The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
acquainted Rachel with my design, confiding all my motives and
intentions to her ear, and, much to my agreeable surprise, found little
difficulty in persuading her to enter into my views. She is a sober,
cautious woman, but she so hates her master, and so loves her mistress
and her nursling, that after several ejaculations, a few faint
objections, and many tears and lamentations that I should be brought to
such a pass, she applauded my resolution and consented to aid me with
all her might: on one condition only: that she might share my exile:
otherwise, she was utterly inexorable, regarding it as perfect madness
for me and Arthur to go alone. With touching generosity, she modestly
offered to aid me with her little hoard of savings, hoping I would
“excuse her for the liberty, but really, if I would do her the favour
to accept it as a loan, she would be very happy.” Of course I could not
think of such a thing; but now, thank heaven, I have gathered a little
hoard of my own, and my preparations are so far advanced that I am
looking forward to a speedy emancipation. Only let the stormy severity
of this winter weather be somewhat abated, and then, some morning, Mr.
Huntingdon will come down to a solitary breakfast-table, and perhaps be
clamouring through the house for his invisible wife and child, when
they are some fifty miles on their way to the Western world, or it may
be more: for we shall leave him hours before the dawn, and it is not
probable he will discover the loss of both until the day is far
advanced.
I am fully alive to the evils that may and must result upon the step I
am about to take; but I never waver in my resolution, because I never
forget my son. It was only this morning, while I pursued my usual
employment, he was sitting at my feet, quietly playing with the shreds
of canvas I had thrown upon the carpet; but his mind was otherwise
occupied, for, in a while, he looked up wistfully in my face, and
gravely asked,—“Mamma, why are you wicked?”
“Who told you I was wicked, love?”
“Rachel.”
“No, Arthur, Rachel never said so, I am certain.”
“Well, then, it was papa,” replied he, thoughtfully. Then, after a
reflective pause, he added, “At least, I’ll tell you how it was I got
to know: when I’m with papa, if I say mamma wants me, or mamma says I’m
not to do something that he tells me to do, he always says, ‘Mamma be
damned,’ and Rachel says it’s only wicked people that are damned. So,
mamma, that’s why I think you must be wicked: and I wish you wouldn’t.”
“My dear child, I am not. Those are bad words, and wicked people often
say them of others better than themselves. Those words cannot make
people be damned, nor show that they deserve it. God will judge us by
our own thoughts and deeds, not by what others say about us. And when
you hear such words spoken, Arthur, remember never to repeat them: it
is wicked to say such things of others, not to have them said against
you.”
“Then it’s papa that’s wicked,” said he, ruefully.
“Papa is wrong to say such things, and you will be very wrong to
imitate him now that you know better.”
“What _is_ imitate?”
“To do as he does.”
“Does _he_ know better?”
“Perhaps he does; but that is nothing to you.”
“If he doesn’t, you ought to tell him, mamma.”
“I _have_ told him.”
The little moralist paused and pondered. I tried in vain to divert his
mind from the subject.
“I’m sorry papa’s wicked,” said he mournfully, at length, “for I don’t
want him to go to hell.” And so saying he burst into tears.
I consoled him with the hope that perhaps his papa would alter and
become good before he died—; but is it not time to deliver him from
such a parent?
CHAPTER XL
January 10th, 1827.—While writing the above, yesterday evening, I sat
in the drawing-room. Mr. Huntingdon was present, but, as I thought,
asleep on the sofa behind me. He had risen, however, unknown to me,
and, actuated by some base spirit of curiosity, been looking over my
shoulder for I know not how long; for when I had laid aside my pen, and
was about to close the book, he suddenly placed his hand upon it, and
saying,—“With your leave, my dear, I’ll have a look at this,” forcibly
wrested it from me, and, drawing a chair to the table, composedly sat
down to examine it: turning back leaf after leaf to find an explanation
of what he had read. Unluckily for me, he was more sober that night
than he usually is at such an hour.
Of course I did not leave him to pursue this occupation in quiet: I
made several attempts to snatch the book from his hands, but he held it
too firmly for that; I upbraided him in bitterness and scorn for his
mean and dishonourable conduct, but that had no effect upon him; and,
finally, I extinguished both the candles, but he only wheeled round to
the fire, and raising a blaze sufficient for his purposes, calmly
continued the investigation. I had serious thoughts of getting a
pitcher of water and extinguishing that light too; but it was evident
his curiosity was too keenly excited to be quenched by that, and the
more I manifested my anxiety to baffle his scrutiny, the greater would
be his determination to persist in it, besides it was too late.
“It seems very interesting, love,” said he, lifting his head and
turning to where I stood, wringing my hands in silent rage and anguish;
“but it’s rather long; I’ll look at it some other time; and meanwhile
I’ll trouble you for your keys, my dear.”
“What keys?”
“The keys of your cabinet, desk, drawers, and whatever else you
possess,” said he, rising and holding out his hand.
“I’ve not got them,” I replied. The key of my desk, in fact, was at
that moment in the lock, and the others were attached to it.
“Then you must send for them,” said he; “and if that old devil, Rachel,
doesn’t immediately deliver them up, she tramps bag and baggage
tomorrow.”
“She doesn’t know where they are,” I answered, quietly placing my hand
upon them, and taking them from the desk, as I thought, unobserved.
“_I_ know, but I shall not give them up without a reason.”
“And _I_ know, too,” said he, suddenly seizing my closed hand and
rudely abstracting them from it. He then took up one of the candles and
relighted it by thrusting it into the fire.
“Now, then,” sneered he, “we must have a confiscation of property. But,
first, let us take a peep into the studio.”
And putting the keys into his pocket, he walked into the library. I
followed, whether with the dim idea of preventing mischief, or only to
know the worst, I can hardly tell. My painting materials were laid
together on the corner table, ready for to-morrow’s use, and only
covered with a cloth. He soon spied them out, and putting down the
candle, deliberately proceeded to cast them into the fire: palette,
paints, bladders, pencils, brushes, varnish: I saw them all consumed:
the palette-knives snapped in two, the oil and turpentine sent hissing
and roaring up the chimney. He then rang the bell.
“Benson, take those things away,” said he, pointing to the easel,
canvas, and stretcher; “and tell the housemaid she may kindle the fire
with them: your mistress won’t want them any more.”
Benson paused aghast and looked at me.
“Take them away, Benson,” said I; and his master muttered an oath.
“And this and all, sir?” said the astonished servant, referring to the
half-finished picture.
“That and all,” replied the master; and the things were cleared away.
Mr. Huntingdon then went up-stairs. I did not attempt to follow him,
but remained seated in the arm-chair, speechless, tearless, and almost
motionless, till he returned about half-an-hour after, and walking up
to me, held the candle in my face and peered into my eyes with looks
and laughter too insulting to be borne. With a sudden stroke of my hand
I dashed the candle to the floor.
“Hal-lo!” muttered he, starting back; “she’s the very devil for spite.
Did _ever_ any mortal see such eyes?—they shine in the dark like a
cat’s. _Oh_, you’re a sweet one!” So saying, he gathered up the candle
and the candlestick. The former being broken as well as extinguished,
he rang for another.
“Benson, your mistress has broken the candle; bring another.”
“You expose yourself finely,” observed I, as the man departed.
“I didn’t say _I’d_ broken it, did I?” returned he. He then threw my
keys into my lap, saying,—“There! you’ll find nothing gone but your
money, and the jewels, and a few little trifles I thought it advisable
to take into my own possession, lest your mercantile spirit should be
tempted to turn them into gold. I’ve left you a few sovereigns in your
purse, which I expect to last you through the month; at all events,
when you want more you will be so good as to give me an account of how
that’s spent. I shall put you upon a small monthly allowance, in
future, for your own private expenses; and you needn’t trouble yourself
any more about my concerns; I shall look out for a steward, my dear—I
won’t expose you to the temptation. And as for the household matters,
Mrs. Greaves must be very particular in keeping her accounts; we must
go upon an entirely new plan—”
“What great discovery have you made now, Mr. Huntingdon? Have I
attempted to defraud you?”
“Not in money matters, exactly, it seems; but it’s best to keep out of
the way of temptation.”
Here Benson entered with the candles, and there followed a brief
interval of silence; I sitting still in my chair, and he standing with
his back to the fire, silently triumphing in my despair.
“And so,” said he at length, “you thought to disgrace me, did you, by
running away and turning artist, and supporting yourself by the labour
of your hands, forsooth? And you thought to rob me of my son, too, and
bring him up to be a dirty Yankee tradesman, or a low, beggarly
painter?”
“Yes, to obviate his becoming such a gentleman as his father.”
“It’s well you couldn’t keep your own secret—ha, ha! It’s well these
women must be blabbing. If they haven’t a friend to talk to, they must
whisper their secrets to the fishes, or write them on the sand, or
something; and it’s well, too, I wasn’t over full to-night, now I think
of it, or I might have snoozed away and never dreamt of looking what my
sweet lady was about; or I might have lacked the sense or the power to
carry my point like a man, as I have done.”
Leaving him to his self-congratulations, I rose to secure my
manuscript, for I now remembered it had been left upon the drawing-room
table, and I determined, if possible, to save myself the humiliation of
seeing it in his hands again. I could not bear the idea of his amusing
himself over my secret thoughts and recollections; though, to be sure,
he would find little good of himself therein indited, except in the
former part; and oh, I would sooner burn it all than he should read
what I had written when I was such a fool as to love him!
“And by-the-by,” cried he, as I was leaving the room, “you’d better
tell that d—d old sneak of a nurse to keep out of my way for a day or
two; I’d pay her her wages and send her packing to-morrow, but I know
she’d do more mischief out of the house than in it.”
And as I departed, he went on cursing and abusing my faithful friend
and servant with epithets I will not defile this paper with repeating.
I went to her as soon as I had put away my book, and told her how our
project was defeated. She was as much distressed and horrified as I
was—and more so than I was that night, for I was partly stunned by the
blow, and partly excited and supported against it by the bitterness of
my wrath. But in the morning, when I woke without that cheering hope
that had been my secret comfort and support so long, and all this day,
when I have wandered about restless and objectless, shunning my