You will find Dudley up in what he calls his library,” said Mrs Albert in the hallway. “I’m so sorry I must go out—but he’ll be glad to see you. And—let me entreat2 you, don’t give him any encouragement!”
“What!” I cried, “encourage Uncle Dudley? Oh—never, never!”
“No, just be firm with him,” Mrs Albert went on. “Say that it mustn’t be thought of for a moment. And Oh—by the way—it’s as well to warn you: don’t ask him what he did it for! It seems that every one asks him that—and he gets quite enraged3 about it now, when that particular question is put. As like as not he’d throw something at you.” She spoke5 earnestly, in low, impressive tones.
“Wild horses should not drag it from me,” I pledged myself. “I will not encourage him: I will not enrage4 him; I swear not to ask him what he did it for. But—if you don’t mind—could I, so to speak, bear the shock of learning what it is that he has done?”
“You haven’t heard?” Mrs Albert asked, glancing up at me, with an astonished face, as I stood on the stairs. When I shook my head, she put out her hand to the latch6, and opened the door, as if to heighten the dramatic suspense7. Then she turned and looked me in the eye with solemn intentness. “What has he done?” she echoed in a hollow voice: “You go upstairs and see!”
The door closed behind her, and I made my way noiselessly, two steps at a time, to the floor above. Some vague sense of disaster seemed to brood over the silent, half-lighted stairway and the deserted8 landing. I knocked at Uncle Dudley’s door—almost prepared to find my signal unanswered. But no, his voice came back, cheerily enough, and I entered the room.
“Oh, it’s you!” said my friend, rising from his chair. “Glad to see you,”—and we shook hands. Standing9 thus, I found myself staring into his face with a rude and prolonged fixity of gaze, under which he first smiled—a strange, unwholesome sort of smile—then flushed a little, then scowled10 and averted11 his glance.
“Great heavens!” I exclaimed at last. “Why, man alive, what on earth possessed12 you to—”
“Come now!” broke in Uncle Dudley, with peremptory13 sternness. “Chuck it!”
“Yes—I know”—I stammered14 haltingly along—“I promised I wouldn’t ask you—but—”
“But the original simian15 instincts triumph over your resolutions, eh?” said my friend, crustily. “Yes, I know. I’ve had pretty nearly a week of it now. That question has been asked me, I estimate, somewhere about six hundred and seventy-eight times since last Thursday. It’s only fair to you to tell you that I have registered a vow16 to hit the next man who asks me that fool of a question—‘What did you do it for?’—straight under his left ear. I probably saved your life by interrupting you.”
Though the words were fierce, there was a marked return of geniality17 in the tone. I took the liberty of putting a hand over Uncle Dudley’s shoulder, and marching him across to the window.
“Let’s have a good look at you,” I said.
“I did it myself; I did it with my little hatchet19; I did it because I wanted to; I had a right to do it; I should do it again if the fit struck me——” Thus, with mock gravity, Uncle Dudley ran on as I scrutinised his countenance20 in the strong light. “And furthermore,” he added, “I don’t care one single hurrah21 in Hades whether you like it or not.”
“I think on the whole,” I mused22 aloud—“yes, I think I rather do like it—now that I accustom23 myself to it.”
Uncle Dudley’s face brightened on the instant. “Do you really?” he exclaimed, and beamed upon me. In spite of his professed24 indifference25 to my opinion, it was obvious that I had pleased him.
“Sit down,” he said—“there are the matches behind you—hope these aren’t too green for you. Yes, my boy, I created quite a flutter in the hen-yard, I can tell you. Did my sister tell you?—she nearly fainted, and little Amy burst out boo-hooing as if she’d lost her last friend. When you come to think of it, old man, it’s really too ridiculous, you know.”
“It certainly has its grotesque26 aspects,” I admitted.
Uncle Dudley looked up sharply, as if suspecting some ironical27 meaning in my words. “You really do think it’s an improvement?” he asked, with a doubtful note in his voice.
“Of course, it makes a tremendous change,” I said, diplomatically, “and the novelty tends perhaps to confuse judgment28: but I must confess the result is—is, well, very interesting.”
My friend did not look wholly satisfied. “It shows what stupid people we are,” he went on in a dogmatic way. “Why, the way they’ve gone on, you’d think I had no property rights in the thing at all—that I was merely a trustee for it—bound to give an account to every Tom-Dick-and-Harry who came along and had nothing better to occupy his mind with. And then that eternal, vacuous29, woollen-brained ‘What did you do it for?’ Oh, that’s got to be too sickening for words! And the confounded familiarity of the whole thing! Why, hang me, if even the little Jew cigar dealer30 down on the corner didn’t feel entitled to pass what he took to be some friendly remarks on the subject. ‘Vy,’ he said, ‘if I could say vidout vlattery, vot a haddsobe jeddlebad you ver, and vy did you do dot by yourself?’ It gets on a man’s nerves, you know, things like that.”
