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Speaker 1: Port in a Storm by George mac donald. Papa, said,

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my sister Effie. One evening, as we all sat about

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the drawing room fire one after another. As nothing followed,

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we turned our eyes upon her. There she sat, still, silent,

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embroidering the corner of a cambric handkerchief, apparently unaware that

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she had spoken. It was a very cold night in

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the beginning of winter. My father had come home early,

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and we had dined early that we might have a

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long evening together, for it was my father's and mother's

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wedding day, and we had always kept it as the

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homeliest of holidays. My father was seated in an easy

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chair by the chimney corner, with a jug of burgundy

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near him, and my mother sat by his side, now

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and then, taking a sip out of his glass. Effie

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was now nearly nineteen, The rest of us were younger.

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What she was thinking about we did not know then,

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though we could all guess now. Suddenly she looked up, and,

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seeing all eyes fixed upon her, became either aware or suspense,

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and blushed rosy red. You spoke to me, Effie, What

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was it, my dear Oh, yes, Papa, I wanted to

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ask you whether you wouldn't tell us to night the

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story about how you well, my love, about how you

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I am listening, my dear, I mean about mamma and you, yes, yes,

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about how I got your mamma for a mother to you. Yes,

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I paid a dozen of port for her. We all

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and each exclaimed Papa and my mother laughed. Tell us

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all about it was the general cry, Well I will,

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answered my father. I must begin at the beginning, though,

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and filling his glass with burgundy. He began. As far

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back as I can remember, I lived with my father

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in an old manor house in the country. It did

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not belong to my father, but to an elder brother

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of his, who at that time was captain of a

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seventy four. He loved the sea more than his life,

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and as yet apparently had loved his ship better than

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any woman. At least, he was not married. My mother

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had been dead for some years, and my father was

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now in very delicate health. He had never been strong,

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and since my mother's death, I believe, though I was

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too young to notice it, he had pined away. I

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am not going to tell you anything about him just now,

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because it does not belong to my story. When I

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was about five years old, as nearly as I can judge,

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the doctors advised him to leave England. The house was

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put into the hands of an agent to let, at

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least so I suppose, and he took me with him

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to Maderra, where he died. I was brought home by

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his servant, and by my uncle's directions, sent to a

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boarding school, from there to Eton, and from there to Oxford.

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Before I had finished my studies. My uncle had been

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an admiral for some time. The year before I left

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Oxford he married Lady Georgiana Thornbury, a widow lady with

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one daughter. Thereupon he bade farewell to the sea, though

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I dare say he did not like the parting, and

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retired with his bride to the house where he was born,

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the same house I told you I was born in,

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which had been in the family for many generations, and

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which your cousin now lives in. It was late in

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the autumn when they arrived at Culverwood. They were no

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sooner settled than my uncle wrote to me inviting me

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to spend Christmas Tide with them at the old place.

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And here you may see that my story has arrived

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at its beginning. It was with strange feelings that I

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entered the house. It looked so old fashioned and stately

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and grand two eyes which had been accustomed to all

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the modern commonplaces. Yet the shadowy recollections which hung about

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it gave an air of homeliness to the place, which,

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along with the grandeur, occasioned a sense of rare delight.

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For what can be better than to feel that you

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are in stately company and at the same time perfectly

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at home in it? I am grateful to this day

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for the lesson I had from the sense of which

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I have spoken, that of mingled awe and tenderness. In

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the aspect of the old hall. As I entered it

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for the first time after fifteen years, having left it

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a mere child, I was cordially received by my old

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uncle and my new aunt. But the moment Kate Thornbury entered,

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I lost my heart, and have never found it again.

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To this day I get on wonderfully well without it,

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though for I have got the loan of a far

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better one till I find my own, which therefore I

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hope I never shall. My father glanced at my mother

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as he said this, and she returned his look in

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a way which I can now interpret as a quiet,

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satisfied confidence. But the tears came in Ethie's eyes. She

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had trouble before long, poor girl. But it is not

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her story I have to tell. My father went on.

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Your mother was prettier then than she is now, but

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not so beautiful. Beautiful enough though, to make me think

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there never had been, or could again be, anything so beautiful.

