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

The Salamanca Corpus: Yeoman Fleetwood (1900)
feel her presence in the place, I can think over the prattle which I may not hear, I picture
her sitting by my hearth, busy about the house—“
"Simon Fleetwood," said Madam Charnock, rallying her self-possession and speaking
with grave, cold severity, "have you come here to-day to insult me by making an offer
of marriage for my daughter?”
"An offer of marriage!” he cried stammering, unnerved, it would seem, by the very
words; but in a moment he recovered himself.
"No, indeed, madam, I have no hope. I came here to tell you what I felt — to own what
seems to you an outrage. Yet, before God, madam, my love for Miss Charnock need be
held as no disgrace to her. I look upon her as a man may look upon the stars in Heaven.”
Mrs. Charnock was astonished, bewildered, confounded; mastered by the passion of the
man, yet filled with an overwhelming pity. Leaving her place she came towards him,
and laid her hand kindly on his arm.
"Sit down, Simon,” she said tremulously, “sit down, my poor lad. All this is very
painful, and I do not understand. If you see for yourself — if you know that this sudden
attachment of yours is hopeless, why have you come here to confess it to me?"
He had changed countenance at her altered tone, and now sat down beside her as she
desired; of the two she seemed the most moved.
"You bade me think of her as a child" he said, “and
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I bound myself to keep away from her. Madam, I find it impossible to do either the one
or the other. It is madness, as you say, but I think of her as a woman. I have not crossed
my threshold when she was within, but I feel that now I must ask you to give me back
my promise. From the pasture this morning I caught sight of her standing at my door,
and my feet began to take me towards her. It was not until I had thrown myself face
downwards beneath the hedge, rallying my will in remembrance of your words, that I
could stop myself. You must keep us farther apart. The time has come for you to forbid
her visits to my house."