A Cheap Jack7’s caravan8 stood at the edge of the quay. The Cheap Jack was feasting inside on fried ham rasher among his clocks and mirrors and pewter ware9; and though it wanted an hour of dusk, his assistant was already lighting10 the naphtha-lamps when Hester passed.
Steam issued from the Mayows’ doorway11, which had a board across it to keep the younger Mayows from straggling. A voice from the steam invited her to come in. She climbed over the board, groped along the dusky passage, pushed open a door and looked in on the kitchen, where, amid clouds of vapour, Mrs. Mayow and her daughter Cherry were washing the children. Each had a tub and a child in it; and three children, already washed, skipped around the floor stark12 naked, one with a long churchwarden pipe blowing bubbles which the other two pursued. In the far corner, behind a deal table, sat Mr. Mayow, and patiently tuned14 a fiddle15 — a quite hopeless task in that atmosphere.
“My gracious!” Mrs. Mayow exclaimed, rising from her knees; “if it isn’t Hester already! Amelia, get out and dry yourself while I make a cup of tea.”
Hester took a step forward, but paused at a sound of dismal16 bumping on the staircase leading up from the passage.
“That’s Elizabeth Ann,” said Mrs. Mayow composedly, “or Heber, or both. We shall know when they get to the bottom. My dear, you must be perishing for a cup of tea. Oh, it’s Elizabeth Ann! Cherry, go and smack18 her, and tell her what I’ll do if she falls downstairs again. It’s all Matthew Henry’s fault.” Here she turned on the naked urchin19 with the churchwarden pipe. “If he’d only been home to his time —”
“I was listening to Zeke Penhaligon,” said Matthew Henry (aged eight). “He’s home today in the Touch-me-not.”
“He’s no good to King nor country,” said Mrs. Mayow.
“He was telling me about a man that got swallowed by a whale —”
“Go away with your Jonahses!” sneered20 one of his sisters.
“It wasn’t Jonah. This man’s name was Jones —Captain Jones, from Dundee. A whale swallowed him; but, as it happened, the whale had swallowed a cask just before, and the cask stuck in its stomach. So whatever the whale swallowed after that went into the cask, and did the whale no good. But Captain Jones had plenty to eat till he cut his way out with a clasp-knife —”
“How could he?”
“That’s all you know. Zeke says he did. A whale always turns that way up when he’s dying. So Captain Jones cut his way into daylight, when, what does he see but a sail, not a mile away! He fell on his knees —”
“How could he, you silly? He’d have slipped.”
But at this point Cherry swept the family off to bed. Mrs. Mayow, putting forth21 unexpected strength, carried the tubs out to the back-yard, and poured the soapy water into the harbour. Hester, having borrowed a touzer,* tucked up her sleeves and fell to tidying the kitchen. Mr. Mayow went on tuning22 his fiddle. It was against his principles to work on a Saturday night.
* Tout-serve, apron23.
“Your wife seems very strong,” observed Hester, with a shade of reproach in her voice.
“Strong as a horse,” he assented24 cheerfully. “I call it wonnerful after what she’ve a-gone through. ‘Twouldn’ surprise me, one o’ these days, to hear she’d taken up a tub with the cheeld in it, and heaved cheeld and all over the quay-door. She’s terrible absent in her mind.”
Mrs. Mayow came panting back with a kettleful of water, which she set to boil; and, Cherry now reappearing with the report that all the children were safe abed, the three women sat around the fire awaiting their supper, and listening to the voice of the Cheap Jack without.
“We’ll step out and have a look at him by-and-by,” said Cherry.
“For my part,” Mrs. Mayow murmured, with her eyes on the fire, “I never hear one of those fellers without wishing I had a million of money. There’s so many little shiny pots and pans you could go on buying for ever and ever, just like Heaven!”
She sighed as she poured the boiling water into the teapot. On Saturday nights, when the children were packed off, a deep peace always fell upon Mrs. Mayow, and she sighed until bed-time, building castles in the air.
Their supper finished, the two girls left her to her musings and stepped out to see the fun. The naphtha-lamps flared25 in Hester’s face, and for a minute red wheels danced before her eyes, the din17 of a gong battered26 on her ears, and vision and hearing were indistinguishably blurred27. A plank28, like a diving-board, had been run out on trestles in front of the caravan, and along this the assistant darted29 forwards and backwards30 on a level with the shoulders of the good-humoured crowd, his arms full of clocks, saucepans, china ornaments31, mirrors, feather brushes, teapots, sham32 jewellery. Sometimes he made pretence33 to slip, recovered himself with a grin on the very point of scattering34 his precious armfuls; and always when he did this the crowd laughed uproariously. And all the while the Cheap Jack shouted or beat his gong. Hester thought at first there were half-a-dozen Cheap Jacks35 at least — he made such a noise, and the mirrors around his glittering platform flashed forth so many reflections of him. Trade was always brisk on Saturday night, and he might have kept the auction36 going until eleven had he been minded. But he had come to stay for a fortnight (much to the disgust of credit-giving tradesmen), and cultivated eccentricity37 as a part of his charm. In the thickest of the bidding he suddenly closed his sale.
“I’ve a weak chest,” he roared. “Even to make your fortunes — which is my constant joy and endeavour, as you know — I mustn’t expose it too much to the night air. Now I’ve a pianner here, but it’s not for sale. And I’ve an assistant here — a bit worn, but he’s not for sale neither. I got him for nothing, to start with — from the work’us” (comic protest here from the assistant, and roars of laughter from the crowd)—“and I taught him a lot o’ things, and among ’em to play the pianner. So as ’tis Midsummer’s Eve, and I see some very nice-lookin’ young women a tip-tapping their feet for it, and Mr. Mayow no further away than next door, and able to play the fiddle to the life — what I say is, ladies and gentlemen, let’s light up a fire and see if, with all their reading and writing, the young folks have forgot how to dance!”
In the hubbub38 that followed, Cherry caught Hester by the arm and whispered ——
“Why I clean forgot ’twas Midsummer Eve! We’ll try our fortun’s afterwards. Aw, no need to look puzzled — I’ll show ‘ee. Here, feyther, feyther! . . . ” Cherry ran down the passage and returned, haling forth Mr. Mayow with his fiddle.
And then — as it seemed to Hester, in less than a minute — empty packing-cases came flying from half-a-dozen doors — from the cooper’s, the grocer’s, the ship-chandler’s, the china-shop, the fruit-shop, the “ready-made outfitter’s,” and the Cheap Jack’s caravan; were seized upon, broken up, the splinters piled in a heap, anointed with naphtha and ignited almost before Mr. Mayow had time to mount an empty barrel, tune13 his “A” string by the piano, and dash into the opening bars of the Furry40 Dance. And almost before she knew it, Hester’s hands were caught, and she found herself one of the ring swaying and leaping round the blaze. Cherry held her left hand and an old waterman her right. The swing of the crowd carried her off her feet, and she had to leap with the best. By-and-by, as her feet fell into time with the measure, she really began to enjoy it all — the music, the rush of the cool night air against her temples, even the smell of naphtha and the heat of the flames on her face as the dancers paused now and again, dashed upon the fire as if to tread it out, and backed until the strain on their arms grew tense again; and, just as it grew unbearable41, the circular leaping was renewed. Always in these pauses the same face confronted her across the fire: the face of a young man in a blue jersey42 and a peaked cap, a young man with crisp dark hair and dark eyes, gay and challenging. In her daze43 it seemed to Hester that, when they came face to face, he was always on the side of the bonfire nearest the water; and the moon rose above the farther hill as they danced, and swam over his shoulder, at each meeting higher and higher.
It was all new to her and strange. The music ceased abruptly44, the dancers unclasped their hands and fell apart, laughing and panting. And then, while yet she leaned against the Mayows’ door-post, the fiddle broke out again — broke into a polka tune; and there, in front of her stood the young man in the blue jersey and peaked cap.
He was speaking. She scarcely knew what she answered; but, even while she wondered, she had taken his arm submissively. And, next, his arm was about her and she was dancing. She had never danced before; but, after one or two broken paces, her will surrendered to his, her body and its movements answered him docilely45. She felt that his eyes were fixed46 on her forehead, but dared not look up. She saw nothing of the crowd. Other dancers passed and repassed like phantoms47, neither jostling nor even touching48 — so well her partner steered49. She grew giddy; her breath came short and fast. She would have begged for a rest, but the sense of his mastery weighed on her — held her dumb. Suddenly he laughed close to her ear, and his breath ruffled50 her hair.
“You dance fine,” he said. “Shall us cross the fire?”
She did not understand. In her giddiness they seemed to be moving in a wide, empty space among many fires, nor had she an idea which was the real one. His arm tightened51 about her.
“Now!” he whispered. With a leap they whirled high and across the bonfire. Her feet had scarcely touched ground before they were off again to the music — or would have been; but, to her immense surprise, her partner had dropped on his knees before her and was clasping her about the ankles. She heard a shout. The fire had caught the edge of her skirt and her frock was burning.
It was over in a moment. His arms had stifled52, extinguished the flame before she knew of her danger. Still kneeling, holding her fast, he looked up, and their eyes met. “Take me back,” she murmured, swaying. He rose, took her arm, and she found herself in the Mayows’ doorway with Cherry at her side. “Get away with you,” said Cherry, “and leave her to me!” And the young man went.
Cherry fell to examining the damaged skirt. “It’s clean ruined,” she reported; “but I reckon that don’t matter to a bride. John Penaluna’ll not be grudging53 the outfit39. I must say, though — you quiet ones!”
“What have I done?”
“Done? Well, that’s good. Only danced across the bonfire with young Zeke Penhaligon. Why, mother can mind when that was every bit so good as a marriage before parson and clerk! — and not so long ago neither.”
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1
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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4
warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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5
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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7
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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8
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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9
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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10
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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11
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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12
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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13
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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14
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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15
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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18
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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19
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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20
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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22
tuning
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| n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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23
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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24
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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26
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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27
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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28
plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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29
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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30
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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31
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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34
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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35
jacks
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| n.抓子游戏；千斤顶( jack的名词复数 )；（电）插孔；[电子学]插座；放弃 | |
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36
auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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37
eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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38
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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39
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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40
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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41
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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42
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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43
daze
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| v.(使)茫然，(使)发昏 | |
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44
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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45
docilely
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| adv.容易教地，易驾驶地，驯服地 | |
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46
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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47
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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48
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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49
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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50
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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51
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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52
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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53
grudging
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| adj.勉强的，吝啬的 | |
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