Whether Captain Stride executed his commission well or not we cannot tell, and whether the meeting of Mrs Brooke with her long-lost son came to near killing2 or not we will not tell. Enough to know that they met, and that the Captain—with that delicacy3 of feeling so noticeable in seafaring men—went outside the cottage door and smoked his pipe while the meeting was in progress. After having given sufficient time, as he said, “for the first o’ the squall to blow over,” he summarily snubbed his pipe, put it into his vest pocket, and re-entered.
“Now, missus, you’ll excuse me, ma’am, for cuttin’ in atween you, but this business o’ the Leathers is pressin’, an’ if we are to hold a confabulation wi’ the family about it, why—”
“Ah, to be sure, Captain Stride is right,” said Mrs Brooke, turning to her stalwart son, who was seated on the sofa beside her. “This is a very, very sad business about poor Shank. You had better go to them, Charlie. I will follow you in a short time.”
“Mr Crossley is with them at this moment. I forgot to say so, mother.”
“Is he? I’m very glad of that,” returned the widow. “He has been a true friend to us all. Go, Charlie. But stay. I see May coming. The dear child always comes to me when there is anything good or sorrowful to tell. But she comes from the wrong direction. Perhaps she does not yet know of Mr Crossley’s arrival.”
“May! Can it be?” exclaimed Charlie in an undertone of surprise as he observed, through the window, the girl who approached.
And well might he be surprised, for this, although the same May, was very different from the girl he left behind him. The angles of girlhood had given place to the rounded lines of young womanhood. The rich curly brown hair, which used to whirl wildly in the sea-breezes, was gathered up in a luxuriant mass behind her graceful4 head, and from the forehead it was drawn5 back in two wavy6 bands, in defiance7 of fashion, which at that time was beginning to introduce the detestable modern fringe. Perhaps we are not quite un-biassed in our judgment8 of the said fringe, far it is intimately associated in our mind with the savages9 of North America, whose dirty red faces, in years past, were wont10 to glower11 at us from beneath just such a fringe, long before it was adopted by the fair dames12 of England!
In other respects, however, May was little changed, except that the slightest curl of sadness about her eyebrows13 made her face more attractive than ever, as she nodded pleasantly to the Captain, who had hastened to the door to meet her.
“So glad to see you, Captain Stride,” she said, shaking hands with unfeminine heartiness14. “Have you been to see mother? I have just been having a walk before—”
She stopped as if transfixed, for at that moment she caught sight of Charlie and his mother through the open door.
Poor May flushed to the roots of her hair; then she turned deadly pale, and would have fallen had not the gallant16 Captain caught her in his arms. But by a powerful effort of will she recovered herself in time to avoid a scene.
“The sight of you reminded me so strongly of our dear Shank!” she stammered17, when Charlie, hastening forward, grasped both her hands and shook them warmly. “Besides—some of us thought you were dead.”
“No wonder you thought of Shank,” returned Charlie, “for he and I used to be so constantly together. But don’t be cast down, May. We’ll get Shank out of his troubles yet.”
“Yes, and you know he has Ritson with him,” said Mrs Brooke; “and he, although not quite as steady as we could wish, will be sure to care for such an old friend in his sickness. But you’d better go, Charlie, and see Mrs Leather. They will be sure to want you and Captain Stride. May will remain here with me. Sit down beside me, dear, I want to have a chat with you.”
“Perhaps, ma’am, if I make so bold,” interposed the Captain, “Mr Crossley may want to have Miss May also at the council of war.”
“Mr Crossley! is he with my mother?” asked the girl eagerly.
“Yes, Miss May, he is.”
“Then I must be there. Excuse me, dear Mrs Brooke.”
And without more ado May ran out of the house. She was followed soon after by Charlie and the Captain, and Mrs Brooke was left alone, expressing her thankfulness and joy of heart in a few silent tears over her knitting.
There was a wonderful similarity in many respects between Mrs Brooke and her friend Mrs Leather. They both knitted—continuously and persistently18. This was a convenient if not a powerful bond, for it enabled them to sit for hours together—busy, yet free to talk. They were both invalids—a sympathetic bond of considerable strength. They held the same religious views—an indispensable bond where two people have to be much together, and are in earnest. They were both poor—a natural bond which draws people of a certain kind very close together, physically19 as well as spiritually—and both, up to this time at least, had long-absent and semi-lost sons. Even in the matter of daughters they might be said, in a sense, to be almost equal, for May, loving each, was a daughter to both. Lastly, in this matter of similarity, the two ladies were good—good as gold, according to Captain Stride, and he ought to have been an authority, for he frequently visited them and knew all their affairs. Fortunately for both ladies, Mrs Brooke was by far the stronger-minded—hence they never quarrelled!
In Mrs Leather’s parlour a solemn conclave20 was seated round the parlour table. They were very earnest, for the case under consideration was urgent, as well as very pitiful. Poor Mrs Leather’s face was wet with tears, and the pretty brown eyes of May were not dry. They had had a long talk over the letter from Ritson, which was brief and to the point but meagre as to details.
