Mr. Plantagenet had missed his son by walking through the archway of the Fellows' Quad1, instead of through the Brew2 House. He emerged from the college by the big front gate. The High Street was lighted and crowded; so he preferred to turn down the dark lanes and alleys3 at the back of Christ Church, till he came out upon St. Aldate's and the road to the river. Somewhat sobered as he still was by the unwonted excitement of that curious episode, he found the sherry once more beginning to gain the upper hand; it was hard for him to walk erect4 and straight along the pavement of St. Aldate's, where a few small shops still stood open—for it was Saturday night—and a few people still loitered about in little knots at the corners. With an effort, however, he managed to maintain the perpendicular5 till he reached Folly6 Bridge; then he turned in at the wicket that leads down from the main road to the little tow-path along the dark and silent bank of the swollen7 Isis.
But if Edmund Plantagenet's legs were a trifle unsteady, his heart was all afire with wrath8 and remorse9 at this dramatic interlude. For the first time in so many years he began to think bitterly to himself of his wasted opportunities and ruined talents. Such as they were, he had really and truly wasted them; and though perhaps, after all, they were never much to boast of, time had been when Edmund Plantagenet thought highly indeed of them. Nay10, in his heart of hearts the broken old dancing-master thought highly of them still, in spite of everything during all those long years. There were nights when he lay awake sobering, on his hard bed at home, and repeated lovingly to himself the 'Stanzas11 to Evelina' which he had contributed ages ago to the 'Book of Beauty,' or the 'Lines on the Death of Wordsworth' which he printed at the time in the Yorkshire Magazine, with a profound conviction that they contained, after all, some of the really most beautiful and least appreciated poetry in the English language. As a rule, Mr. Plantagenet was fairly contented12 with himself and his relics13 of character; it was society—harsh, unfeeling, stupid society—that he blamed most of all for his misfortunes and failures. Still, to every one of us there come now and then moments of genuine self-revelation, when the clouds of egotism and perverse14 misrepresentation, through which we usually behold15 our own personality in a glorified16 halo, fade away before the piercing light of truer introspective analysis, forced suddenly upon us by some disillusioning17 incident or accident of the moment; and then, for one brief flash, we have the misery18 and agony of really seeing ourselves as others see us. Such days may Heaven keep kindly19 away from all of us! Such a day Edmund Plantagenet had now drearily20 fallen upon. He wandered wildly down the dark bank toward Iflley lasher21, his whole soul within him stirred and upheaved with volcanic22 energy by the shame and disgrace of that evening's degradation23. The less often a man suffers from these bruts of self-humiliation, the more terrible is their outburst when they finally do arrive to him. Edmund Plantagenet, loathing24 and despising his present self, by contrast with that younger and idealized image which had perhaps never really existed at all, stumbled in darkness and despair along that narrow path, between the flooded river on one side and the fence that enclosed the damp water-meadows on the other, still more than half drunk, and utterly25 careless where he went or what on earth might happen to him.
The river in parts had overflowed26 its banks, and the towing-path for some yards together was often under water. But Mr. Plantagenet, never pausing, walked, slipped, and staggered through the slush and mud, very treacherous27 under foot, knowing nothing, heeding28 nothing, save that the coolness about his ankles seemed to revive him a little and to sober his head as he went floundering through it. By-and-by he reached the Long Bridges—a range of frail29 planks30 with wooden side-rails, that lead the tow-path across two or three broad stretches of back-water from the Isis. He straggled across somehow, looking down every now and then into the swirling31 water, where the stars were just reflected in quick flashing eddies32, while all the rest about looked black as night, but, oh! so cool and inviting33 to his fevered forehead. So he wandered on, fiercely remorseful34 within, burning hot without, till he came abreast35 of a row of old pollard-willows36, close beside the edge of the little offshoot at Iffley lasher. The bank was damp, but he sat down upon it all the same, and grew half drowsy37 as he sat with the mingled38 effects of wine and indignation.
After awhile he rose, and stumbled on across a bend of the meadows till he reached the river. Just there the bank was very slippery and treacherous. Even a sober man could hardly have kept his footing on it in so dark a night. 'One false step,' Edmund Plantagenet thought to himself with wild despair, 'and there would be an end of all this fooling. One false step—and splash! A man may slip any day. No suicide in tumbling into a swollen river of a moonless night when the bank's all flooded.'
Still, on and on he walked, having staggered now far, far below Iffley, and away towards the neighbourhood of Sandford lasher. Slippery bank all the distance, and head growing dizzier and dizzier each moment with cold and wet, as well as wine and anger.
At last, of a sudden, a dull splash in the river! Bargemen, come up late in the evening from Abingdon, and laid by now for the night under shelter of the willows on the opposite side two hundred yards down, heard the noise distinctly. Smoking their pipes on deck very late, it being a fine evening, one says to the other:
'Sounds precious like a man, Bill!'
Bill, philosophically40 taking a long pull, answers calmly at the end:
'More liker a cow, Tom. None of our business, anyhow. Get five bob, mayhap, for bringin' in the body. Hook it up easy enough to-morrow mornin?
Next morning, sure enough, a body might be seen entangled41 among the reeds under the steep mud-bank on the Berkshire shore. Bill, taking it in tow and bringing it up to Oxford42, got five shillings from the county for his lucky discovery. At the inquest, thought it wise, however, to omit mentioning the splash heard on deck overnight, or that queer little episode of philosophical39 conversation.
The coroner's jury, for that end empanelled, attentively43 considering the circumstances which surrounded the last end of Edmund Plantagenet, late of Chiddingwick, Surrey, had more especially to inquire into the question whether or not deceased at the time he met with his sudden death was perfectly44 sober. Deceased, it seemed, was father of Mr. Richard Plantagenet, of Durham College, who identified the body. On the night of the accident the unfortunate gentleman had dined at his own lodgings45 in Grove46 Street, and afterwards went round to take a glass of wine at Mr. T. M. Faussett's rooms in Durham. Mr. Faussett testified that deceased when he left loose rooms was perfectly sober. Mr. Trevor Gillingham, with, the other undergraduates and the college porter, unanimously bore witness to the same effect. Persons in St. Aldate's who had seen deceased on his way to Folly Bridge corroborated47 this evidence as to sobriety of demeanour. Deceased, though apparently48 preoccupied49, walked as straight as an arrow. On the whole, the coroner considered, all the circumstances seemed to show that Mr. Edmund Plantagenet, who was not a man given to early hours, had strolled off for an evening walk by the river bank to cool himself after dinner, and had slipped and fallen—being a heavy man—owing to the flooded and dangerous state of the tow-path. Jury returned a verdict in accordance with the evidence—accidental death—with a rider suggesting that the Conservators should widen and extend the tow-path.
But Trevor Gillingham, meeting Faussett in quad after Hall that evening, observed to him confidentially50 in a very low voice:
'By Jove, old man, we've had a precious narrow squeak51 of it! I only hope the others will be discreetly52 silent. We might all have got sent down in a lump together for our parts in this curious little family drama. But all's well that end's well, as the Immortal53 One has it. Might make a capital scene, don't you know, some day—in one of my future tragedies.'
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1
quad
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| n.四方院；四胞胎之一；v.在…填补空铅 | |
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2
brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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6
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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stanzas
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| 节，段( stanza的名词复数 ) | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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disillusioning
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| 使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭( disillusion的现在分词 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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drearily
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| 沉寂地，厌倦地，可怕地 | |
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lasher
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| n.堰，堰下的水溏，鞭打者；装石工 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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24
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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swirling
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的现在分词 ) | |
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eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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remorseful
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| adj.悔恨的 | |
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abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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41
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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43
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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44
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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45
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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46
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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47
corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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48
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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50
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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51
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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52
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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53
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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