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diff --git a/old/10337-h/10337-h.htm b/old/10337-h/10337-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae84ad6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10337-h/10337-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2605 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lady Into Fox, by David Garnett</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times; + } + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 12pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + hr.full {width: 100% } + PRE { font-family: Courier, monospaced; + font-size: 10pt;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + // --> +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook,<br> + Lady Into Fox, by David Garnett</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Lady Into Fox</p> +<p>Author: David Garnett</p> +<p>Release Date: November 29, 2003 [eBook #10337]</p> +<p>[Date last updated: January 8, 2005]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: US-ASCII</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY INTO FOX***</p> +<center><h3>E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell,<br> + Project Gutenberg Beginners Projects, Mary Ann Fink,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3></center> + +<hr class=full> +<p> </p> +<h1>LADY INTO FOX</h1> +<center><b>By</b></center> +<center><b>DAVID GARNETT</b></center> +<p> </p> +<center>ILLUSTRATED WITH WOOD ENGRAVINGS BY R. A. GARNETT</center> +<p> </p> +<center><img src="images/001.png" width="25%" alt="Bird"></center> +<p> </p> +<center>First published October 1922</center> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2>LADY INTO FOX</h2> +<center><img src="images/002.png" width="30%" alt= +"LADY INTO FOX"></center> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<center>TO</center> +<center>DUNCAN GRANT</center> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<center><img src="images/003.png" width="60%" alt= +"Mr. And Mrs. Tebrick at Home"></center> +<center> +<h3>"Mr. and Mrs. Tebrick at Home"</h3> +</center> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<center><img src="images/title.jpg" width="60%" alt= +"Title: LADY INTO FOX"></center> +<p>Wonderful or supernatural events are not so uncommon, rather +they are irregular in their incidence. Thus there may be not one +marvel to speak of in a century, and then often enough comes a +plentiful crop of them; monsters of all sorts swarm suddenly upon +the earth, comets blaze in the sky, eclipses frighten nature, +meteors fall in rain, while mermaids and sirens beguile, and +sea-serpents engulf every passing ship, and terrible cataclysms +beset humanity.</p> +<p>But the strange event which I shall here relate came alone, +unsupported, without companions into a hostile world, and for that +very reason claimed little of the general attention of mankind. For +the sudden changing of Mrs. Tebrick into a vixen is an established +fact which we may attempt to account for as we will. Certainly it +is in the explanation of the fact, and the reconciling of it with +our general notions that we shall find most difficulty, and not in +accepting for true a story which is so fully proved, and that not +by one witness but by a dozen, all respectable, and with no +possibility of collusion between them.</p> +<p>But here I will confine myself to an exact narrative of the +event and all that followed on it. Yet I would not dissuade any of +my readers from attempting an explanation of this seeming miracle +because up till now none has been found which is entirely +satisfactory. What adds to the difficulty to my mind is that the +metamorphosis occurred when Mrs. Tebrick was a full-grown woman, +and that it happened suddenly in so short a space of time. The +sprouting of a tail, the gradual extension of hair all over the +body, the slow change of the whole anatomy by a process of growth, +though it would have been monstrous, would not have been so +difficult to reconcile to our ordinary conceptions, particularly +had it happened in a young child.</p> +<p>But here we have something very different. A grown lady is +changed straightway into a fox. There is no explaining that away by +any natural philosophy. The materialism of our age will not help us +here. It is indeed a <i>miracle</i>; something from outside our +world altogether; an event which we would willingly accept if we +were to meet it invested with the authority of Divine Revelation in +the scriptures, but which we are not prepared to encounter almost +in our time, happening in Oxfordshire amongst our neighbours.</p> +<p>The only things which go any way towards an explanation of it +are but guesswork, and I give them more because I would not conceal +anything, than because I think they are of any worth.</p> +<p>Mrs. Tebrick's maiden name was certainly Fox, and it is possible +that such a miracle happening before, the family may have gained +their name as a <i>soubriquet</i> on that account. They were an +ancient family, and have had their seat at Tangley Hall time out of +mind. It is also true that there was a half-tame fox once upon a +time chained up at Tangley Hall in the inner yard, and I have heard +many speculative wiseacres in the public-houses turn that to great +account—though they could not but admit that "there was never +one there in Miss Silvia's time." At first I was inclined to think +that Silvia Fox, having once hunted when she was a child of ten and +having been blooded, might furnish more of an explanation. It seems +she took great fright or disgust at it, and vomited after it was +done. But now I do not see that it has much bearing on the miracle +itself, even though we know that after that she always spoke of the +"poor foxes" when a hunt was stirring and never rode to hounds till +after her marriage when her husband persuaded her to it.</p> +<p>She was married in the year 1879 to Mr. Richard Tebrick, after a +short courtship, and went to live after their honeymoon at Rylands, +near Stokoe, Oxon. One point indeed I have not been able to +ascertain and that is how they first became acquainted. Tangley +Hall is over thirty miles from Stokoe, and is extremely remote. +Indeed to this day there is no proper road to it, which is all the +more remarkable as it is the principal, and indeed the only, manor +house for several miles round.</p> +<p>Whether it was from a chance meeting on the roads, or less +romantic but more probable, by Mr. Tebrick becoming acquainted with +her uncle, a minor canon at Oxford, and thence being invited by him +to visit Tangley Hall, it is impossible to say. But however they +became acquainted the marriage was a very happy one. The bride was +in her twenty-third year. She was small, with remarkably small +hands and feet. It is perhaps worth noting that there was nothing +at all foxy or vixenish in her appearance. On the contrary, she was +a more than ordinarily beautiful and agreeable woman. Her eyes were +of a clear hazel but exceptionally brilliant, her hair dark, with a +shade of red in it, her skin brownish, with a few dark freckles and +little moles. In manner she was reserved almost to shyness, but +perfectly self-possessed, and perfectly well-bred.</p> +<p>She had been strictly brought up by a woman of excellent +principles and considerable attainments, who died a year or so +before the marriage. And owing to the circumstance that her mother +had been dead many years, and her father bedridden, and not +altogether rational for a little while before his death, they had +few visitors but her uncle. He often stopped with them a month or +two at a stretch, particularly in winter, as he was fond of +shooting snipe, which are plentiful in the valley there. That she +did not grow up a country hoyden is to be explained by the +strictness of her governess and the influence of her uncle. But +perhaps living in so wild a place gave her some disposition to +wildness, even in spite of her religious upbringing. Her old nurse +said: "Miss Silvia was always a little wild at heart," though if +this was true it was never seen by anyone else except her +husband.</p> +<p>On one of the first days of the year 1880, in the early +afternoon, husband and wife went for a walk in the copse on the +little hill above Rylands. They were still at this time like lovers +in their behaviour and were always together. While they were +walking they heard the hounds and later the huntsman's horn in the +distance. Mr. Tebrick had persuaded her to hunt on Boxing Day, but +with great difficulty, and she had not enjoyed it (though of +hacking she was fond enough).</p> +<p>Hearing the hunt, Mr. Tebrick quickened his pace so as to reach +the edge of the copse, where they might get a good view of the +hounds if they came that way. His wife hung back, and he, holding +her hand, began almost to drag her. Before they gained the edge of +the copse she suddenly snatched her hand away from his very +violently and cried out, so that he instantly turned his head.</p> +<p><i>Where his wife had been the moment before was a small fox, of +a very bright red.</i> It looked at him very beseechingly, advanced +towards him a pace or two, and he saw at once that his wife was +looking at him from the animal's eyes. You may well think if he +were aghast: and so maybe was his lady at finding herself in that +shape, so they did nothing for nearly half-an-hour but stare at +each other, he bewildered, she asking him with her eyes as if +indeed she spoke to him: "What am I now become? Have pity on me, +husband, have pity on me for I am your wife."</p> +<p>So that with his gazing on her and knowing her well, even in +such a shape, yet asking himself at every moment: "Can it be she? +Am I not dreaming?" and her beseeching and lastly fawning on him +and seeming to tell him that it was she indeed, they came at last +together and he took her in his arms. She lay very close to him, +nestling under his coat and fell to licking his face, but never +taking her eyes from his. The husband all this while kept turning +the thing in his head and gazing on her, but he could make no sense +of what had happened, but only comforted himself with the hope that +this was but a momentary change, and that presently she would turn +back again into the wife that was one flesh with him.</p> +<p>One fancy that came to him, because he was so much more like a +lover than a husband, was that it was his fault, and this because +if anything dreadful happened he could never blame her but himself +for it.</p> +<p>So they passed a good while, till at last the tears welled up in +the poor fox's eyes and she began weeping (but quite in silence), +and she trembled too as if she were in a fever. At this he could +not contain his own tears, but sat down on the ground and sobbed +for a great while, but between his sobs kissing her quite as if she +had been a woman, and not caring in his grief that he was kissing a +fox on the muzzle.</p> +<p>They sat thus till it was getting near dusk, when he recollected +himself, and the next thing was that he must somehow hide her, and +then bring her home.</p> +<p>He waited till it was quite dark that he might the better bring +her into her own house without being seen, and buttoned her inside +his topcoat, nay, even in his passion tearing open his waistcoat +and his shirt that she might lie the closer to his heart. For when +we are overcome with the greatest sorrow we act not like men or +women but like children whose comfort in all their troubles is to +press themselves against their mother's breast, or if she be not +there to hold each other tight in one another's arms.</p> +<p>When it was dark he brought her in with infinite precautions, +yet not without the dogs scenting her after which nothing could +moderate their clamour.</p> +<p>Having got her into the house, the next thing he thought of was +to hide her from the servants. He carried her to the bedroom in his +arms and then went downstairs again.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick had three servants living in the house, the cook, +the parlour-maid, and an old woman who had been his wife's nurse. +Besides these women there was a groom or a gardener (whichever you +choose to call him), who was a single man and so lived out, lodging +with a labouring family about half a mile away.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick going downstairs pitched upon the parlour-maid.</p> +<p>"Janet," says he, "Mrs. Tebrick and I have had some bad news, +and Mrs. Tebrick was called away instantly to London and left this +afternoon, and I am staying to-night to put our affairs in order. +We are shutting up the house, and I must give you and Mrs. Brant a +month's wages and ask you to leave to-morrow morning at seven +o'clock. We shall probably go away to the Continent, and I do not +know when we shall come back. Please tell the others, and now get +me my tea and bring it into my study on a tray." Janet said nothing +for she was a shy girl, particularly before gentlemen, but when she +entered the kitchen Mr. Tebrick heard a sudden burst of +conversation with many exclamations from the cook.</p> +<p>When she came back with his tea, Mr. Tebrick said: "I shall not +require you upstairs. Pack your own things and tell James to have +the waggonette ready for you by seven o'clock to-morrow morning to +take you to the station. I am busy now, but I will see you again +before you go."</p> +<p>When she had gone Mr. Tebrick took the tray upstairs. For the +first moment he thought the room was empty, and his vixen got away, +for he could see no sign of her anywhere. But after a moment he saw +something stirring in a corner of the room, and then behold! she +came forth dragging her dressing-gown, into which she had somehow +struggled.</p> +<p>This must surely have been a comical sight, but poor Mr. Tebrick +was altogether too distressed then or at any time afterwards to +divert himself at such ludicrous scenes. He only called to her +softly:</p> +<p>"Silvia—Silvia. What do you do there?" And then in a +moment saw for himself what she would be at, and began once more to +blame himself heartily—because he had not guessed that his +wife would not like to go naked, notwithstanding the shape she +was in. Nothing would satisfy him then till he had clothed her +suitably, bringing her dresses from the wardrobe for her to choose. +But as might have been expected, they were too big for her now, but +at last he picked out a little dressing-jacket that she was fond of +wearing sometimes in the mornings. It was made of a flowered silk, +trimmed with lace, and the sleeves short enough to sit very well on +her now. While he tied the ribands his poor lady thanked him with +gentle looks and not without some modesty and confusion. He propped +her up in an armchair with some cushions, and they took tea +together, she very delicately drinking from a saucer and taking +bread and butter from his hands. All this showed him, or so he +thought, that his wife was still herself; there was so little +wildness in her demeanour and so much delicacy and decency, +especially in her not wishing to run naked, that he was very much +comforted, and began to fancy they could be happy enough if they +could escape the world and live always alone.</p> +<p>From this too sanguine dream he was aroused by hearing the +gardener speaking to the dogs, trying to quiet them, for ever since +he had come in with his vixen they had been whining, barking and +growling, and all as he knew because there was a fox within doors +and they would kill it.</p> +<p>He started up now, calling to the gardener that he would come +down to the dogs himself to quiet them, and bade the man go indoors +again and leave it to him. All this he said in a dry, compelling +kind of voice which made the fellow do as he was bid, though it was +against his will, for he was curious. Mr. Tebrick went downstairs, +and taking his gun from the rack loaded it and went out into the +yard. Now there were two dogs, one a handsome Irish setter that was +his wife's dog (she had brought it with her from Tangley Hall on +her marriage); the other was an old fox terrier called Nelly that +he had had ten years or more.</p> +<p>When he came out into the yard both dogs saluted him by barking +and whining twice as much as they did before, the setter jumping up +and down at the end of his chain in a frenzy, and Nelly shivering, +wagging her tail, and looking first at her master and then at the +house door, where she could smell the fox right enough.