Besides she remembered how even she herself had, at first, believed him guilty; and she felt it was not for her to cast stones at those who, on similar evidence, inclined to the same belief. None had given him much benefit of a doubt. None had faith in his innocence. None but his mother; and there the heart loved more than the head reasoned, and her yearning affection had never for an instant entertained the idea that her Jem was a murderer. But Mary disliked the whole conversation; the subject, the manner in which it was treated, were all painful, and she had a repugnance to the person with whom she spoke. She was thankful, therefore, when Job Legh's voice was heard at the door, as he stood with the latch in his hand, talking to a neighbour, and when Sally jumped up in vexation and said, "There's that old fogey coming in here, as I'm alive! Did your father set him to look after you while he was away? or what brings the old chap here? However, I'm off; I never could abide either him or his prim grand-daughter. Good-bye, Mary." So far in a whisper, then louder, "If you think better of my offer about the scarf, Mary, just step in to-morrow before nine, and you're quite welcome to it." She and Job passed each other at the door, with mutual looks of dislike, which neither took any pains to conceal. "Yon's a bold, bad girl," said Job to Mary "She's very good-natured," replied Mary, too honourable to abuse a visitor who had only that instant crossed her threshold, and gladly dwelling on the good quality most apparent in Sally's character. "Aye, aye! good-natured, generous, jolly, full of fun; there are a number of other names for the good qualities the devil leaves his children, as baits to catch gudgeons with. D'ye think folk could be led astray by one who was every way bad? Howe'er, that's not what I came to talk about. I've seen Mr Bridgenorth, and he is in a manner of the same mind as we; he thinks it would have an awkward look, and might tell against the poor lad on his trial; still if she's ill she's ill, and it can't be helped." "I don't know if she's so bad as all that," said Mary, who began to dread her part in doing anything which might tell against her poor lover. "Will you come and see her, Job? The doctor seemed to say as I liked, not as he thought." "That's because he had no great thought on the subject, either one way or t'other," replied Job, whose contempt for medical men pretty nearly equalled his respect for lawyers. But I'll go and welcome. I han not seen th' oud ladies since their sorrows, and it's but manners to go and ax after them. Come along." The room at Mrs Wilson's had that still, changeless look you must have often observed in the house of sickness and mourning. No particular employment going on; people watching and waiting rather than acting, unless in the more sudden and violent attacks what little movement is going on, so noiseless and hushed; the furniture all arranged and stationary, with a view to the comfort of the afflicted; the window-blinds drawn down, to keep out the disturbing variety of a sunbeam; the same saddened serious look on the faces of the in-dwellers; you fall back into the same train of thought with all these associations, and forget the street, the outer world, in the contemplation of the one stationary, absorbing interest within. Mrs Wilson sat quietly in her chair, with just tile same look Mary had left on her face; Mrs Davenport went about with creaking shoes which made all the more noise from her careful and lengthened tread annoying the ears of those who were well, in this instance, far more than the dull senses of the sick and the sorrowful. Alice's voice still was going on cheerfully in the upper room with incessant talking and little laughs to herself, or perhaps in sympathy with her unseen companions; "unseen," I say, in preference to "fancied," for who knows whether God does not permit the forms of those who were dearest when living, to hover round the bed of the dying? Job spoke, and Mrs Wilson answered. So quietly that it was unnatural under the circumstances. It made a deeper impression on the old man than any token of mere bodily illness could have done. If she had raved in delirium, or moaned in fever, he could have spoken after his wont, and given his opinion, his advice, and his consolation now he was awed into silence. At length he pulled Mary aside into a corner of the house-place, where Mrs Wilson was sitting; and began to talk to her. "Yo're right, Mary! She's no ways fit to go to Liverpool, poor soul. Now I've seen her I only wonder the doctor could ha' been unsettled in his mind at th' first. Choose how it goes wi' poor Jem, she cannot go. One way or another it will soon be over, the best to leave her in the state she is till then." "I was sure you would think so," said Mary. But they were reckoning without their host. They esteemed her senses gone, while, in fact, they were only inert, and could not convey impressions rapidly to the over-burdened, troubled brain. They had not noticed that her eyes had followed them (mechanically it seemed at first) as they had moved away to the corner of the room; that her face, hitherto so changeless, had begun to work with one or two of the old symptoms of impatience. But when they were silent she stood up, and startled them almost as if a dead person had spoken, by saying clearly and decidedly--" I go to Liverpool.
同类推荐
热门推荐
宝贝儿,咱们再婚
【新文《柔情蜜意,陆少婚前试爱》正在连载更新】谁能告诉苏倾,贿赂巡考员不把作弊的事情报给学校,是要以身相许的?直到从民政局走出来,手里捧着喜庆的结婚证的时候,苏倾看着旁边笑得一脸意味深长的男人,傻了。从此,A市总裁宋城尧,在商界多了一个头衔“宠妻无度”。他说:我要给你A城最盛大的婚礼。却让她成了A城最大的笑柄。他说:你怎么就不明白呢,除了我,你不能嫁给任何人,任何。可是她却在和他离婚之后,执意嫁给那个青梅竹马的男人。原来一开始的时候,这就是一个已经布好的局。他在她怀着孩子的时候强行要了她,随后离家七天,七天后,满城风雨,他和另外一个女人进出酒店。“宋城尧,我们……离婚吧。”苏倾清楚的听见他说:“好。”再次相遇,宋城尧却誓要将她再次夺回身边!修长的手指执起她的下巴,声音温柔专注:“我说过,苏倾,除了我,你不能嫁给任何人。我说的话,你都当耳边风了么?”“我还说过,苏倾,孩子的父亲是我,不是你那位青梅竹马。”最让我难过的事,不是你不爱我了,而是我们曾相爱,想到就心酸。【你以为是虐文?看文的时候绝对会被甜到啦】最春秋:史上最潮的春秋故事
《最春秋——史上最潮的春秋故事》是一部语言幽默的趣味历史随笔集,深入浅出地调动春秋历史故事,将它们解读为当下潮流时尚的“历史原型”,拉近读者与经典的距离,在较为轻松的阅读中重温传统。通过作者严谨地熟读古书,又合情合理地推演补全了淹没散佚于语焉不详的历史记载中的空白,古人以一种充满人性的亲切面目呈现出来,以“一切历史都是当代史”的角度来看,这何尝不是传递了一种历史的真实性呢?