49 Tenant Of Wildfell Hall - Read By Stephanie Poppins

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.

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 Read and abridged by Stephanie Poppins Chapter 49 Though Mr Lawrence's health was now quite re-established,

My visits to Woodford were as unremitting as ever,

Though often less protracted than before.

We seldom talked about Mrs Huntingdon,

But yet we never met without mentioning her,

For I never sought his company but with the hope of hearing something about her,

And he never sought mine at all because he saw me often enough without.

But I always began to talk of other things and waited first to see if he would introduce the subject.

If he did not I would casually ask,

Have you heard from your sister lately?

If he said no the matter was dropped,

But if he said yes I would venture to enquire,

How is she?

Never how is her husband,

Although I might be burning to know because I had not the hypocrisy to profess any anxiety for his recovery.

In the first place,

You see,

His life did harm to others and evidently no good to himself,

And though I wished it to terminate I would not have hastened its close if by the lifting of a finger I could have done so,

Unless indeed I had the power to exchange him for some other victim of the grave whose life might have been of service to his race,

And whose death would have been lamented by his friends.

A fortnight passed away and my enquiries were always answered in the negative.

At length the welcome yes drew from me the second question.

Lawrence divined my anxious thoughts and appreciated my reserve.

I feared at first he was going to torture me by unsatisfactory replies and either leave me quite in the dark concerning what I wanted to know or force me to drag the information out of him morsel by morsel.

To my pleasure,

In a little while,

He put his sister's letter into my hand.

I silently read it and restored it to him without comment or remark.

This mode of procedure suited him so well that thereafter he always pursued the plan of showing me her letters at once when I enquired after her if there were any to show.

It was so much less trouble than to tell me their contents.

And I received such confidences so quietly and discreetly he was never induced to discontinue them.

But I devoured those precious letters with my eyes and I never let them go till their contents were stamped upon my mind.

When I got home the most important passages were entered in my diary among the remarkable events of the day.

The first of these communications brought intelligence of a serious relapse in Mr.

Huntington's illness,

Entirely the result of his own infatuation in persisting in the indulgence of his appetite for stimulating drink.

In vain had Helen remonstrated,

In vain had she mingled his wine with water.

Her arguments and entreaties were a nuisance,

Her interference was an insult so intolerable that at length and finding she'd covertly diluted the pale port that was brought him,

Arthur threw the bottle out of the window swearing he would not be cheated like a baby.

Then he ordered the butler on pain of instant dismissal to bring a bottle of the strongest wine in the cellar and affirming he should have been well long ago if he'd been able to let him have his own way announced he would have no more humbug.

Of course,

Alarming symptoms were the immediate result of this imprudence as Helen mildly termed it.

Every former feature of Arthur's malady had returned with augmented virulence.

The slight external wound,

Half healed,

Had broken out afresh.

Internal inflammation had taken place which might terminate fatally if not soon removed.

And of course,

The wretched sufferer's temper was not improved by this calamity.

Helen had been advised at last to give her son in charge to Esther Hargrave as her presence was so constantly required in the sick room,

She could not possibly attend to him herself.

And though her child had begged to be allowed to continue with her there and help her to nurse his papa,

And though she had no doubt he would have been very good and quiet,

Helen could not think of subjecting his young and tender feelings to the sight of so much suffering.

Arthur most deeply regrets the step that has occasioned his relapse,

Continued she,

But as usual he throws the blame upon me.

If I had reasoned with him like a rational creature,

He says,

It would never have happened but to be treated like a baby or a fool was enough to put any man past his patience.

He seems to be sensible of his danger,

But nothing can induce him to be holded in the proper light.

The other day while I was waiting on him,

And just as I had brought him a draught to assuage his burning thirst,

He observed with a return of his former sarcastic bitterness,

"'Yes,

You're mighty attentive now,

And I suppose there's nothing you wouldn't do for me now.

' "'You know,

' said I,

A little surprised at his manner,

"'I am willing to do anything I can to relieve you.

' "'Yes,

Now,

My immaculate angel,

' he replied,

"'but when once you've secured your regard and find yourself safe in heaven and me howling in hell-fire,

Catch you lifting a finger to serve me then,

No,

You'll look complacently on and not so much as dip the tip of your finger in water to cool my tongue.

' Then,

As if suddenly struck with the appalling aspect of that terrible event,

He said,

"'Helen,

You must save me.

' And he earnestly seized my hand and looked into my face with such imploring eagerness.

My heart bled for him,

And I could not speak for tears.

The next letter brought intelligence that the malady was fast increasing,

And the poor sufferer's horror of death was still more distressing than his impatience of bodily pain.

Now,

All his friends had not forsaken him,

For Mr Hattersley,

Hearing of his danger,

Had come to see him from his distant home in the north.

His wife had accompanied him,

As much for the pleasure of seeing her dear friend Helen,

From whom she'd been parted for so long.

Mrs Huntington expressed herself glad to see Millicent once more.

She was pleased to behold herself happy and well.

"'Millicent is now at the grove,

' continued the letter,

"'but she often calls to see me.

Mr Hattersley spends much of his time at Arthur's bedside.

' With more good feeling than I gave him credit for,

He invents his considerable sympathy for his unhappy friend,

And is far more willing than able to comfort him.

Sometimes he tries to joke and laugh with him,

But that will not do.

Sometimes he endeavours to cheer him up with talk about old times,

And this at one time may serve to divert the sufferer from his own sad thoughts,

As another it will only plunge him into deeper melancholy than before.

Mr Hattersley sometimes offers his services instead of mine,

But Arthur will not let me go.

That strange whim still increases as his strength declines,

The fancy to have me always by his side.

I hardly ever leave him except to go into the next room,

Where I sometimes snatch an hour or two of sleep when he's quiet.

But even then the door is left ajar,

That he may know me to be within call.

I am with him now as I write,

And I fear my occupation annoys him,

Though I frequently break off to attend to him,

And though Mr Hattersley is always by his side.

That gentleman came,

As he said,

To beg a holiday for me,

That I might have a run in the park this fine frosty morning with Millicent and Esther and little Arthur.

My poor invalid evidently felt it was a hard day.

A heartless proposition,

And would have felt it still more heartless in me to accede to it.

Therefore,

I said I would only go and speak to them a minute and then come back.

Just outside the portico,

Inhaling the fresh bracing air as I stood,

I tore myself away and returned.

I had not been absent five minutes,

But Arthur approached me bitterly for my levity and neglect.

Nay,

Nay,

Huntingdon,

Said Hattersley,

You're too hard upon her.

She must have food and sleep and a mouthful of fresh air now and then,

Or she can't stand it,

I tell you.

Look at her,

Man,

She's worn to a shadow.

What are her sufferings to mine,

Said Arthur.

You don't grudge me these attentions,

Do you,

Helen?

No,

Arthur,

I said.

If I could really serve you by them,

I would give my life to save you if I might.

Would you indeed?

No.

Most willingly,

I would.

That's because you think yourself more fit to die.

There was a painful pause after this.

Arthur was evidently plunged in gloomy reflections.

Then Hattersley said,

I say,

Huntingdon,

I would send for a parcel of some sort if you didn't like the vicar,

You know.

You could have his curate or somebody else.

No,

Said Arthur.

None of them can benefit me if she can't.

Then the tears gushed from his eyes as he earnestly exclaimed,

Oh,

Helen,

If I had listened to you,

It would never have come to this.

And if I had heard you long ago,

Oh,

God,

How different things might have been.