登陆注册
5215200000077

第77章 A BLOW AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (1)

'But work grew scarce, while bread grew dear,And wages lessened, too;For Irish hordes were bidders here,Our half-paid work to do.'CORN LAW RHYMES. Margaret was shown into the drawing-room. It had returned into its normal state of bag and covering. The windows were half open because of the heat, and the Venetian blinds covered the glass,--so that a gray grim light, reflected from the pavement below, threw all the shadows wrong, and combined with the green-tinged upper light to make even Margaret's own face, as she caught it in the mirrors, look ghastly and wan. She sat and waited;no one came. Every now and then, the wind seemed to bear the distant multitudinous sound nearer; and yet there was no wind! It died away into profound stillness between whiles. Fanny came in at last. 'Mamma will come directly, Miss Hale. She desired me to apologise to you as it is. Perhaps you know my brother has imported hands from Ireland, and it has irritated the Milton people excessively--as if he hadn't a right to get labour where he could; and the stupid wretches here wouldn't work for him; and now they've frightened these poor Irish starvelings so with their threats, that we daren't let them out. You may see them huddled in that top room in the mill,--and they're to sleep there, to keep them safe from those brutes, who will neither work nor let them work. And mamma is seeing about their food, and John is speaking to them, for some of the women are crying to go back. Ah! here's mamma!' Mrs. Thornton came in with a look of black sternness on her face, which made Margaret feel she had arrived at a bad time to trouble her with her request. However, it was only in compliance with Mrs. Thornton's expressed desire, that she would ask for whatever they might want in the progress of her mother's illness. Mrs. Thornton's brow contracted, and her mouth grew set, while Margaret spoke with gentle modesty of her mother's restlessness, and Dr. Donaldson's wish that she should have the relief of a water-bed.

She ceased. Mrs. Thornton did not reply immediately. Then she started up and exclaimed-- 'They're at the gates! Call John, Fanny,--call him in from the mill! They're at the gates! They'll batter them in! Call John, I say!' And simultaneously, the gathering tramp--to which she had been listening, instead of heeding Margaret's words--was heard just right outside the wall, and an increasing din of angry voices raged behind the wooden barrier, which shook as if the unseen maddened crowd made battering-rams of their bodies, and retreated a short space only to come with more united steady impetus against it, till their great beats made the strong gates quiver, like reeds before the wind. The women gathered round the windows, fascinated to look on the scene which terrified them. Mrs. Thornton, the women-servants, Margaret,--all were there. Fanny had returned, screaming up-stairs as if pursued at every step, and had thrown herself in hysterical sobbing on the sofa. Mrs. Thornton watched for her son, who was still in the mill. He came out, looked up at them--the pale cluster of faces--and smiled good courage to them, before he locked the factory-door. Then he called to one of the women to come down and undo his own door, which Fanny had fastened behind her in her mad flight. Mrs. Thornton herself went. And the sound of his well-known and commanding voice, seemed to have been like the taste of blood to the infuriated multitude outside. Hitherto they had been voiceless, wordless, needing all their breath for their hard-labouring efforts to break down the gates. But now, hearing him speak inside, they set up such a fierce unearthly groan, that even Mrs. Thornton was white with fear as she preceded him into the room. He came in a little flushed, but his eyes gleaming, as in answer to the trumpet-call of danger, and with a proud look of defiance on his face, that made him a noble, if not a handsome man. Margaret had always dreaded lest her courage should fail her in any emergency, and she should be proved to be, what she dreaded lest she was--a coward. But now, in this real great time of reasonable fear and nearness of terror, she forgot herself, and felt only an intense sympathy--intense to painfulness--in the interests of the moment. Mr. Thornton came frankly forwards: 'I'm sorry, Miss Hale, you have visited us at this unfortunate moment, when, I fear, you may be involved in whatever risk we have to bear. Mother!

同类推荐
  • 道要灵祇神鬼品经

    道要灵祇神鬼品经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 美芹十论

    美芹十论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 大云轮请雨经

    大云轮请雨经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 枫窗小牍

    枫窗小牍

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Augustus Does His Bit

    Augustus Does His Bit

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 精灵勇者3:神秘国度

    精灵勇者3:神秘国度

    应月姬公主邀请,夏焰一行人来到神秘国度,肩负起驱除黑暗力量、拯救神秘国度的重任。可是,出现在他们眼前的是……傲娇吃货月姬公主、面瘫真骑士、时刻担心毛被揪光的守护神兽银狐,被这样的组合邀请来拯救神秘国度,真的没问题吗?果然,一路上,波折连连,囧事一箩筐。梦想成为王子的韩启被迫穿上了蓬蓬的公主裙、两个吃货肖瑶和月姬公主抢食成仇、看似靠谱的真骑士也上演一出“真假美猴王”的好戏、就连身为团队核心的夏焰也是问题不断……深藏黑暗王国的付兰在恶魔的操纵下静静的等待着勇者们的到来。 敲开黑暗王国之门,这一次,精灵勇者们将再挑守护光明与希望之使命。
  • 恶魔女狂追绝色美校草

    恶魔女狂追绝色美校草

    乔茗儿感觉到两条热乎乎的“毛毛虫”从鼻子里哧溜哧溜地爬了出来……前一秒她还在呼噜呼噜地流着哈喇子做春秋美梦,可是当她睡醒之后准备推开柜子...
  • 北宋江湖

    北宋江湖

    江湖,何为江湖呢?这本书将带你领略北宋的快意恩仇,潇洒江湖!
  • 杜威教育箴言

    杜威教育箴言

    本书系作者在主编《“偷师”杜威——开启教育智慧的12把钥匙》一书的“副产品”,即作者在编选的过程,摘录了大量杜威的经典话语,并在此基础上,结合今天教育教学的现状和实践需求,从教学观、教材观、德育观、师生观等角度,梳理了诸多具有现实指导意义的教育箴言。
  • 答长安崔少府叔封游

    答长安崔少府叔封游

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 非洲狮2:王者之路

    非洲狮2:王者之路

    “落日”出生在一个庞大的家族,与父母兄弟姐妹一起经历生活的磨难和大自然的考验,也历经了亲人的死亡和家族的盛衰。她在危难中保存自己的性命,在学习和实战中慢慢成长和强大,成为一族的族长,与丈夫雷从原先的仇恨到共经风雨、相濡以沫,他们一起带领整个家族度过一个又一个灾难……
  • 君臣上

    君臣上

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天才儿子极品娘亲

    天才儿子极品娘亲

    穿越醒来,她就“喜当爹”,一酷酷地小奶包在她面前喊“娘”。面对空空如也的米缸,前世身为世界食神的慕染染相信,只要她肯努力,定能靠着她的厨艺,闯出一番事业,用不了多久,她就能跟前世一样,当上白富美,赚个钵体满盆,最终走向人生巅峰!【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 雪压轩词

    雪压轩词

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 无界仙皇

    无界仙皇

    撑天神物流落凡间,大道金竹、太古灵桃、混沌仙葫三圣归一。这是一个出身中上的小子,被一个强悍的美貌寡妇吓了一哆嗦,然后幡然醒悟决定要变得强大的故事。…………………………………………………………………………一次意外事件,三颗神秘种子,于偏僻之地撬动了整个世界。