On the day when I first left my sick room, and was moved to a sofa in what had been my poor mother's boudoir, my father put fifty pounds into Nurse Bundle's hand, and sent another fifty to Mr. Andrewes for some communion vessels2 for the church, on which the rector had set his heart. They were both thank-offerings.
"I owe my son's recovery to God, and to you, Mrs. Bundle," said my father, with a certain elaborateness of speech to which he was given on important occasions. "No money could purchase such care as you bestowed3 on him, and no money can reward it; but it will be doing me a farther favour to allow me to think that, should sickness ever overtake yourself when we are no longer together, this little sum, laid by, may come in useful, and afford you a few comforts."
That first evening of my convalescence we were quite jubilant; but afterwards there were many weary days of weakness, irritability4, and ennui5 on my part, and anxiety and disappointment on my father's. Rubens was a great comfort at this period. For his winning ways formed an interest, and served a little to vary the monotony of the[73] hours when I was too weak to bear any definite amusement or occupation. It must have been about this time that a long cogitation6 with myself led to the following conversations with Nurse Bundle and my father:—
"How old are you, Nurse?" I inquired, one forenoon, when she had neatly7 arranged the tray containing my chop, wine, etc., by my chair.
"Five-and-fifty, love, come September," said Nurse Bundle.
"Do people ever marry when they are five-and-fifty, papa?" I asked that evening, as I lay languid and weary on the sofa.
"Yes, my dear boy, sometimes. But why do you want to know?"
"I think I shall marry Nurse Bundle when I am old enough," I said, with almost melancholy8 gravity. "She's a good deal older than I am; but I love her very much. And she would make me very comfortable. She knows my ways."
My father has often told me that he would have laughed aloud, but for the sad air of utter weariness over my helpless figure, the painful, unchildlike anxiousness on my thin face, and in my old-fashioned air and attitude. I have myself quite forgotten the occurrence.
At last this most trying time was over, but the fever had left me taller, weaker, and much in need of what doctors call "tone." All concerned in the care of me were now unanimous in declaring that I must have a "change of air."
There was some little difficulty in deciding where to go. Another visit to Aunt Maria was out of the question. Even if London had been a suitable place, the fear of infection for my cousins made it not to be thought of.[74]
"Where would you like to go, Nurse?" I inquired one evening, as we all sat in the boudoir discussing the topic of the day.
"I should like to go wherever it's best for your good health, Master Reginald," was Nurse Bundle's answer, which, though admirable in its spirit, did not further the settlement of the matter we found it so difficult to decide.
"But where would you like to go for yourself?" I persisted. "Where would you go if it was you going away, and nobody else?"
"Well, my dear, if it was me just going away for myself, I think I should go to my sister's at Oakford."
This reply drew from me a catechism of questions about Oakford, and Nurse Bundle's sister, and Nurse Bundle's sister's husband, and their children; and when my father came to sit with me I had a long history of Oakford and Nurse Bundle's relatives at my fingers' ends, and was full of a new fancy, which was strong upon me, to go and stay for awhile at Oakford with Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Buckle9.
"Nurse says they sometimes let lodgings," I said; "and I should like Nurse to see her sister; and," I candidly10 added, "I should like to see her myself."
My father's uppermost wish was to please me; and as Oakford was known to be healthy, and the doctor favoured the proposition, it was decided11 according to my wishes. If we stayed long, my father was to go backwards12 and forwards, and he was to fetch us when we went away. His anxiety was still so great, and led him to watch me in a manner which fidgeted me so much, that I think the doctor was only too glad that the place should[75] be sufficiently13 near to induce him to leave me to the care of Nurse Bundle.
We went by coach to Oakford. I was not allowed to sit outside on this journey. It was only a short one, however; and, truth to say, I did not feel strong enough for any feats14 of energy, and went meekly15 enough into that stuffy16 hole, the inside! Before following me, Nurse Bundle gave some directions to the driver, of a kind that could only be effectual in reference to a small place where everybody was known.
"Coachman! Oakford! And drop us at Mr. Buckle's, please, the saddler."
"High Street, isn't it?" said the fat coachman, looking down on Mrs. Bundle exactly as a parrot looks down from his perch17.
"To be sure; only three doors below the 'Crown.'"
With which Mrs. Bundle gathered up her skirts, and her worsted workbag, and clambered into the coach.
There were two other "insides." One of these never spoke18 at all during the journey. The other only spoke once, and he seems to have been impelled19 thereto by a three hours' contemplation of the contrast between my slim, wasted little figure, and Nurse Bundle's portly person, as we sat opposite to him. He was a Scotchman, and I fancy "in business."
"You're weel matched to sit on the one side," was his remark.
Once, when I was feeling faint, he opened the window without my having spoken, and only acknowledged my thanks by a silent nod. When the coach stopped in the High Street of Oakford, and Nurse Bundle had descended21, he so far[76] relaxed, as he handed out me and the worsted workbag, as to indulge his national thirst for general information by the inquiring remark:
"Mr. Buckle, I believe?"
"Mr. Buckle, I believe?"
"You'll be staying at the 'Crown' the night, mem?"
"No, sir. We stop here," said Nurse Bundle.
I caught his keen blue eye at the window whilst the coach was delayed by the getting out of our luggage. I do not think he missed one feature of our welcome on the threshold of the saddler's shop.
