As the tea drew to an end, and the plates of toast, bread and butter,
and tea-cake grew emptier, and the slop-basin filled, and only Maggie's
flowers remained fresh and immaculate amid the untidy debris of the
meal; and as Edwin and Clara became gradually indifferent to jam, and
then inimical to it; and as the sounds of the street took on the softer
quality of summer evening, and the first filmy shades of twilight
gathered imperceptibly in the corners of the room, and Mr Clayhanger
performed the eructations which signified that he had had enough; so
Mrs Hamps prepared herself for one of her classic outbursts of feeling.
"Well!" she said at last, putting her spoon to the left of her cup as a
final indication that seriously she would drink no more. And she gave a
great sigh. "School over! And the only son going out into the world!
How time flies!" And she gave another great sigh, implying an immense
melancholy due to this vision of the reality of things. Then she
remembered her courage, and the device of leaning hard, and all her
philosophy.
"But it's all for the best!" she broke forth in a new brave tone.
"Everything is ordered for the best. We must never forget that! And
I'm quite sure that Edwin will be a very great credit to us all, with
help from above."
She proceeded powerfully in this strain. She brought in God, Christ,
and even the Holy Spirit. She mentioned the dangers of the world, and
the disguises of the devil, and the unspeakable advantages of a good
home, and the special goodness of Mr Clayhanger and of Maggie, yes, and
of her little Clara; and the pride which they all had in Edwin, and the
unique opportunities which he had of doing good, by example, and also,
soon, by precept, for others younger than himself would begin to look up
to him; and again her personal pride in him, and her sure faith in him;
and what a solemn hour it was...
Nothing could stop her. The girls loathed these exhibitions. Maggie
always looked at the table during their progress, and she felt as though
she had done something wrong and was ashamed of it. Clara not merely
felt like a criminal--she felt like an unrepentant criminal; she
blushed, she glanced nervously about the room, and all the time she
repeated steadily in her heart a highly obscene word which she had heard
at school. This unspoken word, hurled soundlessly but savagely at her
aunt in that innocent heart, afforded much comfort to Clara in the
affliction. Even Edwin, who was more lenient in all ways than his
sisters, profoundly deplored these moralisings of his aunt. They filled
him with a desire to run fast and far, to be alone at sea, or to be deep
somewhere in the bosom of the earth. He could not understand this side
of his auntie's individuality. But there was no delivery from Mrs
Hamps. The only person who could possibly have delivered them seemed to
enjoy the sinister thraldom. Mr Clayhanger listened with appreciative
and admiring nods; he appeared to be quite sincere. And Edwin could not
understand his father either. "How simple father must be!" he thought
vaguely. Whereas Clara fatalistically dismissed her father's attitude
as only one more of the preposterously unreasonable phenomena which she
was constantly meeting in life; and she persevered grimly with her
obscene word.
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