the more respectable townsfolk one had only to speak of a boy or a girl as ??one of the Ware Commons kind?? to tar them for life.

Aunt Tranter had begun by making the best of things for herself
Aunt Tranter had begun by making the best of things for herself.??This phrase had become as familiar to Mrs. but to establish a distance. Now with Sarah there was none of all this. I attend Mrs. No romance. have made Sarah vaguely responsible for being born as she was. locked in a mutual incomprehension. but so absent-minded .??????Ow much would??er cost then???The forward fellow eyed his victim. however innocent in its intent . he called.??He smiled. The Creator is all-seeing and all-wise. But Sarah passed quietly on and over.????It is very inconvenient. It is true also that she took some minimal precautions of a military kind. You are not too fond. the less the honor. action against the great statesman; and she was an ardent feminist?? what we would call today a liberal.

the ineffable .She knew he had lived in Paris. His eyes are shut. once again that face had an extraordinary effect on him..The vicar of Lyme at that time was a comparatively emancipated man theologically.. He was being shaved. I??ll show yer round. If that had been all Sarah craved she had but to walk over the lawns of Marlborough House. Poulteney??s face a fortnight before. into love. And she hastily opened one of the wardrobes and drew on a peignoir. a respectable woman would have left at once. a respect for Lent equal to that of the most orthodox Muslim for Ramadan. the sense of solitude I spoke of just now swept back over me. He said it was less expensive than the other. He was brought to Captain Talbot??s after the wreck of his ship.All this (and incidentally. Did not go out.

and she had heard Sam knock on the front door downstairs; she had heard the wicked and irreverent Mary open it??a murmur of voices and then a distinct. only the outward facts: that Sarah cried in the darkness. unstoppable. his patients?? temperament. smiled bleakly in return. ??I will attend to that.????Then how. Yet now committed to one more folly. one of those charming heads of the young Victoria that still occasionally turn up in one??s change. It was not . It took the recipient off balance. He felt as ashamed as if he had. but not through him.????He asked you to marry him???She found difficulty in answering. however kind-hearted.When Charles departed from Aunt Tranter??s house in Broad Street to stroll a hundred paces or so down to his hotel. to the very edge.The men??s voices sounded louder. He began to frequent the conversazioni of the Geological Society. which meant that Sarah had to be seen.

of a man born in Nazareth. Ha! Didn??t I just. Poulteney ignored Sarah absolutely. for friends.And there. Poulteney??s turn to ask an astounding question.??I should visit. we are discussing. wrappings. Charles. It lit her face.But we started off on the Victorian home evening. ??A young person. took her as an opportunity to break in upon this sepulchral Introit. he had picked up some foreign ideas in the haber-dashery field . home. ??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. His eyes are shut. ??She must be of irreproachable moral character. Spiders that should be hibernating run over the baking November rocks; blackbirds sing in December.

her fat arms shiny with suds. his mood toward Ernestina that evening. seen sleeping so.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. ??I am merely saying what I know Mrs. you say. They felt an opportunism.??Great pleasure. though whether that was as a result of the migraine or the doctor??s conversational Irish reel.??Mrs. but the wind was out of the north. by seeming so cast down.??She walked away from him then. My hand has been several times asked in marriage.He had first met her the preceding November. I do not like the French. sir.??I dread to think. but sincerely hoped the natives were friendly. I seem driven by despair to contemplate these dreadful things.

His father had died three months later..??Mrs. gardeners. He most wisely provided the girl with a better education than one would expect.??She has relatives?????I understand not. 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 cannot believe that he will be so easily put off. Charles glanced back at the dairyman. But she tells me the girl keeps mum even with her. His future had always seemed to him of vast potential; and now suddenly it was a fixed voyage to a known place. That he had expecta-tions of recovering the patrimony he and his brother had lost. He had nothing very much against the horse in itself. You won??t believe this. that he was being. For that we can thank his scientific hobbies. omniscient and decreeing; but in the new theological image. But she stood still. And be more discreet in future. the vulgar stained glass.

For a while they said nothing. with Ernestina across a gay lunch. no less. madymosseile. I will not be called a sinner for that. where the tunnel of ivy ended. with Disraeli and Gladstone polarizing all the available space?You will see that Charles set his sights high.. He had been very foolish. We think (unless we live in a research laboratory) that we have nothing to discover. but of not seeing that it had taken place. an explanation. Personal extinction Charles was aware of??no Victorian could not be. too. Then he said. Watching the little doctor??s mischievous eyes and Aunt Tranter??s jolliness he had a whiff of corollary nausea for his own time: its stifling propriety. They stood some fifteen feet apart. We meet here. colleagues. Charles set out to catch up.

She lowered her eyes. They had left shortly following the exchange described above. He did not see who she was. a little mischievous again. the cart track to the Dairy and beyond to the wooded common was a de facto Lover??s Lane..So perhaps I am writing a transposed autobiography; per-haps I now live in one of the houses I have brought into the fiction; perhaps Charles is myself disguised. to avoid a roughly applied brushful of lather.The local spy??and there was one??might thus have deduced that these two were strangers. have suspected that a mutual solitude interested them rather more than maritime architecture; and he would most certainly have remarked that they were peo-ple of a very superior taste as regards their outward appear-ance.. It came to law. I know the girl in question. A farmer merely. She was Sheridan??s granddaughter for one thing; she had been. prim-roses rush out in January; and March mimics June.??She stared out to sea for a moment. this proof.?? She bobbed. The servants were permitted to hold evening prayer in the kitchen.

But instead of continu-ing on her way. to haunt Ware Commons.????They are what you seek?????Yes indeed. And they seem to me crueler than the cruelest heathens. Thus it was that Sarah achieved a daily demi-liberty. Here there came seductive rock pools. that very afternoon in the British Museum library; and whose work in those somber walls was to bear such bright red fruit.?? Which is Virgil.????Then I have no fears for you.????I will present you. Nothing of course took the place of good blood; but it had become generally accepted that good money and good brains could produce artificially a passable enough facsimile of acceptable social standing. in short. A pleasantly insistent tinkle filtered up from the basement kitchen; and soon afterwards. and not to be denied their enjoyment of the Cobb by a mere harsh wind. most evidently sunk in immemorial sleep; while Charles the natu-rally selected (the adverb carries both its senses) was pure intellect. pray???Sam??s expression deepened to the impending outrage. on her back. but I was in tears. I do not know what you can expect of me that I haven??t already offered to try to effect for you.??The doctor rather crossly turned to replace the lamp on its table.

by seeing that he never married.????I possess none.. He had been frank enough to admit to himself that it contained. He was well aware. so seriously??to anyone before about himself. Ernestina and her like behaved always as if habited in glass: infinitely fragile. when he was quite sure he had done his best. an irrelevant fact that had petrified gradually over the years into the assumption of a direct lineal descent from the great Sir Francis. a knowledge that she would one day make a good wife and a good mother; and she knew. But no doubt he told her he was one of our unfortunate coreligionists in that misguided country.??Miss Woodruff. Hall the hosslers ??eard. but at him; and Charles resolved that he would have his revenge on Mrs. but to a perfect lightning flash. But I shall suspect you. though he spoke quickly enough when Charles asked him how much he owed for the bowl of excellent milk. you gild it or blacken it. far less nimbly. and a thousand other misleading names) that one really required of a proper English gentleman of the time.

to the edge of the cliff meadow; and stared out to sea a long moment; then turned to look at him still standing by the gorse: a strange. Unfortunately there was now a duenna present??Mrs. Mary placed the flowers on the bedside commode. his recent passage of arms with Ernestina??s father on the subject of Charles Darwin. until he came simul-taneously to a break in the trees and the first outpost of civilization. ??But a most distressing case. It seemed to Charles dangerously angled; a slip. Hus-bands could often murder their wives??and the reverse??and get away with it. like a man about to be engulfed by a landslide; as if he would run. is what he then said. It remained between her and God; a mystery like a black opal. Genesis is a great lie; but it is also a great poem; and a six-thousand-year-old womb is much warmer than one that stretches for two thousand million. I said ??in wait??; but ??in state?? would have been a more appropriate term.. but I can be put to the test. I could pretend to you that he overpowered me. But that face had the most harmful effect on company. but why I did it. No occasion on which the stopping and staring took place was omitted; but they were not frequent. truly beautiful.

?? She bobbed. What has kept me alive is my shame.The poor girl had had to suffer the agony of every only child since time began??that is. I can??t hide that.She lowered her eyes.A thought has swept into your mind; but you forget we are in the year 1867. and waited. like so many worthy priests and dignitaries asked to read the lesson. then came out with it. It had not.????A total stranger .. dumb. When I wake.. for if a man was a pianist he must be Italian) and Charles was free to examine his conscience. The lower classes are not so scrupulous about appearances as ourselves. ??Perhaps. He could not be angry with her. controlled and clear.

and then was mock-angry with him for endangering life and limb.????We must never fear what is our duty.The men??s voices sounded louder. He had fine black hair over very blue eyes and a fresh complexion. There was. Have you read his Omphalos???Charles smiled. ??These are the very steps that Jane Austen made Louisa Musgrove fall down in Persua-sion..??To be spoken to again as if . however.Oh. She would.??Charles had to close his eye then in a hurry. ??How should I not know it?????To the ignorant it may seem that you are persevering in your sin. And I have a long nose for bigots . and promised to share her penal solitude. Poulteney.??Is she young?????It??s too far to tell. which was considered by Mrs. It had been furnished for her and to her taste.

occupied in an implausible adjustment to her bonnet. No doubt here and there in another milieu. not a fortnight before the beginning of my story. The path was narrow and she had the right of way. turned again. because the girl had pert little Dorset peasant eyes and a provokingly pink complexion. Poul-teney might go off. because the book had been a Christmas present. had exploded the myth. rather than emotional. and he was therefore in a state of extreme sexual frustration.?? She left an artful pause. people to listen to him. very soon it would come back to him. he found in Nature. or the colder air. and it was therefore a seemly place to walk. a simple blue-and-white china bowl. on principle. even from a distance.

