A temperamental young man was Ralston McTodd.[p. 96] He liked to be the centre of the picture, to do the talking, to air his views, to be listened to respectfully and with interest by a submissive audience. At the meal which had just concluded none of these reasonable demands had been permitted to him. From the very beginning, Lord Emsworth had collared the conversation and held it with a gentle, bleating9 persistency10 against all assaults. Five times had Mr. McTodd almost succeeded in launching one of his best epigrams, only to see it swept away on the tossing flood of a lecture on hollyhocks. At the sixth attempt he had managed to get it out, complete and sparkling, and the old ass11 opposite him had taken it in his stride like a hurdle12 and gone galloping13 off about the mental and moral defects of a creature named Angus McAllister, who appeared to be his head gardener or something of the kind. The luncheon14, though he was a hearty15 feeder and as a rule appreciative16 of good cooking, had turned to ashes in Mr. McTodd’s mouth, and it was a soured and chafing17 Singer of Saskatoon who dropped scowlingly into an arm-chair by the window of the lower smoking-room a few moments later. We introduce Ralston McTodd to the reader, in short, at a moment when he is very near the breaking-point. A little more provocation20, and goodness knows what he may not do. For the time being, he is merely leaning back in his chair and scowling18. He has a faint hope, however, that a cigar may bring some sort of relief, and he is waiting for one to be ordered for him.
The Earl of Emsworth did not see the scowl19. He had not really seen Mr. McTodd at all from the moment of his arrival at the club, when somebody, who sounded like the head porter, had informed him that a gentleman was waiting to see him and had led him up to a shapeless blur21 which had introduced itself as his[p. 97] expected guest. The loss of his glasses had had its usual effect on Lord Emsworth, making the world a misty22 place in which indefinite objects swam dimly like fish in muddy water. Not that this mattered much, seeing that he was in London, for in London there was never anything worth looking at. Beyond a vague feeling that it would be more comfortable on the whole if he had his glasses—a feeling just strong enough to have made him send off a messenger boy to his hotel to hunt for them—Lord Emsworth had not allowed lack of vision to interfere23 with his enjoyment24 of the proceedings25.
And, unlike Mr. McTodd, he had been enjoying himself very much. A good listener, this young man, he felt. Very soothing26, the way he had constituted himself a willing audience, never interrupting or thrusting himself forward, as is so often the deplorable tendency of the modern young man. Lord Emsworth was bound to admit that, much as he had disliked the idea of going to London to pick up this poet or whatever he was, the thing had turned out better than he had expected. He liked Mr. McTodd’s silent but obvious interest in flowers, his tacit but warm-hearted sympathy in the matter of Angus McAllister. He was glad he was coming to Blandings. It would be agreeable to conduct him personally through the gardens, to introduce him to Angus McAllister and allow him to plumb4 for himself the black abysses of that outcast’s mental processes.
Meanwhile, he had forgotten all about ordering that cigar . . .
“In large gardens where ample space permits,” said Lord Emsworth, dropping cosily27 into his chair and taking up the conversation at the point where it had been broken off, “nothing is more desirable than[p. 98] that there should be some places, or one at least, of quiet greenery alone, without any flowers whatever. I see that you agree with me.”
Mr. McTodd had not agreed with him. The grunt28 which Lord Emsworth had taken for an exclamation29 of rapturous adhesion to his sentiments had been merely a sort of bubble of sound rising from the tortured depths of Mr. McTodd’s suffering soul—the cry, as the poet beautifully puts it, “of some strong smoker30 in his agony.” The desire to smoke had now gripped Mr. McTodd’s very vitals; but, as some lingering remains31 of the social sense kept him from asking point-blank for the cigar for which he yearned32, he sought in his mind for a way of approaching the subject obliquely33.
“In no other way,” proceeded Lord Emsworth, “can the brilliancy of flowers be so keenly enjoyed as by . . .”
“Talking of flowers,” said Mr. McTodd, “it is a fact, I believe, that tobacco smoke is good for roses.”
“. . . as by pacing for a time,” said Lord Emsworth, “in some cool, green alley34, and then passing on to the flowery places. It is partly, no doubt, the unconscious working out of some optical law, the explanation of which in everyday language is that the eye . . .”
“Some people say that smoking is bad for the eyes. I don’t agree with them,” said Mr. McTodd warmly.
“. . . being, as it were, saturated35 with the green colour, is the more attuned36 to receive the others, especially the reds. It was probably some such consideration that influenced the designers of the many old gardens of England in devoting so much attention to the cult37 of the yew38 tree. When you come to Blandings, my dear fellow, I will show you our celebrated39 yew alley. And, when you see it, you will agree that[p. 99] I was right in taking the stand I did against Angus McAllister’s pernicious views.”
“I was lunching in a club yesterday,” said Mr. McTodd, with the splendid McTodd doggedness, “where they had no matches on the tables in the smoking-room. Only spills. It made it very inconvenient40 . . .”
“Angus McAllister,” said Lord Emsworth, “is a professional gardener. I need say no more. You know as well as I do, my dear fellow, what professional gardeners are like when it is a question of moss41 . . .”
“What it meant was that, when you wanted to light your after-luncheon cigar, you had to get up and go to a gas-burner on a bracket at the other end of the room . . .”
“Moss, for some obscure reason, appears to infuriate them. It rouses their basest passions. Nature intended a yew alley to be carpeted with a mossy growth. The mossy path in the yew alley at Blandings is in true relation for colour to the trees and grassy42 edges; yet will you credit it that that soulless disgrace to Scotland actually wished to grub it all up and have a rolled gravel43 path staring up from beneath those immemorial trees! I have already told you how I was compelled to give in to him in the matter of the hollyhocks—head gardeners of any ability at all are rare in these days and one has to make concessions—but this was too much. I was perfectly44 friendly and civil about it. ‘Certainly, McAllister,’ I said, ‘you may have your gravel path if you wish it. I make but one proviso, that you construct it over my dead body. Only when I am weltering in my blood on the threshold of that yew alley shall you disturb one inch of my beautiful moss. Try to remember, McAllister,’ I said, still quite cordially, ‘that you are not laying out a recreation ground in a Glasgow suburb—you are proposing to[p. 100] make an eyesore of what is possibly the most beautiful nook in one of the finest and oldest gardens in the United Kingdom.’ He made some repulsive45 Scotch46 noise at the back of his throat, and there the matter rests. . . . Let me, my dear fellow,” said Lord Emsworth, writhing47 down into the depths of his chair like an aristocratic snake until his spine48 rested snugly49 against the leather, “let me describe for you the Yew Alley at Blandings. Entering from the west . . .”
Mr. McTodd gave up the struggle and sank back, filled with black and deleterious thoughts, into a tobacco-less hell. The smoking-room was full now, and on all sides fragrant50 blue clouds arose from the little groups of serious thinkers who were discussing what Gladstone had said in ’78. Mr. McTodd, as he watched them, had something of the emotions of the Peri excluded from Paradise. So reduced was he by this time that he would have accepted gratefully the meanest straight-cut cigarette in place of the Corona51 of his dreams. But even this poor substitute for smoking was denied him.
Lord Emsworth droned on. Having approached from the west, he was now well inside the yew alley.
“Many of the yews52, no doubt, have taken forms other than those that were originally designed. Some are like turned chessmen; some might be taken for adaptations of human figures, for one can trace here and there a hat-covered head or a spreading petticoat. Some rise in solid blocks with rounded roof and stemless mushroom finial. These have for the most part arched recesses53, forming arbours. One of the tallest . . . Eh? What?”
Lord Emsworth blinked vaguely54 at the waiter who had sidled up. A moment before he had been a hundred odd miles away, and it was not easy to adjust[p. 101] his mind immediately to the fact that he was in the smoking-room of the Senior Conservative Club.
“Eh? What?”
“A messenger boy has just arrived with these, your lordship.”
Lord Emsworth peered in a dazed and woolly manner at the proffered55 spectacle-case. Intelligence returned to him.
“Oh, thank you. Thank you very much. My glasses. Capital! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
He removed the glasses from their case and placed them on his nose: and instantly the world sprang into being before his eyes, sharp and well-defined. It was like coming out of a fog.
“Dear me!” he said in a self-congratulatory voice.
Then abruptly56 he sat up, transfixed. The lower smoking-room at the Senior Conservative Club is on the street level, and Lord Emsworth’s chair faced the large window. Through this, as he raised his now spectacled face, he perceived for the first time that among the row of shops on the opposite side of the road was a jaunty57 new florist58’s. It had not been there at his last visit to the metropolis59, and he stared at it raptly, as a small boy would stare at a saucer of ice-cream if such a thing had suddenly descended60 from heaven immediately in front of him. And, like a small boy in such a situation, he had eyes for nothing else. He did not look at his guest. Indeed, in the ecstasy61 of his discovery, he had completely forgotten that he had a guest.
Any flower shop, however small, was a magnet to the Earl of Emsworth. And this was a particularly spacious62 and arresting flower shop. Its window was gay with summer blooms. And Lord Emsworth, slowly rising[p. 102] from his chair, “pointed” like a dog that sees a pheasant.
“Bless my soul!” he murmured.
If the reader has followed with the closeness which it deserves the extremely entertaining conversation of his lordship recorded in the last few paragraphs, he will have noted63 a reference to hollyhocks. Lord Emsworth had ventilated the hollyhock question at some little length while seated at the luncheon table. But, as we had not the good fortune to be present at that enjoyable meal, a brief résumé of the situation must now be given and the intelligent public allowed to judge between his lordship and the uncompromising McAllister.
Briefly64, the position was this. Many head gardeners are apt to favour in the hollyhock forms that one cannot but think have for their aim an ideal that is a false and unworthy one. Angus McAllister, clinging to the head-gardeneresque standard of beauty and correct form, would not sanction the wide outer petal65. The flower, so Angus held, must be very tight and very round, like the uniform of a major-general. Lord Emsworth, on the other hand, considered this view narrow, and claimed the liberty to try for the very highest and truest beauty in hollyhocks. The loosely-folded inner petals66 of the hollyhock, he considered, invited a wonderful play and brilliancy of colour; while the wide outer petal, with its slightly waved surface and gently frilled edge . . . well, anyway, Lord Emsworth liked his hollyhocks floppy67 and Angus McAllister liked them tight, and bitter warfare68 had resulted, in which, as we have seen, his lordship had been compelled to give way. He had been brooding on this defeat ever since, and in the florist opposite he saw a possible sympathiser, a potential ally, an[p. 103] intelligent chum with whom he could get together and thoroughly69 damn Angus McAllister’s Glaswegian obstinacy70.
You would not have suspected Lord Emsworth, from a casual glance, of having within him the ability to move rapidly; but it is a fact that he was out of the smoking-room and skimming down the front steps of the club before Mr. McTodd’s jaw71, which had fallen at the spectacle of his host bounding out of his horizon of vision like a jack-rabbit, had time to hitch72 itself up again. A moment later, Mr. McTodd, happening to direct his gaze out of the window, saw him whiz across the road and vanish into the florist’s shop.
It was at this juncture73 that Psmith, having finished his lunch, came downstairs to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee. The room was rather crowded, and the chair which Lord Emsworth had vacated offered a wide invitation. He made his way to it.
“Is this chair occupied?” he inquired politely. So politely that Mr. McTodd’s reply sounded by contrast even more violent than it might otherwise have done.
“No, it isn’t!” snapped Mr. McTodd.
Psmith seated himself. He was feeling agreeably disposed to conversation.
“Lord Emsworth has left you then?” he said.
“Is he a friend of yours?” inquired Mr. McTodd in a voice that suggested that he was perfectly willing to accept a proxy74 as a target for his wrath75.
“I know him by sight. Nothing more.”
Psmith eyed him inquiringly.
“Correct me if I am wrong,” he said, “but I seem to detect in your manner a certain half-veiled annoyance77. Is anything the matter?”
[p. 104]Mr. McTodd barked bitterly.
“Oh, no. Nothing’s the matter. Nothing whatever, except that that old beaver78—”—here he wronged Lord Emsworth, who, whatever his faults, was not a bearded man—“that old beaver invited me to lunch, talked all the time about his infernal flowers, never let me get a word in edgeways, hadn’t the common civility to offer me a cigar, and now has gone off without a word of apology and buried himself in that shop over the way. I’ve never been so insulted in my life!” raved79 Mr. McTodd.
“Scarcely the perfect host,” admitted Psmith.
“And if he thinks,” said Mr. McTodd, rising, “that I’m going to go and stay with him at his beastly castle after this, he’s mistaken. I’m supposed to go down there with him this evening. And perhaps the old fossil thinks I will! After this!” A horrid80 laugh rolled up from Mr. McTodd’s interior. “Likely! I see myself! After being insulted like this . . . Would you?” he demanded.
Psmith gave the matter thought.
“I am inclined to think no.”
“And so am I damned well inclined to think no!” cried Mr. McTodd. “I’m going away now, this very minute. And if that old total loss ever comes back, you can tell him he’s seen the last of me.”
And Ralston McTodd, his blood boiling with justifiable81 indignation and pique82 to a degree dangerous on such a warm day, stalked off towards the door with a hard, set face. Through the door he stalked to the cloak-room for his hat and cane83; then, his lips moving silently, he stalked through the hall, stalked down the steps, and passed from the scene, stalking furiously round the corner in quest of a tobacconist’s. At the moment of his disappearance84, the Earl of Emsworth[p. 105] had just begun to give the sympathetic florist a limpid85 character-sketch of Angus McAllister.
* * * * *
Psmith shook his head sadly. These clashings of human temperament8 were very lamentable86. They disturbed the after-luncheon repose87 of the man of sensibility. He ordered coffee, and endeavoured to forget the painful scene by thinking of Eve Halliday.
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1
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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vexing
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| adj.使人烦恼的，使人恼火的v.使烦恼( vex的现在分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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plumb
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| adv.精确地，完全地；v.了解意义，测水深 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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bleating
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| v.（羊，小牛）叫( bleat的现在分词 )；哭诉；发出羊叫似的声音；轻声诉说 | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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hurdle
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| n.跳栏，栏架；障碍，困难；vi.进行跨栏赛 | |
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galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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cosily
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| adv.舒适地，惬意地 | |
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grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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smoker
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| n.吸烟者，吸烟车厢，吸烟室 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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attuned
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| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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yew
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| n.紫杉属树木 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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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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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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46
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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47
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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50
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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51
corona
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| n.日冕 | |
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52
yews
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| n.紫杉( yew的名词复数 ) | |
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53
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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54
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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55
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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57
jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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58
florist
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| n.花商；种花者 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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61
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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63
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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64
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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65
petal
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| n.花瓣 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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67
floppy
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| adj.松软的，衰弱的 | |
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68
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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69
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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70
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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71
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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72
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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73
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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74
proxy
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| n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人 | |
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75
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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76
virulence
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| n.毒力，毒性；病毒性；致病力 | |
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77
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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78
beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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79
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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80
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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81
justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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82
pique
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| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
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83
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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84
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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85
limpid
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| adj.清澈的，透明的 | |
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86
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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87
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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