DOI article:
Crackanthorpe, Hubert: The Haseltons
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21806#0147
By Hubert Crackanthorpe 143
tact ; on another occasion, he had brought her a laudatory article,
and she had turned the conversation brusquely into another
channel. And, since his love for her—of which as yet he was
himself unconscious—caused him to brood over means of pleasing
her (he lived alone in the Temple), this indication that he had
jarred her sensibilities was not lost upon him.
Hillier’s attitude towards the little Claude, and the pain that it
was causing her, would in all probabiltity have escaped him, had
she not alluded to it once openly, frankly assuming that he had per-
ceived it. It was not indeed that she was in any way tempted to
indulge in the transitional treachery of discussing Hillier with him ;
but that, distressed, yearning for counsel, she was prompted almost
irresistibly to turn to Swann, who had stood godfather to the child,
who was ready to join her in forming anxious speculations concern-
ing the future.
For of course he had extended his devotion to the child also,
who, at Hillier’s Suggestion, was taught to call him Uncle George.
Naturally his heart went out to children : the little Claude, since
the first awakening of his intelligence, had exhibited a freakish,
childish liking for him ; and, in his presence, always assumed some-
thing of the winsomeness of other children.
The child’s preference for Swann, his shy mistrust of his father,
were sometimes awkwardly apparent ; but Hillier, so it seemed to
Ella, so far from resenting, readily accepted his cousin’s predomi-
nance. “ Children always instinctively know a good man,” he
would say ; and Ella would wince inwardly, discerning, beneath
his air of complacent humility, how far apart from her he had come
to stand.
Thus, insensibly, Swann had become necessary to her, almost
the pivot, as it were, of her life : to muse concerning the nature of
his feelings towards her, to probe its sentimental aspects, to accept
his
tact ; on another occasion, he had brought her a laudatory article,
and she had turned the conversation brusquely into another
channel. And, since his love for her—of which as yet he was
himself unconscious—caused him to brood over means of pleasing
her (he lived alone in the Temple), this indication that he had
jarred her sensibilities was not lost upon him.
Hillier’s attitude towards the little Claude, and the pain that it
was causing her, would in all probabiltity have escaped him, had
she not alluded to it once openly, frankly assuming that he had per-
ceived it. It was not indeed that she was in any way tempted to
indulge in the transitional treachery of discussing Hillier with him ;
but that, distressed, yearning for counsel, she was prompted almost
irresistibly to turn to Swann, who had stood godfather to the child,
who was ready to join her in forming anxious speculations concern-
ing the future.
For of course he had extended his devotion to the child also,
who, at Hillier’s Suggestion, was taught to call him Uncle George.
Naturally his heart went out to children : the little Claude, since
the first awakening of his intelligence, had exhibited a freakish,
childish liking for him ; and, in his presence, always assumed some-
thing of the winsomeness of other children.
The child’s preference for Swann, his shy mistrust of his father,
were sometimes awkwardly apparent ; but Hillier, so it seemed to
Ella, so far from resenting, readily accepted his cousin’s predomi-
nance. “ Children always instinctively know a good man,” he
would say ; and Ella would wince inwardly, discerning, beneath
his air of complacent humility, how far apart from her he had come
to stand.
Thus, insensibly, Swann had become necessary to her, almost
the pivot, as it were, of her life : to muse concerning the nature of
his feelings towards her, to probe its sentimental aspects, to accept
his