小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 英文短篇小说 » Tales from Dickens » IV BARNABY PROSPERS AT LAST
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
IV BARNABY PROSPERS AT LAST
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。
Haredale searched vainly next day for Emma and Dolly Varden. He could not believe they had lost their lives in the burning building, yet he was filled with anxiety because of their disappearance1. Could he have known what had happened he would have been even more fearful.

Simon Tappertit had seen his chance at last to win for himself the lovely Dolly, who had scorned[Pg 96] him when he was an apprentice2 of the locksmith. He had bribed3 Hugh and the hangman to aid him. While the mob was occupied at the front of the house this precious pair had entered from the back, seized the two girls and put them into a coach.

This they guarded at a distance till the burning was done; then, with Tappertit on the box and surrounded by his ruffians, the coach was driven into the city.

Emma had spent the day in the fear that her uncle had been killed with other Catholics in London, and at this new and surpassing fright she had fainted. Dolly, though no less concerned, had fought her captors bravely, though vainly. Often in that long ride she wished that Joe, her vanished lover, were there to rescue her as he had rescued her once from Maypole Hugh.

She had determined4 when she reached the London streets to scream as loudly as she could for help; but before they came to the city Hugh climbed into the carriage and sat between them, threatening to choke either if she made a noise.

In this wise they were driven to a miserable5 cottage, and in the dirty apartment to which they were taken Dolly threw herself upon the unconscious Emma and wept pitifully, unmindful of the jeers6 of Hugh and of the hangman.

When Tappertit entered the room suddenly, Dolly, not knowing his part in the plot, screamed with joy and threw herself into his arms crying:[Pg 97]

"I knew it! My dear father's at the door! Heaven bless you for rescuing us!"

But she saw in an instant her mistake, when the ridiculous braggart7 laid his hand on his breast and told her, now that he no longer was an apprentice but a famous leader of the people, he had chosen to be her husband. With this announcement he left them.

Meanwhile Mrs. Rudge, day and night, had searched everywhere for Barnaby. In one of the riots she was injured, and was taken to a hospital, and while she lay there she heard with agony that her son had been so active in the disturbances8 that a price had been put by the Government on his head.

But in his present trouble Barnaby had unexpectedly found an old friend. Joe Willet, just returned with one empty sleeve from his five years of soldiering in America, had been with the soldiers in the barracks when Barnaby had been brought there on his way to prison. He soon discovered who the boy's rioting companions had been and took them word of his plight9, for he knew it meant death to Barnaby unless he escaped.

Maypole Hugh, Tappertit and the hangman were all itching10 for more disorder11, and this news gave them an excuse. They went out at once and gathered the mob together to attack Newgate Prison and to release all the prisoners. They themselves led the procession. The house of Varden,[Pg 98] Dolly's father, was on their way; they stopped there, and, in spite of the lusty fight he made, carried the locksmith with them to compel him to open the prison gates with his tools.

This he refused to do, and they would doubtless have killed him, but for two men who dragged him from their clutches in the nick of time. These two men were the one-armed Joe and Edward Chester, just returned from the West Indies, whom the former had met by accident that day. They took the locksmith to his home, while the raging crowd brought furniture from neighboring houses and built a bonfire of it to burn down the great prison gate.

From this same mob Haredale himself had a narrow escape. He was staying at a house near by, which, belonging to a Catholic, was attacked. He tried to escape across the roof, but was recognized from the street by the giant Hugh. The cellar luckily had a back door opening into a lane, and with the assistance of Joe and Edward, who had hastened to the rear to aid him, he escaped that way.

Maypole Hugh, during this terrible time while the mob was burning houses everywhere and the soldiers firing on the rioters in every quarter of London, seemed to bear a charmed life. He rode a great brewer's horse and carried an ax, and wherever the fight was thickest there he was to be found.[Pg 99]

Never had such a sight been seen in London as when the prison gate fell and the crowd rushed from cell to cell, smashing the iron doors to release the prisoners, some of whom, being under sentence of death, had never expected to be free again. Rudge, the murderer, knowing nothing of what the uproar12 meant, suffered tortures, thinking in his guilty fear that the hordes13 were howling for his life. When he was finally released and in the open street he found Barnaby beside him.

They broke off their fetters14, and that night took refuge in a shed in a field. Next day Rudge sent Barnaby to try to find the blind man, his cunning partner, in whose wits he trusted to help them get away. Barnaby brought the blind man, and brought also Hugh, whom he found wounded in the street, but in so doing he was seen by Dennis, the hangman.

This villainous sneak15, knowing that the daring of the rioters had reached its limit, and that they must soon be scattered16 and captured, and thinking to buy pardon for himself by a piece of treachery, without delay brought soldiers, who surrounded the shed. The blind man, attempting to run away, was shot dead, and the others, Rudge, Hugh and poor, innocent Barnaby, were captured.

Then, well satisfied with his work, Dennis set out for the house where Simon Tappertit had confined Emma Haredale and Dolly Varden. The hangman wanted them well out of the way, so they[Pg 100] could not testify that he had helped to burn The Warren and to kidnap them. He had thought of a plan to have them taken to a boat in the river and conveyed where their friends would never find them, and to carry them off he chose Gashford, Lord George Gordon's secretary, who was the more willing as he had fallen in love with Emma's beauty.

But this wicked plan was never to be carried out. The very hour that Gashford came on this pitiless errand, while he roughly bade Emma prepare to depart, the doors flew open. Men poured in, led by Edward Chester, who knocked Gashford down; and in another moment Emma was clasped in her uncle's embrace, and Dolly, laughing and crying at the same time, fell into the arms of her father. Their place of concealment17 had been discovered a few hours before, and the three men had lost no time in planning their capture.

Dennis the hangman, in spite of his previous treachery, caught in the trap, was taken straight-way to jail, and Simon Tappertit, wounded and raging, watched Dolly's departure from the floor, where he lay with his wonderful legs, the pride and glory of his life, broken and crushed into shapeless ugliness. The famous riots were over. Lord George Gordon was a prisoner, hundreds were being arrested, and London was again growing quiet.

Mrs. Rudge, poor mother! at last found Barnaby[Pg 101] where he lay chained in his cell and condemned18 to death. Day after day she never left him, while Varden, the locksmith, and Haredale worked hard for his release. They carried his case even to the King, and at the last moment, while he rode on his way to execution, his pardon was granted.

Of the rest who died on the scaffold, Rudge, the murderer, was hanged, cursing all men to the last; Maypole Hugh died glorying in his evil life and with a jest on his lips, and Dennis, the hangman, was dragged to the gallows19 cringing20 and shrieking21 for mercy.

A few weeks later Emma Haredale was married to Edward Chester and sailed with him back to the West Indies, where he had established a flourishing business.

Before this, however, his father, Sir John Chester, was well punished for his hard heart and bad deeds by the discovery that Maypole Hugh, the hostler, was really his own unacknowledged son, whose mother he had deserted22 many years before. But even this blow, and the marriage of his son Edward to the niece of his lifelong enemy, did not soften23 him. He still hated Haredale with his old venom24 and loved to go to the ruins of The Warren and gloat over its destruction.

On one of these visits he met and taunted25 Haredale beyond all endurance. The two men drew their swords and fought a duel26, which ended by[Pg 102] Haredale's running Sir John through the heart. Haredale left England at once, entered a convent in a foreign country and spent his few remaining years in penance27 and remorse28.

Lord George Gordon, the poor deluded29 noble who had been the cause of all this disorder, finally died, harmless and quite crazy, in Newgate Prison. Simon Tappertit, in spite of his active part in the riots, was luckier, for he got off with two wooden legs and lived for many years, a corner boot-black.

Joe, of course, married Dolly Varden, and the locksmith gave her such a generous marriage portion that he was able to set up in business, succeeding his father as landlord of the old Maypole Inn, and there they lived long and happily.

Barnaby Rudge, after the death of his father, gradually became more rational and was everywhere a great favorite with old and young. He and his mother lived always on the Maypole farm, and there were never two more contented30 souls than they.

