WEBVTT

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Chapter one of Helen with the High
Hand. This is a LibriVox recording.

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All LibriVox recordings are in the public
domain. For more information or a volunteer,

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please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
by Simone Evers. Helen with the

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Higher Hand by Arnold Bennett, Chapter
one, beginning of the idyl in the

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Five Towns. Human nature is reported
to be so hard that you can break

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stones on it. Yet sometimes it
softens, and then we have one of

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our rare idols of which we are
very proud. Are pretending not to be.

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The soft and delicate South will possibly
not esteem highly our idols as such.

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Nevertheless, they are idols, idyllic
for us, and reminding us,

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by certain symptoms that though we never
cry, there is concealed somewhere within our

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bodies a fount of happy tears.
The Town Park is an idol in the

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otherwise prosaic municipal history of the Borough
of Bersley, which previously had never got

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nearer to Romance than a Turkish bath. It was once waste ground, covered

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with horrible rubbish heaps, and made
dangerous by the imperfectly protected shafts of disused

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coalpits. Now you enter it by
emblazoned gates. It is surrounded by elegant

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railings, fountains and cascades. Babbel
in it. Wild fowl from far countries

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roost in it on trees with long
names. Tea is served in it.

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Brass bands make music on its terraces
and on its highest terrace. Town councilors

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play bowls on billiard table greens,
while casting proud glances on the houses of

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thirty thousand people spread out under the
sweet influence of the gold Angel the tops

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the town hall spire. The other
four towns are apt to ridicule that gold

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angel, which for exactly fifty years
has guarded the borough and only been reyielded

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twice. But ask the plumber who
last had the fearsome job of regilding it

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whether it is a gold angel to
be despised, and you will see.

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The other four towns are also apt
to point to their own parks when Bursley

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mentions its park, especially Turnhill,
smallest and most conceited of the five.

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But let them show a park whose
natural situation equals that of Bursley's park.

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You may tell me that the terra
cotta constructions within it carry ugliness beyond a

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joke. You may tell me that
despite of the park's of a haunted situation,

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nothing can be seen from it save
the chimneys and kilns of earthenware manufactories,

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the scaffoldings of pit heads, the
ample dome of the rate collector's offices,

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the railway minarets of nonconformity, sundry
undulating square miles of monotonous house roofs,

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the long scarves of black smoke which
add such interest to the sky of

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the five towns, and of course
the gold Angel. But I tell you

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that before the days of the park, lovers had no place to walk in

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but the cemetery, not the ancient
churchyard of Saint Luke's. The rector would

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like to catch them at it,
the borough cemetery, one generation forced to

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make love over the tombs of another, and such tombs before the days of

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the park. That is the sufficient
answer to any criticism of the park.

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The highest terrace of the park is
a splendid expanse of gravel ornamented with flower

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beds. At one end is the
North Boning Green, and the other is

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the South Boonding Green. In the
middle is a terracotta and last shelter,

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and at intervals against the terracotta balustrade
are arranged rustic seats from which the aged,

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the enamored, and the sedentary can
enjoy the gold angel. Between the

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southernmost seat and the southboding green on
that Saturday afternoon stood mister James olleran Shaw.

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He was watching a man who earned
four and sixpence a day by gently

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toying from time to time with a
roller on the polished surface of the green.

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Mister James olleran Shaw's age was sixty, but he looks as if he

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did not care. His appearance was
shabby, but he did not seem to

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mind. He carried his hands in
the peculiar horizontal pockets of his trousers and

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stuck out his figure in a way
to indicate that he gave permission to all

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to think of him exactly what they
pleased. Those pockets were characteristic of the

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whole costume. Their very name is
unfamiliar to the twentieth century. They divide

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the garment by officier, whose sides
are kept together by many buttons, and

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a affection on the part of even
a few buttons is apt to be inconvenient.

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James Ollerinshaw was one of the last
persons in Bursley to defy fashion in

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the matter of pockets. His suit
was of a strange hot color, like

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a brick which, having become very
dirty, has been imperfectly cleaned and then

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powdered with sand. Made in a
hard, eternal, resistless cloth after a

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pattern which has not survived the apprenticeship
of five towns tailors in London, scarcely

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anywhere save on the person of James
Olleranshaw. Would you see nowadays that cloth

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that tint, those very short cut
oat tails, that curved opening of the

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waistcoat, all those trouser pockets,
the paper turned down collar, and the

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black necktie of which only a one
square inch was ever visible, And the

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paper cuffs which finished the tailor made
portion of mister Olronshaw still linger in prosperatic

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profusion. His low, flat topped
hat was faintly green, as though a

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delicate fungoid growth were just budding on
its black. His small feet were cloistered

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in small, thick boots of glittering
brilliants. The color of his face matched

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that of his suit. He had
no mustache and no whiskers, but a

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small, stiff gray beard was rooted
somewhere under his chin. He kept a

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good deal of his hair. He
was an undersized man, with short arms

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and legs, and all his features
mouth, nose, ears, blue eyes

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were small and sharp. His head, as an entirety, was small.

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His thin mouth was always tightly shut
except when he spoke. The general expression

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of his face was one of suppressed, sarcastic amusement. He was always referred

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to as Jimmy Ollerenshaw, and he
may strike you as what is known as

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a character an oddity. His sudden
appearance at a royal levee would assuredly have

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excited remark, and even immersely he
diverged from the ordinary. Nevertheless, I

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must expressly warn you against imagining mister
Ollronshaw as an oddity. It is the

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most difficult thing in the world for
a man named James not to be referred

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to as Jimmy. The temptation to
the public is almost irresistible. Let him

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have but a wart on his nose, and they will regarded as sufficient excuse

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for yielding. I do not think
that mister Ollerenshaw was consciously set down as

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an oddity in his native town.
Certainly he did not so set down himself.

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Certainly he was incapable of freakishness.
By the town, he was respected.

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His views on cottage property, the
state of trade, and the finances

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of the borough were listened to with
a respectful absence of comment. He was

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one of the few who had made
cottage property pay. It was said he

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owned a mile of cottages in Bursley
and Turnhill. It was said that,

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after Ephram Twelthwright, he was the
richest man in Bursley. There was a

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slight resemblance of type between Ollerinshaw and
tel Wright, but tell Wright buried two

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wives, whereas Olleranshaw had never got
within arm's length of a woman. The

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town much preferred Ollerenshaw. After having
duty surveyed the majestic activities of the groundsman

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on the bowling green, and having
glanced at his watch, mister Ollerinshaw sat

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down on the nearest bench. He
was waiting for an opponent, the captain

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of the bowling club. It is
exactly at the instance of his down sitting

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that the drama about to be unfolded
properly begins. Strolling along from the northern

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extremity of the terrace to the south
was a young woman this young woman,

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as could be judged from her free
and independent carriage, where such a creature

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as, having once resolved to do
a thing, is not to be deterred

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from doing it by the caprices of
other people. She had resolved a resolution

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of no importance whatever to seat herself
on precisely the southernmost bench of the terrace.

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There was not indeed any particular reason
why she should have chosen the southernmost

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bench, but she had chosen it. She had chosen it afar off,

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while it was yet empty, and
mister Orroonshaw was on his feet. When

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mister Orronshaw dropped into a corner of
it. The girl's first instinctive of volition

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was to stop earlier than she had
intended at one of the other seats.

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Despite statements to the contrary, man
is so little like a sheep that when

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he has a choice of benches in
a park, he will always select an

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empty one. This rule is universal
in England and Scotland, though elsewhere exceptions

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to it have been known to occur. But the girl being a girl,

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and being a girl who earned her
own living, and being a girl who

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brought all conventions to the bar of
her reason and force them to stand trial.

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There said to herself, proudly and
coldly, it would be absurd on

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my part to change my mind.
I meant to occupy that bench, and

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why should I not. There is
ampty sufficient space for the man and me

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too. He has taken one corner, and I will take the other.

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These notions that girls have are silly. She meant the notion that she herself

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had had. So she floated forward, charmingly and inexorably. She has what

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in the Five Times is called a
stylish piece of goods. She wore a

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black and white frock of a small
check pattern, with a black belt and

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long black gloves. And she held
over her serenity a black parasol richly flounced

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with black lace. I toilet unusual
in the district, and as effective as

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it was unusual, she you how
to carry it. She was a tall

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girl, and generously formed, with
a complexion between fair and dark. Her

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age perhaps about twenty five. She
had the eye of an empress, and

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not an empress consort either, nor
an empress who trembles in secret of the

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rumor of cabals and intrigues. Yes, considered as a decoration of the pteris.

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She was possibly the finest and most
dazzling thing that burst it could have

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produced, and burst it doubtless regretted
that it could only claim her as a

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daughter by adoption. Approaching step by
dainty and precise step, the seat invested

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by mister James Ollerenshaw, she arrived
at the point when she could distinguish the

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features of her full staller. She
was somewhat short sighted. She gave no

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outward sign of fear, irresolution,
cowardice. But if she had not been

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more afraid of her own contempt than
of anything else in the world, she

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would have run away. She would
have ceased being an empress and to climbed

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suddenly into a scared child. However, her fear of her own contempt kept

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her spine straight, her face towards
the danger, and her feet steadily moving.

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It's not my fault, she said
to herself. I meant to occupy

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that bench, and occupy it.
I will. What have I to be

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ashamed of? And she did occupy
that bench. She contrived to occupy it

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without seeing mister Ollerenshaw. Each separate
movement of hers denied absolutely the existence of

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mister Olleranshaw. She ranged her dress, and her parasol, and her arms,

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and the exact angle of her chin, And there gradually fell upon her

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that stillness which falls upon the figure
of a woman when she is definitively adopted

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an attitude in the public eye.
She was gazing at the gold angel a

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mile off, which flashed in the
sun. But what a deceptive stillness was

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that stillness. A hammer was hammering
away under her breast, with what see

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to her a reverberating sound. Strange
that that hammery did not excite attention throughout

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the park. Then she had the
misfortune to think of the act of blushing.

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She violently willed not to blush,
but her blood was too much for

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her. It displayed itself in the
most sanguinary manner, first in the center

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of each cheek, and it increased
its area of conquest until the whole of

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her visible skin, even the back
of her neck and her lobes, had

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rosalie yielded. And she was one
of your girls who never blushed. The

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ignominy of it to blush, because
she found herself within thirty inches of a

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man, an old man with whom
she had never in her life exchanged a

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single word. End of chapter one
Chapter two of Helen with the High Hand

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by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain recording by Simon

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Evers and the High Hand, Chapter
two, An Affair of the seventies.

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Having satisfied her obstinacy by sitting down
on the seat of her choice, she

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might, surely, one would think, have ended a mysteriously difficult situation by

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rising again and departing, of course, with due dignity. But no,

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she could not. She wished to
do so, but she could not command

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her limbs. She just sat there
in horridest torture, like a stoical fly

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on a pin, one of those
flies that pretend that nothing hurts. The

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agony might have been prolonged to centuries
had not an extremely startling and dramatic thing

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happened, the most startling and dramatic
thing that ever happened, either to James

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Ollerenshaw or to the young woman.
James Ollerinshaw spoke, and I imagined that

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nobody was more surprised than James Ollerinshaw
by his brief speech, which slipped out

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of him quite unawares. What he
said was, well, las, how

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good is it like if the town
could have heard him, the town would

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have rustled from boundary to boundary with
agitated and delicious whisperings. The young woman,

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instead of being justly incensed by this
monstrous monestation from an aged villain who

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had not been introduced to her,
gave a little jump as they relieved from

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the spell of an enchantment, and
then deliberately turned and faced mister Ollerenshaw.

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She also smiled amid her roses.
Very well. Indeed, thank you,

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she replied, primly but nicely.
Upon this, they both of them sought

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to recover from an affair that had
occurred in the late seventies. In the

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late seventies, James Ollerenshaw had been
a young old man of nearly thirty.

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He'd had a step brother much older
and much poorer than himself, and the

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step brother had died, leaving a
daughter named Susan, almost but not quite

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in a state of indigence. The
step brother and James had not been on

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terms of effusive cordiality, but James
was perfectly ready to look after Susan.

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His step niece, Susan, aged
seventeen years, was, however, not

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perfectly ready to be looked after she
had a little money, and she earned

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a little by painting asters on toilet
ware, and the chet was very rude

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to her step uncle. In less
than a year she married a youth of

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twenty who apparently had not in him
even the rudiments of worldly successfulness. James

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Oronshaw did his of uncle a duty
by formally and grimly protesting against the marriage.

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What authority has a step uncle.
Susan divided him with a maximum of

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unforgettable impoliteness, and she went to
live with her husband at Longshaw, which

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is at the other end of the
Five towns. The fact became public that

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a solemn quarrel existed between James and
Susan, and that each of them had

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sworn not to speak until the other
spoke. James would have forgiven if she

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had hinted at reconciliation, and hard
as it is for youth to be in

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the wrong, Susan would have hint
at reconciliation if James had not been so

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rich. The riches of James offended
Susan's independence, not for millions, which

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have exposed herself to the suspicion that
she had broken her oath. Because as

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tebuncle was a wealthy and childless man. She was, of course wrong,

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nor was this her only indiscretion.
She was so ridiculously indiscreet as to influence

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her husband in such a way that
he actually succeeded in life. Had James

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perceived them to be struggling in poverty, he might conceivably have gone over to

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them and helped them in an augy
of forgiving charity. But the success of

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young Rathbone falsified his predictions utterly,
and was further an affront to him.

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Thus the quarrel slowly crystallized into a
permanent estrangement, a passive feud. Everybody

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got thoroughly accustomed to it and thought
nothing of it, it being a social

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phenomenon not at all unique of its
kind in the Five Towns. When fifteen

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years later Rathbone died in mid career, people thought that the feud would end,

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but it did not. James wrote
a letter of condolence to his niece,

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and even sent it to the longshore
by special messenger in the tram car,

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but he had not heard of the
death until the day of the funeral,

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and Missus Rathburne did not reply to
his letter. Her independence and sensitiveness

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were again in the wrong. James
did no more. He could not expect

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him to have done more. Missus
Rathbone, like many widows of successful men,

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was left poorly off, but she
managed once. Five years before the

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scene on the park Terrace, Missus
Rathburne and James had encountered one another by

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hazard on the platform of Night Railway
station. Destiny hesitated while Susan waited for

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James's recognition, and James waiting for
Susan's recognition. Both of them waited too

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long. Destiny averted its head and
drew back, and the relatives passed on

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their ways without speaking. James observes
with interest a gird of twenty by Susan's

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side. Her daughter, This daughter
of Susan's, was now sharing the park

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bench with him. Hence the hidden
drama of their meeting, of his speech,

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of her reply, what's your name? Lass Helen Eli mott Helen,

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great step uncle, said she?
He laughed, and she laughed. Also,

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the fact was that he'd been aware
of her name vaguely. It had

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come to him on the wind or
by some bird's wing, although none of

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his acquaintances had been courageous enough to
speak to him about the affair of Susan

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for quite twenty years past. Longshaw
is as far from Bursley in some ways

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as San Francisco from New York.
There are people in Bersley who do not

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know the name of the mayor of
Longshaw, who made a point of not

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knowing it. Yet news travels even
from Longshaw to Bursley by mysterious channels,

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and Helen Rathburne's name had so traveled. James Oronshaw was glad that she was

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just Helen. He'd been afraid that
there might be something fancy between Helen and

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Rathbone, something expensive and aristocratic that
went with her dress and her parasol.

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He logically liked her for being called
merely Helen, as if the credit were

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hers. Helen was an old orang
show name, his grandmother's who'd been attached

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to the household of Josiah Wedgwood,
and his aunt's Helen was historic in his

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mind, and further, it could
not be denied that Rathburne was a fine

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old five talents name too. He
was very illogical that afternoon. He threw

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over the principles of a lifetime,
arguing from particulars to generals exactly like a

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girl. He'd objected always to the
expensive and the aristocratic. He was proud

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of his pure Plebeian blood, as
many Polians are. He'd lare it in

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it. He disliked show with a
calm and deep aversion. He was a

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plain man with a simple, unnoscestagious
taste for money. The difference between Helen's

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name and her ornamental raiment gave him
pleasure in the name. But he had

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not been examining her for more than
half a minute when he began to find

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pleasure in her rich clothes, rich
that is, to him. Quite suddenly,

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he, at the age of sixty, abandoned without an effort, his

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dear prejudice against fine feathers, and
began for the first time to take joy

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in sitting next to a pretty and
well dressed woman. And all this not

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from any broad philosophic perception that fine
feathers have their proper part in the great

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scheme of cosmic evolution, but because
the check dress suititor and the heavy,

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voluptuous parasol suititor and the long black
gloves were inexplicably effective. Women grew old,

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women ceased to learn, but men
never As for Helen. She liked

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00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:06.000
him, She had liked him for
five years ever since his mother had pointed

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him out on the platform of Night
railway station. She saw him closer now

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he was older than she had been
picturing him. Indeed, the lines on

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his little, rather wisened face,
and the minanute sproutings of gray white hair

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in certain spots on his reddish chin
where he had shaped himself badly, caused

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her somehow to feel quite sad.
She thought of him as a dear old

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thing, and then as a dear
old darling, yes, old, very

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old. Nevertheless, she felt maternal
towards him. She felt that she was

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much wiser than he was, and
that she could teach him a great deal.

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She saw very clearly how wrong he
and her mother had been with their

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stupidly terrific quarrel. And the notion
of all the happiness which she had missed

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in his solitary, unfeminized bachelor existence
nearly brought into her eyes tears of a

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quick and generous sympathy. He blind
and shabby ancient, had no suspicion that

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his melancholy state and the notion of
all the happiness he had missed had tinged

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with sorrow of the heart within the
frock, and added a dangerous humidity to

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the glance under the sunshade. It
did not occur to him that he was

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an object of pity, nor that
a vast store of knowledge was waiting to

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be poured into him. The aged
self satisfied, wag Beard imagined that he

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conducted his career fairly well. He
knew no one with whom he would have

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changed places. He regarded Helen as
an extremely agreeable little thing, with an

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00:22:33.400 --> 00:22:38.680
absurd air of being grown up decidedly
in five years. She had tremendously altered

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five years ago she been gawky.
Now well, he was proud of her.

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She caught him great step uncle,
thus conferring on him a sort of

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00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:55.160
part proprietorship in her, and he
was proud of her. The captain of

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the Burning Club came along, and
James Ollerinshaw gave him just such a casual

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nod as he might I had it
given to a person of no account.

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The knat seemed to say, match
this if you can. It's mine,

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00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.640
and there's nothing in the town to
beat it. Missus Proctor herself hasn't got

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more style than this. Of this
missus Proctor More later, Helen soon settled

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00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:19.400
down into a condition of ease,
which put an end to blushing. She

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00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:26.000
knew she was a mad What you
doing in Bosley, James demanded, I'm

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00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:30.839
living here, busy, she reported, smartly living here? He stopped,

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00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:34.240
and his hard old heart almost stopped
too. If not in morning, she

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was in semi morning. Surely Susan
had not the effrontery to die away in

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Longshore without telling him. Mother is
married again, said Helen, lightly married.

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He was staggered. The wind was
knocked out of him. Yes,

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and gone to Canada. Helen added, You pick up your paper in the

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morning and idly and slady peruse advertisements
on the first page. Forget it,

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00:23:59.079 --> 00:24:03.599
eat some bacon, grumble at the
youngest boy opened the paper, read the

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00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:07.160
breach of promised case on page three, Drop it and ask your wife for

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00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:11.839
more coffee hot, dance at your
letters again. Then reopen the paper at

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00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:15.359
the news page, and find that
the Czar of Rush has been murdered and

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00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:18.359
a few American cities tumbled to fragments
by an earthquake. You know how you

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feel, then, James Oronshaw felt
like that the captain of the Bowning club.

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00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:29.559
However, poising a bowl in his
right hand and waiting for James Oronshaw

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00:24:29.599 --> 00:24:33.160
to leave his silken dalliants saw nothing
but an old man and a young woman

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sitting on a corporation seat. End
of chapter two, Chapter three of hel

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00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:51.119
Him with the High Hand by Arnold
Bennett. This LibriVox recording is in the

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public domain. Recording by Simon Evers, Chapter three, Marrying off a mother,

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00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:03.119
Yes, said in Rathbourne mother fell
in love? Don't you think it

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00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:07.720
was funny? That's as maybe?
James Holleranshaw replied, in his quality of

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00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:12.200
the wise acre, who is accustomed
to be sagacious on the least possible expenditure

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00:25:12.200 --> 00:25:18.319
of words. We both thought it
was awfully funny, Helen said, both.

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00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:21.759
Who else is there? Why?
Mother and I? Of course we

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used to laugh for a bit.
You see, Mother is a very simple

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creature, and she's only forty four. She's above forty four, James corrected,

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00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.720
She told me she was thirty nine
five years ago. Henny protested,

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00:25:34.759 --> 00:25:38.839
Did she tell ye she was forty
four years ago? No, at least

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they don't remember. Did ye ever
tell ye she was forty? No happened.

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She's not such a simple creature as
you thought for me, lass observed

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00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:53.319
James Oronshaw. You don't mean to
infer, said Helen with cold dignity,

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00:25:53.799 --> 00:25:57.799
that my mother would tell me a
lie. All as I mean is that

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Susan was about thirty nine, five
years ago, and I could prove it.

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00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:04.920
I had to get her birth certificate
when her father died, and I

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00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:10.160
fancy I've got it by me yet. And his eyes added so much from

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00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:15.359
that point one to me. Helen
blushed and frowned and looked up into the

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00:26:15.400 --> 00:26:18.720
darkling heaven of her parasol. And
then it occurred to her that her wisest

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00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:23.640
plan would be to laugh. So
she laughed. She laughed in almost precisely

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00:26:23.720 --> 00:26:29.559
the same manner as James had heard
Susan laugh thirty years previously, before love

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00:26:29.559 --> 00:26:33.759
had come into Susan's life like a
shell into a fortress and finally blown their

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00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:37.920
fragile relations all to pieces. A
few minutes earlier, the sight of great

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00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:42.119
step uncle James had filled heaven with
sadness, and he had not suspected it.

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00:26:44.119 --> 00:26:47.799
Now her laugh filled James with sadness, and she did not suspect it.

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00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:52.000
In his sadness However, he was
glad that she laughed so naturally,

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00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:56.640
and that the somber magnificence of her
dress and her gloves and parasol did not

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prevent her from opening her rather large
mouth and showing her teeth. It was

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00:27:00.720 --> 00:27:06.240
just like mother to Tommy Fibbs about
her age, said Helen generously. It

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00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.880
is always interesting to observe the transformation
of a lie into a fib And I

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00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:14.039
shall write and tell her she's a
horrid mean thing. I shall write to

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00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:19.119
her this very night. So Susan's
gone and married again, James murmured reflectively.

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00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:25.359
Helen now definitely turned the whole of
her mortal part towards James, so

337
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:30.160
that she fronted him and her feet
were near his. He also turned in

338
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:33.039
response to this diplomatic advance, and
leant his right elbow on the back of

339
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:37.160
the seat and his chin on his
right palm. He put his left leg

340
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:41.559
of his right leg, and thus
his left foot swayed like a bird on

341
00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:45.720
a twig within an inch of Helen's
flounce. The parasol covered the faces of

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00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:52.119
the just and the unjust impartially.
I suppose you don't know a farmer named

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00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:56.519
Pratt that used to have a farm
near Snade, said Helen. Can't say

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00:27:56.519 --> 00:27:59.880
as I do, said James.
Well that's the man, said Helen.

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00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:03.440
He used to come to Longshore cattle
market with sheep and things. Sheep and

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00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.680
things, echoed James. What things? Oh I don't know, said Henlen

347
00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:12.759
sharply, sheep and things. And
what did your mother take to Longshore cattle

348
00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:18.759
market? James inquired. I understood
as she let lodgings. Not since I've

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00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:22.519
been a teacher, said Helen,
rather more sharply. Mother didn't take anything

350
00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:25.680
to the cattle market. But you
know our house was just close to the

351
00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:30.119
cattle market. No I didn't,
said James, stoutly. I thought,

352
00:28:30.119 --> 00:28:33.079
as it was in Ainstea Street.
Oh that's years ago, said Helen,

353
00:28:33.200 --> 00:28:38.119
shocked by his ignorance. We've lived
in Stade Road for years years. I'm

354
00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:42.240
not denied, said James. The
great fault of our house, had him

355
00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:45.759
proceeded, was that mother dent stare
out of it on cattle market days.

356
00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:51.880
Why not cows, said Helen rather
simply. Can't look at her cow,

357
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:56.359
and they were passing all the time. She should be thankful as it wasn't

358
00:28:56.359 --> 00:29:00.359
bulls, James put in, But
I mean bulls too, exclaimed Helen.

359
00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:03.599
In fact, it was a bull
that led to it. What the father

360
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.839
saved her from a mad bull,
and she fell in love with him.

361
00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:11.079
He's younger than her. I lay, how did you know that? Head

362
00:29:11.079 --> 00:29:17.759
in questions. Besides, he isn't
they're just the same age forty four perceiving

363
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:22.559
delicious danger in the virgin's face,
James continued before she could retort, I

364
00:29:22.599 --> 00:29:26.720
hope Susan wasn't good. You're quite
wrong. You're jumping to conclusions, said

365
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:32.039
Helen, with an air of indulgence
that would have been exasperating had it not

366
00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:37.519
been enchanting. Things don't happen like
that except in novels. I've never read

367
00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:41.240
a novel in my life, James
defended himself, Afritieu, Ho'm interesting,

368
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:45.640
but I've known a woman kno down
by a bull. Well, anyhow,

369
00:29:45.880 --> 00:29:49.319
Mother wasn't not down by a bull. But there was a mad bull running

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00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:53.119
down the street. It had escaped
from the market, and mister Bratt was

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00:29:53.160 --> 00:29:56.799
walking home and the bull was after
him like a shot. Mother was looking

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00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:00.880
out of the window and she saw
what was going on. So she rushed

373
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:03.519
to the front door and opened it
and called to mister Bratt to run in

374
00:30:03.559 --> 00:30:07.519
and take shelter, and therein just
got the door shut in time. Bless

375
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:11.759
us, muttered James. And what
next? Why I came home from school

376
00:30:11.799 --> 00:30:17.680
and found them having tea together?
A ninety year between them, James reflected.

377
00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.119
Then mister Bratt called every week.
He was a widower with no children.

378
00:30:22.200 --> 00:30:26.000
Couldn't have been better, said James. Always he could, said Helen,

379
00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:30.440
because I had the greatest difficulty in
marrying them. In fact, at

380
00:30:30.480 --> 00:30:33.640
one time I thought I should never
do it. I'm always in the right

381
00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:37.640
and Mother's always in the wrong.
She's admitted that for years. She's had

382
00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:41.200
to admit it, but she would
go her own way. Nothing would ever

383
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:45.839
cure mother. She used to talk
just like that of your grandfather, said

384
00:30:45.920 --> 00:30:48.559
James. Susan Ohah's reckoned as she
got more than her fair share of sense.

385
00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:52.960
I don't think she thinks that now, said Helen, calmly, as

386
00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:56.680
if to say, at any rate, I've cured her of that. Then

387
00:30:56.680 --> 00:31:00.200
she went on, You see,
mister Bratt has sold his farm, couldn't

388
00:31:00.240 --> 00:31:03.799
make it pay, and he was
going out to Manitoba. He said he

389
00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:07.480
would stop in England. Mother said
she wouldn't let him stop in England where

390
00:31:07.519 --> 00:31:11.640
he couldn't make a farm pay.
She was quite right there, and admitted

391
00:31:11.680 --> 00:31:15.200
with careful justice. But then she
said she wouldn't marry him and go out

392
00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:19.440
to Manitoba because I'd leave him me
alone here to look after myself. Can

393
00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:25.599
you imagine such a reason? James
manly raised his head quickly several times.

394
00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:30.519
The gesture meant whatever. Helen preferred
that it should mean the idea, she

395
00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:33.759
continued, as if I hadn't looked
after mother and kept her in order,

396
00:31:33.000 --> 00:31:37.880
and myself too for several years.
No, she wouldn't marry him and go

397
00:31:37.920 --> 00:31:41.720
out there, and she wouldn't marry
him and stay here. She actually began

398
00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.279
to talk all the usual conventional sort
of stuff, you know, about how

399
00:31:45.319 --> 00:31:48.680
she had no right to marry again, and she didn't believe in second marriages,

400
00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:52.480
and about her duty to me and
so on. You know. I

401
00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:55.960
reason mother. I explained to her
that probably if she had another thirty years

402
00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:00.400
to live, I told her she
was quite young. She is she to

403
00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:04.839
make herself permanently miserable, and mister
Bratt and me merely out of a quiet

404
00:32:04.839 --> 00:32:08.640
mistaken sense of duty. No use, I've tried everything I could no use.

405
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:14.960
She was too much for ye Oh
no, said Heaven, condescendingly.

406
00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:19.240
I've made up my mind. I
arranged things from mister Bratt. He quite

407
00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:22.920
agreed with me. He took out
a license at the registrars, and one

408
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:25.400
Saturday morning had to be a Saturday, cause I'm busy all the other days.

409
00:32:25.839 --> 00:32:29.680
I went out with mother to buy
the meat and things for Sodi's dinner,

410
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.400
and I got her into the registrar's
office. Um, well, there

411
00:32:32.480 --> 00:32:37.640
she was. Now, what do
you think what her last excuse was that

412
00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:42.559
she couldn't be married because she's wearing
her third best hat? Don't you think

413
00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:45.839
it's awfully funny? That's as may
be, said James. When was all

414
00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:52.279
this just recently? Hennen answered,
They sailed from Glasgow last Thursday but two

415
00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:54.559
and I must bet to your letter
by ever repose to say that they've arrived

416
00:32:54.599 --> 00:33:00.759
safely and Susan's left you to take
care of yourself. Now, please don't

417
00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:05.319
begin talking like mother, Henden said
frigidly. I've certainly got less to take

418
00:33:05.359 --> 00:33:09.000
care of now than I had.
Mother quite saw that, But what difficulty

419
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:13.480
I had in getting her off,
even after i'd safely married her. I

420
00:33:13.519 --> 00:33:15.079
had to promise that if I felt
lonely, i'd go and join them.

421
00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:21.240
But I shan't. You won't.
No, I don't see myself on a

422
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:24.039
farm in Manitoba, do you.
I don't know, as I do,

423
00:33:24.279 --> 00:33:29.559
said James, examining her appearance with
the constant increase of his pride in it.

424
00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.240
So he saw a or more at
Glasgow. I reckon she made a

425
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:37.920
great fuss fuss cried, Oh,
yes, of course did you cry?

426
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:43.079
Miss? Of course, I cried, said henleyn passionately, sitting up straight.

427
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:46.559
Why do you ask such questions?
And also never see Susan again?

428
00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:51.960
Of course I shall go over and
see them, said Helelen only meant that

429
00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:54.359
I shouldn't go to stop. I
dare say I should go next year in

430
00:33:54.400 --> 00:34:06.200
the Holidays and of chapter three,
chapter four of Helen with the High Hand

431
00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:10.960
by Arnold Bennett. This Libri Fox
recording is in the public domain recording by

432
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:19.480
Simon Evers, Chapter four, Invitation
to Tea. They were most foolishly happy

433
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:22.519
as they sat there on the bench. This man, whose dim eyes ought

434
00:34:22.519 --> 00:34:27.320
to have been waiting placidly for the
ship of death to appear above the horizon,

435
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:30.199
and this young girl who imagined that
she knew all about life and the

436
00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:35.320
world. When I say that they
were foolishly happy, I of course mean

437
00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:38.920
that they were most wisely happy,
each of them being gifted with common sense

438
00:34:39.320 --> 00:34:45.159
and with a certain imperviousness to sentimentality
which invariably accompanies common sense. They did

439
00:34:45.199 --> 00:34:50.920
not mar the present by regretting the
tragic stupidity of a long estrangement. They

440
00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:54.159
did not mourn, ever, wasted
years that could not be recalled. It

441
00:34:54.239 --> 00:34:59.639
must be admitted in favor of the
Five towns that when its inhabitants spill milk,

442
00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:02.320
they do not usually sit down on
the pavement and adulterate the milk with

443
00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:07.639
their tears. They pass on.
Such passing on is termed callous and cold

444
00:35:07.639 --> 00:35:12.440
hearted in the rest of England,
which loves to sit down on pavements and

445
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:17.519
weak into irretrieverable milk. Nor did
Helen and her great step uncle mother present

446
00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:22.920
by worrying about the future. It
never occurred to them to be disturbed by

447
00:35:22.920 --> 00:35:28.440
the possibility that milk not already spilt, might yet be spilt. Helen had

448
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:32.639
been momentarily saddened by private reflections upon
what James Holleranshaw had missed in his career,

449
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:37.880
and James had been saddened somewhat less
by reminiscences which had sprung out of

450
00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:44.559
Helen's laugh, but their melancholiest had
rapidly evaporated from the warmth of the unexpected

451
00:35:44.679 --> 00:35:49.800
encounter. They liked one another.
She liked him because he was old and

452
00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:53.199
dry, and because he had a
short laugh and a cynical and even wicked

453
00:35:53.199 --> 00:35:58.360
gleam of the eye that pleased her, And because there was an occasional tone

454
00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:01.400
in his voice that struck her as
deliciously masculine, ancient, and indulgent.

455
00:36:02.360 --> 00:36:07.519
And because he had spoken to her
first, and because his gaze wandered with

456
00:36:07.559 --> 00:36:10.679
an admiring interest over her dress and
up into the dome of her sunshade,

457
00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:15.400
and because he put his chin in
his palm and leant his head towards her,

458
00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:19.840
and because the skin of his hand
was so crinkled and glossy. And

459
00:36:19.960 --> 00:36:24.239
he liked her because she was so
exquisitely fresh and candid, so elegant,

460
00:36:24.679 --> 00:36:30.400
so violent and complete a contrast to
James Holleranshaw, so absurdly sagacious and sure

461
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:35.119
of herself, And perhaps because of
a curve in her cheek, and a

462
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:40.239
mysterious suggestion of eternal enigma in her
large and liquid eye. When she looked

463
00:36:40.280 --> 00:36:45.280
right away from him, as she
sometimes did in the conversation, the outline

464
00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:47.639
of her soft cheek, which drew
in at the eye and swelled out again

465
00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:52.239
to the temple, resembled a map
of the coast of some smooth romantic country

466
00:36:52.559 --> 00:36:58.559
not mentioned in geographies. When she
looked at him well, the effect on

467
00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:02.639
him astonished him, but it enchanted
him. He was discovering for the first

468
00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:07.920
time the soul of a girl.
If he was a little taken aback,

469
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:12.000
he is to be excused the younger
men than he had been taken aback by

470
00:37:12.039 --> 00:37:15.400
that discovery. But James honor in
Shaw did not behave as a younger man

471
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:20.280
would have behaved. He was more
like some one who, having heard tell

472
00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:22.559
of the rose for sixty years,
and having paid no attention to rumor,

473
00:37:23.079 --> 00:37:28.920
suddenly sees a rose in early bloom. At his age, one knows how

474
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:32.920
to treat a flower, one knows
what flowers are for. It was no

475
00:37:32.960 --> 00:37:37.519
doubt this knowledge of what flowers are
for that almost led to the spilling of

476
00:37:37.559 --> 00:37:40.679
milk at the very moment, when
milk spinning seemed in a high degree improbable.

477
00:37:43.320 --> 00:37:46.679
The conversation had left Susan and her
caprices and had reached Helen and her

478
00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:52.199
solid wisdom. But you haven't told
me what you're doing at Bosley, said

479
00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:54.679
the old man. I've told you. I'm living here, said Helen.

480
00:37:55.119 --> 00:37:59.639
I've now been living here for one
week and one day. I am teaching

481
00:37:59.639 --> 00:38:04.239
at the park Board School. I
got transferred from Longshore. I'd have anye

482
00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:07.440
at Longshore, and I always like
a change, Yes, said order in

483
00:38:07.480 --> 00:38:12.239
Shaw, judiciously of the two.
I reckon as Bosley as the frying pan.

484
00:38:13.079 --> 00:38:15.679
So you're teaching up yonder. He
jerked his elbow in the direction of

485
00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:21.119
the spacious and imposing terracotta board school, whose front looked on the eastern gates

486
00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:25.000
of the park. What does teach, oh everything? Henn In replied.

487
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:30.119
You must be very useful to him, said James. What do they pay

488
00:38:30.119 --> 00:38:35.440
you for teaching everything? Seventy two
pounds, said Helen a month. It'll

489
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:37.920
be cheap at a hundred lass unless
there's the whole crowd and easy can teach

490
00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:44.320
everything? Can you sew? So? She exclaimed, I've given lessons in

491
00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:49.079
sewing for years, and cookery and
mathematics. I used to give evening lessons

492
00:38:49.119 --> 00:38:53.840
in mathematics at Longshore Secondary School.
Great step uncle James gazed at her.

493
00:38:54.599 --> 00:38:58.639
It was useless for him to try
to pretend to himself that he was not

494
00:38:58.880 --> 00:39:02.000
secretly struck all of a heap by
the wonders of the living organism in front

495
00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:07.480
of him. He was, and
this shows that he was a wise man

496
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:10.920
and an experience. How ignorant he
was of the world, But I do

497
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:15.320
not think he was more ignorant of
the world than most wise and experienced men

498
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:21.719
are. He conceived Helen Rathbone as
an extraordinary and amazing creature. Nothing of

499
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:25.599
the kind. There are simply thousands
of agreeable and good girls who can accomplish

500
00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:30.679
herring bone omelets and simultates equations in
a breath. As it were. They

501
00:39:30.679 --> 00:39:35.239
were all over the Kingdom and may
be seen in the streets and lanes thereof

502
00:39:35.239 --> 00:39:37.840
about half past eight in the morning
and again about five o'clock in the evening.

503
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:44.119
But the fact is not generally known. Only the stern and blazy members

504
00:39:44.119 --> 00:39:47.440
of school boards or education committees know
it, and they are so used to

505
00:39:47.480 --> 00:39:52.679
marvels that they make nothing of them. However, James orange Shaw had no

506
00:39:52.719 --> 00:39:58.679
intention of striking his flag. Mathematics, he murmured, ay, Leah,

507
00:39:58.760 --> 00:40:00.920
you can't tell me the interest on
eighty nine bounds for six months at four

508
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:07.920
and a half percent consuls happened to
be at eighty nine that day. Her

509
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:12.400
lips curled. I'm really quite surprised
you should encourage me to gamble, said

510
00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:15.639
she. But I met you a
shinning I can, and I've been one

511
00:40:15.719 --> 00:40:17.159
shinny against half a crown that I'll
do it in my head if you like,

512
00:40:17.599 --> 00:40:22.320
and if I lose, i'll pay. She made a slight movement,

513
00:40:22.719 --> 00:40:24.840
and he noticed for the first time
that she was carrying a small purse as

514
00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:30.480
black as her love. He hesitated. Then he proved what a wise and

515
00:40:30.519 --> 00:40:34.800
experienced man he was. No,
he said, I nun bet ye las.

516
00:40:35.800 --> 00:40:39.599
He had struck his flag. It
is painful to be compelled to reinforce

517
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:45.199
the old masculine statement that women have
no sense of humor? But have they?

518
00:40:45.079 --> 00:40:49.880
Helen Sherely saw that he had hauled
down his flag. Did she cease

519
00:40:49.920 --> 00:40:53.440
firing? Not a bit. She
gave him a shattering broadside, while knowing

520
00:40:53.480 --> 00:40:58.840
that he had surrendered. Her disregard. If the ethics of warfare was deplorable,

521
00:41:00.280 --> 00:41:02.480
two pounds and one half penny to
the nearest farthing, said she,

522
00:41:04.079 --> 00:41:08.719
a faint blush, crimsoning her cheek, Mister Orangehaw glanced round at the burning

523
00:41:08.760 --> 00:41:13.679
green, where the Captain in vain
tried to catch his eye, and then

524
00:41:13.800 --> 00:41:17.920
the groups of children playing on the
lower terraces. I main't no doubt ye

525
00:41:17.960 --> 00:41:22.960
can play the piano, he remarked, when he had recovered. Certainly,

526
00:41:22.079 --> 00:41:25.599
she replied, not that we have
to teach the piano, no, but

527
00:41:25.679 --> 00:41:29.760
it's understood all the same that one
or another of us could play marches for

528
00:41:29.800 --> 00:41:32.800
the children to walk and drill to. In fact, she added, for

529
00:41:32.920 --> 00:41:37.559
something less than thirty sillings a week. We do pretty nearly everything except build

530
00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:40.119
the schools. And soon they'll be
expecting us to build the schools in our

531
00:41:40.280 --> 00:41:45.199
spare time, she spoke bitterly,
as the natives of the Congo Free State

532
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:50.519
might refer to the late king of
the Belgians. Thirty shillings a week,

533
00:41:50.960 --> 00:41:53.920
said James, acting with fine histrionic
skill. I thought it is, said

534
00:41:53.960 --> 00:41:59.000
seventy two pounds a month. Oh
no, you didn't, she protested,

535
00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:01.360
firmly, so don't try to tease
me. I never joke about money.

536
00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:06.960
Money's a very serious thing. There's
a chip off the old block, he

537
00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:10.039
told himself, delighted when he explained
matters to himself, for when he grew

538
00:42:10.039 --> 00:42:15.119
angry, he always employed the five
times dialect in its purest form. You

539
00:42:15.199 --> 00:42:19.400
must be same as them hospital nurses, he said aloud. You do it

540
00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:22.719
because you like it, for love
of it, as they say, I

541
00:42:22.880 --> 00:42:25.079
like it, I hate it.
I hate any sort of work. What

542
00:42:25.239 --> 00:42:29.760
fun do you suppose there is in
teaching end as stupid children, and stuffing

543
00:42:29.800 --> 00:42:35.199
in classrooms all day, and correcting
exercises and propelling sewing all night. Course,

544
00:42:35.320 --> 00:42:38.199
they can't help being stupid. It's
that that's so amazing. You can't

545
00:42:38.199 --> 00:42:43.000
help being kind to them. They're
so stupid. If you didn't do that,

546
00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:45.920
what should you do? James inquired. I shouldn't do anything unless I

547
00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:50.360
was forced, said she. I
don't want to do anything except to enjoy

548
00:42:50.400 --> 00:42:53.360
myself, read, play the piano, pay visits, and have plenty of

549
00:42:53.480 --> 00:42:58.880
really nice clothes. Why should I
want to do anything? I can tell

550
00:42:58.880 --> 00:43:00.800
you this. If I didn't need
money, I never go inside that school

551
00:43:00.840 --> 00:43:07.239
again or any other. She was
heated. Don't you mean to say,

552
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:10.119
he asked, with an ineffable intonation, that Susan, and that there,

553
00:43:10.199 --> 00:43:14.599
young farmer, I've gone gadding off
to Canada and left you all alone with

554
00:43:14.719 --> 00:43:19.159
nothing. Of course they haven't,
said Hellyn. Why mother is the most

555
00:43:19.199 --> 00:43:22.039
generous old thing you can possibly imagine. She'd left all her own income to

556
00:43:22.119 --> 00:43:27.760
me. Oh much, Well,
it comes to rather over thirty shillings a

557
00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:31.519
week. And can't a single woman
live on thirty shillings a week? Bliss

558
00:43:31.559 --> 00:43:37.480
us, I don't spend thirty sillings
a week myself, Helen raised her chin.

559
00:43:37.320 --> 00:43:40.280
A single woman can live on thirty
shillings a week, she said,

560
00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:45.960
But what about her frocks? Well, what about her frocks? He repeated,

561
00:43:45.800 --> 00:43:50.039
Well, she said, I like
frocks. Just happens that I can't

562
00:43:50.039 --> 00:43:52.840
do without frocks. It's just frocks
that I work for. I spend nearly

563
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:58.800
all I earn on them, And
her eyes descending seemed to say, look

564
00:43:58.840 --> 00:44:02.920
at the present example, seventy pounds
a year on yet clothes. You're not

565
00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:07.719
serious, lass, She looked at
him coldly. I am serious, she

566
00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:13.119
said, experience as he was.
He had never come across a fact so

567
00:44:13.239 --> 00:44:17.039
incredible as this fact, and the
compulsion of believing it occupied his forces to

568
00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:22.559
such an extent that he had no
force left to be wise. He did

569
00:44:22.599 --> 00:44:27.039
not observe the icy darting challenge in
her eye, and ignored the danger in

570
00:44:27.079 --> 00:44:30.000
her voice. All that I can
say is you ought to be ashamed of

571
00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:35.320
yourself, lass, he said sharply. The reflection was blown out of him

572
00:44:35.320 --> 00:44:39.199
by the expansion of his feelings.
Seventy pounds a year on clothes. He

573
00:44:39.280 --> 00:44:45.719
too was serious now. James hollerin
Shaw was not the first person whom Headn's

574
00:44:45.760 --> 00:44:50.360
passion for clothes had driven into indiscretions. Her mother, for example, had

575
00:44:50.360 --> 00:44:53.960
done battle with that passion and had
been defeated with heavy loss. I had

576
00:44:53.960 --> 00:44:58.880
mistress, and a chairman of a
school board, a pompous coward, had

577
00:44:58.920 --> 00:45:02.199
also suffered severely, And though Helen
had been the victor, she had not

578
00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:07.400
one without some injury to her nerves. Her campaigns and conquests had left her

579
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:12.280
on this matter touchy, as the
word is used in the Five Times,

580
00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:15.440
I shall be very much obliged if
you will not speak to me in that

581
00:45:15.599 --> 00:45:20.079
dawn, said she, because I
cannot permit it, either from you or

582
00:45:20.079 --> 00:45:23.039
from any other man. When I
venture to criticize your private life, I

583
00:45:23.039 --> 00:45:28.039
should expect you to criticize mine,
and not before. I don't want to

584
00:45:28.079 --> 00:45:31.360
be rude, but I hope you
will understand. Great step bungle. The

585
00:45:31.440 --> 00:45:37.360
milk was within the twentieth of an
inch of the brim. James Orangshaw blushed

586
00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:39.360
as red as head, and herself
had blushed at the beginning of their acquaintance.

587
00:45:40.679 --> 00:45:44.960
A girl, the daughter of the
chit Susan to address him, so

588
00:45:45.960 --> 00:45:50.519
she had the incomparable insolence of her
mother. Yes, thirty years ago,

589
00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:53.400
Susan had been just as rude to
him, but he was thirty years younger.

590
00:45:53.440 --> 00:45:58.880
Then, he was not a sage
of sixty. Then he continued to

591
00:45:58.920 --> 00:46:01.960
blush. He is raging. Indeed, it would no exaggeration to serve that

592
00:46:02.000 --> 00:46:07.400
his health was momentarily imperil. He
glanced for an instant at Helen and saw

593
00:46:07.440 --> 00:46:14.639
that her nostrils were twitching. Then
he looked hurriedly away and rose. The

594
00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:17.480
captain of the burning tub excusably assumed
that James was at length going to attack

595
00:46:17.519 --> 00:46:22.400
the serious business of the day.
Now, mister Holleran shaw. The captain

596
00:46:22.440 --> 00:46:27.360
called out, and his tone implied
gently, don't you think you've kept me

597
00:46:27.400 --> 00:46:30.719
waiting long enough? Women are women, but a balling match is a bawling

598
00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:36.360
match. James turned his back on
the captain, moved off, and then,

599
00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:39.639
how come on explain it? He
realized that in the last six words

600
00:46:39.639 --> 00:46:44.440
of Helen's speech there had been a
note, a hint, a mere nothing,

601
00:46:44.840 --> 00:46:50.360
of softness, of regret for paying
caused. He realized further the great

602
00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:53.840
universal natural law that, under any
circumstances, no matter what they may be,

603
00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:58.679
when any man, no matter who
he may be, differs from any

604
00:46:58.679 --> 00:47:01.840
pretty and well dressed woman, no
matter who she may be, he is

605
00:47:01.880 --> 00:47:07.039
in the wrong. He saw that
it was useless for serious, logical,

606
00:47:07.239 --> 00:47:10.360
high minded persons to inveigh against the
absurdity of this law, and to call

607
00:47:10.400 --> 00:47:15.400
it bad names. The law of
gravity is absurd and indefensible when you fall

608
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:21.360
downstairs, but you obey it.
He returned to Helen, who braved him

609
00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:24.159
at his eyes. Come off home, he said, hoarsely, it's me

610
00:47:24.199 --> 00:47:30.679
tea time. Good afternoon, she
replied with amiability upon Y'll come along with

611
00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:37.039
me, like the use of that
word like at the end of an interrogative

612
00:47:37.119 --> 00:47:40.239
sentence in the Five Times is the
subject upon which a book ought to be

613
00:47:40.280 --> 00:47:45.199
written, but not this history.
The es central point observe is that Helen

614
00:47:45.239 --> 00:47:50.440
got up from the bench and said, with adorable sweetness, why I should

615
00:47:50.440 --> 00:47:54.079
be charmed to come? What a
perfect old darling he is, she said

616
00:47:54.079 --> 00:48:04.800
to herself, end of chapter four, Chapter five of hel Him with the

617
00:48:04.880 --> 00:48:09.840
High Hand by Arnold Bennett. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording

618
00:48:09.840 --> 00:48:17.199
by Simon Evers, Chapter five a
salutation. As they walked down Mowthorne Road

619
00:48:17.280 --> 00:48:22.519
towards the town, they suddenly made
a couple piquornt enough by reason of the

620
00:48:22.519 --> 00:48:25.840
excessive violence of the contrast between them, to amuse the eye of the beholder.

621
00:48:27.800 --> 00:48:30.599
A young and pretty woman who spends
seventy pounds a year on her ornamentations,

622
00:48:31.159 --> 00:48:35.000
walking by the side of a little
old man, she had the better

623
00:48:35.039 --> 00:48:37.880
of him by an inch who probably
not spent seventy pounds on clothes in sixty

624
00:48:37.960 --> 00:48:43.679
years. Such a spectacle must have
drawn attention even in the least attentive of

625
00:48:43.760 --> 00:48:47.960
towns, and Bursley is far from
the least attentive of towns. James and

626
00:48:49.039 --> 00:48:52.119
his great step niece had not got
as far as the new Independent Chapel when

627
00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:55.360
it was known in the sin Luke
Square, a long way farther on that

628
00:48:55.480 --> 00:49:00.159
they were together, a tram car
had flown forward with the interest. In

629
00:49:00.280 --> 00:49:04.199
fact, from that moment, of
course, the news, which really was

630
00:49:04.280 --> 00:49:07.119
great news, spread itself over the
town with the rapidity of a perfume.

631
00:49:07.599 --> 00:49:14.280
No corner could escape it. All
James's innumerable tenants seemed to sniff it simultaneously,

632
00:49:15.320 --> 00:49:19.000
and that evening in the mouth of
the entire town, I am licensing

633
00:49:19.039 --> 00:49:22.559
myself to a little poetical exaggeration.
There was no word but the word Jimmy.

634
00:49:23.960 --> 00:49:29.320
Their converse as they descended into the
town was not effective. It was

635
00:49:29.360 --> 00:49:34.480
indeed feeble. There had fought a
brief but better deal, and James Oranghaw

636
00:49:34.519 --> 00:49:38.840
had been severely wounded. His dignity
bled freely. He made, strange,

637
00:49:38.880 --> 00:49:43.960
to say, scarcely any attempt to
staunch the blood, which might have continued

638
00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:47.880
to flow for a considerable time had
not a diversion occurred. It is well

639
00:49:47.920 --> 00:49:52.519
known that the dignity will only bleed
while you watch it. Avert your eyes,

640
00:49:52.559 --> 00:49:57.400
and it instantly dries up. The
diversion, apparently of a trifling character,

641
00:49:57.800 --> 00:50:00.880
had in truth and enormous importance,
though the party's concern did not perceive

642
00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:06.760
this till later. He consisted in
the passing of Missus Proctor and her stepson,

643
00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:10.360
Emmanuel Proctor, up Duck Bank,
as James and Helen were passing down

644
00:50:10.480 --> 00:50:15.079
Duck Bank. Missus Proctor, who
by reason of the rare quay in her

645
00:50:15.159 --> 00:50:20.159
name, regarded herself as the sole
genuine in a district full of Proctors,

646
00:50:20.880 --> 00:50:24.559
may be described as the diadur of
Bursley, the custodian of its respectability and

647
00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:30.000
the summit of its social ladder.
He could not climb higher than Missus Proctor.

648
00:50:30.039 --> 00:50:34.760
She lived at Hillport, and even
in that haughty suburb there was none

649
00:50:34.760 --> 00:50:39.119
who dared palter with an invitation from
Missus Proctor. She was stout and deliberate.

650
00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:44.000
She had waving flowers in her bonnet, and pictures of flowers on her

651
00:50:44.039 --> 00:50:47.719
silken gown, and a gray mantle. Much of her figure preceded her as

652
00:50:47.719 --> 00:50:52.480
she walked. Her stepson had a
tenor voice and a good tailor. His

653
00:50:52.599 --> 00:50:58.800
age was thirty. Now Missus Procter
was simply nothing to James Oliver in Shaw.

654
00:50:59.519 --> 00:51:01.440
They knew each other by sight,
but their orbits did not touch.

655
00:51:02.639 --> 00:51:07.039
James would have gone by Missus Proctor
as indifferently as he would have borne by

656
00:51:07.039 --> 00:51:10.480
a policeman or a lamp post.
As for Emmanuel, James held him in

657
00:51:10.559 --> 00:51:16.320
mild benignant contempt. But when as
the two pairs approached one another, James

658
00:51:16.400 --> 00:51:22.039
perceived Emmanuel furtively shifting his gold headed
cane from his right hand to his left,

659
00:51:22.400 --> 00:51:27.159
and then actually raising his hat to
Helen, James swiftly lost his indifference.

660
00:51:28.239 --> 00:51:32.000
He also nearly lost his presence of
mind. He was utterly unaccustomed to

661
00:51:32.039 --> 00:51:38.280
such crises. Despite his wealthy indifference
to Missus Proctor, despite his distinguished scorn

662
00:51:38.280 --> 00:51:44.760
of Emmanuel, despite the richness of
Helen's attire, he was astounded and deeply

663
00:51:44.800 --> 00:51:49.960
impressed to learn that Helen had the
acquaintance of people like the Proctor's. Further,

664
00:51:50.400 --> 00:51:53.440
except at Gravesides, James Orangshaw had
never in his life raised his hat.

