“This is not a bear garden, Hector. You appear to think you are on the playground, judging by your hasty motions.”
“I beg your pardon, uncle,” said Hector, who never took amiss a rebuke2 which he thought deserved. “I suppose I forgot myself, being excited. I beg your pardon.”
“What is the cause of your excitement?” asked Mr. Roscoe, surveying the boy keenly.
“Guy has said something that I don’t understand.”
“He must have said something very profound, then,” returned Allan Roscoe, with light raillery.
“Indeed, Uncle Allan, it is no laughing matter,” said Hector, earnestly.
“Then let me hear what it is.”
“He intimates that he knows something that would let down my pride a peg3 or two. He hints that I am not the heir of Castle Roscoe.”
The boy used the term by which the house was usually known.
Allan Roscoe knit his brow in pretended vexation.
“Inconsiderate boy!” he murmured. “Why need he say this?”
“But,” said Hector, startled, “is it true?”
“My boy,” said his uncle, with simulated feeling, “my son has spoken to you of a secret which I would willingly keep from you if I could. Yet, perhaps, it is as well that you should be told now.”
“Told what?” exclaimed Hector, quite at sea.
“Can you bear to hear, Hector, that it is indeed true? You are not the owner of this estate.”
“Who is then?” ejaculated the astonished boy.
“I am; and Guy after me.”
“What! Did my father leave the estate away from me? I thought he did not leave a will?”
“Nor did he.”
“Then how can anyone else except his son inherit?”
“Your question is a natural one. If you were his son you would inherit under the law.”
“If I were his son!” repeated Hector, slowly, his head swimming. “What do you mean by that? Of course I am your brother’s son.”
“It is very painful for me to tell, Hector. It will be distressing4 for you to hear. No tie of blood connects you with the late owner of Castle Roscoe.”
“I don’t believe you, Uncle Allan,” said Hector, bluntly.
“Of course, therefore, I am not your uncle,” added Allan Roscoe, dryly.
“I beg your pardon; I should have said Mr. Allan Roscoe,” said Hector, bowing proudly, for his heart was sore, and he was deeply indignant with the man who sat, smooth and sleek5, in his father’s chair, harrowing up his feelings without himself being ruffled6.
“That is immaterial. Call me uncle, if you like, since the truth is understood. But I must explain.”
“I would like to know what is your authority for so surprising a statement, Mr. Roscoe. You cannot expect me to believe that I have been deceived all my life.”
“I make the statement on your father’s authority—I should say, on my brother’s authority.”
“Can you prove it, Mr. Roscoe?”
“I can. I will presently put into your hands a letter, written me by my brother some months since, which explains the whole matter. To save you suspense7, however, I will recapitulate8. Where were you born?”
“In California.”
“That is probably true. It was there that my brother found you.”
“Found me?”
“Perhaps that is not the word. My brother and his wife were boarding in Sacramento in the winter of 1859. In the same boarding house was a widow, with a child of some months old. You were that child. Your mother died suddenly, and it was ascertained9 that she left nothing. Her child was, therefore, left destitute10. It was a fine, promising11 boy—give me credit for the compliment—and my brother, having no children of his own, proposed to his wife to adopt it. She was fond of children, and readily consented. No formalities were necessary, for there was no one to claim you. You were at once taken in charge by my brother and his wife, therefore, and very soon they came to look upon you with as much affection as if you were their own child. They wished you to consider them your real parents, and to you the secret was never made known, nor was it known to the world. When my brother returned to this State, three years after, not one of his friends doubted that the little Hector was his own boy.
“When you were six years old your mother died—that is, my brother’s wife. All the more, perhaps, because he was left alone, my brother became attached to you, and, I think, he came to love you as much as if you were his own son.”
“I think he did,” said Hector, with emotion. “Never was there a kinder, more indulgent father.”
“Yet he was not your father,” said Allan Roscoe, with sharp emphasis.
“So you say, Mr. Roscoe.”
“So my brother says in his letter to me.”
“Do you think it probable that, with all this affection for me, he would have left me penniless?” asked the boy.
“No; it was his intention to make a will. By that will he would no doubt have provided for you in a satisfactory manner. But I think my poor brother had a superstitious12 fear of will making, lest it might hasten death. At any rate, he omitted it till it was too late.”
“Your—my brother, did what he could to remedy matters. In his last sickness, when too weak to sign his name, he asked me, as the legal heir of his estate, to see that you were well provided for. He wished me to see your education finished, and I promised to do so. I could see that this promise relieved his mind. Of one thing you may be assured, Hector, he never lost his affection for you.”
“Thank Heaven for that!” murmured the boy, who had been deeply and devotedly14 attached to the man whom, all his life long, he had looked upon as his father.
“I can only add, Hector,” said Mr. Roscoe, “that I feel for your natural disappointment. It is, indeed, hard to be brought up to regard yourself as the heir of a great estate, and to make the discovery that you have been mistaken.”
“I don’t mind that so much, Mr. Roscoe,” said Hector, slowly. “It is the hardest thing to think of myself as having no claim upon one whom I have loved as a father—to think myself as a boy of unknown parentage. But,” he added, suddenly, “I have it only on your word. Why should I believe it?”
“I will give you conclusive15 proof, Hector. Read this.”
Allan Roscoe took from his pocket a letter, without an envelope. One glance served to show Hector that it was in the handwriting of his late father, or, at any rate, in a handwriting surprisingly like it.
The letter need not find a place here. The substance of it had been accurately17 given by Mr. Allan Roscoe. Apparently18, it corroborated19 his every statement.
“You see that I have good authority for my statement,” said Mr. Roscoe.
“I can’t understand it,” said Hector, slowly.
“I need only add,” said Mr. Roscoe, apparently relieved by the revelation, “that my brother did not repose21 confidence in me in vain. I accept, as a sacred charge, the duty he imposed upon me. I shall provide for you and look after your education. I wish to put you in a way to prepare yourself for a useful and honorable career. As a first step, I intend, on Monday next, to place you in an excellent boarding school, where you will have exceptional privileges.”
Hector listened, but his mind was occupied by sad thoughts, and he made no comment.
“I have even selected the school with great care,” said Mr. Roscoe. “It is situated22 at Smithville, and is under the charge of Socrates Smith, A. M., a learned and distinguished23 educator. You may go now. I will speak with you on this subject later.”
Hector bowed. After what he had heard, his interest in other matters was but faint.
“I shall be glad to get him out of the house,” thought Allan Roscoe. “I never liked him.”
点击收听单词发音
1 sarcasm | |
n.讥讽,讽刺,嘲弄,反话 (adj.sarcastic) | |
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2 rebuke | |
v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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3 peg | |
n.木栓,木钉;vt.用木钉钉,用短桩固定 | |
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4 distressing | |
a.使人痛苦的 | |
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5 sleek | |
adj.光滑的,井然有序的;v.使光滑,梳拢 | |
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6 ruffled | |
adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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7 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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8 recapitulate | |
v.节述要旨,择要说明 | |
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9 ascertained | |
v.弄清,确定,查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10 destitute | |
adj.缺乏的;穷困的 | |
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11 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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12 superstitious | |
adj.迷信的 | |
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13 omission | |
n.省略,删节;遗漏或省略的事物,冗长 | |
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14 devotedly | |
专心地; 恩爱地; 忠实地; 一心一意地 | |
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15 conclusive | |
adj.最后的,结论的;确凿的,消除怀疑的 | |
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16 feverish | |
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的 | |
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17 accurately | |
adv.准确地,精确地 | |
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18 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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19 corroborated | |
v.证实,支持(某种说法、信仰、理论等)( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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20 perusal | |
n.细读,熟读;目测 | |
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21 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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22 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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23 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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