Thyrza

Name: Thyrza
Author: Gissing, George

Gissing, George

England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; English fiction -- 19th century

'Quite recently. She is well and very cheerful.'

'Always so cheerful?'

'Yes.'

'And you will tell me now where she is?'

She looked him steadily in the face.

'You wish to know, Walter?'

'I have come to England to ask it.'

'Yes, I will tell you.'

And she named the address. Walter made a note of it in his pocket-book.

'And now will you also tell me fully about her life since I went away?
I should like to know with whom she has been living, exactly how she
has spent her time----'

'Man of business!'

Mrs. Ormonde tried to jest, but did it nervously.

'Do I seem to you coarser-grained than I used to be?'

'More a man of the world, at all events. No, not fallen off in the way
you mean. But I think you judge more soberly about grave matters. I
think you know yourself better.'

'Much better, if I am not mistaken.'

'But still can have _la tete montee_, on occasion? Still think of many
things in the idealist's fashion?'

'I sincerely hope so. Of everything, I trust.'

'Could make great sacrifices for an imaginary obligation?'

He left his seat again. Mrs. Ormonde was agitated, and both kept
silence for some moments.

'It grieves me that you say that,' Walter spoke at length, earnestly.
'This obligation of mine is far from imaginary. That is not very like
yourself, Mrs. Ormonde.'

'I cannot speak so clearly as I should like to, Walter. I, too, have my
troublesome thoughts.'

'Let us go back to my questioning. Tell me everything about her, from
the day when you decided what to do. Will you?'

'Freely, and hide nothing whatever that I know.'

For a long time her narrative, broken by questioning, continued.
Egremont listened with earnest countenance, often looking pleased. At
the end, he said:

'You have done a good work. I thank you with all my heart.'

'Yes, you owe me thanks,' Mrs. Ormonde returned, quietly. 'But perhaps
you give them for a mistaken reason.'

'In what you have told me of the growth of her character, there is
nothing that I did not foresee. It is good to know that, even then, I
was under no foolish illusion. But the circumstances were needed, and
you have supplied them. How can I be mistaken in thanking you for
having so tended her who is to be my wife?'

'Wait, Walter. You foresaw into what she might develop; it is true, and
it enables us to regard the past without too much sadness. Did you
foresee her perfect equanimity, when once she had settled down to a new
life?'

He said hesitatingly, 'No.'

'Believing that she had taken such a desperate step purely through love
of you, you thought it more than likely that she would live on in great
unhappiness?'

'Her cheerfulness surprises me. But it isn't impossible to offer an
explanation. She has foreseen what is now going to happen. She knows
you are my friend; she sees that you are giving great pains to raise
her from her former standing in life; what more likely than that she
explains it all by guessing the truth? And so her cheerfulness is the
most hopeful sign for me.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

ThyrzaGissing, George

General

Thyrza

Gissing, George

England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; English fiction -- 19th century

'Quite recently. She is well and very cheerful.'

'Always so cheerful?'

'Yes.'

'And you will tell me now where she is?'

She looked him steadily in the face.

'You wish to know, Walter?'

'I have come to England to ask it.'

'Yes, I will tell you.'

And she named the address. Walter made a note of it in his pocket-book.

'And now will you also tell me fully about her life since I went away?
I should like to know with whom she has been living, exactly how she
has spent her time----'

'Man of business!'

Mrs. Ormonde tried to jest, but did it nervously.

'Do I seem to you coarser-grained than I used to be?'

'More a man of the world, at all events. No, not fallen off in the way
you mean. But I think you judge more soberly about grave matters. I
think you know yourself better.'

'Much better, if I am not mistaken.'

'But still can have _la tete montee_, on occasion? Still think of many
things in the idealist's fashion?'

'I sincerely hope so. Of everything, I trust.'

'Could make great sacrifices for an imaginary obligation?'

He left his seat again. Mrs. Ormonde was agitated, and both kept
silence for some moments.

'It grieves me that you say that,' Walter spoke at length, earnestly.
'This obligation of mine is far from imaginary. That is not very like
yourself, Mrs. Ormonde.'

'I cannot speak so clearly as I should like to, Walter. I, too, have my
troublesome thoughts.'

'Let us go back to my questioning. Tell me everything about her, from
the day when you decided what to do. Will you?'

'Freely, and hide nothing whatever that I know.'

For a long time her narrative, broken by questioning, continued.
Egremont listened with earnest countenance, often looking pleased. At
the end, he said:

'You have done a good work. I thank you with all my heart.'

'Yes, you owe me thanks,' Mrs. Ormonde returned, quietly. 'But perhaps
you give them for a mistaken reason.'

'In what you have told me of the growth of her character, there is
nothing that I did not foresee. It is good to know that, even then, I
was under no foolish illusion. But the circumstances were needed, and
you have supplied them. How can I be mistaken in thanking you for
having so tended her who is to be my wife?'

'Wait, Walter. You foresaw into what she might develop; it is true, and
it enables us to regard the past without too much sadness. Did you
foresee her perfect equanimity, when once she had settled down to a new
life?'

He said hesitatingly, 'No.'

'Believing that she had taken such a desperate step purely through love
of you, you thought it more than likely that she would live on in great
unhappiness?'

'Her cheerfulness surprises me. But it isn't impossible to offer an
explanation. She has foreseen what is now going to happen. She knows
you are my friend; she sees that you are giving great pains to raise
her from her former standing in life; what more likely than that she
explains it all by guessing the truth? And so her cheerfulness is the
most hopeful sign for me.'

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Thyrza

Thyrza

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