Elizabeth Gaskell

“ To-day he was anxious to show his sympathy with Sylvia, as far as he could read what was passing in her mind; but how was he to guess the multitude of tangled thoughts in that unseen receptacle? A resolution to be good, if she could, and always to be thinking on death, so that what seemed to her now as simply impossible, might come true--that she might 'dread the grave as little as her bed'; a wish that Philip were not coming home with her; a wonder if the specksioneer really had killed a man, an idea which made her shudder ”

“ And Philip replied with ready warmth,--
'Yes, she is; no one knows how good but us, who live in the same house wi' her.'
'Her mother is an old Quakeress, bean't she?' Molly inquired.
'Alice Rose is a Friend, if that is what you mean,' said Philip.
'Well, well! some folk's so particular. Is William Coulson a Quaker, by which a mean a Friend?'
'Yes; they're all on 'em right-down good folk.'
'Deary me! What a wonder yo' can speak to such sinners as Sylvia and me, after keepin' company with so much goodness,' said Molly, who had not yet forgiven Philip for doubting Kinraid's power of killing men. ”

“ But William only shook his head, and repeated his last words,--
'He's a bad man, he is.'
When Philip came home that Sunday night, he found only Alice up to receive him. The usual bedtime in the household was nine o'clock, and it was but ten minutes past the hour; but Alice looked displeased and stern.
'Thee art late, lad,' said she, shortly.
'I'm sorry; it's a long way from my uncle's, and I think clocks are different,' said he, taking out his watch to compare it with the round moon's face that told the time to Alice. ”

“ Alice looked sharply at him from over her spectacles, which she had put on the better to think about the disposal of her property.
'Thee art thinking on our Hester,' said she, plainly out.
He started a little, but looked up at her and met her eyes.
'Hester cares noane for me,' said he, dejectedly.
'Bide a while, my lad,' said Alice, kindly. 'Young women don't always know their own minds. Thee and her would make a marriage after my own heart; and the Lord has been very good to me hitherto, and I think He'll bring it t' pass. But don't thee let on as thee cares for her so much. ”

“ But, taken as a general ride, it may be said that few knew what manner of men they were, compared to the numbers now who are fully conscious of their virtues, qualities, failings, and weaknesses, and who go about comparing others with themselves--not in a spirit of Pharisaism and arrogance, but with a vivid self-consciousness that more than anything else deprives characters of freshness and originality. ”

“ Why, them lads o' t' _Aurora_ as they say Kinraid shot down had fathers and mothers, maybe, a looking out for them to come home.'
'I don't think he could ha' killed them,' said Sylvia; 'he looked so gentle.'
But Molly did not like this half-and-half view of the case.
'A dare say he did kill 'em dead; he's not one to do things by halves. And a think he served 'em reet, that's what a do.'
'Is na' this Hester, as serves in Foster's shop?' asked Sylvia, in a low voice, as a young woman came through a stile in the stone wall by the roadside, and suddenly appeared before them.
'Yes,' said Philip. ”

“ But he was too much mortified to be diplomatic.
'My aunt asked me to teach _you_ a bit, not any neighbour's lass.'
'Well! if I mun be taught, I mun; but I'd rayther be whipped and ha' done with it,' was Sylvia's ungracious reply.
A moment afterwards, she repented of her little spirit of unkindness, and thought that she should not like to die that night without making friends. Sudden death was very present in her thoughts since the funeral. So she instinctively chose the best method of making friends again, and slipped her hand into his, as he walked a little sullenly at her side. ”