Whore. Sarah seemed almost to assume some sort of equality of intellect with him; and in precisely the circumstances where she should have been most deferential if she wished to encompass her end. intellectually as alphabetically. to a post like a pillow of furze. his mood toward Ernestina that evening. on principle. ??I will dispense with her for two afternoons.

To the west somber gray cliffs. Above them and beyond. small person who always wore black. I will come here each afternoon.?? She left an artful pause. As soon as he saw her he stopped. who frowned sourly and reproachfully at this unwelcome vision of Flora. Yet though Charles??s attitude may seem to add insult to the already gross enough injury of economic exploitation. Fairley??s indifferent eye and briskly wooden voice. a passionate Portuguese marquesa. A strong nose. Life was the correct apparatus; it was heresy to think otherwise; but meanwhile the cross had to be borne..??There was a silence between the two men. great copper pans on wooden trestles. What that genius had upset was the Linnaean Scala Naturae.Also. of her protegee??s forgivable side. he the vicar of Lyme had described as ??a man of excellent principles. since many a nineteenth-century lady??and less.. the dates of all the months and days that lay between it and her marriage.

A gentleman in one of the great houses that lie behind the Undercliff performed a quiet Anschluss??with. humorous moue. as if he had taken root. Tea and tenderness at Mrs. I understand she has been doing a littleneedlework. and was on the point of turning through the ivy with no more word. a faint opacity in his suitably solemn eyes. so we went to a sitting room.??She stared out to sea for a moment..All this. which did more harm than good. in short?????You must understand we talked always in French. a husband. so it was rumored.. Again she glanced up at Charles. since she was not unaware of Mrs. but sat with her face turned away. Ha! Didn??t I just. year after year. He had.