The following Saturday he went over again, and went again to the tailor's to try his things on.
"Do you want a dress suit, sir?" the foreman asked with suppressed merriment.
[Pg 157]
"What is a dress suit?" Jack said simply. "I am ignorant about these matters."
"A dress suit," the foreman said, struck with the young fellow's freedom from all sort of pretence2 or assumption, "is the dress gentlemen wear of an evening at dinner parties or other gatherings3. This is it," and he showed Jack an engraving4.
"He looks very affected," he said.
"Oh, that is the fault of the artist," the foreman answered. "Gentlemen look just as natural in these clothes as in any other. They are quite simple, you see—all black, with open vest, white shirt, white tie and gloves, and patent leather boots."
A quiet smile stole over Jack's face. Humour was by no means a strong point in his character, but he was not altogether deficient7 in it.
"I had better have them," he said; "it would look strange, I suppose, not to be dressed so when others are?"
"It would be a little marked in the event of a dinner or evening party," the foreman answered, and so Jack gave the order.
It was two weeks later before he paid his first visit to Mr. Merton; for the pretty little house which the latter had taken a mile out of the town had been in the hands of the workmen and furnishers, Mr. Merton having drawn8 on his little capital to decorate [Pg 158]and fit up the house, so as to be a pretty home for his daughter.
It was, indeed, a larger house than, from the mere9 salary attached to his post, he could be able to afford, but he reckoned upon considerably10 increasing this by preparing young men for the university, and he was wise enough to know that a good establishment and a liberal table go very far in establishing and widening a connection, and in rendering11 people sensible to a man's merits, either in business or otherwise.
As Mr. Merton, M.A., late of St. John's, Cambridge, and third wrangler12 of his year, he had already been received with great cordiality by his colleagues, and at their houses had made the acquaintance of many of the best, if not the wealthiest men in Birmingham, for at Birmingham the terms were by no means more synonymous than they are elsewhere.
Jack had ordered his clothes to be sent to a small hotel near the railway station, and had arranged with the landlord that his portmanteau should be kept there, and a room be placed at his service on Saturday afternoon and Monday morning once a month for him to change his things. He had walked with Mr. Merton and seen the house, and had determined13 that he would always change before going there on a Saturday, in order to avoid comments by servants and others who might be visiting them.
In thus acting14 Jack had no personal thoughts in the matter; much as he always shrank from being put for[Pg 159]ward as being in any way different from others, he had otherwise no self-consciousness whatever. No lad on the pits thought less of his personal appearance or attire6, and his friend Nelly had many times taken him to task for his indifference15 in this respect. Mr. Merton perceived advantages in Jack's position in life not being generally known, and Jack at once fell into the arrangement, and carried it out, as described, to the best of his ability. But even he could not help seeing, when he had attired himself for his first visit to Mr. Merton's house, how complete had been the change in his appearance.
"Who would have thought that just a little difference in the make of a coat would have made such an alteration16 in one's look?" he said to himself. "I feel different altogether; but that is nonsense, except that these boots are so much lighter17 than mine, that it seems as if I were in my stockings. Well, I suppose I shall soon be accustomed to it."
Packing a black coat and a few other articles in a hand-bag, and locking up the clothes he had taken off in his portmanteau, Jack started for Mr. Merton's. He was dressed in a well-fitting suit of dark tweed, with a claret-coloured neckerchief with plain gold scarf-ring. Jack's life of exercise had given him the free use of his limbs—he walked erect18, and his head was well set back on his shoulders; altogether, with his crisp short waving hair, his good-humoured but resolute19 face, and his steadfast20 look, he was, although not handsome, yet a very pleasant-looking young fellow.
[Pg 160]
He soon forgot the fact of his new clothes, except that he was conscious of walking with a lightness and elasticity21 strange to him, and in half an hour rang at the visitors' bell of Mr. Merton's villa22.
"A visitor, papa," said Alice, who was sitting near the window of the drawing-room. "How tiresome23, just as we were expecting Jack Simpson. It is a gentleman. Why, papa!" and she clapped her hands, "it is Jack himself. I did not know him at first, he looks like a gentleman."
"He is a gentleman," Mr. Merton said; "a true gentleman in thought, feeling, and speech, and will soon adapt himself to the society he will meet here. Do not remark upon his dress unless he says something about it himself."
"Oh, papa, I should not think of such a thing. I am not so thoughtless as that."
The door was opened and Jack was shown in.
"How are you, Jack? I am glad to see you."
"Thank you, sir, I am always well," Jack said. Then turning to Miss Merton he asked her how she liked Birmingham. He had seen her often since the time when he first met her at the commencement of the strike, as he had helped them in their preparations for removing from Stokebridge, and had entirely24 got over the embarrassment25 which he had felt on the first evening spent there.
After talking for a few minutes, Jack said gravely to Mr. Merton, "I hope that these clothes will do, Mr. Merton?"
[Pg 161]
"Excellently well, Jack," he answered smiling; "they have made just the difference I expected; my daughter hardly knew you when you rang at the bell."
"I hardly knew myself when I saw myself in a glass," Jack said. "Now, on what principle do you explain the fact that a slight alteration in the cutting and sewing together of pieces of cloth should make such a difference?"
"I do not know that I ever gave the philosophy of the question a moment's thought, Jack," said Mr. Merton smiling. "I can only explain it by the remark that the better cut clothes set off the natural curve of the neck, shoulders, and figure generally, and in the second place, being associated in our minds with the peculiar26 garb27 worn by gentlemen, they give what, for want of a better word, I may call style. A high black hat is the ugliest, most shapeless, and most unnatural28 article ever invented, but still a high hat, good and of the shape in vogue29, certainly has a more gentlemanly effect, to use a word I hate, than any other. And now, my boy, you I know dined early, so did we. We shall have tea at seven, so we have three hours for work, and there are nearly six weeks' arrears30, so do not let us waste any more time."
After this first visit Jack went out regularly once every four weeks. He fell very naturally into the ways of the house, and although his manner often amused Alice Merton greatly, and caused even her father to smile, he was never awkward or boorish31.
[Pg 162]
As Alice came to know him more thoroughly32, and their conversations ceased to be of a formal character, she surprised and sometimes quite puzzled him. The girl was full of fun and had a keen sense of humour, and her playful attacks upon his earnestness, her light way of parrying the problems which Jack, ever on the alert for information, was constantly putting, and the cheerful tone which her talk imparted to the general conversation when she was present, were all wholly new to the lad. Often he did not know whether she was in earnest or not, and was sometimes so overwhelmed by her light attacks as to be unable to answer.
Mr. Merton looked on, amused at their wordy conflicts; he knew that nothing does a boy so much good and so softens33 his manner as friendly intercourse34 with a well-read girl of about his own age, and undoubtedly35 Alice did almost as much towards preparing Jack's manner for his future career as her father had done towards preparing his mind.
As time went on Jack often met Mr. Merton's colleagues, and other gentlemen who came in in the evening. He was always introduced as "my young friend Simpson," with the aside, "a remarkably36 clever young fellow," and most of those who met him supposed him to be a pupil of the professor's.
Mr. Merton had, within a few months of his arrival at Birmingham, five or six young men to prepare for Cambridge. None of them resided in the house, but after Jack had become thoroughly accustomed to the [Pg 163]position, Mr. Merton invited them, as well as a party of ladies and gentlemen, to the house on one of Jack's Saturday evenings.
Jack, upon hearing that a number of friends were coming in the evening, made an excuse to go into the town, and took his black bag with him.
Alice had already wondered over the matter.
"They will all be in dress, papa. Jack will feel awkward among them."
"He is only eighteen, my dear, and it will not matter his not being in evening dress. Jack will not feel awkward."
Alice, was, however, very pleased as well as surprised when, upon coming down dressed into the drawing-room, she found him in full evening dress chatting quietly with her father and two newly arrived guests. Jack would not have been awkward, but he would certainly have been uncomfortable had he not been dressed as were the others, for of all things he hated being different to other people.
He looked at Alice in a pretty pink muslin dress of fashionable make with a surprise as great as that with which she had glanced at him, for he had never before seen a lady in full evening dress.
Presently he said to her quietly, "I know I never say the right thing, Miss Merton, and I daresay it is quite wrong for me to express any personal opinions, but you do look—"
"No, Jack; that is quite the wrong thing to say. [Pg 164]You may say, Miss Merton, your dress is a most becoming one, although even that you could not be allowed to say except to some one with whom you are very intimate. There are as many various shades of compliment as there are of intimacy37. A brother may say to a sister, You look stunning38 to-night—that is a very slang word, Jack—and she will like it. A stranger or a new acquaintance may not say a word which would show that he observes a lady is not attired in a black walking dress."
"And what is the exact degree of intimacy in which one may say as you denoted, 'Miss Merton, your dress is a most becoming one?'"
"I should say," the girl said gravely, "it might be used by a cousin or by an old gentleman, a friend of the family."
Then with a laugh she went off to receive the guests, now beginning to arrive in earnest.
After this Mr. Merton made a point of having an "at home" every fourth Saturday, and these soon became known as among the most pleasant and sociable39 gatherings in the literary and scientific world of Birmingham.
So young Jack Simpson led a dual40 life, spending twenty-six days of each month as a pit lad, speaking a dialect nearly as broad as that of his fellows, and two as a quiet and unobtrusive young student in the pleasant home of Mr. Merton.
Before a year had passed the one life seemed as natural to him as the other. Even with his friends he [Pg 165]kept them separate, seldom speaking of Stokebridge when at Birmingham, save to answer Mr. Merton's questions as to old pupils; and giving accounts, which to Nelly Hardy41 appeared ridiculously meagre, of his Birmingham experience to his friends at home.
This was not from any desire to be reticent42, but simply because the details appeared to him to be altogether uninteresting to his friends.
"You need not trouble to tell me any more, Jack," Nelly Hardy said indignantly. "I know it all by heart. You worked three hours with Mr. Merton; dinner at six; some people came at eight, no one in particular; they talked, and there was some playing on the piano; they went away at twelve. Next morning after breakfast you went to church, had dinner at two, took a walk afterwards, had tea at half-past six, supper at nine, then to bed. I won't ask you any more questions, Jack; if anything out of the way takes place you will tell me, no doubt."
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
pretence
|
|
| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
gatherings
|
|
| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
engraving
|
|
| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
attired
|
|
| 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 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
attire
|
|
| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
deficient
|
|
| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
rendering
|
|
| n.表现，描写 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
wrangler
|
|
| n.口角者，争论者；牧马者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
alteration
|
|
| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
lighter
|
|
| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
resolute
|
|
| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
steadfast
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
elasticity
|
|
| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
villa
|
|
| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
tiresome
|
|
| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
embarrassment
|
|
| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
garb
|
|
| n.服装，装束 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
Vogue
|
|
| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
arrears
|
|
| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
boorish
|
|
| adj.粗野的，乡巴佬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
softens
|
|
| （使）变软( soften的第三人称单数 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
remarkably
|
|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
stunning
|
|
| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
sociable
|
|
| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
dual
|
|
| adj.双的；二重的，二元的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
hardy
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
reticent
|
|
| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |