The morning world was filled with sound, with warmth, with colour. From the direction of the stables came the whinnying of a young colt in paddock; the turkeys, peafowls and chickens uttered their notes which, discordant6 in themselves, yet fitted harmoniously7 into the great chorus as the growling8 of the bassoon, the rasping of the bass9-viol or the shrilling10 of the piccolo fits into and lends completeness to a full orchestral effect. Birds,[397] thousands of them, it seemed, piped and trilled, chirped11 and bubbled—feathered flutes12 and ’cellos and clarionettes, tossing their melody into the soft air from swaying tree-top or dropping it from leaf-hidden branch to filter downward with the dripping sunbeams. Bees were abroad, too, workers and drones, adding their booming bass to the symphony, while through all, the wind and the leaves, masters of melody, supplied a low, murmurous13 strain, insistent14 yet unobtrusive, the theme of Nature’s spring-song.
And for this performance what a stage-setting was there! Overhead, the bluest blue that ever poet sang or artist strove to catch, and against it a few soft, fluffy15 clouds, caught here and there against the heavens like clots16 of snowy foam17. Below, wide, far-stretching fields and hillsides of new, tender green arabesqued with winding18 brown roads, vine-decked fences and shimmering19 blue water laughing through bordering trees. Fields were no longer bare expanses of warm, upturned loam20; they were carpets of green velvet21. Far and near the trees were in leaf, some fully22 arrayed for the summer, others just trying on their new garments with bashful diffidence. And what a wealth, what a bewildering[398] variety of greens they presented! Golden-greens and russet-greens, blue-greens and gray-greens, the green of chrysoberyl and of emerald; every hue23 and tint24 and gradation of tint!
The far hills were asleep in the sunlight under slumber-robes of palest mauve. In the direction of Melville fantastic spirals and swirls25 of smoke and steam arose and melted into the sky. Here and there a farmhouse26 peered out from an embowering group of trees. Half a mile away a great blue wagon27, drawn28 by six horses, jolted29 along the road; and the creaking of the great wheels, the voice of the driver and the tinkling30 of the bells came, mellowed31 by distance, up the hill. John lifted his head lazily and watched it for a moment. Behind him Elaine basked32, white-walled and pillared, leaf-shadowed, in the sunlight. Flowers blossomed and the air was redolent of their perfume.
Presently John raised himself on his elbow, yawned and looked about him. In the shadow of the portico33 Phillip was stretched fast asleep in a steamer chair, the magazine which he had been reading a half-hour ago sprawling34 with rumpled35 leaves beside him where it had fallen from his hands. Maid dozed36 beside him.
[399]
“Lazy beggar,” muttered John virtuously37.
He recovered his pipe from the grass, thereby38 interfering39 with the interested examination of a black ant, and filled it slowly, his gaze loitering lovingly across the landscape.
“It seems too good to be true,” he said to himself, bringing his feet together tailor-fashion and scratching a sputtering40 match on the sole of one broad shoe. “I can’t imagine a man wanting anything better than this.” He lighted his pipe and sent a column of soft gray smoke up into the branches of the big oak. “To know that this big, beautiful chunk41 of God’s earth is yours, with its fields and forests, hills and streams, yours to do with as you wish——” He shook his head eloquently42 and blew another cloud of smoke into the sunlight. “To be master of it! To plow43 its soil and seed it; to cut its timber and build upon it—— To the dickens with your wire nails and your stuffy44 offices; to the deuce with cities and clubs and white waistcoats; to the——” Language again failed him. He blew more smoke.
“There’s everything here to hand,” he went on again; “timber for planks—there ought to be a sawmill, though—stone for foundations, gravel[400] for road-building—a whole hill of it ready for the quarrying—clay for bricks. A man could pretty near get everything he needed off the land; he might have to send to Melville for window-glass and doorknobs. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if there was ochre somewhere about; a chap could grind his own paint.
“There’s the site for the house over yonder—‘yonder’s’ appropriately Southern, by the way—on that round hill,” he thought, taking his pipe from his mouth and pointing with the stem as though he had a listener. “It’s almost as high as this; there can’t be more than twenty feet difference, I guess—that is, I reckon. There’d be about three acres of lawn, and the drive would sweep up to it in a long, easy curve. I’d have the building face the east, of course. The stables and outbuildings would be strung together about half-way down the farther slope, toward the creek45 bottom. There’d be no use trying to build a Southern style house so long as Elaine stood here to make it look like thirty cents. No; a modified old English would be best, something long and low and hospitable46 looking. Ten or twelve thousand ought to pay for it. We mustn’t[401] be extravagant47 at first; we’ve our living to make.”
He relighted his pipe, which had gone out, and lay back, leaning on one elbow. Over at the stable Will was cleaning a harness and singing softly in the sunlight. A peafowl approached tentatively and viewed John’s recumbent and motionless form with suspicious eye, her neck stretched forth ludicrously, her expressionless, unblinking eyes like beads48 of glass.
“Oh, rubber!” muttered John. He tossed a pebble49 at her and she turned with a disgusted squawk and hurried away. He went on with his dreaming.
“I’d get Markham, if I could; Phil would scarcely need him, I should think. He ought to go with the place, anyhow, like any other fixture50. He’s a genuinely good fellow, and I guess, as Phil says, he’s the best overseer in the county. I think, with Markham here, I could make it go from the start. Of course, there’d be somewhat of an outlay51 at first. I can see where twenty or thirty thousand could be sunk without trouble; yes, easily that. I guess dad was about right when he put it at fifty thousand.
[402]
“There’d be plenty of hard work, and that’s what I want—work that’ll make a fellow hungry and tired and sleepy. But I’d be going ahead all the time; every day’s labour would show, and the end would be worth toiling52 for. It’d be just the kind of work that’s more than half pleasure. And there’d be plenty of fun, too. There’s the shooting; and there’d be a few good nags53 and some dogs; and I’d have Davy down here often, of course; maybe he’d stay awake if he was riding to hounds. And I’d lay out a links and teach the natives to play golf; there’s old Colonel What’s-his-name—Brownell, isn’t it? He’s a regular old sport, and I’ll bet he’d take hold in great style. And there’s Phil, and some of those chaps in town; also there’s ‘Uncle Bob’—he’d come any old time, I guess, and stay as long as there was a drop of liquor left. Oh, I wouldn’t want for society. Only if—if what I want happens they can all go hang!
“If!” he sighed and shook his head. “So much depends on ‘if’! I’ll know some day.” He took a letter from his pocket and looked at it, tapping it approvingly with his knuckles54. It bore a foreign stamp and postmark and had the appearance of having been carried about in that pocket for some time.[403] Presently he drew forth the inclosure and began to read:
“Dear John:—Yours of the 22nd ult. at hand and finds us till at Cannes. My health continues to improve, I am glad to say, and your mother’s illness is passed. We are both looking forward with impatience55 to the return, which will be, unless present plans change, the 3rd June from Havre. Now about that Virginia place. You say you want it and so I say go ahead and get it. Keep an eye on your option. I don’t fear Corliss. He’s as honest as they’re made. But I don’t know as much about the owners. So advise you to see to an extension about a fortnight before option runs out. If they won’t extend you may buy if you want to. I’ve directed McCullough to honour your draft for five thousand. That ought to hold it until I reach home.
“Think your decision not to purchase unless owners want you as a neighbour rather quixotic, but of course don’t know the ins and outs of the matter. I’ll trust you to do what’s sensible, John. Be sure and have the title examined into thoroughly56 before you buy. Get a local man to do this; it’s a better plan. Offer him a good sum to find a flaw. If he[404] can’t win his money you may be pretty certain that title’s O. K. I don’t want to bank on the success of your project yet. I’d rather learn something about it. I know wire nails, John, but beef cattle are out of my books. Anyhow, you can’t stand to lose a great deal, and if the climate down there agrees with me I’ll buy you out, maybe, if you can’t make a go of it. I don’t promise, understand. Anyhow, it’s your money you’re buying with. I told you that in the first letter. So think of it as that and stretch it as far as it will go. Get a good grip on each end and pull like blazes.
“If your house is ready by winter we’ll have a try at your wonderful climate. Don’t know about the benefit to be derived57 from riding horses over fences after a lot of yellow hound-dogs, but maybe I’ll have a try at it. Like the idea of those partridges better. When you get to be fifty-four yourself you’ll understand why I’m not keen about chasing foxes. I’ve got about three dozen more bones to ache than you have, I guess. Colonel Thingmabob must be a blanked old idiot to scurry58 around the country at his age. That’s my opinion of the Colonel, John.
“Don’t trouble about the factory. I’d rather see you a good cattle raiser or farmer than a poor[405] mill man. And I’ve had my doubts for two or three years past as to your ever turning out the latter. We’ll be back in plenty of time to see you graduate, so do things up properly and don’t be niggardly59 when it comes to spreading. No cheap claret-cup for your old father, John; remember that. Let me hear how the negotiations60 progress. Your mother sends her love and says she will write on Sunday. Be a good boy and don’t let business interfere61 with study.
“Your aff’te father,
“William H. North.”
John smiled and returned the thin, crinkly sheets to their envelope. “Dad’s a mighty62 good sort,” he told himself warmly. “But he’ll never get a chance to buy me out; not in a thousand years. This thing is going to go! If—oh, hang that ‘if’! I’m going to settle it right now!”
He sprang to his feet with a sudden squaring of his shoulders, knocked the tobacco from his pipe and strode toward the house. As he went up the steps Phillip stirred and opened his eyes, blinking wonderingly.
“I must have been asleep, I reckon,” he said drowsily63.
[406]
“I reckon you were,” laughed John. “How are you feeling?”
“Like a two-year-old.” He stretched his arms over his head, yawned, and smiled contentedly64 up into the other’s face. “This is great, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes; great! I wish I was going to stay for more of it.”
“Oh, you’re not going to-morrow,” Phillip replied.
“I think I am, though.” After a pause he continued: “There’s just one thing that can keep me, Phil, and I’m greatly afraid that it isn’t going to happen.”
“What is it? I’ll make it happen!”
“You couldn’t,” laughed John, moving toward the door.
“But—— Here, hold on! What is it?” cried Phillip. But John’s footsteps were dying away in the hall, and Phillip moved as though to follow, hesitated, yawned again, closed his eyes sleepily and presently dozed off once more. A great bumble-bee, lumbering65 majestically66 about in a new spring suit of black velvet, spied the gay-hued colour of the neglected magazine and settled down upon a lithographed spray of apple blossoms with an anticipatory[407] boom of pleasure. There followed a moment of pregnant silence. Then he arose, quivering with amazement67 and disgust, and circled off into the golden air, buzzing loud tidings of the deception68.
The sun rose higher and higher and the shadow of the house crept inch by inch across the portico floor. In the trees the tireless birds sang on and on, allegro69, adagio70, scherzo, over and over, a p?an of exquisite71 joy. At the stable the colt lay asleep in the paddock, and before the door, with a half-cleaned bridle72 over his knees, Will slumbered73 peacefully in the sunshine. From the cool, dim hall came eleven soft and silvery chimes from the old rosewood clock.
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1
verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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6
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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harmoniously
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| 和谐地，调和地 | |
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growling
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| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
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bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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10
shrilling
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的现在分词 )； 凄厉 | |
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11
chirped
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| 鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 ) | |
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flutes
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| 长笛( flute的名词复数 )； 细长香槟杯（形似长笛） | |
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13
murmurous
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| adj.低声的 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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15
fluffy
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| adj.有绒毛的，空洞的 | |
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16
clots
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| n.凝块( clot的名词复数 )；血块；蠢人；傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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18
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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19
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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loam
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| n.沃土 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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swirls
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| n.旋转( swirl的名词复数 )；卷状物；漩涡；尘旋v.旋转，打旋( swirl的第三人称单数 ) | |
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26
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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28
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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29
jolted
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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31
mellowed
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| （使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香 | |
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32
basked
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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33
portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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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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35
rumpled
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
virtuously
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| 合乎道德地，善良地 | |
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38
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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39
interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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40
sputtering
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| n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出 | |
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41
chunk
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| n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量） | |
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42
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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43
plow
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| n.犁，耕地，犁过的地；v.犁，费力地前进[英]plough | |
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44
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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45
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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46
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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47
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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48
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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49
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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50
fixture
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| n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款 | |
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51
outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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52
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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53
nags
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| n.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的名词复数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责v.不断地挑剔或批评（某人）( nag的第三人称单数 )；不断地烦扰或伤害（某人）；无休止地抱怨；不断指责 | |
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54
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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55
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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56
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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57
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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58
scurry
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| vi.急匆匆地走；使急赶；催促；n.快步急跑，疾走；仓皇奔跑声；骤雨，骤雪；短距离赛马 | |
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59
niggardly
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| adj.吝啬的，很少的 | |
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60
negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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61
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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62
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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63
drowsily
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| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
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64
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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65
lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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66
majestically
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| 雄伟地； 庄重地； 威严地； 崇高地 | |
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67
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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68
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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69
allegro
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| adj. 快速而活泼的；n.快板；adv.活泼地 | |
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70
adagio
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| adj.缓慢的；n.柔板；慢板；adv.缓慢地 | |
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71
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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72
bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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73
slumbered
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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