After a lapse1 of four years, during which he had as completely vanished out of the memory of Stillwater as if he had been lying all the while in the crowded family tomb behind the South Church, Richard Shackford reappeared one summer morning at the door of his cousin's house in Welch's Court. Mr. Shackford was absent at the moment, and Mrs. Morganson, an elderly deaf woman, who came in for a few hours every day to do the house-work, was busy in the extension. Without announcing himself, Richard stalked up-stairs to the chamber2 in the gable, and went directly to a little shelf in one corner, upon which lay the dog's-eared copy of Robinson Crusoe just as he had left it, save the four years' accumulation of dust. Richard took the book fiercely in both hands, and with a single mighty3 tug4 tore it from top to bottom, and threw the fragments into the fire-place.
"Ah, you have come back!" was Mr. Shackford's grim greeting after a moment's hesitation7.
"Yes," said Richard, with embarrassment8, though he had made up his mind not to be embarrassed by his cousin.
"I can't say I was looking for you. You might have dropped me a line; you were politer when you left. Why do you come back, and why did you go away?" demanded the old man, with abrupt9 fierceness. The last four years had bleached10 him and bent11 him and made him look very old.
"I didn't like the idea of Blandmann & Sharpe, for one thing," said Richard, "and I thought I liked the sea."
"And did you?"
"No, sir! I enjoyed seeing foreign parts, and all that."
"Quite the young gentleman on his travels. But the sea didn't agree with you, and now you like the idea of Blandmann & Sharpe?"
"Not the least in the world, I assure you!" cried Richard. "I take to it as little as ever I did."
"Perhaps that is fortunate. But it's going to be rather difficult to suit your tastes. What _do_ you like?"
"I like you, cousin Lemuel; you have always been kind to me--in your way," said poor Richard, yearning12 for a glimmer13 of human warmth and sympathy, and forgetting all the dreariness14 of his uncared-for childhood. He had been out in the world, and had found it even harder-hearted than his own home, which now he idealized in the first flush of returning to it. Again he saw himself, a blond-headed little fellow with stocking down at heel, climbing the steep staircase, or digging in the clay at the front gate with the air full of the breath of lilacs. That same penetrating15 perfume, blown through the open hall-door as he spoke16, nearly brought the tears to his eyes. He had looked forward for years to this coming back to Stillwater. Many a time, as he wandered along the streets of some foreign sea-port, the rich architecture and the bright costumes had faded out before him, and given place to the fat gray belfry and slim red chimneys of the humble17 New England village where he was born. He had learned to love it after losing it; and now he had struggled back through countless18 trials and disasters to find no welcome.
"Cousin Lemuel," said Richard gently, "only just us two are left, and we ought to be good friends, at least."
"We are good enough friends," mumbled19 Mr. Shackford, who cold not evade20 taking the hand which Richard had forlornly reached out to him, "but that needn't prevent us understanding each other like rational creatures. I don't care for a great deal of fine sentiment in people who run away without so much as thank'e."
"I was all wrong!"
"Surely it help,--to admit it."
"That depends; it generally doesn't. What do you propose to do?"
"I hardly know at the moment; my plans are quite in the air."
"In the air!" repeated Mr. Shackford. "I fancy that describes them. Your father's plans were always in the air, too, and he never got any of them down."
"I intend to get mine down."
"Have you saved by anything?"
"Not a cent."
"I thought as much."
"I had a couple of hundred dollars in my sea-chest; but I was shipwrecked, and lost it. I barely saved myself. When Robinson Crusoe"--
"Damn Robinson Crusoe!" snapped Mr. Shackford.
"That's what I say," returned Richard gravely. "When Robinson Crusoe was cast on an uninhabited island, shrimps23 and soft-shell crabs24 and all sorts of delicious mollusks--readily boiled, I've no doubt--crawled up on the beach, and begged him to eat them; but _I_ nearly starved to death."
"Of course. You will always be shipwrecked, and always be starved to death; you are one of that kind. I don't believe you are a Shackford at all. When they were not anything else they were good sailors. If you only had a drop of _his_ blood in your veins25!" and Mr. Shackford waved his head towards a faded portrait of a youngish, florid gentleman with banged hair and high coat-collar, which hung against the wall half-way up the stair-case. This was the counterfeit26 presentment of Lemuel Shackford's father seated with his back at an open window, through which was seen a ship under full canvas with the union-jack standing21 out straight in the wrong direction. "But what are you going to do for yourself? You can't start a subscription27 paper, and play with shipwrecked mariner28, you know."
"No, I hardly care to do that," said Richard, with a good-natured laugh, "though no poor devil ever had a better outfit29 for the character."
"What _are_ you calculated for?"
Richard was painfully conscious of his unfitness for many things; but he felt there was nothing in life to which he was so ill adapted as his present position. Yet, until he could look about him, he must needs eat his kinsman's reluctant bread, or starve. The world was younger and more unsophisticated when manna dropped fro the clouds.
Mr. Shackford stood with his neck craned over the frayed30 edge of his satin stock and one hand resting indecisively on the banister, and Richard on the step above, leaning his back against the blighted31 flowers of the wall-paper. From an oval window at the head of the stairs the summer sunshine streamed upon them, and illuminated32 the high-shouldered clock which, ensconced in an alcove33, seemed top be listening to the conversation.
"There's no chance for you in the law," said Mr. Shackford, after a long pause. "Sharpe's nephew has the berth34. A while ago I might have got you into the Miantowona Iron Works; but the rascally35 directors are trying to ruin me now. There's the Union Store, if they happen to want a clerk. I suppose you would be about as handy behind a counter as a hippopotamus36. I have no business of my own to train you to. You are not good for the sea, and the sea has probably spoiled you for anything else. A drop of salt water just poisons a landsman. I am sure I don't know what to do with you."
"Don't bother yourself about it at all," said Richard, cheerfully. "You are going back on the whole family, ancestors and posterity37, by suggesting that I can't make my own living. I only want a little time to take breath, don't you see, and a crust and a bed for a few days, such as you might give any wayfarer38. Meanwhile, I will look after things around the place. I fancy I was never an idler here since the day I learnt to split kindling39."
"There's your old bed in the north chamber," said Mr. Shackford, wrinkling his forehead helplessly. "According to my notion, it is not so good as a bunk40, or a hammock slung41 in a tidy forecastle, but it's at your service, and Mrs. Morganson, I dare say, can lay an extra plate at table."
With which gracious acceptance of Richard's proposition, Mr. Shackford resumed his way upstairs, and the young man thoughtfully descended42 to the hall-door and thence into the street, to take a general survey of the commercial capabilities43 of Stillwater.
The outlook was not inspiring. A machinist, or a mechanic, or a day laborer44 might have found a foot-hold. A man without handicraft was not in request in Stillwater. "What is your trade?" was the staggering question that met Richard at the threshold. He went from workshop to workshop, confidently and cheerfully at first, whistling softly between whiles; but at every turn the question confronted him. In some places, where he was recognized with thinly veiled surprise as that boy of Shackford's, he was kindly45 put off; in others he received only a stare or a brutal46 No.
By noon he had exhausted47 the leading shops and offices in the village, and was so disheartened that he began to dread48 the thought of returning home to dinner. Clearly, he was a superfluous49 person in Stillwater. A mortar-splashed hod-carrier, who had seated himself on a pile of brick and was eating his noonday rations50 from a tin can just brought to him by a slatternly girl, gave Richard a spasm51 of envy. Here was a man who had found his place, and was establishing--what Richard did not seem able to establish in his own case--a right to exist.
At supper Mr. Shackford refrained from examining Richard on his day's employment, for which reserve, or indifference52, the boy was grateful. When the silent meal was over the old man went to his papers, and Richard withdrew to his room in the gable. He had neglected to provide himself with a candle. Howwever, there was nothing to read, for in destroying Robinson Crusoe he had destroyed his entire library; so he sat and brooded in the moonlight, casting a look of disgust now and then at the mutilated volume on the hearth53. That lying romance! It had been, indirectly54, the cause of all his woe55, filling his boyish brain with visions of picturesque56 adventure, and sending him off to sea, where he had lost four precious years of his life.
"If I had stuck to my studies," reflected Richard while undressing, "I might have made something of myself. He's a great friend, Robinson Crusoe."
Richard fell asleep with as much bitterness in his bosom57 against DeFoe's ingenious hero as if Robinson had been a living person instead of a living fiction, and out of this animosity grew a dream so fantastic and comical that Richard awoke himself with a bewildered laugh just as the sunrise reddened the panes58 of the chamber window. In this dream somebody came to Richard and asked him if he had heard of that dreadful thing about young Crusoe.
"No, confound him!" said Richard, "what is it?"
"It has been ascertained59," said somebody, who seemed to Richard at once an intimate friend and an utter stranger,--"it has been ascertained beyond a doubt that the man Friday was not a man Friday at all, but a light-minded young princess from one of the neighboring islands who had fallen in love with Robinson. Her real name was Saturday."
"Why, that's scandalous!" cried Richard with heat. "Think of the admiration60 and sympathy the world has been lavishing61 on this precious pair; Robinson Crusoe and his girl Saturday! That puts a different face on it."
"Another great moral character exploded," murmured the shadowy shape, mixing itself up with the motes62 of a sunbeam and drifting out through the window. Then Richard fell to laughing in his sleep, and so awoke. He was still confused with the dream as he sat on the edge of his bed, pulling himself together in the broad daylight.
"Well," he muttered at length, "I shouldn't wonder! There's nothing too bad to be believed of that man."
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1
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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2
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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3
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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4
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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5
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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6
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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7
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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8
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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9
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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10
bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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11
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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12
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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13
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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14
dreariness
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| 沉寂，可怕，凄凉 | |
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15
penetrating
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| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
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16
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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17
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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18
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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19
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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21
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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22
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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23
shrimps
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| n.虾，小虾( shrimp的名词复数 )；矮小的人 | |
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24
crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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25
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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26
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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27
subscription
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| n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方） | |
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28
mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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29
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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30
frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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32
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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33
alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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34
berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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35
rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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36
hippopotamus
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| n.河马 | |
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37
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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38
wayfarer
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| n.旅人 | |
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39
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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40
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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41
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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42
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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43
capabilities
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| n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力 | |
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44
laborer
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| n.劳动者，劳工 | |
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45
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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46
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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47
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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48
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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49
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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50
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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51
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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52
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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53
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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54
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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55
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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56
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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57
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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58
panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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59
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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61
lavishing
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的现在分词 ) | |
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62
motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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