He had been called away several times during the month and the card with the word “absent” on it was very often to be seen hanging beside his door. People grew tired of this, though they knew it meant fame and money to the doctor, and the newly-fledged physician from Boston, whose office was at the other end of the town, prospered4 in consequence. But Dr. Izard only seemed relieved at this and came and went, as I have said, with a less gloomy if not positively5 brightened countenance6.
He had always kept for himself one solitary7 place of resort in the village. Without this refuge life would often have been insupportable to him. It was—strange to say, for the Izards had always been aristocratic—the humble8 house of the village shoemaker, a simple but highly respected man who with his aged10 wife had been, from sheer worth of character, a decided11 factor in town for the last twenty-five years.
The little house in which he lived and plied12 his useful trade stood on the hill-side a few yards above the Fisher cottage, and it was in his frequent visits to this spot that Dr. Izard had seen so much of Polly. The window in which he usually sat overlooked the Fisher garden, and as his visits had extended over years he had ample opportunity for observing her growing beauty from the time she was a curly-headed imp9 of four to the day she faced the world a gay-hearted damsel of eighteen.
It had been a matter of some mystery in the past why Dr. Izard, with his trained mind and refined tastes, affected13 this humble home and sought with such assiduity the companionship of this worthy14 but by no means cultured couple. But this, together with other old wonders, had long lost its hold upon public attention, no one thinking of inquiring any longer into the cause of a habit that had become so fixed15 it was regarded as part of the village’s history. One effect, however, remained. No one thought of entering the shoemaker’s shop while Dr. Izard sat there. It would have been thought an intrusion by both guest and host.
Mr. and Mrs. Fanning, who had themselves long ceased to wonder at his preference for their society, invariably stopped their work when he entered and greeted him with the same words of welcome they had used fourteen years before when he had unexpectedly taken a seat in the shop without having been summoned for professional purposes. After which necessary ceremony they turned again to their several labors16 and the doctor sat down in his especial seat, which, as I have said, was in one of the windows, and lapsed17 into the silence he invariably maintained for half his stay. The time chosen for his visit was usually at nightfall, and whether it was that the charms of nature were unusually attractive to him at that hour, or whether something or somebody in the adjoining gardens secretly interested him, he invariably turned his eyes outward, with an expression that touched the heart of the old lady who watched him and caused many a glance of secret intelligence to pass between her and her equally concerned husband.
Not till it was quite dark and the lights had been lit in the shop, would the doctor turn about—often with a sigh too unconscious to be repressed—and face again the humble couple. But when he did so, it was to charm them with the most cordial and delightful18 conversation. There was even sparkle in it, but it was only for this aged pair of workers, whose wit was sufficient for appreciation19, and whose hearts responded to every effort made to interest them by their much revered20 visitor. After a quarter of an hour of this hearty21 interchange of neighborly comment, he would leave the house, to come again a few evenings later.
But one evening there was a break in the usual order of things. The doctor was sitting, as he had sat a hundred times before, in his chair by the window, and Mr. Fanning was hammering away at his bench and Mrs. Fanning reading the Watchman, when there came a sound of voices from the front and the door burst open to the loud cry of—
“O Mrs. Fanning, Mrs. Fanning! Such news! Ephraim Earle has come back! Ephraim Earle, whom we all thought dead ten years ago!”
Mrs. Fanning, who with all her virtues22 dearly loved a bit of gossip, and who knew, or thought she did, everything that was going on in town, ran without once looking round her to the door, and Mr. Fanning, who could not but feel startled also by an event so unexpected and so long looked upon as impossible, started to follow her, when something made him look back at the doctor. The sight that met his eyes stunned23 him, and caused him to pause trembling where he was. In all the years he had known Dr. Izard he had never seen him look as he did at that moment. Was it surprise that affected him, or was it fear, or some other incomprehensible emotion? The good old man could not tell; but he wished the doctor would speak. At last the doctor did, and the hollow tones he used made the aged shoemaker recoil24.
“What is that? What are they talking about? They mentioned a name? Whose name? Not Polly’s father’s?”
“Yes,” faltered25 his startled companion. “Ephraim Earle; they say he has come back. Shall I go and see?”
The doctor nodded; it seemed as if he had no words at his command, and the shoemaker, glad to be released, hastened hobbling from the room. As his half bent26 figure vanished, the doctor, as if released from a spell, looked about, shuddered27, grasped the table nearest to him for support, and then burst into a laugh so strange, so discordant28, and yet so thrilling with emotion, that had not a dozen men and women been all talking together in the hall it would have been heard and commented on. As it was he was left alone, and it was not till several minutes had elapsed that Mrs. Fanning came rushing in, followed by her dazed and somewhat awestruck husband.
“O doctor, it is true! It is true! I have just seen him; he is standing30 at the Fisher’s corner. Polly is up at the house—You know she was to open it to-day. They say she is more frightened than pleased, and who can wonder? He looks like a weather-beaten tramp!”
“No, no,” shouted some one from the room beyond, “like a gentleman who has been sick and who has had lots of trouble besides.”
“Come and see him!” called out a shrill31 voice, over Mrs. Fanning’s shoulder. “You used to know him, doctor. Come and see Ephraim Earle.”
The doctor, with a curl of his lips, looked up and met the excited eyes that were contemplating32 him, and slowly remarked:
“Your wits have certainly all gone wool-gathering. I don’t believe that Ephraim Earle has returned. Some one has been playing a trick upon you.”
“Then it’s the ghost of Ephraim Earle if it’s not himself,” insisted the other, as the whole group, losing their awe29 of the doctor in the interest and growing excitement of the moment, came crowding into the shop.
“And a very vigorous ghost! He is bound to have his rights; that you can see.”
“But he won’t annoy his daughter. Did you hear what he said to the child, up there by the lilac bushes?” And then they all chattered33, each striving to give his or her own views of the situation, till a sudden vigorous “Hush!” brought them all to an abrupt34 standstill and set them staring at the doctor with wide-open eyes and mouths.
“You are all acting35 like children!” protested that gentleman, with his white face raised and his eyes burning fiercely upon them. “I say that man is an impostor! Why should Ephraim Earle come back?”
“And why shouldn’t he?” asked another.
“Answer us that, Dr. Izard. Why shouldn’t the man come back?”
“True, true! Hasn’t he a daughter here?”
“With money of her own. Just the same amount as he once ran off with.”
“I tell you again to be quiet.” It was still the doctor who was talking. “If you are daft yourselves, do not try to make other people so! Where is this fellow? I will soon show you he is not the man you take him to be.”
“I don’t know how you will do it,” objected one, as the group fell back before the doctor’s advancing figure. “He’s as like him as one pea is like another, and he remembers all of us and even chattered with Mother Jessup about her famous worsted socks.”
“Fools!” came from beneath the doctor’s set lips as he strode from the door and passed rapidly into the highway. “Here, you!” he cried, accosting36 the man who was the centre of a group some rods away, “come up here! I want to speak to you.”
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收听单词发音
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1
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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2
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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7
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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8
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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9
imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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11
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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12
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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13
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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15
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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16
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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17
lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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18
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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19
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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20
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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23
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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24
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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25
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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26
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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27
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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28
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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29
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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30
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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31
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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32
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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33
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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34
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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35
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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36
accosting
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的现在分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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