As for Grip, the raven31, he soon forgot his jail experience and grew sleek32 and glossy33 again. For a whole year he never uttered a word till one sunny morning he suddenly broke out with, "I'm a devil, I'm a devil, I'm a devil!" in extraordinary rapture34. From that time on he talked more and more, and as he was only one hundred and fifty years old when Barnaby was gray headed (a mere35 infant for a raven) he is very probably talking yet.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 disappearance ouEx5     
n.消失,消散,失踪
参考例句:
  • He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
  • Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。
2 apprentice 0vFzq     
n.学徒,徒弟
参考例句:
  • My son is an apprentice in a furniture maker's workshop.我的儿子在一家家具厂做学徒。
  • The apprentice is not yet out of his time.这徒工还没有出徒。
3 bribed 1382e59252debbc5bd32a2d1f691bd0f     
v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 );向(某人)行贿,贿赂
参考例句:
  • They bribed him with costly presents. 他们用贵重的礼物贿赂他。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • He bribed himself onto the committee. 他暗通关节,钻营投机挤进了委员会。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4 determined duszmP     
adj.坚定的;有决心的
参考例句:
  • I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
  • He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。
5 miserable g18yk     
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的
参考例句:
  • It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他,这是可耻的。
  • Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。
6 jeers d9858f78aeeb4000621278b471b36cdc     
n.操纵帆桁下部(使其上下的)索具;嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • They shouted jeers at him. 他们大声地嘲讽他。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The jeers from the crowd caused the speaker to leave the platform. 群众的哄笑使讲演者离开讲台。 来自辞典例句
7 braggart LW2zF     
n.吹牛者;adj.吹牛的,自夸的
参考例句:
  • However,Captain Prien was not a braggart.不过,普里恩舰长却不是一个夸大其词的人。
  • Sir,I don't seek a quarrel,not being a braggart.先生,我并不想寻衅挑斗,也不是爱吹牛的人。
8 disturbances a0726bd74d4516cd6fbe05e362bc74af     
n.骚乱( disturbance的名词复数 );打扰;困扰;障碍
参考例句:
  • The government has set up a commission of inquiry into the disturbances at the prison. 政府成立了一个委员会来调查监狱骚乱事件。
  • Extra police were called in to quell the disturbances. 已调集了增援警力来平定骚乱。
9 plight 820zI     
n.困境,境况,誓约,艰难;vt.宣誓,保证,约定
参考例句:
  • The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
  • She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。
10 itching wqnzVZ     
adj.贪得的,痒的,渴望的v.发痒( itch的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The itching was almost more than he could stand. 他痒得几乎忍不住了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • My nose is itching. 我的鼻子发痒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 disorder Et1x4     
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调
参考例句:
  • When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后,他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
  • It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。
12 uproar LHfyc     
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸
参考例句:
  • She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
  • His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。
13 hordes 8694e53bd6abdd0ad8c42fc6ee70f06f     
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落
参考例句:
  • There are always hordes of tourists here in the summer. 夏天这里总有成群结队的游客。
  • Hordes of journalists jostled for position outside the conference hall. 大群记者在会堂外争抢位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 fetters 25139e3e651d34fe0c13030f3d375428     
n.脚镣( fetter的名词复数 );束缚v.给…上脚镣,束缚( fetter的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • They were at last freed from the fetters of ignorance. 他们终于从愚昧无知的束缚中解脱出来。
  • They will run wild freed from the fetters of control. 他们一旦摆脱了束缚,就会变得无法无天。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 sneak vr2yk     
vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝);偷偷摸摸做;n.潜行;adj.暗中进行
参考例句:
  • He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
  • I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。
16 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
17 concealment AvYzx1     
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒
参考例句:
  • the concealment of crime 对罪行的隐瞒
  • Stay in concealment until the danger has passed. 把自己藏起来,待危险过去后再出来。
18 condemned condemned     
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
  • The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。
19 gallows UfLzE     
n.绞刑架,绞台
参考例句:
  • The murderer was sent to the gallows for his crimes.谋杀犯由于罪大恶极被处以绞刑。
  • Now I was to expiate all my offences at the gallows.现在我将在绞刑架上赎我一切的罪过。
20 cringing Pvbz1O     
adj.谄媚,奉承
参考例句:
  • He had a cringing manner but a very harsh voice.他有卑屈谄媚的神情,但是声音却十分粗沙。
  • She stepped towards him with a movement that was horribly cringing.她冲他走了一步,做出一个低三下四,令人作呕的动作。
21 shrieking abc59c5a22d7db02751db32b27b25dbb     
v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The boxers were goaded on by the shrieking crowd. 拳击运动员听见观众的喊叫就来劲儿了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They were all shrieking with laughter. 他们都发出了尖锐的笑声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
22 deserted GukzoL     
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
参考例句:
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
23 soften 6w0wk     
v.(使)变柔软;(使)变柔和
参考例句:
  • Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
  • This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。
24 venom qLqzr     
n.毒液,恶毒,痛恨
参考例句:
  • The snake injects the venom immediately after biting its prey.毒蛇咬住猎物之后马上注入毒液。
  • In fact,some components of the venom may benefit human health.事实上,毒液的某些成分可能有益于人类健康。
25 taunted df22a7ddc6dcf3131756443dea95d149     
嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 ); 嘲弄; 辱骂; 奚落
参考例句:
  • The other kids continually taunted him about his size. 其他孩子不断地耻笑他的个头儿。
  • Some of the girls taunted her about her weight. 有些女孩子笑她胖。
26 duel 2rmxa     
n./v.决斗;(双方的)斗争
参考例句:
  • The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
  • Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。
27 penance Uulyx     
n.(赎罪的)惩罪
参考例句:
  • They had confessed their sins and done their penance.他们已经告罪并做了补赎。
  • She knelt at her mother's feet in penance.她忏悔地跪在母亲脚下。
28 remorse lBrzo     
n.痛恨,悔恨,自责
参考例句:
  • She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
  • He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。
29 deluded 7cff2ff368bbd8757f3c8daaf8eafd7f     
v.欺骗,哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Don't be deluded into thinking that we are out of danger yet. 不要误以为我们已脱离危险。
  • She deluded everyone into following her. 她骗得每个人都听信她的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
30 contented Gvxzof     
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的
参考例句:
  • He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
  • The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。
31 raven jAUz8     
n.渡鸟,乌鸦;adj.乌亮的
参考例句:
  • We know the raven will never leave the man's room.我们知道了乌鸦再也不会离开那个男人的房间。
  • Her charming face was framed with raven hair.她迷人的脸上垂落着乌亮的黑发。
32 sleek zESzJ     
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢
参考例句:
  • Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
  • The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。
33 glossy nfvxx     
adj.平滑的;有光泽的
参考例句:
  • I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
  • She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。
34 rapture 9STzG     
n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜
参考例句:
  • His speech was received with rapture by his supporters.他的演说受到支持者们的热烈欢迎。
  • In the midst of his rapture,he was interrupted by his father.他正欢天喜地,被他父亲打断了。
35 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533