Read The Mill on the Floss Online

Authors: George Eliot

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Classics, #Literary, #Literary Fiction, #Unread

The Mill on the Floss (81 page)

BOOK: The Mill on the Floss
7.6Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Great God! there were floating masses in it, that might dash
against her boat as she passed, and cause her to perish too soon.
What were those masses?

For the first time Maggie's heart began to beat in an agony of
dread. She sat helpless, dimly conscious that she was being floated
along, more intensely conscious of the anticipated clash. But the
horror was transient; it passed away before the oncoming warehouses
of St. Ogg's. She had passed the mouth of the Ripple, then;
now
, she must use all her skill and power to manage the
boat and get it if possible out of the current. She could see now
that the bridge was broken down; she could see the masts of a
stranded vessel far out over the watery field. But no boats were to
be seen moving on the river,–such as had been laid hands on were
employed in the flooded streets.

With new resolution, Maggie seized her oar, and stood up again
to paddle; but the now ebbing tide added to the swiftness of the
river, and she was carried along beyond the bridge. She could hear
shouts from the windows overlooking the river, as if the people
there were calling to her. It was not till she had passed on nearly
to Tofton that she could get the boat clear of the current. Then
with one yearning look toward her uncle Deane's house that lay
farther down the river, she took to both her oars and rowed with
all her might across the watery fields, back toward the Mill. Color
was beginning to awake now, and as she approached the Dorlcote
fields, she could discern the tints of the trees, could see the old
Scotch firs far to the right, and the home chestnuts,–oh, how deep
they lay in the water,–deeper than the trees on this side the hill!
And the roof of the Mill–where was it? Those heavy fragments
hurrying down the Ripple,–what had they meant? But it was not the
house,–the house stood firm; drowned up to the first story, but
still firm,–or was it broken in at the end toward the Mill?

With panting joy that she was there at last,–joy that overcame
all distress,–Maggie neared the front of the house. At first she
heard no sound; she saw no object moving. Her boat was on a level
with the upstairs window. She called out in a loud, piercing
voice,–

"Tom, where are you? Mother, where are you? Here is Maggie!"

Soon, from the window of the attic in the central gable, she
heard Tom's voice,–

"Who is it? Have you brought a boat?"

"It is I, Tom,–Maggie. Where is mother?"

"She is not here; she went to Garum the day before yesterday.
I'll come down to the lower window."

"Alone, Maggie?" said Tom, in a voice of deep astonishment, as
he opened the middle window, on a level with the boat.

"Yes, Tom; God has taken care of me, to bring me to you. Get in
quickly. Is there no one else?"

"No," said Tom, stepping into the boat; "I fear the man is
drowned; he was carried down the Ripple, I think, when part of the
Mill fell with the crash of trees and stones against it; I've
shouted again and again, and there has been no answer. Give me the
oars, Maggie."

It was not till Tom had pushed off and they were on the wide
water,–he face to face with Maggie,–that the full meaning of what
had happened rushed upon his mind. It came with so overpowering a
force,–it was such a new revelation to his spirit, of the depths in
life that had lain beyond his vision, which he had fancied so keen
and clear,–that he was unable to ask a question. They sat mutely
gazing at each other,–Maggie with eyes of intense life looking out
from a weary, beaten face; Tom pale, with a certain awe and
humiliation. Thought was busy though the lips were silent; and
though he could ask no question, he guessed a story of almost
miraculous, divinely protected effort. But at last a mist gathered
over the blue-gray eyes, and the lips found a word they could
utter,–the old childish "Magsie!"

Maggie could make no answer but a long, deep sob of that
mysterious, wondrous happiness that is one with pain.

As soon as she could speak, she said, "We will go to Lucy, Tom;
we'll go and see if she is safe, and then we can help the
rest."

Tom rowed with untired vigor, and with a different speed from
poor Maggie's. The boat was soon in the current of the river again,
and soon they would be at Tofton.

"Park House stands high up out of the flood," said Maggie.
"Perhaps they have got Lucy there."

Nothing else was said; a new danger was being carried toward
them by the river. Some wooden machinery had just given way on one
of the wharves, and huge fragments were being floated along. The
sun was rising now, and the wide area of watery desolation was
spread out in dreadful clearness around them; in dreadful clearness
floated onward the hurrying, threatening masses. A large company in
a boat that was working its way along under the Tofton houses
observed their danger, and shouted, "Get out of the current!"

But that could not be done at once; and Tom, looking before him,
saw death rushing on them. Huge fragments, clinging together in
fatal fellowship, made one wide mass across the stream.

"It is coming, Maggie!" Tom said, in a deep, hoarse voice,
loosing the oars, and clasping her.

The next instant the boat was no longer seen upon the water, and
the huge mass was hurrying on in hideous triumph.

But soon the keel of the boat reappeared, a black speck on the
golden water.

The boat reappeared, but brother and sister had gone down in an
embrace never to be parted; living through again in one supreme
moment the days when they had clasped their little hands in love,
and roamed the daisied fields together.

