The Mayor, who was in the chair, had spoken on behalf of the Prince of Wales's Fund and announced that subscriptions2 would be received by the Town Clerk.
Thereafter an indescribable orgie of patriotism4 had taken place. Red-necked men outbid fat women. The bids mounted; the bidders5 grew fiercer; the cheers waxed. And all the while a little group of Trade unionists at the back of the hall kept up a dismal6 chaunt—
We don't want charity,
We won't have charity.
Then a little dapper figure in the blue of a chauffeur7 rose in the body of the hall.
"I'm only a workin chauffeur," he said, wagging his big head, "but I got a conscience, and I got a country. And I'm not ashamed of em eether. I can't do much bein only a worker as you might say. But I can do me bit. Put me down for fifty guineas, please, Mr. Town-clerk."
He sat down modestly amidst loud applause.
"Who's that?" whispered the Colonel on the platform.
"Trupp's chauffeur," the Archdeacon, who had a black patch over his eye, answered with a swagger—"my sidesman, Alfred Caspar. Not so bad for a working-man?" He cackled hilariously8.
Then a voice from Lancashire, resonant9 and jarring, came burring across the hall.
"Mr. Chairman, are you aware that Alfred Caspar is turning his sister-in-law out of his house with four children."
Alf leapt to his feet.
"It's a lie!" he cried.
A big young woman sitting just in front of Joe rose on subdued10 wings. She was bare-headed, be-shawled, a dark Madonna of English village-life.
"Yes, you are, Alf," she said, and sat down quietly as she had risen.
There was a dramatic silence. Then the Archdeacon started to his feet and pointed11 with accusing claw like a witch-doctor smelling out a victim.
"I know that woman!" he cawed raucously12.
A lady sitting in the front row just under the platform rose.
"So do I," she said.
It was Mrs. Trupp, and her voice, still and pure, fell on the heated air like a drop of delicious rain.
She sat down again.
The Archdeacon too had resumed his seat, very high and mighty13; and Bobby Chislehurst was whispering in his ear from behind.
The Colonel had risen now, calm and courteous14 as always, in the suppressed excitement.
"Am I not right in thinking that Mrs. Caspar is the wife of an old Hammer-man who joined up at once on the declaration of war and is at this moment somewhere in France fighting our battles for us?"
The question was greeted with a storm of applause from the back of the hall.
"Good old Colonel!" some one called.
"Mr. Chairman, d'you mean to accept that man's cheque?" shouted Joe. "Yes or no?"
In the uproar15 that followed, Alf rose again, white and leering.
"I'd not have spoken if I'd known I was to be set upon like this afore em all for offering a bit of help to me country. As to my character and that, I believe I'm pretty well beknown for a patriot3 in Beachbourne."
"As to patriotism, old cock," called Joe, "didn't you sack your cleaners without notice on the declaration of war?"
"No, I didn't then!" shouted Alf with the exaggerated ferocity of the man who knows his only chance is to pose as righteously indignant.
The retort was greeted with a howl of Tip! There was a movement at the back of the hall; and suddenly an old man was lifted on the shoulders of the Trade unionists there. Yellow, fang-less, creased16, he looked, poised17 on high above the crowd against the white background of wall, something between a mummy and a monkey. As always he wore no tie; but he had donned a collar for the occasion, and this had sprung open and made two dingy18 ass-like ears on either side of his head.
"Did he sack you, Tip?" called Joe.
"Yes, he did," came the quivering old voice. "Turned us off at a day. Told us to go to the Bastille; and said he'd put the police on us."
The tremulous old voice made people turn their heads. They saw the strange figure lifted above them. Some tittered. The ripple19 of titters enraged20 the men at the back of the hall.
"See what you've made of him!" thundered Joe. "And then jeer21! ... Shame!"
"Shame!" screamed a bitter man. "Do the Fats know shame?"
"Some of em do," said a quiet voice.
It was true too. Mrs. Trupp was looking pale and miserable22 in the front-row, so was the Colonel on the platform, Bobby Chislehurst and others. The titterers, indeed, howled into silence by the storm of indignation their action had aroused, wore themselves the accusing air of those who hope thereby23 to fix the blame for their mistake on others.
