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"indeed, I have sometimes fancied since that the flower-garden, to which the only access from the castle was through his rooms, was designed in order to give me exercise and employment under his own eye."
What is it that makes his fall in love? Is it a pretty face? A fancy title? An obligation? In this Elizabeth Gaskell tale, narrator Rae Wilson invites us to explore that very question.
Music and Sound Effects by:
No Way Out - by David Robson
The Mooche by Duke Ellington
"Sneaky Snitch" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
ā Support this podcast on Patreon āIn the oral tradition of storytelling, Echoes in the Dark, delivers classic works of gothic fiction weekly. Hosted and curated by Ms. Rae (an award-winning educator, actor, and literary analyst) the collection of stories spans popular works by authors like Edgar Allan PoeĀ as well as lesser known works by authors such as Guy de Maupassant. Each story is followed by a literary analysis.Ā
If youāre looking to enjoy more classic literature, struggle to find the time to read, hate reading, or just love listening to stories, then this podcast is for you.Ā
A Note on Content: While these stories are generally appropriate for listeners aged 12 and up, classic Gothic literature frequently explores themes of murder, romantic affairs, and "tortured souls." Stories are performed exactly as written in their original historical context.Ā
If you are looking to learn more ways to boost your literary analysis visit:
Speaker: Welcome to Echoes in the
Dark, a podcast dedicated to the
oral
Speaker: tradition of storytelling.
Speaker: If you're looking to enjoy
more classic literature, struggle to
Speaker: find the time to read, hate
reading, or just love listening to
Speaker: stories, then this podcast
is for you.
Speaker: At the end of each story,
I'll share my analysis on the
story's
Speaker: deeper meanings.
Speaker: The Grey Woman by Mrs.
Speaker: Gaskell.
Speaker: In part two of this story,
Anna's letter tells of how she and
Speaker: her maid Amante have
discovered her husband's deadly
secret, and
Speaker: the two women flee in the
night for fear if he finds out what
Speaker: they know.
Speaker 4: They later find
themselves trapped in the loft of a
stranger
Speaker 4: and are working to escape
undetected and unrecognizable.
Speaker 4: If you haven't listened
to part two of this story, please go
Speaker 4: back and listen.
Speaker: Then come right back here
and enjoy part three.
Speaker: And now The Grey Woman by
Mrs.
Speaker: Gasp.
Speaker 4: But towards the second
day, she required me two to exert
myself,
Speaker 4: and then all my heavy
despair returned.
Speaker 4: I let her dye my fair
hair and complexion with the
decaying
Speaker 4: shells of the stored up
walnuts.
Speaker 4: I let her blacken my
teeth, and even voluntarily broke a
front
Speaker 4: tooth the better to
effect my disguise.
Speaker 4: And through it all I had
no hope of evading my terrible
husband.
Speaker 4: The third night the
funeral was over, the drinking
ended, the
Speaker 4: guests gone, the miller
put to bed by his man being too
drunk
Speaker 4: to help himself.
Speaker 4: They stopped a little
while in the kitchen talking and
laughing
Speaker 4: about the news
housekeeper likely to come, and they
too went
Speaker 4: off, shutting but not
locking the door.
Speaker 4: Everything favoured us.
Speaker 4: Amante had tried her
ladder on one of the two previous
nights
Speaker 4: and could, by dexterous
throw from beneath, unfasten it from
Speaker 4: the hook to which it was
fixed, when it had served its
office.
Speaker 4: She made up a bundle of
worthless old clothes in order that
Speaker 4: we might the better
preserve our characters of a
travelling
Speaker 4: peddler and his wife.
Speaker 4: She stuffed a hump of her
back, she thickened my figure, she
Speaker 4: left her own clothes deep
down beneath a heap of others in the
Speaker 4: chest from which she had
taken the men's dress, which she
wore.
Speaker 4: And with a few francs in
her pocket, the sole money we had
either
Speaker 4: of us had about us when
we escaped, we let ourselves down
the
Speaker 4: ladder, unhooked it, and
passed into the cold darkness of
night
Speaker 4: again.
Speaker 4: We had discussed the
route which it would be well for us
to
Speaker 4: take while we lay perdu
in our loft.
Speaker 4: Amante had told me then
that her reason for inquiring when
we
Speaker 4: first left Le Rocher, by
which I had first been brought to
it,
Speaker 4: was to avoid the pursuit
which she was sure would first be
made
Speaker 4: in the direction of
Germany.
Speaker 4: But that now she thought
we might return to that district of
Speaker 4: country where my German
fashion of speaking French would
excite
Speaker 4: least observation, I
thought about Amante herself had
something
Speaker 4: peculiar in her accent,
which I had heard Monsieur de la
Torreille
Speaker 4: sneer at as Norman
Patois, but I said not a word beyond
agreeing
Speaker 4: to her proposal that we
should bend our steps towards
Germany.
Speaker 4: Once there we should, I
thought, be safe.
Speaker 4: Alas, I forgot the unruly
time that was overspreading all
Europe,
Speaker 4: overturning all law, and
all the protection which law gives.
Speaker 4: How we wandered, not
daring to ask our way, how we lived,
how
Speaker 4: we struggled through many
a danger and still more terrors of
Speaker 4: danger I shall not tell
you now.
Speaker 4: I will only relate two of
our adventures before we reached
Frankfurt.
Speaker 4: The first, although fatal
to an innocent lady, was yet, I
believe,
Speaker 4: the cause of my safety.
Speaker 4: The second, I shall tell
you that you may understand why I
did
Speaker 4: not return to my former
home, as I had hoped to do when we
lay
Speaker 4: in the miller's loft, and
I first became capable of groping
Speaker 4: after an idea of what my
future life might be.
Speaker 4: I cannot tell you how
much in these doubtings and
wanderings
Speaker 4: I became attached to
Monte.
Speaker 4: I have sometimes feared
since, lest I cared for her only
because
Speaker 4: she was so necessary to
my safety.
Speaker 4: But no, it was not so or
not so only or principally.
Speaker 4: She said once that she
was flying for her own life as well
as
Speaker 4: for mine.
Speaker 4: But we dared not speak
much of our danger or on the horrors
Speaker 4: that had gone before.
Speaker 4: We planned a little what
was to be our future course, but
even
Speaker 4: for that we did not look
forward long.
Speaker 4: How could we, when every
day we scarcely knew if we should
see
Speaker 4: the sun go down?
Speaker 4: For Amonty knew or
conjectured far more than I did of
the atrocity
Speaker 4: of the gang to which
Monsieur de la Tourelle belonged,
and every
Speaker 4: now and then, just as we
seemed to be sinking into the calm
Speaker 4: of security, we fell upon
traces of a pursuit after us in all
Speaker 4: directions.
Speaker 4: Once I remember, we must
have been nearly three weeks wearily
Speaker 4: walking through
unfrequented ways, day after day,
not daring
Speaker 4: to make inquiry as to our
whereabouts, nor yet to seem
purposeless
Speaker 4: in our wanderings.
Speaker 4: We came to a kind of
lonely roadside farriers in
blacksmiths.
Speaker 4: I was so tired that
Amante declared that, come what
might, we
Speaker 4: would stay there all
night, and accordingly she entered
the
Speaker 4: house and boldly
announced herself as a traveller
tailor, ready
Speaker 4: to do any odd jobs of
work that might be required for a
night's
Speaker 4: lodging and food for
herself and wife.
Speaker 4: She had adopted this plan
once or twice before and with good
Speaker 4: success, for her father
had been a tailor in ruin, and as a
Speaker 4: girl she had often helped
him with his work and knew the
tailor's
Speaker 4: slang and habits, down to
the particular whistle and cry which
Speaker 4: in France tells so much
to those of a trade.
Speaker 4: At this blacksmith's, as
at most other solitary houses far
away
Speaker 4: from a town, there was
not only a store of men's clothes
laid
Speaker 4: by as wanting mending
when the housewife could afford
time,
Speaker 4: but there was a natural
craving after news from a distance.
Speaker 4: Such news as a wandering
tailor is bound to furnish.
Speaker 4: The early November
afternoon was closing into evening
as we
Speaker 4: sat down, the cross
legged on the great table in the
blacksmith's
Speaker 4: kitchen drawn close to
the window, I close behind her,
sewing
Speaker 4: at another part of the
same garment, and from time to time
well
Speaker 4: scolded by my seeming
husband.
Speaker 4: All at once she turned
round to speak to me.
Speaker 4: It was only one word.
Speaker 4: Cottage I had seen
nothing.
Speaker 4: I sat out of the light,
but I turned sick for an instant,
and
Speaker 4: then I braced myself up
into a strange strength of endurance
Speaker 4: to go through I knew not
what.
Speaker 4: The blacksmith's forge
was in a shed beside the house and
fronting
Speaker 4: the road.
Speaker 4: I heard the hammers stop
plying their continual rhythmic
beat.
Speaker 4: She had seen why they
ceased.
Speaker 4: A rider had come up to
the forge and dismounted, leading
his
Speaker 4: horse to be reshawed.
Speaker 4: The broad red lights of
the forge fire had revealed the face
Speaker 4: of the rider to Monte,
and she apprehended the consequence
that
Speaker 4: really ensued.
Speaker 4: The rider, after some
words with the blacksmith, was
ushered
Speaker 4: in by him into the house
place where we sat.
Speaker 4: Here, good wife, a cup of
wine, and some gallet for this
gentleman
Speaker 4: Anything, anything,
madame, that I can eat and drink in
my hand
Speaker 4: while my horse is being
shod.
Speaker 4: I am in haste and must go
on to Forbach tonight.
Speaker 4: The blacksmith's wife
lighted her lamp.
Speaker 4: Amante had asked her for
it five minutes before.
Speaker 4: How thankful we were that
she had no more speedily complied
Speaker 4: with our request.
Speaker 4: As it was, we sat in dusk
shadow, pretending to stitch away
Speaker 4: but scarcely able to see.
Speaker 4: The lamp was placed on
the stove near which my husband, for
Speaker 4: it was he, stood and
warmed himself.
Speaker 4: By and by he turned round
and looked all over the room, taking
Speaker 4: us in with about the same
degree of interest as the inanimate
Speaker 4: furniture.
Speaker 4: Amante, cross legged,
fronting him, stooped over her work,
whistling
Speaker 4: softly all the while.
Speaker 4: He turned again to the
stove, impatiently rubbing his
hands.
Speaker 4: He had finished his wine
and gallowed and wanted to be off.
Speaker 4: I am in haste, my good
woman.
Speaker 4: Ask thy husband to get on
more quickly, I will pay him double
Speaker 4: if he makes haste.
Speaker 4: The woman went on to his
bidding.
Speaker 4: And once more turned
round to face us.
Speaker 4: Amante went on to the
second part of the tune.
Speaker 4: He took it up, whistled a
suck it for an instant or so, and
Speaker 4: then the blacksmith's
wife re entering, he moved towards
her
Speaker 4: as if to receive her
answer the more speedily.
Speaker 2: One moment, Monsieur,
only one moment.
Speaker 4: There was a nail out of
the off foreshoe, which my husband
is
Speaker 4: replacing.
Speaker 4: It would delay Monsieur
again if that shoe also came off.
Speaker 4: Madame is right, he said.
Speaker 4: But my haste is urgent.
Speaker 4: If Madame knew my
reasons, she would pardon my
impatience.
Speaker 4: Once a happy husband, now
a deserted and betrayed man, I
pursue
Speaker 4: a wife on whom I lavished
all my love, but who has abused my
Speaker 4: confidants and fled from
my house, doubtless to some powder
Speaker 4: mower, carrying off with
her all the jewels and money on
which
Speaker 4: she could lay her hands.
Speaker 2: It is possible Madame may
have heard or seen something of her.
Speaker 4: She was accompanied in
her flight by a base, proflagent
woman
Speaker 4: from Paris, whom I,
unhappy man, had myself engaged for
my wife's
Speaker 4: waiting maid, little
dreaming what corruption I was
bringing
Speaker 4: into my house.
Speaker 4: Is it possible?
Speaker 4: said the coat woman,
throwing up her hands.
Speaker 4: Amante went on whistling
a little lower out of respect to the
Speaker 4: conversation.
Speaker 4: However, I am tracing the
wicked fugitives.
Speaker 4: I am on their track.
Speaker 4: And the handsome,
effeminate face looked as ferocious
as any
Speaker 4: demon's.
Speaker 4: They will not escape me,
but every minute is minute of misery
Speaker 4: to me till I meet my
wife.
Speaker 4: Madame has sympathy, has
she not?
Speaker 4: He drew his face into a
hard, unnatural smile, and then both
Speaker 4: went out to the forge as
if once more to hasten the
blacksmith
Speaker 4: over his work.
Speaker 4: Amante stopped her
whistling for one instant.
Speaker 4: Go on as you are without
change of an eyelid even.
Speaker 4: In a few minutes he will
be gone and it will be over.
Speaker 4: It was a necessary
caution, for I was on the point of
getting
Speaker 4: way and throwing myself
weakly upon her neck.
Speaker 4: He went on, she whistling
and stitching, I making semblance
Speaker 4: to sew.
Speaker 4: And it was well we did
so, for almost directly he came back
Speaker 4: for his whip which he had
laid down and forgotten, and again
Speaker 4: I felt one of those
sharp, quick scanning glances sit
all around
Speaker 4: the room, and taking in
all.
Speaker 4: Then we heard him right
away, and then it had been long too
Speaker 4: dark to see well.
Speaker 4: I dropped my work, and
gave way to my trembling and
shuddering.
Speaker 4: The blacksmith's wife
returned.
Speaker 4: She was a good creature.
Speaker 4: Amante told her I was
cold and weary, and insisted on my
stopping
Speaker 4: my work and going to sit
near the stove, hastening at the
same
Speaker 4: time her preparations for
supper, which, in honor of us and
Speaker 4: of Moncio's liberal
payment, was to be a little less
frugal
Speaker 4: and ordinary.
Speaker 4: It was well for me that
she made me taste a little of the
cider
Speaker 4: soup she was preparing,
or I could not have held up, in
spite
Speaker 4: of Amante's warning look
and the remembrance of her fruit
exhortations
Speaker 4: to act resolutely up to
the characters we had assumed,
whichever
Speaker 4: befell.
Speaker 4: To cover my agitation,
Amante stopped her whistling and
began
Speaker 4: to talk, and by the time
the blacksmith came in, she and the
Speaker 4: good woman of the house
were in full flow.
Speaker 4: He began at once upon the
handsome gentleman who had paid him
Speaker 4: so well.
Speaker 4: All his sympathy was with
him, and both he and his wife only
Speaker 4: wished that he might
overtake his wicked wife and punish
her
Speaker 4: as she deserved.
Speaker 4: And then the conversation
took a turn not uncommon to those
Speaker 4: whose lives are quiet and
monotonous.
Speaker 4: Everyone seemed to vie
with each other in telling about
some
Speaker 4: horror, and the savage
and mysterious band of robbers
caught
Speaker 4: the chauffeurs, who
infested all the roads leading to
the Rhine
Speaker 4: with Schinderhanis at
their head, furnished many a tale
which
Speaker 4: made the very marrow of
my bones run cold, and quenched even
Speaker 4: Amante's power of
talking.
Speaker 4: Her eyes grew large and
wild, her cheeks blanched, and for
once
Speaker 4: she sought by her looks
help from me.
Speaker 4: The new call upon me
aroused me.
Speaker 4: I rose and said with
their permission my husband and I
would
Speaker 4: seek our bed, for that we
had travelled far and were early
risers.
Speaker 4: I added that we would get
up betimes and finish our piece of
Speaker 4: work.
Speaker 4: The blacksmith said we
should be early birds if we rose
before
Speaker 4: him, and the good wife
seconded my proposal with kindly
bustle.
Speaker 4: One other such story as
those they had been relating, and I
Speaker 4: do believe Amante would
have fainted.
Speaker 4: As it was, a night's rest
set her up.
Speaker 4: We arose and finished our
work betimes and shared the
plentiful
Speaker 4: breakfast of the family.
Speaker 4: Then we had set forth
again only knowing that to Forbach
we
Speaker 4: must not go, yet
believing, as was indeed the case,
that Forbach
Speaker 4: lay between us and that
Germany to which we were directing
our
Speaker 4: course.
Speaker 4: Two days more we wandered
on, making a round, I suspect, and
Speaker 4: returning upon the road
to Forbach, a league or two nearer
to
Speaker 4: that town than the
blacksmith's house.
Speaker 4: But as we never made in
Cariz, I hardly knew where we were.
Speaker 4: When we came one night to
a small town with a good large
rambling
Speaker 4: inn in the very center of
the principal street, we had begun
Speaker 4: to feel as if there were
more safety in towns than in the
loneliness
Speaker 4: of the country.
Speaker 4: As we had parted with a
ring of mine, not many days before
to
Speaker 4: a travelling jeweller who
was too glad to purchase it far
below
Speaker 4: its real value to make
many inquiries as to how it came
into
Speaker 4: the possession of a poor
working tailor.
Speaker 4: Such as the Monty seemed
to be, we resolved to stay at this
Speaker 4: inn all night and gather
such particulars and information as
Speaker 4: we could by which to
direct our onward course.
Speaker 4: We took our supper in the
darkest corner of the Sala Mangier,
Speaker 4: having previously
bargained for a small bedroom across
the court
Speaker 4: and over the stables.
Speaker 4: We needed food sorely,
but we hurried on our meal from
dread
Speaker 4: of anyone entering that
public room who might recognize us.
Speaker 4: Just in the middle of our
meal, the public diligence drove
lumbering
Speaker 4: up under the port course
and disgorged its passengers.
Speaker 4: Most of them turned into
the room where we sat, scouring and
Speaker 4: fearful for the doors
opposite the porter's lodge, and
both
Speaker 4: opened on to the wide
covered entrance from the street.
Speaker 4: Among the passengers came
in a young fair haired lady,
attended
Speaker 4: by an airdilly French
maid.
