[{"node":{"title":"Hanna170","Collections":"Part Two","Contributor":"Linen Hall Library","Coverage":"1951","Creator":"Linen Hall Library","Date":"Thursday, April 7, 2016","Format":"TIFF","Identifier":"Hanna170","Item Description":"Manuscript","Keywords":"Rathard, Dineens","Language":"English","Path":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/content/hanna170","Publisher":"Linen Hall Library","Relation":"Linen Hall Library","Rights":"Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA","Scanned image":{"src":"https://www.niliteraryarchive.com/sites/default/files/Hanna170_0.jpg","alt":""},"Source":"LHL Archive","Transcript":"\ufeff164\n\nChapter Sixteen\n\nOn the following morning Frank was told what the child\nhad said. There was something ludicrous about the words as\nhis brother repeated them, that he burst out laughing. Then\nas the realisation of what had happened dawned upon him, his\nlaughter ceased abruptly. He left the house and walked aim-\nlessly into the fields.\n\nHe was not surprised that someone had called the child\na bastard, for a moment, as he stood looking down at the\nlough, he was filled with anger and contempt for the creature\nwho had taught the boy those words. But that was no longer\nany concern of his. Hamilton could attend to that. His\nbrother loved the child and the woman.\n\nHe had been prepared for something like this to happen.\nHe had a prescience that a judgement had been slowly forming\nat the hundreds of hearths around Rathard. Sooner or later\nhe knew it must become articulate. But he had been preparing\nfor it, like a man making ready to flee from an approaching\nstorm and yet lingering on in those last few hours of stifling\ncalm.\n\nOne by one the ties that bound him to Rathard had broken.\nHis desire for Sarah had dwindled long ago. Throughout the\npast year their intimacy had become less and less frequent.\nThe separation had grown between them, naturally and without\nreproach: on his part, because he had wearied of her, and\nrealised how empty and futile his life had become; on hers,\nbecause she needed him no longer, and he had alienated her by\nmany of the things he had done such as setting the Dineens in\nher old home. He felt no jealousy when he knew Hamilton was\nwith her. Indeed he was glad, for it made him feel free and\ninnocent again.\n\nAnd out of this weariness had risen a desire, the most\npowerful and seemingly worthwhile, he had ever known. He\nwanted a woman of his own choice, he wanted a home and children\nof his own. Many times recently he had felt impelled to break\n","Type":"Text"}}]