Jul 21, 2012 12:24
12 yrs ago
English term
with a hush through it
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
She retired to her chamber, but did not soon fall asleep, nor then very profoundly. At some uncertain period in the depths of night, and, as it were, through the thin veil of a dream, she was conscious of a footstep mounting the stairs heavily, but not with force and decision. The voice of Hepzibah, ----------------------------with a hush through it------------------------, was going up along with the footsteps; and, again, responsive to her cousin's voice, Phoebe heard that strange, vague murmur, which might be likened to an indistinct shadow of human utterance.
Change log
Jul 21, 2012 12:24: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Responses
+1
4 hrs
Selected
hushed/muffled
A few paragraphs before, Phoebe thought she heard Hepzibah speaking even though she was not - I suspect that she is again hearing a (ghostly?) voice that is similar to Hepzibah's but not actually hers. The implication seems to be that it is one of Hepzibah's ancestors, but as I have only skimmed the chapter and do not know the book I cannot confirm this.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
1 hr
The voice was too low to be audible
We have a foregrounding/backgrounding scenario here. The footsteps are making noise (this noise is clearly audible, and is thus in the foreground), and hence what she is speaking/murmuring is concealed under this noise (so, the sound produced is not clearly audible, and is backgrounded by the heavy noise of footsteps). The listener, however, has been able to detect that Hepzibah is speaking/murmuring something (though she is unable to identify what the actual words are) only because she is paying concentrated attention to it.
Something went wrong...