It had never occurred to him that, by redeeming11 the post-obit bonds, Mountjoy would become capable of owning and enjoying any property that might be left to him. With Tretton, all the belongings12 of Tretton, in the old-fashioned way, would, of course, go to the heir. The belongings of Tretton, which were personal property, would, in themselves, amount to wealth for a younger son. That which Mr. Scarborough would in this way be able to bequeath might, probably, be worth thirty thousand pounds. Out of the proceeds of the real property the debts had been paid. And because Augustus had consented so to pay them he was now to be mulcted of those loose belongings which gave its charm to Tretton! Because Augustus had paid Mountjoy's debts Mountjoy was to be enabled to rob Augustus! There was a wickedness in this redolent of the old squire. But it was a wickedness in arranging which Mr. Grey hesitated to participate. As he thought of it, however, he could not but feel what a very clever man he had for a client.
"It will all go to the gambling13-table, of course," he said that night to Dolly.
"It is no affair of ours."
"No; but when a lawyer is consulted he has to think of the prudent14 or imprudent disposition15 of property."
"Mr. Scarborough hasn't consulted you, papa."
"I must look at it as though he had. He tells me what he intends to do, and I am bound to give him my advice. I cannot advise him to bestow16 all these things on Augustus, whom I regard as a long way the worst of the family."
"You need not care about that."
"And here, again," continued Mr. Grey, "comes up the question,—what is it that duty demands? Augustus is the eldest son, and is entitled to what the law allots17 him; but Mountjoy was brought up as the eldest son, and is certainly entitled to what provision the father can make him."
"You cannot provide for such a gambler."
"I don't know that that comes within my duty. It is not my fault that Mountjoy is a gambler, any more than that it is my fault that Augustus is a beast. Gambler and beast, there they are. And, moreover, nothing will turn the squire from his purpose. I am only a tool in his hands,—a trowel for the laying of his mortar18 and bricks. Of course I must draw his will, and shall do it with some pleasure, because it will dispossess Augustus."
Then Mr. Grey went to bed, as did also Dolly; but she was not at all surprised at being summoned to his couch after she had been an hour in her own bed.
"I think I shall go down to Tretton," said Mr. Grey.
"You declared that you would never go there again."
"So I did; but I did not know then how much I might come to hate Augustus Scarborough."
"Would you go to Tretton merely to injure him?" said his daughter.
"I have been thinking about that," said Mr. Grey. "I don't know that I would go simply to do him an injury; but I think that I would go to see that justice is properly done."
"That can be arranged without your going to Tretton."
"By putting our heads together I think we can contrive19 that the deed shall be more effectually performed. What we must attempt to do is to save this property from going to the gambling-table. There is only one way that occurs to me."
"What is that?"
"It must be left to his wife."
"He hasn't a wife."
"It must be left to some woman whom he will consent to marry. There are three objects:—to keep it from Augustus; to give the enjoyment20 of it to Mountjoy; and to prevent Mountjoy from gambling with it. The only thing I can see is a wife."
"There is a girl he wants to marry," said Dolly.
"But she doesn't want to marry him, and I doubt whether he can be got to marry any one else. There is still a peck of difficulties."
"Oh, papa, I wish you would wash your hands of the Scarboroughs."
"I must go to Tretton first," said he. "And now, my dear, you are doing no good by sitting up here and talking to me." Then, with a smile, Dolly took herself off to her own chamber21.
Mountjoy, when he got his letter, was sitting over a late breakfast in Victoria Street. It was near twelve o'clock, and he was enjoying the delicious luxury of having his breakfast to eat, with a cigar after it, and nothing else that he need do. But the fruition of all these comforts was somewhat marred22 by the knowledge that he had no such dinner to expect. He must go out and look for a dinner among the eating-houses. The next morning would bring him no breakfast, and if he were to remain longer in Victoria Street he must do so in direct opposition23 to the owner of the establishment. He had that morning received notice to quit, and had been told that the following breakfast would be the last meal served to him. "Let it be good of its kind," Mountjoy had said.
"I believe you care for nothing but eating and drinking."
"There's little else that you can do for me." And so they had parted.
Mountjoy had taken the precaution of having his letters addressed to the house of the friendly bootmaker; and now, as he was slowly pouring out his first cup of coffee, and thinking how nearly it must be his last, his father's letter was brought to him. The letter had been delayed one day, as he himself had omitted to call for it. It was necessarily a sad time for him. He was a man who fought hard against melancholy24, taking it as a primary rule of life that, for such a one as he had become, the pleasures of the immediate25 moment should suffice. If one day, or better still, one night of excitement was in store for him, the next day should be regarded as the unlimited26 future, for which no man can be responsible. But such philosophy will too frequently be insufficient27 for the stoutest28 hearts. Mountjoy's heart would occasionally almost give way, and then his thoughts would be dreary29 enough. Hunger, absolute hunger, without the assured expectation of food, had never yet come upon him; but in order to put a stop to its cravings, if he should find it troublesome to bear, he had already provided himself with pistol and bullets.
And now, with his cup of coffee before him, aromatic30, creamy, and hot, with a filleted sole rolled up before him on a little dish, three or four plover's eggs, on which to finish, lying by, and, on the distance of the table, a chasse of brandy, of which he already well knew the virtues31, he got his father's letter. He did not at first open it, disliking all thoughts as to his father. Then gradually he tore the envelope, and was slow in understanding the full meaning of the last lines. He did not at once perceive the irony32 of "his brother's kindly33 interference," and of the "generosity34" which had enabled him, Mountjoy, to be a recipient35 of property. But his father purposed to do something for his benefit. Gradually it dawned upon him that his father could only do that something effectually because of his brother's dealings with the creditors36.
Then the chairs and the tables, and the gem37 or two, and the odd volumes, one by one, made themselves intelligible38. That a father should write so to one son, and should so write of another, was marvellous. But then his father was a marvellous man, whose character he was only beginning to understand. His father, he told himself, had, fortunately, taken it into his head to hate Augustus, and intended, in consequence, to strip Tretton and the property generally of all their outside personal belongings.
Yes; he thought that, with such an object before him, he would certainly go and see Mr. Grey. And if Mr. Grey should so advise him he would go down to Tretton. On such business as this he would consent to see his father. He did not think that just at present he need have recourse to his pistol for his devices. He could not on the very day go to Tretton, as it would be necessary that he should write to his father first. His brother would probably extend his hospitality for a couple of days when he should hear of the proposed journey, and, if not, would lend him money for his present purposes, or under existing circumstances he might probably be able to borrow it from Mr. Grey. With a heart elevated to almost absolute bliss39 he ate his breakfast, and drank his chasse, and smoked his cigar, and then rose slowly, that he might proceed to Mr. Grey's chambers40. But at this moment Augustus came in. He had only breakfasted at his own club, much less comfortably than he would have done at home, in order that he might not sit at table with his brother. He had now returned so that he might see to Mountjoy's departure. "After all, Augustus, I am going down to Tretton," said the elder brother as he folded up his father's letter.
"What argument has the old man used now?" Mountjoy did not think it well to tell his brother the exact nature of the arguments used, and therefore put the letter into his pocket.
"He wishes to say something to me about property," said Mountjoy.
Then some idea of the old squire's scheme fell with a crushing weight of anticipated sorrow on Augustus. In a moment it all occurred to him what his father might do, what injuries he might inflict41; and,—saddest of all feelings,—there came the immediate reflection that it had all been rendered possible by his own doings. With the conviction that so much might be left away from him, there came also a farther feeling that, after all, there was a chance that his father had invented the story of his brother's illegitimacy, that Mountjoy was now free from debt, and that Tretton, with all its belongings, might now go back to him. That his father would do it if it were possible he did not doubt. From week to week he had waited impatiently for his father's demise42, and had expected little or none of that mental activity which his father had exercised. "What a fool he had been," he said to himself, sitting opposite to Mountjoy, who in the vacancy43 of the moment had lighted another cigar; "what an ass8!" Had he played his cards better, had he comforted and flattered and cosseted44 the old man, Mountjoy might have gone his own way to the dogs. Now, at the best, Tretton would come to him stripped of everything; and,—at the worst,—no Tretton would come to him at all. "Well, what are you going to do?" he said, roughly.
