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<v Speaker 1>Chapter seventy nine. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox

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<v Speaker 1>recordings are in the public domain. For more information or

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<v Speaker 1>to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Chapter seventy nine.

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<v Speaker 1>Now I saw in my dream that just as they

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<v Speaker 1>had entered their talk, they drew nigh to a very

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<v Speaker 1>miry slew that was in the midst of the plain,

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<v Speaker 1>and they, being heedless, did both fall suddenly into the bog.

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<v Speaker 1>The name of the slough was Despond Bunyan. When Rosamond

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<v Speaker 1>was quiet and Lydgate had left her, hoping that she

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<v Speaker 1>might soon sleep under the effect of an anodyne, he

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<v Speaker 1>went into the drawing room to fetch a book, which

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<v Speaker 1>he had left there meaning to spend the evening in

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<v Speaker 1>his work room, and he saw on the table Dorothea's

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<v Speaker 1>letter addressed to him. He had not ventured to ask

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<v Speaker 1>Rosamond if Missus Casubon had called, but the reading of

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<v Speaker 1>this letter assured him of the fact, for Dorothia mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>that it was to be carried by herself. When will

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<v Speaker 1>Ladislaw came in a little later, Lydgate met him with

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<v Speaker 1>a surprise which made it clear that he had not

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<v Speaker 1>been told of the earlier visit, and Will could not say,

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<v Speaker 1>did not missus, Lydgate tell you that I came this morning?

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<v Speaker 1>Poor Osmond is ill, Lydgate added immediately on his greeting.

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<v Speaker 1>Not seriously, I hope, said Will. No, only a slight

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<v Speaker 1>nervous shock, the effect of some agitation. She has been

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<v Speaker 1>overwrought lately. The truth is, Ladislaw, that I am an

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<v Speaker 1>unlucky devil. We have gone through several rounds of purgatory

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<v Speaker 1>since you left. I have lately got on to a

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<v Speaker 1>worse leisure of it than ever. I suppose you're only

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<v Speaker 1>just come down. You look rather battered. You have not

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<v Speaker 1>been long enough in the town to hear anything. I

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<v Speaker 1>traveled all night and got to the White Heart at

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<v Speaker 1>eight o'clock this morning. I have been shutting myself up

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<v Speaker 1>then resting, said Will, feeling himself a sneak, but seeing

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<v Speaker 1>no alternative to this evasion. And then he heard Lydgate's

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<v Speaker 1>account of the troubles, which Rosamond had already depicted to

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<v Speaker 1>him in her way. She had not mentioned the fact

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<v Speaker 1>of Will's name being connected with the public story, detail

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<v Speaker 1>not immediately affecting her, and he now heard it for

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<v Speaker 1>the first time, I thought it better to tell you

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<v Speaker 1>that her name is mixed up with the disclosures, said Lydgate,

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<v Speaker 1>who could understand better than most men how Ladislaw might

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<v Speaker 1>be stung by the revelation. You will be sure to

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<v Speaker 1>hear it as soon as you turn out into the town.

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<v Speaker 1>I suppose it is true that Raffles spoke to you, yes,

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<v Speaker 1>said Will sardonically. I shall be fortunate if gossip does

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<v Speaker 1>not make me the most disruputible person in the whole affair.

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<v Speaker 1>I should think the latest version must be that I

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<v Speaker 1>plotted with Raffles to murder Bulstrode and ran away from

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<v Speaker 1>Little March for the purpose. He was thinking, here is

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<v Speaker 1>another new ring in the sound of my name, to

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<v Speaker 1>recommend it to her hearing. However, what does it signify now?

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<v Speaker 1>But he said nothing of Bulstrode's offer to him. Will

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<v Speaker 1>was very open and careless about his personal affairs. But

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<v Speaker 1>it was among the more exquisite touches in Nature's modeling

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<v Speaker 1>of him that he had a delicate generosity which warned

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<v Speaker 1>him into reticence. Here he shrank from saying that he

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<v Speaker 1>had rejected Bolstrode's money. In the moment when he was

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<v Speaker 1>learning that it was Lydgate's misfortune to have accepted it. Lydgate,

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<v Speaker 1>too was reticent. In the midst of his confidence. He

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<v Speaker 1>made no allusion to Rosamond's feeling under their trouble, and

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<v Speaker 1>of Dorothea. He only said, Missus Casaubon has been the

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<v Speaker 1>one person to come forward and say she had no

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<v Speaker 1>belief in any of the suspicions against me. Observing a

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<v Speaker 1>change in Will's face, he avoided any further mention of her,

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<v Speaker 1>feeling himself too ignorant of their relation to each other

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<v Speaker 1>not to fear that his words might have some hidden,

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<v Speaker 1>painful bearing on it. And it occurred to him that

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<v Speaker 1>Dorothea was the real cause of the present visit to Middlemarch.

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<v Speaker 1>The two men were pitying each other, but it was

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<v Speaker 1>only Will who guessed the extent of his companion's trouble.

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<v Speaker 1>When Lydgate spoke with desperate resignation of going to settle

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<v Speaker 1>in London and said, with a faint smile, we shall

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<v Speaker 1>have your gain, old fellow, Will felt inexpressibly mournful and

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<v Speaker 1>said nothing. Rosamond had that morning entreated him to urge

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<v Speaker 1>this step on Lydgate, and it seemed to him as

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<v Speaker 1>if he were beholding in a magic panorama a future

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<v Speaker 1>where he himself was sliding into that pleasureless yielding to

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<v Speaker 1>the small solicitations of circumstance, which is a commoner history

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<v Speaker 1>of perdition than any single momentous bargain. We are on

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<v Speaker 1>a perilous margin when we begin to look passively at

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<v Speaker 1>our future selves and see our own figures led with

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<v Speaker 1>dull consent into insipid misdoing and shabby achievement. Poor Lydgate

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<v Speaker 1>was inwardly groaning on that margin, and will was arriving

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<v Speaker 1>at it. It seemed to him this evening as if

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<v Speaker 1>the cruelty of his outburst to Rosamond had made an

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<v Speaker 1>obligation for him, and he dreaded the obligation. He dreaded

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<v Speaker 1>Lydgate's unsuspecting good will. He dreaded his own distaste for

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<v Speaker 1>his spoiled life, which would leave him in motive little levity.

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<v Speaker 1>End of Chapter seventy nine