The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

ass beneath the hedges; but beside them already, the young primroses were peeping from among their moist, dark foliage, and the lark above was singing of summer, and hope, and love, and every heavenly

hey were going to Wildfell Hall, I declared myself willing to go with them, and offering my arm to Eliza, who

he would not, unless Miss Eliza would go too; so I ran to the vicarage and fetched her; and we've come hooked all the way, as fond as a pair of lovers-and now you've taken her from me; and you want to deprive me of my walk and my visit besides. Go back to your fields and your cattle, you lubberly fellow; you're not fit to a

ted Eliza, disregarding the

the cheerfulness we can carry with us to that great, dark, gloomy room, with its narrow

. Graham, a tolerably spacious and lofty room, but obscurely lighted by the old-fashioned windows, the ceiling, panels, and chimney-piece of grim black oak-the latter elaborately but not v

o her, with wonderful fluency, from a small volume that lay in her lap; while she rested her hand on his shoulder, and abstractedly played with the long, wavy curls that fell on his ivory neck. They struck me as forming a pl

other with small talk, and Fergus sat opposite with his legs crossed and his hands in his breeches-pockets, leaning back in his chair, and staring now up at the ceiling, now straight forward at his hostess (in a manner that made me strongly inclined to kick him out of the room), now whistling sotto voce to himself a snatch of a favourite air, now interrupti

e unoccupied apartments, which I don't pay for, may serve as lumber-rooms, if I have anything to put in them; and they are very useful for my little boy to run about in on rainy days when he can't go out; and then there is the garden for him to play in, and for me to work i

go stark mad in such a place. She can't put on life unless she sees half a dozen fresh gowns and bonnets a day-not to speak of the face

of its chief recommendations. I take no pleasure in wat

we would all of us mind our ow

can be happy in eternal solitude. Therefore, Mr. Fergus, if you choose to enter my house as a friend, I will make you welc

ns about you; for some of us have nothing better to do than to talk about our neighbours' concerns, and we, the indigenous plants of the soil, have known each other so long, and talked each other over so oft

!' cried Rose, in a fever

our birth, extraction, and previous residence. Some will have it that you are a foreigner, an

n in the country, neither in the extreme north nor south of our happy isle; and in the country I have chiefly p

ept

ht refuge at the window by which I was seated, and, in very desperation, to

iew we were speaking of some time ago? I think I must trouble you, now, to tell me the nearest way to it; for if this beautiful weather con

her request, but Rose wou

a very long walk, too far for you, and out of the question for Arthur. But we were thinking about making a picnic to see it some

anxious to cultivate her acquaintance, was determined to have her; and every objection was overruled. She was told it

y turns; for we shall have our pony-carriage, which will be plenty large enough to contain

e further discussion respecting the time and manner of

e sought in pleasant prospects, cheerful society, fresh air, good cheer and exercise, without the alloy of bad roads, cold winds, or threatening clouds. Then, on a glorious morni

tated, and asked who were going. Upon my naming Miss Wilson among the rest, he seemed half inclined to go, but when I mentioned Mrs. Graham, thinking it might be a further inducem

t too; for he was now much more hardy and active than when he first entered the neighbourhood, and he did not like being in the carriage with strangers, while

e of delightful May. It was true, Eliza was not beside me; but she was with her friends in the pony-carriage, as happy, I trusted, as I was; and even when we pedestrians, having forsaken the highway for a short cut across the fields, beheld the little carriage far away, disappearing amid the green, e

a while, she became more friendly, and at length I succeeded in securing her attention almost entirely to myself-and then I was happy indeed; for whenever she did condescend to converse, I liked to listen. Where her opinions and sentiments tallied with mine, it was her extreme good sense, her exquisite taste and feeling, that delighted me; where they differed, it was still her uncompromising boldness in

n opening lay before us-and the blue sea burst upon our sight!-deep violet blue-not deadly calm, but covered with glinting breakers-diminutive white specks twinkling on its bosom, and scarcely t

livelier colour to her usually too pallid lip and cheek. She felt its exhilarating influence, and so did I-I felt it tingling through my frame, but dared not give way to it while she remained so quiet. There was an aspect of subdued exhilaration in her face, that kindled into almost a smile of exalted, glad intelligence as her eye met mine. Never had she looked so lovely: never had my heart so warmly cleaved to her as now. Had we been left two minutes longer standing t

unobtrusive way, and was, no doubt, as fascinating and charming as ever, if I could only have felt it. But soon my heart began to wa

ng begged Miss Millward to take charge of her precious son, and strictly enjoined him not to wander from his new guardian's side, she left us and proceeded along the steep, stony hill, to a loftier, more precip

y the rest. Even my conversation with Eliza had been enlivened by her presence, though I knew it not; and now that she was gone, Eliza's playful nonsense ceased to amuse me-nay, grew wearisome to my soul, and I grew weary of amusing her: I felt myself drawn by an irresistible attraction to that distant point where the fair artist sat and plied her solitary task-and not

gave her an electric start; and she looked hastily round-any other l

artle me so?' said she, somewhat testily. 'I

I: 'if I had known you were so nervous

at did you come for?

edge could scarcel

or I'm tired

talk. I'll only sit a

know I don'

elf with admiring this

lp stealing a glance, now and then, from the splendid view at our feet to the elegant white han

aper, I could make a lovelier sketch than hers, admitting

nied me, I was very well content to

nd upon me-for I was seated a little behind on a mossy projection o

gh of them to-morrow-or at any time hence; but you I may not

ur doing when

intrust him to me, by-the-by,' I grumbled, 'though I had the honour of a much longer acquaintance; but Miss Mi

as you cannot be expected to perceive or appreciate. W

ission, till those few minutes are past; and then

ge best, on such occasio

can carry your sto

repent of my pertinacity, when she somewhat appeased me by consulting my taste and judgment about some doubtful matter

ely trust the direction of my own eye and head, they having been so long occupied with the conte

one of many evils to which

and again we rel

ver, she declared her sketch

He never went anywhere without such a companion wherewith to improve his leisure moments: all time seemed lost that was not devoted to study, or exacted, by his physical nature, for the bare support of life. Even now he could not abandon himself to the enjoyment of that pure air and balmy sunshine-that splendid prospect, and t

e, she did not appear at all resentful of his conduct; for her homely features wore an expression of unusual c

id not manifest her chagrin by keen reproaches, bitter sarcasms, or pouting sullen silence-any or all of these I could easily have endured, or lightly laughed away; but she showed it by a kind of gentle melancholy, a mild, reproachful sadness that cut me to the heart. I t

d Eliza to take the latter's place. Having put her comfortably in, bid her take care of the evening air, and wished her a kind good-night, I felt considerably relieved, and hastened to offer my services to Mrs. Graham to carry her apparatus up the fields, but she h