It seemed as though the wise architect who had superintended the building of the Castle Inn had taken especial care that nothing but the frailest4 and most flimsy material should be used, and that the wind, having a special fancy for this unprotected spot, should have full play for the indulgence of its caprices.
To this end pitiful woodwork had been used instead of solid masonry5; rickety ceilings had been propped6 up by fragile rafters, and beams that threatened on every stormy night to fall upon the heads of those beneath them; doors whose specialty7 was never to be shut, yet always to be banging; windows constructed with a peculiar8 view to letting in the draft when they were shut, and keeping out the air when they were open. The hand of genius had devised this lonely country inn; and there was not an inch of woodwork, or trowelful of plaster employed in all the rickety construction that did not offer its own peculiar weak point to every assault of its indefatigable9 foe10.
Robert looked about him with a feeble smile of resignation.
It was a change, decidedly, from the luxurious11 comforts of Audley Court, and it was rather a strange fancy of the young barrister to prefer loitering at this dreary12 village hostelry to returning to his snug13 chambers14 in Figtree Court.
But he had brought his Lares and Penates with him, in the shape of his German pipe, his tobacco canister, half a dozen French novels, and his two ill-conditioned, canine15 favorites, which sat shivering before the smoky little fire, barking shortly and sharply now and then, by way of hinting for some slight refreshment16.
While Mr. Robert Audley contemplated17 his new quarters, Phoebe Marks summoned a little village lad who was in the habit of running errands for her, and taking him into the kitchen, gave him a tiny note, carefully folded and sealed.
"You know Audley Court?"
"Yes, mum."
"If you'll run there with this letter to-night, and see that it's put safely in Lady Audley's hands, I'll give you a shilling."
"Yes, mum."
"You understand? Ask to see my lady; you can say you've a message—not a note, mind—but a message from Phoebe Marks; and when you see her, give this into her own hand."
"Yes, mum."
"You won't forget?"
"No, mum."
"Then be off with you."
The boy waited for no second bidding, but in another moment was scudding18 along the lonely high road, down the sharp descent that led to Audley.
Phoebe Marks went to the window, and looked out at the black figure of the lad hurrying through the dusky winter evening.
"If there's any bad meaning in his coming here," she thought, "my lady will know of it in time, at any rate."
Phoebe herself brought the neatly19 arranged tea-tray, and the little covered dish of ham and eggs which had been prepared for this unlooked-for visitor. Her pale hair was as smoothly20 braided, and her light gray dress fitted as precisely21 as of old. The same neutral tints22 pervaded23 her person and her dress; no showy rose-colored ribbons or rustling24 silk gown proclaimed the well-to-do innkeeper's wife. Phoebe Marks was a person who never lost her individuality. Silent and self-constrained, she seemed to hold herself within herself, and take no color from the outer world.
Robert looked at her thoughtfully as she spread the cloth, and drew the table nearer to the fireplace.
"That," he thought, "is a woman who could keep a secret."
The dogs looked rather suspiciously at the quiet figure of Mrs. Marks gliding25 softly about the room, from the teapot to the caddy, and from the caddy to the kettle singing on the hob.
"Will you pour out my tea for me, Mrs. Marks?" said Robert, seating himself on a horsehair-covered arm-chair, which fitted him as tightly in every direction as if he had been measured for it.
"You have come straight from the Court, sir?" said Phoebe, as she handed Robert the sugar-basin.
"Yes; I only left my uncle's an hour ago."
"And my lady, sir, was she quite well?"
"Yes, quite well."
"As gay and light-hearted as ever, sir?"
"As gay and light-hearted as ever."
Phoebe retired26 respectfully after having given Mr. Audley his tea, but as she stood with her hand upon the lock of the door he spoke27 again.
"You knew Lady Audley when she was Miss Lucy Graham, did you not?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. I lived at Mrs. Dawson's when my lady was governess there."
"Indeed! Was she long in the surgeon's family?"
"A year and a half, sir."
"And she came from London?"
"Yes, sir."
"Yes, sir."
"Always as cheerful as she is now?"
"Always, sir."
Robert emptied his teacup and handed it to Mrs. Marks. Their eyes met—a lazy look in his, and an active, searching glance in hers.
"This woman would be good in a witness-box," he thought; "it would take a clever lawyer to bother her in a cross-examination."
He finished his second cup of tea, pushed away his plate, fed his dogs, and lighted his pipe, while Phoebe carried off the tea-tray.
The wind came whistling up across the frosty open country, and through the leafless woods, and rattled29 fiercely at the window-frames.
"There's a triangular30 draught31 from those two windows and the door that scarcely adds to the comfort of this apartment," murmured Robert; "and there certainly are pleasantér sensations than that of standing32 up to one's knees in cold water."
He poked33 the fire, patted his dogs, put on his great coat, rolled a rickety old sofa close to the hearth34, wrapped his legs in his railway rug, and stretching himself at full length upon the narrow horsehair cushion, smoked his pipe, and watched the bluish-gray wreaths curling upward to the dingy35 ceiling.
"No," he murmured, again; "that is a woman who can keep a secret. A counsel for the prosecution36 could get very little out of her."
I have said that the bar-parlor was only separated from the sitting-room occupied by Robert by a lath-and-plaster partition. The young barrister could hear the two or three village tradesmen and a couple of farmers laughing and talking round the bar, while Luke Marks served them from his stock of liquors.
Very often he could even hear their words, especially the landlord's, for he spoke in a coarse, loud voice, and had a more boastful manner than any of his customers.
"The man is a fool," said Robert, as he laid down his pipe. "I'll go and talk to him by-and-by."
He waited till the few visitors to the Castle had dropped away one by one, and when Luke Marks had bolted the door upon the last of his customers, he strolled quietly into the bar-parlor, where the landlord was seated with his wife.
Phoebe was busy at a little table, upon which stood a prim37 work-box, with every reel of cotton and glistening38 steel bodkin in its appointed place. She was darning the coarse gray stockings that adorned39 her husband's awkward feet, but she did her work as daintily as if they had been my lady's delicate silken hose.
I say that she took no color from external things, and that the vague air of refinement40 that pervaded her nature clung to her as closely in the society of her boorish41 husband at the Castle Inn as in Lady Audley's boudoir at the Court.
She looked up suddenly as Robert entered the bar-parlor. There was some shade of vexation in her pale gray eyes, which changed to an expression of anxiety—nay, rather of almost terror—as she glanced from Mr. Audley to Luke Marks.
"I have come in for a few minutes' chat before I go to bed," said Robert, settling himself very comfortably before the cheerful fire. "Would you object to a cigar, Mrs. Marks? I mean, of course, to my smoking one," he added, explanatorily.
"Not at all, sir."
"It would be a good 'un her objectin' to a bit o' 'bacca," growled42 Mr. Marks, "when me and the customers smokes all day."
Robert lighted his cigar with a gilt-paper match of Phoebe's making that adorned the chimney-piece, and took half a dozen reflective puffs43 before he spoke.
"I want you to tell me all about Mount Stanning, Mr. Marks," he said, presently.
"Then that's pretty soon told," replied Luke, with a harsh, grating laugh. "Of all the dull holes as ever a man set foot in, this is about the dullest. Not that the business don't pay pretty tidy; I don't complain of that; but I should ha' liked a public at Chelmsford, or Brentwood, or Romford, or some place where there's a bit of life in the streets; and I might have had it," he added, discontentedly, "if folks hadn't been so precious stingy."
As her husband muttered this complaint in a grumbling44 undertone, Phoebe looked up from her work and spoke to him.
"We forgot the brew-house door, Luke," she said. "Will you come with me and help me put up the bar?"
"The brew-house door can bide45 for to-night," said Mr. Marks; "I ain't agoin' to move now. I've seated myself for a comfortable smoke."
He took a long clay pipe from a corner of the fender as he spoke, and began to fill it deliberately46.
"I don't feel easy about that brew-house door, Luke," remonstrated47 his wife; "there are always tramps about, and they can get in easily when the bar isn't up."
"Go and put the bar up yourself, then, can't you?" answered Mr. Marks.
"It's too heavy for me to lift."
"Then let it bide, if you're too fine a lady to see to it yourself. You're very anxious all of a sudden about this here brew-house door. I suppose you don't want me to open my mouth to this here gent, that's about it. Oh, you needn't frown at me to stop my speaking! You're always putting in your tongue and clipping off my words before I've half said 'em; but I won't stand it."
"Do you hear? I won't stand it!"
Phoebe Marks shrugged48 her shoulders, folded her work, shut her work-box, and crossing her hands in her lap, sat with her gray eyes fixed49 upon her husband's bull-like face.
"Then you don't particularly care to live at Mount Stanning?" said Robert, politely, as if anxious to change the conversation.
"No, I don't," answered Luke; "and I don't care who knows it; and, as I said before, if folks hadn't been so precious stingy, I might have had a public in a thrivin' market town, instead of this tumble-down old place, where a man has his hair blowed off his head on a windy day. What's fifty pound, or what's a hundred pound—"
"Luke! Luke!"
"No, you're not goin' to stop my mouth with all your 'Luke, Lukes!'" answered Mr. Marks to his wife's remonstrance50. "I say again, what's a hundred pound?"
"No," answered Robert Audley, with wonderful distinctness, and addressing his words to Luke Marks, but fixing his eyes upon Phoebe's anxious face. "What, indeed, is a hundred pounds to a man possessed51 of the power which you hold, or rather which your wife holds, over the person in question."
Phoebe's face, at all times almost colorless, seemed scarcely capable of growing paler; but as her eyelids52 drooped53 under Robert Audley's searching glance, a visible change came over the pallid54 hues55 of her complexion56.
"A quarter to twelve," said Robert, looking at his watch.
"Late hours for such a quiet village as Mount Stanning. Good-night, my worthy57 host. Good-night, Mrs. Marks. You needn't send me my shaving water till nine o'clock to-morrow morning."
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1
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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frailest
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| 脆弱的( frail的最高级 )； 易损的； 易碎的 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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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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specialty
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| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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indefatigable
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| adj.不知疲倦的，不屈不挠的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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14
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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canine
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| adj.犬的，犬科的 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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scudding
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| n.刮面v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的现在分词 ) | |
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19
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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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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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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triangular
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| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
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draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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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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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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prosecution
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| n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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boorish
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| adj.粗野的，乡巴佬的 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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43
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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44
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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45
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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48
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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51
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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53
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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