The Force of Circumstance

By William S. Maugham

The rain was falling when she awoke and it was impossible to go out. During tea Guy was silent and abstracted. She got her sewing and began to work. Guy sat down to read such of the English papers as he had not yet gone through from cover to cover; but he was restless; he walked up and down the large room and then went out on the verandah. He looked at the steady rain. What was he thinking of? Doris was vaguely uneasy.

        It was not till after dinner that he spoke. During the simple meal he had exerted himself to be his usual gay self, but the exertion was apparent. The rain had ceased and the night was starry. They sat on the verandah. In order not to attract insects they had put out the lamp in the sitting-room. At their feet, with a mighty, formidable sluggishness, silent, mysterious and fatal, flowed the river. It had the terrible deliberation and the relentlessness of destiny.

        “Doris, I’ve got something to say to you,” he said suddenly.

        His voice was very strange. Was it her fancy that he had difficulty in keeping it quite steady? She felt a little pang in her heart because he was in distress, and she put her hand gently into his. He drew it away.

        “It’s rather a long story. I’m afraid it’s not a very nice one and I find it rather difficult to tell. I’m going to ask you not to interrupt me, or to say anything, till I’ve finished.”

        In the darkness she could not see his face, but she felt that it was haggard. She did not answer. He spoke in a voice so low that it hardly broke the silence of the night.

notes and exercises:

1.     Remember that the following words are spelt with a double “r”:

þ    starry                                  arrow              borrow      incorrigible irrigate     sorry

þ    cherry                arrest         sorrow            interrupt    warrior       hurry

þ    ferry                  arrange      furrow            interrogate terrible       worry

þ    merry                                  arrogant          burrow      irregular     horrible    marriage

þ      marry                                  barren             sparrow     irrespective horror      narrow

2.     The following words are spelt with a double “t”:

þ    attract   attitude       battalion     glitter       latter

þ    attach   attire          mattress      sitter        flatter

þ    attack   attribute      cottage        butter       shatter

þ    attain    kettle          cotton         gutter        scatter

þ    attend   settle          bottom        mutter       fetter

þ    attention                 spittle         button       flutter              typesetter

þ    attic      cattle          mutton        shutter      regrettable

þ      attar     battle          bitter          matter       unforgettable

3.     The adjective-forming suffixes “–able” and “–ible” are often pronounced the same way: agreeable [ug´ri:ubl], incorrigible [inku´ridzubl].

        The words from which the adjectives are formed often retain final “e”, especially when the quality of the preceding consonant has to be preserved, but not otherwise: change—changeable, peace—peaceable; but smoke—smokable.

        With shorter adjectives the “e” is often retained but in some dictionaries it is omitted: blame—blameable, but also blamable. This holds good, too, for the following adjectives: chaseable, giveable, hireable, likeable, liveable, malleable saleable, sizeable, tameable, moveable.

        When the word from which the adjective is derived ends in “y”, the latter changes to “i” after a consonant but is preserved after a vowel: rely—reliable, but pay—payable.

        Doubling of the final consonant takes place when the word from which the adjective is derived ends in a stressed, short syllable: regret—regrettable.

4.     Memorize the spelling of the following adjectives paying special attention to the suffix and say what they mean:

Þ      formidable, marriageable, profitable, suitable, unspeakable, workable, valuable, variable, advisable, debatable, tolerable;

Þ      feasible, audible, credible, eligible, negligible, possible, terrible, visible, comprehensible, divisible, horrible, susceptible

5.     Write adjectives in “–able” and “–ible” corresponding to the following nouns:

Þ      accession, conversion, perfection, admission, digestion, permission, combustion, division, perception, comprehension, collection, vision;

Þ      appreciation, imagination, separation, consideration, irritation, admiration, consolation, notation, navigation, demonstration, estimation, communication

6.     Do not confuse the spelling of the homonymous verbs “to cease” and “to seize”. Explain in English what they mean.

7.     Note the difference in spelling of the prepositions “till” and “until”.

8.     A few nouns in English form their plural by changing the root vowel (mutation plural). Write down the plural forms of the following nouns: foot, tooth, goose, louse, mouse, man, woman.

9.     Word study:

to exert oneself           to make an effort (to exert oneself to arrive early; Exert yourself on my behalf)

a pang                           a sharp sudden feeling of pain, remorse, etc.: the pangs of despised love (William Shakespeare, Hamlet); pangs of conscience

to put out                      1) to extinguish: He put out the lamp. 2) to remove from a house or other building, to eject: He put out the cat. 3) to annoy, to perturb: The old lady seemed put out. 4) to take extra trouble: We always put ourselves out to please grandfather. 5) to be disconcerted or annoyed: Don’t put yourself out because the postman hasn’t called.