Ann Hopley astonished the undertaker. She gave orders for three coffins6: and they must be of the best, she said, if it cost her a hundred pounds. Her poor husband and she had saved money, and she should like to spend it on him.
There was again a battle with the clerk. It had been bad enough when Ann Hopley chose the ground for Mrs. Grey's little child, within the precincts of that belonging to the Andinnian family; but to insist upon it that her own husband, a servant, should also lie there, was a piece of presumption7 the equal of which the clerk had never before heard of. However, Sir Karl, not waiting to be appealed to this time, called on the clerk, and said the woman might bury her husband there if she pleased; he did not think it right in people to assume exclusiveness after death, whatever they might do in life. The clerk lifted his hands when Sir Karl's back was turned: radical8 notions such as these would tend to demoralize the best conservative community.
It was while his brother was lying dead, that Sir Karl--truly Sir Karl now--heard from his wife. She was ready to come to Foxwood, as Mrs. Cleeve was about to return to Winchester, and she appointed the following day, Tuesday, for Sir Karl to fetch her. It happened to be the day fixed9 for the funeral, and Karl wrote back to say that he could not leave home that day, but would fetch her on the Wednesday instead. To this he received no reply; and he of course intended to abide10 by it.
Tuesday came. About twelve o'clock in the day the funeral turned out of the Maze11 gates; sundry12 curious ones amid the juveniles13 being assembled to witness the exit. A funeral was not an every-day event at Foxwood: and, besides, the Maze had been exciting interest of late. It was a simple funeral. The plumed14 hearse and one mourning coach; the undertaker and carriers walking. In the coach went Ann Hopley, smothered15 in a hood16, with Hewitt to bear her company. Foxwood said it was very neighbourly and civil of the butler: but Miss Blake felt sure he had received private orders from Sir Karl, and she wondered what Sir Karl was coming to.
Now Lucy, Lady Andinnian, looking at things as she had been looking, poor wife, for some time past, was very resentful that Sir Karl would not fetch her on the day she named. She reasoned with herself that his refusal must arise from one of two causes: either he was neglectfully indifferent; or else he had some engagement with Mrs. Grey: for, of deterring17 occupation, she believed he possessed18 none. Proudly angry, she determined19 to take her own way, and return home without him.
Accordingly, on the Tuesday she started with her maid from London. But, like many a one who does things in off-hand inexperience, she made a mistake, and took the wrong train. That is, she took one that did not stop at Foxwood. Lucy discovered this after she was in the carriage, and found they must get out at Basham. Leaving Aglaé and the luggage to wait for the next train, which would not be up for two hours, Lucy took one of the waiting flies, and drove on.
Lucy was full of thoughts and anticipations20. She wondered where her husband was, what she should find him doing, and what excuse he would make. It lasted her all the way: and they were close on Foxwood village before anything occurred to arouse her. She woke up to find the driver, who was a Foxwood man, had come very nearly to a standstill, and was staring at a funeral procession just then entering the churchyard.
The first object that caught Lucy's eye was Hewitt. Hewitt attired22 as a mourner, and following the coffin5. For a moment Lucy's heart beat quicker, and her gaze was strained: who could it be that was inside Gradually her eyes took in the whole of the scene: the spectators collected in the distance, watching; the person enveloped23 in a silk hood and cloak at Hewitt's side: Mr. Sumnor in his surplice.
All in a moment, as it seemed, just as the clergyman began to read, springing she could not tell from whence, there advanced Sir Karl Andinnian. He was in black attire21, but wore neither crape band nor scarf; and it might have been thought he was only an ordinary spectator. Hewitt, however, drew a step back to give his master the place of precedence, as though out of proper respect, as did Ann Hopley: and Sir Karl took off his hat and stood there, close to the coffin, his head bent24 low.
"How very strange it is!" thought Lucy. "Who can be in the coffin?--and who is the woman in the black silk cloak and hood? There is Mr. Smith, the agent, too!--he is standing25 near with his hat off now."
"Lucy! Can it be you? We did not expect you until to-morrow."
The voice was Miss Blake's. St. Jerome's devotees were no more free from curiosity than their inferiors; and a few of them had chanced to be taking a walk past the churchyard just at the critical moment; of whom Miss Blake was one.
"I thought I would come to-day, and not give Sir Karl the trouble of fetching me," replied Lucy. "Aglaé is coming on from Basham by the next train with the luggage. How are you, Theresa? Will you come inside?"
Miss Blake's answer was to open the fly door, seat herself by Lady Andinnian, and turn her gaze on the churchyard. The scene bore a charm for her as well as for Lucy.
"Why, that's Sir Karl there!" she exclaimed in surprise, the spectators' heads having intercepted26 her view while on the ground.
"Yes," assented27 Lucy. "And there's Hewitt--and Sir Karl's agent--and a mourner with her face hidden. Who is it that is being buried, Theresa?"
"Why, it's only the old gardener at the Maze. As to Hewitt, I suppose he had to go to keep the woman in countenance28. The old man was her husband, you know."
"But what should bring Sir Karl there?"
"And standing first, as though he were chief mourner!" commented Miss Blake, devouring29 the scene with her condemning30 eyes, and giving the reins31 to her thoughts. "I don't know why he is there, Lucy. There are several things that I have not attempted to understand for some time past."
"Is not that the part of the churchyard where the Andinnians lie?-- where their vault32 is?"
"It is. But Hopley is being buried there, you see: and that infant, that you know of, was buried there. The clerk is in a fine way over it, people say: but Sir Karl ruled that it should be so."
Thoughts connected with Mrs. Grey, and the inexplicable33 manner in which Sir Karl seemed to yield to her humours, even to the honouring of her servants, flashed into Lucy's brain. It did not tend to appease34 her previous anger against him.
"Why could not Sir Karl come for me to-day, Theresa?"
"It is of no use to ask me, Lucy. Sir Karl does not explain his motives35 to me. This funeral perhaps kept him," added Miss Blake, sarcastically36, unconscious how very near she was to the truth. "After you left he seemed almost to live at the Maze. Last week he was there, as I believe, for a whole day and a whole night. I must speak, Lucy. Out of regard to decency37 that girl ought to quit the Maze, or you quit Foxwood."
"Drive on," cried Lucy to the coachman, in a tone as though the world and all things in it were grating on her. And the man did not dare to disobey the sharp command.
But Miss Blake preferred to get out; and did so. She had said what she did say from good motives: and she took credit for not making worse of the account--as she might have done. Not a word would she say about his being called up in the night--and she knew now that it was to the Maze he was summoned. With her whole heart she pitied Lucy.
"May I be forgiven if my duty ought to lie in silence!" she muttered as she joined the Miss St. Henrys and others in the crowd. "Lucy seems to have no friend about her in the World but me."
The interment was over. The procession--what was left of it--went its way back again, Hewitt and Ann Hopley side by side in the coach. Sir Karl strolled away over the fields, and presently found himself joined by Mr. Smith.
"So your mission at Foxwood is over," he sadly cried to the latter. "I have no more need to make believe I want an agent now."
"Ay, it's over, Sir Karl. Better for him almost that he had fallen in the fray38 off Weymouth; that I had never saved him; than have lived to what his life has since been."
"Better for him had he never come to the Maze," rejoined Sir Karl.
"It was none of my doing. As you know, sir."
"No: but you opposed his leaving it."
"As he was here, I did. I had but his interest at heart, Sir Karl: although I know you have thought the contrary. The chances were that he could not have got away in safety. In his own person he dared not have risked it; and a decrepid figure like Old Hopley's must have attracted attention. But for that detective's pitching upon Foxwood to make a hunting place of, I believe Sir Adam would have been most secure here."
"Well, it is over, with all its risks and chances," sighed Karl. "He did not forget you when he was dying. His wish was that you should enjoy a moderate annuity39 during your life: which I have undertaken to pay."
The agent's thanks, and they appeared very heartfelt and genuine, were cut short by the approach of Mr. Moore. He joined them as they walked along; and the conversation fell on the illness of the deceased.
"There was no real hope from the beginning, once the disease had set fairly in," cried the surgeon. "There never is. In Sir Adam's case, the terrible anxiety he endured day and night brought it on, and caused it to develop with unusual rapidity: there was not a shadow of chance for him."
"You did not tell me that," said Karl.
"I was not quite sure of it myself at first: though I suspected it. I did not tell you, you say, Sir Karl: well, no, not in so many words: but your own eyes might have seen it as its progress went on. Sir Adam knew it himself, I fancy, as surely as I."
"Do you remember saying you wished he could have further advice?" asked Karl. "Did not that prove that you had hope!"
"I wished it chiefly for the satisfaction of those connected with him. All the advice in the world could not--as I suspected then, and soon saw--have availed to save his life. We sometimes say of people, death has been a happy release for them. In his case, Sir Karl, it has been most unquestionably so: he is at rest."
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1
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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dissertation
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| n.（博士学位）论文，学术演讲，专题论文 | |
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3
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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rheumatism
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| n.风湿病 | |
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coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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6
coffins
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| n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物 | |
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7
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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8
radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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9
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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juveniles
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| n.青少年( juvenile的名词复数 )；扮演少年角色的演员；未成年人 | |
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14
plumed
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| 饰有羽毛的 | |
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15
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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16
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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deterring
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| v.阻止，制止( deter的现在分词 ) | |
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18
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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19
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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anticipations
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| 预期( anticipation的名词复数 )； 预测； （信托财产收益的）预支； 预期的事物 | |
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21
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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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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intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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27
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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29
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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30
condemning
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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31
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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32
vault
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| n.拱形圆顶，地窖，地下室 | |
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33
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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34
appease
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| v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足 | |
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35
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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36
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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37
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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38
fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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39
annuity
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| n.年金；养老金 | |
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