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69502.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69503.
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"Close up his eyes and draw the curtain close; And let us all to meditation."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69504.
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—2 Henry VI .
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69505.
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That night after twelve o’clock Mary Garth relieved the watch in Mr. Featherstone’s room, and sat there alone through the small hours. She often chose this task, in which she found some pleasure, notwithstanding the old man’s testiness whenever he demanded her attentions. There were intervals in which she could sit perfectly still, enjoying the outer stillness and the subdued light. The red fire with its gently audible movement seemed like a solemn existence calmly independent of the petty passions, the imbecile desires, the straining after worthless uncertainties, which were daily moving her contempt. Mary was fond of her own thoughts, and could amuse herself well sitting in twilight with her hands in her lap; for, having early had strong reason to believe that things were not likely to be arranged for her peculiar satisfaction, she wasted no time in astonishment and annoyance at that fact. And she had already come to take life very much as a comedy in which she had a proud, nay, a generous resolution not to act the mean or treacherous part. Mary might have become cynical if she had not had parents whom she honored, and a well of affectionate gratitude within her, which was all the fuller because she had learned to make no unreasonable claims.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69506.
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She sat to-night revolving, as she was wont, the scenes of the day, her lips often curling with amusement at the oddities to which her fancy added fresh drollery: people were so ridiculous with their illusions, carrying their fool’s caps unawares, thinking their own lies opaque while everybody else’s were transparent, making themselves exceptions to everything, as if when all the world looked yellow under a lamp they alone were rosy. Yet there were some illusions under Mary’s eyes which were not quite comic to her. She was secretly convinced, though she had no other grounds than her close observation of old Featherstone’s nature, that in spite of his fondness for having the Vincys about him, they were as likely to be disappointed as any of the relations whom he kept at a distance. She had a good deal of disdain for Mrs. Vincy’s evident alarm lest she and Fred should be alone together, but it did not hinder her from thinking anxiously of the way in which Fred would be affected, if it should turn out that his uncle had left him as poor as ever. She could make a butt of Fred when he was present, but she did not enjoy his follies when he was absent.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69507.
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Yet she liked her thoughts: a vigorous young mind not overbalanced by passion, finds a good in making acquaintance with life, and watches its own powers with interest. Mary had plenty of merriment within.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69508.
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Her thought was not veined by any solemnity or pathos about the old man on the bed: such sentiments are easier to affect than to feel about an aged creature whose life is not visibly anything but a remnant of vices. She had always seen the most disagreeable side of Mr. Featherstone: he was not proud of her, and she was only useful to him. To be anxious about a soul that is always snapping at you must be left to the saints of the earth; and Mary was not one of them. She had never returned him a harsh word, and had waited on him faithfully: that was her utmost. Old Featherstone himself was not in the least anxious about his soul, and had declined to see Mr. Tucker on the subject.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69509.
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To-night he had not snapped, and for the first hour or two he lay remarkably still, until at last Mary heard him rattling his bunch of keys against the tin box which he always kept in the bed beside him. About three o’clock he said, with remarkable distinctness,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69510.
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"Missy, come here!"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69511.
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Mary obeyed, and found that he had already drawn the tin box from under the clothes, though he usually asked to have this done for him; and he had selected the key. He now unlocked the box, and, drawing from it another key, looked straight at her with eyes that seemed to have recovered all their sharpness and said,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69512.
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"How many of ’em are in the house?"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69513.
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"You mean of your own relations, sir,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69514.
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said Mary, well used to the old man’s way of speech. He nodded slightly and she went on.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69515.
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"Mr. Jonah Featherstone and young Cranch are sleeping here."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69516.
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"Oh ay, they stick, do they? and the rest—they come every day, I’ll warrant—Solomon and Jane, and all the young uns? They come peeping, and counting and casting up?"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69517.
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"Not all of them every day. Mr. Solomon and Mrs. Waule are here every day, and the others come often."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69518.
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The old man listened with a grimace while she spoke, and then said, relaxing his face,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69519.
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"The more fools they. You hearken, missy. It’s three o’clock in the morning, and I’ve got all my faculties as well as ever I had in my life. I know all my property, and where the money’s put out, and everything. And I’ve made everything ready to change my mind, and do as I like at the last. Do you hear, missy? I’ve got my faculties."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69520.
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"Well, sir?"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69521.
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said Mary, quietly.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69522.
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He now lowered his tone with an air of deeper cunning.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69523.
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"I’ve made two wills, and I’m going to burn one. Now you do as I tell you. This is the key of my iron chest, in the closet there. You push well at the side of the brass plate at the top, till it goes like a bolt: then you can put the key in the front lock and turn it. See and do that; and take out the topmost paper—Last Will and Testament—big printed."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69524.
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"No, sir,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69525.
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said Mary, in a firm voice,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69526.
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"I cannot do that."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69527.
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"Not do it? I tell you, you must,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69528.
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said the old man, his voice beginning to shake under the shock of this resistance.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69529.
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"I cannot touch your iron chest or your will. I must refuse to do anything that might lay me open to suspicion."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69530.
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"I tell you, I’m in my right mind. Shan’t I do as I like at the last? I made two wills on purpose. Take the key, I say."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69531.
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"No, sir, I will not,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69532.
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said Mary, more resolutely still. Her repulsion was getting stronger.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69533.
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"I tell you, there’s no time to lose."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69534.
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"I cannot help that, sir. I will not let the close of your life soil the beginning of mine. I will not touch your iron chest or your will."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69535.
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She moved to a little distance from the bedside.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69536.
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The old man paused with a blank stare for a little while, holding the one key erect on the ring; then with an agitated jerk he began to work with his bony left hand at emptying the tin box before him.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69537.
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"Missy,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69538.
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he began to say, hurriedly,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69539.
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"look here! take the money—the notes and gold—look here—take it—you shall have it all—do as I tell you."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69540.
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He made an effort to stretch out the key towards her as far as possible, and Mary again retreated.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69541.
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"I will not touch your key or your money, sir. Pray don’t ask me to do it again. If you do, I must go and call your brother."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69542.
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He let his hand fall, and for the first time in her life Mary saw old Peter Featherstone begin to cry childishly. She said, in as gentle a tone as she could command,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69543.
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"Pray put up your money, sir;"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69544.
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and then went away to her seat by the fire, hoping this would help to convince him that it was useless to say more. Presently he rallied and said eagerly—
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69545.
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"Look here, then. Call the young chap. Call Fred Vincy."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69546.
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Mary’s heart began to beat more quickly. Various ideas rushed through her mind as to what the burning of a second will might imply. She had to make a difficult decision in a hurry.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69547.
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"I will call him, if you will let me call Mr. Jonah and others with him."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69548.
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"Nobody else, I say. The young chap. I shall do as I like."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69549.
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"Wait till broad daylight, sir, when every one is stirring. Or let me call Simmons now, to go and fetch the lawyer? He can be here in less than two hours."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69550.
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"Lawyer? What do I want with the lawyer? Nobody shall know—I say, nobody shall know. I shall do as I like."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69551.
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"Let me call some one else, sir,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69552.
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said Mary, persuasively. She did not like her position—alone with the old man, who seemed to show a strange flaring of nervous energy which enabled him to speak again and again without falling into his usual cough; yet she desired not to push unnecessarily the contradiction which agitated him.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69553.
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"Let me, pray, call some one else."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69554.
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"You let me alone, I say. Look here, missy. Take the money. You’ll never have the chance again. It’s pretty nigh two hundred—there’s more in the box, and nobody knows how much there was. Take it and do as I tell you."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69555.
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Mary, standing by the fire, saw its red light falling on the old man, propped up on his pillows and bed-rest, with his bony hand holding out the key, and the money lying on the quilt before him. She never forgot that vision of a man wanting to do as he liked at the last. But the way in which he had put the offer of the money urged her to speak with harder resolution than ever.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69556.
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"It is of no use, sir. I will not do it. Put up your money. I will not touch your money. I will do anything else I can to comfort you; but I will not touch your keys or your money."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69557.
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"Anything else—anything else!"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69558.
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said old Featherstone, with hoarse rage, which, as if in a nightmare, tried to be loud, and yet was only just audible.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69559.
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"I want nothing else. You come here—you come here."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69560.
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Mary approached him cautiously, knowing him too well. She saw him dropping his keys and trying to grasp his stick, while he looked at her like an aged hyena, the muscles of his face getting distorted with the effort of his hand. She paused at a safe distance.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69561.
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"Let me give you some cordial,"
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69562.
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she said, quietly,
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69563.
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"and try to compose yourself. You will perhaps go to sleep. And to-morrow by daylight you can do as you like."
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69564.
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He lifted the stick, in spite of her being beyond his reach, and threw it with a hard effort which was but impotence. It fell, slipping over the foot of the bed. Mary let it lie, and retreated to her chair by the fire. By-and-by she would go to him with the cordial. Fatigue would make him passive. It was getting towards the chillest moment of the morning, the fire had got low, and she could see through the chink between the moreen window-curtains the light whitened by the blind. Having put some wood on the fire and thrown a shawl over her, she sat down, hoping that Mr. Featherstone might now fall asleep. If she went near him the irritation might be kept up. He had said nothing after throwing the stick, but she had seen him taking his keys again and laying his right hand on the money. He did not put it up, however, and she thought that he was dropping off to sleep.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69565.
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But Mary herself began to be more agitated by the remembrance of what she had gone through, than she had been by the reality—questioning those acts of hers which had come imperatively and excluded all question in the critical moment.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69566.
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Presently the dry wood sent out a flame which illuminated every crevice, and Mary saw that the old man was lying quietly with his head turned a little on one side. She went towards him with inaudible steps, and thought that his face looked strangely motionless; but the next moment the movement of the flame communicating itself to all objects made her uncertain. The violent beating of her heart rendered her perceptions so doubtful that even when she touched him and listened for his breathing, she could not trust her conclusions. She went to the window and gently propped aside the curtain and blind, so that the still light of the sky fell on the bed.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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69567.
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The next moment she ran to the bell and rang it energetically. In a very little while there was no longer any doubt that Peter Featherstone was dead, with his right hand clasping the keys, and his left hand lying on the heap of notes and gold.
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Mr. Featherstone
Mary Garth
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