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She meant me kindly, and I met her awkwardly. You

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made me feel that I had no business there, said

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my mother, speaking for the first time in the course

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of the story. See there, girls, said my father. You

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are always so confident in first impressions and instinctive judgment.

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I was awkward because, as I said, I fell in

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love with your mother the moment I saw her, and

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she thought I regarded her as an intruder into the

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old family precincts. I will not follow the story of

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the days. I was very happy, except when I felt

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too keenly how unworthy I was of Kate Thornbury. Not

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that she meant to make me feel it, for she

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was never other than kind, but she was such that

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I could not help feeling it. I gathered courage, however,

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and before three days were over, I began to tell

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her all my slowly reviving memories of the place, with

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my childish adventures associated with this in that room or

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out house or spot in the grounds. For the longer

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I was in the place, the more my old associations

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with it revived, till I was quite astonished to find

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how much of my history in connection with Culverwood had

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been thoroughly imprinted on my memory. She never showed, at

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least that she was weary of my stories, which, however

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interesting to me, must have been tiresome to any one

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who did not sympathize with what I felt toward my

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old nest. From room to room we rambled, talking or silent,

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and nothing could have given me a better chance, I believe,

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with a heart like your mother's, I think it was

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not long before she began to like me at least,

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and liking had every opportunity of growing into something stronghunger,

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if only she too, did not come to the conclusion

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that I was unworthy of her. My uncle received me

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like the jolly old tar that he was, welcomed me

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to the old ship, hoped we should make many a

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voyage together, and that I would take the run of

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the craft all but in one thing, you see, my boy,

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he said, I married above my station, and I don't

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want my wife's friends to say that I laid alongside

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of her to get hold of her daughter's fortune. No, no,

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my boy, your old uncle has too much salt water

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in him to do a dog's trick like that. So

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you take care of yourself. That's all. She might turn

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the head of a wiser man than ever came out

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of our family. I did not tell my uncle that

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his advice was already too late for that, though it

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was not an hour since I had first seen her.

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My head was so far turned already that the only

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way to get it right again was to go on

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turning it in the same direction, though no doubt there

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was a danger of overhauling the screw. The old gentleman

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never referred to the matter again, nor took any notice

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of our increasing intimacy, so that I sometimes doubt even

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now if he could have been in earnest and the

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very simple warning he gave me. Fortunately, Lady Georgiana liked me,

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at least I thought she did, and that gave me courage.

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That's all nonsense, my dear said my mother. Mamma was

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nearly as fond of you as I was, but you

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never wanted courage. I knew better than to show my cowardice,

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I dare say, returned my father. But he continued. Things

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grew worse and worse, till I was certain I should

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kill myself or go straight out of my mind if

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your mother would not have me. So it went on

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for a few days, and Christmas was at hand. The

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Admiral had invited several old friends to come and spend

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the Christmas week with him. Now you must remember that

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although you look on me as an old fashioned fogy,

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Oh Papa, we all interrupted, but he went on. Yet,

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my old uncle was an older fashioned fogy, and his

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friends were much the same as himself. Now I am

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fond of a glass of port, though I dare not

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take it, and must content myself with burgundy. Uncle Bob

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would have called burgundy pigwash. He could not do without

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his port, though he was a moderate enough man, as

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customs were fancy. Then his dismay when on questioning his butler,

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an old coxwain of his own, and after going down

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to inspect in person, he found that there was scarcely

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more than a dozen of port in the wine cellar.

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He turned white with dismay until he had brought the

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blood back to his countenance by swearing he was something

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awful to behold. In the dim light of the tallow candle.

