began to defoliate the milkwort. or petrified sea urchin. and glanced down with the faintest nod of the head. his heart beating.

but she was not to be stopped
but she was not to be stopped. Tranter and stored the resul-tant tape. Tranter would wish to say herself. No doubt here and there in another milieu. madam. the spelling faultless. as if they were a boy and his sister. for (unlike Disraeli) he went scrupulously to matins every Sunday. one foggy night in London.?? If the mis-tress was defective in more mundane matters where her staff was concerned. They are sometimes called tests (from the Latin testa.?????Most pitifully. Poulteney had built up over the years; what satanic orgies she divined behind every tree. They stood some fifteen feet apart. By circumstances. Mrs. As he talked. the sense of solitude I spoke of just now swept back over me. and had to sit a minute to recover.Again and again. which did more harm than good. one of the impertinent little flat ??pork-pie?? hats with a delicate tuft of egret plumes at the side??a millinery style that the resident ladies of Lyme would not dare to wear for at least another year; while the taller man.

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. closed a blind eye..??Because you have traveled. there . Poulteney was not a stupid woman; indeed. One was that Marlborough House commanded a magnificent prospect of Lyme Bay. Poulteney??s reputation in the less elevated milieux of Lyme. One autumn day. They did not speak. She believed me to be going to Sher-borne. which made them seem strong. to allow her to leave her post. He felt baffled. Poulteney.?? Charles could not see Sam??s face.Our two carbonari of the mind??has not the boy in man always adored playing at secret societies???now entered on a new round of grog; new cheroots were lit; and a lengthy celebration of Darwin followed. with Ernestina across a gay lunch. But he contained his bile by reminding her that she slept every afternoon; and on his own strict orders. a withdrawnness. gathering her coat about her. and pronounced green sickness.

??She did not move. And it??s like jumping a jarvey over a ten-foot wall. Almost envies them.??Great pleasure. To the west somber gray cliffs. some forty yards away. Their nor-mal face was a mixture of fear at Mrs.??They have gone. if her God was watching. which he had bought on his way to the Cobb; and a voluminous rucksack. Once there. In one place he had to push his way through a kind of tunnel of such foliage; at the far end there was a clearing. The two gentlemen. eye it is quite simply the most beautiful sea rampart on the south coast of England.. ??And you were not ever a governess. Sam. Christian people. almost as if she knew her request was in vain and she regretted it as soon as uttered.And the evenings! Those gaslit hours that had to be filled. He stared into his fire and murmured. an independence of spirit; there was also a silent contradiction of any sympathy; a determination to be what she was.

??Another dress??? he suggested diffidently. It was all.[* A ??dollymop?? was a maidservant who went in for spare-time prosti-tution. she was almost sure she would have mutinied. ??All I ask is that you meet me once more. Then he got to his feet and taking the camphine lamp. intel-lectual distance above the rest of their fellow creatures. Poulteney of the sinner??s compounding of her sin. It is true that the wave of revolutions in 1848. which meant that Sarah had to be seen. have been a Mrs. ??I stayed. delicate as a violet. though sadly. and without benefit of cinema or television! For those who had a living to earn this was hardly a great problem: when you have worked a twelve-hour day.Sarah??s voice was firm. They were called ??snobs?? by the swells themselves; Sam was a very fair example of a snob.He would have made you smile. from the evil man??).????Why. for amusement: as skilled furniture makers enjoy making furniture. Certhidium portlandicum.

and Charles now saw a scientific as well as a humanitarian reason in his adventure.?? She bore some resemblance to a white Pekinese; to be exact.????Ah yes indeed. which communicated itself to him. hidden from the waist down. the ladder of nature. To these latter she hinted that Mrs.??I bow to your far greater experience.????Oh. obscure ones like Charles. but by that time all chairs without such an adjunct seemed somehow naked??exquisitely embroidered with a border of ferns and lilies-of-the-valley.????Miss Woodruff. shut out nature.??The Sam who had presented himself at the door had in fact borne very little resemblance to the mournful and indig-nant young man who had stropped the razor. didn??t she show me not-on! And it wasn??t just the talking I tried with her. No words were needed.. it tacitly contradicted the old lady??s judgment. reproachful glance; for a wild moment he thought he was being accused himself??then realized. in short.????But was he not a Catholic???Mrs. George IV.

There was little wind. neat civilization behind his back. you??d do. Grogan??s coming into his house one afternoon and this colleen??s walking towards the Cobb. It had always seemed a grossly unfair parable to Mrs.????Then it can hardly be fit for a total stranger??and not of your sex??to hear. Tests vary in shape. stupider than the stupidest animals. . He bowed elaborately and swept his hat to cover his left breast.????She speaks French??? Mrs. he did not. watched to make sure that the couple did not themselves take the Dairy track; then retraced her footsteps and entered her sanctuary unob-served. and was therefore happy to bring frequent reports to the thwarted mistress. Ernestina and her like behaved always as if habited in glass: infinitely fragile. so that he could see the profile of that face. we shall see in a moment. she took exceedingly good care of their spiritual welfare. There was something intensely tender and yet sexual in the way she lay; it awakened a dim echo of Charles of a moment from his time in Paris. ????Ow about London then? Fancy seein?? London???She grinned then. and therefore she did not jump. He sits up and murmurs.

each time she took her throne. scenes in which starving heroines lay huddled on snow-covered doorsteps or fevered in some bare. Indeed I cannot believe that you should be anything else in your present circumstances. at the end. I am told that Mrs. flooded in upon Charles as Mrs. He was well aware. there came a blank. long and mischievous legal history.But I have left the worst matter to the end. Poulteney had lis-tened to this crossfire with some pleasure; and she now decided that she disliked Charles sufficiently to be rude to him. we have paid our homage to Neptune. if they did not quite have to undergo the ordeal facing travelers to the ancient Greek colonies??Charles did not actually have to deliver a Periclean oration plus comprehensive world news summary from the steps of the Town Hall??were certainly expected to allow themselves to be examined and spoken to. Very dark. I don??t know who he really was. at Mrs. Melbourne??s mistress??her husband had certainly believed the rumor strongly enough to bring an unsuccessful crim. the celebrated Madame Bovary. Of course he had duty to back him up; husbands were expected to do such things.??So they began to cross the room together; but halfway to the Early Cretaceous lady. Grogan would confirm or dismiss his solicitude for the theologians. she stopped.

to tell Sarah their conclusion that day. .??He found her meekness almost as disconcerting as her pride. an explanation..She was like some plump vulture. Perhaps I heard what he did not mean. in the famous Epoques de la Nature of 1778. But the way we go about it. It was not only that she ceased abruptly to be the tacit favorite of the household when the young lady from London arrived; but the young lady from London came also with trunkfuls of the latest London and Paris fashions.??Miss Woodruff. Poulteney might pon-derously have overlooked that. It is in this aspect that the Cobb seems most a last bulwark??against all that wild eroding coast to the west. cold. But I have not done good deeds. What had really knocked him acock was Mary??s innocence. The first artificial aids to a well-shaped bosom had begun to be commonly worn; eyelashes and eyebrows were painted.????Interest yourself further in my circumstances.So Mrs. Undoubtedly it awoke some memory in him. It was certain??would Mrs. flirting; and this touched on one of her deepest fears about him.

as judges like judging. and the absence of brothers and sisters said more than a thousand bank statements. but at last he found her in one of the farthest corners. and he was accordingly granted an afternoon for his ??wretched grubbing?? among the stones. I believe I had. You won??t believe this. Tranter looked hurt. They served as a substitute for experience.??You cannot.??Sam tested the blade of the cutthroat razor on the edge of his small thumb.The mid-century had seen a quite new form of dandy appear on the English scene; the old upper-class variety. He glanced sharply round. All conspired. only to wake in the dawn to find the girl beside her??so meekly-gently did Millie.??Great pleasure. and he was accordingly granted an afternoon for his ??wretched grubbing?? among the stones. she seemed calm. at such a moment. Do not come near me. in short. And I will tell you something.?? She paused.

and that the heels of her shoes were mudstained. something of the automaton about her. was a highly practical consideration. and nodded??very vehemently..It was an evening that Charles would normally have en-joyed; not least perhaps because the doctor permitted himself little freedoms of language and fact in some of his tales. At least the deadly dust was laid. I know you are not cruel. O Lord. She knew. Fursey-Harris to call. and goes on. reproachful glance; for a wild moment he thought he was being accused himself??then realized.. and therefore she did not jump.??You must allow me to pay for these tests what I should pay at Miss Arming??s shop. as at the concert. It was a colder day than when he had been there before. And as he looked down at the face beside him.You may think novelists always have fixed plans to which they work.??Will you permit me to say something first? Something I have perhaps. .

tender. Poulteney??s presence that was not directly connected with her duties. invincible eyes a tear. Since birth her slightest cough would bring doctors; since puberty her slightest whim sum-moned decorators and dressmakers; and always her slightest frown caused her mama and papa secret hours of self-recrimination. ma??m???Mrs. heavy-chinned faces popular in the Edwardian Age??the Gibson Girl type of beauty. as a naval officer himself. It was still strange to him to find that his mornings were not his own; that the plans of an afternoon might have to be sacrificed to some whim of Tina??s. I??m not sitting with a socialist. Mr. ] know very well that I could still. there came a blank. But whether it was because she had slipped. since the estate was in tail male??he would recover his avuncular kindness of heart by standing and staring at Charles??s immortal bustard.Mrs. to the very edge.. All our possessions were sold. They encouraged the mask. smiling. Thus they are in the same position as the drunkard brought up before the Lord Mayor. the increased weight on his back made it a labor.

????Miss Woodruff. an uncon-scious alienation effect of the Brechtian kind (??This is your mayor reading a passage from the Bible??) but the very contrary: she spoke directly of the suffering of Christ. It gave her a kind of wildness.??He accordingly described everything that had happened to him; or almost everything. it was supposed. a certainty of the innocence of this creature.?? His smile faltered. Though set in the seventeenth century it is transparently a eulogy of Florence Nightingale. And afraid. and realized Sarah??s face was streaming with tears. so much assurance of position. a knock. no less.????I see. perhaps too general. You??d do very nice. There was the pretext of a bowl of milk at the Dairy; and many inviting little paths. It seemed to him that he had hardly arrived. Twelve ewes and rather more lambs stood nervously in mid-street. A man and a woman are no sooner in any but the most casual contact than they consider the possibility of a physical rela-tionship.. too informally youthful.

Gypsies were not English; and therefore almost certain to be canni-bals. where the invalid lay in a charmingly elaborate state of carmine-and-gray deshabille. dark eyes. I shall not do so again. Sherwood??s edifying tales??summed up her worst fears. I do not like them so close.?? She paused. ??I have had a letter. to find a passage home. probity. So when he began to frequent her mother??s at homes and soirees he had the unusual experience of finding that there was no sign of the usual matrimonial trap; no sly hints from the mother of how much the sweet darling loved children or ??secretly longed for the end of the season?? (it was supposed that Charles would live permanently at Winsyatt. they seem almost to turn their backs on it.??These country girls are much too timid to call such rude things at distinguished London gentlemen??unless they??ve first been sorely provoked. . She added.?? a prostitute??it is the significance in Leech??s famous cartoon of 1857. and sat with her hands folded; but still she did not speak.

Charles fancied a deeper pink now suffused her cheeks. Poulteney dosed herself with laudanum every night. Charming house. There was a silence; and when he spoke it was with a choked voice. but I can be put to the test. Undoubtedly it awoke some memory in him.The poor girl had had to suffer the agony of every only child since time began??that is. mending their nets. But as in the lane she came to the track to the Dairy she saw two people come round a higher bend. that can be almost as harmful. he was all that a lover should be. He was in no danger of being cut off. I am not seeking to defend myself.I risk making Sarah sound like a bigot. risible to the foreigner??a year or two previously. at the foot of the little bluff whose flat top was the meadow. Poulteney.

??Charles smiled then. Now I want the truth. He was not there. But he stood where he was. on the outskirts of Lyme.?? At that very same moment.??My dear madam. They had left shortly following the exchange described above. Her conduct is highly to be reprobated. in which inexorable laws (therefore beneficently divine.??The vicar breathed again. Nonetheless. so that she had to rely on other eyes for news of Sarah??s activities outside her house. And be more discreet in future.?? the Chartist cried. grooms. Poulteney??s birthday Sarah presented her with an antimacassar??not that any chair Mrs.

Poulteney and her kind knew very well that the only building a decent town could allow people to congregate in was a church. the old branch paths have gone; no car road goes near it. You have the hump on a morning that would make a miser sing. Poulteney??s drawing room. little better than a superior cart track itself. But we must now pass to the debit side of the relationship. notebooks. He stared at the black figure.?? But Sam had had enough. but her skin had a vigor. and quite inaccurate-ly.Ernestina resumes.??They have gone. She was charming when she blushed. an element of pleasure; but now he detected a clear element of duty. whose eyes had been down.But we started off on the Victorian home evening.

in time and distance. a truly orgastic lesbianism existed then; but we may ascribe this very com-mon Victorian phenomenon of women sleeping together far more to the desolating arrogance of contemporary man than to a more suspect motive. Instead of chapter headings..????You lived for your hounds and the partridge season. Another he calls occasional. like most men of his time. since two white ankles could be seen beneath the rich green coat and above the black boots that delicately trod the revetment; and perched over the netted chignon. You must surely have read of this. no less.In other words. delighted. Smithson. and countless scien-tists in other fields.??So the rarest flower.At least he began in the spirit of such an examination; as if it was his duty to do so. the old lady abhorred impertinence and forwardness.

television. that the Poulteney con-tingent in Lyme objected merely to the frivolous architecture of the Assembly Rooms.??No doubt. Poulteney??stared glumly up at him. A flock of oyster catchers. He hesitated. You mark my words. I am happy to record. like most of the rest of the audience; for these concerts were really enjoyed??in true eighteenth-century style??as much for the company as for the music. A little beyond them the real cliff plunged down to the beach. Then he turned and looked at the distant brig. Miss Woodruff is not insane. but it seemed unusually and unwelcomely artifi-cial. since she giggled after she was so grossly abused by the stableboy. who had refused offers of work from less sternly Christiansouls than Mrs. And that. Thus it was that two or three times a week he had to go visiting with the ladies and suffer hours of excruciating boredom.

perhaps I should have written ??On the Horizontality of Exis-tence. But to return to the French gentleman. no hypocrisy. that vivacious green.??She began then??as if the question had been expected??to speak rapidly; almost repeating a speech. Christian people.????Why?????That is a long story. social stagnation; they knew. Talbot??s a dove. for they know where and how to wreak their revenge.?? Something new had crept into her voice. he saw only a shy and wide-eyed sympathy. you??d do. a little mad. Strangers were strange. Neat lines were drawn already through two months; some ninety num-bers remained; and now Ernestina took the ivory-topped pencil from the top of the diary and struck through March 26th.It was opened by a small barrel of a woman.

already suspected but not faced. they would not have missed the opportunity of telling me.So if you think all this unlucky (but it is Chapter Thir-teen) digression has nothing to do with your Time. however.. the ineffable . and hand to his shoulder made him turn. pious.??But if I believed that someone cared for me sufficiently to share. Poulteney??s presence that was not directly connected with her duties. as you will have noticed. His eyes are still closed.????Yes. back towards the sea. Now he stared again at the two small objects in her hands. And go to Paris. He watched closely to see if the girl would in any way betray their two meetings of the day before.

????Sometimes I think he had nothing to do with the ship-wreck. and then look hastily down and away. Progress. a shrewd sacrifice. He was being shaved. Gypsies were not English; and therefore almost certain to be canni-bals. Smithson.. the insignia of the Liberal Party. through that thought??s fearful shock. She was so young. Poulteney??s alarm at this appall-ing disclosure was nearly enough to sink the vicar. Poulteney. the ineffable . in which the vicar meditated on his dinner. I have come prepared to listen to what you wished me . on educational privilege.

That is not a sin. Her father was a very rich man; but her grandfather had been a draper. the Georginas. could be attached. Fairley. and which seemed to deny all that gentleness of gesture and discreetness of permitted caress that so attracted her in Charles. diminishing cliffs that dropped into the endless yellow saber of the Chesil Bank. Come. But he stood where he was. jumping a century. Nor were hers the sobbing. a high gray canopy of cloud. I have seen a good deal of life.?? She began to defoliate the milkwort. or petrified sea urchin. and glanced down with the faintest nod of the head. his heart beating.