Незнакомка из Уайлдфелл-Холла. Уровень 2 / The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

“Some precautions, it may be; but temperance, sir, is one thing, and abstinence another.”

“With some persons, temperance – that is, moderation – is almost impossible. A parent's authority cannot last for ever. Children are naturally prone to hanker after forbidden things. It seems to me, that this plan of Mrs. Graham's, as you describe it, Mrs. Markham, is not without its advantages.”

He pushed his chair a little away from the table, and leant back towards me – and carelessly asked me if I knew Mrs.

Graham.

“I have met her once or twice,” I replied.

“What do you think of her?”

“I cannot say that I like her much. She is handsome, but not amiable. She too hard, too sharp, too bitter for my taste.”

He made no reply, but looked down and bit his lip.

After that we were dancing. Then I followed Eliza to help her with her shawl. And I snatched a kiss behind her father's back. But alas! I turned round, and there was my mother close beside me. When the guests departed, she said to me,

“My dear Gilbert, you know how I love you and prize you above everything else in the world.

But how bitterly it will grieve me to see you married to that girl – or any other in the neighbourhood. What you see in her I don't know. There's neither beauty, nor cleverness, nor goodness, nor anything else in her. Wait awhile and see! If you bind yourself to her, you'll repent it all your lifetime.”

“Well, mother, do be quiet! I'm not going to marry yet, I tell you.

But I want to enjoy myself.”

“Yes, my dear boy, but not in that way. Indeed, don't do such things. You'll get entangled in her snares before you know where you are. And if you marry her, Gilbert, you'll break my heart.”

“Well, don't cry about it, mother,” said I; “don't abuse Eliza anymore. I'll promise to think twice before I take any important step.”

I lighted my candle, and went to bed.

Chapter V

Soon I accompanied Rose her in a visit to Wildfell Hall.

To our surprise, in a room we saw a painter's easel, with a table beside it covered with rolls of canvas, bottles of oil and varnish, palette, brushes, and paints.

“I must make you welcome to my studio,” said Mrs. Graham; “there is no fire in the sitting-room today, and it is very cold.”

She resumed her place beside the easel. It was a view of Wildfell Hall at early morning.

“I see your heart is in your work, Mrs. Graham,” observed I.