I feel sure that Scotchmen do greatly profit by the habit they have of "absorbing into their constitutions," so to speak, all the facts of every kind that come within their ken20. They "go in for general information," like the Tom Toddy in Mr. Kingsley's 'Water Babies;' but their hard heads have, fortunately, no likeness22 to turnips23.
This, however, is a digression.
Mr. Benjamin Buckle, Mrs. Benjamin Buckle, Jemima Buckle, their daughter, Mr. Buckle's apprentice24, and the "general girl," or maid-of-all-work, were all in the shop to receive us. I believe the cat was the only living creature in the house who was not there. But cats seldom exert themselves unnecessarily on behalf of other people, and she awaited our arrival upstairs. I had a severe if not undignified struggle with the string before I could get my hat off. Then I advanced, and, holding out my hand to Mr. Buckle, said,
"Mr. Buckle, I believe?"
"The same to you, sir, and a many of them," said Mr. Buckle, hastily; being, I fancy, rather put out by the touch of my frail25 hand, which was certainly very unlike the leather he handled daily. He saw his mistake, and added quickly,[77]
"Your servant, sir. I hope your health's better, sir?"
"Very well, thank you," said I (all children make that answer, I think).
"What a little gentleman!" said Mrs. Buckle, in an audible "aside" to my nurse. She was as good-natured a woman as Mrs. Bundle herself, but with less brains. She lived in a chronic26 state of surprises and superlatives.
"You are Nurse's sister, aren't you, please?" I asked, going up to her, and once more tendering my hand. "I wanted to see you very much."
"Now just to think of that, Jemima! did you ever?" cried Mrs. Buckle.
"How do you do, Jemima?" adding, almost without an instant's pause, "Please take me away, Nurse! I am so very tired."
By one immediate28 and unbroken action, Mrs. Bundle cut her way through our hospitable29 friends and the scattered30 rolls of leather and other trade accessories in the shop, and conveyed me into an arm-chair in the sitting-room31 upstairs, where I sat, the tears running down my face for very weakness.
I had longed for the novelty of a residence above a saddler's shop; but now, too weary for new experiences, I was only conscious that the stairs were narrow, the room dingy32 and vulgar after the rooms at home, and as I wept I wished I had never come.
At this day, I am glad that I had the courtesy to restrain my feelings, and not to damp the delighted welcome of Nurse and her friends by an insulting avowal33 of my disappointment. I really was not a spoilt child; and indeed, the[78] insolent34 and undisciplined egotism of many children "now-a-days," was not often tolerated by the past generation. As I sat silent and sad, Nurse Bundle ransacked35 her bag, muttering, "What a fool I be, to be sure!" and anon produced a flask36 of wine, from which she filled a wine-glass with a very big leg, which was one of the chimney ornaments37. I emptied it in obedience38 to her orders, and in a few minutes my tears ceased, and I began to take a more cheerful view of the wallpaper and the antimacassars.
"What a pretty cat!" I said, at last. The said cat, a beauty, was lying on the hearthrug.
"Isn't it a beauty, love?" said Nurse Bundle; "and look, my dear, at your own little dog lying as good as gold in the rocking-chair, and not so much as looking at puss."
Rubens did not quite deserve this panegyric39. He lay in his chair without touching40 puss, it is true; but he kept his eye firmly and constantly fixed41 upon her, only restrained from an attack by my known objection to such proceedings42, and by the immovable composure of the good lady herself. Half a movement of encouragement on my part, half a movement of flight on the cat's, and Rubens would have been after her. All this was so plainly expressed in his attitude, that I burst out laughing. Rubens chose to take this as a sound to the chase, and only by the most peremptory43 orders could I induce him to keep quiet. As to the cat, I saw one convulsive twitch44 of the very tip of her tail, eloquent45 of wrath46; otherwise she never moved.
"Now, my dear," said Mrs. Bundle, "suppose you come upstairs to bed, and get a good night's rest. I can hear Jemima a-shaking of the coals in the warming-pan now, on the stairs."[79]
Warming-pans were not much used at home, and I was greatly interested in the brazen47 implement48 which Jemima wielded49 so dexterously50.
"It's like an ironing cloth," was my comment when I got between the sheets. I had often warmed my hands on the table where Nurse ironed my collars at home.
Rubens duly came to bed; and I fell asleep, well satisfied on the whole with Oakford and the saddler's household.
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1
convalescence
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| n.病后康复期 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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irritability
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| n.易怒 | |
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ennui
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| n.怠倦，无聊 | |
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cogitation
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| n.仔细思考，计划，设计 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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9
buckle
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| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
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candidly
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| adv.坦率地，直率而诚恳地 | |
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11
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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12
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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13
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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14
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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15
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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16
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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17
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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18
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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19
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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21
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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22
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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23
turnips
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| 芜青( turnip的名词复数 )； 芜菁块根； 芜菁甘蓝块根； 怀表 | |
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24
apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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25
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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26
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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27
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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28
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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29
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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30
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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31
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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32
dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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33
avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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35
ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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36
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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37
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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38
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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39
panegyric
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| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
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40
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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41
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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42
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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43
peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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44
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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45
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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46
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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47
brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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48
implement
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| n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行 | |
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49
wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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50
dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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