In which Several Important Matters are arranged, and Gillie White undergoes some Remarkable2 and hitherto Unknown Experiences.
It is not necessary to inflict3 on the reader Mrs Stoutley’s dinner in detail; suffice it to say, that Captain Wopper conducted himself, on the whole, much more creditably than his hostess had anticipated, and made himself so entertaining, especially to Lewis, that that young gentleman invited him to accompany the family to Switzerland, much to the amusement of his cousin Emma and the horror of his mother, who, although she enjoyed a private visit of the Captain, did not relish4 the thought of his becoming a travelling companion of the family. She pretended not to hear the invitation given, but when Lewis, knowing full well the state of her mind, pressed the invitation, she shook her head at him covertly5 and frowned. This by-play her son pretended not to see, and continued his entreaties6, the Captain not having replied.
“Now, do come with us, Captain Wopper,” he said; “it will be such fun, and we should all enjoy you so much—wouldn’t we, Emma?” (“Yes, indeed,” from Emma); “and it would just be suited to your tastes and habits, for the fine, fresh air of the mountains bears a wonderful resemblance to that of the sea. You’ve been accustomed no doubt to climb up the shrouds8 to the crosstrees; well, in Switzerland, you may climb up the hills to any sort of trees you like, and get shrouded9 in mist, or tumble over a precipice10 and get put into your shroud7 altogether; and—”
“Really, Lewie, you ought to be ashamed of making such bad puns,” interrupted his mother. “Doubtless it would be very agreeable to have Captain Wopper with us, but I am quite sure it would be anything but pleasant for him to travel through such a wild country with such a wild goose as you for a companion.”
“You have modestly forgotten yourself and Emma,” said Lewis; “but come, let the Captain answer for himself. You know, mother, it has been your wish, if not your intention, to get a companion for me on this trip—a fellow older than myself—a sort of travelling tutor, who could teach me something of the geology and botany of the country as we went along. Well, the Captain is older than me, I think, which is one of the requisites11, and he could teach me astronomy, no doubt, and show me how to box the compass; in return for which, I could show him how to box an adversary’s nose, as practised by the best authorities of the ring. As to geology and botany, I know a little of these sciences already, and could impart my knowledge to the Captain, which would have the effect of fixing it more firmly in my own memory; and every one knows that it is of far greater importance to lay a good, solid groundwork of education, than to build a showy, superficial structure, on a bad foundation. Come, then, Captain, you see your advantages. This is the last time of asking. If you don’t speak now, henceforth and for ever hold your tongue.”
“Well, my lad,” said the Captain, with much gravity, “I’ve turned the thing over in my mind, and since Mrs Stoutley is so good as to say it would be agreeable to her, I think I’ll accept your invitation!”
“Bravo! Captain, you’re a true blue; come, have another glass of wine on the strength of it.”
“No wine, thank ’ee,” said the Captain, placing his hand over his glass, “I’ve had my beer; and I make it a rule never to mix my liquor. Excuse me, ma’am,” he continued, addressing his hostess, “your son made mention of a tooter—a travellin’ tooter; may I ask if you’ve provided yourself with one yet!”
“Not yet,” answered Mrs Stoutley, feeling, but not looking, a little surprised at the question, “I have no young friend at present quite suited for the position, and at short notice it is not easy to find a youth of talent willing to go, and on whom one can depend. Can you recommend one?”
Mrs Stoutley accompanied the question with a smile, for she put it in jest. She was, therefore, not a little surprised when the Captain said promptly12 that he could—that he knew a young man—a doctor—who was just the very ticket (these were his exact words), a regular clipper, with everything about him trim, taut13, and ship-shape, who would suit every member of the family to a tee!
A hearty14 laugh from every member of the family greeted the Captain’s enthusiastic recommendation, and Emma exclaimed that he must be a most charming youth, while Lewis pulled out pencil and note-book to take down his name and address.
“You are a most valuable friend at this crisis in our affairs,” said Lewis, “I’ll make mother write to him immediately.”
“But have a care,” said the Captain, “that you never mention who it was that recommended him. I’m not sure that he would regard it as a compliment. You must promise me that.”
“I promise,” said Lewis, “and whatever I promise mother will fulfil, so make your mind easy on that head. Now, mother, I shouldn’t wonder if Captain Wopper could provide you with that other little inexpensive luxury you mentioned this morning. D’you think you could recommend a page?”
“What’s a page, lad?”
“What! have you never heard of a page—a page in buttons?” asked Lewis in surprise.
“Never,” replied the Captain, shaking his head.
“Why, a page is a small boy, usually clad in blue tights, to make him look as like a spider as possible, with three rows of brass15 buttons up the front of his jacket—two of the rows being merely ornamental16, and going over his shoulders. He usually wears a man’s hat for the sake of congruity18, and is invariably as full of mischief19 as an egg is of meat. Can you find such an article?”
“Ha!” exclaimed the Captain. “What is he used for?”
“Chiefly for ornament17, doing messages, being in the way when not wanted, and out of the way when required.”
“Yes,” said the Captain, meditatively20, “I’ve got my eye—”
“Your weather eye?” asked Lewis.
“Yes, my weather eye, on a lad who’ll fit you.”
“To a tee?” inquired Emma, archly.
“To a tee, miss,” assented21 the Captain, with a bland22 smile.
Lewis again pulled out his note-book to enter the name and address, but the Captain assured him that he would manage this case himself; and it was finally settled—for Lewis carried everything his own way, as a matter of course—that Dr George Lawrence was to be written to next day, and Captain Wopper was to provide a page.
“And you’ll have to get him and yourself ready as fast as possible,” said the youth in conclusion, “for we shall set off as soon as my mother’s trunks are packed.”
Next morning, while Captain Wopper was seated conversing23 with his old landlady24 at the breakfast-table—the morning meal having been just concluded—he heard the voice of Gillie White in the court. Going to the end of the passage, he ordered that imp1 to “come aloft.”
Gillie appeared in a few seconds, nodded patronisingly to old Mrs Roby, hoped she was salubrious, and demanded to know what was up.
“My lad,” said the Captain—and as he spoke25, the urchin26 assumed an awful look of mock solemnity.
“I want to know if you think you could behave yourself if you was to try?”
“Ah!” said Gillie, with the air of a cross-examining advocate, “the keewestion is not w’ether I could behave myself if I wos to try, but, w’ether I think I could. Well, ahem! that depends. I think I could, now, if there was offered a very strong indoocement.”
“Just so, my lad,” returned the Captain, nodding, “that’s exactly what I mean to offer. What d’ee say to a noo suit of blue tights, with three rows brass buttons; a situation in a respectable family; a fair wage; as much as you can eat and drink; and a trip to Switzerland to begin with?”
While the Captain spoke, the small boy’s eyes opened wider and wider, and his month followed suit, until he stood the very picture of astonishment27.
“You don’t mean it?” he exclaimed.
“Indeed I do, my lad.”
“Then I’m your man,” returned the small boy emphatically, “putt me down for that sitooation; send for a lawyer, draw up the articles, I’ll sign ’em right off, and—”
“Gillie, my boy,” interrupted the Captain, “one o’ the very first things you have to do in larnin’ to behave yourself is to clap a stopper on your tongue—it’s far too long.”
“All right, Capp’n,” answered the imp, “I’ll go to Guy’s Hospital d’rectly and ’ave three-fourths of it ampitated.”
“Do,” said the Captain, somewhat sternly, “an’ ask ’em to attach a brake to the bit that’s left.
“Now, lad,” he continued, “you’ve got a very dirty face.”
Gillie nodded, with his lips tightly compressed to check utterance28.
“And a very ragged29 head of hair,” he added.
Again Gillie nodded.
The Captain pointed30 to a basin of water which stood on a chair in a corner of the room, beside which lay a lump of yellow soap, a comb, and a rough jack-towel.
“There,” said he, “go to work.”
Gillie went to work with a will, and scrubbed himself to such an extent, that his skin must undoubtedly31 have been thinner after the operation. The washing, however, was easy compared with the combing. The boy’s mop was such a tangled32 web, that the comb at first refused to pass through it; and when, encouraged by the Captain, the urchin did at last succeed in rending33 its masses apart various inextricable bunches came away bodily, and sundry34 teeth of the comb were left behind. At last, however, it was reduced to something like order, to the immense satisfaction of Mrs Roby and the Captain.
“Now,” said the latter, “did you ever have a Turkish bath?”
“No—never.”
“Well, then, come with me and have one. Have you got a cap?”
“Hm—never mind, come along; you’re not cleaned up yet by a long way; but we’ll manage it in course of time.”
As the Captain and his small protégé passed along the streets, the former took occasion to explain that a Turkish bath was a species of mild torture, in which a man was stewed35 alive, and baked in an oven, and par-boiled, and scrubbed, and pinched, and thumped36 (sometimes black and blue), and lathered37 with soap till he couldn’t see, and heated up to seven thousand and ten, Fahrenheit38 and soused with half-boiling water, and shot at with cold water—or shot into it, as the case might be—and rolled in a sheet like a mummy, and stretched out a like corpse39 to cool. “Most men,” he said, “felt gaspy in Turkish baths, and weak ones were alarmed lest they should get suffocated40 beyond recovery; but strong men rather enjoy themselves in ’em than otherwise.”
“Hah!” exclaimed the imp, “may I wentur’ to ax, Capp’n, wot’s the effect on boys?”
To this the Captain replied that he didn’t exactly know, never having heard of boys taking Turkish baths. Whereupon Gillie suggested, that if possible he might have himself cleaned in an ordinary bath.
“Impossible, my lad,” said the Captain, decidedly. “No or’nary bath would clean you under a week, unless black soap and scrubbin’ brushes was used.
“But don’t be alarmed, Gillie,” he added, looking down with a twinkle in his eyes, “I’ll go into the bath along with you. We’ll sink or swim together, my boy, and I’ll see that you’re not overdone41. I’m rather fond of them myself, d’ee see, so I can recommend ’em from experience.”
Somewhat reassured42 by this, though still a little uneasy in his mind, the imp followed his patron to the baths.
It would have been a sight worth seeing, the entrance of these two into the temple of soap-and-water. To see Gillie’s well-made, but very meagre and dirty little limbs unrobed; to see him decked out with the scrimpest possible little kilt, such as would, perhaps, have suited the fancy of a Fiji islander; to see his gaze of undisguised admiration43 on beholding44 his companion’s towering and massive frame in the same unwonted costume, if we may so style it; to see the intensifying45 of his astonishment when ushered46 into the first room, at beholding six or seven naked, and apparently47 dead men, laid round the walls, as if ready for dissection48; to see the monkey-like leap, accompanied by a squeal49, with which he sprang from a hot stone-bench, having sat down thereon before it had been covered with a cloth for his reception; to see the rapid return of his self-possession in these unusual circumstances, and the ready manner in which he submitted himself to the various operations, as if he had been accustomed to Turkish baths from a period long prior to infancy50; to see his horror on being introduced to the hottest room, and his furtive51 glance at the door, as though he meditated52 a rush into the open air, but was restrained by a sense of personal dignity; to see the ruling passion strong as ever in this (he firmly believed) his nearest approach to death, when, observing that the man next to him (who, as it were, turned the corner from him) had raised himself for a moment to arrange his pillow, he (Gillie) tipped up the corner of the man’s sheet, which hung close to his face in such a manner that he (the man), on lying down again, placed his bare shoulder on the hot stone, and sprang up with a yell that startled into life the whole of the half-sleeping establishment with the exception of the youth on the opposite bench, who, having noticed the act, was thrown into convulsions of laughter, much to the alarm of Gillie, who had thought he was asleep and feared that he might “tell;”—to see him laid down like a little pink-roll to be kneaded, and to hear him remark, in a calm voice, to the stalwart attendant that he might go in and win and needn’t be afraid of hurting him; to observe his delight when put under the warm “douche,” his gasping53 shriek54 when unexpectedly assailed55 with the “cold-shower,” and his placid56 air of supreme57 felicity when wrapped up like a ghost in a white sheet, and left to dry in the cooling-room—to see and hear all this, we say, would have amply repaid a special journey to London from any reasonable distance. The event, however, being a thing of the past and language being unequal to the description, we are compelled to leave it all to the reader’s imagination.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
imp
|
|
| n.顽童 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
inflict
|
|
| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
relish
|
|
| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
covertly
|
|
| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
entreaties
|
|
| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
shroud
|
|
| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
shrouds
|
|
| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
shrouded
|
|
| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
precipice
|
|
| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
requisites
|
|
| n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
taut
|
|
| adj.拉紧的，绷紧的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ornamental
|
|
| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
congruity
|
|
| n.全等，一致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
meditatively
|
|
| adv.冥想地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
bland
|
|
| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
conversing
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
landlady
|
|
| n.女房东，女地主 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
urchin
|
|
| n.顽童；海胆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
astonishment
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
utterance
|
|
| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
ragged
|
|
| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
tangled
|
|
| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
rending
|
|
| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
stewed
|
|
| adj.焦虑不安的，烂醉的v.炖( stew的过去式和过去分词 )；煨；思考；担忧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
thumped
|
|
| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
lathered
|
|
| v.（指肥皂）形成泡沫( lather的过去式和过去分词 )；用皂沫覆盖；狠狠地打 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
Fahrenheit
|
|
| n./adj.华氏温度；华氏温度计(的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
suffocated
|
|
| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的过去式和过去分词 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
overdone
|
|
| v.做得过分( overdo的过去分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
beholding
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
intensifying
|
|
| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
ushered
|
|
| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
dissection
|
|
| n.分析；解剖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
squeal
|
|
| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
infancy
|
|
| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
furtive
|
|
| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
meditated
|
|
| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
gasping
|
|
| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
shriek
|
|
| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
assailed
|
|
| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
placid
|
|
| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |