The Old Nurse's Story (Elizabeth Gaskell) — graded reader B1–B2

The Old Nurse's Story

A graded reader · Elizabeth Gaskell · B1–B2

Warm-up

• Did anyone tell you stories when you were a child? Who, and what kind?

• Do you like ghost stories at Christmas, or on long winter nights?

• Have you ever stayed in a very old house or building? How did it feel at night?

• Do you have brothers or sisters? Did you ever fight over the same thing?

The author and the book

Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865)

Elizabeth Gaskell was born Elizabeth Stevenson in Chelsea, London, in 1810. When she was just thirteen months old, her mother died, and her father sent the baby to live with her aunt in Knutsford, a small town in Cheshire. Years later, Knutsford became the model for her much-loved book Cranford.

In 1832 she married William Gaskell, a minister, and they made their home in Manchester, a crowded city of factories. When their baby son William died, the loss led her to write her first novel, Mary Barton (1848).

Charles Dickens admired her work and invited her to write for his weekly magazine, Household Words. She was also a close friend of Charlotte Brontë, and after Charlotte died, she wrote the story of her life (1857).

"The Old Nurse's Story" was Gaskell's first ghost story. It appeared in the special Christmas number of Household Words in December 1852. She died suddenly in 1865, at Holybourne in Hampshire, while visiting a house she had bought there.

Key words

nurse

orphan

organ

in the past, a woman paid to look after a family's young children

a child whose mother and father are both dead

a very large musical instrument with pipes and keys, often found in churches

fells

phantom

high, bare hills in the north of England

a ghost, or a shape that seems real but is not

Let's talk

• Gaskell lost her own mother as a baby. How might that shape the stories she wrote?

• This story was written to be read aloud at Christmas. Why do ghost stories suit winter?

• Can a family secret hurt people many years later? How?

• The story is told by an old nurse to children. Why might a ghost story be told that way?

PART 1 OF 4

The music in the hall

PART 1 · THE MUSIC IN THE HALL

You know, my dears, that your mother was an orphan. Your grandfather was a clergyman up in Westmorland, where I come from. I was just a schoolgirl when your grandmother chose me as her nursemaid, and how proud I was! Soon after, your mother was born: little Miss Rosamond. There never was such a sweet baby, before or since.

When she was four or five, both her parents died within two weeks of each other. On her death-bed, my mistress asked me never to leave the child. I would have gone with her to the end of the world.

Her mother had come from the grand Furnivall family, so it was decided that we would live at Furnivall Manor, in Northumberland.

Only old Miss Furnivall, a great-aunt of the present lord, lived there now, with a few servants.

So there we were, two lonely young things (I was not yet eighteen). The house was great and grand, with trees so close that their branches scraped the walls when the wind blew. Behind it rose the fells, bare and empty.

The hall was so large I thought we would be lost in it. A great chandelier hung from the ceiling, and at one end, built into the wall, was an enormous organ. Near the fireplace were doors to the east wing, which I never went through as long as I lived there.

Miss Furnivall was nearly eighty, tall and thin, with very watchful eyes, and so deaf that she used an ear trumpet.

PART 1 · THE MUSIC IN THE HALL

Beside her sat Mrs Stark, her maid, almost as old, and as cold and grey as stone. But the old servants, James and his wife Dorothy, were so kind that by teatime Miss Rosamond was sitting on Dorothy's knee, chattering away.

One day, Dorothy showed us the family portraits. One was of Miss Furnivall as a girl, Miss Grace as she was called then: a great beauty in a white hat and a blue satin dress, with scorn in her proud eyes. "Her elder sister was even more beautiful," Dorothy whispered. That picture stood with its face to the wall, and I had to promise to keep it secret.

As winter came on, I began to hear music in the evenings, booming and swelling in the distance. Someone was playing the great organ.

"Who was playing tonight?" I asked at supper.

"You're a fool to think the wind in the trees is music," said James. But Dorothy looked at him with fear, and Bessy, the kitchen maid, went quite white.

Later, Bessy whispered to me, "Never tell anyone, but people say it's the old lord, playing the great organ, just as he did when he was alive."

Well, I had a brave heart, and I rather liked the music. Then, one day, alone in the hall, I opened the organ and looked inside. It was all broken and destroyed. Nobody could play it.

It was the middle of the day. But my skin began to creep.

Book club

PART 1 · THE MUSIC IN THE HALL

1. Why did Hester and Miss Rosamond go to live at Furnivall Manor?

2. How were Miss Furnivall and Mrs Stark different from James and Dorothy?

3. What did Hester discover when she looked inside the organ?

4. Hester was not yet eighteen. Would you take on a job like hers at that age?

5. Why do you think nobody will talk openly about the music?

6. Who, or what, do you think is playing the organ?

PART 2 OF 4

Footprints in the snow

PART 2 · FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW

That winter was terribly cold. One day at dinner, Miss Furnivall lifted her sad, heavy eyes and said, "I am afraid we shall have a terrible winter." She said it strangely, as if she meant something more. But Mrs Stark pretended not to hear.

