"I have no wrong, where I can claim no right,Naught ta"en me fro, where I have nothing had,Yet of my woe I cannot so be quite;Namely, since that another may he gladWith that, that thus in sorrow makes me sad."
WYATT.
Margaret had not expected much pleasure to herself from Mr. Bell"svisit--she had only looked forward to it on her father"s account, butwhen her godfather came, she at once fell into the most natural positionof friendship in the world. He said she had no merit in being what shewas, a girl so entirely after his own heart; it was an hereditary powerwhich she had, to walk in and take possession of his regard; while she,in reply, gave him much credit for being so fresh and young under hisFellow"s cap and gown.
"Fresh and young in warmth and kindness, I mean. I"m afraid I mustown, that I think your opinions are the oldest and mustiest I have metwith this long time."
"Hear this daughter of yours, Hale Her residence in Milton has quitecorrupted her. She"s a democrat, a red republican, a member of thePeace Society, a socialist--"
"Papa, it"s all because I"m standing up for the progress of commerce. Mr.
Bell would have had it keep still at exchanging wild-beast skins foracorns."
"No, no. I"d dig the ground and grow potatoes. And I"d shave the wild-beast skins and make the wool into broad cloth. Don"t exaggerate,missy. But I"m tired of this bustle. Everybody rushing over everybody,in their hurry to get rich."
"It is not every one who can sit comfortably in a set of college rooms,and let his riches grow without any exertion of his own. No doubt thereis many a man here who would be thankful if his property wouldincrease as yours has done, without his taking any trouble about it," saidMr. Hale.
"I don"t believe they would. It"s the bustle and the struggle they like. Asfor sitting still, and learning from the past, or shaping out the future byfaithful work done in a prophetic spirit--Why! Pooh! I don"t believethere"s a man in Milton who knows how to sit still; and it is a great art."
"Milton people, I suspect, think Oxford men don"t know how to move. Itwould be a very good thing if they mixed a little more."
"It might be good for the Miltoners. Many things might be good forthem which would be very disagreeable for other people."
"Are you not a Milton man yourself?" asked Margaret. "I should havethought you would have been proud of your town."
"I confess, I don"t see what there is to be proud of If you"ll only come toOxford, Margaret, I will show you a place to glory in."
"Well!" said Mr. Hale, "Mr. Thornton is coming to drink tea with us tonight,and he is as proud of Milton as you of Oxford. You two must tryand make each other a little more liberal-minded."
"I don"t want to be more liberal-minded, thank you," said Mr. Bell.
"Is Mr. Thornton coming to tea, papa?" asked Margaret in a low voice.
"Either to tea or soon after. He could not tell. He told us not to wait."
Mr. Thornton had determined that he would make no inquiry of hismother as to how far she had put her project into execution of speakingto Margaret about the impropriety of her conduct. He felt pretty surethat, if this interview took place, his mother"s account of what passed atit would only annoy and chagrin him, though he would all the time beaware of the colouring which it received by passing through her mind.
He shrank from hearing Margaret"s very name mentioned; he, while heblamed her--while he was jealous of her--while he renounced her--heloved her sorely, in spite of himself. He dreamt of her; he dreamt shecame dancing towards him with outspread arms, and with a lightnessand gaiety which made him loathe her, even while it allured him. Butthe impression of this figure of Margaret--with all Margaret"s charactertaken out of it, as completely as if some evil spirit had got possession ofher form--was so deeply stamped upon his imagination, that when hewakened he felt hardly able to separate the Una from the Duessa; andthe dislike he had to the latter seemed to envelope and disfigure theformer Yet he was too proud to acknowledge his weakness by avoidingthe sight of her. He would neither seek an opportunity of being in hercompany nor avoid it. To convince himself of his power of self-control,he lingered over every piece of business this afternoon; he forced everymovement into unnatural slowness and deliberation; and it wasconsequently past eight o"clock before he reached Mr. Hale"s. Thenthere were business arrangements to be transacted in the study with Mr.
Bell; and the latter kept on, sitting over the fire, and talking wearily,long after all business was transacted, and when they might just as wellhave gone upstairs. But Mr. Thornton would not say a word aboutmoving their quarters; he chafed and chafed, and thought Mr. Bell amost prosy companion; while Mr. Bell returned the compliment insecret, by considering Mr. Thornton about as brusque and curt a fellowas he had ever met with, and terribly gone off both in intelligence andmanner. At last, some slight noise in the room above suggested thedesirableness of moving there. They found Margaret with a letter openbefore her, eagerly discussing its contents with her father. On theentrance of the gentlemen, it was immediately put aside; but Mr.
Thornton"s eager senses caught some few words of Mr. Hale"s to Mr.
Bell.
"A letter from Henry Lennox. It makes Margaret very hopeful."
Mr. Bell nodded. Margaret was red as a rose when Mr. Thornton lookedat her. He had the greatest mind in the world to get up and go out of theroom that very instant, and never set foot in the house again.
"We were thinking," said Mr. Hale, "that you and Mr. Thornton had takenMargaret"s advice, and were each trying to convert the other, you wereso long in the study."
"And you thought there would be nothing left of us but an opinion, likethe Kilkenny cat"s tail. Pray whose opinion did you think would havethe most obstinate vitality?"
Mr. Thornton had not a notion what they were talking about, anddisdained to inquire. Mr. Hale politely enlightened him.
"Mr. Thornton, we were accusing Mr. Bell this morning of a kind ofOxonian mediaeval bigotry against his native town; and we--Margaret, Ibelieve--suggested that it would do him good to associate a little withMilton manufacturers."