Speaker 4: The poor young creature
tossed her head and shrank away from
Speaker 4: the common room full of
evil smells and promiscuous company,
Speaker 4: and demanded in German
French to be taken to some private
apartments.
Speaker 4: We heard that she and her
maid had come in the coop, and
probably
Speaker 4: from pride, poor young
lady.
Speaker 4: She had avoided all
association with her fellow
passengers thereby
Speaker 4: exciting their dislike
and ridicule.
Speaker 4: All these little pieces
of hearsay had a significance to us
Speaker 4: afterwards, though at the
time, the only remark made that bore
Speaker 4: upon the future was
Amont's whisper to me that the young
lady's
Speaker 4: hair was exactly the
color of mine, which she had cut off
and
Speaker 4: burnt in the stove in the
miller's kitchen in one of her
descents
Speaker 4: from our hiding place in
the loft.
Speaker 4: As soon as we could, we
struck around in the shadow, leaving
Speaker 4: the boisterous merry
fellow passengers to their supper.
Speaker 4: We crossed the court,
borrowed a lantern from the ulster,
and
Speaker 4: scrambled up the rude
steps to our chamber above the
stable.
Speaker 4: There was no door into
it.
Speaker 4: The entrance was the hole
into which the ladder fitted.
Speaker 4: The window looked into
the court.
Speaker 4: We were tired and soon
fell asleep.
Speaker 4: I was wakened by a noise
in the stable below.
Speaker 4: One instant of listening,
and I awakened a Monty placing my
Speaker 4: hand on her mouth to
prevent any exclamation in her half
browsed
Speaker 4: state.
Speaker 4: We heard my husband
speaking about his horse to the
Osler.
Speaker 4: It was his voice.
Speaker 4: I'm sure of it.
Speaker 4: Monty said so too.
Speaker 4: We durst not move to rise
and satisfy ourselves.
Speaker 4: For five minutes or so he
went on giving directions, then he
Speaker 4: left the stable, and
softly stealing to our window, we
saw him
Speaker 4: cross the court and
reenter the inn.
Speaker 4: We consulted as to what
we should do.
Speaker 4: We feared to excite
remark or suspicion by descending
and leaving
Speaker 4: our chamber, or else
immediate escape was our strongest
idea.
Speaker 4: Then the ostler left the
stable, locking the door on the
outside.
Speaker 4: We must try and drop
through the window, if indeed it is
well
Speaker 4: to go at all, said
Amante.
Speaker 4: With reflection came
wisdom.
Speaker 4: We should excite
suspicion by leaving without paying
our bill.
Speaker 4: We were on foot and might
easily be pursued.
Speaker 4: So we sat on our bed's
edge talking and shivering, while
from
Speaker 4: across the court the
laughter rang merrily, and the
company
Speaker 4: slowly dispersed one by
one, their lights flitting past the
Speaker 4: windows as they went
upstairs and settled each one to his
rest.
Speaker 4: We crept into our bed,
holding each other tight and
listening
Speaker 4: to every sound as if we
thought we were trapped, and might
meet
Speaker 4: our death at any moment.
Speaker 4: In the dead of night,
just as the profound stillness
preceding
Speaker 4: the turn into another
day, we heard a soft, cautious step
crossing
Speaker 4: the yard.
Speaker 4: The key into the stable
was turned, someone came into the
stable.
Speaker 4: We felt rather than heard
him there.
Speaker 4: A horse started a little
and made a restless movement with
its
Speaker 4: feet, then winnied
recognition.
Speaker 4: He who had entered made
two or three low sounds to the
animal,
Speaker 4: and then led him into the
court.
Speaker 4: Amante sprang to the
window with the noiseless activity
of the
Speaker 4: cat.
Speaker 4: She looked out but dared
not speak a word.
Speaker 4: We heard the great door
to the street open, a pause for
mounting,
Speaker 4: and the horse's footsteps
were lost in the distance.
Speaker 4: Then Amante came back to
me.
Speaker 4: It was he.
Speaker 4: He is gone, said she, and
once more we lay down, trembling and
Speaker 4: shaking.
Speaker 4: This time we fell sound
asleep.
Speaker 4: We slept long and late.
Speaker 4: We were awakened by many
hurrying feet and many confused
voices.
Speaker 4: All the world seemed
awake and astir.
Speaker 4: We rose and dressed
ourselves, and coming down we looked
around
Speaker 4: among the crowd collected
in the courtyard in order to To
assure
Speaker 4: ourselves he was not
there before we left the shelter of
the
Speaker 4: stable.
Speaker 4: The instant we were seen,
two or three people rushed to us.
Speaker 4: Have you heard?
Speaker 4: Do you know?
Speaker 4: That poor young lady oh
come and see.
Speaker 4: And so we were hurried
almost in spite of ourselves across
the
Speaker 4: court and up the great
open stairs to the main building of
the
Speaker 4: inn into a bedchamber,
where lay the beautiful young German
Speaker 4: lady, so full of peaceful
pride the night before, now white
Speaker 4: and still in death.
Speaker 4: By her stood the French
maid, crying and gesticulating Well
Speaker 4: Madame, if you had but
suffered me to stay with you.
Speaker 2: Oh Baron what will he
say?
Speaker 2: And so she went on.
Speaker 4: Her state had but just
been discovered.
Speaker 4: It had been supposed that
she was fatigued and was sleeping
Speaker 4: late until a few minutes
before.
Speaker 4: The surgeon of the town
had been sent for, and the landlord
Speaker 4: of the inn was trying
vainly to enforce order until he
came,
Speaker 4: and from time to time,
drinking little cups of brandy and
offering
Speaker 4: them to the guests, who
were all assembled there, pretty
much
Speaker 4: as the servants were
doing in the courtyard.
Speaker 4: At last the surgeon came.
Speaker 4: All fell back and hung on
the words that were to fall from his
Speaker 4: lips.
Speaker 4: See, said the landlord,
this lady came last night by the
diligence
Speaker 4: with her maid, doubtless
a great lady, for she must have a
private
Speaker 4: sitting room.
Speaker 2: She was the Madame the
Baroness de Rodia, said the French
maid.
Speaker 4: And was difficult to
please in the matter of supper on
the sleeping
Speaker 4: room.
Speaker 4: She went to bed well,
though fatigued.
Speaker 2: Her maid left her.
Speaker 2: I begged to be allowed to
sleep in her room as we were in a
Speaker 2: strange inn of the cat of
which we knew nothing, but she would
Speaker 2: not let me.
Speaker 2: My mistress was such a
great lady.
Speaker 4: And slept with my
servants, continued the landlord.
Speaker 4: This morning we thought
Madame was still slumbering, but
when
Speaker 4: eight, nine, ten, and
near eleven o'clock came, I bade her
maid
Speaker 4: use my pass key and enter
her room.
Speaker 2: That locked only closed,
and here she was found.
Speaker 2: Dead is she not,
Monsieur, with her face down on her
pillow
Speaker 2: and her beautiful hair
all scattered wild.
Speaker 2: She never would let me
tie it up, saying it made her
headache.
Speaker 4: Such hair, said the
waiting maid, lifting up a long
golden tress
Speaker 4: and letting it fall
again.
Speaker 4: I remembered De Monte's
words the night before, and crept
close
Speaker 4: up to her.
Speaker 4: Meanwhile, the doctor was
examining the body underneath the
Speaker 4: bedclothes which the
landlord until now had not allowed
to be
Speaker 4: disarranged.
Speaker 4: The surgeon drew out his
hand, all bathed and stained with
blood,
Speaker 4: and holding up a short
sharp knife with a piece of paper
fastened
Speaker 4: round it.
Speaker 4: Here has been foul play,
he said.
Speaker 4: The deceased lady has
been murdered.
Speaker 4: This dagger was aimed
straight at her heart.
Speaker 4: Then, putting on his
spectacles, he read the writing on
the
Speaker 4: bloody paper, dimmed and
horribly obscure as it was.
Speaker 4: Numer Anis Le
Chauffeinjon Let us go, said I to
Amati, who let
Speaker 4: us leave this horrible
place.
Speaker 4: Wait a little, said she.
Speaker 4: Only a few minutes more
it would be better.
Speaker 4: Immediately the voices of
all proclaimed their suspicions of
Speaker 4: the cavalier who had
arrived last the night before.
Speaker 4: He had, they said, made
so many inquiries about the young
lady
Speaker 4: whose supercilious
conduct all in the Salle Amang had
been discussing
Speaker 4: on his entrance.
Speaker 4: They were talking about
her as we left the room.
Speaker 4: He must have come in
directly afterwards and not until he
had
Speaker 4: learnt all about her, had
he spoken of the business which
necessitated
Speaker 4: his departure at dawn of
day, and made his arrangement with
Speaker 4: both of the landlord and
Osler for the possession of the keys
Speaker 4: of the stable and Port
Cosia.
Speaker 4: In short, there was no
doubt as to the murderer, even
before
Speaker 4: the arrival of the legal
functionary, who had been sent for
Speaker 4: by the surgeon, but the
word on the paper chilled everyone
with
Speaker 4: terror.
Speaker 4: Les chauffeurs?
Speaker 4: Who were they?
Speaker 4: No one knew some of the
gang might even then be in the room,
Speaker 4: overhearing and noting
down fresh objects for vengeance.
Speaker 4: In Germany, I had heard
little of this terrible gang, and I
Speaker 4: had paid no greater heed
to the stories related once or twice
Speaker 4: about them in Karl Run
than one does the tales about ogres.
Speaker 4: But here, in their very
haunts, I learnt the full amount of
Speaker 4: the terror they inspired.
Speaker 4: No one would be legally
responsible for any evidence
criminating
Speaker 4: the murderer.
Speaker 4: The public prosecutor
shrank from the duties of his
office.
Speaker 4: What do I say?
Speaker 4: Neither Amante nor I,
knowing far more of the actual guilt
of
Speaker 4: the man who had killed
that poor sleeping young lady, durst
Speaker 4: breathe a word.
Speaker 4: We appeared to be wholly
ignorant of everything.
Speaker 4: We who might have told so
much.
Speaker 2: But how could we?
Speaker 4: We were broken down with
terrific anxiety and fatigue with
the
Speaker 4: knowledge that we, above
all, were doomed victims, and that
Speaker 4: the blood heavily
dripping from the bedclothes onto
the floor,
Speaker 4: was dripping thus out of
the poor dead body, because when
living,
Speaker 4: she had been mistaken for
me.
Speaker 4: At length, Amante went up
to the landlord and asked permission
Speaker 4: to leave his inn doing
all openly and humbly, so as to
excite
Speaker 4: neither ill will nor
suspicion.
Speaker 4: Indeed, suspicion was
otherwise directed, and he willingly
gave
Speaker 4: us leave to depart.
Speaker 4: A few days afterwards, we
were across the Rhine in Germany
making
Speaker 4: our way towards
Frankfurt, but still keeping our
disguises and
Speaker 4: Amante still working at
her trade.
Speaker 4: On the way we met a young
man, a wandering journeyman from
Heidelberg.
Speaker 4: I knew him, although I
did not choose that he should know
me.
Speaker 4: I asked him as carelessly
as I could, how the old miller was
Speaker 4: now.
Speaker 4: He told me he was dead.
Speaker 4: This realization of the
worst apprehensions caused by his
long
Speaker 4: silence shocked me
inexpressibly.
Speaker 4: It seemed as though every
prop gave way from under me.
Speaker 4: I had been talking to
Amonty only that very day of the
safety
Speaker 4: and comfort of the home
that awaited her in my father's
house,
Speaker 4: of the gratitude which
the old man would feel towards her
and
Speaker 4: how there in that
peaceful dwelling, far away from the
horrible
Speaker 4: land of France she could
find ease and security for all the
Speaker 4: rest of her life.
Speaker 4: All this I thought I had
to promise, and even yet more had I
Speaker 4: looked for for myself.
Speaker 4: I looked to the
unburdening of my heart and
conscience by telling
Speaker 4: all I knew to my best and
wisest friend.
Speaker 4: I looked to his love as a
sure guidance as well as a
comforting
Speaker 4: stay, and behold, he was
gone away from me forever.
Speaker 4: I had left the room
hastily on hearing of this sad news
from
Speaker 4: the Heidelberg.
Speaker 4: Presently Amante
followed.
Speaker 4: Poor Madame, said she,
consoling me to the best of her
ability.
Speaker 4: And then she told me by
degrees what more she had learned
respecting
Speaker 4: my home about which she
knew almost as much as I did from my
Speaker 4: frequent talks on the
subject both at Le Rochia and on the
dreary,
Speaker 4: doleful road we had come
along.
Speaker 4: She had continued the
conversation after I left by asking
about
Speaker 4: my brother and his wife.
Speaker 4: Of course they lived on
at the mill, but the man said, with
Speaker 4: what truth I know not,
but I believed it firmly at the
time,
Speaker 4: that Babette had
completely got the upper hand of my
brother,
Speaker 4: who only saw through her
eyes and heard with her ears.
Speaker 4: But there had been much
hideover gossip of late days about
her
Speaker 4: sudden intimacies with
the grand French gentleman who had
appeared
Speaker 4: at the mill, a relation
by marriage, married in fact to the
Speaker 4: Miller's sister, who by
all accounts had behaved abominably
Speaker 4: and ungratefully.
Speaker 4: But that was no reason
for Babette's extreme and sudden
intimacy
Speaker 4: with him going about
everywhere with the French
gentleman, and
Speaker 4: since he left, as the
Heidelberger said he knew for a
fact,
Speaker 4: corresponding with him
constantly.
Speaker 4: Yet her husband saw no
harm in it all, seemingly, though,
to
Speaker 4: be sure, he was so out of
spirits, what with his father's
death
Speaker 4: and news of his sister's
infamy, that he hardly knew how to
Speaker 4: hold up his head.
Speaker 4: Now, said Amante, all
this proves that Monsieur de la
Torelle
Speaker 4: has suspected that you
would go back to the nest in which
you
Speaker 4: were reared, and that he
has been there and found that you
have
Speaker 4: not yet returned.
Speaker 4: But probably he still
imagines that you will do so and has
accordingly
Speaker 4: engaged your sister in
law as a kind of informant.
Speaker 4: Madame has said that her
sister in law bore no extreme
goodwill
Speaker 4: and the defamatory story
he has got, the start of us in
spreading
Speaker 4: will not tend to increase
the favour in which your sister in
Speaker 4: law holds you.
Speaker 4: No doubt the assassin was
retracing his steps when we met him
Speaker 4: near Faubach, and having
heard of the poor German lady with
Speaker 4: her French maid and her
pretty blonde complexion, he
followed
Speaker 4: her.
Speaker 4: If Madame will still be
guided by me.
Speaker 4: And my child, I beg of
you still to trust me, said Amante,
breaking
Speaker 4: out her respectful
formality into the way of talking
more natural
Speaker 4: to those who had shared
and escaped from common dangers.
Speaker 4: More natural too, where
the speaker was conscious of a power
Speaker 4: of protection which the
other did not possess.
Speaker 4: We will go on to fake
foot and lose ourselves for a time
at
Speaker 4: least in the numbers of
people who throng a great town, and
Speaker 4: you have told me that
Frankfurt is a great town.
Speaker 4: We will still be husband
and wife.
Speaker 4: We will take a small
lodging and you should housekeep and
live
Speaker 4: indoors.
Speaker 4: I, as the rougher and the
more alert, will continue my
father's
Speaker 4: trade and seek work at
the tailor's shop.
Speaker 4: I could think of no
better plan, so we followed this out
in
Speaker 4: a back street at
Frankfurt, where we found two
furnished rooms
Speaker 4: to let on a sixth story.
Speaker 4: The one we entered had no
light from day, a dingy lamp swung
Speaker 4: perpetually from the
ceiling, and from that, or from the
open
Speaker 4: door leading into the
bedroom beyond, came our light.
Speaker 4: The bedroom was more
cheerful, but very small.
Speaker 4: Such as it was, it almost
exceeded our possible means.
Speaker 4: The money from the sale
of my ring was almost exhausted, and
Speaker 4: Amante was a stranger in
the place speaking only French.
Speaker 4: Moreover, and the good
Germans were hating the French
people
Speaker 4: right heartedly.
Speaker 4: However, we succeeded
better than our hopes and even laid
by
Speaker 4: a little against the time
of my confinement.
Speaker 4: I never stirred abroad
and saw no one.
Speaker 4: Anamante's want of
knowledge of German kept her in a
state of
Speaker 4: comparative isolation.
Speaker 3: At length, my child was
born.
Speaker 3: My poor, worse than
fatherless child.
Speaker 3: It was a girl, as I had
prayed for.
Speaker 4: I had feared lest a boy
might have something of the tiger
nature
Speaker 4: of its father, but a girl
seemed all my own.
Speaker 4: And yet not all my own.
Speaker 4: For the faithful Amonty's
delight and glory in the babe almost
Speaker 4: succeeded mine in outward
show it certainly did.
Speaker 4: We had not been able to
afford my attendance beyond what a
neighboring
Speaker 4: sage Fem could give, and
she came frequently, bringing with
Speaker 4: her a little store of
gossip and wonderful tales cold out
of
Speaker 4: her own experience every
time.
Speaker 4: One day, she began to
tell me about a great lady in whose
service
Speaker 4: her daughter had lived as
Skolyan or some such thing.
Speaker 4: Such a beautiful lady,
with such a handsome husband.
Speaker 4: But grief comes to the
palaces as well as to the garret,
and
Speaker 4: why or wherefore no one
knew.
Speaker 4: But somehow, the Baron de
Roder must have incurred the
vengeance
Speaker 4: of the terrible
chauffeurs, for not many months ago,
as Madame
Speaker 4: was going to see her
relations in Els, she was stabbed
dead
Speaker 4: as she lay in bed at some
hotel on the road.
Speaker 3: Had I not seen it in the
gazette?
Speaker 3: Had I not heard?
Speaker 4: Why she had been told
that as far off as Lyon, there were
placards
Speaker 4: offering a heavy reward
on the part of the Baron de Roder
for
Speaker 4: information respecting
the murderer of his wife.
Speaker 4: But no one could help
him, for all who could bear evidence
were
Speaker 4: in such terror of the
chauffeurs, there were hundreds of
them
Speaker 4: she had been told, rich
and poor, great gentlemen and
peasants,
Speaker 4: all leagued together by
most frightful oaths to hunt to the
Speaker 4: death any who bore
witness against them, so that even
they who
Speaker 4: survived the tortures to
which the chauffeurs subjected many
Speaker 4: of the people whom they
plunder, dared not to recognize them
Speaker 4: again, would not dare,
even did they see them at the bar of
Speaker 4: a court of justice.
Speaker 4: For if one were
condemned, were there not hundreds
sworn to
Speaker 4: avenge his death?
Speaker 4: I told all this to
Amante, and we began to fear that if
Monsieur
Speaker 4: de la Torelle or Le
Febble, or any of the gang at Le
Rochers
Speaker 4: had seen these placards,
they would know that the poor lady
Speaker 4: stabbed by the former was
the Baroness de Rodier, and that
they
Speaker 4: would set forth against
in search of me.
Speaker 4: This fresh apprehension
told on my health and impeded my
recovery.
Speaker 4: We had so little money we
could not call in a physician.
Speaker 4: At least not one in
established practice.
Speaker 4: But Amante found out a
young doctor for whom indeed she had
Speaker 4: sometimes worked, and
offering to pay him in kind, she
brought
Speaker 4: him to see me her sick
wife.
Speaker 4: He was very gentle and
thoughtful, though like ourselves
very
Speaker 4: poor.
Speaker 4: But he gave much time and
consideration to the case, saying
Speaker 4: once to Monty that he saw
my constitution had experienced some
Speaker 4: severe shock from which
it was probable that my nerves would
Speaker 4: never entirely recover.
Speaker 4: By and by I shall name
this doctor, and then you will know
better
Speaker 4: than I could describe his
character.
Speaker 4: I grew strong in time,
stronger at least.
Speaker 4: I was able to work a
little at home and to sun myself and
my
Speaker 4: baby at the garret window
and the roof.
Speaker 4: It was all the air I
dared to take.
Speaker 4: I constantly wore the
disguise I had first set out with,
as
Speaker 4: constantly had I renewed
the disfiguring dye which changed my
Speaker 4: hair and complexion.
Speaker 4: But the perpetual state
of terror in which I had been during
Speaker 4: the whole months
succeeding my escape from Le Rocher
made me
Speaker 4: loathe the idea of ever
again walking in open daylight,
exposed
Speaker 4: to the sight and
recognition of ever passer by.
Speaker 4: In vain?
Speaker 4: Amante reasoned, in vain
the doctor urged.
Speaker 4: Dacile in every other
thing.
Speaker 4: In this I was obstinate.
Speaker 4: I would not stir out.
Speaker 4: One day Amante returned
from her work, full of news, some of
Speaker 4: it good, some such as to
cause us apprehension.
Speaker 4: The good news was this.
Speaker 4: The master for whom she
worked as a juryman was going to
send
Speaker 4: her with some others to a
great house at the other side of
Frankfurt,
Speaker 4: where there were to be
private theatricals, and where many
new
Speaker 4: dresses and much
alteration of old ones would be
required.
Speaker 4: The tailors employed were
all to stay at this house until the
Speaker 4: day of the representation
was over, as it was at some distance
Speaker 4: from the town, and no one
could tell when their work would be
Speaker 4: ended.
Speaker 4: But the pay was to be
proportionately good.
Speaker 4: The other thing she had
to say was this.
Speaker 4: She had that day met the
travelling jeweller to whom she and
Speaker 4: I had sold my ring.
Speaker 4: It was rather a peculiar
one given to me by my husband.
Speaker 4: We had felt at the time
that it might be the means of
tracing
Speaker 4: us, but we were penniless
and starving, and what else could
Speaker 4: we do?
Speaker 4: She had seen that this
Frenchman had recognized her and at
the
Speaker 4: same instant that she did
him.
Speaker 4: And she thought at the
same time that there was a gleam of
more
Speaker 4: than common intelligence
on his face as he did so.
Speaker 4: This idea had been
confirmed by his following her for
some way
Speaker 4: on the other side of the
street, but she had evaded him with
Speaker 4: her better knowledge of
the town and the increasing darkness
Speaker 4: of the night.
Speaker 4: Still, it was well that
she was going to such a distance
from
Speaker 4: our dwelling on the next
day, and she had brought me in a
stock
Speaker 4: of provisions, begging me
to keep within doors, with a strange
Speaker 4: kind of fearful oblivion
of the fact that I had never set
foot
Speaker 4: beyond the threshold of
the house since I had first entered
Speaker 4: it, scarce ever venture
down the stairs.
Speaker 4: But although my poor, my
dear, very faithful Amante was like
Speaker 4: one possessed that last
night, she spoke continually of the
Speaker 4: dead, which is a bad sign
for the living.
Speaker 3: She kissed you.
Speaker 3: Yes It was you, my
daughter, my darling, who I bore
beneath
Speaker 3: my bosom away from the
fearful castle of your father.
Speaker 3: I call him so for the
first time.
Speaker 3: I must call him so once
again before I have done.
Speaker 3: Amante kissed you, sweet
baby, blessed little comforter, as
Speaker 3: if she never could leave
off.
Speaker 3: And then she went away
alive.
Speaker 3: Two days.
Speaker 4: Three days passed away.
Speaker 3: That third evening, I was
sitting within my bolted doors, you
Speaker 3: asleep on your pillow by
my side, when a step came up the
stair
Speaker 3: and I knew it must be for
me, for ours were the topmost rooms.
Speaker 3: Someone knocked.
Speaker 3: I held my very breath,
but someone spoke, and I knew it was
Speaker 3: the good doctor Voltaire.
Speaker 3: Then I crept to the door
and answered.
Speaker 3: Are you alone?
Speaker 4: asked I.
Speaker 4: Yes, said he in a still
lower voice.
Speaker 4: Let me in.
Speaker 4: I let him in and he was
as alert as I in bolting and barring
Speaker 4: the door.
Speaker 4: Then he came and
whispered to me his doleful tale.
Speaker 4: He had come from a
hospital in the opposite quarter of
the town.
Speaker 4: The hospital which he
visited.
Speaker 4: He should have been with
me sooner, but he had feared least
Speaker 4: he should be watched.
Speaker 4: He had come from Amante's
deathbed.
Speaker 4: Her fears of the jeweler
were too well founded.
Speaker 4: She had left the house
where she was employed that morning
to
Speaker 4: transact some errand
connected with her work in the town.
Speaker 4: She must have been
followed, and dogged on her way back
through
Speaker 4: solitary wood paths for
some of the wood rangers belonging
to
Speaker 4: the great house had found
her lying there, stabbed to death,
Speaker 4: but not dead.
Speaker 4: With the Ponard again
plunged through the fatal writing
once
Speaker 4: more.
Speaker 4: But this time with the
word en so as to show that the
assassin
Speaker 4: was aware of his previous
mistake.
Speaker 3: Numero enanci le
chauffeurs se vanjon They had
carried her to
Speaker 3: the house and given her
restoratives till she had recovered
Speaker 3: the feeble use of her
speech, but oh faithful dear friend
and
Speaker 3: sister Even then she
remembered me and refused to tell
what
Speaker 3: no one else among her
fellow workmen knew where she lived
or
Speaker 3: with whom.
Speaker 4: Life was ebbing away
fast, and they had no resource but
to carry
Speaker 4: her to the nearest
hospital where, of course, the fact
of her
Speaker 4: sex was made known.
Speaker 4: Fortunately, both for her
and for me, the doctor in attendance
Speaker 4: was the very doctor Voss,
whom we already knew.
Speaker 4: To him, while awaiting
her confessor, she told enough to
enable
Speaker 4: him to understand the
position which I was left before the
priest
Speaker 4: had heard half her tale,
Amante was dead.
Speaker 4: Dr.
Speaker 4: Voss told me he had made
all sorts of detours and waited thus
Speaker 4: late at night for fear of
being watched and followed.
Speaker 4: But I do not think he
was.
Speaker 4: At any rate, as I
afterwards learnt from him, the
Baron Rudier,
Speaker 4: on hearing of the
similitude of this murder with that
of his
Speaker 4: wife in every particular,
made such a search after assassins
Speaker 4: that, although they were
not discovered, they were compelled
Speaker 4: to take to flight for the
time.
Speaker 4: I can hardly tell you now
by what arguments doctor Voss, at
Speaker 4: first merely my
benefactor, sparing me a portion of
his small
Speaker 4: modicum, at length
persuaded me to become his wife.
Speaker 4: His wife, he called it, I
called it, for we went through the
Speaker 4: religious ceremony too
much slighted at the time, and as we
Speaker 4: were both Lutherans and
Monsieur de la Torelle had pretended
Speaker 4: to be of the reformed
religion, a divorce from the latter
would
Speaker 4: have been easily
procurable by German law, both
ecclesiastical
Speaker 4: and legal, could we have
summoned so fearful a man into any
Speaker 4:court?
Speaker 4: The good doctor took me
and my child by stealth to his
modest
Speaker 4: dwelling, and there I
lived in the same deep retirement,
never
Speaker 4: seeing the full light of
day, although when the dye had once
Speaker 4: passed away from my face,
my husband did not wish me to renew
Speaker 4: it.
Speaker 4: There was no need.
Speaker 4: My yellow hair was grey,
my complexion was ashen colored.
Speaker 4: No creature could have
recognized the fresh colored, bright
Speaker 4: haired young woman of
eighteen months before.
Speaker 4: The few people whom I saw
knew me only as Madame Voss, a widow
Speaker 4: much older than himself,
whom doctor Voss had secretly
married.
Speaker 4: They called me the Grey
Woman.
Speaker 4: He made me give you his
surname.
Speaker 3: Till now you have known
no other father.
Speaker 3: While he lived you needed
no father's love.
Speaker 4: Once only once did the
old terror come upon me for some
reason
Speaker 4: which I forget, I broke
through my usual custom and went to
Speaker 4: the window of my room for
some purpose.
Speaker 4: Either to shut or open
it.
Speaker 4: Looking out into the
street for an instant, I was
fascinated
Speaker 4: by the sight of Monsieur
de la Torelle, gay, young, elegant
Speaker 4: as ever, walking along on
the opposite side of the street.
Speaker 4: The noise I had made with
the window caused him to look up.
Speaker 4: He saw me, an old grey
woman, and he did not recognize me.
Speaker 4: Yet it was not three
years since we had parted, and his
eyes
Speaker 4: were keen and dreadful
like those of the lynx.
Speaker 4: I told Monsieur Vos on
his return home and he tried to
cheer
Speaker 4: me, but the shock of
seeing Monsieur de La Torelle had
been
Speaker 4: too terrible for me.
Speaker 4: I was ill for long months
afterwards.
Speaker 4: Once again I saw him
dead.
Speaker 4: He and Le Fouvre were at
last caught, hunted down by the
Baron
Speaker 4: de Rodier in some of
their crimes.
Speaker 4: Dr.
Speaker 4: Voz had heard of their
arrest, their condemnation, their
death,
Speaker 4: but he never said a word
to me until one day he bade me show
Speaker 4: him that I loved him by
my obedience and my trust.
Speaker 4: He took me a long
carriage journey, whereto I know
not, for
Speaker 4: we never spoke of that
day again.
Speaker 4: I was led through a
prison and to a closed courtyard
where,
Speaker 4: decently draped in the
last robes of death, concealing the
marks
Speaker 4: of decapitation, Le
Monsieur de la Torelle, and two or
three
Speaker 4: others whom I had known
at Le Rocher.
Speaker 4: After that conviction,
doctor Voss tried to persuade me to
return
Speaker 4: to a more natural mode of
life and to go out more.
Speaker 4: But although I sometimes
complied with his wish, yet the old
Speaker 4: terror was ever strong
upon me, and he, seeing what an
effort
Speaker 4: it was, gave up urging me
at last.
Speaker 4: You know all the rest?
Speaker 4: How we both mourned
bitterly the loss of that dear
husband and
Speaker 4: father, for such I will
call him ever and as such you must
consider
Speaker 4: him my child after this
one revelation is over.
Speaker 4: Why has it been made, you
ask?
Speaker 4: For this reason, my
child.
Speaker 4: The lover whom you have
only known as Monsieur Le Brun, a
French
Speaker 4: artist, told me but
yesterday his real name dropped
because
Speaker 4: the bloodthirsty
Republicans might consider it as too
aristocratic.
Speaker 4: It is Maurice de Poissy.
Speaker 4: So that was The Grey
Woman by Mrs.
Speaker 4: Gaskell, and I actually
this is the first time I've looked
at
Speaker 4: a work from this author.
Speaker 4: Um that was a lot.
Speaker 1: Going into this, I was
originally gonna record um another
story,
Speaker 1: and I thought, you know
what?
Speaker 4: Let's do another female
author.
Speaker 4: I feel like it's been
guy-heavy the last few episodes.
Speaker 4: Let's look at another
female author.
Speaker 4: And I want to do
something short.
Speaker 4: I don't have a lot of
time, just want to do a short, good,
solid
Speaker 4: story.
Speaker 4: And I kept finding all
these stories that just felt long.
Speaker 4: I'm like, come on,
there's gotta be something short out
there.
Speaker 4: And so when I found this
story, I thought, oh, this this
looks
Speaker 4: short.
Speaker 4: This this should be fine.
Speaker 4: And once I got into it, I
was like, oh my gosh, there are all
Speaker 4: these accents, we are in
different countries.
Speaker 4: Um, it it was a lot, but
was it worth it?
Speaker 4: Well, it was worth it for
me.
Speaker 4: I hope you enjoyed the
story and um that you were able to
understand
Speaker 4: all of the different
happenings.
Speaker 4: It was, I thought it was
a crazy ride, but so well written.
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 4: There really is, for me
at least, there's no mystery when it
Speaker 4: comes to what is this
story about.
Speaker 4: Okay, so in terms of
spook and gore, it's got it.
Speaker 4: It's spooky.
Speaker 4: We've got an old creepy
castle, we've got dark shadows,
we've
Speaker 4: got those elements of
gothic literature.
Speaker 4: We don't have some creepy
monster coming out or anything like
Speaker 4: that, but we do have this
kind of Dr.
Speaker 4: Jekyll, Mr.
Speaker 4: Hyde thing going on with
her husband.
Speaker 4: Um, this man, Monsieur de
la Tourelle, is a many, he's a
beast,
Speaker 4: and I, for one, did not
see it coming.
Speaker 4: Maybe you did.
Speaker 4: Maybe you knew that when
she encountered him at the Rupert's
Speaker 4: home, she would be slowly
getting herself involved with a man
Speaker 4: who would turn out to be
a murderer.
Speaker 4: Okay, so what are some of
the big issues that Gaskell is
addressing
Speaker 4: in the story?
Speaker 4: Well, right up front, we
get the very tough, um, tough path
Speaker 4: of you what it's like to
be respectable, respectful, and um
Speaker 4: gosh, not a troublemaker,
right?
Speaker 4: So the whole introduction
of the courtyard and hey, let's all
Speaker 4: come over here and have
some tea.
Speaker 4: And now we're at this,
we're inside because it was raining,
Speaker 4: and so we just happen to
be inside and we see this beautiful
Speaker 4: picture, and then we ask
about it.
Speaker 4: And the Miller or Baker
or whatever he, I think he's a
Miller,
Speaker 4: um gives us these letters
that were written about the
portrait.
Speaker 4: All of that seemed a
little unnecessary at first, but in
reflection,
Speaker 4: I do appreciate that the
author gave us this because she
wanted
Speaker 4: to do a slow build into
the story.
Speaker 4: She didn't want to just
rush into, I'm a young lady and I
found
Speaker 4: myself suddenly being
married off to this guy who I
thought
Speaker 4: was cute.
Speaker 1: And so I actually do
appreciate the introduction.
Speaker 1: It it does work.
Speaker 1: It does work.
Speaker 1: And you got to remember
at the time people didn't have
TikTok,
Speaker 1: so they needed something
to do.
Speaker 4: Um, with that being said,
when Reese was doing a little bit
Speaker 4: of research on this
author, I did come to learn that
Gasco herself
Speaker 4: had traveled to
Heidelberg a couple of times, three
times, in
Speaker 4: fact, and um on separate
occasions, she brought her own
children.
Speaker 4: So she was someone who
loved food, loved travel, and that's
Speaker 4: why we get this tale
where the characters are traveling
about,
Speaker 4: and we have this
overlapping of languages, and we
have this
Speaker 4: um tribute to the food
scene at the beginning of a story by
Speaker 4: showing us people just
enjoying their afternoon by going
out
Speaker 4: to have coffee and some
some uh delicious, savory whatever
they're
Speaker 4: eating.
Speaker 1: Whatever they're eating
at this guy's place.
Speaker 4: Um, so I thought that was
really interesting that she brought
Speaker 4: some of her own personal
passions in terms of just culture
into
Speaker 4: the story.
Speaker 1: Now, of course, Gaskell
brings in her personal views on
society
Speaker 1: as well.
Speaker 4: What am I talking about?
Speaker 4: So we realize very
quickly that had our main character
stood
Speaker 4: up to Mrs.
Speaker 4: Rupert um Arushe in the
beginning and said, I am I I am not
Speaker 4: to be married off.
Speaker 1: I did not intend to
mislead this man, but this ain't
happening.
Speaker 1: Mind you, that would have
ruined all her prospects for future
Speaker 1: gentlemen.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: Um, but maybe if she'd
been able to stay up and say, I'm
not
Speaker 1: taking that gift.
Speaker 4: Of course, she's got this
woman who's insisting, this guy's
Speaker 4: giving you gifts, you
better take it.
Speaker 4: Don't be rude, don't be
impolite.
Speaker 4: So then we come to the
fact of, well, maybe if she found
herself
Speaker 4: so overwhelmed with these
gifts, to be able to say, you know,
Speaker 4: right home and be like,
Dad, I I I I can't be here anymore.
Speaker 1: Now, to be fair, she
knows that she's not really wanted
at home
Speaker 1: because her sister-in-law
hates her and thinks of her as a
rival.
Speaker 4: So, to be honest, I see
the position she got stuck in.
Speaker 4: Not really sure how old
she is in this scene.
Speaker 4: Um I'm trying to reflect,
but she's gonna be on the younger
Speaker 4: side, having, you know,
she just would have gotten, she
finished
Speaker 4: schooling, right?
Speaker 4: So she's what, late teens
or something of that nature.
Speaker 4: It's not going to be that
she has a whole lot of experience
Speaker 4: with being courted by men
and being out in society.
Speaker 4: She's from the country,
so she never gets like a coming out
Speaker 4: ball or has to socialize
with these people.
Speaker 4: It's all very new and
really all understandable.
Speaker 4: And I just found myself
going, oh my gosh, how could she
avoid
Speaker 4: this situation?
Speaker 4: But honestly, I can
imagine a lot of young women falling
into
Speaker 4: that situation because
you want to be polite.
Speaker 4: And so Gaskell's just
showing us right there, like, hey,
what
Speaker 4: point, at what point does
a young woman be able to take
control
Speaker 4: of her own destiny, of
her own agency, and to be able to
say,
Speaker 4: hey, I want to slow down.
Speaker 4: And to be fair, the main
character liked this guy at first.
Speaker 4: She's like, Yeah, he's
cute.
Speaker 4: They just, I just don't
want to get married now.
Speaker 4: And she even like
straight up says it, like, I just
don't want
Speaker 4: to get married now.
Speaker 4: I want to, I want to slow
down.
Speaker 1: Um, you know, her
father's just like, uh, not an
option.
Speaker 1: Which, to be fair, he's
looking at this guy who's into his
daughter.
Speaker 1: The guy's got money, he's
clearly going to be able to provide
Speaker 1: a good life for his
daughter, and he's got the
impression from
Speaker 1: others that this is a
good match.
Speaker 4: What's he to do?
Speaker 4: He's just a miller from
the country, right?
Speaker 4: So, at what point is a
woman able to take control of her
own
Speaker 4: life, her own destiny?
Speaker 4: And in the United States,
that's still very much an issue
today.
Speaker 4: Um, when we look at uh
reproductive rights.
Speaker 4: At what point does a
woman is she able to say, hey, this
is
Speaker 4: what I want?
Speaker 4: We can also see this in
terms of archaic uh divorce laws,
where
Speaker 4: in some states women are
um not granted any money, or if the
Speaker 4: woman cheats on her
spouse, then she gets nothing.
Speaker 1: If he cheats, he has to
pay support.
Speaker 1: But if she cheats, she
ain't getting a dime, even if he
cheated
Speaker 1: first.
Speaker 4: So there are these kind
of archaic laws in the books, and
again,
Speaker 4: at what point is a woman
able to not have to fear she won't
Speaker 4: have a livelihood.
Speaker 1: All right, so there's
that.
Speaker 1: Gaskell is definitely
saying, hey, um, is this okay?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't do you think this
is okay, reader.
Speaker 4: And when I looked at
Gaskell's history, she did spend a
lot
Speaker 4: of time in feminist and
abolitionist circles.
Speaker 4: So she was very um aware
of women's rights and the
pro-women's
Speaker 4: rights movement, as well
as the rights of uh slaves, right?
Speaker 4: So she was kind of
fighting for equal rights all
around.
Speaker 1: And in terms of the
rights of slaves, well, we see in
this story
Speaker 1: that Amante, the dutiful
maid, who starts, she's assigned a
Speaker 1: position of servitude.
Speaker 4: However, um the lady of
the house does say, like, hey, we
have
Speaker 4: more in common than what
others might think.
Speaker 4: We come from a very
similar background, we're two
country girls,
Speaker 4: and becomes her close
confidant, her best friend, her
sister,
Speaker 4: even, and later on does
you know say, Oh, my sister.
Speaker 4: So there is that evidence
of our authors saying, Hey, I
believe
Speaker 4: that the people who are
in positions of servitude are very
much
Speaker 4: just like us, they have
feelings and uh past and futures
just
Speaker 4: like we do.
Speaker 4: We also look at the
servants of Monsieur de la Tourelle,
right?
Speaker 4: So all of his house
people, um of them operating on
fear, some
Speaker 4: of them seem to almost be
more powerful than he, they share
Speaker 4: that same desire for
money and for death, just like
Monsieur
Speaker 4: de la Tourelle.
Speaker 4: What is their difference?
Speaker 4: One's got a title.
Speaker 4: So I think that's a
pretty interesting statement.
Speaker 4: Instead of giving us a
um, you know, the exact title of
these
Speaker 4: people are enslaved, um,
we have the servants in the home.
Speaker 4: We also kind of have
Monsieur de la Tour enslaving his
wife,
Speaker 4: right?
Speaker 4: She's to only go in the
rooms which he permits her, and um
can
Speaker 4: only talk to the people
he wants her to talk to, only get
the
Speaker 4: communications that he
wants.
Speaker 1: Is that enslavement or is
that imprisonment?
Speaker 1: That's a good question.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that's more
of imprisonment.
Speaker 4: Um she does get pregnant.
Speaker 4: There was a question in
my mind of did she want to be
sleeping
Speaker 4: with this man?
Speaker 4: She does say that he his
mood was kind of hot and cold.
Speaker 4: So sometimes he was
really nice to her, and sometimes he
wasn't.
Speaker 4: And so often she'd just
be like, whatever, just to keep you
Speaker 4: from going off and flying
off at the handle.
Speaker 4: Um, not unusual that he
would have relations with this wife.
Speaker 4: Um, and she would be
understanding it's her duty to
fulfill
Speaker 4: those that wifely role.
Speaker 4: But I did, I just did
kind of find myself going where
there's
Speaker 4: some really Good times we
just don't really get into, or was
Speaker 4: she just like, oh, okay,
you're here.
Speaker 4: All right, I'll just lay
here.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 4: We also have the message
of never giving up.
Speaker 4: So um, even though it
just seems like they're never,
they're
Speaker 4: never gonna make it.
Speaker 4: This the castle itself is
constructed to ensure no one can get
Speaker 4: out easily, especially if
you don't know your way around, but
Speaker 4: they do manage to get
out.
Speaker 4: Um, and they find
themselves then in a loft with no
ladder,
Speaker 4: and then they manage to
get out of that.
Speaker 4: Um yeah, just on multiple
occasions, it seems like they're
dooms,
Speaker 4: they're at the end.
Speaker 4: I was I was sure there
was gonna be an encounter at the
end.
Speaker 4: I did not see coming that
this other woman would be mistaken
Speaker 4: for her and then uh
stabbed, basically.
Speaker 4: But I do like that Gasco
kept that that particular death as
Speaker 4: part of our solution for
his ultimate downfall, the ultimate
Speaker 4: downfall of Monsieur de
la Tourelle.
Speaker 4: So on many occasions, our
main character wants to give up.
Speaker 4: She's like, oh my
goodness, he's going to get me.
Speaker 4: And Amante's like, nope,
girl, you better hang in there.
Speaker 4: We came this far.
Speaker 4: And to be fair, Amante
knows that if uh her mistress says
anything
Speaker 4: or gives herself up, then
Amante's gonna die too.
Speaker 4: So she's not about to,
you know, in her life like that,
just
Speaker 4: like uh-uh, it's not
happening.
Speaker 4: So the the whole never
get up just really stays throughout
the
Speaker 4: entire novel, which is
fabulous, fabulous message.
Speaker 4: We also have this idea
that stays with the entire novel,
which
Speaker 4: is trauma lingers
forever.
Speaker 4: Forever.
Speaker 4: Yes, at one point, our
main character is very disillusioned
Speaker 4: thinking, if I can just
get back to my dad's house,
everything
Speaker 4: will be great there.
Speaker 4: Everything will be great.
Speaker 4: And Amonty probably knew
the whole time like everything's not
Speaker 4: gonna just be great going
back to your dad's house, but it's
Speaker 4: something, it's someplace
to go, right?
Speaker 4: We never get a sense that
Amonty has um a hometown to go
return
Speaker 4: to hide out in.
Speaker 4: We never hear much about
her past, and that's fair because um
Speaker 4: that's you know, this is
a servant, basically.
Speaker 4: So Gaskell gives us,
well, she has this Normandy accent.
Speaker 4: Hmm, like she's from
somewhere, she has a past too.
Speaker 4: She's just like just like
me, um, in in that she's a country
Speaker 4: girl.
Speaker 4: Where's she really from?
Speaker 4: So we definitely see that
trauma lingers forever because even
Speaker 4: after de la Torelle is
dead, this woman still will not go
out
Speaker 4: and about.
Speaker 4: And her new loving
husband, Dr.
Speaker 4: Voss, tries to get her to
go out, but realized it is just such
Speaker 4: an effort.
Speaker 4: And he probably can see,
he probably can see just how upset
Speaker 4: she is at the idea of
going out.
Speaker 4: Maybe she can't really
relax when she goes out.
Speaker 4: That finally he's just
like, I get it.
Speaker 4: And that's gotta be hard
because he's a doctor, he he knows
Speaker 4: what will help someone,
but on the other hand, he can also
see
Speaker 4: that that process of
going from one stage to the next,
from
Speaker 4: going uh to be completely
fearful of being stuck at home to
Speaker 4: then being fearful of
being outside of the home, it's it's
gotta
Speaker 4: be really difficult to
watch.
Speaker 4: And I feel like for
anyone who is a therapist watching
their
Speaker 4: loved one struggle with
something, that's gotta be rough.
Speaker 4: Okie dokie.
Speaker 4: What else do we have
here?
Speaker 4: There's so many lessons,
you guys.
Speaker 4: Uh, what is true love?
Speaker 4: We have the love of the
doctor, Dr.
Speaker 4: Voss, for our main
character.
Speaker 4: Um, I like that it said,
um, he called me his wife.
Speaker 4: I called me his wife,
like like we called this a marriage.
Speaker 4: Even though we weren't
getting married for love, um, we
understood
Speaker 4: each other, we expected
each other, and we knew there
weren't
Speaker 4: really many options for
me.
Speaker 4: Um, but we do understand
that these two developed a wonderful
Speaker 4: love over time.
Speaker 4: Now, whether or not they
shared a bed or anything like that,
Speaker 4: that's never really
stated.
Speaker 4: But her love for him is
very clear.
Speaker 4: And I was actually really
emotional at the end when she talks
Speaker 4: of his passing.
Speaker 4: Um, we have the love of
mother for child.
Speaker 4: This letter starts off
with child, you're asking if I love
you
Speaker 4: and if I actually want
you to be happy.
Speaker 4: I'm doing this because I
love you, because I want you to be
Speaker 4:happy.
Speaker 4: I am telling you up front
why you cannot marry him.
Speaker 4: This is what I need you
to understand.
Speaker 4: What a fabulous twist, by
the way, in my opinion, that her
daughter,
Speaker 4: the daughter of Monsieur
de la Torelle, the daughter who has
Speaker 4: a different last name in
order to protect her, winds up by
fate
Speaker 4: meeting a young man who
she falls in love with, who happens
Speaker 4: to be the son of um
Monsieur Poissy, who was the dead
man in
Speaker 4: her husband's chambers.
Speaker 4: I did not see that
coming.
Speaker 4: I thought it was a
fabulous, fabulous term of events.
Speaker 4: Hopefully, you enjoyed
that too.
Speaker 4: Um, wow.
Speaker 4: Because my labrain, I'm
thinking, well, what's what's so
wrong
Speaker 4: if she marries uh is she
worried that like uh people will
find
Speaker 4: out that her daughter's
history is her father's really a
murderer?
Speaker 1: No, it's a bit awkward
for you to be married to the son of
the
Speaker 1: man that your father
murdered, just FYI.
Speaker 4: I thought, oof, yep,
that's that's probably not a good
marriage
Speaker 4: right there.
Speaker 4: Um, even though the two
kids didn't do anything wrong, it's
Speaker 4: still linking over them.
Speaker 4: Okay, but that's not the
only love story we get.
Speaker 4: Oh no, because we have
the love between Amante and Madame
de
Speaker 4: la Torelle, our main
character, right?
Speaker 4: So um Amante makes
herself a man.
Speaker 4: She goes from I'm gonna
be the servant and serve you and
look
Speaker 4: after you, to you know
what?
Speaker 4: I'm going to be the man
in this relationship and I'm gonna
provide
Speaker 4: for you.
Speaker 4: If I was just a servant,
I would serve you and I would be
paid.
Speaker 4: That's not an option
anymore.
Speaker 4: I can't be paid to serve
you.
Speaker 4: So now I'm gonna make
sure we're both taken care of.
Speaker 4: I'm going to be the
provider for this relationship, I'm
going
Speaker 4: to make us money, and I'm
going to keep us safe.
Speaker 4: And I thought that was
really beautiful.
Speaker 4: And you see the love of
that relationship.
Speaker 4: Because Amonty at any
point could have been like, okay,
girl,
Speaker 4: you were too much.
Speaker 4: I can't handle this.
Speaker 4: And also, Amonty knew the
way out of the castle, so she could
Speaker 4: have left at any point.
Speaker 4: So these different ways
of showing love, I think, is really,
Speaker 4: really powerful.
Speaker 4: Even the Miller in the
beginning, who brings in his
clientele
Speaker 4: into his home when the
rain happens, right?
Speaker 4: He loves his job.
Speaker 4: He's showing a love for
his clientele, which is just truly
fabulous.
Speaker 4: We also have what is true
love.
Speaker 4: What is true love?
Speaker 4: So we have this marriage
that happens, not out of love, but
Speaker 4: out of obligation.
Speaker 4: And to be fair, uh,
Monsieur de la Tourelle, he gives
lots of
Speaker 4: presents to his wife.
Speaker 4: That's what a lot of
husbands do nowadays.
Speaker 4: And to be fair, um women
may not do it so much with their
husbands,
Speaker 4: but they definitely do it
with the children.
Speaker 4: I love you so much.
Speaker 4: I'm going to give you all
these things that I think you'll
love.
Speaker 4: Just do what I say, and
we'll both be happy.
Speaker 4: We'll both be happy.
Speaker 4: Do what I say, we'll both
be happy.
Speaker 4: Here are all these things
that you love.
Speaker 4: You'll have no reason to
complain.
Speaker 4: And there are a lot of
women who find themselves in
relationships
Speaker 4: where they are told they
don't have to work as long as they
Speaker 4: do what they're told and
you know, be available when I need
Speaker 4: you to be available.
Speaker 4: And then lastly, what is
a woman's place?
Speaker 4: What is a woman's place
in society?
Speaker 4: What is a woman's place
in the home?
Speaker 4: Um, yes, we have Amante,
who is a woman who changes to no
longer
Speaker 4: adopt that feminine side
of her in order to survive.
Speaker 4: Um, we have our main
character who goes through with this
marriage
Speaker 4: and then goes through
with being locked up in the house
forever,
Speaker 4: in order not just to
survive, but that's because what was
expected
Speaker 4: of her.
Speaker 4: That's what a good girl
does, that's what a woman does.
Speaker 4: And she didn't cause a
fuss when her sister-in-law was
like,
Speaker 4: oh, she needs to go.
Speaker 4: She didn't cause a fuss,
she didn't want to be a burden.
Speaker 4: And I myself have thought
on on many occasions, how do I not
Speaker 4: cause a fuss?
Speaker 4: How do I not be a burden?
Speaker 4: Um, and I wonder about
certain areas of my own life where
things
Speaker 4: may have turned out a lot
differently had I been more willing
Speaker 4: to just say no.
Speaker 4: Nope, that's not
happening.
Speaker 4: And our we see the growth
in our main character when it comes
Speaker 4: to her going out into the
light, into the daylight.
Speaker 4: Um, once she's been away
from uh her ex-husband for some
time,
Speaker 4: and she's in this village
with the small little chambers.
Speaker 4: She is agreeable to many,
many things.
Speaker 4: But going outside, she's
like, nope, it's not happening.
Speaker 4: You guys can beg all you
want, but it's not gonna happen.
Speaker 4: And so she does find the
strength to stand on her own two
feet
Speaker 4: and to say no at times.
Speaker 4: Um and that is that
that's self-preservation, but it's
important,
Speaker 4: it's important for uh
anyone and everyone to find a way to
stand
Speaker 4: their ground and say no,
this I will not do, I cannot do, and
Speaker 4: I know it is in my best
interest for what I need right now.
Speaker 4: Wow, so many things.
Speaker 4: What is love?
Speaker 4: Um wow, I mean, you would
think she was doing the right thing,
Speaker 4: she saw a young man, he
looked attractive, but she wasn't
gonna
Speaker 4: jump in right away.
Speaker 4: She wants to slow down.
Speaker 4: Um, he's got they did the
research, he's got a good track
record.
Speaker 4: He must be.
Speaker 4: He must be a good guy.
Speaker 4: But it certainly makes if
you're in the dating, right?
Speaker 4: You're like, what
questions can I ask before I go on
my next
Speaker 4: date?
Speaker 4: Well, with that being
said, I hope you liked this story.
Speaker 4: I loved it.
Speaker 4: I will have to say, it
was much longer than I had realized,
Speaker 4: and the multiple accents
and locations definitely was not
what
Speaker 4: I was expecting, but I
gave it my best try in terms of
maintaining
Speaker 4: some level of
consistency.
Speaker 4: I encourage you to read
over the story.
Speaker 4: It is it is well worth
the read.
Speaker 4: I'm probably gonna be
reading it um a second or third time
this
Speaker 4: week.
Speaker 4: I loved it so much.
Speaker 4: But you can also just
listen to this recording a second or
third
Speaker 4: time.
Speaker 4: I hope you enjoyed this
story and do come back for another
Gothic
Speaker 4: tale.