Crummie-Toddie was but twelve miles from Killancodlem, Mrs. Montacute Jones's highland19 seat; and it was this vicinity which first induced Lord Silverbridge to join the party. Mabel Grex was to be at Killancodlem, and, determined20 as he still was to ask her to be his wife, he would make this his opportunity. Of real opportunity there had been none at Richmond. Since he had had his ring altered and had sent it to her there had come but a word or two of answer. "What am I to say? You unkindest of men! To keep it or to send it back would make me equally miserable21. I shall keep it till you are married, and then give it to your wife." This affair of the ring had made him more intent than ever. After that he heard that Isabel Boncassen would also be at Killancodlem, having been induced to join Mrs. Montacute Jones's swarm22 of visitors. Though he was dangerously devoid23 of experience, still he felt that this was unfortunate. He intended to marry Mabel Grex. And he could assure himself that he thoroughly loved her. Nevertheless he liked making love to Isabel Boncassen. He was quite willing to marry and settle down, and looked forward with satisfaction to having Mabel Grex for his wife. But it would be pleasant to have a six-months run of flirting25 and love-making before this settlement, and he had certainly never seen any one with whom this would be so delightful26 as with Miss Boncassen. But that the two ladies should be at the same house was unfortunate.
He and Gerald reached Crummie-Toddie late on the evening of August 11th, and found Reginald Dobbes alone. That was on Wednesday. Popplecourt and Nidderdale ought to have made their appearance on that morning, but had telegraphed to say that they would be detained two days on their route. Tregear, whom hitherto Dobbes had never seen, had left his arrival uncertain. This carelessness on such matters was very offensive to Mr. Dobbes, who loved discipline and exactitude. He ought to have received the two young men with open arms because they were punctual; but he had been somewhat angered by what he considered the extreme youth of Lord Gerald. Boys who could not shoot were, he thought, putting themselves forward before their time. And Silverbridge himself was by no means a first-rate shot. Such a one as Silverbridge had to be endured because from his position and wealth he could facilitate such arrangements as these. It was much to have to do with a man who would not complain if an extra fifty pounds were wanted. But he ought to have understood that he was bound in honour to bring down competent friends. Of Tregear's shooting Dobbes had been able to learn nothing. Lord Gerald was a lad from the Universities; and Dobbes hated University lads. Popplecourt and Nidderdale were known to be efficient. They were men who could work hard and do their part of the required slaughter27. Dobbes proudly knew that he could make up for some deficiency by his own prowess; but he could not struggle against three bad guns. What was the use of so perfecting Crummie-Toddie as to make it the best bit of ground for grouse and deer in Scotland, if the men who came there failed by their own incapacity to bring up the grand total of killed to a figure which would render Dobbes and Crummie-Toddie famous throughout the whole shooting world? He had been hard at work on other matters. Dogs had gone amiss,—or guns, and he had been made angry by the champagne28 which Popplecourt caused to be sent down. He knew what champagne meant. Whisky-and-water, and not much of it, was the liquor which Reginald Dobbes loved in the mountains.
"Don't you call this a very ugly country?" Silverbridge asked as soon as he arrived. Now it is the case that the traveller who travels into Argyllshire, Perthshire, and Inverness, expects to find lovely scenery; and it was also true that the country through which they had passed for the last twenty miles had been not only bleak29 and barren, but uninteresting and ugly. It was all rough open moorland, never rising into mountains, and graced by no running streams, by no forest scenery, almost by no foliage30. The lodge31 itself did indeed stand close upon a little river, and was reached by a bridge that crossed it; but there was nothing pretty either in the river or the bridge. It was a placid32 black little streamlet, which in that portion of its course was hurried by no steepness, had no broken rocks in its bed, no trees on its low banks, and played none of those gambols33 which make running water beautiful. The bridge was a simple low construction with a low parapet, carrying an ordinary roadway up to the hall door. The lodge itself was as ugly as a house could be, white, of two stories, with the door in the middle and windows on each side, with a slate34 roof, and without a tree near it. It was in the middle of the shooting, and did not create a town around itself as do sumptuous35 mansions36, to the great detriment37 of that seclusion38 which is favourable39 to game. "Look at Killancodlem," Dobbes had been heard to say—"a very fine house for ladies to flirt24 in; but if you find a deer within six miles of it I will eat him first and shoot him afterwards." There was a Spartan40 simplicity41 about Crummie-Toddie which pleased the Spartan mind of Reginald Dobbes.
