North and South
Page 7Margaret did not quite like this speech; she winced away from it
more, from remembering former occasions on which he had tried to
lead her into a discussion (in which he took the complimentary
part) about her own character and ways of going on. She cut his
speech rather short by saying: 'It is natural for me to think of Helstone church, and the walk
to it, rather than of driving up to a London church in the middle
of a paved street.' 'Tell me about Helstone. You have never described it to me. I
should like to have some idea of the place you will be living in,
when ninety-six Harley Street will be looking dingy and dirty,
and dull, and shut up. Is Helstone a village, or a town, in the
all. There is the church and a few houses near it on the
green--cottages, rather--with roses growing all over them.'
'And flowering all the year round, especially at Christmas--make
your picture complete,' said he.
'No,' replied Margaret, somewhat annoyed, 'I am not making a
picture. I am trying to describe Helstone as it really is. You
should not have said that.'
'I am penitent,' he answered. 'Only it really sounded like a
village in a tale rather than in real life.'
in England that I have seen seem so hard and prosaic-looking,
after the New Forest. Helstone is like a village in a poem--in
one of Tennyson's poems. But I won't try and describe it any
more. You would only laugh at me if I told you what I think of
it--what it really is.' 'Indeed, I would not. But I see you are going to be very
resolved. Well, then, tell me that which I should like still
better to know what the parsonage is like.'
'Oh, I can't describe my home. It is home, and I can't put its
charm into words.'
'How?' said she, turning her large soft eyes round full upon him.
'I did not know I was.'
'Why, because I made an unlucky remark, you will neither tell me
what Helstone is like, nor will you say anything about your home,
though I have told you how much I want to hear about both, the
latter especially.' 'But indeed I cannot tell you about my own home. I don't quite
think it is a thing to be talked about, unless you knew it.'