"I think I shall, probably, go down and just see the governor."
"All your feelings about your mother, then, are blown to the winds?"
"My feelings about your mother are not blown to the winds at all; but to speak of her to you would be wasting breath."
"I hadn't the pleasure of knowing her," said Augustus. "And I am not aware that she did me any great kindness in bringing me into the world. Do you go to Tretton this afternoon?"
"Probably not."
"Or to-morrow?"
"Possibly to-morrow," said Mountjoy.
"Because I shall find it convenient to have your room."
"To-day, of course, I cannot stir. To-morrow morning I should, at any rate, like to have my breakfast." Here he paused for a reply, but none came from his brother. "I must have some money to go down to Tretton with; I suppose you can lend it me just for the present?"
"Not a shilling," said Augustus, in thorough ill-humor.
"I shall be able to pay you very shortly."
"Not a shilling. The return I have had from you for all that I have done is not of a nature to make me do more."
"If I had ever thought that you had expended45 a sovereign except for the object of furthering some plot of your own, I should have been grateful. As it is I do not know that we owe very much to each other." Then he left the room, and, getting into a cab, went away to Lincoln's Inn.
Harry46 Annesley received Mr. Scarborough's letter down at Buston, and was much surprised by it. He had not spent the winter hitherto very pleasantly. His uncle he had never seen, though he had heard from day to day sundry47 stories of his wooing. He had soon given up his hunting, feeling himself ashamed, in his present nameless position, to ride Joshua Thoroughbung's horses. He had taken to hard reading, but the hard reading had failed, and he had been given up to the miseries48 of his position. The hard reading had been continued for a fortnight or three weeks, during which he had, at any rate, respected himself, but in an evil hour he had allowed it to escape from him, and now was again miserable49. Then the invitation from Tretton had been received. "I have got a letter; 'tis from Mr. Scarborough of Tretton."
"What does Mr. Scarborough say?"
"He wants me to go down there."
"Do you know Mr. Scarborough? I believe you have altogether quarrelled with his son?"
"Oh yes; I have quarrelled with Augustus, and have had an encounter with Mountjoy not on the most friendly terms. But the father and Mountjoy seem to be reconciled. You can see his letter. I, at any rate, shall go there." To this Mr. Annesley senior had no objection to make.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
akin
|
|
| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
squire
|
|
| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
rascal
|
|
| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
heirship
|
|
| n.继承权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
eldest
|
|
| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
intensity
|
|
| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
redounded
|
|
| v.有助益( redound的过去式和过去分词 )；及于；报偿；报应 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
redeeming
|
|
| 补偿的，弥补的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
belongings
|
|
| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
gambling
|
|
| n.赌博；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
prudent
|
|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
bestow
|
|
| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
allots
|
|
| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
mortar
|
|
| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
contrive
|
|
| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
marred
|
|
| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
unlimited
|
|
| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
insufficient
|
|
| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
stoutest
|
|
| 粗壮的( stout的最高级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
dreary
|
|
| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
aromatic
|
|
| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
virtues
|
|
| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
irony
|
|
| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
recipient
|
|
| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
creditors
|
|
| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
gem
|
|
| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
intelligible
|
|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bliss
|
|
| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
chambers
|
|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
inflict
|
|
| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
demise
|
|
| n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
vacancy
|
|
| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
cosseted
|
|
| v.宠爱，娇养，纵容( cosset的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
expended
|
|
| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
miseries
|
|
| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |