It was not owing to any lack of invitations that Ethel scarcely went anywhere that summer, but simply because of late she had lost all desire to do so. It is true that the Lovibonds and the Delaports and one or two other families at whose houses she had heretofore been a welcome visitor, nowadays saw fit to omit her name from the lists of those invited to their garden-parties and other festivities, but the major part of her friends were guilty of no such forgetfulness. To them her changed fortunes (for she could no longer be regarded as the heiress she once had been) made no apparent difference, and it was entirely1 her own fault that they saw so little of her.
But although Ethel chose to go scarcely anywhere, she was not without friends of her own age who came to seek her out in her self-imposed solitude2 and retail3 to her the very latest items of local gossip, consisting, as is usual in such cases, of a pretty equal admixture of fact and fiction. Thus it was that she came to learn of the violent quarrel which had taken place between Mr. Launce Keymer and his father, and of how the latter had cut down his son's allowance of three hundred a year to a pound a week. As a matter of course, a dozen different versions were afloat as to the origin of the quarrel, but, in reality, the facts of the case seemed to be known to no one except the two people concerned. Almost immediately afterwards Launce had left the town, and among all his intimates there was not one who professed4 to know where he had gone, or what had become of him.
All this was recounted to Ethel as a piece of news which would be likely to interest her as one who had known Launce Keymer and had met him several times in society in the course of the previous summer and winter. There was no faintest suspicion in the narrator's mind, so carefully had the secret of Ethel's brief engagement been kept, that for the latter her news might have an interest very different from any that she imagined.
When Ethel assured Miss Matilda that the wound from which she was suffering was one which time would quickly heal, she stated no more than she felt to be the fact. Between her and the man whose wife she had promised to become, everything was at an end; and although the relief was great--greater perhaps than she was aware of--she yet felt as if there was a void in her inner life which had never been there before. Her heart was empty. The doors of the temple were shut and the flame of the altar, which, truth to tell, had been of the frailest6 and feeblest, had been blown suddenly out. But Ethel turned away from brooding over the past and set her face resolutely7 towards the future.
And so the summer wore on until the crown of it was turned and autumn was drawing on apace. It was Tamsin, whose eyes were ever keen where her darling was concerned, who was the first to notice that the wild-rose tints8 of Ethel's cheeks were paling to the delicate ivory of the lily. She watched her closely for several days without saying a word to anyone. At length she made up her mind to speak. It was Miss Jane's month, and to her she went.
"The child will just end by moping herself into a decline," said the sturdy dame9 after a few preliminary remarks. "Look at her cheeks--not a morsel10 of colour left in 'em, but just as if it had all been washed out. And then, her appetite! I've watched her at meal-times, and she hardly eats more than enough to keep a canary alive. And when did she sing last, pray, without being asked--she that used to be as merry as a thrush about the house and needed no asking at all? And her laugh that used to do one's heart good to hear--that's dead and buried. Whoever hears it nowadays?"
"But what is to be done, Tamsin?" pleaded Miss Jane, thoroughly11 frightened by the picture the old woman had drawn12. "Where is a remedy to be found?"
"That is hardly for me to say, Miss Jane. But if Miss Ethel were a niece of mine, I'm pretty clear what I would do."
"And what would that be, Tamsin? You know that my sister and I are always pleased to listen to your suggestions."
"I should take her right away to the seaside, or to some place where she's never been before. It's change the girl wants. At her age they all need it. It's only when folk get elderly that they grow loth to leave their own chimney-corner. Young birds always want to try their wings; and to young folk it always seems as if there must be something better on the far side of the hill than on the side their eyes are used to."
"But the expense," faltered13 Miss Jane. "My sister and I have very little money by us, and our next dividends14 will not be due till the new year. And at the seaside one is robbed so terribly--at least, that is what we term it--although they, no doubt, call it by a different name."
Tamsin was running her fingers along the bottom of her apron15 in a sort of diffident way altogether unusual with her. "If it's only a question of expense, Miss Jane, that can soon be got over," she said. "As it happens, I've a matter of sixty pounds put away in the savings16 bank, not a penny of which will ever be the least bit of use to me--having neither chick nor child to leave it to. Take it, Miss Jane; it has been saved up out of the wages paid me by you and your sister. Take it and give the poor child the holiday she needs so sorely."
Rarely had Jane Thursby looked more distressed17 and perturbed18 than she did just then, and yet in her cheeks there was a delicate flush which for the passing moment made her seem almost a girl again. "How dare you, Tamsin, even to hint at such a thing!" she exclaimed in a voice which she vainly strove to render severe.
Then her lips began to tremble and a moisture shone in her eyes. Turning suddenly and laying a hand on each of Tamsin's shoulders, she said with a quaver in her voice: "You foolish but generous-hearted creature, cannot you see--cannot you understand how impossible it is that my sister and I should accept any such offer?"
"No, Miss Jane, with all deference19 to you, I can neither see nor understand why it should be so. The money was yours to begin with, and if you don't have it before, it will come back to you when I'm dead and gone. I arranged that with Lawyer Tullock half a year agone. It's only a trifle, I know, but it's enough to pay for a month or two at the seaside; and to what better use could it be put, I should like to know, than in helping20 to bring back the roses to Miss Ethel's cheeks. So do you and Miss Matilda just put your pride in your pocket and take it with an old woman's blessing21!"
"Oh no, we cannot, we cannot--God bless you all the same!" cried Miss Jane. "Of course I shall at once consult my sister, but I feel quite sure that in such a matter her sentiments will thoroughly coincide with my own."
Two vivid spots of red flamed out in Tamsin's cheeks. "And can you and Miss Matilda reconcile it to your consciences to sit down with folded hands and watch the poor child grow thinner and paler with every day that breaks, when the means by which health and strength might be given back to her are within your reach?" demanded the old woman in accents such as Miss Jane had never before heard from her lips. "Can you doubt the child was lent you so as to bring a sunshine into your lives which, but for her, you would never have known? And can you doubt that one day an account will be demanded of you by the Lender? When that day comes, what will your answer be?"
Without a word more Tamsin turned on her heel and flinging her apron up to her face, a sure sign that she was deeply moved, walked slowly out of the room, leaving Miss Jane like one petrified22.
Miss Matilda happened to be from home at the time, but she had not been five minutes in the house before her sister was pouring into her ears an account of the morning's interview.
"Nothing could justify23 Tamsin in speaking to you as she did," said Miss Matilda with a highly offended air, when Miss Jane had come to an end. "It was most reprehensible24 on her part. She knows that she is privileged and she presumes on the fact. I agree with you that it is quite out of the question that we should accept her offer."
"But what if the dear girl is really pining and losing her appetite, as Tamsin states?" queried25 Miss Jane.
"Even in that case, it is impossible that we should make use of her money. Some other way must be found. But let us first satisfy ourselves that Tamsin is not alarming herself and us unnecessarily."
Accordingly for the next two days the sisters kept silent but unobtrusive watch over Ethel, a fact wholly unsuspected by her.
On the forenoon of the third day, Ethel being out of earshot in the garden, said Miss Jane to her sister: "I am greatly afraid that Tamsin was fully5 justified26 in what she said to me about the dear girl. Her appetite has certainly failed her, she moves languidly about the house, and has lost all, or nearly all, that sunny vivacity27 and liveliness of disposition28 which used to be one of her greatest charms. We must have been very blind, sister, not to have noticed all this for ourselves."
"It certainly seems strange that we failed to do so," returned Miss Matilda. "But the change in her has been so gradual as to be all but imperceptible, especially to us who are in the habit of seeing her from hour to hour every day of our lives. And besides"--with a sigh--"we have had so many things of late to engage our attention and occupy our thoughts. Still, I admit that it ought not to have been left for Tamsin to see and point out the change."
"Now that we have satisfied ourselves that there is a change, the question remains29, what steps ought we, or can we, take in order to remedy it?"
"Tamsin's offer is not to be thought of. On that point my mind is made up. We must devise some other plan. Let us think."
Whenever Miss Matilda made use of this formula her sister knew that it was intended to apply to the speaker alone, for it was tacitly admitted between the sisters that Miss Matilda was the stronger-minded of the two, and that in all matters of doubt or difficulty her decision should be accepted as final. And Miss Jane was quite content that it should be so. Her knowledge of her own deficiencies awoke no slightest feeling of bitterness in her breast; rather indeed, was she proud of having a sister whose powers of mind and force of character were so superior to her own.
So now, during the silence that ensued, she cheerfully left it to her sister to mentally evolve a way out of the difficulty in which they found themselves, never for a moment doubting that she would succeed in doing so.
Ten minutes might have gone by when Miss Matilda, looking up from her work and pausing with her needle in mid-air, said: "I see one way, and only one, out of our difficulty."
"Yes?" remarked her sister tentatively.
"And that is to obtain a loan of fifty pounds on the security of our mother's jewellery (which is good, but old-fashioned), and the silver tea and coffee service given us by Uncle Henry on our twenty-first birthday."
"O Mattie, what a desecration30!" exclaimed Miss Jane, her underlip beginning to quiver as it always did when she was much moved. "Desecration! I fail to understand you, sister."
"In having to pawn31 dear mamma's jewels."
"No such idea entered my mind. What I said was, that we should endeavour to obtain a loan on them in conjunction with the service. It seemed to me that Mr. Daykin, the banker, who has known us ever since we came to St. Oswyth's, would perhaps not object to advance the sum I have named on my frankly32 explaining to him the purpose for which we require it."
"That of course would make all the difference. And certainly Mr. Daykin has always treated us very nicely; besides which, he looks the personification of benevolence33."
"So did that elderly man who called at Vale View last year with a forged letter of introduction and obtained twenty pounds from us, and yet turned out to be nothing but a common impostor. I merely recall the fact as a proof that it is not safe to rely upon looks alone as an index of character. But that has nothing to do with Mr. Daykin, whom I believe to be a thoroughly good and kind-hearted man."
"Still, it will not be a pleasant errand on which to go to him."
"That cannot be helped. In this life duty and inclination34 by no means always go hand in hand."
"When do you purpose calling on him?"
"Some time in the course of to-morrow."
"Of course I shall accompany you."
"Thank you all the same, sister, but I think I should prefer to go alone. Five minutes will suffice for all I have to say to Mr. Daykin, and less than that for his answer. I shall take the jewels with me and one or two pieces of the service, just enough to enable him to estimate the value of the whole."
Miss Jane felt inwardly relieved at the thought of not having to face the banker on such an errand, while reproaching herself for not insisting that it was her bounden duty to accompany her sister.
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1
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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retail
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| v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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frailest
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| 脆弱的( frail的最高级 )； 易损的； 易碎的 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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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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dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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vivacity
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| n.快活，活泼，精神充沛 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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30
desecration
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| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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31
pawn
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| n.典当，抵押，小人物，走卒；v.典当，抵押 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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33
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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34
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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