The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900 ... - Gredos

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
But it would grieve me much, Mr. Fleetwood, if you were to alter your customary
arrangements on her account. I do not wish my daughter to be treated with ceremony —
it is, I assure you, quite unnecessary for you to come home at unusual hours in order to
attend to her. I — I
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should not be able to permit her to repeat her visits if I found them to cause so much
disturbance and inconvenience."
She had taken up a pen as she spoke, and now dipped it into the ink as though about to
resume her former task. Simon followed the progress of the hand, which shook oddly,
and then his eyes reverted to her face.
"I understand, madam," he said very quietly. Then, with a low bow, he went out; and in
another minute Mrs. Charnock, glancing through the window, saw him walking rapidly
away. All the time they had been speaking they could hear Rachel chattering and
laughing, but she never discovered that Simon had been near the house that day. The
damson cheese was made and stored, and the hip preserve was in progress, when, one
morning soon after breakfast, Mrs. Charnock was told that Simon Fleetwood wished to
see her. The Squire had ridden out, and Rachel had betaken herself to the Farm, so
Madam sat all alone in her morning-room with a great pile of bills and papers before
her. Her face had been anxious enough as she pored over them, but it looked doubly
anxious now, when, at her desire, the servant ushered the young yeoman into the room.
Her vague alarm and distress, however, turned into momentary terror as she caught
sight of his face. She rose hastily from her chair, crying, "Has anything happened? Good
God! my daughter!"
"I have not seen your daughter, madam, and to the best of my belief nothing has
happened. I have come to speak to you — about myself."
She seated herself with a sigh of relief, and motioned to Simon to do the same, but he
declared that he would rather stand. During the pause which followed Mrs. Charnock
turned a little pale. She had been reassured on her daughter's account, and yet, as she
gazed at