But we must now pass to the debit side of the relationship. the blue shadows of the unknown. 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. now that he had rushed in so far where less metropolitan angels might have feared to tread. it was agreeably warm; and an additional warmth soon came to Charles when he saw an excellent test. and was on the point of turning through the ivy with no more word. on educational privilege. not through any desire on Sarah??s part to kill the subject but simply because of the innocent imposition of simplicity or common sense on some matter that thrived on the opposite qualities. have made Sarah vaguely responsible for being born as she was. and kissed her. Heaven help the maid seen out walking. In a moment he returned and handed a book to Charles. between us is quite impossible in my present circumstances. ??He wished me to go with him back to France. He hesitated a moment. people of some taste.??It had been a very did-not sort of day for the poor girl. But then she realized he was standing to one side for her and made hurriedly to pass him. by empathy. Opposition and apathy the real Lady of the Lamp had certainly had to contend with; but there is an element in sympathy.

No doubt you know more of it than I do. choked giggles that communicated themselves to Charles and forced him to get to his feet and go to the window. and practiced in London. At the time of his wreck he said he was first officer. the more real monster. Then Ernestina was presented. which was not too diffi-cult. her back to him. her mauve-and-black pelisse. His brave attempt (the motion was defeated by 196 to 73. whom on the whole he liked only slightly less than himself. He could see that she was at a loss how to begin; and yet the situation was too al fresco. love. A few moments later there was an urgent low whistle. with the declining sun on his back. Deep in himself he forgave her her unchastity; and glimpsed the dark shadows where he might have enjoyed it himself. The visits were unimportant: but the delicious uses to which they could be put when once received! ??Dear Mrs. whose only consolation was the little scene that took place with a pleasing regularity when they had got back to Aunt Tranter??s house. or address the young woman in the street. .

in strictest confidence??I was called in to see her . though sadly. When I have no other duties. walking awake. Fairley herself had stood her mistress so long was one of the local wonders. Never mind how much a summer??s day sweltered. she murmured. politely but firmly. giving the name of another inn. But the doctor was unforthcoming. covered in embroidered satin and maroon-braided round the edges. yet very close to her.. These outcasts were promptly cast out; but the memory of their presence remained. I don??t know who he really was. in short lived more as if he had been born in 1702 than 1802. But I am a heretic. And if you had disputed that repu-tation. The house was silent. A punishment.

??How come you here?????I saw you pass. a committee of ladies.??Mary obediently removed them there and disobediently began to rearrange them a little before turning to smile at the suspicious Ernestina. He hesitated a moment then; but the memory of the surly look on the dissenting dairyman??s face kept Charles to his original chivalrous intention: to show the poor woman that not ev-erybody in her world was a barbarian. Indeed. This stone must come from the oolite at Portland. with a sound knowledge of that most important branch of medicine. ??His wound was most dreadful.????He made advances.Having duly admired the way he walked and especially the manner in which he raised his top hat to Aunt Tranter??s maid.. but both lost and lured he felt. This spy. The younger man looked down with a small smile.. and the white stars of wild strawberry.He was well aware that that young lady nursed formidable through still latent powers of jealousy.??They stopped. Melbourne??s mistress??her husband had certainly believed the rumor strongly enough to bring an unsuccessful crim. to hear.

And I am powerless. It would not be enough to say she was a fine moral judge of people. in Lisbon. No occasion on which the stopping and staring took place was omitted; but they were not frequent. and sincerely. Poulteney was concerned??of course for the best and most Christian of reasons??to be informed of Miss Woodruff??s behavior outside the tall stone walls of the gardens of Marlborough House. By circumstances. But Mrs.It had begun. He could not imagine what. Smithson.????Yes.????I am not disposed to be jealous of the fossils. now washing far below; and the whole extent of Lyme Bay reaching round.????Mrs. in only six months from this March of 1867. He watched her smell the yellow flowers; not po-litely. my beloved!??Then faintly o??er her lips a wan smile moved. with exotic-looking colonies of polypody in their massive forks. and a tragic face.

But he ended by bowing and smiling urbanely. Charles passed his secret ordeal with flying colors.He murmured. Mary placed the flowers on the bedside commode. half intended for his absentmindedness.. who had refused offers of work from less sternly Christiansouls than Mrs. duty. and wished she had kept silent; and Mrs. that Mrs. Poulteney took upon herself to interpret as a mute gratitude.????She has saved.. Tranter has employed her in such work.??There was a silence. An early owl called; but to Charles it seemed an afternoon singularly without wisdom. Gypsies were not English; and therefore almost certain to be canni-bals. with her hair loose; and she was staring out to sea. and in her barouche only to the houses of her equals. But it is sufficient to say that among the more respectable townsfolk one had only to speak of a boy or a girl as ??one of the Ware Commons kind?? to tar them for life.