 Book 5, Chapter 7 of the Mill on the Floss. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot. Book 5, Wheat and Tears. Chapter 7, A Day of Reckoning. Mr. Telever was an essentially sober man, able to take his glass and not averse to it, but never exceeding the bounds of moderation. He had naturally an active hot spur temperament, which did not crave liquid fire to set it aglow. His impetuosity was usually equal to an exciting occasion without any such reinforcements. And his desire for the brandy and water implied that the two sudden joy had fallen with a dangerous shock on a frame depressed by four years of gloom and unaccustomed hard fare. But that first doubtful, tottering moment passed. He seemed to gather strength with his gathering excitement. And the next day, when he was seated at table with his creditors, his eye kindling and his cheek flushed with the consciousness that he was about to make an honorable figure once more, he looked more like the proud, confident, warm-hearted and warm-tempered Telever of old times than might have seemed possible to anyone who had met him a week before, riding along as had been his want for the last four years since the sense of failure and debt had been upon him. With his head hanging down, casting brief, unwilling looks on those who forced themselves on his notice. He made his speech, asserting his honest principles with his old confident eagerness, alluding to the rascals and the luck that had been against him, but that he had triumphed over, to some extent, by hard efforts and the aid of a good son. And winding up with the story of how Tom had got the best part of the needful money. But the streak of irritation and hostile triumph seemed to melt for a little while into pure, fatherly pride and pleasure. When, Tom's health having been proposed, and Uncle Dean having taken occasion to say a few words of eulogy on his general character and conduct, Tom himself got up and made the single speech of his life. It could hardly have been briefer. He thanked the gentlemen for the honor they had done him. He was glad that he had been able to help his father in proving his integrity and regaining his honest name. And for his own part, he hoped he should never undo that work and disgrace that name. But the applause that followed was so great and Tom looked so gentlemanly as well as tall and straight that Mr. Telever remarked, in an explanatory manner, to his friends on his right and left, that he had spent a deal of money on his son's education. The party broke up in very sober fashion at five o'clock. Tom remained in St. Augs to attend to some business, and Mr. Telever mounted his horse to go home and described the memorable things that had been said and done to poor Bessie and the little winch. The air of excitement that hung about him was but faintly due to good cheer or any stimulus but the potent wine of triumphant joy. He did not choose any back street today, but rode slowly with uplifted head and free glances along the principal street all the way to the bridge. Why did he not happen to meet Wakeham? The want of that coincidence vexed him and set his mind at work in an irritating way. Perhaps Wakeham was gone out of town today on purpose to avoid seeing or hearing anything of an honorable action which might well cause him some unpleasant twinges. If Wakeham were to meet him then, Mr. Telever would look straight at him, and the rascal would perhaps be forsaken a little by his cool domineering impudence. He would know by and by that an honest man was not going to serve him any longer, and lend his honesty to fill a pocket already over full of dishonest gains. Perhaps the luck was beginning to turn. Perhaps the devil didn't always hold the best cards in this world. Simmering in this way, Mr. Telever approached the yard gates of Doralcoat Mill, near enough to see a well-known figure coming out of them on a fine black horse. They met about fifty yards from the gates between the great chestnuts and elms in the high bank. Telever said Wakeham abruptly in a haughtier tone than usual, what a fool's trick you did, spreading those hard lumps on that far close. I told you how it would be, but you men never learned to farm with any method. Oh, said Telever, suddenly boiling up, get somebody else to farm for you then, as I'll ask you to teach him. You have been drinking, I suppose, said Wakeham, really believing that this was the meaning of Telever's flushed face and sparkling eyes. No, I've not been drinking, said Telever. I want no drinking to help me make up my mind as I'll serve no longer under a scoundrel. Very well, you may leave my premises tomorrow then. Hold your insolent tongue and let me pass. Telever was backing his horse across the road till him wake him in. No, I shan't let you pass, said Telever, getting fiercer. I shall tell you what I think of you first. You're too big a rascal to get hanged. Let me pass, you ignorant brute, or I'll ride over you. Mr. Telever, spurring his horse and raising his whip, made a rush forward, and Wakeham's horse, rearing and staggering backward, threw his rider from the saddle and sent him sideways on the ground. Wakeham had had the presence of mind to lose the bridle at once, and in a few paces and then stood still, he might have risen and remounted without more inconvenience than a bruise and a shake. But before he could rise, Telever was off his horse too. The sight of the long-hated predominant man down and in his power threw him into a frenzy of triumphant vengeance, which seemed to give him preternatural agility and strength. He rushed on Wakeham, who was in the act of trying to recover his feet, grasped him by the left arm so as to press Wakeham's whole weight on the right arm, which rested on the ground, and flogged him fiercely across the back with his riding whip. Wakeham shouted for help, but no help came until a woman's scream was heard and the cry of, Father, Father! Suddenly Wakeham felt something had arrested Mr. Telever's arm, for the flogging ceased and the grasp on his own arm was relaxed. Get away with you, go! said Telever angrily, but it was not to Wakeham that he spoke. Slowly the lawyer rose and as he turned his head saw that Telever's arms were being held by a girl, rather by the fear of hurting the girl that clung to him with all her young might. Oh, Luke! Mother! Come and help Mr. Wakeham! Maggie cried, as she heard the longed for footsteps. Help me onto that low horse, said Wakeham to Luke. Then I shall perhaps manage, though confounded I think this arm is sprained. With some difficulty Wakeham was heaved onto the Telever's horse. Then he turned toward the miller and said, with white rage, you'll suffer for this, sir, your daughter is a witness that you've assaulted me. I don't care, said Mr. Telever in a thick, fierce voice, go and show your back and tell him I thrashed you, tell him I've made things a bit more even in the world. Ride my horse home with me, said Wakeham to Luke, by the Toften Fairy, not through the town. Father, come in, said Maggie imploringly. Then, seeing that Wakeham had ridden off and that no further violence was possible, she slackened her hold and burst into hysteric sobs while poor Mrs. Telever stood by in silence, quivering with fear. But Maggie became conscious that as she was slackening her hold her father was beginning to grasp her and lean on her. The surprise checked her sobs. I feel ill, faintish, he said. Help me in Bessie, I'm giddy. I have a pain in the head. He walked in slowly, propped by his wife and daughter and tottered into his armchair. The almost purple flush had given way to paleness and his hand was cold. I'd only better sin for the doctor, said Mrs. Telever. He seemed to be too faint and suffering to hear her, but presently when she said to Maggie go and seek for somebody to fetch the doctor, he looked up at her with full comprehension and said, Doctor? No, no doctor. It's my head, that's all. Help me to bed. Sad ending to the day that had risen on them all like a beginning of better times, but mingled seed must bear a mingled crop. In half an hour after his father had lain down, Tom came home. Bob Jagan was with him, come to congratulate the old master, not without some excusable pride that he had had his share in bringing about Mr. Tom's good luck. And Tom had thought his father would like nothing better as a finish to the day than a talk with Bob. But now Tom could only spend the evening in gloomy expectation of the unpleasant consequences that must follow on this mad outbreak of his father's long smothered hate. After the painful news had been told, he sat in silence. He had not spirit or inclination to tell his mother and sister anything about the dinner. They hardly cared to ask it. Apparently the mingled thread in the web of their life was so curiously twisted together that there could be no joy without a sorrow coming close upon it. Tom was dejected by the thought that his exemplary effort must always be baffled by the wrongdoing of others. Maggie was living through, over and over again, the agony of the moment in which she had rushed to throw herself on her father's arm with a vague shattering foreboding of wretched scenes to come. Not one of the three felt any particular alarm about Mr. Tulliver's health. The symptoms did not recall his former dangerous attack, and it seemed only a necessary consequence that his violent passion and effort of strength after many hours of unusual excitement should have made him feel ill. Rest would probably cure him. Tom, tired out by his active day, fell asleep soon and slept soundly. It seemed to him as if he had only just come to bed when he waked to see his mother standing by him in the gray light of early morning. My boy, you must get up this minute. I've sent for the doctor and your father wants you and Maggie to come to him. Is he worse, mother? He's been very ill all night with his head, and he doesn't say it's worse. He only said suddenly, Bessie, fetch the boy and girl, tell him to make haste. Maggie and Tom threw on their clothes hastily in the chill gray light and reached their father's room almost at the same moment. He was watching for them with an expression of pain on his brow but with sharpened, anxious consciousness in his eyes. Mrs. Tulliver stood at the foot of the bed, frightened and trembling, looking worn and aged from disturbed rest. Maggie was at the bedside first, but her father's glance was toward Tom, who came and stood next to her. Tom, my lad, it's come upon me as I shan't get up again. This world's been too many for me, my lad, but you've done what you could to make things a bit even. Shake hands with me again, my lad, before I go away from you. The father and son clasped hands and looked at each other in instant. Then Tom said, trying to speak firmly, have you any wish, father, that I can fulfill when I, my lad, you'll try and get the old mill back? Yes, father. And there's your mother. You'll try and make her amends all you can for my bad luck. And there's the little winch. The father turned his eyes on Maggie with a still more eager look. While she, with a bursting heart, sank on her knees to be closer to the dear time-worn face which had been present with her through long years, as the sign of her deepest love and hardest trial. You must take care of her, Tom. Don't you fret, my winch. There'll come somebody as I'll love you and take your part. And you must be good to her, my lad. I was good to my sister. Kiss me, Maggie. Come, Bessie. You'll manage to pay for a brick-grave, Tom, so as your mother and me can lie together. He looked away from the mall when he had said this, and lay silent for some minutes, while they stood watching him, not daring to move. The morning light was growing clearer for them, and they could see the heaviness gathering in his face and the dullness in his eyes. But at last he looked toward Tom and said, I had my turn. I beat him. That was nothing but fair. I never wanted anything but what was fair. But Father, dear Father, said Maggie, an unspeakable anxiety predominating over her grief. You forgive him. You forgive everyone now? He did not move his eyes to look at her, but he said, No, my winch. I don't forgive him. What's forgiving to do? I can't love a rascal. His voice had become thicker, but he wanted to say more and moved his lips again and again, struggling in vain to speak. At length the words forced their way. Does God forgive rascals? But if he does, he won't be hard with me. His hands moved uneasily, as if he wanted them to remove some obstruction that weighed upon him. Two or three times there fell from him some broken words. This world's too many, honest men puzzling. Soon they merged into mere mutterings. The eyes had ceased to discern, and then came the final silence. But not of death. For an hour or more the chest heaved. The loud, hard breathing continued, getting gradually slower as the cold doos gathered on the brow. At last there was total stillness, and Fortulliver's dimly lighted soul had forever ceased to be vexed with the painful riddle of this world. Help was come now. Luke and his wife were there, and Mr. Turnbull had arrived, too late for everything but to say, this is death. Tom and Maggie went downstairs together into the room where their father's place was empty. Their eyes turned to the same spot, and Maggie spoke. Tom, forgive me. Let us always love each other. And they clung and wept together. End of Book 5, Chapter 7 Book 6, Chapter 1 of The Mill on the Floss This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The Mill on the Floss by George Elliott Book 6, The Great Temptation Chapter 1, A Duet in Paradise The well furnished drawing room with the open grand piano and the pleasant outlook down a sloping garden to a boat house by the side of the floss is Mr. Deans. The neat little lady in mourning whose light brown ringlets are falling over the coloured embroidery with which her fingers are busy is, of course, Lucy Dean. And the fine young man who is leaning down from his chair to snap the scissors in the extremely abbreviated face of the King Charles lying on the young lady's feet is no other than Mr. Stephen Guest whose diamond ring at her roses and air of nonchalant leisure at twelve o'clock in the day are the graceful and odiferous result of the largest oil mill and the most extensive wharf in St. Augs. There is an apparent triviality in the action with the scissors but your discernment perceives at once that there is a design in it which makes it imminently worthy of the long-limbed young man for you see that Lucy wants the scissors and is compelled, reluctant as she may be to shake her ringlets back raise her soft hazel eyes smile playfully down on the face that is so very nearly on a level with her knee and holding out her little shell-pink palm to say my scissors please if you can renounce the great pleasure of persecuting my poor many the foolish scissors have slipped too far over the knuckles it seems wrapped fingers hopelessly confound the scissors the oval lies the wrong way please draw them off for me draw them off with your other hand says Miss Lucy, roguishly oh but that's my left hand I'm not left-handed Lucy laughs and the scissors are drawn off with gentle touches from tiny tips which naturally dispose Mr. Steven for a repetition da capo accordingly he watches for the release of the scissors with his possession again no no said Lucy sticking them in her band you shall not have my scissors again you have strained them already now don't set many growling again set up and behave properly and then I will tell you some news what is that said Steven throwing himself back and hanging his right arm over the corner of his chair he might have been sitting for his portrait which would have represented a rather striking young man of five and twenty with a square forehead with brown hair standing erect with a slight wave at the end like a thick crop of corn and a half ardent half sarcastic glance from under his well-marked horizontal eyebrows is it very important news yes very guess you are going to change Minnie's diet and give him three rotafia soaked in a dessert spoonful of cream daily quite wrong well then Dr. Kin has been preaching against Buckrum and you ladies have all been sending him around Robin saying this is a hard doctrine who can bear it for shame said Lucy adjusting her little mouth gravely it is rather dull of you not to guess my news because it is about something I mentioned to you not very long ago but you have mentioned many things to me not long ago does your feminine tyranny require that when you say the thing you mean is one of several things you know immediately by that mark yes I know you think I am silly I think you are perfectly charming and my silliness is part of my charm I didn't say that but I know you like women to be rather insipid Philip Wakeham betrayed you he said so one day when you were not here oh I know Phil is fierce on that point he makes it quite a personal matter I think he must be love sick for some unknown lady some exalted Beatrice whom he met abroad by the by said Lucy pausing in her work it has just occurred to me that I never found out whether my cousin Maggie will object to see Philip as her brother does Tom will not enter a room where Philip is if he knows it perhaps Maggie may be the same and then we shan't be able to sing our glies shall we what is your cousin coming to stay with you said Steven with a look of peace yes that was my news which you have forgotten she's going to leave her situation where she has been nearly two years poor thing ever since her father's death and she will stay with me a month or two many months I hope and am I bound to be pleased at that news oh no not at all said Lucy with a little air of peak I am pleased but that of course is no reason why you should be pleased there is no girl in the world I love as well as my cousin Maggie and you will be inseparable I suppose when she comes there will be no possibility of a tet a tet with you anymore unless you can find an admirer for her who will pair off with her occasionally what is the ground of dislike to Philip he might have been a resource it is a family quarrel with Philip's father there were very painful circumstances I believe I never quite understood them or knew them all my uncle Tulliver was unfortunate and lost all his property and I think he considered Mr. Wacom was somehow the cause of it Mr. Wacom bought Doralcoatmel my uncle's old place where he always lived you must remember my uncle Tulliver don't you knows had Stephen with rather supercilious indifference I've always known the name and I dare say I knew the man by sight apart from his name I know half the names and faces in the neighborhood he was a very harsh disjointed way he was a very hot tempered man I remember when I was a little girl and used to go to see my cousins he often frightened me by talking as if he were angry Papa told me there was a dreadful quarrel the very day before my uncle's death between him and Mr. Wacom but it was hushed up that was when you were in London Papa says my uncle was quite mistaken in many ways his mind had become embittered Maggie must naturally feel it very painful to be reminded of these things they have had so much so very much trouble Maggie was at school with me six years ago when she was fetched away because of her father's misfortunes and she has hardly had any pleasure sense I think she has been in a dreary situation in a school since uncle's death because she is determined to be independent and not live without Pulit and I could hardly wish her to come to me then because dear mama was ill and everything was so sad that is why I want her to come to me now and have a long long holiday very sweet and angelic of you said Stephen looking at her with an admiring smile and all the more so if she has the conversational qualities of her mother poor auntie you are cruel to ridicule her she is very valuable to me I know she manages the house beautifully much better than any stranger would and she was a great comfort to me and mama's illness yes but in point of companionship one would prefer that she should be represented by her brandy cherries and cream cakes I think with a shutter that her daughter will always be present in person and have no agreeable proxies of that kind a fat blonde girl with round blue eyes who will stare at us silently oh yes exclaimed Lucy laughing wickedly and clapping her hands that is just my cousin Maggie you must have seen her no indeed I'm only guessing what Mrs. Tulliver's daughter must be and then if she is to banish Philip our only apology for a tenner that will be an additional bore but I hope that may not be I think I will ask you to call on Philip and tell him Maggie is coming tomorrow he is quite aware of Tom's feeling and always keeps out of his way so he will understand if you tell him that I asked you to warn him not to come until I write to ask him I think you would better write a pretty note for me to take Phil is so sensitive you know the least thing might frighten him off coming at all and we had hard work to get him I can never induce him to come to the park he doesn't like my sisters I think it is only your fairy touch that can lay his ruffled feathers Steven mastered the little hand that was straying toward the table and touched it lightly with his lips little Lucy felt very proud and happy in that stage of courtship which makes the most exquisite moment of youth the freshest blossom time of passion when each is sure of the other's love but no formal declaration has been made and all is mutual divination exalting the most trivial word the lightest gesture into thrill's delicate and delicious his wafted jasmine scent the explicitness of an engagement wears off this finest edge of susceptibility it is jasmine gathered and presented in a large bouquet but it is really odd that you should have hit so exactly on Maggie's appearance in Manners said the cunning Lucy moving to reach her desk because she might have been like her brother you know and Tom has not round eyes he is as far as possible from staring at people oh I suppose he is like the father he seems to be as proud as Lucifer not a brilliant companion though I should think I like Tom he gave me my mini when I lost Lolo and Papa is very fond of him he says Tom has excellent principles it was through him that his father was able to pale his debts before he died oh I've heard about that I heard your father in mind talking about it a little while ago after dinner in one of their interminable discussions about business they think of doing something for young Tulliver he saved them from a considerable loss by riding home in some marvelous way like Turpin to bring them news about the stoppage of a bank or something of that sort but I was rather drowsy at the time Steven rose from his seat and sauntered to the piano humming in falsetto graceful consort as he turned over the volume of the creation which stood open on the desk come and sing this he said when he saw Lucy rising what? Grateful consort I don't think it suits your voice never mind it exactly suits my feeling which Philip will have it is the grand element of good singing I notice men with indifferent voices are usually of that opinion Philip burst into one of his invectives against the creation the other day said Lucy, seating herself at the piano he says it has a sort of sugared complacency and flattering make-believe in it as if it were written for the birthday of a German Grand Duke oh poo he is the fallen Adam with a soured temper we are Adam and Eve we are fallen in paradise now then the restative for the sake of the moral you will sing the whole duty of woman and from obedience grows my pride and happiness oh no I shall not respect an Adam who drags the tempo as you will said Lucy beginning to play the duet surely the only courtship unshaken by doubts and fears must be that in which the lovers can sing together the sense of mutual fitness that springs from the two deep notes fulfilling expectation just at the right moment between the notes of the silvery soprano from the perfect accord of descending thirds and fifths from the pre-concerted loving chase of a fugue is likely enough to supersede any immediate demand for less impassioned forms of agreement the contralto will not care to catachize the bass the tenor will for see no embarrassing dearth of remark and evening spent with the lovely soprano in the provinces to where music was so scarce in that remote time how could the musical people avoid falling in love with each other even political principle must have been in danger of relaxation under such circumstances and the violin faithful to rotten burrows must have been tempted to fraternize in a demoralizing way with a reforming violin cello in that case the Lynette throated soprano in the full-toned bass singing with the delight is ever new with the life incessant bliss believed what they sang all the more because they sang it now for Raphael's great song said Lucy when they had finished the duet you do the heavy beasts to perfection that sounds complimentary said Steven looking at his watch by jovitz nearly half past one well I can just sing this Steven delivered with admirable ease the deep notes representing the tread of the heavy beasts but when a singer has an audience of two there is room for divided sentiments many's mistress was charmed but many who had entrenched himself trembling in his basket as soon as the music began found this thunder so little to his taste that he leaped out and scampered under the remotest chiffonier as the most eligible place in which a small dog could await the crack of doom adieu graceful consort said Steven buttoning his coat across when he had done singing and smiling down from his tall height with the air of rather a patronizing lover at the little lady on the music stool my bliss is not incessant for I must gallop home I promise to be there at lunch you will not be able to call on Phillip then it is of no consequence I have said everything in my note you will be engaged with your cousin tomorrow I suppose yes we're going to have a little family party my cousin Tom will dine with us and poor Auntie will have her two children together for the first time it will be very pretty I think a great deal about it but I may come the next day oh yes come and be introduced to my cousin Maggie though you can hardly be said not to have seen her you've described her so well goodbye then and there was that slight pressure of the hands and momentary meeting of the eyes which will often leave a little lady with a slight flush and smile on her face that do not subside immediately when the door is closed and with an inclination to walk up and down the room rather than to seat herself quietly at her embroidery or other rational and improving occupation at least this was the effect on Lucy and you will not I hope consider it an indication of vanity predominating over more tender impulses that she just glanced in the chimney glasses her walk brought her near it the desire to know that one has not looked in absolute fright during a few hours of conversation may be construed as lying within the bounds of a laudable benevolent consideration for others and Lucy had so much of this benevolence in her nature that I am inclined to think her small egoisms were impregnated with it just as there are people not altogether unknown to you whose small benevolences have a predominant and somewhat rank odor of egoism even now that she is walking up and down with a little triumphant flutter of her girlish heart at the sense that she is loved by the person of chief consequence in her small world you may see in her hazel eyes an ever-present sunny benignity in which the momentary harmless flashes of personal vanity are quite lost and if she is happy in thinking of her lover it is because the thought of him mingles readily with all the gentle affections and good-natured offices with which she fills her peaceful days even now her mind with that instantaneous alternation which makes two currents of feeling or imagination seem simultaneous is glancing continually from Steven to the preparations she is only half finished in Maggie's room cousin Maggie should be treated as well as the grandest lady visitor nay, better for she should have Lucy's best prince and drawings in her bedroom and the very finest bouquet of spring flowers on her table Maggie would enjoy all that she was so fond of pretty things and there was no tell-over that no one made any account of she was to be surprised with the present of a cap of superlative quality and to have her health drunk in a gratifying manner for which Lucy was going to lay a plot with her father this evening clearly she had not time to indulge in long reveries about her own happy love affairs with this thought she walked toward the door but paused there what's the matter then, nanny, she said stooping in answer to some whimpering sinbad and lifting his glossy head against her pink cheek did you think I was going without you come then, let us go and see sinbad sinbad was Lucy's chestnut horse that she always fed with her own hand when he was turned out in the paddock she was fond of feeding dependent creatures and knew the private tastes of all the animals about the house, delighting in the little rippling sounds of her canaries when their beaks were busy with fresh seed and in the small nibbling pleasures of certain animals which, lest she should appear too trivial I will here call the more familiar rodents was not Stephen guest right in his decided opinion that this slim maiden of 18 was quite the sort of wife a man would not be likely to repent of marrying a woman who was loving and thoughtful for other women not giving them Judas kisses with eyes of scance on their welcome defects but with real care and vision for their half hidden pains and mortifications with long illuminating enjoyment of little pleasures prepared for them perhaps the emphasis of his admiration did not fall precisely on this rarest quality in her perhaps he approved his own choice of her chiefly because she did not strike him as a remarkable rarity a man likes his wife to be pretty well Lucy was pretty but not to a maddening extent a man likes his wife to be accomplished gentle affectionate and not stupid and Lucy had all these qualifications Stephen was not surprised to find himself in love with her and was conscious of excellent judgment in preferring her to miss Laburn the daughter of the county member although Lucy was only the daughter of his father subordinate partner besides he had had to defy and overcome a slight unwillingness and disappointment in his father and sisters a circumstance which gives him young man and agreeable consciousness of his own dignity Stephen was aware that he had sense enough to choose the wife who was likely to make him happy unbiased by any indirect considerations he meant to choose Lucy she was a little darling and exactly the sort of woman he had always admired end of book 6 chapter 1 book 6 chapter 2 of the mill on the floss this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information and for more to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sarafina Saranski The Mill on the Floss by George Elliott book 6 The Great Temptation chapter 2 first impressions he is very clever Maggie said Lucy she was kneeling on a footstool at Maggie's feet after placing that dark lady in the large crimson velvet chair I'm sure you will like him oh I hope you will I shall be very difficult to please said Maggie smiling and holding up one of Lucy's long curls that the sunlight might chime through it a gentleman who thinks he's good enough for Lucy must expect to be sharply criticized indeed he's a great deal too good for me and sometimes when he's away I almost think it can't really be that he loves me that I can never doubt it when he's with me though I couldn't bear anyone but you to know that I feel in that way Maggie oh then if I disapprove of him you can give him up since you're not engaged said Maggie with playful gravity I would rather not be engaged when people are engaged they begin to think of being married soon said Lucy too thoroughly preoccupied to notice Maggie's joke and I should like everything to go on for a long while just as it is sometimes I'm quite frightened that Steven should say that he has spoken to Papa and from something that fell from Papa the other day I feel sure he and Mr. guest are expecting that and Steven's sisters are very civil to me now at first I think they didn't like his paying me attention and that was natural it does seem out of keeping that I should ever live in a great place like the park house such a little insignificant thing as I am but people are not expected to be large in proportion to the houses they live in like snails said Maggie laughing and pray are Mr. guest's sisters giantesses oh no and not handsome I mean that is not very said Lucy half penitent at this uncharitable remark but he is generally considered very handsome though you are unable to share that opinion oh I don't know said Lucy blushing pink over brown neck it is a bad plan to raise expectation you will perhaps be disappointed but I have prepared a charming surprise for him I shall have a glorious laugh against him I shall not tell you what it is though Lucy rose from her knees a little distance holding her pretty head on one side as if she had been arranging Maggie for a portrait and wished to judge of the general effect stand up a moment Maggie what is your pleasure now said Maggie smiling languidly as she rose from her chair and looked down on her slight aerial cousin whose figure was quite subordinate to her faultless drapery of silk and crepe Lucy kept her contemplative attitude a moment or two in silence and then said I can't think what witchery it is in you Maggie that makes you look best in shabby clothes though you really must have a new dress now but do you know last night I was trying to fancy you in a handsome fashionable dress and do what I would that old limp Marina would come back as the only right thing for you I wonder if Marie Antoinette looked all the grander when her gown was darned at the elbows if I were to put on anything shabby I would be quite unnoticeable I should be a mere rag oh quite said Maggie with mock gravity you would be liable to be swept out of the room with the cobwebs and carpet dust and find yourself under the grate like Cinderella meant I sit down now yes now you may said Lucy laughing then with an hour of serious reflection a large brooch but you must change brooches Maggie that little butterfly looks silly on you but one with that mar the charming effect of my constant shabbiness said Maggie seeding herself submissively while Lucy knelt again and unfastened the contemptible butterfly I wish my mother were of your opinion for she was fretting last night because this is my best frock I've been saving my money to pay for some lessons I shall never get a better situation without more accomplishments Maggie gave a little sigh now don't put on that sad look again said Lucy pinning the large brooch below Maggie's fine throat you're forgetting that you've left that dreary school room behind you and have no little girls close to mend yes said Maggie it is with me as I used to think it would be with the poor uneasy white bear I saw at the show I thought he must have got so stupid with the habit of turning backward and forward in that narrow space that he would keep doing it if they set him free one gets a bad habit of being unhappy but I shall put you under a discipline of pleasure that will make you lose that bad habit said Lucy sticking the black butterfly absently in her own collar while her eyes met Maggie's affectionately oh you dear tiny thing said Maggie in one of her bursts of loving admiration you enjoy other people's happiness so much I believe you would do without any of your own oh I wish I were like you I've never been tried in that way said Lucy I've always been so happy I don't know whether I could bear much trouble I never had any but poor mama's death you have been tried Maggie and I'm sure you feel for other people quite as much as I do no Lucy said Maggie, shaking her head slowly I don't enjoy their happiness as you do else I should feel more contented I do feel for them when they are in trouble I don't think I could ever bear to make anyone unhappy and yet I often hate myself because I get angry sometimes at the sight of happy people I think I get worse as I get older more selfish oh that seems dreadful now Maggie said Lucy in a tone of remonstrance I don't believe a word of that it is all a gloomy fancy just because you are depressed by dull weary some life well perhaps it is said Maggie, resolutely clearing away the clouds from her face with a bright smile and throwing herself backward in her chair perhaps it comes from the school diet watery rice pudding spiced with pinnock let us hope it will give way before my mother's custard and this charming Jeffrey Crayon Maggie took up the sketchbook which lay by her on the table do I look fit to be seen with this little brooch said Lucy going to survey the effect in the chimney glass oh no Mr. Guest will be obliged to go out of the room again if he sees you in it pray make haste and put another on Lucy hurried out of the room but Maggie did not take the opportunity of opening her book she let it fall on her knees while her eyes wandered to the window where she could see the sunshine falling on the rich clumps of spring flowers and on the long hedge of laurels and beyond the silvery breadth of the dear old floss that at this distance seem to be sleeping in a morning holiday the sweet fresh garden scent came through the open window the birds were busy fitting and lighting gurgling and singing yet Maggie's eyes began to fill with tears the sight of the old scenes that made the rush of memory so painful that even yesterday she had only been able to rejoice in her mother's restored comfort and Tom's brotherly friendliness as we rejoice in good news of friends at a distance rather than in the presence of a happiness which we share memory and imagination urged upon her a sense of privation too keen to let her taste what was offered in the transient present her future, she thought was likely to be worse than her past for after her years of contented renunciation she had slipped back into desire and longing she found joyless days of distasteful occupation harder and harder she found the image of the intense and varied life she yearned for becoming more and more important the sound of the opening door roused her and hastily wiping away her tears she began to turn over the leaves of her book there is one pleasure I know Maggie that your deepest dismalness will never resist said Lucy beginning to speak as soon as she entered the room that is music and I mean you to have quite a reocious feast of it I mean you to get up your playing again which used to be so much better than mine when we were at Laysum oh you would have laughed to see me playing the little girl tunes over and over to them when I took them to practice said Maggie just for the sake of fingering the deer keys again but I don't know whether I could play anything more difficult now than be gone dull care I know what a wild state of joy you used to be in when the glee man came around said Lucy taking up her embroidery and we might have all those old glies that you used to love so if I were certain that you that you don't feel exactly as Tom does about some things I should have thought there was nothing you might be more certain of said Maggie smiling oh well I aren't rather to have said one particular thing because if you feel just as he does about that we shall one our third voice since August is so miserably provided with musical gentlemen there are really only Steven and and Philip Wakeham who have any knowledge of music so as to be able to sing a part Lucy had looked up from her work as she uttered the last sentence and saw that there was a change in Maggie's face does it hurt you to hear the name mentioned Maggie if it does I will not speak of him again I know Tom will not see him if he can avoid it I don't feel at all as Tom does on that said Maggie rising and going to the window as if she wanted to see more of the landscape I've always liked Philip Wakeham ever since I was a little girl and so I'm at Lorton he was so good when Tom hurt his foot oh I'm so glad said Lucy then you won't mind his coming sometimes and we can have much more music than we could without him I'm very fond of poor Philip only I wish he were not so morbid about his deformity I suppose it is his deformity that makes him so sad and sometimes bitter it is certainly very piteous to see his poor little crooked body and pale face among great strong people but Lucy said Maggie trying to arrest the prattling stream there's the doorbell that must be Stephen Lucy went on not noticing Maggie's faint effort to speak one of the things I most admire in Stephen is that he makes a greater friend of Philip than anyone it was too late for Maggie to speak now the drawing room door was opening and Minnie was already growling in a small way at the entrance of a tall gentleman who went up to Lucy and took her hand with a half-polite, half-tender glance and tone of inquiry which seemed to indicate that he was unconscious of any other presence let me introduce you to my cousin Miss Tulliver said Lucy, turning with wicked enjoyment toward Maggie who now approached from the father window this is Mr. Stephen Guest for one instance Stephen could not conceal his astonishment at the sight of this tall dark-eyed nymph with her jet-black coronet of hair the next Maggie felt herself for the first time in her life receiving the tribute of a very deep blush and a very deep bow to the person toward whom she herself was conscious of timidity this new experience was very agreeable to her so agreeable that it almost faced her previous emotion about Philip there was a new brightness in her eyes and a very becoming flash on her cheek as she seated herself I hope you perceive what a striking likeness you drew the day before yesterday said Lucy with a pretty laugh of triumph and her lover's confusion the advantage was usually on his side this designing cousin of yours quite deceived me Miss Tulliver said Stephen seating himself by Lucy and stooping to play with Minnie only looking at Maggie furtively she said you had light hair and blue eyes nay it was you who said so remonstrated Lucy I only refrained from destroying your confidence in your own second sight I wish I could always error in the same way said Stephen and find reality so much more beautiful than my preconceptions now you have proved yourself equal to the occasion said Maggie and said what it was incubant on you to say under the circumstances she flashed a slightly deviant look at him it was clear to her that he had been drawing a satirical portrait of her beforehand Lucy had said he was inclined to be satirical and Maggie had mentally supplied the addition and rather conceded an alarming amount of devil there was Stephen's first thought the second when she had bent over her work was I wish she would look at me again the next was to answer I suppose all phrases of mere compliment have their turned him to be true a man is occasionally grateful when he says thank you it's rather hard upon him to just use the same words with which all the world declines a disagreeable invitation don't you think so Miss Tulliver no said Maggie look at him with her direct glance if we use common words on a great occasion they are the more striking because they are felt at once to have a particular meaning like old banners or everyday clothes hung up in a sacred place then my compliment ought to be eloquent said Stephen really not quite knowing what he said while Maggie looked at him seeing that the words were so far beneath the occasion no compliment can be eloquent except as an expression of indifference said Maggie flushing a little Lucy was rather alarmed she thought Stephen and Maggie were not going to like each other she had always feared lest Maggie should appear too old and clever to please the critical gentleman why dear Maggie she interposed you have always pretended that you are too fond of being admired and now I think you are angry because someone ventures to admire you not at all said Maggie I like too well to feel that I am admired but compliments never make me feel that I will never pay you a compliment again Miss Tulliver said Stephen thank you that will be a proof of respect poor Maggie she was so unused to society that she could take nothing as a matter of course and never in her life had she spoken from the lips merely so that she must necessarily appear absurd to more experienced ladies from the excessive feeling she was apt to throw into very trivial incidents but she was even conscious herself of a little absurdity in this instance it was true that she had a theoretic objection to compliments and had once said impatiently to Philip that she didn't see why women were to be told with the simper that they were beautiful any more than old men were to be told that they were venerable still to be so irritated by a common practice in the case of a stranger like Mr. Guest and to care about his having spoken slightly of her before he had seen her was certainly unreasonable and as soon as she was silent she began to be ashamed of herself and it did not occur to her that her irritation was due to the pleasanter emotion which preceded it just as when we are satisfied with the sense of glowing warmth an innocent drop of water may fall upon us as a sudden smart Steven was too well-bred not to seem unaware that the previous conversation could have been felt embarrassing and at once began to talk of impersonal matters asking Lucy if she knew when the bizarre was at length to take place in the hope of seeing her reign the influence of her eyes on objects more grateful than those worsted flowers that were growing under her fingers some day next month I believe said Lucy but your sisters are doing more than I am they have the largest stall ah yes but they carry on their manufacturers in their own sitting room where I don't intrude on them I see you are not addicted to the fashionable vice of fancy work Miss Tulliver said Steven looking at Maggie's plain hemming no said Maggie I can do nothing more difficult or more elegant than shirt making and your plain sewing is so beautiful Maggie said Lucy that I think I shall beg a few specimens of you to show us fancy work your exquisite sewing is quite a mystery to me you used to dislike that sort of work so much in old days it is a mystery easily explained dear she said Maggie looking up quietly plain sewing was the only thing I could get money by so I was obliged to try and do it well Lucy good and simple as she was could not help blushing a little she did not quite like that Steven should know that Maggie need not have mentioned it perhaps there was some pride in the confession the pride of poverty that will not be ashamed of itself but if Maggie had been the queen of caquettes she could hardly have invented a means of giving greater pecancy to her beauty in Steven's eyes I'm not sure that the quiet admission of plain sewing and poverty would have done alone but assisted by the beauty they made Maggie more unlike other women even than she had seen first but I can knit Lucy Maggie went on if that will be of any use for your bazaar oh yes of infinite use I shall set you to work with scarlet wool tomorrow but your sister is the most enviable person continued Lucy turning to Steven to have the talent of modeling she is doing a wonderful bust of Dr. Ken entirely from memory why if she can remember to put the eyes very near together and the corners of the mouth very far apart the likeness can hardly feel to be striking in St. Dogs now that is very wicked of you said Lucy looking rather hurt I didn't think you would speak disrespect for the of Dr. Ken I say anything disrespectful of Dr. Ken heaven forbid but I am not about to respect a libelous bust of him I think Ken one of the most finest fellows in the world I don't care much about the tall candlesticks he has put on the communion table and I shouldn't like to spoil my temper by getting up to early prayers every morning but he is the only man I ever knew personally who seems to me to have anything of the real apostle in him a man who has 800 a year and is contented with deal furniture and boiled beef because he gives two thirds of his income that was a very fine thing of him taking into his house that poor lad Gratton who shot his mother by accident he sacrifices more time than a less than any man could spare to save the poor fellow from getting into a morbid state of mind about it he takes the lad out with him constantly I see that is beautiful said Maggie who had let her work full and was listening with keen interest I never knew anyone who did such things and one admires that sort of action in Ken all the more said Steven because his manners in general are rather cold and severe nothing sugary and mortland about him oh I think he's a perfect character said Lucy with pretty enthusiasm no there I can't agree with you said Steven shaking his head with sarcastic gravity now what can you point out at him he's Anglican well those are the right views I think said Lucy gravely that settles the question in the abstract said Steven but not from parliamentary point of view he has set the dissenters and the church people by the years and a rising senator like myself of whose services the country is very much in need will find it inconvenient when he puts up for the honor of representing sedugs in a parliament do you really think of that said Lucy her eyes brightening with a proud pleasure that made her neglect the argumentative interests of Anglicanism decidedly whether old Mr. Labour and his public spirit and gout induce him to give way my father's heart is set on it and gifts like mine you know her Steven drew himself up and rubbed his large white hands over his hair with playful self-admiration while gifts like mine involve great responsibilities don't you think so Miss Tulliver yes said Maggie smiling but not looking up so much fluency and self-possession should not be wasted entirely on private occasions ah I see how much penetration you have said Steven you have discovered already that I am talkative and impudent now superficial people never discern that owing to my manner I suppose she doesn't look at me when I talk of myself he thought while his listeners were laughing I must try other subjects did Lucy intend to be present at the club next week was the next question then followed the recommendation to choose Sotheby's life of copper unless you were inclined to be philosophical and startle the ladies of St. Augs by voting for one of the bridgewater treatises of course Lucy wished to know what these alarming learned books were and as it is always pleasant to improve the minds of ladies by talking to them at ease on subjects of which they know nothing Steven became quite brilliant in an account of Buckland's treatise which he had just been reading he was rewarded by seeing Maggie let her work for and gradually gets so absorbed in his wonderful geological story that she set looking at him leaning forward with crossed arms with an entire absence of self-consciousness as if he had been the snuffiest old professor and she a downy limp dilemma he was so fascinated by the clear large gaze that at last he forgot to look away from it occasionally toward Lucy but she, sweet child, was only rejoicing that Steven was proving to Maggie how clever he was and that they would certainly be good friends after all I will bring you the book Shall I, Miss Tulliver? said Steven when he found the stream of his recollections running rather shallow there are many illustrations in it that you will like to see Oh, thank you, said Maggie blushing with returning self-consciousness in his direct address and taking up her work again No, no, Lucy interposed I must forbid your plunging Maggie in books I shall never get her away from them and I want her to have a delicious do-nothing days filled with boating and chatting and riding and driving that is the holiday she needs A propo, said Steven looking at his watch Shall we go out for a row on the river now? The tide will soot for us to the Toftenway Oh, wow! That was a delightful proposition to Maggie for it was yours since she had been on the river When she was gone to put on her bonnet Lucy lingered to give an order to the servant and took the opportunity of telling Steven that Maggie had no objection to seeing Philip so that it was a pity that she had sent that note for the day before yesterday but she would write another tomorrow and invite him I'll call and beat him up tomorrow, said Steven Call him with me in the evening, shall I? My sisters will want to call on you when I tell them your cousin is with you I must leave the field clear for them in the morning Oh, yes Pray bring him, said Lucy And you will, like Maggie shan't you? she added in a beseeching tone Isn't she a dear, noble-looking creature? Too tall, said Steven smiling down upon her and a little too fiery She's not my type of woman, you know Gentlemen, you are aware are apt to impart these impudent confidences to ladies concerning their unfavorable opinion of sister fair ones That is why so many women have the advantage of knowing that they are secretly repulsive to men who have self-denyingly made ardent love to them and hardly anything could be more distinctly characteristic of Lucy than that she both implicitly believed what Steven said and that Maggie should not know it but you, who have a higher logic than the verbal to guide you have already foreseen as the direct sequence to that unfavorable opinion of Stevens that he walked down to the boathouse calculating, by the aid of a vivid imagination that Maggie must give him her hand at least twice in consequence of this pleasant boating plan and that a gentleman who wishes ladies to look at him is advantageously situated at the boat What then, had he fallen in love with the surprising daughter of Mrs. Tulliver at first sight? Certainly not, such passions are never heard of in real life Besides, he was in love already and half engaged to the dearest little creature in the world and he was not a man to make a fool of himself in any way But when one is five and twenty one has not chalkstones at one's finger ends that the touch of a handsome girl should be entirely indifferent it was perfectly natural and safe to admire beauty and enjoy looking at it at least under such circumstances as the present and there was really something very interesting about this girl, with her poverty and troubles it was gratifying to see the friendship between the two cousins Generally, Steven admitted he was not fond of women who had any peculiarity of character and peculiarity seemed really of a superior kind and provided one is not obliged to marry such woman why they certainly make a variety in social intercourse Maggie did not fulfill Steven's hope by looking at him during the first quarter of an hour Her eyes were too full of the old banks that she knew so well She felt lonely, cut off from Philip the only person who had ever seemed to love her devotedly as she ought always long to be loved Presently, the rhythmic movement of the oars attracted her and she thought she would like to learn how to row This roused her from her reverie and she asked if she may take an oar It appeared that she required much teaching and she became ambitious The exercise brought the warm blood into her cheeks and made her inclined to take her lesson merrily I shall not be satisfied until I can manage both oars, Andrew, you and Lucy She said, looking very bright as she stepped out of the boat Maggie, we know, was apt to forget the things she was doing and she had chosen an inopportune moment for her remark Her foot slipped but happily Mr. Steven guest held her hand and kept her up with a firm grasp You have not hurt yourself at all, I hope He said, bending to look in her face with anxiety It was very charming to be taken care of in that kind graceful manner by someone taller and stronger than oneself Maggie had never felt just in the same way before When they reached home again they found Uncle and Aunt Pullet seated with Mrs. Tulliver in the drawing room and Steven hurried away asking Leif to come again in the evening And pray bring with you the volume of parcel that you took away said Lucy, I want Maggie to hear your best songs Aunt Pullet under the certainty that Maggie decided to go out with Lucy probably to Park House was much shocked at the shabbiness of her clothes which were witnessed by the higher society of St. Augs would be discredited to the family That demanded a strong and prompt remedy and the consultation as to what would be most suitable to this end from among the superfluities of Mrs. Pullet's wardrobe was one that Lucy as well as Mrs. Tulliver entered into with some zeal Maggie must really have an evening dress as soon as possible and she was about the same height as Aunt Pullet but she is so much broader across her shoulders than I am it is very inconvenient said Mrs. Pullet else she might wear that beautiful black brocade of mine without any alteration and her arms are beyond everything added Mrs. Pullet sorrowfully as she lifted Maggie's large round arm oh she'd never get my sleeves on oh never mind that aunt send us the dress said Lucy I don't mean Maggie to have long sleeves and I have an abundance of black lace for trimming her arms will look beautiful well Maggie's arms are a pretty shape said Mrs. Tulliver they're like mine used to be only mine was never brown oh I wish she had our family skin nonsense auntie said Lucy patting her aunt Tulliver's shoulder you don't understand those things a painter would think Maggie's complexion beautiful maybe my dear said Mrs. Tulliver submissively you know better than I do only when I was young a brown skin wasn't thought well on among respectable folk no said Uncle Pullet who took intense interest in the lady's conversation as he sucked his lozenges though there was a song about the nut brown maid too I think she was crazy crazy caked but I can't just remember oh dear dear said Maggie laughing but impatient I think that will be the end of my brown skin if it is always to be talked about so much end of book 6 chapter 2 recording by Sarefina Seranski in Utrecht Holland book 6 chapter 3 of The Mill on the Floors this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Tad Nugent The Mill on the Floors by George Iliad book 6 The Great Temptation chapter 3 Confidential Moment when Maggie went up to her bedroom that night it appeared that she was not at all inclined to undress she sat down her candle on the first table that presented itself and began to walk up and down her room which was a large one with a firm, regular and rather rapid step which showed that the exercise was the event of strong excitement her eyes and cheeks had an almost feverish brillancy her head was thrown backward and her hands were clasped with the palms outward and with that tension of the arms which is after a company mental absorption had anything remarkable happened? nothing that you're not likely to consider in the highest degree unimportant she has been hearing some fine music sung by a fine bass voice but then it was sung in a provincial amateur fashion such as would have left a critical year much to desire and she was conscious of having been looked at the great deal in rather a furtive manner from beneath a pair of well-marked horizontal eyebrows with a glance that seemed somehow to have caught the vibratory influence of the voice such things could have had no perceptible effect on a thoroughly well-educated young lady with a perfectly balanced mind who had had all the advantages of fortune, training and refined society but if Maggie had been that young lady she would probably have known nothing about her her life would have had so few vicissitudes that it would hardly have been written for the happiest women like the happiest nations have no history in poor Maggie's highly strong hungry nature just come away from a third-grade school room with all its jarring sounds and pretty router tasks which were actually trivial courses had the effect of rousing and exalting her imagination in a way that was mysterious to herself it was not that she thought distinctly of Mr. Stephen Cast or went on the indications that he looked at her with admiration it was rather that she felt the half-remote presence of a world of love and beauty and delight made up of vague mingled images among the poetry and romance she has ever read or had ever woven in her dreamy memories her mother glanced back once or twice to the time when she had caught it privation when she had thought all longing all impatience was subdued but that condition seemed irrecoverably gone and she recoined the remembrance of it no prayer, no striving now could bring back that negative peace the battle of her life, it seemed was not to be decided in that short and dizzy way by perfect renunciation of the very threshold of her youth the music was still vibrating in her still person's music with this wide passion and fancy and she could not stay in the recollection of that bare lonely past she was in her brighter aerial world again when a little tap came at the door of course it was her cousin who entered in ample white dressing gown why Maggie you naughty child haven't you begun to undress said Lucy in astonishment I promise not to come to talk to you because I thought you must be tired but here you are looking as if you were ready to dress for a bowl come, come get on your dressing gown and unplayed your hair well you're not very forward retorted Maggie hatchily reaching her old pink cotton gown and looking at Lucy's light brown hair brushed back in curly disorder oh I have not much to do I shall sit down and talk to you till I see you are really on the way to bed while Maggie stood and unplayed her long black hair over her pink drapery Lucy sat down near the toilet table watching her with affectionate eyes and hid a little aside like a pretty spaniel if it appears to you but all ingratiable that young lady should be let on to talk confidentially in a situation of this kind I will beg you to remember that human life furnishes many exceptional cases you really have enjoyed the music tonight haven't you Maggie oh yes that is what prevented me from feeling sleepy I think I should have no other mortal ones if I could always have plenty of music it seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain life seems to go on without effort when I am filled with music at other times one is conscious of carrying a weight and Stephen had a splendid voice isn't he well perhaps we are neither of us judges of that said Maggie laughing as she seated herself and tossed her long hair back you are not impartial and I think any beryl organ splendid but tell me what do you think of him now tell me exactly good and bad too I think you should humiliate him a little a lover should not be so much at ease and so self confident he ought to trouble more nonsense Maggie as if anyone should trouble at me you think he is concerted I see that but you don't dislike him do you dislike him no am I in the habit of seeing such charming people that I should be very difficult to please besides how could I dislike anyone that promise to make you happy my dear thing Maggie pinched Lucy's dimple chin we shall have more music tomorrow evening said Lucy looking happy already for Stephen would bring Philip wake him with him oh Lucy I can't see him said Maggie turning pale at least I could not see him without Tom's leave is Tom such a tyrant as that said Lucy surprised I'll take the responsibility then tell him that it was my fault but dear said Maggie falteringly I promised Tom very solemnly before my father's death I promised him I would not speak to Philip without his knowledge and consent and I have a great dread of opening the subject with Tom of getting into a quarrel with him again but I never heard of anything so strange and unreasonable what harm can poor Philip have done may I speak to Tom about it oh no pray don't dear said Maggie I'll go to him myself tomorrow and tell him that he wished Philip to come I thought before of asking him to absolve me from my promise but I've not had the courage to determine on it they were both silent for some moments and then Lucy said Maggie you have secret for me and I have none for me Maggie looked meditatively away from Lucy then she turned to her and said I should like to tell you about Philip but Lucy you must not betray that you know it to anyone least of all to Philip himself or to Mr. Stephen guest the narrative lasted long for Maggie had never before known the relief of such an outpouring she had never before told Lucy anything of her life and the sweet face banged towards her worth sympathetic interest and the little hand pressing hers encouraged her to speak on on two points only she was not expensive she did not betray fully what's didn't rank in her mind as Tom's great offense the insults he had heaped on Philip angry as the remembrance still made her she could not bear that anyone else should know it at all both for Tom's sake and Philip's and she could not bear to tell Lucy of the last scene between her father and Wickham though it was this scene which she had ever seen found to be a new barrier between herself and Philip she merely said she saw now that Tom was know the whole right in regarding any perspective love and marriage between her and Philip as put out of the question by the relation of the two families of course Philip's father would never consent there Lucy you have had my story said Maggie smiling with the tears in her eyes you see I'm like so Andrew at the cheek I was adored once ah now I see how it is you know Shakespeare and everything and have learned so much since you left school which was always seemed to me which craft before part of your general and canonies said Lucy she mutered a little with her eyes downward and then added looking at Maggie it is very beautiful that you should love Philip I never thought such a happiness would be for him and in my opinion you are not to keep him up they are obstacles now but they may be done away with in time Maggie shook her head yes persisted Lucy I can't have being hopeful about it there is something romantic in it out of the common way just what everything that happens to you ought to be and Philip will adore you like a husband in a fairy tale oh I shall puzzle my small brain to contrive some plots that will bring everybody into the right mind so that you can marry Philip when I marry somebody else would that be a pretty ending to all my poor poor Maggie's troubles Maggie tried to smile but she did as if she found a certain chill oh dear you are cold said Lucy you must go to bed and so must I I did not think what time is it they kissed each other and Lucy went away possessed of a confidence which had a strong influence over her subsequent impressions Maggie had been thoroughly sincere her nature had never found it easy to be otherwise but confidences are sometimes blinding even when they are sincere and a book 6 chapter 3 book 6 chapter 4 of the Mill on the Floss this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org recording by Amanda Hindman The Mill on the Floss by George Elliott book 6 The Great Temptation chapter 4 brother and sister Maggie was obliged to go to Tom's lodgings in the middle of the day when he would be coming into dinner but have found him at home he was not lodging with entire strangers our friend Bob Jakin had with Mumps's packet consent taken not only a wife about 8 months ago but also one of those queer old houses pierced with surprising passages by the waterside where as he observed his wife and mother could keep themselves out of mischief by letting out two pleasure boats in which he had invested some of his savings and by taking in a lodger for the parlor and spare bedroom under these circumstances what could be better for the interest of all parties sanitary considerations apart than that the lodger should be Mr. Tom it was Bob's wife who opened the door to Maggie she was a tiny woman with the general physiognomy of a Dutch doll looking in comparison with Bob's mother who filled up the passage in the rear very much like one of those human figures which the artist finds conveniently standing near a colossal statue to show the proportions the tiny woman curtsied and looked up at Maggie with some awe as soon as she had opened the door but the words is my brother at home which Maggie uttered smilingly made her turn round with sudden excitement and say hey mother mother tell Bob it's miss Maggie come in miss for goodness do she went on opening a side door and endeavouring to flatten her person against the wall to make the utmost space for the visitor sad recollections crowded on Maggie as she entered the small parlor which was now all that poor Tom had to call by the name of home that name which had once so many years ago meant for both of them the same sum of dear familiar objects but everything was not strange to her in this new room the first thing her eyes dwelt on was the large old Bible and the site was not likely to disperse the old memories she stood without speaking if you pleased to take the privilege of sitting down miss said measures bringing her apron over a perfectly clean chair and then lifting up the corner of that garment and holding it to her face with an air of embarrassment as she looked wonderingly at Maggie Bob is at home then said Maggie recovering herself and smiling at the bashful Dutch doll yes miss but I think he must be washing and dressing himself I'll go and see said measures taken disappearing but she presently came back walking with new courage a little way behind her husband who showed the brilliancy of his blue and regular white teeth in the doorway bowing respectfully how do you do Bob said Maggie coming forward and putting out her hand to him I always meant to pay your wife a visit and I shall come another day on purpose for that if she will let me but I was obliged to come today to speak to my brother he'll be in before long miss he's doing finally Mr. Thomas he'll be one of the first men here about you'll see that well Bob I'm sure he'll be indebted to whatever he becomes he said so himself only the other night when he was talking of you a miss that's his way of taking it but I think the moron when he says a thing because his tongue doesn't overshoot him as mine does lords I'm no better nor a tilted bottle I aren't I can't stop my sin when once I begin but you look rarely miss it does me good to see you what do you say now precy here Bob turn to his wife isn't it all come true as I said though there isn't many sorts of goods I can't over praise when I set my tongue to it mistress Bob's small though seem to be following the example of her eyes and turning up reverentially toward Maggie but she was able now to smile and curtsy and say I'd look forward like anything to see in you miss for my husband's tongue's been running on you like as if he was lightheaded ever since first he come a curtain on me well well said Bob looking rather silly go and see after the pictures else Mr. Tom will have to wait for him I hope mumps is friendly with measures Jake and Bob said Maggie smiling I remember you used to say he wouldn't like your marrying a miss said Bob he made up his mind to it when he'd see what a little and she was he pretends not to see her mostly or else to think as she isn't full growth but about Mr. Tom miss said Bob speaking lower and looking serious he's as close as an iron biler he is but I'm a cutist chap and off carrying my pack and I'm at a loose end I've got more brains nor I know what to do with and I'm forced to busy myself with other folks is inside and it worries me as Mr. Tom will sit by himself so glumpish a knit in his brow and a looking at the fire of a night he should be a bit livelier now a fine young fellow like him my wife says when she goes in sometimes and he takes no notice of her he sits looking into the fire and frowning as if he was watching folks at work in it he thinks so much about business said Maggie I said Bob speaking lower but do you think it's nothing else miss he's close Mr. Tom is but I'm a cute chap I am and I thought toward last Christmas as I found out a soft place in him it was about a little black spaniel a rare bitter breed as he made a fuss to get but since then some it's come over him as he set his teeth again things more nor either for all he's had such good luck and I wanted to tell you miss because I thought you might work it out of him a bit now you're calm he's a deal too lonely and doesn't go into company enough I'm afraid I have very little power over him Bob said Maggie a good deal moved by Bob's suggestion it was a totally new idea to her mind that Tom could have his love troubles poor fellow and in love with Lucy too but it was perhaps a mere fancy of Bob's too a vicious brain the present of the dog meant nothing more than gratitude but Bob had already said here's Mr. Tom and the outer door was opening there is no time to spare Tom said Maggie as soon as Bob left the room I must tell you at once what I came about else I shall be hindering you from taking your dinner Tom stood with his back against the chimney piece and Maggie was seated opposite the light he noticed that she was tremulous and he had a presentment of the subject she was going to speak about the presentment made his voice colder and harder as he said what is it this tone roused a spirit of resistance and Maggie and she put her request in quite a different form from the one she had predetermined on she rose from her seat and looking straight at Tom said I want you to absolve me from my promise about Philip Wakeham or rather I promised you not to see him without telling you I am come to tell you that I wish to see him very well said Tom still more coldly but Maggie had hardly finished speaking that chilled the fine manner before she repented and felt the dread of alienation from her brother not for myself dear Tom don't be angry I shouldn't have asked it only that Philip you know is a friend of Lucy's and she wishes him to come has invited him to come this evening and I told her I couldn't see him without telling you I shall only see him in the presence of other people there will never be anything secret between us again Tom looked away from Maggie knitting his brow more strongly for a little while then he turned to her and said slowly and empathetically you know what is my feeling on that subject Maggie there is no need for my repeating anything I said a year ago while my father was living I felt bound to use the utmost power over you to prevent you from disgracing him as well as yourself and all of us but now I must leave you to your own choice you wish to be independent you told me so after my father's death my opinion is not changed if you think of Philip Wakeham as a lover again you must give up me I don't wish it dear Tom at least as things are I see that it would lead to misery but I shall soon go away to another situation and I should like to be friends with him again while I am here Lucy wishes it the severity of Tom's face relaxed a little I shouldn't mind your seeing him occasionally at my uncles I don't want you to make a fuss on the subject but I have no confidence in you Maggie you would be led away to do anything that was a cruel word Maggie's lip began to tremble why will you say that Tom it is very hard of you have I not done and born everything as well as I could and I kept my word to you when when my life has not been a happy one any more than yours she was obliged to be childish the tears would come when Maggie was not angry she was as dependent on kind or cold words as a daisy on the sunshine or the cloud the need of being loved would always subdue her as an old days it subdued her in the worm-eaten attic the brothers goodness came uppermost at this appeal but it could only show itself in Tom's fashion he put his hand gently on her arm and said in the tone of a kind pedagogue now listen to me Maggie and I'll tell you what you're always in extremes you have no judgment and self-command and yet you think you know best and will not submit to be guided you know I didn't wish you to take a situation my Aunt Paulette was willing to give you a good home and you might have lived respectively amongst your relations until I could have provided a home for you with my mother and that is what I should like to do I wished my sister to be a lady and I always have taken care of you as my father desired until you were well married but your ideas and mine never accord and you will not give way yet you might have sense enough to see that a brother who goes out into the world and mixes with men necessarily knows better what is right and respectable for his sister than she can know herself you think I am not kind but my kindness can only be directed by what I believe to be good for you yes I know dear Tom said Maggie still half sobbing but trying to control her tears I know you would do a great deal for me I know you work and don't spare yourself I am grateful to you but indeed you can't quite judge for me our natures are very different you don't know how differently things affect me from what they do you yes I do know I know it too well I know how differently you must feel about all that affects our family and your own dignity as a young woman before you could think of receiving secret addresses from Philip Wakeham if it was not disgusting to me in every other way I should object to your sister's name being associated for a moment with that of a young man whose father must hate the very thought of us all and would spurn you with anyone but you I should think it quite certain that what you witnessed just before my father's death would secure you from ever thinking again of Philip Wakeham as a lover but I don't feel certain of it with you I never feel certain about anything with you at one time you take pleasure in a sort of perverse self denial and at another you have something that you know to be wrong there was a terrible cutting truth in Tom's words that hard rind of truth which is discerned by unimaginative unsympathetic minds Maggie always rise under this judgment of Tom's she rebelled and was humiliated in the same moment it seemed as if he held a glass before her to show her her own folly and weakness as if he were a prophetic voice predicting her future fallings and yet all the while she judged him in return she said inwardly that he was narrow and unjust that he was below feeling those mental needs which were often the source of the wrongdoing or absurdity that made her life a planless riddle to him she did not answer directly her heart was too full and she sat down leaning her arm on the table it was no use trying to make Tom feel that she was near to him he always repelled her her feeling under his words was allusion to the last scene between her father and Wacom and at length that painful solemn memory surmounted the immediate grievance no she did not think of such things with frivolous indifference and Tom must not accuse her of that she looked up at him with a grave earnest gaze and said I can't make you think better of me Tom by anything I can say but I am not so shut out from all your feelings as you believe me to be I see as well as you do that from our position with regard to Phillip's father not on other grounds it would be unreasonable it would be wrong for us to entertain the idea of marriage and I have given up thinking of him as a lover I am telling you the truth and you have