النص الكامل لحلقة 03

00:04:20.720 room to see him make a big sign of the 70 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:23.879 cross before he fell to I believe that from that 71 00:04:24.040 --> 00:04:29.199 day too, Swaffer began to pay him regular wages. I 72 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:33.240 can't follow step by step his development. He cut his 73 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.399 hair short, was seen in the village and along the 74 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:39.319 road going to and fro to his work like any 75 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:43.519 other man. Children ceased to shout after him. He became 76 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:46.839 aware of social differences, but remained for a long time 77 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.199 surprised at the bare poverty of the churches among so 78 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:53.759 much wealth. He couldn't understand either why they were kept 79 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:57.160 shut up on week days. There was nothing to steal 80 00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:00.600 in them. Was it to keep people from praying? Too often. 81 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:04.720 The rectory took much notice of him about that time, 82 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:07.319 and I believe the young ladies attempted to prepare the 83 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:11.639 ground for his conversion. They could not, however, break him 84 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:14.680 of his habit of crossing himself, but he went so 85 00:05:14.759 --> 00:05:17.720 far as to take off the string with a couple 86 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.920 of brass metals the size of a sixpence, a tiny 87 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.879 metal cross, and a square sort of scapulary, which he 88 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:27.800 wore round his neck. He hung them on the wall 89 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.160 by the side of his bed, and he was still 90 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:34.199 to be heard every evening reciting the large prayer in 91 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:38.920 incomprehensible words and in a slow, fervent tone, as he 92 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:41.879 had heard his old father do at the head of 93 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.399 all the knailing family, big and little, on every evening 94 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:48.759 of his life. And though he wore corduroys at work 95 00:05:49.120 --> 00:05:53.600 and a slop made pepper and salt suit on Sundays, 96 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.879 strangers would turn round to look after him on the road. 97 00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:02.519 His foreignness had a peculiar and indelible stamp. At last 98 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.120 people became used to see him, but they never became 99 00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:10.600 used to him, his rapid skimming walk, his swarthy complexion, 100 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:14.079 his hat cocked on the left, ear, his habit on 101 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:17.600 warm evenings, of wearing his coat over one shoulder like 102 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:21.759 a hussar's dullmen, his manner of leaping over the stiles, 103 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:25.360 not as a feat of agility, but in the ordinary 104 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:30.040 course of progression. All these peculiarities were, as one may say, 105 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.879 so many causes of scorn and offense to the inhabitants 106 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:37.399 of the village. They wouldn't, in their dinner hour, lie 107 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:40.160 flat on their backs on the grass to stare at 108 00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:43.560 the sky. Neither did they go about the fields screaming 109 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.759 dismal tunes. Many times have I heard his high pitched 110 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:51.240 voice from behind the rich of some sloping sheep walk, 111 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:54.439 a voice light and soaring like a lark's, but with 112 00:06:54.519 --> 00:06:58.120 a melancholy human note over our fields, that hear only 113 00:06:58.199 --> 00:07:03.120 the song of birds, and I should be startled myself. Ah. 114 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:06.279 He was different, innocent of heart and full of good will, 115 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:11.079 which nobody wanted. This castaway, that, like a man transplanted 116 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:15.439 into another planet, was separated by an immense space from 117 00:07:15.480 --> 00:07:19.240 his past and by an immense ignorance from his future. 118 00:07:20.199 --> 00:07:25.879 His quick, fervent utterance positively shocked everybody. An excitable devil, 119 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.560 they called him one evening in the tap room of 120 00:07:29.600 --> 00:07:33.240 the Coach and Horses, having drunk some whisky, he upset 121 00:07:33.319 --> 00:07:35.959 them all by singing a love song of his country. 122 00:07:36.680 --> 00:07:40.279 They hooted him down, and he was pained. But Prebble, 123 00:07:40.560 --> 00:07:44.600 the lame Wheelwright, and Vincent, the fat Blacksmith, and the 124 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:48.480 other notables too wanted to drink their evening beer in peace. 125 00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:52.560 On another occasion he tried to show them how to dance. 126 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.439 The dust rose in clouds from the sanded floor. He 127 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:01.240 leaped straight up amongst the deal tables, druck his heels together, 128 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:05.279 squatted on one heel in front of old Prebble, shooting 129 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:09.120 out the other leg, uttered wild and exulting cries, jumped 130 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.319 up to whirl on one foot, snapping his fingers above 131 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:15.920 his head, and a strange carter, who was having a 132 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.480 drink in there, began to swear and cleared out with 133 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:22.720 his half pinte in his hand into the bar. But 134 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:26.720 when suddenly he sprang upon a table and continued to 135 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:31.040 dance among the glasses, the landlord interfered he didn't want 136 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:35.000 any acrobat tricks in the tap room. They laid their 137 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:39.240

