Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,
A romantic bedtime podcast guaranteed to help you drift off into a calm,
Relaxing sleep.
Come with me as we travel back to a time long ago where Helen Huntingdon is sacrificing everything she knows in order to protect her son.
But before we begin,
Let us take a moment to focus on where we are now.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Then let it out on a long sigh.
It is time to relax and really let go.
Feel your shoulders melt away from your ears as you sink into the support beneath you.
Feel the pressure seep away from your cheeks as your breath drops into a natural rhythm.
There is nothing you need to be doing right now.
And know where you need to go.
We are together.
And it is time for sleep.
The Tenant of Wildfelm Hall Read and abridged by Stephanie Poppins Chapter 46 Continued In little more than a week after my meeting with Mr Lawrence,
I met him returning from a visit to the Wilsons,
And I now resolved to do him a good turn,
Though at the expense of his feelings,
And perhaps at the risk of incurring that displeasure which is so commonly the reward of those who give disagreeable information or tender their advice unasked.
In this,
Believe me,
I was actuated by no motives of revenge for the occasional annoyances I had lately sustained from him,
Nor yet by any feeling of malevolent enmity towards Miss Wilson,
But purely by the fact I could not endure that such a woman should be Mrs Huntington's sister,
And that as well,
For his sake as hers,
I could not bear to think of being deceived into a union with one so unworthy of him,
And so utterly unfitted to be the partner of his quiet home and the companion of his life.
He had uncomfortable suspicions on that head himself,
I imagined,
But such was his inexperience,
And such were the lady's powers of attraction and her skill in bringing them to bear upon his young imagination,
That they had not disturbed him long,
And,
I believe,
The only effectual cause of the vacillating indecision that had preserved him hitherto from making an actual declaration of love was the consideration of her connections,
And especially of her mother,
Whom he could not abide.
Had they lived at a distance he might have surmounted the objection,
But within two or three miles of Woodford it really was no light matter.
"'You've been to call on the Wilsons,
Lawrence?
' said I,
As I walked beside his pony.
"'Yes,
' replied he,
Slightly averting his face.
I thought it but civil to take the first opportunity of returning their kind attentions,
Since they've been so very particular and constant in their enquiries throughout the course of my illness.
"'It is all Miss Wilson's doing.
' "'And if it is,
' returned he,
With a very perceptible blush,
"'is that any reason why I should not make a suitable acknowledgement?
' "'It is a reason why you should not make the acknowledgement she looks for.
' "'Let us drop that subject,
If you please,
' said Mr.
Lawrence,
In evident displeasure.
"'No,
Lawrence,
With your leave we'll continue it a while longer,
And I'll tell you something nowhere about it,
Which you may believe or not as you choose,
Only please to remember it's not my custom to speak falsely,
And in this case I have no motive for misrepresenting the truth.
' "'Well,
Markham,
What now?
' "'Miss Wilson hates your sister.
' "'It may be natural enough that,
In her ignorance of the relationship,
She should feel some degree of enmity against her,
But no good or amiable woman would be capable of convincing that bitter-cold-blooded,
Designing malice towards a fancied rival that I have observed in her.
"'Markham?
' "'Yes,
And it's my belief Eliza Millwood and she,
If not the very originators of the slanderous reports that have been propagated,
Were designedly the encouragers and chief disseminators of them.
' "'She was not desirous to mix up your name in the matter,
Of course,
But her delight was,
And still is,
To blacken your sister's character to the utmost of her power,
Without risking too greatly the exposure of her own malevolence.
' "'I cannot believe it,
' he interrupted,
His face burning with indignation.
"'Well,
As I cannot prove it,
I must content myself with asserting it is so,
To the best of my belief.
' "'But as you would not willingly marry Miss Wilson if it were so,
You would do well to be cautious,
Lawrence,
Till you have proved it to be otherwise.
' "'I never told you,
Markham,
I intended to marry Miss Wilson,
' he said proudly.
"'No,
But whether you do or you do not,
She intends to marry you.
' "'Did she tell you so?
' "'No,
But—' "'Then you have no right to make such an assertion respecting her.
' "'Lawrence slightly quickened his pony's pace,
But I laid my hand on its mane,
Determined he should not leave me yet.
"'Wait a moment,
And let me explain myself,
And don't be so very—I don't know what to call it—inaccessible as you are.
I know what you think of Jane Wilson,
And I believe I know how far you are mistaken in your opinion.
You think she is singularly charming,
Elegant,
Sensible,
And refined.
You are not aware she is selfish,
Cold-hearted,
Ambitious,
Artful,
And shallow-minded.
' "'Enough,
Markham,
Enough.
' "'No,
Let me finish.
"'You don't know that if you married her your home would be rayless and comfortless,
And it would break your heart at last to find yourself united to one so wholly incapable of sharing your tastes,
Feelings,
And ideas,
So utterly destitute of sensibility,
Good feeling,
And true nobility of soul.
' "'Have you done?
' asked my companion quietly.
"'Yes.
I know you hate me for my impertinence,
But I don't care if it only conduces to preserve you from that fatal mistake.
' "'Well,
' returned he with a rather wintry smile,
''I am glad you have overcome or forgotten your own afflictions so far as to be able to study so deeply the affairs of others,
And trouble your head so unnecessarily about the fancied or possible calamities of their future life.
' "'We parted then somewhat coldly,
But still we did not cease to be friends,
And my well-meant warning,
Though it might have been more judiciously received,
As well as more thankfully received,
Was not wholly unproductive of the desired effect.
Lawrence's visit to the Wilsons was not repeated,
And though in our subsequent interviews he never mentioned her name to me nor I to him,
I have reason to believe he pondered my words in his mind,
Eagerly though covertly sought information,
Respecting the fair lady from other quarters,
Secretly compared my character of her with what he had himself observed and what he heard from others,
And finally came to the conclusion that,
All things considered,
Miss Wilson had much better remain Miss of Rycott Farm than Misses of Woodford Hall.
I believe,
Too,
He soon learned to contemplate with secret amazement his former predilection and to congratulate himself on the lucky escape he had made,
But he never confessed it to me or hinted one word of acknowledgement for the part I had had in his deliverance,
But this was not surprising to anyone that knew him as I did.
As for Jane Wilson,
She,
Of course,
Was disappointed and embittered by this sudden cold neglect and ultimate desertion of her former admirer.
Had I done wrong to blight her cherished hopes?
I think not,
And certainly my conscience has never accused me from that day to this of any evil design in the matter.
