Illustrations of political economy, Volume 8 (of 9)Martineau, Harriet
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Illustrations of political economy, Volume 8 (of 9)
Martineau, Harriet
Didactic fiction, English; Political fiction, English; Social problems -- Fiction
Temmy believed this; yet he could not help thinking of the soaked grass,
and the dripping boughs, and the groaning of the forest in the wind,—and
even of the panther and the wild cat snuffing round the grave they could
not reach. He could not help feeling as if his uncle was deserted; and
he had moreover the fear that, though he could never, never think less
of him than now, others would fall more and more into their old way of
talking and laughing in the light of the fire, without casting a thought
towards the forest or any thing that it contained. He felt as if he was,
in such a case, called upon to vindicate uncle Arthur’s claims to solemn
remembrance, and pondered the feasibility of staying at home alone to
think about uncle Arthur when the time should be again come for every
body else to be reading and working, or dancing, during the evenings at
the schoolhouse.
Mrs. Sneyd believed all that her husband had just said to Temmy; and the
scripture which he read this evening to his family, about the heavenly
transcending the earthly, did not pass idly over her ear; yet she so far
felt with Temmy that she looked out, forest-wards, for long before she
tried to rest; and, with the first grey of the morning, was again at the
same station. On the first occasion, she was somewhat surprised by two
things that she saw;—many lights flitting about the village, and on the
road to the Lodge,—and a faint glimmer, like the spark of a glow-worm,
in the opposite direction, as if precisely on the solitary spot where
Arthur lay. Dr. Sneyd could not distinguish it through the storm; but on
being assured that there was certainly some light, supposed that it
might be one of the meteoric fires which were wont to dart out of the
damp brakes, and run along the close alleys of the forest, like swift
torch-bearers of the night. For the restlessness in the village he could
not so easily account; nor did he take much pains to do so; for he was
wearied out,—and the sleep of the innocent, the repose of the pious,
awaited him.
"From this he was unwillingly awakened, at peep of dawn, by Mrs. Sneyd,
who was certain that she had distinguished the figure of a man, closely
muffled, pacing the garden. She had previously fancied she heard a
horse-tread in the turf road.
“My dear,” said the doctor, “who should it be? We have no thieves here,
you know; and what should anybody else want in our garden at this hour?”
"Why—you will not believe me, I dare say,—but I have a strong
impression,—I cannot help thinking it is Temple."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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