Out of one of the smaller thoroughfares lying between Holborn and the Strand8, there opens a narrow alley5, not more than six or seven feet across, with high buildings on each side. In the most part the ground floors consist of small shops; for the alley is not a blind one, but leads from the thoroughfare to another street, and forms, indeed, a short cut to it, pretty often used. These shops are not of any size or importance—a greengrocer's, with a somewhat scanty9 choice of vegetables and fruit, a broker's, displaying queer odds10 and ends of household goods, two or three others, and at the end farthest from the chief thoroughfare, but nearest to the quiet and respectable street beyond, a very modest-looking little shop-window, containing a few newspapers, some rather yellow packets of stationery11, and two or three books of ballads12. Above the door was painted, in very small, dingy13 letters, the words, "James Oliver, News Agent."
The shop was even smaller, in proportion, than its window. After two customers had entered—if such an event could ever come to pass—it would have been almost impossible to find room for a third. Along the end ran a little counter, with a falling flap by which admission could be gained to the living-room lying behind the shop. This evening the flap was down—a certain sign that James Oliver, the news agent, had some guest within, for otherwise there would have been no occasion to lessen14 the scanty size of the counter. The room beyond was dark, very dark indeed, for the time of day; for, though the evening was coming on, and the sun was hastening to go down at last, it had not yet ceased to shine brilliantly upon the great city. But inside James Oliver's house the gas was already lighted in a little steady flame, which never flickered15 in the still, hot air, though both door and window were wide open. For there was a window, though it was easy to overlook it, opening into a passage four feet wide, which led darkly up into a still closer and hotter court, lying in the very core of the maze16 of streets. As the houses were four stories high, it is easy to understand that very little sunlight could penetrate17 to Oliver's room behind his shop, and that even at noon-day it was twilight18 there. This room was of a better size altogether than a stranger might have supposed, having two or three queer little nooks and recesses19 borrowed from the space belonging to the adjoining house; for the buildings were old, and had probably been one large dwelling20 in former times. It was plainly the only apartment the owner had; and all its arrangements were those of a man living alone, for there was something almost desolate21 about the look of the scanty furniture, though it was clean and whole. There had been a fire, but it had died out, and the coals were black in the grate, while the kettle still sat upon the top bar with a melancholy22 expression of neglect about it.
James Oliver himself had placed his chair near to the open door, where he could keep his eye upon the shop—a needless precaution, as at this hour no customers ever turned into it. He was an old man, and seemed very old and infirm by the dim light. He was thin and spare, with that peculiar23 spareness which results from the habit of always eating less than one can. His teeth, which had never had too much to do, had gone some years ago, and his cheeks fell in rather deeply. A fine network of wrinkles puckered24 about the corners of his eyes and mouth. He stooped a good deal, and moved about with the slowness and deliberation of age. Yet his face was very pleasant—a cheery, gentle, placid25 face, lighted up with a smile now and then, but with sufficient rareness to make it the more welcome and the more noticed when it came.
Old Oliver had a visitor this hot evening, a neat, small, dapper woman, with a little likeness26 to himself, who had been putting his room to rights, and looking to the repairs needed by his linen27. She was just replacing her needle, cotton, and buttons in an old-fashioned housewife, which she always carried in her pocket, and was then going to put on her black silk bonnet28 and coloured shawl, before bidding him good-bye.
"Eh, Charlotte," said Oliver, after drawing a long and toilsome breath, "what would I give to be a-top of the Wrekin, seeing the sun set this evening! Many and many's the summer afternoon we've spent there when we were young, and all of us alive. Dost remember how many a mile of country we could see all round us, and how fresh the air blew across the thousands of green fields? Why, I saw Snowdon once, more than sixty miles off, when my eyes were young and it was a clear sunset. I always think of the top of the Wrekin when I read of Moses going up Mount Pisgah and seeing all the land about him, north and south, east and west. Eh, lass! there's a change in us all now!"
"Ah! it's like another world!" said the old woman, shaking her head slowly. "All the folks I used to sew for at Aston, and Uppington, and Overlehill, they'd mostly be gone or dead by now. It wouldn't seem like the same place at all. And now there's none but you and me left, brother James. Well, well! it's lonesome, growing old."
"Yes, lonesome, yet not exactly lonesome," replied old Oliver, in a dreamy voice. "I'm growing dark a little, and just a trifle deaf, and I don't feel quite myself like I used to do; but I've got something I didn't use to have. Sometimes of an evening, before I've lit the gas, I've a sort of a feeling as if I could almost see the Lord Jesus, and hear him talking to me. He looks to me something like our eldest29 brother, him that died when we were little. Charlotte, thee remembers him? A white, quiet, patient face, with a smile like the sun shining behind clouds. Well, whether it's only a dream or no I cannot tell, but there's a face looks at me, or seems to look at me out of the dusk; and I think to myself, maybe the Lord Jesus says, 'Old Oliver's lonesome down there in the dark, and his eyes growing dim. I'll make myself half-plain to him.' Then he comes and sits here with me for a little while."
"Oh, that's all fancy as comes with you living quite alone," said Charlotte, sharply.
"Perhaps so! perhaps so!" answered the old man, with a meek30 sigh; "but I should be very lonesome without that."
They did not speak again until Charlotte had given a final shake to the bed in the corner, upon which her bonnet and shawl had been lying. She put them on neatly31 and primly32; and when she was ready to go she spoke33 again in a constrained34 and mysterious manner.
"Heard nothing of Susan, I suppose?" she said.
"Not a word," answered old Oliver, sadly. "It's the only trouble I've got. That were the last passion I ever went into, and I was hot and hasty, I know."
"So you always used to be at times," said his sister.
"Ah! but that passion was the worst of all," he went on, speaking slowly. "I told her if she married young Raleigh, she should never darken my doors again—never again. And she took me at my word, though she might have known it was nothing but father's hot temper. Darken my doors! Why, the brightest sunshine I could have 'ud be to see her come smiling into my shop, like she used to do at home."
"Well, I think Susan ought to have humbled35 herself," said Charlotte. "It's going on for six years now, and she's had time enough to see her folly36. Do you know where she is?"
"I know nothing about her," he answered, shaking his head sorrowfully. "Young Raleigh was wild, very wild, and that was my objection to him; but I didn't mean Susan to take me at my word. I shouldn't speak so hasty and hot now."
"And to think I'd helped to bring her up so genteel, and with such pretty manners!" cried the old woman, indignantly. "She might have done so much better with her cleverness too. Such a milliner as she might have turned out! Well good-bye, brother James, and don't go having any more of those visions; they're not wholesome37 for you."
"I should be very lonesome without them," answered Oliver. "Good-bye, Charlotte, good-bye, and God bless you. Come again as soon as you can."
He went with her to the door, and stayed to watch her along the quiet alley, till she turned into the street. Then, with a last nod to the back of her bonnet, as she passed out of his sight, he returned slowly into his dark shop, put up the flap of the counter, and retreated to the darker room within. Hot as it was, he fancied it was growing a little chilly38 with the coming of the night, and he drew on his old coat, and threw a handkerchief over his white head, and then sat down in the dusk, looking out into his shop and the alley beyond it. He must have fallen into a doze39 after a while, being overcome with the heat, and lulled40 by the constant hum of the streets, which reached his dull ear in a softened41 murmur42; for at length he started up almost in a fright, and found that complete darkness had fallen upon him suddenly, as it seemed to him. A church clock was striking nine, and his shop was not closed yet. He went out hurriedly to put the shutters43 up.
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1
chirp
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| v.(尤指鸟)唧唧喳喳的叫 | |
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2
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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3
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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4
basked
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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5
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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7
gutters
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| （路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地 | |
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8
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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9
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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10
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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11
stationery
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| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
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12
ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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13
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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14
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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15
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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17
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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18
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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19
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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20
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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21
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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22
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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23
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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24
puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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26
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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27
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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28
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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29
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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30
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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31
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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32
primly
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| adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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33
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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34
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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35
humbled
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| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
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36
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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37
wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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38
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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39
doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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40
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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41
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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42
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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43
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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