Urith: A Tale of DartmoorBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
General
Urith: A Tale of Dartmoor
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Dartmoor (England) -- Fiction
Wherever in the house Urith went, she heard judgment pronounced on him
in no measured terms, the general voice condemned him as heartless and
profane. Question was made what proceeding would be taken against him,
and abundance of advice was offered as to the course to be pursued to
obtain redress. Urith was unable to endure the talk of the women in her
mother's room, and she descended to the hall, there to hear her Uncle
Solomon, amongst farmers and yeomen, tell the story of Anthony's deed
with much exaggeration, and to hear the frank expressions of
disapproval it elicited.
Then she went into the kitchen, where the poorer neighbours were
congregated. Everywhere it was the same. Condemnation fell on Anthony.
No one believed that he had not acted in wilful knowledge of what he was
about.
Urith could not fail to observe that there was a widespread latent
jealousy and dislike of the Cleverdons in the neighbourhood, occasioned
partly, no doubt, by the success of the old man in altering his position
and entering a superior class, but chiefly due to his arrogance,
hardness, and meanness. All the faults in Anthony's character were
commented on, and his good qualities denied or disparaged.
Urith could with difficulty restrain herself from contradicting these
harsh judges, and in taking on her the defence of the culprit, but she
saw clearly that her advocacy would be unavailing, and provoke comment.
She therefore left the house. Her mother was so much recovered as not to
need her. Whether the old lady acted wisely in receiving so much company
after her fit, Urith doubted, but her mother had insisted on the
visitors being admitted to her room, and under the excitement she
rallied greatly.
To be away from the clatter of tongues, she left the farm and went forth
upon the moor.
To the north of Willsworthy rises a ridge of bold and serrated rocks
that rise precipitously above the River Tavy, which foams below at a
depth of three hundred feet; they present the appearance of a series of
ruined towers, and are actually in places united by the remains of
ancient walls of rude moorstone, for what purpose piled up, it is not
possible to say.
A bar of red porphyritic granite crosses the ravine, and over this leaps
the river into a deep pool, immediately beneath the boldest towers and
pinnacles of rock that overhang. Among these crags, perched like an
eagle above the dizzy abyss, sat Urith on a rock, listening to the roar
of the river wafted up to her from beneath. Away to the north and east
of the moor extended shoulder on shoulder, to the lonely peak of Fur Tor
that rises in uttermost solitude near the sources of the Tavy, amidst
all but untraversable morasses. She was glad to be there, alone, away
from the lips that spit their venom on the name of Anthony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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