The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Anne BrontĂ« (librera reader .txt) đ
- Author: Anne Brontë
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Thus reasoning, I trotted away to the town, where I duly transacted my business, and performed various little commissions for my mother and Rose, with very laudable exactitude, considering the different circumstances of the case. In returning home, I was troubled with sundry misgivings about the unfortunate Lawrence. The question, What if I should find him lying still on the damp earth, fairly dying of cold and exhaustionâ âor already stark and chill? thrust itself most unpleasantly upon my mind, and the appalling possibility pictured itself with painful vividness to my imagination as I approached the spot where I had left him. But no, thank heaven, both man and horse were gone, and nothing was left to witness against me but two objectsâ âunpleasant enough in themselves to be sure, and presenting a very ugly, not to say murderous appearanceâ âin one place, the hat saturated with rain and coated with mud, indented and broken above the brim by that villainous whip-handle; in another, the crimson handkerchief, soaking in a deeply tinctured pool of waterâ âfor much rain had fallen in the interim.
Bad news flies fast: it was hardly four oâclock when I got home, but my mother gravely accosted me withâ ââOh, Gilbert!â âSuch an accident! Rose has been shopping in the village, and sheâs heard that Mr. Lawrence has been thrown from his horse and brought home dying!â
This shocked me a trifle, as you may suppose; but I was comforted to hear that he had frightfully fractured his skull and broken a leg; for, assured of the falsehood of this, I trusted the rest of the story was equally exaggerated; and when I heard my mother and sister so feelingly deploring his condition, I had considerable difficulty in preventing myself from telling them the real extent of the injuries, as far as I knew them.
âYou must go and see him tomorrow,â said my mother.
âOr today,â suggested Rose: âthereâs plenty of time; and you can have the pony, as your horse is tired. Wonât you, Gilbertâ âas soon as youâve had something to eat?â
âNo, noâ âhow can we tell that it isnât all a false report? Itâs highly im-â
âOh, Iâm sure it isnât; for the village is all alive about it; and I saw two people that had seen others that had seen the man that found him. That sounds farfetched; but it isnât so when you think of it.â
âWell, but Lawrence is a good rider; it is not likely he would fall from his horse at all; and if he did, it is highly improbable he would break his bones in that way. It must be a gross exaggeration at least.â
âNo; but the horse kicked himâ âor something.â
âWhat, his quiet little pony?â
âHow do you know it was that?â
âHe seldom rides any other.â
âAt any rate,â said my mother, âyou will call tomorrow. Whether it be true or false, exaggerated or otherwise, we shall like to know how he is.â
âFergus may go.â
âWhy not you?â
âHe has more time. I am busy just now.â
âOh! but, Gilbert, how can you be so composed about it? You wonât mind business for an hour or two in a case of this sort, when your friend is at the point of death.â
âHe is not, I tell you.â
âFor anything you know, he may be: you canât tell till you have seen him. At all events, he must have met with some terrible accident, and you ought to see him: heâll take it very unkind if you donât.â
âConfound it! I canât. He and I have not been on good terms of late.â
âOh, my dear boy! Surely, surely you are not so unforgiving as to carry your little differences to such a length asâ ââ
âLittle differences, indeed!â I muttered.
âWell, but only remember the occasion. Think howâ ââ
âWell, well, donât bother me nowâ âIâll see about it,â I replied.
And my seeing about it was to send Fergus next morning, with my motherâs compliments, to make the requisite inquiries; for, of course, my going was out of the questionâ âor sending a message either. He brought back intelligence that the young squire was laid up with the complicated evils of a broken head and certain contusions (occasioned by a fallâ âof which he did not trouble himself to relate the particularsâ âand the subsequent misconduct of his horse), and a severe cold, the consequence of lying on the wet ground in the rain; but there were no broken bones, and no immediate prospects of dissolution.
It was evident, then, that for Mrs. Grahamâs sake it was not his intention
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