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182 CHANCE ENCOUNTERS*.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Do You Ever Speculate On The Character A...
She liacl given him doubtless all , more tlian she could reasonably spareand had reluctantly kept some tiny sum for her own
imme-, diate necessities ; and now her heart had failed her , it would procure him some additional comfort or pleasure , and he must have that too
—and he took it . I believe when he at last extricated himself from her clinging
unreasoning hold , and climbed lip to his seat , that I felt ten times more , than he did ; and as we creakedand swung , and jolted on our long
, dusty journey , if pitying thoughts were sent back to that poor miserable woman , they were from me most certainly , and not from the
noisy wretch who was boasting , shouting , and swearing , till he fell into a stupid , tipsy sleep . Poor thing ! If unspoken thoughts and
wishes can be transmitted , I trust mine reached her ; and I hope sincerely too , that she deluded herself into thinking they came from
him , and took heart and comfort accordingly . But if the more educated classes conceal their feelings betterwhen
these do pierce through the ordinary conventional exterior , it is perhaps more terrible to seeand generally reveals more
compli-, cated and conflicting sufferings . I remember once coming up to town by the Great Western
Kailway ; a gentleman and his wife entered . the carriage at some small station , and travelled about twenty miles with me . I gathered that
they had been visiting friends ( it was near Christmas time , I remember ) and were returning to their own country place .
I saw—or I thought I saw—a . whole story revealed in the two faces , aided by the few commonplace sentences which were exchanged
during the short journey . Judge if I was over fanciful or not when I tell you what I sawand heardand imagined . They had been
brought to the station by , their hostess , and some other guests ; and crushed into the few moments during which the travellers took their
seats was a noisy , merry farewell , mixed with some reproaches for the visit having been curtailed . -
I had come from Bristol an hour before , taken the pith out of my Times , and so was at leisure to look up , and as usual began to
speculate . The husband was middle-aged ; looked gentlemanlike , good natured , and shrewd . The wife was some years younger ;
interesting rather than actually handsome ; and though one does not remember complicated details of toiletteI am sure hers was
sin-, gularly well chosen and elegant . I have an impression only of some rich grey material and delicate muslins and laces , which had a
particularly soft effect , and seemed to suit the tall slight figure and the pale refined face I was looking at . A facehoweverthatas
the train began to move , gradually lost the formal , and rather , affected , smile which had accompanied her farewell ; lostnot the smile only
, , but its look of calm quiet dignity , and changed into an expression of despair : the same look which succeeds any great nervous effort
, and seeing the crisis over , knows the necessity and the power of
control are gone together .
182 Chance Encounters*.
182 _CHANCE _ENCOUNTERS * .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1860, page 182, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111860/page/38/
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