he could not say. For a few moments she became lost in a highly narcissistic self-contemplation.?? He added.

She first turned rather sulkily to her entry of that morning
She first turned rather sulkily to her entry of that morning. I too saw them talking together yesterday. I doubt if they were heard..The woman said nothing. But was that the only context??the only market for brides? It was a fixed article of Charles??s creed that he was not like the great majority of his peers and contemporaries. There he was looked after by a manservant. When he had dutifully patted her back and dried her eyes. and he turned towards the ivy. and the only things of the utmost importance to us concern the present of man. a weak pope; though for nobler ends. both in land and money. He perceived that the coat was a little too large for her. if cook had a day off.??I am most grateful.In her room that afternoon she unbuttoned her dress and stood before her mirror in her chemise and petticoats. Poulteney; it now lay in her heart far longer than the enteritis bacilli in her intes-tines. action against the great statesman; and she was an ardent feminist?? what we would call today a liberal.??I owe you two apologies. This latter reason was why Ernestina had never met her at Marlborough House.

now that he had rushed in so far where less metropolitan angels might have feared to tread. though the cross??s withdrawal or absence implied a certain failure in her skill in carrying it. as if that was the listener. can be as stupid as the next man.. and with a kind of despair beneath the timidity.????You have come. He called me cruel when I would not let him kiss my hand.Unlit Lyme was the ordinary mass of mankind. at such a moment. what use are precautions?Visitors to Lyme in the nineteenth century. Poulteney therefore found themselves being defended from the horror of seeing their menials one step nearer the vote by the leader of the party they abhorred on practically every other ground. Charles recalled that it was just so that a peasant near Gavarnie. ??Now this girl??what is her name??? Mary???this charming Miss Mary may be great fun to tease and be teased by??let me finish??but I am told she is a gentle trusting creature at heart. he stopped. No tick. and gave her a genuine-ly solicitous look. though large. and completely femi-nine; and the suppressed intensity of her eyes was matched by the suppressed sensuality of her mouth. Poulteney flinched a little from this proposed wild casting of herself upon the bosom of true Christianity.

by one of those inexplicable intuitions. with exotic-looking colonies of polypody in their massive forks. as Charles found when he took the better seat.????How has she supported herself since . you??ve been drinking again.Mrs. His skin was suitably pale. in their different ways.????My dear madam. Such a path is difficult to reascend. She recalled that Sarah had not lived in Lyme until recently; and that she could therefore. With those that secretly wanted to be bullied.??The girl stopped. was that Sarah??s every movement and expression?? darkly exaggerated and abundantly glossed??in her free hours was soon known to Mrs. I loved little Paul and Virginia. and someone??plainly not Sarah??had once heaved a great flat-topped block of flint against the tree??s stem. Smithson.??Charles grinned. sir. He was left standing there.

But you must show it. a liar. Poulteney.All this. Or at least he tried to look seriously around him; but the little slope on which he found himself. or not? If we take this obsession with dressing the part. and found nothing; she had never had a serious illness in her life; she had none of the lethargy. orange-tips and green-veined whites we have lately found incompatible with high agricultural profit and so poisoned almost to extinction; they had danced with Charles all along his way past the Dairy and through the woods; and now one. conscious that she had presumed too much. Freeman) he had got out somewhat incoherently??and the great obstacles: no money. Aunt Tranter backed him up. little better than a superior cart track itself.??The little doctor eyed him sideways.. he was almost three different men; and there will be others of him before we are finished. and Sarah had simply slipped into the bed and taken the girl in her arms. with a telltale little tighten-ing of her lips. so to speak.. But I think on reflection he will recall that in my case it was a titled ape.

That was good; but there was a second bout of worship to be got through.??You have surely a Bible???The girl shook her head. A fashionable young London architect now has the place and comes there for weekends. the old branch paths have gone; no car road goes near it. to a mistress who never knew the difference between servant and slave. But by then she had already acted; gathering up her skirt she walked swiftly over the grass to the east. I??ll show yer round. I should still maintain the former was better for Charles the human being. She.?? instead of what it so Victorianly was: ??I cannot possess this forever. It was not the kneeling of a hysteric. Tranter. seen sleeping so. But he was happy there. Poulteney had been a little ill.He was well aware that that young lady nursed formidable through still latent powers of jealousy.He lifts her. as if at a door. I was unsuccessful. who continued to give the figure above a dooming stare.

a man of a very different political complexion. spiritual health is all that counts. which was wide??and once again did not correspond with current taste. But you must remember that natural history had not then the pejorative sense it has today of a flight from reality?? and only too often into sentiment. tender. indeed he could.??She clears her throat delicately. She would guess.. Smithson. he felt . what you will.??Charles heard the dryness in her voice and came to the hurt Mrs. Because I have set myself beyond the pale.She knew he had lived in Paris. He walked after her then along the top of the bluff..??Mary obediently removed them there and disobediently began to rearrange them a little before turning to smile at the suspicious Ernestina. and be one in real earnest.?? again she shook her head.

But his generation were not altogether wrong in their suspicions of the New Britain and its statesmen that rose in the long economic boom after 1850. to warn her that she was no longer alone.????I wish to walk to the end.However. as if he had miraculously survived a riot or an avalanche. Even if Charles had not had the further prospects he did. That was why he had traveled so much; he found English society too hidebound. quite a number could not read anything??never mind that not one in ten of those who could and did read them understood what the reverend writers were on about . He gave up his tenancy and bought a farm of his own; but he bought it too cheap. the thatched and slated roofs of Lyme itself; a town that had its heyday in the Middle Ages and has been declining ever since. only a year before. Sam stood stropping his razor. ma??m. The old lady had detected with her usual flair a gross dereliction of duty: the upstairs maid whose duty it was unfailingly each Tuesday to water the ferns in the second drawing room??Mrs. selfish . But pity the unfortunate rich; for whatever license was given them to be solitary before the evening hours. Tranter out of embarrassment. I think it made me see more clearly . Sam. some refined person who has come upon adverse circumstances .

not talk-ing. It was pretty enough for her to like; and after all. I did not promise him. Furthermore it chanced. when she was convalescent. was out. He sold his portion of land.????You are not very galant. gray. but she must even so have moved with great caution. There was the pretext of a bowl of milk at the Dairy; and many inviting little paths. Here there came seductive rock pools. and too excellent a common meeting place not to be sacrificed to that Great British God. indeed he could.?? a bow-fronted second-floor study that looked out over the small bay between the Cobb Gate and the Cobb itself; a room.??You are quite right. to her. and all she could see was a dark shape. stepped massively inland.??Sarah rose then and went to the window.

He told himself he was too pampered.??These country girls are much too timid to call such rude things at distinguished London gentlemen??unless they??ve first been sorely provoked. he had picked up some foreign ideas in the haber-dashery field . He moved. and then by mutual accord they looked shyly away from each other.. why should we deny to others what has made us both so happy? What if this wicked maid and my rascal Sam should fall in love? Are we to throw stones???She smiled up at him from her chair. almost dewlaps. Very often I did not comprehend perfectly what he was saying. I understand she has been doing a littleneedlework. a little regal with this strange suppli-cant at his feet; and not overmuch inclined to help her. one incisively sharp and blustery morning in the late March of 1867. a Zulu. she wanted me to be the first to meet . Poulteney saw herself as a pure Patmos in a raging ocean of popery...??Charles grinned. Charles set out to catch up. and in her barouche only to the houses of her equals.

and she wanted to be sure.??Miss Woodruff!??She took a step or two more. There was no artifice there. since sooner or later the news must inevi-tably come to Mrs.?? The vicar was unhelpful. with no sound but the lowing of a calf from some distant field above and inland; the clapped wings and cooings of the wood pigeons; and the barely perceptible wash of the tranquil sea far through the trees below. Furthermore I have omitted to tell you that the Frenchman had plighted his troth.The great mole was far from isolated that day. But he couldn??t find the words. These last hundred years or more the commonest animal on its shores has been man??wielding a geologist??s hammer.??But I heard you speak with the man.A legendary summation of servant feelings had been deliv-ered to Mrs. of course.There was a patter of small hooves. as not to discover where you are and follow you there. could drive her. perhaps to show Ernestina how to say boo to a goose. And by choice. and he nodded.????It is that visiting always so distresses me.

the nightmare begins.????But supposing He should ask me if my conscience is clear???The vicar smiled. beauty. And yet once again it bore in upon him. Mr. in a word.??Place them on my dressing table. For the first time in her ungrateful little world Mrs. blush-ing. and the only things of the utmost importance to us concern the present of man.??I must congratulate you.??I think the only truly scarlet things about you are your cheeks. Poulteney and advised Sarah to take the post. But she was the last person to list reasons. in terms of our own time. English thought too moralistic. Poulteney had devoted some thought to the choice of passage; and had been sadly torn between Psalm 119 (??Blessed are the undefiled??) and Psalm 140 (??Deliver me.????I meant it to be very honest of me. and sincerely.For what had crossed her mind??a corner of her bed having chanced.

and led her. but it must be confessed that the fact that it was Lyme Regis had made his pre-marital obligations delightfully easy to support. He spoke no English. not unlike someone who had been a Communist in the 1930s??accepted now. the countryside around Lyme abounds in walks; and few of them do not give a view of the sea. But alas.????Most certainly I should hope to place a charitable con-struction upon your conduct.]Having quelled the wolves Ernestina went to her dressing table. Mr. as a man with time to fill. He nods solemnly; he is all ears. Pray read and take to your heart. You will always be that to me. a passionate Portuguese marquesa. his dead sister. It is sweet to sip in the proper place. Charles stood. And it is so by Act of Parliament: a national nature reserve. But by then she had already acted; gathering up her skirt she walked swiftly over the grass to the east. All he was left with was the after-image of those eyes??they were abnormal-ly large.

He wondered why he had ever thought she was not indeed slightly crazed. curving mole. the one remaining track that traverses it is often impassable. ??Now confess. He felt sure that he would not meet her if he kept well clear of it. His gener-ation of Cockneys were a cut above all that; and if he haunted the stables it was principally to show that cut-above to the provincial ostlers and potboys. and interrupted in a low voice. He was aggressively contemptuous of anything that did not emanate from the West End of London. there.. had severely reduced his dundrearies.. he gave her a brief lecture on melancholia??he was an advanced man for his time and place??and ordered her to allow her sinner more fresh air and freedom. when they returned to their respective homes. He was being shaved.??That girl I dismissed??she has given you no further trou-ble???Mrs. it was suddenly. No words were needed. He himself once or twice turned politely to her for the confirmation of an opinion??but it was without success.????I hoped I had made it clear that Mrs.

So let us see how Charles and Ernestina are crossing one particular such desert.. Unless it was to ask her to fetch something. At the time of his wreck he said he was first officer. but in those days a genteel accent was not the great social requisite it later became.??If you are determined to be a sour old bachelor. or the frequency of the discords between the prima donna and her aide. A day came when I thought myself cruel as well. he had picked up some foreign ideas in the haber-dashery field . Dahn out there. I??ll shave myself this morning. Mary had modestly listened; divined this other Sam and divined that she was honored to be given so quick a sight of it. But she was no more able to shift her doting parents?? fixed idea than a baby to pull down a moun-tain.?? And all the more peremptory. watching with a quiet reserve that goaded him. In one of the great ash trees below a hidden missel thrush was singing. then turned. At last she went on.????It must certainly be that we do not continue to risk????Again she entered the little pause he left as he searched for the right formality. stood like a mountainous shadow behind the period; but to many??and to Charles??the most significant thing about those distant rumblings had been their failure to erupt.

He murmured.?? These. When he had dutifully patted her back and dried her eyes. when Sam drew the curtains. when she was before him. I detest immorality. Cupid is being unfair to Cockneys. And so. which was wide??and once again did not correspond with current taste. an object of charity. Undoubtedly it awoke some memory in him. by empathy. but from closer acquaintance with London girls he had never got much beyond a reflection of his own cynicism. a passionate Portuguese marquesa. ??And you were not ever a governess. and similar mouthwatering op-portunities for twists of the social dagger depended on a sup-ply of ??important?? visitors like Charles. Even Ernestina. She imagined herself for a truly sinful moment as someone wicked??a dancer. that can be almost as harmful. Sarah stood shyly.

looking at but not seeing the fine landscape the place commanded. but at him; and Charles resolved that he would have his revenge on Mrs... The John-Bull-like lady over there. but finally because it is a superb fragment of folk art. a thin. as Coleridge once discovered. I am afraid. My mind was confused. Come.??There was a little silence. but her eyes studiously avoided his.??There passed a tiny light in Mary??s eyes. miss. But a message awaited me. and even then she would not look at him; instead. 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. its worship not only of the literal machine in transport and manufacturing but of the far more terrible machine now erecting in social convention. and he was therefore in a state of extreme sexual frustration.

she wanted me to be the first to meet . For she suddenly stopped turning and admiring herself in profile; gave an abrupt look up at the ceiling. Another he calls occasional. with his hand on her elbow. not unlike someone who had been a Communist in the 1930s??accepted now. he gave her a brief lecture on melancholia??he was an advanced man for his time and place??and ordered her to allow her sinner more fresh air and freedom. And let me have a double dose of muffins.. At the foot of the south-facing bluff. The voice. We got by very well without the Iron Civilizer?? (by which he meant the railway) ??when I was a young man. ??that Lyell??s findings are fraught with a much more than intrinsic importance. it was unlikely that there would be enough men to go round. ??How come you here?????I saw you pass. ??Doctor??s orders.She led the way into yet another green tunnel; but at the far end of that they came on a green slope where long ago the vertical face of the bluff had collapsed.. She had once or twice seen animals couple; the violence haunted her mind. He did not see who she was. the one remaining track that traverses it is often impassable.

great copper pans on wooden trestles.??Charles smiled. Tranter has employed her in such work.????He spoke no English?????A few words. A girl of nineteen or so. Mr. that sometimes shone as a solemn omen and sometimes stood as a kind of sum already paid off against the amount of penance she might still owe. What happened was this. Once there she had seen to it that she was left alone with Charles; and no sooner had the door shut on her aunt??s back than she burst into tears (without the usual preliminary self-accusations) and threw herself into his arms. so that she faced the sea; and so. a restless baa-ing and mewling. an oil painting done of Frederick only two years before he died in 1851. was nulla species nova: a new species cannot enter the world. But it seemed without offense. When he came down to the impatient Mrs. as if that was the listener. now that he had rushed in so far where less metropolitan angels might have feared to tread. So also. over the bedclothes. an intensity of feeling that in part denied her last sentence.

But it is not so.????She speaks French??? Mrs. I understand. make me your confidant. She was the first person to see the bones of Ichthyosaurus platyodon; and one of the meanest disgraces of British paleontology is that although many scientists of the day gratefully used her finds to establish their own reputation. that were not quite comme il faut in the society Ernestina had been trained to grace. and besides. people about him.But what of Sarah??s motives? As regards lesbianism. abstaining) was greeted with smiles from the average man. Her weeping she hid. Sarah rose at once to leave the room. together with the water from the countless springs that have caused the erosion. to Mrs. But this is what Hartmann says. Insipid her verse is.Leaped his heart??s blood with such a yearning vowThat she was all in all to him. had cried endlessly. and gentle-men with cigars in their mouths. Dr.

walking awake. a correspond-ing twinkle in his eyes.And the evenings! Those gaslit hours that had to be filled. But I do not need kindness. Poulteney; they set her a challenge. then came out with it.. the hour when the social life of London was just beginning; but here the town was well into its usual long sleep. black. one in each hand. Naples. but scrambled down to the path he had left.?? Mary spoke in a dialect notorious for its contempt of pro-nouns and suffixes. Poulteney saw an equivalent number of saved souls chalked up to her account in heaven; and she also saw the French Lieutenant??s Woman doing public penance. I understand she has been doing a littleneedlework.??In twenty-four hours.????What??s that then?????It??s French for Coombe Street. he could not say. For a few moments she became lost in a highly narcissistic self-contemplation.?? He added.