</p> +<p>There was a bright moon, so that Mr. Tebrick could see the dogs +as clearly as could be. First he shot his wife's setter dead, and +then looked about him for Nelly to give her the other barrel, but +he could see her nowhere. The bitch was clean gone, till, looking +to see how she had broken her chain, he found her lying hid in the +back of her kennel. But that trick did not save her, for Mr. +Tebrick, after trying to pull her out by her chain and finding it +useless—she would not come,—thrust the muzzle of his +gun into the kennel, pressed it into her body and so shot her. +Afterwards, striking a match, he looked in at her to make certain +she was dead. Then, leaving the dogs as they were, chained up, Mr. +Tebrick went indoors again and found the gardener, who had not yet +gone home, gave him a month's wages in lieu of notice and told him +he had a job for him yet—to bury the two dogs and that he +should do it that same night.</p> +<p>But by all this going on with so much strangeness and authority +on his part, as it seemed to them, the servants were much troubled. +Hearing the shots while he was out in the yard his wife's old +nurse, or Nanny, ran up to the bedroom though she had no business +there, and so opening the door saw the poor fox dressed in my +lady's little jacket lying back in the cushions, and in such a +reverie of woe that she heard nothing.</p> +<center><img src="images/004.png" width="50%" alt= +"Fox Lying on Cushions"></center> +<p>Old Nanny, though she was not expecting to find her mistress +there, having been told that she was gone that afternoon to London, +knew her instantly, and cried out:</p> +<p>"Oh, my poor precious! Oh, poor Miss Silvia! What dreadful +change is this?" Then, seeing her mistress start and look at her, +she cried out: "But never fear, my darling, it will all come right, +your old Nanny knows you, it will all come right in the end."</p> +<p>But though she said this she did not care to look again, and +kept her eyes turned away so as not to meet the foxy slit ones of +her mistress, for that was too much for her. So she hurried out +soon, fearing to be found there by Mr. Tebrick, and who knows, +perhaps shot, like the dogs, for knowing the secret.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick had all this time gone about paying off his servants +and shooting his dogs as if he were in a dream. Now he fortified +himself with two or three glasses of strong whisky and went to bed, +taking his vixen into his arms, where he slept soundly. Whether she +did or not is more than I or anybody else can say.</p> +<p>In the morning when he woke up they had the place to themselves, +for on his instructions the servants had all left first thing: +Janet and the cook to Oxford, where they would try and find new +places, and Nanny going back to the cottage near Tangley, where her +son lived, who was the pigman there.</p> +<p>So with that morning there began what was now to be their +ordinary life together. He would get up when it was broad day, and +first thing light the fire downstairs and cook the breakfast, then +brush his wife, sponge her with a damp sponge, then brush her +again, in all this using scent very freely to hide somewhat her +rank odour. When she was dressed he carried her downstairs and they +had their breakfast together, she sitting up to table with him, +drinking her saucer of tea, and taking her food from his fingers, +or at any rate being fed by him. She was still fond of the same +food that she had been used to before her transformation, a lightly +boiled egg or slice of ham, a piece of buttered toast or two, with +a little quince and apple jam. While I am on the subject of her +food, I should say that reading in the encyclopedia he found that +foxes on the Continent are inordinately fond of grapes, and that +during the autumn season they abandon their ordinary diet for them, +and then grow exceedingly fat and lose their offensive odour.</p> +<p>This appetite for grapes is so well confirmed by Aesop, and by +passages in the Scriptures, that it is strange Mr. Tebrick should +not have known it. After reading this account he wrote to London +for a basket of grapes to be posted to him twice a week and was +rejoiced to find that the account in the encyclopedia was true in +the most important of these particulars. His vixen relished them +exceedingly and seemed never to tire of them, so that he increased +his order first from one pound to three pounds and afterwards to +five. Her odour abated so much by this means that he came not to +notice it at all except sometimes in the mornings before her +toilet. What helped most to make living with her bearable for him +was that she understood him perfectly—yes, every word he +said, and though she was dumb she expressed herself very fluently +by looks and signs though never by the voice.</p> +<p>Thus he frequently conversed with her, telling her all his +thoughts and hiding nothing from her, and this the more readily +because he was very quick to catch her meaning and her answers.</p> +<p>"Puss, Puss," he would say to her, for calling her that had been +a habit with him always. "Sweet Puss, some men would pity me living +alone here with you after what has happened, but I would not change +places while you were living with any man for the whole world. +Though you are a fox I would rather live with you than any woman. I +swear I would, and that too if you were changed to anything." But +then, catching her grave look, he would say: "Do you think I jest +on these things, my dear? I do not. I swear to you, my darling, +that all my life I will be true to you, will be faithful, will +respect and reverence you who are my wife. And I will do that not +because of any hope that God in His mercy will see fit to restore +your shape, but solely because I love you. However you may be +changed, my love is not."</p> +<p>Then anyone seeing them would have sworn that they were lovers, +so passionately did each look on the other.</p> +<p>Often he would swear to her that the devil might have power to +work some miracles, but that he would find it beyond him to change +his love for her.</p> +<p>These passionate speeches, however they might have struck his +wife in an ordinary way, now seemed to be her chief comfort. She +would come to him, put her paw in his hand and look at him with +sparkling eyes shining with joy and gratitude, would pant with +eagerness, jump at him and lick his face.</p> +<p>Now he had many little things which busied him in the +house—getting his meals, setting the room straight, making +the bed and so forth. When he was doing this housework it was +comical to watch his vixen. Often she was as it were beside herself +with vexation and distress to see him in his clumsy way doing what +she could have done so much better had she been able. Then, +forgetful of the decency and the decorum which she had at first +imposed upon herself never to run upon all fours, she followed him +everywhere, and if he did one thing wrong she stopped him and +showed him the way of it. When he had forgot the hour for his meal +she would come and tug his sleeve and tell him as if she spoke: +"Husband, are we to have no luncheon to-day?"</p> +<p>This womanliness in her never failed to delight him, for it +showed she was still his wife, buried as it were in the carcase of +a beast but with a woman's soul. This encouraged him so much that +he debated with himself whether he should not read aloud to her, as +he often had done formerly. At last, since he could find no reason +against it, he went to the shelf and fetched down a volume of the +"History of Clarissa Harlowe," which he had begun to read aloud to +her a few weeks before. He opened the volume where he had left off, +with Lovelace's letter after he had spent the night waiting +fruitlessly in the copse.</p> +<blockquote> + <i>Good God!<br> + <br> + What is now to become of me?<br> + <br> + My feet benumbed by midnight wanderings through the heaviest dews that ever fell;<br> + my wig and my linen dripping with the hoarfrost dissolving on them!<br> + <br> + Day but just breaking . . . </i> etc. +</blockquote> +<p>While he read he was conscious of holding her attention, then +after a few pages the story claimed all his, so that he read on for +about half-an-hour without looking at her. When he did so he saw +that she was not listening to him, but was watching something with +strange eagerness. Such a fixed intent look was on her face that he +was alarmed and sought the cause of it. Presently he found that her +gaze was fixed on the movements of her pet dove which was in its +cage hanging in the window. He spoke to her, but she seemed +displeased, so he laid "Clarissa Harlowe" aside. Nor did he ever +repeat the experiment of reading to her.</p> +<p>Yet that same evening, as he happened to be looking through his +writing table drawer with Puss beside him looking over his elbow, +she spied a pack of cards, and then he was forced to pick them out +to please her, then draw them from their case. At last, trying +first one thing, then another, he found that what she was after was +to play piquet with him. They had some difficulty at first in +contriving for her to hold her cards and then to play them, but +this was at last overcome by his stacking them for her on a sloping +board, after which she could flip them out very neatly with her +claws as she wanted to play them. When they had overcome this +trouble they played three games, and most heartily she seemed to +enjoy them. Moreover she won all three of them. After this they +often played a quiet game of piquet together, and cribbage too. I +should say that in marking the points at cribbage on the board he +always moved her pegs for her as well as his own, for she could not +handle them or set them in the holes.</p> +<p>The weather, which had been damp and misty, with frequent +downpours of rain, improved very much in the following week, and, +as often happens in January, there were several days with the sun +shining, no wind and light frosts at night, these frosts becoming +more intense as the days went on till bye and bye they began to +think of snow.</p> +<p>With this spell of fine weather it was but natural that Mr. +Tebrick should think of taking his vixen out of doors. This was +something he had not yet done, both because of the damp rainy +weather up till then and because the mere notion of taking her out +filled him with alarm. Indeed he had so many apprehensions +beforehand that at one time he resolved totally against it. For his +mind was filled not only with the fear that she might escape from +him and run away, which he knew was groundless, but with more +rational visions, such as wandering curs, traps, gins, spring guns, +besides a dread of being seen with her by the neighbourhood. At +last however he resolved on it, and all the more as his vixen kept +asking him in the gentlest way: "Might she not go out into the +garden?" Yet she always listened very submissively when he told her +that he was afraid if they were seen together it would excite the +curiosity of their neighbours; besides this, he often told her of +his fears for her on account of dogs. But one day she answered this +by leading him into the hall and pointing boldly to his gun. After +this he resolved to take her, though with full precautions. That is +he left the house door open so that in case of need she could beat +a swift retreat, then he took his gun under his arm, and lastly he +had her well wrapped up in a little fur jacket lest she should take +cold.</p> +<p>He would have carried her too, but that she delicately +disengaged herself from his arms and looked at him very +expressively to say that she would go by herself. For already her +first horror of being seen to go upon all fours was worn off; +reasoning no doubt upon it, that either she must resign herself to +go that way or else stay bed-ridden all the rest of her life.</p> +<p>Her joy at going into the garden was inexpressible. First she +ran this way, then that, though keeping always close to him, +looking very sharply with ears cocked forward first at one thing, +then another and then up to catch his eye.</p> +<p>For some time indeed she was almost dancing with delight, +running round him, then forward a yard or two, then back to him and +gambolling beside him as they went round the garden. But in spite +of her joy she was full of fear. At every noise, a cow lowing, a +cock crowing, or a ploughman in the distance hulloaing to scare the +rooks, she started, her ears pricked to catch the sound, her muzzle +wrinkled up and her nose twitched, and she would then press herself +against his legs. They walked round the garden and down to the pond +where there were ornamental waterfowl, teal, widgeon and mandarin +ducks, and seeing these again gave her great pleasure. They had +always been her favourites, and now she was so overjoyed to see +them that she behaved with very little of her usual self-restraint. +First she stared at them, then bouncing up to her husband's knee +sought to kindle an equal excitement in his mind. Whilst she rested +her paws on his knee she turned her head again and again towards +the ducks as though she could not take her eyes off them, and then +ran down before him to the water's edge.</p> +<center><img src="images/005.png" width="50%" alt= +"Fox With Ducks"></center> +<p>But her appearance threw the ducks into the utmost degree of +consternation. Those on shore or near the bank swam or flew to the +centre of the pond, and there huddled in a bunch; and then, +swimming round and round, they began such a quacking that Mr. +Tebrick was nearly deafened. As I have before said, nothing in the +ludicrous way that arose out of the metamorphosis of his wife (and +such incidents were plentiful) ever stood a chance of being smiled +at by him. So in this case, too, for realising that the silly ducks +thought his wife a fox indeed and were alarmed on that account he +found painful that spectacle which to others might have been +amusing.</p> +<p>Not so his vixen, who appeared if anything more pleased than +ever when she saw in what a commotion she had set them, and began +cutting a thousand pretty capers. Though at first he called to her +to come back and walk another way, Mr. Tebrick was overborne by her +pleasure and sat down, while she frisked around him happier far +than he had seen her ever since the change. First she ran up to him +in a laughing way, all smiles, and then ran down again to the +water's edge and began frisking and frolicking, chasing her own +brush, dancing on her hind legs even, and rolling on the ground, +then fell to running in circles, but all this without paying any +heed to the ducks.</p> +<p>But they, with their necks craned out all pointing one way, swam +to and fro in the middle of the pond, never stopping their quack, +quack quack, and keeping time too, for they all quacked in chorus. +Presently she came further away from the pond, and he, thinking +they had had enough of this sort of entertainment, laid hold of her +and said to her:</p> +<p>"Come, Silvia, my dear, it is growing cold, and it is time we +went indoors. I am sure taking the air has done you a world of +good, but we must not linger any more."</p> +<p>She appeared then to agree with him, though she threw half a +glance over her shoulder at the ducks, and they both walked soberly +enough towards the house.</p> +<p>When they had gone about halfway she suddenly slipped round and +was off. He turned quickly and saw the ducks had been following +them.</p> +<p>So she drove them before her back into the pond, the ducks +running in terror from her with their wings spread, and she not +pressing them, for he saw that had she been so minded she could +have caught two or three of the nearest. Then, with her brush +waving above her, she came gambolling back to him so playfully that +he stroked her indulgently, though he was first vexed, and then +rather puzzled that his wife should amuse herself with such +pranks.</p> +<p>But when they got within doors he picked her up in his arms, +kissed her and spoke to her.</p> +<p>"Silvia, what a light-hearted childish creature you are. Your +courage under misfortune shall be a lesson to me, but I cannot, I +cannot bear to see it."</p> +<p>Here the tears stood suddenly in his eyes, and he lay down upon +the ottoman and wept, paying no heed to her until presently he was +aroused by her licking his cheek and his ear.</p> +<p>After tea she led him to the drawing room and scratched at the +door till he opened it, for this was part of the house which he had +shut up, thinking three or four rooms enough for them now, and to +save the dusting of it. Then it seemed she would have him play to +her on the pianoforte: she led him to it, nay, what is more, she +would herself pick out the music he was to play. First it was a +fugue of Handel's, then one of Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, +and then "The Diver," and then music from Gilbert and Sullivan; but +each piece of music she picked out was gayer than the last one. +Thus they sat happily engrossed for perhaps an hour in the candle +light until the extreme cold in that unwarmed room stopped his +playing and drove them downstairs to the fire. Thus did she +admirably comfort her husband when he was dispirited.</p> +<p>Yet next morning when he woke he was distressed when he found +that she was not in the bed with him but was lying curled up at the +foot of it. During breakfast she hardly listened when he spoke, and +then impatiently, but sat staring at the dove.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick sat silently looking out of window for some time, +then he took out his pocket book; in it there was a photograph of +his wife taken soon after their wedding. Now he gazed and gazed +upon those familiar features, and now he lifted his head and looked +at the animal before him. He laughed then bitterly, the first and +last time for that matter that Mr. Tebrick ever laughed at his +wife's transformation, for he was not very humorous. But this laugh +was sour and painful to him. Then he tore up the photograph into +little pieces, and scattered them out of the window, saying to +himself: "Memories will not help me here," and turning to the vixen +he saw that she was still staring at the caged bird, and as he +looked he saw her lick her chops.</p> +<p>He took the bird into the next room, then acting suddenly upon +the impulse, he opened the cage door and set it free, saying as he +did so:</p> +<p>"Go, poor bird! Fly from this wretched house while you still +remember your mistress who fed you from her coral lips. You are not +a fit plaything for her now. Farewell, poor bird! Farewell! +Unless," he added with a melancholy smile, "you return with good +tidings like Noah's dove."</p> +<p>But, poor gentleman, his troubles were not over yet, and indeed +one may say that he ran to meet them by his constant supposing that +his lady should still be the same to a tittle in her behaviour now +that she was changed into a fox.</p> +<p>Without making any unwarrantable suppositions as to her soul or +what had now become of it (though we could find a good deal to the +purpose on that point in the system of Paracelsus), let us consider +only how much the change in her body must needs affect her ordinary +conduct. So that before we judge too harshly of this unfortunate +lady, we must reflect upon the physical necessities and infirmities +and appetites of her new condition, and we must magnify the +fortitude of her mind which enabled her to behave with decorum, +cleanliness and decency in spite of her new situation.</p> +<p>Thus she might have been expected to befoul her room, yet never +could anyone, whether man or beast, have shown more nicety in such +matters. But at luncheon Mr. Tebrick helped her to a wing of +chicken, and leaving the room for a minute to fetch some water +which he had forgot, found her at his return on the table crunching +the very bones. He stood silent, dismayed and wounded to the heart +at this sight. For we must observe that this unfortunate husband +thought always of his vixen as that gentle and delicate woman she +had lately been. So that whenever his vixen's conduct went beyond +that which he expected in his wife he was, as it were, cut to the +quick, and no kind of agony could be greater to him than to see her +thus forget herself. On this account it may indeed be regretted +that Mrs. Tebrick had been so exactly well-bred, and in particular +that her table manners had always been scrupulous. Had she been in +the habit, like a continental princess I have dined with, of taking +her leg of chicken by the drumstick and gnawing the flesh, it had +been far better for him now. But as her manners had been perfect, +so the lapse of them was proportionately painful to him. Thus in +this instance he stood as it were in silent agony till she had +finished her hideous crunching of the chicken bones and had +devoured every scrap. Then he spoke to her gently, taking her on to +his knee, stroking her fur and fed her with a few grapes, saying to +her:</p> +<p>"Silvia, Silvia, is it so hard for you? Try and remember the +past, my darling, and by living with me we will quite forget that +you are no longer a woman. Surely this affliction will pass soon, +as suddenly as it came, and it will all seem to us like an evil +dream."</p> +<p>Yet though she appeared perfectly sensible of his words and gave +him sorrowful and penitent looks like her old self, that same +afternoon, on taking her out, he had all the difficulty in the +world to keep her from going near the ducks.</p> +<p>There came to him then a thought that was very disagreeable to +him, namely, that he dare not trust his wife alone with any bird or +she would kill it. And this was the more shocking to him to think +of since it meant that he durst not trust her as much as a dog +even. For we may trust dogs who are familiars, with all the +household pets; nay more, we can put them upon trust with anything +and know they will not touch it, not even if they be starving. But +things were come to such a pass with his vixen that he dared not in +his heart trust her at all. Yet she was still in many ways so much +more woman than fox that he could talk to her on any subject and +she would understand him, better far than the oriental women who +are kept in subjection can ever understand their masters unless +they converse on the most trifling household topics.</p> +<p>Thus she understood excellently well the importance and duties +of religion. She would listen with approval in the evening when he +said the Lord's Prayer, and was rigid in her observance of the +Sabbath. Indeed, the next day being Sunday he, thinking no harm, +proposed their usual game of piquet, but no, she would not play. +Mr. Tebrick, not understanding at first what she meant, though he +was usually very quick with her, he proposed it to her again, which +she again refused, and this time, to show her meaning, made the +sign of the cross with her paw. This exceedingly rejoiced and +comforted him in his distress. He begged her pardon, and fervently +thanked God for having so good a wife, who, in spite of all, knew +more of her duty to God than he did. But here I must warn the +reader from inferring that she was a papist because she then made +the sign of the cross. She made that sign to my thinking only on +compulsion because she could not express herself except in that +way. For she had been brought up as a true Protestant, and that she +still was one is confirmed by her objection to cards, which would +have been less than nothing to her had she been a papist. Yet that +evening, taking her into the drawing room so that he might play her +some sacred music, he found her after some time cowering away from +him in the farthest corner of the room, her ears flattened back and +an expression of the greatest anguish in her eyes. When he spoke to +her she licked his hand, but remained shivering for a long time at +his feet and showed the clearest symptoms of terror if he so much +as moved towards the piano. On seeing this and recollecting how ill +the ears of a dog can bear with our music, and how this dislike +might be expected to be even greater in a fox, all of whose senses +are more acute from being a wild creature, recollecting this he +closed the piano and taking her in his arms, locked up the room and +never went into it again. He could not help marvelling though, +since it was but two days after she had herself led him there, and +even picked out for him to play and sing those pieces which were +her favourites.</p> +<p>That night she would not sleep with him, neither in the bed nor +on it, so that he was forced to let her curl herself up on the +floor. But neither would she sleep there, for several times she +woke him by trotting around the room, and once when he had got +sound asleep by springing on the bed and then off it, so that he +woke with a violent start and cried out, but got no answer either, +except hearing her trotting round and round the room. Presently he +imagines to himself that she must want something, and so fetches +her food and water, but she never so much as looks at it, but still +goes on her rounds, every now and then scratching at the door.</p> +<p>Though he spoke to her, calling her by her name, she would pay +no heed to him, or else only for the moment. At last he gave her up +and said to her plainly: "The fit is on you now Silvia to be a fox, +but I shall keep you close and in the morning you will recollect +yourself and thank me for having kept you now."</p> +<p>So he lay down again, but not to sleep, only to listen to his +wife running about the room and trying to get out of it. Thus he +spent what was perhaps the most miserable night of his existence. +In the morning she was still restless, and was reluctant to let him +wash and brush her, and appeared to dislike being scented but as it +were to bear with it for his sake. Ordinarily she had taken the +greatest pleasure imaginable in her toilet, so that on this +account, added to his sleepless night, Mr. Tebrick was utterly +dejected, and it was then that he resolved to put a project into +execution that would show him, so he thought, whether he had a wife +or only a wild vixen in his house. But yet he was comforted that +she bore at all with him, though so restlessly that he did not +spare her, calling her a "bad wild fox." And then speaking to her +in this manner: "Are you not ashamed, Silvia, to be such a madcap, +such a wicked hoyden? You who were particular in dress. I see it +was all vanity—now you have not your former advantages you +think nothing of decency."</p> +<p>His words had some effect with her too, and with himself, so +that by the time he had finished dressing her they were both in the +lowest state of spirits imaginable and neither of them far from +tears.</p> +<p>Breakfast she took soberly enough, and after that he went about +getting his experiment ready, which was this. In the garden he +gathered together a nosegay of snowdrops, those being all the +flowers he could find, and then going into the village of Stokoe +bought a Dutch rabbit (that is a black and white one) from a man +there who kept them.</p> +<center><img src="images/006.png" width="60%" alt= +"Fox With Rabbit and Flowers"></center> +<p>When he got back he took her flowers and at the same time set +down the basket with the rabbit in it, with the lid open. Then he +called to her: "Silvia, I have brought some flowers for you. Look, +the first snowdrops."</p> +<p>At this she ran up very prettily, and never giving as much as +one glance at the rabbit which had hopped out of its basket, she +began to thank him for the flowers. Indeed she seemed indefatigable +in shewing her gratitude, smelt them, stood a little way off +looking at them, then thanked him again. Mr. Tebrick (and this was +all part of his plan) then took a vase and went to find some water +for them, but left the flowers beside her. He stopped away five +minutes, timing it by his watch and listening very intently, but +never heard the rabbit squeak. Yet when he went in what a horrid +shambles was spread before his eyes. Blood on the carpet, blood on +the armchairs and antimacassars, even a little blood spurtled on to +the wall, and what was worse, Mrs. Tebrick tearing and growling +over a piece of the skin and the legs, for she had eaten up all the +rest of it. The poor gentleman was so heartbroken over this that he +was like to have done himself an injury, and at one moment thought +of getting his gun, to have shot himself and his vixen too. Indeed +the extremity of his grief was such that it served him a very good +turn, for he was so entirely unmanned by it that for some time he +could do nothing but weep, and fell into a chair with his head in +his hands, and so kept weeping and groaning.</p> +<p>After he had been some little while employed in this dismal way, +his vixen, who had by this time bolted down the rabbit skin, head, +ears and all, came to him and putting her paws on his knees, thrust +her long muzzle into his face and began licking him. But he, +looking at her now with different eyes, and seeing her jaws still +sprinkled with fresh blood and her claws full of the rabbit's +fleck, would have none of it.</p> +<p>But though he beat her off four or five times even to giving her +blows and kicks, she still came back to him, crawling on her belly +and imploring his forgiveness with wide-open sorrowful eyes. Before +he had made this rash experiment of the rabbit and the flowers, he +had promised himself that if she failed in it he would have no more +feeling or compassion for her than if she were in truth a wild +vixen out of the woods. This resolution, though the reasons for it +had seemed to him so very plain before, he now found more difficult +to carry out than to decide on. At length after cursing her and +beating her off for upwards of half-an-hour, he admitted to himself +that he still did care for her, and even loved her dearly in spite +of all, whatever pretence he affected towards her. When he had +acknowledged this he looked up at her and met her eyes fixed upon +him, and held out his arms to her and said:</p> +<p>"Oh Silvia, Silvia, would you had never done this! Would I had +never tempted you in a fatal hour! Does not this butchery and +eating of raw meat and rabbit's fur disgust you? Are you a monster +in your soul as well as in your body? Have you forgotten what it is +to be a woman?"</p> +<p>Meanwhile, with every word of his, she crawled a step nearer on +her belly and at last climbed sorrowfully into his arms. His words +then seemed to take effect on her and her eyes filled with tears +and she wept most penitently in his arms, and her body shook with +her sobs as if her heart were breaking. This sorrow of hers gave +him the strangest mixture of pain and joy that he had ever known, +for his love for her returning with a rush, he could not bear to +witness her pain and yet must take pleasure in it as it fed his +hopes of her one day returning to be a woman. So the more anguish +of shame his vixen underwent, the greater his hopes rose, till his +love and pity for her increasing equally, he was almost wishing her +to be nothing more than a mere fox than to suffer so much by being +half-human.</p> +<p>At last he looked about him somewhat dazed with so much weeping, +then set his vixen down on the ottoman, and began to clean up the +room with a heavy heart. He fetched a pail of water and washed out +all the stains of blood, gathered up the two antimacassars and +fetched clean ones from the other rooms. While he went about this +work his vixen sat and watched him very contritely with her nose +between her two front paws, and when he had done he brought in some +luncheon for himself, though it was already late, but none for her, +she having lately so infamously feasted. But water he gave her and +a bunch of grapes. Afterwards she led him to the small +tortoiseshell cabinet and would have him open it. When he had done +so she motioned to the portable stereoscope which lay inside. Mr. +Tebrick instantly fell in with her wish and after a few trials +adjusted it to her vision. Thus they spent the rest of the +afternoon together very happily looking through the collection of +views which he had purchased, of Italy, Spain and Scotland. This +diversion gave her great apparent pleasure and afforded him +considerable comfort. But that night he could not prevail upon her +to sleep in bed with him, and finally allowed her to sleep on a mat +beside the bed where he could stretch down and touch her. So they +passed the night, with his hand upon her head.</p> +<center><img src="images/007.png" width="60%" alt= +"Mr. Tebrick and Fox With Stereoscope"></center> +<p>The next morning he had more of a struggle than ever to wash and +dress her. Indeed at one time nothing but holding her by the scruff +prevented her from getting away from him, but at last he achieved +his object and she was washed, brushed, scented and dressed, +although to be sure this left him better pleased than her, for she +regarded her silk jacket with disfavour.</p> +<p>Still at breakfast she was well mannered though a trifle hasty +with her food. Then his difficulties with her began for she would +go out, but as he had his housework to do, he could not allow it. +He brought her picture books to divert her, but she would have none +of them but stayed at the door scratching it with her claws +industriously till she had worn away the paint.