One Sunday in late November, I went to church with Bessy and left Miss Rosamond with Dorothy and the old ladies. During the service the snow came down thick and fast, and when we walked home the moon was up and the world was white.

But Miss Rosamond was not in the kitchen. I hurried to the drawing-room.

"Miss Rosamond is not here," said Mrs Stark. "She went away more than an hour ago, to find Dorothy."

My heart sank. We took lights and searched the whole house, calling her name. No answer. The east wing? No, said Dorothy, those doors were always locked.

Then, from an upstairs window, I saw it in the clear moonlight: two little footprints in the snow, going from the hall door round the corner of the east wing. I ran out. The footprints went up, up towards the fells. It was so cold the air almost took the skin off my face.

Near the two old holly trees, I met a shepherd coming down the hill. In his arms was my darling, white and still and stiff, as if she were dead. He had found her under the holly trees, in the terrible sleep that comes from frost.

PART 2 · FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW

I carried her home myself and warmed her by the nursery fire. At last she opened her large blue eyes.

In the morning, she told me what had happened. Through the hall window, she had seen a little girl in the snow, younger than herself. "But so pretty, Hester! She beckoned to me to come out, and I could not help going." The little girl took her hand, and they went round the east corner together.

"You're telling stories," I said sternly. "There were only your footprints in the snow."

"I never looked at her feet," she cried. "But she held my hand fast and tight, and it was very, very cold. She took me up to the holly trees, and there I saw a lady weeping. When she saw me, she smiled, very proud and grand.

She took me on her knee and began to sing me to sleep. That's all, Hester, but it's true!"

I told the old ladies everything, shouting it into Miss Furnivall's ear. When I came to the little girl in the snow, she threw up her old, thin arms.

"Oh! Heaven forgive! Have mercy!" Then she turned to me, wild and fierce. "Hester! Keep her from that child! It will lure her to her death! That evil child! Tell her it is a wicked, naughty child!"

As Mrs Stark hurried me out, Miss Furnivall was still crying: "Oh, have mercy! Wilt Thou never forgive! It is many a long year ago..."

Book club

PART 2 · FOOTPRINTS IN THE SNOW

1. What strange thing did Miss Furnivall say at dinner?

2. How did Hester find Miss Rosamond, and where was she?

3. Why didn't Hester believe Miss Rosamond's story?

4. Was Hester right to call the child a liar? What would you have said?

5. What do you think Miss Furnivall needs forgiveness for?

6. Who might the little girl and the weeping lady be?

PART 3 OF 4

The child at the window

PART 3 · THE CHILD AT THE WINDOW

After that, I never let Miss Rosamond out of my sight. One afternoon, not long before Christmas, we were playing on the billiard table in the great hall. As it grew dark, she suddenly cried out.

"Look, Hester! Look! There is my poor little girl out in the snow!"

I turned. At the window was a little girl, smaller than my Miss Rosamond, dressed far too thinly for such a bitter night. She was crying and beating on the glass, as if she wanted to be let in. Yet there was no sound at all.

Miss Rosamond ran to open the door. Suddenly, close beside us, the great organ thundered out so loudly that I shook with terror.

I caught my darling up and carried her, kicking and screaming, to the kitchen.

"She won't let me open the door for my little girl!" she sobbed. "And she'll die if she's out on the fells all night. Cruel, naughty Hester!"

I saw a look of terror on Dorothy's face that made my blood run cold. "Shut the back door," she said, "and bolt it well."

That night I told Dorothy I would take Miss Rosamond home to my father's house. I had seen the phantom child myself, with the dark wound on its right shoulder. Dorothy said I had no right to take her. At last, she told me the story.

The old lord was Miss Furnivall's father.

PART 3 · THE CHILD AT THE WINDOW

He was terribly proud and cruel, and he loved music above everything. His two daughters, Miss Maude and Miss Grace, were great beauties, and just as proud. Both fell in love with the same man: a foreign musician who came every year to play with the old lord. It was he who brought the great organ from Holland.

Miss Maude, the elder, married him in secret, and had a little girl, who was hidden at a farm. But her husband made love to Miss Grace too, and the sisters grew to hate each other. In the end, the musician left and never came back. Miss Maude brought her child to live with her in the east rooms. Then she told Miss Grace the truth: the man had been her husband all along.

From that day, Miss Grace swore revenge.

"One night, just after the New Year," said Dorothy, "in deep snow, there was a great noise. The old lord shouting and cursing. A little child crying. The sound of a blow. Then silence. He told the servants he had thrown his daughter out, her and her child. Miss Grace stood beside him, white and still as stone. Then she gave a great sigh, as if her work was done.

"Next morning, the shepherds found Miss Maude under the holly trees, crazy and smiling, nursing a dead child, with a terrible mark on its right shoulder. But that was not what killed it. It was the frost and the cold. And now you know all! I wonder if you are less frightened now?"

Book club

PART 3 · THE CHILD AT THE WINDOW

1. What did Miss Rosamond see at the window, and what was strange about it?

2. Why did Hester carry her away from the door?

3. How did Miss Grace take her revenge on her sister?

4. Who do you think was most to blame for the child's death?

5. Should Hester take Miss Rosamond away, even without permission? What would you do?

6. Hester is more frightened than ever. What do you think will happen next?

PART 4 OF 4

What is done in youth

PART 4 · WHAT IS DONE IN YOUTH

I was more frightened than ever, but I would not leave Miss Rosamond, and I dared not take her away. So we bolted the doors and shut the window shutters an hour before dark. But still she heard the little girl crying. And when I taught her to pray for one who had done a deadly sin, she would jump up and say, "I hear my little girl crying, so sad. Oh, let her in, or she will die!"

I was afraid of the old ladies. Yet I felt sorry for Miss Furnivall. Nobody ever looked more hopeless.

One night, the drawing-room bell rang for me. The old lord had been playing wilder than ever, so I would not leave my darling alone. I wrapped her up, still asleep, and carried her down. The old ladies sat at their tapestry while the wind howled outside.

Suddenly Miss Furnivall stood up and lifted one hand.

"I hear voices!" she said. "I hear terrible screams. I hear my father's voice!"

At that moment my darling woke. "My little girl is crying! Oh, how she is crying!"

Then we heard it too: voices and screams. Miss Furnivall walked out into the great hall, and we followed. There, the chandelier was alight, and a fire blazed in the great fireplace, though it gave no heat. The screams came from the east wing, close behind the locked doors.

"Hester! I must go!" cried Miss Rosamond, fighting to get free. "My little girl is there! She is coming!" I held her with all my strength.

Then the east door burst open with a crash.

PART 4 · WHAT IS DONE IN YOUTH

A tall old man with grey hair and gleaming eyes came through it, driving before him a stern and beautiful woman, with a little child holding on to her dress.

"Oh, Hester!" cried Miss Rosamond. "It's the lady from the holly trees, and my little girl is with her! They are drawing me to them. I must go!"

The woman turned to face the old man, proud and fierce. Then she threw up her arms to save her child from his raised crutch. My darling fainted in my arms.

"Oh father! father!" cried old Miss Furnivall beside me. "Spare the little innocent child!"

Then we all saw another phantom beside the old man: a young lady in a white hat and a blue satin dress, with a look of hate and triumph. I had seen her before, in the portrait.

It was Miss Furnivall in her youth.

The crutch fell on the little child's right shoulder, and the younger sister watched, cold and calm as stone. Then the lights and the fire went out, and Miss Furnivall fell at our feet, struck down.

She was carried to her bed that night, never to rise again. She lay with her face to the wall, muttering, always muttering: "Alas! alas! what is done in youth can never be undone in age! What is done in youth can never be undone in age!"

Book club

PART 4 · WHAT IS DONE IN YOUTH

1. How did Hester try to keep Miss Rosamond safe after Dorothy's story?

2. What did Miss Furnivall hear before everyone else?

3. Who appeared in the hall, and what did each of them do?

4. Why did Miss Rosamond see and hear the ghosts first, do you think?

5. Did Miss Furnivall deserve her ending, or do you pity her?

6. What do her last words mean? Do you agree with them?

Big questions

1

Who was the real villain of this story: the old lord, Miss Grace, or someone else?

2

Miss Grace lived with her guilt for the rest of her long life. Is that worse than death?

3

Why are the ghosts so dangerous to Miss Rosamond in particular?

4

Hester is a servant, yet she is the bravest person in the house. What makes her so strong?

5

Is pride or jealousy more dangerous in a family? Which does the story warn against most?

6

"What is done in youth can never be undone in age." Is that true in your experience?

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

Part 1 · 1 Her parents both died, and it was decided she would live with her mother's family at Furnivall Manor, where old Miss Furnivall lived.

Part 1 · 2 Miss Furnivall and Mrs Stark were old, cold and watchful (and Miss Furnivall was very deaf). James and Dorothy were warm and kind.

Part 1 · 3 It was all broken and destroyed inside, so nobody could play it.

Part 2 · 1 "I am afraid we shall have a terrible winter," in a strange way, as if she meant something more.

Part 2 · 2 She followed small footprints in the snow up towards the fells. A shepherd had found her under the holly trees, frozen and stiff.

Part 2 · 3 There was only one set of footprints in the snow: Miss Rosamond's.

Part 3 · 1 A little girl crying and beating on the glass to be let in, but there was no sound at all.

Part 3 · 2 When she ran to open the door, the organ suddenly thundered out, and Hester was terrified.

Part 3 · 3 She stood by, white and still, while her father threw Miss Maude and her child out into the snow, then sighed as if her work was done.

Part 4 · 1 She bolted the doors, shut the shutters an hour before dark, and never left her alone.

Part 4 · 2 Voices, terrible screams, and her father's voice.

Part 4 · 3 The old lord, driving Miss Maude and her child out; Miss Maude, trying to save her child from his crutch; and the young Miss Grace, watching coldly as he struck the child.