665
00:51:54.480 --> 00:51:59.639
Had raising formed no part of his
code of manners. In his soul,

666
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:02.559
he looked upon hat raising as affected. He believed that all people who

667
00:52:02.639 --> 00:52:07.599
raised hats did so from a snobbish
desire to put on airs hat raising was

668
00:52:07.719 --> 00:52:14.400
rather like saying please, only worse. Happily, his was one of those

669
00:52:14.440 --> 00:52:17.480
strong, self reliant natures that can, when there is no alternative, face

670
00:52:17.559 --> 00:52:23.039
the most frightful situations with unthumping heart. He kept his presence of mind and

671
00:52:23.079 --> 00:52:28.239
decided in the fraction of a second
what he must do. The faculty of

672
00:52:28.360 --> 00:52:35.039
instant's decision is indispensable to safety in
these swift rising crises. He raised his

673
00:52:35.039 --> 00:52:38.519
hat, praying that Helen would not
stop to speak. Not gracefully, not

674
00:52:38.639 --> 00:52:43.239
but the beauteous curves of an Ammanuel. Did he raise his hat, but

675
00:52:43.360 --> 00:52:47.920
he raised it. His prayer was
answered there his chest said to Helen,

676
00:52:49.400 --> 00:52:52.760
if you thought I didn't know how
to behave to your conceited acquaintances, you

677
00:52:52.840 --> 00:52:58.760
were mistaken. And his causual roving
eye pretended that hat raising was simply the

678
00:52:58.760 --> 00:53:04.519
most ordinary thing on earth. Such
was the disturbing incident which ended the bleeding

679
00:53:04.519 --> 00:53:07.400
of his dignity. In order to
keep up the pretense that hat raising was

680
00:53:07.400 --> 00:53:10.840
a normal function of his daily life, he was obliged to talk freely,

681
00:53:12.599 --> 00:53:16.119
and he did talk freely. But
neither he nor Helen said a word as

682
00:53:16.159 --> 00:53:27.440
to the proctor's end of chapter five
Chapter six of Heading with the High Hand

683
00:53:27.519 --> 00:53:32.039
by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain recording by Simon

684
00:53:32.039 --> 00:53:40.000
Evers, Chapter six Missus Butt's departure. James Honrainshaw's house was within a few

685
00:53:40.079 --> 00:53:44.639
hundred yards at the top of Trafalgar
Road, on the way from Bursley to

686
00:53:44.679 --> 00:53:49.559
Hanbridge. I may not indicate the
exact house, but I can scarcely conceal

687
00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:53.159
that it lay between numbers one hundred
and sixty and one hundred and eighty on

688
00:53:53.199 --> 00:53:57.639
the left as you go up.
It was one of the oldest houses in

689
00:53:57.679 --> 00:54:01.920
the street, and though bullet into
difficults by sundry detached and semi detached fillers

690
00:54:01.920 --> 00:54:08.119
opposite parises occupied by reckless persons who
think nothing of paying sixty or even sixty

691
00:54:08.159 --> 00:54:13.960
five pounds a year for rent alone, it kept a certain individuality and distinction

692
00:54:14.480 --> 00:54:19.920
because it had been conscientiously built of
good brick before English domestic architecture had lost

693
00:54:20.079 --> 00:54:24.920
trace of the Georgian style. First, he went up two white steps white

694
00:54:25.000 --> 00:54:29.760
in theory, through a little gate
in a wrought iron railing painted the color

695
00:54:29.800 --> 00:54:34.559
of peas after they been cooked in
a bad restaurant. You then found yourself

696
00:54:34.559 --> 00:54:37.480
in a little front yard twelve feet
in width the whole width of the house

697
00:54:37.880 --> 00:54:44.199
by six feet in depth. The
yard was paved with large square Indian red

698
00:54:44.280 --> 00:54:49.159
tiles, except a tiny circle in
the midst bordered with black currant colored tiles

699
00:54:49.320 --> 00:54:54.039
set endwise with a scalloped edge.
This magical cirta contained earth, and in

700
00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:59.159
the center of it was a rhododendron
bush, which, having fallen into lazy

701
00:54:59.159 --> 00:55:04.719
habits of forgotten the art of flowering, its leaves were a most pessimistic version

702
00:55:04.719 --> 00:55:08.559
of the tint of the railing.
The facade of the house comprised three windows

703
00:55:08.599 --> 00:55:12.920
and a door. Letter to say, a window and a door on the

704
00:55:12.920 --> 00:55:19.039
ground floor, and two windows above. The brickwork was assuredly admirable. James

705
00:55:19.039 --> 00:55:22.880
had it pointed every few years.
Over the windows, the bricks of special

706
00:55:22.920 --> 00:55:28.559
shapes were arranged as in a flat
arch with a keystone that jutted slightly.

707
00:55:29.800 --> 00:55:34.199
The panes of the windows were numerous
and small. Inside, on the sashes

708
00:55:34.440 --> 00:55:38.320
they long thin scarlet sausages of red
cloth and sawdust to keep out the drafts.

709
00:55:39.440 --> 00:55:44.519
The door was divided into eight small
panels with elaborate beadings, and over

710
00:55:44.599 --> 00:55:47.639
it was a delicate fanlight, one
of about a score in Bursley, to

711
00:55:47.719 --> 00:55:52.719
remind the observer of a lost elegance. Between the fan light and the upstairs

712
00:55:52.760 --> 00:55:58.480
window, exactly above it was a
rusty armed plaque with vestiges in guilt of

713
00:55:58.519 --> 00:56:02.360
the word phoenix. It had been
put there when fire insurance had still the

714
00:56:02.360 --> 00:56:08.599
fancied charm of novelty. Heaven looked
delicious in the yard, gazing pensively at

715
00:56:08.639 --> 00:56:15.400
the slothful rhododendron. While James Olleranshaw
opened his door, she was seen by

716
00:56:15.400 --> 00:56:19.599
two electric cars full of people.
For although James's latch key was very highly

717
00:56:19.639 --> 00:56:22.480
polished and the lock well oiled,
he never succeeded in opening his door at

718
00:56:22.519 --> 00:56:27.679
the first attempt. It was a
capricious door. You could not be sure

719
00:56:27.679 --> 00:56:30.519
of opening it any more than beau
Brummel could be sure of tying his cravat.

720
00:56:31.039 --> 00:56:36.000
It was a muse that had to
be wooed. But when it did

721
00:56:36.039 --> 00:56:38.400
open, you perceived that there were
no half measures about that door, for

722
00:56:38.519 --> 00:56:43.719
it let you straight into the house. To open it was like taking down

723
00:56:43.760 --> 00:56:46.880
part of the wall. No lobby, all or vestibule behind that door.

724
00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:51.559
One instant you were in the yard. The next you were in the middle

725
00:56:51.559 --> 00:56:53.480
of the sitting room, and through
a doorway at the back of the sitting

726
00:56:53.519 --> 00:56:58.239
room you could see the kitchen,
and beyond that the scullery, and beyond

727
00:56:58.280 --> 00:57:02.960
that a back yard with a white
washed wall. James Orangshaw went in first,

728
00:57:04.239 --> 00:57:07.119
leaving Helen to follow. He had
learnt much in the previous hour,

729
00:57:07.519 --> 00:57:09.880
but there was still one or two
odd things left for him to learn.

730
00:57:12.199 --> 00:57:15.679
Ah. He breathed, shut the
door and hung up his hard hat on

731
00:57:15.760 --> 00:57:20.320
the inner face of it. Sit
you down, Las, So she sat

732
00:57:20.360 --> 00:57:22.400
her down. It must be said
that she looked as if she had made

733
00:57:22.400 --> 00:57:27.559
a mistake and got on to the
wrong side of Trafalgar Road. The sitting

734
00:57:27.639 --> 00:57:30.639
room was a crowded and shabby little
apartment, though clean. There was a

735
00:57:30.679 --> 00:57:35.039
list carpet over the middle of the
floor, which was tiled, and in

736
00:57:35.079 --> 00:57:38.639
the middle of the carpet a small
square table with flap sides. On this

737
00:57:38.719 --> 00:57:43.039
table was a full rigged ship on
a stormy sea, and a glass box,

738
00:57:43.559 --> 00:57:47.280
some resin, a large stone bottle
of ink, a ready reckna Whittaker's

739
00:57:47.320 --> 00:57:53.280
Almanac paper edition, a foot rule, and a bright brass candlestick above the

740
00:57:53.320 --> 00:57:58.079
table. There hung from the ceiling
a string with a ball of fringed paper,

741
00:57:58.519 --> 00:58:01.760
designed for the amusement of flowing eyes. At the window was a flat

742
00:58:01.760 --> 00:58:07.679
desk on which were transacted the affairs
of mister Oleranshaw when he stationed hi sofa

743
00:58:07.760 --> 00:58:12.239
at it. In the seat of
custom men of judgment. Defaulting tenants,

744
00:58:12.320 --> 00:58:15.199
twirling caps or twisting aprons had a
fine view of the left side of his

745
00:58:15.280 --> 00:58:21.519
face. He usually talked to them
while staring out of the window. Before

746
00:58:21.559 --> 00:58:24.599
this desk was a windsor chair.
There were eight other windsor chairs in the

747
00:58:24.679 --> 00:58:28.679
room and in the city, on
one that had not been sat upon for

748
00:58:28.800 --> 00:58:34.800
years and years. A teeming but
idle population of chairs. A horse air

749
00:58:34.920 --> 00:58:38.719
arm chair seemed to be the sultan
of the seraglio of chairs. Opposite the

750
00:58:38.719 --> 00:58:44.800
window a modern sideboard which might have
cost two nineteen six. When New completed

751
00:58:44.840 --> 00:58:49.880
the Tale of Furniture, the general
impression was one of fullness. The low

752
00:58:49.960 --> 00:58:53.400
ceiling and the immense harvest of overblown
blue roses, which climbed luxuriantly up the

753
00:58:53.400 --> 00:59:00.320
walls intensified this effect. The mantelpiece
was crowned with brass ornaments, and there

754
00:59:00.360 --> 00:59:05.199
were two complete sets of brass fire
arms in the brass fender above the mantel

755
00:59:05.199 --> 00:59:08.079
piece. A looking glass in a
one frame of bird's eye maple with rounded

756
00:59:08.119 --> 00:59:15.760
corners reflected Helen's hat. Henen abandoned
the windsor chair and tried the arm chair,

757
00:59:15.280 --> 00:59:20.159
and then stood up. Which jar
do you recommend? She asked,

758
00:59:20.199 --> 00:59:23.079
nicely, bless ye Child'll never sit
here except at the desk. I sept

759
00:59:23.159 --> 00:59:29.320
the kitchen. A peculiarity of houses
in the Five Towns is that rooms are

760
00:59:29.320 --> 00:59:32.840
seldom calls by their right names.
It is the point of honor among the

761
00:59:32.840 --> 00:59:37.639
self respecting and industrious classes to prepare
a room elaborately for a certain purpose,

762
00:59:38.159 --> 00:59:44.400
and then not to use it for
that purpose. Thus, James Orangshaw's sitting

763
00:59:44.480 --> 00:59:47.400
room, though surely few apartments,
could show more facilities than it showed for

764
00:59:47.480 --> 00:59:52.079
sitting, was not used as a
sitting room but as an office. The

765
00:59:52.159 --> 00:59:55.800
kitchen, that it contained a range, was not used as a kitchen but

766
00:59:55.920 --> 01:00:00.719
as a sitting room. The scullery, though it had no range, was

767
01:00:00.719 --> 01:00:04.840
filled with a gas cooking stave and
used as a kitchen, and the back

768
01:00:04.920 --> 01:00:08.639
yard was used as a culery.
This arrangement never struck anybody as singular.

769
01:00:09.039 --> 01:00:14.199
It did not strike even Helen as
singular. Her mother's house had exhibited the

770
01:00:14.239 --> 01:00:19.400
same oddness until she reorganized it.
If James orange Shaw had not needed an

771
01:00:19.440 --> 01:00:23.519
office, his sitting room would have
languished into suetude. The fact is that

772
01:00:23.559 --> 01:00:29.079
the fifty inhabitants of the five towns
save a room as they save money.

773
01:00:29.400 --> 01:00:30.840
If that have an income of six
rooms, they will live on five,

774
01:00:31.360 --> 01:00:37.960
or rather in five, and therefore
take pride to themselves. Somewhat nervous,

775
01:00:37.159 --> 01:00:42.920
James feigned to glance at the rent
books on the desk. Helen's eyes swept

776
01:00:42.960 --> 01:00:46.280
the room. I suppose you have
a good servant, she said. I

777
01:00:46.320 --> 01:00:50.719
other woman as comes in, said
James. But there isn't in the house

778
01:00:50.760 --> 01:00:54.800
at the moment. This latter statement
was a wilful untruth on James's part.

779
01:00:55.599 --> 01:01:00.039
He distinctly caught a glimpse of missus
Butt's figure as he entered. Well,

780
01:01:00.159 --> 01:01:05.079
said Helen, kindly, it's quite
nice. I'm sure he must be very

781
01:01:05.079 --> 01:01:07.320
comfortable for a man. But of
horse, one can see at once that

782
01:01:07.400 --> 01:01:13.000
no woman lives here. Oh,
he demanded, naively, Oh, she

783
01:01:13.079 --> 01:01:15.920
answered I don't know, but one
can. Don't mean to say it.

784
01:01:15.880 --> 01:01:21.159
It isn't clean, Lass, The
brasses are very clean, said Helen.

785
01:01:21.880 --> 01:01:25.360
Such astonishing virtuosity in the art of
innuendo is the privilege of one's sex.

786
01:01:25.400 --> 01:01:30.280
Only come into the kitchen, lass, said James, after he had smiled

787
01:01:30.320 --> 01:01:34.679
into a corner of the room,
and take off them gloves and things.

788
01:01:35.920 --> 01:01:39.039
But great, stepuncle, I can't
stay yer, stop for tea, said

789
01:01:39.039 --> 01:01:45.159
he firmly. Or my name isn't
James orr in Shaw. He preceded her

790
01:01:45.159 --> 01:01:49.239
into the kitchen. The door between
the kitchen and the scullery was half closed.

791
01:01:49.880 --> 01:01:52.360
In the aperture, he again had
a momentary but distinct glimpse of the

792
01:01:52.400 --> 01:01:57.440
eye of missus butt. I do
lie at this room, said Helen,

793
01:01:57.559 --> 01:02:01.679
enthusiastically. I'll interrupt viewer. The
back yard, said orang Shaw. See

794
01:02:01.719 --> 01:02:07.679
iran alas He indicated an article of
furniture which stood in front of the range

795
01:02:07.800 --> 01:02:10.280
at a distance of perhaps six feet
from it, cutting the room in half.

796
01:02:12.519 --> 01:02:15.360
This contrivance may be called a sofa, or it may be called a

797
01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:19.039
couch, but it could only be
popularly described by the Midland word for it

798
01:02:19.599 --> 01:02:24.079
squab. No other term is sufficiently
expressive. Its seat, five feet by

799
01:02:24.119 --> 01:02:29.000
two, was very broad and very
low, and had at a steep high

800
01:02:29.079 --> 01:02:34.480
back and sides. All its angles
were right angles. It was everywhere comfortably

801
01:02:34.519 --> 01:02:37.920
padded, It yielded everywhere to firm
pressure, and it was covered with a

802
01:02:37.960 --> 01:02:43.000
gray and green striped stuff. You
could not sit on that squab and be

803
01:02:43.039 --> 01:02:46.039
in a draft. Yet behind it, lest the impossible should arrive, was

804
01:02:46.079 --> 01:02:51.000
a heavy curtain hung on an iron
rod, which crossed the room from wall

805
01:02:51.039 --> 01:02:57.440
to wall. Not much imagination was
needed to realize the joy and ecstasy of

806
01:02:57.519 --> 01:03:00.760
losing yourself on that squab on a
winter afternoon, with a range far roaring

807
01:03:00.800 --> 01:03:07.519
in your face, and the curtain
drawn abaft. Hennen assumed the mathematical center

808
01:03:07.559 --> 01:03:12.599
of the squab and began to arrange
her skirts in cascading folds. She posed

809
01:03:12.599 --> 01:03:15.280
her parasol in a corner of it, as though the squab had been a

810
01:03:15.320 --> 01:03:20.760
railway carriage, which indeed it did
somewhat resemble. By the way, lad,

811
01:03:20.960 --> 01:03:24.719
what's that a swishes, James demanded, what's what? What's that?

812
01:03:24.840 --> 01:03:30.800
As swishes? She looked puzzled for
an instant, then laughed a frank,

813
01:03:30.920 --> 01:03:34.880
gay laugh light and bright as aluminium, such as the kitchen had never before

814
01:03:34.920 --> 01:03:37.880
heard. Oh, she said,
it's me new silk betticoat. I suppose

815
01:03:38.360 --> 01:03:44.360
you mean that? She brusquely moved
her limbs, reproducing the unique con dedicious

816
01:03:44.400 --> 01:03:49.320
rustle of concealed silk. Aye ejaculated
the old man. I mean that.

817
01:03:50.480 --> 01:03:53.960
Here's it's misilk betticourt. Do you
like it? I haven't seen it last.

818
01:03:55.320 --> 01:03:59.760
She bent down and lifted the hem
of her dress just two inches,

819
01:04:00.199 --> 01:04:04.159
the discreetest, the modestest gesture.
He had a transient vision of something fair.

820
01:04:04.679 --> 01:04:09.719
It was gone again. I don't
know as I dislike it, said

821
01:04:09.760 --> 01:04:14.079
he. He was standing facing her, his back to the range and his

822
01:04:14.159 --> 01:04:16.599
head on a level with the high, narrow mantelpiece, upon which littered a

823
01:04:16.719 --> 01:04:21.360
row of small tin canisters. Suddenly
he turned to the corner of the right

824
01:04:21.360 --> 01:04:26.480
of the range, where next to
an oak cupboard, a velvet Turkish smoking

825
01:04:26.519 --> 01:04:30.639
cap depended from a nail. He
put on the cap of which the long

826
01:04:30.719 --> 01:04:34.199
tassel curved down to his ear.
Then he faced her again, putting his

827
01:04:34.280 --> 01:04:39.559
hands behind him and raising himself at
intervals on his small, well polished toes.

828
01:04:41.000 --> 01:04:45.079
She lifted her two hands simultaneously to
her head and began to draw pins

829
01:04:45.119 --> 01:04:48.599
from her hat, which pins she
placed one after another between her lips.

830
01:04:49.320 --> 01:04:54.239
Then she lawed the hat carefully from
her head and transfixed it anew with the

831
01:04:54.280 --> 01:04:59.719
pins. Will you mind hanging it
on that nail, she requested. He

832
01:04:59.760 --> 01:05:01.880
took as it had been, of
glass, and hung it on the nail

833
01:05:03.559 --> 01:05:06.519
without her hat. She looked as
if she had lived there a jewel in

834
01:05:06.559 --> 01:05:11.199
a pipe case. She appeared to
be just as much at home as he

835
01:05:11.360 --> 01:05:15.320
was, and there was so at
home together that there was no further necessity

836
01:05:15.360 --> 01:05:19.679
to strain. After a continuous conversation. With a vague smile, she gazed

837
01:05:19.719 --> 01:05:24.880
round and about at the warm,
cracked, smooth red tiles of the floor,

838
01:05:25.559 --> 01:05:28.920
at the painted green walls, at
a windsor chair near the cupboard,

839
01:05:29.519 --> 01:05:32.480
a solitary chair that had evidently been
misunderstood by the large family relatives in the

840
01:05:32.519 --> 01:05:36.760
other room and sent it to exile. At the pair of bellows that hung

841
01:05:36.800 --> 01:05:41.840
on the wall above the chair,
and the rich gordoness of the grocer's almanac

842
01:05:41.960 --> 01:05:45.320
above the bellows. At the tea
table with its coarse gray cloth and thick

843
01:05:45.400 --> 01:05:50.360
crockery spread beneath the window. So
you have all your meals here, she

844
01:05:50.519 --> 01:05:56.440
ventured, Aye, he said,
I'll I'll call my meals here. Why,

845
01:05:56.559 --> 01:06:00.360
she cried, don't you enjoy them? I hate em? He said?

846
01:06:00.199 --> 01:06:03.440
What time do you have tea?
She inquired? Four o'clock, said

847
01:06:03.440 --> 01:06:09.079
he sharp. But it's a quarter
two now, she exclaimed, pointing to

848
01:06:09.079 --> 01:06:12.320
a clock with weights at the end
of brass chains and a long pendulum.

849
01:06:12.960 --> 01:06:16.239
And didn't you say your servant was
out? Ay? He mysteriously lied,

850
01:06:16.599 --> 01:06:19.719
that's out, But I'll come back
up and has gone to get a bit

851
01:06:19.719 --> 01:06:25.519
of fish or something fish. Do
you always have fish for tea? Ah?

852
01:06:25.559 --> 01:06:28.480
Have what I'm given, he replied. I fancy a snack for me,

853
01:06:28.559 --> 01:06:31.360
tea, something tasty. You know
why, she said, You just

854
01:06:31.559 --> 01:06:35.400
like me adore tea. I soon
have tea than any other meal of the

855
01:06:35.480 --> 01:06:40.280
day. But I never yet knew
a servant who could get something tasty every

856
01:06:40.320 --> 01:06:43.960
day. Of course, it's quite
easy if you know how to do it,

857
01:06:44.440 --> 01:06:46.840
but servants don't, that is to
say, as a rule. But

858
01:06:46.880 --> 01:06:53.159
i'spect you've got a very good one, so so, James murmured. The

859
01:06:53.239 --> 01:06:56.039
trouble with servants is that they always
think that if you like a thing one

860
01:06:56.119 --> 01:06:59.440
day, you like the same thing
every day for the next three years.

861
01:07:00.199 --> 01:07:02.800
Aye, he said dryly. I
esed to like her kidney, but it's

862
01:07:02.840 --> 01:07:08.320
more than three years ago. He
stuck his lips out and raised himself higher

863
01:07:08.320 --> 01:07:12.679
than ever on his toes. He
did not laugh, but she laughed,

864
01:07:12.760 --> 01:07:15.360
almost boisterously. Ha ha, I
can't help telling you, she said,

865
01:07:15.639 --> 01:07:19.559
you're perfectly lovely, great STI buncle. Are we both going to drink out

866
01:07:19.559 --> 01:07:25.199
of the same cup? In such
manner did the current of her talk charrate

867
01:07:25.400 --> 01:07:30.400
and turned corners. He proached the
cupboard. No, no, she sprang

868
01:07:30.480 --> 01:07:32.079
up. Let me, I'll do
that, as the servant is so long.

869
01:07:33.400 --> 01:07:38.440
And she opened the cupboard among a
miscellony of crocks. Therein was a

870
01:07:38.440 --> 01:07:42.119
blue and white cup and saucer,
and a plate to match underneath it that

871
01:07:42.199 --> 01:07:46.119
seemed out of place. There she
lifted down the pile steady on. He

872
01:07:46.199 --> 01:07:50.519
answered her, why don't you choose
that? Because I like it? She

873
01:07:50.559 --> 01:07:56.039
replied simply. He was silence.
That's a bit of real sport, he

874
01:07:56.119 --> 01:07:59.199
said, as she put it on
the table and dusted the several pieces with

875
01:07:59.280 --> 01:08:02.800
a corner of the table. It
won't be in any danger. She retorted,

876
01:08:02.960 --> 01:08:05.880
and then it comes to be washed
up, so I'll stop afterwards and

877
01:08:05.960 --> 01:08:12.199
washed up myself there. Now,
you can't find the teaspoons, miss he

878
01:08:12.280 --> 01:08:16.199
chanted her. I think I can, she said. She raised the tablecloth

879
01:08:16.239 --> 01:08:19.960
at the end, discover the knob
of a drawer and opened it, and

880
01:08:20.199 --> 01:08:26.000
surely there were teaspoons. Can't I
just take a peep into the scullery,

881
01:08:26.199 --> 01:08:30.600
she begged, with a bewitching supplication, I won't stops. The only time

882
01:08:30.600 --> 01:08:32.680
his servant was back if she saw
us, astrifully prompt as you say,

883
01:08:33.640 --> 01:08:38.760
I won't touch anything. Servants are
so silly, they always think one wants

884
01:08:38.800 --> 01:08:44.399
to interfere with them. Without waiting
for James's permission, she burst youthfully into

885
01:08:44.439 --> 01:08:48.520
the scullery. Oh, she exclaimed, there's someone here. Of course there

886
01:08:48.680 --> 01:08:54.159
was, There was missus. But
although the part played by Missus Butt and

887
01:08:54.159 --> 01:08:58.880
the drama was vehement and momentous,
it was nevertheless so brief that a description

888
01:08:58.920 --> 01:09:02.159
of Missus Butt is hardly called for. Sufficed to say that she had so

889
01:09:02.279 --> 01:09:06.039
much waste as have had no waist, and that she possessed both a beard

890
01:09:06.199 --> 01:09:11.920
and a mustache. This curt catalog
of her charms. Is unfair to her,

891
01:09:12.119 --> 01:09:16.600
But Missus Budd was ever the victim
of unfairness. James Orangehaw looked audaciously

892
01:09:16.600 --> 01:09:20.479
in at the door. It's missus, but said hest thought, as you

893
01:09:20.560 --> 01:09:27.079
were gone out. Good afternoon,
Missus Bud. Henny began with candy pleasantness.

894
01:09:27.600 --> 01:09:31.119
A pause. Good afternoon, miss
What have you got for uncle's tea

895
01:09:31.159 --> 01:09:36.199
to day? Something tasty? I've
got this, said Missus Butt with candied

896
01:09:36.239 --> 01:09:41.880
unpleasantness, and she pointed to an
oblate spheroid, the color of brick but

897
01:09:41.960 --> 01:09:45.399
smoother, which lay on a plate
near the guest stove. It was a

898
01:09:45.479 --> 01:09:49.600
kidney. Huh from James. It's
not cooked yet, I see, Hedden

899
01:09:49.680 --> 01:09:55.840
observed, and the clock finished her
remark. Nor missus not cooked, said

900
01:09:55.880 --> 01:09:59.399
Missus Budd. To tell you the
honest truth, Miss, I've been learning

901
01:09:59.600 --> 01:10:02.560
to look looking this here kidney.
She picked up the kidney in her pudding

902
01:10:02.640 --> 01:10:06.199
like hand and gazed at it.
I'm glad the blastes is clean mis at

903
01:10:06.239 --> 01:10:10.399
any rate, for the house does
look as though there was no woman about

904
01:10:10.439 --> 01:10:14.399
the place, and servants are silly. I'm thankful to heaven as the glasses

905
01:10:14.479 --> 01:10:18.680
is dean. Come into my scullery
and welcome she ceased, still holding up

906
01:10:18.720 --> 01:10:25.800
the kidney. Hum from uncle James. This repeated remark of his seemed to

907
01:10:25.880 --> 01:10:30.279
rouse the fury in her. You
may hum, mister Ollronshaw, she lared

908
01:10:30.319 --> 01:10:32.439
at him, you may hum as
much as you're a mind. And to

909
01:10:32.520 --> 01:10:36.680
elin come in, miss come in, don't be afraid of servants. And

910
01:10:36.760 --> 01:10:42.439
finally, with a striking instinct for
theatrical effect, but I go out,

911
01:10:42.840 --> 01:10:45.479
She flung the innocent, yielding kidney
to the floor, snatched up upon it,

912
01:10:45.800 --> 01:10:51.399
cast off her apron, and departed, where said James Ollerenshaw, you've

913
01:10:51.439 --> 01:11:02.319
done it. End of chapter six, chapter seven of hel Him with the

914
01:11:02.399 --> 01:11:09.039
High Hand by Arnold Bennett. The
LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording

915
01:11:09.039 --> 01:11:14.520
by Simon Evers, Chapter seven,
The New Cook. Ten minutes later,

916
01:11:14.760 --> 01:11:18.560
mister James Horonshaw stood alone in his
kitchen sitting room, and he gazed at

917
01:11:18.600 --> 01:11:23.319
the door between the kitchen sitting room
and the scullery. The door was shut,

918
01:11:23.760 --> 01:11:26.760
that is to say, it was
nearly shut. He'd been turned out

919
01:11:26.760 --> 01:11:30.520
of the scullery, not with violence, or rather with the sort of sweet

920
01:11:30.600 --> 01:11:33.399
violence that he liked and that had
never before been administered to him by any

921
01:11:33.479 --> 01:11:40.119
human soul, an afternoon highly adventurous, an afternoon on which he had permitted

922
01:11:40.159 --> 01:11:44.720
himself to be insulted with worse than
impunity to the insulter by the childish daughter

923
01:11:44.760 --> 01:11:48.319
of that chit Susan an afternoon on
which he raised his hat to Missus Proctor.

924
01:11:49.119 --> 01:11:53.399
A Saturday afternoon on which he had
foregone on account of a woman his

925
01:11:53.520 --> 01:11:58.239
customery match at bulls. This afternoon
was drawing to a close in a manner

926
01:11:58.279 --> 01:12:04.960
which piled thrilling event on thrilling event. Missus Butt had departed for unnumbered years.

927
01:12:04.960 --> 01:12:10.680
Missus Butt had miscooked his meals.
The little house was almost inconceivable without

928
01:12:10.680 --> 01:12:15.960
Missus Butt, and Missus Butt had
departed already. He missed her as one

929
01:12:16.000 --> 01:12:20.399
missus an ancient and supersensitive corn.
If the simile may be permitted to one,

930
01:12:21.000 --> 01:12:25.439
it is a simile not quite nice. But then Missus Butt was not

931
01:12:25.560 --> 01:12:29.479
quite nice either. The fault was
not hers. She was born. So

932
01:12:30.039 --> 01:12:33.359
the dropping of the kidney with a
PLoP by Missus Butt on the hard,

933
01:12:33.520 --> 01:12:40.880
unsympathetic floor of the scullery had constituted
an extremely dramatic moment in three lives.

934
01:12:40.920 --> 01:12:45.039
Certainly, Missus Buck possessed a wondrous
instinct for theatrical effect. Helen, on

935
01:12:45.119 --> 01:12:50.199
the contrary, seemed to possess none. She had advanced nonstinately towards the kidney

936
01:12:50.439 --> 01:12:55.600
and delicately picked it up between finger
and thumb and turned it over and then

937
01:12:55.640 --> 01:13:00.720
put it on a plate. That's
a veal kidney, she had observed out.

938
01:13:00.720 --> 01:13:03.520
Sure it isn't the sheep's kidney,
Lass, James had asked, carefully,

939
01:13:03.560 --> 01:13:08.760
imitating Helene's consoleance. Yes, she
had said, I'll gother you are

940
01:13:08.760 --> 01:13:13.760
not patlately fond of Kidney's greatest stepuncle, She had asked, I was once

941
01:13:14.399 --> 01:13:16.479
What am going to do? Lass? I'm going to get our tea,

942
01:13:16.760 --> 01:13:23.319
she had said. At the words
our tea, the antique James Olleranshaw,

943
01:13:23.479 --> 01:13:27.600
who never thought to have such a
sensation again, was most distinctly conscious of

944
01:13:27.640 --> 01:13:31.239
an agreeable, somewhat disturbing sensation of
being tickled in the small of his back

945
01:13:32.399 --> 01:13:36.359
well. He had asked her what
can I do? You can go out,

946
01:13:36.640 --> 01:13:40.319
she had replied, wouldn't it be
a good thing for you to go

947
01:13:40.359 --> 01:13:44.399
out for a walk? Tea will
be ready at half past four? I

948
01:13:44.520 --> 01:13:47.199
go for no walk? He said
positively. Yes, that's all right,

949
01:13:47.439 --> 01:13:50.720
she had murmured, but not in
response to his flat refusal to obey her.

950
01:13:51.800 --> 01:13:56.760
She been opening the double cupboard and
the five drawers which constituted the receptacles

951
01:13:56.760 --> 01:14:00.119
of the scullery larders. She been
spying out the riches and the poverty of

952
01:14:00.159 --> 01:14:04.399
the establishment. Then she had turned
to him, and instead of engaging him

953
01:14:04.399 --> 01:14:08.920
in battle, she had just smiled
at him and said, very well as

954
01:14:08.920 --> 01:14:12.960
he wished, but do go into
the front room at any rate. And

955
01:14:13.039 --> 01:14:15.359
there he was in the middle room, the kitchen, listening to her movements.

956
01:14:15.439 --> 01:14:18.960
Behind the door, he heard the
running of water, and then the

957
01:14:19.000 --> 01:14:23.840
mild explosion of lighting the second ring
of the gas stove. The first had

958
01:14:23.840 --> 01:14:28.680
been lighted by missus Butt. Then
he heard nothing whatever for years, And

959
01:14:28.680 --> 01:14:31.640
when he looked at the clock,
it was fourteen minutes past four. In

960
01:14:31.680 --> 01:14:34.640
the act of looking at the clock, his eye had to traverse the region

961
01:14:34.640 --> 01:14:41.439
of the sofa. On the sofa
were one parasol and two gloves. Astonishing,

962
01:14:41.680 --> 01:14:45.039
singular, disconcerting. How those articles, which after all bore no kind

963
01:14:45.039 --> 01:14:49.239
of resemblance to any style of furniture
or hangings, seemed, nevertheless, to

964
01:14:49.319 --> 01:14:54.319
refurnish the room to give the room
an air of being thickly inhabited, which

965
01:14:54.359 --> 01:14:59.359
had never had before. Then she
burst into the kitchen unexpectedly, with a

966
01:14:59.399 --> 01:15:01.640
swish of silk that was like the
retreat of waves down the shingle of some

967
01:15:01.760 --> 01:15:06.920
Atlantic shore. My dear uncle,
she prosested, Please do make yourself scarce.

968
01:15:08.079 --> 01:15:11.800
You're in the way, and I'm
very busy. She went to the

969
01:15:11.840 --> 01:15:15.279
cupboard and snatched at some plates,
two of which she dropped on the table,

970
01:15:15.520 --> 01:15:18.319
and three of which she took into
the kitchen. Have you got all

971
01:15:18.520 --> 01:15:23.800
you want? He questioned her,
politely, anxious to be of assistance everything.

972
01:15:24.079 --> 01:15:27.319
She answered positively, and with just
the least hint of an intention to

973
01:15:27.359 --> 01:15:31.520
crush him, have you Indeed,
he did not utter this exclamation aloud,

974
01:15:31.800 --> 01:15:35.880
but with it he applied balm to
his secret breast, for he still remembered

975
01:15:36.039 --> 01:15:40.560
being an old man her crushing him
in the park, and the peril of

976
01:15:40.560 --> 01:15:44.960
another crushing roused the mail in him. And it was with a sardonic and

977
01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:49.359
cruel satisfaction that he applied such balm
to his secret breast. The truth was,

978
01:15:49.680 --> 01:15:53.680
he knew that she had not got
all she wanted. He knew that

979
01:15:53.960 --> 01:15:59.039
despite her extraordinary capableness, of which
she was rather vain. Despite her ability

980
01:15:59.039 --> 01:16:01.279
to calculate mentally the interest on eighty
nine pounds for six months at four and

981
01:16:01.319 --> 01:16:05.760
a half percent, she could not
possibly prepare the tea without coming to him

982
01:16:05.800 --> 01:16:10.520
and confessing to him that she'd be
mistaken, and that she had not got

983
01:16:10.520 --> 01:16:15.960
everything she wanted. She would be
compelled to humble herself before him. Worried

984
01:16:15.960 --> 01:16:19.039
ever so little. He was a
hard old man, and the prospect of

985
01:16:19.039 --> 01:16:25.119
this humbling gave him pleasure. I
regret to say, you cannot have tea

986
01:16:25.239 --> 01:16:29.439
without tea leaves. And James Ollerinshaw
kept the tea leaves in a tea caddy

987
01:16:29.680 --> 01:16:33.640
locked in his front room. He
had an extravagant taste in tea. He

988
01:16:33.720 --> 01:16:38.800
fancied China tea, and he fancied
China tea that cost five shillings a pound.

989
01:16:39.960 --> 01:16:42.920
He was the last person to leave
China tea at five shillings a pound

990
01:16:42.960 --> 01:16:46.520
to the economic prudence of a missus. But every day Missus Butt brought to

991
01:16:46.600 --> 01:16:50.760
him the teapot warmed and a teaspoon, and he unlocked the tea caddy,

992
01:16:50.960 --> 01:16:56.880
dispensed the right quantity of tea,
and relocked the tea caddy. There was

993
01:16:56.920 --> 01:17:00.000
no other tea in the house.
So with a merry heart the carnous fellow

994
01:17:00.439 --> 01:17:04.840
shamefully delighting in the imminent downfall of
a fellow creature, and that a woman

995
01:17:05.600 --> 01:17:10.680
went into the front room, as
he had been bidden. Among the family

996
01:17:10.680 --> 01:17:15.359
of chairs in a corner was a
black octagonal case. He opened this case,

997
01:17:15.479 --> 01:17:18.520
which was not locked, and drew
from it a concertina, all inlaid

998
01:17:18.520 --> 01:17:23.239
with mother of pearl. Then he
went to the desk, and from under

999
01:17:23.279 --> 01:17:28.199
a pile of rent books, he
extracted several pieces of music and selected one.

1000
01:17:28.720 --> 01:17:32.319
This selected piece he reared up on
the mantelpiece against two brass candlesticks.

1001
01:17:33.119 --> 01:17:36.640
It was obvious from the certainty and
ease of his movements that he had the

1002
01:17:36.680 --> 01:17:42.800
habit of lodging pieces of music against
those two brass candlesticks. The music bore

1003
01:17:42.840 --> 01:17:46.439
the illustrious name of George Frederick Handel. Then he put on a pair of

1004
01:17:46.439 --> 01:17:49.600
spectacles, which were lying on the
mantelpiece, and balanced them on the end

1005
01:17:49.640 --> 01:17:54.760
of his nose. Finally, he
adjusted his little hands to the straps of

1006
01:17:54.800 --> 01:18:00.319
the concertina. You might imagine that
he would instantly dissolve into melody not at

1007
01:18:00.359 --> 01:18:03.119
all. He glanced at the page
of music, first through his spectacles,

1008
01:18:03.479 --> 01:18:08.800
and then bending forward his head over
his spectacles. Then he put down the

1009
01:18:08.840 --> 01:18:13.439
concertina gingerly on a chair, and
moved the music half an inch, perhaps

1010
01:18:13.439 --> 01:18:16.439
five eighths to the left. He
resumed the concertina, and was on the

1011
01:18:16.520 --> 01:18:20.399
very point of song when he put
down the concertina for the second time and

1012
01:18:20.479 --> 01:18:25.159
moved the tassel of his Turkish cap
from the neighborhood of his left ear for

1013
01:18:25.279 --> 01:18:29.399
the neighborhood of his right ear.
Then, with a cough, he resumed

1014
01:18:29.399 --> 01:18:33.960
the concertina once more and embarked upon
the interpretation of Handel. It was the

1015
01:18:34.000 --> 01:18:40.479
Hallelujah chorus. Any surprise which the
musical reader may feel on hearing that James

1016
01:18:40.479 --> 01:18:45.079
Ollanjaw was equal to performing the Hallelula
chorus on a concertina, even when inlaid

1017
01:18:45.159 --> 01:18:47.920
with mother of Pearl argues on the
part of that reader, and in perfect

1018
01:18:47.960 --> 01:18:54.039
acquaintance with the five towns. In
the five towns, there are among pianost

1019
01:18:54.079 --> 01:18:59.800
corners two musical instruments, the concertina
and the cornet, And the five towns

1020
01:18:59.840 --> 01:19:02.079
were like to see the composer clever
enough to compose a piece of music that

1021
01:19:02.159 --> 01:19:06.920
cannot be arranged for either of these
instruments. It is conceivable that Beethoven imagined,

1022
01:19:08.079 --> 01:19:11.039
when he wrote the last movement of
the C Minor Symphony, that he

1023
01:19:11.119 --> 01:19:15.079
produced a work which it would be
impossible to arrange for corn it solo.

1024
01:19:15.359 --> 01:19:18.319
But if he did, he imagined
a vain thing. In the Five Towns,

1025
01:19:18.359 --> 01:19:23.119
where the taste for classical music is
highly developed, the Sea Minor Symphony

1026
01:19:23.119 --> 01:19:27.399
on a single tornet is as common
as Robin Adair on a full brass band.

1027
01:19:29.039 --> 01:19:34.239
James Orangehaw played the hallelio chorus with
much feeling and expression. He understood

1028
01:19:34.239 --> 01:19:39.520
the hallelulio chorus to its profoundest depths, which was not surprising in view of

1029
01:19:39.560 --> 01:19:42.560
the fact that he had been playing
it regularly since before Helen was born.

1030
01:19:43.800 --> 01:19:48.239
The unfading charm of classical music is
that you never tire of it. Nevertheless,

1031
01:19:48.439 --> 01:19:53.880
the grandeur of his interpretation of the
hallelulio chorus appeared to produce no effect

1032
01:19:53.920 --> 01:19:59.239
whatever in the scullery, neither alarm
nor ecstasy, And presently, in the

1033
01:19:59.279 --> 01:20:03.199
midst of a brief pianissimo passage,
James's sensitivia caught the distant sound of chopping,

1034
01:20:03.600 --> 01:20:08.640
which quite marred the soft tenderness of
which he been naming. He stopped

1035
01:20:08.640 --> 01:20:14.399
abruptly. The sound of chopping intrigued
his curiosity. What could she be chopping?

1036
01:20:15.520 --> 01:20:18.800
He advanced cautiously to the doorway.
He left the door open. The

1037
01:20:18.880 --> 01:20:23.359
other door between the kitchen and the
scullery, which had previously been closed,

1038
01:20:23.680 --> 01:20:26.760
was now open, so that he
could see from the front room into the

1039
01:20:26.760 --> 01:20:30.479
scullery. His eager, inquisitive glance
noted a plate of beautiful bread and butter

1040
01:20:30.560 --> 01:20:35.279
on the tea table in the kitchen. She was chopping the kidney. Utterly

1041
01:20:35.279 --> 01:20:39.600
absorbed in her task, she had
no suspicion that she was being overlooked.

1042
01:20:40.600 --> 01:20:44.279
After the chopping of the kidney,
James witnessed a series of operations, the

1043
01:20:44.359 --> 01:20:47.800
key to whose significance he could not
find. She put a flat pan over

1044
01:20:47.800 --> 01:20:51.000
the gas and then took it off
again. Then she picked up an egg,

1045
01:20:51.159 --> 01:20:55.119
broke it into a coffee cup,
and instantly poured it out of the

1046
01:20:55.159 --> 01:20:59.239
coffee cup into a basin. She
did the same to another egg, and

1047
01:20:59.319 --> 01:21:03.239
yet another four eggs in tar household
stock of eggs, It was terrible.

1048
01:21:03.640 --> 01:21:08.800
Four eggs and a kidney among two
people, he could not divine what she

1049
01:21:08.960 --> 01:21:12.279
was at. Then she got some
butter on the end of a knife and

1050
01:21:12.319 --> 01:21:15.319
dropped it into the saucepan, and
put the saucepan over the gas and then

1051
01:21:15.399 --> 01:21:20.119
poured the plateful of kidney shreds into
the saucepan. Then she began furiously to

1052
01:21:20.119 --> 01:21:25.159
beat the four eggs with a fork, glancing into the sauceman frequently and coaxing

1053
01:21:25.159 --> 01:21:29.640
it with little touches. Then the
kidney shreds raised a sound of frizzling,

1054
01:21:30.039 --> 01:21:33.319
and bang into the sauceman went the
contents of the basin. All the time

1055
01:21:33.359 --> 01:21:38.000
she had held her hands and her
implements and utensils away from her as much

1056
01:21:38.039 --> 01:21:42.399
as possible, doubtless out of consideration
for her frock. Not an inch of

1057
01:21:42.439 --> 01:21:45.439
apron was she wearing. Now she
leant over the gas stove, fork in

1058
01:21:45.520 --> 01:21:50.279
hand, and made baffling motions inside
the sorcersman with the fork, And while

1059
01:21:50.279 --> 01:21:55.479
doing so she stretched forth her left
hand obtained some salt and sprinkled the saucepan

1060
01:21:55.560 --> 01:22:00.199
therewith. The business seemed to be
exquisitely delicate and breathless. Her face was

1061
01:22:00.239 --> 01:22:04.319
sternly set as though the fate of
contenance depended on her nerve and audacity in

1062
01:22:04.359 --> 01:22:09.760
this tremendous crisis. But what she
was doing to the interior of the saucepan,

1063
01:22:10.119 --> 01:22:14.760
James Ronshaw could not comprehend. She
stroked it with a long gesture.

1064
01:22:15.199 --> 01:22:17.760
She tickled it, she stroked it
in a different direction, she lifted it

1065
01:22:17.880 --> 01:22:23.399
and folded it on itself. Anyhow, he knew it was not scrambled eggs,

1066
01:22:23.439 --> 01:22:27.600
because you have to stir scrambled eggs
without ceasing. Then she stopped and

1067
01:22:27.600 --> 01:22:31.479
stood quite still regarding the saucepan.
You marched me quite long enough, she

1068
01:22:31.560 --> 01:22:34.760
said, without moving her head.
She must have known all the time that

1069
01:22:34.800 --> 01:22:39.640
he was there. So he shuffled
away and glanced out of the window at

1070
01:22:39.640 --> 01:22:44.840
the stir and traffic of Trafalgar Road. Teas ready, she said. He

1071
01:22:44.920 --> 01:22:48.920
went into the kitchen, smiling,
enchanted but disturbed. She had not come

1072
01:22:48.960 --> 01:22:51.640
to him, and confessed that she
could not make tea without tea leaves.

1073
01:22:53.600 --> 01:22:59.159
Yet there was the teapot steaming and
puffing on the table. End of chapter

1074
01:22:59.239 --> 01:23:06.600
seven, Chapter eight of Helen with
the High Hand by Arnold Bennett. This

1075
01:23:06.680 --> 01:23:13.479
LibriVox recording is in the public domain
recording by Simon Evers. Chapter eight,

1076
01:23:14.159 --> 01:23:18.319
omelet the mystery lay on a plate
in the middle of the table. In

1077
01:23:18.359 --> 01:23:23.359
color, it resembled scrambled eggs,
except that it was tinted a more brownish

1078
01:23:23.439 --> 01:23:28.760
or coppery gold, rather like a
first glass Yorkshire pudding. He suspected for

1079
01:23:28.800 --> 01:23:31.880
an instant that it might be a
Yorkshire pudding according to the new fangled recipe

1080
01:23:31.880 --> 01:23:36.920
of board schools. But four eggs. No, He was sure that so

1081
01:23:38.079 --> 01:23:43.439
small a quantity of Yorkshire pudding could
not possibly have required four eggs. He

1082
01:23:43.520 --> 01:23:45.359
picked up the tea potter after his
manner, and was in the act of

1083
01:23:45.399 --> 01:23:50.880
pouring when she struck him into immobility
with a loud cry milk first. He

1084
01:23:50.960 --> 01:23:54.960
understood that she had a caprice for
pouring the tea on the top of the

1085
01:23:55.000 --> 01:23:58.920
milk, instead of the milk on
the top of the tea. What difference

1086
01:23:58.960 --> 01:24:02.640
does it make? Demanded defiantly.
What she cried again? You think it's

1087
01:24:02.640 --> 01:24:06.079
of a great authority on China tea, and you don't know that milk ought

1088
01:24:06.079 --> 01:24:12.199
to be poured in first? Why
it makes quite a different taste. How

1089
01:24:12.399 --> 01:24:15.119
in the name of Confucius did she
know that he thought himself a great authority

1090
01:24:15.159 --> 01:24:18.840
on china tea. Here she said, if you don't mind, I'll pour

1091
01:24:18.880 --> 01:24:24.399
out the tea. Thank you help
yourself to this. She pointed to the

1092
01:24:24.479 --> 01:24:27.239
mystery. It must be eaten,
but it's hot, or it's worse than

1093
01:24:27.319 --> 01:24:30.880
useless. What is it, he
asked, with false calm. It's a

1094
01:24:30.960 --> 01:24:35.760
kidney omelet, she replied. Omelet, he repeated, rather at a loss.

1095
01:24:36.600 --> 01:24:41.680
It never tasted an omelet, He
never seen an omelet. Omelets formed

1096
01:24:41.720 --> 01:24:46.119
no part of the domestic cuisine of
England. Omelet, he repeated. How

1097
01:24:46.199 --> 01:24:49.439
was he familiar with the word,
the words which conveyed nothing to his mind?

1098
01:24:50.119 --> 01:24:55.399
Then he remembered, he can't make
an omelet without breaking eggs. Of

1099
01:24:55.479 --> 01:24:58.640
course, she had broken eggs.
She broken four eggs. She broken the

1100
01:24:58.760 --> 01:25:02.920
entire household stock of eggs. And
he had employed that proverb scores hundreds of

1101
01:25:02.960 --> 01:25:08.119
times. It was one of half
a dozen favorite proverbs which he flung the

1102
01:25:08.199 --> 01:25:12.239
less sagacious and prudent of his tenants. And yet it had never occurred to

1103
01:25:12.319 --> 01:25:15.800
him to wonder what an omelet was. Now he knew, at any rate,

1104
01:25:15.880 --> 01:25:18.520
he knew what it looked like,
And he was shortly to know what

1105
01:25:18.600 --> 01:25:23.159
it tasted like. Yes, she
said, cut it with a knife.

1106
01:25:23.239 --> 01:25:25.800
Don't be frightened of it. You'll
eat it. It won't eat you.

1107
01:25:26.560 --> 01:25:29.359
And please give me very little.
I had a quarter of a pound of

1108
01:25:29.399 --> 01:25:34.000
chocolates after dinner. He conveyed one
third of the convection to his plate and

1109
01:25:34.079 --> 01:25:39.680
about a sixth to hers, And
he tasted just a morsel with a dash

1110
01:25:39.720 --> 01:25:41.960
of kidney in the center of it, on the end of his fork.

1111
01:25:43.039 --> 01:25:45.079
He was not aware of the fact, but that was the decisive moment of

1112
01:25:45.079 --> 01:25:50.239
his life, sixty though he was
had she really made this marvel, this

1113
01:25:50.560 --> 01:25:56.399
dream, this idle, this indescribable
bliss, out of four common fresh eggs

1114
01:25:56.439 --> 01:26:00.600
and a veal kidney that missus Butter
dropped on the floor. He had come

1115
01:26:00.680 --> 01:26:04.359
to loathe kidney, had almost come
to swearing that no manifestation or incarnation of

1116
01:26:04.439 --> 01:26:10.840
kidney should ever again pass between his
excellent teeth. And now he was ravished,

1117
01:26:11.239 --> 01:26:15.600
wrapped away on the wings of paradissical
ecstasy, by something that consisted of

1118
01:26:15.680 --> 01:26:19.640
kidney and a few eggs. This
omelet had all the finer and nobler qualities

1119
01:26:19.640 --> 01:26:24.960
of Yorkshire pudding and scrambled eggs,
combined together with others beyond the ken of

1120
01:26:25.000 --> 01:26:28.640
his greedy fancy. Yes, he
was a greedy man. He knew he

1121
01:26:28.720 --> 01:26:31.840
was greedy. He was a greedy
man whose evil passion had providentially been kept

1122
01:26:31.840 --> 01:26:35.840
in check for over a quarter of
a century by the gross unskillfulness, the

1123
01:26:35.880 --> 01:26:42.000
appalling monotony of a missus butt.
Could it be that there existed women,

1124
01:26:42.399 --> 01:26:46.000
light and light handed creatures, creatures
of originality and resource, who were capable

1125
01:26:46.000 --> 01:26:50.760
of producing prodigies like this kidney omit
on the spur of the moment? Evidently

1126
01:26:51.319 --> 01:26:56.479
Helen existed, and the whole omlet, from the melting of the butter to

1127
01:26:56.560 --> 01:27:00.880
the final steadied lance into the saucepan
had not occupied her more them six minutes

1128
01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:03.479
at most. She had tossed it
off, as he might have tossed off

1129
01:27:03.479 --> 01:27:08.560
a receipt for a week's rent.
And the exquisite thought in his mind,

1130
01:27:08.840 --> 01:27:13.119
the thought of penetrating sweetness, was
that whence this delicacy had come, other

1131
01:27:13.239 --> 01:27:17.199
and even rare delicacies might have come. All His past life seemed to him

1132
01:27:17.199 --> 01:27:23.199
to be a miserable waste of gloomy
and joyless years. Did I kid she

1133
01:27:23.279 --> 01:27:27.319
inquired, He paused, as though
reflecting whether he liked it or not.

1134
01:27:28.319 --> 01:27:31.279
Ay, he said, judiciously,
it's not so bad. I could do

1135
01:27:31.319 --> 01:27:35.439
a bit more of that. Well, she urged him to help yourself take

1136
01:27:35.479 --> 01:27:41.199
it all. I sha'n't eat any
more. Sure, he said, trembling

1137
01:27:41.279 --> 01:27:45.039
lest she might change her mind.
Then he yet the remaining half of the

1138
01:27:45.079 --> 01:27:49.359
omelet, making five sixths in all. He glanced at her surreptitiously, in

1139
01:27:49.439 --> 01:27:54.800
her fine dress, on which was
not a single splash or stain. He

1140
01:27:54.880 --> 01:27:59.199
might have known that so extraordinary and
exotic a female person would not concoct anything

1141
01:27:59.239 --> 01:28:03.399
so trite as you to pudding or
scrambled eggs. Not till the omet was

1142
01:28:03.439 --> 01:28:08.199
an affair of the past, so
far as his plate was concerned, did

1143
01:28:08.239 --> 01:28:12.359
he begin to attend to his tea, His tea which sustained a mystery as

1144
01:28:12.399 --> 01:28:16.800
curious airs and iscidedly more sinister than
the mystery of the omelet. He stared

1145
01:28:16.840 --> 01:28:20.840
into the cup, then, to
use the five times phrase, he supped

1146
01:28:20.840 --> 01:28:26.079
it up. There could be no
doubt it was his special China tea.

1147
01:28:26.960 --> 01:28:30.399
It had a peculiar flavor, owing
perhaps to the presidents given to milk,

1148
01:28:30.000 --> 01:28:34.960
but it was incontestably his guarded,
unlocked tea. Had she got it?

1149
01:28:36.119 --> 01:28:41.439
Well, it's fine this tea,
LUs he asked in the little corner cupboard

1150
01:28:41.439 --> 01:28:44.680
and the scullery, she said,
I'd no idea that people drank such good

1151
01:28:44.720 --> 01:28:48.840
China tea imbersely, Ah, he
observed, concealing his concern under a mask

1152
01:28:48.920 --> 01:28:55.640
of irony. China tyms drunk hiversly
afore your time mother would only drink celoron,

1153
01:28:55.880 --> 01:28:59.640
said she. Ah, that doesn't
surprise me, said he, as

1154
01:28:59.680 --> 01:29:01.800
if to imply that no vagary on
the part of Susan could surprise him,

1155
01:29:02.680 --> 01:29:09.359
and he proceeded reflectively in the corner
Goudbard says thou yes in a loud tin

1156
01:29:09.399 --> 01:29:15.800
box, a large tin box.
This news was overwhelming. He rose abruptly

1157
01:29:15.840 --> 01:29:19.119
and went into the scullery indubably.
There was a large tin box pretty nearly

1158
01:29:19.199 --> 01:29:25.359
half a full of his guarded tea
in the corner cupboard. He returned the

1159
01:29:25.359 --> 01:29:30.760
illusion of half a lifetime shattered lo
There woman was a thief. He announced,

1160
01:29:30.399 --> 01:29:35.840
what woman, missus butt and expled
to helen all his elaborate precautions for

1161
01:29:35.920 --> 01:29:42.439
the preservation of his China tea.
Hennie was wholly sympathetic the utter correctness of

1162
01:29:42.439 --> 01:29:46.479
her attitude towards missus bt was balm
to him. Only one theory was conceivable.

1163
01:29:46.960 --> 01:29:51.199
The wretched woman must have had a
key to his caddy during his absence

1164
01:29:51.199 --> 01:29:55.439
from the house. She must have
calmly helped herself to tea at five shillings

1165
01:29:55.479 --> 01:30:00.239
a pound a spoonful of so at
a time. Doubtless she made tea her

1166
01:30:00.239 --> 01:30:03.600
private consumption, exactly when she chose. It was even possible that she walked

1167
01:30:03.600 --> 01:30:08.319
off from time to time with counstiitesce
of tea to her own home. And

1168
01:30:08.439 --> 01:30:13.159
he who thought himself so clever,
so much cleverer than a servant. You

1169
01:30:13.239 --> 01:30:15.239
can't have her back, as she
hasn't honest, even if she comes back,

1170
01:30:15.479 --> 01:30:19.960
said Helen. Oh I won't come
back, said James. Factors have

1171
01:30:20.039 --> 01:30:25.000
had difficulties with her for a long
time. Now, then what shall you

1172
01:30:25.079 --> 01:30:28.960
do me, poor dear uncle,
Nay, says he, I must ask

1173
01:30:29.039 --> 01:30:32.600
you that it was yours was the
cause of her going. Oh, uncle,

1174
01:30:32.920 --> 01:30:36.680
she exclaimed, laughing, how can
you see such a thing? And

1175
01:30:36.760 --> 01:30:41.520
she added seriously it can't be expected
to cook for yourself, can y?

1176
01:30:42.039 --> 01:30:45.960
And that's forgetting a new one?
He noticed with satisfaction, since you've taken

1177
01:30:46.000 --> 01:30:50.880
to calling him simply uncle instead of
great step uncle. A new un he

1178
01:30:50.960 --> 01:30:56.840
muttered grimly and sighed in despair.
I just stay and look after your supper.

1179
01:30:57.199 --> 01:31:00.680
She said, brightly. Here's him. More about tomorrow Morrow, He

1180
01:31:00.760 --> 01:31:05.199
grewed gloomier to morrow, Sunday.
I'll come to morrow for breakfast. Yes,

1181
01:31:05.239 --> 01:31:09.640
some one about Monday. His gloom
was not easily to be dispersed.

1182
01:31:10.520 --> 01:31:14.960
I'll come on Monday, she replied, with increasing cheerfulness. By your school,

1183
01:31:15.039 --> 01:31:17.720
will you teach everything? Lass?
Of course I shall give up school,

1184
01:31:18.000 --> 01:31:21.560
said she at once. They must
do without me. It will mean

1185
01:31:21.600 --> 01:31:27.600
promotion for some one. I can't
bother about giving proper notice. Supposing you'd

1186
01:31:27.600 --> 01:31:30.840
been dangerously ill, I should have
come, and they would have managed without

1187
01:31:30.880 --> 01:31:35.760
me. Therefore they can manage without
me. Therefore they must. He kept

1188
01:31:35.800 --> 01:31:41.479
up a magnificent gloom until she left
for the night, and then he danced

1189
01:31:41.520 --> 01:31:45.000
a hornpipe of tlea, not with
his legs, but in his heart.

1190
01:31:45.560 --> 01:31:48.279
He had deliberately schemed to get rid
of missus Butt by means of Helen Rathbone.

1191
01:31:48.920 --> 01:31:51.640
The idea had occurred to him as
he entered the house that was why

1192
01:31:51.680 --> 01:31:56.399
he had encouraged her to talk freely
about servants by assuring her that missus Butt

1193
01:31:56.439 --> 01:31:59.439
was not in the scullery. Being
well aware that Missus Butt was in the

1194
01:31:59.439 --> 01:32:03.279
scullery, he made a tool of
the unsuspecting, good natured Helen, smart

1195
01:32:03.359 --> 01:32:09.680
though she was. He had transitory
calms of fear about the possible expensiveness of

1196
01:32:09.720 --> 01:32:14.079
Healen. He decidedly not meant that
she should give up school and nearly thirty

1197
01:32:14.079 --> 01:32:17.800
shillings a week. But still he
managed her so far, and he reckoned

1198
01:32:17.840 --> 01:32:23.000
that he could continue to manage her. He regretted that she had not praised

1199
01:32:23.000 --> 01:32:27.479
his music, and Hedin wrote the
same evening to her mother from a very

1200
01:32:27.520 --> 01:32:31.560
long and very exciting letter. The
following excerpts may be called. I saw

1201
01:32:31.560 --> 01:32:35.199
the fat old servant in the scurry
at once, but Uncle thought she wasn't

1202
01:32:35.199 --> 01:32:40.239
there. He's a funny old man, rather silly like most old men.

1203
01:32:40.840 --> 01:32:44.479
But I like him, and he
can say what you please. Isn't silly

1204
01:32:44.560 --> 01:32:47.680
really? I incidently decided that I
would get rid of that servant, and

1205
01:32:47.800 --> 01:32:53.239
I didn't do. Poor Uncle never
suspected in a few days I shall come

1206
01:32:53.239 --> 01:32:57.119
to live here. It's much safer. Suppose he he was taken ill and

1207
01:32:57.199 --> 01:33:00.399
died and left all his money to
hospitals and things awfully stupid that would be.

1208
01:33:01.479 --> 01:33:03.920
I told him I should leave the
school, and he didn't turn a

1209
01:33:04.000 --> 01:33:09.079
hair. He's a dear I don't
care a fig for his money, except

1210
01:33:09.119 --> 01:33:13.760
to spend it for him. His
tiny house is simply lovely, terrifically clean,

1211
01:33:13.960 --> 01:33:16.520
and in the loveliest order. But
I've no intention that we shall stay

1212
01:33:16.560 --> 01:33:20.840
here. I think I should take
a large house up at Helport. Uncle

1213
01:33:20.920 --> 01:33:25.760
is only old in some ways.
In many ways he's quite young, so

1214
01:33:25.840 --> 01:33:29.199
I hope he won't mind a change. By the way he told me about

1215
01:33:29.199 --> 01:33:33.880
your age, My dearest mother,
how could you, et cetera. In

1216
01:33:33.960 --> 01:33:41.520
such manner came Helen Rathbone to keep
house for her great step uncle, end

1217
01:33:41.720 --> 01:33:49.520
of chapter eight, Chapter nine of
Helen with the High Hand by Arnold Bennett.

1218
01:33:49.960 --> 01:33:56.720
This LibriVox recording is in the public
domain recording by Simon Others. Chapter

1219
01:33:56.800 --> 01:34:02.239
nine. A great change and a
Rothbourne, said Uncle James one Tuesday afternoon.

1220
01:34:02.840 --> 01:34:06.880
Have you been meddling in my cash
box? They were sitting in the

1221
01:34:06.880 --> 01:34:12.119
front room, Helen in a light
gray costume that cascaded over her chair and

1222
01:34:12.319 --> 01:34:15.279
half the next chair, and James
Olleranshaw in the days I be of his

1223
01:34:15.359 --> 01:34:20.399
Turkish cap. James was at his
desk. It is customary in the Five

1224
01:34:20.439 --> 01:34:26.439
Towns when you feel competative, astonished, or ironic towards another person, to

1225
01:34:26.520 --> 01:34:30.199
address that other person by his full
name. You left the key in your

1226
01:34:30.199 --> 01:34:32.520
cash box this morning, uncle,
said Helen, glancing up from a book,

1227
01:34:32.960 --> 01:34:36.640
while you were fiddling me the safe
in your bedroom. He did not

1228
01:34:36.840 --> 01:34:41.680
like the word fiddling. He did
not suit either his dignity or the dignity

1229
01:34:41.720 --> 01:34:45.479
of his hued Milner safe. Well, he said, And if I did,

1230
01:34:45.119 --> 01:34:49.600
wasn't upstairs more than five minutes the
new servant aDNA come. There was

1231
01:34:49.640 --> 01:34:53.800
but you and me and the house. Yes, but you see, I

1232
01:34:53.840 --> 01:34:56.079
was in a hurry to go out
marketing, and I couldn't wait for you

1233
01:34:56.119 --> 01:35:00.960
to come down. Ignored this remark. Other a ten pound nor missing said

1234
01:35:01.000 --> 01:35:04.520
he don't play them tricks on me. Lass, I'm getting an Oldish man.

1235
01:35:05.119 --> 01:35:09.760
Why hast thou hidden it? I'm'll
go to the bank, he spoke

1236
01:35:09.800 --> 01:35:14.199
plaintively. My dear uncle, she
replied, I've not hidden yet. Tempar

1237
01:35:14.359 --> 01:35:16.520
note, I wanted some money in
a hurry, so took it. I've

1238
01:35:16.560 --> 01:35:20.840
spent some of it, spent some
of it, he exclaimed. I'll much

1239
01:35:20.880 --> 01:35:25.560
as spent. Oh, I don't
know, but I make up my accounts

1240
01:35:25.560 --> 01:35:30.159
every night, Alas said he staring
firmly out of the window. This won't

1241
01:35:30.199 --> 01:35:34.560
do. I let you know at
once, this wonna do. He was

1242
01:35:34.600 --> 01:35:39.640
determined to be master in his own
house. She also was determined to be

1243
01:35:39.720 --> 01:35:44.920
master in his own house. Conflict
was imminent. I ask what you mean,

1244
01:35:45.000 --> 01:35:48.640
uncle, he hesitated. He was
not afraid of her, but he

1245
01:35:48.720 --> 01:35:51.840
was afraid of her dress. Not
of the material, but of the cut

1246
01:35:51.880 --> 01:35:57.800
of it. If she've been Susan
in Susan's dowdy and wrinkled Alpacker, he

1247
01:35:57.800 --> 01:36:02.319
would have translated his just emotion into
what critics called simple nervous English, that

1248
01:36:02.479 --> 01:36:08.760
is to say, Shakespearean prose.
But the aristocratic, insolent perfection of Helen's

1249
01:36:08.760 --> 01:36:14.079
gown gave him pause. Why didn't
you tell me, he demanded, I

1250
01:36:14.159 --> 01:36:17.079
merely didn't think of it, she
said. I've been very busy. If

1251
01:36:17.079 --> 01:36:20.000
you wanted money, why didn't you
ask me for it? He demanded.

1252
01:36:21.079 --> 01:36:24.960
I've been here over a week,
said she, and he give me a

1253
01:36:25.039 --> 01:36:27.880
pound and a post lord of at
ten shinnings, which I had to ask

1254
01:36:28.000 --> 01:36:30.520
for. Surely you must have guessed, uncle, that even I had put

1255
01:36:30.560 --> 01:36:33.680
the thirty shillings in the savings bank, we couldn't live on the interest of

1256
01:36:33.760 --> 01:36:38.840
it, and that I was bound
to want more. Something like seventy meals

1257
01:36:38.840 --> 01:36:43.159
had been served in this house since
I entered it. I gave missus butt

1258
01:36:43.159 --> 01:36:46.079
a pound a week, he observed. But think what a good manager missus?

1259
01:36:46.119 --> 01:36:49.840
But was, she said, with
the sweetness of a saint. He

1260
01:36:49.920 --> 01:36:56.000
was accustomed to distributing satire, but
not to receiving it. And receiving this

1261
01:36:56.119 --> 01:36:59.479
snowball full in the mouth, he
didn't quite know what to do with it,

1262
01:37:00.119 --> 01:37:02.199
whether to pretend that he had received
nothing, or to call a policeman.

1263
01:37:03.199 --> 01:37:06.560
He ended by spluttering, It's easy
enough to ask for money when you

1264
01:37:06.640 --> 01:37:11.119
want it, he said, I
ain't asking for money, she said,

1265
01:37:11.279 --> 01:37:15.399
all women do. And I'm out
to be inquiring every morning whether you want

1266
01:37:15.399 --> 01:37:19.399
money, he questioned sarcastically. Certainly, uncle, she answered, how else

1267
01:37:19.439 --> 01:37:25.279
are you to know? Difficult to
credit that that girl had been an angel

1268
01:37:25.279 --> 01:37:29.199
of light all the week, resisting
in a paradise which she created for herself

1269
01:37:29.359 --> 01:37:33.840
and for him, and now to
defend an action utterly indefensible, she was

1270
01:37:33.880 --> 01:37:39.000
employing a tone that might be compared
to some fiendish instrumental device of a dentist.

1271
01:37:40.760 --> 01:37:44.439
But James Olronshaw did not wish his
teeth stopped, nor yet extracted.

1272
01:37:44.840 --> 01:37:47.560
He had excellent teeth, and in
common with all men who have never taken

1273
01:37:47.680 --> 01:37:51.960
thirty consecutive repasts alone with the same
woman, he knew how to treat women,

1274
01:37:53.159 --> 01:37:57.680
how to handle them. The trout
he stood up, he raised all

1275
01:37:57.680 --> 01:38:02.720
his body. Helen raised only her
eyebrows. Ellen Rothbourne. Such was the

1276
01:38:02.760 --> 01:38:08.119
exordium. As an exordium. It
was faultless, but it was destined to

1277
01:38:08.159 --> 01:38:12.920
remain a fragment. He goes down
in history as a perfect fragment, like

1278
01:38:13.000 --> 01:38:16.399
the beginning of a pagan temple for
the death of gods has rendered superfluous.

1279
01:38:17.399 --> 01:38:20.680
For a dog cart stopped in front
of the house at that precise second,

1280
01:38:21.239 --> 01:38:27.479
deposited a lady a commanding mien,
and dashed off again. The lady opened

1281
01:38:27.560 --> 01:38:30.800
James's gate and knocked at James's front
door. She could not be a relative

1282
01:38:30.920 --> 01:38:34.840
of a tenant. James was closely
acquainted with all his tenants, and he

1283
01:38:34.840 --> 01:38:40.279
had none of that caliber. Wherever
Helen had caused a small board to be

1284
01:38:40.359 --> 01:38:44.039
fixed to the gate. Tenants,
will please go round to the back,

1285
01:38:44.840 --> 01:38:47.920
bless us, he murmured angrily,
and by force of habit he went and

1286
01:38:47.960 --> 01:38:53.800
opened the door. Then he recognized
the lady. It was Sarah Swetnam,

1287
01:38:54.199 --> 01:38:59.279
eldest child of the large and tumultuously
intellectual Sweatnam family that lived in a largish

1288
01:38:59.359 --> 01:39:03.039
house in a large's way higher up
the road, and to whose financial stability

1289
01:39:03.279 --> 01:39:10.560
rumor always had something interesting to say, is miss Rothbourne here? For he

1290
01:39:10.600 --> 01:39:14.880
could reply, there was an ecstatic
cry behind him, Sallie, and another

1291
01:39:14.920 --> 01:39:18.239
in front of him Nil. In
the very nick of time, he slipped

1292
01:39:18.239 --> 01:39:23.960
aside, and thus avoided the inconvenience
of being crushed to pulp between two locomotivesuder

1293
01:39:23.960 --> 01:39:28.640
full steam. It appeared that they
had not met for some years, Sallie

1294
01:39:28.680 --> 01:39:32.319
having been in London. The reunion
was an affecting sight, and such a

1295
01:39:32.399 --> 01:39:38.359
sight as had never before been witnessed
in James's house. The little room seemed

1296
01:39:38.359 --> 01:39:41.960
to be full of fashionable women,
to be all gloves, frills, hat,

1297
01:39:42.079 --> 01:39:47.680
parasol, veil and whirling flowers also
sent They kissed through Stallie's veil first,

1298
01:39:48.039 --> 01:39:54.199
and then she lifted the veil and
four vermillion lips clung together. Sallie

1299
01:39:54.279 --> 01:39:57.680
was even taller than Helen, with
a solid waist, and older, more

1300
01:39:57.720 --> 01:40:01.920
brazen. They both sat down.
Fashionable women have a manner of sitting down

1301
01:40:02.000 --> 01:40:05.560
quite different from that of ordinary women, such as the wives of James's tenants.

1302
01:40:06.399 --> 01:40:10.640
They only touched the back of the
chair at the top. They don't

1303
01:40:10.680 --> 01:40:14.840
loll, but they only escape lodding
by dint of gracefulness. It is an

1304
01:40:14.840 --> 01:40:19.520
affair of curves, plants, descents, nicely calculated. They elaborately lead your

1305
01:40:19.560 --> 01:40:25.319
eye downwards over gradually increasing expenses,
and naturally you expect to see their feet,

1306
01:40:26.000 --> 01:40:29.520
and you don't see their feet.
The thing is apt to be disturbing

1307
01:40:29.520 --> 01:40:35.439
to unhabituated beholders. Then, fashionable
women always begin their conversations right off.

1308
01:40:35.600 --> 01:40:40.880
There are no modest or shy or
decently awkward silences at the start. They

1309
01:40:40.920 --> 01:40:45.479
slip into a conversation as a duck
into water. In three minutes, Helen

1310
01:40:45.520 --> 01:40:48.960
had told Sarah Swetnam everything about her
leaving the school and about her establishment with

1311
01:40:48.960 --> 01:40:55.159
her great step uncle and Sarah seemed
delighted and tapped the tiles of the floor

1312
01:40:55.199 --> 01:41:00.319
with the tip of her sunshade and
gaze splendidly over the room. And there

1313
01:41:00.359 --> 01:41:02.720
are your books there, I see, she said in her positive, calm

1314
01:41:02.800 --> 01:41:05.920
voice, pointing to a few hundred
books that were stacked in a corner.

1315
01:41:06.600 --> 01:41:11.920
How lovely you remember you promised to
lend me that book of Thora's what did

1316
01:41:11.960 --> 01:41:15.520
you call it? And you never
did. Next time you come, I'll

1317
01:41:15.560 --> 01:41:19.399
find it for you, said Helen. Next time she came, this kind

1318
01:41:19.399 --> 01:41:25.199
of visit would occur frequently. Then
they were talking just as if James Orangshaw

1319
01:41:25.239 --> 01:41:29.760
had been in Timbuctoo instead of by
the mantelpiece, when Sallie suddenly turned on

1320
01:41:29.880 --> 01:41:32.199
him. It must be very nice
for you to have ne l like this,

1321
01:41:33.319 --> 01:41:39.039
she addressed him with a glowing smile. They'd never been introduced, and

1322
01:41:39.119 --> 01:41:43.479
we could go there past each other
in Saint Luke's Square without a sign of

1323
01:41:43.600 --> 01:41:48.560
the Sweapron family. James knew the
father alone and him slightly. What chiefly

1324
01:41:48.560 --> 01:41:54.000
impressed him in Sarah was her nerve. He said nothing. He was tongue

1325
01:41:54.039 --> 01:41:59.960
tied. It's a great change for
you, proceeded Sarah, I agree.

1326
01:42:00.560 --> 01:42:11.479
It is that end of chapter nine, chapter ten of Helen with the High

1327
01:42:11.520 --> 01:42:15.840
Hand by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain recording by

1328
01:42:15.920 --> 01:42:23.199
Simon Ofvers, chapter ten A call. The next moment, the two fluffy

1329
01:42:23.199 --> 01:42:27.560
women had decided, without in the
least consulting James, that they would extend

1330
01:42:27.680 --> 01:42:30.600
to Helen's bedroom to look at a
hat, which James was surprised to learn

1331
01:42:31.000 --> 01:42:34.640
Helen had seen in Brunt's window that
morning and had bought on the spot.

1332
01:42:35.159 --> 01:42:39.239
No wonder she had been in a
hurry to go marketing, No wonder she

1333
01:42:39.279 --> 01:42:43.760
spent some of his ten pound note. He'd seen hats in Brunce marked as

1334
01:42:43.800 --> 01:42:46.079
high as two guineas, but did
not dreamt that such hats would ever enter

1335
01:42:46.159 --> 01:42:50.199
his house. While he had been
laboring, collecting his rents, and arranging

1336
01:42:50.239 --> 01:42:55.319
for repairs throughout the length and the
breadth of Bursley and Turnhill, she,

1337
01:42:55.800 --> 01:42:59.840
under pretense of marketing, had been
flinging away ten pound notes at Brunt's.

1338
01:43:00.800 --> 01:43:05.199
The whole business was fantastic, simply
and madly fantastic, so fantastic that he

1339
01:43:05.279 --> 01:43:10.720
had not yet quite grasp the reality
of it. The whole business was unheard

1340
01:43:10.760 --> 01:43:15.399
of. He saw with all the
clearness of his masculine intellect that it must

1341
01:43:15.560 --> 01:43:18.800
cease. The force with which he
decided within himself that it must cease,

1342
01:43:19.159 --> 01:43:25.640
and instanter bordered upon the hysterical.
As he had said plaintively, he was

1343
01:43:25.680 --> 01:43:29.640
an oldish man. His habits,
his manners, and his notions, especially

1344
01:43:29.640 --> 01:43:32.359
his notions about money, were fixed
and set like plaster of Paris in a

1345
01:43:32.439 --> 01:43:38.359
mold. Helen's conduct was nothing less
than dangerous. It might bring him to

1346
01:43:38.359 --> 01:43:42.760
a sudden death from heart's disease.
Happily, he'd had a very good week.

1347
01:43:42.840 --> 01:43:45.479
Indeed, with his rents. He
trotted about all day on Mondays and

1348
01:43:45.520 --> 01:43:50.880
on Tuesday mornings gathering his rents.
And on Tuesday afternoons he usually experienced the

1349
01:43:50.880 --> 01:43:57.279
assuaged content of an alligator after the
weekly meal. Otherwise, there was no

1350
01:43:57.399 --> 01:44:00.319
knowing what might not have been the
disastrous consequences of Headi's bare face robbery,

1351
01:44:00.760 --> 01:44:06.279
and of an unscrupulous, unrepentant defense
of that robbery. For days and days

1352
01:44:06.439 --> 01:44:11.239
he had imagined himself in heaven with
a seraph who was also a good cook.

1353
01:44:12.079 --> 01:44:16.479
He had forty times congratulated himself on
catching Helene. And now, but

1354
01:44:16.600 --> 01:44:21.680
it must stop. Then he thought
of the cooking. His mouth remembered its

1355
01:44:21.680 --> 01:44:28.279
first taste of the incomparable kidney omelet. What an ecstasy, still a ten

1356
01:44:28.359 --> 01:44:30.720
pound note for even a kidney omelet. Jarred on the fineness of his sense

1357
01:44:30.760 --> 01:44:36.439
of values. A feminine laugh,
Helen's came down the narrow stairs and through

1358
01:44:36.479 --> 01:44:42.439
the kitchen. No, the whole
house was altered with well bred, distinguished

1359
01:44:42.439 --> 01:44:46.560
women's laughter floating about the stairs.
Like that, he called upon his lifelong

1360
01:44:46.640 --> 01:44:53.000
friend and comforter, the concertina.
The senseless thing of rosewood, ivory,

1361
01:44:53.079 --> 01:44:56.520
ebony, mother of pearl and leather, was to him what a brother,

1362
01:44:56.840 --> 01:45:00.640
a pipe, a bull terrier,
a trusted confidant might have been to another

1363
01:45:00.720 --> 01:45:04.319
James. And now, in the
accents of the Hallelujah chorus, it yielded

1364
01:45:04.399 --> 01:45:11.760
to his squeezings the secret and sublime
solace which men term poetry. Then there

1365
01:45:11.800 --> 01:45:15.119
was a second and equally imperious knock
at the door. He loosed his fingers

1366
01:45:15.159 --> 01:45:20.239
from his friend and opened the door. Mister Emmanuel Proctor stood on the door

1367
01:45:20.239 --> 01:45:26.079
step. Mister m Emmanuel Proctor wore
a beautiful blue suit with a white waistcoat

1368
01:45:26.119 --> 01:45:30.640
and pale gold tie, yellow gloves, boots with pointed toes, a lossy

1369
01:45:30.680 --> 01:45:32.920
birl, a hat, a cane, and an eye glass. He was

1370
01:45:32.960 --> 01:45:38.199
an impeccable young man and the avowed
delight of his tailor, whose bills were

1371
01:45:38.199 --> 01:45:43.760
paid by missus Proctor. Is Miss
Rathbourne at home, asked Emmanuel after a

1372
01:45:43.800 --> 01:45:48.760
cough. Helin e e eth ay, said James grimly ears quite at home?

1373
01:45:49.640 --> 01:45:55.560
Can I see you? James opened
more widely the door up a new

1374
01:45:55.600 --> 01:46:00.399
better step inside, said he thanks, mister Rainshaw, what a fine weather

1375
01:46:00.479 --> 01:46:06.399
we're having. James ignored this quite
courteous and truthful remark. He shut the

1376
01:46:06.399 --> 01:46:11.279
door, went into the kitchen and
called up the stairs Helen, a young

1377
01:46:11.319 --> 01:46:15.000
man to see ye. In the
bedroom, Helen and Sarah Swetnam had exhausted

1378
01:46:15.000 --> 01:46:19.199
to the brunt hat and were spaciously
at sea in an enchanted ocean of miscellaneous

1379
01:46:19.199 --> 01:46:25.399
gossip, such as is only possible
between two highly educated women who scorned tittle

1380
01:46:25.439 --> 01:46:30.399
tattle. Helen had the back bedroom
part because the front bedroom was her uncle's,

1381
01:46:30.760 --> 01:46:32.880
but partly also because the back bedroom
was just as large, as a

1382
01:46:33.000 --> 01:46:38.439
much quieter than the other, and
because she preferred it. There had been

1383
01:46:38.439 --> 01:46:42.720
no difficulty about furniture. Even so
good a landlord as James Olronshaw, is

1384
01:46:42.760 --> 01:46:45.279
obliged now and then to go to
extremes in the pursuit of arrears of frend

1385
01:46:46.000 --> 01:46:49.880
and the upper part of the house
was crowded with choice specimens of furniture which

1386
01:46:49.880 --> 01:46:55.840
had once belonged to the more magnificent
of his defaulting tenants. Helen's bedroom was

1387
01:46:55.880 --> 01:47:00.479
not finished, nor since she regarded
it as a temporary lodging rather than permanent

1388
01:47:00.520 --> 01:47:03.760
habitation, was she in her mind
to finish it. Still, with her

1389
01:47:03.760 --> 01:47:08.279
frocks dotted about, the hat on
the four post bed, and her silver

1390
01:47:08.359 --> 01:47:12.079
mounted brushes and mannich or tools on
the dressing table, it had a certain

1391
01:47:12.119 --> 01:47:16.079
stylishness. Sarah shared the bed with
the hat. Helen knelted a trunk.

1392
01:47:17.199 --> 01:47:21.039
What have I made you think of
coming to Barsley? Sarah questioned, don't

1393
01:47:21.039 --> 01:47:26.039
you think it's better than Longshore?
Said Helen, Yes, my darling child,

1394
01:47:26.159 --> 01:47:28.760
but that's not why you came.
If ye ask me, I believe

1395
01:47:28.800 --> 01:47:32.520
it was your deliberate intention to capture
your great uncle. Anyhow, I congratulate

1396
01:47:32.560 --> 01:47:38.079
you on your success, Ah,
Helen murmured, smiling to herself. I'm

1397
01:47:38.079 --> 01:47:41.760
not out of the wood yet.
What do you mean, Well, you

1398
01:47:41.800 --> 01:47:44.920
see, uncle and I haven't quite
decided whether he is to have his way

1399
01:47:45.159 --> 01:47:47.079
or I am to have mine.
We were both thinking about it when you

1400
01:47:47.119 --> 01:47:51.720
happen to call, And then as
there was a little pause, are people

1401
01:47:51.760 --> 01:47:57.199
talking about us much? She did
not care whether people were talking much or

1402
01:47:57.239 --> 01:48:00.199
little, but she hadn't obscure desire
to shift ever so slightly in the direction

1403
01:48:00.279 --> 01:48:04.000
of the conversation. I've only been
here a day or two, so I

1404
01:48:04.039 --> 01:48:08.960
can scarcely judge, said Sarah.
But Lilian came in from the art school

1405
01:48:08.960 --> 01:48:12.680
this morning with an armful of chatter. Let me see, I forget,

1406
01:48:12.840 --> 01:48:16.279
Helen said, is Lilian the youngest
or the next of the youngest? My

1407
01:48:16.399 --> 01:48:19.520
dearest child, Lilian is the youngest, but one, of course, which

1408
01:48:19.520 --> 01:48:25.359
he's grown up now naturally. What
when I saw her last that day,

1409
01:48:25.359 --> 01:48:27.720
when she was with you at knype, she had a ribbon in her hair

1410
01:48:27.760 --> 01:48:31.680
and she looked ten. She's eighteen. And haven't you heard heard? What

1411
01:48:32.800 --> 01:48:35.000
do you mean to say? You've
been in Bursley a week or more and

1412
01:48:35.119 --> 01:48:41.399
haven't heard? Surely you know Andrew
Dean I know Andrew Dean, said Helen,

1413
01:48:41.640 --> 01:48:45.760
and she said nothing else. When
did you last see him? Oh

1414
01:48:45.800 --> 01:48:49.319
about a fortnight ago. It's before
that. He didn't tell you why.

1415
01:48:49.359 --> 01:48:54.000
It's just like him, that is, that's Andrew all over? What is

1416
01:48:54.760 --> 01:48:58.479
He's engaged to Lilian. It's the
first engagement of the family, and she's

1417
01:48:58.479 --> 01:49:02.159
the yungist but one. Henn shut
the trunk with a snap, then opened

1418
01:49:02.159 --> 01:49:05.479
it and shut it again, and
then she rose, smoothing her hair.

1419
01:49:06.520 --> 01:49:11.000
I scarcely know Lillian, she said
coldly. And I don't know your mother

1420
01:49:11.079 --> 01:49:15.359
at all, but I must call
and congratulate the child. No, Auntrew

1421
01:49:15.359 --> 01:49:18.720
Deane didn't breathe a word. I
may tell you as a dreadful secret nell

1422
01:49:18.960 --> 01:49:23.239
that be aunt any of us in
the seventh Heaven about it? Aunt Annie

1423
01:49:23.239 --> 01:49:25.960
said yesterday, I don't know that. I'm so set up with it as

1424
01:49:25.960 --> 01:49:29.680
all that, Jane meaning mother beyond
so set up with it as all that?

1425
01:49:30.920 --> 01:49:33.720
Why not? Oh we aren't.
I don't know why I pretend to

1426
01:49:33.720 --> 01:49:39.199
be lest Lilydian should imagine I'm jealous. It was at this point that the

1427
01:49:39.279 --> 01:49:44.760
voice of James Ollernshaw announced a young
man the remainder of that afternoon was like

1428
01:49:44.760 --> 01:49:48.000
a bewildering dream. To James Ollerenshaw. His front room seemed to be crowded

1429
01:49:48.000 --> 01:49:51.239
with a multitude of peacocks that would
be more at home under the sun of

1430
01:49:51.239 --> 01:49:57.319
Missus Proctor's lawns up at Hillport.
Yet there were only three persons present besides

1431
01:49:57.399 --> 01:50:01.039
himself, but decidedly they were not
his world. There over the world that

1432
01:50:01.119 --> 01:50:06.439
referred to him as old Jimmy Ollerenshaw, or briefly as Jimmy, and he

1433
01:50:06.479 --> 01:50:11.119
had to sit and listen to them, and even to answer coherently when spoken

1434
01:50:11.159 --> 01:50:15.680
to. Emmanuel Proctor was brilliant.
He put his hat on one chair and

1435
01:50:15.720 --> 01:50:21.000
his cane across another, and he
conversed with ducal facility. The two things

1436
01:50:21.039 --> 01:50:25.640
about him that puzzled the master of
the house were first why he was not

1437
01:50:25.720 --> 01:50:29.159
at such an hour engaged in at
any rate the pretense of earning his living,

1438
01:50:29.800 --> 01:50:33.039
and second, why he did not
take his gloves off. No notion

1439
01:50:33.119 --> 01:50:36.760
of work seemed to exist in the
minds of the three. They chatted of

1440
01:50:36.840 --> 01:50:44.359
tennis, novels, music, and
particularly of amateur operatic societies. James acquired

1441
01:50:44.399 --> 01:50:47.560
the information that Emmaniel was famous as
a singer of songs. The topic led

1442
01:50:47.560 --> 01:50:54.039
them naturally to James Concertine. The
talk likely caressed James Concertina, and then

1443
01:50:54.039 --> 01:50:57.479
Emmanuel swept it off to the afternoon
tea room of the New Midland Grand Hotel

1444
01:50:57.520 --> 01:51:00.640
at Manchester, where Emmanuel had lately
been, and that led to the old

1445
01:51:00.640 --> 01:51:04.159
Oak Tree tea House in Bond Street, where, not to be beaten by

1446
01:51:04.159 --> 01:51:10.239
a manual, Sarah Swetnam had lately
been. Suppose we have tea, said

1447
01:51:10.279 --> 01:51:13.600
Helen, and she picked up a
little brass bell which stood on the central

1448
01:51:13.640 --> 01:51:17.159
table, and tinkled it. James
had not noticed the bell. It was

1449
01:51:17.199 --> 01:51:21.880
one of the many little changes that
Helen had introduced. Each change by itself

1450
01:51:21.920 --> 01:51:26.319
was a nothing. What is one
small bell in a house? It?

1451
01:51:26.439 --> 01:51:30.239
In the mass, they amounted to
much. The bell was obviously new.

1452
01:51:30.560 --> 01:51:32.960
She must have bought it, but
she not mentioned it to him, And

1453
01:51:33.079 --> 01:51:36.640
how could they all set at the
tiny table in the kitchen. Moreover,

1454
01:51:36.880 --> 01:51:42.359
he had no fancy for entertaining the
whole town of Bursley to meals. However,

1455
01:51:42.600 --> 01:51:45.640
immediate prospect of tea produced in James
a feeding of satisfaction, even though

1456
01:51:45.640 --> 01:51:49.119
he remained in perfect ignorance of the
methods by which Helen meant to achieve the

1457
01:51:49.159 --> 01:51:54.479
tea. She had rung the bell
and gone on talking as if the tea

1458
01:51:54.479 --> 01:51:57.520
would cook itself and walk in on
its hind legs, and asked to be

1459
01:51:57.560 --> 01:52:02.119
eaten. Then the news the servant
entered with a large tray. James had

1460
01:52:02.159 --> 01:52:06.560
never seen such a servant, as
servants so entirely new. She was wearing

1461
01:52:06.600 --> 01:52:10.479
a black frock, and various parts
of the frock and the top of her

1462
01:52:10.520 --> 01:52:15.720
head were covered with stiffly starched white
linen or was it cotton. Her apron,

1463
01:52:15.760 --> 01:52:19.159
which had two pockets, was more
elaborate than an antimacassa. Helen coolly

1464
01:52:19.159 --> 01:52:23.800
instructed her to place the tray on
his desk, which she did, brushing

1465
01:52:23.840 --> 01:52:28.279
irreverently. Aside a number of rent
books on the tray, there was nothing

1466
01:52:28.279 --> 01:52:30.920
will of her to eat but a
dozen slices of the thinnest conceivable bread and

1467
01:52:31.000 --> 01:52:38.199
butter. Helen rose. Emmanuel also
rose. Helen poured out the tea a

1468
01:52:38.279 --> 01:52:40.720
man who took a cup of saucer
in one hand and the plate of bread

1469
01:52:40.720 --> 01:52:45.680
and butter in the other, and
ceremoniously approached Sarah Sweatnam. Sarah accepted the

1470
01:52:45.720 --> 01:52:48.199
cup and saucer. Dedically chose a
piece of bread and butter and lodged it

1471
01:52:48.239 --> 01:52:55.840
on her saucer and went on talking. Emmanuel returned to the table and Reladen

1472
01:52:55.920 --> 01:52:59.399
approached Old Jimmy, and Old Jimmy
had to lodge a piece of bread and

1473
01:52:59.399 --> 01:53:03.199
butter on his sorcer. Then Emmanuel
removed his gloves and in a moment they

1474
01:53:03.199 --> 01:53:09.520
were all drinking tea and nibbling bread
and butter. What a fall was this?

1475
01:53:09.600 --> 01:53:14.479
From kidney? Omelets and four had
struck? Did Helen expect her uncle

1476
01:53:14.479 --> 01:53:16.000
to make his tea off a slice
of bread and butter that weighed about two

1477
01:53:16.079 --> 01:53:23.119
dragmas? When the alleged tea was
over, James got on his feet and

1478
01:53:23.199 --> 01:53:28.199
slidently slid into the kitchen. The
fact was that Emmanuel Proctor and the mannequin

1479
01:53:28.279 --> 01:53:31.960
airs of Emmanuel Broctor made him positively
sick. He'd not been in the kitchen

1480
01:53:32.000 --> 01:53:35.199
more than a minute before he was
aware of amazing matters in the conversation.

1481
01:53:36.640 --> 01:53:42.000
Yes, said Helen, it's small, but my child have always been used

1482
01:53:42.000 --> 01:53:45.399
to a small house. Surely I
think it's just as quaint and pretty as

1483
01:53:45.399 --> 01:53:49.279
a little museum. Would you like
to live in a little museum. A

1484
01:53:49.359 --> 01:53:54.439
laugh from Emmanuel and the voice of
Helen proceeding, I've always lived in a

1485
01:53:54.439 --> 01:53:58.399
small house, just as I've taught
six hours a day in school, but

1486
01:53:58.479 --> 01:54:01.600
not because I wanted to. I
like rooum. I daresay that uncle and

1487
01:54:01.640 --> 01:54:06.119
I might find another house one of
these days. But Hillport, I hope

1488
01:54:06.279 --> 01:54:12.239
amnho put in. James could see
his mincing, imbecile smile through the kitchen

1489
01:54:12.279 --> 01:54:16.319
wall. Who knows, said Helen. James returned to the front room.

1490
01:54:17.000 --> 01:54:21.119
What's that you're saying, he questioned
the company. I was just saying,

1491
01:54:21.119 --> 01:54:25.960
how quaint and pretty your house is, said Sarah, and she rose to

1492
01:54:26.039 --> 01:54:31.960
depart. More kissings, flutterings,
swishings. Emmanuel bowed a man who followed

1493
01:54:31.960 --> 01:54:35.560
Miss weptman. In a few minutes, Helen accompanied him to the gate.

1494
01:54:35.920 --> 01:54:40.920
When she stayed a little while talking
to him, James was in the blackest

1495
01:54:41.000 --> 01:54:45.319
gloom. And now you, dear
old thing, said Helen, vivaciously,

1496
01:54:45.319 --> 01:54:47.800
busting into the house. You shall
have your tea. You've beave like a

1497
01:54:47.840 --> 01:54:53.039
perfect angel. And he kissed him
on the cheek, very excitedly, as

1498
01:54:53.039 --> 01:54:57.439
he thought. She gave him another
kidney omelet for his tea. It was

1499
01:54:57.479 --> 01:55:00.000
even more adorable than the former one. With a taste of it in his

1500
01:55:00.079 --> 01:55:02.840
mouth, he could not recur to
the question of the ten pound note all

1501
01:55:02.880 --> 01:55:08.560
at once. When tea was over, she retired upstairs and remained in retirement

1502
01:55:08.640 --> 01:55:13.039
for ages. She descended at a
quarter to eight with her hat and gloves

1503
01:55:13.079 --> 01:55:17.159
on. It appeared to him that
her eyes were inflamed. I am going

1504
01:55:17.159 --> 01:55:21.079
out, she said, with no
further explanation, and out she went,

1505
01:55:21.560 --> 01:55:27.359
leaving the old man stricken daft by
too many sensations to collect his wits.

1506
01:55:27.920 --> 01:55:30.880
He had not even been to the
bank, and the greatest sensation of all

1507
01:55:30.920 --> 01:55:34.960
the nightmarish days was still in reserve
for him. At a quarter past eight,

1508
01:55:35.199 --> 01:55:40.079
some one knocked at the door.
He ened it, being handier than

1509
01:55:40.079 --> 01:55:44.319
the new servant. He imagined himself
ready for anything, But he was not

1510
01:55:44.359 --> 01:55:48.560
ready for the apparition which met him
on the threshold. Missus Proctor of Hillport

1511
01:55:49.119 --> 01:56:00.159
asked to be admitted. End of
chapter ten, Chapter eleven of Helen with

1512
01:56:00.199 --> 01:56:04.039
the High Hand by Arnold Bennett.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.

1513
01:56:04.840 --> 01:56:13.079
Recording by Simon Evers, Chapter eleven. Another call Missus Proctor was compelled

1514
01:56:13.159 --> 01:56:17.239
to ask for admission because James,
struck moveless and speechless by the extraordinary sight

1515
01:56:17.279 --> 01:56:21.760
of her, offered no invitation to
enter. He merely stood in front of

1516
01:56:21.760 --> 01:56:27.039
the half open door. May I
come in, mister dollran Shaw, she

1517
01:56:27.119 --> 01:56:30.239
said, very obainly, I hope
you will excuse this very informal call.

1518
01:56:30.680 --> 01:56:34.640
I've altered my dinner hout in order
to pay it. And she smiled,

1519
01:56:35.199 --> 01:56:39.600
a smile seemed to rouse him from
a spell. Oh, come in,

1520
01:56:39.640 --> 01:56:44.520
missus do, he conjured warmly.
He was James, He was even Jimmy.

1521
01:56:44.840 --> 01:56:46.920
But he was also a man,
very much a man, though the

1522
01:56:46.920 --> 01:56:51.479
fact had only recently begun to impress
itself on him. Missus Proctor, while

1523
01:56:51.520 --> 01:56:57.079
a dowager, portly, possibly fussy, perhaps slightly comic to a younger generation,

1524
01:56:57.680 --> 01:57:01.039
was still considerably younger than James.
With her rich figure, her excellent

1525
01:57:01.079 --> 01:57:05.840
complexion, her carefully cherished hair,
and her apparel, she was a woman

1526
01:57:05.880 --> 01:57:11.760
to captivate a man of sixty whose
practical experience of the sex extended over nine

1527
01:57:11.840 --> 01:57:16.399
days. Thank you, said she
gratefully. He shut the front door as

1528
01:57:16.439 --> 01:57:20.039
if he were shutting a bird in
a cage, and also shut the door

1529
01:57:20.119 --> 01:57:24.600
leading to the kitchen, a door
which had not been shut since the kitchen

1530
01:57:24.720 --> 01:57:29.279
far smoked in the celebrated winter of
eighteen ninety seven. She sat down at

1531
01:57:29.279 --> 01:57:33.520
once in the easy chair. Ah, she exclaimed in relief. And then

1532
01:57:33.520 --> 01:57:36.960
she began to fan herself with a
fan which was fastened to her person by

1533
01:57:38.000 --> 01:57:42.720
a chain that might of Maud a
steamer. James, searching about for something

1534
01:57:42.720 --> 01:57:45.479
else to do while he was collecting
his forces, drew the blind and lighted

1535
01:57:45.479 --> 01:57:49.920
the gas, but it was not
yet dark. I wonder what you will

1536
01:57:49.960 --> 01:57:54.319
think of me calling like this,
she said, with a sardonic smile.

1537
01:57:55.600 --> 01:57:58.800
It was apparent that whatever he thought
of her, she would not be disturbed

1538
01:57:58.880 --> 01:58:02.199
or abashed. She was utterly at
her ease. She could not, indeed

1539
01:58:02.199 --> 01:58:05.560
have recalled the moment when she had
not been at her ease. She sat

1540
01:58:05.600 --> 01:58:10.720
in the front room with all the
external symptoms of being at home. This

1541
01:58:11.000 --> 01:58:15.079
was what chiefly surprised James olrang sjoy
in his grand guests. They all took

1542
01:58:15.119 --> 01:58:18.119
his front room for granted. They
betrayed no emotion at its smallness, or

1543
01:58:18.119 --> 01:58:25.119
its plainness, or its eccentricities.
He would somehow have expected them to signify

1544
01:58:25.479 --> 01:58:29.239
overtly or covetly that that kind of
room was not the kind of room to

1545
01:58:29.279 --> 01:58:32.840
which they were accustomed. Anyhow,
I'm glad to see miss it. Doctor

1546
01:58:33.479 --> 01:58:39.600
James returned a speech which did not
in the least startle Missus Proctor, who

1547
01:58:39.640 --> 01:58:44.119
was thoroughly used to people being glad
to see her. But it startled James.

1548
01:58:44.800 --> 01:58:47.760
He uttered it instinctively. It was
the expression of an instinctive gladness which

1549
01:58:47.800 --> 01:58:51.399
took hold of him and employed his
tongue on its own account, and which

1550
01:58:51.439 --> 01:58:57.520
rose superior even to his extreme astonishment
at the visit. He was glad to

1551
01:58:57.560 --> 01:59:00.199
sit he here. She was stout, a magnificent in her silk and her

1552
01:59:00.279 --> 01:59:04.279
ribbons. He thought that he preferred
stout women to thin, and that,

1553
01:59:04.600 --> 01:59:09.000
without being aware of it, he
had always preferred stout women to thin.

1554
01:59:09.680 --> 01:59:15.000
It was a question of taste.
He certainly preferred Missus Proctor Sarahswetnam. Missus

1555
01:59:15.039 --> 01:59:19.199
Proctor's smile was the smile of a
benevolently cynical creature whose studies in human nature

1556
01:59:19.239 --> 01:59:25.239
had reached the advanced stage. James
was reassured by this, for it avoided

1557
01:59:25.279 --> 01:59:30.279
the necessity for nonsense. Yes,
she was decidedly better under a roof and

1558
01:59:30.279 --> 01:59:33.680
a gas jet than in the street. May I ask if your niece is

1559
01:59:33.760 --> 01:59:38.439
in, she said, in a
low voice, she isn't. He been

1560
01:59:38.479 --> 01:59:42.479
sure that she called about heaven if
not to see headn But there was a

1561
01:59:42.520 --> 01:59:46.720
conspiratorial accent in her question for which
he was unprepared, so he sat down

1562
01:59:46.760 --> 01:59:51.399
at last. Well, said Missus
Proctor. I'm not sorry if she isn't,

1563
01:59:51.720 --> 01:59:54.960
But if she had been, I
should have spoken just the same.

1564
01:59:55.560 --> 01:59:59.319
Not to her, but to you
now, miss Orrorinshaw, I think you

1565
01:59:59.359 --> 02:00:01.960
and I are rather alike in some
things. I hate beating about the bush,

1566
02:00:02.000 --> 02:00:06.119
and I imagine that you do.
He was flattered, and he was

1567
02:00:06.159 --> 02:00:10.800
perfectly eased by her tone. She
was a woman to whom you could talk

1568
02:00:10.880 --> 02:00:15.119
sense, and he perceived that though
a casual observer might fail to find the

1569
02:00:15.159 --> 02:00:19.359
points of resemblance between them, they
were rather alike, I expect, said

1570
02:00:19.359 --> 02:00:23.399
he. It's pretty well known in
this time as I'm not one that beats

1571
02:00:23.439 --> 02:00:28.119
about the bush, good, said
she. You know my step son Emmanuel,

1572
02:00:29.239 --> 02:00:32.159
he is here a bit sins James
replied, what do you think of

1573
02:00:32.239 --> 02:00:38.600
him? Oh? As a man? Well, missus hasbth not beating about

1574
02:00:38.600 --> 02:00:42.359
the bush. I think he's a
fool. Now that's what I like,

1575
02:00:42.560 --> 02:00:45.479
she exclaimed, quite ravished. He
is a fool, mister Oloronshaw. Between

1576
02:00:45.479 --> 02:00:49.119
ourselves, I can see that you
and I will get on together splendidly.

1577
02:00:49.800 --> 02:00:54.600
Immanion is a fool. I can't
help it. I took him along with

1578
02:00:54.640 --> 02:00:57.840
my second husband, and I do
my best for him, but I'm not

1579
02:00:57.880 --> 02:01:01.199
responsible for his character. As far
as that goes, he isn't responsible for

1580
02:01:01.279 --> 02:01:05.279
it either. Not only easy a
fool, but he is a conceited fool

1581
02:01:05.479 --> 02:01:11.039
and an idle fool, and he
can't see a joke. At the same

1582
02:01:11.079 --> 02:01:14.880
time, he is quite honest,
and I think he's a gentleman. But

1583
02:01:14.960 --> 02:01:17.399
being a gentleman is no excuse for
being a fool. Indeed, I think

1584
02:01:17.439 --> 02:01:23.159
it makes it worse. Nothing can
make it worse, James put in.

1585
02:01:24.279 --> 02:01:27.479
She drew down the corners of her
lips and stroked her fine gray hair.

1586
02:01:28.600 --> 02:01:31.760
You say Manuel has been here to
day, ay, said James. He

1587
02:01:31.840 --> 02:01:35.119
came in and had a super tea. Do you know why he came?

1588
02:01:36.039 --> 02:01:41.239
Maybe he felt faintlike and slipped in
here as there's no public nearer than the

1589
02:01:41.279 --> 02:01:45.159
Queen Adelaide. Oh maybe he thought
as I was getting on in years,

1590
02:01:45.159 --> 02:01:47.760
and he wanted for to make my
acquaintance fore I died, but didn't ask

1591
02:01:47.840 --> 02:01:54.560
him. I see you understand,
said missus Proctor. Mister Ollerinshaw, my

1592
02:01:54.680 --> 02:01:59.840
step son is courting your niece,
a great step niece. James corrected and

1593
02:02:00.039 --> 02:02:02.760
added, is he now to tell
you the truth? I didn't know till

1594
02:02:02.800 --> 02:02:08.439
the other day as they were acquainted. They haven't been acquainted long. Missus

1595
02:02:08.439 --> 02:02:12.760
Potter informed him. You may ever
that Amanda is thinking go into partnership with

1596
02:02:12.800 --> 02:02:16.800
mister Andrew Dean, and you'd layze
that mister Dean has invented. The matter

1597
02:02:16.840 --> 02:02:20.159
may turn out well, because all
that mister Dean really wants is a sleeping

1598
02:02:20.159 --> 02:02:25.560
partner with money. Amanda has the
money. I think he can be guaranteed

1599
02:02:25.560 --> 02:02:30.640
to sleep. Your step niece met
Emanuel by accident through mister Dean some weeks

1600
02:02:30.680 --> 02:02:33.399
ago over at Longshore. They must
have talked to each other at once,

1601
02:02:34.239 --> 02:02:39.199
And I must tell you not Mary
is my stepson courting your niece. But

1602
02:02:39.279 --> 02:02:44.640
your niece is courting my step son. You surprise me, Missus, I

1603
02:02:44.720 --> 02:02:47.399
dare say I do, But it
is the fact, she isn't a churchwoman.

1604
02:02:47.640 --> 02:02:51.199
At least, she wasn't a churchwoman
at Longshore. She was congregational,

1605
02:02:51.359 --> 02:02:56.359
or not very much at that.
You aren't a churchman either, But your

1606
02:02:56.399 --> 02:03:00.439
niece now goes to Saint Luke's every
Sunday, so does my steps Your niece

1607
02:03:00.520 --> 02:03:03.880
is out to night, so is
my step son. And if they are

1608
02:03:03.920 --> 02:03:08.680
not together somewhere, I shall be
very much astonished. Of course, the

1609
02:03:08.760 --> 02:03:14.560
new generation does as it likes.
And what next, James inquired. I'll

1610
02:03:14.600 --> 02:03:17.399
tell you what next, cried the
mature lady with the most charming vivacity.

1611
02:03:18.119 --> 02:03:21.319
I like your niece. I've met
her twice at the Saint Luke's Guild,

1612
02:03:21.479 --> 02:03:25.479
and I like her. I should
have asked her to come and see me.

1613
02:03:25.760 --> 02:03:30.600
Only I'm determined not to encourage her
with Immanuel, mister Landshaw, I'm

1614
02:03:30.640 --> 02:03:32.880
not going to have her marrying Immanuel, and that's why I've come to see

1615
02:03:32.920 --> 02:03:41.159
you. The horror of his complicated
situation displayed itself suddenly to James. He

1616
02:03:41.199 --> 02:03:44.800
who had always led a calm,
unworried life, was about to be shoved

1617
02:03:44.800 --> 02:03:49.439
into the very midst of a hollow
balloo of women and fools. His wisened

1618
02:03:49.479 --> 02:03:53.800
body shrank, and he was not
sure that his pride was quite unhurt.

1619
02:03:54.840 --> 02:04:00.439
Missus Proctor noticed this, Oh,
she resumed with undiminished vivacity. It's not

1620
02:04:00.520 --> 02:04:02.760
because I think your niece isn't good
enough for him, Emanuel. It's because

1621
02:04:02.760 --> 02:04:06.319
I think she's a great deal too
good. Yet it isn't that either.

1622
02:04:06.920 --> 02:04:12.079
The truth is, mister Lowranshaw,
I'm a purely selfish woman. I'm the

1623
02:04:12.159 --> 02:04:15.279
last person in the world to stand
in the way of me poor stepson getting

1624
02:04:15.279 --> 02:04:18.239
a better wife than he deserves.
And if the woman chooses to throw herself

1625
02:04:18.279 --> 02:04:23.520
away on him, that's not my
affair. What I said danger in is

1626
02:04:23.520 --> 02:04:27.960
that your step Deece would find my
steps one out. At present, she's

1627
02:04:28.000 --> 02:04:31.239
smitten by his fancy waistcoat, but
she would soon seen through the fancy waistcoot

1628
02:04:31.600 --> 02:04:35.319
and then there would be a scandal. If I have not misjudged your step

1629
02:04:35.359 --> 02:04:39.359
niece, there would be a scandal. And I do not think that I

1630
02:04:39.359 --> 02:04:43.199
have misjudged her. She's exactly the
sort of young woman who, when she

1631
02:04:43.359 --> 02:04:46.600
discovered she made a mistake, would
walk straight out of the house. She

1632
02:04:46.840 --> 02:04:53.000
is James agreed with simple heartedness of
conviction, and Emmanuel, having no sense

1633
02:04:53.000 --> 02:04:57.079
of humor, would leave nothing undone
to force her back again. Imagine the

1634
02:04:57.159 --> 02:05:01.960
scandal, mister Lawlinshaw. Imagine my
physician, Imagine yours me in an affair

1635
02:05:02.119 --> 02:05:05.479
like that. I won't have it. Letter to say, I won't have

1636
02:05:05.520 --> 02:05:11.439
it if I can stop it?
Now, what can we do? Despite

1637
02:05:11.479 --> 02:05:15.439
the horror of the situation, he
had sufficient loose, unemployed sentiment left over

1638
02:05:15.520 --> 02:05:20.039
from pitying himself to be rather pleased
by her manner of putting it. What

1639
02:05:20.239 --> 02:05:26.680
can we do? But he kept
this pleasure to himself. Knout, he

1640
02:05:26.760 --> 02:05:31.000
said dryly. He spoke to her
as one sensible person speaks to another sensible

1641
02:05:31.039 --> 02:05:36.359
person in the five Times. Assuredly
she was a very sensible person. He

1642
02:05:36.399 --> 02:05:42.880
had him past years credited or discredited
her with airs, but here she was

1643
02:05:42.920 --> 02:05:46.720
declaring that Helen was too good for
her stepson. If his pride had momentarily

1644
02:05:46.720 --> 02:05:51.000
suffered through a misconception, it was
now in the full vigor of its strength.

1645
02:05:53.359 --> 02:05:57.239
You think we can do nothing,
she said reflectively, and ent forward

1646
02:05:57.319 --> 02:06:00.119
on her chair towards him, and
is struck by his erec wisdom. What

1647
02:06:00.279 --> 02:06:04.479
Carloss do you might praise a man
in it to her urge your own.

1648
02:06:05.319 --> 02:06:11.000
She fixed him with her eye.
Sensible, she was prodigious. She was

1649
02:06:11.039 --> 02:06:15.399
the serpent of serpents. He took
her gaze twinkling ay, He said,

1650
02:06:15.640 --> 02:06:19.319
am I, if I'm to urge
her on, why didn't you ask her

1651
02:06:19.319 --> 02:06:24.760
to your house like and and chook
him at each other. She nodded several

1652
02:06:24.800 --> 02:06:29.239
times, Impressed by this argument.
You quite right, mister orroon Shaw,

1653
02:06:29.560 --> 02:06:33.399
she admitted. It's a dangerous game, he warned her. She put her

1654
02:06:33.439 --> 02:06:39.000
lips together in meditation and stared into
a corner. I must think it over,

1655
02:06:39.439 --> 02:06:42.720
she emerged from her reflections. I
feel much easier now I've told you

1656
02:06:42.760 --> 02:06:45.520
all about it, and I feel
sure that two common sense, middle aged

1657
02:06:45.520 --> 02:06:49.039
people like you and me come manage
to do what we want. Dear me,

1658
02:06:49.520 --> 02:06:54.760
how annoying stepsons are? Obviously a
manul ought to marry another fool,

1659
02:06:55.159 --> 02:06:59.279
and goodness knows there are plenty to
choose from. Amost needs go and fall

1660
02:06:59.319 --> 02:07:02.000
in love with almost the only sensible
girl in the town. There's no end

1661
02:07:02.000 --> 02:07:06.520
of that boy's foolishness. He actually
wants me to buy Wilbraham all furniture and

1662
02:07:06.560 --> 02:07:12.479
everything. What do you think it's
worth, mister Olinshaw. Worth, it's

1663
02:07:12.520 --> 02:07:17.399
worth what it'll fetch eight thousand land's
worth. That, said James. What

1664
02:07:17.520 --> 02:07:21.479
a silly idea, but he put
it into my head. Now will you

1665
02:07:21.640 --> 02:07:26.640
drop him one day and see me? No, said James, I'm not

1666
02:07:26.720 --> 02:07:30.199
much for tea parties, thank'ee.
I mean when i'm alone, she pleaded,

1667
02:07:30.199 --> 02:07:33.239
delightfully, so that we can talk
over things and you can tell me

1668
02:07:33.279 --> 02:07:39.479
what is going on. He saw
clearly all the perils of such a course,

1669
02:07:39.920 --> 02:07:44.159
but his instincts seized him again.
Up, and I may look in

1670
02:07:44.239 --> 02:07:47.359
some morning when i'm round yonder.
That would be very nice of you.

1671
02:07:47.760 --> 02:07:54.159
She flat at him, and rose. Helen came home about ten o'clock and

1672
02:07:54.239 --> 02:07:58.920
went direct to bed. Never before
her James Ollronshaw felt like a criminal,

1673
02:07:59.359 --> 02:08:03.039
But it's Helen's eyes dwelt for a
moment on his In bidding him good night,

1674
02:08:03.560 --> 02:08:07.039
he could scarcely restrain the blush of
the evil doer, and him sixty

1675
02:08:07.840 --> 02:08:13.039
term which where he would he saw
nothing but worry. What an incredible day

1676
02:08:13.079 --> 02:08:20.119
he had lived through, and how
astounding was human existence? End of chapter

1677
02:08:20.159 --> 02:08:28.399
eleven. Chapter twelve of Helen with
the High Hand by Arnold Bennett. This

1678
02:08:28.479 --> 02:08:33.479
LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Simon Evers, Chapter twelve,

1679
02:08:35.159 --> 02:08:39.279
Breakfast. He had an unsatisfactory night, that is to say, in

1680
02:08:39.319 --> 02:08:43.279
the matter of sleep. In respect
of sagacity, he rose richer than he

1681
02:08:43.319 --> 02:08:48.880
had lain down. He had clearly
perceived about three a m. That he

1682
02:08:48.920 --> 02:08:52.479
was moving too much in circles which
were foreign to him and which called him

1683
02:08:52.600 --> 02:08:56.439
Jimmy. And at five a m. When the first workman's car woke bumpily

1684
02:08:56.560 --> 02:09:01.600
the echoes of the morn, he
perceived that miss His Proctor's plan for separating

1685
02:09:01.600 --> 02:09:07.239
Emmanuel and Helen by bringing them together
was not a wise plan. Of course,

1686
02:09:07.279 --> 02:09:11.119
Helen must not marry Emmanuel Proctor.
The notion of such a union was

1687
02:09:11.159 --> 02:09:15.159
ludicrous. In spite of all the
worries she was heaping upon him, he

1688
02:09:15.199 --> 02:09:18.840
did not see any urgent reason why
she should marry anybody. But the proper

1689
02:09:18.880 --> 02:09:22.439
method of nipping the orange blossom in
the bud was certainly to have a plain

1690
02:09:22.600 --> 02:09:28.279
chat with Helen, one of those
plain chats which can only occur successfully between

1691
02:09:28.319 --> 02:09:33.880
plain, common sense persons. He
was convinced that, notwithstanding Missus Procter's fears,

1692
02:09:33.279 --> 02:09:37.000
Helen had not for an instant thought
of Emmanuel as a husband. It

1693
02:09:37.079 --> 02:09:41.079
was inconceivable that she, a girl
so utterly sensible, should have done so.

1694
02:09:43.119 --> 02:09:46.399
And yet girls and missus Procter was
no fool, come to think of

1695
02:09:46.439 --> 02:09:52.600
it, a sterling creature not of
his world. But nevertheless, at this

1696
02:09:52.680 --> 02:09:58.399
point he uneasily dozed. However,
he determined to talk with Helen that morning

1697
02:09:58.439 --> 02:10:01.640
at breakfast. He descended at half
past seven, as usual, full of

1698
02:10:01.640 --> 02:10:07.199
a diplomatic intention to talk to Helen. She was wholly sensible. She was

1699
02:10:07.239 --> 02:10:11.079
a person to whom you could talk. Still, tact would be needed.

1700
02:10:11.079 --> 02:10:15.439
Lack of sleep had rendered his nervous
system such that he would have preferred to

1701
02:10:15.479 --> 02:10:20.199
receive tact rather than to give it. But happily he was a self controlled

1702
02:10:20.279 --> 02:10:24.800
man. His post, which lay
scattered on the tiles at the foot of

1703
02:10:24.840 --> 02:10:28.720
the front door, did not interest
him. He put it aside in its

1704
02:10:28.760 --> 02:10:33.000
basket. Nor could he work according
to his custom at his accounts. Even

1705
02:10:33.039 --> 02:10:37.279
the sight of the unfilled in credit
slips for the bank did not spur him

1706
02:10:37.279 --> 02:10:43.039
to industry. There could be no
doubt that he was upset. He walked

1707
02:10:43.079 --> 02:10:46.520
across the room to the piles of
Helen's books against the wall, and in

1708
02:10:46.600 --> 02:10:50.159
sheer absence of mind, picked one
up and sat on a chair on which

1709
02:10:50.199 --> 02:10:54.319
he never before sat, and began
to read the volume. Then the hurried,

1710
02:10:54.359 --> 02:10:58.840
pretentious striking of the kitchen clock startled
him. Half an hour had passed.

1711
02:10:58.840 --> 02:11:03.479
Any moment he peeped into the kitchen, not a sign of breakfast,

1712
02:11:03.680 --> 02:11:09.039
not a sign of a new servant
with her starched frills. And for thirty

1713
02:11:09.119 --> 02:11:13.960
years he breakfasted at eight o'clock precisely, And no Helen was Helen laughing at

1714
02:11:15.039 --> 02:11:18.720
him, was had him treating him
as an individual of no importance. It

1715
02:11:18.760 --> 02:11:22.279
was unimaginable that his breakfast should be
late if anybody thought that he was going

1716
02:11:22.279 --> 02:11:28.760
to No, he must not give
way to righteous resentment, dipremacy, tact

1717
02:11:28.079 --> 02:11:33.880
forbearance. But he would just go
up to Helen's room and rap and tell

1718
02:11:33.880 --> 02:11:37.960
her of the amazing and awful state
of things on the ground floor. As

1719
02:11:37.000 --> 02:11:43.359
a fact, she herself was late
at that moment. She appeared good morning,

1720
02:11:43.439 --> 02:11:48.439
uncle. She was cold, prim
cut off like china from human intercourse

1721
02:11:48.479 --> 02:11:52.119
by a wall. The servant does
not come, said he, straining to

1722
02:11:52.159 --> 02:11:56.319
be torrant and amicable. It is
his best to keep aggrieved, astonishment,

1723
02:11:56.399 --> 02:12:01.039
doubt of his voice. But he
could not. Oh, she murmured calmly.

1724
02:12:01.760 --> 02:12:05.880
It was nothing to her then that
James's life should be turned upside down.

1725
02:12:05.880 --> 02:12:11.279
And she added, with icy detachment, I'm not surprised you'll never get

1726
02:12:11.319 --> 02:12:13.920
servants to be prompt in the morning
when they don't sleep in the house,

1727
02:12:13.479 --> 02:12:20.079
and there's no room for Georgiana to
sleep in the house. Georgiana preposterous name.

1728
02:12:20.199 --> 02:12:24.720
Missus Book was always prompt. I'll
say that for her, he replied,

1729
02:12:24.960 --> 02:12:30.000
This, as he immediately recognized,
was a failure intact on his part.

1730
02:12:31.119 --> 02:12:33.359
So when she said quickly, I'm
sure missus Bolt would be delighted to

1731
02:12:33.399 --> 02:12:39.119
come back if you asked her,
he said nothing. What staggered his intellect

1732
02:12:39.159 --> 02:12:45.199
and his knowledge of human nature was
that she remained absolutely unmoved by this appalling,

1733
02:12:45.520 --> 02:12:50.159
unprecedented and complete absence of any sign
of breakfast. At after eight o'clock,

1734
02:12:52.000 --> 02:12:56.000
just then Georgiana came. She had
a key to the back door and

1735
02:12:56.199 --> 02:13:00.840
entered the house by way of the
scullery. Good morning, Georgiana, Helen

1736
02:13:00.880 --> 02:13:05.079
greeted her going to the scullery,
much more kindly than she greeted her uncle.

1737
02:13:05.319 --> 02:13:09.920
Instead of falling on Georgiana and slaying
her, she practically embraced her.

1738
02:13:11.760 --> 02:13:15.720
A gas cooking stove is a wondrous
gift of heaven. You do not have

1739
02:13:15.760 --> 02:13:18.199
to light it with yesterday's paper,
damp wood, and the remains of last

1740
02:13:18.279 --> 02:13:22.600
night's far In twelve minutes, not
manly was the breakfast ready, but the

1741
02:13:22.680 --> 02:13:26.880
kitchen was dusted, and there was
a rose and a glass next to the

1742
02:13:26.880 --> 02:13:31.199
bacon. James had calmed himself by
reading the book, and the period of

1743
02:13:31.199 --> 02:13:37.159
waiting had really been very short.
As he fronted the bacon and the flower,

1744
02:13:37.520 --> 02:13:41.199
heading carefully shut the scullery door,
the Manchester Guardian lay to the left

1745
02:13:41.199 --> 02:13:48.800
of his plate. Thoughtful. Altogether, it was not so bad. Further,

1746
02:13:48.039 --> 02:13:52.760
she smiled in handing him his tea. She too, he observed,

1747
02:13:52.800 --> 02:13:56.399
must have slept ill. Her agreeable
face was drawn, but her blue and

1748
02:13:56.399 --> 02:14:01.399
white striped dress was impeccably put on. It was severe and yet very smooth.

1749
02:14:03.079 --> 02:14:07.079
It suited her mood. It also
suited his. They faced each other

1750
02:14:07.279 --> 02:14:13.119
as self controlled people do face each
other at breakfast after white Knights disillusioned tremendously

1751
02:14:13.159 --> 02:14:20.119
sensible, wise, gently cynical,
seeing the world with steady and just orbs.

1752
02:14:20.199 --> 02:14:24.279
I've been reading one of your books, Lass, he began with superb

1753
02:14:24.359 --> 02:14:28.199
amiability. It's pretty near as good
as a newspaper. There's somewhat about a

1754
02:14:28.239 --> 02:14:31.840
law case as goes on forever?
Isn't it true? I suppose, but

1755
02:14:31.960 --> 02:14:35.600
it might be the man has wrote
that knew what he was talking about for

1756
02:14:35.680 --> 02:14:41.920
once. In a way. It's
rare and good. You mean Jarndyce for

1757
02:14:41.119 --> 02:14:46.119
Jarndyce, she said, with a
smile, not one of her condescending smiles.

1758
02:14:46.800 --> 02:14:48.920
Aye, he said, I believe
that's the name. Ah did's know,

1759
02:14:50.079 --> 02:14:52.720
Lass, I just guessed, she
answered. I suppose you don't have

1760
02:14:52.800 --> 02:14:56.520
much time for reading. Uncle,
not me, said he. I'm one

1761
02:14:56.520 --> 02:15:00.760
of the busiest men in Bosley,
and if you don't know it now you

1762
02:15:00.880 --> 02:15:05.199
will afore long. Oh, she
cried, I've noticed that. But what

1763
02:15:05.239 --> 02:15:09.600
can you expect with all those rents
to collect yourself? Of course, I

1764
02:15:09.640 --> 02:15:13.159
think you're quite right to collect them
yourself. Rent collectors consumed ruin a property.

1765
02:15:15.760 --> 02:15:20.840
Her turn was exceedingly sympathetic and comprehending. He was both surprised and pleased

1766
02:15:20.840 --> 02:15:24.359
by it. He had misjudged her
mood. It was certainly comfortable to have

1767
02:15:24.399 --> 02:15:28.840
our young woman in the house who
understood things as she did. You're right,

1768
02:15:28.960 --> 02:15:33.680
lass, he said. It's small
oases as mean trouble. You're never

1769
02:15:33.720 --> 02:15:37.960
done with college property, always summat. It's all small, isn't it.

1770
02:15:39.199 --> 02:15:43.359
She went on about how much to
the rent's average three and six a week.

1771
02:15:43.079 --> 02:15:48.840
Bout that, he said she was
a shrewd guesser. I can't imagine

1772
02:15:48.840 --> 02:15:52.159
how you carry the money about,
she exclaimed. Must be very heavy for

1773
02:15:52.239 --> 02:15:56.319
you, I tell ya, he
explained. I got my own system all

1774
02:15:56.359 --> 02:16:00.760
collected. If I hadn't, I
couldn't get through in each street. I've

1775
02:16:00.800 --> 02:16:03.359
got one tenant as I trust,
and the other tenants can leave their rent

1776
02:16:03.359 --> 02:16:07.920
and their rent books there when they
do it regular for a month, I

1777
02:16:07.960 --> 02:16:11.439
give em twopence apiece for their children. If they do it regular for a

1778
02:16:11.479 --> 02:16:13.920
year, I make come a present
of a week's rent at Christmas. It's

1779
02:16:15.000 --> 02:16:20.359
cheaper nor rec collectors. What a
good idea, she said, impressed.

1780
02:16:20.760 --> 02:16:24.279
But how do you carry the money
about? A bank in Bosley and I

1781
02:16:24.359 --> 02:16:28.119
bank internil too, and about once
said Bosley, and twice eternal on Mondays,

1782
02:16:28.239 --> 02:16:33.760
and twice at Bosley and tuesdays.
Only yesterday I was behind. I

1783
02:16:33.799 --> 02:16:37.600
reckon as I can do all my
collecting between nine o'clock Monday and noon Tuesday.

1784
02:16:37.399 --> 02:16:41.559
I go to the worst tenants first. Be sure of that, the

1785
02:16:41.680 --> 02:16:43.319
son of em. If you don't
catch em earlier Monday, you don't catch

1786
02:16:43.399 --> 02:16:48.319
em at all. It's incredible to
me how you can do it all in

1787
02:16:48.360 --> 02:16:52.120
a day and a half. She
pursued, Why how many houses are there

1788
02:16:52.120 --> 02:16:56.159
near two hundred and forty of Bosley? He responded, I've forgotten the sugar

1789
02:16:56.200 --> 02:17:01.360
this time. Lass and internil,
she said, passing the shrugger. I

1790
02:17:01.440 --> 02:17:05.200
think I'll have that piece of bacon
if you don't want it over a hundred,

1791
02:17:05.319 --> 02:17:11.040
said he. A hundred and twenty, So that first to last you

1792
02:17:11.079 --> 02:17:15.000
have to handle about sixty pounds each
week, and all in silver and copper.

1793
02:17:15.680 --> 02:17:18.520
Fancy what a weight it must be, aye, he said, but

1794
02:17:18.639 --> 02:17:24.879
with less enthusiasm. That's three thousand
a year, she continued. Her tone

1795
02:17:24.920 --> 02:17:28.799
was still innocuously sympathetic. She seemed
to be talking of money as she might

1796
02:17:28.799 --> 02:17:33.079
have talked of countess. Nevertheless,
he felt that he had been entrapped.

1797
02:17:35.479 --> 02:17:39.040
I expect you must have saved at
the very least thirty thousand pounds by this

1798
02:17:39.159 --> 02:17:43.719
time. She reflected judiciously, disinterestedly, speaking as a lawyer might have spoken.

1799
02:17:46.120 --> 02:17:50.200
He offered no remark, that means
another thirty pounds a week. She

1800
02:17:50.280 --> 02:17:56.639
resumed, decidedly she was marvelous at
sums of interest. He persisted in offering

1801
02:17:56.680 --> 02:18:00.840
no remark. By the way,
she said, I must into my household

1802
02:18:00.840 --> 02:18:03.399
accounts. How much did you tell
me you allowed missus butter a week for

1803
02:18:03.479 --> 02:18:09.879
expenses? A pound, he replied. Shortly. She made no comment.

1804
02:18:09.719 --> 02:18:13.000
You don't own the house, do
you, she inquired, No, he

1805
02:18:13.040 --> 02:18:18.760
said, what's the rent? Eighteen
pounds? He said, reluctant is a

1806
02:18:18.799 --> 02:18:24.079
word that inadequately describes his attitude.
The worst of this house that it has

1807
02:18:24.120 --> 02:18:28.440
no bathroom, She remarked, Still, eighteen pounds a year is eighteen pounds

1808
02:18:28.440 --> 02:18:35.159
a year. Her tone was faultless
in its innocent, sympathetic common sense.

1809
02:18:35.200 --> 02:18:39.639
The truth was it was too faultless. It rendered James furious, with a

1810
02:18:39.639 --> 02:18:46.239
fury that was dangerous because it had
to be suppressed. Then suddenly she left

1811
02:18:46.239 --> 02:18:50.639
the table. The keel butter at
as shinning A pound is quite good enough,

1812
02:18:50.680 --> 02:18:56.159
Georgiana. He heard her exalting the
servant in the scullery. Ten minutes

1813
02:18:56.239 --> 02:19:01.559
later she put ten sovereigns in front
of him. There's that ten pound note,

1814
02:19:01.600 --> 02:19:05.719
she said, politely, but not
quite accurately. I've got enough on

1815
02:19:05.760 --> 02:19:11.200
me own to get on with.
She fled ere he could reply, not

1816
02:19:11.319 --> 02:19:16.719
a word had he contrived to say
to her concerning Immanuel. End of chapter

1817
02:19:16.760 --> 02:19:26.680
twelve, Chapter thirteen of Heading with
the High Hand by Arnold Bennett. The

1818
02:19:26.760 --> 02:19:31.760
LibriVox recording is in the public domain
recording by Simon Evers, Chapter thirteen,

1819
02:19:33.479 --> 02:19:37.559
The World. A few days later, James Orangeaw was alone in the front

1820
02:19:37.639 --> 02:19:43.799
room, checking various accounts for repairs
of property in Turnhill, when twin letters

1821
02:19:43.799 --> 02:19:48.840
fell into the quatuit of the apartment. The postman, the famous old postman

1822
02:19:48.840 --> 02:19:52.920
of Bursley, who on fine summer
days surmounted the acute difficulty of tender feet

1823
02:19:52.280 --> 02:19:58.120
by delivering mails in worsted slippers,
had swiftly pushed the letters as usual through

1824
02:19:58.159 --> 02:20:01.559
the slit in the door. But
nevertheless their advent had somehow the air of

1825
02:20:01.600 --> 02:20:09.120
magic, as indeed the advent of
letters always had. Mister Orangehaw glanced curiously

1826
02:20:09.159 --> 02:20:13.719
from his chair over his spectacles at
the letters as they lay dead on the

1827
02:20:13.719 --> 02:20:18.399
floor. Their singular appearance caused him
to rise at once and pick them up.

1828
02:20:18.399 --> 02:20:22.959
They were sealed with a green seal
and addressed in a large and haughty

1829
02:20:22.040 --> 02:20:28.360
hand, one to Helen and the
other to himself. Obviously, they came

1830
02:20:28.360 --> 02:20:31.479
from the world which referred to him
as Jimmy. He was not used to

1831
02:20:31.520 --> 02:20:35.840
being thrilled by mere envelopes, but
now he became conscious of a slight quickening

1832
02:20:35.840 --> 02:20:41.840
of pulsation. He opened his own
envelope. The paper was more like a

1833
02:20:41.840 --> 02:20:45.360
blanket than paper, and might have
been made from the material of a child's

1834
02:20:45.440 --> 02:20:50.280
unturnable picture book. He had to
use a stout paper knife, and when

1835
02:20:50.280 --> 02:20:54.680
he did get into the envelope,
he felt like a burglar. The discerning

1836
02:20:54.719 --> 02:20:58.200
and shrewd ancient had guessed the contents
he had feared, and he had also

1837
02:20:58.280 --> 02:21:05.040
hoped the contents would comprise an invitation
to Missus Procter's house at Hillport. They

1838
02:21:05.079 --> 02:21:09.399
did, and more than that,
the signature was Missus Proctor's, and she

1839
02:21:09.399 --> 02:21:13.399
had written him a four page letter. My dear mister Holleranshaw, believe me

1840
02:21:13.479 --> 02:21:20.520
your most coordinate sincerely, Flora Proctor. Flora the strangest thing, perhaps in

1841
02:21:20.559 --> 02:21:26.280
all this strange history, that he
thought the name suited her. He had

1842
02:21:26.280 --> 02:21:31.920
no intention of accepting the invitation,
not exactly, but he enjoyed receiving it.

1843
02:21:31.920 --> 02:21:35.959
It constituted a unique event in his
career, and the wording of it

1844
02:21:35.040 --> 02:21:41.120
was very agreeable. Missus Protter proceeded
thus, in pursuance of our plan,

1845
02:21:41.799 --> 02:21:46.639
our plan, I'm also inviting your
niece. Indeed, I've gathered from Emmanuel

1846
02:21:46.680 --> 02:21:50.680
that he considers her as the prime
justification of the party. We will throw

1847
02:21:50.719 --> 02:21:54.440
them together. She will hear him
sing. She never heard him sing.

1848
02:21:54.040 --> 02:21:58.319
If this does not cure her,
nothing will. Though he has a nice

1849
02:21:58.399 --> 02:22:01.760
voice. I hope it will be
a fine night so that we may take

1850
02:22:01.799 --> 02:22:05.000
the garden. I did not thank
you half enough for the exceedingly kind way

1851
02:22:05.200 --> 02:22:11.840
in which you received my really unbardonable
visit the other evening, et cetera.

1852
02:22:11.360 --> 02:22:16.040
James at once heard Immanuel Proctor sing, had a concert given in aid of

1853
02:22:16.079 --> 02:22:20.200
something which deserved every discouragement, and
he agreed with Missus Proctor, not that

1854
02:22:20.280 --> 02:22:26.280
he pretended to know anything about singing. He sat down again to compose a

1855
02:22:26.360 --> 02:22:30.600
refusal to the invitation, but before
he had written more than a few words,

1856
02:22:30.959 --> 02:22:35.760
It had transformed itself into an acceptance. He was aware of the entire

1857
02:22:35.840 --> 02:22:41.200
ridiculousness of his going to an evening
party at Missus Proctor's. Still an instinct,

1858
02:22:41.719 --> 02:22:45.040
powerful but obscure. It was the
will to live, and naught else

1859
02:22:45.559 --> 02:22:50.799
persuaded him by force to say that
he would go. Have you had an

1860
02:22:50.799 --> 02:22:54.639
invitation for Missus Proctor had asked him
at tea, yes, said he have

1861
02:22:54.799 --> 02:23:00.799
you? Yes? Said she shall
you go? A Las, I shall

1862
02:23:00.840 --> 02:23:05.760
go? She seemed greatly surprised us
will go together? He said, I

1863
02:23:05.840 --> 02:23:11.159
don't think that I shall go,
said she, hesitatingly. Have you written

1864
02:23:11.239 --> 02:23:15.520
to refuse? No? Then I
should advise you to go, Miras,

1865
02:23:16.319 --> 02:23:20.360
Why unless you want to have trouble
with me, said he grimly. But

1866
02:23:20.559 --> 02:23:24.959
Uncle, it's no good butting uncle, he replied, if you did not

1867
02:23:26.079 --> 02:23:28.239
mean to go, why did you
give young Prott to understand as ye would

1868
02:23:28.319 --> 02:23:33.040
go? I'll tell ye why ye
change your mind? Lass, It's because

1869
02:23:33.040 --> 02:23:35.360
you're ashamed of being seen there with
your old uncle, and I'm sorry for

1870
02:23:35.399 --> 02:23:41.200
it. Uncle, she protested,
how can you say such a thing.

1871
02:23:41.760 --> 02:23:46.399
You ought to know that no such
idea ever entered my head. He did

1872
02:23:46.520 --> 02:23:50.239
know that no such idea had ever
entered her head, and he was secretly

1873
02:23:50.280 --> 02:23:54.440
puzzled for the real reason of her
projected refusal, But being determined that she

1874
02:23:54.479 --> 02:23:58.639
should go, he'd employed the surest
and the least scrupuitous means of achieving his

1875
02:23:58.719 --> 02:24:05.360
aim. He tapped nervously on the
table and maintained the silence of the wounded

1876
02:24:05.440 --> 02:24:09.600
and the proud. Of course,
if you take it that way, she

1877
02:24:09.680 --> 02:24:13.920
said, after a pause, I
will go, and he went through the

1878
02:24:13.959 --> 02:24:20.680
comedy of gradually recovering from a wound. His boldness in accepting the invitation and

1879
02:24:20.719 --> 02:24:26.000
in compelling Helen to accompany him,
was the audacity of sheer ignorance. He

1880
02:24:26.040 --> 02:24:30.719
had not surmise experiences which lay before
him. She told him to order a

1881
02:24:30.760 --> 02:24:35.440
cab. She did not suggest the
advisability of a cab. She stated as

1882
02:24:35.440 --> 02:24:39.479
a platitude the absolute indispensability of a
cab. He had meant to ride to

1883
02:24:39.520 --> 02:24:46.040
Hillport in the tram car which ran
past missus Potter's gate. However, he

1884
02:24:46.079 --> 02:24:50.280
reluctantly agreed to order a cab,
being fearful as she might after all,

1885
02:24:50.360 --> 02:24:54.600
refuse to go. It was remarkable
that, after having been opposed to the

1886
02:24:54.639 --> 02:24:58.440
policy of throwing Helen and Emanuel together, he was now in favor of it.

1887
02:25:01.920 --> 02:25:03.719
On the evening, when at five
minutes past nine, she came into

1888
02:25:03.719 --> 02:25:07.840
the front room clad for Missus Proctor's
party. He perceived that the tram car

1889
02:25:07.840 --> 02:25:13.159
would have been unsuitable. A cab, I told her. A hansom would

1890
02:25:13.159 --> 02:25:16.600
certainly not have held her. She
was all in white and very complicated.

1891
02:25:18.319 --> 02:25:22.799
No hat, simply a white silver
spangled bandage round her head, neck and

1892
02:25:22.840 --> 02:25:28.879
shoulders. She glanced at him.
He wore his best black clothes. You

1893
02:25:28.000 --> 02:25:33.440
look very well, said she,
surprisingly, that old fashioned black necktie is

1894
02:25:33.479 --> 02:25:39.120
splendid. So they went. James
had the peculiar illusion that he was going

1895
02:25:39.159 --> 02:25:41.600
to a belated funeral, for except
at funerals, he had never in his

1896
02:25:41.680 --> 02:25:46.920
life ridden in a cab. When
he descended with his fragile charge in Missus

1897
02:25:46.959 --> 02:25:52.280
Proctor's illuminated porch, another cab was
just plowing up the gravel of the drive

1898
02:25:52.319 --> 02:25:56.399
in departure, and nearly the whole
tribe of sweat numbers was on the doorstep.

1899
02:25:56.000 --> 02:26:01.239
Some had walked and were boasting of
speed. There was Sarah Swetnam,

1900
02:26:01.319 --> 02:26:05.000
her brother Ted, the lawyer,
her brother, Ronald the borough Surveyor,

1901
02:26:05.520 --> 02:26:11.799
her brother Adams the Bankershier, and
her sister Enid age seventeen. This child

1902
02:26:11.920 --> 02:26:16.120
was always called Joss by the family
because they hated the name Enid, which

1903
02:26:16.159 --> 02:26:20.920
they considered to be silly. Lilian, the newly aphinsd one, was not

1904
02:26:20.040 --> 02:26:26.639
in the crowd. Where's Lilian,
Hennn asked abruptly. Oh, she came

1905
02:26:26.799 --> 02:26:31.000
earlier with the powerful Andrew, replied, the young fall and rather jealous Joss,

1906
02:26:31.440 --> 02:26:35.920
she isn't an all regard now.
Sarah rapidly introduced her brothers and sisters

1907
02:26:35.920 --> 02:26:41.200
to James. They were all very
respectful and agreeable, and Adam's swetnam pressed

1908
02:26:41.239 --> 02:26:48.479
his hand quite sympathetically, and Joss's
frank smile was delicious. What surprised him

1909
02:26:48.520 --> 02:26:52.760
was that nobody seemed surprised at his
being there. None of the girls wore

1910
02:26:52.840 --> 02:26:56.840
hats, he noticed, and he
also noticed that the three men, all

1911
02:26:56.879 --> 02:27:01.520
about thirty years, wore silk hats, wipe my mom and blue overcoats.

1912
02:27:03.040 --> 02:27:07.239
A servant, a sort of special
edition of James's Georgiana, appeared and robbed

1913
02:27:07.239 --> 02:27:11.959
every body of every garment that would
yield easily to pulling, and then those

1914
02:27:13.000 --> 02:27:18.799
lovely creatures stood revealed. Yes,
Sarah herself was lovely under the rosy shades.

1915
02:27:18.680 --> 02:27:22.600
The young men were elegantly slim and
looked very much alike, except that

1916
02:27:22.639 --> 02:27:28.360
Adams had a beard, a feeble
beard, but a beard. It is

1917
02:27:28.399 --> 02:27:31.879
true that in their exact correctness they
might have been mistaken for toast masters,

1918
02:27:33.120 --> 02:27:35.760
or with the slight addition of silver
neck chains, for high officials in a

1919
02:27:35.799 --> 02:27:41.920
costly restaurant. But great step Uncle
James could never have been mistaken for anything

1920
02:27:41.079 --> 02:27:46.040
but a chip of the early nineteenth
century flicked by the hammer of fate into

1921
02:27:46.079 --> 02:27:50.600
the twentieth. His wide black necktie
was the secret envy of the Sweatnam Boys.

1922
02:27:52.280 --> 02:27:54.920
The sweat and Boys had the air
of doing now what they did every

1923
02:27:56.000 --> 02:27:58.559
night of their lives. With facile
ease. They led the way through the

1924
02:27:58.559 --> 02:28:03.440
long hall to the drawing room.
James followed, and en route he observed,

1925
02:28:03.440 --> 02:28:07.600
at the extremity of a side hall, two young people sitting with their

1926
02:28:07.600 --> 02:28:13.280
hands together in a dusky corner,
male and female greeted He them, reflected

1927
02:28:13.360 --> 02:28:18.879
James with all the tolerant, disdainful
wisdom of his years and situation. A

1928
02:28:18.920 --> 02:28:22.920
piano was then heard, and As
Ronald Sweatman pushed open the drawing room door

1929
02:28:24.000 --> 02:28:28.600
for the women to enter, there
came the sound of a shocked sh whereupon

1930
02:28:28.639 --> 02:28:33.479
the invaders took to the tips of
their toes and crept in as sinners.

1931
02:28:33.159 --> 02:28:37.360
At the farther end, a girl
was sitting at a grand piano, and

1932
02:28:37.440 --> 02:28:43.520
in front of the piano glorious,
effulgent, monarchical stood Immanual Proctor, holding

1933
02:28:43.520 --> 02:28:46.559
a piece of music horizontally at the
level of his waist. He had a

1934
02:28:46.559 --> 02:28:50.399
white flower in his button hole,
and adhering to a quaint old custom which

1935
02:28:50.399 --> 02:28:56.280
still lingers in the Five Towns and
possibly elsewhere, he showed a crimson silk

1936
02:28:56.319 --> 02:29:01.319
handkerchief tucked in between his shirt front
and his white waistcoat. He had broad

1937
02:29:01.360 --> 02:29:05.200
bands down the sides of his trousers. Not a hair of his head had

1938
02:29:05.200 --> 02:29:09.120
been touched by the accidental winds of
circumstance. He surveyed the couple of dozen

1939
02:29:09.159 --> 02:29:15.440
people in the large blowing room with
a fixed smile and gesture of benelevhent congratulation.

1940
02:29:16.319 --> 02:29:20.879
Missus Proctor was close to the door, emmanually just going to sing.

1941
02:29:22.440 --> 02:29:30.200
She whispered and shook hands silently with
James Olrainshaw first end of chapter thirteen.

1942
02:29:35.079 --> 02:29:39.719
Chapter fourteen off hel him with the
high hand by Arnold Bennet. This LibriVox

1943
02:29:39.760 --> 02:29:46.840
recording is in the public domain.
Recording by Simon Overs Chapter fourteen song scene

1944
02:29:46.040 --> 02:29:52.399
and dance. Every head was turned. Emmanuel coughed, frowned, and put

1945
02:29:52.440 --> 02:29:56.879
his left hand between his collar and
his neck, as though he had concealed

1946
02:29:56.879 --> 02:30:01.879
something there. The new arrival slipped
call siously into chairs. James was between

1947
02:30:01.920 --> 02:30:07.360
Helen and Jos, and he distinctly
saw Jos wink at Helen and Helen wink

1948
02:30:07.440 --> 02:30:13.239
back. The winks were, without
doubt an expression of sentiments aroused by the

1949
02:30:13.239 --> 02:30:18.760
solemnity of Emmanuel's frown. The piano
tinkled on, and then Emmanuel's face was

1950
02:30:18.799 --> 02:30:24.159
observed to change. The frown vanished, and a smile of heavenly rapture took

1951
02:30:24.159 --> 02:30:30.239
its place. His mouth gradually opened
till its resemblance to the penuntimate vowl was

1952
02:30:30.360 --> 02:30:35.159
quite realistic, and simultaneously, by
a curious muscular coordination, he rose on

1953
02:30:35.200 --> 02:30:41.159
his toes to a considerable height in
the air. The strain was terrible,

1954
02:30:41.399 --> 02:30:45.360
like waiting for a gun to go
off. James was conscious of a strained

1955
02:30:45.440 --> 02:30:48.879
vibration by his side, and saw
that Joss Wetman had got the whole of

1956
02:30:48.920 --> 02:30:52.360
a lace handkerchief into her mouth.
The gun went off, not with a

1957
02:30:52.360 --> 02:30:58.680
loud report, with a gentle and
lofty tenor piping somewhere in the neighborhood of

1958
02:30:58.000 --> 02:31:03.879
f By been only e though indeed
a photograph would have suggested that Ammanner was

1959
02:31:03.879 --> 02:31:07.680
singing at lowest at the upper sea, and the performance later resumed his normal

1960
02:31:07.680 --> 02:31:15.920
stature. Oh love, he exclaimed, adagio and sosternucto. Then the piano,

1961
02:31:16.000 --> 02:31:20.680
in its fashion, also said,
oh Love, Oh Love. Imman

1962
02:31:20.760 --> 02:31:24.319
had exclaimed a game with slight traces
of excitement and rising to heights of stature

1963
02:31:24.360 --> 02:31:30.799
hitherto undreamt of, and the piano
once more, in turn called plaintively on

1964
02:31:31.079 --> 02:31:37.040
love. It would be too easy
to mock Emmanuel's gift of song. I

1965
02:31:37.159 --> 02:31:41.200
leave that to people named Sweatnam.
There can be no doubt a Manal had

1966
02:31:41.239 --> 02:31:45.440
a very taking voice, if thin, and that his singing gave pleasure to

1967
02:31:45.479 --> 02:31:50.440
the majority of his hearers, although
any one else it pleased himself. When

1968
02:31:50.440 --> 02:31:54.600
he sang, he seemed to be
inspired by the fact. To him patent

1969
02:31:54.000 --> 02:32:00.760
that he was conferring on mankind a
boon inconceivably precious. If he looked a

1970
02:32:00.840 --> 02:32:05.399
fool, his looks seriously misinterpreted his
feelings. He did not spare himself.

1971
02:32:05.399 --> 02:32:11.000
On that evening, he told his
stepmother's guests all about love and all about

1972
02:32:11.000 --> 02:32:15.600
his own yearnings. He hid nothing
from them. He made no secret of

1973
02:32:15.639 --> 02:32:18.040
the fact that he lived for love
alone, that he had known innumerable loves,

1974
02:32:18.479 --> 02:32:24.680
but none like one particular variety,
which described in full detail as a

1975
02:32:24.719 --> 02:32:30.120
confession, and especially as a confession
uttered before many maidens. It did not

1976
02:32:30.280 --> 02:32:35.799
err on the side of reticence.
Presently, having described a kind of amorous

1977
02:32:35.799 --> 02:32:41.440
circle, he came again to o
love, but this time his voice cracked,

1978
02:32:41.840 --> 02:32:46.559
which made him angry, with a
stern and controlled anger. Still singing,

1979
02:32:46.719 --> 02:32:50.959
he turned slowly to the pianist and
fiercely glared at the pianist's unconscious back.

1980
02:32:52.399 --> 02:32:54.239
The obvious inference was that if his
voice had cracked, the fault was

1981
02:32:54.280 --> 02:33:00.440
the piarists. The pianists poor thing, utterly unaware of the castAR garation she

1982
02:33:00.479 --> 02:33:05.719
was receiving, stuck to her business. Less than a minute later, Immanner's

1983
02:33:05.760 --> 02:33:09.399
voice cracked again. This time he
turned even more deliberately to the pianist.

1984
02:33:11.040 --> 02:33:15.280
He was pained. He stared during
five complete bars at the back of the

1985
02:33:15.280 --> 02:33:20.760
pianist, still continuing his confession.
He wished the audience to understand clearly where

1986
02:33:20.760 --> 02:33:24.799
the blame lay. Finally, when
he thought the pianist's back was sufficiently cooked,

1987
02:33:26.200 --> 02:33:30.799
he faced the audience. I hope
the pianists will not be so atrociously

1988
02:33:30.799 --> 02:33:33.200
clumsy as to let my voice crack
again, he seemed to be saying.

1989
02:33:35.879 --> 02:33:39.040
Evidently, his reproof to the pianist's
back was effectual, for his voice did

1990
02:33:39.040 --> 02:33:45.760
not crack again, and at length, when Joss had communicated her vibration to

1991
02:33:45.840 --> 02:33:50.000
all her family and everyone had ceased
to believe that the confession would ever end,

1992
02:33:50.799 --> 02:33:54.360
the confession did end. It ended
as it had begun, in an

1993
02:33:54.399 --> 02:34:01.239
even agreeable tenor piping. Immana was
much too great artist to allow himself to

1994
02:34:01.239 --> 02:34:07.040
be carried away by his emotion.
The concluding words were oh rapture, and

1995
02:34:07.079 --> 02:34:13.120
Emmanuel sang them just as if he
had been singing one in elevenpence three farthings.

1996
02:34:13.120 --> 02:34:18.399
Oh Rats, said Jos under cover
of the impassioned applause. It were

1997
02:34:18.440 --> 02:34:24.239
nearly as long as Jarndyce Vejarndyce observed
Adams under the same cover, What cried

1998
02:34:24.319 --> 02:34:28.079
James, enchanted, have you been
reading that too? Adam Swetnam and great

1999
02:34:28.079 --> 02:34:33.000
step uncle James had quite a little
chat on the subject of Jarndyce Jarndyce.

2000
02:34:33.959 --> 02:34:37.319
Several other people, including the hostess, joined in the conversation, and James

2001
02:34:37.399 --> 02:34:41.360
was surprised at the renown which John
Dyce ve John Dye seemed to enjoy.

2002
02:34:41.479 --> 02:34:46.479
He was glad to find his view
shared. On every hand, he was

2003
02:34:46.520 --> 02:34:50.840
also glad and startled to discover himself
a personality in the regions of Hillport.

2004
02:34:52.000 --> 02:34:56.920
He went through more formal introductions in
ten minutes than he'd been through during the

2005
02:34:56.920 --> 02:35:01.239
whole of his previous life. It
was a whole evening. He wiped his

2006
02:35:01.319 --> 02:35:07.120
brow, then iced. Champagne was
served to him, having fluttered round him

2007
02:35:07.120 --> 02:35:11.360
in her ample way and charmingly flattered
him. Missus Proctor left him encircled chiefly

2008
02:35:11.399 --> 02:35:16.680
by young women, in order to
convey to later arrivals that they and they

2009
02:35:16.719 --> 02:35:22.239
alone were the authentic objects of her
solicitude. Emmanuel Proctor, clad in triumph,

2010
02:35:22.600 --> 02:35:28.040
approached and questioned James as one shrewd
man of business may question another concerning

2011
02:35:28.079 --> 02:35:33.600
the value in the market of Wilbraham
Hall. Shortly afterwards, a remarkable occurrence

2012
02:35:33.600 --> 02:35:39.959
added zest to the party. Helen
had wandered away with Sarah and Josh Swetnam.

2013
02:35:39.239 --> 02:35:43.559
She re entered the drawing room while
James and Emmandall were in discussion,

2014
02:35:43.079 --> 02:35:50.159
and her attitude towards Emandal was decidedly
not sympathetic. Then Sarah Swetnam came in

2015
02:35:50.239 --> 02:35:54.959
alone, and then Andrew Dene came
in alone. Oh, here's Andrew,

2016
02:35:54.000 --> 02:36:00.520
Helen, Sarah exclaimed. Andrew Dene
had the air of a formidable page.

2017
02:36:01.280 --> 02:36:05.280
He was a tall, heavy,
dark young man with immense sloping shoulders,

2018
02:36:05.440 --> 02:36:09.520
a black mustache, and incandescent eyes, which he used as though he were

2019
02:36:09.559 --> 02:36:13.520
somewhat suspicious of the world in general. If his dress had been less untidy,

2020
02:36:13.879 --> 02:36:18.120
he would have made a perfect villain
of a melodrama. He smiled the

2021
02:36:18.200 --> 02:36:22.600
unsure smile of a villain as he
awkwardly advanced with outstretched hand to heaven.

2022
02:36:24.159 --> 02:36:28.840
Helen put her lips together, kept
her hands well out of view, and

2023
02:36:28.879 --> 02:36:33.479
offered him a bow that could only
have been properly appreciated under a microscope.

2024
02:36:33.760 --> 02:36:39.600
The episode was quite negative, but
amounted to a scene, a scene at

2025
02:36:39.600 --> 02:36:43.559
one of Missus Proctor's parties, A
scene moreover that mystified everybody, A scene

2026
02:36:43.559 --> 02:36:50.600
that implied war and the wounded,
some discreetly Withdrew. Of these was Emmanuel,

2027
02:36:50.760 --> 02:36:56.280
who had the sensitiveness of an artist. Andrew Dene presently perceived, after

2028
02:36:56.360 --> 02:37:00.879
standing for some seconds like an imbecile
stalk on one leg, that the discretion

2029
02:37:01.000 --> 02:37:05.079
of the others was worthy to be
imitated. At the door, he met

2030
02:37:05.079 --> 02:37:09.520
Lilian and they disappeared together, arm
in arm, as betrothed lovers should.

2031
02:37:09.879 --> 02:37:15.000
Three people remained in that quarter of
the drawing room, Helen, her uncle

2032
02:37:15.280 --> 02:37:20.799
and Sarah Swetnam whine Hell, said
Sarah, aghast, what's the matter?

2033
02:37:20.879 --> 02:37:26.040
Nothing, said Helen calmly. But
surely you shake hands with and You when

2034
02:37:26.079 --> 02:37:28.959
you meet him, don't you?
That depends how I feel, my dear,

2035
02:37:30.360 --> 02:37:33.840
said Helen. Then something is the
matter, if you want to know,

2036
02:37:35.079 --> 02:37:39.319
said Helen with haughtiness. In the
hall just now, that is I

2037
02:37:39.319 --> 02:37:43.360
I overheard mister Deane say something about
Ammanya prot to singing, which I consider

2038
02:37:43.479 --> 02:37:46.719
very improper. But we all,
I'm going to out into the garden,

2039
02:37:46.959 --> 02:37:52.760
said Helen, A pretty hard you
do, James, and muttered inaudibly to

2040
02:37:52.840 --> 02:37:56.440
himself as he meandered to infro in
the hall, observing the manners and customs

2041
02:37:56.479 --> 02:38:01.639
of Hilport's society. Another couple were
now occupying the privacy of the seat at

2042
02:38:01.639 --> 02:38:05.799
the end of the side hall,
and James noticed that the heads of this

2043
02:38:05.879 --> 02:38:09.200
couple are precisely the same reddative positions
as the heads of the previous couple.

2044
02:38:11.280 --> 02:38:15.159
Bless us, he murmured, I
prepared the couple, who, seeing in

2045
02:38:15.239 --> 02:38:20.319
him a spy, rose and fled. Then he resumed his silent soliloquy,

2046
02:38:20.280 --> 02:38:24.120
pretty oud you do. The Charles
has fixed on that there immanual proctor as

2047
02:38:24.159 --> 02:38:28.920
ever a chip could be. And
yet James had caught the winking with jos

2048
02:38:30.040 --> 02:38:35.520
Swettenham joined the song as an enigma
heading grew darker and darker to him.

2049
02:38:35.920 --> 02:38:39.719
He was almost ready to forswear his
former belief and to serp positive here that

2050
02:38:39.760 --> 02:38:46.319
Helen had no sense whatever missus Poctord
loomed up, disengaged, Ah, mister

2051
02:38:46.399 --> 02:38:48.879
loner in Shaw. She said,
everybody seemed to be choosing in the garden.

2052
02:38:50.440 --> 02:38:54.680
Shall we go all there this way? She let him down the side

2053
02:38:54.719 --> 02:38:58.719
hall. By the bye, she
murmured with a smile, I think our

2054
02:38:58.760 --> 02:39:03.520
plan is succeeding. Without warning him, she sat down in the seat,

2055
02:39:03.079 --> 02:39:07.000
and of course he joined her,
and she put her head close to his,

2056
02:39:07.559 --> 02:39:11.159
evidently in a confidential mood. Bless
us, he said to himself,

2057
02:39:11.319 --> 02:39:16.879
I propo of himself for Missus Proctor, glancing about for spies. It's ordered

2058
02:39:16.879 --> 02:39:20.799
of me to make fun of poor
dear Emanuel's singing, pursued Missus Proctor.

2059
02:39:22.239 --> 02:39:24.639
But how did ye take it?
If I'm not mistaken, she winked.

2060
02:39:26.600 --> 02:39:31.559
I winked, said James, Yes, I winked. Then everything's all right,

2061
02:39:31.799 --> 02:39:35.399
missus said he you don't mind what
you're about. You'll have a daughter

2062
02:39:35.399 --> 02:39:41.239
in law. Afore you can say
a knife not henin aye helen, but

2063
02:39:41.440 --> 02:39:46.879
mister holler in shaw. Here happened
an interruption, a servant with a tray

2064
02:39:46.920 --> 02:39:52.920
of sustenance comprising more champagne. James
prudent would have refused, but under the

2065
02:39:52.959 --> 02:39:58.159
hospitable urgency of Missus Procter, he
compromised and yielded, I'll join ye.

2066
02:40:00.520 --> 02:40:03.159
So she joined him. Then a
string of young people passed the end of

2067
02:40:03.200 --> 02:40:07.319
the side hall, and among them
was jos Swetnam, who capered up to

2068
02:40:07.360 --> 02:40:11.959
the old couple on her long legs. Oh, Missus Potter, he cried,

2069
02:40:11.040 --> 02:40:15.799
What a pity we can't dance on
the lawn. I wish you could,

2070
02:40:15.879 --> 02:40:18.840
my dear, said missus Potter.
Am I carn't, ye, demanded

2071
02:40:18.920 --> 02:40:24.360
James. No music, said Jos. You see, Missus Potter, explained,

2072
02:40:24.799 --> 02:40:28.200
the lawn is at the far end
of the garden, and it is

2073
02:40:28.239 --> 02:40:31.239
impossible to hear the piano so far
off. If we're only a little piano,

2074
02:40:31.239 --> 02:40:37.440
we can move it about, but
it's a grand piano in James's next

2075
02:40:37.479 --> 02:40:41.440
speech was to be felt the influence
of Champagne. Look here, he said,

2076
02:40:41.639 --> 02:40:46.760
there's nobody step from here to the
green Man? Is it the green

2077
02:40:46.799 --> 02:40:52.760
Man, echoed Missus Potter, not
comprehending, Aye, the pub I believe

2078
02:40:52.760 --> 02:40:56.000
there is an inn at the bend, said Missus Proctor. I don't think

2079
02:40:56.000 --> 02:41:00.559
I've ever noticed the sign. It's
the green Man, said James. If

2080
02:41:00.600 --> 02:41:03.079
you'll send some one round there,
and the respects of mister honor in Shaw

2081
02:41:03.159 --> 02:41:07.440
to mister Burnskin. That's the landlord, and will you lend me the concertina?

2082
02:41:07.479 --> 02:41:11.920
As I saw him last Martin mus
Oh, mister Honorin Shaw shrieked,

2083
02:41:11.959 --> 02:41:16.760
Jos, can you play for dancing? How perfectly lovely it will be?

2084
02:41:18.520 --> 02:41:22.200
I fancy as I can keep your
trotters moving, child, said he gaily.

2085
02:41:22.719 --> 02:41:26.840
Upon this, two spinsters, the
Missus Webber, wearing duplicates of one

2086
02:41:26.959 --> 02:41:35.040
anxious visage supervened and with strange magic
gestures, beckoned Missus Proctor away. News

2087
02:41:35.040 --> 02:41:37.079
of the episode between Andrew, Dene
and Helen had at length reached them,

2088
02:41:37.479 --> 02:41:41.040
and they deemed it a sacred duty
to inform the hostess of the sad event.

2089
02:41:43.319 --> 02:41:46.639
They were of the species of women
that spares neither herself nor others.

2090
02:41:46.840 --> 02:41:52.000
Therefore was that they were too compassionate
for this world. Promising to send the

2091
02:41:52.000 --> 02:41:58.879
message to mister Benskin, Missus Poctor
vanished to her doom. Within a quarter

2092
02:41:58.879 --> 02:42:03.079
of an hour, A face unique
in the annos of Hillport had organized itself

2093
02:42:03.079 --> 02:42:09.000
on the lawn in the dim verduous
retreats behind Missus Proctor's house. The lawn

2094
02:42:09.040 --> 02:42:13.079
was large enough to be just too
small for a tennis court. It was

2095
02:42:13.120 --> 02:42:16.920
also of a pretty mid Victorian irregularity
as regards to shape, and guarded from

2096
02:42:16.959 --> 02:42:22.799
the grim horizons of the five towns
by a ring of superb elms. A

2097
02:42:22.799 --> 02:42:28.079
dozen couples, mainly youngish, promenaded
upon its impeccable surface in obvious expectation,

2098
02:42:28.319 --> 02:42:33.399
while on the borders in rustic chairs, odd remnants of humanity, mainly Oldish,

2099
02:42:33.799 --> 02:42:39.760
gazed in ecstasy at the picturesque ensemble. In the midst of the lawn

2100
02:42:39.799 --> 02:42:43.680
was Missus Proctor's famous weeping willow,
on whose branches Chinese lanterns had been hung

2101
02:42:43.719 --> 02:42:48.280
by a reluctant gardener, who held
to the proper gardener's axiom that lawns are

2102
02:42:48.319 --> 02:42:54.159
made to be seen and not hurt. The moon aided these lanterns to the

2103
02:42:54.200 --> 02:42:58.680
best of her power. Under the
tree was a cane chair, and on

2104
02:42:58.719 --> 02:43:03.719
the cane chair that an aging man
with the concertina between his hands. He

2105
02:43:03.760 --> 02:43:07.319
put his head on one side and
played a few bars, and the couples

2106
02:43:07.399 --> 02:43:11.319
posed themselves expectantly. Hold on a
bit the virtue, ASO called out,

2107
02:43:11.799 --> 02:43:16.479
the tied a bit drafty. Here
he put the concertina on his knees,

2108
02:43:16.799 --> 02:43:22.479
fumbled in his tail pocket, and
drew forth a tasseled Turkish cap, which

2109
02:43:22.559 --> 02:43:28.760
majestically he assumed The tassel fell over
his forehead. He owned several Turkish caps

2110
02:43:28.879 --> 02:43:33.719
and never went abroad without one.
Then he struck up definitely, and Missus

2111
02:43:33.719 --> 02:43:37.840
Proctor's party had resolved itself, as
part is often to do, into a

2112
02:43:37.920 --> 02:43:45.280
dance in the blissful excitation caused by
the ancient and jiggy tunes which Jimmy played,

2113
02:43:46.040 --> 02:43:48.959
the sad episode of Helen Rathburn and
Andrew Dean appeared to be forgotten.

2114
02:43:50.280 --> 02:43:56.319
Helen danced with every man except Andrew, and Andrew danced with every woman except

2115
02:43:56.360 --> 02:44:01.479
Helen. But missus Procter had not
forgotten the episode, nor had the missus

2116
02:44:01.479 --> 02:44:07.600
Webber. The reputation of missus Procter's
entertainments for utter correctness and her own enormous

2117
02:44:07.639 --> 02:44:13.120
reputation for fine tact were impaired,
and Missus Procter was determined that that which

2118
02:44:13.120 --> 02:44:18.000
ought to happen should happen. She
had a brief and exceedingly banal interview with

2119
02:44:18.079 --> 02:44:24.920
Helen and another with Andrew, and
an interval having elapsed, Andrew was observed

2120
02:44:24.959 --> 02:44:30.920
to approach Helen and ask her for
a polker. Helen punctinuously accepted, and

2121
02:44:31.000 --> 02:44:35.799
he led her out. The outraged
gods of social decorum were appeased, and

2122
02:44:35.879 --> 02:44:39.680
the reputations of Missus Procter and her
parties stood as high as ever. It

2123
02:44:39.799 --> 02:44:48.479
was well and diplomatically done. Nevertheless, the unforeseen came to pass, for

2124
02:44:48.680 --> 02:44:52.479
at the end of the polka,
Helen fainted on the grass, and not

2125
02:44:52.600 --> 02:44:56.639
Andrew, but Emmanuel was first to
succor her. It was a highly disconcerting

2126
02:44:56.639 --> 02:45:03.239
climax, of course, being Helen
recovered with singular rapidity, but that did

2127
02:45:03.239 --> 02:45:11.120
not lighten the mystery. In the
cab going home, she wept. James

2128
02:45:11.159 --> 02:45:15.840
could scarcely have believed it of her. Oh uncle, she half whispered,

2129
02:45:16.000 --> 02:45:22.000
in a voice of grief, you
fiddle while Rawn was burning. This obscure

2130
02:45:22.079 --> 02:45:26.000
saying baffled him, the more so
that he'd been player concertina, not a

2131
02:45:26.000 --> 02:45:31.000
fiddle at all. His feelings were
vague and in some respects contradictory, but

2132
02:45:31.079 --> 02:45:35.239
he was convinced that Missus Proctor's scheme
for separating Helen and the upon her Immanuel

2133
02:45:35.879 --> 02:45:50.319
was not precisely succeeding end of chapter
fourteen Chapter fifteen of Helen with the High

2134
02:45:50.360 --> 02:45:56.120
Hat by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox
recording is in the public domain. Recording

2135
02:45:56.120 --> 02:46:01.799
by Simon Evers, Chapter fifteen,
The Gift. After that night, Great

2136
02:46:01.799 --> 02:46:07.840
step Uncle James became more than a
celebrity. He became a notoriety in Bursley.

2137
02:46:07.920 --> 02:46:11.799
Had it not been for the personal
influence of Missus Proctor, with the

2138
02:46:11.920 --> 02:46:16.399
editor of the Signal, James's exploits
upon the concertina under weeping willows at midnight

2139
02:46:16.760 --> 02:46:22.120
would have received facetious comment in the
weekly column of gossip that appears in the

2140
02:46:22.159 --> 02:46:26.879
great daily Organ of the Five Towns
on Saturdays. James, aided by nothing

2141
02:46:26.879 --> 02:46:31.440
but a glass or two a champagne, had suddenly stepped into the forefront of

2142
02:46:31.479 --> 02:46:37.360
the town's life. He was a
card. He rather liked being a card.

2143
02:46:37.559 --> 02:46:41.959
But within his own heart the triumph
and glory of James Orangshaw were less

2144
02:46:41.959 --> 02:46:46.920
splendid than outside it. Helen,
apparently ashamed of having wept into his waistcoat,

2145
02:46:48.479 --> 02:46:52.399
kept him off with a kind of
a rod of stiff politeness. He

2146
02:46:52.399 --> 02:46:54.840
could not get near her, and
for at least two reasons he was anxious

2147
02:46:54.879 --> 02:46:58.799
to get near her. He wanted
to have that frank, confidential talk with

2148
02:46:58.840 --> 02:47:05.399
her about the general imbecility of her
Odora Emmanuel Proctor. That talk which he

2149
02:47:05.440 --> 02:47:09.239
had failed to begin on the morning, when she been so sympathetic concerning his

2150
02:47:09.319 --> 02:47:15.440
difficulties in collecting a large income,
her movements from day to day were mysterious.

2151
02:47:16.000 --> 02:47:18.719
Facts pointed to the probability that she
and Emmanuel were seeing each other with

2152
02:47:18.840 --> 02:47:24.079
no undue publicity. And yet despite
facts, despite her behavior at the party,

2153
02:47:24.639 --> 02:47:28.440
he could scarcely believe that shrewd Helen
had not pierced the skin of Emmanuel

2154
02:47:28.680 --> 02:47:33.959
and perceived the emptiness therein. At
any rate, Emmanuel had not repeated his

2155
02:47:35.079 --> 02:47:39.920
visits to the house. The only
visitors had been Sarah Swetnam and her sister

2156
02:47:39.000 --> 02:47:43.840
Lilian, the fiancee of Andrew Dean. The chatter of the three girls had

2157
02:47:43.840 --> 02:47:48.879
struck James as being almost hysterically gay, but in the evening Hellyn was very

2158
02:47:48.920 --> 02:47:54.719
gloomy, and he fancied a certain
redness in her eyes. Though Helen was

2159
02:47:54.719 --> 02:47:58.000
assuredly the last woman in the world
to cry, she had beyond doubt cried

2160
02:47:58.040 --> 02:48:05.079
once, and he now suspected her
of another weeping. Even more detrimental to

2161
02:48:05.159 --> 02:48:09.280
his triumph in his own heart was
the affair of the ten pound note which

2162
02:48:09.319 --> 02:48:13.000
she had stolen or abstracted. If
you will, and then restored it to

2163
02:48:13.079 --> 02:48:18.239
him with such dramatic haughtiness that ten
pounds was an awful trial to him.

2164
02:48:18.959 --> 02:48:24.159
It rankled not any with him,
but he felt sure with her still.

2165
02:48:24.239 --> 02:48:26.959
If she had had her pride,
he also had his. He reckoned that

2166
02:48:26.959 --> 02:48:31.879
she had not rightly behaved in taking
the note without his permission, and that

2167
02:48:31.120 --> 02:48:35.559
in returning the full sum and pretending
that he had made it necessary for her

2168
02:48:35.600 --> 02:48:37.680
to run the house on her own
money, she had treated him meanly.

2169
02:48:39.040 --> 02:48:46.239
The truth was she had wounded him
again. Instincts of astounding generosity were budding

2170
02:48:46.239 --> 02:48:50.639
in him, but he was determined
to await an advance from her. He

2171
02:48:50.680 --> 02:48:56.399
gave her money for housekeeping, with
him moderation, and nothing more. Then

2172
02:48:56.559 --> 02:49:01.760
one evening she announced that the morrow
would be her birthday. James felt uneasy.

2173
02:49:01.959 --> 02:49:05.360
He'd never given birth to presents,
but he well knew that presents were

2174
02:49:05.360 --> 02:49:09.280
the correct thing on birthdays. He
went to bed in a state of the

2175
02:49:09.280 --> 02:49:13.879
most absurd and couseness mental disturbance.
He did not know what to do,

2176
02:49:13.879 --> 02:49:20.520
whereas it was enormously obvious what to
do. He woke up about one o'clock

2177
02:49:20.840 --> 02:49:24.520
and reflected with an air of discovery
a dawn was extremely friendly. When she

2178
02:49:24.600 --> 02:49:28.879
told me it was her birthday to
morrow. She meant it as an advance.

2179
02:49:28.600 --> 02:49:33.239
I should take it as an advance. About half past one, he

2180
02:49:33.239 --> 02:49:37.760
said to himself, I'll give her
a guinea to spend if she likes it.

2181
02:49:37.840 --> 02:49:41.680
Did genuinely seem to him a vast
sum a guinea to fritter away.

2182
02:49:43.120 --> 02:49:48.399
However, towards three o'clock its vastness
had shrunk. Dash to would ant give

2183
02:49:48.399 --> 02:49:54.239
the wench a fiver? He exclaimed
it was madness, But he had an

2184
02:49:54.280 --> 02:49:56.719
obscure feeling that he might have had
more amusement if he had begun being mad

2185
02:49:56.840 --> 02:50:03.600
rather earlier in life. Upon this
he slept soundly till six o'clock. His

2186
02:50:03.719 --> 02:50:09.280
mind then, unfortunately got entangled in
the painful episode of the ten pound note.

2187
02:50:09.200 --> 02:50:13.440
He and Helen had the same blood
in their veins. They were alike

2188
02:50:13.479 --> 02:50:18.159
in some essential traits. He knew
that neither of them could ever persuade himself

2189
02:50:18.319 --> 02:50:22.799
or herself to mention that miserable ten
pound note again. If I gave her

2190
02:50:22.799 --> 02:50:26.120
a tenner, he said, that
would make us See as I settled to

2191
02:50:26.159 --> 02:50:31.639
forget that business and let bygones be
by gones, I'll give her a tenor.

2192
02:50:33.159 --> 02:50:35.079
It was preposterous. She could not, of course, spend it.

2193
02:50:35.280 --> 02:50:39.799
She would put it away so it
would not be wasted. Upon this,

2194
02:50:41.079 --> 02:50:48.079
he rose poor simpleton. Ever since
the commencement of his relations with Helen surprised

2195
02:50:48.159 --> 02:50:52.479
and followed surprise for him, and
the series was not ended. The idea

2196
02:50:52.479 --> 02:50:56.520
of giving a gift made him quite
nervous. He fumbled in his cash box

2197
02:50:56.520 --> 02:51:01.799
for quite a long time, and
then he called nervous Helen. She came

2198
02:51:01.840 --> 02:51:07.879
out of the kitchen into the front
room, dress white muslin, unspeakable extravagance

2199
02:51:07.879 --> 02:51:11.440
in a town of smuts. It's
thy birth de las. She nodded,

2200
02:51:11.479 --> 02:51:18.360
smiling, Well take this. He
handed her a ten pound note. Oh

2201
02:51:18.399 --> 02:51:22.000
thank you, uncle, She cried, just on the calm side of effusiveness.

2202
02:51:22.680 --> 02:51:26.879
At this point the surprise occurred.
There was another ten pound note in

2203
02:51:26.879 --> 02:51:31.520
the cash box. His fingers went
for a stroll on their own account and

2204
02:51:31.600 --> 02:51:35.440
returned with that note. Hold on, he admonished her for jumping to conclusions

2205
02:51:35.920 --> 02:51:41.319
and this, and he gave her
a second note. He was much more

2206
02:51:41.319 --> 02:51:46.520
startled than she was. Oh thank
you uncle, and then laughing, oh

2207
02:51:46.559 --> 02:51:50.159
thank you uncle, and then laughing, why it's nearly a sovereign for every

2208
02:51:50.239 --> 02:51:56.639
year of my life? Oh old
Art twenty six. I'm gone, dotty,

2209
02:51:56.959 --> 02:52:01.639
he said to his soul, I'm
gone dotty. And his eyes watched

2210
02:52:01.680 --> 02:52:05.559
his fingers take six sovereigns out of
the box and count them into her small

2211
02:52:05.559 --> 02:52:11.959
white hand, and his cheek felt
her kiss. She went off with twenty

2212
02:52:11.000 --> 02:52:18.760
six pounds. Twenty six pounds.
The episode was entirely incredible. Breakfast was

2213
02:52:18.799 --> 02:52:24.760
a most pleasing meal. Though acknowledging
himself an imbecile, he was obliged to

2214
02:52:24.760 --> 02:52:30.719
acknowledge also that a certain pleasure springs
from a certain sort of imbecility. Helen

2215
02:52:31.000 --> 02:52:35.399
was adorable now. That same morning
he had received from Missus Procter a flattering

2216
02:52:35.440 --> 02:52:39.399
note asking him if he could spare
the time to go up to Hillport and

2217
02:52:39.440 --> 02:52:43.760
examine Wilbraham Hall with her and give
her his expert advice as to its value,

2218
02:52:43.799 --> 02:52:48.360
et cetera. He informed Helen of
the plan. I'll go with you,

2219
02:52:48.680 --> 02:52:52.399
she said at once. What's in
the wind, he asked himself.

2220
02:52:54.120 --> 02:52:58.639
He saw in suggestion a device for
seeing Immanuel. The fact is, she

2221
02:52:58.680 --> 02:53:01.799
added, I want to show yours
up at Hillport that might do for us.

2222
02:53:03.120 --> 02:53:05.760
He winced. She said nothing about
her removal. For quite some time.

2223
02:53:07.600 --> 02:53:11.600
He hated the notion of her removal, flitting, he called it.

2224
02:53:11.600 --> 02:53:15.520
It would mean extra expense too.
As for Hillport, he was sure that

2225
02:53:15.600 --> 02:53:18.479
nothing except cottages could be got in
Hillport for less than fifty pounds a year.

2226
02:53:20.680 --> 02:53:22.479
If she thought he was going to
increase his rent by thirty two pounds

2227
02:53:22.479 --> 02:53:28.520
a year besides rates, she was
in error. The breakfast finished in a

2228
02:53:28.520 --> 02:53:33.840
slight mist. He hardened the idea
of her indicating houses to him, the

2229
02:53:33.879 --> 02:53:39.799
idea of her assuming that well no
use in meeting trouble. Halfway end of

2230
02:53:39.879 --> 02:53:48.479
chapter fifteen, Chapter sixteen of Helen
with the High Hand by Arnold Bennett.

2231
02:53:48.760 --> 02:53:54.440
This LibriVox recording is in the public
domain recording by Simon Evers, Chapter sixteen,

2232
02:53:56.040 --> 02:54:01.000
The Hall and its Result. Yes, said Missus Proctor, gazing about

2233
02:54:01.000 --> 02:54:07.719
her, to James olleran Shaw.
It certainly is rather spacious, rather spacious,

2234
02:54:07.520 --> 02:54:11.680
James repeated, in the secret hollows
of his mind. It was not

2235
02:54:11.879 --> 02:54:16.200
spacious, It was simply fantastic.
They stood those two, Missus Potter and

2236
02:54:16.239 --> 02:54:22.280
her usual flowered silk, and James
in his usual hard rent collecting clothes at

2237
02:54:22.280 --> 02:54:24.920
the foot of the double staircase,
which sprang with a light of elegance of

2238
02:54:24.959 --> 02:54:30.719
wings from the floor of the entrance
hall of Wilbraham Hall. In front of

2239
02:54:30.719 --> 02:54:33.799
them, over the great door was
a musician's gallery, and over that a

2240
02:54:33.959 --> 02:54:39.680
huge window. On either side of
the great door were narrow windows which looked

2241
02:54:39.680 --> 02:54:45.079
over stretches of green country far away
from the Five Towns. For Wilbraham Hall

2242
02:54:45.360 --> 02:54:48.440
was on the supreme ridge of Hillport
and presented only its back yard, so

2243
02:54:48.520 --> 02:54:52.399
to speak, to the Five towns. And though the carpets were up rolled

2244
02:54:52.440 --> 02:54:56.840
up and tied with strings, and
though there were dark rectangular spaces on the

2245
02:54:56.879 --> 02:55:00.680
walls showing where pitchers had been,
the effect of the hall was quite a

2246
02:55:00.719 --> 02:55:05.760
furnished effect, polished oak and tasseled
hangings, and monstrous vases and couches and

2247
02:55:05.840 --> 02:55:11.120
chairs preserved in it the appearance of
a home, if a home of gance.

2248
02:55:11.600 --> 02:55:16.360
Decidedly it was worthy of the mighty
reputations of the extinct Wilbrahams. The

2249
02:55:16.399 --> 02:55:22.719
Wilbrahams had gradually risen in North Staffordshire
for two centuries. About the Sunday of

2250
02:55:22.760 --> 02:55:26.040
the Battle of Waterloo, they were
at their apergee. Then for a century

2251
02:55:26.040 --> 02:55:31.719
they had gradually fallen, and at
last they had extinguished themselves in the person

2252
02:55:31.879 --> 02:55:35.639
of a young old fool who was
in parison for having cheated a pawnbroker.

2253
02:55:35.639 --> 02:55:39.079
This young old fool had nothing but
the name of Wilbraham to his back.

2254
02:55:41.520 --> 02:55:43.879
The wealth of the Wilbrahams, or
what remained of it, after eight decades

2255
02:55:43.879 --> 02:55:48.280
of attention, had durined. The
course of a famous twenty years lawsuit between

2256
02:55:48.319 --> 02:55:54.159
the father of the said young fool
and a farming cousin in California, slowly

2257
02:55:54.200 --> 02:55:58.799
settled like gold and dust in the
offices of lawyers in Carey Street, London,

2258
02:56:00.040 --> 02:56:05.440
and the house grounds Lake and furniture
save certain portraits, were now on

2259
02:56:05.520 --> 02:56:09.639
sale by order of the distant winner
of the lawsuit, and both Missus Proctor

2260
02:56:09.680 --> 02:56:15.479
and James could remember the time when
the twin horse equipage of the Wilbrahams used

2261
02:56:15.479 --> 02:56:20.000
to dash about the Five towns like
the chariots of the Sun. The recollection

2262
02:56:20.280 --> 02:56:26.479
made Missus Proctor sad, but in
James it produced no such feeling. To

2263
02:56:26.520 --> 02:56:31.360
Missus Proctor. Wilbraham Hall was the
last of the stylish port wine estates that

2264
02:56:31.440 --> 02:56:35.040
in old days dotted the heights around
the five towns. To her, it

2265
02:56:35.079 --> 02:56:39.920
was the symbol of the death of
tone and the triumph of industrialism, whereas

2266
02:56:41.000 --> 02:56:45.840
James merely saw it as so much
building land upon which streets of profitable and

2267
02:56:45.920 --> 02:56:50.000
inexpensive semi detached villas would one day
rise at the one's touch of the man

2268
02:56:50.040 --> 02:56:56.000
who had sufficient audacity for a prodigious
speculation. It'd be like living in the

2269
02:56:56.040 --> 02:57:03.360
covered market living here, James observed. The Salut's market is the largest roof

2270
02:57:03.399 --> 02:57:07.440
in Bersley, and old inhabitants,
incapable of recovering from the surprise of marketing

2271
02:57:07.520 --> 02:57:13.360
under cover instead of in an open
square, still after thirty years, referred

2272
02:57:13.399 --> 02:57:18.079
to it as the covered market.
Missus Proctor smiled, by the way,

2273
02:57:18.239 --> 02:57:24.079
said James, where's them, charlder. The old people looked round. Emmanuel

2274
02:57:24.120 --> 02:57:28.600
and Helen, who had entered the
proud preacincts with them, had vanished.

2275
02:57:28.840 --> 02:57:33.559
I believe they're upstairs, ma'am,
said the fat caretaker, pleading her respectable

2276
02:57:33.559 --> 02:57:39.120
white apron. You can go,
said Missus Proctor curtly, to this vestige

2277
02:57:39.120 --> 02:57:43.520
of groundeur. I will see you
before I leave. The apron resented the

2278
02:57:43.600 --> 02:57:48.079
dismissal, and perhaps would have taken
it from none but Missus Proctor. But

2279
02:57:48.159 --> 02:57:52.280
Missus Proctor had a men and a
flowered silk, before which even an apron

2280
02:57:52.319 --> 02:57:58.479
of the Wilbrams must quail. I
may tell you, mister Laurenshaw, she

2281
02:57:58.559 --> 02:58:01.559
remarked, confidentially, when they were
alone, that I have not the slightest

2282
02:58:01.600 --> 02:58:07.000
intention of buying this place a man
who takes advantage of my good nature.

2283
02:58:07.760 --> 02:58:11.559
You've no idea how persistent he is. So all you have to do is

2284
02:58:11.600 --> 02:58:15.040
to advise me firmly not to buy
it. That's why I've asked you to

2285
02:58:15.079 --> 02:58:18.319
come up. He acknowledges that you
are an authority, and he be forced

2286
02:58:18.319 --> 02:58:24.799
to accept your judgment. Why didn't
you say that afore? Missus asked James

2287
02:58:24.799 --> 02:58:30.840
Buntley before when before that kick up
party of yours he got out of me?

2288
02:58:30.920 --> 02:58:33.639
Then that as I thought it would
dirt cheap at eight thousand. But

2289
02:58:33.719 --> 02:58:37.879
I don't want to move, pleaded
Missus Potter. I'm asking ye why you

2290
02:58:37.959 --> 02:58:43.840
didn't tell me afore? James repeated. Missus Proctor looked at him. Men

2291
02:58:43.879 --> 02:58:48.440
are trying creatures, she said,
So it seems you can't tell a ten

2292
02:58:48.520 --> 02:58:52.000
a little for me, and she
sighed, I don't know as I object

2293
02:58:52.000 --> 02:58:56.840
to that what I object to is
contradicting. Miss Then why did you bring

2294
02:58:56.879 --> 02:59:03.200
Helen? Missus? Proctor demanded,
I didna she come? Has in exchanged

2295
02:59:03.319 --> 02:59:09.280
lances, and now she and Emmanuel
have run off. It looks to me,

2296
02:59:09.440 --> 02:59:11.879
said James, as if your plan
for knocking their two heads together was

2297
02:59:11.920 --> 02:59:16.079
not turning out as you meant it, Missus. And what's more, said

2298
02:59:16.079 --> 02:59:20.040
she, I do believe that the
man who wants me to buy this place

2299
02:59:20.360 --> 02:59:22.120
so that when I am gone you
can make a big splash here with your

2300
02:59:22.200 --> 02:59:26.639
niece and your money. Mister Loreranshaw, what do you think of that he

2301
02:59:26.760 --> 02:59:30.440
may make as much splash as he's
of mine too, wi my niece,

2302
02:59:30.840 --> 02:59:33.079
James answered, But he won't make
much of a splash within my money.

2303
02:59:33.239 --> 02:59:39.360
I can promise ye. His orbs
twinkled. I can promise ye, he

2304
02:59:39.399 --> 02:59:43.040
repeated. To whom do you mean
to leave it then? Not to his

2305
02:59:43.159 --> 02:59:48.239
wife? Oh well, as we
hear, I suppose he may as well

2306
02:59:48.239 --> 02:59:52.239
see what there is to be seen, and those two dreadful young people must

2307
02:59:52.239 --> 02:59:56.120
be found. They mounted the stairs. Will you give me your arm?

2308
02:59:56.120 --> 03:00:01.959
Mister Hollier in Shaw to gifts.
He was not used, although he had

2309
03:00:01.959 --> 03:00:07.920
given twenty six pounds that day.
The spectacle of Jimmy ascending the state staircase

2310
03:00:07.920 --> 03:00:13.639
of Wilbraham Hall with all the abounding
figure of Missus Proctor on his arm would

2311
03:00:13.680 --> 03:00:16.799
have drawn crowds had it been offered
to the public at sixpence a head.

2312
03:00:18.239 --> 03:00:22.040
They inspected the Great Drawing Room,
the Great Dining Room, the Great Bedroom

2313
03:00:22.360 --> 03:00:26.319
and all the lesser rooms. The
galleries, the balconies, the panelings,

2314
03:00:26.360 --> 03:00:31.559
the embrasures, the sweets and sweets
and sweets of Georgian and Victorian decaying furniture,

2315
03:00:31.319 --> 03:00:35.440
the ceilings and the cornices, the
pictures and engravings, of which some

2316
03:00:35.639 --> 03:00:41.760
hundreds remained, the ornaments, the
clocks, the screens, and the microscopic

2317
03:00:41.799 --> 03:00:46.840
knick knacks. Both of them lost
count of everything, except that before they

2318
03:00:46.840 --> 03:00:50.879
reached the attics, their path through
forty five separate apartments, not including linen

2319
03:00:50.920 --> 03:00:56.360
closets. It was in one of
the attics, as empty as Emmanuel's head,

2320
03:00:56.479 --> 03:01:00.719
that they discovered Emmanuel and heading,
gazing at a magnificent prospect over the

2321
03:01:00.760 --> 03:01:05.719
moorlands, with the gardens, the
paddock and Wilbraham Water immediately beneath. We've

2322
03:01:05.719 --> 03:01:09.200
been looking for you everywhere. Helen
burst out, Oh, missus Potter,

2323
03:01:09.319 --> 03:01:11.879
do come with me to the end
of the corridor and look at three old

2324
03:01:11.879 --> 03:01:16.760
distaffs that I've found in a cupboard. During the absence of the women,

2325
03:01:18.239 --> 03:01:24.079
James Olrainshaw contradicted himself to Emmanuel for
the sweet sake of Emmanuel's stepmother. Little

2326
03:01:24.079 --> 03:01:28.680
by little they descended to the earth, with continual detours and halts by Helen,

2327
03:01:28.040 --> 03:01:33.879
who was several times lost and found. I've told him, said James,

2328
03:01:33.959 --> 03:01:37.559
quietly and proudly. I've told him. It's no use to you unless

2329
03:01:37.559 --> 03:01:41.840
you want to turn it into a
building estate. They separated into two couples

2330
03:01:41.840 --> 03:01:46.680
at the gate, with elaborate formalities
on the part of Emmanuel, which Uncle

2331
03:01:46.760 --> 03:01:52.479
James more or less tried to imitate. Well murmured James, sighing relief,

2332
03:01:52.840 --> 03:01:56.159
as they waited for the electric tram
in that umbrageous and aristocratic portion of the

2333
03:01:56.159 --> 03:02:01.959
Oldcastle Road which lies nearest to the
ports of Wilbraham Hall. He was very

2334
03:02:01.959 --> 03:02:07.200
pleased with himself, because at the
cost of his own respect, he pleased

2335
03:02:07.200 --> 03:02:11.959
Missus Proctor Well murmured Helen in response, tapping on the edge of the pavement,

2336
03:02:13.239 --> 03:02:16.280
the very same sunshade in whose company
James had first made her acquaintance.

2337
03:02:18.719 --> 03:02:24.120
She seemed nervous, hesitating, apprehensive. What about that house, as you've

2338
03:02:24.159 --> 03:02:28.440
so kindly chose them for me,
he asked genially. He wanted to humor

2339
03:02:28.479 --> 03:02:33.079
her. She looked him straight in
the eyes. You've seen it, said

2340
03:02:33.120 --> 03:02:37.840
she? What? He snorted,
Well, have I seen it just now?

2341
03:02:37.879 --> 03:02:41.280
She replied, it's Wilbraham Hall.
I knew that missus Proctor wouldn't have

2342
03:02:41.360 --> 03:02:45.680
it, and besides, I've made
a manuel give up auld idea of it,

2343
03:02:46.239 --> 03:02:50.719
he laughed, but with a strange
and awful sensation in his stomach.

2344
03:02:50.959 --> 03:02:54.559
A poor joke, las he observed, with a laugh dead in his throat.

2345
03:02:56.520 --> 03:02:58.159
It isn't a poor joke, said
she. It isn't a joke at

2346
03:02:58.200 --> 03:03:03.120
all. Tis those seriously think as
I should buy that there barracks to please

2347
03:03:03.200 --> 03:03:09.399
thee? Certainly, she said,
courageously, just that to please me.

2348
03:03:09.840 --> 03:03:15.079
I'm right enough where I am,
he asserted, grimly. What vat should

2349
03:03:15.120 --> 03:03:18.879
I buy Wilburroom Hall? What should
I do in it? Live in it?

2350
03:03:18.879 --> 03:03:22.760
Trafalgar Rhad's good enough for me.
But it isn't good enough for me,

2351
03:03:24.200 --> 03:03:28.840
said she. I would ner minded, he said savagely. I wouldn't

2352
03:03:28.719 --> 03:03:31.719
have minded going into a house a
bit bigger. But nothing is big enough

2353
03:03:31.719 --> 03:03:37.200
for me except Wilbraham Hall, she
said. He said nothing. He was

2354
03:03:37.319 --> 03:03:41.520
furious. It was her birthday and
he had given her six and twenty pounds

2355
03:03:41.719 --> 03:03:46.159
ten shillings a week for a year, and she barely kissed him. And

2356
03:03:46.239 --> 03:03:50.840
now instantly after that amazing and mad
generosity, she had the face to look

2357
03:03:50.920 --> 03:03:56.840
cross because he would not buy Wilbraham
Hall. It was inconceivable, it was

2358
03:03:56.079 --> 03:04:01.799
unutterable. So he said nothing.
Why shouldn't you? After all, she

2359
03:04:01.920 --> 03:04:07.440
resumed, You've got an income of
nearly five thousand a year. Now he

2360
03:04:07.520 --> 03:04:11.559
hated her for the mean manner in
which he had wormed out of him secrets

2361
03:04:11.559 --> 03:04:15.879
that previously he had shared with no
one. You don't spend the twentieth part

2362
03:04:15.879 --> 03:04:18.239
of it. What are you going
to do with it? What are you

2363
03:04:18.360 --> 03:04:24.680
going to do with it? You'll
get you an old man, cold horrors.

2364
03:04:24.959 --> 03:04:26.440
You can't take it with you when
you leave the five towns. You

2365
03:04:26.479 --> 03:04:31.959
know whom should he leave your money
to? You'll probably die worth a hundred

2366
03:04:31.959 --> 03:04:35.399
thousand pounds at this rate. You'll
leave it to me, of course,

2367
03:04:35.760 --> 03:04:39.280
because there's nobody else for you to
leave it to. Why can't you use

2368
03:04:39.319 --> 03:04:43.079
it now instead of wasting it in
old stockings? I bank my money,

2369
03:04:43.079 --> 03:04:48.920
wench, he hissingly put in old
stockings. She repeated loudly. We could

2370
03:04:48.920 --> 03:04:52.959
live splendidly at Wilbromo Hall for two
thousand a year and you would still be

2371
03:04:54.000 --> 03:04:58.959
saving nearly three thousand a year.
He said. Nothing. Do you support

2372
03:05:00.040 --> 03:05:01.840
as I gave up my position at
school in order to live in a poky

2373
03:05:01.840 --> 03:05:05.520
little hall at eighteen brands a year. What do you think I can do

2374
03:05:05.600 --> 03:05:11.079
with myself all day in Trafalgar Road? Why nothing. There's no or even

2375
03:05:11.120 --> 03:05:15.559
for a piano, and so my
fingers are stiffening every day. It's not

2376
03:05:15.719 --> 03:05:20.280
life at all, Naturally, it's
a great privilege, she pursued, with

2377
03:05:20.319 --> 03:05:24.680
a vicious inflection that reminded him perfectly
of Susan for a girl like me to

2378
03:05:24.719 --> 03:05:26.799
live with an old man like you, all alone, with one servant and

2379
03:05:26.879 --> 03:05:31.920
no sitting room. But some privileges
cost too, dear. The fact is

2380
03:05:31.959 --> 03:05:35.760
you never think of me at all, And he had but just given her

2381
03:05:35.799 --> 03:05:39.879
six and twenty pounds. You think
you've got a cheap house keeper in me,

2382
03:05:41.200 --> 03:05:43.920
but you haven't. I'm a very
good housekeeper, especially in a very

2383
03:05:45.000 --> 03:05:50.399
large house. But I'm not cheap. She spoke as if she had all

2384
03:05:50.440 --> 03:05:54.120
her life been accustomed to a living
in vast mansions. But James knew that,

2385
03:05:54.360 --> 03:05:58.239
despite her fine friends, she never
lived in anything appreciably larger than his

2386
03:05:58.319 --> 03:06:03.520
own dwelling. He knew there was
not a house in Snade Road, Longshore

2387
03:06:03.760 --> 03:06:07.479
worth more than twenty five pounds a
year. The whole outbreak was shocking and

2388
03:06:07.559 --> 03:06:15.079
disgraceful. He scarcely recognized her.
He said nothing, and then suddenly he

2389
03:06:15.120 --> 03:06:20.959
said, I shall buy no Wilbraham
Hall. Las. His voice was final.

2390
03:06:22.120 --> 03:06:24.079
You could sell it again at a
prophet, said she. You could

2391
03:06:24.120 --> 03:06:30.159
turn it into a building estate.
Parrotcraied caught from himself or from Emmanuel.

2392
03:06:30.760 --> 03:06:33.360
And later on we could go and
live somewhere else. Yes, said he

2393
03:06:33.559 --> 03:06:39.520
Bookingham Palace. Lightly. I don't, she began, I should buy no

2394
03:06:39.719 --> 03:06:46.959
Wilbraham Hall. He reiterated. Greek
had met Greek. The tram surged along

2395
03:06:46.000 --> 03:06:50.600
and swallowed up the two Greeks.
They were alone in the tram, and

2396
03:06:50.639 --> 03:06:54.079
they sat down opposite each other.
The conductor came and took James's money,

2397
03:06:54.319 --> 03:06:58.559
and the conductor heart had turned his
back when Henn snapped, with nostrils twitching.

2398
03:07:00.159 --> 03:07:03.159
You're a miser, that's what you
are, A regular old miser.

2399
03:07:03.559 --> 03:07:07.239
Every one knows that. Every one
calls you a miser. If you aren't

2400
03:07:07.280 --> 03:07:09.600
a miser, I should like you
to tell me why you live on about

2401
03:07:09.600 --> 03:07:13.559
three pawns a week when your income
is ninety pounds a week. I thought

2402
03:07:13.559 --> 03:07:16.239
I might do you some good.
I thought I might get you out of

2403
03:07:16.280 --> 03:07:20.399
it. But it seems I can't. Oh, he snorted, with a

2404
03:07:20.440 --> 03:07:28.639
painful sight. Other persons boarded the
car at Tea. She behaved precisely like

2405
03:07:28.680 --> 03:07:31.920
an angel, not the least hint
of her demeanor, of the ineffable affray

2406
03:07:31.959 --> 03:07:37.159
of the afternoon. She was so
sweet that she might have given her twenty

2407
03:07:37.239 --> 03:07:41.959
six Wilbraham halls instead of twenty six
pounds. He spoke not. He was

2408
03:07:43.239 --> 03:07:48.680
in a very deep sense upset.
She spent the evening in her room.

2409
03:07:50.120 --> 03:07:52.719
Good Bye, she said. The
next morning, most amiably, it was

2410
03:07:52.760 --> 03:07:58.120
after breakfast. She was hatted,
loved, and sunshaded. What he exclaimed,

2411
03:07:58.719 --> 03:08:03.079
or of why she said, all
methings are packed up. I'll ascend

2412
03:08:03.120 --> 03:08:05.159
for them. I think I can
get back to the school. If I

2413
03:08:05.200 --> 03:08:09.600
can't, I shall go to my
mother in Canada. Thank you very much

2414
03:08:09.600 --> 03:08:11.959
for all your kindness. If I
go to Canada, of course I shall

2415
03:08:11.959 --> 03:08:16.719
come and see you before I leave. He let her shake his hand.

2416
03:08:18.719 --> 03:08:22.840
For two days he was haunted by
memories of kidney oblets and by the word

2417
03:08:22.079 --> 03:08:28.479
miser miser him, A miser him, he frained, tell right was a

2418
03:08:28.520 --> 03:08:35.479
miser but him. Then the natty
servant gave notice, and missus Butt called

2419
03:08:35.479 --> 03:08:39.440
and suggested that she should resume her
sway over him, But she did not

2420
03:08:39.520 --> 03:08:45.000
employ exactly that phrase. He longed
for one of Helen's meals as a drunkard

2421
03:08:45.079 --> 03:08:50.319
longs for alcohol. Then Helen called
with the cauntual information that she was off

2422
03:08:50.319 --> 03:08:54.959
to Canada. She was particularly sweet. She had the tact to make the

2423
03:08:54.959 --> 03:08:58.159
interview short. The one blot on
our conduct of the interview was that she

2424
03:08:58.239 --> 03:09:03.520
congratulated on the possible return of Missus
Budt, of which she had heard from

2425
03:09:03.520 --> 03:09:09.159
the natty servant. Goodbye, uncle, she said, good bye. She

2426
03:09:09.200 --> 03:09:16.680
had got as far as the door
when he whispered brokenly alas Helen turned quickly

2427
03:09:16.719 --> 03:09:26.799
towards him. End of Chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen, off Heading with the

2428
03:09:26.879 --> 03:09:31.399
High Hat by Arnold Bennett. This
LibriVox recording is the public domain recording by

2429
03:09:31.399 --> 03:09:39.239
Simon Evers, Chapter seventeen, Descendants
of Machiavelli. Yes, she turned towards

2430
03:09:39.319 --> 03:09:43.680
him with a rapid, impulsive movement
which expressed partly her sympathy for her old

2431
03:09:43.760 --> 03:09:48.159
uncle, and partly a feeling of
joy caused by the sudden hope that he

2432
03:09:48.239 --> 03:09:54.760
decided to give way a by Wilbraham
Hall after all. And the fact was

2433
03:09:54.879 --> 03:09:58.680
that in his secret soul he had
decided to give way. He decided that

2434
03:09:58.719 --> 03:10:03.200
Helen, together with Helen's cooking,
was worse to him the price of Wilbraham

2435
03:10:03.280 --> 03:10:09.079
Hall. When he saw her brusque, eager gesture, he began to reflect

2436
03:10:09.959 --> 03:10:13.639
His was a wily and profound nature. He reckoned that he could read the

2437
03:10:13.719 --> 03:10:18.040
human soul. And he said to
himself, the wenches and saw set on

2438
03:10:18.200 --> 03:10:22.920
leaving me as I thought she was. And instead of saying to her,

2439
03:10:22.559 --> 03:10:26.319
Ellen, las, if you'll stop, you shall have your Wilbraham Hall.

2440
03:10:26.000 --> 03:10:31.399
In terms of affecting sad surrender.
He said, I'm sorry to lose thee,

2441
03:10:31.440 --> 03:10:35.799
my girl, but what must be
must, And when he caught the

2442
03:10:35.799 --> 03:10:37.600
look in her eyes, he was
more than ever convinced that he would be

2443
03:10:37.600 --> 03:10:45.280
able to keep Helen without satisfying her
extremely expensive whim. Helen, for her

2444
03:10:45.360 --> 03:10:48.559
part, began to suspect that if
she played the fish with sufficient skill,

2445
03:10:50.040 --> 03:10:54.000
she would capture it. Thus,
they both, in a manner of speaking,

2446
03:10:54.319 --> 03:10:58.840
got out their landing nets. I
don't say jam tolerance. Shaw proceeded

2447
03:11:00.319 --> 03:11:03.760
in accents, calculated to prove to
her that he had just as great a

2448
03:11:03.799 --> 03:11:07.239
horror of sentimentality as she had.
I don't say as he wouldn't make a

2449
03:11:07.360 --> 03:11:11.040
rare good mistress or Wilbraham hall.
I don't say as I wouldn't like to

2450
03:11:11.079 --> 03:11:15.879
see you in it. But when
a man meets my age, he's fixed

2451
03:11:15.920 --> 03:11:18.760
in his habits like And what's more, supposing I am saving a bit of

2452
03:11:18.799 --> 03:11:22.000
money, who am I saving it
for? If it isn't for you and

2453
03:11:22.000 --> 03:11:26.120
your mother? He said, as
much yourself. I might pop off any

2454
03:11:26.159 --> 03:11:33.040
minute. Uncle Henn protested, Ay
any minute, he repeated firmly, I've

2455
03:11:33.040 --> 03:11:37.280
known stronger men nor me pop off
as quick as a bottle of Giner beer

2456
03:11:37.360 --> 03:11:41.719
near the fire. Here he gazed
at her, and his gaze said,

2457
03:11:41.280 --> 03:11:45.239
if I popped off here in a
now, wouldn't you feel ashamed of yourself

2458
03:11:45.280 --> 03:11:48.319
for being so hard on your old
uncle? You'll have many and many a

2459
03:11:48.399 --> 03:11:54.000
year. Yet Henden smiled. He
shook his head pessimistically. I've set me

2460
03:11:54.040 --> 03:11:58.159
out, he continued on, leaving
a certain sum for you and your mother.

2461
03:11:58.879 --> 03:12:01.840
I've had it in mind since,
and my dunt nor when it's a

2462
03:12:01.840 --> 03:12:05.040
fancy your mine and I cannot do
it if I'm all to go around the

2463
03:12:05.040 --> 03:12:11.079
five towns buying barracks. Helen laughed, What a man you are for exaggerating.

2464
03:12:11.479 --> 03:12:16.360
She flattered him. Then she sat
down. He considered that he was

2465
03:12:16.440 --> 03:12:20.920
gradually winding in his line with immense
skill. Aye, he ejaculated with an

2466
03:12:20.959 --> 03:12:26.520
absent air. It's a fancy your
mine. How much do you want to

2467
03:12:26.600 --> 03:12:31.120
leave? And in questioned, faintly
smiling, don't you bother head about that?

2468
03:12:31.479 --> 03:12:33.079
Said he. You may take it
from me, as it's a tidy

2469
03:12:33.159 --> 03:12:37.559
sum. And when I've done and
gone and you've got it all, then

2470
03:12:37.559 --> 03:12:41.840
you can do as you feel inclined. I shall beat her as sure as

2471
03:12:41.840 --> 03:12:46.079
eggs, he told himself. All
this means that he'll give him when he

2472
03:12:46.239 --> 03:12:50.319
comes to the point. She told
herself, and aloud she said, have

2473
03:12:50.399 --> 03:12:56.520
you had supper? Uncle? No, he replied. The next development was

2474
03:12:56.559 --> 03:13:00.440
that, without another word, she
removed her gloves, lifted her pair hands

2475
03:13:00.479 --> 03:13:03.719
to her head, and slowly drew
hatpins from her hat. Then she removed

2476
03:13:03.719 --> 03:13:07.959
her hat and plunged the pins into
it again. He could scarcely refrain from

2477
03:13:07.959 --> 03:13:13.399
snatching off his own tasseled Turkish cap
and pitching it in the air. He

2478
03:13:13.440 --> 03:13:16.840
felt as if he had won the
Battle of Hastings, or defeated the captain

2479
03:13:16.840 --> 03:13:20.000
of the bowling club in a single
handed match. And to think, he

2480
03:13:20.079 --> 03:13:22.920
reflected, but I should have given
in to her by this time, who

2481
03:13:24.040 --> 03:13:28.680
hadn't got more sense in my little
finger than et cetera. I think,

2482
03:13:28.719 --> 03:13:31.440
carstair and cook you a bit of
supper, said Helen. I suppose Georgiana

2483
03:13:31.520 --> 03:13:35.760
is in the kitchen. Ever isn't
as in the back entry? Said Jimmy.

2484
03:13:37.719 --> 03:13:41.799
What's she doing in the back entry? Counting the stars? Said Jimmy,

2485
03:13:41.159 --> 03:13:43.840
And that young man as comes with
the bread helping her most like?

2486
03:13:46.280 --> 03:13:50.719
I must talk to that girl,
Helen Rose. He may said Jimmy,

2487
03:13:50.120 --> 03:13:54.159
but the baker's man will have the
last word, or times is changed.

2488
03:13:54.639 --> 03:14:00.440
He was gay. He could not
conceal his gaiety. He saw himself from

2489
03:14:00.440 --> 03:14:05.000
the menace of the thralldom of missus
Butt. He saw himself gormandizing over the

2490
03:14:05.040 --> 03:14:09.159
meals that Helen alone could cook.
He saw himself trotting up and down the

2491
03:14:09.159 --> 03:14:11.879
streets of Bursley, with the finest, smartest lass in the five towns by

2492
03:14:11.920 --> 03:14:18.000
his side, and scarcely a penny
of extra expenditure, and all this happy

2493
03:14:18.079 --> 03:14:22.479
issue due to his diplomatic and histrionic
skill. The fact was Helen really liked

2494
03:14:22.520 --> 03:14:26.159
him. There could be no doubt
about that. She liked him, and

2495
03:14:26.280 --> 03:14:31.280
she would not leave him. Also, she was a young woman of exceptional

2496
03:14:31.280 --> 03:14:35.159
common sense, and being such,
she would not risk the loss of a

2497
03:14:35.239 --> 03:14:39.319
large fortune merely for the sake of
indulging pique engendered by his refusal to gratify

2498
03:14:39.479 --> 03:14:45.959
a ridiculous caprice. Before she had
well quitted the room, he saw with

2499
03:14:46.040 --> 03:14:48.600
clearness that he was quite the astutious
man in the world, and that Helen

2500
03:14:48.760 --> 03:14:54.840
was clay in his hands. The
sound of crockery and the scullery, and

2501
03:14:54.879 --> 03:14:58.319
the cheerful little explosion when the gas
ring was ignited, and the low mutter

2502
03:14:58.360 --> 03:15:03.559
of a conversation that ensued between Helen
and Georgiana. These phenomena were music to

2503
03:15:03.600 --> 03:15:09.280
the artist in him. He extracted
the concertina from its case and began to

2504
03:15:09.319 --> 03:15:13.159
play the Dead March in Saul.
Not because his sentiments had a foundation in

2505
03:15:13.200 --> 03:15:18.440
the slightest degree funereal, but because
he could perform the Dead March in Saul

2506
03:15:18.760 --> 03:15:24.680
with more virtuosity than any other piece
except the Hallelulio Chorus. And he did

2507
03:15:24.680 --> 03:15:28.840
not desire to insist too much on
his victory by filling Trafalgar Road with the

2508
03:15:28.840 --> 03:15:35.079
Hallelulio chorus. He was discretion itself. When she came back to the parlor

2509
03:15:35.440 --> 03:15:39.520
astoundingly natty in a muslin apron of
Georgiana's, to announce supper. She made

2510
03:15:39.520 --> 03:15:45.000
no reference to the concert which she
was interrupting. He abandoned the concertina,

2511
03:15:45.040 --> 03:15:48.920
gently caressing it into its leather shell. He was fooled to the brim with

2512
03:15:50.040 --> 03:15:52.920
kindness. It seemed to him that
his life with Helen was commencing all over

2513
03:15:54.000 --> 03:15:58.520
again. Then he followed the indications
of his nose, which already for some

2514
03:15:58.600 --> 03:16:01.639
minutes had been prophesying to him.
Within the concoction of the supper, Helen

2515
03:16:01.680 --> 03:16:07.200
had surpassed herself, and she had
there was kidney, no not in an

2516
03:16:07.239 --> 03:16:11.680
omelet, but impaled on a skewer, a novel species of kidney, a

2517
03:16:11.799 --> 03:16:18.000
particuliarity in kidney's where's this pick the
door, plus, he asked, it's

2518
03:16:18.040 --> 03:16:22.280
the kidneys of that rabbit that you've
brought in for to morrow, said she.

2519
03:16:22.920 --> 03:16:26.079
Now he had no affection for rabbit
as an article of dart, and

2520
03:16:26.159 --> 03:16:30.319
he'd only bought the rabbit because the
rabbit happened to be going past his door

2521
03:16:30.719 --> 03:16:35.159
in the hands of a hawker that
morning. His perfunctory purchase of it showed

2522
03:16:35.159 --> 03:16:39.319
how he had lost interest in life
and meals since Helen's departure, and lo

2523
03:16:39.760 --> 03:16:45.879
she had transformed a minor part of
it into something wondrous, luscious and unforgettable.

2524
03:16:46.000 --> 03:16:52.760
Ah. She was Helen, and
she was his. I've asked Georgiana

2525
03:16:52.799 --> 03:16:58.239
to make up my bed, Helen
said. After the divine repassed. I'll

2526
03:16:58.280 --> 03:17:01.920
tell ye what I'll do, he
said, in an ecstasy of generosity,

2527
03:17:01.520 --> 03:17:05.879
I'll buy thee a piano lass and
we'll put it in parlor against the wall

2528
03:17:05.040 --> 03:17:11.280
where them books are. Now she
kept silence, a silence which vaguely disturbed

2529
03:17:11.319 --> 03:17:16.360
him, so that he added,
and if you're bent on a bigger oas

2530
03:17:16.440 --> 03:17:18.239
there's one up a park road above
the park, send it a touch.

2531
03:17:18.520 --> 03:17:22.559
At least it's the end of a
ternice as I can get for thirty pounds

2532
03:17:22.600 --> 03:17:26.680
a year. My dearest uncle,
she said, in a firm, even

2533
03:17:26.760 --> 03:17:31.760
voice, What are you talking about? Didn't I tell you when I came

2534
03:17:31.760 --> 03:17:33.840
in that I had settled to go
to Canada. I thought it was all

2535
03:17:33.879 --> 03:17:37.719
decided. Surely you don't think I'm
going to live in a poky house in

2536
03:17:37.840 --> 03:17:43.000
Park Road, the very street where
my school was too. I perfectly understand

2537
03:17:43.000 --> 03:17:46.760
that you won't buy Wilbrahm all.
That's all right. I sha'n't pout.

2538
03:17:48.280 --> 03:17:52.680
I ain't women who pout. We
can't agree, but we're friends. You

2539
03:17:52.799 --> 03:17:54.200
do what you like with your money, and I do what I like with

2540
03:17:54.239 --> 03:17:58.239
myself. I had a sort of
idea I would try to make you beautifully

2541
03:17:58.239 --> 03:18:03.440
comfortable, just for the last time
before I left England, and that's why

2542
03:18:03.479 --> 03:18:09.799
I'm staying. I do hope you
didn't imagine anything else. Uncle there she

2543
03:18:09.879 --> 03:18:13.479
kissed him not as a niece,
but as a wise experienced nurse might have

2544
03:18:13.559 --> 03:18:18.760
kissed a little boy. For she, too, in her way, reckoned

2545
03:18:18.799 --> 03:18:22.520
herself, somewhat of a diplomatist and
a descendant of Machiavelli. She thought,

2546
03:18:24.239 --> 03:18:26.959
it's a funny thing if I can't
bring him to his knees with a tasty

2547
03:18:26.040 --> 03:18:30.239
supper, just to make it clear
to him what he'll lose if he loses

2548
03:18:30.280 --> 03:18:37.040
me. James Orangshaw had no sleep
that night, and Helen have but little

2549
03:18:37.920 --> 03:18:48.319
end of chapter seventeen. Chapter eighteen
of Helen with the High Hand by Arnold

2550
03:18:48.360 --> 03:18:52.120
Bennett. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain recording by Simon Evers.

2551
03:18:52.959 --> 03:18:58.639
Chapter eighteen. She cane he came
downstairs early, as he had done after

2552
03:18:58.680 --> 03:19:03.799
a previe sleepless night, also caused
by Helen, that it would be foodish,

2553
03:19:05.000 --> 03:19:09.239
fatuous, and inexcusable to persevere further
in his obstinacy against Helen. This

2554
03:19:09.399 --> 03:19:13.760
he knew. He thought clearly that
all his arguments to her about money and

2555
03:19:13.760 --> 03:19:18.360
the saving of money were ridiculous.
They would not have carried conviction even to

2556
03:19:18.399 --> 03:19:24.680
the most passive intelligence, and Helen's
intelligence was far from passive. They were

2557
03:19:24.719 --> 03:19:28.079
not even true, in fact,
for he had never intended to leave any

2558
03:19:28.079 --> 03:19:31.719
money to Helen's mother. He never
intended to leave any money to anybody,

2559
03:19:31.079 --> 03:19:35.879
simply because he had not cared to
think of his own decease. He made

2560
03:19:35.879 --> 03:19:39.559
no plans about the valuable fortune,
which, as Helen had too forcibly told

2561
03:19:39.639 --> 03:19:41.239
him, he would not be able
to bear away with him when he left

2562
03:19:41.239 --> 03:19:48.319
persly forever. This subject was not
pleasant to him. All his rambling sentences

2563
03:19:48.360 --> 03:19:50.760
to Helen, which he had thought
so clever when he uttered them, were

2564
03:19:50.799 --> 03:19:56.200
merely an excuse for not parting with
money, money that was useless to him.

2565
03:19:56.719 --> 03:20:00.399
On the other hand, what Helen
had said was both true through and

2566
03:20:00.479 --> 03:20:05.959
convincing. At any rate. It
convinced him he was a miser. He

2567
03:20:05.959 --> 03:20:09.360
admitted it. Being a miser,
he saw, was one way of enjoying

2568
03:20:09.360 --> 03:20:13.079
herself, but not the best way. Again, if he really desired to

2569
03:20:13.159 --> 03:20:18.000
enrich Helen, how much better to
enrich her at once than at an uncertain

2570
03:20:18.120 --> 03:20:22.559
date when he would be dead.
Dead people can't be thanked, Dead people

2571
03:20:22.600 --> 03:20:26.479
can't be kissed. Dead people can't
have curious dainties offered to them for their

2572
03:20:26.520 --> 03:20:31.399
supper. He wished to keep Helen, but Henn would only stay on one

2573
03:20:31.440 --> 03:20:37.760
condition. That condition was a perfectly
easy condition for him to fulfill. After

2574
03:20:37.799 --> 03:20:41.280
paying eight thousand pounds or a bit
less for Wilbraham Hall, he would still

2575
03:20:41.319 --> 03:20:46.959
have about ten times as much money
as he could possibly require. Of course,

2576
03:20:46.000 --> 03:20:50.120
eight thousand pounds was a lot of
coin, but then you can't measure

2577
03:20:50.159 --> 03:20:54.680
women, especially when they are good
cooks, in terms of coin. For

2578
03:20:54.719 --> 03:20:58.399
instance, it happened that he had
exactly eight thousand pounds in shares of the

2579
03:20:58.440 --> 03:21:03.079
London and Law north Western Railway Company. The share certificates were in his safe.

2580
03:21:03.479 --> 03:21:07.040
He could hold them in his hand. He could sell them and buy

2581
03:21:07.079 --> 03:21:11.799
Wilbraham Hall with the proceeds. That
is to say, he could exchange them

2582
03:21:11.879 --> 03:21:16.079
for Helen. Now, it would
be preposterous to argue that he would not

2583
03:21:16.200 --> 03:21:22.559
derive more satisfaction from Helen than from
those crackling share certificates. Wilbraham Hall,

2584
03:21:22.840 --> 03:21:26.840
once he became its owner, would
be a worry, an awful worry.

2585
03:21:26.239 --> 03:21:31.200
Well, would it? Would not
Helen be entirely capable of looking after it,

2586
03:21:31.440 --> 03:21:35.520
of superintending it in every way?
He knew that she would. As

2587
03:21:35.559 --> 03:21:39.280
for the upkeep of existence in Wilbraham
Hall, had not had him proved to

2588
03:21:39.319 --> 03:21:46.319
him that its cost was insignificant when
compared to his income she had? And

2589
03:21:46.600 --> 03:21:50.360
as to his own daily manner of
living, could he not live precisely as

2590
03:21:50.399 --> 03:21:54.319
he chose at Wilbraham Hall. He
could. It was vast, but nothing

2591
03:21:54.319 --> 03:21:58.600
would compare him to live in all
of it at once. He could choose

2592
03:21:58.600 --> 03:22:01.079
a nice little room and put a
note on the door that it was not

2593
03:22:01.200 --> 03:22:05.120
to be disturbed, and Helen could
run the rest of the mansion as her

2594
03:22:05.159 --> 03:22:11.040
caprice dictated. The process of argument
was over when Helen descended to put the

2595
03:22:11.079 --> 03:22:15.479
finishing touches to a breakfast, which
he had evidently concocted with Georgiana the night

2596
03:22:15.520 --> 03:22:20.559
before. Breakfast is ready, uncle, she called to him. He obeyed,

2597
03:22:20.399 --> 03:22:24.120
flowers on the table once more,
the first since her departure, a

2598
03:22:24.159 --> 03:22:31.639
clean cloth, a general inexplicable tuning
up of the meal's frame. He would

2599
03:22:31.639 --> 03:22:35.319
now perhaps have expected him to yield
as gracefully as an old man can.

2600
03:22:35.079 --> 03:22:39.159
He wanted to yield, He hungered
to yield. He knew that it was

2601
03:22:39.200 --> 03:22:43.479
utterly for his own good to yield. But if you seriously expect him to

2602
03:22:43.559 --> 03:22:48.719
yield, your knowledge of human nature
lacks depth. Something far stronger than argument,

2603
03:22:48.079 --> 03:22:52.959
something far stronger than desire for his
own happiness, prevented him from yielding.

2604
03:22:54.040 --> 03:22:58.120
Pride, as silly self conceit,
the greatest enemy of the human race

2605
03:22:58.479 --> 03:23:01.719
forbade him to yield, for on
the previous night Helen had snubbed him,

2606
03:23:03.159 --> 03:23:07.559
and not for the first time.
He could not accept the snub with meekness

2607
03:23:07.000 --> 03:23:11.399
that would have paid him handsomely to
do so, though as a Christian and

2608
03:23:11.440 --> 03:23:16.799
a philosopher he ought to have done
so, he could not. So he

2609
03:23:16.840 --> 03:23:20.440
put on a brave face, pretended
to accept the situation with contented calm,

2610
03:23:20.959 --> 03:23:24.879
and talked to Vivs. Canada was
the next street, And as if her

2611
03:23:24.920 --> 03:23:30.920
going was entirely indifferent to him,
Helen imitated him. It was a lovely

2612
03:23:30.959 --> 03:23:35.239
morning, not a cloud in the
sky, only in their hearts, Uncle,

2613
03:23:35.639 --> 03:23:39.399
she said. After breakfast was done
and cleared away, he was counting

2614
03:23:39.440 --> 03:23:43.239
rents in his cash box in the
front parlor, and she had come to

2615
03:23:43.319 --> 03:23:48.079
him and was leaning over his shoulder. Well, thus have you got twenty

2616
03:23:48.079 --> 03:23:52.719
five pounds in that box? It
was obvious that he had. I shouldn't

2617
03:23:52.719 --> 03:23:56.639
be surprised, said he. I
wish you'd lend it to me. What

2618
03:23:56.879 --> 03:24:00.520
for? I want to go over
to Hambridge and book my berth, definitely,

2619
03:24:00.600 --> 03:24:03.600
and I've no loose cash. Now
Here was a chance to yield.

2620
03:24:05.120 --> 03:24:07.840
But no dost mean to say,
he exclaimed, as ye, havena booked

2621
03:24:07.879 --> 03:24:13.000
your berth? One just seems stale. There's one from Glasgow next Saturday,

2622
03:24:13.040 --> 03:24:18.120
said she the Saskatchewan. I secured
the berth, but I didn't pay for

2623
03:24:18.159 --> 03:24:22.440
it. It's a rare lot of
money, he observed. Oh, she

2624
03:24:22.479 --> 03:24:24.319
said, I didn't want all that
for the fare. I've other things to

2625
03:24:24.360 --> 03:24:28.000
pay for railway to Glasgow, et
cetera. He will lend it me,

2626
03:24:28.040 --> 03:24:33.959
won't you. Her fingers were already
in the cash box. She was behaving

2627
03:24:33.000 --> 03:24:37.159
just like a little girl, like
a spoilt child. It was remarkable,

2628
03:24:37.159 --> 03:24:41.760
he considered, how old and mature
heading could be when she chose, and

2629
03:24:41.840 --> 03:24:46.559
how kittenish when she chose. She
went off with four five pound notes and

2630
03:24:46.639 --> 03:24:50.559
five sovereigns. Will you ask me
to come back and cut the dinner?

2631
03:24:50.040 --> 03:24:56.799
She smiled ironically, enchantingly. Aye, he said he was bound to smile

2632
03:24:56.799 --> 03:25:01.760
also. She returned in something over
two hours. There you are, she

2633
03:25:01.799 --> 03:25:03.959
said, putting a blue green paper
into his hand. Never seen one of

2634
03:25:05.000 --> 03:25:09.440
those before. It was the ticket
for the steamer. This staggered him.

2635
03:25:09.760 --> 03:25:15.120
A sensible, determined woman who disappears
to buy a steamer ticket may be expected

2636
03:25:15.239 --> 03:25:18.799
to reappear with a steamer ticket,
And yet it staggered him. He could

2637
03:25:18.799 --> 03:25:22.719
scarcely believe it. She was going, then she was going. It was

2638
03:25:22.760 --> 03:25:28.079
inevitable. Now the boat leaves the
clade at ten in the morning, she

2639
03:25:28.159 --> 03:25:31.719
said, resuming possession of the paper. So we must go to Lasko on

2640
03:25:31.799 --> 03:25:35.479
Friday and stop the night at an
hotel. We he murmured, aghast,

2641
03:25:37.120 --> 03:25:39.200
Well, she said, you surely
won't let me travel to Laska all alone.

2642
03:25:39.239 --> 03:25:45.479
Will Yer. There's a caution,
mars, He privately reflected. You

2643
03:25:45.559 --> 03:25:48.520
can come back on Saturday, she
said, so that you'll be in time

2644
03:25:48.559 --> 03:25:52.600
to collect your rents. There's an
express at Lasko from Crew at one fifteen,

2645
03:25:52.920 --> 03:25:56.040
and to catch that. We mistake
the twelve twenty at Shawport. She

2646
03:25:56.079 --> 03:26:01.799
had settled every detail. And what
about my dinner, he inquired. I'm

2647
03:26:01.799 --> 03:26:05.000
going to set about it, instantly
laughed she, I mean my dinner on

2648
03:26:05.079 --> 03:26:09.159
Friday. He said, oh that. She replied, there's a restaurant car

2649
03:26:09.280 --> 03:26:15.399
from Crew, so we can lunch
on the train. This idea of accompanying

2650
03:26:15.399 --> 03:26:20.079
her to Glasgow pleased him intensely.
Lasgar isn't much in my line, he

2651
03:26:20.120 --> 03:26:24.159
said, But you wenches do as
you like, seemingly. Thus, on

2652
03:26:24.239 --> 03:26:28.680
the Friday morning he met her down
at Showport station. He was in his

2653
03:26:28.760 --> 03:26:31.840
best clothes, but he had walked. She arrived in a cab that carried

2654
03:26:31.920 --> 03:26:35.559
a pagoda of trunks on its fragile
roof. She had come straight from her

2655
03:26:35.559 --> 03:26:39.680
lodgings. There was a quarter of
an hour before train time. He paid

2656
03:26:39.719 --> 03:26:43.559
for the cab. He also bought
one second class single and one second class

2657
03:26:43.600 --> 03:26:48.760
return to Glasgow, while she followed
the porter who trundled her luggage when he

2658
03:26:48.799 --> 03:26:54.639
came out of the booky office minus
several gold pieces. She was purchasing papers

2659
03:26:54.639 --> 03:26:56.879
at the book stall, and farther
up the platform. The porter had seized

2660
03:26:56.879 --> 03:27:03.639
a pastebrush and was only a cupboard
of left. An extraordinary scheme presented itself

2661
03:27:03.680 --> 03:27:07.600
to James olor Shaw's mind, and
he trotted up to the porter. I've

2662
03:27:07.639 --> 03:27:11.760
seen to the baggage myself, said
Helen without looking at him. All right,

2663
03:27:13.000 --> 03:27:16.440
he said, The porter touched his
cap lever that luggage for crew.

2664
03:27:16.680 --> 03:27:20.319
He whispered to the porter and passed
straight on, as if taking exercise on

2665
03:27:20.360 --> 03:27:24.959
the platform. Here, sir,
said the porter. When he got back

2666
03:27:24.959 --> 03:27:28.040
to Helen, of course he had
to make conversation with a nonsenant air in

2667
03:27:28.159 --> 03:27:33.399
order to hide his guilty feelings.
So none of'em has come to see

2668
03:27:33.440 --> 03:27:37.440
you off, he observed, none
of whom, none of your friends.

2669
03:27:37.399 --> 03:27:41.079
No fear, she said, I
wouldn't have it for anything. I do

2670
03:27:41.200 --> 03:27:45.399
hate and loathe good byes at a
railway station. Don't you never add any?

2671
03:27:45.639 --> 03:27:50.079
He said? The train was prompt, but for Cleen short ported crew,

2672
03:27:50.159 --> 03:27:52.799
it suffered delays, so there was
not an inordinate amount of time to

2673
03:27:52.840 --> 03:27:58.600
spare of the majestic junction. Heedless
fly away creature that she was had in

2674
03:27:58.680 --> 03:28:03.600
scurry from the North Stafford platform to
the main line platform without a thought as

2675
03:28:03.600 --> 03:28:07.760
to her luggage. She was apparently
so preoccupied with her hand bag, which

2676
03:28:07.799 --> 03:28:11.399
contained her purse, that she had
no anxiety left over for her heavy belongings.

2677
03:28:13.360 --> 03:28:16.399
As they hastened forward, he saw
the luggage being tumbled out onto the

2678
03:28:16.399 --> 03:28:20.920
platform. The Glasgow train rolled grandiosely
in, and the restaurant car came to

2679
03:28:20.959 --> 03:28:26.120
a standstill almost exactly opposite the end
of the North Stafford platform. They obtained

2680
03:28:26.120 --> 03:28:30.920
two seats with difficulty. Then,
as there was five minutes to wait,

2681
03:28:31.319 --> 03:28:35.879
Jimmy descended from the car to the
asphalt and peeped down the North Stafford platform.

2682
03:28:35.239 --> 03:28:39.600
Yes, her luggage was lying there, deserted in a pile. He

2683
03:28:39.719 --> 03:28:45.200
regained the carriage. I suppose the
luggage will be all right, Hendin said

2684
03:28:45.239 --> 03:28:48.680
calmly, just as the guard whistled. Aye said he with the mien of

2685
03:28:48.680 --> 03:28:52.680
a traveler of vast experience. I
saw a bringing all the honest luggage over.

2686
03:28:54.200 --> 03:28:58.479
It were the first thing I thought
of as a liar, he reckoned.

2687
03:28:58.479 --> 03:29:01.799
He was pretty good. He glanced
from the window as the train slid

2688
03:29:01.799 --> 03:29:05.920
away from crew, and out of
the turn of his eye in the distance,

2689
03:29:05.239 --> 03:29:09.399
over the heads of people, he
had a momentary glimpse of the topmost

2690
03:29:09.399 --> 03:29:13.840
of headens drugs. Safely at rest
on the North Stafford platform, he felt

2691
03:29:13.920 --> 03:29:18.799
safe. He felt strangely joyous.
He had largely and made very dry,

2692
03:29:18.920 --> 03:29:24.920
humorous remarks about the novelty of a
restaurant on wheels. Bless us, he

2693
03:29:24.000 --> 03:29:28.680
said, as the express flashed through
Preston without stopping as first time as up

2694
03:29:28.680 --> 03:29:31.520
weregune a bottle of bass in one
town, and finished it in another.

2695
03:29:33.079 --> 03:29:37.479
He grew positively jolly, and the
journey seemed to be accomplished with the rapidity

2696
03:29:37.680 --> 03:29:46.879
of a dream. End of chapter
eighteen. Chapter nineteen off heading with the

2697
03:29:46.959 --> 03:29:52.440
High Hand by Arnold Bennett. This
LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording

2698
03:29:52.479 --> 03:29:58.520
by Simon Evers, Chapter nineteen.
The tossing You said you'd seen it into

2699
03:29:58.559 --> 03:30:03.399
the van, putted Helen, She
who never putted nay las. He creted

2700
03:30:03.399 --> 03:30:05.920
her. I said I had seen
him bring in all the ruggage over.

2701
03:30:07.520 --> 03:30:11.399
The inevitable moment of reckoning had arrived. They stood together on the platform of

2702
03:30:11.440 --> 03:30:16.520
Saint Knox's, Glasgow. The last
piece of luggage was being removed from the

2703
03:30:16.600 --> 03:30:20.399
guard's van under the direction of passengers, and there was no sign whatever of

2704
03:30:20.440 --> 03:30:24.280
Helen's trunks. This absence of Headn's
trunks did not in the least surprise James

2705
03:30:24.319 --> 03:30:28.559
Ollernshaw. He was perfectly aware that
Hellllen's trunks reposed at that self, say

2706
03:30:28.600 --> 03:30:33.120
an instant in the lost luggage office
at Crewe. But of course he had

2707
03:30:33.159 --> 03:30:39.559
to act surprise. In case of
necessity he could act very well. It

2708
03:30:39.639 --> 03:30:43.239
was more difficult for him to act
sorrow than to act surprise, but he

2709
03:30:43.319 --> 03:30:46.799
did both to his own satisfaction.
He climbed into the van and scanned its

2710
03:30:46.879 --> 03:30:52.680
corners in vain. Then side by
side they visited the other van at the

2711
03:30:52.680 --> 03:30:56.440
head of the train with an equal
result. The two guards, being Scotch

2712
03:30:56.760 --> 03:31:01.600
responded to inquiries with extreme caution.
All that they would answer for was that

2713
03:31:01.639 --> 03:31:05.399
the trunks were not in the train. Then the train was drawn out of

2714
03:31:05.440 --> 03:31:09.319
the station by a toy engine and
the express engine followed it with grave dignity,

2715
03:31:09.920 --> 03:31:15.959
and Helen and Jimmy were left staring
at the empty rails. Something must

2716
03:31:15.959 --> 03:31:20.520
be done, said Helen Crossly.
Aye, Jimmy agreed, long pass my

2717
03:31:20.639 --> 03:31:22.959
tea time. We must find out
if the Zenny to eat in Scotland.

2718
03:31:24.559 --> 03:31:28.760
But Henlen insisted on visiting the station
master. Now, the station master at

2719
03:31:28.799 --> 03:31:33.000
Zenox is one of the most important
personages north of the Tweed and not easily

2720
03:31:33.040 --> 03:31:39.040
to be seen. However Henlen saw
him. He pointed out that the train

2721
03:31:39.079 --> 03:31:43.239
came from London in two portions which
were divided into Scotland, one going to

2722
03:31:43.360 --> 03:31:46.399
Edinburgh, and his suggestion was that
conceivably the luggage might be put into the

2723
03:31:46.479 --> 03:31:52.159
Edinburgh van a mistake for the Glasgow
van. Such airs did occur sometimes,

2724
03:31:52.239 --> 03:31:56.600
he said, implying that the Northwestern
was an English railway and the surprising things

2725
03:31:56.600 --> 03:32:01.040
happened in England. He said also
that Helen might telephone to Edinburgh and inquire.

2726
03:32:03.479 --> 03:32:05.680
She endeavored to act on this council, but came out of the telephone

2727
03:32:05.719 --> 03:32:11.440
cabin saying that she could not get
into communication with Edinburgh. Better go over

2728
03:32:11.479 --> 03:32:16.000
to Edinburgh and see for yourself,
said Jimmy, tranquility. Yess what about

2729
03:32:16.000 --> 03:32:20.479
my steamer hen in turn on him, Scotland canna be so big as all

2730
03:32:20.520 --> 03:32:24.239
that, said Jimmy. Not.
According to the maps, us could run

2731
03:32:24.280 --> 03:32:28.479
over to Edinburgh to night and get
back to Glasgow early to morrow. She

2732
03:32:28.600 --> 03:32:33.639
consented, just as he was taking
two second returns to Edinburgh, then snatched

2733
03:32:33.760 --> 03:32:37.959
rail eggs and railway tea. While
waiting for a fast train. He stopped

2734
03:32:39.040 --> 03:32:41.920
and said, unless ye prefer to
sail without your trunks, and I could

2735
03:32:41.959 --> 03:32:46.440
send'em on by the next steamer. Uncle. She protested, I do

2736
03:32:46.479 --> 03:32:50.079
wish you were miss so silly the
idea of me sailing without my trunks.

2737
03:32:50.399 --> 03:32:54.879
Why don't you ask me to sail
without me head? All right, all

2738
03:32:54.000 --> 03:32:58.120
right, he responded, but don't
snap mine off. Two second returns to

2739
03:32:58.200 --> 03:33:01.959
Edinburgh, young man, and I'll
thank you to look slippy over it in

2740
03:33:03.040 --> 03:33:07.200
the Edinburgh train he could scarcely refrain
from laughing, and then in too,

2741
03:33:07.239 --> 03:33:11.120
seemed more in a humor to accept
the disappearance of five invaluable trunks full of

2742
03:33:11.159 --> 03:33:16.440
preciosities. As a facetious sally on
that part of destiny. He drew out

2743
03:33:16.440 --> 03:33:20.639
a note book which he always carried, and did mathematical calculations. That makes

2744
03:33:20.719 --> 03:33:26.280
twenty seven boons eighteen and ninepence as
you or me, he remarked, what

2745
03:33:26.600 --> 03:33:31.360
for railway tickets? Railway tickets tips, and that twenty five pounds I lent

2746
03:33:31.440 --> 03:33:35.079
ye. I'm making you a present
of my affairs and dinner and tea and

2747
03:33:35.120 --> 03:33:39.000
so forth. Twenty five pounds that
you lent me. She murmured, yes,

2748
03:33:39.040 --> 03:33:41.479
he said, Tuesday morning, while
I was at my crush box.

2749
03:33:43.239 --> 03:33:46.239
Oh that she ejaculated. I thought
you were giving me that. I never

2750
03:33:46.239 --> 03:33:50.040
thought you asked before it again,
Uncle, I completely forgotten all about it.

2751
03:33:52.360 --> 03:33:56.559
She seemed quite sincere in this amazing
assertion. His acquaintance with the ways

2752
03:33:56.559 --> 03:34:01.000
of women were thus enlarged suddenly,
and at the merely nominal expense of twenty

2753
03:34:01.000 --> 03:34:05.040
five pounds. It was a wondrous
proof of his high spirits in his general

2754
03:34:05.040 --> 03:34:09.600
contentedness with himself that he should have
submitted to the robbery without a groan.

2755
03:34:11.000 --> 03:34:15.920
What twenty five pun He reflected,
there was no luggage for it at Edinburgh.

2756
03:34:16.079 --> 03:34:18.000
That steamer will go without her,
and then I shall give in.

2757
03:34:18.440 --> 03:34:22.239
I'll have talked to her about the
ways of providence and tell her it's borne

2758
03:34:22.239 --> 03:34:24.120
in upon me, as she must
have wilbrahm all. If she's a mini

2759
03:34:24.239 --> 03:34:31.000
mine to stay, I'll have saved
my face anyhow. And he further decided

2760
03:34:31.000 --> 03:34:33.280
that in case of necessity, in
case of head, and at a later

2761
03:34:33.319 --> 03:34:37.920
stage, pushing her inquiries as to
the luggage inconveniently far, he would have

2762
03:34:37.959 --> 03:34:41.280
to bribe the porter at Shoreport to
admit to her that he the porter,

2763
03:34:41.680 --> 03:34:46.639
had made a mistake in the labeling. When they had satisfied themselves that Edinburgh

2764
03:34:46.719 --> 03:34:52.120
did not contain Heaven's drunks, no
mean labor for the lost luggage. Office

2765
03:34:52.159 --> 03:34:54.159
was closed and they had to move
mountains in order to get it opened.

2766
03:34:54.319 --> 03:35:01.200
On the plea of extremeist urgency,
Jimmy olleran Shaw turned to Susan's saying to

2767
03:35:01.239 --> 03:35:05.760
himself that she must be soothed,
regardless of cost. Miracles were not unable

2768
03:35:05.879 --> 03:35:09.319
to catch the steamer now, and
the hour was fast as approaching when he

2769
03:35:09.319 --> 03:35:15.280
would evidently offer her the gift of
Wilbraham Hall we alas he began, I'm

2770
03:35:15.360 --> 03:35:18.600
right, sorry, what's to be
done? There's nothing at all to be

2771
03:35:18.639 --> 03:35:22.959
done, she replied, smiling.
Sadly. She might have upbraded him for

2772
03:35:24.000 --> 03:35:26.600
carelessness in the matter of the luggage. She might have burst into tears and

2773
03:35:26.680 --> 03:35:31.520
declared passionately that it was all his
fault. But she did not, except,

2774
03:35:31.559 --> 03:35:35.559
of course, Sam's cable to mother. She's coming to Cobeck to meet

2775
03:35:35.600 --> 03:35:39.239
me. Ah, that'll do to
morrow, he said. What's to be

2776
03:35:39.280 --> 03:35:41.719
done to night? In the way
of supper? As ye might say,

2777
03:35:41.799 --> 03:35:46.079
we must go to an hotel.
I believe the station hotel is the best.

2778
03:35:46.079 --> 03:35:50.840
She pointed to a sign and a
directing black hand which said to the

2779
03:35:50.879 --> 03:35:56.559
hotel in a minute, James Orangehaw
found himself in the largest and most gorgeous

2780
03:35:56.559 --> 03:36:00.799
hotel in Scotland. Look here,
wench, he said, I don't know

2781
03:36:00.879 --> 03:36:03.559
as this is much in my line, so much a thought less gordy'll do

2782
03:36:03.639 --> 03:36:07.799
for my old barns. I won't
move a step farther this night, hed

2783
03:36:07.840 --> 03:36:13.159
In declared, I'm ready to drop. He remembered that she must besthothed well,

2784
03:36:13.239 --> 03:36:18.360
he said, here goes, and
he strode across the tesselated pavement under

2785
03:36:18.360 --> 03:36:22.399
the cold, scrutinizing eye of menials, to a large window marked in gold

2786
03:36:22.479 --> 03:36:26.040
Nutter's bureau. Have you gotten a
couple of bedrooms like? He asked the

2787
03:36:26.040 --> 03:36:30.799
clerk? Yes, sir, said
the clerk, who was a perfect lady.

2788
03:36:31.000 --> 03:36:33.000
What do you want? Don't I
tell? Easy? Want a couple

2789
03:36:33.000 --> 03:36:37.920
of bedrooms? Miss of the negotiation? She pushed across the counter to him

2790
03:36:39.200 --> 03:36:43.040
two disks of cardboard, numbling three
two four and three two six each marked

2791
03:36:43.079 --> 03:36:48.079
six shillings and sixpence. He regarded
the price as fantastic, but no cheaper

2792
03:36:48.120 --> 03:36:52.760
rooms were to be had, and
Helen's glance was dangerous. Why, he

2793
03:36:52.879 --> 03:36:56.319
muttered, I've got a four armed
cottage empt yet ternil as I'd left for

2794
03:36:56.360 --> 03:37:01.879
a month for thirteen innings and paper
it. Where is your luggage, sir,

2795
03:37:01.239 --> 03:37:05.239
asked a muscular demon with shiny sleeves. That's just what we want to

2796
03:37:05.319 --> 03:37:09.079
know, young fellow, said Jimmy. For the present, that's all as

2797
03:37:09.079 --> 03:37:13.520
we can lay our hands on,
and indicated Helen Satchel. His experiences in

2798
03:37:13.559 --> 03:37:16.680
the lift were exciting, and he
suggested the laying of a tramway along the

2799
03:37:16.680 --> 03:37:22.159
corridor of the fourth floor. The
beautiful starched creature who bought in his hot

2800
03:37:22.159 --> 03:37:26.159
water without being asked, found him
in the dark, struggling with the electric

2801
03:37:26.239 --> 03:37:30.399
light, which he had distinguished from
curiosity had not been able to rekindle,

2802
03:37:30.680 --> 03:37:35.399
having lost the location of the switch. At ten thirty, the travelers were

2803
03:37:35.399 --> 03:37:39.239
seated at her table in the immense
dining room, which was populated by fifteen

2804
03:37:39.319 --> 03:37:46.120
waiters of various European nationalities and six
belated guests, including themselves. The one

2805
03:37:46.120 --> 03:37:50.360
item on the many which did not
exceed his comprehension was Welsh rarebit, and

2806
03:37:50.440 --> 03:37:54.479
he ordered it. It was while
they were waiting in anticipation of this dish

2807
03:37:54.959 --> 03:38:01.360
that he decided to commence operations upon
Helen. The fact was he's becoming very

2808
03:38:01.360 --> 03:38:05.399
anxious to put affairs on a definite
footing. Well, my girl, he

2809
03:38:05.440 --> 03:38:07.879
said, cheer up. If you
tain't my advice, you make up your

2810
03:38:07.920 --> 03:38:13.399
mind to stop in old England with
your old uncle. Of course I will,

2811
03:38:13.639 --> 03:38:16.799
she answered softly, and added,
if you'll do as I want,

2812
03:38:16.799 --> 03:38:22.680
buy that barracks. She nodded.
He was on the very point of yielding.

2813
03:38:22.760 --> 03:38:24.680
He was on the very point of
saying, with grandfather, any godlike

2814
03:38:24.799 --> 03:38:28.639
tone of utter beneficence, alas you
shall have it. I wouldn't have given

2815
03:38:28.680 --> 03:38:31.639
it to you. But it's like
as if what must be this luggage being

2816
03:38:31.680 --> 03:38:37.200
lost, It's like as if providence
was in it. He was on the

2817
03:38:37.319 --> 03:38:41.159
very point of this decisive pronouncement when
a novel and dazzling idea flashed into his

2818
03:38:41.200 --> 03:38:46.159
head. Listen hear, he said, bending across the table towards her.

2819
03:38:46.639 --> 03:38:50.879
I'll toss thee. Toss me,
she exclaimed, startled, Aye, I'll

2820
03:38:50.920 --> 03:38:56.399
toss thee if they'll stay heads are
by the barrack tails and aunt and you

2821
03:38:56.479 --> 03:39:01.200
live with me in an house very
well, she lightly. He not ready

2822
03:39:01.200 --> 03:39:05.040
expected her to agree to such a
scheme, but then young women named Helen

2823
03:39:05.079 --> 03:39:11.680
can be trusted absolutely. To falsify
expectation, he took sixpence from his pocket.

2824
03:39:11.360 --> 03:39:16.120
Heads are when, eh, he
said? She acquiesced, and up

2825
03:39:16.239 --> 03:39:20.520
went the sixpence. He rolled off
the table on to the turkey carpet.

2826
03:39:20.040 --> 03:39:24.639
Jimmy was not so adroit as he
had been in his tossing days, and

2827
03:39:24.719 --> 03:39:28.639
seven Australians, Germans and Swiss sprang
forward towards it, with a simultaneous impasse

2828
03:39:28.680 --> 03:39:33.760
to restore it to its owner.
Jimmy jumped to his feet. Don't touch

2829
03:39:33.840 --> 03:39:37.239
it, he cried, and bent
over it. Nay, nay, he

2830
03:39:37.319 --> 03:39:41.639
muttered, I've lost. The old
man's lost after all, and he returned

2831
03:39:41.680 --> 03:39:46.319
to the table, having made a
sensation in the room. Helen was in

2832
03:39:46.399 --> 03:39:50.120
paradise. I'm surprised you are ready
to toss, uncle, said she.

2833
03:39:50.959 --> 03:39:54.360
Ah, it's all right, we
can get the luggage to morrow. It's

2834
03:39:54.399 --> 03:39:58.479
a crue. I dusn't know.
It's a crewe, he demanded, because

2835
03:39:58.479 --> 03:40:01.600
I had it la for crew.
He worse in it to imagine that I

2836
03:40:01.639 --> 03:40:05.920
was going to leave you. But
I thought I'd just leave nothing undone to

2837
03:40:05.959 --> 03:40:09.479
make you give way. I made
sure I was beaten. I made sure

2838
03:40:09.520 --> 03:40:11.840
I should have to knock alunder,
and now you are a goose enough to

2839
03:40:11.840 --> 03:40:16.200
toss, and you've lost. You've
lost. Rah. She clapped her hands

2840
03:40:16.239 --> 03:40:22.000
softly. Do you mean to tell
me, Jimmy thundered, as you've been

2841
03:40:22.040 --> 03:40:26.799
playing a game with me all this
time. Of course, she had no

2842
03:40:26.920 --> 03:40:31.479
shame. I bought the steamer ticket
without meaning to. Well, she said,

2843
03:40:31.760 --> 03:40:35.120
no half playing when you're playing for
high stakes. Besides, what's fifteen

2844
03:40:35.159 --> 03:40:39.719
pounds. He did not let her
into the secret that he also had order

2845
03:40:39.760 --> 03:40:45.399
the luggage to be labeled for crew. They returned to the Five Towns the

2846
03:40:45.440 --> 03:40:50.120
following morning by mutual tacitic agreement.
They never spoke of that excursion to Scotland.

2847
03:40:52.920 --> 03:40:56.200
In such manner came Helen Rathbone to
be the mistress of Wilbraham Hall,

2848
03:40:58.159 --> 03:41:07.360
end of chapter nineteen, Chapter twenty
of Helen with the High Hand by Arnold

2849
03:41:07.360 --> 03:41:11.079
Bennett. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain. Recording by Simon Evers,

2850
03:41:11.719 --> 03:41:18.479
Chapter twenty. The flitting before the
spacious Crimson facade of Wilbraham Hall,

2851
03:41:18.600 --> 03:41:22.239
upon an autumn day stood mister Crump's
pantechnicon. That is to say, it

2852
03:41:22.280 --> 03:41:28.799
was a pantechnicon only by courtesy mister
Crump's courtesy in strict adherence to truth,

2853
03:41:28.959 --> 03:41:33.120
it was just a common furniture removing
van dragged over the Earth's service by two

2854
03:41:33.159 --> 03:41:37.920
horses. On the outer wall of
it was an announcement that mister Crump removed

2855
03:41:37.959 --> 03:41:41.520
goods by road, rail or steamer, and vast colored pictures of mister Crump

2856
03:41:41.559 --> 03:41:46.399
removing goods by road, rail and
steamer. Once saw the van in situations

2857
03:41:46.399 --> 03:41:50.760
of grave danger, traveling on an
express train over a lofty vadact at sixty

2858
03:41:50.799 --> 03:41:54.840
miles an hour, all rolling on
the deck of a steamer in a stormy

2859
03:41:54.879 --> 03:41:58.760
sea. On saw it also in
situations of impressive natural beauty, as for

2860
03:41:58.760 --> 03:42:03.600
instance, since passing by road through
terrific mountain defiles were cataracts, rushed and

2861
03:42:03.719 --> 03:42:09.159
foamed. The historic fact was that
the van had never been beyond the five

2862
03:42:09.239 --> 03:42:13.520
towns. Nevertheless, mister Crump bound
himself in painted letters six inches high to

2863
03:42:13.600 --> 03:42:18.159
furnish estimates for any removal whatsoever,
and what is more, as a special

2864
03:42:18.159 --> 03:42:22.719
boon to the five towns, to
furnish estimates free of charge. In this

2865
03:42:22.760 --> 03:42:28.760
detail, mister Crumper determined not to
lag behind his fellow furniture removers who one

2866
03:42:28.799 --> 03:42:31.799
and all persist in refusing to accept
even a small fee for telling you how

2867
03:42:31.879 --> 03:42:37.399
much they demand for their services.
In the van where the entire worldly possessions

2868
03:42:37.440 --> 03:42:43.319
of James Orangshaw except his houses,
his investments, a set of bowls up

2869
03:42:43.319 --> 03:42:46.479
at the bowling club, and the
clothes he wore, And the entire worldly

2870
03:42:46.479 --> 03:42:52.200
possessions of head in Rathbone except the
toes she wore. If it be asked,

2871
03:42:52.200 --> 03:42:54.239
where was the twenty six pounds so
generously given to her by a loving

2872
03:42:54.319 --> 03:42:58.959
uncle? The reply is that the
whole sum, together with much else,

2873
03:42:58.239 --> 03:43:03.840
was in the coffers of Ezra Brunt, the draper and costumier at Hambridge and

2874
03:43:03.879 --> 03:43:07.360
the Rery. Further is that Helen
was in debt. I have hitherto concealed

2875
03:43:07.360 --> 03:43:11.040
Headn's tendency to debts, but it
was bound sooner or later to come out.

2876
03:43:11.600 --> 03:43:16.600
And here it is, after adventuress
journey by bridge over the North Staffordshire

2877
03:43:16.680 --> 03:43:20.719
Railway, and by bridge over the
Shropshire Union Canal, and by bridge over

2878
03:43:20.760 --> 03:43:26.000
the foaming cataract of the Show's Brook, and down the fearful slants of Oldcastle

2879
03:43:26.000 --> 03:43:30.559
Street, and through the arduous,
terrific denies of Oldcastle Road. The van

2880
03:43:30.600 --> 03:43:33.520
had arrived at the portals of Wilbraham
Hall. It would have been easy,

2881
03:43:33.600 --> 03:43:37.079
by opening wide the portals, to
have introduced the van and the horses too,

2882
03:43:37.120 --> 03:43:41.959
into the hall of Wilbraham Hall,
but this course was not adopted.

2883
03:43:43.200 --> 03:43:46.719
Helen and Georgiana had preceded the van, and they both stood at the door

2884
03:43:46.719 --> 03:43:50.360
to receive the goods. Georgiana was
in one of Georgiana's aprons, and Helen

2885
03:43:50.399 --> 03:43:54.600
also was in one of Georgiana's aprons. Uncle James had followed the van,

2886
03:43:56.239 --> 03:43:58.680
he had not let it out of
his sight. The old man's attachment to

2887
03:43:58.680 --> 03:44:03.360
even the least of his goods was
touching, and his attachment to the greatest

2888
03:44:03.399 --> 03:44:07.440
of his goods carried Pathos into farce. The greatest of his goods was apparently

2889
03:44:07.559 --> 03:44:11.440
the full rigged ship and to pestuous
ocean. In a glass box which had

2890
03:44:11.440 --> 03:44:15.399
stood on the table in the front
room of the other house for many years.

2891
03:44:16.520 --> 03:44:18.840
No one had suspected his esteem for
that glass box in its contents.

2892
03:44:20.440 --> 03:44:22.799
He had not suspected it himself until
the moment for packing it had come.

2893
03:44:24.920 --> 03:44:28.040
But he seemed to love it more
than his bits of spowed china or his

2894
03:44:28.120 --> 03:44:31.479
concertina, and taking it with him. He quitted with a softened regret the

2895
03:44:31.559 --> 03:44:37.559
quantity of overblown blue roses, which, in their eternal bloom, had enlivensed

2896
03:44:37.559 --> 03:44:43.040
his existence during a longer period even
than the ship and ocean. The chip

2897
03:44:43.040 --> 03:44:46.319
and ocean was the last thing put
into the van and the first thing taken

2898
03:44:46.360 --> 03:44:50.680
out, and James Orangehaw introduced the
affair, hugged against his own breast,

2899
03:44:50.920 --> 03:44:54.360
into the house of his descendants.
The remainder of the work of transference was

2900
03:44:54.399 --> 03:45:00.639
relatively unimportant. Two men accomplished it
easily while the horses at a li dinner.

2901
03:45:01.479 --> 03:45:03.680
And then the horses and the van
and the men went off, and

2902
03:45:03.719 --> 03:45:07.159
there was nothing left but a few
wisps of straw and so forth on the

2903
03:45:07.200 --> 03:45:13.040
magnificent sweep of gravel to indicate that
they had ever been there. And Uncle

2904
03:45:13.120 --> 03:45:18.879
James and Helen and Georgiana felt rather
forlorn and abandoned. They stood in the

2905
03:45:18.920 --> 03:45:22.680
hall and looked at each other a
little blankly, like gypsies camping out in

2906
03:45:22.719 --> 03:45:26.760
an abandoned cathedral. An immense fire
was burning in the immense fireplace of the

2907
03:45:26.760 --> 03:45:31.360
hall, and similar fires were burning
in the state bedroom, in a little

2908
03:45:31.440 --> 03:45:35.280
drawing room beyond the main drawing room, in another bedroom, in the giant's

2909
03:45:35.319 --> 03:45:39.799
kitchen, and in one of the
attics. These fires, and a certain

2910
03:45:39.840 --> 03:45:43.719
amount of cleaning were the any preparations
which Helen Her permitted herself to make.

2911
03:45:43.799 --> 03:45:48.479
Even the expense of the coal had
startled James, and she proposed to get

2912
03:45:48.520 --> 03:45:52.559
him safely in the cage before commencing
the serious business which would shatter all his

2913
03:45:52.719 --> 03:45:56.520
nerves. By a miracle of charm
and audacity, she had obtained from him

2914
03:45:56.559 --> 03:46:01.239
the control of a sum of seven
hundred and fifty pounds. This sum,

2915
03:46:01.680 --> 03:46:05.840
now lying nominally to her credit at
one of James's various banks, represented the

2916
03:46:05.879 --> 03:46:11.360
difference between eight thousand pounds at which
James had sad Wilbraham Hall would be cheap,

2917
03:46:11.840 --> 03:46:16.120
and seven two hundred and fifty pounds
at which James had succeeded in buying

2918
03:46:16.120 --> 03:46:20.840
Wilbraham Hall. To the left of
the hall, near the entrance was quite

2919
03:46:20.840 --> 03:46:24.520
a small room, originally perhaps a
butler's lair, and James was obstinate in

2920
03:46:24.559 --> 03:46:28.840
selecting this room as his office.
He had his desk carried there, and

2921
03:46:28.959 --> 03:46:35.239
everything that personally affected him except his
safe and the simple necessaries of his bedroom.

2922
03:46:35.799 --> 03:46:39.479
These were taken not to the state
bedroom, which he had declined after

2923
03:46:39.520 --> 03:46:43.440
insincy a pressure from Helen to accept
it, but to a much smaller sleeping

2924
03:46:43.520 --> 03:46:48.840
chamber. The numerous family of windsor
chairs, together with other ancient honorses,

2925
03:46:48.040 --> 03:46:54.479
were sent up to the attic too
old. At forty, Georgiana was established

2926
03:46:54.479 --> 03:46:58.600
in a glorious attic. The state
bedroom was strewn with Helen's gear, and

2927
03:46:58.680 --> 03:47:03.479
scarcely anything remained unniched in the hall
save the ship and ocean. They all

2928
03:47:03.479 --> 03:47:07.760
rested from their labors, and Helen
was moved by one for happiest inspirations,

2929
03:47:09.399 --> 03:47:13.360
Georgiana. She said, go make
some tea, bring a cup for yourself.

2930
03:47:13.360 --> 03:47:18.440
Yes, miss, thank you.
Miss. On removal days, miserable

2931
03:47:18.440 --> 03:47:24.319
distinctions of class are invariably lost in
the large heartedness of mutual endeavor. It

2932
03:47:24.399 --> 03:47:26.959
was while the trio were thus drinking
tea together, standing, and as it

2933
03:47:28.000 --> 03:47:31.760
were, with Loin still girt after
the pilgrimage, that the first visitor to

2934
03:47:31.840 --> 03:47:35.399
the new owners of Wilbromham Hall rang
its great bell and involved Georgiana in her

2935
03:47:35.440 --> 03:47:41.200
first ceremonial duty. Georgiana was quite
nervous as she went to the door.

2936
03:47:41.280 --> 03:47:46.719
The corner was Immanuel Proctor. Mother
thought, I might perhaps be able to

2937
03:47:46.719 --> 03:47:50.440
help you, said he in the
slightly simpering tone which he adopted in delicate

2938
03:47:50.479 --> 03:47:54.120
situations, and which he thought suited
him. What made the situation delicate to

2939
03:47:54.200 --> 03:48:00.319
him was Helen's apron Quite agreeable though
the apron was, he felt, with

2940
03:48:00.399 --> 03:48:03.639
his unerring perceptiveness, that young ladies
do not care to receive young gentlemen in

2941
03:48:03.680 --> 03:48:09.680
the apron of a Georgiana. His
own attire was, as usual, fabulously

2942
03:48:09.680 --> 03:48:13.920
correct, the salient features of it
being a pair of light yellow shammied gloves,

2943
03:48:13.239 --> 03:48:18.479
loose fitting and unbuttoned, with the
gauntlets negligently turned back. These loves

2944
03:48:18.520 --> 03:48:22.040
were his method for expressing the fact
that the visit was a visit of usefulness

2945
03:48:22.079 --> 03:48:28.360
and not a kid love visit.
But Henn seemed quite composed behind Georgiana's apron.

2946
03:48:28.360 --> 03:48:33.520
Yes, he repeated, with smiling
inanity after his shaken hands. Mother

2947
03:48:33.559 --> 03:48:37.040
thought, I might help you.
What a fool that woman is, reflected

2948
03:48:37.120 --> 03:48:39.920
James. And what a fool he
is to put on to his mother instead

2949
03:48:39.959 --> 03:48:46.079
of keeping it to himself. And
what did you think, mister proctor Hennin

2950
03:48:46.120 --> 03:48:52.680
demanded another cup and saucer. Georgiana
Hellllen's question was one of her insolent questions.

2951
03:48:52.639 --> 03:48:56.799
Perhaps his mother ain't touch a full
reflected James, and he perceived,

2952
03:48:58.000 --> 03:49:01.360
or imagined, he perceived that their
years of Helen marrying Emmanuel were absurd.

2953
03:49:03.920 --> 03:49:07.559
Emmanuel sniffed humor in the air.
He never understood humor, but he was

2954
03:49:07.559 --> 03:49:11.799
at any rate sufficiently gifted with the
wisdom of the simple to smile vaguely and

2955
03:49:11.840 --> 03:49:16.959
amiably when he sniffed humor. And
then Helen said, with cordial kindness,

2956
03:49:18.559 --> 03:49:20.600
it's awfully good of you, awfully
good of you here me, are you

2957
03:49:20.680 --> 03:49:26.479
see? And the degree of cordiality
was such that the fear of her marrying

2958
03:49:26.479 --> 03:49:31.600
Emmanuel suddenly seemed less absurd to James. The truth was that James never had

2959
03:49:31.600 --> 03:49:35.360
a moment's peace of mind with Helen. She was continually proving that, as

2960
03:49:35.399 --> 03:49:39.520
a student in the University of Human
Nature, he had not even matriculated.

2961
03:49:41.200 --> 03:49:45.040
Georgiana appeared with an odd cup and
saucer and a giggling statement that she had

2962
03:49:45.079 --> 03:49:48.000
not been able to discover any more
teaspoons. Never mind, said Helen,

2963
03:49:48.159 --> 03:49:54.600
as the proctusial of mine. Well, I'm hanged, reflected James, whereupon

2964
03:49:54.639 --> 03:49:58.399
Georgiana departed, bearing her own tea, into the garret's kitchen. There miserable

2965
03:49:58.440 --> 03:50:09.920
distinctions of class had been mysteriously established. End of chapter twenty Chapter twenty one

2966
03:50:11.079 --> 03:50:15.360
of Helen with the High Hand by
Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox recording is in

2967
03:50:15.360 --> 03:50:22.120
the public domain recording by Simon EVAs
Chapter twenty one, Ship and Ocean.

2968
03:50:22.799 --> 03:50:26.479
The hosts, the hostess, and
the guest all remained on their feet in

2969
03:50:26.520 --> 03:50:31.120
the noble hold of the wilberhomes,
it not being good etiquette to sit at

2970
03:50:31.159 --> 03:50:35.920
removals, even when company calls.
Emmanuel, fortunately for him, was a

2971
03:50:35.959 --> 03:50:39.000
debt of perambulation. With a full
cup of tea in one hand and a

2972
03:50:39.040 --> 03:50:41.520
hat or so in the other.
There were two things which he really could

2973
03:50:41.520 --> 03:50:46.479
do. One was to sing a
sentimental song without laughing, and the other

2974
03:50:46.799 --> 03:50:50.079
was to balance a cup of tea. And it was any mean he was

2975
03:50:50.120 --> 03:50:54.040
doing the one or the other that
he genuinely lived. During the remainder of

2976
03:50:54.040 --> 03:50:58.680
his existence, he was merely a
vegetable inside a waistcoat. He held his

2977
03:50:58.719 --> 03:51:03.799
cup without a tremor while Helene charmingly
introduced into it her teaspoon and stirred up

2978
03:51:03.840 --> 03:51:07.200
the sugar. Then, after he
had sipped and pronounced the result excellent,

2979
03:51:07.760 --> 03:51:11.879
he began to mar the hall and
the contents of the hall. A proof

2980
03:51:11.920 --> 03:51:16.239
of his real Christian charity was that, whereas he meant to have that hall

2981
03:51:16.280 --> 03:51:20.680
for himself, he breathed no word
of envy nor discontent. He praised everything,

2982
03:51:22.319 --> 03:51:26.239
And presently he arrived at the ship
and ocean and praised that. He

2983
03:51:26.280 --> 03:51:33.239
particularly praised the waves. The heart
of James instantly and instinctively softened towards him,

2984
03:51:33.120 --> 03:51:37.440
for the realism of those foaming waves
had always struck James as the final

2985
03:51:37.479 --> 03:51:41.159
miracle of art. And moreover,
this was the first time that any of

2986
03:51:41.200 --> 03:51:45.680
Helen's haughty set had ever deigned to
recognize the merits of the ship and Ocean?

2987
03:51:46.399 --> 03:51:52.040
Where should hang it? Master Proctor
James genially asked, hang it?

2988
03:51:52.159 --> 03:51:54.840
Uncle, exclaimed Helen, are you
going to hang it? Aren't you going

2989
03:51:54.840 --> 03:51:58.559
to keep it on table in your
own room? She was hoping that it

2990
03:51:58.600 --> 03:52:03.200
might not get a position not too
prominent, But it did not intend it

2991
03:52:03.239 --> 03:52:07.280
to be the central decorative attraction of
the palace. It ought to be hung,

2992
03:52:07.399 --> 03:52:11.360
said Emmanuel. See here the little
arm things for the nails. This

2993
03:52:11.719 --> 03:52:16.719
gift of observation pleased James. Amanda
was indeed beginning to show quite an intelligent

2994
03:52:16.799 --> 03:52:22.200
interest in the shiper notion. Of
course it must be hang, said he.

2995
03:52:22.200 --> 03:52:26.239
He was very human, was Jimmy
Ollerinshaw. For at least twenty five

2996
03:52:26.319 --> 03:52:31.479
years he possessed the ship of Nocean
and cherished it, always meaning one day

2997
03:52:31.520 --> 03:52:33.959
to hang it against the wall as
it deserved. And yet he had never

2998
03:52:35.040 --> 03:52:37.159
arrived at doing so, though the
firm resolution to do so had not a

2999
03:52:37.200 --> 03:52:43.280
whit weakened in his mind. And
now he was absolutely decided, with the

3000
03:52:43.280 --> 03:52:46.719
whole force of his will behind it, to hang the ship and ocean at

3001
03:52:46.760 --> 03:52:50.200
once. There or to the musicians, gullery wouldn't be a bad place,

3002
03:52:50.239 --> 03:52:56.840
would it, mister Ollerenshaw, Amander
suggested, respectfully. James trained his eye

3003
03:52:56.840 --> 03:53:01.920
on the spot the very thing,
lud said he, withinenthusiasm. Lad Henad

3004
03:53:01.959 --> 03:53:07.319
had not recovered from a private of
extreme astonishment of this singular mark of paternal

3005
03:53:07.319 --> 03:53:11.239
familiarity to Emmanuel. When there was
another, and a far louder ring at

3006
03:53:11.239 --> 03:53:16.559
the door, Georgiana minced and tripped
out of her retreat and opened the Majestic

3007
03:53:16.600 --> 03:53:20.760
portal to a still greater surprise for
Helen. The ringer was mister Andrew Dene.

3008
03:53:22.280 --> 03:53:24.719
Mister Andrew Dene, with his dark, quasy, hostile eyes, and

3009
03:53:24.760 --> 03:53:30.799
his heavy shoulders and his defiant,
suspicious bearing, mister Andrew Dene in workday

3010
03:53:30.840 --> 03:53:35.479
clothes and with hands that could not
be called clean. Andrew stared about him

3011
03:53:35.520 --> 03:53:39.000
like a scout, and then advanced
rapidly to Helen and seized her hand,

3012
03:53:39.200 --> 03:53:43.399
hurting it. I was just passing, said he in a hoarse voice.

3013
03:53:43.760 --> 03:53:46.000
I expect you'd be in a bit
of a mess, or thought I might

3014
03:53:46.040 --> 03:53:48.920
be useful. How'd you do,
mister olland Shaw? And he hurt James's

3015
03:53:48.959 --> 03:53:52.879
hand. Also, it's very kind
of you, Henlen remarked, flushing,

3016
03:53:54.559 --> 03:53:58.840
I'll do proctor. Andrew jerked out
at Emmanuel not taking his hand. Gibbs.

3017
03:54:00.000 --> 03:54:03.840
When John Andrew's part from physical violence
was capable of two interpretations. The

3018
03:54:03.920 --> 03:54:11.120
natural interpretation was that Andrew's social methods
were notoriously casual and capricious. The interesting

3019
03:54:11.159 --> 03:54:16.000
interpretation was that a failure of the
negotiations between Emmanuel and Andrew for a partnership

3020
03:54:16.479 --> 03:54:20.840
a failure, which had puzzled bursely, had left rancor behind it. Emmanuel,

3021
03:54:20.840 --> 03:54:26.079
however, displayed no symptom of being
disturbed. His blandness remained intact.

3022
03:54:26.079 --> 03:54:31.319
Nevertheless, the atmosphere was mysteriously electric. Helen felt it to be so,

3023
03:54:31.680 --> 03:54:35.319
and an atmosphere which is deemed to
be electric by even one person only if

3024
03:54:35.319 --> 03:54:41.440
so facto is electric. As for
James Olleranshaw, he was certainly astonished by

3025
03:54:41.440 --> 03:54:46.360
the visit of Andrew Dean, but
being absorbed in the welfare of his ship

3026
03:54:46.399 --> 03:54:50.959
and ocean, he permitted his astonishment
to dissolve in a vague satisfaction that,

3027
03:54:50.079 --> 03:54:56.200
anyhow, Helen's unexplained quarrel with Andrew
Deane was really at an end. This

3028
03:54:56.319 --> 03:55:01.559
score was assuredly Andrew's way of expiatory
repentance, the very thing he repeated,

3029
03:55:01.760 --> 03:55:07.479
glancing at Emmanuel as if in expectation. A man who did not seem to

3030
03:55:07.520 --> 03:55:11.399
comprehend that aught was expected of him. He aimiably stood with hands still appropriately

3031
03:55:11.479 --> 03:55:16.879
gloved, and his kindly glance wandered
between the ship and ocean and the spot

3032
03:55:16.879 --> 03:55:20.000
which he hit on for the ship
and ocean's last resting place, Where's the

3033
03:55:20.040 --> 03:55:26.600
steps? Ellen James inquired, and
after a brief silence Georgiana he yelled,

3034
03:55:26.280 --> 03:55:30.159
the girl flew in, Bring us
a pair of steps, said he,

3035
03:55:31.639 --> 03:55:35.200
following an unsuccessful search for the pair
of steps which Andrew deine Ultimate had discovered

3036
03:55:35.200 --> 03:55:39.760
in a corner of the hall itself, lying flat behind a vast roll of

3037
03:55:39.760 --> 03:55:43.319
carpet, which was included in the
goods purchase for seven thousand, two hundred

3038
03:55:43.360 --> 03:55:48.319
and fifty pounds. The steps being
found, Georgiana explained at length how she

3039
03:55:48.360 --> 03:55:50.399
distinctly remembered seeing one of the men
put them behind the roll of carpet.

3040
03:55:52.639 --> 03:55:56.399
Now what is it? Andwed vidocuously
questioned. He was prepared, evidently to

3041
03:55:56.399 --> 03:56:00.959
do anything that a man may do
with a pair of steps. When the

3042
03:56:01.000 --> 03:56:03.719
operation was indicated to him, his
first act was to take off his coat,

3043
03:56:03.840 --> 03:56:09.760
which he threw on the floor.
Hammer nails, he ejaculated, and

3044
03:56:09.840 --> 03:56:13.840
Georgiana, intimidated by his tone,
contrived to find both hammer and nails.

3045
03:56:15.719 --> 03:56:20.000
It is true that the hammer is
a coal hammer, and in a remarkably

3046
03:56:20.040 --> 03:56:22.040
short space of time he was balanced
on the summit of the steps with a

3047
03:56:22.120 --> 03:56:26.040
nail in one hand, a hammer
in the other, a pencil behind his

3048
03:56:26.120 --> 03:56:30.559
ear, and another nail in his
mouth. The other three encircled him from

3049
03:56:30.559 --> 03:56:35.280
below with upturned faces and open mouths, like young birds expecting food, not

3050
03:56:35.360 --> 03:56:39.399
that young birds expecting food were gloves
so appropriate to the occasion as were emmanuels.

3051
03:56:41.680 --> 03:56:45.479
James Oranghaw was impressed by the workwind
like manner in which Andrew measured the

3052
03:56:45.479 --> 03:56:48.639
width of the last box and marked
it off on the wall before beginning to

3053
03:56:48.719 --> 03:56:52.479
knock nails. The presence of one
nail in Andrew's mouth while he was knocking

3054
03:56:52.479 --> 03:56:56.959
in the other with a coal hammer
prevented him from outraging the social code when

3055
03:56:56.959 --> 03:57:01.399
the coal hammer embraced his fingers as
well as the nail in the field of

3056
03:57:01.440 --> 03:57:05.399
his activity. Unhappily, when it
came to the second nail, no such

3057
03:57:05.440 --> 03:57:11.040
hindrance operated. The nails, having
been knocked in, were duly and satisfactorily

3058
03:57:11.120 --> 03:57:16.799
tested. Then solemnly James seized the
glass box containing the ship and ocean,

3059
03:57:18.200 --> 03:57:20.680
and bore it with all possible precautions
to the pair of steps in front of

3060
03:57:20.719 --> 03:57:26.040
the great doors. Andrew descended two
stories, and bending his body, received

3061
03:57:26.079 --> 03:57:30.360
the box from James as a parson
receives a baby. At the font.

3062
03:57:31.440 --> 03:57:35.159
He then remounted the steps rocked.
Id' i'm better hold them, said James.

3063
03:57:35.799 --> 03:57:39.479
It'll be all right, said Dniel. I'll hold them, said O'maniel,

3064
03:57:39.559 --> 03:57:45.799
hastening forward. The precise cause of
the accident will probably never be known.

3065
03:57:46.399 --> 03:57:48.760
But no sooner did Emmanue lay his
gloved hand on the steps than the

3066
03:57:48.799 --> 03:57:56.399
whole edifice, consisting of steps Andrew
and ship and ocean tottered and fell clumsy

3067
03:57:56.520 --> 03:58:00.639
fool. Andrew was distinctly heard to
exclaim during his swift passage to the floor.

3068
03:58:01.440 --> 03:58:07.399
The ship and ocean were incurably disintegrated
into a mess of colored cardboard,

3069
03:58:07.639 --> 03:58:13.360
linen and sticks, and catastrophes even
more dreadful might have occurred had it not

3070
03:58:13.440 --> 03:58:18.079
been for the calm and wise tact
of Helen. When a person is pleased

3071
03:58:18.079 --> 03:58:22.319
by an event, that person can, usually without too much difficulty, exercise

3072
03:58:22.399 --> 03:58:26.239
a calm and wise tact upon other
persons whom the event has not pleased.

3073
03:58:26.399 --> 03:58:31.319
And Helen was delighted by the catastrophe
of the ship and ocean. The ship

3074
03:58:31.319 --> 03:58:33.319
and ocean had formed no part in
her scheme for the decoration of the hall.

3075
03:58:35.280 --> 03:58:37.399
Her one poor solace had been that
the proportions of the Hall and of

3076
03:58:37.440 --> 03:58:41.200
the ship and ocean were such that
even a careful observer might have spent hours

3077
03:58:41.200 --> 03:58:46.520
in the former without discovering the latter. On the other hand, some blundering

3078
03:58:46.600 --> 03:58:50.079
ninny might have lighted instantly on the
ship and ocean, and or could reinquired

3079
03:58:50.120 --> 03:58:54.159
what it was doing there. So
Helen was really enchanted by the ruin.

3080
03:58:54.159 --> 03:59:00.159
She handled her men with notable finesse, Uncle James savage and vindictive, but

3081
03:59:00.280 --> 03:59:05.000
uncertain upon whom to pour out his
anger, Emmanuel nursing his injured innocence,

3082
03:59:05.440 --> 03:59:09.760
and Andrew Dene nursing his elbow,
his head and vengeance. She also found

3083
03:59:09.760 --> 03:59:13.280
a moment in which to calm Georgiana, who had run, flying an hysterical

3084
03:59:13.319 --> 03:59:18.840
into the hall at the sound of
the smash. Even the steps were broken.

3085
03:59:20.479 --> 03:59:24.600
After a time, harmony was established, both Uncle James and Emmanuel being

3086
03:59:24.639 --> 03:59:28.879
at bottom men of peace. But
it was undeniable that Uncle James had lost

3087
03:59:28.920 --> 03:59:31.840
more than gold, and that Emmanuel
had been touched in a perilous place his

3088
03:59:31.959 --> 03:59:37.479
conceit of himself. Then Georgiana swept
up the ship and ocean, and James

3089
03:59:37.479 --> 03:59:41.520
retired to his own little room,
where he assumed his Turkish cap and began

3090
03:59:41.559 --> 03:59:46.600
to arrange his personal effects in a
manner definite and final, which would be

3091
03:59:46.600 --> 03:59:50.719
a law for ever to the servants
at Wilbraham Hall. Left with the two

3092
03:59:50.799 --> 03:59:56.440
young men, Helen went from triumph
to triumph in quite a few minutes.

3093
03:59:56.600 --> 04:00:00.479
She had them actually talking to each
other, and she ended by beating them

3094
04:00:00.479 --> 04:00:05.399
away together, and by the time
they departed, each was convinced that Georgiana's

3095
04:00:05.440 --> 04:00:09.719
apron on Helen was one of the
most bewitching manifestations of the inexpressibly feminine that

3096
04:00:09.799 --> 04:00:15.559
he had ever been privileged to see. They took themselves off by a door

3097
04:00:15.600 --> 04:00:18.520
at the farther end of the hall, behind the stairs, whence there was

3098
04:00:18.559 --> 04:00:24.200
a short cut through the underating grounds
to the main road. Helen ascended to

3099
04:00:24.239 --> 04:00:28.840
the state bedroom, where there was
simply everything to be done. Georgiana followed

3100
04:00:28.879 --> 04:00:31.639
her, after having made up the
files, and while helping to unpack boxes,

3101
04:00:31.920 --> 04:00:39.040
offered gossamer hints, fluffy, scarcely
palpable elusive things to her mistress that

3102
04:00:39.120 --> 04:00:41.520
her real ambition had always been to
be a lady's maid and to be served

3103
04:00:41.520 --> 04:00:46.399
at meals by the third or possibly
the fourth housemaid, and the hall of

3104
04:00:46.399 --> 04:00:52.360
Olberman Hall was abandoned for a space
to silence and solitude. Now, the

3105
04:00:52.360 --> 04:00:56.319
window of Uncle Jane's little room was
a little window that lived modestly between the

3106
04:00:56.319 --> 04:01:01.520
double pillars of the portico and the
first window of the great dining room.

3107
04:01:01.079 --> 04:01:05.239
Resting from his labors of sorting and
placing, he gazed forth at his domain

3108
04:01:05.799 --> 04:01:09.760
and mechanically calculated what profit would accrue
to him if he cut off a slip

3109
04:01:09.799 --> 04:01:13.799
a hundred and fifty feet deep along
by the Oak Castle Road and sold it

3110
04:01:13.840 --> 04:01:18.680
in lots for villas, or built
fillers and sold them on ninety nine year

3111
04:01:18.760 --> 04:01:24.159
leases. He was engaged in his
happy exercise of mental arithmetic when he heard

3112
04:01:24.159 --> 04:01:28.319
footsteps crunching the gravel, and then
a figure, which had evidently come round

3113
04:01:28.319 --> 04:01:31.280
by the north side from the back
of the hall, passed across the field

3114
04:01:31.280 --> 04:01:35.120
of James's vision. This figure was
a walking baptism to the ground. It

3115
04:01:35.239 --> 04:01:41.079
trod, it dripped water plenteously.
It was, in a word, soaked,

3116
04:01:41.280 --> 04:01:45.079
and its garments clung to it.
Its yellow shamid gloves clung to its

3117
04:01:45.079 --> 04:01:48.840
hands. It had no hat.
It hesitated in front of the entrance.

3118
04:01:50.159 --> 04:01:54.120
Uncle James pushed up his window.
What's a mislud, he inquired, with

3119
04:01:54.159 --> 04:01:58.079
a certain blandness of satisfaction. I've
fed into the water, said Emmanuel feebly,

3120
04:01:58.600 --> 04:02:03.840
meaning the sheet known as Wilbraham Water, which diversified the park like splendors

3121
04:02:03.840 --> 04:02:09.639
of Wilbrahmore Hall. I des minded
that the path is very moody and slipperdge

3122
04:02:09.719 --> 04:02:13.680
just there, said Emmanuel. I'd
do better room home as quick as may

3123
04:02:13.680 --> 04:02:18.440
be. James suggested I can't,
said Emmanuel, why not. I've want

3124
04:02:18.479 --> 04:02:22.559
no hat, and I'm all wet, and everybody an old castle row will

3125
04:02:22.600 --> 04:02:26.239
see me. Can you lend me
a hatton court? And all the while

3126
04:02:26.440 --> 04:02:33.200
he was tenderly baptizing at the gravel, Uncle James's head disappeared for a moment,

3127
04:02:33.520 --> 04:02:35.799
and then he threw out of the
windows stiff yellow mackintosh of great age.

3128
04:02:37.319 --> 04:02:41.479
It was his rent collecting mackintosh.
It had the excellent quality of matching

3129
04:02:41.520 --> 04:02:46.000
the Chamois glaves. Emmanuel thankfully took
it. And what about a cap or

3130
04:02:46.000 --> 04:02:52.959
something? He plaintively asked. Dain't
this, said Uncle James with remarkable generosity,

3131
04:02:52.079 --> 04:02:56.360
whipping the Turkish cap from his own
head and handing it to Emmanuel.

3132
04:02:56.760 --> 04:03:03.200
Emmanuel hesitated, then accepted, and
thus uniquely attired, sped away, still

3133
04:03:03.319 --> 04:03:09.879
baptizing at tea tea proper. James
recounted this episode to a somewhat taciturn and

3134
04:03:11.000 --> 04:03:16.079
preoccupied headn. He didn't fall into
the water, said Hennn Curtly, and

3135
04:03:16.239 --> 04:03:20.280
Droudine pushed him in. I dost
know that, Georgiana, and I saw

3136
04:03:20.360 --> 04:03:24.000
it from my bedroom window. It
was she who first saw them fighting or

3137
04:03:24.079 --> 04:03:28.200
any rate arguing. Then Andrew Deine
charged him in as if they were playing

3138
04:03:28.239 --> 04:03:33.239
football and walked on, and a
man who propped her scrambled out, oh,

3139
04:03:33.680 --> 04:03:37.120
reflected James. While if you asked
me lass a man who brought that

3140
04:03:37.159 --> 04:03:41.280
on him? Then I never seen
a man look a bigger fool than a

3141
04:03:41.360 --> 04:03:45.920
Manua looked when he went off him
in Macintosh and Turkish cap you Turkish cap

3142
04:03:46.440 --> 04:03:50.319
one of em with the tassel ay. It's a great shame, that's what

3143
04:03:50.399 --> 04:03:54.360
it is. I'm sure he didn't
look a fool. He's been very badly

3144
04:03:54.440 --> 04:03:58.719
treated, and i'll she rose from
the table in sudden and speechless indignation.

3145
04:03:58.680 --> 04:04:01.680
You should see him, luss,
said James, and added, I wish

3146
04:04:01.719 --> 04:04:05.600
she had. He tried to be
calm, but she had sprung on him.

3147
04:04:05.600 --> 04:04:11.959
Another of her disconcerting surprises, was
it, after all possible conceivable that

3148
04:04:11.079 --> 04:04:16.319
she was in love with Emmanuel?
She sat down again. I know why

3149
04:04:16.319 --> 04:04:20.200
you say that, uncle. She
looked him in the face and put her

3150
04:04:20.200 --> 04:04:24.520
elbows on the table. Now just
listen to me. Highly perturbed, he

3151
04:04:24.600 --> 04:04:37.719
wondered what was coming next. End
of chapter twenty one. Chapter twenty two

3152
04:04:37.959 --> 04:04:41.959
of Helen with the High Hand by
Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox recording is in

3153
04:04:41.959 --> 04:04:50.280
the public domain recording by Simon Evers. Chapter twenty two, confessional, what's

3154
04:04:50.319 --> 04:04:54.040
the matter with Emanuel Proctor? Helen
asked, meaning what were the implied faults

3155
04:04:54.040 --> 04:04:58.639
of Emmanuel Proctor? There was defiance
in her tone. She had risen from

3156
04:04:58.639 --> 04:05:01.959
the table, and she sat down
again, And she seemed, by her

3157
04:05:03.000 --> 04:05:05.959
pose to indicate that she had sat
down again with a definite purpose. Her

3158
04:05:07.000 --> 04:05:09.799
purpose to do grievous harm to the
soul's peace of anybody who differed from the

3159
04:05:09.799 --> 04:05:13.520
statements which she was about to enunciate, or who gave the wrong sort of

3160
04:05:13.559 --> 04:05:20.399
answers to her catechism. She was
wearing her black mussoline dress, theoretically done

3161
04:05:20.399 --> 04:05:22.799
with which in its younger days,
always had the effect of rising the grand

3162
04:05:24.000 --> 04:05:28.639
arm in her. She laid her
ringler's hands lightly clasped on a small,

3163
04:05:28.719 --> 04:05:31.639
heavy, round mahogany table which stood
in the middle of the little drawing room,

3164
04:05:31.959 --> 04:05:35.760
and she looked over James's shoulder into
the vistas of the great drawing room.

3165
04:05:37.159 --> 04:05:41.600
The somber, fading magnificence of the
Wilbrahms, a magnificence of dark woods,

3166
04:05:41.719 --> 04:05:45.920
tassel, curtains, reps and guilt
was her theater, and the theater

3167
04:05:46.040 --> 04:05:50.200
suited her mood still. Jimmy Ollerenshaw, somewhat embittered by the catastrophe of the

3168
04:05:50.239 --> 04:05:56.200
afternoon, conceived that he was not
going to be browbeaten. What's the matter

3169
04:05:56.239 --> 04:05:58.680
with the Manya Proctor said, he
is, as he's probably gotten a cold

3170
04:05:58.680 --> 04:06:03.719
by this. Yes, and you're
glad? Henn retorted, you think you

3171
04:06:03.799 --> 04:06:05.200
look a fool after he'd been in
the water, and you were glad?

3172
04:06:07.399 --> 04:06:11.159
I dunna think, said James.
I'm sure, but why should you be

3173
04:06:11.159 --> 04:06:15.959
glad? That's what I want to
know. James could not sagaciously reply to

3174
04:06:16.000 --> 04:06:20.319
this query. He merely scratched his
head tilt in one of his Turkish caps

3175
04:06:20.319 --> 04:06:24.159
to that end. The fact is
she cried with a grammatical carelessness, which

3176
04:06:24.239 --> 04:06:28.440
was shocking in a woman who professed
to teach everything. Everyone has got their

3177
04:06:28.479 --> 04:06:33.479
knives into Immanuel Ploctor. And it's
simply because he's good looking. I'm well

3178
04:06:33.559 --> 04:06:39.120
dressed and sings beautifully good looking,
murmured James. Well, isn't he he's

3179
04:06:39.120 --> 04:06:43.680
pretty, said James. No one
ever said he had a lot of brains.

3180
04:06:43.440 --> 04:06:46.639
I never did, James put in, But what does that matter?

3181
04:06:48.040 --> 04:06:50.360
He is polite. He does know
how to behave himself in polite society.

3182
04:06:52.079 --> 04:06:54.840
If Andrew Dene pushed him into the
water, that wasn't his fault. Andrew

3183
04:06:54.879 --> 04:06:58.319
is stronger than he is. But
that's no credit to Andrew Deane. It's

3184
04:06:58.360 --> 04:07:03.040
to his disgrace. Andrew Deine is
nothing but a bully. We all know

3185
04:07:03.200 --> 04:07:07.520
that he might have pushed you into
the water or me. He might,

3186
04:07:07.840 --> 04:07:11.680
James admitted, I've I've been silly
enough to get between the water and him.

3187
04:07:11.440 --> 04:07:13.920
And I should like to know who
looked a fool when Andrew Dene fell

3188
04:07:15.000 --> 04:07:18.920
off those steps. And just listen
to the language the man used. I

3189
04:07:18.000 --> 04:07:22.840
will say this, Filmanduel Proctor,
I never heard him swear. No,

3190
04:07:22.120 --> 04:07:26.639
said James. He wears loves,
even wears him when he takes his bath

3191
04:07:26.639 --> 04:07:30.639
of a November afternoon. I don't
care who knows, it, said in

3192
04:07:30.719 --> 04:07:33.600
himself hotly. I like Himander Proctor, THEUS. Nobody has done annoy it,

3193
04:07:33.799 --> 04:07:37.639
said James. It's the talk of
Bosley's. You've set your cap at

3194
04:07:37.680 --> 04:07:41.520
him. I don't wear caps,
said Helen. I'm not a servant at

3195
04:07:41.600 --> 04:07:46.360
Then James corrected himself. You're not
deny as you wear outs. I reckon,

3196
04:07:46.639 --> 04:07:50.879
I've seen you're in forty. I
know who's started that tale? Had

3197
04:07:50.920 --> 04:07:54.479
in exploded Andrew Dene started that tale? No, said James. It was

3198
04:07:54.520 --> 04:08:00.200
missus Proctor. I'm thinking as Missus
Proctor spoken to you about me and and

3199
04:08:00.280 --> 04:08:05.399
Immanuel. James hesitated, but the
devil may care agreeably, vicious oleran shaw

3200
04:08:05.440 --> 04:08:11.319
impulses were a foot in him,
and he did not hesitate long aeras said

3201
04:08:11.319 --> 04:08:13.920
he, what are ridiculous, fat
old woman? She is with her fancies.

3202
04:08:16.159 --> 04:08:18.360
Frankly, James did not like this. He was in a mind to

3203
04:08:18.399 --> 04:08:22.440
resent it, and then a certain
instinct of self preservation prompted him to seek

3204
04:08:22.559 --> 04:08:26.840
cover in silence. But in any
battle of the sexes. Silence is no

3205
04:08:26.920 --> 04:08:31.440
cover to the male, as he
ought to have known, had then pursued

3206
04:08:31.479 --> 04:08:35.239
him behind his cover. I wonder
who she's setting her cup at. I

3207
04:08:35.280 --> 04:08:39.760
suppose you're not denying that she wears
a cup. It was quite a long

3208
04:08:39.799 --> 04:08:43.600
time since James Honoran Shaw had blushed, but he blushed at these words.

3209
04:08:43.440 --> 04:08:48.799
Nothing could be more foodish inept on
his part. Why should he blush?

3210
04:08:48.799 --> 04:08:52.440
Because Helen expressed a vague, hostile
curiosity as to the direction of Missus Proctor's

3211
04:08:52.479 --> 04:08:58.639
cap. What had the direction Missus
Procter's cap to do with him? Yet

3212
04:08:58.799 --> 04:09:03.639
blush he did. He grew angry, not curiously enough with Helen, but

3213
04:09:03.760 --> 04:09:07.479
with himself and with Missus Proctor.
His anger had the strange effect of making

3214
04:09:07.520 --> 04:09:11.360
him an arrant coward. He got
up from his chair, having pushed away

3215
04:09:11.360 --> 04:09:16.040
his cup towards the center of the
table as tea was over. He was

3216
04:09:16.079 --> 04:09:20.879
within his rights in doing so.
Almost beginning to work again, he muttered,

3217
04:09:20.639 --> 04:09:24.879
please do wait a minute, uncle, She said, imperiously, can't

3218
04:09:24.920 --> 04:09:26.399
you see I want to talk to
you. Can't you see I've got something

3219
04:09:26.440 --> 04:09:31.799
on my mind? Deliberately challenged in
this way, the formidable James was no

3220
04:09:31.840 --> 04:09:35.799
more than a sheep to the shearer
until he met Helen. He perhaps never

3221
04:09:35.840 --> 04:09:41.399
received deliberate, audacious challenges, and
even now he was far from being accustomed

3222
04:09:41.440 --> 04:09:46.520
to them. So he just stood
foolishly near his chair. I can't talk

3223
04:09:46.520 --> 04:09:50.159
to you while you're standing up,
she said, so he sat down.

3224
04:09:50.360 --> 04:09:54.120
How simply it ought to have been
for him to exert authority over Helen,

3225
04:09:54.639 --> 04:09:56.440
to tell her fiercely that he had
no intention of being talked to like that,

3226
04:09:58.079 --> 04:10:01.159
and that if she persisted in such
tactics, the front door was at

3227
04:10:01.200 --> 04:10:05.120
her in tarre disposal. She had
no claim on him. Yet he ate

3228
04:10:05.200 --> 04:10:09.639
his humble pie and sat down.
So they are saying that there is something

3229
04:10:09.680 --> 04:10:13.520
between a manual plocter and me,
are they? She recommenced, in a

3230
04:10:13.559 --> 04:10:18.600
new modified voice, a voice that
waved the white flag over her head.

3231
04:10:18.559 --> 04:10:22.760
It wouldn't surprise me to hear as
they were, said James. And supposing

3232
04:10:22.840 --> 04:10:26.879
there was something between us, Uncle, should you mind? I don't know,

3233
04:10:26.959 --> 04:10:30.840
as I should mind, said he, And I don't know, as

3234
04:10:30.840 --> 04:10:33.600
it a matter of brass button.
If I did mind, what should you

3235
04:10:33.680 --> 04:10:37.239
do? Uncle? I should do
as I've always done? Said he?

3236
04:10:37.280 --> 04:10:41.680
Eat and sleep and take me walks
abroad. Them was once to marry,

3237
04:10:41.719 --> 04:10:43.639
will marry, and they will marry
what suits em? But I should take

3238
04:10:43.680 --> 04:10:48.479
me meek and drink as usual.
Would you come to the wedding. I've

3239
04:10:48.479 --> 04:10:52.840
only got a funeral suit, said
he. But I'd buy me some dogs

3240
04:10:52.840 --> 04:10:54.520
if a man had to take this
place off my hands at what I gave.

3241
04:10:56.959 --> 04:11:00.360
Would you give me a wedding present? I'll give thee some advice,

3242
04:11:00.680 --> 04:11:05.479
it's what that most in need of. His tone was gloomy and resigned.

3243
04:11:05.440 --> 04:11:09.239
She slipped round the table and sat
on the arm of his chair. You

3244
04:11:09.280 --> 04:11:13.120
are a horrid old thing, she
told him, not for the first time.

3245
04:11:13.680 --> 04:11:16.479
I am in need of advice,
and there's no one can give it

3246
04:11:16.479 --> 04:11:20.159
to me, but you. Nay
nay, he recalled. They sell us

3247
04:11:20.200 --> 04:11:24.559
Weetnam, You're as thick as thieves. She is a very last person I

3248
04:11:24.600 --> 04:11:28.479
can go to, said Helen.
And why why Because Andrew's engaged to her

3249
04:11:28.479 --> 04:11:33.799
as sister. Of course, that's
the awful part of it, I he

3250
04:11:33.959 --> 04:11:37.920
questioned, Yes, because Hee,
it's Andrew Dene that I'm in love with.

3251
04:11:39.719 --> 04:11:43.520
She said it in very pert and
airy accents, and then the next

3252
04:11:43.520 --> 04:11:48.520
moment she put James into terrible consternation
by crying and touching his arm. He

3253
04:11:48.600 --> 04:11:52.440
saw that she was serious. Light
beat down upon him. He had to

3254
04:11:52.479 --> 04:11:56.159
blink and collect himself. If I
place las, he said, I should

3255
04:11:56.239 --> 04:12:01.479
keep that to my son. But
I aunt uncle, that is, I

3256
04:12:01.520 --> 04:12:05.239
haven't done Andrew knows, who don't
understand how much I'm in love with him?

3257
04:12:05.600 --> 04:12:11.799
Ay, he's that's not kissed him, not exactly, but he's been

3258
04:12:11.840 --> 04:12:16.840
kissing your mistake for his other young
woman Helen nodded, Hellen, what did

3259
04:12:16.840 --> 04:12:20.760
their mother say? It was because
of Andrew Dene that I came to live

3260
04:12:20.799 --> 04:12:24.280
in Bursley, said she. I
knew I shouldn't see him often enough if

3261
04:12:24.319 --> 04:12:26.840
I stayed in Longshore, so I
came here. You know, we had

3262
04:12:26.879 --> 04:12:31.239
always liked each other, I think
ever since he spent two years at Longshore

3263
04:12:31.319 --> 04:12:35.639
at Spitz Brothers. Then I didn't
see him for some time. You know

3264
04:12:35.719 --> 04:12:37.760
how rude and awkward he is.
Well, there was a coolness, sir,

3265
04:12:39.000 --> 04:12:41.200
and then we didn't see each other
for another long time, and the

3266
04:12:41.239 --> 04:12:43.719
man next saw him, I knew
I really was in love with him.

3267
04:12:45.079 --> 04:12:48.200
Of course I never said anything to
mother, or doesn't you know? And

3268
04:12:48.280 --> 04:12:50.680
she was to have taken up with
her own affairs, poor dear, and

3269
04:12:50.760 --> 04:12:54.079
I thought he was really fond of
me. I thought so because he was

3270
04:12:54.120 --> 04:12:58.200
so cross and queer. He's like
that, you know. And after all,

3271
04:12:58.200 --> 04:13:01.799
it was not that that made him
cross and queer. It was just

3272
04:13:01.799 --> 04:13:03.719
because he was as good as engaged
to Lilian, and he didn't like to

3273
04:13:03.760 --> 04:13:09.319
tell me, and I never knew. How could I guess? I never

3274
04:13:09.360 --> 04:13:13.239
heard there was anything between him and
Lilian. Besides, although he was cross

3275
04:13:13.239 --> 04:13:16.280
and queer, he said things to
me that he oughtn't to have said concerning

3276
04:13:16.360 --> 04:13:20.000
how he was carrying on with Lillian. It was then that I settled on

3277
04:13:20.040 --> 04:13:22.399
coming to Bersley. There was no
reason why I should stay in Longshore.

3278
04:13:24.360 --> 04:13:26.799
I saw him again in Longshore after
he was engaged to Lilian, and yet

3279
04:13:26.799 --> 04:13:31.760
he never told me. And then
when I've come here, the first thing

3280
04:13:31.760 --> 04:13:35.840
I hear is that he's engaged to
Lillian. Was that afternoon when Sarah called,

3281
04:13:35.040 --> 04:13:41.440
do you remember uncle? He remembered. I saw mister Dean that night,

3282
04:13:41.520 --> 04:13:43.479
and somehow I told him what I
thought of him. Don't know how

3283
04:13:43.520 --> 04:13:48.239
it began, but I did.
He said he couldn't help being engaged to

3284
04:13:48.280 --> 04:13:50.879
Lilian. He said it was one
of those engagements that had gone by themselves

3285
04:13:50.879 --> 04:13:54.280
and you can't stop them. He
wanted to stop it, but he was

3286
04:13:54.319 --> 04:13:58.399
engaged before he knew where he was, so he says, he said he

3287
04:13:58.440 --> 04:14:01.879
preferred me, and if he'd known
so, of course I was obliged to

3288
04:14:01.879 --> 04:14:05.120
be very angry with him. That
was why I didn't speak to him at

3289
04:14:05.120 --> 04:14:09.760
first. At Missus Proctor's least,
that was partly why. The Other reason

3290
04:14:09.799 --> 04:14:13.799
was that he had accused me of
running after Emmanuel. Of all people where

3291
04:14:13.760 --> 04:14:16.639
I have been. You know what
had that got to do with Andrew?

3292
04:14:16.719 --> 04:14:20.959
Seeing that he was engaged to Lilian. Besides, I've been doing it on

3293
04:14:20.040 --> 04:14:26.159
purpose, and he was so insolent, and then to crown all, Missus

3294
04:14:26.200 --> 04:14:30.319
Blocton made me dance with him,
No wonder I fainted. He's the rudest,

3295
04:14:30.559 --> 04:14:35.879
rudest, crudest man I ever knew. She wiped her eyes, un

3296
04:14:35.600 --> 04:14:41.639
mused, James, you'll simply kill
poor Lilian, She sobbed. What's that

3297
04:14:41.680 --> 04:14:45.159
got to do with you? If
you and Emmanuel have got nothing to do

3298
04:14:45.200 --> 04:14:48.600
with him? It isn't you as
I be wong? When Lilian's murdered?

3299
04:14:48.959 --> 04:14:54.159
Can't you see, he mustn't marry
Lilian held him, burst out, silly

3300
04:14:54.200 --> 04:14:58.600
little thing. Oh can't you understand
him? Tis miles beneath him? Is

3301
04:14:58.639 --> 04:15:03.000
there any does understand him? James
asked? I do, said she,

3302
04:15:03.239 --> 04:15:07.280
And that's flat and I've got to
marry him. And you must tell me.

3303
04:15:07.000 --> 04:15:09.879
I wanted to tell you, and
now I've told you. Don't you

3304
04:15:09.920 --> 04:15:13.360
think I've done right in being quite
open with you? Most gods are so

3305
04:15:13.399 --> 04:15:18.200
foolish in these things, but I'm
not, aren't you Glad? Uncle glad?

3306
04:15:18.239 --> 04:15:22.959
Another word? Said he? You
must help me, she repeated,

3307
04:15:24.280 --> 04:15:33.440
end of chapter twenty two Chapter twenty
three of Helen with the High Hand by

3308
04:15:33.520 --> 04:15:39.000
Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox recording is
in the public domain recording by Simon Evers,

3309
04:15:39.840 --> 04:15:45.760
Chapter twenty three, Nocturnal. Many
things which previously had not been plain

3310
04:15:45.879 --> 04:15:50.280
to James Ollronshaw were plain to him
that night. As in the solitude of

3311
04:15:50.319 --> 04:15:54.319
his chosen room, he reflected upon
the astonishing menu that Helen had offered him

3312
04:15:54.440 --> 04:15:58.879
by way of supplement to his tea. But the chief matter in his mind

3313
04:15:58.040 --> 04:16:03.479
was the great, center, burning, blinding fact of the endless worry caused

3314
04:16:03.520 --> 04:16:07.079
to him by his connection with the
chit. He had bought Wilbraham Hall under

3315
04:16:07.079 --> 04:16:11.760
her threat to leave him if he
did not buy it. Even at Trafalgar

3316
04:16:11.840 --> 04:16:15.399
Road, she had filled the little
house with worry. And now within a

3317
04:16:15.440 --> 04:16:18.600
dozen hours of arriving in it,
she had filled Wilbraham Hall with worry,

3318
04:16:18.959 --> 04:16:22.000
filled it to its farthest attic.
If she had selected it to the residence,

3319
04:16:22.000 --> 04:16:26.120
she would have filled the Vatican with
worry. All that James demanded was

3320
04:16:26.159 --> 04:16:30.840
a quiet life, and she would
not let him have it. He wished

3321
04:16:30.840 --> 04:16:33.159
to respeck again in tra Fargar Road. He wished she had never met Helen

3322
04:16:33.239 --> 04:16:37.239
and her sons Shade in the park. That is to say, he asserted

3323
04:16:37.239 --> 04:16:41.000
to himself positively that he wished she
had never met Helen, but he did

3324
04:16:41.000 --> 04:16:45.159
not mean it. And so he
was to help her to rest Andrew Dene

3325
04:16:45.200 --> 04:16:49.680
from Lilian Swetnam. He was to
take part in a shameful conspiracy. He

3326
04:16:49.760 --> 04:16:53.959
was to assist in ruining an innocent
child's happiness, and he was deliberately to

3327
04:16:55.040 --> 04:16:57.799
foster the raw material of a scandal
in which he himself would be involved.

3328
04:16:59.719 --> 04:17:03.120
He the strong, obstinate, self
centered old man who had never till Helen's

3329
04:17:03.120 --> 04:17:10.319
advant done anything except to suit his
own convenience. The one bright spot was

3330
04:17:10.360 --> 04:17:14.760
that Helen had no genuine designs on
emmanual proctor. As a son in law,

3331
04:17:15.040 --> 04:17:18.000
Andrew Dene would be unbearable, but
a manual proctor would have been well

3332
04:17:18.159 --> 04:17:22.680
impossible. Andrew Dene, he mused, was at any rate a man whom

3333
04:17:22.680 --> 04:17:27.520
you could talk to and look at
without feeling sick. When he gazed at

3334
04:17:27.520 --> 04:17:32.200
the affair from all points of view
and repeated to himself the same deep moral

3335
04:17:32.239 --> 04:17:34.799
truth, such as there was no
doing now with a young woman of forty

3336
04:17:34.879 --> 04:17:40.600
is forty about thirty nine times,
and pitted himself from every quart of the

3337
04:17:40.639 --> 04:17:45.159
compass. He raised to go to
bed. He did not expect to sleep,

3338
04:17:45.840 --> 04:17:48.520
but the gas was not yet in
order, and he had only one

3339
04:17:48.600 --> 04:17:52.239
candle, which was nearly at its
latter end. The ladies Helen and Georgiana

3340
04:17:52.440 --> 04:17:57.120
had retired long since he left his
little room, and was just setting forth

3341
04:17:57.120 --> 04:18:02.000
on the adventure of discovering his bedchamber
when a bell rang in the bolls of

3342
04:18:02.040 --> 04:18:07.840
the house. His flesh crept.
It was as if the clock struck twelve

3343
04:18:07.879 --> 04:18:11.440
and shook the silent tire. Then
he collected his powers of memory and of

3344
04:18:11.479 --> 04:18:15.719
induction, and recognized in the sound
of the bell, the sound of the

3345
04:18:15.719 --> 04:18:19.920
front door bell, some one must
be at the front door. The singular

3346
04:18:21.000 --> 04:18:25.520
and highly disturbing phenomena of distant clanging, of thrills, and of fresh creepings

3347
04:18:25.920 --> 04:18:29.559
were all resolved into the simple fact
that some one was at the front door.

3348
04:18:30.879 --> 04:18:33.680
He went back into his little room. Instead of opening the front door

3349
04:18:33.719 --> 04:18:36.719
like a man. He opened the
window of the little room and struck out

3350
04:18:36.719 --> 04:18:40.920
the tassel of his cap. Who
there, he demanded? It's I,

3351
04:18:41.079 --> 04:18:45.040
mister laurran Acehaw, said a voice, queenly and nervous, not Missus Protter.

3352
04:18:45.280 --> 04:18:49.319
He suggested, Yes, I reckon, you'd like to come in,

3353
04:18:49.639 --> 04:18:53.120
he said. She admitted, the
Czar with a laugh, which struck him

3354
04:18:53.120 --> 04:18:57.000
as excessively free. He did not
know whether to be glad or sorry that

3355
04:18:57.040 --> 04:19:00.760
Helen had departed to bed. He
did not even know whether to be glad

3356
04:19:00.840 --> 04:19:06.000
or sorry that Missus Proctor had called. But he is vivid remembered what Henn

3357
04:19:06.040 --> 04:19:11.840
had said about caps. Naturally he
had to let her in. He held

3358
04:19:11.840 --> 04:19:14.280
the candle in his left hand as
he opened the door with his right,

3359
04:19:14.680 --> 04:19:18.559
and the tassel of his cap was
over his eye. You'll think I'm in

3360
04:19:18.559 --> 04:19:21.520
the habit of calling on you at
night, said Missus Proctor, as she

3361
04:19:21.559 --> 04:19:25.239
slid through the narrow space which James
allotted to her, and she laughed again.

3362
04:19:25.799 --> 04:19:29.879
Where is dear Helen. She's gone
to bed, missus, said James,

3363
04:19:30.399 --> 04:19:33.799
holding high the candle and gazing at
the generous vision in front of him.

3364
04:19:33.760 --> 04:19:37.000
It wore a bonnet and a rich
Paisley shawl over its flowered silk.

3365
04:19:38.079 --> 04:19:42.440
But it's only ten o'clock, missus
Proctor possessed. Yes, but she's gone

3366
04:19:42.479 --> 04:19:48.159
to bed. Why, Missus Procter
exclaimed, changing the subject wilfully. You

3367
04:19:48.200 --> 04:19:52.600
are all straight here, for the
carpets had been unrolled and laid, and

3368
04:19:52.680 --> 04:19:57.040
she sat down on a massive Early
Victorian mahogany chair about fifteen feet from the

3369
04:19:57.120 --> 04:20:02.360
dying fire, and began to fat
herself with her hands. She was one

3370
04:20:02.360 --> 04:20:07.079
of your women who were never cold. James, having nothing to say,

3371
04:20:07.399 --> 04:20:11.239
said nothing, following his custom.
I'm not ill pleased, said missus Potter,

3372
04:20:11.479 --> 04:20:15.559
that Helen is out of the way. The fact is it was you

3373
04:20:15.639 --> 04:20:19.760
that I wanted to have a word
with yo. Guess what about mister Emmanuel

3374
04:20:21.159 --> 04:20:26.399
James has ited precisely. I had
to put him to bed. He's certainly

3375
04:20:26.440 --> 04:20:30.239
in for a very serious gold and
I thrust, I fervently thrust. It

3376
04:20:30.239 --> 04:20:33.280
may not be bronchitis. That would
mean nurses, and nothing upsets the house

3377
04:20:33.319 --> 04:20:40.600
more than nurses. What happened,
mister Olanshaw? James set the candle down

3378
04:20:40.639 --> 04:20:44.959
on another early Victorian chair, there
being no occasional table at hand, and

3379
04:20:45.120 --> 04:20:49.319
very slowly lured himself to a sitting
posture on a third I'll tell you what

3380
04:20:49.399 --> 04:20:53.079
happened, missus, he said,
putting his hands on his knees, And

3381
04:20:53.159 --> 04:20:56.520
he told her, beginning with the
loss of the ship and ocean, and

3382
04:20:56.639 --> 04:21:02.879
ending with Helen's ever memorable words.
You must help me. That's what happened,

3383
04:21:02.879 --> 04:21:07.120
missus, he said grimly. She
punctuated his recital by several exclamations,

3384
04:21:07.559 --> 04:21:11.399
and when he had finished, she
gave rein to her sentiments. My dear

3385
04:21:11.559 --> 04:21:17.040
mister Olshaw, she said, in
the kindest manner, conceivable, how I

3386
04:21:17.159 --> 04:21:22.239
sympathize with you, How I wish
I could help you. Her sympathy was

3387
04:21:22.239 --> 04:21:25.799
a genuine comfort to him. He
did not, in that instant care a

3388
04:21:25.840 --> 04:21:30.159
fig for Hedden's notion about the direction
of caps. He was simply and humanly

3389
04:21:30.200 --> 04:21:34.639
eased by the sweet tones of this
ample and comely dame. Besides, the

3390
04:21:34.719 --> 04:21:37.879
idea of a woman such as missus
Poctor marrying a man such as him,

3391
04:21:38.639 --> 04:21:42.760
was, he knew, preposterous.
She belonged to a little world which called

3392
04:21:42.840 --> 04:21:48.600
him Jimmy, whereas he belonged to
a little world of his own. True,

3393
04:21:48.639 --> 04:21:52.159
he was wealthy, but she was
not poor, and no amount of

3394
04:21:52.159 --> 04:21:55.319
money, he thought, could make
a bridge to join those two worlds.

3395
04:21:56.559 --> 04:22:00.280
Nevertheless, here she was talking to
him alone at ten o'clock at night,

3396
04:22:00.040 --> 04:22:04.079
and not for the first time either. Obviously, then there was no nonsense

3397
04:22:04.120 --> 04:22:11.000
about her. Whatever nonsensical world she
belonged to, she ran over with sympathy,

3398
04:22:11.719 --> 04:22:15.120
Having no further fear of Helen making
trouble in her own family. She

3399
04:22:15.159 --> 04:22:19.319
had all her feelings at liberty to
condone with James. The candle throwing a

3400
04:22:19.319 --> 04:22:23.360
small hemisphere of feeble radiance in the
vastness of the dim hall sat on its

3401
04:22:23.479 --> 04:22:29.079
chair between them. I can help
you, she said suddenly, after grunts

3402
04:22:29.079 --> 04:22:33.120
from James. I'm calling on the
sweatnams the day after tomorrow. I'll tell

3403
04:22:33.159 --> 04:22:36.840
them about about to day, and
when Missus Swepton asked me for an explanation

3404
04:22:36.879 --> 04:22:41.399
of it, I will be mysterious. If Lilian is there, Missus Sweatnam

3405
04:22:41.399 --> 04:22:44.479
will certainly get her out of the
room. Then I will just give the

3406
04:22:44.520 --> 04:22:49.360
faintest hint that the explanation is merely
jealousy between Emmanuel and Missus Dean concerning a

3407
04:22:49.360 --> 04:22:53.000
certain young lady. I should treat
it all as a joke. You can

3408
04:22:53.079 --> 04:22:57.719
relyw me immediately I'm gone. Lilian
will hear about it. She will call

3409
04:22:57.799 --> 04:23:00.840
with Andrew the next time she seen
him, and if he wishes to be

3410
04:23:00.920 --> 04:23:07.079
free, he may be. She
smiled, the arch naughty, pleasantly malign

3411
04:23:07.159 --> 04:23:14.120
smile of a terribly experienced danger,
and she seemed positively anxious that James should

3412
04:23:14.120 --> 04:23:18.000
have Andrew Dene for a son in
law. James, in his simplicity,

3413
04:23:18.239 --> 04:23:25.239
was delighted. It appeared to him
a Mephistophilian ingenuity. He thought how clever

3414
04:23:25.319 --> 04:23:27.680
women were on their own ground,
and what an advantage they had in their

3415
04:23:27.680 --> 04:23:33.239
immense lack of scruple. Of course, said she, I've always said that

3416
04:23:33.239 --> 04:23:36.959
a marriage between Andrew Dene and Lilian
would be a mistake, a very serious

3417
04:23:36.959 --> 04:23:41.319
mistake. They're quite unsuited to each
other. She isn't in love with him,

3418
04:23:41.559 --> 04:23:45.520
tis only been flattered by his attentions
into drawing him on. I feel

3419
04:23:45.600 --> 04:23:51.079
sorry for the little thing. At
a stroke, she converted a shameful conspiracy

3420
04:23:51.360 --> 04:23:55.920
into an act of the highest virtue, and her smile changed too, became

3421
04:23:55.959 --> 04:24:00.440
a good smile, a smile on
which a man might depend. His heart

3422
04:24:00.479 --> 04:24:03.079
went out to her, and he
contemplated the smile in a pleased, beatific

3423
04:24:03.239 --> 04:24:08.719
silence. Just then the candle,
a treacherous thing, flamed up and went

3424
04:24:08.760 --> 04:24:14.280
out. Oh, cried missus.
Proctor and James had not a match.

3425
04:24:14.520 --> 04:24:18.079
He never smoked, and without an
atlas of the hall showing the location of

3426
04:24:18.120 --> 04:24:22.639
match boxes, he saw no hope
of finding a match. The fire was

3427
04:24:22.680 --> 04:24:26.159
as good as gone. A few
cinders burnt red under the ash, showing

3428
04:24:26.200 --> 04:24:30.479
the form of a chimneypiece, but
no more. And you got a match,

3429
04:24:30.600 --> 04:24:33.760
he asked her. No, she
said dryly, I don't cut him

3430
04:24:33.760 --> 04:24:37.040
wretches, but I can tell you
I don't like being the dark at all.

3431
04:24:37.360 --> 04:24:41.399
Her voice came to him out of
nothing, had a most curious effect

3432
04:24:41.479 --> 04:24:45.280
on his spine. Where are you, mister Laurance shaw, I'm sitting here,

3433
04:24:45.479 --> 04:24:49.120
he replied, Well, she said, if you can't find a match,

3434
04:24:49.200 --> 04:24:52.200
I think you'd better lead me to
the door. I certainly can't find

3435
04:24:52.239 --> 04:24:56.840
my way there myself. Where is
your hand? Then a hand touched his

3436
04:24:56.879 --> 04:25:02.040
shoulder and burnt him. Is that
you, asked the voice. Aye,

3437
04:25:02.280 --> 04:25:06.520
he said, and he took the
hand, and the hand squeezed his hand,

3438
04:25:07.000 --> 04:25:10.920
squeezed it violently. It may be
due to fear, it may be

3439
04:25:11.000 --> 04:25:14.760
due to mere inadvertence on the part
of the hand. But the hand did,

3440
04:25:14.840 --> 04:25:21.479
with unmistakable charming violence, squeeze his
hand. And he rose. What's

3441
04:25:21.479 --> 04:25:25.840
that night? There, questioned the
voice in a whisper. Where he whispered

3442
04:25:25.840 --> 04:25:32.719
also there Behind he turned a luminescence
seemed to come from above, from the

3443
04:25:32.799 --> 04:25:37.000
unseen heights of the magnificent double staircase. As his eyes grew accustomed to the

3444
04:25:37.040 --> 04:25:41.520
conditions, he gradually made out the
details of the staircase. You'd better go

3445
04:25:41.559 --> 04:25:47.399
and see, the whispering voice commanded. He dropped the hand and obeyed,

3446
04:25:47.760 --> 04:25:51.559
creeping up the left wing of the
staircase. As he faced about at the

3447
04:25:51.559 --> 04:25:56.000
half landing, he saw Helen in
an orange tinted penguin, and her hair

3448
04:25:56.040 --> 04:25:59.879
all down her back. Holding a
candle, she beckoned to him. He

3449
04:26:00.120 --> 04:26:04.239
sent to her, who's there?
She inquired coldly, Missus Proctor. He

3450
04:26:04.360 --> 04:26:08.360
murmured, and are you sitting together
in the dark? She inquired coldly.

3451
04:26:10.520 --> 04:26:14.639
The story that the count had expired
seemed feeble in the extreme, and for

3452
04:26:14.719 --> 04:26:18.479
him the word cap was written in
letters of fire on the darkness below.

3453
04:26:18.799 --> 04:26:25.600
He made no attempt to answer her
question. End of chapter twenty three.

3454
04:26:30.440 --> 04:26:34.600
Chapter twenty four of Helen with the
High Hand by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox

3455
04:26:34.639 --> 04:26:40.760
recording is in the public domain recording
by Simon Evers, Chapter twenty four,

3456
04:26:41.319 --> 04:26:45.559
Seeing a Lady Home. Those words
of Helen's began a fresh chapter in the

3457
04:26:45.600 --> 04:26:49.799
life of her great step uncle,
James Orangshaw. They set him up in

3458
04:26:49.799 --> 04:26:53.120
a feeling, or rather a whole
range of feelings, which had never before

3459
04:26:53.159 --> 04:26:59.879
experienced. At Tea hennd had hinted
at the direction of Missus Proctor's cap that

3460
04:27:00.200 --> 04:27:03.920
nothing he could not be held responsible
for the direction of Missus Proctor's cap.

3461
04:27:03.520 --> 04:27:07.440
He could laugh at that, even
though he faintly blushed. But to be

3462
04:27:07.479 --> 04:27:11.079
called sitting in the dark with Missus
Proctor after ten o'clock at night in his

3463
04:27:11.159 --> 04:27:15.479
own house, to have the fact
pointed out to him in such a peculiar,

3464
04:27:15.600 --> 04:27:19.120
meaningful tone as Helen employed. Here
was something that connected him and Missus

3465
04:27:19.120 --> 04:27:25.120
Proctor in a manner just as shade
too serious for mayor smiling. Here was

3466
04:27:25.159 --> 04:27:27.959
something that had not before happened to
him in his career as rent collector and

3467
04:27:29.040 --> 04:27:33.479
sage. Not that he minded,
No, he did not mind. Although

3468
04:27:33.520 --> 04:27:37.920
he had no intention whatever of disputing
the possession of Missus Proctor with her stepson,

3469
04:27:38.479 --> 04:27:42.719
he did not object to all the
implication in Helen's remarkable tone. On

3470
04:27:42.760 --> 04:27:47.600
the contrary, he was rather pleased. Why should not he sit with a

3471
04:27:47.680 --> 04:27:49.879
lady in the dark? Was he
not as capable as any man of sitting

3472
04:27:49.920 --> 04:27:53.399
with a lady in the dark.
He was even willing that Helen should credit

3473
04:27:53.520 --> 04:27:57.159
him, or pretend to credit him, with having pre arranged the dark.

3474
04:27:59.760 --> 04:28:03.079
Ah. People might say what they
chose, But what a dog he might

3475
04:28:03.120 --> 04:28:06.399
have been, had he cared to
be a dog. Here he was,

3476
04:28:06.520 --> 04:28:11.079
without the slightest preliminary practice, successfully
sitting with a lady in the dark at

3477
04:28:11.120 --> 04:28:15.360
the first attempt. And what lady
not the first comer not missus bt not

3478
04:28:15.479 --> 04:28:19.840
the mairess, but the acknowledged Queen
of Bursley, the undisputed leader of all

3479
04:28:19.879 --> 04:28:25.360
that was most distinguished in Bursley society, and no difficulty about it either.

3480
04:28:26.200 --> 04:28:30.440
And she had squeezed his hand.
She had continued to squeeze it. She,

3481
04:28:30.600 --> 04:28:33.879
in her rich raiment, with her
fine ways and her correct accent,

3482
04:28:33.239 --> 04:28:37.319
had squeezed the hand of Jimmy Oloranshaw, with his hard old clothes and his

3483
04:28:37.360 --> 04:28:42.000
Turkish cap, his simple barbarisms,
his lack of style, and his uncompromising

3484
04:28:42.040 --> 04:28:48.520
dialect. Why because he was rich, No, because he was a man,

3485
04:28:48.719 --> 04:28:52.639
because he was the best man in
Bursley when you came down to essentials.

3486
04:28:52.639 --> 04:28:57.040
So his thoughts ran. His interest
in Heaven's Heart had become quite a

3487
04:28:57.079 --> 04:29:00.639
secondary interest, but he recalled him
to a sense of his responsibility as a

3488
04:29:00.719 --> 04:29:06.799
great step uncle of a capricious creature
like her. What are you and missus

3489
04:29:06.799 --> 04:29:10.920
Proctor talking about? She questioned him
in a whisper, holding the candle towards

3490
04:29:10.920 --> 04:29:15.239
his face and scrutinizing it as seemed
to him inimogately. Well, he said,

3491
04:29:15.319 --> 04:29:19.040
if you must know about you,
and that there Andrew Dene, She

3492
04:29:19.079 --> 04:29:22.319
made a brusque movement, and then
she beckoned him to follow her along the

3493
04:29:22.319 --> 04:29:26.239
corridor, out a possible earshot of
Missus Proctor. Do you mean to say,

3494
04:29:26.360 --> 04:29:30.840
uncle, she demanded, putting the
candle down on a small table that

3495
04:29:30.879 --> 04:29:33.280
stood under a large oil painting of
Joshua and the Sun in the corridor,

3496
04:29:33.799 --> 04:29:38.920
that you've been discussing my affairs with
missus Proctor. He saw instantly that he

3497
04:29:38.959 --> 04:29:42.120
had not been the sage he imagined
himself to be. But he was not

3498
04:29:42.159 --> 04:29:45.360
going to be bullied by Helen or
any other woman younger than Missus Proctor,

3499
04:29:47.079 --> 04:29:52.120
so he stiffly brazened it out.
Aye, he said, I never heard

3500
04:29:52.159 --> 04:29:56.120
of such a thing, she explaided, but still whispering. You sit as

3501
04:29:56.120 --> 04:29:59.120
I must help ye, and I'm
helping ye, said he. But it

3502
04:29:59.159 --> 04:30:00.719
didn't mean that you were to you
all chattering about me all over Pursly,

3503
04:30:00.799 --> 04:30:07.000
Uncle, she protested, adopting now
the pained, haughty and over polite attitude.

3504
04:30:07.760 --> 04:30:10.680
I don't know, as I've been
chattering all over Bursley, he rebutted

3505
04:30:10.719 --> 04:30:12.879
her. I don't know, as
I've much of a chatterer. I might

3506
04:30:14.000 --> 04:30:15.280
name them as could give me a
start and a beat him when it comes

3507
04:30:15.280 --> 04:30:19.319
to talking the nose off a brass
monkey. Missus Proctor came in to inquire

3508
04:30:19.319 --> 04:30:22.920
about what had happened here this afternoon
as well she might, seeing his Amanda

3509
04:30:22.959 --> 04:30:26.200
went home with a couple of gallons
of my water and his pockets. So

3510
04:30:26.239 --> 04:30:30.559
I told her all about it.
He's a very friendly woman and has promised

3511
04:30:30.600 --> 04:30:36.360
to do what he can for ye. How why to get Andrew Dene for

3512
04:30:36.440 --> 04:30:38.399
ye? Seeing hey are so fixed
on him with a little gossip as may

3513
04:30:38.440 --> 04:30:42.920
be. Oh so Missus Proctor has
kind of consented to get Andrew Dene for

3514
04:30:42.959 --> 04:30:48.440
me? And how did ye mean
to do it? James had no alternative.

3515
04:30:48.760 --> 04:30:52.639
He was obliged to relate how Missus
Procter meant to do it? Now,

3516
04:30:52.760 --> 04:30:56.000
Uncle said, Helen, just listen
to me. If Missus Procter says

3517
04:30:56.040 --> 04:30:59.159
a single word about me to any
one, I will never speak either to

3518
04:30:59.200 --> 04:31:03.520
her or you again, mind a
single word. And I seen that she

3519
04:31:03.520 --> 04:31:06.920
should go up to Swetnam's and hint
that Andrew and Emmanu had been fighting because

3520
04:31:06.920 --> 04:31:10.920
of me? What about my reputation? And do you suppose that I want

3521
04:31:10.920 --> 04:31:17.079
the leavings of Lilian's Swetnam me the
idea is preposterous. He wanted them badly

3522
04:31:17.200 --> 04:31:21.200
enough this afternoon, said he.
No, I didn't. She contradicted him

3523
04:31:21.200 --> 04:31:25.840
passionately. You're quite mistaken. You
misunderstood me. I'm surprised that you should

3524
04:31:25.879 --> 04:31:30.559
have done. Perhaps I was a
little excited this afternoon. Certainly you were

3525
04:31:30.559 --> 04:31:33.600
thinking about other things. I expect
you were expecting Missus Pottter this evening.

3526
04:31:34.239 --> 04:31:37.879
It would be nice of you to
have told me she was coming. Now,

3527
04:31:37.920 --> 04:31:41.239
please let it be clearly understood.
She swept on. You must go

3528
04:31:41.319 --> 04:31:45.879
down and tell Missus Potrat at once
that you are entirely in error, and

3529
04:31:45.959 --> 04:31:48.799
that she is on no account to
beathe a word about me to any one.

3530
04:31:48.600 --> 04:31:52.719
Whatever you were both thinking of,
I cannot imagine, but I can

3531
04:31:52.799 --> 04:31:56.280
assure you I'm extremely annoyed. Missus
Proctor put her finger in the pie.

3532
04:31:56.840 --> 04:32:00.079
Let her take care that I don't
put my finger into her. I always

3533
04:32:00.120 --> 04:32:04.079
knew she was a gossiping old thing, but really, mister hornor in Shaw,

3534
04:32:04.680 --> 04:32:10.159
a prettily plaintive voice rose from the
black depths below there. She's getting

3535
04:32:10.159 --> 04:32:12.959
impatient for you, Henden snapped off
to her at once. To think that

3536
04:32:14.000 --> 04:32:15.280
if I hadn't happened to hear the
bell ring and come out to see what

3537
04:32:15.360 --> 04:32:18.760
was the matter. I had been
the talk of Bursty before I was a

3538
04:32:18.799 --> 04:32:22.360
day older. She picked up the
candle. I must have a light,

3539
04:32:22.600 --> 04:32:27.360
said James, somewhat lamely. Why, Henden asked calmly. If you could

3540
04:32:27.399 --> 04:32:30.280
begin in the dark, why can't
you finish in the dark? You and

3541
04:32:30.319 --> 04:32:34.079
she seemed to be light being in
the dark, mister Hornor and Shaw.

3542
04:32:34.639 --> 04:32:41.120
The voice was a little nearer.
ER's come in. James ejaculated. Henning

3543
04:32:41.159 --> 04:32:44.840
seemed to lose her courage before that
threat. Here take this one, then,

3544
04:32:44.959 --> 04:32:49.680
said she, giving James her candle
and fleeing down the corridor. James

3545
04:32:49.680 --> 04:32:53.000
had the sensation of transacting a part
in a play at a theater where the

3546
04:32:53.040 --> 04:32:59.479
scenery was absolutely realistic and at the
same time of a romantic quality. Moonnight

3547
04:32:59.559 --> 04:33:03.719
streaming through the windows of the interminable
corridor was alone, wanting to render the

3548
04:33:03.760 --> 04:33:07.520
illusion perfect. It was certainly astonishing
what you could buy with seven thousand,

3549
04:33:07.520 --> 04:33:12.040
two hundred and fifty pounds. Perhaps
the most striking portion of the scenery was

3550
04:33:12.080 --> 04:33:18.319
Helen's pennoir. He had not before
witnessed turner pennoir the effect of it was

3551
04:33:18.360 --> 04:33:22.319
agreeable, but indeed the modern taste
for luxury was incredible. He wondered if

3552
04:33:22.360 --> 04:33:29.040
Missus Proctor practiced similar extravagances. While
such notions ran through his head, he

3553
04:33:29.080 --> 04:33:32.560
was hurrying to the stairs and dropping
a hail of candle grease on the floor.

3554
04:33:33.599 --> 04:33:37.080
He found Missus Proctor slowly and cautiously
ascending the stairway. If he was

3555
04:33:37.080 --> 04:33:41.840
at the summit of mont Blanc.
She had already reached Le Grand Moulais.

3556
04:33:41.560 --> 04:33:45.360
What is it, she asked,
pausing and looking up at him with an

3557
04:33:45.360 --> 04:33:49.880
appealing gesture. What's what? Why
have you been so long? It was

3558
04:33:49.919 --> 04:33:55.439
if she implied that these minutes without
him were an eternity of anuis. He

3559
04:33:55.479 --> 04:33:59.560
grew more and more conceited. He
was already despising Don Juan as a pewling

3560
04:33:59.599 --> 04:34:03.479
boy had an hurnswoment, And so
she had come out of her bedroom.

3561
04:34:03.040 --> 04:34:07.599
There's nervous in this big house.
Did you turn her eye? Was here,

3562
04:34:07.599 --> 04:34:12.360
mister Oliveron saw by this time he
rejoined her at de Gromboule. No,

3563
04:34:12.720 --> 04:34:17.639
he said, without sufficiently reflecting.
She didn't hear me call out?

3564
04:34:17.680 --> 04:34:22.080
Then? Did you call out?
If he was in a theater he also

3565
04:34:22.119 --> 04:34:26.439
could act. Perhaps it's just as
well, said Missus Proctor, after a

3566
04:34:26.479 --> 04:34:30.319
momentary meditation, under the circumstances,
she cannot possibly suspect our little plot,

3567
04:34:32.720 --> 04:34:36.240
fair little plot. In yielding to
the impulse to tell her that Helen was

3568
04:34:36.319 --> 04:34:40.080
unaware of her presence in the house, he forgotten that he made it excessively

3569
04:34:40.119 --> 04:34:44.520
difficult for him to demolish the said
plot. He could not one moment agree

3570
04:34:44.599 --> 04:34:47.959
with enthusiasm to the plot, and
the next moment say that the plot had

3571
04:34:48.000 --> 04:34:52.520
better be abandoned. Some men doubtless
could, but he could not. He

3572
04:34:52.599 --> 04:34:56.360
was scarcely that time of man.
His proper course would have been to relate

3573
04:34:56.400 --> 04:35:00.080
to Missus Proctor exactly what had passed, put in himself off and Helen and

3574
04:35:00.159 --> 04:35:07.040
trust to her common sense. Unhappily
with intention of pleasing her or reassuring her,

3575
04:35:07.360 --> 04:35:11.080
or something equally silly, he had
lied to her and rendered the truth

3576
04:35:11.200 --> 04:35:15.319
impracticable. However, he did not
seem to care much. He had already

3577
04:35:15.319 --> 04:35:21.439
pushed Headn's affairs back again to quite
a secondary position. I suppose you think

3578
04:35:21.479 --> 04:35:23.159
it'll be all right, missus,
he said, carelessly, Ye, going

3579
04:35:23.200 --> 04:35:27.720
up to missus wepland's or that n
rely on me, said she silence sing

3580
04:35:29.520 --> 04:35:33.479
Then without a pang, he left
Helen to her fate, then touched the

3581
04:35:33.520 --> 04:35:37.599
ground floor. Thank you very much, mister land Shaw said missus Potter,

3582
04:35:37.080 --> 04:35:42.240
good night. I'll make the best
of my way home. Curious how sorry

3583
04:35:42.279 --> 04:35:47.159
he felt at this announcement. He
had become quite accustomed to being a conspirator

3584
04:35:47.200 --> 04:35:51.040
with her in the vast house lighted
by a single candle, and he did

3585
04:35:51.040 --> 04:35:53.759
not relish the end of the performance. I'll step along, wi ye,

3586
04:35:53.799 --> 04:35:57.840
said he. Oh no, she
said, I really can't allow allah.

3587
04:35:57.880 --> 04:36:03.040
What allow you to inconvenience yourself like
that? For me? Pull said he,

3588
04:36:04.279 --> 04:36:07.720
And he, who had never in
his life seen a lady to her

3589
04:36:07.759 --> 04:36:11.159
door, set out on the business
as though he had done nothing else every

3590
04:36:11.240 --> 04:36:14.959
night of his life. As it
was an enterprise that did not require practice.

3591
04:36:15.240 --> 04:36:18.720
He opened the door and put the
candle on the floor behind it,

3592
04:36:18.880 --> 04:36:22.959
where he could easily find it on
returning. I'll get a box of matches

3593
04:36:22.000 --> 04:36:26.080
from somewhere while i'm out, said
he. He was about to extinguish the

3594
04:36:26.119 --> 04:36:30.360
candle when she stopped him. Mister
lawran Shaw, she said, firmly,

3595
04:36:30.400 --> 04:36:33.639
you haven't got your boots on.
Those slippers are not thick enough for this

3596
04:36:33.720 --> 04:36:38.799
weather. He gazed at her.
Should he yield to her? The idea

3597
04:36:38.840 --> 04:36:42.520
of yielding to her for the mere
sake of yielding to her presented it herself

3598
04:36:42.560 --> 04:36:48.520
to him as a charming idea.
So he disappeared with the candle and reappeared

3599
04:36:48.520 --> 04:36:52.479
in his boots. You won't need
a muffler, she suggested, now at

3600
04:36:52.520 --> 04:36:57.200
the moment to play the hardy horseman. Oh no, he laughed. This

3601
04:36:57.400 --> 04:37:02.319
concern for his welfare come in from
such a royal creature, was, however,

3602
04:37:02.520 --> 04:37:07.560
immensely agreeable. She stood out on
the steps. He extinguished the candle,

3603
04:37:07.799 --> 04:37:11.599
and then joined her and banged the
door. They started. Several hundred

3604
04:37:11.680 --> 04:37:17.200
yards of winding, pitch dark drive
had to be traversed. Will you kindly

3605
04:37:17.200 --> 04:37:21.080
give me your arm, she said. She said it so primly, so

3606
04:37:21.240 --> 04:37:23.880
correctly, and with such detachment that
they might have been in church, and

3607
04:37:23.919 --> 04:37:29.119
she saying, will you kindly let
me look over your prayer book? When

3608
04:37:29.119 --> 04:37:32.919
they arrived at the gas lit Old
Castle road, he wanted to withdraw his

3609
04:37:33.080 --> 04:37:36.959
arm, but he did not know
how to begin withdrawing it. Hence he

3610
04:37:37.080 --> 04:37:41.159
was obliged to leave it where it
was. And as they were approaching the

3611
04:37:41.159 --> 04:37:45.159
front gate of the residence of mister
Buchanan, the Scotch editor of the Signal,

3612
04:37:45.880 --> 04:37:49.119
a perfect string of people emerged from
that front gate. Missus Buchanan been

3613
04:37:49.119 --> 04:37:53.119
giving a whist drive. There were
sundry sweat nuns among the string, and

3614
04:37:53.159 --> 04:37:57.360
the whole string was merry and talkative. It was a fine night. The

3615
04:37:57.439 --> 04:38:02.439
eating pearls of the string bore up
on the middle aged pair and peered and

3616
04:38:02.560 --> 04:38:07.840
passed good night, Missus Proctor,
good night, mister Hollinshaw. Than another

3617
04:38:07.880 --> 04:38:11.200
cold did the same, good night, Missus Proctor, good night, mister

3618
04:38:11.200 --> 04:38:15.520
Hollinshaw. And so it went on, and the string, laughing and talking,

3619
04:38:15.840 --> 04:38:22.279
gradually disappeared deminuendo in the distance towards
Pursley. I suppose you know you've

3620
04:38:22.279 --> 04:38:26.639
done it this time, observed Missus
Proctor. It was a dark saying,

3621
04:38:26.799 --> 04:38:30.520
but James fully understood it. He
felt as they he had drunk Champagne as

3622
04:38:30.560 --> 04:38:33.040
well be hung for a sheep as
a lamb, he said to himself,

3623
04:38:33.560 --> 04:38:40.560
and deliberately squeezed at the Royal arm. Nothing violent happened. He'd rather expect

3624
04:38:40.599 --> 04:38:44.439
of the heavens to fall, or
that at least Missus Procter will exclaim unt

3625
04:38:44.479 --> 04:38:49.119
handby monster. But nothing violent happened, and this is me James Honor in

3626
04:38:49.159 --> 04:38:56.080
Shaw, he said to himself,
still squeezing. End of chapter twenty four

3627
04:39:00.000 --> 04:39:03.959
tventy five of Helen with the High
Hand by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox recording

3628
04:39:04.040 --> 04:39:10.959
is in the public domain. Recording
by Simon Evers, Chapter twenty five Girlish

3629
04:39:11.000 --> 04:39:17.279
Confidences. One afternoon, Sarah Swetnam
called, and Helen in person opened the

3630
04:39:17.279 --> 04:39:21.919
great door to visitor. I saw
that frock in Brunce three days ago.

3631
04:39:22.400 --> 04:39:26.200
Helen began kissing the tall, tight
bound, large boned woman. I know

3632
04:39:26.400 --> 04:39:30.200
you did, know, Sarah admitted, but you needn't tell me, so

3633
04:39:30.560 --> 04:39:34.000
don't you like it? I think
it's a dream, Helen replied, quickly

3634
04:39:34.439 --> 04:39:38.360
turn round. But there was a
certain lack of conviction in her voice,

3635
04:39:38.560 --> 04:39:45.040
and in Sarah's manner there was something
strained. Accordingly, they both became extravagantly

3636
04:39:45.080 --> 04:39:48.479
effusive, or at any rate more
effusive than usual, though each was well

3637
04:39:48.520 --> 04:39:55.119
aware that the artifice was entirely futile
all alone. Sarah asked, when she

3638
04:39:55.119 --> 04:39:59.479
had recovered from the first shock of
the hall's magnificence. Yes, said Helen.

3639
04:39:59.759 --> 04:40:03.439
It's Georgiana's afternoon out and uncle's away, and I haven't got any new

3640
04:40:03.520 --> 04:40:07.080
servants yet, mister holleran shore away. No one ever heard of such a

3641
04:40:07.119 --> 04:40:11.119
thing. If you knew him as
well as we do, you'd have fainted

3642
04:40:11.159 --> 04:40:14.759
with surprise. Ought to be in
the paper. Where's he gone to.

3643
04:40:15.080 --> 04:40:18.200
He's gone to Derby to try to
buy some property that he says he's going

3644
04:40:18.279 --> 04:40:22.400
very cheap there. He's been gone
three days now. He got a letter

3645
04:40:22.439 --> 04:40:26.680
at breakfast and said he must go
to Derby at once. However, he

3646
04:40:26.720 --> 04:40:30.400
had to finish his rents. The
trouble is that his rents never are finished.

3647
04:40:30.599 --> 04:40:33.959
And I'm bothered all the time by
people coming with three and sixpence or

3648
04:40:33.119 --> 04:40:37.000
four shillings and a dirty rent book. Oh on the dirt, on the

3649
04:40:37.080 --> 04:40:41.599
coins, My dear, you can't
imagine there's one good thing. He will

3650
04:40:41.599 --> 04:40:45.119
have to come back for next week's
rents. Not as I'm sorry he's gone.

3651
04:40:45.439 --> 04:40:48.119
Gives me a chance. You see, by the time he returns,

3652
04:40:48.119 --> 04:40:52.159
I should have miss servants in.
Do tell me what servants you're going to

3653
04:40:52.200 --> 04:40:56.159
have. When I went to that
agency at old Castle. I've got a

3654
04:40:56.200 --> 04:41:02.840
German butler. He speaks four languages
and hastyful eyes. A German butler.

3655
04:41:03.720 --> 04:41:06.479
If it had been a German prince, Sarah could not have been more startled

3656
04:41:06.520 --> 04:41:10.560
nor more delighted. Yes, and
a cook, and two other maids,

3657
04:41:10.599 --> 04:41:14.560
and a gardener and a boy.
How to keep Georgiana as my own maid?

3658
04:41:15.360 --> 04:41:18.439
My child? You're going it,
my child, I came here to

3659
04:41:18.479 --> 04:41:25.599
go it. A and mister Oloronjoy
is really pleased, Helen laughed. Oakle

3660
04:41:25.720 --> 04:41:27.919
never goes into raptures, you know, but I hope he will be pleased.

3661
04:41:29.639 --> 04:41:32.880
The fact is he doesn't know anything
about these new servants yet. You'll

3662
04:41:32.919 --> 04:41:36.279
find them installed when he returns.
It'd be a little treat for him.

3663
04:41:37.040 --> 04:41:41.759
A piano came this morning. Care
to try it? Rather, said Sarah?

3664
04:41:41.040 --> 04:41:45.959
What I never saw anything like it? This was in reference to her

3665
04:41:45.000 --> 04:41:48.639
first glimpse of the great drawing room. How you've improved him, you,

3666
04:41:48.759 --> 04:41:52.240
dear thing? Is he? I
have my own check book. It saves

3667
04:41:52.240 --> 04:41:56.720
worry, I see, said Sarah, meaningly, putting her purse on the

3668
04:41:56.759 --> 04:42:02.720
piano, umbrella on a chair,
and herself on the music stool. Shall

3669
04:42:02.720 --> 04:42:07.000
we have tea, Anna suggested,
after Sarah had performed on the beakastein yes,

3670
04:42:07.159 --> 04:42:11.240
let me help you do, dearest. They wandered off to the kitchens,

3671
04:42:11.479 --> 04:42:15.639
and while they were seated at the
kitchen table, sipping tea side by

3672
04:42:15.680 --> 04:42:18.200
side, Sarah said, now,
if you want an idea, I've got

3673
04:42:18.200 --> 04:42:22.000
a really good one for you.
For me, what sort of an idea,

3674
04:42:22.919 --> 04:42:26.400
I'll tell you. You know,
Missus Wilchier is dead. I don't.

3675
04:42:26.560 --> 04:42:30.880
I didn't even know there was a
Missus Wiltshire. Well there was,

3676
04:42:30.040 --> 04:42:33.919
and there isn't any longer. Missus
Wiltship was the main social prop of the

3677
04:42:33.959 --> 04:42:37.680
old Rector, and the annual concert
of the Saint Lut's Guild has always been

3678
04:42:37.680 --> 04:42:42.080
held at her house down at Shoreport. You know, awfully poky, but

3679
04:42:42.159 --> 04:42:45.799
it was the custom since the flood, and no one ever dared to hint

3680
04:42:45.799 --> 04:42:48.240
at a change. Now the concert
was to have been next week, but

3681
04:42:48.319 --> 04:42:52.799
one, and she's just gone and
died. And the rector is wondering where

3682
04:42:52.799 --> 04:42:56.560
he can hold it. I met
him this morning. Why don't you let

3683
04:42:56.639 --> 04:43:00.000
him hold it here? That will
be a splendid way of opening your house

3684
04:43:00.439 --> 04:43:03.240
at all. I beg its pardon
and you could introduce the beautiful eyes of

3685
04:43:03.240 --> 04:43:07.880
your German butler to the entire neighborhood. Of course, I don't know whether

3686
04:43:07.919 --> 04:43:11.400
mister Ollerenshaw would like it, oh, said Helen, without blenching. Uncle

3687
04:43:11.439 --> 04:43:17.560
would do as I wish, She
mused in silence during a number of seconds.

3688
04:43:18.159 --> 04:43:22.040
The idea doesn't appeal to you,
Sarah queried, disappointment in her tones.

3689
04:43:22.759 --> 04:43:25.520
Oh yes it does, said Helen. But I must think it over

3690
04:43:26.240 --> 04:43:29.200
now. Would you care to see
the rest of the house. I should

3691
04:43:29.319 --> 04:43:32.959
love to. Oh dear left my
handkerchief from with my purse in the drawing

3692
04:43:33.040 --> 04:43:37.040
room. Have mine, said Helen
promptly. But even not to this final

3693
04:43:37.119 --> 04:43:41.919
proof of intimate friendship, there still
remained an obstinate trifle of insincerity in their

3694
04:43:41.919 --> 04:43:47.720
relations. That afternoon, Helen was
sure that Sarah's wepman had paid the course

3695
04:43:47.799 --> 04:43:51.959
specifically to say something, and that
the something had not yet been said,

3696
04:43:52.000 --> 04:43:56.680
and the apprehension of an impending scene
gradually took possession of her nerves and disarranged

3697
04:43:56.680 --> 04:44:00.959
them. When they reached the attic
and were enjoined the glorious views of the

3698
04:44:00.959 --> 04:44:06.520
Morland in the distance and of Wilborohom
water in the immediate foreground, Henin said,

3699
04:44:06.840 --> 04:44:11.279
very suddenly, will the rect to
be in this afternoon? I should

3700
04:44:11.279 --> 04:44:15.080
say so? Why? I was
thinking you might walk down there together,

3701
04:44:15.240 --> 04:44:18.319
and I could suggest him, but
once about having the concert here? Sarah

3702
04:44:18.319 --> 04:44:23.799
clapped her hands. Then you've decided, certainly, how fuddy you are knell

3703
04:44:23.840 --> 04:44:29.880
with your decisions. In Helen's bedroom
amid her wardrobe, there was no chance

3704
04:44:29.919 --> 04:44:33.279
of dangerous topics, the intention being
monopolized by one subject, and that a

3705
04:44:33.319 --> 04:44:38.279
safe one. At last they went
out together, two models of style and

3706
04:44:38.439 --> 04:44:44.159
deportment, and had him pulled to
the great front door with a loud echoing

3707
04:44:44.240 --> 04:44:48.439
clang. Fancy that place being all
empty? Aren't you afraid of sleeping there

3708
04:44:48.439 --> 04:44:52.319
while your uncle is away? No, said Helen. But I should be

3709
04:44:52.319 --> 04:44:59.720
afraid if Georgiana wasn't afraid. After
this example of courageous introspection, a silence

3710
04:44:59.759 --> 04:45:03.279
fell upon the pair. The silence
held firm while they got out of the

3711
04:45:03.279 --> 04:45:07.000
grounds and crossed the old Castle Road
and took to the Owl's Field Path,

3712
04:45:07.360 --> 04:45:11.119
from which a unique panorama of Bursley
chimneys, kilns, canals, railways and

3713
04:45:11.200 --> 04:45:17.360
smoke pool is to be obtained.
Hennen was determined not to break the silence.

3714
04:45:18.360 --> 04:45:21.799
And then came the moment when Sarah
Sweptman could no longer suffer the silence,

3715
04:45:22.319 --> 04:45:26.240
and she began very cautiously. I
suppose you've heard all about Andrew and

3716
04:45:26.240 --> 04:45:32.680
Emanuel Procter. Henny perceived that she
had not been mistaken that the scene was

3717
04:45:32.720 --> 04:45:37.159
at hand. No, said she, what about them? You don't mean

3718
04:45:37.159 --> 04:45:42.599
to say you've not heard? Nor
what about a quarrel between those two Immanuel

3719
04:45:42.599 --> 04:45:47.880
and mister Dean. Yes, but
you must have heard, I assure you,

3720
04:45:47.919 --> 04:45:51.000
Sally, no one has told me
a word about it, which was

3721
04:45:51.279 --> 04:45:55.680
just as true as it was untrue. But they quarreled up here. I

3722
04:45:55.799 --> 04:46:00.119
did hear that Andrew threw a bianuel
into the lake? Who told you that

3723
04:46:00.959 --> 04:46:03.000
it was missus Proctor. She was
calling on the mator yesterday, and she

3724
04:46:03.040 --> 04:46:07.119
seemed to be full of it.
According to the mate's account, Missus Proctor's

3725
04:46:07.119 --> 04:46:11.520
idea was that they had quarreled about
a woman. Missus Proctor shall be repaid

3726
04:46:11.560 --> 04:46:17.040
for this, said Helen to herself. Surely Emmanuel hasn't been falling in love

3727
04:46:17.080 --> 04:46:21.159
with Lillian, has he? Said
Helen aloud. She considered this rather clever

3728
04:46:21.279 --> 04:46:26.119
on her part, and it was. Oh no, replied Sallie positively,

3729
04:46:26.439 --> 04:46:30.159
It's not Lilian. And there was
that in her tone which could not be

3730
04:46:30.240 --> 04:46:34.479
expressed in ten volumes. You know
perfectly well who the woman is. Helen

3731
04:46:34.599 --> 04:46:40.080
seemed to hear her say. Then
Henry said, I think I can explain

3732
04:46:40.159 --> 04:46:44.400
it. They were both at our
house the day we removed, or were

3733
04:46:44.439 --> 04:46:48.720
they? Murmured Sarah in well acted
surprise. Mister Deane fell of some steps

3734
04:46:48.720 --> 04:46:52.159
that a man who was supposed to
be holding I thought he was furious,

3735
04:46:52.360 --> 04:46:56.919
but not to that point. That's
probably the secret of the whole thing.

3736
04:46:56.520 --> 04:47:00.680
As for mister Deane having pushed Emmalion
into the lake, I don't believe a

3737
04:47:00.720 --> 04:47:03.520
word of it. Then how was
it that Damaniel had a cold and had

3738
04:47:03.520 --> 04:47:07.560
to stay in bed? My dear
to have a cold, it isn't necessary

3739
04:47:07.599 --> 04:47:11.959
to have been thrown into Wilbraham water. Hmm, that's true, Sarah admitted.

3740
04:47:12.759 --> 04:47:17.520
However, Helen calmly proceeded, I'll
find out all about it and let

3741
04:47:17.560 --> 04:47:22.240
you know how should you find out, I shall make a man you tell

3742
04:47:22.279 --> 04:47:26.759
me. He would tell me anything, and he's a dear boy. Do

3743
04:47:26.880 --> 04:47:30.520
you see him often up here?
Sarah inquired, oh, yes, this

3744
04:47:30.840 --> 04:47:34.799
was not true. We get on
together excellently, and I'm pretty sure that

3745
04:47:34.840 --> 04:47:40.599
a man is not well interested in
any other woman. That's why I should

3746
04:47:40.599 --> 04:47:44.040
say that they have not been quarreling
about a woman, unless, of course,

3747
04:47:44.040 --> 04:47:48.159
the woman is myself. She laughed
and added, but I am not

3748
04:47:48.279 --> 04:47:53.040
jealous. I can trust Himaniel,
and with marvelous intrepidity. She looked Sarah

3749
04:47:53.040 --> 04:48:00.119
Swetnam in the face. Then Sarah
stammered, you and a Manuel. You

3750
04:48:00.159 --> 04:48:03.080
don't mean, my dear, Sally. Don't you think Emmanuel is a perfectly

3751
04:48:03.080 --> 04:48:08.000
delightful boy? Oh yes, said
Sarah. So do, I said Helen.

3752
04:48:08.639 --> 04:48:15.159
But are you between ourselves? Helen
murmured, mind you between ourselves?

3753
04:48:15.759 --> 04:48:19.880
I can imagine stranger things happening,
well, said Sarah. This is news

3754
04:48:21.919 --> 04:48:25.759
mine, not a syllable, of
course. Not. By the way,

3755
04:48:25.799 --> 04:48:30.520
Helen asked, when are Andrew and
Lillian going to be married? I don't

3756
04:48:30.599 --> 04:48:33.959
know. No one knows one confidence
for another, My dear, they don't

3757
04:48:34.040 --> 04:48:40.080
always hit it off. What a
pity, Helen remarked, because if ever

3758
04:48:40.159 --> 04:48:44.319
two people were suititudurer than this world, they are. But I hope they'll

3759
04:48:44.319 --> 04:48:55.880
shake down. They arrived at the
Rector's end of chapter twenty five. Chapter

3760
04:48:55.880 --> 04:49:00.759
twenty six off Helen with the High
Hand by Arnold Bennett. This vox recording

3761
04:49:00.799 --> 04:49:06.279
is in the public domain. Recording
by Simon Eves, Chapter twenty six the

3762
04:49:06.400 --> 04:49:11.759
Concert. On another afternoon, a
middle aged man and a young hearted woman

3763
04:49:11.000 --> 04:49:15.840
emerged together from Bursley Railway station.
They had a little luggage, and a

3764
04:49:15.840 --> 04:49:21.439
cab from the Tiger met them by
appointment. Impossible to deny that the young

3765
04:49:21.479 --> 04:49:26.119
hearted one was wearing a flowered silk
under a traveling mantle. The man,

3766
04:49:26.200 --> 04:49:29.479
before getting into the cab, inquired
as to the cost of the cab.

3767
04:49:30.720 --> 04:49:33.319
The gold Angel of the town hall
rose majestically in front of him, and

3768
04:49:33.360 --> 04:49:37.119
immediately behind him the park, with
the bowling green at the top, climbed

3769
04:49:37.119 --> 04:49:41.599
the more thorn slope. The burning
season was of course over, but even

3770
04:49:41.680 --> 04:49:47.639
during the season he had scarcely played. He was a changed person, and

3771
04:49:47.680 --> 04:49:51.880
the greatest change of all had occurred
that very morning. Throughout a long,

3772
04:49:51.919 --> 04:49:56.479
an active career, he had worn
paper collars. Pepper collars had sufficed him

3773
04:49:56.599 --> 04:50:00.720
and then not shocked his friends.
But now he wore a linid, and

3774
04:50:00.799 --> 04:50:04.159
eleven other linen collars were in his
carpet bag. Yet it had been said

3775
04:50:04.439 --> 04:50:08.880
by some individual who obviously lacked experience
of human nature, that a man never

3776
04:50:10.000 --> 04:50:15.360
changes the style of his collar.
After forty the cab drove up to Hillport

3777
04:50:15.560 --> 04:50:19.599
and deposited flowered silk and one bag
at the residence of Missus Pocter. It

3778
04:50:19.680 --> 04:50:25.200
then ascended higher, passing into the
grounds at Wilbraham Hall, and ultimately stopping

3779
04:50:25.200 --> 04:50:30.360
at the Grandeurse portals thereof which were
wide open. The occupant of the cab

3780
04:50:30.439 --> 04:50:33.840
was surprised to see two other cabs
just departing. The next moment, he

3781
04:50:33.919 --> 04:50:38.360
was more than surprised, he was
startled. A gentleman in the evening dress

3782
04:50:38.439 --> 04:50:42.240
stood at the welcoming doors, and
on perceiving him, this gentleman ran down

3783
04:50:42.279 --> 04:50:45.919
the steps and with a sort of
hurried grace, took his carpet bag from

3784
04:50:47.000 --> 04:50:52.919
him, addressing him in broken English
and indicating by incomprehensible words and comprehensible signs

3785
04:50:52.360 --> 04:50:56.759
that he regarded him the new arrival, as the light of his eyes,

3786
04:50:56.959 --> 04:51:00.000
and the protector of the poor and
of the oppressed. And no sooner had

3787
04:51:00.000 --> 04:51:03.200
he got the new rifle safe into
the hall than he tripped him of hat

3788
04:51:03.360 --> 04:51:07.439
coat and muffler. I might have
proceeded to extremes had not his attention been

3789
04:51:07.439 --> 04:51:15.200
distracted by another vehicle. This vehicle
contained the aged rector of Bursley. Ah,

3790
04:51:15.560 --> 04:51:18.959
mister honorand Shaw cried the Divine.
Your niece told me that only yesterday

3791
04:51:18.959 --> 04:51:23.360
that she was still in Darby buying
property and would not be back. I've

3792
04:51:23.360 --> 04:51:26.880
bought it, Parson, said James. Ha ha, ha, said the

3793
04:51:26.880 --> 04:51:30.840
Divine. Rubbing his hands, he
stooped habituary, which gave him the air

3794
04:51:30.880 --> 04:51:34.080
of always trying to limpse at his
toes over the promontory of his waist,

3795
04:51:36.000 --> 04:51:37.639
and as James made no reply to
the remark, he repeated, ha,

3796
04:51:37.759 --> 04:51:42.360
ha ha, Say you've decided to
come to my concid eh. I only

3797
04:51:42.400 --> 04:51:47.200
heard of it yesterday, said James. Oh Well, said the divine.

3798
04:51:47.360 --> 04:51:51.200
I afraid they'll be waiting for me
this way. Isn't it a fine place

3799
04:51:51.200 --> 04:51:55.919
you've got here? Very fine noble? And he disappeared through the double doors

3800
04:51:55.919 --> 04:51:59.319
that led to the drawing room,
which doors were part of him by a

3801
04:51:59.319 --> 04:52:03.759
mannikin whose clothes seemed to be held
together by new sixpences. During the brief,

3802
04:52:03.759 --> 04:52:08.319
instead of opening a vivacious murmur of
conversation escaped like gas from the drawing

3803
04:52:08.360 --> 04:52:14.319
room into the hall. James glanced
about for his bag. It was gone.

3804
04:52:15.279 --> 04:52:18.360
The gentleman in evening dress was out
on the steps. Disheartened by the

3805
04:52:18.400 --> 04:52:23.159
mysterious annihilation of his old friend the
bag, James, weary with too much

3806
04:52:23.240 --> 04:52:29.639
and too various emotion, went slowly
up the grand staircase in his bedroom.

3807
04:52:29.720 --> 04:52:32.880
The first thing he saw was his
bag, which had been opened and its

3808
04:52:32.959 --> 04:52:37.919
contents suitably bestowed. Thus his hair
brushes were on the dressing table. This

3809
04:52:38.119 --> 04:52:44.040
miracle completed his undoing. He sat
down on an easy chair, drew the

3810
04:52:44.080 --> 04:52:47.040
ider down off the bed, and
put it on his knees, for the

3811
04:52:47.040 --> 04:52:51.560
temperature was low. He did not
intend to go to sleep, but he

3812
04:52:51.599 --> 04:52:56.720
did go to sleep. It was
simply a case of nature recovering from emotions.

3813
04:52:56.479 --> 04:53:00.560
He slept about an hour, and
then, having brushed his wishpish hair,

3814
04:53:02.159 --> 04:53:06.880
he decended the stairs, determined to
do or die. Perhaps he would

3815
04:53:06.919 --> 04:53:10.200
not have plumped himself straight into the
drawing room had not the mannequin lad in

3816
04:53:10.279 --> 04:53:14.240
sixpences assumed that the drawing room was
his mecca and thrown open the doors.

3817
04:53:15.720 --> 04:53:21.040
A loud hush greeted him. The
splendid chamber was full of women's hats and

3818
04:53:21.080 --> 04:53:25.759
men's heads, but hats predominated,
and the majority of the audience was seated

3819
04:53:25.759 --> 04:53:30.360
on gilt chairs, which James had
never before seen. Probably there were four

3820
04:53:30.439 --> 04:53:33.400
or five score gilt's chairs. At
the other end of the room, the

3821
04:53:33.439 --> 04:53:37.919
aged rector sat in an easy chair
head and herself was perched at the piano,

3822
04:53:38.240 --> 04:53:42.560
and in front of the piano stood
Immanuel Proctor, except that the room

3823
04:53:42.639 --> 04:53:47.599
was much larger, and that instead
of a faultless evening dress a mani wore

3824
04:53:47.599 --> 04:53:51.880
a faultless frock coat with the rest
of her suit. The scene reminded James

3825
04:53:51.919 --> 04:53:56.159
of a similar one on the Great
Concertina Knight of Missus Proctor's. Many things

3826
04:53:56.200 --> 04:54:03.840
had happened since then, still repeats
itself. Oh Love, exclaimed d'itaniel Proctor,

3827
04:54:04.200 --> 04:54:10.159
adagio and soster utto, thus diverting
from James a hundred glances, which

3828
04:54:10.240 --> 04:54:15.200
James certainly was delighted to lose.
And Helen made the piano say oh Love

3829
04:54:15.479 --> 04:54:19.680
in its fashion, and presently Emmania
was launched upon the sea of his yearnings,

3830
04:54:19.759 --> 04:54:23.840
and voyaging behind the hurricane of passion, and as usual, he hid

3831
04:54:23.880 --> 04:54:27.880
nothing from his hearers. Then he
hove too, and as it were,

3832
04:54:27.959 --> 04:54:33.599
climbed to the main top gallant sail
in order to announce Oh Love. It

3833
04:54:33.599 --> 04:54:37.520
was not surprising that his voice cracked. Emmanuel ought to be the last person

3834
04:54:37.560 --> 04:54:41.880
to be surprised at such a phenomenon, but he was surprised. To him,

3835
04:54:41.919 --> 04:54:48.560
the phenomenon of that cracking was semi
paternally novel and astounding. It pained

3836
04:54:48.599 --> 04:54:52.279
and shocked him. He wondered whose
the fault could be, and then,

3837
04:54:52.319 --> 04:54:56.360
according to his habit, he thought
of the pianist. Of course, it

3838
04:54:56.439 --> 04:55:00.159
was the thought of the pianist.
And while continuing to say, he slowly

3839
04:55:00.200 --> 04:55:04.639
turned and gazed with sternness at the
pianist. The audience must not be allowed

3840
04:55:04.680 --> 04:55:10.840
to be under any misapprehension as to
the identity of the culprit. Unfortunately,

3841
04:55:11.119 --> 04:55:15.880
Emmanuel, wrapped up like the artist
he was in his performance, had himself

3842
04:55:15.919 --> 04:55:19.279
forgotten the identity of the culprit.
Helen had ceased to be Helen. She

3843
04:55:19.400 --> 04:55:25.040
was merely his pianist. The thing
that he least expected to encounter when gazing

3844
04:55:25.080 --> 04:55:30.159
sternly at the pianist was the pianist's
gaze. He was accustomed to flash his

3845
04:55:30.200 --> 04:55:33.240
anger on the pianist's back. But
Helen, who had seen other pianists at

3846
04:55:33.279 --> 04:55:38.159
work for Emmanuel, turned as he
turned, and their eyes met. The

3847
04:55:38.200 --> 04:55:44.599
collision disorganized Emmanuel. He continued to
glare with sternness, and he ceased to

3848
04:55:44.639 --> 04:55:49.680
sing. A contodeur had happened for
the fifth for second everybody felt exceedingly awkward.

3849
04:55:51.959 --> 04:55:55.040
Then Helen said, with a faint, cold smile, in a voice

3850
04:55:55.119 --> 04:55:59.040
very low and very clear, what's
the matter with you, mister Proctor.

3851
04:55:59.200 --> 04:56:04.040
It wasn't my l that cracked the
minx. There was a half hearted attempt

3852
04:56:04.040 --> 04:56:08.439
at the maintenance of the proprieties,
and then Wilbropham Hall rang with the laughter

3853
04:56:08.720 --> 04:56:12.200
of a joke which the next day
had become the common, precious property of

3854
04:56:12.240 --> 04:56:17.919
all the five towns. When the
aged rector had restored his flock to a

3855
04:56:17.919 --> 04:56:23.000
sense of decency. Mister Emmanuel Proctor
had vanished in that laughter. His career

3856
04:56:23.040 --> 04:56:29.119
as a singer reached an abrupt and
final conclusion. The concert also came to

3857
04:56:29.159 --> 04:56:33.400
an end, and the collection by
which the Divine always terminated these proceedings was

3858
04:56:33.439 --> 04:56:38.159
the largest in the history of the
guild. A quarter of an hour or

3859
04:56:38.240 --> 04:56:42.360
twenty minutes later, all the guests, members and patrons of the Saint Luke's

3860
04:56:42.400 --> 04:56:47.680
Guild had left, most of them
full of kind inquiries after miss Ollerenshaw,

3861
04:56:48.159 --> 04:56:53.400
the genial host of that so remarkably
successful entertainment. The appearances and disappearances of

3862
04:56:53.439 --> 04:56:59.080
mister Ollernshaw had been a little disturbing. First it had been announced that he

3863
04:56:59.159 --> 04:57:03.000
was detained in Darby buying property.
Indeed, few persons were unaware that,

3864
04:57:03.159 --> 04:57:07.799
except for a flying visit in the
middle of two days to collect his rents,

3865
04:57:07.319 --> 04:57:12.520
James had spent a fortnight in Derby
purchasing some reportions of Derby. Certainly,

3866
04:57:12.560 --> 04:57:18.759
Helen had not expected him, nor
had she expected Missus Proctor, who

3867
04:57:18.799 --> 04:57:22.119
two days previously had been called away
by telegram to the bedside of a sick

3868
04:57:22.240 --> 04:57:27.560
cousin in Nottingham. Nor had she
expected Lilian Swetnam, who was indisposed.

3869
04:57:29.599 --> 04:57:33.639
The unexpected ladies had not arrived,
but James had arrived as disconcerting as a

3870
04:57:33.639 --> 04:57:38.880
ghost, and then had faded away
with equal strangeness. None of the departing

3871
04:57:38.919 --> 04:57:45.080
audience had seen even the tassel of
his cap. Helen discovered him in his

3872
04:57:45.119 --> 04:57:48.959
little room at the end of the
hall. She was resplendent in black and

3873
04:57:48.040 --> 04:57:52.000
silver. So here you are,
uncle, said she, and kissed him.

3874
04:57:52.520 --> 04:57:56.439
I'm so glad you got back in
time. Can you a missixpence?

3875
04:57:56.360 --> 04:58:00.880
What for las? I ought to
give it to the man who's taken away

3876
04:58:00.880 --> 04:58:04.319
the chairs. I had to hear
what's come of that seven hundred and seventy

3877
04:58:04.319 --> 04:58:10.240
pound orders ye had? Oh,
she said lightly, I've spent that for

3878
04:58:10.360 --> 04:58:11.959
short. She might as well have
done with it, and added, and

3879
04:58:12.080 --> 04:58:17.080
I'm in debt lots. We'll be
talk about that later. Sixpence please,

3880
04:58:18.080 --> 04:58:21.720
he blenched, And he too have
been expensive in the pursuit of delight.

3881
04:58:22.400 --> 04:58:26.759
He too had tars some trifles on
his mind. So he produced the sixpence

3882
04:58:26.880 --> 04:58:30.560
and accepted the dissipation of nearly eight
hundred pounds in less than a month.

3883
04:58:30.919 --> 04:58:34.880
With superb silence. Helen rang the
bell. You see, I've had all

3884
04:58:34.919 --> 04:58:40.319
the bells put in order, she
said. The gentleman in evening dress entered.

3885
04:58:41.000 --> 04:58:45.040
Fritz said she give the sixpence to
the man with the chairs. Yes,

3886
04:58:45.200 --> 04:58:48.680
Miss Fritz, dofily replied, A
note for you, miss, and

3887
04:58:48.720 --> 04:58:52.439
he stretched forth a charge, on
which was a white envelope. Excuse me,

3888
04:58:52.560 --> 04:58:57.959
uncle, said she tearing the envelope. Dinner my melas said he The

3889
04:58:59.040 --> 04:59:02.840
note rang, I must see you
by the water to night at nine o'clock.

3890
04:59:03.279 --> 04:59:07.759
Don't fail or there will be a
row a d She crushed it.

3891
04:59:08.520 --> 04:59:14.840
No answer, Fritz said she tell
cook dinner for two. Oozy, demanded

3892
04:59:14.919 --> 04:59:18.720
James. When Fritz bowed himself out, that's our butler, said Henlen kindly.

3893
04:59:19.040 --> 04:59:23.360
Don't you like his eyes? I
wouldn't swap him eyes, said James.

3894
04:59:25.119 --> 04:59:29.240
He could not trust himself to discuss
the butler's eyes at length. Don't

3895
04:59:29.279 --> 04:59:32.680
be late for dinner, will you, uncle, she entreated him. Dinner,

3896
04:59:32.959 --> 04:59:36.400
he cried, I've me dinner at
Derby. What about me? Tea?

3897
04:59:36.799 --> 04:59:41.080
I mean tea, she said.
He went upstairs again to his room,

3898
04:59:41.400 --> 04:59:45.119
but did not stay there. A
moment in the corridor he met Helen

3899
04:59:45.279 --> 04:59:49.360
swishing along. Look he alas he
stopped her. A straight question deserves a

3900
04:59:49.400 --> 04:59:53.599
straight answer. I'm not given to
curiosity as a rule, But what is

3901
04:59:53.639 --> 04:59:59.919
a manual procter doing on my bed? Amnua procter on your bed? Henry

3902
05:00:00.000 --> 05:00:03.560
eat it blankly. He saw that
she was suffering from genuine surprise on my

3903
05:00:03.759 --> 05:00:08.560
bed, he insisted. The butler
appeared, having heard the inquiry from below.

3904
05:00:08.840 --> 05:00:12.240
He explained that mister Proctor, after
the song, had come to and

3905
05:00:12.319 --> 05:00:15.639
asked where he could lie down as
he was conscious of a tendency to faint.

3906
05:00:17.759 --> 05:00:22.000
The butler had indicated mister Ollerinshaw's room
as the only masculine room available.

3907
05:00:22.360 --> 05:00:26.959
Go and ask him how he feels, Helen commanded. Fritz, obeyed and

3908
05:00:27.000 --> 05:00:32.240
returned with the message that mister Proctor
had one of his attacks and desired his

3909
05:00:32.319 --> 05:00:34.880
mother. But he can't have his
mother, said Helen. She is that

3910
05:00:36.000 --> 05:00:40.319
not him? He told me so
himself. He must be delirious, and

3911
05:00:40.400 --> 05:00:45.959
she laughed, No, I isn't
Jane put in HER's at one? How

3912
05:00:45.040 --> 05:00:48.560
do you know, Uncle, I
know, said James. I'd better be

3913
05:00:48.599 --> 05:00:55.159
sent for, And she was send
for. End of chapter twenty six,

3914
05:01:00.040 --> 05:01:03.680
Apter twenty seven of Helen with the
High Hand by Arnold Bennett. This LibriVox

3915
05:01:03.720 --> 05:01:08.959
recording is in the public domain.
Recording by Simon Evers, Chapter twenty seven

3916
05:01:10.599 --> 05:01:15.680
unknotting and Notting. When missus Procter
arrived, it was obvious to Helen,

3917
05:01:17.000 --> 05:01:22.240
in spite of her wonderful calm upon
discovering James Olorn Shaw's butler and page that

3918
05:01:22.279 --> 05:01:26.400
the lady was extremely ill at ease, and Helen, though preoccupied herself by

3919
05:01:26.439 --> 05:01:30.720
matters of the highest personal importance,
did what she could to remedy a state

3920
05:01:30.759 --> 05:01:37.599
of affairs so unusual. Probably nobody
within the memory of that generation had ever

3921
05:01:37.599 --> 05:01:41.360
seen Missus Proctor ill at ease.
Helen inquired as to the health of the

3922
05:01:41.400 --> 05:01:45.919
sick relative of Nottingham, and received
a reply in which vagueness was mingled with

3923
05:01:47.080 --> 05:01:52.799
hesitancy and a blush. It then
became further obvious to the perspicuous Helen that

3924
05:01:52.880 --> 05:01:59.159
Missus Proctor must have heard of her
stepson's singular adventure and either resented Helen's share

3925
05:01:59.159 --> 05:02:03.119
in it or was ashamed of Emmanuel's
sharing it. You know that Emmanuel is

3926
05:02:03.159 --> 05:02:08.759
here, said Helen, with a
most diplomatic and captivating smile. Missus Proctor

3927
05:02:08.799 --> 05:02:14.680
did not know, I thought mister
lauren Shure wanted me, Missus Porter exclaimed,

3928
05:02:15.080 --> 05:02:18.599
So I came as quickly as I
could. It was I who wanted

3929
05:02:18.599 --> 05:02:21.599
to speak to you, said Helen. The truth is that a mandon is

3930
05:02:21.680 --> 05:02:25.279
lying on uncle's bed un well or
something, and expressed a wish to see

3931
05:02:25.319 --> 05:02:29.680
you. He was singing at the
concert. So sorry I wasn't able to

3932
05:02:29.680 --> 05:02:33.919
be here, missus Porter inserted,
with effusive anxiety. We missed you awfully.

3933
05:02:34.119 --> 05:02:38.720
Helen properly responded. The rector was
inconsolable, so was everybody, She

3934
05:02:38.759 --> 05:02:42.919
added, feeling that as a compliment, the rector's grief might be deemed insufficient.

3935
05:02:44.639 --> 05:02:48.319
And he had a breakdown. Oh
Emmanuel, yes, I was accompanying

3936
05:02:48.400 --> 05:02:52.959
him. I am afraid it was
my fault. Anyhow, he didn't finish

3937
05:02:52.959 --> 05:02:56.319
his song, and then we missed
him. He'd asked the butler to let

3938
05:02:56.400 --> 05:03:00.080
him lie down somewhere. An uncle
find him in his bedroom. Oh this

3939
05:03:00.159 --> 05:03:03.759
is nothing serious, Oh, my
dear girl, said missus Proctor, regaining

3940
05:03:03.799 --> 05:03:07.439
somewhat her natural demeanor in a laugh. If it's only one of Emmanuel's singing

3941
05:03:07.479 --> 05:03:11.200
breakdance, we needn't worry. Can
I go up and talk sense to him?

3942
05:03:11.680 --> 05:03:15.040
He's just like a child, you
know. Let me take you up,

3943
05:03:15.319 --> 05:03:21.240
cried Helen, and the two women
assented the grand staircase. It was

3944
05:03:21.279 --> 05:03:25.400
the first time the grand staircase had
been used with becoming dignity, since Missus

3945
05:03:25.400 --> 05:03:30.799
Procter had used it on her visit
of inspection that staircase and Missus Proctor were

3946
05:03:30.799 --> 05:03:34.840
made for each other. No sooner
had they disappeared than James popped out of

3947
05:03:34.880 --> 05:03:38.439
his lair where he had been hiding, and gazed up the staircase like a

3948
05:03:38.479 --> 05:03:44.639
hunter stalking his prey. The arrival
of the page and sixpences put him out

3949
05:03:44.680 --> 05:03:48.319
of countenance for a moment, especially
when the page began to feed the hall

3950
05:03:48.400 --> 05:03:53.240
far in a manner contrary to all
James's lifelong notions of feeding fis. However,

3951
05:03:53.400 --> 05:03:59.159
he passed the time by giving the
page a lesson. Helen tapped at

3952
05:03:59.200 --> 05:04:03.439
the bedroom door, left Missus Proctor
to enter, and descended the stairs again.

3953
05:04:03.799 --> 05:04:07.319
Is a up there with him?
James asked in a whisper. Henn

3954
05:04:07.479 --> 05:04:11.799
nodded. You'd better ask her stop
and have something to eat with us,

3955
05:04:11.919 --> 05:04:17.840
said James. Helen had to reconcile
James Ollerenshaw to the new skirn of existence

3956
05:04:17.880 --> 05:04:22.319
at Wilbraham Hall. She had to
make him swallow the butler and the Page,

3957
05:04:22.439 --> 05:04:26.759
and the other servants and the grand
piano in themselves a heavy repast,

3958
05:04:26.200 --> 05:04:30.959
without counting the evening dinner after the
present. He had said nothing, because

3959
05:04:30.959 --> 05:04:36.200
there had been no fair opportunity to
say anything. But he might start at

3960
05:04:36.200 --> 05:04:40.040
any moment, and Helen had no
reason to believe that he had even begun

3961
05:04:40.080 --> 05:04:44.840
the process of swallowing. She argued, with a sure feminine instinct and a

3962
05:04:44.919 --> 05:04:48.560
large experience of mankind, that if
he were only be dodged into tessitly accepting

3963
05:04:48.599 --> 05:04:52.479
the new scale for even a single
meal, her task would be very much

3964
05:04:52.479 --> 05:04:57.759
simplified. And what an anne,
missus Proctor would be. Tell cook,

3965
05:04:57.759 --> 05:05:02.639
there'll be three to dinner, she
said to the page, who fled leefully.

3966
05:05:03.319 --> 05:05:07.840
After a protracted interval, missus Proctor
reappeared. She began by sighing.

3967
05:05:08.639 --> 05:05:14.959
The foolish boy is seriously damage,
said she not hurt? Hennan asked,

3968
05:05:15.360 --> 05:05:18.680
yes, but only in his dignity. He pretends it's his throat, but

3969
05:05:18.759 --> 05:05:22.240
it isn't. It's only his dignity. I suppose all singers are children like

3970
05:05:22.319 --> 05:05:26.520
that. I'm merely ashamed to have
to ask you to let me lie there

3971
05:05:26.599 --> 05:05:30.360
a little, dear miss Rothbourne.
But he is positively sure that he can't

3972
05:05:30.360 --> 05:05:33.200
get up. I've booned through these
crisis with him before, but never won

3973
05:05:33.279 --> 05:05:38.520
quite so bad. She laughed.
They all laughed. I'll let him lie

3974
05:05:38.520 --> 05:05:42.439
there on one condition, Henny sweetly
replied, and that is that you stay

3975
05:05:42.520 --> 05:05:48.799
to dinner. I'm relying on you
and I won't take her refusal. Missus

3976
05:05:48.840 --> 05:05:53.479
Proctor looked sharply at James, and
James blushed. James, she explained,

3977
05:05:53.479 --> 05:05:57.479
you've told her and he promised you
wouldn't till to to morrow. Nay,

3978
05:05:57.560 --> 05:06:02.279
said James, I've said nowt it's
you as let it out now. Missus

3979
05:06:03.119 --> 05:06:07.400
told me what Missus Proctor. Helelen
asked, utterly, unexpectant of the answer

3980
05:06:07.520 --> 05:06:11.599
she was to get. My dear
girl, said the other dame. Do

3981
05:06:11.680 --> 05:06:15.799
not call me missus Procter. I'm
Missus Ollaranshaw. I am the property that

3982
05:06:15.840 --> 05:06:19.560
your uncle has been buying at Derby, and he is my sick relative at

3983
05:06:19.599 --> 05:06:23.520
Nottingham. We prefer to do it
like that. We could not have survived

3984
05:06:23.560 --> 05:06:30.479
engagements and for dissitations. Oh you
wicked soon as you you you terrible to

3985
05:06:30.560 --> 05:06:33.360
harlings. Helen burst out. As
soon as she could control her voice.

3986
05:06:34.560 --> 05:06:41.200
Missus Olleranshaw wept discreetly. Bless Us. Bless Us murmured James not to beseech

3987
05:06:41.200 --> 05:06:45.360
a benediction, but simply to give
the impression quite false that, in his

3988
05:06:45.439 --> 05:06:52.279
opinion, much fast was being made
about nothing. The new scare of existence

3989
05:06:52.439 --> 05:06:57.439
was definitely accepted, and in private
Missus Olleranshaw entirely agreed with Helen as to

3990
05:06:57.479 --> 05:07:03.599
the merits of the butler. After
dinner, James hurried to his lair to

3991
05:07:03.639 --> 05:07:06.680
search for a book. The book
was not where he had left it on

3992
05:07:06.799 --> 05:07:11.599
his original entry into Wilbraham Hall.
Within two minutes the majority of the household

3993
05:07:11.680 --> 05:07:17.360
staff was engaged in finding that book. Ultimately the butler discovered it. The

3994
05:07:17.400 --> 05:07:21.840
butler had been reading it, aye, said James, and the volume as

3995
05:07:21.840 --> 05:07:25.520
he stood in front of the rich
expensive fire in the hall. Dickens,

3996
05:07:25.759 --> 05:07:29.560
Garles Dickens. That's the chap's name. I couldn't think of it when I

3997
05:07:29.599 --> 05:07:32.560
was turning about the book the other
day. I mun go on with that.

3998
05:07:33.040 --> 05:07:37.880
Couldn't you play or something, responded
his wife. In the triumph of

3999
05:07:37.959 --> 05:07:45.560
concertina's over grand pianos, poor Emmanuel
lying wounded upstairs was forgotten, and five

4000
05:07:45.599 --> 05:07:51.479
minutes to nine Helen stole, unperceived
away from the domestic tableau. She had

4001
05:07:51.520 --> 05:07:55.279
by no means recovered from her amazement, but she'd screened it off by main

4002
05:07:55.400 --> 05:07:59.240
force in her mind, and she
was now occupied with something far more important

4003
05:07:59.479 --> 05:08:04.479
than the blainless amoors of the richest
old man. In Hillport, by Wilbraham

4004
05:08:04.520 --> 05:08:08.080
Water, a young man was walking
to and fro in the deep autumn night.

4005
05:08:10.000 --> 05:08:12.080
He wore a cap and a muffler, but no overcoat, and his

4006
05:08:12.159 --> 05:08:17.759
hands were pushed far down into the
pockets of his trousers. He regarded the

4007
05:08:17.759 --> 05:08:22.240
ground fixedly and stamped his feet at
every step. Then a pale gray figure

4008
05:08:22.360 --> 05:08:26.799
with head enveloped in a shawl and
skirts carefully withdrawn from the ground, approached

4009
05:08:26.880 --> 05:08:30.759
him. He did not salute the
figure. He did not even take his

4010
05:08:30.799 --> 05:08:36.040
hands out of his pockets. He
put his face close to hers, and

4011
05:08:36.119 --> 05:08:41.599
each could see that the other's features
were white and anxious. So you've come,

4012
05:08:41.000 --> 05:08:45.919
said he glumly. What do you
want, Henning coldly asked, I

4013
05:08:47.000 --> 05:08:49.360
want to speak to you, That's
what I want. If you care for

4014
05:08:49.439 --> 05:08:52.080
a man, your proctor, why
did you play that trick on him this

4015
05:08:52.159 --> 05:08:56.799
afternoon? What trick you know,
puffety, were what I mean? So

4016
05:08:56.840 --> 05:09:00.159
I thank you not to beat about
the bush. The plain fact is that

4017
05:09:00.240 --> 05:09:04.759
you don't care a pin per Proctor. I never said I did. You

4018
05:09:04.840 --> 05:09:08.840
made every one believe you did anyhow, I've even made me think so though

4019
05:09:08.840 --> 05:09:14.400
all the time I knew it was
impossible, and asked like that, what

4020
05:09:14.560 --> 05:09:18.599
do you want? Hennin repeated.
They were both using a tone intended to

4021
05:09:18.599 --> 05:09:23.040
indicate that they were enemies from everlasting
to everlasting, and that mere words could

4022
05:09:23.080 --> 05:09:29.599
not express the intensity of their mutual
hatred and scorn. The casual distance observer

4023
05:09:29.959 --> 05:09:33.400
might have conceive the encounter to be
a love for id All. There was

4024
05:09:33.439 --> 05:09:38.799
a short silence. I broke off
my engagement last night, Andrew Dee muttered,

4025
05:09:38.799 --> 05:09:45.560
ferotiously. Really, Henn commented,
you don't seem to care. I

4026
05:09:45.599 --> 05:09:48.799
don't see what it has to do
with me. But if you talked Delidian

4027
05:09:48.840 --> 05:09:51.840
Sweatnam in the same nice, agreeable
manner that you talked to me, I

4028
05:09:51.919 --> 05:09:56.080
can't sound surprised to hear that she
broke with you. Who told you she

4029
05:09:56.240 --> 05:10:00.520
broke? Andrew demanded, I guessed, said, Helen, you never have

4030
05:10:00.520 --> 05:10:04.000
had the courage to break it off
yourself. Andrew made a vicious movement.

4031
05:10:04.880 --> 05:10:08.599
If you mean to serve me as
you served Emmanuel, she remarked, with

4032
05:10:08.720 --> 05:10:12.639
bitter calm. Please do it as
gently as you can, and don't throw

4033
05:10:12.680 --> 05:10:18.720
me far. I can only swim
a little. Andrew walked away. Good

4034
05:10:18.799 --> 05:10:22.799
night, She called. Look here, he snarled, coming back to her.

4035
05:10:22.080 --> 05:10:26.040
What's the matter with you? I
know I oughtn't have asked Lilian to

4036
05:10:26.080 --> 05:10:30.040
marry me. Everybody knows that so
universally agreed. But are you going to

4037
05:10:30.040 --> 05:10:33.520
make that an excuse of spoiling the
old shawl? What's up with you?

4038
05:10:33.680 --> 05:10:38.520
Is pride? And what is up
with you? She inquired? Pride said

4039
05:10:38.520 --> 05:10:41.360
he How could I know you were
in love with me all the time?

4040
05:10:41.680 --> 05:10:45.959
Oh could? You couldn't, said
Helen. I wasn't more more than you

4041
05:10:47.000 --> 05:10:49.560
were with me. If you weren't
in love with me, why did you

4042
05:10:49.560 --> 05:10:55.439
try to make me jealous? Me
try to make you jealous, she exclaimed,

4043
05:10:55.479 --> 05:11:00.279
disdainfully. You flatter yourself, mister
Dean. I could stand a good

4044
05:11:00.319 --> 05:11:03.240
deal, but I can't stand lies, and I won't, he exploded.

4045
05:11:03.799 --> 05:11:07.240
I say you did try to make
me jealous. He then noticed that she

4046
05:11:07.360 --> 05:11:12.479
was crying. The dewlog might have
extended itself indefinitely if her tears had not

4047
05:11:12.520 --> 05:11:18.080
excited him to uncontrollable fury to that
indistinctive cruelty that every male is capable of

4048
05:11:18.279 --> 05:11:23.400
under certain conditions. Without asking her
permission, without uttering a word of warning,

4049
05:11:23.680 --> 05:11:27.159
he rushed at her and seized her
in his arms. He crushed her

4050
05:11:27.159 --> 05:11:30.919
with the whole of his very considerable
strength, and he added insult to injury

4051
05:11:30.959 --> 05:11:37.799
by kissing her about forty seven times. Women are such strange, incalculable creatures.

4052
05:11:37.479 --> 05:11:41.840
Herlen did not protest, She did
not invoke the protection of heaven.

4053
05:11:41.560 --> 05:11:48.200
She existed passively and silently, the
unremonstrating victim of his disgraceful violence. Then

4054
05:11:48.240 --> 05:11:52.200
he held her at arm's length.
Will you marry me? Yes? She

4055
05:11:52.279 --> 05:11:57.759
said, Did you try to make
me jealous? Yes? Later, as

4056
05:11:57.759 --> 05:12:03.599
they walked by the lake, created
arm an awful brute. I like you

4057
05:12:03.680 --> 05:12:07.479
as you are, she replied,
But the answer was lacking in precision,

4058
05:12:07.720 --> 05:12:11.080
for at that moment he was being
as tender as only an awful brute can

4059
05:12:11.159 --> 05:12:14.959
be. Of course, she said, you mustn't say anything about it yet,

4060
05:12:15.919 --> 05:12:18.240
No, he agreed. Thread it
out at once might make on pleasantness

4061
05:12:18.279 --> 05:12:22.759
between you and the swetnams. Oh, she said, I wasn't thinking of

4062
05:12:22.799 --> 05:12:26.200
that. But there's another love affair
in the house, and no house will

4063
05:12:26.200 --> 05:12:30.279
hold two at once. It would
be nauseating. That is how they talk

4064
05:12:30.360 --> 05:12:33.080
in the Five Towns, as if
one could have too much love even in

4065
05:12:33.119 --> 05:12:38.599
a cottage, to say nothing of
a Wilburhome hall. Missus Oreroonshaw placidly decided

4066
05:12:38.680 --> 05:12:42.119
that she and James would live at
the Hall, though James would have preferred

4067
05:12:42.119 --> 05:12:47.880
something a si smaller. As I
have already noticed, the staircase suited her.

4068
05:12:48.599 --> 05:12:52.279
James suited her too. No one
could guess why, except possibly James.

4069
05:12:53.119 --> 05:12:56.319
They got on together, as the
Five Towns said, like a house

4070
05:12:56.360 --> 05:13:02.200
a fire head. And and Andrew
Dean was satisfied with the semi detacted villa

4071
05:13:02.279 --> 05:13:06.840
in Park Road, with a fine
view of the gold Angel women, very

4072
05:13:07.000 --> 05:13:11.599
crapitious beings. Helen is perfectly satisfied
with one servant, but she dresses rather

4073
05:13:11.639 --> 05:13:18.319
better than ever. End of chapter
twenty seven. End of Helen with the

4074
05:13:18.400 --> 05:13:21.119
High Hand by Arnold Bennett