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Old Jacob held in his tattooed fist. I will not

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repeat the words he used, Fortunately they are out of

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fashion amongst gentlemen, although ladies, I understand, are beginning to

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revive the custom, now old and always ugly. Jacob reminded

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his honor that he would not have more put down

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till he had got a proper cellar built for the

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one there was he had said was not fit to

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put anything but dead men in. Thereupon, after abusing Jacob

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for not reminding him of the necessities of the coming season,

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he turned to me and began, certainly not to swear

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at his own father, but to expostulate sideways with the

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absent shade for not having provided a decent cellar before

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his departure from this world of dinners and wine, hinting

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that it was somewhat selfish and very inconsiderate of the

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welfare of those who were to come after him. Having

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a little exhausted his indignation, he came up and wrote

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the most peremptory order to his wine merchant in Liverpool

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to let him have thirty dozen of port before Christmas Day,

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even if he had to send it by post. Chaise,

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I took the letter to the post myself, for the

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old man would trust nobody but me, and indeed would

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have preferred taking it himself. But in winter he was

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always lame from the effects of a bruise he had

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received from a falling spar in the Battle of Abu Kir.

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That night, I remember well, I lay in bed, wondering

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whether I might venture to say a word, or even

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to give a hint to your mother that there was

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a word that pine to be said, if it might

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all At once I heard a whine of the wind

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in the old chimney. How well I knew that wine

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for my kind aunt had taken the trouble to find

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out from me what room I had occupied as a boy,

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and by the third night I spent there, she had

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got it ready for me. I jumped out of bed

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and found that the snow was falling fast and thick.

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I jumped into bed again and began wondering what my

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uncle would do if the port did not arrive. And

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then I thought that if the snow went on falling

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as it did, and if the wind rose any higher,

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it might turn out that the roads through the hilly

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part of Yorkshire in which Culverwood lay might very well

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be blocked up. The north wind doth blow, and we

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shall have snow. And what will my uncle do, then,

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poor thing? He'll run for his port, but he will

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run short and have too much water to drink. Poor thing.

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With the influences of the chamber of my childhood crowding

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upon me, I kept repeating the travestied rhyme to myself

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till I fell asleep. Now, boys and girls, if I

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were writing a novel, I should like to make you,

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somehow or other put together the fats that I was

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in the room. I have mentioned that I had been

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in the cellar with my uncle for the first time

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that evening, that I had seen my uncle's distress and

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heard his reflections upon his father. I may add that

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I was not myself even then so indifferent to the

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merits of a good glass of port as to be

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unable to enter into my uncle's dismay and that of

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his guests at last, if they should find that the

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snow storm had actually closed up the sweet approaches of

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the expected port. If I was personally indifferent to the matter,

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I feared is to be attributed to your mother and

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not to myself. Nonsense, interposed my mother once more. I

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never knew such a man for making little of himself

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and much of other people. You never drink a glass

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too much port in your life. That's why I'm so

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fond of it, my dear returned my father. I declare

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you make me quite discontented with my pig wash here

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That night I had a dream. The next day the

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visitors began to arrive before the evening. After they had

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all come, there were five of them, three tars and

241
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two land crabs, as they called each other when they

242
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got jolly, which, by the way, they would not have

243
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done long without me. My uncle's anxiety visibly increased. Each

244
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guest as he came down to breakfast, received each morning

245
00:11:40,159 --> 00:11:43,440
a more constrained greeting. I beg your pardon, ladies. I

246
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forgot to mention that my aunt had lady visitors, of course,

247
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but the fact is it is only the port drinking

248
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visitors in whom my story is interested always accepted your mother.

249
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These ladies, my admirballe uncle greeted with something even approaching

250
00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,240
to servility. I understood him well enough. He instinctively sought

251
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to make a party to protect him when the awful

252
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secret of his cellar should be found out. But for

253
00:12:04,919 --> 00:12:08,240
two preliminary days or so, his resources would serve, for

254
00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,320
he had plenty of excellent claret and madeira, stuff I

255
00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:14,799
don't know much about, and both Jacob and himself condescended

256
00:12:14,799 --> 00:12:18,320
to maneuver a little. The wine did not arrive, but

257
00:12:18,399 --> 00:12:21,120
the morning of Christmas eve did. I was sitting in

258
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my room trying to write a song for Kate. That's

259
00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:27,440
your mother, my DearS, I know, Papa, said Effie, as

260
00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:30,039
if she were very knowing to know that. When my

261
00:12:30,159 --> 00:12:32,960
uncle came into the room looking like Sintram with death

262
00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,200
in the other one after him. That's the nonsense you

263
00:12:35,279 --> 00:12:38,240
read to me the other day, isn't it, Effie? Not nonsense?

264
00:12:38,279 --> 00:12:42,039
Dear Papa remonstrated Effie, and I loved her for saying it,

265
00:12:42,279 --> 00:12:45,480
for surely that is not nonsense. I didn't mean it,

266
00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:48,440
said my father, and turning to my mother, added it

267
00:12:48,519 --> 00:12:50,440
must be your fault, my dear, that my children are

268
00:12:50,440 --> 00:12:53,440
so serious that they always take a joke for Ernest. However,

269
00:12:53,519 --> 00:12:55,480
it was no joke with my uncle. If he didn't

270
00:12:55,519 --> 00:12:58,559
look like Syntram, he looked like the other one. The

271
00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:01,840
roads are frozen, I'm mean snowed up, he said. There's

272
00:13:01,879 --> 00:13:04,600
just one bottle of port left. And what Captain Calker

273
00:13:04,639 --> 00:13:06,879
will say? I dare say. I know, but I'd rather

274
00:13:06,919 --> 00:13:10,279
not damn this weather. God forgive me. That's not right.

275
00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,840
But it is trying, ain't it? My boy? What will

276
00:13:13,879 --> 00:13:15,879
you give me for a dozen of port? Uncle? Was

277
00:13:15,919 --> 00:13:19,039
all my answer? Give you. I'll give you culverwood. You

278
00:13:19,159 --> 00:13:24,240
rogue done, I cried, that is, stammered my uncle, that is,

279
00:13:24,879 --> 00:13:26,559
and he reddened like the funnel of one of his

280
00:13:26,639 --> 00:13:29,720
hated steamers. That is, you know, always provided you know,

281
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,519
it wouldn't be fair to lady Georgiana, now, would it.

282
00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:35,159
I put it to yourself if she took the trouble.

283
00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,519
You know you understand me, my boy, that's of course, uncle,

284
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I said, Ah, I see, you're a gentleman like your father.

285
00:13:41,919 --> 00:13:44,279
Not to trip a man when he stumbles, said my uncle.

286
00:13:44,919 --> 00:13:47,039
For such was the dear old man's sense of honor

287
00:13:47,039 --> 00:13:49,440
that he was actually uncomfortable about the hasty promise he

288
00:13:49,440 --> 00:13:53,320
had made without first specifying the exception. The exception, you know,

289
00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:56,240
has Culverwood at the present hour, and right welcome he is,

290
00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:00,279
of course, Uncle, I said, between gentlemen, you know still

291
00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,480
I want my joke out too. What will you give

292
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,080
me for a dozen of port to tide you over

293
00:14:04,159 --> 00:14:07,919
Christmas day? Give you, my boy, I'll give you. But

294
00:14:08,039 --> 00:14:11,840
here he checked himself as one that had been burned already. Bah,

295
00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:14,440
he said, turning his back and going towards the door.

296
00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,159
What's the use of joking about serious affairs like this?

297
00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:20,399
And so he left the room and I let him go,

298
00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:23,840
for I had heard that the road from Liverpool was impassable,

299
00:14:24,159 --> 00:14:26,720
the wind and snow having continued every day since that

300
00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:29,639
night of which I told you meantime, I had never

301
00:14:29,639 --> 00:14:31,600
been able to summon the courage to say one word

302
00:14:31,639 --> 00:14:34,480
to your mother. I beg her pardon, I mean miss Thornbury.

303
00:14:35,519 --> 00:14:39,000
Christmas day arrived, my uncle was awful to behold. His

304
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:42,240
friends were evidently anxious about him. They thought he was ill.

305
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:45,200
There was such a hesitation about him, like a shark

306
00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,519
with a bait, and such a flurry like a wail.

307
00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,600
In his last agonies, he had a horrible secret which

308
00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,200
he dared not tell, and which yet would come out

309
00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:56,360
of its grave at the appointed hour. Down in the kitchen,

310
00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,320
the roast, beef and turkey were meeting their desserts up

311
00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,399
in the storeroom. For Lady Georgiana was not above housekeeping

312
00:15:02,399 --> 00:15:04,879
any more than her daughter. The ladies of the house

313
00:15:04,879 --> 00:15:07,519
were doing their part, and I was oscillating between my

314
00:15:07,639 --> 00:15:10,960
uncle and his niece, making myself amazingly useful, now to

315
00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:13,320
one and now to the other. The turkey and the

316
00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,440
beef were on the table. Nay, they had been well

317
00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,840
eaten before I felt that my moment was come. Outside,

318
00:15:18,879 --> 00:15:21,440
the wind was howling and driving the snow with soft

319
00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:25,480
pats against the window panes. Eager eyed, I watched General Fortescue,

320
00:15:25,799 --> 00:15:29,080
who despised cherry or madeira even during dinner, and would

321
00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:32,200
no more touch champagne than he would us sucree, but

322
00:15:32,320 --> 00:15:36,840
drank port after fish or with cheese indiscriminately. With eager eyes,

323
00:15:36,879 --> 00:15:39,360
I watched how the last bottle dwindled out its fading

324
00:15:39,399 --> 00:15:42,960
life in the clear decanter. Glass after glass was supplied

325
00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,919
to General Fortescue by the fearless Coxswain, who, if he

326
00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:47,799
might have had his choice, would rather have boarded a

327
00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:50,840
Frenchman than waited for what was to follow. My uncle

328
00:15:50,879 --> 00:15:53,679
scarcely ate at all, and the only thing that stopped

329
00:15:53,679 --> 00:15:55,960
his face from growing longer with the removal of every

330
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,240
dish was that nothing but death could have made it

331
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,080
longer than it already was. It was my interest to

332
00:16:01,159 --> 00:16:02,960
let matters go as far as they might, up to

333
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,679
a certain point, beyond which it was not my interest

334
00:16:05,679 --> 00:16:07,840
to let them go if I could help it. At

335
00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:09,639
the same time, I was curious to know how my

336
00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:12,879
uncle would announce confess the terrible fact that, in his

337
00:16:13,039 --> 00:16:16,360
house on Christmas Day, having invited his oldest friends to

338
00:16:16,399 --> 00:16:18,759
share with him the festivities of the season, there was

339
00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:22,039
not one bottle more of port to be had. I

340
00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:25,159
waited till the last moment, till I fancied the Admiral

341
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,240
was opening his mouth like a fish in despair to

342
00:16:27,279 --> 00:16:30,120
make his confession. He had not even dared to make

343
00:16:30,159 --> 00:16:32,639
a confidant of his wife in such an awful dilemma.

344
00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,799
Then I pretended to have dropped my table napkin behind

345
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:39,120
my chair, and rising to seek it, stole round behind

346
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:41,679
my uncle and whispered in his ear, what will you

347
00:16:41,759 --> 00:16:44,759
give me for a dozen of port? Now? Uncle, bah,

348
00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:48,440
he said, I'm at the gratings. Don't torture me. I

349
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:51,360
am in earnest. Uncle. He looked round at me with

350
00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:54,279
a sudden flash of bewildered hope in his eye. In

351
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,960
the last agony he was capable of believing in a miracle.

352
00:16:57,559 --> 00:17:01,039
But he made me no reply. He only stared, will

353
00:17:01,039 --> 00:17:05,000
you give me Kate? I want Kate, I whispered, I will,

354
00:17:05,039 --> 00:17:07,480
my boy, That is, if she'll have you. That is

355
00:17:07,559 --> 00:17:09,559
I mean to say, if you produce the true tawny.

356
00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:13,359
Of course, Uncle, honor bright as port in a storm,

357
00:17:13,640 --> 00:17:16,480
I answered, trembling in my shoes and everything else I

358
00:17:16,559 --> 00:17:18,920
had on, for I was not more than three parts

359
00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,799
confident in the result. The gentleman beside Kate, happening at

360
00:17:22,799 --> 00:17:24,839
the moment to be occupied each with the lady on

361
00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,440
his other side, I went behind her and whispered to

362
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:29,519
her as I had whispered to my uncle, though not

363
00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:32,400
exactly in the same terms. Perhaps I had got a

364
00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,240
little courage from the champagne I had drunk. Perhaps the

365
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,880
presence of the company gave me a kind of mesmeric strength.

366
00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,799
Perhaps the excitement of the whole venture kept me up.

367
00:17:41,279 --> 00:17:44,559
Perhaps Kate herself gave me courage, like a goddess of old.

368
00:17:44,599 --> 00:17:47,720
In some way I did not understand at all events,

369
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:50,759
I said to her, Kate, we had got so far.

370
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,000
Even then, my uncle hasn't another bottle of port in

371
00:17:54,039 --> 00:17:57,440
his cellar. Consider what a state general fortescue will be

372
00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:00,519
in soon. He'll be tipsy for want of it. Will

373
00:18:00,559 --> 00:18:02,440
you come and help me to find a bottle or two?

374
00:18:03,559 --> 00:18:07,079
She rose at once, with a white rose blush so delicate.

375
00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,799
I don't believe any one saw it but myself, But

376
00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:11,920
the shadow of a stray ringlet could not fall on

377
00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,279
her cheek without my seeing it. When we got into

378
00:18:15,319 --> 00:18:17,680
the hall, the wind was roaring loud, and the few

379
00:18:17,759 --> 00:18:20,440
lights were flickering and waving gustily with alternate light and

380
00:18:20,519 --> 00:18:22,680
shade across the old portraits, which I had known so

381
00:18:22,759 --> 00:18:25,359
well as a child, For I used to think what

382
00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:27,759
each would say first, if he or she came down

383
00:18:27,799 --> 00:18:30,640
out of the frame and spoke to me. I stopped,

384
00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,640
and taking Kate's hand, I said, I daren't let you

385
00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,559
come farther, Kate, before I tell you another thing. My

386
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,039
uncle has promised if I find him a dozen of port.

387
00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:41,079
You must have seen what a state the poor man

388
00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,799
is in to let me say something to you. I

389
00:18:43,839 --> 00:18:46,240
suppose he meant your mamma, but I prefer saying it

390
00:18:46,279 --> 00:18:48,279
to you if you will let me, Will you come

391
00:18:48,319 --> 00:18:51,119
and help me to find the port? She said nothing,

392
00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,079
but took up a candle that was on a table

393
00:18:53,079 --> 00:18:55,960
in the hall and stood waiting. I ventured to look

394
00:18:55,960 --> 00:18:59,200
at her. Her face was now celestial rosy red, and

395
00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:01,839
I could not doubt that she had understood me. She

396
00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,599
looked so beautiful that I stood staring at her without moving.

397
00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:06,920
What the servants could have been about that not one

398
00:19:06,960 --> 00:19:09,680
of them crossed the hall, I can't think. At last,

399
00:19:09,799 --> 00:19:13,359
Kate laughed and said, well I started, and I dare

400
00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,880
say took my turn at blushing. At least I did

401
00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:18,119
not know what to say. I had forgotten all about

402
00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:22,039
the guests inside. Where's the port? Said Kate. I caught

403
00:19:22,039 --> 00:19:24,720
hold of her hand again and kissed it. You needn't

404
00:19:24,759 --> 00:19:27,240
be quite so minute in your account, my dear, said

405
00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,319
my mother, smiling. I will be more careful in future,

406
00:19:30,359 --> 00:19:33,440
my love returned my father. What do you want me

407
00:19:33,519 --> 00:19:36,519
to do? Said Kate only to hold the candle for me,

408
00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:39,880
I answered, restored to my seven senses at last, and

409
00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,880
taking it from her, I led the way, and she

410
00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:44,599
followed till we had passed through the kitchen and reached

411
00:19:44,599 --> 00:19:47,680
the cellar stairs. These were steep and awkward, and she

412
00:19:47,759 --> 00:19:52,160
let me help her down. Now, Edward said my mother. Yes, yes,

413
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,799
my love, I understand, returned my father. Up to this

414
00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,279
time your mother had asked no questions. But when we

415
00:19:58,279 --> 00:20:00,200
stood in a vast low cellar, which we he had

416
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:02,640
made several turns to reach, and I gave her the

417
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:05,079
candle and took up a great crowbar, which lay on

418
00:20:05,079 --> 00:20:08,279
the floor. She said, at last, Edward, are you going

419
00:20:08,319 --> 00:20:10,799
to bury me alive? Or what are you going to do?

