CHAPTER VIII. MR. EPHRAIM HUXTER.

 Mrs. Oakley had determined¹ to send John away, This resolution was easily formed, but it was not quite so easy to decide where to send him. There were plenty of boarding-schools where he might be sent, but these would be expensive, and, besides, Mrs. Oakley was of opinion that John knew enough already. He was very much the superior of Ben in scholarship, and for this she was sorry. She would like to have apprenticed² him to a trade; but if this was done while Ben lived in idleness, Mr. Selwyn would be sure to remonstrate³, and as the will was not yet found she felt in some fear of his opinion.

It was about this time that the stage arrived one afternoon before the gate, and a tall, shabbily dressed man, with a battered⁴ valise, descended⁵, and walking up the front path rang the bell.

The servant who answered the summons thought she recognized him as a peddler who had called there about a month before.

[93]

"We don't want anything," she said, abruptly⁶, nearly shutting the door in the stranger's face.

"What do you mean?" he demanded, staring at her in surprise. "I want to see your mistress."

"It's no use. She won't take anything of you."

"What do you mean by your impudence⁷?" he said, angrily.

"Hoity-toity," said the girl. "You put on airs enough for a peddler; but it's of no use. You may take your rubbish off somewhere else."

"Who's a peddler, I should like to know? If you don't open that door pretty quick, I'll tell my sister to dismiss you without a character."

"Your sister!" repeated the girl, taken by surprise. "What has your sister got to do with me?"

"She gives you a home, and pays you wages, I reckon."

"Aint you a peddler, then?" demanded the girl, incredulously.

"I am Mrs. Oakley's brother, and you'd better invite me into the house, if you want to stay in it yourself."

"Excuse me, sir. I made a mistake. If you'll walk in I'll tell Mrs. Oakley you're here."

"That's the first sensible word you've spoken. I'll put my valise here in the entry."

[94]

"Well," thought the servant, "if that's Mrs. Oakley's brother, I don't think much of her family. I always thought she belonged to a poor set."

She went upstairs to the front chamber⁸, where her mistress liked to sit, and said:—

"Your brother's downstairs. He says he would like to see you."

"My brother!" repeated her mistress, not looking overpleased.

"Yes, he is down in the parlor⁹."

"Very well, I will go down and see him."

The ill-dressed stranger was stretched out in a rocking-chair, in an attitude more comfortable than graceful¹⁰. He was gazing about the room, and noting with much complacency the evidences of comfort and luxury which the handsome furniture exhibited. It was thus that Mrs. Oakley found him.

"How do you do, brother Ephraim?" she said, coldly, advancing, and just giving him the tips of her fingers.

"I'm pretty well," he answered. "So the old gentleman's dead, hey?"

"If you mean my husband," she answered, still with coldness, "you are right."

"It's all right about the property, hey? How much is left to you?"

[95]

"The whole."

"Whew!" whistled Mr. Ephraim Huxter.—"Well, you have worked your cards well, that's a fact."

"I'll thank you, Ephraim," said Mrs. Oakley, with dignity, "not to use such low language, or indulge in such insinuations. I did my duty by my husband, and he showed his confidence in me by leaving me his property."

"Well, perhaps that's the right way to put it," said Mr. Huxter. "I'm glad you have feathered your nest so well."

"I must again request you not to indulge in such language," said Mrs. Oakley, in tones of displeasure.

Mr. Huxter was evidently perplexed¹¹.

"Come, Jane," said he, "there's no use in trying to deceive me. You made a good thing of it in marrying old Oakley, and you needn't pretend to be broken-hearted because he is dead, and has left you his fortune."

"Hush¹²!" said Mrs. Oakley, closing the door; "what if the servants should hear you talking in this way?"

"Well, there is something in that. That girl of yours that came to the door took me for a peddler. She wasn't going to let me in."

[96]

Mrs. Oakley glanced at her brother's soiled linen¹³ and stained clothes, and did not express any surprise.

"I brought my valise," said her brother. "I suppose it'll be convenient for me to stay a few days."

Mrs. Oakley assented¹⁴ rather ungraciously,—in truth she did not care much to present such a man as her brother. She felt that it would make it still more difficult to obtain the position which she desired to maintain in the village.

"I thought maybe I could help you in settling up the estate," said Mr. Huxter.

"I don't think I shall require any assistance. Mr. Oakley was a good business man, and the task is an easy one," said his sister, coldly.

"How much does the property amount to?" asked Mr. Huxter,—the property being in his eyes the main thing to be considered.

"I can't say exactly."

"Well, you can give a guess."

But Mrs. Oakley did not care to have her brother understand her exact position as regarded money matters. She saw clearly enough that he was already speculating how to turn her prosperity to his own advantage, and this she was determined he should not do. She would like to have kept him at a distance, but[97] she was already feeling one of the inconveniences of wealth. There are some whose chief enjoyment¹⁵ of wealth arises from the happiness which it enables them to impart to others, and some, in Mrs. Oakley's position, would have been glad to do something for such of their relatives as were in struggling circumstances; but it was not so with her. She was of a stingy, penurious¹⁶ disposition¹⁷, and did not mean that her money should benefit any one but Benjamin and herself, except the small sum which she felt obliged to spend on John.

"No, I don't think I could form any estimate," she said. "Mr. Oakley has recently died, you know."

"Has he left as much as fifty thousand?"

"Fifty thousand!" exclaimed Mrs. Oakley; "what are you thinking of?"

"It isn't much less, I am thinking. At any rate, you're a rich woman."

"I am comfortably provided for."

"I wish I was as comfortably provided for," said Mr. Huxter. "Seems to me your ideas have risen some, Jane, since you used to live with me, and bind¹⁸ shoes for a living. You and Ben wouldn't have been very comfortable, I reckon, if I hadn't helped you once upon a time."

[98]

"As to that," said Mrs. Oakley, "I worked for my board. It was no great favor on your part."

"At any rate, you thought yourself lucky to get a home. Now, things are changed considerably¹⁹. You are a rich woman, and—well, I'm hard up."

"You always were shiftless, Ephraim," said Mrs. Oakley, who saw what her brother was coming to.

"Shiftless!" repeated Mr. Huxter, in an injured tone. "I don't know what you call shiftless. I've been a hard-working man; but luck's never been on my side."

Mr. Huxter's nose had a suspicious redness, which seemed to indicate whiskey might have had something to do with his want of luck. This was in fact the case. If he had never made much headway, it was partly, at least, his own fault, as his sister knew well enough. But she knew also that there was very little chance of his amending²⁰ in that particular, and though she gave him little encouragement by her manner, she felt that she should have to help him at last.

"How are your family?" asked Mrs. Oakley.

"Oh, about as usual. Wife's always scoldin' and complainin', and the children are fractious. I don't know what makes 'em behave so. My home aint a very happy one, that's a fact."

[99]

Mrs. Oakley knew that very well. For more than two years, when left a widow, with Ben on her hands, she had found a home in her brother's family, which proved so far from agreeable, that she finally determined to leave it, and do as well as she could for herself outside. She had been lucky enough to obtain a situation in Mr. Oakley's family as house-keeper, and this proved the starting-point of a new and prosperous career. During Mr. Oakley's life, Mr. Huxter had never been near her. This had been at Mrs. Oakley's special request. She felt that her brother was not calculated to do her any particular credit, and she had succeeded, though with some difficulty, in keeping him at a distance. She had accomplished²¹ this by an occasional present, and the distinct intimation that these would cease unless her brother should respect her wishes. Now that she was a widow, he considered that the prohibition²² was at an end, and had presented himself unexpectedly, and was by no means welcome.

At this moment Ben, who wished to see his mother, and was not aware of his uncle's arrival, entered the room, and, observing the shaggy appearance of the visitor, whom apparently²³ he did not recognize, surveyed him with unconcealed contempt.

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 apprenticed   

学徒，徒弟( apprentice的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I was apprenticed to a builder when I was fourteen. 14岁时，我拜一个建筑工人为师当学徒。
• Lucius got apprenticed to a stonemason. 卢修斯成了石匠的学徒。

3 remonstrate   

v.抗议，规劝

参考例句：

• He remonstrated with the referee.他向裁判抗议。
• I jumped in the car and went to remonstrate.我跳进汽车去提出抗议。

4 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

5 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

6 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

7 impudence   

n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼

参考例句：

• His impudence provoked her into slapping his face.他的粗暴让她气愤地给了他一耳光。
• What knocks me is his impudence.他的厚颜无耻使我感到吃惊。

8 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

9 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

10 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

11 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

12 hush   

int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静

参考例句：

• A hush fell over the onlookers.旁观者们突然静了下来。
• Do hush up the scandal!不要把这丑事声张出去！

13 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

14 assented   

同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The judge assented to allow the prisoner to speak. 法官同意允许犯人申辩。
• "No," assented Tom, "they don't kill the women -- they're too noble. “对，”汤姆表示赞同地说，“他们不杀女人——真伟大！

15 enjoyment   

n.乐趣；享有；享用

参考例句：

• Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同，我们这次访问更加愉快了。
• After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话，这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。

16 penurious   

adj.贫困的

参考例句：

• One penurious year,my parents used Swiss cheese plant.经济拮据的一年，我父母曾用绳状藤来代替圣诞树。
• Raised on a hog farm in Hunan Province,she laughs off the penurious ways of her parents and grandparents.李小姐在湖南省的一家养猪场长大，她嘲笑祖父母及父母吝啬的生活方式。

17 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

18 bind   

vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬

参考例句：

• I will let the waiter bind up the parcel for you.我让服务生帮你把包裹包起来。
• He wants a shirt that does not bind him.他要一件不使他觉得过紧的衬衫。

19 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

20 amending   

改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Amending acts in 1933,1934, and 1935 attempted to help honest debtors rehabilitate themselves. 一九三三年，一九三四年和一九三五年通过的修正案是为了帮助诚实的债务人恢复自己的地位。
• Two ways were used about the error-amending of contour curve. 采用两种方法对凸轮轮廓曲线进行了修正。

21 accomplished   

adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的

参考例句：

• Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
• Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。

22 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

23 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。