ISS HALLIDAY,” announced the Efficient Baxter, removing another letter from its envelope and submitting it to a swift, keen scrutiny1, “arrives at about three to-day. She is catching2 the twelve-fifty train.”
He placed the letter on the pile beside his plate; and, having decapitated an egg, peered sharply into its interior as if hoping to surprise guilty secrets. For it was the breakfast hour, and the members of the house party, scattered3 up and down the long table, were fortifying4 their tissues against another day. An agreeable scent5 of bacon floated over the scene like a benediction6.
Lord Emsworth looked up from the seed catalogue in which he was immersed. For some time past his enjoyment7 of the meal had been marred8 by a vague sense of something missing, and now he knew what it was.
“Coffee!” he said, not violently, but in the voice of a good man oppressed. “I want coffee. Why have I no coffee? Constance, my dear, I should have coffee. Why have I none?”
“I’m sure I gave you some,” said Lady Constance, brightly presiding over the beverages9 at the other end of the table.
[p. 136]“Then where is it?” demanded his lordship clinchingly.
Baxter—almost regretfully, it seemed—gave the egg a clean bill of health, and turned in his able way to cope with this domestic problem.
“Your coffee is behind the catalogue you are reading, Lord Emsworth. You propped10 the catalogue against your cup.”
“Did I? Did I? Why, so I did! Bless my soul!” His lordship, relieved, took an invigorating sip11. “What were you saying just then, my dear fellow?”
“I have had a letter from Miss Halliday,” said Baxter. “She writes that she is catching the twelve-fifty train at Paddington, which means that she should arrive at Market Blandings at about three.”
“Who,” asked Miss Peavey, in a low, thrilling voice, ceasing for a moment to peck at her plate of kedgeree, “is Miss Halliday?”
“The exact question I was about to ask myself,” said Lord Emsworth. “Baxter, my dear fellow, who is Miss Halliday?”
Baxter, with a stifled12 sigh, was about to refresh his employer’s memory, when Psmith anticipated him. Psmith had been consuming toast and marmalade with his customary languid grace and up till now had firmly checked all attempts to engage him in conversation.
“Miss Halliday,” he said, “is a very old and valued friend of mine. We two have, so to speak, pulled the gowans fine. I had been hoping to hear that she had been sighted on the horizon.”
The effect of these words on two of the company was somewhat remarkable13. Baxter, hearing them, gave such a violent start that he spilled half the contents of his cup: and Freddie, who had been flitting[p. 137] like a butterfly among the dishes on the sideboard and had just decided14 to help himself to scrambled15 eggs, deposited a liberal spoonful on the carpet, where it was found and salvaged16 a moment later by Lady Constance’s spaniel.
Psmith did not observe these phenomena17, for he had returned to his toast and marmalade. He thus missed encountering perhaps the keenest glance that had ever come through Rupert Baxter’s spectacles. It was not a protracted18 glance, but while it lasted it was like the ray from an oxy-acetylene blowpipe.
“A friend of yours?” said Lord Emsworth. “Indeed? Of course, Baxter, I remember now. Miss Halliday is the young lady who is coming to catalogue the library.”
“What a delightful19 task!” cooed Miss Peavey. “To live among the stored-up thoughts of dead and gone genius!”
“You had better go down and meet her, my dear fellow,” said Lord Emsworth. “At the station, you know,” he continued, clarifying his meaning. “She will be glad to see you.”
“I was about to suggest it myself,” said Psmith.
“Though why the library needs cataloguing,” said his lordship, returning to a problem which still vexed20 his soul when he had leisure to give a thought to it, “I can’t . . . However . . .”
He finished his coffee and rose from the table. A stray shaft21 of sunlight had fallen provocatively22 on his bald head, and sunshine always made him restive23.
“Are you going to your flowers, Lord Emsworth?” asked Miss Peavey.
“Eh? What? Yes. Oh, yes. Going to have a look at those lobelias.”
“I will accompany you, if I may,” said Psmith.
[p. 138]“Eh? Why, certainly, certainly.”
“I have always held,” said Psmith, “that there is no finer tonic24 than a good look at a lobelia immediately after breakfast. Doctors, I believe, recommend it.”
“Oh, I say,” said Freddie hastily, as he reached the door, “can I have a couple of words with you a bit later on?”
“A thousand if you wish it,” said Psmith. “You will find me somewhere out there in the great open spaces where men are men.”
He included the entire company in a benevolent25 smile, and left the room.
“How charming he is!” sighed Miss Peavey. “Don’t you think so, Mr. Baxter?”
The Efficient Baxter seemed for a moment to find some difficulty in replying.
“And such a soul! It shines on that wonderful brow of his, doesn’t it?”
“He has a good forehead,” said Lady Constance. “But I wish he wouldn’t wear his hair so short. Somehow it makes him seem unlike a poet.”
Freddie, alarmed, swallowed a mouthful of scrambled egg.
“Oh, he’s a poet all right,” he said hastily.
“Well, really, Freddie,” said Lady Constance, piqued27, “I think we hardly need you to tell us that.”
“No, no, of course. But what I mean is, in spite of his wearing his hair short, you know.”
“I ventured to speak to him of that yesterday,” said Miss Peavey, “and he said he rather expected to be wearing it even shorter very soon.”
[p. 139]A brown lake of tea was filling the portion of the tablecloth29 immediately opposite the Hon. Frederick Threepwood. Like the Efficient Baxter a few minutes before, sudden emotion had caused him to upset his cup.
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1
scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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4
fortifying
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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benediction
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| n.祝福；恩赐 | |
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7
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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8
marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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9
beverages
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| n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 ) | |
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10
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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12
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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13
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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16
salvaged
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| （从火灾、海难等中）抢救（某物）( salvage的过去式和过去分词 )； 回收利用（某物） | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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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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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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provocatively
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restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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26
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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tablecloth
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| n.桌布，台布 | |
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