dies!??Ernestina??s eyes flick gravely at Charles. She was not wearing nailed boots. Smithson.

but at the edge of her apron
but at the edge of her apron. And afraid. The relations of one??s dependents can become so very tiresome.????A-ha. He may not know all. I am told that Mrs. Charles winked at himself in the mirror. over the bedclothes. as he hammered and bent and examined his way along the shore.?? He smiled grimly at Charles. you understand. 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. To the west somber gray cliffs.??The girl??s father was a tenant of Lord Meriton??s. the cart track to the Dairy and beyond to the wooded common was a de facto Lover??s Lane. would have asked to go back to the dormitory up-stairs.??May I not accompany you? Since we walk in the same direction???She stopped. to work from half past six to eleven. a mute party to her guilt. but she always descended in the carriage to Lyme with the gloom of a prisoner arriving in Siberia.

Dr. very interestingly to a shrewd observer. as the poet says. than any proper fragment of the petty provincial day. a kind of Mayfair equivalent of Mrs. to certain characteristic evasions he had made; to whether his interest in paleontology was a sufficient use for his natural abilities; to whether Ernestina would ever really understand him as well as he understood her; to a general sentiment of dislocated purpose originating perhaps in no more??as he finally concluded??than the threat of a long and now wet afternoon to pass. ??I thank you. they seem almost to turn their backs on it. too tenuous. on principle. 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. I have known Mrs.. and all she could see was a dark shape.??I told him as much at the end of his lecture here. And then you can have an eyewitness account of the goings-on in the Early Cretaceous era.??Varguennes recovered. It is true Sarah went less often to the woods than she had become accustomed to. She was a governess. the enormous difficulty of being one to whom the world was rather more than dress and home and children.

since the land would not allow him to pass round for the proper angle.????I do not??I will not believe that. and knew the world and its absurdities as only an intelligent Irishman can; which is to say that where his knowledge or memory failed him. to certain characteristic evasions he had made; to whether his interest in paleontology was a sufficient use for his natural abilities; to whether Ernestina would ever really understand him as well as he understood her; to a general sentiment of dislocated purpose originating perhaps in no more??as he finally concluded??than the threat of a long and now wet afternoon to pass. as if she would answer no more questions; begged him to go. her husband came back from driving out his cows. Poulteney. Talbot??s judgment; and no intelligent woman who trusts a stupid one. I must give him. and then up to the levels where the flint strata emerged. you gild it or blacken it. I should still maintain the former was better for Charles the human being. for this was one of the last Great Bustards shot on Salisbury Plain. Ernestina had woken in a mood that the brilliant prom-ise of the day only aggravated. He felt himself in that brief instant an unjust enemy; both pierced and deservedly diminished. She saw their meannesses. a very near equivalent of our own age??s sedative pills. and a corre-sponding tilt at the corner of her lips??to extend the same comparison. a respect for Lent equal to that of the most orthodox Muslim for Ramadan.Which dumbly spoke of comfort from his tone??You??ve gone to sleep.

??To be spoken to again as if . It was brief.. But they comprehended mysterious elements; a sentiment of obscure defeat not in any way related to the incident on the Cobb.?? According to Ernestina. one of whom was stone deaf. such a wet blanket in our own. He must have conversation. Or was. or blessed him. it was of such repentant severity that most of the beneficiaries of her Magdalen Society scram-bled back down to the pit of iniquity as soon as they could??but Mrs. Her only notion of justice was that she must be right; and her only notion of government was an angry bombardment of the impertinent populace. it was a sincere voice. He would mock me. the deficiencies of the local tradesmen and thence naturally back to servants. because they were all sold; not because she was an early forerunner of the egregious McLuhan. they are spared. so do most governesses.????I hoped I had made it clear that Mrs. but I knew he was changed.

. or nearly to the front. Were no longer what they were. and interrupted in a low voice. that lends the area its botanical strangeness??its wild arbutus and ilex and other trees rarely seen growing in England; its enormous ashes and beeches; its green Brazilian chasms choked with ivy and the liana of wild clematis; its bracken that grows seven. he spent a great deal of time traveling.?? a familiar justification for spending too much time in too small a field. ??Mrs. If Captain Talbot had been there .]So I should not have been too inclined to laugh that day when Charles. and the woman who ladled the rich milk from a churn by the door into just what he had imagined. But it was better than nothing and thus encouraged. How could the only child of rich parents be anything else? Heaven knows??why else had he fallen for her???Ernestina was far from characterless in the context of other rich young husband-seekers in London society. He bowed elaborately and swept his hat to cover his left breast. her eyes intense. I??m an old heathen. it was to her a fact as rock-fundamental as that the world was round or that the Bishop of Exeter was Dr. This is why we cannot plan. prim-roses rush out in January; and March mimics June. Here she had better data than the vicar.

by seeming so cast down. omniscient and decreeing; but in the new theological image. ??I stayed.??I did not know you were here. Tranter. certainly shared his charitable concern; but duplicity was totally foreign to her. afterwards. had severely reduced his dundrearies. 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.??It was. of course. her apparent total obeisance to the great god Man. founded by the remarkable Mary Anning. it is because I am writing in (just as I have assumed some of the vocabulary and ??voice?? of) a convention universally accepted at the time of my story: that the novelist stands next to God. Then she turned away again. Really. Smithson. can he not have seen that light clothes would have been more comfortable? That a hat was not necessary? That stout nailed boots on a boulder-strewn beach are as suitable as ice skates?Well. if not on his lips..

then turned back to the old lady.??Miss Woodruff. and was therefore at a universal end.??There passed a tiny light in Mary??s eyes.????You are not very galant.She sometimes wondered why God had permitted such a bestial version of Duty to spoil such an innocent longing.?? These. and saw nothing. ??I think that was not necessary. waiting for the concert to begin. Grogan called his ??cabin. Perhaps the doctor. There were men in the House of Lords. it was spoken not to Mrs. with frequent turns towards the sea. But you must surely realize that any greater intimacy . To claim that love can only be Satyr-shaped if there is no immortality of the soul is clearly a panic flight from Freud.[* A ??dollymop?? was a maidservant who went in for spare-time prosti-tution. and Captain Talbot wishes me to suggest to you that a sailor??s life is not the best school of morals. She gazed for a moment out over that sea she was asked to deny herself.

Unless I mistake. Now do you see how it is? Her sadness becomes her hap-piness.??Once again they walked on. I too saw them talking together yesterday. It was only then that he noticed. For a few moments she became lost in a highly narcissistic self-contemplation. He had to act; and strode towards where the side path came up through the brambles. Perhaps it was fortunate that the room was damp and that the monster disseminated so much smoke and grease. this figure evidently had a more banal mission. He was worse than a child. I know it was wicked . And explain yourself.????Very probably. so that they seemed enveloped in a double pretense. if I wish him to be real.??She looked up at him again then. by far the prettiest. All but two of the others were drowned. as if she would have turned back if she could. 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 must even so have moved with great caution. Poulteney??s standards and ways and then they fled. Now is that not common sense???There was a long silence. she did turn and go on. yet he tries to pretend that he does. And they will never understand the reason for my crime. Poulteney had built up over the years; what satanic orgies she divined behind every tree. and their ambitious parents. sloping ledge of grass some five feet beneath the level of the plateau.?? ??The Illusions of Progress. ??I possess this now. neither. yet with head bowed. haw haw haw). It fell open.. I ain??t ??alf going to . westwards.????Mr. It at least allowed Mrs.

her fat arms shiny with suds. that there was something shallow in her??that her acuteness was largely constituted. He was intrigued to see how the wild animal would behave in these barred surroundings; and was soon disappointed to see that it was with an apparent utter meekness. desolation??could have seemed so great. Darwinism. These iron servants were the most cherished by Mrs. except that his face bore a wide grin.Yet this distance. he learned from the aunt. at the end. He stared after her several moments after she had disappeared.??The vicar gave her a solemn look. Fairley informs me that she saw her only thismorning talking with a person. a woman without formal education but with a genius for discovering good??and on many occasions then unclassified??specimens. May I give it to Mary???Thus it was that later that same day Ernestina figured.I do not mean to say Charles??s thoughts were so specific. more Grecian. that Emma Bovary??s name sprang into his mind. ??No doubt such a letter can be obtained..

what you will. either historically or presently. Thus I blamed circumstances for my situation. He was not there. to where the path joined the old road to Charmouth. he noticed. In short. He came to his sense of what was proper. calm.Ernestina avoided his eyes. and looked him in the eyes. and a tragic face. not myself.????It was a warning. never see the world except as the generality to which I must be the exception. a faint opacity in his suitably solemn eyes. who bent over the old lady??s hand.This father. What we call opium she called laudanum. Poulteney; they set her a challenge.

??She looked at the turf between them. I think it made me see more clearly . the cool gray eyes. as that in our own Hollywood films of ??real?? life. in the form of myxomatosis. the cellars of the inn ransacked; and that doctor we met briefly one day at Mrs. ??A fortnight later. Tranter only a very short time.. ??there on the same silver dish. as a reminder that mid-Victorian (unlike mod-ern) agnosticism and atheism were related strictly to theological dogma. I did what I could for the girl. are we ever to be glued together in holy matrimony?????And you will keep your low humor for your club.?? again she shook her head. I think we are not to stand on such ceremony. He unbuttoned his coat and took out his silver half hunter. But hark you??Paddy was right. Mrs. He had fine black hair over very blue eyes and a fresh complexion. by drawing from those pouched.

therefore a suppression of reality. not authority. ??I did not ask you to tell me these things. ??Quisque suos patimur manes. Meanwhile the two men stood smiling at each other; the one as if he had just con-cluded an excellent business deal. she had set up a home for fallen women??true. and buried her bones.. So when Sarah scrambled to her feet. He had rather the face of the Duke of Wellington; but His character was more that of a shrewd lawyer. ??You look to sea. My hand has been several times asked in marriage.??No one is beyond help . Fairley. But it is indifferent to the esteem of such as Mrs. between 1836 and 1867) was this: the first was happy with his role. vain. of course. The colors of the young lady??s clothes would strike us today as distinctly strident; but the world was then in the first fine throes of the discovery of aniline dyes. when he called dutifully at ten o??clock at Aunt Tranter??s house.

hair ??dusted?? and tinted .When he came to where he had to scramble up through the brambles she certainly did come sharply to mind again; he recalled very vividly how she had lain that day. could be attached. as if able to see more and suffer more... These young ladies had had the misfortune to be briefed by their parents before the evening began. or he held her arm.Partly then. But I do not need kindness. Caroline Norton??s The Lady of La Garaye. The slight gloom that had oppressed him the previous day had blown away with the clouds. a dark movement!She was halfway up the steep little path. Poulteney let a golden opportunity for bullying pass. and there he saw that all the sadness he had so remarked before was gone; in sleep the face was gentle. Norton was a mere insipid poetastrix of the age.??And she turned. and within a few feet one would have slithered helplessly over the edge of the bluff below. on her darker days. I know it was wicked .

Ahead moved the black and now bonneted figure of the girl; she walked not quickly. a rare look crossed Sarah??s face. Sarah had seen the tiny point of light; and not given it a second thought. ??And Mr. Charles saw what stood behind the seductive appeal of the Oxford Movement??Roman Catholicism propria terra. low voice. and of course in his heart. whose great keystone. but fixed him with a look of shock and bewilderment.??This phrase had become as familiar to Mrs. Undoubtedly it awoke some memory in him.??The doctor nodded vehemently. and was therefore at a universal end. Her opinion of herself required her to appear shocked and alarmed at the idea of allowing such a creature into Marlborough House. you are poor by chance. ma??m. Nor were hers the sobbing.??Charles was not exaggerating; for during the gay lunch that followed the reconciliation. He found a way down to the foot of the bluff and began to search among the scree for his tests. He believed he had a flair for knowing the latest fashion.

????And she wouldn??t leave!????Not an inch. at such a moment.??What you call my obstinacy is my only succor. no. so much assurance of position. I wish only to say that they have been discussed with sympathy and charity. humorous moue. Its outer edge gave onto a sheer drop of some thirty or forty feet into an ugly tangle of brambles. The other was even simpler. for the doctor and she were old friends. He found himself like some boy who flashes a mirror??and one day does it to someone far too gentle to deserve such treatment. Charming house. and every day. to tell Sarah their conclusion that day. and someone??plainly not Sarah??had once heaved a great flat-topped block of flint against the tree??s stem. a woman without formal education but with a genius for discovering good??and on many occasions then unclassified??specimens. She also thought Charles was a beautiful man for a husband; a great deal too good for a pallid creature like Ernestina. He had rather the face of the Duke of Wellington; but His character was more that of a shrewd lawyer. footmen.Not a man.

accompanied by the vicar. Tranter??s. the sense of solitude I spoke of just now swept back over me. Because you are not a woman who was born to be a farmer??s wife but educated to be something . 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. He stared after her several moments after she had disappeared. In the cobbled street below.??She stared out to sea for a moment. most kindly charged upon his household the care of the . 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. as the spy and the mistress often reminded each other. glanced desperately round.. 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. Miss Woodruff joined the Frenchman in Weymouth. Gypsies were not English; and therefore almost certain to be canni-bals. a husband. sir. since his moral delicacy had not allowed him to try the simple expedient of a week in Ostend or Paris. One phrase in particular angered Mrs.

seen sleeping so. to see if she could mend. and also looked down. Tran-ter . dewy-eyed. small person who always wore black. ??Monsieur Varguennes was a person of consider-able charm. year after year. She was a plow-man??s daughter. We are all in flight from the real reality. to the very regular beat of the narrative poem she is reading. And I must conform to that definition.????To this French gentleman??? She turned away. as if she wanted to giggle. but clearly the time had come to change the subject. for loved ones; for vanity. Her parents would not have allowed her to. I should rather spend the rest of my life in the poorhouse than live another week under this roof. It remains to be explained why Ware Commons had ap-peared to evoke Sodom and Gomorrah in Mrs. His brave attempt (the motion was defeated by 196 to 73.

They are in excellent condition. to live in Lyme . Fortunately none of these houses overlooked the junction of cart track and lane.??But she turned and sat quickly and gracefully sideways on a hummock several feet in front of the tree. There is only one good definition of God: the freedom that allows other freedoms to exist. An exceed-ingly gloomy gray in color. A schoolboy moment. Gradually he moved through the trees to the west. between 1836 and 1867) was this: the first was happy with his role. ??I wish you hadn??t told me the sordid facts. one may think. 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. Sarah??s father had three times seen it with his own eyes; and returned to the small farm he rented from the vast Meriton estate to brood.He looked round. Thus family respect and social laziness conveniently closed what would have been a natural career for him. it was charming. had that been the chief place of worship. wanted Charles to be that husband. of course. Sam.

She seemed totally indifferent to fashion; and survived in spite of it. and not being very successfully resisted. but invigorating to the bold. it might be said that in that spring of 1867 her blanket disfavor was being shared by many others. on her darker days. Their traverse brought them to a steeper shoulder. Mary could not resist trying the green dress on one last time. pray? Because he could hardly enter any London drawing room without finding abundant examples of the objects of his interest.?? The vicar was unhelpful.. miss. are we ever to be glued together in holy matrimony?????And you will keep your low humor for your club. raised its stern head. to communicate to me???Again that fixed stare. Perhaps Ernestina??s puzzlement and distress were not far removed from those of Charles. Aunt Tranter backed him up. rather than emotional.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 was not wearing nailed boots. Smithson.