“Oh, this is too bad—the fire out, and the lamp all but burned down!” cried Robin. “That lazy dog Mangal asleep, of course. But I set him the example.—Mangal! Mangal! bring more logs; fill the kettle—no, I’ll do that myself.—There is plenty of food in the doli [meat-safe]; we’ll have it warmed up in ten minutes. I am so provoked at having gone to sleep; but who would have dreamed of your coming on foot, and at such a late hour?”
The bride was too weary to wait till a fire could be lighted and food prepared. “I will go to my room, please,” she faintly said, “and the ayah will bring me my tea.” The poor girl forgot at the moment that an ayah’s services was one of the luxuries which she was to forego at Talwandi.
“I will act as your ayah,” said Harold. “As soon as Robin can coax4 fire to burn and water to boil, I will bring you your tea.”
As he spoke5, Mr. Hartley, looking, as Alicia thought, haggard and pale as a ghost, came wrapped in his dressing-gown to welcome his daughter. It was an effort to Alicia to look pleased and happy on her first introduction to her new father; she felt something of awe6 not unmixed with pity, and wondered whether she could ever venture to be lively in the presence of such a man.
While the servant was preparing the food, Mr. Hartley proposed united thanksgiving and prayer. Alicia expressed her wish to join in it, though she was hardly able to keep her eyes open during the service, brief as it was. She then retired—if it could be called retiring in a place where the accommodation was so cramped7 that every sound could be heard over the house—and Alicia felt as if she must not only be uncomfortable herself, but make every one else so. The last sound which fell on her drowsy8 ear was that of Robin starting off with all the coolies whom he could manage to muster9 at that hour of the night, to go with him to the place where the bullock-cart had broken down, in order to bring home the luggage.
Alicia did not awake till very late on the following morning—so late that Mr. Hartley had gone to his work hours before; and Harold, who had a crowd of native visitors to welcome him back, was only waiting to give his wife breakfast before going the round of his station. After his months of absence, the young missionary10’s work was much in arrears11.
“Harold, dear Harold, can we not have a little quiet?” murmured Alicia. “It is very embarrassing to have such a number of black eyes staring curiously12 at the new Mem, as if I were some kind of white bear just imported from the North Pole.”
“I will carry them all off with me to the mango grove13; but I must introduce a few of my boys to you first.—Kripá Dé, Bál Singh, make your saláms to the lady.”
They did so respectfully and with natural grace. Alicia was puzzled how to return the politeness, for she had had no intercourse15 with natives, except her servants.
“I see that your breakfast is just ready, my love,” said Harold. “Call for anything that you want; Mangal acts as khitmatgar [table-servant] as well as cook.”
“But surely you are going to take breakfast with me!” cried Alicia. “I am not to eat alone, and on the first morning here!”
“Forgive me, darling, for hurrying away. I do not know when I shall be able to overtake all the work which I find before me.”
“But you must eat breakfast,” began Alicia.
“I took mine hours ago with my father. I only waited to see you, and look after your little comforts. Indeed I must go,” continued Harold, vexed16 to see moisture rising to the eyes of his wife. “I have left my burden too long on the shoulders of others. You know that a missionary’s time is not his own;” and in another minute he was off.
“So I am not to have the society of my own husband, or have him always surrounded by natives!” murmured Alicia, as she sat down disconsolately17 to her solitary18 meal. “It is rather hard—but no! I must remember Harold’s words, that nothing is hard which is right. And missionaries19 should have submissive wills.”
Alicia gave a little sigh. Her eyes were opening to the fact that to be a good wife to a devoted20 worker like Harold would require some amount of self-denial. Time was already beginning to show to the bride that she needed a great deal of training to be fit for the position which she had lately thought the most enviable in the world. The conclusion at which Alicia arrived, as she rather pensively21 ate her suji, was that she must in future make her appearance a good deal earlier than ten o’clock in the morning.
“Already my folly22 and self-will have involved Harold in trouble,” Alicia said to herself. “If I had taken his advice, I should have waited patiently in the gári till the nat-kat’s temper was subdued23, and should not have added the weight of ourselves and our luggage to an already overladen cart. Had I behaved like a sensible woman and not like a silly child, the cart might never have stuck in the mud nor the wheel come off.”
Alicia glanced around her and above, surveying her new habitation. “Very bare it looks, I must own; no ceiling to hide the rafters; nothing pretty to adorn24 the walls. This clearly has never been the residence of a woman. I will soon make mine look brighter than this. I am glad that Harold has promised to leave all the decorations to me. Ah, here come our goods at last!” exclaimed Alicia, springing up joyfully25 from her chair as Robin, himself carrying a large portmanteau, appeared at the head of a band of coolies, who, after the curious native fashion, bore their heavy loads on their heads instead of their backs. “O Robin, I am so glad to see you. Let the men set down their burdens here in the veranda26. You will help me, I know, to open the boxes.”
Robin was hungry, and would far rather have taken his place at the breakfast table after a night of toil27; but without a word he put down the portmanteau and went off for his tools. Alicia was very eager to have the cases opened, to ascertain28 that her goods had sustained no injury from the jolting29 or the fall from the cart. But when the wooden cover of the first large box was raised, and the tin beneath unsoldered (rather a tedious operation), the examination of the contents, slowly extricated30 from the hay in which they had been packed, was not very satisfactory to their owner.
“Oh, my clock—my beautiful clock! The siren broken to pieces! I daresay that the works are useless!” exclaimed Alicia.
“I hope not,” said Robin cheerily. “I am a bit of a watchmaker, you know. I hope to set the clock going again, though I cannot undertake to patch up the siren. Here, let me help you. That box is too heavy for your little hands.”
“It is my medicine-chest, and full of bottles,” said Alicia. “Oh,” she added in a different tone, “what can have happened? Something inside must have been broken; my hands are all covered with castor-oil! Ugh!”
Not only the fingers of the lady, but a good many things besides, were moistened with oil and full of its odour. Scarcely a bottle had survived the shocks of that journey. Alicia looked aghast when she became aware of the extent of the mischief31 done.
“Don’t worry about it, dear,” said her brother-in-law, with rough sympathy. “To have nice things spoilt is a very common experience with us missionaries, so I have often congratulated myself on having so few things to be ruined.” Seeing the cloud still on Alicia’s face, Robin added more seriously, “You know there is something in the Bible about taking joyfully the spoiling of goods.”
“It is difficult to take it joyfully, but I must try to take it patiently,” said Harold’s bride. “But where is my beautiful piano? Surely you have not left it behind!”
“Oh, surely the piano is not broken! My father’s gift! Don’t say that it too has come to grief!” cried Alicia.
“Then what am I to say?” replied Robin. “I am sure that I would far rather tell you something pleasant, but one of the big packing-cases fell on the poor piano.”
“And smashed it—quite smashed it?” cried Alicia.
Robin gravely nodded his head, then turned a little aside to avoid seeing the tears gathering33 in Alicia’s lovely eyes.
“Perhaps the piano is not past mending,” were the first words which she uttered, after a silence of several minutes.
Robin knew that the instrument was quite past repairing; his silence was sufficient reply.
“I suppose that missionaries must not let their hearts cling to anything earthly,” thought poor Alicia. “I must gradually learn to endure hardness like a good soldier of Jesus Christ. After all,” she said aloud, “one might have worse losses than even that of a new piano.”
So the sad face cleared up a little, and Alicia, with a resolution of making the best of what remained to her, turned to the second of her large packing-cases.
“That chiefly contains clothes and linen,” she observed, “and a very large roll of wall-paper. Nothing there is likely to have been spoiled. But I can examine nothing in it until I have washed these oily fingers.”
“May I suggest your waiting a little before doing any more unpacking,” said Robin. “You look tired already, and the first case is not fully14 explored. From what you say, it appears that there is little or nothing liable to be broken in this second box, so you can leave it for a while. Let these fellows carry both boxes into the bungalow35.”
“Not into your bungalow, Robin; they would not leave us standing36 room,” said Alicia with decision. “Let everything be put into our empty house”—the lady glanced at the yet scarcely finished bungalow which adjoined the one in whose veranda she now was standing,—“there is space for everything there, and in it I shall gradually unpack34 all my things.”
“That house, newly built, is damp,” expostulated Robin; “you must put nothing into it yet.”
“Indeed, but I will,” was Alicia’s playful retort. “I want my own property in my own home, and it only gives useless trouble to carry it backwards37 and forwards. I suspect, Master Robin, that you wish to see the contents, and so you shall, but not till I have arranged them and put them into right order.”
“You have been in India so short a time,” began Robin; but the wilful38 girl cut him short with a laugh.
“And so you favour me with the results of your long experience. Oh, grave and reverend signor!” she cried, “I have been a little longer in the world than you have, and won’t stand like a meek39 little girl to hear how, when, and where I should open my boxes. So go to your breakfast, dear Robin. I have been very selfish to keep you from it so long. I am sure that I am much obliged to you for all the trouble which you have taken about my luckless luggage.”
As Robin sat at the breakfast-table drinking cold tea and eating colder suji, he heard Alicia, as she stood in her yet uncompleted veranda, ordering the coolies to take away or bring (she constantly confused the two verbs), eking40 out her slender amount of Urdu with English, and more comprehensible signs, and evidently rather pleased at finding herself in the position of mistress in her own dwelling41.
“What father said yesterday was quite right,” reflected Robin. “He and I had better go out with our tent for some days itinerating in the district, and leave Harold and Alicia to settle down quietly here. It is quite natural that they should like to be a little together, with no one else near. Of course, the bride, accustomed to live in a handsome house in a city, finds our quarters uncomfortably small when we are all together. Let her and her husband have the bungalow for a while all to themselves.”
So in the course of the day this little matter was settled. Soon after dawn on the following morning, Mr. Hartley and his younger son started on an itinerating tour amongst the surrounding villages. A camel carried their tiny tent, a few wraps, and cooking-vessels. The old missionary rode his pony42, and Robin walked. The weather was delightful43, as it usually is at that time of the year. Harold and his bride were left in sole possession of the bungalow at Talwandi.
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1
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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2
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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3
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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coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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spoke
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| 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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6
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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7
cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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9
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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10
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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12
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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13
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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14
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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15
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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16
vexed
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| 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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disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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19
missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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pensively
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| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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23
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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24
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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27
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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28
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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jolting
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| adj.令人震惊的 | |
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30
extricated
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| v.使摆脱困难，脱身( extricate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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32
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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33
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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34
unpack
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| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
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bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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36
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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37
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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38
wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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39
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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40
eking
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| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的现在分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
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41
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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42
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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43
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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