no right to disbelieve me I have kept my word to you and you have never detected me in a falsehood I should not only not encourage I should carefully avoid any intercourse with Phillip on any other footing than a quiet friendship you may think I am unable to keep my resolutions but at least you ought not to treat me with hard contempt on the ground of faults that I have not committed yet well Maggie said Tom softening under this appeal I don't want to over strain matters I think all things considered it will be best for you to see Phillip Wakeham if Lucy wishes him to come to the house I believe what you say at least you believe it yourself I know I can only warn you I wish to be as good a brother to you as you can accept me there was a little tremor in Tom's voice as he uttered the last words and Maggie's ready affection came back with a sudden aglow as when they were children and bit their cake together as a sacrament of conciliation she rose and laid her hand on Tom's shoulder dear Tom I know you mean to be good I know you have had a great deal to bear and have done a great deal I should like to be a comfort to you not to vex you Tom smiled at the eager face his smiles were very pleasant to see when they did come for the gray eyes could be tender underneath the frown no Maggie I may turn out better than you expect I hope you will and may I come someday and make tea for you and see this extremely small life of Bob's again yes but try to wait now for I have no more time to spare said Tom looking at his watch not to give me a kiss I went to kiss her cheek and then said there be a good girl I've got a great deal to think of today I'm going to have a long consultation with my uncle Dean this afternoon you'll come to Aunt Gleg's tomorrow we're all going to dine early that we may go there to tea you must come Lucy told me to say so oh who I have plenty else to do said Tom pulling his bell violently and bringing down the small bell rope I'm frightened I shall run away Maggie making a laughing retreat while Tom with masculine philosophy flung the bell rope to the farther end of the room not very far either a touch of human experience which I flatter myself will come home to the bosoms of not a few substantial or distinguished men who were once at an early stage of their rise in the world and were cherishing very large hopes in very small lodgings end of book 6 chapter 4 recording by Amanda and Glen Mississippi www.livinginbooks.blogspot.com book 6 chapter 5 of The Mill on the Floors this is the LibriVox recording or LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ted Nugent The Mill on the Floors by George Iliad book 6 The Great Temptation chapter 5 showing that Tom had opened the oyster and now we have set on this new castle business Tom said Mr. Dean the same afternoon as they were seated in the private room at the bank together that's another matter I want to talk to you about since you are likely to have a rather smoky unpleasant time of it at new castle for the next few weeks you want a good prospect of some sort to keep up your spirits Tom worked his last nervously than he had done on a former location in this apartment while his uncle took out his snuff box and graphified each nostril were deliberate impartiality you see Tom said Mr. Dean at last throwing himself back wood the world goes on at a smarter pace now than it did when I was a young fellow why so 40 years ago when I was much such a strapping youngster as you a man expected to pull between the shots the best part of his life before he caught the whip in his hand the looms went slowish and the mission didn't alter quite so fast I'd pass you that lasted me 6 years everything was on a lower scale sir in point of expenditure I mean it's this theme you see that has made the difference it drives on every world double pace and the world of fortune along with them as our Mr. Stephen has said at the anniversary dinner he hit this thing off wonderfully considering he has seen nothing of business I don't find fault with the change as some people do trade sir opens a man's eyes and if the population is to get thicker upon the ground as it doing the world must use it wits at invention one sort or other I know I've done my share as an ordinary man of business somebody has said it's a fine thing to make 2 years of corn grow where only one grew before but sir is a fine thing too to further the exchange of commodities and bring the grains of corn to the mouths that are hungry thus our line of business and I consider it as honorable a position as a man can hold to be connected with it Tom knew that the affair his uncle had to speak of was not urgent Mr. Dean was too rude and practical a man to allow either his premises or his enough to impede the progress of trade for the last month or two there had been hints thrown out to Tom which enable him to guess that he was going to hear some proposition for his own benefit with the beginning of the last pitch he has stretched out his legs thrashed his hands in his pockets and prepared himself for some introductory defusances tending to show that Mr. Dean had succeeded by his own merit and that what he had to say to young man in general was that if they didn't succeed too it was because of their own demerit he was rather surprised then when his uncle put the direct question to him let me see it's going on for 7 years now since you applied to me for a situation Tom yes sir I am 3 and 20 now ah it's as well not to say that though for you passed for a good deal older and age tells well in business I remember your coming very well I remember I saw there was some pluck in you and that was what made me give you encouragement and I am happy to say I was right I'm not often deceived I was naturally a little shy at pushing my knee feel but I am happy to say you've done me credit sir and if I had a son of my own I shouldn't have been sorry to see him like you Mr. Dean tapped his box and opened it again repeating in a tone of some feeling oh no I shouldn't have been sorry to see him like you I'm very glad I've given you satisfaction sir I've done my best say Tom in his proud independent way yes Tom you've given me satisfaction I don't speak of your conduct at a son though that weighs with me in my opinion of you but what I have to do as a partner in our film is the qualities you have shown as a man of business ours is a fine business a splendid concern sir and there's no reason why it shouldn't go on growing there is the growing capital and growing outlets for it but there is another thing that wanted for the prosperity of every concern large or small and that's men to conduct it men of right habits none of your flashy fellows but such are to be depended on now this is what Mr. guest and I see clear enough three years ago we took gel into the concern we gave him a share in the oil mill and why because gel was a fellow who services but worth a premium so it will always be so so it was with me and though gel is pretty nearly ten years older than you there are other points in your favor Mr. Dean was getting a little nervous as Mr. Dean went on speaking he was conscious of something he had in mind to say which might not be agreeable to his uncle simply because it was a new suggestion rather than an acceptance of the proposition he foresaw it stands to reason Mr. Dean went on when he had finished his new pinch that your being my nephew weighs in your favor but I don't deny that if you'd been no relation of mine at all your conduct in that affair of Pellis Bank would have let Mr. guest and myself to make some acknowledgement of the service you've been to us and by your general conduct and business ability it has made us determined in giving you a share in the business a share which we shall be glad to increase as the years go on we think that would be better on all grounds than raising your salary it would give you more importance and prepare you better for taking some of the anxiety of my shoulders by and by I'm equal to a good deal of work at present thank god but I'm getting older there's no denying that I told Mr. guest I would open the subject to you and when you come back from this northern business we can go into particulars this is a great stride for a young fellow of 3 and 20 but I am bound to say you've deserved it I'm very grateful for Mr. guest and user of course I feel the most indebted to you who first took me into the business and have taken a good deal of pains with me since Tom spoke with a slight tremor and paused after he had said this yes, yes said Mr. Dean I don't spare pains when I see they won't be of any use I gave myself some trouble with gel else he wouldn't have been what he is but there's another thing I should like to mention to you uncle I've never spoken to you of it before if you remember at the time my father's property was sold there was some thought of your firm buying the mill I know you thought it would be a very good investment especially if steam were applied to be sure to be sure but Wakeham outbid he'd made up his mind to that he's rather fond of carrying everything over other people's heads perhaps it's of no use my mentioning it at present Tom went on but I wish you to know I have in mind about the mill I have strong feeling about it it was my father's dying wish that I should try and get it back again whenever I could it was in his family for five generations I promise my father and beside that I'm attached to the place I shall never like any other so well and if it should ever suit your views right for the firm I should have a better chance of fulfilling my father's wish I shouldn't have like to mention the thing to you only you've been kind enough to say my services have been of some value and I'd give up a much greater chance in life for the sake of having the mill again I mean having it in my own hands especially working off the price Mr. Dean had listened attentively and now look thoughtful I see he said after a while the thing would be possible if there were any chance of victims parting with the property but that I don't see he's put that young jessam in the place and he had his reasons when he bought it I will be bound he's the loose fish that young jessam said to he's taking to drinking and they say he's letting the business go down Luke told me about it our old miller he says he shan't stay unless there's an alteration I was thinking if thing went on that way Wakeham might be more willing to part with the mill Luke says he's getting very sour about the way things are going on well I will turn it over Tom I must inquire into the matter and go into it with Mr. Gast but you see it's rather striking out a new branch and putting you to that instead of keeping you where you are which was what we'd wanted I should be able to manage more than the mill when things were once set properly going so I want to have plenty of work there's nothing else I care about much there was something rather set in that speech from a young man of 3 and 20 even in Uncle Dean's business loving years poo poo you won't be having a wife to care about one of these days if you get on at this pace in the world but as to the mill we mustn't recall on our chickens too early however I promise you to bear it in mind and when you come back we won't talk of it again I'm going to dinner now come and breakfast with us tomorrow morning and say goodbye to your mother and sister before you start and the book 6 chapter 5