One is apt, however, to misjudge the special difficulties of a situation; and the reception proved, after all, an easy and informal matter. In a trainful so uniformly bucolic14, a tutor was readily recognisable; and his portmanteau had been consigned15 to the luggage-cart, and his person conveyed into the lane, before I had discharged one of my carefully considered sentences. I breathed more easily, and looking up at our new friend as we stepped out together,[207] remembered that we had been counting on something altogether more arid16, scholastic17, and severe. A boyish eager face and a petulant18 pince-nez—untidy hair—a head of constant quick turns like a robin’s, and a voice that kept breaking into alto—these were all very strange and new, but not in the least terrible.
He proceeded jerkily through the village, with glances on this side and that; and ‘Charming,’ he broke out presently; ‘quite too charming and delightful19!’
I had not counted on this sort of thing, and glanced for help to Edward, who, hands in pockets, looked grimly down his nose. He had taken his line, and meant to stick to it.
Meantime our friend had made an imaginary spy-glass out of his fist, and was squinting20 through it at something I could not perceive. ‘What an exquisite21 bit!’ he burst out. ‘Fifteenth century—no—yes it is!’
I began to feel puzzled, not to say alarmed. It reminded me of the butcher in the Arabian Nights, whose common joints22, displayed on the shop-front, took to a startled public the appearance[208] of dismembered humanity. This man seemed to see the strangest things in our dull, familiar surroundings.
‘Ah!’ he broke out again, as we jogged on between hedgerows: ‘and that field now—backed by the downs—with the rain-cloud brooding over it,—that’s all David Cox—every bit of it!’
‘That field belongs to Farmer Larkin,’ I explained politely; for of course he could not be expected to know. ‘I’ll take you over to Farmer Cox’s to-morrow, if he’s a friend of yours; but there‘s nothing to see there.’
Edward, who was hanging sullenly behind, made a face at me, as if to say, ‘What sort of lunatic have we got here?’
‘It has the true pastoral character, this country of yours,’ went on our enthusiast23: ‘with just that added touch in cottage and farmstead, relics24 of a bygone art, which makes our English landscape so divine, so unique!’
Really this grasshopper25 was becoming a burden! These familiar fields and farms, of which we knew every blade and stick, had done[209] nothing that I knew of to be bespattered with adjectives in this way. I had never thought of them as divine, unique, or anything else. They were—well, they were just themselves, and there was an end of it. Despairingly I jogged Edward in the ribs26, as a sign to start rational conversation, but he only grinned and continued obdurate27.
‘You can see the house now,’ I remarked presently; ‘and that’s Selina, chasing the donkey in the paddock. Or is it the donkey chasing Selina? I can’t quite make out; but it’s them, anyhow.’
Needless to say, he exploded with a full charge of adjectives. ‘Exquisite!’ he rapped out; ‘so mellow28 and harmonious29! and so entirely in keeping!’ (I could see from Edward’s face that he was thinking who ought to be in keeping.) ‘Such possibilities of romance, now, in those old gables!’
‘If you mean the garrets,’ I said, ‘there’s a lot of old furniture in them; and one is generally full of apples; and the bats get in sometimes, under the eaves, and flop30 about till we go up[210] with hair-brushes and things and drive ’em out; but there’s nothing else in them that I know of.’
‘O, but there must be more than bats,’ he cried. ‘Don’t tell me there are no ghosts. I shall be deeply disappointed if there aren’t any ghosts.’
I did not think it worth while to reply, feeling really unequal to this sort of conversation. Besides, we were nearing the house, when my task would be ended. Aunt Eliza met us at the door, and in the cross-fire of adjectives that ensued—both of them talking at once, as grown-up folk have a habit of doing—we two slipped round to the back of the house, and speedily put several broad acres between us and civilisation32, for fear of being ordered in to tea in the drawing-room. By the time we returned, our new importation had gone up to dress for dinner, so till the morrow at least we were free of him.
Meanwhile the March wind, after dropping a while at sundown, had been steadily33 increasing in volume; and although I fell asleep at my[211] usual hour, about midnight I was wakened by the stress and the cry of it. In the bright moonlight, wind-swung branches tossed and swayed eerily34 across the blinds; there was rumbling35 in chimneys, whistling in keyholes, and everywhere a clamour and a call. Sleep was out of the question, and, sitting up in bed, I looked round. Edward sat up too. ‘I was wondering when you were going to wake,’ he said. ‘It’s no good trying to sleep through this. I vote we get up and do something.’
‘I’m game,’ I replied. ‘Let’s play at being in a ship at sea’ (the plaint of the old house under the buffeting36 wind suggested this, naturally); ‘and we can be wrecked37 on an island, or left on a raft, whichever you choose; but I like an island best myself, because there’s more things on it.’
Edward on reflection negatived the idea. ‘It would make too much noise,’ he pointed31 out. ‘There’s no fun playing at ships, unless you can make a jolly good row.’
The door creaked, and a small figure in white slipped cautiously in. ‘Thought I heard you[212] talking,’ said Charlotte. ‘We don’t like it; we’re afraid—Selina too! She’ll be here in a minute. She’s putting on her new dressing-gown she’s so proud of.’
His arms round his knees, Edward cogitated38 deeply until Selina appeared, barefooted, and looking slim and tall in the new dressing-gown. Then, ‘Look here,’ he exclaimed; ‘now we’re all together, I vote we go and explore!’
‘You’re always wanting to explore,’ I said. ‘What on earth is there to explore for in this house?’
‘Biscuits!’ said the inspired Edward.
‘Hooray! Come on!’ chimed in Harold, sitting up suddenly. He had been awake all the time, but had been shamming39 asleep, lest he should be fagged to do anything.
It was indeed a fact, as Edward had remembered, that our thoughtless elders occasionally left the biscuits out, a prize for the night-walking adventurer with nerves of steel.
Edward tumbled out of bed, and pulled a baggy40 old pair of knickerbockers over his bare shanks. Then he girt himself with a belt, into[213] which he thrust, on the one side a large wooden pistol, on the other an old single-stick; and finally he donned a big slouch-hat—once an uncle’s—that we used for playing Guy Fawkes and Charles-the-Second-up-a-tree in. Whatever the audience, Edward, if possible, always dressed for his parts with care and conscientiousness41; while Harold and I, true Elizabethans, cared little about the mounting of the piece, so long as the real dramatic heart of it beat sound.
Our commander now enjoined42 on us a silence deep as the grave, reminding us that Aunt Eliza usually slept with an open door, past which we had to file.
‘But we’ll take the short cut through the Blue Room,’ said the wary43 Selina.
‘Of course,’ said Edward approvingly. ‘I forgot about that. Now then! You lead the way!’
The Blue Room had in prehistoric44 times been added to by taking in a superfluous45 passage, and so not only had the advantage of two doors, but also enabled us to get to the head of the stairs without passing the chamber10 wherein our dragon-aunt[214] lay couched. It was rarely occupied, except when a casual uncle came down for the night. We entered in noiseless file, the room being plunged46 in darkness, except for a bright strip of moonlight on the floor, across which we must pass for our exit. On this our leading lady chose to pause, seizing the opportunity to study the hang of her new dressing-gown. Greatly satisfied thereat, she proceeded, after the feminine fashion, to peacock and to pose, pacing a minuet down the moonlit patch with an imaginary partner. This was too much for Edward’s histrionic instincts, and after a moment’s pause he drew his single-stick, and, with flourishes meet for the occasion, strode on to the stage. A struggle ensued on approved lines, at the end of which Selina was stabbed slowly and with unction, and her corpse47 borne from the chamber by the ruthless cavalier. The rest of us rushed after in a clump48, with capers49 and gesticulations of delight; the special charm of the performance lying in the necessity for its being carried out with the dumbest of dumb shows.
Once out on the dark landing, the noise of the storm without told us that we had exaggerated the necessity for silence; so, grasping the tails of each other’s nightgowns, even as Alpine50 climbers rope themselves together in perilous51 places, we fared stoutly52 down the staircase-moraine, and across the grim glacier53 of the hall, to where a faint glimmer54 from the half-open door of the drawing-room beckoned55 to us like friendly hostel-lights. Entering, we found that our thriftless seniors had left the sound red heart of a fire, easily coaxed56 into a cheerful blaze; and biscuits—a plateful—smiled at us in an encouraging sort of way, together with the halves of a lemon, already squeezed, but still suckable. The biscuits were righteously shared, the lemon segments passed from mouth to mouth; and as we squatted57 round the fire, its genial58 warmth consoling our unclad limbs, we realised that so many nocturnal perils59 had not been braved in vain.
‘It’s a funny thing,’ said Edward, as we chatted, ‘how I hate this room in the daytime. It always means having your face washed, and[216] your hair brushed, and talking silly company talk. But to-night it’s really quite jolly. Looks different, somehow.’
‘I never can make out,’ I said, ‘what people come here to tea for. They can have their own tea at home if they like—they’re not poor people—with jam and things, and drink out of their saucer, and suck their fingers and enjoy themselves; but they come here from a long way off, and sit up straight with their feet off the bars of their chairs, and have one cup, and talk the same sort of stuff every time.’
Selina sniffed60 disdainfully. ‘You don’t know anything about it,’ she said. ‘In society you have to call on each other. It’s the proper thing to do.’
‘Pooh! you’re not in society,’ said Edward politely; ‘and, what’s more, you never will be.’
‘Yes, I shall, some day,’ retorted Selina; ‘but I shan’t ask you to come and see me, so there!’
‘Wouldn’t come if you did,’ growled61 Edward.
‘Well you won’t get the chance,’ rejoined our sister, claiming her right of the last word.[217] There was no heat about these little amenities62, which made up—as understood by us—the art of polite conversation.
‘I don’t like society people,’ put in Harold from the sofa, where he was sprawling63 at full length—a sight the daylight hours would have blushed to witness. ‘There were some of ’em here this afternoon, when you two had gone off to the station. O, and I found a dead mouse on the lawn, and I wanted to skin it, but I wasn’t sure I knew how, by myself; and they came out into the garden, and patted my head—I wish people wouldn’t do that—and one of ’em asked me to pick her a flower. Don’t know why she couldn’t pick it herself; but I said, “All right, I will if you’ll hold my mouse.” But she screamed, and threw it away; and Augustus (the cat) got it, and ran away with it. I believe it was really his mouse all the time, ’cos he’d been looking about as if he had lost something, so I wasn’t angry with him. But what did she want to throw away my mouse for?’
‘You have to be careful with mice,’ reflected[218] Edward; ‘they’re such slippery things. Do you remember we were playing with a dead mouse once on the piano, and the mouse was Robinson Crusoe, and the piano was the island, and somehow Crusoe slipped down inside the island, into its works, and we couldn’t get him out, though we tried rakes and all sorts of things, till the tuner came. And that wasn’t till a week after, and then——’
Here Charlotte, who had been nodding solemnly, fell over into the fender; and we realised that the wind had dropped at last, and the house was lapped in a great stillness. Our vacant beds seemed to be calling to us imperiously; and we were all glad when Edward gave the signal for retreat. At the top of the staircase Harold unexpectedly turned mutinous64, insisting on his right to slide down the banisters in a free country. Circumstances did not allow of argument; I suggested frog’s-marching instead, and accordingly frog’s-marched he was, the procession passing solemnly across the moon-lit Blue Room, with Harold horizontal and limply submissive. Snug65 in bed at last, I was just slipping[219] off into slumber66 when I heard Edward explode, with chuckle67 and snort.
‘By Jove!’ he said; ‘I forgot all about it. The new tutor’s sleeping in the Blue Room!’
‘Lucky he didn’t wake up and catch us,’ I grunted68 drowsily69; and, without another thought on the matter, we both sank into well-earned repose70.
Next morning, coming down to breakfast braced71 to grapple with fresh adversity, we were surprised to find our garrulous72 friend of the previous day—he was late in making his appearance—strangely silent and (apparently73) pre-occupied. Having polished off our porridge, we ran out to feed the rabbits, explaining to them that a beast of a tutor would prevent their enjoying so much of our society as formerly74.
On returning to the house at the fated hour appointed for study, we were thunderstruck to see the station-cart disappearing down the drive, freighted with our new acquaintance. Aunt Eliza was brutally75 uncommunicative; but she[220] was overheard to remark casually76 that she thought the man must be a lunatic. In this theory we were only too ready to concur77, dismissing thereafter the whole matter from our minds.
Some weeks later it happened that Uncle Thomas, while paying us a flying visit, produced from his pocket a copy of the latest weekly, Psyche78: a Journal of the Unseen; and proceeded laboriously79 to rid himself of much incomprehensible humour, apparently at our expense. We bore it patiently, with the forced grin demanded by convention, anxious to get at the source of inspiration, which it presently appeared lay in a paragraph circumstantially describing our modest and humdrum80 habitation. ‘Case III.,’ it began. ‘The following particulars were communicated by a young member of the Society, of undoubted probity81 and earnestness, and are a chronicle of actual and recent experience.’ A fairly accurate description of the house followed, with details that were unmistakable; but to this there succeeded a flood of meaningless drivel about apparitions82, nightly[221] visitants, and the like, writ83 in a manner betokening84 a disordered mind, coupled with a feeble imagination. The fellow was not even original. All the old material was there—the storm at night, the haunted chamber, the white lady, the murder re-enacted, and so on—already worn threadbare in many a Christmas Number. No one was able to make head or tail of the stuff, or of its connexion with our quiet mansion85; and yet Edward, who had always suspected the fellow, persisted in maintaining that our tutor of a brief span was, somehow or other, at the bottom of it.
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1
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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lulls
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| n.间歇期（lull的复数形式）vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的第三人称单数形式） | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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purveyor
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| n.承办商，伙食承办商 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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tempestuous
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| adj.狂暴的 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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glowered
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| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bucolic
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| adj.乡村的；牧羊的 | |
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consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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scholastic
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| adj.学校的，学院的，学术上的 | |
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petulant
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| adj.性急的，暴躁的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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squinting
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| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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enthusiast
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| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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grasshopper
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| n.蚱蜢，蝗虫，蚂蚱 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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flop
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| n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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eerily
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| adv.引起神秘感或害怕地 | |
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rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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buffeting
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| 振动 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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cogitated
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| v.认真思考，深思熟虑( cogitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shamming
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| 假装，冒充( sham的现在分词 ) | |
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baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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conscientiousness
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| 责任心 | |
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enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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prehistoric
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| adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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capers
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| n.开玩笑( caper的名词复数 )；刺山柑v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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glacier
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| n.冰川，冰河 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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57
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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61
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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sprawling
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| adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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64
mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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65
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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66
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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67
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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68
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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69
drowsily
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| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
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70
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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71
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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72
garrulous
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| adj.唠叨的，多话的 | |
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73
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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75
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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76
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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concur
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| v.同意，意见一致，互助，同时发生 | |
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78
psyche
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| n.精神；灵魂 | |
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79
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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80
humdrum
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| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
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81
probity
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| n.刚直；廉洁，正直 | |
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82
apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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83
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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84
betokening
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的现在分词 ) | |
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85
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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