7 The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall: Abridged By Stephanie Poppins

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is framed as a series of letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend about the events connected with his meeting a mysterious young widow, calling herself Helen Graham. She arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion that has been empty for many years, with her young son and a servant.

Contrary to the early 19th-century norms, she pursues an artist's career and makes an income by selling her pictures. Her strict seclusion soon gives rise to gossip in the neighboring village and she becomes a social outcast. Refusing to believe anything scandalous about her, Gilbert befriends her and discovers her past.

In this chapter, a picnic is organised, overlooking the sea.

Transcript

Hello. 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. That's it. 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 nowhere you need to go. We are together and it is time for sleep. The Tenant of Wildfelm Hall by Anne Bronte Read and abridged by Stephanie Poppins Chapter 7. The Excursion Not many days after this on a mild sunny morning, Rather soft underfoot, For the last fall of snow was only just wasted away leaving yet a thin ridge here and there lingering on the fresh green grass beneath the hedges. But beside them already the young primroses were peeping from their moist dark foliage and the lark above was singing of summer and hope and love and every heavenly thing. I was out on the hillside enjoying these delights and looking after the well-being of my young lambs and their mothers when on glancing round beheld three persons ascending from the vale below. They were Eliza Millwood, Fergus and Rose. So I crossed the field to meet them and being told they were going to Wildfell Hall I declared myself willing to go as well and offering my arm to Eliza who readily accepted it in lieu of my brothers told the latter he might go back for I would accompany the ladies. I beg your pardon exclaimed he, It's the ladies that are accompanying me not I them. You had all had a peep at this wonderful stranger but me and I could endure my wretched ignorance no longer. Come what would I must be satisfied. So I begged Rose to go with me to the hall and introduce me to her at once. She swore she would not unless Miss Eliza would go too so I ran to the vicarage and fetched her and we've come hooked all the way as fond as a pair of lovers and now you've taken her from me and you want to deprive me of my walk my visit besides. Go back to your fields and your cattle you lovely fellow for you're not fit to associate with ladies and gentlemen like us that have nothing to do but run smoking about to our neighbours houses peeping into their private corners and scenting out their secrets and picking holes in their coats when we don't find them ready made to our hands you don't understand such refined sources of enjoyment. Can't you both go suggested Eliza disregarding the latter half of the speech. Yes both to be sure cried Rose the more the merrier I'm sure we'll want all the cheerfulness we can carry with us to that great dark gloomy room. So we went all in a body and the meager old maidservant that opened the door ushered us into an apartment such as Rose had described as the scene of her first introduction to Mrs Graham a tolerably spacious and lofty room but obscurely lighted by the old-fashioned windows the ceiling panels and chimney piece of grim black oak the latter elaborately but not very tastefully carved with tables and chairs to match an old bookcase on one side of the fireplace stocked with a motley assemblage of books and an elderly cabinet piano on the other. The lady was seated in a stiff high back armchair with a small round table containing a desk and work basket on one side of her and her little boy on the other who stood leaning his elbow on her knee and reading to her with wonderful fluency from a small volume that lay in her lap. They struck me as forming a pleasing contrast to all the surrounding objects but of course their position was immediately changed now entrance I could only observe the picture during the first few brief seconds that Rachel held the door for our admittance. I do not think Mrs Graham was particularly delighted to see us there there was something indescribably chilly in her quiet calm civility but I did not talk much to her seating myself near the window a little back from the circle I called Arthur to me and he I and Sancho amused ourselves very pleasantly together while the two young ladies baited his mother with small talk and Fergus sat opposite with his legs crossed and his hands in his breeches pocket leaning back in his chair and staring up at the ceiling. It amazes me Mrs Graham how you could choose such a dilapidated rickety old place to live in as this if you couldn't afford to occupy the whole house and have it mended up why couldn't you take a neat little cottage? Perhaps I was true proud Mr Fergus replied she smiling perhaps I took a particular fancy for this romantic old-fashioned place but indeed it has many advantages over a cottage in the first place the rooms are larger and more airy in the second place the unoccupied apartments which I don't pay for may serve as lumber rooms if I have anything to put in them and they're very useful for my little boy to run about in on rainy days when he can't go out and then there's the garden for him to play in and for me to work in. But how can you bear such a situation your nearest neighbors two miles distant and nobody looking