第24章

Yet the next moment there seemed to be some evidence that ghosts had a more condescending disposition than Mr.Macey attributed to them;for the pale thin figure of Silas Marner was suddenly seen standing in the warm light, uttering no word, but looking round at the company with his strange unearthly eyes.The long pipes gave a simultaneous movement, like the antennae of startled insects, and every man present, not excepting even the sceptical farrier, had an impression that he saw, not Silas Marner in the flesh, but an apparition; for the door by which Silas had entered was hidden by the high-screened seats, and no one had noticed his approach.

Mr.Macey, sitting a long way off the ghost, might be supposed to have felt an argumentative triumph, which would tend to neutralize his share of the general alarm.Had he not always said that when Silas Marner was in that strange trance of his, his soul went loose from his body? Here was the demonstration: nevertheless, on the whole, he would have been as well contented without it.For a few moments there was a dead silence, Marner's want of breath and agitation not allowing him to speak.The landlord, under the habitual sense that he was bound to keep his house open to all company, and confident in the protection of his unbroken neutrality, at last took on himself the task of adjuring the ghost.

"Master Marner," he said, in a conciliatory tone, "what's lacking to you? What's your business here?""Robbed!" said Silas, gaspingly."I've been robbed! I want the constable--and the Justice--and Squire Cass--and Mr.Crackenthorp.""Lay hold on him, Jem Rodney," said the landlord, the idea of a ghost subsiding; "he's off his head, I doubt.He's wet through."Jem Rodney was the outermost man, and sat conveniently near Marner's standing-place; but he declined to give his services.

"Come and lay hold on him yourself, Mr.Snell, if you've a mind,"said Jem, rather sullenly."He's been robbed, and murdered too, for what I know," he added, in a muttering tone.

"Jem Rodney!" said Silas, turning and fixing his strange eyes on the suspected man.

"Aye, Master Marner, what do you want wi' me?" said Jem, trembling a little, and seizing his drinking-can as a defensive weapon.

"If it was you stole my money," said Silas, clasping his hands entreatingly, and raising his voice to a cry, "give it me back--and I won't meddle with you.I won't set the constable on you.

Give it me back, and I'll let you--I'll let you have a guinea.""Me stole your money!" said Jem, angrily."I'll pitch this can at your eye if you talk o' _my_ stealing your money.""Come, come, Master Marner," said the landlord, now rising resolutely, and seizing Marner by the shoulder, "if you've got any information to lay, speak it out sensible, and show as you're in your right mind, if you expect anybody to listen to you.You're as wet as a drownded rat.Sit down and dry yourself, and speak straight forrard.""Ah, to be sure, man," said the farrier, who began to feel that he had not been quite on a par with himself and the occasion."Let's have no more staring and screaming, else we'll have you strapped for a madman.That was why I didn't speak at the first--thinks I, the man's run mad.""Aye, aye, make him sit down," said several voices at once, well pleased that the reality of ghosts remained still an open question.

The landlord forced Marner to take off his coat, and then to sit down on a chair aloof from every one else, in the centre of the circle and in the direct rays of the fire.The weaver, too feeble to have any distinct purpose beyond that of getting help to recover his money, submitted unresistingly.The transient fears of the company were now forgotten in their strong curiosity, and all faces were turned towards Silas, when the landlord, having seated himself again, said--"Now then, Master Marner, what's this you've got to say--as you've been robbed? Speak out.""He'd better not say again as it was me robbed him," cried Jem Rodney, hastily."What could I ha' done with his money? I could as easy steal the parson's surplice, and wear it.""Hold your tongue, Jem, and let's hear what he's got to say," said the landlord."Now then, Master Marner."Silas now told his story, under frequent questioning as the mysterious character of the robbery became evident.

This strangely novel situation of opening his trouble to his Raveloe neighbours, of sitting in the warmth of a hearth not his own, and feeling the presence of faces and voices which were his nearest promise of help, had doubtless its influence on Marner, in spite of his passionate preoccupation with his loss.Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us: there have been many circulations of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud.