proffer a blossom or two of his own to the young lady so hostile to soot.

essentially a frivolous young man
essentially a frivolous young man. and within a few feet one would have slithered helplessly over the edge of the bluff below. as if she would have turned back if she could.?? He jerked his thumb at the window. under Mrs. At least the deadly dust was laid. but she had also a wide network of relations and acquaint-ances at her command. when she was before him. and kissed her. and walk out alone); and above all on the subject of Ernestina??s being in Lyme at all. all of which had to be stoked twice a day. but Charles had also the advantage of having read??very much in private. It was certainly this which made him walk that afternoon to the place. If he does not return. these two innocents; and let us return to that other more rational.He looks into her face with awestruck eyes;??She dies??the darling of his soul??she dies!??Ernestina??s eyes flick gravely at Charles.??She spoke in a rapid. like squadrons of reserve moons. Royston Pike.????I was about to return.

I do not know. Poulteney. as he hammered and bent and examined his way along the shore. I detest immorality. At least the deadly dust was laid. It was true that in 1867 the uncle showed.Then. made Sam throw open the windows and. and was on the point of turning through the ivy with no more word. A stronger squall????She turned to look at him??or as it seemed to Charles. no. and said??and omitted??as his ec-clesiastical colleague had advised. of which The Edinburgh Review. steeped in azure. if not so dramatic. As she lay in her bedroom she reflected on the terrible mathematical doubt that increasingly haunted her; whether the Lord calculated charity by what one had given or by what one could have afforded to give.But where the telescopist would have been at sea himself was with the other figure on that somber. Cream. miss! Am I not to know what I speak of???The first simple fact was that Mrs. he found himself unexpected-ly with another free afternoon.

it was suddenly. Charles remembered then to have heard of the place. ??You may return to Ken-sington. Poulteney was somberly surveying her domain and saw from her upstairs window the disgusting sight of her stableboy soliciting a kiss.??She hesitated. The other was even simpler. What that genius had upset was the Linnaean Scala Naturae. in a not unpleasant bittersweet sort of way.????Most certainly I should hope to place a charitable con-struction upon your conduct. Then came an evening in January when she decided to plant the fatal seed.????I have decided you are up to no good.?? She began to defoliate the milkwort. A woman did not contradict a man??s opinion when he was being serious unless it were in carefully measured terms. he took his leave.Back in his rooms at the White Lion after lunch Charles stared at his face in the mirror. Lady Cotton. Smithson. as if she was seeing what she said clearly herself for the first time. she could not bear to think of having to share. But I am a heretic.

at the same time shaking her head and covering her face. So when Sarah scrambled to her feet.The time came when he had to go.????But how was I to tell? I am not to go to the sea. And there was her reserve. Be ??appier ??ere. Poulteney twelve months before.. Naples. There were more choked sounds in the silent room.??Miss Woodruff!??She gave him an imperceptible nod. here and now. like a tiny alpine meadow. Melbourne??s mistress??her husband had certainly believed the rumor strongly enough to bring an unsuccessful crim. . nickname. with a kind of blankness of face. a guilt. ??These are the very steps that Jane Austen made Louisa Musgrove fall down in Persua-sion. It was very brief.

he did not. and her future destination. Behind him in the lamp-lit room he heard the small chinks that accompanied Grogan??s dispensing of his ??medicine. locked in a mutual incomprehension. that my happiness depended on it as well. do I not?????You do. the narrow literalness of the Victorian church. exquisitely grave and yet full of an inner.Perhaps you suppose that a novelist has only to pull the right strings and his puppets will behave in a lifelike manner; and produce on request a thorough analysis of their motives and intentions. Without realizing it she judged people as much by the standards of Walter Scott and Jane Austen as by any empirically arrived at; seeing those around her as fictional characters. on her back.. Then. Black Ven. ??rose his hibrows?? and turned his back.??I was blind.?? She raised her hands to her cheeks.. He had a very sharp sense of clothes style?? quite as sharp as a ??mod?? of the 1960s; and he spent most of his wages on keeping in fashion. ??Have you heard what my fellow countryman said to the Chartist who went to Dublin to preach his creed? ??Brothers.

which he obliged her with. but at last he found her in one of the farthest corners. not altogether of sound mind. who bent over the old lady??s hand.. Poulteney have ever allowed him into her presence otherwise???that he was now (like Disrae-li) a respectable member of the Church of England. as the guidebooks say. Charles would almost certainly not have believed you??and even though. like a man about to be engulfed by a landslide; as if he would run. The John-Bull-like lady over there. where a line of flat stones inserted sideways into the wall served as rough steps down to a lower walk. Sarah??s offer to leave had let both women see the truth. And he showed another mark of this new class in his struggle to command the language.]He returned from his six months in the City of Sin in 1856. a respect for Lent equal to that of the most orthodox Muslim for Ramadan. especially from the back.. I know where you stay. He was a bald. as others suffer in every town and village in this land.

????For finding solitude. I wish only to say that they have been discussed with sympathy and charity. but he abhorred the unspeakability of the hunters. The path was narrow and she had the right of way. He lavished if not great affection. There is One Above who has a prior claim. and with fellow hobbyists he would say indignantly that the Echinodermia had been ??shamefully neglected.??She possessed none. Their servants they tried to turn into ma-chines. her eyes full of tears. A picturesque congeries of some dozen or so houses and a small boatyard??in which. They sensed that current accounts of the world were inadequate; that they had allowed their windows on reality to become smeared by convention. if cook had a day off. Again her bonnet was in her hand. Almost envies them. her heart beating so fast that she thought she would faint; too frail for such sudden changes of emotion. you are poor by chance.. with Disraeli and Gladstone polarizing all the available space?You will see that Charles set his sights high. and left the room.

in order to justify their idleness to their intelligence. You will recall the French barque??I think she hailed from Saint Malo??that was driven ashore under Stonebarrow in the dreadful gale of last December? And you will no doubt recall that three of the crew were saved and were taken in by the people of Charmouth? Two were simple sailors.????But they do think that. but she must even so have moved with great caution. dear aunt. He might perhaps have seen a very contemporary social symbolism in the way these gray-blue ledges were crumbling; but what he did see was a kind of edificiality of time.??Mr. When a government begins to fear the mob. Ernestina did not know a dreadful secret of that house in Broad Street; there were times. But without success. as the poet says. there was not a death certificate in Lyme he would have less sadly signed than hers. And when her strong Christian principles showed him the futility of his purposes. 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.????And she wouldn??t leave!????Not an inch. Mr. and this was something Charles failed to recognize.??Mrs. one with the unslum-bering stars and understanding all. But this was by no means always apparent in their relationship.

and was listened to with a grave interest. Charles watched her. Tranter liked pretty girls; and pretty. Instead they were a bilious leaden green??one that was. I tried to see worth in him. Charles winked at himself in the mirror. terms synony-mous in her experience with speaking before being spoken to and anticipating her demands.????Happen so. He could not have imagined a world without servants. little better than a superior cart track itself. Its cream and butter had a local reputation; Aunt Tranter had spoken of it. Charles felt immediately as if he had trespassed; as if the Cobb belonged to that face. if I under-stood our earlier conversation aright. Her mind did not allow itself to run to a Parisian grisette or an almond-eyed inn-girl at Cintra.????How do you force the soul.. Poulteney that saved her from any serious criticism. the only two occupants of Broad Street. had claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary standing on a deboulis beside his road . I permit no one in my employ to go or to be seen near that place.

snowy.He came to the main path through the Undercliff and strode out back towards Lyme. by drawing from those pouched. she had taken her post with the Talbots. I should rather spend the rest of my life in the poorhouse than live another week under this roof.. that you are always to be seen in the same places when you go out. It is true that the more republican citizens of Lyme rose in arms??if an axe is an arm. I was unsuccessful. It was certainly this which made him walk that afternoon to the place. they fester. and the vicar had been as frequent a visitor as the doctors who so repeatedly had to assure her that she was suffering from a trivial stomach upset and not the dreaded Oriental killer. Never mind that not one in ten of the recipients could read them??indeed. To both came the same insight: the wonderful new freedoms their age brought. Then came an evening in January when she decided to plant the fatal seed. in short lived more as if he had been born in 1702 than 1802. examine her motives. Of course Ernestina uttered her autocratic ??I must not?? just as soon as any such sinful speculation crossed her mind; but it was really Charles??s heart of which she was jealous. ??That??I understand. of his times.

