To the servant who responded to his summons--moderated for fear of annoying the sick man--he said, while handing him his card, "Take this to Lady Clinton with my compliments, and tell her that I have called to inquire about my uncle's health."
It was a curious and by no means a pleasant sensation to Burgo to find himself left standing3 on the mat in the entrance-hall of the house which, nearly ever since he could remember, he had regarded in the light of home, and to realise that he was now looked upon as nothing more than an alien and an outcast.
The man was not gone more than a couple of minutes. "Lady Clinton begs to inform Mr. Brabazon," he said, "that Sir Everard is neither better nor worse than usual."
Could anything be more vague and unsatisfactory? But that it was so of set purpose he felt fully4 assured. Then, before he knew what had happened, he found his card back in his fingers. Although the man did not say so, her ladyship had evidently refused to receive it. It was plain that she was bent5 on insulting him as often as he should afford her an opportunity of doing so. He had to set his teeth hard in order to keep back the imprecation that rose to his lips as he tore the card in a dozen pieces and flung the fragments from him.
Three days later he called again. This time he sent in no card, but contented6 himself with a verbal message. The answer brought him was in precisely7 the same terms as before: "Sir Everard is neither better nor worse than usual." This time he was more sad than angry when he turned away from Great Mornington Street.
He felt that it would be hard, very hard, to be compelled to break entirely8 with his uncle. Not once, but fifty times, he said to himself: "This is not his doing, but hers. He would never treat me so of his own accord. I durst wager9 twenty to one he has never been told that I called; and even were I to write to him, the chances are that my letter would not reach him. Still, it's worth the attempt, for I want him to know that, although he has thought well to cast me adrift, my affection for him is robust11 enough to survive all the shocks of chance and change. He may, if he so choose, sever12 the chain which binds13 him to me, but he cannot, against my will, sever the one which binds me to him!"
A few days later Burgo wrote to Sir Everard as under:
"My dear Uncle,--You will, I hope, need no assurance on my part that I was extremely grieved to hear from Lady Clinton that since your return from abroad your health has been in such an unsatisfactory state.
"Since my interview with her ladyship I have called twice in Great Mornington Street, but only to be told that there was no improvement in your condition.
"I had hoped on one or the other occasion of my calling to have been permitted to see you, if only for a few minutes, and that I, your sister's son, to whom for the last eighteen years you have filled a father's part, should be debarred from doing so seems indeed hard to credit.
"That I have done anything to forfeit14 a continuance of your affection and esteem15 I am wholly unaware16, and in conclusion I can but assure you that the dearest hope I have is that the bond which has so long existed between us should remain intact and wholly unaffected by any extraneous17 circumstances whatever.
"Ever your affectionate Nephew,
"Burgo Brabazon."
Epistolary composition was not much in Burgo's line, and the missive to his uncle was written and altered and rewritten at least a dozen times before the final fair copy was made and despatched, and even then he was far from satisfied with it.
But after all it proved to be so much labour in vain. By the first post next morning his letter came back to him enclosed in an envelope addressed in a feminine hand, but without an added word of any kind inside. It had been opened, and that might be taken as proof positive that it had been read--but by whom? Had it ever reached his uncle? In view of her husband's invalid18 condition might not Lady Clinton have taken upon herself to open and attend to his correspondence? Nothing seemed more likely. In any case, whether Sir Everard had read the letter or whether he had not, he, Burgo, was powerless to do more than he had done in the way of bringing himself and his uncle together again. He had been baulked at every turn. A resolute19 and unscrupulous woman had come between them, and against her poisoned arrows he was helpless. As he stood up and tore his letter across and across before flinging it into the fire he cursed Lady Clinton in his heart.
A few days later, as he was taking one of those long solitary20 rambles21 after nightfall into the habit of which he had fallen of late, finding himself; without any intention on his part, close by Great Mornington Street, he turned into it and strolled slowly along till he came opposite his uncle's house. Unlike several neighbouring houses, it was almost in darkness. There was a light in the entrance hall, but beyond that only one window in the whole frontage of the house was illumined from within, and that Burgo knew to be the window of a cosy22 little sitting-room23 known as "the study," and in bygone days sacred to his uncle's own use. Of course it was quite possible, and indeed most probable, that the back drawing-room and other rooms which faced the opposite way were lighted up, but regarded from the street, No. 22 looked distinctly dismal24 and forbidding. Still, there was nothing funereal25 about it, as his first glance at it told him, and the same moment his heart gave a great throb26 of relief. There had been a certain vague dread27 upon him as he came slowly--almost reluctantly down the street. What if when he got opposite the house, he should find it staring out at the night with sightless eyes, its every blind drawn28 down, telling of the presence within of that dread visitant who comes to each of us in turn! Why that dread should have haunted him to-night more than at another time, he did not know.
"Fact is, I'm hipped--off colour," he said to himself, "and am getting all sorts of ridiculous notions into my head. It's high time for me to buckle29 to work of some kind. Nothing like work, I've been told, for curing the blues30. Well, I suppose I shall have every chance of testing the remedy as soon as I've succeeded in finding work of some kind to do."
He had been standing staring at the house for some two or three minutes, and he now turned to go back up the street. A dozen yards brought him to a lamp, and he was full in the light reflected from it when an exclamation31 from a man who had been on the point of passing him arrested his attention. The man came to a dead halt and involuntarily Burgo did the same.
"Sakes alive! if it ain't Mr. Brabazon!" exclaimed the other. "I thought I couldn't be mistaken," and the same instant Burgo recognised the speaker.
It was Benny Hines, who, many years before, had been Sir Everard's coachman, till a fall which broke his right wrist had disabled him for driving. From that date he had been permanently32 pensioned by the baronet, the only duty exacted in return being that he and his wife should act as caretakers of the mansion33 in Great Mornington Street whenever Sir Everard was abroad, or after those families to whom it was occasionally let for the London season had, with the coming of autumn, winged their flight elsewhere.
It was Benny who had taught Burgo to "handle the ribbons" when the latter was a lad, and his memory was stored with reminiscences of many pleasant hours spent in the old man's company.
"Why, Benny, old friend, and how are you after all this long time?" said Burgo, as he gave the ex-coachman's hand a cordial grip. "It must be quite four years since you and I parted last."
"Four years and eight months, Mr. Burgo."
"So long as that! Yes, it must be. I remember it was just before my uncle took it into his head to go and live abroad. You look as perky as a redbreast on a snowy morning, and not a day older than when I saw you last. Missis quite well?"
"Better in health than temper, sir. As I tell her, she has too much of her own way, and that's allus bad for a woman. I made a foolish start, sir; I began by indulging her over much, and now--well, well!" He sighed and pulled down his waistcoat with an air of comic martyrdom.
Burgo laughed. "If I remember rightly, the boot's on the other leg, Benny. I believe you're a regular Bluebeard at home, and that you frighten that little wife of yours half out of her wits."
There was a humorous twinkle in Benny's eye. "It's them little mites34 o' women like my wife, Mr. Burgo, as are allus the most difficult to manage. Talk about tempers--lor! Now, if I had only married some big, strapping35, grenadier-kind of woman----"
"You would have had the life thrashed out of you years ago. But we need not stand here. You were going this way. I'll take a turn with you. To me one road's the same as another." Then after a pause, as they paced slowly along side by side: "Have you seen anything of my uncle and his bride since their arrival home?"
"Very little, sir. You see, they don't either of them go out much. Sir Everard, I'm sorry to say, seems to be slowly breaking up. But no doubt you have observed that for yourself, sir, and think it's like my imperance to speak of it."
Thereupon Burgo proceeded to enlighten the old man to some extent with regard to the relations which now existed between himself and the inmates36 of No. 22.
Benny gave vent37 to a prolonged whistle. "Excuse my saying so, Mr. Burgo, but I'm afraid it was a bad day's work for you, sir, when your uncle brought home a wife."
Burgo shrugged38 his shoulders.
"I would give much to know how my uncle really is," he said, "and--and, in point of fact, to learn how affairs in general are going on at No. 22."
"Then, sir, you have lighted on the very person who can tell you a good deal of what you want to know."
"Do you mean to say that you are that person, Benny?"
"I am, sir."
"You astonish me. But how do you happen to be able to do what you say?"
"It's very simple, sir. My wife's niece is parlour-maid at No. 22. She pops in on us most Sunday evenings, if it's only for a half-hour, and being in her way as sharp as a needle, there ain't much as escapes her, or that we don't hear about."
"Then can you tell me this: Is my uncle really as ill as her ladyship gives me to understand he is?"
"As I said before, sir, my old master seems to be gradually breaking up. It's not that he's in any pain, or has even a bad cough, or has to keep to his room. It's just, as far as I can make out from what Polly tells us, as if he was slowly fading away--gradually dying out, as a lamp does when the oil begins to run low. All his old go and energy seem to have left him; he's as mild as milk, and could hardly say 'Bo' to a goose. Another bad sign is that nothing seems to tempt10 his appetite. Polly says, and I suppose she has heard the butler say so, that he doesn't eat as much in the twenty-four hours as a man in fairish appetite will eat at one meal."
"Has he any medical advice?"
"Bless you, yes, sir. Dr. Hoskins calls every day."
"Does he never go out of doors?"
"When the weather is very fine, the brougham or barouche is ordered round about four o'clock, and her ladyship and he go out together. Sir Everard is dropped at his club, while her ladyship shows herself in the Park for an hour. Then Sir Everard is picked up and they drive back home. Other days the baronet never crosses the doorstep."
"Has my uncle any nurse, or any regular attendant besides his valet?"
"He has no nurse but her ladyship, and, by all accounts, he couldn't have a better. She seems to think nothing a trouble. She it is that allus gives Sir Everard his medicine and things, and orders this or the other little dainty to be got ready for him by way of a surprise, and just to tempt his appetite. Day or night, it seems all one to her, she's allus on the spot."
After this they walked on for some time in silence, while Burgo strove to digest what had just been told him. It was certainly one of the last things he would have looked to be told about Lady Clinton, that she made an affectionate wife and a devoted39 nurse to a man whom it was hardly conceivable she should have married for anything save his money and his rank.
"You remember, Mr. Burgo," resumed Benny after a time, "what a man the guv'nor used to be for having his own way?"
"I have not forgotten."
"Allus very quiet--never any bluster--but his own way he would have. He was one of them men as can't abear opposition40. His own way seemed better to him than anybody else's--not, mind you, sir, that it allus was. I could have often proved him in the wrong if he would have listened to argyment, but that was just what he wouldn't do."
"Well, what then?"
"Merely this, sir, that if what I hear is true--and I've no call to doubt it--then a mighty41 change must have come over Sir Everard. Nowadays he's no will about anything; her ladyship keeps it for him under lock and key. Her will is her husband's will and her own too. Everything's done through her. Sir Everard daren't--or if he dare he won't--give an order direct to any of the servants. What he does is to say, 'My dear, don't you think that such-and-such a thing ought to be done?' or, 'What is your idea, love, about so-and-so?' And then her ladyship decides, and whichever way she decides, it seems all one to Sir Everard. And they do say that his eyes follow her about for all the world as if he was frightened of her, and dared hardly call his soul his own. Oh lord! oh lord!" groaned42 the old fellow, "what a change to have come over a man, and all the doing of one woman!"
Burgo could have groaned in unison43.
"And yet you say that, as a nurse, no one could be kinder or more attentive44 than she is?" he presently remarked.
"Begging your pardon, Mr. Burgo, but that may be only part of her artfulness. Some women, sir, are the very----" A discreet45 cough finished his sentence.
Before Burgo and the old man parted they exchanged addresses. Benny was exhorted46 to encourage the gossiping proclivities47 of his wife's niece anent those matters in which Burgo was interested. He, Burgo, would not fail to look him up from time to time, and draw upon his budget of news. Should any information of an alarming kind, bearing on Sir Everard's health, reach him, Mr. Brabazon was to be communicated with without loss of time.
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1
imperative
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| n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的 | |
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2
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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3
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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4
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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5
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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6
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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7
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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8
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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9
wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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10
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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11
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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12
sever
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| v.切开，割开；断绝，中断 | |
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13
binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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14
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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15
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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16
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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17
extraneous
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| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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18
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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19
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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20
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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21
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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22
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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23
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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24
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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25
funereal
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| adj.悲哀的；送葬的 | |
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26
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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28
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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29
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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30
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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31
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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32
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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33
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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34
mites
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| n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨 | |
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35
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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36
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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37
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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38
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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39
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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40
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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41
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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42
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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43
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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44
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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45
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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46
exhorted
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| v.劝告，劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
proclivities
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| n.倾向，癖性( proclivity的名词复数 ) | |
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