</p> +<p>At first he tried coaxing her and wheedling, gave her cards to +play patience and so on, but finding nothing would distract her +from going out, his temper began to rise, and he told her plainly +that she must wait his pleasure and that he had as much natural +obstinacy as she had. But to all that he said she paid no heed +whatever but only scratched the harder. Thus he let her continue +until luncheon, when she would not sit up, or eat off a plate, but +first was for getting on to the table, and when that was prevented, +snatched her meat and ate it under the table. To all his rebukes +she turned a deaf or sullen ear, and so they each finished their +meal eating little, either of them, for till she would sit at table +he would give her no more, and his vexation had taken away his own +appetite. In the afternoon he took her out for her airing in the +garden.</p> +<p>She made no pretence now of enjoying the first snowdrops or the +view from the terrace. No—there was only one thing for her +now—the ducks, and she was off to them before he could stop +her. Luckily they were all swimming when she got there (for a +stream running into the pond on the far side it was not frozen +there).</p> +<p>When he had got down to the pond, she ran out on to the ice, +which would not bear his weight, and though he called her and +begged her to come back she would not heed him but stayed frisking +about, getting as near the ducks as she dared, but being +circumspect in venturing on to the thin ice.</p> +<p>Presently she turned on herself and began tearing off her +clothes, and at last by biting got off her little jacket and taking +it in her mouth stuffed it into a hole in the ice where he could +not get it. Then she ran hither and thither a stark naked vixen, +and without giving a glance to her poor husband who stood silently +now upon the bank, with despair and terror settled in his mind. She +let him stay there most of the afternoon till he was chilled +through and through and worn out with watching her. At last he +reflected how she had just stripped herself and how in the morning +she struggled against being dressed, and he thought perhaps he was +too strict with her and if he let her have her own way they could +manage to be happy somehow together even if she did eat off the +floor. So he called out to her then:</p> +<p>"Silvia, come now, be good, you shan't wear any more clothes if +you don't want to, and you needn't sit at table neither, I promise. +You shall do as you like in that, but you must give up one thing, +and that is you must stay with me and not go out alone, for that is +dangerous. If any dog came on you he would kill you."</p> +<p>Directly he had finished speaking she came to him joyously, +began fawning on him and prancing round him so that in spite of his +vexation with her, and being cold, he could not help stroking +her.</p> +<p>"Oh, Silvia, are you not wilful and cunning? I see you glory in +being so, but I shall not reproach you but shall stick to my side +of the bargain, and you must stick to yours."</p> +<p>He built a big fire when he came back to the house and took a +glass or two of spirits also, to warm himself up, for he was +chilled to the very bone. Then, after they had dined, to cheer +himself he took another glass, and then another, and so on till he +was very merry, he thought. Then he would play with his vixen, she +encouraging him with her pretty sportiveness. He got up to catch +her then and finding himself unsteady on his legs, he went down on +to all fours. The long and the short of it is that by drinking he +drowned all his sorrow; and then would be a beast too like his +wife, though she was one through no fault of her own, and could not +help it. To what lengths he went then in that drunken humour I +shall not offend my readers by relating, but shall only say that he +was so drunk and sottish that he had a very imperfect recollection +of what had passed when he woke the next morning. There is no +exception to the rule that if a man drink heavily at night the next +morning will show the other side to his nature. Thus with Mr. +Tebrick, for as he had been beastly, merry and a very dare-devil +the night before, so on his awakening was he ashamed, melancholic +and a true penitent before his Creator. The first thing he did when +he came to himself was to call out to God to forgive him for his +sin, then he fell into earnest prayer and continued so for +half-an-hour upon his knees. Then he got up and dressed but +continued very melancholy for the whole of the morning. Being in +this mood you may imagine it hurt him to see his wife running about +naked, but he reflected it would be a bad reformation that began +with breaking faith. He had made a bargain and he would stick to +it, and so he let her be, though sorely against his will.</p> +<p>For the same reason, that is because he would stick to his side +of the bargain, he did not require her to sit up at table, but gave +her her breakfast on a dish in the corner, where to tell the truth +she on her side ate it all up with great daintiness and propriety. +Nor she did make any attempt to go out of doors that morning, but +lay curled up in an armchair before the fire dozing. After lunch he +took her out, and she never so much as offered to go near the +ducks, but running before him led him on to take her a longer walk. +This he consented to do very much to her joy and delight. He took +her through the fields by the most unfrequented ways, being much +alarmed lest they should be seen by anyone. But by good luck they +walked above four miles across country and saw nobody. All the way +his wife kept running on ahead of him, and then back to him to lick +his hand and so on, and appeared delighted at taking exercise. And +though they startled two or three rabbits and a hare in the course +of their walk she never attempted to go after them, only giving +them a look and then looking back to him, laughing at him as it +were for his warning cry of "Puss! come in, no nonsense now!"</p> +<p>Just when they got home and were going into the porch they came +face to face with an old woman. Mr. Tebrick stopped short in +consternation and looked about for his vixen, but she had run +forward without any shyness to greet her. Then he recognised the +intruder, it was his wife's old nurse.</p> +<p>"What are you doing here, Mrs. Cork?" he asked her.</p> +<p>Mrs. Cork answered him in these words:</p> +<p>"Poor thing. Poor Miss Silvia! It is a shame to let her run +about like a dog. It is a shame, and your own wife too. But +whatever she looks like, you should trust her the same as ever. If +you do she'll do her best to be a good wife to you, if you don't I +shouldn't wonder if she did turn into a proper fox. I saw her, sir, +before I left, and I've had no peace of mind. I couldn't sleep +thinking of her. So I've come back to look after her, as I have +done all her life, sir," and she stooped down and took Mrs. Tebrick +by the paw.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick unlocked the door and they went in. When Mrs. Cork +saw the house she exclaimed again and again: "The place was a +pigstye. They couldn't live like that, a gentleman must have +somebody to look after him. She would do it. He could trust her +with the secret."</p> +<p>Had the old woman come the day before it is likely enough that +Mr. Tebrick would have sent her packing. But the voice of +conscience being woken in him by his drunkenness of the night +before he was heartily ashamed of his own management of the +business, moreover the old woman's words that "it was a shame to +let her run about like a dog," moved him exceedingly. Being in this +mood the truth is he welcomed her.</p> +<p>But we may conclude that Mrs. Tebrick was as sorry to see her +old Nanny as her husband was glad. If we consider that she had been +brought up strictly by her when she was a child, and was now again +in her power, and that her old nurse could never be satisfied with +her now whatever she did, but would always think her wicked to be a +fox at all, there seems good reason for her dislike. And it is +possible, too, that there may have been another cause as well, and +that is jealousy. We know her husband was always trying to bring +her back to be a woman, or at any rate to get her to act like one, +may she not have been hoping to get him to be like a beast himself +or to act like one? May she not have thought it easier to change +him thus than ever to change herself back into being a woman? If we +think that she had had a success of this kind only the night +before, when he got drunk, can we not conclude that this was indeed +the case, and then we have another good reason why the poor lady +should hate to see her old nurse?</p> +<p>It is certain that whatever hopes Mr. Tebrick had of Mrs. Cork +affecting his wife for the better were disappointed. She grew +steadily wilder and after a few days so intractable with her that +Mr. Tebrick again took her under his complete control.</p> +<p>The first morning Mrs. Cork made her a new jacket, cutting down +the sleeves of a blue silk one of Mrs. Tebrick's and trimming it +with swan's down, and directly she had altered it, put it on her +mistress, and fetching a mirror would have her admire the fit of +it. All the time she waited on Mrs. Tebrick the old woman talked to +her as though she were a baby, and treated her as such, never +thinking perhaps that she was either the one thing or the other, +that is either a lady to whom she owed respect and who had rational +powers exceeding her own, or else a wild creature on whom words +were wasted. But though at first she submitted passively, Mrs. +Tebrick only waited for her Nanny's back to be turned to tear up +her pretty piece of handiwork into shreds, and then ran gaily about +waving her brush with only a few ribands still hanging from her +neck.</p> +<p>So it was time after time (for the old woman was used to having +her own way) until Mrs. Cork would, I think, have tried punishing +her if she had not been afraid of Mrs. Tebrick's rows of white +teeth, which she often showed her, then laughing afterwards, as if +to say it was only play.</p> +<p>Not content with tearing off the dresses that were fitted on +her, one day Silvia slipped upstairs to her wardrobe and tore down +all her old dresses and made havoc with them, not sparing her +wedding dress either, but tearing and ripping them all up so that +there was hardly a shred or rag left big enough to dress a doll in. +On this, Mr. Tebrick, who had let the old woman have most of her +management to see what she could make of her, took her back under +his own control.</p> +<p>He was sorry enough now that Mrs. Cork had disappointed him in +the hopes he had had of her, to have the old woman, as it were, on +his hands. True she could be useful enough in many ways to him, by +doing the housework, the cooking and mending, but still he was +anxious since his secret was in her keeping, and the more now that +she had tried her hand with his wife and failed. For he saw that +vanity had kept her mouth shut if she had won over her mistress to +better ways, and her love for her would have grown by getting her +own way with her. But now that she had failed she bore her mistress +a grudge for not being won over, or at the best was become +indifferent to the business, so that she might very readily +blab.</p> +<p>For the moment all Mr. Tebrick could do was to keep her from +going into Stokoe to the village, where she would meet all her old +cronies and where there were certain to be any number of inquiries +about what was going on at Rylands and so on. But as he saw that it +was clearly beyond his power, however vigilant he might be, to +watch over the old woman and his wife, and to prevent anyone from +meeting with either of them, he began to consider what he could +best do.</p> +<p>Since he had sent away his servants and the gardener, giving out +a story of having received bad news and his wife going away to +London where he would join her, their probably going out of England +and so on, he knew well enough that there would be a great deal of +talk in the neighbourhood.</p> +<p>And as he had now stayed on, contrary to what he had said, there +would be further rumour. Indeed, had he known it, there was a story +already going round the country that his wife had run away with +Major Solmes, and that he was gone mad with grief, that he had shot +his dogs and his horses and shut himself up alone in the house and +would speak with no one. This story was made up by his neighbours +not because they were fanciful or wanted to deceive, but like most +tittle-tattle to fill a gap, as few like to confess ignorance, and +if people are asked about such or such a man they must have +something to say, or they suffer in everybody's opinion, are set +down as dull or "out of the swim." In this way I met not long ago +with someone who, after talking some little while and not knowing +me or who I was, told me that David Garnett was dead, and died of +being bitten by a cat after he had tormented it. He had long grown +a nuisance to his friends as an exorbitant sponge upon them, and +the world was well rid of him.</p> +<p>Hearing this story of myself diverted me at the time, but I +fully believe it has served me in good stead since. For it set me +on my guard as perhaps nothing else would have done, against +accepting for true all floating rumour and village gossip, so that +now I am by second nature a true sceptic and scarcely believe +anything unless the evidence for it is conclusive. Indeed I could +never have got to the bottom of this history if I had believed one +tenth part of what I was told, there was so much of it that was +either manifestly false and absurd, or else contradictory to the +ascertained facts. It is therefore only the bare bones of the story +which you will find written here, for I have rejected all the +flowery embroideries which would be entertaining reading enough, I +daresay, for some, but if there be any doubt of the truth of a +thing it is poor sort of entertainment to read about in my +opinion.</p> +<p>To get back to our story: Mr. Tebrick having considered how much +the appetite of his neighbours would be whetted to find out the +mystery by his remaining in that part of the country, determined +that the best thing he could do was to remove.</p> +<p>After some time turning the thing over in his mind, he decided +that no place would be so good for his purpose as old Nanny's +cottage. It was thirty miles away from Stokoe, which in the country +means as far as Timbuctoo does to us in London. Then it was near +Tangley, and his lady having known it from her childhood would feel +at home there, and also it was utterly remote, there being no +village near it or manor house other than Tangley Hall, which was +now untenanted for the greater part of the year. Nor did it mean +imparting his secret to others, for there was only Mrs. Cork's son, +a widower, who being out at work all day would be easily outwitted, +the more so as he was stone deaf and of a slow and saturnine +disposition. To be sure there was little Polly, Mrs. Cork's +granddaughter, but either Mr. Tebrick forgot her altogether, or +else reckoned her as a mere baby and not to be thought of as a +danger.</p> +<p>He talked the thing over with Mrs. Cork, and they decided upon +it out of hand. The truth is the old woman was beginning to regret +that her love and her curiosity had ever brought her back to +Rylands, since so far she had got much work and little credit by +it.</p> +<p>When it was settled, Mr. Tebrick disposed of the remaining +business he had at Rylands in the afternoon, and that was chiefly +putting out his wife's riding horse into the keeping of a farmer +near by, for he thought he would drive over with his own horse, and +the other spare horse tandem in the dogcart.</p> +<p>The next morning they locked up the house and they departed, +having first secured Mrs. Tebrick in a large wicker hamper where +she would be tolerably comfortable. This was for safety, for in the +agitation of driving she might jump out, and on the other hand, if +a dog scented her and she were loose, she might be in danger of her +life. Mr. Tebrick drove with the hamper beside him on the front +seat, and spoke to her gently very often.</p> +<p>She was overcome by the excitement of the journey and kept +poking her nose first through one crevice, then through another, +turning and twisting the whole time and peeping out to see what +they were passing. It was a bitterly cold day, and when they had +gone about fifteen miles they drew up by the roadside to rest the +horses and have their own luncheon, for he dared not stop at an +inn. He knew that any living creature in a hamper, even if it be +only an old fowl, always draws attention; there would be several +loafers most likely who would notice that he had a fox with him, +and even if he left the hamper in the cart the dogs at the inn +would be sure to sniff out her scent. So not to take any chances he +drew up at the side of the road and rested there, though it was +freezing hard and a north-east wind howling.</p> +<p>He took down his precious hamper, unharnessed his two horses, +covered them with rugs and gave them their corn. Then he opened the +basket and let his wife out. She was quite beside herself with joy, +running hither and thither, bouncing up on him, looking about her +and even rolling over on the ground. Mr. Tebrick took this to mean +that she was glad at making this journey and rejoiced equally with +her. As for Mrs. Cork, she sat motionless on the back seat of the +dogcart well wrapped up, eating her sandwiches, but would not speak +a word. When they had stayed there half-an-hour Mr. Tebrick +harnessed the horses again, though he was so cold he could scarcely +buckle the straps, and put his vixen in her basket, but seeing that +she wanted to look about her, he let her tear away the osiers with +her teeth till she had made a hole big enough for her to put her +head out of.</p> +<p>They drove on again and then the snow began to come down and +that in earnest, so that he began to be afraid they would never +cover the ground. But just after nightfall they got in, and he was +content to leave unharnessing the horses and baiting them to Simon, +Mrs. Cork's son. His vixen was tired by then, as well as he, and +they slept together, he in the bed and she under it, very +contentedly.</p> +<p>The next morning he looked about him at the place and found the +thing there that he most wanted, and that was a little walled-in +garden where his wife could run in freedom and yet be in +safety.</p> +<p>After they had had breakfast she was wild to go out into the +snow. So they went out together, and he had never seen such a mad +creature in all his life as his wife was then. For she ran to and +fro as if she were crazy, biting at the snow and rolling in it, and +round and round in circles and rushed back at him fiercely as if +she meant to bite him. He joined her in the frolic, and began +snowballing her till she was so wild that it was all he could do to +quiet her again and bring her indoors for luncheon. Indeed with her +gambollings she tracked the whole garden over with her feet; he +could see where she had rolled in the snow and where she had danced +in it, and looking at those prints of her feet as they went in, +made his heart ache, he knew not why.</p> +<p>They passed the first day at old Nanny's cottage happily enough, +without their usual bickerings, and this because of the novelty of +the snow which had diverted them. In the afternoon he first showed +his wife to little Polly, who eyed her very curiously but hung back +shyly and seemed a good deal afraid of the fox. But Mr. Tebrick +took up a book and let them get acquainted by themselves, and +presently looking up saw that they had come together and Polly was +stroking his wife, patting her and running her fingers through her +fur. Presently she began talking to the fox, and then brought her +doll in to show her so that very soon they were very good playmates +together. Watching the two gave Mr. Tebrick great delight, and in +particular when he noticed that there was something very motherly +in his vixen. She was indeed far above the child in intelligence +and restrained herself too from any hasty action. But while she +seemed to wait on Polly's pleasure yet she managed to give a twist +to the game, whatever it was, that never failed to delight the +little girl. In short, in a very little while, Polly was so taken +with her new playmate that she cried when she was parted from her +and wanted her always with her. This disposition of Mrs. Tebrick's +made Mrs. Cork more agreeable than she had been lately either to +the husband or the wife.</p> +<center><img src="images/008.png" width="50%" alt= +"Polly and Vixen"></center> +<p>Three days after they had come to the cottage the weather +changed, and they woke up one morning to find the snow gone, and +the wind in the south, and the sun shining, so that it was like the +first beginning of spring.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick let his vixen out into the garden after breakfast, +stayed with her awhile, and then went indoors to write some +letters.</p> +<p>When he got out again he could see no sign of her anywhere, so +that he ran about bewildered, calling to her. At last he spied a +mound of fresh earth by the wall in one corner of the garden, and +running thither found that there was a hole freshly dug seeming to +go under the wall. On this he ran out of the garden quickly till he +came to the other side of the wall, but there was no hole there, so +he concluded that she was not yet got through. So it proved to be, +for reaching down into the hole he felt her brush with his hand, +and could hear her distinctly working away with her claws. He +called to her then, saying: "Silvia, Silvia, why do you do this? +Are you trying to escape from me? I am your husband, and if I keep +you confined it is to protect you, not to let you run into danger. +Show me how I can make you happy and I will do it, but do not try +to escape from me. I love you, Silvia; is it because of that that +you want to fly from me to go into the world where you will be in +danger of your life always? There are dogs everywhere and they all +would kill you if it were not for me. Come out, Silvia, come +out."</p> +<p>But Silvia would not listen to him, so he waited there silent. +Then he spoke to her in a different way, asking her had she forgot +the bargain she made with him that she would not go out alone, but +now when she had all the liberty of a garden to herself would she +wantonly break her word? And he asked her, were they not married? +And had she not always found him a good husband to her? But she +heeded this neither until presently his temper getting somewhat out +of hand he cursed her obstinacy and told her if she would be a +damned fox she was welcome to it, for his part he could get his own +way. She had not escaped yet. He would dig her out for he still had +time, and if she struggled put her in a bag.</p> +<p>These words brought her forth instantly and she looked at him +with as much astonishment as if she knew not what could have made +him angry. Yes, she even fawned on him, but in a good-natured kind +of way, as if she were a very good wife putting up wonderfully with +her husband's temper.</p> +<p>These airs of hers made the poor gentleman (so simple was he) +repent his outburst and feel most ashamed.</p> +<p>But for all that when she was out of the hole he filled it up +with great stones and beat them in with a crowbar so she should +find her work at that point harder than before if she was tempted +to begin it again.</p> +<p>In the afternoon he let her go again into the garden but sent +little Polly with her to keep her company. But presently on looking +out he saw his vixen had climbed up into the limbs of an old pear +tree and was looking over the wall, and was not so far from it but +she might jump over it if she could get a little further.</p> +<center><img src="images/009.png" width="40%" alt= +"Fox in Tree"></center> +<p>Mr. Tebrick ran out into the garden as quick as he could, and +when his wife saw him it seemed she was startled and made a false +spring at the wall, so that she missed reaching it and fell back +heavily to the ground and lay there insensible. When Mr. Tebrick +got up to her he found her head was twisted under her by her fall +and the neck seemed to be broken. The shock was so great to him +that for some time he could not do anything, but knelt beside her +turning her limp body stupidly in his hands. At length he +recognised that she was indeed dead, and beginning to consider what +dreadful afflictions God had visited him with, he blasphemed +horribly and called on God to strike him dead, or give his wife +back to him.</p> +<p>"Is it not enough," he cried, adding a foul blasphemous oath, +"that you should rob me of my dear wife, making her a fox, but now +you must rob me of that fox too, that has been my only solace and +comfort in this affliction?"</p> +<p>Then he burst into tears and began wringing his hands and +continued there in such an extremity of grief for half-an-hour that +he cared nothing, neither what he was doing, nor what would become +of him in the future, but only knew that his life was ended now and +he would not live any longer than he could help.</p> +<p>All this while the little girl Polly stood by, first staring, +then asking him what had happened, and lastly crying with fear, but +he never heeded her nor looked at her but only tore his hair, +sometimes shouted at God, or shook his fist at Heaven. So in a +fright Polly opened the door and ran out of the garden.</p> +<p>At length worn out, and as it were all numb with his loss, Mr. +Tebrick got up and went within doors, leaving his dear fox lying +near where she had fallen.</p> +<p>He stayed indoors only two minutes and then came out again with +a razor in his hand intending to cut his own throat, for he was out +of his senses in this first paroxysm of grief. But his vixen was +gone, at which he looked about for a moment bewildered, and then +enraged, thinking that somebody must have taken the body.</p> +<p>The door of the garden being open he ran straight through it. +Now this door, which had been left ajar by Polly when she ran off, +opened into a little courtyard where the fowls were shut in at +night; the woodhouse and the privy also stood there. On the far +side of it from the garden gate were two large wooden doors big +enough when open to let a cart enter, and high enough to keep a man +from looking over into the yard.</p> +<p>When Mr. Tebrick got into the yard he found his vixen leaping up +at these doors, and wild with terror, but as lively as ever he saw +her in his life. He ran up to her but she shrank away from him, and +would then have dodged him too, but he caught hold of her. She +bared her teeth at him but he paid no heed to that, only picked her +straight up into his arms and took her so indoors. Yet all the +while he could scarce believe his eyes to see her living, and felt +her all over very carefully to find if she had not some bones +broken. But no, he could find none. Indeed it was some hours before +this poor silly gentleman began to suspect the truth, which was +that his vixen had practised a deception upon him, and all the time +he was bemoaning his loss in such heartrending terms, she was only +shamming death to run away directly she was able. If it had not +been that the yard gates were shut, which was a mere chance, she +had got her liberty by that trick. And that this was only a trick +of hers to sham dead was plain when he had thought it over. Indeed +it is an old and time-honoured trick of the fox. It is in Aesop and +a hundred other writers have confirmed it since. But so thoroughly +had he been deceived by her, that at first he was as much overcome +with joy at his wife still being alive, as he had been with grief a +little while before, thinking her dead.</p> +<p>He took her in his arms, hugging her to him and thanking God a +dozen times for her preservation. But his kissing and fondling her +had very little effect now, for she did not answer him by licking +or soft looks, but stayed huddled up and sullen, with her hair +bristling on her neck and her ears laid back every time he touched +her. At first he thought this might be because he had touched some +broken bone or tender place where she had been hurt, but at last +the truth came to him.</p> +<p>Thus he was again to suffer, and though the pain of knowing her +treachery to him was nothing to the grief of losing her, yet it was +more insidious and lasting. At first, from a mere nothing, this +pain grew gradually until it was a torture to him. If he had been +one of your stock ordinary husbands, such a one who by experience +has learnt never to enquire too closely into his wife's doings, her +comings or goings, and never to ask her, "How she has spent the +day?" for fear he should be made the more of a fool, had Mr. +Tebrick been such a one he had been luckier, and his pain would +have been almost nothing. But you must consider that he had never +been deceived once by his wife in the course of their married life. +No, she had never told him as much as one white lie, but had always +been frank, open and ingenuous as if she and her husband were not +husband and wife, or indeed of opposite sexes. Yet we must rate him +as very foolish, that living thus with a fox, which beast has the +same reputation for deceitfulness, craft and cunning, in all +countries, all ages, and amongst all races of mankind, he should +expect this fox to be as candid and honest with him in all things +as the country girl he had married.</p> +<p>His wife's sullenness and bad temper continued that day, for she +cowered away from him and hid under the sofa, nor could he persuade +her to come out from there. Even when it was her dinner time she +stayed, refusing resolutely to be tempted out with food, and lying +so quiet that he heard nothing from her for hours. At night he +carried her up to the bedroom, but she was still sullen and refused +to eat a morsel, though she drank a little water during the night, +when she fancied he was asleep.</p> +<p>The next morning was the same, and by now Mr. Tebrick had been +through all the agonies of wounded self-esteem, disillusionment and +despair that a man can suffer. But though his emotions rose up in +his heart and nearly stifled him he showed no sign of them to her, +neither did he abate one jot his tenderness and consideration for +his vixen. At breakfast he tempted her with a freshly killed young +pullet. It hurt him to make this advance to her, for hitherto he +had kept her strictly on cooked meats, but the pain of seeing her +refuse it was harder still for him to bear. Added to this was now +an anxiety lest she should starve herself to death rather than stay +with him any longer.</p> +<p>All that morning he kept her close, but in the afternoon let her +loose again in the garden after he had lopped the pear tree so that +she could not repeat her performance of climbing.</p> +<p>But seeing how disgustedly she looked while he was by, never +offering to run or to play as she was used, but only standing stock +still with her tail between her legs, her ears flattened, and the +hair bristling on her shoulders, seeing this he left her to herself +out of mere humanity.</p> +<p>When he came out after half-an-hour he found that she was gone, +but there was a fair sized hole by the wall, and she just buried +all but her brush, digging desperately to get under the wall and +make her escape.</p> +<p>He ran up to the hole, and put his arm in after her and called +to her to come out, but she would not. So at first he began pulling +her out by the shoulder, then his hold slipping, by the hind legs. +As soon as he had drawn her forth she whipped round and snapped at +his hand and bit it through near the joint of the thumb, but let it +go instantly. They stayed there for a minute facing each other, he +on his knees and she facing him the picture of unrepentant +wickedness and fury. Being thus on his knees, Mr. Tebrick was down +on her level very nearly, and her muzzle was thrust almost into his +face. Her ears lay flat on her head, her gums were bared in a +silent snarl, and all her beautiful teeth threatening him that she +would bite him again. Her back too was half-arched, all her hair +bristling and her brush held drooping. But it was her eyes that +held his, with their slit pupils looking at him with savage +desperation and rage.</p> +<p>The blood ran very freely from his hand but he never noticed +that or the pain of it either, for all his thoughts were for his +wife.</p> +<p>"What is this, Silvia?" he said very quietly, "what is this? Why +are you so savage now? If I stand between you and your freedom it +is because I love you. Is it such torment to be with me?" But +Silvia never stirred a muscle.</p> +<p>"You would not do this if you were not in anguish, poor beast, +you want your freedom. I cannot keep you, I cannot hold you to vows +made when you were a woman. Why, you have forgotten who I am."</p> +<p>The tears then began running down his cheeks, he sobbed, and +said to her:</p> +<p>"Go—I shall not keep you. Poor beast, poor beast, I love +you, I love you. Go if you want to. But if you remember me come +back. I shall never keep you against your will. Go—go. But +kiss me now."</p> +<p>He leant forward then and put his lips to her snarling fangs, +but though she kept snarling she did not bite him. Then he got up +quickly and went to the door of the garden that opened into a +little paddock against a wood.</p> +<p>When he opened it she went through it like an arrow, crossed the +paddock like a puff of smoke and in a moment was gone from his +sight. Then, suddenly finding himself alone, Mr. Tebrick came as it +were to himself and ran after her, calling her by name and shouting +to her, and so went plunging into the wood, and through it for +about a mile, running almost blindly.</p> +<p>At last when he was worn out he sat down, seeing that she had +gone beyond recovery and it was already night. Then, rising, he +walked slowly homewards, wearied and spent in spirit. As he went he +bound up his hand that was still running with blood. His coat was +torn, his hat lost, and his face scratched right across with +briars. Now in cold blood he began to reflect on what he had done +and to repent bitterly having set his wife free. He had betrayed +her so that now, from his act, she must lead the life of a wild fox +for ever, and must undergo all the rigours and hardships of the +climate, and all the hazards of a hunted creature. When Mr. Tebrick +got back to the cottage he found Mrs. Cork was sitting up for him. +It was already late.</p> +<p>"What have you done with Mrs. Tebrick, sir? I missed her, and I +missed you, and I have not known what to do, expecting something +dreadful had happened. I have been sitting up for you half the +night. And where is she now, sir?" She accosted him so vigorously +that Mr. Tebrick stood silent. At length he said: "I have let her +go. She has run away."</p> +<p>"Poor Miss Silvia!" cried the old woman, "Poor creature! You +ought to be ashamed, sir! Let her go indeed! Poor lady, is that the +way for her husband to talk! It is a disgrace. But I saw it coming +from the first."</p> +<p>The old woman was white with fury, she did not mind what she +said, but Mr. Tebrick was not listening to her. At last he looked +at her and saw that she had just begun to cry, so he went out of +the room and up to bed, and lay down as he was, in his clothes, +utterly exhausted, and fell into a dog's sleep, starting up every +now and then with horror, and then falling back with fatigue. It +was late when he woke up, but cold and raw, and he felt cramped in +all his limbs. As he lay he heard again the noise which had woken +him—the trotting of several horses, and the voices of men +riding by the house. Mr. Tebrick jumped up and ran to the window +and then looked out, and the first thing that he saw was a +gentleman in a pink coat riding at a walk down the lane. At this +sight Mr. Tebrick waited no longer, but pulling on his boots in mad +haste, ran out instantly, meaning to say that they must not hunt, +and how his wife was escaped and they might kill her.</p> +<p>But when he found himself outside the cottage words failed him +and fury took possession of him, so that he could only cry out:</p> +<p>"How dare you, you damned blackguard?" And so, with a stick in +his hand, he threw himself on the gentleman in the pink coat and +seized his horse's rein, and catching the gentleman by the leg was +trying to throw him. But really it is impossible to say what Mr. +Tebrick intended by his behaviour or what he would have done, for +the gentleman finding himself suddenly assaulted in so unexpected a +fashion by so strange a touzled and dishevelled figure, clubbed his +hunting crop and dealt him a blow on the temple so that he fell +insensible.</p> +<p>Another gentleman rode up at this moment and they were civil +enough to dismount and carry Mr. Tebrick into the cottage, where +they were met by old Nanny who kept wringing her hands and told +them Mr. Tebrick's wife had run away and she was a vixen, and that +was the cause that Mr. Tebrick had run out and assaulted them.</p> +<p>The two gentlemen could not help laughing at this; and mounting +their horses rode on without delay, after telling each other that +Mr. Tebrick, whoever he was, was certainly a madman, and the old +woman seemed as mad as her master.</p> +<p>This story, however, went the rounds of the gentry in those +parts and perfectly confirmed everyone in their previous opinion, +namely that Mr. Tebrick was mad and his wife had run away from him. +The part about her being a vixen was laughed at by the few that +heard it, but was soon left out as immaterial to the story, and +incredible in itself, though afterwards it came to be remembered +and its significance to be understood. When Mr. Tebrick came to +himself it was past noon, and his head was aching so painfully that +he could only call to mind in a confused way what had happened.</p> +<p>However, he sent off Mrs. Cork's son directly on one of his +horses to enquire about the hunt.</p> +<p>At the same time he gave orders to old Nanny that she was to put +out food and water for her mistress, on the chance that she might +yet be in the neighbourhood.</p> +<p>By nightfall Simon was back with the news that the hunt had had +a very long run but had lost one fox, then, drawing a covert, had +chopped an old dog fox, and so ended the day's sport.</p> +<p>This put poor Mr. Tebrick in some hopes again, and he rose at +once from his bed, and went out to the wood and began calling his +wife, but was overcome with faintness, and lay down and so passed +the night in the open, from mere weakness.</p> +<p>In the morning he got back again to the cottage but he had taken +a chill, and so had to keep his bed for three or four days +after.</p> +<p>All this time he had food put out for her every night, but +though rats came to it and ate of it, there were never any prints +of a fox.</p> +<p>At last his anxiety began working another way, that is he came +to think it possible that his vixen would have gone back to Stokoe, +so he had his horses harnessed in the dogcart and brought to the +door and then drove over to Rylands, though he was still in a +fever, and with a heavy cold upon him. After that he lived always +solitary, keeping away from his fellows and only seeing one man, +called Askew, who had been brought up a jockey at Wantage, but was +grown too big for his profession. He mounted this loafing fellow on +one of his horses three days a week and had him follow the hunt and +report to him whenever they killed, and if he could view the fox so +much the better, and then he made him describe it minutely, so he +should know if it were his Silvia. But he dared not trust himself +to go himself, lest his passion should master him and he might +commit a murder.</p> +<p>Every time there was a hunt in the neighbourhood he set the +gates wide open at Rylands and the house doors also, and taking his +gun stood sentinel in the hope that his wife would run in if she +were pressed by the hounds, and so he could save her. But only once +a hunt came near, when two fox-hounds that had lost the main pack +strayed on to his land and he shot them instantly and buried them +afterwards himself.</p> +<p>It was not long now to the end of the season, as it was the +middle of March.</p> +<p>But living as he did at this time, Mr. Tebrick grew more and +more to be a true misanthrope. He denied admittance to any that +came to visit him, and rarely showed himself to his fellows, but +went out chiefly in the early mornings before people were about, in +the hope of seeing his beloved fox. Indeed it was only this hope +that he would see her again that kept him alive, for he had become +so careless of his own comfort in every way that he very seldom ate +a proper meal, taking no more than a crust of bread with a morsel +of cheese in the whole day, though sometimes he would drink half a +bottle of whiskey to drown his sorrow and to get off to sleep, for +sleep fled from him, and no sooner did he begin dozing but he awoke +with a start thinking he had heard something. He let his beard grow +too, and though he had always been very particular in his person +before, he now was utterly careless of it, gave up washing himself +for a week or two at a stretch, and if there was dirt under his +finger nails let it stop there.</p> +<p>All this disorder fed a malignant pleasure in him. For by now he +had come to hate his fellow men and was embittered against all +human decencies and decorum. For strange to tell he never once in +these months regretted his dear wife whom he had so much loved. No, +all that he grieved for now was his departed vixen. He was haunted +all this time not by the memory of a sweet and gentle woman, but by +the recollection of an animal; a beast it is true that could sit at +table and play piquet when it would, but for all that nothing +really but a wild beast. His one hope now was the recovery of this +beast, and of this he dreamed continually. Likewise both waking and +sleeping he was visited by visions of her; her mask, her full +white-tagged brush, white throat, and the thick fur in her ears all +haunted him.</p> +<p>Every one of her foxey ways was now so absolutely precious to +him that I believe that if he had known for certain she was dead, +and had thoughts of marrying a second time, he would never have +been happy with a woman. No, indeed, he would have been more +tempted to get himself a tame fox, and would have counted that as +good a marriage as he could make.</p> +<p>Yet this all proceeded one may say from a passion, and a true +conjugal fidelity, that it would be hard to find matched in this +world. And though we may think him a fool, almost a madman, we +must, when we look closer, find much to respect in his +extraordinary devotion. How different indeed was he from those who, +if their wives go mad, shut them in madhouses and give themselves +up to concubinage, and nay, what is more, there are many who +extenuate such conduct too. But Mr. Tebrick was of a very different +temper, and though his wife was now nothing but a hunted beast, +cared for no one in the world but her.</p> +<p>But this devouring love ate into him like a consumption, so that +by sleepless nights, and not caring for his person, in a few months +he was worn to the shadow of himself. His cheeks were sunk in, his +eyes hollow but excessively brilliant, and his whole body had lost +flesh, so that looking at him the wonder was that he was still +alive.</p> +<p>Now that the hunting season was over he had less anxiety for +her, yet even so he was not positive that the hounds had not got +her. For between the time of his setting her free, and the end of +the hunting season (just after Easter), there were but three vixens +killed near. Of those three one was a half-blind or wall-eyed, and +one was a very grey dull-coloured beast. The third answered more to +the description of his wife, but that it had not much black on the +legs, whereas in her the blackness of the legs was very plain to be +noticed. But yet his fear made him think that perhaps she had got +mired in running and the legs being muddy were not remarked on as +black. One morning the first week in May, about four o'clock, when +he was out waiting in the little copse, he sat down for a while on +a tree stump, and when he looked up saw a fox coming towards him +over the ploughed field. It was carrying a hare over its shoulder +so that it was nearly all hidden from him. At last, when it was not +twenty yards from him, it crossed over, going into the copse, when +Mr. Tebrick stood up and cried out, "Silvia, Silvia, is it +you?"</p> +<p>The fox dropped the hare out of his mouth and stood looking at +him, and then our gentleman saw at the first glance that this was +not his wife. For whereas Mrs. Tebrick had been of a very bright +red, this was a swarthier duller beast altogether, moreover it was +a good deal larger and higher at the shoulder and had a great white +tag to his brush. But the fox after the first instant did not stand +for his portrait you may be sure, but picked up his hare and made +off like an arrow.</p> +<p>Then Mr. Tebrick cried out to himself: "Indeed I am crazy now! +My affliction has made me lose what little reason I ever had. Here +am I taking every fox I see to be my wife! My neighbours call me a +madman and now I see that they are right. Look at me now, oh God! +How foul a creature I am. I hate my fellows. I am thin and wasted +by this consuming passion, my reason is gone and I feed myself on +dreams. Recall me to my duty, bring me back to decency, let me not +become a beast likewise, but restore me and forgive me, Oh my +Lord."</p> +<p>With that he burst into scalding tears and knelt down and +prayed, a thing he had not done for many weeks.</p> +<p>When he rose up he walked back feeling giddy and exceedingly +weak, but with a contrite heart, and then washed himself thoroughly +and changed his clothes, but his weakness increasing he lay down +for the rest of the day, but read in the Book of Job and was much +comforted.</p> +<p>For several days after this he lived very soberly, for his +weakness continued, but every day he read in the bible, and prayed +earnestly, so that his resolution was so much strengthened that he +determined to overcome his folly, or his passion, if he could, and +at any rate to live the rest of his life very religiously. So +strong was this desire in him to amend his ways that he considered +if he should not go to spread the Gospel abroad, for the Bible +Society, and so spend the rest of his days.</p> +<p>Indeed he began a letter to his wife's uncle, the canon, and he +was writing this when he was startled by hearing a fox bark.</p> +<p>Yet so great was this new turn he had taken that he did not rush +out at once, as he would have done before, but stayed where he was +and finished his letter.</p> +<p>Afterwards he said to himself that it was only a wild fox and +sent by the devil to mock him, and that madness lay that way if he +should listen. But on the other hand he could not deny to himself +that it might have been his wife, and that he ought to welcome the +prodigal. Thus he was torn between these two thoughts, neither of +which did he completely believe. He stayed thus tormented with +doubts and fears all night.</p> +<p>The next morning he woke suddenly with a start and on the +instant heard a fox bark once more. At that he pulled on his +clothes and ran out as fast as he could to the garden gate. The sun +was not yet high, the dew thick everywhere, and for a minute or two +everything was very silent. He looked about him eagerly but could +see no fox, yet there was already joy in his heart.</p> +<p>Then while he looked up and down the road, he saw his vixen step +out of the copse about thirty yards away. He called to her at +once.</p> +<p>"My dearest wife! Oh, Silvia! You are come back!" and at the +sound of his voice he saw her wag her tail, which set his last +doubts at rest.</p> +<p>But then though he called her again, she stepped into the copse +once more though she looked back at him over her shoulder as she +went. At this he ran after her, but softly and not too fast lest he +should frighten her away, and then looked about for her again and +called to her when he saw her among the trees still keeping her +distance from him. He followed her then, and as he approached so +she retreated from him, yet always looking back at him several +times.</p> +<p>He followed after her through the underwood up the side of the +hill, when suddenly she disappeared from his sight, behind some +bracken. When he got there he could see her nowhere, but looking +about him found a fox's earth, but so well hidden that he might +have passed it by a thousand times and would never have found it +unless he had made particular search at that spot.</p> +<p>But now, though he went on his hands and knees, he could see +nothing of his vixen, so that he waited a little while +wondering.</p> +<p>Presently he heard a noise of something moving in the earth, and +so waited silently, then saw something which pushed itself into +sight. It was a small sooty black beast, like a puppy. There came +another behind it, then another and so on till there were five of +them. Lastly there came his vixen pushing her litter before her, +and while he looked at her silently, a prey to his confused and +unhappy emotions, he saw that her eyes were shining with pride and +happiness.</p> +<p>She picked up one of her youngsters then, in her mouth, and +brought it to him and laid it in front of him, and then looked up +at him very excited, or so it seemed.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick took the cub in his hands, stroked it and put it +against his cheek. It was a little fellow with a smutty face and +paws, with staring vacant eyes of a brilliant electric blue and a +little tail like a carrot. When he was put down he took a step +towards his mother and then sat down very comically.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick looked at his wife again and spoke to her, calling +her a good creature. Already he was resigned and now, indeed, for +the first time he thoroughly understood what had happened to her, +and how far apart they were now. But looking first at one cub, then +at another, and having them sprawling over his lap, he forgot +himself, only watching the pretty scene, and taking pleasure in it. +Now and then he would stroke his vixen and kiss her, liberties +which she freely allowed him. He marvelled more than ever now at +her beauty; for her gentleness with the cubs and the extreme +delight she took in them seemed to him then to make her more lovely +than before. Thus lying amongst them at the mouth of the earth he +idled away the whole of the morning.</p> +<center><img src="images/010.png" width="60%" alt= +"Fox Cubs"></center> +<p>First he would play with one, then with another, rolling them +over and tickling them, but they were too young yet to lend +themselves to any other more active sport than this. Every now and +then he would stroke his vixen, or look at her, and thus the time +slipped away quite fast and he was surprised when she gathered her +cubs together and pushed them before her into the earth, then +coming back to him once or twice very humanly bid him "Good-bye and +that she hoped she would see him soon again, now he had found out +the way."</p> +<p>So admirably did she express her meaning that it would have been +superfluous for her to have spoken had she been able, and Mr. +Tebrick, who was used to her, got up at once and went home.</p> +<p>But now that he was alone, all the feelings which he had not +troubled himself with when he was with her, but had, as it were, +put aside till after his innocent pleasures were over, all these +came swarming back to assail him in a hundred tormenting ways.</p> +<p>Firstly he asked himself: Was not his wife unfaithful to him, +had she not prostituted herself to a beast? Could he still love her +after that? But this did not trouble him so much as it might have +done. For now he was convinced inwardly that she could no longer in +fairness be judged as a woman, but as a fox only. And as a fox she +had done no more than other foxes, indeed in having cubs and +tending them with love, she had done well.</p> +<p>Whether in this conclusion Mr. Tebrick was in the right or not, +is not for us here to consider. But I would only say to those who +would censure him for a too lenient view of the religious side of +the matter, that we have not seen the thing as he did, and perhaps +if it were displayed before our eyes we might be led to the same +conclusions.</p> +<p>This was, however, not a tenth part of the trouble in which Mr. +Tebrick found himself. For he asked himself also: "Was he not +jealous?" And looking into his heart he found that he was indeed +jealous, yes, and angry too, that now he must share his vixen with +wild foxes. Then he questioned himself if it were not dishonourable +to do so, and whether he should not utterly forget her and follow +his original intention of retiring from the world, and see her no +more.</p> +<p>Thus he tormented himself for the rest of that day, and by +evening he had resolved never to see her again.</p> +<p>But in the middle of the night he woke up with his head very +clear, and said to himself in wonder, "Am I not a madman? I torment +myself foolishly with fantastic notions. Can a man have his honour +sullied by a beast? I am a man, I am immeasurably superior to the +animals. Can my dignity allow of my being jealous of a beast? A +thousand times no. Were I to lust after a vixen, I were a criminal +indeed. I can be happy in seeing my vixen, for I love her, but she +does right to be happy according to the laws of her being."</p> +<p>Lastly, he said to himself what was, he felt, the truth of this +whole matter:</p> +<p>"When I am with her I am happy. But now I distort what is simple +and drive myself crazy with false reasoning upon it."</p> +<p>Yet before he slept again he prayed, but though he had thought +first to pray for guidance, in reality he prayed only that on the +morrow he would see his vixen again and that God would preserve +her, and her cubs too, from all dangers, and would allow him to see +them often, so that he might come to love them for her sake as if +he were their father, and that if this were a sin he might be +forgiven, for he sinned in ignorance. The next day or two he saw +vixen and cubs again, though his visits were cut shorter, and these +visits gave him such an innocent pleasure that very soon his +notions of honour, duty and so on, were entirely forgotten, and his +jealousy lulled asleep.</p> +<p>One day he tried taking with him the stereoscope and a pack of +cards.</p> +<p>But though his Silvia was affectionate and amiable enough to let +him put the stereoscope over her muzzle, yet she would not look +through it, but kept turning her head to lick his hand, and it was +plain to him that now she had quite forgotten the use of the +instrument. It was the same too with the cards. For with them she +was pleased enough, but only delighting to bite at them, and flip +them about with her paws, and never considering for a moment +whether they were diamonds or clubs, or hearts, or spades or +whether the card was an ace or not. So it was evident that she had +forgotten the nature of cards too.</p> +<p>Thereafter he only brought them things which she could better +enjoy, that is sugar, grapes, raisins, and butcher's meat.</p> +<p>By-and-bye, as the summer wore on, the cubs came to know him, +and he them, so that he was able to tell them easily apart, and +then he christened them. For this purpose he brought a little bowl +of water, sprinkled them as if in baptism and told them he was +their godfather and gave each of them a name, calling them Sorel, +Kasper, Selwyn, Esther, and Angelica.</p> +<center><img src="images/011.png" width="60%" alt= +"Vixen With Cubs"></center> +<p>Sorel was a clumsy little beast of a cheery and indeed puppyish +disposition; Kasper was fierce, the largest of the five, even in +his play he would always bite, and gave his godfather many a sharp +nip as time went on. Esther was of a dark complexion, a true +brunette and very sturdy; Angelica the brightest red and the most +exactly like her mother; while Selwyn was the smallest cub, of a +very prying, inquisitive and cunning temper, but delicate and +undersized.</p> +<p>Thus Mr. Tebrick had a whole family now to occupy him, and, +indeed, came to love them with very much of a father's love and +partiality.</p> +<p>His favourite was Angelica (who reminded him so much of her +mother in her pretty ways) because of a gentleness which was +lacking in the others, even in their play. After her in his +affections came Selwyn, whom he soon saw was the most intelligent +of the whole litter. Indeed he was so much more quick-witted than +the rest that Mr. Tebrick was led into speculating as to whether he +had not inherited something of the human from his dam. Thus very +early he learnt to know his name, and would come when he was +called, and what was stranger still, he learnt the names of his +brothers and sisters before they came to do so themselves.</p> +<p>Besides all this he was something of a young philosopher, for +though his brother Kasper tyrannized over him he put up with it all +with an unruffled temper. He was not, however, above playing tricks +on the others, and one day when Mr. Tebrick was by, he made believe +that there was a mouse in a hole some little way off. Very soon he +was joined by Sorel, and presently by Kasper and Esther. When he +had got them all digging, it was easy for him to slip away, and +then he came to his godfather with a sly look, sat down before him, +and smiled and then jerked his head over towards the others and +smiled again and wrinkled his brows so that Mr. Tebrick knew as +well as if he had spoken that the youngster was saying, "Have I not +made fools of them all?"</p> +<p>He was the only one that was curious about Mr. Tebrick: he made +him take out his watch, put his ear to it, considered it and +wrinkled up his brows in perplexity. On the next visit it was the +same thing. He must see the watch again, and again think over it. +But clever as he was, little Selwyn could never understand it, and +if his mother remembered anything about watches it was a subject +which she never attempted to explain to her children.</p> +<p>One day Mr. Tebrick left the earth as usual and ran down the +slope to the road, when he was surprised to find a carriage waiting +before his house and a coachman walking about near his gate. Mr. +Tebrick went in and found that his visitor was waiting for him. It +was his wife's uncle.</p> +<p>They shook hands, though the Rev. Canon Fox did not recognise +him immediately, and Mr. Tebrick led him into the house.</p> +<p>The clergyman looked about him a good deal, at the dirty and +disorderly rooms, and when Mr. Tebrick took him into the drawing +room it was evident that it had been unused for several months, the +dust lay so thickly on all the furniture.</p> +<p>After some conversation on indifferent topics Canon Fox said to +him:</p> +<p>"I have called really to ask about my niece."</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick was silent for some time and then said:</p> +<p>"She is quite happy now."</p> +<p>"Ah—indeed. I have heard she is not living with you any +longer."</p> +<p>"No. She is not living with me. She is not far away. I see her +every day now."</p> +<p>"Indeed. Where does she live?"</p> +<p>"In the woods with her children. I ought to tell you that she +has changed her shape. She is a fox."</p> +<p>The Rev. Canon Fox got up; he was alarmed, and everything Mr. +Tebrick said confirmed what he had been led to expect he would find +at Rylands. When he was outside, however, he asked Mr. Tebrick:</p> +<p>"You don't have many visitors now, eh?"</p> +<p>"No—I never see anyone if I can avoid it. You are the +first person I have spoken to for months."</p> +<p>"Quite right, too, my dear fellow. I quite understand—in +the circumstances." Then the cleric shook him by the hand, got into +his carriage and drove away.</p> +<p>"At any rate," he said to himself, "there will be no scandal." +He was relieved also because Mr. Tebrick had said nothing about +going abroad to disseminate the Gospel. Canon Fox had been alarmed +by the letter, had not answered it, and thought that it was always +better to let things be, and never to refer to anything unpleasant. +He did not at all want to recommend Mr. Tebrick to the Bible +Society if he were mad. His eccentricities would never be noticed +at Stokoe. Besides that, Mr. Tebrick had said he was happy.</p> +<p>He was sorry for Mr. Tebrick too, and he said to himself that +the queer girl, his niece, must have married him because he was the +first man she had met. He reflected also that he was never likely +to see her again and said aloud, when he had driven some little +way:</p> +<p>"Not an affectionate disposition," then to his coachman: "No, +that's all right. Drive on, Hopkins."</p> +<p>When Mr. Tebrick was alone he rejoiced exceedingly in his +solitary life. He understood, or so he fancied, what it was to be +happy, and that he had found complete happiness now, living from +day to day, careless of the future, surrounded every morning by +playful and affectionate little creatures whom he loved tenderly, +and sitting beside their mother, whose simple happiness was the +source of his own.</p> +<p>"True happiness," he said to himself, "is to be found in +bestowing love; there is no such happiness as that of the mother +for her babe, unless I have attained it in mine for my vixen and +her children."</p> +<p>With these feelings he waited impatiently for the hour on the +morrow when he might hasten to them once more.</p> +<p>When, however, he had toiled up the hillside, to the earth, +taking infinite precaution not to tread down the bracken, or make a +beaten path which might lead others to that secret spot, he found +to his surprise that Silvia was not there and that there were no +cubs to be seen either. He called to them, but it was in vain, and +at last he laid himself on the mossy bank beside the earth and +waited.</p> +<p>For a long while, as it seemed to him, he lay very still, with +closed eyes, straining his ears to hear every rustle among the +leaves, or any sound that might be the cubs stirring in the +earth.</p> +<p>At last he must have dropped asleep, for he woke suddenly with +all his senses alert, and opening his eyes found a full-grown fox +within six feet of him sitting on its haunches like a dog and +watching his face with curiosity. Mr. Tebrick saw instantly that it +was not Silvia. When he moved the fox got up and shifted his eyes, +but still stood his ground, and Mr. Tebrick recognised him then for +the dog-fox he had seen once before carrying a hare. It was the +same dark beast with a large white tag to his brush. Now the secret +was out and Mr. Tebrick could see his rival before him. Here was +the real father of his godchildren, who could be certain of their +taking after him, and leading over again his wild and rakish life. +Mr. Tebrick stared for a long time at the handsome rogue, who +glanced back at him with distrust and watchfulness patent in his +face, but not without defiance too, and it seemed to Mr. Tebrick as +if there was also a touch of cynical humour in his look, as if he +said:</p> +<p>"By Gad! we two have been strangely brought together!"</p> +<p>And to the man, at any rate, it seemed strange that they were +thus linked, and he wondered if the love his rival there bare to +his vixen and his cubs were the same thing in kind as his own.</p> +<p>"We would both of us give our lives for theirs," he said to +himself as he reasoned upon it, "we both of us are happy chiefly in +their company. What pride this fellow must feel to have such a +wife, and such children taking after him. And has he not reason for +his pride? He lives in a world where he is beset with a thousand +dangers. For half the year he is hunted, everywhere dogs pursue +him, men lay traps for him or menace him. He owes nothing to +another."</p> +<p>But he did not speak, knowing that his words would only alarm +the fox; then in a few minutes he saw the dog-fox look over his +shoulder, and then he trotted off as lightly as a gossamer veil +blown in the wind, and, in a minute or two more, back he comes with +his vixen and the cubs all around him. Seeing the dog-fox thus +surrounded by vixen and cubs was too much for Mr. Tebrick; in spite +of all his philosophy a pang of jealousy shot through him. He could +see that Silvia had been hunting with her cubs, and also that she +had forgotten that he would come that morning, for she started when +she saw him, and though she carelessly licked his hand, he could +see that her thoughts were not with him.</p> +<p>Very soon she led her cubs into the earth, the dog-fox had +vanished and Mr. Tebrick was again alone. He did not wait longer +but went home.</p> +<p>Now was his peace of mind all gone, the happiness which he had +flattered himself the night before he knew so well how to enjoy, +seemed now but a fool's paradise in which he had been living. A +hundred times this poor gentleman bit his lip, drew down his +torvous brows, and stamped his foot, and cursed himself bitterly, +or called his lady bitch. He could not forgive himself neither, +that he had not thought of the damned dog-fox before, but all the +while had let the cubs frisk round him, each one a proof that a +dog-fox had been at work with his vixen. Yes, jealousy was now in +the wind, and every circumstance which had been a reason for his +felicity the night before was now turned into a monstrous feature +of his nightmare. With all this Mr. Tebrick so worked upon himself +that for the time being he had lost his reason. Black was white and +white black, and he was resolved that on the morrow he would dig +the vile brood of foxes out and shoot them, and so free himself at +last from this hellish plague.</p> +<p>All that night he was in this mood, and in agony, as if he had +broken in the crown of a tooth and bitten on the nerve. But as all +things will have an ending so at last Mr. Tebrick, worn out and +wearied by this loathed passion of jealousy, fell into an uneasy +and tormented sleep.</p> +<p>After an hour or two the procession of confused and jumbled +images which first assailed him passed away and subsided into one +clear and powerful dream. His wife was with him in her own proper +shape, walking as they had been on that fatal day before her +transformation. Yet she was changed too, for in her face there were +visible tokens of unhappiness, her face swollen with crying, pale +and downcast, her hair hanging in disorder, her damp hands wringing +a small handkerchief into a ball, her whole body shaken with sobs, +and an air of long neglect about her person. Between her sobs she +was confessing to him some crime which she had committed, but he +did not catch the broken words, nor did he wish to hear them, for +he was dulled by his sorrow. So they continued walking together in +sadness as it were for ever, he with his arm about her waist, she +turning her head to him and often casting her eyes down in +distress.</p> +<p>At last they sat down, and he spoke, saying: "I know they are +not my children, but I shall not use them barbarously because of +that. You are still my wife. I swear to you they shall never be +neglected. I will pay for their education."</p> +<p>Then he began turning over the names of schools in his mind. +Eton would not do, nor Harrow, nor Winchester, nor Rugby.... But he +could not tell why these schools would not do for these children of +hers, he only knew that every school he thought of was impossible, +but surely one could be found. So turning over the names of schools +he sat for a long while holding his dear wife's hand, till at +length, still weeping, she got up and went away and then slowly he +awoke.</p> +<p>But even when he had opened his eyes and looked about him he was +thinking of schools, saying to himself that he must send them to a +private academy, or even at the worst engage a tutor. "Why, yes," +he said to himself, putting one foot out of bed, "that is what it +must be, a tutor, though even then there will be a difficulty at +first."</p> +<p>At those words he wondered what difficulty there would be and +recollected that they were not ordinary children. No, they were +foxes—mere foxes. When poor Mr. Tebrick had remembered this +he was, as it were, dazed or stunned by the fact, and for a long +time he could understand nothing, but at last burst into a flood of +tears compassionating them and himself too. The awfulness of the +fact itself, that his dear wife should have foxes instead of +children, filled him with an agony of pity, and, at length, when he +recollected the cause of their being foxes, that is that his wife +was a fox also, his tears broke out anew, and he could bear it no +longer but began calling out in his anguish, and beat his head once +or twice against the wall, and then cast himself down on his bed +again and wept and wept, sometimes tearing the sheets asunder with +his teeth.</p> +<p>The whole of that day, for he was not to go to the earth till +evening, he went about sorrowfully, torn by true pity for his poor +vixen and her children.</p> +<p>At last when the time came he went again up to the earth, which +he found deserted, but hearing his voice, out came Esther. But +though he called the others by their names there was no answer, and +something in the way the cub greeted him made him fancy she was +indeed alone. She was truly rejoiced to see him, and scrambled up +into his arms, and thence to his shoulder, kissing him, which was +unusual in her (though natural enough in her sister Angelica). He +sat down a little way from the earth fondling her, and fed her with +some fish he had brought for her mother, which she ate so +ravenously that he concluded she must have been short of food that +day and probably alone for some time.</p> +<center><img src="images/012.png" width="60%" alt= +"Vixen Carrying Cub"></center> +<p>At last while he was sitting there Esther pricked up her ears, +started up, and presently Mr. Tebrick saw his vixen come towards +them. She greeted him very affectionately but it was plain had not +much time to spare, for she soon started back whence she had come +with Esther at her side. When they had gone about a rod the cub +hung back and kept stopping and looking back to the earth, and at +last turned and ran back home. But her mother was not to be fobbed +off so, for she quickly overtook her child and gripping her by the +scruff began to drag her along with her.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick, seeing then how matters stood, spoke to her, +telling her he would carry Esther if she would lead, so after a +little while Silvia gave her over, and then they set out on their +strange journey.</p> +<p>Silvia went running on a little before while Mr. Tebrick +followed after with Esther in his arms whimpering and struggling +now to be free, and indeed, once she gave him a nip with her teeth. +This was not so strange a thing to him now, and he knew the remedy +for it, which is much the same as with others whose tempers run too +high, that is a taste of it themselves. Mr. Tebrick shook her and +gave her a smart little cuff, after which, though she sulked, she +stopped her biting.</p> +<p>They went thus above a mile, circling his house and crossing the +highway until they gained a small covert that lay with some waste +fields adjacent to it. And by this time it was so dark that it was +all Mr. Tebrick could do to pick his way, for it was not always +easy for him to follow where his vixen found a big enough road for +herself.</p> +<p>But at length they came to another earth, and by the starlight +Mr. Tebrick could just make out the other cubs skylarking in the +shadows.</p> +<p>Now he was tired, but he was happy and laughed softly for joy, +and presently his vixen, coming to him, put her feet upon his +shoulders as he sat on the ground, and licked him, and he kissed +her back on the muzzle and gathered her in his arms and rolled her +in his jacket and then laughed and wept by turns in the excess of +his joy.</p> +<p>All his jealousies of the night before were forgotten now. All +his desperate sorrow of the morning and the horror of his dream +were gone. What if they were foxes? Mr. Tebrick found that he could +be happy with them. As the weather was hot he lay out there all the +night, first playing hide and seek with them in the dark till, +missing his vixen and the cubs proving obstreperous, he lay down +and was soon asleep.</p> +<p>He was woken up soon after dawn by one of the cubs tugging at +his shoelaces in play. When he sat up he saw two of the cubs +standing near him on their hind legs, wrestling with each other, +the other two were playing hide and seek round a tree trunk, and +now Angelica let go his laces and came romping into his arms to +kiss him and say "Good morning" to him, then worrying the points of +his waistcoat a little shyly after the warmth of his embrace.</p> +<p>That moment of awakening was very sweet to him. The freshness of +the morning, the scent of everything at the day's rebirth, the +first beams of the sun upon a tree-top near, and a pigeon rising +into the air suddenly, all delighted him. Even the rough scent of +the body of the cub in his arms seemed to him delicious.</p> +<p>At that moment all human customs and institutions seemed to him +nothing but folly; for said he, "I would exchange all my life as a +man for my happiness now, and even now I retain almost all of the +ridiculous conceptions of a man. The beasts are happier and I will +deserve that happiness as best I can."</p> +<p>After he had looked at the cubs playing merrily, how, with soft +stealth, one would creep behind another to bounce out and startle +him, a thought came into Mr. Tebrick's head, and that was that +these cubs were innocent, they were as stainless snow, they could +not sin, for God had created them to be thus and they could break +none of His commandments. And he fancied also that men sin because +they cannot be as the animals.</p> +<p>Presently he got up full of happiness, and began making his way +home when suddenly he came to a full stop and asked himself: "What +is going to happen to them?"</p> +<p>This question rooted him stockishly in a cold and deadly fear as +if he had seen a snake before him. At last he shook his head and +hurried on his path. Aye, indeed, what would become of his vixen +and her children?</p> +<p>This thought put him into such a fever of apprehension that he +did his best not to think of it any more, but yet it stayed with +him all that day and for weeks after, at the back of his mind, so +that he was not careless in his happiness as before, but as it were +trying continually to escape his own thoughts.</p> +<p>This made him also anxious to pass all the time he could with +his dear Silvia, and, therefore, he began going out to them for +more of the daytime, and then he would sleep the night in the woods +also as he had done that night; and so he passed several weeks, +only returning to his house occasionally to get himself a fresh +provision of food. But after a week or ten days at the new earth +both his vixen and the cubs, too, got a new habit of roaming. For a +long while back, as he knew, his vixen had been lying out alone +most of the day, and now the cubs were all for doing the same +thing. The earth, in short, had served its purpose and was now +distasteful to them, and they would not enter it unless pressed +with fear.</p> +<p>This new manner of their lives was an added grief to Mr. +Tebrick, for sometimes he missed them for hours together, or for +the whole day even, and not knowing where they might be was lonely +and anxious. Yet his Silvia was thoughtful for him too and would +often send Angelica or another of the cubs to fetch him to their +new lair, or come herself if she could spare the time. For now they +were all perfectly accustomed to his presence, and had come to look +on him as their natural companion, and although he was in many ways +irksome to them by scaring rabbits, yet they always rejoiced to see +him when they had been parted from him. This friendliness of theirs +was, you may be sure, the source of most of Mr. Tebrick's happiness +at this time. Indeed he lived now for nothing but his foxes, his +love for his vixen had extended itself insensibly to include her +cubs, and these were now his daily playmates so that he knew them +as well as if they had been his own children. With Selwyn and +Angelica indeed he was always happy; and they never so much as when +they were with him. He was not stiff in his behaviour either, but +had learnt by this time as much from his foxes as they had from +him. Indeed never was there a more curious alliance than this or +one with stranger effects upon both of the parties.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick now could follow after them anywhere and keep up +with them too, and could go through a wood as silently as a deer. +He learnt to conceal himself if ever a labourer passed by so that +he was rarely seen, and never but once in their company. But what +was most strange of all, he had got a way of going doubled up, +often almost on all fours with his hands touching the ground every +now and then, particularly when he went uphill.</p> +<p>He hunted with them too sometimes, chiefly by coming up and +scaring rabbits towards where the cubs lay ambushed, so that the +bunnies ran straight into their jaws.</p> +<p>He was useful to them in other ways, climbing up and robbing +pigeon's nests for the eggs which they relished exceedingly, or by +occasionally dispatching a hedgehog for them so they did not get +the prickles in their mouths. But while on his part he thus altered +his conduct, they on their side were not behindhand, but learnt a +dozen human tricks from him that are ordinarily wanting in +Reynard's education.</p> +<p>One evening he went to a cottager who had a row of skeps, and +bought one of them, just as it was after the man had smothered the +bees. This he carried to the foxes that they might taste the honey, +for he had seen them dig out wild bees' nests often enough. The +skep full was indeed a wonderful feast for them, they bit greedily +into the heavy scented comb, their jaws were drowned in the sticky +flood of sweetness, and they gorged themselves on it without +restraint. When they had crunched up the last morsel they tore the +skep in pieces, and for hours afterwards they were happily employed +in licking themselves clean.</p> +<p>That night he slept near their lair, but they left him and went +hunting. In the morning when he woke he was quite numb with cold, +and faint with hunger. A white mist hung over everything and the +wood smelt of autumn.</p> +<center><img src="images/013.png" width="60%" alt= +"Mr. Tebrick Feeding Foxes"></center> +<p>He got up and stretched his cramped limbs, and then walked +homewards. The summer was over and Mr. Tebrick noticed this now for +the first time and was astonished. He reflected that the cubs were +fast growing up, they were foxes at all points, and yet when he +thought of the time when they had been sooty and had blue eyes it +seemed to him only yesterday. From that he passed to thinking of +the future, asking himself as he had done once before what would +become of his vixen and her children. Before the winter he must +tempt them into the security of his garden, and fortify it against +all the dangers that threatened them.</p> +<p>But though he tried to allay his fear with such resolutions he +remained uneasy all that day. When he went out to them that +afternoon he found only his wife Silvia there and it was plain to +him that she too was alarmed, but alas, poor creature, she could +tell him nothing, only lick his hands and face, and turn about +pricking her ears at every sound.</p> +<p>"Where are your children, Silvia?" he asked her several times, +but she was impatient of his questions, but at last sprang into his +arms, flattened herself upon his breast and kissed him gently, so +that when he departed his heart was lighter because he knew that +she still loved him.</p> +<p>That night he slept indoors, but in the morning early he was +awoken by the sound of trotting horses, and running to the window +saw a farmer riding by very sprucely dressed. Could they be hunting +so soon, he wondered, but presently reassured himself that it could +not be a hunt already.</p> +<p>He heard no other sound till eleven o'clock in the morning when +suddenly there was the clamour of hounds giving tongue and not so +far off neither. At this Mr. Tebrick ran out of his house +distracted and set open the gates of his garden, but with iron bars +and wire at the top so the huntsmen could not follow. There was +silence again; it seems the fox must have turned away, for there +was no other sound of the hunt. Mr. Tebrick was now like one +helpless with fear, he dared not go out, yet could not stay still +at home. There was nothing that he could do, yet he would not admit +this, so he busied himself in making holes in the hedges, so that +Silvia (or her cubs) could enter from whatever side she came. At +last he forced himself to go indoors and sit down and drink some +tea. While he was there he fancied he heard the hounds again; it +was but a faint ghostly echo of their music, yet when he ran out of +the house it was already close at hand in the copse above.</p> +<p>Now it was that poor Mr. Tebrick made his great mistake, for +hearing the hounds almost outside the gate he ran to meet them, +whereas rightly he should have run back to the house. As soon as he +reached the gate he saw his wife Silvia coming towards him but very +tired with running and just upon her the hounds. The horror of that +sight pierced him, for ever afterwards he was haunted by those +hounds—their eagerness, their desperate efforts to gain on +her, and their blind lust for her came at odd moments to frighten +him all his life. Now he should have run back, though it was +already late, but instead he cried out to her, and she ran straight +through the open gate to him. What followed was all over in a +flash, but it was seen by many witnesses.</p> +<p>The side of Mr. Tebrick's garden there is bounded by a wall, +about six feet high and curving round, so that the huntsmen could +see over this wall inside. One of them indeed put his horse at it +very boldly, which was risking his neck, and although he got over +safe was too late to be of much assistance.</p> +<p>His vixen had at once sprung into Mr. Tebrick's arms, and before +he could turn back the hounds were upon them and had pulled them +down. Then at that moment there was a scream of despair heard by +all the field that had come up, which they declared afterwards was +more like a woman's voice than a man's. But yet there was no clear +proof whether it was Mr. Tebrick or his wife who had suddenly +regained her voice. When the huntsman who had leapt the wall got to +them and had whipped off the hounds Mr. Tebrick had been terribly +mauled and was bleeding from twenty wounds. As for his vixen she +was dead, though he was still clasping her dead body in his +arms.</p> +<p>Mr. Tebrick was carried into the house at once and assistance +sent for, but there was no doubt now about his neighbours being in +the right when they called him mad. For a long while his life was +despaired of, but at last he rallied, and in the end he recovered +his reason and lived to be a great age, for that matter he is still +alive.</p> +<br> +<br> +<hr class=full> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY INTO FOX***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 10337-h.txt or 10337-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/3/10337">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/3/10337</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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