Charlotte Brontë

From Shirley

M

iss Helstone was by this time free enough from illusions: she took a sufficiently grave view of the future, and fancied she knew pretty well how her own destiny and that of some others were tending. Yet old associations retained their influence over her, and it was these, and the power of habits, which still frequently drew her of an evening to the field-stile and the old thorn overlooking the Hollow.

                One night, the night after the incident of the note, she had been at her usual post, watching for her beacon—watching vainly; that evening no lamp was lit. She waited till the rising of certain constellations warned her of lateness, and signed her way. In passing Fieldhead, on her return, its moonlit beauty attracted her glance, and stayed her step an instant. Tree and hall rose peaceful under the night sky and clear full orb; pearly paleness gilded the building; mellow brown gloom bosomed it round; shadows of deep green brooded above its oak-wreathed roof. The broad pave­ment in front shone pale also; it gleamed as if some spell had transformed the dark granite to glis­tering Parian: on the silvery space slept two sable shadows, thrown sharply defined from two hu­man figures. These figures when first seen were motionless and mute; presently they moved in harmonious step, and spoke low in harmonious key. Earnest was the gaze that scrutinized them as they emerged from behind the trunk of the cedar. “Is it Mrs. Pryor and Shirley?”

                Certainly it is Shirley. Who else has a shape so lithe, and proud, and graceful? And her face, too, is visible: her countenance careless and pensive, and musing and mirthful, and mocking and tender. Not fearing the dew, she has not covered her head; her curls are free: they veil her neck and caress her shoulder with their tendril rings. An ornament of gold gleams through the half-closed folds of the scarf she has wrapped across her bust, and a large bright gem glitters on the white hand which confines it. Yes, that is Shirley. Her companion then is, of course, Mrs. Pryor?

                Yes, if  Mrs. Pryor owns six feet of stature, and if she has changed her decent widow's weeds for masculine disguise. The figure walking at Miss Keeldar's side is a man—a tall, young, stately man—it is her tenant, Robert Moore.

                The pair speak softly, their words are not distinguishable: to remain a moment to gaze is not to be an eavesdropper; and as the moon shines so clearly and their countenances are so dis­tinctly apparent, who can resist the attraction of such interest?

Notes and exercises:

1.     The sound [¶:(r)] is represented by the digraph “ir” in the following words:

mirth	firm	stir	skirt	circle	infirmity
sir	first	girl	dirt	birth	irksome
fir	third	shirt	dirty	birthday	mirthless

2.     The following words have a silent “u”:

disguise	conqueror	liquor	grotesque	picturesque
guard	vague	antique	guillotine	oblique
plague	guitar	guile	conquer	quay
beguile	vogue	guide	guinea	boutique

3.            Insert “c”, “s”, or “ss” for the sound [s]:

confe..or	..entury	..ivilized	coun..l	acro..	de..de
fan..y	..u..eed	ma..acre	suffi..iently	de..tiny	a..o..iation
influen..e	in..ident	con..tellation	pea..eful	spa..e	..edar

4.     Say where the strong stress lies in these words and pay attention to their spelling:

appreciate	ceremony	execute	uppermost	benevolent
necessary	parallel	character	horizon	circumstances
parental	architect	catholic	cement	contribution
advertiser	collapse	Catholicism	interesting	contributory
necessity	radiator	accumulate	massacre	advertisement
refuse	minute	monopoly	operation	ceremonial
anxiety	emphasis	informative	operative	mackintosh
mature	nature	mechanical	radiation	architectural

5.     Give derivatives:

Verb      Noun      Adjective              Adverb

manage ...             ...             ...

inspect   ...             ...             ...

consult   ...             ...             ...

motivate               ...             ...             ...

bore        ...             ...             ...

assemble               ...             ...             ...

6.     Word study:

Parian           a fine white marble found in the Isle of Paros (Greece)

stile                arrangement of steps or rungs to enable persons on foot to get over or through a fence, hedge, wall, etc. but keeping cattle out

glister            to glisten

sable              a small animal valued for its beautiful dark fur; the fur of this animal: a sable coat; (adj.) black, gloomy

orb                 a globe, especially the sun, the moon, or one of the planets

weeds             black clothes as formerly worn by a widow for mourning

7.     Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:

the power of habit, to be in the habit of doing something, it is a habit with him, to form/fall/get into the habit of doing something, to grow into a habit, to fall out of a habit, to break someone of a habit, from force of habit, out of sheer habit, habited in black, habitué;

its moonlight beauty attracted her glance, full moon, new moon, to aim at the moon, to bark at the moon (to waste one’s time), William Least Heat Moon, once in a blue moon, to cry for the moon, under the moon, to moon away one’s vacation, mooncalf, moonstruck (dazed, incapable of thought, as though under the influence of the moon: He stared at me, moonstruck), moonshine (1. unreal, a fantastic and untrue statement: The story he told was all moonshine; 2. (slang) illegally distilled whiskey)