Silas Marner: Chapters 6–10

by George Eliot
After he is falsely accused of stealing money from his church, Silas Marner is abandoned by everyone, even his fiancée. He flees to a small rural village and attempts to isolate himself from the world — but when he takes in an abandoned child, his life changes forever. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–10, Chapters 11–15, Chapters 16–18, Chapter 19–Conclusion
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. intermittent
    stopping and starting at irregular intervals
    The conversation, which was at a high pitch of animation when Silas approached the door of the Rainbow, had, as usual, been slow and intermittent when the company first assembled.
  2. moderation
    the quality of avoiding extremes
    Mr. Tookey, the deputy-clerk, who shared the unpopularity common to deputies, turned very red, but replied, with careful moderation—"Mr. Winthrop, if you'll bring me any proof as I'm in the wrong, I'm not the man to say I won't alter.
  3. presumption
    a kind of discourtesy in the form of taking liberties
    "Aye, aye," said Mr. Macey, who felt very well satisfied with this attack on youthful presumption; "you're right there, Tookey: there's allays two 'pinions; there's the 'pinion a man has of himsen, and there's the 'pinion other folks have on him. There'd be two 'pinions about a cracked bell, if the bell could hear itself."
  4. condescending
    characteristic of those who treat others with arrogance
    Yet the next moment there seemed to be some evidence that ghosts had a more condescending disposition than Mr. Macey attributed to them; for the pale thin figure of Silas Marner was suddenly seen standing in the warm light, uttering no word, but looking round at the company with his strange unearthly eyes.
  5. entreat
    ask for or request earnestly
    "If it was you stole my money," said Silas, clasping his hands entreatingly, and raising his voice to a cry, "give it me back—and I won't meddle with you. I won't set the constable on you. Give it me back, and I'll let you—I'll let you have a guinea."
  6. feeble
    lacking bodily or muscular strength or vitality
    The weaver, too feeble to have any distinct purpose beyond that of getting help to recover his money, submitted unresistingly.
  7. preoccupation
    the mental state of being obsessed by something
    This strangely novel situation of opening his trouble to his Raveloe neighbours, of sitting in the warmth of a hearth not his own, and feeling the presence of faces and voices which were his nearest promise of help, had doubtless its influence on Marner, in spite of his passionate preoccupation with his loss.
  8. distress
    psychological suffering
    The slight suspicion with which his hearers at first listened to him, gradually melted away before the convincing simplicity of his distress: it was impossible for the neighbours to doubt that Marner was telling the truth
  9. compunction
    a feeling of deep regret, usually for some misdeed
    With a movement of compunction as new and strange to him as everything else within the last hour, he started from his chair and went close up to Jem, looking at him as if he wanted to assure himself of the expression in his face.
  10. bewildered
    extremely confused and uncertain what to do
    I don't accuse you—I won't accuse anybody—only," he added, lifting up his hands to his head, and turning away with bewildered misery, "I try—I try to think where my guineas can be."
  11. premises
    land and the buildings on it
    I'll go back with you, Master Marner, and examine your premises; and if anybody's got any fault to find with that, I'll thank him to stand up and say it out like a man.
  12. distinguish
    detect with the senses
    The rain had washed away all possibility of distinguishing foot-marks, but a close investigation of the spot had disclosed, in the direction opposite to the village, a tinder-box, with a flint and steel, half sunk in the mud.
  13. repudiate
    reject as untrue, unfounded, or unjust
    Mr. Macey, though he joined in the defence of Marner against all suspicions of deceit, also pooh-poohed the tinder-box; indeed, repudiated it as a rather impious suggestion, tending to imply that everything must be done by human hands, and that there was no power which could make away with the guineas without moving the bricks.
  14. zealous
    marked by active interest and enthusiasm
    Nevertheless, he turned round rather sharply on Mr. Tookey, when the zealous deputy, feeling that this was a view of the case peculiarly suited to a parish-clerk, carried it still farther, and doubted whether it was right to inquire into a robbery at all when the circumstances were so mysterious.
  15. severe
    very harsh or strict, especially when dealing with others
    In fact, there was a general feeling in the village, that for the clearing-up of this robbery there must be a great deal done at the Rainbow, and that no man need offer his wife an excuse for going there while it was the scene of severe public duties.
  16. squander
    spend thoughtlessly; throw away
    The possibility that Dunstan had played him the ugly trick of riding away with Wildfire, to return at the end of a month, when he had gambled away or otherwise squandered the price of the horse, was a fear that urged itself upon him more, even, than the thought of an accidental injury
  17. brunt
    the main part, especially of a force or shock
    The revelation about the money must be made the very next morning; and if he withheld the rest, Dunstan would be sure to come back shortly, and, finding that he must bear the brunt of his father's anger, would tell the whole story out of spite, even though he had nothing to gain by it.
  18. consequence
    the outcome of an event
    I'll bear the consequences of what I have done sooner than make believe I've done what I never would have done. I'd never have spent the money for my own pleasure—I was tortured into it.
  19. odious
    extremely repulsive or unpleasant
    Godfrey said to himself again and again, that if he let slip this one opportunity of confession, he might never have another; the revelation might be made even in a more odious way than by Dunstan's malignity: she might come as she had threatened to do.
  20. indulgence
    a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone
    This was his system with his tenants: he allowed them to get into arrears, neglect their fences, reduce their stock, sell their straw, and otherwise go the wrong way,—and then, when he became short of money in consequence of this indulgence, he took the hardest measures and would listen to no appeal.
  21. disgrace
    a state of dishonor
    Instead of arguments for confession, he could now feel the presence of nothing but its evil consequences: the old dread of disgrace came back—the old shrinking from the thought of raising a hopeless barrier between himself and Nancy—the old disposition to rely on chances which might be favourable to him, and save him from betrayal.
  22. homage
    respectful deference
    The Squire had been used to parish homage all his life, used to the presupposition that his family, his tankards, and everything that was his, were the oldest and best; and as he never associated with any gentry higher than himself, his opinion was not disturbed by comparison.
  23. mitigate
    lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or extent of
    The Squire's life was quite as idle as his sons', but it was a fiction kept up by himself and his contemporaries in Raveloe that youth was exclusively the period of folly, and that their aged wisdom was constantly in a state of endurance mitigated by sarcasm.
  24. pauper
    a person who is very poor
    What with mortgages and arrears, I'm as short o' cash as a roadside pauper.
  25. arrears
    the state of being behind in payments
    He felt that his father meant to ward off any request for money on the ground of the misfortune with Wildfire, and that the emphasis he had thus been led to lay on his shortness of cash and his arrears was likely to produce an attitude of mind the utmost unfavourable for his own disclosure.
  26. duplicity
    a fraudulent representation
    "Well, sir, I don't know," said Godfrey, hesitatingly. That was a feeble evasion, but Godfrey was not fond of lying, and, not being sufficiently aware that no sort of duplicity can long flourish without the help of vocal falsehoods, he was quite unprepared with invented motives.
  27. prevarication
    the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
    Godfrey left the room, hardly knowing whether he were more relieved by the sense that the interview was ended without having made any change in his position, or more uneasy that he had entangled himself still further in prevarication and deceit.
  28. benefactor
    a person who helps people or institutions
    Let him live outside his income, or shirk the resolute honest work that brings wages, and he will presently find himself dreaming of a possible benefactor, a possible simpleton who may be cajoled into using his interest, a possible state of mind in some possible person not yet forthcoming.
  29. susceptible
    yielding readily to or capable of undergoing a process
    To any one who had observed him before he lost his gold, it might have seemed that so withered and shrunken a life as his could hardly be susceptible of a bruise, could hardly endure any subtraction but such as would put an end to it altogether.
  30. dissipate
    cause to separate and go in different directions
    The repulsion Marner had always created in his neighbours was partly dissipated by the new light in which this misfortune had shown him.
  31. wholesome
    characteristic of physical or moral well-being
    This good wholesome woman could hardly fail to have her mind drawn strongly towards Silas Marner, now that he appeared in the light of a sufferer; and one Sunday afternoon she took her little boy Aaron with her, and went to call on Silas, carrying in her hand some small lard-cakes, flat paste-like articles much esteemed in Raveloe.
  32. devout
    deeply religious
    Dolly listened with a devout look, glancing at Marner in some confidence that this strain would help to allure him to church.
  33. contemplate
    think intently and at length, as for spiritual purposes
    The Christmas carol, with its hammer-like rhythm, had fallen on his ears as strange music, quite unlike a hymn, and could have none of the effect Dolly contemplated.
  34. obstruction
    something immaterial that stands in the way
    The fountains of human love and of faith in a divine love had not yet been unlocked, and his soul was still the shrunken rivulet, with only this difference, that its little groove of sand was blocked up, and it wandered confusedly against dark obstruction.
  35. notwithstanding
    despite anything to the contrary
    And so, notwithstanding the honest persuasions of Mr. Macey and Dolly Winthrop, Silas spent his Christmas-day in loneliness, eating his meat in sadness of heart, though the meat had come to him as a neighbourly present.
  36. hospitality
    kindness in welcoming guests or strangers
    It was the great dance on New Year's Eve that made the glory of Squire Cass's hospitality, as of his forefathers', time out of mind.
  37. comport
    behave in a certain manner
    This was the occasion when all the society of Raveloe and Tarley, whether old acquaintances separated by long rutty distances, or cooled acquaintances separated by misunderstandings concerning runaway calves, or acquaintances founded on intermittent condescension, counted on meeting and on comporting themselves with mutual appropriateness.
  38. provision
    supply with a stock of food or supplies
    The Red House was provisioned as if for a siege; and as for the spare feather-beds ready to be laid on floors, they were as plentiful as might naturally be expected in a family that had killed its own geese for many generations.
  39. importunate
    making persistent or urgent requests
    Godfrey Cass was looking forward to this New Year's Eve with a foolish reckless longing, that made him half deaf to his importunate companion, Anxiety.
  40. spite
    meanness or nastiness
    "Dunsey will be coming home soon: there will be a great blow-up, and how will you bribe his spite to silence?" said Anxiety.
Created on Mon Apr 11 14:07:48 EDT 2016 (updated Thu Sep 20 15:22:46 EDT 2018)

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