North
and South es una novela social de la escritora inglesa Elizabeth
Gaskell. North and South usa un protagonista
del sur de Inglaterra para presentar las perspectivas de los dueños y de los
trabajadores.
'Wooed and
married and a'.'
'Edith!' said
Margaret, gently, 'Edith!'
But, as Margaret
half suspected, Edith had fallen asleep. She lay curled up on the sofa in the
back drawing-room in Harley Street, looking very lovely in her white muslin and
blue ribbons. If Titania had ever
been dressed in white muslin and blue ribbons, and had fallen asleep on a
crimson damask sofa in a back drawing-room, Edith might have been taken for
her. Margaret was struck afresh by her cousin's beauty. They had grown up
together from childhood, and all along Edith had been remarked upon by every
one, except Margaret, for her prettiness; but Margaret had never thought about
it until the last few days, when the prospect of soon losing her companion
seemed to give force to every sweet quality and charm which Edith possessed.
They had been talking about wedding dresses, and wedding ceremonies; and
Captain Lennox, and what he had told Edith about her future life at Corfu, where his regiment was stationed;
and the difficulty of keeping a piano in good tune (a difficulty which Edith
seemed to consider as one of the most formidable that could befall her in her
married life), and what gowns she should want in the visits to Scotland, which
would immediately succeed her marriage; but the whispered tone had latterly
become more drowsy; and Margaret, after a pause of a few minutes, found, as she
fancied, that in spite of the buzz in the next room, Edith had rolled herself
up into a soft ball of muslin and ribbon, and silken curls, and gone off into a
peaceful little after-dinner nap.
Margaret had
been on the point of telling her cousin of some of the plans and visions which
she entertained as to her future life in the country parsonage, where her
father and mother lived; and where her bright holidays had always been passed,
though for the last ten years her aunt Shaw's house had been considered as her
home. But in default of a listener, she had to think over the change in her
life silently as until this time. It was a happy brooding, although tinged with
regret at being separated for an indefinite time from her gentle aunt and dear
cousin. As she thought of the delight of filling the important post of only
daughter in Helstone parsonage, pieces of the conversation out of the next room
came upon her ears. Her aunt Shaw was talking to the five or six ladies who had
been dining there, and whose husbands were still in the dining-room. They were
the familiar acquaintances of the house; neighbours whom Mrs. Shaw called
friends, because she happened to dine with them more frequently than with any
other people, and because if she or Edith wanted anything from them, or they
from her, they did not scruple to make a call at each other's houses before
luncheon. These ladies and their husbands were invited, in their capacity of
friends, to eat a farewell dinner in honour of Edith's approaching marriage.
Edith had rather objected to this arrangement, for Captain Lennox was expected
to arrive by a late train this very evening; but, although she was a spoiled
child, she was too careless and idle to have a very strong will of her own, and
gave way when she found that her mother had absolutely ordered those extra
delicacies of the season which are always supposed to be efficacious against
immoderate grief at farewell dinners. She contented herself by leaning back in
her chair, merely playing with the food on her plate, and looking grave and
absent; while all around her were enjoying the mots of Mr. Grey, the gentleman who always took the bottom of the
table at Mrs. Shaw's dinner parties, and asked Edith to give them some music in
the drawing-room. Mr. Grey was particularly agreeable over this farewell
dinner, and the gentlemen staid down stairs longer than usual. It was very well
they did—to judge from the fragments of conversation which Margaret overheard.
'I suffered too
much myself; not that I was not extremely happy with the poor dear General, but
still disparity of age is a drawback; one that I was resolved Edith should not
have to encounter. Of course, without any maternal partiality, I foresaw that
the dear child was likely to marry early; indeed, I had often said that I was
sure she would be married before she was nineteen. I had quite a prophetic
feeling when Captain Lennox'—and here the voice dropped into a whisper, but
Margaret could easily supply the blank. The course of true love in Edith's case
had run remarkably smooth. Mrs. Shaw had given way to the presentiment, as she
expressed it; and had rather urged on the marriage, although it was below the
expectations which many of Edith's acquaintances had formed for her, a young
and pretty heiress. But Mrs. Shaw said that her only child should marry for
love,—and sighed emphatically, as if love had not been her motive for marrying
the General. Mrs. Shaw enjoyed the romance of the present engagement rather more
than her daughter. Not but that Edith was very thoroughly and properly in love;
still she would certainly have preferred a good house in Belgravia, to all the picturesqueness of the life which Captain
Lennox described at Corfu. The very parts which made Margaret glow as she
listened, Edith pretended to shiver and shudder at; partly for the pleasure she
had in being coaxed out of her dislike by her fond lover, and partly because
anything of a gipsy or make-shift life was really distasteful to her. Yet had
any one come with a fine house, and a fine estate, and a fine title to boot,
Edith would still have clung to Captain Lennox while the temptation lasted;
when it was over, it is possible she might have had little qualms of
ill-concealed regret that Captain Lennox could not have united in his person
everything that was desirable. In this she was but her mother's child; who,
after deliberately marrying General Shaw with no warmer feeling than respect
for his character and establishment, was constantly, though quietly, bemoaning
her hard lot in being united to one whom she could not love.
'I have spared
no expense in her trousseau,' were
the next words Margaret heard.
'She has all the
beautiful Indian shawls and scarfs the General gave to me, but which I shall
never wear again.'
'She is a lucky
girl,' replied another voice, which Margaret knew to be that of Mrs. Gibson, a
lady who was taking a double interest in the conversation, from the fact of one
of her daughters having been married within the last few weeks.
'Helen had set
her heart upon an Indian shawl, but really when I found what an extravagant
price was asked, I was obliged to refuse her. She will be quite envious when
she hears of Edith having Indian shawls. What kind are they? Delhi? with the
lovely little borders?'…
Para saber
Titania is a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. In the play, she is the queen of the fairies.
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the
Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the
northwesternmost part of Greece.
Belgravia (/bɛlˈɡreɪvɪə/) is a district in West London in the City of Westminster
and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its very
expensive residential properties and is one of the wealthiest districts in the
world.
Vocabulario
Mots: witty
saying.
Trousseau: dowry.
A dowry is a transfer of parental property at the marriage of a daughter.
Fuentes
North
and South, to read online.
Una buena historia para leer en el tiempo libro: The
Adventure of the Speckled Band
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