"Among the waste and lumber3 of the shore, Hard coils of cordage, swarthy fishing-nets, Anchors of rusty4 fluke, and boats updrawn,"
casting grim and fantastic shadows, and bringing oddest objects into unwonted and undue5 prominence6. Robertson-terrace--as hideous7, architecturally considered, as are the majority of such marine8 asylums9 for the temporary reception of Londoners--stands back from the road, and has its stuccoed proportions somewhat softened10 by the trees and shrubs11 in the "Enclosure," as the denizens12 love to call it, a small oblong strip of something which ought to be green turf, but what, under the influence of promenading13 and croquet-playing, has become brown mud. In the moonlight on this lovely night in early autumn, some of the denizens yet linger in the Enclosure. Young people mostly, of both sexes, who walk in pairs, and speak in very low tones, and look at each other with very long immovable glances; young people who cannot imagine why people ever grow old, who cannot conceive that there can be any pleasure except in that one pastime in which they themselves are then employed--who cannot conceive, for instance, what enjoyment14 that old gentleman, who has been so long seated in the drawing-room balcony of No. 17, can find in life.
That old gentleman is Lord Sandilands, who, the London season over, has come down to St. Leonards for a little sea-air, and quiet and change. One reason for his selection of St. Leonards is that Miss Grace Lambert and Mrs. Bloxam are staying within a few miles' distance, at Hardriggs, Sir Giles Belwether's pretty place. Lord Sandilands had been invited to Hardriggs, also, but he disliked staying anywhere except with very intimate friends; and, moreover, he had come to that time of life when rest was absolutely essential to him, and he knew that under Sir Giles Belwether's ponderous15 hospitality he would simply be moving the venueof his London life without altering any of its details. Moreover, the old gentleman, by coming to St. Leopards16, was carrying out a kindly17 scheme long since laid, of giving Miles Challoner occasional opportunities of seeing Miss Lambert. Miles was not invited to stay at Hardriggs; he did not even know Sir Giles Belwether; but he became Lord Sandilands' guest in the lodgings18 in Robertson-terrace, and, as such, he was taken over by his friend to Hardriggs, introduced to the host, and received with the greatest hospitality. Lord Sandilands has this advantage over the youthful promenaders in the "Enclosure," that while they cannot imagine what he is thinking of, he perfectly19 well divines the subject of their thoughts, and is allowing his own ideas to run in another vein20 of that special subject. He has just made Miles confess his love for Grace Lambert, and all the drawbacks and disadvantages of the position are opening rapidly before him.
"I might have expected it," said the old gentleman half-aloud; "I knew it was coming. I saw it growing day by day, and yet I never had the pluck to look the affair straight in the face--to make up my mind whether I'd tell him anything about Gertrude's parentage; and I don't know what to do now. Ah, here he is!--Well, Miles, had your smoke? Lovely night, eh?"
"A lovely night, indeed! No end of people out by the sea."
"You wouldn't mind a turn in that lime-walk at Hardriggs just now, Miles, eh? with--Kate Belwether, or someone else?"
"Rather the someone else, dear old friend. And so you weren't a bit astonished at what I told you to-day?"
"Astonished, my boy! I astonished? Why, where do you think my eyes have been? I declare you young fellows think that to you alone has been confided21 the appreciation22 of beauty and the art of love!"
"Anyone who imagines that must have ears, and hear not, so far as your lordship is concerned," said Miles, laughing. "Now, of John Borlase, commonly known as Baron23 Sandilands, the ladies whom he courted and the conquests which he made, are they not written in the Chronique Scandaleuseof the period?"
"Well, I don't know that. I'm of an old-fashioned school, which holds that no gentleman should so carry on his amourettesthat the world should talk about them. But the idea of your thinking that I should be astonished when you told me that you were head over ears in love with--with Miss Lambert! Nourri dans le sérail j'en connais les detours24, Master Miles."
"And if not astonished, you were also not annoyed?"
"Annoyed! Not the least bit in the world. I don't mean to say that the matter looks to me entirely25 one of plain-sailing, my dear boy; there are certain difficulties which will naturally arise."
"Do you think that Grace's friends will make any obstacle? By the way, my dear lord, do you know anything of Miss Lambert's relations? I have never heard of or seen any connection but Mrs. Bloxam; but you who are so intimate with the young lady will probably know all about them."
A half-comic look of embarrassment26 overshadowed Lord Sandilands' face as he heard this inquiry27, and he waited for a moment before he replied, "Not I, indeed, my dear Miles; Miss Lambert has never spoken to me of her relations--indeed, I understood from her that she was an orphan29, left to Mrs. Bloxam's charge. I shouldn't think you need look for any objection to your marriage being made by the lady's friends."
"That is one point happily settled; then the world?"
"The what?"
"The opinion of the world."
"Ah, that's a very different matter! You're afraid of what people will say about your marrying a singer?"
"To you, dear old friend, I will confess candidly30 that I am. Not that I have any position, God knows, on the strength of which to give myself airs."
"My dear boy, that's where you mistake. If you hada position, you might marry not merely a charming and amiable31 and lovely girl like this, against whom no word ought to be uttered, but even a person without the smallest rag of reputation; and the world would say very little about it, and would speedily be silenced. Look at--no need, however, to quote examples. What I have said is the fact, and you know it."
"I am forced to acknowledge the truth of your remark, but while acknowledging it, I shall not permit the fact to turn me from my purpose. If Miss Lambert will accept me for a husband, I will gladly risk all the tattle of all the old cats in Belgravia."
"Your sentiments do you credit, my dear boy," said the old nobleman with a smile, "though the juxtaposition32 of 'tattle' and 'cats' is scarcely happy. I've noticed that when people are in love, the arrangement of their sentences is seldom harmonious33. I suppose you feel tolerably certain of Miss Lambert's answer to your intended proposal. You are too much a man of the present day to anticipate any doubt in the matter."
"I should not be worth Miss Lambert's acceptance if I had any such vanity; and I know you're only joking in ascribing it to me."
"I was only joking; but now seriously, do you fear no rivals? You see how very much the young lady is sought after. Are you certain that her preference is given to you?"
"As certain as a man can be who has not 'put it to the touch to win or lose it all,' by ascertaining34 positively35."
"And there is no one you are absolutely jealous of?"
"No one. Well,--no, not jealous of,--there is one man whom I regard with excessive distrust."
"You don't mean Lord Ticehurst?"
"O, no! Lord Ticehurst's manners are rough and odd; but he is a gentleman, and, I'm sure, would 'behave as such,' in every possible way, to Miss Lambert. Indeed, no duchess of his acquaintance can be treated with greater respect than she is by him. I would not say as much of the other man."
"Who is he?"
Miles hesitated a moment before he said, "Lord Ticehurst's great friend, Mr. Gilbert Lloyd."
"Mr. Gilbert Lloyd!" repeated Lord Sandilands, with a low whistle--"that's a very different matter. I don't mind telling you, my dear Miles, that I have had an uncomfortable impression about that young man ever since the first night we met him at Carabas House. It's singular too; for I know no real harm of the man. His tastes and pursuits are not such as interest or occupy me; though, of course, that is the case with scores of persons with whom I am acquainted, and towards whom I feel no such dislike. Very odd, isn't it?"
Miles looked hard at his friend to see whether there were any latent meaning in the question; but seeing that Lord Sandilands was apparently36 speaking without any strong motive37, he said:
"It is odd. Perhaps," he added, "it is to be accounted for by the feeling that this--Mr. Gilbert Lloyd is not a gentleman?"
"N-no, not that. Though the man, amongst his own set, has an air of turfy, horsey life which is hideously38 repellent, yet with other people he shows that he knows at least the convenancesof society, and is not without traces of breeding and education. I fancy that in this case I am suffering myself to be influenced by my belief in physiognomy. The man has a decidedly bad face; deceit, treachery, and cruelty are written in the shifty expression of his sunken eyes, in his thin tightened39 lips."
"And you really believe this?" said Miles earnestly.
"I do; most earnestly. Depend upon it, Nature never makes a mistake. We may fail to read her properly sometimes, but she never errs40. And in this case her handwriting is too plain to admit of any doubt."
Miles shuddered41. The old gentleman noticed it, and laid his hand kindly on his friend's knee; then he said:
"But, after all, there's no reason for us to fear him. You say that he has been somewhat marked in his attention to Grace?"
"More than marked. Did you not notice the other night at the house of that odd woman, Mrs. Burge--O, no, I forgot, you were not there; but it was just before we left town, and Miss Lambert had been dancing with me, and I had only left her for a minute when Lloyd went up and spoke28 to her."
"Well?"
"Of course I don't know what he said, but they both seemed to speak very earnestly, and after a very few moments he left her abruptly42 and hurried away."
"Well, I don't think that proceeding43 ought to cause you much disquietude, Master Miles. In all probability, from what you say, Miss Lambert was giving Mr. Lloyd his congé, or, at all events, saying something not very pleasant to him. Have you ever spoken to her about Lloyd?"
"Once or twice only."
"And what has she said about him?"
"She seems to have taken your view of the question, my dear old friend, for she spoke of him with cold contempt and irrepressible dislike, and begged me never to mention his name to her again."
"Really, then it seems to me that you have nothing to fear in that quarter. That this Mr. Lloyd is a dangerous man I am convinced; that he would be desperate in any matter in which he was deeply interested, I don't doubt; but he may be as desperate as he pleases if Grace dislikes him, and loves you. By the way, as that question is still a moot44 point, Master Miles," added the old gentleman with a sly look, "the sooner you get it settled, the better. We shall be driving over to Hardriggs to-morrow, and I should think you mightfind an opportunity of speaking to the lady in private. I know I would at your time of life, and under the circumstances. And if you want an elderly gooseberry-picker, you may command me."
But seeing that Miles Challoner's face wore a stern and gloomy expression, Lord Sandilands dropped the tone of badinagein which he had been speaking, and said with great earnestness and softness:
"There is something strangely wrong with you to-night, Miles; something which keeps crossing your mind and influencing your thoughts; something which I am convinced is apart from, and yet somehow connected with, the subject we have been discussing. I have no wish to pry45 into your secrets, my dear boy; no right and no desire to ask for any confidence which you may not feel disposed to give. But as, since the death of my dear old friend, I have always regarded myself as your second father, and as I have loved you as I would have loved a son, I cannot bear to see you in obvious grief and trouble without longing46 to share it and to advise and help you."
There was a pathos47 in the old man's tone, no less than in his words, which touched Miles deeply. He took his friend's hand and pressed it, and his eyes were filled with tears, and his voice trembled as he said:
"God knows, my dearest friend, how willingly I acknowledge the truth of all that you have just said, and how recognisant I am of all your affection and kindness. I amtroubled and disturbed, but there is nothing in my trouble that need be hid from you; nothing, indeed, which your sympathy and counsel will not lighten and tend to disperse48."
"That's right," said the old nobleman, brightening up again. "Come, what is this trouble? You're not worried for money, Miles?"
"No. I had an odd letter from my lawyers yesterday about some mortgage that Sir Thomas Walbrook is interested in, but I haven't gone into the matter yet. No, not money,--I wish it were only that!"
"What then? You've not gone and mixed yourself up with any--any connection--you know what I mean--that you feel it necessary to break off before you propose to Miss Lambert?"
"Not I, dear old friend; nothing of the sort. Though my trouble is caused by what I think the necessity of giving a full explanation on a very difficult and delicate matter, before I ask Grace to become my wife."
"In the name of fortune, what is it, then?" asked Lord Sandilands.
"Simply this," said Miles, his face resuming its grave expression; "you know that my father's life was overshadowed and his whole mental peace destroyed, at a period when he might reasonably have looked forward to much future enjoyment, by the conduct of my younger brother, Geoffrey?"
"Ah! now I begin to comprehend--"
"Wait, and hear me out. That conduct, the nature of which I never could learn, and do not know at this moment, blighted49 my father's life, and changed him from an open-hearted, frank, genial50 man, into a silent and reserved valetudinarian51. For years and years Geoffrey's name was never mentioned in our house. I was brought up under strict orders never to inquire about him, directly or indirectly52; and those orders I obeyed to the letter. Only when my father was on his deathbed--you recollect53 my being telegraphed for from your house, where I was staying? I spoke of Geoffrey. I asked why he had been sent away, what he had done--"
"Your father did not tell you?" interrupted Lord Sandilands eagerly.
"He did not, he would not. It was just before he expired; his physical prostration54 was great; all he could say was that Geoffrey was, and for ever must be, dead to me. He implored55 me, he commanded me with his dying breath, if ever I met my brother to shun56 him, to fly from him, to let nothing earthly induce me to know him or acknowledge him."
"Your poor father was right," said Lord Sandilands; "he could have said nothing else."
"Do you justify57 my father's severity?" cried Miles in astonishment58. "Do you hold that he was right in dying in anger with one of his own children, and in bequeathing his anger to me, the brother of the man whom in his wrath59 he thus harmed?"
"I do; I do indeed."
"Do you tell me that any crime not punishable by law could justify such a sentence?--a sentence of excommunication from his home, from family love, from--"
"Stay, stay, Miles. Tell me, how has this subject cropped up just now? What has brought it into your thoughts?"
"Because, as a man of honour, I feel that I ought to tell Miss Lambert something at least--as much as I know--of the story before I ask her to be my wife. Because I would fain have told her that my father was harsh and severe to a degree in his conduct to Geoffrey."
"That is impossible; that you can never say. Listen, Miles; I know more of this matter than you suspect. I know every detail of it. Your father made me his confidant, and I know the crime which your brother attempted."
"You do?--the crime!"
"The crime. The base, dastardly, hideous crime, which rendered it impossible for your father to do otherwise than renounce60 his son, and bid you renounce your brother for ever."
"There is no reason to be so excited, my poor boy," said Lord Sandilands, laying his hand gently on him. "You need tell Grace nothing of this; and be sure that this wretched Geoffrey will never trouble you again. He is most probably dead."
"Dead!" shrieked62 Miles, raising his livid face and staring wildly at his friend. "He lives--here amongst us! I have seen him constantly; he has recognised me, I know. This man of whom we were just speaking,--this man whom you call Gilbert Lloyd,--is my younger brother, Geoffrey Challoner!"
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1
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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3
lumber
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| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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8
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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9
asylums
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| n.避难所( asylum的名词复数 )；庇护；政治避难；精神病院 | |
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10
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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denizens
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| n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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13
promenading
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| v.兜风( promenade的现在分词 ) | |
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14
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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15
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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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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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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21
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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detours
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| 绕行的路( detour的名词复数 )； 绕道，兜圈子 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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28
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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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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30
candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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39
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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40
errs
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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42
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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44
moot
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| v.提出；adj.未决议的；n.大会；辩论会 | |
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45
pry
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| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
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46
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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48
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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49
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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50
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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51
valetudinarian
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| n.病人；健康不佳者 | |
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52
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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53
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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54
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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55
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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57
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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58
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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59
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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60
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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61
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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62
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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