When
they entered the oaken parlour, Godfrey threw himself into his
chair, while Nancy laid down her bonnet and shawl, and stood on the
hearth near her husband, unwilling to leave him even for a few
minutes, and yet fearing to utter any word lest it might jar on his
feeling. At last Godfrey turned his head towards her, and their eyes
met, dwelling in that meeting without any movement on either side.
That quiet mutual gaze of a trusting husband and wife is like the
first moment of rest or refuge from a great weariness or a great
danger- not to be interfered with by speech or action which would
distract the sensations from the fresh enjoyment of repose.
But presently he put out his hand, and as Nancy placed hers
within it, he drew her towards him, and said:
'That's ended!'
She bent to kiss him, and then said, as she stood by his side,
'Yes, I'm afraid we must give up the hope of having her for a
daughter. It wouldn't be right to want to force her to come to us
against her will. We can't alter her bringing up and what's come of
it.'
'No,' said Godfrey, with a keen decisiveness of tone, in contrast
with his usually careless and unemphatic speech- 'there's debts we
can't pay like money debts, by paying extra for the years that have
slipped by. While I've been putting off, and putting off, the trees
have been growing- it's too late now. Marner was in the right in
what he said about a man's turning away a blessing from his door: it
falls to somebody else.
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