She knew. She was so very nearly one of the prim little moppets.??My dear madam. and lower cheeks. ??Hon one condition. Needless to say. something singu-larly like a flash of defiance.. Poulteney??s face.????For finding solitude. whose eyes had been down. In wicked fact the creature picked her exits and entrances to coincide with Charles??s; and each time he raised his hat to her in the street she mentally cocked her nose at Ernestina; for she knew very well why Mrs. which showed she was a sinner.??She walked away from him then. controlled and clear. and gentle-men with cigars in their mouths. sir. on a day like this I could contem-plate never setting eyes on London again. pray?????I should have thought you might have wished to prolong an opportunity to hold my arm without impropriety. But you could offer that girl the throne of England??and a thousand pounds to a penny she??d shake her head.

almost as if she knew her request was in vain and she regretted it as soon as uttered. but the girl had a list of two or three recent similar peccadilloes on her charge sheet. Poulteney knew herself many lengths behind in that particular race for piety. But they comprehended mysterious elements; a sentiment of obscure defeat not in any way related to the incident on the Cobb. She made the least response possible; and still avoided his eyes. It was what went on there that really outraged them. but sprang from a profound difference between the two women. It is sweet to sip in the proper place. But unless I am helped I shall be. I did what I could for the girl. then. a rich grazier??but that is nothing. contentious.????If they know my story.Indeed.Which brings me to this evening of the concert nearly a week later. Its device was the only device: What is. he too heard men??s low voices. that were not quite comme il faut in the society Ernestina had been trained to grace. yet easy to unbend when the company was to his taste.

But even then a figure. and Charles. Instead of chapter headings. But as one day passed. and Charles installed himself in a smaller establishment in Kensington. a breed for whom Mrs. You never looked for her. Poulteney. and disapproving frowns from a sad majority of educated women. for people went to bed by nine in those days before electricity and television. by the woman on the grass outside the Dairy. 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. Her face was admirably suited to the latter sentiment; it had eyes that were not Tennyson??s ??homes of silent prayer?? at all. as everyone said. Poulteney. It was de haut en bos one moment. pillboxes. for she is one of the more celebrated younger English film actresses. Charles would almost certainly not have believed you??and even though. Poulteney went to see her.

and sometimes with an exciting.Finally. ??Respectability is what does not give me offense. Now I could see what was wrong at once??weeping without reason. unless a passing owl??standing at the open window of her unlit bedroom.??Charles smiled then. He might perhaps have seen a very contemporary social symbolism in the way these gray-blue ledges were crumbling; but what he did see was a kind of edificiality of time. apparently leaning against an old cannon barrel upended as a bollard. Modern women like Sarah exist. ??All I ask is that you meet me once more. At Cam-bridge. But then she looked Mrs. microcosms of macrocosms. I know it was wicked . And explain yourself. in fact.????I bet you ??ave. but finally because it is a superb fragment of folk art. So her relation with Aunt Tranter was much more that of a high-spirited child. is not meant for two people.

For she suddenly stopped turning and admiring herself in profile; gave an abrupt look up at the ceiling.?? he added for Mrs.She was like some plump vulture. where some ship sailed towards Bridport..?? Which is Virgil.????There is no likeness between a situation where happiness is at least possible and one where . that I had let a spar that might have saved me drift out of reach. had exploded the myth. Charles!????Very well. frontiers. ??Your ammonites will never hold such mysteries as that.????I have decided you are up to no good. And I do not want my green walking dress.Mrs. You may see it still in the drawings of the great illustrators of the time??in Phiz??s work. and in places where a man with a broken leg could shout all week and not be heard.?? Something new had crept into her voice. shut out nature.?? As if she heard a self-recriminatory bitterness creep into her voice again.

Yet now committed to one more folly. that Charles??s age was not; but do not think that as he stood there he did not know this. We meet here. assured his complete solitude and then carefully removed his stout boots. ??I am satisfied that you are in a state of repentance. Charles faced his own free hours. clean. He said finally he should wait one week. Had they but been able to see into the future! For Ernestina was to outlive all her generation. which did more harm than good. which was tousled from the removal of the nightcap and made him look younger than he was. to let live. Dulce est desipere. She too was a stranger to the crinoline; but it was equally plain that that was out of oblivion. not unlike someone who had been a Communist in the 1930s??accepted now.??They walked on a few paces before he answered; for a moment Charles seemed inclined to be serious. gener-ated by Mrs. out of sight of the Dairy. a young widow. the insignia of the Liberal Party.

So much the better for us? Perhaps. Weller would have answered the bag of soot. to see him hatless. by saying: ??Sam! I am an absolute one hundred per cent heaven forgive me damned fool!??A day or two afterwards the unadulterated fool had an interview with Ernestina??s father. as the man that day did. will it not???And so they kissed. ??Eighty-eight days. a branch broken underfoot. Kneeling. and still facing down the clearing. who had giggled at the previous week??s Punch when Charles showed it to her. and disappeared into the interior shadows. where a russet-sailed and westward-headed brig could be seen in a patch of sunlight some five miles out.The mid-century had seen a quite new form of dandy appear on the English scene; the old upper-class variety. who had wheedled Mrs.??The doctor rather crossly turned to replace the lamp on its table. Though direct. He most wisely provided the girl with a better education than one would expect. Lady Cotton. I was told where his room was and expected to go up to it.

what use are precautions?Visitors to Lyme in the nineteenth century. poor man.. He heard then a sound as of a falling stone.At least he began in the spirit of such an examination; as if it was his duty to do so. A time came when Varguennes could no longer hide the na-ture of his real intentions towards me. with a forestalling abruptness. Now why in heaven??s name must you always walk alone? Have you not punished yourself enough? You are young.But she heard Aunt Tranter??s feet on the stairs. and here in the role of Alarmed Propriety . and she clapped her hand over her mouth. of Sarah Woodruff.]This was perceptive of Charles. He says of one. But then she looked Mrs. The entire world was not for them only a push or a switch away.Who is Sarah?Out of what shadows does she come?I do not know.??I feel like an Irish navigator transported into a queen??s boudoir.??She did not move. more like a man??s riding coat than any woman??s coat that had been in fashion those past forty years.

The pattern of her exterior movements??when she was spared the tracts??was very simple; she always went for the same afternoon walk.??The old fellow would stare gloomily at his claret. desolation??could have seemed so great. And by choice. These young ladies had had the misfortune to be briefed by their parents before the evening began. one of the strangest coastal landscapes in Southern England. Another he calls occasional. ??Of course not. and in a reality no less. Gosse was. I??ave haccepted them. an irrelevant fact that had petrified gradually over the years into the assumption of a direct lineal descent from the great Sir Francis. and already vivid green clumps of marjoram reached up to bloom. These young ladies had had the misfortune to be briefed by their parents before the evening began. one might add. If you were older you would know that one can-not be too strict in such matters. But he did not give her??or the Cobb??a second thought and set out.?? which would have betrayed that he was playing the doctor as well as the gentleman: ??.????You fear he will never return?????I know he will never return. climbed further cliffs masked by dense woods.

There could not be.??Sarah came forward. the worst . it was discovered that she had not risen. Charles.??I know lots o?? girls. With ??er complimums. a certainty of the innocence of this creature. where the invalid lay in a charmingly elaborate state of carmine-and-gray deshabille. was the lieutenant of the vessel. She now asked a question; and the effect was remark-able.??She shook her head vehemently. ??I was introduced the other day to a specimen of the local flora that inclines me partly to agree with you. ??But a most distressing case. and if mere morality had been her touchstone she would not have behaved as she did??the simple fact of the matter being that she had not lodged with a female cousin at Weymouth.??It was a little south-facing dell. but I can be put to the test. Please. He stared into his fire and murmured. with the permission and advice to proffer a blossom or two of his own to the young lady so hostile to soot.