The Mill on the Floss

Maggie ran in an instant to the corner of the room, jumped on a chair, and reached down from the small bookcase a shabby old copy of Bunyan, which opened at once, without the least trouble of search, at the picture she wanted.

'Here he is,' she said, running back to Mr. Riley, 'and Tom colored him for me with his paints when he was at home last holidays, — the body all black, you know, and the eyes red, like fire, because he's all fire inside, and it shines out at his eyes.'

'Go, go!' said Mr. Tulliver, peremptorily, beginning to feel rather uncomfortable at these free remarks on the personal appearance of a being powerful enough to create lawyers; 'shut up the book, and let's hear no more o' such talk. It is as I thought — the child 'ull learn more mischief nor good wi' the books. Go, go and see after your mother.'

Maggie shut up the book at once, with a sense of disgrace, but not being inclined to see after her mother, she compromised the matter by going into a dark corner behind her father's chair, and nursing her doll, toward which she had an occasional fit of fondness in Tom's absence, neglecting its toilet, but lavishing so many warm kisses on it that the waxen cheeks had a wasted, unhealthy appearance.

'Did you ever hear the like on't?' said Mr. Tulliver, as Maggie retired. 'It's a pity but what she'd been the lad, — she'd ha' been a match for the lawyers, she would. It's the wonderful'st thing' — here he lowered his voice—'as I picked the mother because she wasn't o'er 'cute — bein' a good-looking woman too, an' come of a rare family for managing; but I picked her from her sisters o' purpose, 'cause she was a bit weak like; for I wasn't agoin' to be told the rights o' things by my own fireside. But you see when a man's got brains himself, there's no knowing where they'll run to; an' a pleasant sort o' soft woman may go on breeding you stupid lads and 'cute wenches, till it's like as if the world was turned topsy-turvy. It's an uncommon puzzlin' thing.'

Mr. Riley's gravity gave way, and he shook a little under the application of his pinch of snuff before he said,–

'But your lad's not stupid, is he? I saw him, when I was here last, busy making fishing-tackle; he seemed quite up to it.'

'Well, he isn't not to say stupid, — he's got a notion o' things out o' door, an' a sort o' common sense, as he'd lay hold o' things by the right handle. But he's slow with his tongue, you see, and he reads but poorly, and can't abide the books, and spells all wrong, they tell me, an' as shy as can be wi' strangers, an' you never hear him say 'cute things like the little wench. Now, what I want is to send him to a school where they'll make him a bit nimble with his tongue and his pen, and make a smart chap of him. I want my son to be even wi' these fellows as have got the start o' me with having better schooling. Not but what, if the world had been left as God made it, I could ha' seen my way, and held my own wi' the best of 'em; but things have got so twisted round and wrapped up i' unreasonable words, as aren't a bit like 'em, as I'm clean at fault, often an' often. Everything winds about so — the more straightforrad you are, the more you're puzzled.'

Mr. Tulliver took a draught, swallowed it slowly, and shook his head in a melancholy manner, conscious of exemplifying the truth that a perfectly sane intellect is hardly at home in this insane world.

'You're quite in the right of it, Tulliver,' observed Mr. Riley. 'Better spend an extra hundred or two on your son's education, than leave it him in your will. I know I should have tried to do so by a son of mine, if I'd had one, though, God knows, I haven't your ready money to play with, Tulliver; and I have a houseful of daughters into the bargain.'

'I dare say, now, you know of a school as 'ud be just the thing for Tom,' said Mr. Tulliver, not diverted from his purpose by any sympathy with Mr. Riley's deficiency of ready cash.

Mr. Riley took a pinch of snuff, and kept Mr. Tulliver in suspense by a silence that seemed deliberative, before he said,–

'I know of a very fine chance for any one that's got the necessary money and that's what you have, Tulliver. The fact is, I wouldn't recommend any friend of mine to send a boy to a regular school, if he could afford to do better. But if any one wanted his boy to get superior instruction and training, where he would be the companion of his master, and that master a first rate fellow, I know his man. I wouldn't mention the chance to everybody, because I don't think everybody would succeed in getting it, if he were to try; but I mention it to you, Tulliver, between ourselves.'

The fixed inquiring glance with which Mr. Tulliver had been watching his friend's oracular face became quite eager.

'Ay, now, let's hear,' he said, adjusting himself in his chair with the complacency of a person who is thought worthy of important communications.

'He's an Oxford man,' said Mr. Riley, sententiously, shutting his mouth close, and looking at Mr. Tulliver to observe the effect of this stimulating information.

'What! a parson?' said Mr. Tulliver, rather doubtfully.

'Yes, and an M.A. The bishop, I understand, thinks very highly of him: why, it was the bishop who got him his present curacy.'

'Ah?' said Mr. Tulliver, to whom one thing was as wonderful as another concerning these unfamiliar phenomena. 'But what can he want wi' Tom, then?'

'Why, the fact is, he's fond of teaching, and wishes to keep up his studies, and a clergyman has but little opportunity for that in his parochial duties. He's willing to take one or two boys as pupils to fill up his time profitably. The boys would be quite of the family, — the finest thing in the world for them; under Stelling's eye continually.'

'But do you think they'd give the poor lad twice o' pudding?' said Mrs. Tulliver, who was now in her place again. 'He's such a boy for pudding as never was; an' a growing boy like that, — it's dreadful to think o' their stintin' him.'

'And what money 'ud he want?' said Mr. Tulliver, whose instinct told him that the services of this admirable M.A. would bear a high price.

'Why, I know of a clergyman who asks a hundred and fifty with his youngest pupils, and he's not to be mentioned with Stelling, the man I speak of. I know, on good authority, that one of the chief people at Oxford said, Stelling might get the highest honors if he chose. But he didn't care about university honors; he's a quiet man — not noisy.'

'Ah, a deal better — a deal better,' said Mr. Tulliver; 'but a hundred and fifty's an uncommon price. I never thought o' paying so much as that.'

'A good education, let me tell you, Tulliver, — a good education is cheap at the money. But Stelling is moderate in his terms; he's not a grasping man. I've no doubt he'd take your boy at a hundred, and that's what you wouldn't get many other clergymen to do. I'll write to him about it, if you like.'

Mr. Tulliver rubbed his knees, and looked at the carpet in a meditative manner.

'But belike he's a bachelor,' observed Mrs. Tulliver, in the interval; 'an' I've no opinion o' housekeepers. There was my brother, as is dead an' gone, had a housekeeper once, an' she took half the feathers out o' the best bed, an' packed 'em up an' sent 'em away. An' it's unknown the linen she made away with — Stott her name was. It 'ud break my heart to send Tom where there's a housekeeper, an' I hope you won't think of it, Mr. Tulliver.'

'You may set your mind at rest on that score, Mrs. Tulliver,' said Mr. Riley, 'for Stelling is married to as nice a little woman as any man need wish for a wife. There isn't a kinder little soul in the world; I know her family well. She has very much your complexion, — light curly hair. She comes of a good Mudport family, and it's not every offer that would have been acceptable in that quarter. But Stelling's not an every-day man; rather a particular fellow as to the people he chooses to be connected with. But I think he would have no objection to take your son; I think he would not, on my representation.'

'I don't know what he could have against the lad,' said Mrs. Tulliver, with a slight touch of motherly indignation; 'a nice fresh-skinned lad as anybody need wish to see.'

'But there's one thing I'm thinking on,' said Mr. Tulliver, turning his head on one side and looking at Mr. Riley, after a long perusal of the carpet. 'Wouldn't a parson be almost too high-learnt to bring up a lad to be a man o' business? My notion o' the parsons was as they'd got a sort o' learning as lay mostly out o' sight. And that isn't what I want for Tom. I want him to know figures, and write like print, and see into things quick, and know what folks mean, and how to wrap things up in words as aren't actionable. It's an uncommon fine thing, that is,' concluded Mr. Tulliver, shaking his head, 'when you can let a man know what you think of him without paying for it.'