Conclusion

Nature repairs her ravages,–repairs them with her sunshine, and
with human labor. The desolation wrought by that flood had left
little visible trace on the face of the earth, five years after.
The fifth autumn was rich in golden cornstacks, rising in thick
clusters among the distant hedgerows; the wharves and warehouses on
the Floss were busy again, with echoes of eager voices, with
hopeful lading and unlading.

And every man and woman mentioned in this history was still
living, except those whose end we know.

Nature repairs her ravages, but not all. The uptorn trees are
not rooted again; the parted hills are left scarred; if there is a
new growth, the trees are not the same as the old, and the hills
underneath their green vesture bear the marks of the past rending.
To the eyes that have dwelt on the past, there is no thorough
repair.

Dorlcote Mill was rebuilt. And Dorlcote churchyard–where the
brick grave that held a father whom we know, was found with the
stone laid prostrate upon it after the flood–had recovered all its
grassy order and decent quiet.

Near that brick grave there was a tomb erected, very soon after
the flood, for two bodies that were found in close embrace; and it
was visited at different moments by two men who both felt that
their keenest joy and keenest sorrow were forever buried there.

One of them visited the tomb again with a sweet face beside him;
but that was years after.

The other was always solitary. His great companionship was among
the trees of the Red Deeps, where the buried joy seemed still to
hover, like a revisiting spirit.

The tomb bore the names of Tom and Maggie Tulliver, and below
the names it was written,–

"In their death they were not divided."

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MILL ON THE FLOSS ***
This file should be named mlfls10h.htm or mlfls10h.zip
Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, mlfls11h.txt
VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, mlfls10ah.txt
Produced by Curtis Weyant and David Maddock
Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US
unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance
of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing.
Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections,
even years after the official publication date.
Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til
midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement.
The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at
Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A
preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment
and editing by those who wish to do so.
Most people start at our Web sites at:
http://gutenberg.net or
http://promo.net/pg
These Web sites include award-winning information about Project
Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new
eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!).
Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement
can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is
also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the
indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an
announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter.
http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03
Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90
Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want,
as it appears in our Newsletters.
Information about Project Gutenberg (one page)
We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The
time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours
to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright
searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our
projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value
per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2
million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text
files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+
We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002
If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total
will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end.
The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks!
This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers,
which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users.
Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated):
eBooks Year Month
1 1971 July
10 1991 January
100 1994 January
1000 1997 August
1500 1998 October
2000 1999 December
2500 2000 December
3000 2001 November
4000 2001 October/November
6000 2002 December*
9000 2003 November*
10000 2004 January*
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created
to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium.
We need your donations more than ever!
As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people
and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West
Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones
that have responded.
As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list
will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states.
Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state.
In answer to various questions we have received on this:
We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally
request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and
you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have,
just ask.
While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are
not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting
donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to
donate.
International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about
how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made
deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are
ways.
Donations by check or money order may be sent to:
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
PMB 113
1739 University Ave.
Oxford, MS 38655-4109
Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment
method other than by check or money order.
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by
the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN
[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are
tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising
requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be
made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states.
We need your donations more than ever!
You can get up to date donation information online at:
http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html
***
If you can't reach Project Gutenberg,
you can always email directly to:
Michael S. Hart [email protected]
Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message.
We would prefer to send you information by email.
**The Legal Small Print**
(Three Pages)
***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START***
Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers.
They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from
someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how
you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to.
*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK
By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive
a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by
sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical
medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.
ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS
This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks,
is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart
through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project").
Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
distribute it in the United States without permission and
without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth
below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook
under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark.
Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market
any commercial products without permission.
To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable
efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any
medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other
things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer
codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.
LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may
receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims
all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of
receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
time to the person you received it from. If you received it
on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
copy. If you received it electronically, such person may
choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
receive it electronically.
THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
may have other legal rights.
INDEMNITY
You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation,
and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated
with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including
legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook,
[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook,
or [3] any Defect.
DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by
disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg,
or:
[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this
requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however,
if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable
binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
including any form resulting from conversion by word
processing or hypertext software, but only so long as
*EITHER*:
[*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
does *not* contain characters other than those
intended by the author of the work, although tilde
(~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
be used to convey punctuation intended by the
author, and additional characters may be used to
indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at
no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
form by the program that displays the eBook (as is
the case, for instance, with most word processors);
OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this
"Small Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the
gross profits you derive calculated using the method you
already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you
don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are
payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation"
the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent
periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to
let us know your plans and to work out the details.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of
public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed
in machine readable form.
The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time,
public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses.
Money should be paid to the:
"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or
software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at:
[email protected]
[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only
when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by
Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be
used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be
they hardware or software or any other related product without
express permission.]
*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END*
BOOK: The Mill on the Floss
7.6Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Byron's Lane by Wallace Rogers
The Zero by Jess Walter
The Lost City of Faar by D.J. MacHale
Wolf Point by Edward Falco
The Remembering by Steve Cash
Unfit to Practice by Perri O'Shaughnessy
Past Crimes by Glen Erik Hamilton
Sleeping with Beauty by Donna Kauffman