He knew he was a brute6 the moment he had done it. Selina had not meant to worry, only to comfort and assist. But his soul was one raw sore within him, when he found himself shut up in the schoolroom after hours, merely for insisting that 7 times 7 amounted to 47. The injustice7 of it seemed so flagrant. Why not 47 as much as 49! One number was no prettier than the other to look at, and it was[226] evidently only a matter of arbitrary taste and preference, and, anyhow, it had always been 47 to him, and would be to the end of time. So when Selina came in out of the sun, leaving the Trappers of the Far West behind her, and putting off the glory of being an Apache squaw in order to hear him his tables and win his release, Harold turned on her venomously, rejected her kindly8 overtures9, and even drove his elbow into her sympathetic ribs10, in his determination to be left alone in the glory of sulks. The fit passed directly, his eyes were opened, and his soul sat in the dust as he sorrowfully began to cast about for some atonement heroic enough to salve the wrong.
Of course poor Selina looked for no sacrifice nor heroics whatever; she didn’t even want him to say he was sorry. If he would only make it up, she would have done the apologising part herself. But that was not a boy’s way. Something solid, Harold felt, was due from him; and until that was achieved, making-up must not be thought of, in order that the final effect might not be spoilt. Accordingly, when his[227] release came, and Selina hung about trying to catch his eye, Harold, possessed11 by the demon12 of a distorted motive13, avoided her steadily—though he was bleeding inwardly at every minute of delay—and came to me instead. Needless to say, I warmly approved his plan. It was so much more high-toned than just going and making-up tamely, which any one could do; and a girl who had been jobbed in the ribs by a hostile elbow could not be expected for a moment to overlook it, without the liniment of an offering to soothe14 her injured feelings.
‘I know what she wants most,’ said Harold. ‘She wants that set of tea-things in the toy-shop window, with the red and blue flowers on ’em; she’s wanted it for months, ’cos her dolls are getting big enough to have real afternoon tea; and she wants it so badly that she won’t walk that side of the street when we go into the town. But it costs five shillings!’
Then we set to work seriously, and devoted15 the afternoon to a realisation of assets and the composition of a Budget that might have been[228] dated without shame from Whitehall. The result worked out as follows:—
s. d.
By one uncle, unspent through having been lost for nearly a week—turned up at last in the straw of the dog-kennel
2 6
By advance from me on security of next uncle, and failing that, to be called in at Christmas
1 0
By shaken out of missionary-box with the help of a knife-blade. (They were our own pennies and a forced levy)
0 4
By bet due from Edward, for walking across the field where Farmer Larkin’s bull was, and Edward bet him twopence he wouldn’t—called in with difficulty
0 2
By advance from Martha, on no security at all, only you mustn’t tell your aunt
1 0
Total 5 0
and at last we breathed again.
The rest promised to be easy. Selina had a tea-party at five on the morrow, with the chipped old wooden tea-things that had served her successive dolls from babyhood. Harold would slip off directly after dinner, going alone, so as not to arouse suspicion, as we were not allowed to go into the town by ourselves. It was nearly two miles to our small metropolis16, but there[229] would be plenty of time for him to go and return, even laden17 with the olive-branch neatly18 packed in shavings. Besides, he might meet the butcher, who was his friend and would give him a lift. Then, finally, at five, the rapture19 of the new tea-service, descended20 from the skies; and, retribution made, making-up at last, without loss of dignity. With the event before us, we thought it a small thing that twenty-four hours more of alienation21 and pretended sulks must be kept up on Harold’s part; but Selina, who naturally knew nothing of the treat in store for her, moped for the rest of the evening, and took a very heavy heart to bed.
Next day when the hour for action arrived, Harold evaded22 Olympian attention with an easy modesty23 born of long practice, and made off for the front gate. Selina, who had been keeping her eye upon him, thought he was going down to the pond to catch frogs, a joy they had planned to share together, and made after him. But Harold, though he heard her footsteps, continued sternly on his high mission, without even looking back; and Selina was left[230] to wander disconsolately24 among flower-beds that had lost—for her—all scent25 and colour. I saw it all, and, although cold reason approved our line of action, instinct told me we were brutes26.
Harold reached the town—so he recounted afterwards—in record time, having run most of the way for fear the tea-things, which had reposed27 six months in the window, should be snapped up by some other conscience-stricken lacerator of a sister’s feelings; and it seemed hardly credible28 to find them still there, and their owner willing to part with them for the price marked on the ticket. He paid his money down at once, that there should be no drawing back from the bargain; and then, as the things had to be taken out of the window and packed, and the afternoon was yet young, he thought he might treat himself to a taste of urban joys and the vie de Bohême. Shops came first, of course, and he flattened29 his nose successively against the window with the indiarubber balls in it, and the clock-work locomotive; and against the barber’s window, with wigs30 on blocks, reminding him of uncles, and shaving-cream[231] that looked so good to eat; and the grocer’s window, displaying more currants than the whole British population could possibly consume without a special effort; and the window of the bank, wherein gold was thought so little of that it was dealt about in shovels31. Next there was the market-place, with all its clamorous32 joys; and when a runaway33 calf34 came down the street like a cannon-ball, Harold felt that he had not lived in vain. The whole place was so brimful of excitement that he had quite forgotten the why and the wherefore of his being there, when a sight of the church clock recalled him to his better self, and sent him flying out of the town, as he realised he had only just time enough left to get back in. If he were after his appointed hour, he would not only miss his high triumph, but probably would be detected as a transgressor35 of bounds—a crime before which a private opinion on multiplication36 sank to nothingness. So he jogged along on his homeward way, thinking of many things, and probably talking to himself a good deal, as his habit was. He had covered nearly[232] half the distance, when suddenly—a deadly sinking in the pit of his stomach—a paralysis37 of every limb—around him a world extinct of light and music—a black sun and a reeling sky—he had forgotten the tea-things!
It was useless, it was hopeless, all was over and nothing could now be done. Nevertheless he turned and ran back wildly, blindly, choking with the big sobs38 that evoked39 neither pity nor comfort from a merciless mocking world around; a stitch in his side, dust in his eyes, and black despair clutching at his heart. So he stumbled on, with leaden legs and bursting sides, till—as if Fate had not yet dealt him her last worst buffet40 of all—on turning a corner in the road he almost ran under the wheels of a dog-cart, in which, as it pulled up, was apparent the portly form of Farmer Larkin, the arch-enemy, at whose ducks he had been shying stones that very morning!
Had Harold been in his right and unclouded senses, he would have vanished through the hedge some seconds earlier, rather than pain the farmer by any unpleasant reminiscences[233] which his appearance might recall; but, as things were, he could only stand and blubber hopelessly, caring, indeed, little now what further misery might befall him. The farmer, for his part, surveyed the desolate41 figure with some astonishment42, calling out in no unfriendly accents, ‘Why, Master Harold! whatever be the matter? Baint runnin’ away, be ee?’
Then Harold, with the unnatural43 courage born of desperation, flung himself on the step, and, climbing into the cart, fell in the straw at the bottom of it, sobbing44 out that he wanted to go back, go back! The situation had a vagueness; but the farmer, a man of action rather than of words, swung his horse round smartly, and they were in the town again by the time Harold had recovered himself sufficiently45 to furnish details. As they drove up to the shop, the woman was waiting at the door with the parcel; and hardly a minute seemed to have elapsed since the black crisis, ere they were bowling46 along swiftly home, the precious parcel hugged in a close embrace.
And now the farmer came out in quite a new[234] and unexpected light. Never a word did he say of broken fences and hurdles47, of trampled48 crops and harried49 flocks and herds50. One would have thought the man had never possessed a head of live stock in his life. Instead, he was deeply interested in the whole dolorous51 quest of the tea-things, and sympathised with Harold on the disputed point in mathematics as if he had been himself at the same stage of education. As they neared home, Harold found himself, to his surprise, sitting up and chatting to his new friend like man to man; and before he was set down at a convenient gap in the garden hedge, he had promised that when Selina gave her first public tea-party, little Miss Larkin should be invited to come and bring her whole sawdust family along with her; and the farmer appeared as pleased and proud as if he had won a gold medal at the Agricultural Show, and really, when I heard the story, it began to dawn upon me that those Olympians must have certain good points, far down in them, and that I should have to leave off abusing them some day.
[235]
At the hour of five, Selina, having spent the afternoon searching for Harold in all his accustomed haunts, sat down disconsolately to tea with her dolls, who ungenerously refused to wait beyond the appointed hour. The wooden tea-things seemed more chipped than usual; and the dolls themselves had more of wax and sawdust, and less of human colour and intelligence about them, than she ever remembered before. It was then that Harold burst in, very dusty, his stockings at his heels, and the channels ploughed by tears still showing on his grimy cheeks; and Selina was at last permitted to know that he had been thinking of her ever since his ill-judged exhibition of temper, and that his sulks had not been the genuine article, nor had he gone frogging by himself. It was a very happy hostess who dispensed52 hospitality that evening to a glassy-eyed stiff-kneed circle; and many a dollish gaucherie, that would have been severely53 checked on ordinary occasions, was as much overlooked as if it had been a birthday.
[236]
But Harold and I, in what I was afterwards given to understand was our stupid masculine way, thought all her happiness sprang from possession of the long-coveted tea-service.
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1
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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2
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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3
bruise
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| n.青肿，挫伤；伤痕；vt.打青；挫伤 | |
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4
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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5
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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6
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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7
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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8
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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9
overtures
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| n.主动的表示，提议；（向某人做出的）友好表示、姿态或提议( overture的名词复数 )；（歌剧、芭蕾舞、音乐剧等的）序曲，前奏曲 | |
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10
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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11
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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12
demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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13
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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14
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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15
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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16
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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17
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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18
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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19
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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20
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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21
alienation
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| n.疏远；离间；异化 | |
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22
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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23
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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24
disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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25
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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26
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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27
reposed
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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29
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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30
wigs
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| n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 ) | |
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31
shovels
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| n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 )；锹；推土机、挖土机等的)铲；铲形部份 | |
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32
clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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33
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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34
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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35
transgressor
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| n.违背者 | |
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36
multiplication
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| n.增加，增多，倍增；增殖，繁殖；乘法 | |
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37
paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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38
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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39
evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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40
buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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41
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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42
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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43
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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44
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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45
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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46
bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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47
hurdles
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| n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛 | |
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48
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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49
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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50
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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51
dolorous
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| adj.悲伤的；忧愁的 | |
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52
dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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53
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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