June 9, 2025 • 18 mins
Step into the thrilling narrative of Hugh Walpoles Prelude to Adventure. The story unfolds around Olva Dune, a Cambridge undergraduate who commits a murder and in that moment, senses the divine presence. The novel masterfully encapsulates the essence of Francis Thompsons poem, The Hound of Heaven - a tale of a soul in dread, relentlessly pursued by Gods love. Its highly recommended to enrich your experience by familiarizing yourself with the poem prior to diving into the novel. The story intrigued Carl Jung so much that he praised it as a psychological masterpiece in a letter to Walpole. Hergesheimer likened the suspense and plot to that of a Poe masterpiece, yet grounded in the relatable human experience. The narrative is a riveting blend of suspense, love, fear, triumph, all set against the backdrop of the captivating Cornish sea.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter twelve of the Prelude to Adventure by Hugh Wopole.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twelve,
Love to the False Priest One. It was all when
one looked back upon it, the rankest melodrama, the darkness,
the flaming lamp, Craven's voice and eyes, Bunning, It had
(00:23):
all arranged itself as though it had been worked by
a master dramatist. At any rate, there they now were,
the three of them, Ulva, Bunning, Craven, placed in a
situation that could not possibly stay as it was. In
Which direction was it going to develop? Bunning had no
control at all. It would be he who would supply
(00:45):
the next move. Meanwhile, in the back of Olva's mind
there was that banging sense of urgency. No time to
be lost. He must see Margaret and speak before Rupert
spoke to her. Perhaps even now Craven was not certain.
If he only knew of how much Craven was sure,
did he feel sure enough to speak to Margaret? Meanwhile,
(01:09):
the first and most obvious thing was that Bunny was
in a state of terror that threatened instant exposure. The
man was evidently realizing that now for the first time
he had a big thing with which he must grapple.
He must grapple with his devotion to Olva, with his
terror of Craven, but most of all with his terror
(01:30):
of himself. That last was obviously the thing that tortured him, for,
having now been given by the high gods an opportunity
of great service, so miserable a creature did he consider
himself that he would not for an instant trust his control.
He was trying Ulva saw with an effort that in
(01:51):
its intensity, was pathetic to prove himself worthy of the
chance that had been offered him, as though it were
the one soul opportunity that he would ever be given.
But to appear to the world something that he was
not was an art that Bunning and his kind could
never acquire. That is their tragedy. It was the fate
(02:12):
of Bunning that his boots and spectacles should always negative
any attempt that he might make at a striking personality.
On the night after the rag, he sat in OVA's
room and made a supreme effort at control. If you
can only hold on, Ova told him to the end
of term, it's only a week or two. Now, Just
(02:34):
stick it until then you won't be bothered with me
after that you're going away. I don't know, it depends.
I don't know what I should do if you went
to have to stand that awful secret all alone, only
me knowing. Oh I couldn't. I couldn't. And now that
Craven Craven knows nothing, he doesn't even suspect anything. See here,
(02:56):
bunning Ova crossed over to him and put his hand
on his show. Can't you understand that your behavior makes
me wish that I hadn't told you. Whereas if you
care as you say you do, you ought to want
to show me how you can carry it, to prove
it to me that I was right to tell you. Yes,
I know, but but Craven Craven knows nothing, but he does.
(03:20):
Bunning's voice became shrill, and his fat hand shook on
Ovah's arm. There's something I haven't told you this morning,
and outer court he stopped me. Craven stopped you. Yes,
there was no one about. I was going along in
my rooms and he met me and he said, hello, Bunning. Well,
I've been thinking of it, of his knowing, I mean,
(03:41):
all night. So I was dreadfully startled dreadfully startled. I'm
afraid I showed it. Get on? What did he say?
He said, Hello, Bunning, Yes, you've told me that. What else?
I said? Hello? I was dreadfully startled. I don't think
he's ever to me before. And then he looked so strange, wild,
(04:04):
as though he hadn't slept, and white, and his eyes
moved all the time. I'm afraid he saw that I
was startled. Do get on? What else did he ask you?
He asked me whether i'd enjoyed last night? He said,
you were with Doone, weren't you? He cried, as though
he wasn't speaking to me at all. That's an odd
(04:24):
sort of friend for you to have. I ought to
have been angry, I suppose, but I was shaking all over. Yes. Well,
then he said I thought you were in it with
all those pine men, and I just couldn't say anything
at all. I was shaking, So he must have thought
I looked very odd. I'm sure he did, said Ulva dryly. Well,
(04:46):
it won't be many days before you give the show away,
that's certain. What could have made him tell the fellow
what madness? What? But Bunning caught on to his sleeve. No, No,
you mustn't say that, doone, please you. I'm going to
do my best, I really am. But his coming suddenly
like that, just when I've been thinking. But it's awful.
(05:08):
I told you if anyone suspected it would make it
so hard. Look here, Bunning, Perhaps it will help you
if you know the way that I'm feeling about it.
I'll try and explain all these days, there's something in
me that's urging me to go out and confess conscience,
said Bunning solemnly. No, it isn't conscience at all. It's
something quite different, because the thing that's urging me isn't
(05:31):
urging me because I've done something I'm ashamed of. It's
urging me because I'm in a false position. There's that
on the one side, and on the other, I'm in
love with Rupert Craven's sister. Bunning gave a little cry. Yes,
that complicates things, doesn't it. Now you see why Rupert
Craven is the last person who must know anything about it.
(05:53):
It's because he loves his sister so much and suspects
I think that I care for her that he's going
to find out the truth. Does she care for you? Bunning?
Brought out huskily. I don't know. That's what I've got
to find out, because it all depends on that. If
she cares enough, it won't matter what you've done, And
(06:14):
if she doesn't care enough, it won't matter her knowing
because you oughtn't to marry her. Oh, and Bunning's eyes,
as they gazed at Ova, were those once more of
a devoted dog. She's lucky, then, he repeated, as though
to himself in his odd husky whisper, anything that I
can do, anything I can do. Two on the next evening,
(06:39):
about five o'clock, Olva went to the house in Rocket Road.
He went through a world that, in its frosty stillness,
held beauty in its hands like a china cup, so
fragile in its colors, so gentle in its outline, with
a moon round and of a creamy white, with a
sky faintly red, and stiff trees black and sharp. Cambridge
(07:04):
came to Ulva then as a very lovely thing. The
Cambridge life was a lovely thing, with its kindness, its simplicity,
its optimism. He was penetrated too, with a great sadness,
because he knew that life of that kind was gone
once and forever from him. Whatever came to him now,
it could never again be that peace. The long houses
(07:27):
flung black shadows across the white road, and God kept
him company. Miss Margaret Craven had not yet come in.
But would mister doone perhaps go up and see missus Craven.
The old woman's teeth chattered in the cold little hall.
We are all dead, all of us dead here, The
skins on the walls seemed to say, and you'll be
(07:50):
dead soon, Oh, yes you will. Olva went up to
Missus Craven. The windows of her room were tightly closed,
and a great fire was blazing. Before this. She lay
stretched out on a sofa of faded green, her black dress,
her motionless white hands, her pale face, her moving eyes.
She had beside her to day a little plate of
(08:12):
dry biscuits, and now and again her hand would move
across her black dress and break one of these with
a sharp sound, and then her hand would fall back again.
I am very glad to see you draw your chair
up to the fire. It is a chill day, but fine,
I believe, she regarded him gravely. It is not much
(08:34):
of life that I can watch from this room, mister doone.
It is good of you to come and see me.
There must be many other things for you to do.
He came at once to the point, I want your
permission to ask your daughter to marry me, Missus Craven.
There was a long silence between them. He seemed, in
his inner consciousness to be carrying on a dialog. You see,
(08:57):
he said to the shadow, I have forestalled you. I
shall ask Margaret Craven this evening to marry me. You
cannot prevent that. You cannot. And a voice answered, all
things betray thee who betrayest me. You have known us
a very short time, mister doone. Missus Craven's voice came
(09:18):
to him from a great distance. He felt as though
he were speaking to two persons. Time has nothing to
do with falling in love Missus Craven. He saw, to
his intense amazement that she was greatly moved. She who
had always seemed to him a mask, now was suddenly
revealed as suffering, tortured, intensely human. Her thin white hands
(09:41):
were pressed together. I am a lonely, unhappy woman, mister doone.
Margaret is now all that is left to me. Everything
has been taken from me, rupert, her voice was lost.
Very slowly, tears rolled down her cheeks. She began again, desperately, Margaret,
is all that I have. If I were left alone,
(10:03):
it would be too much for me. I could not
endure the silence. It was the more moving in that
it followed such stern reserve his own isolation, the curious
sense that he had that they were both of them
needing protection against the same power. It seemed to him
that if he raised his eyes he would see on
(10:23):
the opposite wall the shadow of that third presence. This
filled him with the tenderest pity, so that suddenly he
bent down and kissed her hand. She caught his with
a fierce, convulsive movement, and so they sat in silence,
whilst he felt the pulse of her hand beat through
(10:43):
his body, and once a tear rolled from her cheek
on to his wrist. You understand, she said, At least
you understand. I have always seen that. You know? Then
she whispered, how did you know? No, he was bewildered.
But before she could speak again, the door opened and
(11:05):
Margaret Craven came in. She moved with that restrained emotion
that he had seen in her when he had first
met her. She was some great force held in check,
some fire that blazed but must be hidden from the world.
And as she bent over her mother and kissed her,
the embrace had in it something of passionate protest. Both
(11:28):
women seemed to assert in it their right to quite
another sort of life. He saw that his moment with
Missus Craven had passed that fire, that humanity had gone
from her, and she lay back now on her sofa,
with the faint waxen lids close upon her eyes, her
hands thinly folded, almost a dead woman. Margaret kissed her again,
(11:53):
now softly and gently, and Ova went with her from
the room three. He was prepared to find that Rupert
had told her everything. He thought that he saw in
the gravity and sadness of her manner, and also in
the silence that she seemed deliberately at first to place
between them, that she was waiting for the right moment
(12:15):
to break it to him. He felt that she would
ask him gravely and with great kindness, but that in
the answer that he would give her it must be
all over the end the pursuit would be concluded. Then, suddenly,
in the way that she looked at him, he knew
that she had been told nothing. I'm afraid that mother
(12:37):
is very unwell. I'm afraid that you must have found her.
So if she could get away, he began, Ah, if
we could all get away, if only we could. But
we have talked of that before. It is quite impossible.
And even if we could, and how glad I should be,
I do not know that it would help mother. It
(12:59):
is Rupert is breaking her heart. Rupert for answer to
his exclamation, as she cried to him with all the
pent up suffering and loneliness of the last weeks in
her voice, Ah, mister, doone help me. I shall go
mad if something doesn't happen every day. It is worse
and I can't grapple with it. I'm not up to it.
(13:21):
If only they'd speak out, But it's this silence. She
seemed to pull herself together and went on more quietly.
You know that Rupert and I have been everything to
one another all our lives. We have never had a
secret of any kind. Until this last month. Rupert was
the most open, dearest boy in the world. His tenderness
(13:41):
with my mother was a most wonderful thing. And to me,
I cannot tell you what he was to me. I
suppose for the very reason that we were so much
to one another. We did not make any other very
close friends. I had girls and Dresden, of course, and
there were men at school and college for whom he cared.
(14:02):
But I think there can have been a few brothers
and sisters who were so entirely together in every way.
A month ago that all ceased. She flung her head
back with a sharp, defiant movement, as though the memory
of it hurt her. I've told you this before. I
talked to you about it when you were here last.
(14:22):
But since then he has become much worse, and I
am afraid that anything may happen. I have no one
to go to. It is killing my mother. And then
you were a friend of his. I hope that I
am now. That is the horrible part of it. But
it seems now that all this agitation, this trouble is
(14:42):
directed against you, against me. Yes, the other evening he
spoke about you here furiously. He said you must never
come here again, that I must never speak to you again.
He said that you had done dreadful things. And then
when I asked him, he could not tell me anything.
(15:03):
He seemed and you must look on it in that light,
mister Doone, as though he were not in the least
responsible for what he said. I'm afraid he is very
very ill. He is dreadfully unhappy, and yet he can
explain nothing. I too have been very unhappy and mother,
because we love him. If he wishes that I should
(15:24):
not come here again, Ovah began, But he is not responsible.
He really does not know what he is doing. He
never had the smallest trouble that he did not confide
it to me, And now I have noticed, of course,
Olva said that lately his manner to me has been strange.
I would have helped him if he would let me,
but he will not. He will have nothing to say
(15:47):
to me. I too have been very sorry about it.
I have been sorry because I'm fond of Rupert, but
also there is another stronger reason, because I love you Margaret.
As he spoke, he got up and stood by her chair.
He saw her take in his last words, at first
(16:07):
with a wondering gravity, then with a sudden splendor, so
that light flooded her face. Her arms made a little
helpless gesture, and she caught his hand. He drew her
up to him, out of her chair. Then with a fierce,
passionate movement, they held one another and clung together, as
though in a desperate, wild protest against the world. You
(16:31):
can't touch me. Now I've got her, he seemed to,
fling at the blank face of the old mirror. It
was his act defiance, but through his exultation he caught
the whisper. It might again have been conveyed to him
through the shrill, shivering notes of the bald beast. Tell her,
Tell her now, trust her, dear son, trust me. It
(16:54):
must be so in the end. Now, he heard her say,
I can stand it all. When you came into this
room weeks ago, she went on, I loved you from
the very first instant. Now I do not mind what
anyone can do. I too, loved you from the first instant.
You were so grave. I tried at first not to
(17:16):
think of you as a person at all, because I
thought that it was safer. And then gradually, although I
fought against you, I could not keep you out. You
drove your way in. You understood so wonderfully the things
that I wanted you to understand. Then Rupert and Mother
drove me to want you more and more. I thought
that you liked me, but I didn't know. Then, with
(17:39):
a little shiver, she clung to him, pressing close to him.
Oh hold me, Oh, hold me safe. The room was
now gathering to itself that dusk that gave it its
strangest air. The fire had fallen low, and only shown
now in the recesses of the high fireplace, with a
dull glimmer amongst the shadows. It's seemed that the presence
(18:01):
was gravely waiting. As Ova held Margaret in his arms,
he felt that he was fighting to keep her. In
the dark hollow of the mirror, he thought that he
saw the long white road, the mists, the little wood,
and some one running. It seemed to him that Margaret
was not there, that the room was dark and very heavy,
(18:23):
that some bell was ringing in his ear. Then about
him a thousand voices were murmuring, tell her, tell her,
tell her the truth. With a last effort, he tried
to cry, I will not tell her. His lips broke
on her name, Margaret. Then, with a little sigh, tumbling forward,
(18:43):
he fainted. End of Chapter twelve.
Chapter twelve of the Prelude to Adventure by Hugh Wopole.
This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter twelve,
Love to the False Priest One. It was all when
one looked back upon it, the rankest melodrama, the darkness,
the flaming lamp, Craven's voice and eyes, Bunning, It had
(00:23):
all arranged itself as though it had been worked by
a master dramatist. At any rate, there they now were,
the three of them, Ulva, Bunning, Craven, placed in a
situation that could not possibly stay as it was. In
Which direction was it going to develop? Bunning had no
control at all. It would be he who would supply
(00:45):
the next move. Meanwhile, in the back of Olva's mind
there was that banging sense of urgency. No time to
be lost. He must see Margaret and speak before Rupert
spoke to her. Perhaps even now Craven was not certain.
If he only knew of how much Craven was sure,
did he feel sure enough to speak to Margaret? Meanwhile,
(01:09):
the first and most obvious thing was that Bunny was
in a state of terror that threatened instant exposure. The
man was evidently realizing that now for the first time
he had a big thing with which he must grapple.
He must grapple with his devotion to Olva, with his
terror of Craven, but most of all with his terror
(01:30):
of himself. That last was obviously the thing that tortured him, for,
having now been given by the high gods an opportunity
of great service, so miserable a creature did he consider
himself that he would not for an instant trust his control.
He was trying Ulva saw with an effort that in
(01:51):
its intensity, was pathetic to prove himself worthy of the
chance that had been offered him, as though it were
the one soul opportunity that he would ever be given.
But to appear to the world something that he was
not was an art that Bunning and his kind could
never acquire. That is their tragedy. It was the fate
(02:12):
of Bunning that his boots and spectacles should always negative
any attempt that he might make at a striking personality.
On the night after the rag, he sat in OVA's
room and made a supreme effort at control. If you
can only hold on, Ova told him to the end
of term, it's only a week or two. Now, Just
(02:34):
stick it until then you won't be bothered with me
after that you're going away. I don't know, it depends.
I don't know what I should do if you went
to have to stand that awful secret all alone, only
me knowing. Oh I couldn't. I couldn't. And now that
Craven Craven knows nothing, he doesn't even suspect anything. See here,
(02:56):
bunning Ova crossed over to him and put his hand
on his show. Can't you understand that your behavior makes
me wish that I hadn't told you. Whereas if you
care as you say you do, you ought to want
to show me how you can carry it, to prove
it to me that I was right to tell you. Yes,
I know, but but Craven Craven knows nothing, but he does.
(03:20):
Bunning's voice became shrill, and his fat hand shook on
Ovah's arm. There's something I haven't told you this morning,
and outer court he stopped me. Craven stopped you. Yes,
there was no one about. I was going along in
my rooms and he met me and he said, hello, Bunning. Well,
I've been thinking of it, of his knowing, I mean,
(03:41):
all night. So I was dreadfully startled dreadfully startled. I'm
afraid I showed it. Get on? What did he say?
He said, Hello, Bunning, Yes, you've told me that. What else?
I said? Hello? I was dreadfully startled. I don't think
he's ever to me before. And then he looked so strange, wild,
(04:04):
as though he hadn't slept, and white, and his eyes
moved all the time. I'm afraid he saw that I
was startled. Do get on? What else did he ask you?
He asked me whether i'd enjoyed last night? He said,
you were with Doone, weren't you? He cried, as though
he wasn't speaking to me at all. That's an odd
(04:24):
sort of friend for you to have. I ought to
have been angry, I suppose, but I was shaking all over. Yes. Well,
then he said I thought you were in it with
all those pine men, and I just couldn't say anything
at all. I was shaking, So he must have thought
I looked very odd. I'm sure he did, said Ulva dryly. Well,
(04:46):
it won't be many days before you give the show away,
that's certain. What could have made him tell the fellow
what madness? What? But Bunning caught on to his sleeve. No, No,
you mustn't say that, doone, please you. I'm going to
do my best, I really am. But his coming suddenly
like that, just when I've been thinking. But it's awful.
(05:08):
I told you if anyone suspected it would make it
so hard. Look here, Bunning, Perhaps it will help you
if you know the way that I'm feeling about it.
I'll try and explain all these days, there's something in
me that's urging me to go out and confess conscience,
said Bunning solemnly. No, it isn't conscience at all. It's
something quite different, because the thing that's urging me isn't
(05:31):
urging me because I've done something I'm ashamed of. It's
urging me because I'm in a false position. There's that
on the one side, and on the other, I'm in
love with Rupert Craven's sister. Bunning gave a little cry. Yes,
that complicates things, doesn't it. Now you see why Rupert
Craven is the last person who must know anything about it.
(05:53):
It's because he loves his sister so much and suspects
I think that I care for her that he's going
to find out the truth. Does she care for you? Bunning?
Brought out huskily. I don't know. That's what I've got
to find out, because it all depends on that. If
she cares enough, it won't matter what you've done, And
(06:14):
if she doesn't care enough, it won't matter her knowing
because you oughtn't to marry her. Oh, and Bunning's eyes,
as they gazed at Ova, were those once more of
a devoted dog. She's lucky, then, he repeated, as though
to himself in his odd husky whisper, anything that I
can do, anything I can do. Two on the next evening,
(06:39):
about five o'clock, Olva went to the house in Rocket Road.
He went through a world that, in its frosty stillness,
held beauty in its hands like a china cup, so
fragile in its colors, so gentle in its outline, with
a moon round and of a creamy white, with a
sky faintly red, and stiff trees black and sharp. Cambridge
(07:04):
came to Ulva then as a very lovely thing. The
Cambridge life was a lovely thing, with its kindness, its simplicity,
its optimism. He was penetrated too, with a great sadness,
because he knew that life of that kind was gone
once and forever from him. Whatever came to him now,
it could never again be that peace. The long houses
(07:27):
flung black shadows across the white road, and God kept
him company. Miss Margaret Craven had not yet come in.
But would mister doone perhaps go up and see missus Craven.
The old woman's teeth chattered in the cold little hall.
We are all dead, all of us dead here, The
skins on the walls seemed to say, and you'll be
(07:50):
dead soon, Oh, yes you will. Olva went up to
Missus Craven. The windows of her room were tightly closed,
and a great fire was blazing. Before this. She lay
stretched out on a sofa of faded green, her black dress,
her motionless white hands, her pale face, her moving eyes.
She had beside her to day a little plate of
(08:12):
dry biscuits, and now and again her hand would move
across her black dress and break one of these with
a sharp sound, and then her hand would fall back again.
I am very glad to see you draw your chair
up to the fire. It is a chill day, but fine,
I believe, she regarded him gravely. It is not much
(08:34):
of life that I can watch from this room, mister doone.
It is good of you to come and see me.
There must be many other things for you to do.
He came at once to the point, I want your
permission to ask your daughter to marry me, Missus Craven.
There was a long silence between them. He seemed, in
his inner consciousness to be carrying on a dialog. You see,
(08:57):
he said to the shadow, I have forestalled you. I
shall ask Margaret Craven this evening to marry me. You
cannot prevent that. You cannot. And a voice answered, all
things betray thee who betrayest me. You have known us
a very short time, mister doone. Missus Craven's voice came
(09:18):
to him from a great distance. He felt as though
he were speaking to two persons. Time has nothing to
do with falling in love Missus Craven. He saw, to
his intense amazement that she was greatly moved. She who
had always seemed to him a mask, now was suddenly
revealed as suffering, tortured, intensely human. Her thin white hands
(09:41):
were pressed together. I am a lonely, unhappy woman, mister doone.
Margaret is now all that is left to me. Everything
has been taken from me, rupert, her voice was lost.
Very slowly, tears rolled down her cheeks. She began again, desperately, Margaret,
is all that I have. If I were left alone,
(10:03):
it would be too much for me. I could not
endure the silence. It was the more moving in that
it followed such stern reserve his own isolation, the curious
sense that he had that they were both of them
needing protection against the same power. It seemed to him
that if he raised his eyes he would see on
(10:23):
the opposite wall the shadow of that third presence. This
filled him with the tenderest pity, so that suddenly he
bent down and kissed her hand. She caught his with
a fierce, convulsive movement, and so they sat in silence,
whilst he felt the pulse of her hand beat through
(10:43):
his body, and once a tear rolled from her cheek
on to his wrist. You understand, she said, At least
you understand. I have always seen that. You know? Then
she whispered, how did you know? No, he was bewildered.
But before she could speak again, the door opened and
(11:05):
Margaret Craven came in. She moved with that restrained emotion
that he had seen in her when he had first
met her. She was some great force held in check,
some fire that blazed but must be hidden from the world.
And as she bent over her mother and kissed her,
the embrace had in it something of passionate protest. Both
(11:28):
women seemed to assert in it their right to quite
another sort of life. He saw that his moment with
Missus Craven had passed that fire, that humanity had gone
from her, and she lay back now on her sofa,
with the faint waxen lids close upon her eyes, her
hands thinly folded, almost a dead woman. Margaret kissed her again,
(11:53):
now softly and gently, and Ova went with her from
the room three. He was prepared to find that Rupert
had told her everything. He thought that he saw in
the gravity and sadness of her manner, and also in
the silence that she seemed deliberately at first to place
between them, that she was waiting for the right moment
(12:15):
to break it to him. He felt that she would
ask him gravely and with great kindness, but that in
the answer that he would give her it must be
all over the end the pursuit would be concluded. Then, suddenly,
in the way that she looked at him, he knew
that she had been told nothing. I'm afraid that mother
(12:37):
is very unwell. I'm afraid that you must have found her.
So if she could get away, he began, Ah, if
we could all get away, if only we could. But
we have talked of that before. It is quite impossible.
And even if we could, and how glad I should be,
I do not know that it would help mother. It
(12:59):
is Rupert is breaking her heart. Rupert for answer to
his exclamation, as she cried to him with all the
pent up suffering and loneliness of the last weeks in
her voice, Ah, mister, doone help me. I shall go
mad if something doesn't happen every day. It is worse
and I can't grapple with it. I'm not up to it.
(13:21):
If only they'd speak out, But it's this silence. She
seemed to pull herself together and went on more quietly.
You know that Rupert and I have been everything to
one another all our lives. We have never had a
secret of any kind. Until this last month. Rupert was
the most open, dearest boy in the world. His tenderness
(13:41):
with my mother was a most wonderful thing. And to me,
I cannot tell you what he was to me. I
suppose for the very reason that we were so much
to one another. We did not make any other very
close friends. I had girls and Dresden, of course, and
there were men at school and college for whom he cared.
(14:02):
But I think there can have been a few brothers
and sisters who were so entirely together in every way.
A month ago that all ceased. She flung her head
back with a sharp, defiant movement, as though the memory
of it hurt her. I've told you this before. I
talked to you about it when you were here last.
(14:22):
But since then he has become much worse, and I
am afraid that anything may happen. I have no one
to go to. It is killing my mother. And then
you were a friend of his. I hope that I
am now. That is the horrible part of it. But
it seems now that all this agitation, this trouble is
(14:42):
directed against you, against me. Yes, the other evening he
spoke about you here furiously. He said you must never
come here again, that I must never speak to you again.
He said that you had done dreadful things. And then
when I asked him, he could not tell me anything.
(15:03):
He seemed and you must look on it in that light,
mister Doone, as though he were not in the least
responsible for what he said. I'm afraid he is very
very ill. He is dreadfully unhappy, and yet he can
explain nothing. I too have been very unhappy and mother,
because we love him. If he wishes that I should
(15:24):
not come here again, Ovah began, But he is not responsible.
He really does not know what he is doing. He
never had the smallest trouble that he did not confide
it to me, And now I have noticed, of course,
Olva said that lately his manner to me has been strange.
I would have helped him if he would let me,
but he will not. He will have nothing to say
(15:47):
to me. I too have been very sorry about it.
I have been sorry because I'm fond of Rupert, but
also there is another stronger reason, because I love you Margaret.
As he spoke, he got up and stood by her chair.
He saw her take in his last words, at first
(16:07):
with a wondering gravity, then with a sudden splendor, so
that light flooded her face. Her arms made a little
helpless gesture, and she caught his hand. He drew her
up to him, out of her chair. Then with a fierce,
passionate movement, they held one another and clung together, as
though in a desperate, wild protest against the world. You
(16:31):
can't touch me. Now I've got her, he seemed to,
fling at the blank face of the old mirror. It
was his act defiance, but through his exultation he caught
the whisper. It might again have been conveyed to him
through the shrill, shivering notes of the bald beast. Tell her,
Tell her now, trust her, dear son, trust me. It
(16:54):
must be so in the end. Now, he heard her say,
I can stand it all. When you came into this
room weeks ago, she went on, I loved you from
the very first instant. Now I do not mind what
anyone can do. I too, loved you from the first instant.
You were so grave. I tried at first not to
(17:16):
think of you as a person at all, because I
thought that it was safer. And then gradually, although I
fought against you, I could not keep you out. You
drove your way in. You understood so wonderfully the things
that I wanted you to understand. Then Rupert and Mother
drove me to want you more and more. I thought
that you liked me, but I didn't know. Then, with
(17:39):
a little shiver, she clung to him, pressing close to him.
Oh hold me, Oh, hold me safe. The room was
now gathering to itself that dusk that gave it its
strangest air. The fire had fallen low, and only shown
now in the recesses of the high fireplace, with a
dull glimmer amongst the shadows. It's seemed that the presence
(18:01):
was gravely waiting. As Ova held Margaret in his arms,
he felt that he was fighting to keep her. In
the dark hollow of the mirror, he thought that he
saw the long white road, the mists, the little wood,
and some one running. It seemed to him that Margaret
was not there, that the room was dark and very heavy,
(18:23):
that some bell was ringing in his ear. Then about
him a thousand voices were murmuring, tell her, tell her,
tell her the truth. With a last effort, he tried
to cry, I will not tell her. His lips broke
on her name, Margaret. Then, with a little sigh, tumbling forward,
(18:43):
he fainted. End of Chapter twelve.
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Fudd Around And Find Out
UConn basketball star Azzi Fudd brings her championship swag to iHeart Women’s Sports with Fudd Around and Find Out, a weekly podcast that takes fans along for the ride as Azzi spends her final year of college trying to reclaim the National Championship and prepare to be a first round WNBA draft pick. Ever wonder what it’s like to be a world-class athlete in the public spotlight while still managing schoolwork, friendships and family time? It’s time to Fudd Around and Find Out!