"She will be up at the house," he said, and turned and went off up the garden behind, while the dogs raced on in front to show the way.
Through a cleft2 in the high green bank topped by a thick hedge of hawthorn3, they came out into a garden of less utilitarian4 aspect. Here were shrubs5 and flowers, palms and conifers and pale eucalyptus6 trees, clumps7 of purple iris8 and clove9 pinks, roses just coming to the bud, and beyond, a very charming bungalow10, built solidly of gray granite11 and red tiles, with a wide verandah all round. A pleasant-faced woman in a large black sunbonnet came out of the open front door as they went up the path.
"My wife," murmured Carré, and proceeded quietly to explain matters in an undertone of patois12.
"I hope you speak English also, Mrs. Carré," said Graeme.
"Oh yess," with a quick smile. "We are all English here."
"Surely you are Welsh," he said, for he had met just that same cheerful type of face in Wales.
"Noh, I am Sark," she smiled again. "I can gif you a sitting-room13 and a bet-room"—and they proceeded to business, and then the dogs escorted them back to the cottage, to see the stranger fairly inducted to his new abode14, and to let him understand that they rejoiced at his coming and would visit him often.
He thought he would be very comfortable there, but why the sitting-room was not the bedroom he never could understand. For it was only a quarter the size of the other, and its single window looked into a field, and a rough granite wall clothed with tiny rock-weeds hid all view of the road and its infrequent traffic. While the bedroom was a room of size, and its two windows gave on to the covered well and the cobbled forecourt, and offered passers-by, if so inclined, oblique15 views of its occupant in the act of dressing16 if he forgot to pull down the blind.
The windows of both rooms were set low in the massive granite walls, and being always wide open, they offered, and indeed invited, easy access to—say, a grave-faced gentlemanly brown dog and a spasmodic rough-coated terrier without a tail, whenever the spirit moved them to incursion, which it invariably did at meal-times and frequently in between.
These two new friends of his—for they were never mere17 acquaintances, but adopted him into fullest brotherhood18 at sight—proved no small factors in Graeme's extrication19 from the depths.
Human companionship, even of the loftiest, most philosophic20, most gracious, would, for the time being, have jarred and ruffled21 his naturally equable spirit. Two only exceptions might have been conceivably possible—some humble22, large-souled friend, anxious only to anticipate his slightest wish, desirous only of his company, and—dumb, and so unable to fret23 him with inane24 talk; or—Margaret Brandt.
The first he could have endured. The latter—ah, God! How he would have rejoiced in her! The spirit groaned25 within him at times in agonised longing26 for her; and the glories of the sweet spring days, in a land where spring is joyous27 and radiant beyond most, turned gray and cheerless in the shadow of his loss. What Might Have Been stabbed What Was to the heart and let its life-blood run.
But, since neither of these was available, a benignant Providence28 provided him with friends entirely29 to his taste. For the great brown hound, Punch, was surely, despite the name men had given him, a nobleman by birth and breeding. Powerful and beautifully made, the sight of his long lithe30 bounds, as he quartered the cliff-sides in silent chase of fowl31 and fur, was a thing to rejoice in; so exquisite32 in its tireless grace, so perfect in its unconscious exhibition of power and restraint. For the brown dog never gave tongue, and he never killed. He chased for the keen enjoyment33 of the chase, and no man had ever heard him speak.
He was the first dumb dog Graeme had ever come across, and the pathetic yearning34 in his solemn brown eyes was full of infinite appeal to one who suffered also from an unforgettable loss. He answered to his name with a dignified35 appreciation36 of its incongruity37, and the tail-less white terrier, more appropriately, to that of Scamp.
点击收听单词发音
1 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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2 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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3 hawthorn | |
山楂 | |
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4 utilitarian | |
adj.实用的,功利的 | |
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5 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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6 eucalyptus | |
n.桉树,桉属植物 | |
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7 clumps | |
n.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的名词复数 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声v.(树、灌木、植物等的)丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 );(土、泥等)团;块;笨重的脚步声 | |
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8 iris | |
n.虹膜,彩虹 | |
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9 clove | |
n.丁香味 | |
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10 bungalow | |
n.平房,周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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11 granite | |
adj.花岗岩,花岗石 | |
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12 patois | |
n.方言;混合语 | |
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13 sitting-room | |
n.(BrE)客厅,起居室 | |
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14 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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15 oblique | |
adj.斜的,倾斜的,无诚意的,不坦率的 | |
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16 dressing | |
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料 | |
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17 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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18 brotherhood | |
n.兄弟般的关系,手中情谊 | |
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19 extrication | |
n.解脱;救出,解脱 | |
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20 philosophic | |
adj.哲学的,贤明的 | |
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21 ruffled | |
adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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23 fret | |
v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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24 inane | |
adj.空虚的,愚蠢的,空洞的 | |
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25 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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26 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
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27 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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28 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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29 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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30 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
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31 fowl | |
n.家禽,鸡,禽肉 | |
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32 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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33 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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34 yearning | |
a.渴望的;向往的;怀念的 | |
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35 dignified | |
a.可敬的,高贵的 | |
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36 appreciation | |
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
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37 incongruity | |
n.不协调,不一致 | |
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