in or passing by? I'm not sure the loneliness of the place was not one of its chief recommendations said she I take no pleasure in watching people said she I take no pleasure in watching people past the windows and I like to be quiet oh as good as you say you wish we would all of us mind our own business and let you alone said Mr Fergus no I dislike an extensive acquaintance but if I have a few friends of course I'm happy to see them occasionally no one can be happy in eternal solitude therefore Mr Fergus she said if you choose to enter my house as a friend I will make you welcome if not I must confess I would rather you kept away then she turned and addressed some observation to Rose or Eliza and Mrs Graham said he five minutes after disputing as we came along a question you can readily decide for us as it is mainly regarded yourself and indeed we often hold discussions about you for some of us have nothing better to do than talk about our neighbor's concerns your tongue Fergus cried Rose in fever of apprehension and wrath I won't I tell you the questions you're requested to solve are these continued Mr Fergus first concerning your birth extraction and previous residence some will have it you're a foreigner and some an English woman well Mr Fergus I'll tell you I'm an English woman and I don't see why anyone should doubt it I was born in the country neither in the extreme north nor south of our happy isle and in the country I've chiefly passed my life I hope you're satisfied for I'm not disposed to answer any more questions at present oh not one more laughed she and instantly quitting her seat she sought refuge at the window by which I was seated and in very desperation to escape my brother's persecutions endeavored to draw me into conversation Mr Markham said she have you forgotten the fine sea view we were speaking of some time ago I think I must trouble you now to tell me the nearest way to it for if this beautiful weather continues I shall perhaps be able to walk there I was about to comply with her request but Rose would not suffer me to proceed oh don't tell her Gilbert cried she she shall go with us it's bay you're thinking about I suppose Mrs Graham it's a very long walk too far for you and out of the question for Arthur but we were thinking about making a picnic to see it some fine day and if you wait till the settled fine weather comes I'm sure we'll all be delighted to have you among us poor Mrs Graham looked dismayed and attempted to make excuses but Rose either compassionating her lonely life or anxious to cultivate her acquaintance was determined to have her and every objection was overruled just a nice walk for the gentlemen continued rose but the ladies will drive and walk by turns but we'll have our pony carriage which will be plenty large enough and so the proposal was finally acceded to and after some further discussion respecting the time and manner of the project we rose and took our leave but this was only March a cold wet April and two weeks passed before we could venture forth on our expedition Mr Lawrence had been invited to join us but for some reason best known to himself had refused to give us his company so it consisted of Mrs and Master Graham Mary and Eliza Millwood Jane and Richard Wilson it was about midday when we reached the place of our destination Mrs Graham walked all the way to the cliffs and little Arthur walked a greater part of it too for now he was much more hearty and active than when he first entered the neighborhood I have a very pleasant recollection of that walk along the hard white sunny road shaded here and there with bright green trees and adorned with flowery banks and blossoming hedges of delicious fragrance always glorious in the sweet flowers and brilliant verdure of a delightful May it was true Eliza was not beside me but she was with her friends in the pony carriage as happy I trusted as I was and even when we pedestrians haven't forsaken the highway for a shortcut across the fields beheld the little carriage far away disappearing amid the green embowering trees I did not hate those trees for snatching the dear little bonnet and shawl from my sight nor did I feel all those intervening objects lay between me and my happiness for to confess the truth I was too happy in the company of Mrs Graham to regret the absence of Eliza Millwood the former it is true was most provokingly unsociable at first seemingly bent upon talking to no one but Mary Millwood and Arthur but at length our walk was ended and I looked at my companion to see what she thought of this glorious scene she said nothing but stood still and fixed her eyes upon it with a gaze that assured with a gaze that assured me she was not disappointed she had very fine eyes by the way I think I have told you before they were full of soul large clear and nearly black not brown but very dark gray a cool reviving breeze blew from the sea soft pure salubrious it waved her drooping ringlets and imparted a livelier color to her usually too pallid lip and cheek she felt its exhilarating influence and so did I felt it tingling through my frame but dared not give way to it while she remained so quiet never had she looked so lovely never had my heart so warmly cleaved to her as now had we been left two minutes longer standing there alone I cannot answer for the consequences happily for my discretion perhaps for my enjoyment during the remainder of the day we were speedily summoned to the repast a very respectable collation which rose assisted by Miss Wilson and Eliza who having shared her seat in the carriage had arrived a little before the rest had set out upon an elevated platform overlooking the sea and sheltered from the hot sun by a shelving rock and overhanging trees Mrs. Graham seated herself at a distance from me Eliza was my nearest neighbor she exerted herself to be agreeable in her gentle unobtrusive way and was no doubt as fascinating and charming as ever if only I could have felt it but soon my heart began to warm towards her once again and we were all very merry and happy together as far as I could see throughout the protracted social meal when that was over Rose summoned Fergus to help her gather up the fragments and the knives dishes etc and restore them to the baskets Mrs. Graham took her camp stall and drawing materials having begged Miss Millwood to take charge of her precious son she left us and proceeded along the steep stony hill to a loftier more precipitous eminence at some distance when she was gone I felt as if there were to be no more fun though it is difficult to say what she had contributed to the hilarity of the party Eliza's playful nonsense ceased to amuse me nay grew wearisome to my soul and I grew weary of amusing her I felt myself drawn by an irresistible attraction to that distant point where the fair artist sat she did not hear me coming the falling of my shadow across her paper gave her an electric start and she looked hastily around any other lady of my acquaintance would have screamed under such a sudden alarm oh I didn't know it was you why did you startle me so said she somewhat testily hate anybody to come upon me so unexpectedly why what did you take me for said I if I had known you'd be so nervous I would have been more cautious but well never mind what did you come for are they all coming no this little ledge could scarcely contain them all I'm glad for I'm tired of talking well then I won't talk I'll only sit and watch you draw but you know I don't like that then I'll content myself with admiring this magnificent prospect she made no objection to this and for some time sketched away in silence but I could not help stealing a glance now and then from the splendid view at our feet to the elegant white hand that held the pencil and the graceful neck and glossy raven curls that drooped over the paper now thought I if I had but a pencil and morsel of paper I could make a loveliest sketch than hers admitting I had the power to delineate faithfully what is before me but though this satisfaction was denied me I was very well content to sit beside her there and say nothing are you there still Mr Markham said she at length looking round for I was seated a little behind on a mossy projection of the cliff why don't you go and amuse yourself with your friends because I am tired of them like you and I shall have enough of them tomorrow or any time hence to you I may not have the pleasure of seeing again for I know not how long what was Arthur doing when you came away what was Arthur doing when you came away he was with Miss Millwood where you left him hoping Mama would not be long away you didn't entrust him to me by the by I grumbled but Miss Millwood has the art of conciliating and amusing children I carelessly added if she's good for nothing else Miss Millwood has many estimable qualities with such as you cannot be expected to perceive or appreciate said she will you tell Arthur that I shall come in a few minutes if that be the case I'll wait with your permission till those few minutes are passed then I can assist you to descend this difficult path thank you I always manage best on such occasions without assistance but at least I can carry your stool and sketchbook she did not deny me this favor but I was rather offended at her evident desire to be rid of me and was beginning to repent of my pertinacity when she somewhat appeased me by consulting my taste and judgment about some doubtful matter in her drawing my opinion happily met her approbation and the improvement I suggested was adopted without hesitation I've often wished in vain said she for another's judgment to appeal to when I could scarcely trust the direction of my own that replied I is only one of many evils to which a solitary life exposes us true said she and again we relapsed into silence on returning to the scene of our past we found all the company had deserted it with the exception of three Mary Millwood, Richard Wilson and Arthur Graham the younger gentleman lay fast asleep with his head pillowed on the lady's lap the other was seated beside him and the young lady was lying on her back the younger gentleman lay fast asleep with his head pillowed on the lady's lap the other was seated beside her with a pocket edition of some classic author in his hand he never went anywhere without such a companion wherewith to improve his leisure moments the journey homeward was by no means so agreeable to me as the former part of the day for now Mrs. Graham was in the carriage and Eliza Millwood was the companion of my walk she had observed my preference for the young widow and evidently felt herself neglected when the pony carriage approached as near Wildfell Hall as the road would permit the young widow and her son alighted relinquishing the driver's seat to Rose and I persuaded Eliza to take the latter's place bid her take care of the evening air and wish her a good night I felt considerably relieved and hastened to offer my services to Mrs. Graham to carry her apparatus up the fields but she had already hung her camp stall on her arm and taken her sketchbook in her hand and insisted upon bidding me adieu then and there this time though she declined my profit aid in so kind a friendly a manner that I almost forgave her you