“But hasn’t anyone liked the change?” I asked.
Uncle Dudley sighed. “That’s the worst of it,” he said, dubiously31. “Only two men have said they liked it—and it happens that they are both persons of conspicuously32 weak intellect. That’s rather up against me, isn’t it? But on the other hand, you know, people who are silliest about everything else always get credit for knowing the most about art and beauty and all that. Perhaps in such a case as this, I daresay their judgment might be better than all the others. And after all, what do I care? That’s the point I make: that it’s my business and nobody else’s. If a man hasn’t got a copyright in his own personal appearance, why there is no such thing as property. But instead of recognising this, any fellow feels free to come up and say: ‘You look like an unfrocked priest,’ or ‘Hullo! another burglar out of work,’ and he’s quite surprised if you fail to show that you’re pleased with the genial18 brilliancy of his remarks. I don’t suppose there is any other single thing which the human race lapses33 into such rude and insolent34 meddlesomeness35 over as it does over this.”
“It is pathetic,” I admitted—“but—but it’ll soon grow again.”
Uncle Dudley laughed a bitter laugh. “By Jove,” he cried, “I’ve more than half a mind not to let it. It would serve ‘em right if I didn’t. Why, do you know—you’d hardly believe it! My sister had a dinner party on here for Saturday night, and after I’d—I’d done it—she cancelled the invitations—some excuse about a family loss—a bereavement36, my boy. Well, you know, treatment of that sort puts a man on his mettle37. I’m entitled to resent it. And besides—you know—of course it does make a great change—but somehow I fancy that when you get used to it—come now—the straight griffin, as they say—what do you think?”
“I’m on oath not to encourage you,” I made answer.
“There you have it!” cried Uncle Dudley: “the old tyrannical conspiracy38 against the unusual, the individual, the true! Let nobody dare to be himself! Let us have uniformity, if all else perishes. The frames must be alike in the Royal Academy, that’s the great thing; the pictures don’t matter so much. You see our women-folk now, this very month, getting ready to case themselves in ugly hoops39 which they hate, at the bidding of they know not whom, because, if they did not, the hideous40 possibility of one woman being different from another woman would darken the land. A man is not to be permitted the pitiful privilege of seeing his own mouth, not even once in fifteen years, simply because it temporarily inconveniences the multitude in their notions as to how he is in the habit of looking! What rubbish it is!”
“It is rubbish,” I assented—“and you are talking it. Your sister who fainted, your niece who wept, your friends who averted their gaze in anguish41, the hordes42 of casual jackasses who asked why you did it, the kindly43 little Jew cigar man who broke forth44 in lamentations—these are the world’s jury. They have convicted you—sorrowfully but firmly. You yourself, for all your bravado45, realise the heinousness46 of your crime. You are secretly ashamed, remorseful47, penitent48. I answer for you—you will never do it again.”
“And yet it isn’t such a bad mouth, either,” mused Uncle Dudley, with a lingering glance at the mirror over the mantel. “There is humour, delicacy49 of perception, affection, gentleness—ever so many nice qualities about it which were all hidden up before. The world ought to welcome the revelation—and it throws stones instead. Ah well!—pass the matches—let us yield gracefully50 to the inevitable51! It shall grow again.”
“Mrs Albert will be so glad,” I remarked.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
commentators
|
|
| n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
entreat
|
|
| v.恳求，恳请 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
enraged
|
|
| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
enrage
|
|
| v.触怒，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
latch
|
|
| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
suspense
|
|
| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
deserted
|
|
| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
scowled
|
|
| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
averted
|
|
| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
peremptory
|
|
| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
stammered
|
|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
simian
|
|
| adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
vow
|
|
| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
geniality
|
|
| n.和蔼，诚恳；愉快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
genial
|
|
| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hatchet
|
|
| n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
hurrah
|
|
| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
mused
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
accustom
|
|
| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
professed
|
|
| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
vacuous
|
|
| adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
dealer
|
|
| n.商人，贩子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
conspicuously
|
|
| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
lapses
|
|
| n.失误，过失( lapse的名词复数 )；小毛病；行为失检；偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
insolent
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
meddlesomeness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
36
bereavement
|
|
| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
mettle
|
|
| n.勇气，精神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
conspiracy
|
|
| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
hoops
|
|
| n.箍( hoop的名词复数 )；（篮球）篮圈；（旧时儿童玩的）大环子；（两端埋在地里的）小铁弓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
anguish
|
|
| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
hordes
|
|
| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
bravado
|
|
| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
heinousness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
47
remorseful
|
|
| adj.悔恨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
penitent
|
|
| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
gracefully
|
|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |