The Mill on the Floss George Eliot (ereader android .txt) š
- Author: George Eliot
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But the dam was a subject of conversation that would keep; it could always be taken up again at the same point, and exactly in the same condition; and there was another subject, as you know, on which Mr. Tulliver was in pressing want of Mr. Rileyās advice. This was his particular reason for remaining silent for a short space after his last draught, and rubbing his knees in a meditative manner. He was not a man to make an abrupt transition. This was a puzzling world, as he often said, and if you drive your wagon in a hurry, you may light on an awkward corner. Mr. Riley, meanwhile, was not impatient. Why should he be? Even Hotspur, one would think, must have been patient in his slippers on a warm hearth, taking copious snuff, and sipping gratuitous brandy-and-water.
āThereās a thing Iāve got iā my head,ā said Mr. Tulliver at last, in rather a lower tone than usual, as he turned his head and looked steadfastly at his companion.
āAh!ā said Mr. Riley, in a tone of mild interest. He was a man with heavy waxen eyelids and high-arched eyebrows, looking exactly the same under all circumstances. This immovability of face, and the habit of taking a pinch of snuff before he gave an answer, made him trebly oracular to Mr. Tulliver.
āItās a very particular thing,ā he went on; āitās about my boy Tom.ā
At the sound of this name, Maggie, who was seated on a low stool close by the fire, with a large book open on her lap, shook her heavy hair back and looked up eagerly. There were few sounds that roused Maggie when she was dreaming over her book, but Tomās name served as well as the shrillest whistle; in an instant she was on the watch, with gleaming eyes, like a Skye terrier suspecting mischief, or at all events determined to fly at anyone who threatened it toward Tom.
āYou see, I want to put him to a new school at Midsummer,ā said Mr. Tulliver; āheās cominā away from the ācademy at Lady-day, anā I shall let him run loose for a quarter; but after that I want to send him to a downright good school, where theyāll make a scholard of him.ā
āWell,ā said Mr. Riley, āthereās no greater advantage you can give him than a good education. Not,ā he added, with polite significanceā āānot that a man canāt be an excellent miller and farmer, and a shrewd, sensible fellow into the bargain, without much help from the schoolmaster.ā
āI believe you,ā said Mr. Tulliver, winking, and turning his head on one side; ābut thatās where it is. I donāt mean Tom to be a miller and farmer. I see no fun iā that. Why, if I made him a miller anā farmer, heād be expectinā to take to the mill anā the land, anā a-hinting at me as it was time for me to lay by anā think oā my latter end. Nay, nay, Iāve seen enough oā that wiā sons. Iāll never pull my coat off before I go to bed. I shall give Tom an eddication anā put him to a business, as he may make a nest for himself, anā not want to push me out oā mine. Pretty well if he gets it when Iām dead anā gone. I shanāt be put off wiā spoon-meat afore Iāve lost my teeth.ā
This was evidently a point on which Mr. Tulliver felt strongly; and the impetus which had given unusual rapidity and emphasis to his speech showed itself still unexhausted for some minutes afterward in a defiant motion of the head from side to side, and an occasional āNay, nay,ā like a subsiding growl.
These angry symptoms were keenly observed by Maggie, and cut her to the quick. Tom, it appeared, was supposed capable of turning his father out of doors, and of making the future in some way tragic by his wickedness. This was not to be borne; and Maggie jumped up from her stool, forgetting all about her heavy book, which fell with a bang within the fender, and going up between her fatherās knees, said, in a half-crying, half-indignant voiceā ā
āFather, Tom wouldnāt be naughty to you ever; I know he wouldnāt.ā
Mrs. Tulliver was out of the room superintending a choice supper-dish, and Mr. Tulliverās heart was touched; so Maggie was not scolded about the book. Mr. Riley quietly picked it up and looked at it, while the father laughed, with a certain tenderness in his hard-lined face, and patted his little girl on the back, and then held her hands and kept her between his knees.
āWhat! they mustnāt say any harm oā Tom, eh?ā said Mr. Tulliver, looking at Maggie with a twinkling eye. Then, in a lower voice, turning to Mr. Riley, as though Maggie couldnāt hear, āShe understands what oneās talking about so
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