420
00:20:11,359 --> 00:20:13,759
I'm going to dig you out, I said, For I

421
00:20:13,799 --> 00:20:16,480
was nearly beside myself with joy as I struck the

422
00:20:16,519 --> 00:20:19,359
crowbar like a battering ram into the wall. You can

423
00:20:19,359 --> 00:20:21,400
fancy John, that I didn't work. The worse that Kate

424
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:24,599
was holding the candle for me. Very soon, though with

425
00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:27,440
great effort, I had dislodged a brick, and the next

426
00:20:27,519 --> 00:20:29,839
blow I gave into the hole sent back a dull echo.

427
00:20:30,319 --> 00:20:33,799
I was right. I worked now like a madman. And

428
00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:35,960
in a very few minutes more I had dislodged the

429
00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:37,960
whole of the brick thick wall, which filled up an

430
00:20:38,039 --> 00:20:40,960
archway of stone and curtained an ancient door, in the

431
00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,920
lock of which the key now showed itself. It had

432
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,920
been well greased, and I turned it without much difficulty.

433
00:20:47,799 --> 00:20:50,119
I took the candle from Kate and led her into

434
00:20:50,119 --> 00:20:54,519
a spacious region of sawdust, cobweb and wine fungus. There

435
00:20:54,599 --> 00:20:58,880
Kate I cried in delight, but said, Kate, will the

436
00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,200
wine be good? General Fordisque will answer you that I

437
00:21:02,279 --> 00:21:05,680
returned exultantly. Now come and hold the light again while

438
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:08,720
I find the port bin. I soon found not one,

439
00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,960
but several well filled port bins, which to choose I

440
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,279
could not tell. I must chance that Kate carried a

441
00:21:15,279 --> 00:21:18,240
bottle in the candle, and I carried two bottles. Very carefully.

442
00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:20,640
We put them down in the kitchen, with orders they

443
00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:23,599
should not be touched. We had soon carried the dozen

444
00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:26,480
to the hall table by the dining room door, when

445
00:21:26,519 --> 00:21:29,720
at length, with Jacob chuckling and rubbing his hands behind us,

446
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,359
we entered the dining room Kate and I, for Kate

447
00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:34,440
would not part with her share in the joyful business,

448
00:21:34,759 --> 00:21:36,759
loaded with a level bottle in each hand, which we

449
00:21:36,799 --> 00:21:39,880
carefully erected on the sideboard. I presume from the stair

450
00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:42,799
of the company that we presented a rather remarkable appearance,

451
00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:46,400
Kate in her white muslin and I in my best clothes,

452
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:49,240
covered with brick dust and cobwebs and lime. But we

453
00:21:49,279 --> 00:21:51,200
could not be half so amusing to them as they

454
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,079
were to us. There they sat, with the dessert before them,

455
00:21:54,079 --> 00:21:57,440
but no wine decanter's forthcoming. How long they had sat thus,

456
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,599
I have no idea. If you think your mamma has

457
00:21:59,599 --> 00:22:03,279
you may ask her. Captain Calker and General Fortescue looked

458
00:22:03,319 --> 00:22:07,119
positively white about the gills. My uncle, clinging to the

459
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,079
last hope, despairingly, had sat still and said nothing, And

460
00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:14,440
the guests could not understand the awful delay. Even Lady

461
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:16,680
Georgiana had begun to fear a mutiny in the kitchen

462
00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:19,680
or something equally awful. But to see the flash that

463
00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:22,000
passed across my uncle's face when he saw us appear

464
00:22:22,039 --> 00:22:25,279
with pordid arms, he immediately began to pretend that nothing

465
00:22:25,279 --> 00:22:27,759
had been the matter. What the deuce has kept you, ned,

466
00:22:27,799 --> 00:22:30,480
my boy? He said, fair he be. He went on,

467
00:22:30,839 --> 00:22:33,680
I beg your pardon, Jacob, you can go on decanting.

468
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:36,559
It was very careless of you to forget it. Meantime,

469
00:22:36,599 --> 00:22:39,799
hebe bring that bottle to General Jupiter. There he's got

470
00:22:39,799 --> 00:22:42,000
a corkscrew in the tail of his robe. Or I'm mistaken.

471
00:22:42,799 --> 00:22:46,240
Out came General Fortescue's corkscrew. I was trembling once more

472
00:22:46,279 --> 00:22:50,119
with anxiety. The cork gave the genuine PLoP. The bottle

473
00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,640
was lowered, glug, glug, glug came from its beneficent throat,

474
00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,119
and out flowed something tawny as a lion's mane. The

475
00:22:57,200 --> 00:22:59,960
General lifted it lazily to his lips, saluting. His nose

476
00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:05,640
was on the way fifteen by jeove, He cried, well, Admiral,

477
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,079
this was worth waiting for. Take care how you decant that, Jacob,

478
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,000
on peril of your life? My uncle was triumphant. He

479
00:23:13,039 --> 00:23:16,279
winked hard at me not to tell Kate, and I retired.

480
00:23:16,599 --> 00:23:19,039
She to change her dress, I to get mine well

481
00:23:19,079 --> 00:23:22,160
brushed and my hands washed. By the time I returned

482
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:24,319
to the dining room, no one had any questions to

483
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:27,319
ask for Kate. The ladies had gone to the drawing

484
00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:29,680
room before she was ready, and I believe she had

485
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,519
some difficulty in keeping my uncle's counsel, but she did need.

486
00:23:33,599 --> 00:23:35,839
I say, that was the happiest Christmas I ever spent.

487
00:23:36,799 --> 00:23:39,640
But how did you find the cellar? Papa asked, Effie,

488
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:42,440
where are your brains? Effy, don't you remember I told

489
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,359
you that I had a dream. Yes, but you don't

490
00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:47,359
mean to say that the existence of that wine cellar

491
00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,039
was revealed to you in a dream. But I do. Indeed,

492
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:52,720
I had seen the wine cellar built up just before

493
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,319
we left for Madera. It was my father's plan for

494
00:23:55,319 --> 00:23:57,920
securing the wine when the house was let, and very

495
00:23:57,920 --> 00:23:59,599
well it turned out. For the wine and me too.

496
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,240
I had forgotten all about it. Everything had conspired to

497
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,720
bring it to my memory, but had just failed of success.

498
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:08,720
I had fallen asleep under all the influences I told

499
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,240
you of, influences from the region of my childhood. They

500
00:24:12,279 --> 00:24:15,319
operated still when I was asleep, and all other distracting

501
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:18,720
influences being removed at length, roused in my sleeping brain.

502
00:24:18,799 --> 00:24:21,240
The memory of what I had seen. In the morning.

503
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,839
I remembered not my dream only, but the event of

504
00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:26,720
which my dream was a reproduction still I was under

505
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,960
considerable doubt about the place, and in this I followed

506
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:33,000
the dream only as near as I could judge. The

507
00:24:33,039 --> 00:24:36,400
Admiral kept his word and interposed no difficulties between Kate

508
00:24:36,480 --> 00:24:38,880
and me. Not that, to tell the truth, I was

509
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:41,559
ever very anxious about that roc ahead. But it was

510
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,240
very possible that his fastidious honor or pride might have

511
00:24:44,279 --> 00:24:47,079
occasioned a considerable interference with our happiness for a time.

512
00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:49,960
As it turned out, he could not leave me Culverwood,

513
00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,599
and I regretted the fact as little as he did himself.

514
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,359
His gratitude to me was, however, excessive, assuming occasionally ludicrous

515
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:00,279
outbursts of thankfulness. I do not believe he could been

516
00:25:00,279 --> 00:25:02,160
more grateful if I had saved his ship and its

517
00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:05,720
whole crew, for his hospitality was at stake. Kind old

518
00:25:05,759 --> 00:25:10,200
man here ended my father's story with a light sigh,

519
00:25:10,559 --> 00:25:13,000
a gaze into the bright coals, a kiss of my

520
00:25:13,039 --> 00:25:15,799
mother's hand which he held in his, and another glass

521
00:25:15,799 --> 00:25:19,759
of Burgundy and of port in a storm by George

522
00:25:19,799 --> 00:25:20,359
mac Donald