“I rather like the letter, considering who wrote it,” observed Mr Crossley, laying it down after a fourth perusal21. “You see he makes no whining22 or discontented reference to the hardness of their luck, which young scapegraces are so fond of doing; nor does he make effusive23 professions of regret or repentance24, which hypocrites are so prone25 to do. I think it bears the stamp of being genuine on the face of it. At least it appears to be straightforward26.”
“I’m so glad you think so, Mr Crossley,” said Mrs Leather; “for Mr Ritson is such a pleasant young man—and so good-looking, too!”
The old gentleman and the Captain both burst into a laugh at this.
“I’m afraid,” said the former, “that good looks are no guarantee for good behaviour. However, I have made up my mind to send him a small sum of money—not to Shank, Mrs Leather, so you need not begin to thank me. I shall send it to Ritson.”
“Well, thank you all the same,” interposed the lady, taking up her knitting and resuming operations below the table, gazing placidly27 all the while at her friends like some consummate28 conjuror29, “for Ralph will be sure to look after Shank.”
“The only thing that puzzles me is, how are we to get it sent to such an out-o’-the-way place—Traitor’s Trap! It’s a bad name, and the stupid fellow makes no mention of any known town near to it, though he gives the post-office. If I only knew its exact whereabouts I might get some one to take the money to him, for I have agents in many parts of America.”
After prolonged discussion of the subject, Mr Crossley returned to town to make inquiries30, and the Captain went to take his favourite walk by the sea-shore, where he was wont, when paying a visit to Sealford, to drive the Leathers’ little dog half-mad with delight by throwing stones into the sea for Scraggy to go in for—which he always did, though he never fetched them out.
In the course of that day Charlie Brooke left his mother to take a stroll, and naturally turned in the direction of the sea. When half-way through the lane with the high banks on either side he encountered May.
“What a pleasant pretty girl she has become!” was his thought as she drew near.
“Nobler and handsomer than ever!” was hers as he approached.
The thoughts of both sent a flush to the face of each, but the colour scarcely showed through the bronzed skin of the man.
“Why, what a woman you have grown, May!” said Charlie, grasping her hand, and attempting to resume the old familiar terms—with, however, imperfect success.
“Isn’t that natural?” asked May, with a glance and a little laugh.
That glance and that little laugh, insignificant31 in themselves, tore a veil from the eyes of Charlie Brooke. He had always been fond of May Leather, after a fashion. Now it suddenly rushed upon him that he was fond of her after another fashion! He was a quick thinker and just reasoner. A poor man without a profession and no prospects32 has no right to try to gain the affections of a girl. He became grave instantly.
“May,” he said, “will you turn back to the shore with me for a little? I want to have a talk about Shank. I want you to tell me all you know about him. Don’t conceal33 anything. I feel as if I had a right to claim your confidence, for, as you know well, he and I have been like brothers since we were little boys.”
May had turned at once, and the tears filled her eyes as she told the sad story. It was long, and the poor girl was graphic34 in detail. We can give but the outline here.
Shank had gone off with Ritson not long after the sailing of the Walrus35. On reaching America, and hearing of the failure of the company that worked the gold mine, and of old Ritson’s death, they knew not which way to turn. It was a tremendous blow, and seemed to have rendered them reckless, for they soon took to gambling36. At first they remained in New York, and letters came home pretty regularly, in which Shank always expressed hopes of getting more respectable work. He did not conceal their mode of gaining a livelihood37, but defended it on the ground that “a man must live!”
For a time the letters were cheerful. The young men were “lucky.” Then came a change of luck, and a consequent change in the letters, which came less frequently. At last there arrived one from Shank, both the style and penmanship of which told that he had not forsaken38 the great curse of his life—strong drink. It told of disaster, and of going off to the “Rockies” with a party of “discoverers,” though what they were to discover was not mentioned.
“From that date till now,” said May in conclusion, “we have heard nothing about them till this letter came from Mr Ritson, telling of dear Shank being so ill, and asking for money.”
“I wish any one were with Shank rather than that man,” said Charlie sternly; “I have no confidence in him whatever, and I knew him well as a boy.”
“Nevertheless, I think we may trust him. Indeed I feel sure he won’t desert his wounded comrade,” returned May, with a blush.
The youth did not observe the blush. His thoughts were otherwise engaged, and his eyes were at the moment fixed15 on a far-off part of the shore, where Captain Stride could be seen urging on the joyful39 Scraggy to his fruitless labours.
“I wish I could feel as confident of him as you do, May. However, misfortune as well as experience may have made him a wiser, perhaps a better, man. But what troubles me most is the uncertainty40 of the money that Mr Crossley is going to send ever reaching its destination.”
“Oh! if we only knew some one in New York who would take it to them,” said May, looking piteously at the horizon, as if she were apostrophising some one on the other side of the Atlantic.
“Why, you talk as if New York and Traitor’s Trap were within a few miles of each other,” said Charlie, smiling gently. “They are hundreds of miles apart.”
“Well, I suppose they are. But I feel so anxious about Shank when I think of the dear boy lying ill, perhaps dying, in a lonely place far far away from us all, and no one but Mr Ritson to care for him! If I were only a man I would go to him myself.”
She broke down at this point, and put her handkerchief to her face.
“Don’t cry, May,” began the youth in sore perplexity, for he knew not how to comfort the poor girl in the circumstances, but fortunately Captain Stride caught sight of them at the moment, and gave them a stentorian41 hail.
How long a nautical43 jiffy may be we know not, but, in a remarkably44 brief space of time, considering the shortness and thickness of his sea-legs, the Captain was alongside, blowing, as he said, “like a grampus.”
That night Charlie Brooke sat with his mother in her parlour. They were alone—their friends having considerately left them to themselves on this their first night.
They had been talking earnestly about past and present, for the son had much to learn about old friends and comrades, and the mother had much to tell.
“And now, mother,” said Charlie, at the end of a brief pause, “what about the future?”
“Surely, my boy, it is time enough to talk about that to-morrow, or next day. You are not obliged to think of the future before you have spent even one night in your old room.”
“Not absolutely obliged, mother. Nevertheless, I should like to speak about it. Poor Shank is heavy on my mind, and when I heard all about him to-day from May, I—. She’s wonderfully improved, that girl, mother. Grown quite pretty?”
“Indeed she is—and as good as she’s pretty,” returned Mrs Brooke, with a furtive45 glance at her son.
“She broke down when talking about Shank to-day, and I declare she looked quite beautiful! Evidently Shank’s condition weighs heavily on her mind.”
“Can you wonder, Charlie?”
“Of course not. It’s natural, and I quite sympathised with her when she exclaimed, ‘If I were only a man I would go to him myself.’”
“That’s natural too, my son. I have no doubt she would, poor dear girl, if she were only a man.”
“Do you know, mother, I’ve not been able to get that speech out of my head all this afternoon. ‘If I were a man—if I were a man,’ keeps ringing in my ears like the chorus of an old song, and then—”
“Well, Charlie, what then?” asked Mrs Brooke, with a puzzled glance.
“Why, then, somehow the chorus has changed in my brain and it runs— ‘I am a man! I am a man!’”
“Well?” asked the mother, with an anxious look.
“Well—that being so, I have made up my mind that I will go out to Traitor’s Trap and carry the money to Shank, and look after him myself. That is, if you will let me.”
“O Charlie! how can you talk of it?” said Mrs Brooke, with a distressed46 look. “I have scarcely had time to realise the fact that you have come home, and to thank God for it, when you begin to talk of leaving me again—perhaps for years, as before.”
“Nay, mother mine, you jump to conclusions too hastily. What I propose is not to go off again on a long voyage, but to take a run of a few days in a first-class steamer across what the Americans call the big fish-pond; then go across country comfortably by rail; after that hire a horse and have a gallop47 somewhere or other; find out Shank and bring him home. The whole thing might be done in a few weeks; and no chance, almost, of being wrecked48.”
“I don’t know, Charlie,” returned Mrs Brooke, in a sad tone, as she laid her hand on her son’s arm and stroked it. “As you put it, the thing sounds all very easy, and no doubt it would be a grand, a noble thing to rescue Shank—but—but, why talk of it to-night, my dear boy? It is late. Go to bed, Charlie, and we will talk it over in the morning.”
“How pleasantly familiar that ‘Go to bed, Charlie,’ sounds,” said the son, laughing, as he rose up.
“You did not always think it pleasant,” returned the good lady, with a sad smile.
“That’s true, but I think it uncommonly49 pleasant now. Good-night, mother.”
“Good-night, my son, and God bless you.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
consultations
|
|
| n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
wavy
|
|
| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
savages
|
|
| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
glower
|
|
| v.怒目而视 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
dames
|
|
| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
heartiness
|
|
| 诚实，热心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
stammered
|
|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
persistently
|
|
| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
conclave
|
|
| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
perusal
|
|
| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
whining
|
|
| n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
effusive
|
|
| adj.热情洋溢的；感情(过多)流露的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
repentance
|
|
| n.懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
prone
|
|
| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
straightforward
|
|
| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
placidly
|
|
| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
consummate
|
|
| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
conjuror
|
|
| n.魔术师，变戏法者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
inquiries
|
|
| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
graphic
|
|
| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
walrus
|
|
| n.海象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
gambling
|
|
| n.赌博；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
livelihood
|
|
| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
Forsaken
|
|
| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
joyful
|
|
| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
uncertainty
|
|
| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
stentorian
|
|
| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
overhaul
|
|
| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
nautical
|
|
| adj.海上的，航海的，船员的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
remarkably
|
|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
furtive
|
|
| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
gallop
|
|
| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
wrecked
|
|
| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
uncommonly
|
|
| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |