The Woman in White: Halcombe 1

Summary

Storytime for Grownups: Episode Summary

Podcast Information

• Title: Storytime for Grownups
• Host/Author: Faith Moore
• Description: Storytime for Grownups is a podcast designed to cultivate a love for classic literature. It functions like an audiobook with integrated notes, providing listeners with in-depth explanations and discussions. Perfect for enjoying with a cup of tea in a cozy setting.
• Episode: The Woman in White: Halcombe 1
• Release Date: February 10, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Storytime for Grownups, host Faith Moore delves into Wilkie Collins' classic novel The Woman in White, transitioning the narrative to Marian Halcombe. Faith and Marian engage with listeners’ insights, explore intricate plot developments, and analyze character motivations, making the timeless story accessible and engaging for modern audiences.

Recap of Previous Episode

Faith begins by recapping the previous episode, where Mr. Gilmore's narrative concluded after chapters three and four. This segment set the stage for the current transition to Marian Halcombe as the new narrator.

• Marian Halcombe (00:46): Expresses gratitude for listener support and reflects on the technical details discussed in the last episode, emphasizing the listeners' engagement with complex topics like marriage settlements and inheritance.

Transition to Marian Halcombe

The episode announces Marian Halcombe as the new narrator, providing deeper insights into Laura Fairlie's predicament and the unfolding drama surrounding her arranged marriage to Sir Percival Glyde.

• Marian Halcombe (01:04): Shares appreciation for the listeners' thoughtful engagement, highlighting the depth of discussions sparked by the story's financial and legal intricacies.

Current Plot Developments

Faith and Marian summarize the latest developments in the novel, focusing on Laura Fairlie's change of heart regarding her arranged marriage and the resulting complications with her inheritance.

• Summary of Events (05:03 - 07:04):
  • Laura Fairlie decides to marry Sir Percival Glyde, prompting Mr. Gilmore to draft a marriage settlement outlining the distribution of her inheritance.
  • Discrepancies arise as Sir Percival's lawyer insists on retaining control over a significant portion of her inheritance, leading Mr. Gilmore to seek intervention from Laura's guardian, Mr. Fairlie.
  • Despite Mr. Gilmore's objections, Mr. Fairlie remains indifferent, finalizing the settlement in favor of Sir Percival.

Listener Engagement and Discussions

Marian highlights the insightful feedback from listeners, addressing concerns about the vulnerability of characters who genuinely care for Laura's well-being.

• Rachel Clevenger's Question (07:45): "Why are the people who most have Laura's safety and interests at heart always the most powerless?"

• Kate's Comment (07:47): Reflects anxiety over the impending marriage settlement and its implications for Laura's safety, hinting at potential tragedy.

Character Analysis: Sir Percival Glyde

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Sir Percival Glyde's character. Faith and Marian explore whether he is a villain driven by greed or an honorable man caught in complex circumstances.

• Faith Moore (10:04): Compares the arranged marriage to societal norms depicted in classics like Pride and Prejudice, suggesting that financial considerations are customary.

• Marian Halcombe (11:29): Analyzes Mr. Gilmore's perspective, pondering Sir Percival's true intentions and the possibility of him harboring darker motives.

Introduction of Marian as Narrator

Marian now takes over the narration, offering her personal reflections and diary entries that provide an intimate glimpse into Laura Fairlie's emotional turmoil.

• Marian Halcombe (15:51): Reads from her diary, detailing Laura's internal struggle with her impending marriage and her love for Walter Hartright.

Key Diary Excerpts

Marian narrates critical diary entries that reveal Laura's decision to confess her true feelings to Sir Percival, challenging the arranged marriage's foundation.

• Notable Quote (21:37):

  "Do you mean courage enough to claim your release?" – Laura Fairlie to Marian Halcombe

• Key Moments (22:28 - 40:12):

  • Laura's heartfelt conversation with Marian, expressing her desire to end the engagement honestly.
  • The tension-filled interaction between Laura and Sir Percival during breakfast, highlighting their emotional disconnect and Sir Percival's concealed anxiety.

Ominous Developments and Future Twists

Faith and Marian speculate on potential plot twists, including the possibility of Sir Percival resorting to drastic measures to secure his financial interests.

• Faith Moore (12:38): Encourages listeners to remain engaged, whether they believe Sir Percival to be innocent or suspect him of darker deeds.

• Marian Halcombe (49:07): Expresses frustration over Sir Percival's unwavering stance, questioning his true intentions and the impact on Laura’s future.

Conclusion and Listener Call-to-Action

Faith concludes the episode by summarizing the intense developments and inviting listeners to engage further with the community.

• Faith Moore (55:16): Recaps the day's events and emphasizes the suspense surrounding Laura and Sir Percival's engagement.

• Call-to-Action (56:00):

  "Thank you so much for listening. I'd love to know what you thought of the chapters. Is there anything you'd like me to clarify? Did something particularly interest you?"

Listeners are encouraged to visit Faith’s website, participate in the online community "The Drawing Room," attend live Tea Time chats, and support the podcast through subscriptions, reviews, and donations.

Notable Quotes

1. Marian Halcombe (00:46):

   "You guys are thinking about this book in such deep, clear, thoughtful, smart ways, and it's a joy."

2. Laura Fairlie (21:37):

   "I must have courage enough to end it."

3. Faith Moore (12:38):

   "The story is still incredibly suspenseful and gripping."

4. Marian Halcombe (49:07):

   "I must think him weak, selfish, unfeeling towards the very woman whom he idolized."

Key Takeaways

• Character Depth: The episode offers a profound exploration of Laura Fairlie's emotional struggles and the complex dynamics of her arranged marriage.

• Listener Engagement: Faith and Marian value listener feedback, fostering a community of thoughtful discussion around classic literature.

• Narrative Transition: The shift to Marian Halcombe as the narrator provides fresh perspectives and deeper emotional insights into the story.

• Suspense and Intrigue: The unresolved tensions between Laura, Sir Percival, and Mr. Gilmore keep listeners eagerly anticipating future episodes.

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Stay Connected

To continue following The Woman in White journey, engage with Faith Moore through her website faithkmoore.com, join "The Drawing Room" community, and participate in upcoming live Tea Time sessions. Your support through subscriptions, reviews, and donations helps sustain this independent podcast dedicated to bringing classic literature to life.

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Storytime for Grownups promises more enthralling narratives and insightful discussions in future episodes. Stay tuned as Marian Halcombe unravels the intricate layers of The Woman in White, keeping the spirit of classic literature alive and engaging for grownups everywhere.

Transcript

[Faith Moore]

Hello and welcome to Storytime for Grown Ups. I'm Faith Moore, and this season we're reading the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Each episode I'll read a few chapters from the book, pausing from time to time to give brief explanations so it's easier to follow along. It's like an audiobook with built in notes. So brew a pot of tea, find a cozy chair and settle in. It's story time. Hi. Welcome back. You guys are awesome. I just need to take a minute.

[Marian Halcombe]

To say that you guys are amazing. After the last episode, I was really worried that I was gonna lose everyone. I thought you guys were going to hear that long episode about Laura's marriage settlement and all these really technical details about the money and who it should go to and who's going to inherit.

[Faith Moore]

What and who's been cut out of the will and who's still in the.

[Marian Halcombe]

Will and all of that stuff. I thought you were going to listen to that and be like, whoa, I'm out of here. That was really boring. What does this have to do with anything? But no, I am getting the most amazing emails from you guys with thoughts about what the marriage settlement means in.

[Faith Moore]

Terms of all the other stuff that.

[Marian Halcombe]

We'Ve been talking about, about Laura and Sir Percival and Marian and Walter and everybody and all the players and all the things that we have been talking about and going on here. You guys jumped on that marriage settlement conversation and you have thoughts and a lot of you have the same thought, which is really cool. And we're going to talk about that in the discussion portion of the episode. But I just wanted to tell you, you guys are awesome. I mean, yes, it's a testament to Wilkie Collins and the book that he's writing that he can insert this long chapter about somebody's inheritance information and it can make us feel like now the drama is even more heightened. Like, he can heighten the drama and the suspense with a long explanation of somebody's finances. I mean, that is amazing writing. So. So let's credit him for that.

[Faith Moore]

But also, you guys are amazing.

[Marian Halcombe]

You guys are thinking about this book in such deep, clear, thoughtful, smart ways, and it's a joy. It's a joy to read this book with you and to get your comments and your questions in my email. So thank you. Thank you for being the amazing, wonderful people that you are and for being a part of this podcast. It's nothing without you. So we have a lot to talk about today, right? And let's get into it first, I just have a couple quick announcements.

[Faith Moore]

11 is that I have scheduled the.

[Marian Halcombe]

Next Storytime for Grown Ups Tea Time, which happens over in our online community, which is called the Drawing Room, because we all withdraw to the drawing room after the episode and chat there. It's really fun. And once a month we have Tea Time, which is a live chat. It's kind of like a group phone call where you and I and other Storytime fans chat together for about an hour. We talk about the book, but it's also like an ama. You can ask me anything.

[Faith Moore]

And we all talk together.

[Marian Halcombe]

Had one at the end of January. It was really fun. And so the next one is going to be held Thursday, Feb. 27, at 8pm Eastern. And of course I'll remind you again, but I'm telling you now so that you know. And also because you must be a.

[Faith Moore]

Member of the Landed gentry membership tier.

[Marian Halcombe]

In order to participate in those chats. So if you're interested in becoming a member either of the Landed gentry or you can be a house guest, which just gets you access to the drawing room itself, where you can chat with each other whenever you want in the various chat rooms that are there. If you're interested, scroll down into the description of this episode and you'll find a link. Clicking the link doesn't mean you have to do anything in particular. It just gives you some more information. So if that sounds like it's of any interest to you, go ahead and check that out.

[Faith Moore]

Also, as always, please make sure that.

[Marian Halcombe]

You are subscribed to the show so that you don't miss any episodes. And if you're enjoying it, please tap those five stars. And if you have a couple of extra seconds, please leave a positive review or just text a link or email a link to the show to someone you think might enjoy it. All right, so as I say, lots to discuss. So enough of this. Let's get right to it. We finished last time. Gilmore's narrative.

[Faith Moore]

Right?

[Marian Halcombe]

We read Gilmore's narrative, chapters three and four, and we were told that is the end of Gilmore's narrative. And if you checked out the title of this episode, you will discover that our new narrator is Marian, which makes me happy. I don't know if it makes you happy, but we're. We're going with Marian now. So that's what's going to come next. But before we do that, let's just recap the end of Gilmore's narrative. And then I have two related comments that I want to share with you, and we'll talk about those for a Little bit. Okay, here is the recap.

[Faith Moore]

So where we left off. Mr. Gilmore returns to London and about a week later gets a letter from Marian saying that Laura has changed her mind.

[Marian Halcombe]

And she is going to marry Ser Percival Glyde at the original time.

[Faith Moore]

So the wedding will take place at the end of the year, a few months before Laura comes of age.

[Marian Halcombe]

So now it's Mr. Gilmore's job to draw up the marriage settlement, which is the document that will express legally what will happen to Laura's money after her death.

[Faith Moore]

Because she won't be of age yet.

[Marian Halcombe]

Mr. Fairley will have the final say on what the marriage settlement contains.

[Faith Moore]

Laura has two kinds of inheritance. The Fairlie estate and property, which she.

[Marian Halcombe]

Will inherit when Mr. Fairley dies. And there's £20,000, which she will inherit when she comes of age. Then there's this additional £10,000, which was.

[Faith Moore]

Meant to belong to her Aunt Eleanor.

[Marian Halcombe]

But because Eleanor married a man named Count Fosco, whom Laura's father disapproved of, the father cut Eleanor out of the will.

[Faith Moore]

So that now Eleanor Fosco will only inherit the money after Laura's death.

[Marian Halcombe]

Mr. Gilmore draws up the settlement such that in the event of Laura's dying.

[Faith Moore]

Before Sir Percival, everything will pass to.

[Marian Halcombe]

Sir Percival for the duration of his life. And then on to any children that they have. Except for the £20,000, which will go first to Sir Percival and then, on.

[Faith Moore]

His death, to Marian and anyone else.

[Marian Halcombe]

Who Laura would like it to go to.

[Faith Moore]

Sir Percival's lawyer agrees to all of.

[Marian Halcombe]

This, except for the part about the.

[Faith Moore]

Money going to Marian. He says that the money has to.

[Marian Halcombe]

Stay with Sir Percival, even if they have no children. Gilmore knows that Sir Percival is in.

[Faith Moore]

Debt and feels that this is just a way of using Laura for her money.

[Marian Halcombe]

And he objects to it.

[Faith Moore]

But Sir Percival's lawyer insists. He says that Sir Percival left all of this in his hands. It's not Sir Percival who's saying this.

[Marian Halcombe]

But as the lawyer, he's got to do everything in his power to get a good settlement for Sir Percival.

[Faith Moore]

So Gilmore tries to get Mr. Fairlie to put his foot down. But Mr. Fairlie can't be bothered with.

[Marian Halcombe]

Any sort of fuss, and so he says no.

[Faith Moore]

Gilmore goes to Limmerge House to try to persuade him.

[Marian Halcombe]

On the way there, he bumps into.

[Faith Moore]

Walter Hartraght, who looks terrible, and he.

[Marian Halcombe]

Says he's going somewhere far away. Gilmore can't get Mr. Fairlie to agree to fight about the point in the settlement. Since he says that it's highly Unlikely.

[Faith Moore]

That Laura will die before Sir Percival.

[Marian Halcombe]

Anyway, so why bother me? So the settlement is finalized, giving everything to Sir Percival during his lifetime and nothing to Marian, which is against Laura's wishes. All right, so we have two questions this time. The first one comes to us from Rachel Clevenger. Rachel writes, ah, why are the people who most have Laura's safety and interests at heart always the most powerless? It's a stroke of genius on Collins part.

[Faith Moore]

And the next one is from Kate.

[Marian Halcombe]

B. Kate writes, oh, no money to be legally transferred on the occasion of her untimely death after the marriage. That it requires she not have children makes it imminent. Then Mr. Fairley's clueless treatment of how laughable and unlikely it is gave me chills. I think I see where this is going. The preventable tragedy, the unprovable crime.

[Faith Moore]

And we are powerless.

[Marian Halcombe]

Mr. Gilmore is powerless.

[Faith Moore]

How very sad.

[Marian Halcombe]

Okay, so I got tons of letters this time from people feeling very worried, as Kate is worried that Laura is now in very grave danger. This is what I mean by your amazing comments, your astuteness about the will and the marriage settlement. So for a while now, we have been trying to figure out if Sir Percival is a good guy or a bad guy, right? We've talked about how he hasn't actually done anything that would indicate that he's bad. In fact, he's done several things that indicate that he's good, right? Helping Mrs. Katherick with Anne, his kindness to Laura, his upfrontness, or whatever you want to call it, about his situation with Anne. And we've been talking about how, even so, we don't trust him, right? Some of you even wrote in to say that you think the letter that came from Mrs. Catherick corroborating sir Percival's story was actually written by somebody else. Like maybe Sir Percival himself or maybe a lawyer or someone. So we have gone so far as to accusing him of forgery and base deception. But again, we have no evidence. And now we have this situation with the marriage settlement. And many of you have written to.

[Faith Moore]

Me to say that the fact that.

[Marian Halcombe]

Sir Percival is so adamant that he be the one to inherit Laura's entire fortune upon her death means that he's only marrying her for her money.

[Faith Moore]

And even that he intends to kill.

[Marian Halcombe]

Her in order to get it once she's dead, as Kate's letter implies, many of you are thinking that the crime which we've been waiting for is that Sir Percival is going to kill Laura to get at her money. But hang on a second. Like Whoa. I mean, what has Sir Percival actually done to make us think that he's capable of that? I mean, marrying Laura for her money seems possible since we now know that he's in debt. And we also know that Laura and Sir Percival don't really know each other that well.

[Faith Moore]

And it's an arranged marriage.

[Marian Halcombe]

So the fact that Sir Percival is after Laura's money is sort of icky.

[Faith Moore]

But not all that weird.

[Marian Halcombe]

You know, if you were with us for Pride and Prejudice. Or if you've read that on your own, you know that money was always a consideration when arranging marriages, right?

[Faith Moore]

Sir Percival is a baronet. That's a higher rank socially than Laura is.

[Marian Halcombe]

So the marriage is arranged to benefit both of them. Sir Percival gets money, which he needs. And Laura is elevated socially to the.

[Faith Moore]

Level of a peer of the realm.

[Marian Halcombe]

Which means that her children will also be elevated. There's nothing really that awful about that. Except that it's sort of uncouth to actually come out and say that he wants her money. But remember, he hasn't, right? In fact, it isn't Sir Percival at all who's making such a stink about the clause about the £20,000.

[Faith Moore]

Remember, it's his lawyer. We are expressly told that Sir Percival.

[Marian Halcombe]

Has left everything to the lawyer. And isn't involved at all in this back and forth about the inheritance. It's the lawyer that's being such a stickler about it. We don't know what Sir Percival might say if he was asked. Maybe he would say, oh, it's totally fine. She can leave it to whoever she wants in her will. So again, Sir Percival still hasn't actually done anything to make us dislike or mistrust him. Except we totally do. In fact, now we are proactively accusing him of murder, right?

[Faith Moore]

But of course, we actually have more.

[Marian Halcombe]

Information than, like, say, Marian does. Because we know that a crime of some kind has been committed. We're pretty sure it has something to do with Laura. And now from Mr. Gilmore, we know also that it has something to do with the terms of Laura's marriage settlement. Here's what Gilmore tells us. This is a quote.

[Faith Moore]

I warn all readers of these lines.

[Marian Halcombe]

That Ms. Fairlie's inheritance is a very serious part of Ms. Fairlie's story. And that Mr. Gilmore's experience in this particular must be their experience also. If they wish to understand the narratives which are yet to come. So again, this is where Wilkie Collins is so brilliant. Because now we can approach the story in one of two ways, right? We can either feel Like, I don't know. Everything seems to be pointing to the fact that Sir Percival is a bad guy. So I kind of think maybe it's going to turn out that he's not and that the crime is actually something totally unexpected that we haven't figured out yet. And you would be totally justified in thinking that, because Sir Percival still hasn't actually done anything wrong and has actually done a lot of good things. Or you can feel that Sir Percival.

[Faith Moore]

Is a bad guy.

[Marian Halcombe]

In fact, you can think he's the.

[Faith Moore]

Villain of the story.

[Marian Halcombe]

You can think he's after Laura's money and that he's going to kill her to get it. And you would be totally justified in thinking that too, since we know the marriage settlement is important somehow, and the settlement is all about who. Who gets Laura's large fortune when she dies.

[Faith Moore]

All of this is to say, regardless.

[Marian Halcombe]

Of which of those two approaches you take, the story is still incredibly suspenseful and gripping.

[Faith Moore]

Because either you're sitting there waiting for.

[Marian Halcombe]

Some new and totally unexpected thing to happen and for Sir Percival to be proven to be just a guy, or you're sitting there waiting for Sir Percival to actually kill someone and really, really hoping that he doesn't. It's fantastic.

[Faith Moore]

And.

[Marian Halcombe]

And this goes back to Rachel's comment. And everyone who could possibly help Laura has been hobbled in some way, right?

[Faith Moore]

Gilmore is bound by law to go.

[Marian Halcombe]

With what Mr. Fairlie says. Because Mr. Fairlie is Laura's legal guardian until she becomes of age. Mr. Fairlie only cares about himself and not being bothered.

[Faith Moore]

So the easiest thing to do is to comply with Sir Percival's lawyer's request.

[Marian Halcombe]

And let the money all go to Sir Percival after Laura's death. We know that Gilmore doesn't want to.

[Faith Moore]

Do it, but we also know he has no other choice.

[Marian Halcombe]

If Laura had waited until she came.

[Faith Moore]

Of age, which, by the way, Sir Percival was ready to let her do.

[Marian Halcombe]

Which is another point in his favor, right?

[Faith Moore]

If he was so set on getting.

[Marian Halcombe]

The money, he would have insisted the wedding happen while Mr. Fairlie was still in charge. Because Laura will do whatever Mr. Gilmore says and keep the money for herself. So it was Laura who said they should get married now. We don't know why yet. So if Laura had waited until she came of age, then Gilmore would be able to act via her wishes. But that's not what's happening.

[Faith Moore]

So Gilmore can't help her.

[Marian Halcombe]

And the only other person who could help is Walter. And Walter, we learned last time, is going far away to some other country for some reason. So he's going to be way out of the picture. Not to mention the fact that it seems like he might actually be losing his mind or something.

[Faith Moore]

Right.

[Marian Halcombe]

Gilmore says he looks terrible and he's going on about being watched. So we really can't depend on Walter at the moment either. So now we're getting a new narrator. It's Marian.

[Faith Moore]

Hooray.

[Marian Halcombe]

I know a lot of you are excited. I'm excited. I love Marian. So Marian is going to be our new narrator now, and hopefully that will give us some more insight into what's actually going on and what Laura is thinking and why she decided to get married soon when she originally asked for more time. And on his way out, Mr. Gilmore left us with these kind of ominous words, right.

[Faith Moore]

Which he said to Mr. Fairley.

[Marian Halcombe]

He said, as the faithful friend and servant of your family, I tell you at parting that no daughter of mine should be married to any man alive under such a settlement as you are forcing me to make for Ms. Fairley. So that's bad, right? So we've got to see what happens next. Don't forget to write to me. I love your emails. You guys are amazing. You're doing such an amazing job reading this book.

[Faith Moore]

So write to me.

[Marian Halcombe]

Faithk moore.com Click on Contact or just scroll down into the description of this episode and click the link there. Send me all your questions and thoughts. I really want to hear them.

[Faith Moore]

All right, let's get started with Halcomb's narrative.

[Marian Halcombe]

Chapter one of the Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. It's story time.

[Faith Moore]

The story continued by Marian Halcombe in extracts from her diary, Limmeridge House, November 8. The passages omitted here and elsewhere in Ms. Halcombe's diary are only those which bear no reference to Ms. Fairley or to any of the persons with whom she is associated in these pages. This morning, Mr. Gilmore left us.

[Marian Halcombe]

Okay, so we're backing up in time a bit.

[Faith Moore]

Gilmore's narrative went on past this time, but we're starting with Marian at the moment when Gilmore left Limmeridge House after.

[Marian Halcombe]

Talking to Laura about her will.

[Faith Moore]

His interview with Laura had evidently grieved and surprised him more than he liked to confess. I felt afraid from his look and manner when we parted that she might have inadvertently betrayed to him the real secret of her depression and my anxiety. So she's worried that Laura somehow led on to Gilmore that she's in love with Walter. This doubt grew on me, so after he had gone that I declined riding out with Sir Percival and went up to Laura's room Instead, I have been sadly distrustful of myself in this difficult and lamentable matter ever since I found out my own ignorance of the strength of Laura's unhappy attachment. I ought to have known that the delicacy and forbearance and sense of honour which drew me to poor Hartright and made me so sincerely admire and respect him were just the qualities to appeal most irresistibly to Laura's natural sensitiveness and natural generosity of nature. And yet, until she opened her heart to me of her own accord, I had no suspicion that this new feeling had taken root so deeply I once thought time and care might remove it. I now fear that it will remain with her and alter her for life. The discovery that I have committed such an error in judgment as this makes me hesitate about everything else. I hesitate about Sir Percival in the face of the plainest proofs. I hesitate even in speaking to Laura on this very morning I doubted with my hand on the door whether I should ask her the questions I had come to put or not. When I went into her room I found her walking up and down in great impatience. She looked flushed and excited and she came forward at once and spoke to me before I could open my lips. I wanted you, she said. Come and sit down on the sofa with me, Marian. I can bear this no longer. I must and will end it. There was too much color in her cheeks, too much energy in her manner, too much firmness in her voice. The little book of Hartright's drawings, the fatal book that she will dream over whenever she is alone, was in one of her hands. I began by gently and firmly taking it from her and putting it out of sight on a side table. Tell me quietly, my darling, what you wish to do, I said. Has Mr. Gilmour been advising you? She shook her head. No, not in what I am thinking of now. He was very kind and good to me, Marian, and I am ashamed to say I distressed him by crying. I am miserably helpless. I can't control myself. For my own sake and for all our sakes I must have courage enough to end it. Do you mean courage enough to claim your release? I asked. No, she said simply courage, dear. To tell the truth, she put her arms round my neck and rested her head quietly on my bosom. On the opposite wall hung the miniature portrait of her father. I bent over and saw that she was looking at it while her head lay on my breast. I can never claim my release from my engagement, she went on. Whatever way it ends, it must end wretchedly for me. All I can do, Marian, is not to add the remembrance that I have broken my promise and forgotten my father's dying words to make that wretchedness worse. So she feels she can't end the engagement with Sir Percival because it was her father's wish and she wants to honor her father. What is it you propose, then? I asked. To tell Ser Percival Glyde the truth with my own lips, she answered. And to let him release me, if he will. Not because I ask him, but because he knows all. What do you mean, Laura, by all? Sir Percival will know enough. He has told me so himself. If he knows that the engagement is opposed to your own wishes, can I tell him that when the engagement was made for me by my father with my own consent, I should have kept my promise? Not happily, I'm afraid, but still contentedly. She stopped, turned her face to me and laid her cheek close against mine. I should have kept my engagement, Marian, if another love had not grown up in my heart, which was not there when I first promised to be Sir Percival's wife. Laura, you will never lower yourself by making a confession to him. I shall lower myself, indeed, if I gain my release by hiding from him what he has a right to know. So Laura is saying that she's going to tell Sir Percival that she loves another person, and maybe he will release her, since she feels she can't release him. And she's saying that he has a right to know this about her before they are married. He has not the shadow of a.

[Marian Halcombe]

Right to know it.

[Faith Moore]

Wrong, Marian. Wrong. I ought to deceive no one, least of all the man to whom my father gave me and to whom I gave myself. She put her lips to mine and kissed me. My own love, she said softly, you are so much too fond of me and so much too proud of me that you forget, in my case what you would remember in your own. Better that Sir Percival should doubt my motives and misjudge my conduct, if he will, than that I should be first false to him in thought, and then mean enough to serve my own interests by hiding the falsehood. I held her away from me in astonishment. For the first time in our lives, we had changed places. The resolution was all on her side.

[Marian Halcombe]

The hesitation all on mine.

[Faith Moore]

I looked into the pale, quiet, resigned young face. I saw the pure, innocent heart in the loving eyes that looked back at me. And the poor worldly cautions and objections that rose to my lips dwindled and died away in their own emptiness. I hung my head in Silence in her place. The despicably small pride which makes so many women deceitful would have been my pride and would have made me deceitful too. So Marian would have kept it secret.

[Marian Halcombe]

Because it's embarrassing to admit that she's in love with someone else.

[Faith Moore]

But she sees that Laura is doing.

[Marian Halcombe]

An upstanding thing in telling the truth to Sir Percival.

[Faith Moore]

Don't be angry with me, Marian, she said, mistaking my silence. I only answered by drawing her close to me again. I was afraid of crying if I spoke. My tears do not flow so easily as they ought. They come almost like men's tears, with sobs that seem to tear me in pieces and that frighten everyone about me. I have thought of this love for many days, she went on twining and twisting my hair with that childish restlessness in her fingers which poor Mrs. Vesey still tries so patiently and so vainly to cure her of. I have thought of it very seriously and I can be sure of my courage when my own conscience tells me I am right. Let me speak to him to morrow in your presence, Marian. I will say nothing that is wrong, nothing that you or I need be ashamed of. But oh, it will ease my heart so to end this miserable concealment. Only let me know and feel that I have no deception to answer for on my side. And then when he has heard what I have to say, let him act towards me as he will so she will abide by whatever Sir Percival decides. Once she's told him the truth about.

[Marian Halcombe]

Her feelings for Walter.

[Faith Moore]

She'll let him end their engagement if he wants that. Or she'll marry him if he wants that. She sighed and put her head back in its old position on my bosom. Sad misgivings about what the end would be weighed upon my mind. But still distrusting myself, I told her that I would do as she wished. She thanked me and we passed gradually into talking of other things. At dinner she joined us again and was more easy and more herself with Sir Percival than I have seen her yet. In the evening she went to the piano choosing new music of the dexterous, tuneless, florid kind. The lovely old melodies of Mozart which poor Hartright was so fond of. She has never played since he left. The book is no longer in the music stand. She took the volume away herself so that nobody might find it out and ask her to play from it. I had no opportunity of discovering whether her purpose of the morning had changed or not until she wished Sir Percival good night. And then her own words informed me that it was unaltered. She said very quietly that she wished to speak to him after breakfast and that he would find her in her sitting room with me. He changed color at those words, and I felt his hand trembling a little when it came to my turn to take it. The event of the next morning would decide his future life, and he evidently knew it. I went in as usual through the door between our two bedrooms to bid Laura good night before she went to sleep. In stooping over her to kiss her, I saw the little book of Hartright's drawings half hidden under her pillow, just in the place where she used to hide her favorite toys when she was a child. I could not find it in my heart to say anything, but I pointed to the book and shook my head. She reached both hands up to my cheeks and drew my face down to hers till our lips met. Leave it there tonight, she whispered. Tomorrow may be cruel and may make me say goodbye to it forever. 9th as in November 9th the next day the first event of the morning was not of a kind to raise my spirits. A letter arrived for me from poor Walter Hartright. It is the answer to mine describing the manner in which Sir Percival cleared himself of the suspicions raised by Anne Catherick's letter. He writes shortly and bitterly about Sir Percival's explanations, only saying that he has no right to offer an opinion on the conduct of those who are above him. This is sad, but his occasional references to himself grieve me still more. He says that the effort to return to his old habits and pursuits grows harder instead of easier to him every day, and he implores me, if I have any interest, to exert it, to get him employment that will necessitate his absence from England and take him among new scenes and new people. I have been made all the readier.

[Marian Halcombe]

To comply with this request by a.

[Faith Moore]

Passage at the end of his letter which has almost alarmed me. After mentioning that he has neither seen nor heard anything of Anne Catherick, he suddenly breaks off and hints in the most abrupt, mysterious manner that he has been perpetually watched and followed by strange men ever since he returned to London. He acknowledges that he cannot prove this extraordinary suspicion by fixing on any particular person, but he declares that the suspicion itself is present to him night and day. This has frightened me because it looks as if his one fixed idea about Laura was becoming too much for his mind. I will write immediately to some of my mother's influential old friends in London and press his claims on their notice. Change of scene and change of occupation may really be the salvation of him at this crisis in his life. Greatly to my relief, Sir Percival sent an apology for not joining us at breakfast. He had taken an early cup of coffee in his own room and he was still engaged there in writing letters.

[Marian Halcombe]

At 11 o'clock, if that hour was.

[Faith Moore]

Convenient, he would do himself the honour of waiting on Miss Fairlie and Miss Halcombe. My eyes were on Laura's face while the message was being delivered. I had found her unaccountably quiet and composed on going into her room in the morning, and so she remained all through breakfast. Even when we were sitting together on the sofa in her room waiting for Sir Percival, she still preserved her self control. Don't be afraid of me, Marian, was all she said. I may forget myself with an old friend like Mr. Gilmore, or with a dear sister like you, but I will not forget myself with Sir Percival Glyde. Forget myself in this sense means like breaking down and crying.

[Marian Halcombe]

So she's saying she won't break down.

[Faith Moore]

In front of Sir Percival. I looked at her and listened to her in silent surprise. Through all the years of our close intimacy, this passive force in her character had been hidden from me, hidden even from herself, till love found it and suffering called it forth. As the clock on the mantelpiece struck 11, Sir Percival knocked at the door and came in. There was suppressed anxiety and agitation in every line of his face. Face. The dry, sharp cough which teases him at most times seemed to be troubling him more incessantly than ever. He sat down opposite to us at the table and Laura remained by me. I looked attentively at them both and he was the palest of the two. He said a few unimportant words with a visible effort to preserve his customary ease of manner. But his voice was not to be studied and the restless uneasiness in his eyes was not to be concealed. He must have felt this himself, for he stopped in the middle of a sentence and gave up even the attempt.

[Marian Halcombe]

To hide his embarrassment any longer.

[Faith Moore]

There was just one moment of dead silence before Laura addressed him. I wish to speak to you, Sir Percival, she said, on a subject that is very important to us both. My sister is here because her presence helps me and gives me confidence. She has not suggested one word of what I am going to say. I speak from my own thoughts, not from hers. I am sure you will be kind enough to understand that before I go any farther. Sir Percival bowed. She had proceeded thus far with perfect outward tranquillity and perfect propriety of manner. She looked at him and he looked at her. They seemed at the outset, at least, resolved to understand one another plainly. I have heard from Marian, she went on, that I have only to claim my release from our engagement to obtain that release from you. It was forbearing and generous on your part, Sir Percival, to send me such a message. It is only doing you justice to say that I am grateful for the offer, and I hope and believe that it is only doing myself justice to tell you that I decline to accept it. His attentive face relaxed a little, but I saw one of his feet softly, quietly, incessantly beating on the carpet under the table, and I felt that he was secretly as anxious as ever. I have not forgotten, she said, that you asked my father's permission before you honoured me with a proposal of marriage. Perhaps you have not forgotten either, what I said when I consented to our engagement. I ventured to tell you that my father's influence and advice had mainly decided me to give you my promise. I was guided by my father because I had always found him the truest of all advisers, the best and fondest of all protectors and friends. I have lost him now. I have only his memory to love. But my faith in that dear dead friend has never been shaken. I believe at this moment, as truly as I ever believed, that he knew what was best and that his hopes and wishes ought to be my hopes and wishes too. Her voice trembled. For the first time her restless fingers stole their way into my lap and held fast by one of my hands. There was another moment of silence, and then Sir Percival spoke. May I ask, he said, if I have ever proved myself unworthy of the trust which it has been hitherto my greatest honor and greatest happiness to possess? I have found nothing in your conduct to blame, she answered. You have always treated me with the same delicacy and the same forbearance. You have deserved my trust. And what is of far more importance in my estimation, you have deserved my father's trust, out of which mine grew. You have given me no excuse, even if I had wanted to find one, for asking to be released from my pledge. What I have said so far has been spoken with the wish to acknowledge my whole obligation to you. My regard for that obligation, my regard for my father's memory, and my regard for my own promise all forbid me to set the example on my side of withdrawing from our present position. The breaking of our engagement must be entirely your wish and your act, Sir Percival, not mine. The uneasy beating of his foot suddenly stopped, and he leaned forward eagerly across the table. My act, he said. What reason can there be on my side for withdrawing? I heard her breath quickening. I felt her hand growing cold. In spite of what she had said to me when we were alone, I began to be afraid of her meaning.

[Marian Halcombe]

Marian is worried that she actually will break down.

[Faith Moore]

I was wrong, a reason that is very hard to tell you, she answered. There is a change in me, Sir Percival, a change which is serious enough to justify you to yourself and to me in breaking off our engagement. His face turned so pale again that even his lips lost their color. He raised the arm which lay on the table, turned a little away in his chair, and supported his head on his hand so that his profile only was presented to us. What change? He asked. The tone in which he put the question jarred on me. There was something painfully suppressed in it. She sighed heavily and leaned towards me a little so as to rest her shoulder against mine. I felt her trembling and tried to spare her by speaking myself. She stopped me by a warning pressure of her hand and then addressed Sir Percival once more, but this time without looking at him. I have heard, she said, and I believe it, that the fondest and truest of all affections is the affection which a woman ought to bear to her husband. When our engagement began, that affection was mine to give if I could, and yours to win if you could. Will you pardon me and spare me, Sir Percival, if I acknowledge that it is not so any longer? A few tears gathered in her eyes and dropped over her cheek slowly as she paused and waited for his answer. He did not utter a word at the beginning of her reply. He had moved the hand on which his head rested so that it hid his face. I saw nothing but the upper part of his figure at the table, not a muscle of him moved. The fingers of the hand which supported his head were dented deep in his hair. They might have expressed hidden anger or hidden grief, it was hard to say which. There was no significant trembling in them. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, to tell the secret of his thoughts. At that moment, the moment which was the crisis of his life and the crisis of hers, I was determined to make him declare himself for Laura's sake. Sir Percival, I interposed sharply, have you nothing to say when my sister has said so much more?

[Marian Halcombe]

In my opinion, I added, my unlucky temper getting the better of me than.

[Faith Moore]

Any man alive in your position has the right to hear from her. That last rash sentence opened a way for him by which to escape me if he chose, and he instantly took advantage of it. Pardon me, Ms. Halcombe, he said, still.

[Marian Halcombe]

Keeping his hand over his face.

[Faith Moore]

Pardon me if I remind you that I have claimed no such right. The few plain words which would have brought him back to the point from which he had wandered were just on my lips when Laura checked me by speaking again. I hope I have not made my painful acknowledgment in vain, she continued. I hope it has secured me your entire confidence in what I have still to say. Pray be assured of it. He made that brief reply warmly, dropping his hand on the table while he spoke and turning towards us again. Whatever outward change had passed over him was gone now. His face was eager and expectant. It expressed nothing but the most intense anxiety to hear her next words. I wish you to understand that I have not spoken from any selfish motive, she said. If you leave me, Sir Percival, after what you have just heard, you do not leave me to marry another man. You only allow me to remain a single woman for the rest of my life. My fault towards you has begun and ended in my own thoughts. It can never go any farther. No word has passed. She hesitated in doubt about the expression she should use next hesitated in a momentary confusion which it was very sad and very painful to see. No word has passed, she patiently and resolutely resumed between myself and the person to whom I am now referring for the first and last time in your presence of my feelings towards him or his feelings towards me, no word can ever pass. Neither he nor I are likely in this world to meet again. I earnestly beg you to spare me from saying any more and to believe me on my word in what I have just told you. It is the truth, Sir Percival, the truth which I think my promised husband has a claim to hear at any sacrifice of my own feelings. I trust to his generosity to pardon me and to his honor to keep my secret. So she's assuring him that she's still a virgin. Essentially that her confession is just about her feelings and her thoughts, not about her actions. And she's saying that she hasn't slept with the man she loves, nor will she marry him if he releases her. It's only that she loves another and therefore can't love him. Both those trusts are sacred to me.

[Marian Halcombe]

He said, and both shall be sacredly kept.

[Faith Moore]

After answering in those terms, he paused and looked at her as if he was waiting to hear more. I have said all I wish to say, she added quietly. I have said more than enough to justify you in withdrawing from our engagement. You have said more than Enough, he answered, to make it the dearest object.

[Marian Halcombe]

Of my life to keep the engagement.

[Faith Moore]

With those words, he rose from his chair and advanced a few steps towards the place where she was sitting. She started violently, and a faint cry of surprise escaped her. Every word she had spoken had innocently betrayed her purity and truth to a man who thoroughly understood the priceless value.

[Marian Halcombe]

Of a pure and true woman.

[Faith Moore]

Her own noble conduct had been the hidden enemy throughout of all the hopes she had trusted to it. I had dreaded this from the first. I would have prevented it if she had allowed me the smallest chance of doing so. I even waited and watched now, when the harm was done, for a word from Sir Percival that would give me the opportunity of putting him in the wrong. Meaning? The fact that Laura has this acute sense of honesty and cares about Sir Percival's feelings is actually attractive to Sir Percival and will make him want to.

[Marian Halcombe]

Marry her even more.

[Faith Moore]

You have left it to me, Ms.

[Marian Halcombe]

Fairleigh, to resign you, he continued.

[Faith Moore]

I am not heartless enough to resign a woman who has just shown herself to be the noblest of her sex. He spoke with such warmth of feeling, with such passionate enthusiasm, and yet with such perfect delicacy, that she raised her head, flushed up a little, and looked at him with sudden animation and spirit. No, she said firmly. The most wretched of her sex. If she must give herself in marriage when she cannot give in love, may she not give it in the future? He asked, if the one object of her husband's life is to deserve it? Never, she answered. If you still persist in maintaining our engagement, I may be your true and faithful wife, Sir Percival. Your loving wife. If I know my own heart. Never. She looked so irresistibly beautiful as she said those brave words that no man alive could have steeled his heart against her. I tried hard to feel that Sir Percival was to blame and to say so, but my womanhood would pity him in spite of myself. I gratefully accept your faith and truth, he said. The least that you can offer is more to me than the utmost that I could hope for from any other woman in the world. Her left hand still held mine, but her right hand hung listlessly at her side. He raised it gently to his lips, touched it with them rather than kissed it, bowed to me, and then, with perfect delicacy and discretion, silently quitted the room. She neither moved nor said a word when he was gone. She sat by me, cold and still, with her eyes fixed on the ground. I saw it was hopeless and useless to speak, and I only put my arm round her and held her to me in silence. We remained together so for what seemed a long and weary time, so long and so weary that I grew uneasy and spoke to her softly in the hope of producing a change. The sound of my voice seemed to startle her into consciousness. She suddenly drew herself away from me and rose to her feet. I must submit Marion as well as I can, she said. My new life has its hard duties, and one of them begins today. As she spoke, she went to a side table near the window on which her sketching materials were placed, gathered them together carefully and put them in a drawer of her cabinet. She locked the drawer and brought the key to me. I must part from everything that reminds me of him, she said. Keep the key wherever you please. I shall never want it again. Before I could say a word, she had turned away to her bookcase and had taken from it the album that contained Walter Hartright's drawings. She hesitated for a moment, holding the little volume fondly in her hands, then lifted it to her lips and kissed it. Oh, Laura, Laura, I said, not angrily, not reprovingly, with nothing but sorrow in my voice and nothing but sorrow in my heart. It is the last time, Marion, she pleaded. I am bidding it goodbye forever. She laid the book on the table and drew out the comb that fastened her hair. It fell in its matchless beauty over her back and shoulders and dropped round her, far below her waist. She separated one long, thin lock from the rest, cut it off, and pinned it carefully in the form of a circle on the first blank page of the album. The moment it was fastened, she closed the volume hurriedly and placed it in my hands. You write to him and he writes to you, she said. While I am alive, if he asks after me, always tell him I am well and never say I am unhappy. Don't distress him, Marion, for my sake. Don't distress him. If I die first, promise you will give him this little book of his drawings with my hair in it. There can be no harm when I am gone in telling him that I put it there with my own hands and say, oh, Marian, say for me then what I can never say for myself.

[Marian Halcombe]

Say I loved him.

[Faith Moore]

She flung her arms round my neck and whispered the last words in my ear with a passionate delight in uttering them, which it almost broke my heart to hear, all the long restraint she had imposed on herself gave way in that first, last outburst of tenderness she broke from me with hysterical vehemence and threw herself on the sofa in a paroxysm of sobs. And tears that shook her from head to foot. I tried vainly to soothe her and reason with her. She was past being soothed and past being reasoned with. It was the sad, sudden end for us two of this memorable day when the fit had worn itself out, she was too exhausted to speak. She slumbered towards the afternoon, and I put away the book of drawings so that she might not see it when she woke. My face was calm, whatever my heart might be, when she opened her eyes again and looked at me. We said no more to each other about the distressing interview of the morning. Sir Percival's name was not mentioned. Walter Hartragh was not alluded to again by either of us for the remainder of the day. 10th finding that she was composed and like herself this morning, I returned to the painful subject of yesterday for the sole purpose of imploring her to let me speak to Sir Percival and Mr. Fairlie more plainly and strongly than she could speak to either of them herself about this lamentable marriage. So Marian wants the engagement broken off. She feels that nothing good can come of it, given how Laura feels, she interposed gently but firmly in the middle of my remonstrances. I left yesterday to decide, she said, and yesterday has decided. It is too late to go back. Sir Percival spoke to me this afternoon about what had passed in Laura's room. He assured me that the unparalleled trust she had placed in him had awakened such an answering conviction of her innocence and integrity in his mind that he was guiltless of having felt even a moment's unworthy jealousy either at the time when he was in her presence or afterwards when he had withdrawn from it deeply as he lamented the unfortunate attachment which had hindered the progress he might otherwise have made in her esteem and regard. He firmly believed that it had remained unacknowledged in the past, and that it would remain under all changes of circumstance which it was possible to contemplate unacknowledged in the future. This was his absolute conviction, and the strongest proof he could give of it was the assurance which he now offered, that he felt no curiosity to know whether the attachment was of recent date or not, or who had been the object of it. His implicit confidence in Miss Fairlie made him satisfied with what she had thought fit to say to him, and he was honestly innocent of the slightest feeling of anxiety to hear more. He waited after saying those words and looked at me. I was so conscious of my unreasonable prejudice against him, so conscious of an unworthy suspicion that he might be Speculating on my impulsively answering the very questions which he had just described himself as resolved not to ask. That I evaded all reference to this.

[Marian Halcombe]

Part of the subject.

[Faith Moore]

With something like a feeling of confusion on my own part. At the same time, I was resolved not to lose even the smallest opportunity. Of trying to plead Laura's case. And I told him boldly that I regretted his generosity had not carried him one step farther. And induced him to withdraw from the engagement altogether. Here again he disarmed me by not attempting to defend himself. He would merely beg me to remember.

[Marian Halcombe]

The difference there was.

[Faith Moore]

Between his allowing Miss Fairlie to give him up, which was a matter of submission only. And his forcing himself to give up Miss Fairlie. Which was, in other words, asking him to be the suicide of his own hopes. Her conduct of the day before. Had so strengthened the unchangeable love and admiration of two long years. That all active contention against those feelings on his part. Was henceforth entirely out of his power. I must think him weak, selfish, unfeeling towards the very woman whom he idolized. And he must bow to my opinion.

[Marian Halcombe]

As resignedly as he.

[Faith Moore]

He could only putting it to me.

[Marian Halcombe]

At the same time.

[Faith Moore]

Whether her future as a single woman. Pining under an unhappily placed attachment. Which she could never acknowledge. Could be said to promise her a much brighter prospect than her future as the wife of a man who worshipped the very ground she walked on. In the last case, there was hope from time. However slight it might be. In the first case, on her own showing there was no hope at all. So Sir Percival is saying that marrying him and maybe one day coming to love him. Is a better fate for Laura than being an old maid forever. I answered him more because my tongue is a woman's and must answer.

[Marian Halcombe]

Than because I had anything convincing to say.

[Faith Moore]

It was only too plain that the course Laura had adopted the day before. Had offered him the advantage if he chose to take it. And that he had chosen to take it. I felt this at the time. And I feel it just as strongly now. While I write these lines in my own room. The one hope left is that his motives really spring, as he says they do. From the irresistible strength of his attachment to Laura. Before I close my diary for tonight. I must record that I wrote today in poor Hartright's interest. To two of my mother's old friends in London. Both men of influence and position. If they can do anything for him, I am quite sure they will. Except Laura. I never was more anxious about anyone than I am now about Walter. All that has happened since he left us has only increased my strong regard and sympathy for him. I hope I am doing right in trying to help him to employment abroad. I hope most earnestly and anxiously that it will end well. 11th Sir Percival had an interview with Mr. Fairlie and I was sent for to join them. I found Mr. Fairlie greatly relieved at the prospect of the family worry as.

[Marian Halcombe]

He was pleased to describe his niece's.

