The Second Part of King Henry IV.
“A bad lot. Yes, sir, a thoroughly2 bad lot.”
“You don’t mean it.”
“Yes, ma’am, a bad lot is the Uphill people. Good for nothing and ungrateful! I’ve known them these thirty-years, and no one will do anything with them.”
The time was the summer of 1822. The place was a garden, somewhat gone to waste, with a gravel3 drive running round a great circle of periwinkles with a spotted4 aucuba in the middle. There was a low, two-storied house, with green shutters5, green Venetian blinds, and a rather shabby verandah painted in alternate stripes of light and darker green. In front stood a high gig, with a tall old, bony horse trying to munch6 the young untrimmed shoots of a lilac in front of him as he waited for the speaker, a lawyer, dressed as country attorneys were wont7 to dress in those days, in a coat of invisible green, where the green constantly became more visible, brown trousers, and under them drab gaiters. He was addressing a gentleman in a blue coat and nankeen trousers, but evidently military, and two ladies in white dresses, narrow as to the skirts, but full in the sleeves. One had a blue scarf over her shoulders and blue ribbons in her very large Leghorn bonnet8; the other had the same in green, and likewise a green veil. Her bonnet was rather more trimmed, the dress more embroidered9, the scarf of a richer, broader material than the other’s, and it was thus evident that she was the married sister; but they were a good deal alike, with the same wholesome10 smooth complexion11, brown eyes, and hair in great shining rolls under their bonnet caps, much the same pleasant expression, and the same neat little feet in crossed sandalled shoes and white stockings showing out beneath their white tambour-worked gowns.
With the above verdict, the lawyer made his parting bow, and drove off along a somewhat rough road through two pasture fields. The first gate, white and ornamental12, was held open for him by an old man in a short white smock and long leathern gaiters, the second his own servant opened, the third was held by half a dozen shock-headed children, with their backs against it and hands held out, but in vain; he only smacked13 his driving-whip over their heads, and though he did not strike any of them, they requited14 it with a prolonged yell, which reached the ears of the trio in front of the house.
“I’m afraid it is not far from the truth,” said the green lady.
“Oh no; I am sure he is a horrid15 man,” said her blue sister. “I would not believe him for a moment.”
“Only with a qualification,” rejoined the gentleman.
“But, Edmund, couldn’t you be sure that it is just what he would say, whatever the people were?”
“I am equally sure that the exaction16 of rents is not the way to see people at their best.”
“Come in, come in! We have all our settling in to do, and no time for you two to fight.”
Edmund, Mary, Dorothea, and Sophia Carbonel were second cousins, who had always known one another in the house of the girls’ father, a clergyman in a large country town. Edmund had been in the army just in time for the final battles of the Peninsular war, and had since served with the army of occupation and in Canada. He had always meant that Mary should be his wife, but the means were wanting to set up housekeeping, until the death of an old uncle of his mother’s made him heir to Greenhow Farm, an estate bringing in about 500 pounds a year. Mary and her next sister Dora had in the meantime lost their parents, and had been living with some relations in London, where their much younger sister Sophy was at school, until Edmund, coming home, looked over the farm, decided17 that it would be a fit home for the sisters, and retired18 from the army forthwith. Thus then, after a brief tour among the Lakes, they had taken up Dora in London, and here they were; Sophy was to join them when the holidays began. Disorder19 reigned20 indeed within, and hammers resounded21, nor was the passage easy among the packing-cases that encumbered23 the narrow little vestibule whence the stairs ascended24.
Under the verandah were the five sash windows of the three front rooms, the door, of course, in the middle. Each had a little shabby furniture, to which the Carbonels were adding, and meant to add more; the dining-room had already been papered with red flock in stripes, the drawing-room with a very delicate white, on which were traced in tender colouring-baskets of vine leaves and laburnums.
Dora gave a little scream. “Look! Between the windows, Mary; see, the laburnums and grapes are hanging upward.”
“Stupid people!” exclaimed Mary, “I see. Happily, it is only on that one piece, but how Edmund will be vexed25.”
“Perhaps there is another piece unused.”
“I am sure I hope there is! Don’t you know, Edmund fell in love with it at Paris. It was his first provision for future housekeeping, and it was lying laid up in lavender all these years till we were ready for it.”
“It is only that one division, which is a comfort.”
“What’s the matter?” and the master of the house came in.
“Senseless beings! It must be covered directly. It is a desight to the whole room. Here!” and he went out to the carpenter, who was universal builder to the village, and was laying down the stair carpet. “Here, Hewlett, do you see what you have done?”
Hewlett, a large man with a smooth, plump, but honest face, came in, in his shirt sleeves, apron26, and paper cap, touched his forehead to the ladies, stood, and stared.
“Can’t you see?” sharply demanded the captain.
Hewlett scratched his head, and gazed round.
“See here! How do grapes grow? Or laburnums?”
An idea broke in on him.
“What! they be topsy-turvy?” he slowly observed, after looking from the faulty breadth to the next.
“Of course they are. Find the rest of the paper! We must have a piece put on at once, or the whole appearance of the room is spoilt,” said Captain Carbonel. “It will make a delay, but it must be done at once. Where is the piece left over?”
Hewlett retreated to find it, while the captain said something about “stupid ass22.”
Presently his gruff voice was heard demanding, “Dan, I say, where’s the remnant of that there fancy paper?”
Dan’s answer did not rise into audible words, but presently Hewlett tramped back, saying, “There ain’t none, sir.”
“I tell you there must be,” returned the captain, in the same angry tones. And he proceeded to show that the number of pieces he had bought, and the measure of which he had ascertained27, was such that there ought to have been half-a-piece left over from papering the room, the size of which he had exactly taken. Hewlett could do nothing but stolidly28 repeat that “there weren’t none left, not enow to make a mouse’s nest.”
“Who did the papering? Did you?”
“Daniel Hewlett, sir, he did the most on it. My cousin, sir.”
The captain fell upon Daniel, who had more words at command, but was equally strong in denial of having any remnant. “They had only skimped29 out enough,” he said, “just enough for the walls, and it was a close fit anyhow.”
The captain loudly declared it impossible, but Mary ran out in the midst to suggest that mayhap the defect was in the French measure. Each piece might not have been the true number of whatever they called them in that new revolutionary fashion.
Dan Hewlett’s face cleared up. “Ay, ’tis the French measure, sure, sir. Of course they can’t do nothing true and straight! I be mortal sorry the ladies is disappointed, but it bain’t no fault of mine, sir.”
“And look here, Edmund,” continued Mary, “it will not spoil the room at all if Mr Hewlett will help move the tall bureau against it, and we’ll hang the ‘Death of General Wolfe’ above it, and then there won’t be more than two bits of laburnum to be seen, even if you are curious enough to get upon a chair to investigate.”
“Well, it must be so,” returned Captain Carbonel, “but I hate the idea of makeshifts and having imperfections concealed30.”
“Just like you, Edmund,” laughed Dora. “You will always seem to be looking right through at the upright sprays, though all the solid weight of Hume, Gibbon, and Rollin is in front of them.”
“Precisely,” said Edmund. “It is not well to feel that there is anything to be hidden. The chief part of the vexation is, however,” he added—shutting the door and lowering his voice—“that I am convinced that there must have been foul31 play somewhere.”
“Oh, Edmund; French measure!”
“Nonsense! That does not account for at least a whole piece disappearing.”
He took out a pencil, and went again into his calculations, while his sister-in-law indignantly exclaimed—
“It is all prejudice, because that horrid attorney said all these poor people were a bad lot.”
“Hush32, hush!” said Mrs Carbonel, rather frightened, and—
“I advise you to think before you speak,” said Captain Carbonel quietly but sternly.
Still Dora could not help saying, as soon as she was alone with her sister, “I shall believe in the French measure. I like that slow, dull man, and I am sure he is honest.”
“Yes, dear, only pray don’t say any more to Edmund, but let us get the book-case placed as fast as we can, and let him forget all about it.”
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1
drollery
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| n.开玩笑，说笑话；滑稽可笑的图画（或故事、小戏等） | |
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2
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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3
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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4
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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6
munch
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| v.用力嚼，大声咀嚼 | |
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7
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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8
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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9
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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10
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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11
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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12
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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13
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
requited
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| v.报答( requite的过去式和过去分词 )；酬谢；回报；报复 | |
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15
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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16
exaction
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| n.强求，强征；杂税 | |
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17
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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18
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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19
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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20
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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21
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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22
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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23
encumbered
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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26
apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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27
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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29
skimped
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| v.少用( skimp的过去式和过去分词 )；少给；克扣；节省 | |
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30
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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31
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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32
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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