In the silence a baggy24 old gentleman rose in the body of the hall, slewed25 round with difficulty, and mooned above his spectacles at the strange idol26 seated on men's shoulders behind him.
"And He was lifted up," he said in a musing27 voice more to himself than to anybody else.
The phrase, audible to many, seemed to spread a silence about it as a stone dropped in a calm pond creates an ever-broadening ripple.
In the silence old Tip slid gently to the ground and was lost once more amid the crowd of those who had raised him for a brief moment into fleeting28 eminence29.
The meeting broke up.
Outside the hall stood Mr. Trupp's car, Alf at the wheel: for the old surgeon's regular chauffeur had been called up.
Mrs. Trupp, coming down the steps, went up to Ruth who was standing30 on the pavement.
"So glad you spoke1 up, Ruth," she said, and pressed her hand.
"Come on!" said Mr. Trupp. "We'll give you a lift home, Ruth."
Alf was looking green. The two women got in, and the old surgeon followed them. He was grinning, Mrs. Trupp quietly malicious31, and Ruth amused. The people on the pavement and streaming out of the hall saw and were caught by the humour of the situation, as their eyes and comments showed.
Then Colonel Lewknor made his way to the car.
"Just a word, Mrs. Caspar!" he said. "Things are squaring up. Mrs. Lewknor's taking the women and children in hand. Could you come and see her one morning at Under-cliff?"
The hostel32 that Mrs. Lewknor had built upon the cliff boomed from the start. It was full to over-flowing, winter and summer; and Eton was in sight for Toby when war was declared.
Then things changed apace.
Beachbourne, for at least a thousand years before William the Norman landed at Pevensey on his great adventure, had been looked on as the likeliest spot for enemy invasion from the Continent. Frenzied33 parents therefore wired for their children to be sent inland at once; others wrote charming letters cancelling rooms taken weeks before. In ten days the house was empty; and on the eleventh the mortgagee intimated his intention to fore-close.
It was a staggering blow.
The Colonel, with that uncannie cat-like intuition of his she knew so well, prowled in, looked at her with kind eyes, as she sat in her little room the fatal letter in her hand, and went out again.
Throughout it had been her scheme, not his, her responsibility, her success; and now it was her failure.
Then Mr. Trupp was shown in, looking most unmilitary in his uniform of a Colonel of the Royal Army Medical Corps34.
"It's all right," he said gruffly. "I know. Morgan and Evans rang me up and told me. Unprofessional perhaps, but these are funny times. I let you in. You built the hostel at my request. I shall take over the mortgage."
"I couldn't let you," answered the little lady.
"You won't be asked," replied the other. "I ought to have done it from the start; but it wasn't very convenient then. It's all right now." The old man didn't say that the reason it was all right was because he was quietly convinced in his own mind that his boy Joe would need no provision now.
Just then the Colonel entered, looking self-conscious. He seemed to know all about it, as indeed he had every right to do, seeing that Mr. Trupp had informed him at length on the telephone half an hour before.
"You know who the mortgagee is?" he asked.
"Who?" said both at once.
The Colonel on tiptoe led them out into the hall, and showed them through a narrow window Alf sitting at his wheel, looking very funny.
"Our friend of the scene in the Town Hall yesterday," he whispered. "When I went to the bank yesterday to insure the house against bombardment, the clerk looked surprised and said—You know it's already insured. I said—Who by? He turned up a ledger35 and showed me the name."
Mr. Trupp got into his car, wrapping himself round with much circumstance.
"To Morgan and Evans," he said to Alf.
In the solicitors36' office he produced his cheque-book.
"I've been seeing Mrs. Lewknor," he said. "I'll pay off your client now and take over the mortgage myself."
He wrote a cheque then and there, and made it out to Alfred Caspar, who was forthwith called in.
"I'm paying you off your mortgage, Alf," he said. "Give me a receipt, will you?"
Alf with the curious simplicity37 that often threw his cunning into relief signed the receipt quite unabashed and with evident relief.
"See, I need the money, sir," he said gravely, as he wiped the pen on his sleeve. "The Syndicate's let me in—O, you wouldn't believe! And I got to meet me creditors38 somehow."
"Well, you've got the money now," answered Mr. Trupp. "But I'm afraid you've made an enemy. And that seems to me a bit of a pity just now."
"Colonel Lewknor?" snorted Alf. "I ain't afraid o him!"
"I don't know," said Mr. Trupp. "It's the day of the soldier."
That evening, after the day's work, Alf was summoned to his employer's study.
Mrs. Trupp was leaving it as he entered.
"I've been thinking things over, Alfred," said the old man. "There's no particular reason why you shouldn't drive for me for the present if you like—until you're wanted out there. But I shall want you to destroy this."
He handed his chauffeur Ruth's notice to quit.
Alf tore the paper up without demur39.
"That's all right, sir," he said cheerfully. "That was a mistake. I understood the Army Service Corps was taking over my garage; and I should want a roof over my head to sleep under."
He went back to his car.
Another moment, and the door of the Manor-house opened. Ruth emerged briskly and gave him a bright nod.
"Can't stop now, Alf," she said. "I'm off to see Mrs. Lewknor. See you again later."
"That's right," Alf answered. "She's on the committee for seeing to the married women ain't she?—them and their lawful40 children. Reverend Spink's on it too."
He stressed the epithet41 faintly.
A moment Ruth looked him austerely42 in the eyes. Then she turned up the hill with a nod. She understood. There was danger a-foot again.
The matter of the hostel settled, Mrs. Lewknor, before everything an Imperialist, and not of the too common platform kind, was free to serve. And she had not far to look for an opening.
The Mayor summoned a meeting in his parlour to consider the situation of the families of soldiers called to the colours.
Mrs. Lewknor was by common consent appointed honorary secretary of the Association formed; and was given by her committee a fairly free discretion43 to meet the immediate44 situation.
Nearly sixty, but still active as a cat, she set to work with a will.
Her sitting room at Undercliff she turned into an office. Her mornings she gave to interviewing applicants45 and her afternoons to visiting.
Ruth Caspar was one of the first to apply.
The little slight Jewish lady with her immense experience of life greeted the beautiful peasant woman who had never yet over-stepped the boundaries of Sussex with a brilliant smile.
"There's not much I want to know about you," she said. "We belong to the same regiment46. Just one or two questions that I may fill up this form."
How many children had Mrs. Caspar.
"Three, 'M ... and a fourth."
Mrs. Lewknor waited.
"Little Alice," continued Ruth, downcast and pale beneath her swarthiness. "Before I were married."
Mrs. Lewknor wrote on apparently47 unconcerned.
She knew all about little Alice, had seen her once, and had recognised her at a glance as Royal's child, the child for which, with her passionate48 love for the regiment, she felt herself in part responsible. On the same occasion she had seen Ruth's other babies and their grandfather with them—that troubadour who forty years before had swept the harp49 of her life to sudden and elusive50 music.
"I think that'll be all right now, Ruth," she said with a re-assuring look. "I'm going to call you that now if I may. I'll come round and let you know directly I know myself."
Ruth retired51 with haunted eyes. She guessed rather than knew the forces that were gathering52 against her, and the strength of them.
Outside in the porch she met Lady Augusta with her mane of thick bobbed white hair and rosy53 face; and on the cliff, as she walked home, other ladies of the Committee and the Reverend Spink.
How hard they looked and how complacent54! ...
Mrs. Lewknor put the case before her committee, telling them just as much as she thought it good for them to know.
There was of course the inevitable55 trouble about little Alice.
"We don't even know for certain that she is the child of the man the mother afterwards married," objected Lady Augusta Willcocks in her worst manner. "She mayn't be a soldier's child at all."
Mrs. Lewknor turned in her lips.
"Our business surely is to support the women and children while the men are away fighting our battles," she said.
"Need we form ourselves into a private enquiry office?" asked Mrs. Trupp quietly.
The old lady's eyes flashed. Mrs. Trupp of course didn't care. Mrs. Trupp never went to church. "Putting a premium56 on immorality57!" she cried with bitter laughter—"as usual."
"We must look a little into character surely, Mrs. Lewknor," said a honied virgin58 from St. Michael's.
"I'll go bail59 for this woman's character," answered Mrs. Lewknor, flashing in her turn.
"I believe she is more respectable than she used to be," said a dull spinster with a dogged eye.
"Damn respectability," thought Mrs. Lewknor, but she said, "Are we to deprive this child of bread in the name of respectability? Whatever else she is she's a child of the Empire."
Then the Reverend Spink spoke. He and Lady Augusta Willcocks were there to represent the point of view of the Church.
He spoke quietly, his eyes down, and lips compressed, mock-meekly aware of the dramatic significance of his words.
"Perhaps I ought to tell the committee that the man this woman is now living with is not her husband."
The silence that greeted this announcement was all that the reverend gentleman could have desired. It was only broken by the loud triumphant60 cry of the Lady Augusta Willcocks.
"Then all four children are illegitimate!"
"Oh, that would be joyful61!" cried Mrs. Lewknor with a little titter.
It was the great moment of the Reverend Spink's life.
"She married some yeahs ago," he continued, so well-pleased with the cumulative62 effect of the impression he was making, as even to venture an imitation of the Archdeacon's accent. "And her husband is still alive."
Mrs. Lewknor challenged swiftly.
"Where did she marry?" she asked, lest another question should be asked first: for the honour of the regiment was involved.
"At the Registrar's Office, Lewes."
"When?"
"September 14th, 1906."
The man had his story pat enough to be sure.
"Who told you?" asked Mrs. Lewknor aggressively.
Mr. Spink pursed his lips.
"I have it on reliable information."
"I know your authority, I think," said Mrs. Trupp quietly.
"Did you check it?" asked Mrs. Lewknor.
"It was unnecessary," replied the curate insolently63. "I can trust my authority. But if you doubt me you can check it yourself."
"I shall of course," retorted the little lady.
Then the Chairman interposed.
"It looks like a case for the police," he said.
"Certainly," Lady Augusta rapped out.
"It's very serious," said the Chairman.
"For somebody," retorted Mrs. Lewknor.
By common consent the case was adjourned64.
The Reverend Spink retired to Old Town.
The fierce hostility65 of Mrs. Lewknor, and the no less formidable resistance of Mrs. Trupp, made the curate uneasy.
After dark he went round to Alf Caspar's garage.
"You're sure of your facts?" he asked.
"Dead cert," said Alf. "Drove em there meself."
"And the date?"
"Marked it down at the time, sir.... I can show it you in me ledger. Always make a note of me engagements. You never know when it mayn't come in handy."
He went down to his office, followed by the curate, and was proceeding66 to take a bulky folio down from the shelf, when the telephone bell rang.
It was Mr. Trupp to say the car would be wanted at four to-morrow afternoon.
"Is it a long run, sir?" asked Alf.
"No," came the answer. "Lewes—Mrs. Trupp."
Alf determined67 to send a man and not drive himself.
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收听单词发音
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1
spoke
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| 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 | |
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subscriptions
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| n.（报刊等的）订阅费( subscription的名词复数 )；捐款；（俱乐部的）会员费；捐助 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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bidders
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| n.出价者，投标人( bidder的名词复数 ) | |
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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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chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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hilariously
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resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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10
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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raucously
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| adv.粗声地；沙哑地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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15
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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16
creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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17
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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baggy
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| adj.膨胀如袋的，宽松下垂的 | |
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slewed
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| adj.喝醉的v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去式 )( slew的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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hostel
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| n.（学生）宿舍，招待所 | |
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frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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ledger
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| n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿 | |
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solicitors
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| 初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 ) | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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demur
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| v．表示异议，反对 | |
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lawful
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| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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austerely
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| adv.严格地，朴质地 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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applicants
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| 申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 ) | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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47
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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48
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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50
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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51
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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53
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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54
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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56
premium
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| n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的 | |
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immorality
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| n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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59
bail
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| v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人 | |
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60
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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61
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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62
cumulative
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| adj.累积的，渐增的 | |
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63
insolently
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| adv.自豪地，自傲地 | |
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64
adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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66
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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67
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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