hands on him, having had a glass or two. Mister 138 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:45.279 Swaffer's foreigner tried to expostulate, was ejected forcibly got a 139 00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:49.799 black eye. I believe he felt the hostility of his 140 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:54.080 human surroundings, but he was tough, tough in spirit too, 141 00:08:54.360 --> 00:08:57.240 as well as in body. Only the memory of the 142 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:00.399 sea frightened him with that vague terror that is left 143 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.480 by a bad dream. His home was far away, and 144 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:06.960 he did not want now to go to America. I 145 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:10.080 had often explained to him that there is no place 146 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:13.360 on earth where true gold can be found, lying ready 147 00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:17.440 and to be got for the trouble of the picking up. How, then, 148 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:20.919 he asked, could he ever return home with empty hands, 149 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:24.879 when there had been sold a cow, two ponies, and 150 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:27.759 a bit of land to pay for his going. His 151 00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:32.559 eyes would fill with tears, and, averting them from the 152 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:36.080 immense shimmer of the sea, he would throw himself face 153 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:41.120 down on the grass, but sometimes cocking his hat with 154 00:09:41.159 --> 00:09:45.000 a little conquering air. He would defy my wisdom. He 155 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:48.600 had found his bit of true gold. That was Amy 156 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:52.720 Foster's heart, which was a golden heart and soft to 157 00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:57.320 people's misery, he would say, in the accents of overwhelming conviction. 158 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:02.320 He was called Yank. He had explained that this meant 159 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:06.120 little John, But as he would also repeat very often, 160 00:10:06.440 --> 00:10:09.600 that he was a mountaineer, some word sounding in the 161 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:13.360 dialect of his country, like Gurral. He got it for 162 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:16.879 his surname. And this is the only trace of him 163 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:20.159 that the succeeding ages may find in the marriage register 164 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:25.279 of the parish. There it stands Yanko Gurral in the 165 00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:30.720 rector's handwriting, the crooked cross made by the castaway, a 166 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.840 cross whose tracing, no doubt, seemed to him the most 167 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.360 solemn part of the whole ceremony. Is all that remains 168 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.879 now to perpetuate the memory of his name. His courtship 169 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:45.919 had lasted some time ever since he got his precarious 170 00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:48.919 footing in the community. It began by his buying for 171 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:53.519 Amy Foster a green satin ribbon in Darnfort. This was 172 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:56.600 what you did in his country. You bought a ribbon 173 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:59.600 at a jew's stall on a fair day. I don't 174 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:02.120 suppose the girl knew what to do with it, but 175 00:11:02.200 --> 00:11:05.759 he seemed to think that his honorable intentions could not 176 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:10.759 be mistaken. It was only when he declared his purpose 177 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:14.240 to get married that I fully understood how for a 178 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:20.120 hundred futile and inappreciable reasons, how shall I say odious? 179 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:24.559 He was to all the countryside. Every old woman in 180 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:28.960 the village was up in arms. Smith, coming upon him 181 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.080 near the farm, promised to break his head for him 182 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:36.120 if he found him about again. But he twisted his 183 00:11:36.279 --> 00:11:39.879 little black mustache with such a bellicose air, and rolled 184 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:43.320 such big, black, fierce eyes at Psmith that this promise 185 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:47.960 came to nothing. Smith, however, told the girl that she 186 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.159 must be mad to take up with a man who 187 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.960 was surely wrung in his head. All the same, when 188 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:56.799 she heard him in the gloaming whistle from beyond the 189 00:11:56.960 --> 00:11:59.879 orchard a couple of bars of a weird and mourn 190 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:03.440 full tune, she would drop whatever she had in her hand. 191 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:06.720 She would leave Missus Smith in the middle of a sentence, 192 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.759 and she would run out to his call. Missus Smith 193 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:15.840 called her a shameless hussy. She answered nothing, She said 194 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:18.919 nothing at all to anybody, and went on her way 195 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.639 as if she had been deaf. She and I alone, 196 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:26.039 all in the land I fancy could see his very 197 00:12:26.159 --> 00:12:30.440 real beauty. He was very good looking, and most graceful 198 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:34.320 in his bearing, with that something wild as of a 199 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:38.600 woodland creature in his aspect. Her mother moaned over her 200 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:41.960 dismally whenever the girl came to see her on her 201 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:46.879 day out. The father was surly but pretended not to know. 202 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:51.720 And missus Finn once told her plainly that this man, 203 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:55.159 my dear, will do you some harm some day yet. 204 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:59.080 And so it went on. They could be seen on 205 00:12:59.159 --> 00:13:03.440 the roads, she tramping stolidly in her finery, gray dress, 206 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:08.679 black feather stout boots, prominent white

cotton gloves that caught 207 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:12.440 your eye a hundred yards away, and he, his coat 208 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:18.120 slung picturesquely over one shoulder, pacing by her side, gallant 209 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.919 of bearing, and casting tender glances upon the girl with 210 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.279 a golden heart. I wonder whether he saw how plain 211 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:30.080 she was. Perhaps among types so different from what he 212 00:13:30.159 --> 00:13:33.080 had ever seen, he had not the power to judge. 213 00:13:33.399 --> 00:13:36.480 Or perhaps he was seduced by the divine quality of 214 00:13:36.519 --> 00:13:43.519 her pity. Uncle was in great trouble meantime in his country. 215 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:46.840 You get an old man for an ambassador in marriage affairs. 216 00:13:47.480 --> 00:13:50.480 He did not know how to proceed. However, one day, 217 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.360 in the midst of sheep in a field he was 218 00:13:53.399 --> 00:13:58.080 now suaffers under shepherd with foster. He took off his 219 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.879 hat to the father and declared himself humbly, I dare 220 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:05.440 say she's fool enough to marry you, was all Foster said. 221 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:09.200 And then he used to relate. He puts his hat 222 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:12.679 on his head, looks black at me as if he 223 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:16.080 wanted to cut my throat, whistles the dog, and off 224 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:19.879 he goes, leaving me to do the work. The Fosters, 225 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.080 of course, didn't like to lose the wages the girl earned. 226 00:14:23.720 --> 00:14:26.080 Amy used to give all her money to her mother. 227 00:14:26.799 --> 00:14:30.039 But there was in Foster a very genuine aversion to 228 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:33.759 that match. He contended that the fellow was very good 229 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:36.799 with sheep, but was not fit for any girl to marry. 230 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.879 For one thing, he used to go along the hedges 231 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:44.559 muttering to himself like a damned fool. And then these 232 00:14:44.600 --> 00:14:48.919 foreigners behave very queerly to women sometimes, and perhaps he 233 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:52.360 would want to carry her off somewhere, or run off himself. 234 00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:56.320 It was not safe. He preached to his daughter that 235 00:14:56.360 --> 00:15:00.279 the fellow might ill use her in some way. She 236 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:04.039 made no answer. It was, they said in the village, 237 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:07.240 as if the man had done something to her. People 238 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.000 discussed the matter. It was quite an excitement and the 239 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.000 two went on walking out together in the face of opposition. 240 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.720 Then something unexpected happened. I don't know whether old Swaffer 241 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:23.360 ever understood how much he was regarded in the light 242 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:29.279 of a father by his foreign retainer. Anyway, the relation 243 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:34.039 was curiously feudle. So when Yanko asked formally for an 244 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:39.200 interview and the miss too, he called the severe deaf 245 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:44.000 Miss Swaffer simply miss it was to obtain their permission 246 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:49.000 to marry. Swaffer heard him unmoved, dismissed him by a nod, 247 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:53.440 and then shouted the intelligence into Miss Swaffer's best dear. 248 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:58.080 She showed no surprise and only remarked grimly, in a veiled, 249 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:01.360 blank voice, he certainly won't get any other girl to 250 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:06.759 marry him. It is Miss Swaffer who has all the 251 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:10.759 credit of the munificence. But in a very few days 252 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:14.440 it came out that mister Swaffer had presented Yanko with 253 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:18.799 a cottage, the cottage you've seen this morning, and something 254 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.039 like an acre of ground, had made it over to 255 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:26.919 him in absolute property. Wilcox expedited the deed, and I 256 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:30.159 remember him telling me he had a great pleasure in 257 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:34.320 making it ready. It recited in consideration of saving the 258 00:16:34.360 --> 00:16:39.919 life of my beloved grandchild Bertha Wilcox. Of course, after that, 259 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.879 no power on earth could prevent them from getting married. 260 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:48.000 Her infatuation endured. People saw her going out to meet 261 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:51.879 him in the evening. She stared with unblinking, fascinated eyes 262 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.679 up the road where he was expected to appear, walking 263 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:58.799 freely with a swing from the hip, and humming one 264 00:16:58.840 --> 00:17:01.440 of the love tunes of him his country. When the 265 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:05.240 boy was born. He got elevated at the coach and horses, 266 00:17:05.720 --> 00:17:09.799 essayed again a song and a dance, and was again ejected. 267 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:13.480 People expressed their commiseration for a woman married to that 268 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:17.039 jack in the box. He didn't care. There was a 269 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:21.720 man now, he told me boastfully, to whom he could 270 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:24.480 sing and talk in the language of his country, and 271 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:28.839 show how to dance by and by. But I don't know. 272 00:17:29.319 --> 00:17:32.279 To me he appeared to have grown less springy of step, 273 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:37.440 heavier in body, less keen of eye. Imagination, no doubt, 274 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:40.039 but it seems to

me now as if the net 275 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:44.519 of fate had been drawn close around him already. One 276 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:48.519 day I met him on the footpath over the Telford Hill. 277 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.759 He told me that women are funny. I had heard 278 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:57.400 already of domestic differences. People were saying that Amy Foster 279 00:17:57.559 --> 00:17:59.720 was beginning to find out what sort of man she 280 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:04.039 had married. He looked upon the sea with indifferent, unseeing eyes. 281 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:07.200 His wife had snatched the child out of his arms 282 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:09.920 one day as he sat on the doorstep crooning to 283 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:13.359 it a song such as the mothers sing to babies 284 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.599 in his mountains. She seemed to think he was doing 285 00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:21.079 it some harm. Women are funny, And she had objected 286 00:18:21.079 --> 00:18:24.920 to him praying aloud in the evening. Why he expected 287 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:28.160 the boy to repeat the prayer aloud after him, by 288 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.480 and by, as he used to do after his old 289 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:35.359 father when he was a child in his own country. 290 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.359 And I discovered he longed for their boy to grow 291 00:18:39.480 --> 00:18:42.119 up so that he could have a man to talk 292 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:46.640 with in that language that, to our ears sounded so disturbing, 293 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:51.279 so passionate, and so bizarre. Why his wife should dislike 294 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:55.079 the idea? He couldn't tell. But that would pass, he said, 295 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:59.319 and tilting his head knowingly, he tapped his breastbone to 296 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:03.480 indicate that she had a good heart, not hard, not fierce, 297 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:09.440 open to compassion, charitable to the poor. I walked away thoughtfully, 298 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:13.960 and wondered whether his difference, his strangeness, were not penetrating 299 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:19.440 with repulsion that dull naesure that had begun by irresistibly attracting, 300 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:23.079 I wondered. The doctor came to the window and looked 301 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:26.119 out at the frigid splendor of the sea, immense in 302 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:29.119 the haze, as if enclosing all the earth, with all 303 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:34.480 the hearts lost among the passions of love and fear. Physiologically, now, 304 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:39.319 he said, turning away abruptly, it was possible, It was possible. 305 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:45.000 He remained silent, then went on. At all events. The 306 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:48.440 next time I saw him, he was ill, lung trouble. 307 00:19:49.119 --> 00:19:51.160 He was tough, but I dare say he was not 308 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:55.720 acclimatized as

well as I had supposed. It was a 309 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:59.599 bad winter, and of course these mountaineers do get fits 310 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:02.519 of hum sickness, and a state of depression would make 311 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:06.640 him vulnerable. He was lying half dressed on a couch downstairs. 312 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:10.640 A table covered with a dark oilcloth took up all 313 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:13.440 the middle of the little room. There was a wicker 314 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:17.079 cradle on the floor, a kettle spouting steam on the hob, 315 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:20.880 and some child's linen lay drying on the fender. The 316 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:24.160 room was warm, but the door opens right into the garden. 317 00:20:24.359 --> 00:20:28.400 As you noticed, perhaps he was very feverish and kept 318 00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:32.079 on muttering to himself. She sat on a chair and 319 00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:35.039 looked at him fixedly across the table with her brown 320 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:39.400 blurred eyes. Why don't you have him upstairs? I asked, 321 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:43.440 with a start and a confused stammer. She said, oh ah, 322 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:46.680 I couldn't sit with him upstairs, sir. I gave her 323 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:49.839 certain directions and going outside. I said again that he 324 00:20:49.920 --> 00:20:53.160 ought to be in bed upstairs. She wrung her hands. 325 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:57.319 I couldn't. I couldn't. He can sense saying something I 326 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.519 don't know what, With a memory of all the talk 327 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:03.920 against the man that had been dead, into her ears, 328 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:07.799 I looked at her narrowly. I looked into her short 329 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:10.880 sighted eyes, at her dumb eyes that once in her 330 00:21:10.920 --> 00:21:15.079 life had seen an enticing shape, but seemed staring at 331 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:18.160 me to see nothing at all now. But I saw 332 00:21:18.240 --> 00:21:22.960 she was uneasy. What's the matter with him? She asked, 333 00:21:23.160 --> 00:21:27.000 in a sort of vacant trepidation. He doesn't look very ill. 334 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:31.759 I never did see anybody look like this before, do 335 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:37.640 you think, I asked indignantly. He is shamming. I can't 336 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:41.920 help it, sir, she said stolidly, And suddenly she clapped 337 00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.039 her hands and looked right and left. And there's the baby. 338 00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:48.160 I am so frightened. He wanted me just now to 339 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:50.799 give him the baby. I can't understand what he says 340 00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:54.440 to it. Can't you ask a neighbor to come in 341 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:59.119 to night, I asked, please, sir. Nobody seems to care 342 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:04.440 to come, she muttered, dully, resigned. All at once. I 343 00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:08.440 impressed upon her the necessity of the greatest care, and 344 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:11.200 then had to go. There was a good deal of 345 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:15.240 sickness that winter. Oh I hope he won't talk, she 346 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:19.839 exclaimed softly, just as I was going away. I don't 347 00:22:19.880 --> 00:22:23.160 know how it is. I did not see, but I didn't. 348 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:26.480 And yet, turning in my trap, I saw her lingering 349 00:22:26.519 --> 00:22:30.480 before the door, very still, and as if meditating a 350 00:22:30.519 --> 00:22:35.440 flight up the Miry road towards the night. His fever increased. 351 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:40.359 He tossed, moaned and now, and then muttered a complaint. 352 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:43.640 And she sat with the table between her and the couch, 353 00:22:44.119 --> 00:22:47.319 watching every movement and every sound, with the terror, the 354 00:22:47.440 --> 00:22:51.839 unreasonable terror of that man she could not understand, creeping 355 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:55.000 over her she had drawn the wicker cradle close to 356 00:22:55.079 --> 00:22:57.759 her feet. There was nothing in her now but the 357 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:04.680 maternal instinct and that accountable fear. Suddenly coming to himself parched, 358 00:23:05.079 --> 00:23:09.200 he demanded a drink of water. She did not move. 359 00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.359 She had not understood, though he may have thought he 360 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:18.279 was speaking in English. He waited, looking at her, burning 361 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.519 with fever, amazed at her silence and immobility, and then 362 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:27.720 he shouted, impatiently, water, Give me water. She jumped to 363 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:30.799 her feet, snatched up the child, and stood still. He 364 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:34.960 spoke to her, and his passionate remonstrances only increased her 365 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:38.000 fear of that strange man. I believe he spoke to 366 00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:43.759 her for a long time, entreating, wondering, pleading, ordering, I suppose, 367 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:46.799 she says. She bore it as long as she could, 368 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:50.960 and then augusta ridge came over him. He sat up 369 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:55.400 and called out terribly, one word, some word. Then he 370 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:57.799 got up as though he hadn't been ill at all, 371 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.640 she says, and as in fevered dismay, indignation and wonder, 372 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:06.240 he tried to get to her round the table. She 373 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:08.799 simply opened the door and ran out with the child 374 00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:12.119 in her arms. She heard him call twice after her 375 00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:16.799 down the road in a terrible voice, and fled. Ah. 376 00:24:16.839 --> 00:24:19.880 But you should have seen stirring behind the dull,

blurred 377 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:22.720 glance of these eyes, the specter of the fear which 378 00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:25.720 had hunted her on that night, three miles and a 379 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:29.359 half to the door of Foster's cottage. I did the 380 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:32.839 next day, and it was I who found him lying 381 00:24:32.920 --> 00:24:36.440 face down, and his body and a puddle, just outside 382 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:40.039 the little wicket gate. I had been called out that 383 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:43.279 night to an urgent case in the village, and on 384 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:46.759 my way home at daybreak passed by the cottage. The 385 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:50.880 door stood open. My men helped me to carry him in. 386 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:54.680 We laid him on the couch. The lamp smoked, the 387 00:24:54.759 --> 00:24:57.720 fire was out, the chill of the stormy night oozed 388 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:01.839 from the cheerless yellow paper on the wall. Amy I 389 00:25:01.920 --> 00:25:04.920 called aloud, and my voice seemed to lose itself in 390 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.599 the emptiness of this tiny house, as if I had 391 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:12.759 cried in a desert. He opened his eyes, gone, he 392 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:17.039 said distinctly. I had only asked for water, only for 393 00:25:17.119 --> 00:25:21.240 a little water. He was muddy. I covered him up 394 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:25.400 and stood waiting in silence, catching a painfully gasped word. 395 00:25:25.519 --> 00:25:29.200 Now and then they were no longer in his own language. 396 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:32.400 The fever had left him, taking with it the heat 397 00:25:32.440 --> 00:25:36.799 of life, and with his panting breast and lustrous eyes, 398 00:25:36.839 --> 00:25:39.960 he reminded me again of a wild creature under the 399 00:25:40.039 --> 00:25:43.519 nut of a bird caught in a snare. She had 400 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:48.200 left him. She had left him sick, helpless, thirsty. The 401 00:25:48.240 --> 00:25:52.279 spear of the hunter had entered his very soul. Why 402 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:56.079 he cried in the penetrating and indignant voice of a 403 00:25:56.119 --> 00:25:59.519 man calling to a responsible maker. A gust of wind 404 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:03.480 and wish of rain answered, And as I turned away 405 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:08.440 to shut the door, he pronounced the word merciful and expired. 406 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:13.799 Eventually I certified heart failure as the immediate cause of death. 407 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:17.279 His heart must have indeed failed him, or else he 408 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:20.240 might have stood this night of storm and exposure too. 409 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:25.079 I closed his eyes and drove away. Not very far 410 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:28.400 from the cottage, I met Foster, walking sturdily between the 411 00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:32.839 dripping hedges with his Collie at his heels. Do you 412 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:37.440 know where your daughter is? I asked, don't I? He cried. 413 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:40.079 I am going to talk to him. A bit frightening 414 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:43.880 a poor woman like this. He won't frighten her any more, 415 00:26:44.160 --> 00:26:48.440 I said, he is dead. He struck with his stick 416 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:53.519 at the mud, and there's the child. Then, after thinking 417 00:26:53.559 --> 00:26:56.480 deeply for a while, I don't know that it isn't 418 00:26:56.480 --> 00:27:00.799 for the best. That's what he said. And she says 419 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:04.640 nothing at all now, not a word of him. Never 420 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:08.000 is his image as utterly gone from her mind as 421 00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:12.039 his lithe and striding figure, his caroling voice are gone 422 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:15.400 from our fields. He is no longer before her eyes 423 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:19.160 to excite her imagination into a passion of love or fear, 424 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.200 and his memory seems to have vanished from her dull 425 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:25.799 brain as a shadow passes away upon a white screen. 426 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.079 She lives in the cottage and works for Miss Swaffer. 427 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:32.759 She is Amy Foster for everybody, and the child is 428 00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.720 Amy Foster's boy. She calls him Johnny, which means little John. 429 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:42.079 It is impossible to say whether this name recalls anything 430 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:45.519 to her. Does she ever think of the past? I 431 00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:48.039 have seen her hanging over the boy's cot in a 432 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:52.799 very passion of maternal tenderness. The little fellow was lying 433 00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:56.160 on his back, a little frightened at me, but very still, 434 00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:59.640 with his big black eyes, with his fluttered air of 435 00:27:59.680 --> 00:28:03.480 a bird in a snare, and looking at him I 436 00:28:03.599 --> 00:28:07.440 seemed to see again the other one, the Father, cast 437 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:10.759 up mysteriously by the sea, to perish in the supreme 438 00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:22.119 disaster of loneliness and despair. End of Part three, End 439 00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:25.880 of Amy Foster by Joseph Conrad