Of late years an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of England: they lie very thick on the hills; every parish has one or more of them; they are young enough to be very active, and o...

The evening was pitch dark: star and moon were quenched in gray rain-clouds⁠—gray they would have been by day; by night they looked sable. Malone was not a man given to close observation of nature; he...

Cheerfulness, it would appear, is a matter which depends fully as much on the state of things within as on the state of things without and around us. I make this trite remark, because I happen to know...

A Yorkshire gentleman he was, par excellence, in every point; about fifty-five years old, but looking at first sight still older, for his hair was silver white. His forehead was broad, not high; his f...

Moore’s good spirits were still with him when he rose next morning. He and Joe Scott had both spent the night in the mill, availing themselves of certain sleeping accommodations producible from recess...

Mademoiselle Moore had that morning a somewhat absentminded pupil. Caroline forgot, again and again, the explanations which were given to her. However, she still bore with unclouded mood the chidings ...

Caroline Helstone was just eighteen years old, and at eighteen the true narrative of life is yet to be commenced. Before that time we sit listening to a tale, a marvellous fiction, delightful sometime...

The next day Moore had risen before the sun, and had taken a ride to Whinbury and back ere his sister had made the café au lait or cut the tartines for his breakfast. What business he transacted there...

Messrs. Helstone and Sykes began to be extremely jocose and congratulatory with Mr. Moore when he returned to them after dismissing the deputation. He was so quiet, however, under their compliments up...

Time wore on, and spring matured. The surface of England began to look pleasant: her fields grew green, her hills fresh, her gardens blooming; but at heart she was no better. Still her poor were wretc...

Yet Caroline refused tamely to succumb. She had native strength in her girl’s heart, and she used it. Men and women never struggle so hard as when they struggle alone, without witness, counsellor, or ...

Shirley showed she had been sincere in saying she should be glad of Caroline’s society, by frequently seeking it; and, indeed, if she had not sought it, she would not have had it, for Miss Helstone wa...

In Shirley’s nature prevailed at times an easy indolence. There were periods when she took delight in perfect vacancy of hand and eye⁠—moments when her thoughts, her simple existence, the fact of the ...

“Of course, I know he will marry Shirley,” were her first words when she rose in the morning. “And he ought to marry her. She can help him,” she added firmly. “But I shall be forgotten when they are m...

The next day Shirley expressed to Caroline how delighted she felt that the little party had gone off so well. “I rather like to entertain a circle of gentlemen,” said she. “It is amusing to observe ho...

The fund prospered. By dint of Miss Keeldar’s example, the three rectors’ vigorous exertions, and the efficient though quiet aid of their spinster and spectacled lieutenants, Mary Ann Ainley and Marga...

Not on combat bent, nor of foemen in search, was this priest-led and woman-officered company; yet their music played martial tunes, and, to judge by the eyes and carriage of some⁠—Miss Keeldar, for in...

The evening was still and warm; close and sultry it even promised to become. Round the descending sun the clouds glowed purple; summer tints, rather Indian than English, suffused the horizon, and cast...

The hour was now that of dusk. A clear air favoured the kindling of the stars. “There will be just light enough to show me the way home,” said Miss Keeldar, as she prepared to take leave of Caroline a...

The two girls met no living soul on their way back to the rectory. They let themselves in noiselessly; they stole upstairs unheard⁠—the breaking morning gave them what light they needed. Shirley sough...

While Shirley was talking with Moore, Caroline rejoined Mrs. Pryor upstairs. She found that lady deeply depressed. She would not say that Miss Keeldar’s hastiness had hurt her feelings, but it was evi...

Only half of Moore’s activity and resolution had been seen in his defence of the mill; he showed the other half (and a terrible half it was) in the indefatigable, the relentless assiduity with which h...

One fine summer day that Caroline had spent entirely alone (her uncle being at Whinbury), and whose long, bright, noiseless, breezeless, cloudless hours (how many they seemed since sunrise!) had been ...

The future sometimes seems to sob a low warning of the events it is bringing us, like some gathering though yet remote storm, which, in tones of the wind, in flushings of the firmament, in clouds stra...

Not always do those who dare such divine conflict prevail. Night after night the sweat of agony may burst dark on the forehead; the supplicant may cry for mercy with that soundless voice the soul utte...

By the time the Fieldhead party returned to Briarfield Caroline was nearly well. Miss Keeldar, who had received news by post of her friend’s convalescence, hardly suffered an hour to elapse between he...

Miss Keeldar and her uncle had characters that would not harmonize, that never had harmonized. He was irritable, and she was spirited. He was despotic, and she liked freedom. He was worldly, and she, ...

Shirley probably got on pleasantly with Sir Philip that evening, for the next morning she came down in one of her best moods. “Who will take a walk with me?” she asked, after breakfast. “Isabella and ...

Louis Moore was used to a quiet life. Being a quiet man, he endured it better than most men would. Having a large world of his own in his own head and heart, he tolerated confinement to a small, still...

Everybody said it was high time for Mr. Moore to return home. All Briarfield wondered at his strange absence, and Whinbury and Nunnely brought each its separate contribution of amazement. Was it known...

The die was cast. Sir Philip Nunnely knew it; Shirley knew it; Mr. Sympson knew it. That evening, when all the Fieldhead family dined at Nunnely Priory, decided the business. Two or three things condu...

Briarmains being nearer than the Hollow, Mr. Yorke had conveyed his young comrade there. He had seen him laid in the best bed of the house, as carefully as if he had been one of his own sons. The sigh...

It was necessary to the arrangement of Martin’s plan that he should stay at home that day. Accordingly, he found no appetite for breakfast, and just about school-time took a severe pain about his hear...

Martin, having known the taste of excitement, wanted a second draught; having felt the dignity of power, he loathed to relinquish it. Miss Helstone⁠—that girl he had always called ugly, and whose face...

Martin had planned well. He had laid out a dexterously concerted scheme for his private amusement. But older and wiser schemers than he are often doomed to see their finest-spun projects swept to anni...

Louis Moore’s doubts respecting the immediate evacuation of Fieldhead by Mr. Sympson turned out to be perfectly well founded. The very next day after the grand quarrel about Sir Philip Nunnely a sort ...

Yes, reader, we must settle accounts now. I have only briefly to narrate the final fates of some of the personages whose acquaintance we have made in this narrative, and then you and I must shake hand...

That’s too much. ↩ To hell with it! ↩ Awkward customer! ↩ Awkward customer yourself; I’m only doing my duty; as for your oafish peasants, I don’t care! ↩ On the other hand, my lad, our oafish peasants...