It was Tea Time and Maggie had still not come.
“I’m sure I haven’t, father,” said Tom, indignantly. “I think she’s in the house.” “Perhaps up in that
attic,” said Mrs. Tulliver, “a-singing and talking to herself. “You go and fetch her down, Tom,” said Mr.
Tulliver, rather sharply,—his perspicacity or his fatherly fondness for Maggie making him suspect that
the lad had been hard upon “the little un,” else she would never have left his side. “And be good to
her, do you hear? Else I’ll let you know better.” Tom never disobeyed his father, for Mr. Tulliver was a
peremptory man, and, as he said, would never let anybody get hold of his whip-hand;
It was Tom’s step, then, that Maggie heard on the stairs, when her need of love had triumphed over
her pride, and she was going down with her swollen eyes and dishevelled hair to beg for pity. At least
her father would stroke her head and say, “Never mind, my wench”. It is a wonderful subduer, this
need of love,—this hunger of the heart,—as peremptory as that other hunger by which Nature forces
us to submit to the yoke, and change the face of the world.
But she knew Tom’s step, and her heart began to beat violently with the sudden shock of hope. He
only stood still at the top of the stairs and said, “Maggie, you’re to come down.” But she rushed to
him and clung round his neck, sobbing, “Oh, Tom, please forgive me—I can’t bear it—I will always be
good—always remember things—do love me—please, dear Tom!” We learn to restrain ourselves as
we get older. We keep apart when we have quarrelled, express ourselves in well-bred phrases, and in
this way preserve a dignified alienation. We no longer approximate in our behaviour to the mere
impulsiveness of the lower animals, but conduct ourselves in every respect like members of a highly
civilized society. Maggie and Tom were still very much like young animals, and so she could rub her
cheek against his, and kiss his ear in a random sobbing way; and there were tender fibres in the lad
that had been used to answer to Maggie’s fondling, so that he behaved with a weakness quite
inconsistent with his resolution to punish her as much as she deserved. He actually began to kiss her
in return, and say,— “Don’t cry, then, Maggie; here, eat a bit o’ cake.” Maggie’s sobs began to subside,
and she put out her mouth for the cake and bit a piece; and then Tom bit a piece, just for company,
and they ate together and rubbed each other’s cheeks and brows and noses together, while they ate,
with a humiliating resemblance to two friendly ponies.
Excerpt from the Mill on the Floss
By George Elliot
Find out words from passage which mean the same as the following: 4
a) Brusque
b) Caress
c) Likeness
d) Abate
Answers
Answered by
2
Answer:
Explanation:
I think Colledge)Likness
Answered by
3
ANSWER:
COLLADGE LIKENESS
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