The house-door was constantly open, and frequent guests even at this early hour crossed the threshold. The hall-table was covered with sealed letters; and the hall-porter inscribed2 in a book the name of every individual who entered.
The young gentleman we have mentioned found himself in a room which offered few resources for his amusement. A large table amply covered with writing materials, and a few chairs, were its sole furniture, except the grey drugget that covered the floor, and a muddy mezzotinto of the Duke of Wellington that adorned3 its cold walls. There was not even a newspaper; and the only books were the Court Guide and the London Directory. For some time he remained with patient endurance planted against the wall, with his feet resting on the rail of his chair; but at length in his shifting posture4 he gave evidence of his restlessness, rose from his seat, looked out of the window into a small side court of the house surrounded with dead walls, paced the room, took up the Court Guide, changed it for the London Directory, then wrote his name over several sheets of foolscap paper, drew various landscapes and faces of his friends; and then, splitting up a pen or two, delivered himself of a yawn which seemed the climax5 of his weariness.
And yet the youth’s appearance did not betoken6 a character that, if the opportunity had offered, could not have found amusement and even instruction. His countenance7, radiant with health and the lustre8 of innocence9, was at the same time thoughtful and resolute10. The expression of his deep blue eyes was serious. Without extreme regularity11 of features, the face was one that would never have passed unobserved. His short upper lip indicated a good breed; and his chestnut12 curls clustered over his open brow, while his shirt-collar thrown over his shoulders was unrestrained by handkerchief or ribbon. Add to this, a limber and graceful13 figure, which the jacket of his boyish dress exhibited to great advantage.
Just as the youth, mounted on a chair, was adjusting the portrait of the Duke, which he had observed to be awry14, the gentleman for whom he had been all this time waiting entered the room.
‘Floreat Etona!’ hastily exclaimed the gentleman, in a sharp voice; ‘you are setting the Duke to rights. I have left you a long time a prisoner; but I found them so busy here, that I made my escape with some difficulty.’
He who uttered these words was a man of middle size and age, originally in all probability of a spare habit, but now a little inclined to corpulency. Baldness, perhaps, contributed to the spiritual expression of a brow, which was, however, essentially15 intellectual, and gave some character of openness to a countenance which, though not ill-favoured, was unhappily stamped by a sinister16 cast that was not to be mistaken. His manner was easy, but rather audacious than well-bred. Indeed, while a visage which might otherwise be described as handsome was spoilt by a dishonest glance, so a demeanour that was by no means deficient17 in self-possession and facility, was tainted18 by an innate19 vulgarity, which in the long run, though seldom, yet surely developed itself.
The youth had jumped off his chair on the entrance of the gentleman, and then taking up his hat, said:
‘Shall we go to grandpapa now, sir?’
‘By all means, my dear boy,’ said the gentleman, putting his arm within that of the youth; and they were just on the point of leaving the waiting-room, when the door was suddenly thrown open, and two individuals, in a state of great excitement, rushed into the apartment.
‘Rigby! Rigby!’ they both exclaimed at the same moment. ‘By G—— they’re out!’
‘Who told you?’
‘The best authority; one of themselves.’
‘Who? who?’
‘Paul Evelyn; I met him as I passed Brookes’, and he told me that Lord Grey had resigned, and the King had accepted his resignation.’
But Mr. Rigby, who, though very fond of news, and much interested in the present, was extremely jealous of any one giving him information, was sceptical. He declared that Paul Evelyn was always wrong; that it was morally impossible that Paul Evelyn ever could be right; that he knew, from the highest authority, that Lord Grey had been twice yesterday with the King; that on the last visit nothing was settled; that if he had been at the palace again to-day, he could not have been there before twelve o’clock; that it was only now a quarter to one; that Lord Grey would have called his colleagues together on his return; that at least an hour must have elapsed before anything could possibly have transpired20. Then he compared and criticised the dates of every rumoured21 incident of the last twenty-four hours, and nobody was stronger in dates than Mr. Rigby; counted even the number of stairs which the minister had to ascend22 and descend23 in his visit to the palace, and the time their mountings and dismountings must have consumed, detail was Mr. Rigby’s forte24; and finally, what with his dates, his private information, his knowledge of palace localities, his contempt for Paul Evelyn, and his confidence in himself, he succeeded in persuading his downcast and disheartened friends that their comfortable intelligence had not the slightest foundation.
They all left the room together; they were in the hall; the gentlemen who brought the news looked somewhat depressed25, but Mr. Rigby gay, even amid the prostration26 of his party, from the consciousness that he had most critically demolished27 a piece of political gossip and conveyed a certain degree of mortification28 to a couple of his companions; when a travelling carriage and four with a ducal coronet drove up to the house. The door was thrown open, the steps dashed down, and a youthful noble sprang from his chariot into the hall.
‘Good morning, Rigby,’ said the Duke.
‘You have heard the news, gentlemen?’ the Duke continued.
‘What news? Yes; no; that is to say, Mr. Rigby thinks—’
‘You know, of course, that Lord Lyndhurst is with the King?’
‘It is impossible,’ said Mr. Rigby.
‘I don’t think I can be mistaken,’ said the Duke, smiling.
‘I will show your Grace that it is impossible,’ said Mr. Rigby, ‘Lord Lyndhurst slept at Wimbledon. Lord Grey could not have seen the King until twelve o’clock; it is now five minutes to one. It is impossible, therefore, that any message from the King could have reached Lord Lyndhurst in time for his Lordship to be at the palace at this moment.’
‘But my authority is a high one,’ said the Duke.
‘Authority is a phrase,’ said Mr. Rigby; ‘we must look to time and place, dates and localities, to discover the truth.’
‘Your Grace was saying that your authority—’ ventured to observe Mr. Tadpole30, emboldened31 by the presence of a duke, his patron, to struggle against the despotism of a Rigby, his tyrant32.
‘Was the highest,’ rejoined the Duke, smiling, ‘for it was Lord Lyndhurst himself. I came up from Nuneham this morning, passed his Lordship’s house in Hyde Park Place as he was getting into his carriage in full dress, stopped my own, and learned in a breath that the Whigs were out, and that the King had sent for the Chief Baron33. So I came on here at once.’
‘I always thought the country was sound at bottom,’ exclaimed Mr. Taper34, who, under the old system, had sneaked35 into the Treasury36 Board.
Tadpole and Taper were great friends. Neither of them ever despaired of the Commonwealth37. Even if the Reform Bill were passed, Taper was convinced that the Whigs would never prove men of business; and when his friends confessed among themselves that a Tory Government was for the future impossible, Taper would remark, in a confidential38 whisper, that for his part he believed before the year was over the Whigs would be turned out by the clerks.
‘There is no doubt that there is considerable reaction,’ said Mr. Tadpole. The infamous39 conduct of the Whigs in the Amersham case has opened the public mind more than anything.’
‘Aldborough was worse,’ said Mr. Taper.
‘Terrible,’ said Tadpole. ‘They said there was no use discussing the Reform Bill in our House. I believe Rigby’s great speech on Aldborough has done more towards the reaction than all the violence of the Political unions put together.’
‘Let us hope for the best,’ said the Duke, mildly. ‘’Tis a bold step on the part of the Sovereign, and I am free to say I could have wished it postponed40; but we must support the King like men. What say you, Rigby? You are silent.’
‘I am thinking how very unfortunate it was that I did not breakfast with Lyndhurst this morning, as I was nearly doing, instead of going down to Eton.’
‘To Eton! and why to Eton?’
‘For the sake of my young friend here, Lord Monmouth’s grandson. By the bye, you are kinsmen41. Let me present to your Grace, MR. CONINGSBY.’
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
ushered
|
|
| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
inscribed
|
|
| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
adorned
|
|
| [计]被修饰的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
posture
|
|
| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
climax
|
|
| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
betoken
|
|
| v.预示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
lustre
|
|
| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
resolute
|
|
| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
regularity
|
|
| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
chestnut
|
|
| n.栗树，栗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
awry
|
|
| adj.扭曲的，错的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
deficient
|
|
| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
tainted
|
|
| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
innate
|
|
| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
transpired
|
|
| （事实，秘密等）被人知道( transpire的过去式和过去分词 )； 泄露； 显露； 发生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
rumoured
|
|
| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
ascend
|
|
| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
descend
|
|
| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
forte
|
|
| n.长处，擅长；adj.(音乐)强音的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
prostration
|
|
| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
demolished
|
|
| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
mortification
|
|
| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
softened
|
|
| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tadpole
|
|
| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
emboldened
|
|
| v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
tyrant
|
|
| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
baron
|
|
| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
taper
|
|
| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
sneaked
|
|
| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
treasury
|
|
| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
commonwealth
|
|
| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
confidential
|
|
| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
infamous
|
|
| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
postponed
|
|
| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
kinsmen
|
|
| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |