There and Back

There and Back [with accents]

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Title: There & Back
Author: George MacDonald
Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8879] [This file was first
posted on August 19, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English

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THERE & BACK
BY
GEORGE MACDONALD

CONTENTS
CHAP.
I. FATHER, CHILD, AND NURSE II. STEPMOTHER AND NURSE
III. THE FLIGHT IV. THE BOOKBINDER AND HIS PUPIL V. THE
MANSONS VI. SIMON ARMOUR VII. COMPARISONS VIII. A
LOST SHOE IX. A HOLIDAY X. THE LIBRARY XI. ALICE XII.
MORTGRANGE XIII. THE BEECH-TREE XIV. AGAIN THE
LIBRARY XV. BARBARA WYLDER XVI. BARBARA AND
RICHARD XVII. BARBARA AND OTHERS XVIII. MRS.
WYLDER XIX. MRS. WYLDER AND BARBARA XX. BARBARA
AND HER CRITICS XXI. THE PARSON'S PARABLE XXII. THE
RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER XXIII. A HUMAN GADFLY
XXIV. RICHARD AND WINGFOLD XXV. WINGFOLD AND HIS
WIFE XXVI. RICHARD AND ALICE XXVII. A SISTER XXVIII.
BARBARA AND LADY ANN XXIX. ALICE AND BARBARA
XXX. BARBARA THINKS XXXI. WINGFOLD AND BARBARA
XXXII. THE SHOEING OF MISS BROWN XXXIII. RICHARD
AND VIXEN XXXIV. BARBARA'S DUTY XXXV. THE PARSON'S
COUNSEL XXXVI. LADY ANN MEDITATES XXXVII. LADY
ANN AND RICHARD XXXVIII. RICHARD AND ARTHUR XXXIX.
MR., MRS., AND MISS WYLDER XL. IN LONDON XLI. NATURE
AND SUPERNATURE XLII. YET A LOWER DEEP XLIII. TO BE
REDEEMED, ONE MUST REDEEM XLIV. A DOOR OPENED IN
HEAVEN XLV. THE CARRIAGE XLVI. RICHARD'S DILEMMA
XLVII. THE DOORS OF HARMONY AND DEATH XLVIII.

DEATH THE DELIVERER XLIX. THE CAVE IN THE FIRE L.
DUCK-FISTS LI. BARONET AND BLACKSMITH LII.
UNCLE-FATHER AND AUNT-MOTHER LIII. MORNING LIV.
BARBARA AT HOME LV. MISS BROWN LVI. WINGFOLD AND
BARBARA LVII. THE BARONET'S WILL LVIII. THE HEIR LIX.
WINGFOLD AND ARTHUR MANSON LX. RICHARD AND HIS
FAMILY LXI. HEART TO HEART LXII. THE QUARREL LXIII.
BARONET AND BLACKSMITH LXIV. THE BARONET'S
FUNERAL LXV. THE PACKET LXVI. BARBARA'S DREAM

_NOTE.
Some of the readers of this tale will be glad to know that the passage
with which it ends is a real dream; and that, with but three or four
changes almost too slight to require acknowledging, I have given it
word for word as the friend to whom it came set it down for me._

CHAPTER I
.
_FATHER, CHILD, AND NURSE._
It would be but stirring a muddy pool to inquire--not what motives
induced, but what forces compelled sir Wilton Lestrange to marry a
woman nobody knew. It is enough to say that these forces were mainly
ignoble, as manifested by their intermittent character and final
cessation. The _mésalliance_ occasioned not a little surprise, and quite
as much annoyance, among the county families,--failing, however, to
remind any that certain of their own grandmothers had been no better
known to the small world than lady Lestrange. It caused yet more
surprise, though less annoyance, in the clubs to which sir Wilton had
hitherto been indebted for help to forget his duties: they set him down
as a greater idiot than his friends had hitherto imagined him. For had he
not been dragged to the altar by a woman whose manners and breeding
were hardly on the level of a villa in St. John's Wood? Did any one
know whence she sprang, or even the name which sir Wilton had
displaced with his own? But sir Wilton himself was not proud of his
lady; and if the thing had been any business of theirs, it would have

made no difference to him; he would none the less have let them pine
in their ignorance. Did not his mother, a lady less dignified than
eccentric, out of pure curiosity beg enlightenment concerning her origin,
and receive for answer from the high-minded baronet, "Madam, the
woman is my wife!"--after which the prudent dowager asked no more
questions, but treated her