Uncle Draen y Coed was right, and I must add that I doubt if, in all his experience, or among the strange traditions of his most eccentric ancestors, he could find an instance of change of habits so unexpected, so complete, I may say so headlong, as when very quiet people, with an almost surly attachment3 to home, break the bounds of the domestic circle, and take to gadding4, gossiping, and excitement.
Perhaps it is because they find that their fellow-creatures are nicer than they have been wont5 to allow them to be, and that other people's affairs are quite as interesting as their own.
Perhaps—but what is the good of trying to explain infatuations?
Why do we all love valerian? I can only record that, having set up every prickle on our backs against intruders into our wood, we now dreaded6 nothing more than that our neighbours should forsake7 us, and wished for nothing better than for fresh arrivals.
In old days, when my excellent partner and I used to take our evening stroll up the field, we were wont to regard it quite as a grievance8 if a cousin, who lived at the far end of the hedge, came out and caught us and detained us for a gossip. But now I could hardly settle to my midday nap for thinking of the tinker-mother; and as to Mrs. Hedgehog, she almost annoyed me by her anxiety to see Christian9. However, curiosity is the foible of her sex, and I accompanied her daily to the encampment without a murmur10.
It was not many days after that on which we heard the old tinker-mother relate Christian's history, that we were stopped on our way to the corner where we usually concealed13 ourselves, by hearing strange voices from the winding14 pathway above us.
"It's a young man," said I.
"It's Christian!" cried Mrs. Hedgehog.
"I feel sure that it is not," said I; "but if you will keep quiet, I will creep a little forward and see."
I am always in the right, as I make a point of reminding Mrs. Hedgehog whenever we dispute; and I was right on this occasion.
The lad who spoke15 was a young gentleman of about seventeen, and no more like a gipsy than I am. His fair hair was closely cropped, his eyes were quick and bright, his manner was alert and almost anxious, and though he was very slight as well as very young, he carried himself with dignity and some little importance. A lady, much older than himself, was with him, whom he was helping16 down the path.
"Take care, Gertrude, take care. There is no hurry, and I believe there's no one in the wood but ourselves."
"The people at the inn told us that there were gipsies in the neighbourhood," said the lady; "and oh, Ted1! this is exactly the wood I dreamt of, except the purple and white—"
"Gertrude! What on earth are you after?"
"The flowers, Ted, the flowers in my dream! There they are, a perfect carpet of them. White—oh, how lovely!—and there, on the other side, are the purple ones. What are they, dear? I know you are a good botanist17. He always raved18 about your collection."
"Nonsense, I'm not a botanist. Several other fellows went in for it when the prize was offered, and all that my collection was good for was his doing. I never did see any one arrange flowers as he did, I must say. Every specimen19 was pressed so as somehow to keep its own way of growing. And when I did them, a columbine looked as stiff as a dog-daisy. I never could keep any character in them. Watson—the fellow who drew so well—made vignettes on the blank pages to lots of the specimens—'Likely Habitats' we called them. He used to sit with his paint-box in my window, and Christian used to sit outside the window, on the edge, dangling20 his legs, and describing scenes out of his head for Watson to draw. Watson used to say, 'I wish I could paint with my brush as that fellow paints with his tongue'—and when the vignettes were admired, I've heard him say, in his dry way, 'I copied them from Christian's paintings;' and the fellows used to stare, for you know he couldn't draw a line. And when—But I say, Gertrude, for Heaven's sake, don't devour21 everything I say with those great pitiful eyes of yours. I am a regular brute22 to talk about him."
"No, Ted, no. It makes me so happy to hear you, and to know that you know how good he really was, and how much he must have been aggravated23 before—"
"For goodness' sake, don't cry. Christian was a very good fellow, a capital fellow. I never thought I could have got on so well with any one who was—I mean who wasn't—well, of course I mean who was really a gipsy. I don't blame him a bit for resenting being bullied24 about his parents. I only blame myself for not looking better after him. But you know that well enough—you know it's because I never can forgive myself for having managed so badly when you put him in my care, that I am backing you through this mad expedition, though I don't approve of it one bit, and though I know John will blame me awfully25."
("It's the clergywoman," whispered Mrs. Hedgehog excitedly, "and I must and will see her."
When it comes to this with Mrs. Hedgehog's sex, there is nothing for it but to let the dear creatures have their own way, and take the consequences. She pushed her nose straight through the lower branches of an arbutus in which we were concealed, and I myself managed to get a nearer sight of our new neighbours.
As we crept forward, the clergywoman got up from where she was kneeling amongst the flowers, and laid her hand on the young gentleman's arm. I noticed it because I had never seen such a white hand before; Sybil's paws were nearly as dark as my own.)
"John will blame no one if we find Christian," she said. "You are very, very good, Cousin Ted, to come with me and help me when you do not believe in my dream. But you must say it is odd about the flowers. And you haven't told me yet what they are."
"It is the bulbous-rooted fumitory," said the young man, pulling a piece at random26 in the reckless way in which men do disfigure forest flower-beds. "It isn't strictly27 indigenous28, but it is naturalized in many places, and you must have seen it before, though you fancy you haven't."
"I have seen it once before," she said earnestly—"all in delicate glaucous-green masses, studded with purple and white, like these; but it was in my dream. I never saw it otherwise, though I know you don't believe me."
"Dear Gertrude, I'll believe anything you like to tell me, if you'll come home. I'm sure I have done very wrong. You know I'm always hard up, but I declare I'd give a hundred pounds if you'd come home with me at once. I don't believe there's a gipsy within—"
"Good-day, my pretty young gentleman. Let the poor gipsy girl tell you your fortune."
He turned round and saw Sybil standing29 at his elbow, her eyes flashing and her white teeth gleaming in a broad smile. He stood speechless in sudden surprise; but the clergywoman, who was not surprised, came forward with her white hands stretched so expressively30 towards Sybil's brown ones, that the gipsy girl all but took them in her own.
The clergywoman spoke with such vehemence33 that Sybil answered directly, "I know his grandmother"—and then suddenly stopped herself.
But as she spoke, she had turned her head with an expressive31 gesture in the direction of the encampment, and without waiting for more, the clergywoman ran down the path, calling on her cousin to follow her.
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1
ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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2
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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4
gadding
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| n.叮搔症adj.蔓生的v.闲逛( gad的现在分词 )；游荡；找乐子；用铁棒刺 | |
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5
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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7
forsake
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| vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃 | |
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8
grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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9
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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10
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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11
urchins
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| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
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12
snails
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| n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 ) | |
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13
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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14
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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15
spoke
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| 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 | |
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16
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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17
botanist
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| n.植物学家 | |
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18
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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19
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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20
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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21
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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22
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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23
aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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24
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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26
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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27
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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28
indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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29
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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30
expressively
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| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
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31
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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32
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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33
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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