[Faith Moore]

Marriage being settled at last. So far I did not feel called on to say any thing to him about my own opinion. But when he proceeded in his most aggravatingly languid manner to suggest that the time for the marriage had better be settled next in accordance with Sir Percival's wishes, I enjoyed the satisfaction of a assailing Mr. Fairlie's nerves with as strong a protest against hurrying Laura's decision as I could put into words. Sir Percival immediately assured me that he felt the force of my objection and begged me to believe that the proposal had not been made in consequence of any interference on his part. So Sir Percival is saying that it.

[Marian Halcombe]

Was Mr. Fairlie who wanted to set.

[Faith Moore]

A date for the wedding, not him. Mr. Fairlie leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, said, we both of us did honor to human nature, and then repeated his suggestion as coolly as if neither Sir Percival nor I had said a word in opposition to it. It ended in my flatly declining to mention the subject to Laura unless she first approached it of her own accord. I left the room at once after making that declaration. Sir Percival looked seriously embarrassed and distressed. Mr. Fairlie stretched out his lazy legs on his velvet footstool and said, dear Marian, how I envy youyour robust nervous system. Don't bang the door on. Going to Laura's room, I found that she had asked for me and that Mrs. Vesey had informed her that I was with Mr. Fairlie. She inquired at once what I had been wanted for and I told her all that had passed without attempting to conceal the vexation and annoyance that I really felt. Her answer surprised and distressed me inexpressibly. It was the very last reply that I should have expected her to make. My uncle is right, she said. I have caused trouble and anxiety enough to you and to all about me. Let me cause no more, Marian. Let Sir Percival decide. I remonstrated warmly, but nothing that I could say moved her. I am held to my engagement, she replied. I have broken with my old life. The evil day will not come the less surely because I put it off. No, Marian, Once again my uncle is right. I have caused trouble enough and anxiety enough, and I will cause no more. She used to be pliability itself, but she was now inflexibly passive in her resignation, I might almost say in her despair. Dearly as I love her, I should have been less pained if she had been violently agitated. It was so shockingly unlike her natural character to see her as cold and insensible as I saw her now. 12th. Sir Percival put some questions to me at breakfast about Laura, which left me no choice but to tell him what she had said. While we were talking, she herself came down and joined us. She was just as unnaturally composed in Sir Percival's presence as she had been in mine. When breakfast was over he had an opportunity of saying a few words to her privately in a recess of one of the windows. They were not more than two or three minutes together and on their separating she left the room with Mrs. Basey while sir Percival came to me. He said he had entreated her to favour him by maintaining her privilege of fixing the time of their marriage at her own will and pleasure. In reply she had merely expressed her acknowledgments and had desired him to mention what his wishes were to Miss Halcombe.

[Marian Halcombe]

I have no patience to write more.

[Faith Moore]

In this instance, as in every other, Sir Percival has carried his point with the utmost possible credit to himself. In spite of everything that I can say or do, his wishes are now what they were of course, when he first came here. And Laura, having resigned herself to the one inevitable sacrifice of the marriage, remains as coldly hopeless and enduring as ever. In parting with the little occupations and relics that reminded her of Hartright, she seems to have parted with all her tenderness and all her impressibility. It is only 3:00 in the afternoon while I write these lines, and Sir Percival has left us already in the happy hurry of a bridegroom to prepare for the bride's reception at his house in Hampshire. Unless some extraordinary event happens to prevent it, they will be married exactly at the time when he wished to be married before the end of the year. My very fingers burn as I write it. 13th a sleepless night. Through uneasiness about Laura towards the morning I came to a resolution to try what change of scene would do to rouse her. She cannot surely remain in her present torpor of insensibility if I take her away from Limmeridge and surround her with the pleasant faces of old friends. After some consideration, I decided on writing to the Arnolds in Yorkshire. They are simple, kind hearted, hospitable people and she has known them from her childhood. When I had put the letter in the post bag I told her what I had done. It would have been a relief to me if she had shown the spirit to resist and object. But no. She only said, I will go anywhere with you, Marian. I dare say you are right. I dare say the change will do me good. 14th I wrote to Mr. Gilmour informing him that there was really a prospect of this miserable marriage taking place and also mentioning my idea of trying what change of scene would do for Laura. I had no heart to go into particulars. Time enough for them when we get nearer to the end of the year. Fifteenth Three letters for me. The first from the Arnolds, full of delight at the prospect of seeing Laura and me. The second from one of the gentlemen to whom I wrote on Walter Hartright's behalf informing me that he has been fortunate enough to find an opportunity of complying with my request. The third from Walter himself, thanking me, poor fellow, in the warmest terms for giving him an opportunity of leaving his home, his country and his friends. A private expedition to make excavations among the ruined cities of Central America is, it seems, about to sail from Liverpool. The draughtsman who had been already appointed to accompany it had lost heart and withdrawn at the 11th hour and Walter is to fill his place. He is to be engaged for six months, certain from the time of the landing in Honduras and for a year afterwards if the excavations are successful and if the funds hold out. So Walter is going to Honduras to sketch the results of an archaeological excavation and he'll be gone for six months.

[Marian Halcombe]

At the minimum, but potentially for 18 months.

[Faith Moore]

His letter ends with the promise to write me a farewell line when they are all on board ship and when the pilot leaves them. I can only hope and pray earnestly that he and I are both acting in this matter for the best. It seems such a serious step for him to take that the mere contemplation of it startles me. And yet, in his unhappy position how can I expect him or wish him to remain at home? 16th the carriage is at the door. Laura and I set out on our visit to the Arnolds today Polesdene Lodge, Yorkshire 23rd so a week has passed, a week in these new scenes and among these kind hearted people has done her some good, though not so much as I had hoped. I have resolved to prolong our stay for another week at Leech. It is useless to go back to Limmeridge till there is an absolute necessity for our return. 24th Sad news by this morning's Post the expedition to Central America sailed on the 21st. We have parted with a true man. We have lost a faithful friend. Walter Hartright has left England 25th sad news yesterday. Ominous news today. Sir Percival Glyde has written to Mr. Fairlie and Mr. Fairley has written to Laura and me to recall us to Limmeridge immediately. What can this mean? Has the day for the marriage been fixed in our absence? Thank you so much for listening. I'd love to know what you thought of the chapters. Is there anything you'd like me to clarify? Did something particularly interest you? Please go to my website, faithkmoore.com click on contact and send me your questions and thoughts. Or you can click on the link in the Show Notes to contact me. I'll feature one or two of your entries at the start of the next episode. Speaking of links, don't forget to take a look at the other links in the Show Notes. You can learn more about me, check out our merch store, or pick up one of my books. Before I go, I'd like to ask a quick favor. This is an independent podcast. It's produced, recorded and marketed by me, so I need your help. Spread the word about the show by posting about it on social media or texting a link to your friends. Subscribe, tap those five stars and leave a positive review wherever you're listening. If you are able to support the show financially, there's a link in the Show Notes to make a donation. I would really, really appreciate it. Alright everyone, story time is over. To be continued.