Chapter Twenty Seven. Missed and Mourned.

    “Nor deem the irrevocable Past

    As wholly wasted, wholly vain.”

    Longfellow.

“Be they Gobblealls not coming home?” asked Nanny Barton, as she stood at her gate, while some of her neighbours came slowly out of church, about two years later.

“My man, he did ask Shepherd Tomkins,” said Betsy Seddon, “and all the answer he got was, ‘You don’t desarve it, not you.’ As if my man had gone out with that there rabble¹ rout²!”

“And I’m sure mine only went up to see what they were after, and helped to put out the fire beside.”

“Ay,” said Cox, behind her, “but not till the soldiers were come.”

“Time they did come!” said Seddon. “Rain comes through the roof, and that there Lawyer Brent won’t have nothing done to it till the captain comes home.”

“Yes,” added Morris, “and when I spoke³ to him about my windows, as got blown in, he said ‘cottages were no end of expense, and we hadn’t treated them so as they would wish to come back nohow.’”

“Think of their bearing malice⁴!” cried Nanny Barton.

“I don’t believe as how they does,” responded the other Nanny. “They have sent the coals and the blankets all the same.”

“Bear malice!” said Mrs Truman, who had just walked up. “No, no. Why, Parson Harford have said over and over again, when he gave a shilling or so or a meat order, to help a poor lady that was ill, that ’twas by madam’s wish.”

“And Governess Thorpe, she has the bag of baby-linen and half a pound of tea for any call,” said Mrs Spurrell.

“But one looks for the friendly word and the time of day,” sighed Betsy Seddon.

“The poor children, they don’t half like their school without the ladies to look in,” said Mrs Truman. “It is quite a job to get them there without Miss Sophy to tell them stories.”

“I can’t get mine to go at all on Sundays,” said Nanny Morris.

“And,” added Betsy Seddon, “I’m right sure my poor Bob would never have ’listed for a soldier if the captain had been at home to make Master Pucklechurch see the rights of things, and not turn him off all on a suddent.”

“Master Pucklechurch, he don’t believe they are never coming back,” said Widow Mole⁵, who had just come that way as an evening walk with her children. “He says little miss, and madam too, have their health so much better out there, that they won’t like to come home. And yet they have made the place like a picture. I was up there to help Sue Pucklechurch clean it up, and ’tis just a pleasure to see all the new outhouses and sheds, as you might live in yourself, and well off too.”

“And that it should all be for them Pucklechurches,” sighed Seddon.

“I heerd tell,” said Mrs Truman, “that Lawyer Brent was to come and live in the house, and that was why they are making it so nice.”

On this there arose a general wail⁶ of lamentation⁷, and even of indignation. Nobody loved Lawyer Brent, who was a hard, if a just, man, anxious for his employer’s good, but inclined, in spite of all cautions, to grind the tenants⁸. To hear of his coming to Greenhow was dismal⁹ news to all concerned, and there was such a buzz of doleful inquiries¹⁰ that Mr Harford stopped on his way home to ask what was the matter.

“Oh no,” he said, when he heard. “Captain and Mrs Carbonel are coming home in the spring, only they wished to travel slowly, so as to see something of foreign parts. You need not be afraid. We shall have them back again, and I hope nobody will be as foolish as before. I am sure they have quite forgiven.”

And, on a fine spring day, the bells were ringing at the church, and everybody stood out at the cottage doors, curtseying and bowing with delight and welcome; and Mrs Carbonel and Miss Sophia and Miss Mary, looking rosy¹¹, healthy, and substantial, and even little Master Edmund was laughing and nodding, and looking full of joy. While the captain walked up with Mr Harford, and greeted every one with kindly¹², hearty¹³ words. No one could doubt that they were glad to be at home again, and after all that had come and gone, that they felt that these were their own people whom they loved.

1 rabble   

n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人

参考例句：

• They formed an army out of rabble.他们用乌合之众组成一支军队。
• Poverty in itself does not make men into a rabble.贫困自身并不能使人成为贱民。

2 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

3 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：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

5 mole   

n.胎块；痣；克分子

参考例句：

• She had a tiny mole on her cheek.她的面颊上有一颗小黑痣。
• The young girl felt very self- conscious about the large mole on her chin.那位年轻姑娘对自己下巴上的一颗大痣感到很不自在。

6 wail   

vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸

参考例句：

• Somewhere in the audience an old woman's voice began plaintive wail.观众席里，一位老太太伤心地哭起来。
• One of the small children began to wail with terror.小孩中的一个吓得大哭起来。

7 lamentation   

n.悲叹，哀悼

参考例句：

• This ingredient does not invite or generally produce lugubrious lamentation. 这一要素并不引起，或者说通常不产生故作悲伤的叹息。 来自哲学部分
• Much lamentation followed the death of the old king. 老国王晏驾，人们悲恸不已。 来自辞典例句

8 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

9 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

10 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 rosy   

adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的

参考例句：

• She got a new job and her life looks rosy.她找到一份新工作，生活看上去很美好。
• She always takes a rosy view of life.她总是对生活持乐观态度。

12 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

13 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。