Captain Wopper is there, of course. So is Mrs Roby. Gillie White is there also, and Susan Quick. The Captain is at home. The two latter are on a visit—a social tea-party. Little Netta White, having deposited Baby White in the mud at the lowest corner of the Court for greater security, is waiting upon them—a temporary handmaiden, relieving, by means of variety, the cares of permanent nursehood. Mrs White is up to the elbows in soap-suds, taking at least ocular and vocal2 charge of the babe in the mud, and her husband is—“drunk, as usual?” No—there is a change there. Good of some kind has been somewhere at work. Either knowingly or unwittingly some one has been “overcoming evil with good,” for Mrs White’s husband is down at the docks toiling4 hard to earn a few pence wherewith to increase the family funds. And who can tell what a terrible yet hopeful war is going on within that care-worn, sin-worn man? To toil3 hard with shattered health is burden enough. What must it be when, along with the outward toil, there is a constant fight with a raging watchful5 devil within? But the man has given that devil some desperate falls of late. Oh, how often and how long he has fought with him, and been overcome, cast down, and his armoury of resolutions scattered6 to the winds! But he has been to see some one, or some one has been to see him, who has advised him to try another kind of armour—not his own. He knows the power of a “new affection” now. Despair was his portion not long ago. He is now animated7 by Hope, for the long uncared-for name of Jesus is now growing sweet to his ear. But the change has taken place recently, and he looks very weary as he toils8 and fights.
“Well, mother,” said Captain Wopper, “now that I’ve given you a full, true, an’ partikler account of Switzerland, what d’ee think of it?”
“It is a strange place—very, but I don’t approve of people risking their lives and breaking their limbs for the mere9 pleasure of getting to the top of a mountain of ice.”
“But we can’t do anything in life without riskin’ our lives an’ breakin’ our limbs more or less,” said the Captain.
“An’ think o’ the interests of science,” said Gillie, quoting the Professor.
Mrs Roby shook her tall cap and remained unconvinced. To have expected the old nurse to take an enlightened view on that point would have been as unreasonable10 as to have looked for just views in Gillie White on the subject of conic sections.
“Why, mother, a man may break a leg or an arm in going down stairs,” said the Captain, pursuing the subject; “by the way, that reminds me to ask for Fred Leven. Didn’t I hear that he broke his arm coming up his own stair? Is it true?”
“True enough,” replied Mrs Roby.
“Was he the worse of liquor at the time?”
“No. It was dark, and he was carrying a heavy box of something or other for his mother. Fred is a reformed man. I think the sight of your poor father, Gillie, has had something to do with it, and that night when his mother nearly died. At all events he never touches drink now, and he has got a good situation in one of the warehouses11 at the docks.”
“That’s well,” returned the Captain, with satisfaction. “I had hopes of that young feller from the night you mention. Now, mother, I’m off. Gillie and I have some business to transact12 up the water. Very particular business—eh, lad?”
“Oh! wery partickler,” said Gillie, responding to his patron’s glance with a powerful wink13.
Expressing a hope that Susan would keep Mrs Roby company till he returned, the Captain left the room with his usual heavy roll, and the spider followed with imitative swagger.
Captain Wopper was fond of mystery. Although he had, to some extent made a confidant of the boy for whom he had taken so strong a fancy, he nevertheless usually maintained a dignified14 distance of demeanour towards him, and a certain amount of reticence15, which, as a stern disciplinarian, he deemed to be essential. This, however, did not prevent him from indulging in occasional, not to say frequent, unbendings of disposition16, which he condescended17 to exhibit by way of encouragement to his small protégé; but these unbendings and confidences were always more or less shrouded18 in mystery. Many of them, indeed, consisted of nothing more intelligible19 than nods, grins, and winks20.
“That’ll be rather a nice cottage when it’s launched,” said the Captain, pointing to a building in process of erection, which stood so close to the edge of the Thames that its being launched seemed as much a literal allusion21 as a metaphor22.
“Raither bobbish,” assented23 the spider.
“Clean run fore24 and aft with bluff25 bows, like a good sea-boat,” said the Captain. “Come, let’s have a look at it.”
Asking permission to enter of a workman who granted the same with, what appeared to Gillie, an unnecessarily broad grin, the Captain led the way up a spiral staircase. It bore such a strong resemblance to the familiar one of Grubb’s Court that Gillie’s eyes enlarged with surprise, and he looked involuntarily back for his soapy mother and the babe in the mud. There were, however, strong points of dissimilarity, inasmuch as there was no mud or filth26 of any kind near the new building except lime; and the stair, instead of leading like that of the Tower of Babel an interminable distance upwards27, ended abruptly28 at the second floor. Here, however, there was a passage exactly similar to the passage leading to Mrs Roby’s cabin, save that it was well lighted, and at the end thereof was an almost exact counterpart of the cabin itself. There was the same low roof, the same little fireplace, with the space above for ornaments29, and the same couple of little windows looking out upon a stretch of the noble river, from which you might have fished. There was the same colour of paint on the walls, which had been so managed as to represent the dinginess30 of antiquity31. There was also, to all appearance, Mrs Roby’s own identical bed, with its chintz curtains. Here, however, resemblance ended, for there was none of the Grubb’s Court dirt. The craft on the river were not so large or numerous, the reach being above the bridges. If you had fished you not have hooked rats or dead cats, and if you had put your head out and looked round, you would have encountered altogether a clean, airy, and respectable neighbourhood, populous32 enough to be quite cheery, with occasional gardens instead of mud-banks, and without interminable rows of tall chimney-pots excluding the light of heaven.
Gillie, not yet having been quite cured of his objectionable qualities, at once apostrophised his eye and Elizabeth Martin.
“As like as two peas, barrin’ the dirt!”
The Captain evidently enjoyed the lad’s astonishment33.
“A ship-shape sort o’ craft, ain’t it? It wouldn’t be a bad joke to buy it—eh?”
Gillie, who was rather perplexed34, but too much a man of the world to disclose much of his state of mind, said that it wouldn’t be a bad move for any feller who had got the blunt. “How much would it cost now?”
“A thousand pounds, more or less,” said the Captain, with discreet35 allowance for latitude36.
“Ha! a goodish lump, no doubt.”
“I’ve half a mind to buy it,” continued the Captain, looking round with a satisfied smile. “It would be an amoosin’ sort o’ thing, now, to bring old Mrs Roby here. The air would be fresher for her old lungs, wouldn’t it?”
Gillie nodded, but was otherwise reticent37.
“The stair, too, wouldn’t be too high to get her down now and again, and a boat could be handy to shove her into without much exertion38. For the matter of that,” said the Captain, looking out, “we might have a slide made, like a Swiss couloir, you know, and she could glissade comfortably into the boat out o’ the winder. Then, there’s a beam to hang her ship an’ Chinee lanterns from, an’ a place over the fireplace to stick her knick-knacks. What d’ee think, my lad?”
Gillie, who had begun to allow a ray of light to enter his mind, gave, as his answer, an emphatic39 nod and a broad grin.
The Captain replied with a nod and a wink, whereupon the other retired40 behind his patron, for the purpose of giving himself a quiet hug of delight, in which act, however, he was caught; the Captain being one who always, according to his own showing, kept his weather-eye open.
“W’y, what’s the matter with you, boy?”
“Pains in the stummick is aggrawatin’ sometimes,” answered Gillie.
“You haven’t got ’em, have you?”
“Well, I can’t exactly go for to say as I has,” answered Gillie, with another grin.
“Now, look ’ee here, youngster,” said the Captain, suddenly seizing the spider by his collar and trousers, and swinging him as though about to hurl41 him through the window into the river, “if you go an’ let your tongue wag in regard to this matter, out you go, right through the port-hole—d’ee see?”
He set the spider quietly on his legs again, who replied, with unruffled coolness—
“Mum’s the word, Cappen.”
Gillie had been shorn of his blue tights and brass42 buttons, poor Mrs Stoutley having found it absolutely necessary, on her return home, to dismiss all her servants, dispose of all her belongings44, and retire into the privacy of a poor lodging45 in a back street. Thus the spider had come to be suddenly thrown on the world again, but Captain Wopper had retained him, he said, as a mixture of errand-boy, cabin-boy, and powder-monkey, in which capacity he dwelt with his mother during the night and revolved46 like a satellite round the Captain during the day. A suit of much more appropriate pepper-and-salt had replaced the blue tights and buttons. Altogether, his tout-ensemble was what the Captain styled “more ship-shape.”
We have said that Mrs Stoutley and her family had made a descent in life. As poor Lewis remarked, with a sad smile, they had quitted the gay and glittering heights, and gone, like a magnificent avalanche47, down into the moraine. Social, not less than physical, avalanches48 multiply their parts and widen their course during descent. The Stoutleys did not fall alone. A green-grocer, a shoemaker, and a baker49, who had long been trembling, like human boulders50, on the precipice51 of bankruptcy52, went tumbling down along with them, and found rest in a lower part of the moraine than they had previously53 occupied.
“It’s a sad business,” said Lewis to Dr Lawrence one morning; “and if you continue to attend me, you must do so without the most distant prospect54 of a fee.”
“My dear fellow,” returned Lawrence, “have you no such thing as gratitude55 in your composition?”
“Not much, and, if I had ever so much, it would be poor pay.”
“Poor, indeed, if regarded as one’s only source of livelihood,” rejoined Lawrence, “but it is ample remuneration from a friend, whether rich or poor, and, happily, capable of being mixed with pounds, shillings and pence without deterioration56. In the present case, I shall be more than rejoiced to take the fee unmixed, but, whether fee’d or not fee’d, I insist on continuing attendance on a case which I have a right to consider peculiarly my own.”
“It would have been a bad case, indeed, but for you,” returned Lewis, a flush for a moment suffusing57 his pale cheek as he took his friend’s hand and squeezed it. “I am thoroughly58 convinced, Lawrence, that God’s blessing59 on your skill and unwearied care of me at the time of the accident is the cause of my being alive to thank you to-day. But sit down, my dear fellow, and pray postpone60 your professional inquiries61 for a little, as I have something on my mind which I wish to ask you about.”
Lawrence shook his head. “Business first, pleasure afterwards,” he said; “professional duties must not be postponed62.”
“Now,” said Lewis when he had finished, “are you satisfied? Do you admit that even an unprofessional man might have seen at a glance that I am much better, and that your present draft on my gratitude is a mere swindle?”
“I admit nothing,” retorted the other; “but now, what have you got to say to me?”
“I am going to make a confidant of you. Are you to be trusted?”
“Perhaps; I dare not say yes unconditionally63, because I’m rather sociable64 and communicative, and apt to talk in my sleep.”
“That will do. Your answer is sufficiently65 modest. I will venture. You know Captain Wopper, I mean, you are well acquainted with his character; well, that kind and eccentric man has made a proposal to my dear mother, which we do not like to accept, and which at the same time we do not quite see our way to refuse. My mother, when in great distress66 in Switzerland, was forced to borrow a small sum of money from him, and thought it right to justify67 her doing so by letting him know—what everybody, alas68! may know now—that we were ruined. With that ready kindness which is his chief characteristic he at once complied. Since our return home he has, with great delicacy69 but much determination, insisted that we shall accept from him a regular weekly allowance until we have had time to correspond with our uncle Stout43 in California. ‘You mustn’t starve,’ he said to my mother—I give you his own words—‘and you’d be sure to starve if you was to try to wegitate for six months or so on atmospheric70 air. It’ll take that time before you could get a letter from Willum, an’ though your son Lewis could an’ would, work like a nigger to keep your pot bilin’ if he was well an’ hearty71, it’s as plain as the nose on your own face, ma’am, that he can’t work while he’s as thin as a fathom72 of pump-water an’ as weak as a babby. Now, you know-at least I can tell ’ee—that my old chum Willum is as rich as a East Injin nabob. You wouldn’t believe, madam, what fortins some gold-diggers have made. W’y, I’ve seed men light their pipes with fi’-pun’ notes for a mere brag73 out there. I’ve made a goodish lump o’ money myself too,—a’most more than I know what to do with, an’ as to Willum, I may say he’s actooally rollin’ in gold. He’s also chockfull of regard for you and yours, ma’am. That bein’ so, he’s sure to send you somethin’ to tide you over yer difficulties, an’ he’s also sure to send somethin’ to Lewis to help him start fair when he gits well, and he’s surest of all to send somethin’ to Miss Emma for all the kind letters she’s writ74 to him doorin’ the last five or six years. Well, then, I’m Willum’s buzzum friend, and, knowin’ exactly what he’ll say an’ do in the circumstances, what more nat’ral an’ proper than that Willum’s chum should anticipate Willum’s wishes, and advance the money—some of it at least—say three thousand pounds to start with.’ Now, Lawrence,” continued Lewis, “what should we do? Should we accept this offer? The good fellow has evidently made a great deal of money at the gold-fields, and no doubt speaks truly when he says he can afford to advance that sum. And we know our uncle William’s character well enough, though we have never seen him, to be quite sure that he will assist my dear mother until I am able to support her. What say you?”
“Accept the offer at once,” said Lawrence. “From what I have seen of the Captain, I am convinced that he is a warm friend and a genuine man. No doubt he can well afford to do what he proposes, and his opinion of William Stout’s character is just, for, from what I know of him through Mrs Roby, who knew him when he was a lad, when his life was saved by my father, he must have a kind heart.”
“I have no doubt of it, Lawrence, and a grateful heart too, if I may judge from a few words that fell from Captain Wopper about your father and yourself.”
“Indeed! what did he say about us?”
“I have no right to repeat observations dropped inadvertently,” said Lewis, with a laugh.
“Nor to raise curiosity which you don’t mean to satisfy,” retorted his friend; “however, my advice is, that you accept the Captain’s offer, and trust to your uncle’s generosity75.”
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1
tenement
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| n.公寓；房屋 | |
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vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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toils
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| 网 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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winks
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| v.使眼色( wink的第三人称单数 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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dinginess
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| n.暗淡，肮脏 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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reticent
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| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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hurl
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| vt.猛投，力掷，声叫骂 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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avalanches
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| n.雪崩( avalanche的名词复数 ) | |
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49
baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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boulders
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| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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52
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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55
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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56
deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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57
suffusing
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的现在分词 ) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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postpone
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| v.延期，推迟 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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unconditionally
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| adv.无条件地 | |
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sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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68
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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69
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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70
atmospheric
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| adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的 | |
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71
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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72
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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73
brag
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| v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的 | |
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74
writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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75
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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