"Ugly, do you call it?"
"Infernally ugly," said Lord Gerald.
"What did you expect to find? A big hotel, and a lot of cockneys? If you come after grouse, you must come to what the grouse thinks pretty."
"Nevertheless, it is ugly," said Silverbridge, who did not choose to be "sat upon." "I have been at shootings in Scotland before, and sometimes they are not ugly. This I call beastly." Whereupon Reginald Dobbes turned upon his heel and walked away.
"Can you shoot?" he said afterwards to Lord Gerald.
"I can fire off a gun, if you mean that," said Gerald.
"You have never shot much?"
"Not what you call very much. I'm not so old as you are, you know. Everything must have a beginning." Mr. Dobbes wished "the beginning" might have taken place elsewhere; but there had been some truth in the remark.
"What on earth made you tell him crammers like that?" asked Silverbridge, as the brothers sat together afterwards smoking on the wall of the bridge.
"Because he made an ass8 of himself; asking me whether I could shoot."
On the next morning they started at seven. Dobbes had determined to be cross, because, as he thought, the young men would certainly keep him waiting; and was cross because by their punctuality they robbed him of any just cause for offence. During the morning on the moor they were hardly ever near enough each other for much conversation, and very little was said. According to arrangement made they returned to the house for lunch, it being their purpose not to go far from home till their numbers were complete. As they came over the bridge and put down their guns near the door, Mr. Dobbes spoke the first good-humoured word they had heard from his lips. "Why did you tell me such an infernal—, I would say lie, only perhaps you mightn't like it?"
"I told you no lie," said Gerald.
"You've only missed two birds all the morning, and you have shot forty-two. That's uncommonly42 good sport."
"What have you done?"
"Only forty," and Mr. Dobbes seemed for the moment to be gratified by his own inferiority. "You are a deuced sight better than your brother."
"Gerald's about the best shot I know," said Silverbridge.
"Why didn't he tell?"
"Because you were angry when we said the place was ugly."
"I see all about it," said Dobbes. "Nevertheless when a fellow comes to shoot he shouldn't complain because a place isn't pretty. What you want is a decent house as near as you can have it to your ground. If there is anything in Scotland to beat Crummie-Toddie I don't know where to find it. Shooting is shooting you know, and touring is touring."
Upon that he took very kindly43 to Lord Gerald, who, even after the arrival of the other men, was second only in skill to Dobbes himself. With Nidderdale, who was an old companion, he got on very well. Nidderdale ate and drank too much, and refused to be driven beyond a certain amount of labour, but was in other respects obedient and knew what he was about. Popplecourt was disagreeable, but he was a fairly good shot and understood what was expected of him. Silverbridge was so good-humoured, that even his manifest faults,—shooting carelessly, lying in bed and wanting his dinner,—were, if not forgiven, at least endured. But Tregear was an abomination. He could shoot well enough and was active, and when he was at the work seemed to like it;—but he would stay away whole days by himself, and when spoken to would answer in a manner which seemed to Dobbes to be flat mutiny. "We are not doing it for our bread," said Tregear.
"I don't know what you mean."
"There's no duty in killing44 a certain number of these animals." They had been driving deer on the day before and were to continue the work on the day in question. "I'm not paid fifteen shillings a week for doing it."
"I suppose if you undertake to do a thing you mean to do it. Of course you're not wanted. We can make the double party without you."
"Then why the mischief45 should you growl46 at me?"
"Because I think a man should do what he undertakes to do. A man who gets tired after three days' work of this kind would become tired if he were earning his bread."
"Who says I am tired? I came here to amuse myself."
"Amuse yourself!"
"And as long as it amuses me I shall shoot, and when it does not I shall give it up."
This vexed47 the governor of Crummie-Toddie much. He had learned to regard himself as the arbiter48 of the fate of men while they were sojourning under the same autumnal roof as himself. But a defalcation49 which occurred immediately afterwards was worse. Silverbridge declared his intention of going over one morning to Killancodlem. Reginald Dobbes muttered a curse between his teeth, which was visible by the anger on his brow to all the party. "I shall be back to-night, you know," said Silverbridge.
"A lot of men and women who pretend to come there for shooting," said Dobbes angrily, "but do all the mischief they can."
"One must go and see one's friends, you know."
"Some girl!" said Dobbes.
But worse happened than the evil so lightly mentioned. Silverbridge did go over to Killancodlem; and presently there came back a man with a cart, who was to return with a certain not small proportion of his luggage.
"It's hardly honest, you know," said Reginald Dobbes.
点击收听单词发音
1 moor | |
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊 | |
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2 grouse | |
n.松鸡;v.牢骚,诉苦 | |
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3 considerably | |
adv.极大地;相当大地;在很大程度上 | |
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4 abated | |
减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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5 cognate | |
adj.同类的,同源的,同族的;n.同家族的人,同源词 | |
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6 wiles | |
n.(旨在欺骗或吸引人的)诡计,花招;欺骗,欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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7 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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8 ass | |
n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人 | |
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9 footpaths | |
人行小径,人行道( footpath的名词复数 ) | |
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10 protrusive | |
adj.伸出的,突出的 | |
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11 manliness | |
刚毅 | |
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12 redeemed | |
adj. 可赎回的,可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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13 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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14 sanitary | |
adj.卫生方面的,卫生的,清洁的,卫生的 | |
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15 contented | |
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的 | |
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16 patrimony | |
n.世袭财产,继承物 | |
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17 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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18 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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19 highland | |
n.(pl.)高地,山地 | |
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20 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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21 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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22 swarm | |
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入 | |
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23 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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24 flirt | |
v.调情,挑逗,调戏;n.调情者,卖俏者 | |
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25 flirting | |
v.调情,打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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26 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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27 slaughter | |
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀 | |
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28 champagne | |
n.香槟酒;微黄色 | |
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29 bleak | |
adj.(天气)阴冷的;凄凉的;暗淡的 | |
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30 foliage | |
n.叶子,树叶,簇叶 | |
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31 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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32 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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33 gambols | |
v.蹦跳,跳跃,嬉戏( gambol的第三人称单数 ) | |
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34 slate | |
n.板岩,石板,石片,石板色,候选人名单;adj.暗蓝灰色的,含板岩的;vt.用石板覆盖,痛打,提名,预订 | |
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35 sumptuous | |
adj.豪华的,奢侈的,华丽的 | |
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36 mansions | |
n.宅第,公馆,大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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37 detriment | |
n.损害;损害物,造成损害的根源 | |
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38 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
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39 favourable | |
adj.赞成的,称赞的,有利的,良好的,顺利的 | |
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40 spartan | |
adj.简朴的,刻苦的;n.斯巴达;斯巴达式的人 | |
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41 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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42 uncommonly | |
adv. 稀罕(极,非常) | |
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43 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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44 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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45 mischief | |
n.损害,伤害,危害;恶作剧,捣蛋,胡闹 | |
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46 growl | |
v.(狗等)嗥叫,(炮等)轰鸣;n.嗥叫,轰鸣 | |
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47 vexed | |
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论 | |
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48 arbiter | |
n.仲裁人,公断人 | |
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49 defalcation | |
n.盗用公款,挪用公款,贪污 | |
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