Mr. Rowe's anxiety to see Rupert and Henrietta, and to "take the liberty of expressing himself" about their having saved Baby Cecil's life was very great, but the interview did not take place for some time. The barge1 Betsy took two voyages to Nine Elms and home again before Henrietta was down-stairs and allowed to talk about the fire.
Rupert refused to see the barge-master when he called to ask after Henrietta; he was vexed2 because people made a fuss about the affair, and when Rupert was vexed he was not gracious. When Henrietta got better, however, she said, "We ought to see old Rowe and thank him for his kindness to Charlie;" so the next time he called, we all went into the housekeeper's room to see him.
He was very much pleased and excited, which [143]always seemed to make him inclined to preach. He set forth3 the noble motives4 which must have moved Rupert and Henrietta to their heroic conduct in the emergency, so that I felt more proud of them than ever. But Rupert frowned, and said, "Nonsense, Rowe, I'm sure I never thought anything of the kind. I don't believe we either of us thought anything at all."
But Mr. Rowe had not served seventeen years in the Royal Navy to be put down when he expounded5 a point of valour.
"That's where it is, Master Rupert," said he. "It wouldn't have been you or Miss Henrietta either if you had. 'A man overboard,' says you—that's enough for one of your family, sir. They never stops to think 'Can I swim?' but in you goes, up the stairs that wouldn't hold the weight of a new-born babby, and right through the raging flames."
"Oh, dear!" cried Henrietta, "that's just what Cook and all kinds of people will say. But it was the front stairs that were on fire. We only went up the back stairs, and they weren't burning at all."
The barge-master smiled in reply. But it was with the affability of superior knowledge, and I feel quite sure that he always told the story (and believed it) according to his impossible version.
It was on the third day after the fire that our cousin called at the Crown. He had never been to [144]see us before, and, as I have said, we had never been to the Castle. But the next day he sent a close carriage for Henrietta and my mother, and a dog-cart for Rupert and me, and brought us up to the Castle. We were there for three months.
It was through him that Rupert went to those baths abroad, which cured his knee completely. And then, because my mother could not afford to do it, he sent him to a grander public school than Dr. Jessop's old grammar school, and Mr. Johnson sent Thomas Johnson there too, for Tom could not bear to be parted from Rupert, and his father never refused him anything.
But what I think was so very kind of our cousin was his helping6 me. Rupert and Henrietta had been a credit to the family, but I deserved nothing. I had only run away in the mean hope of outshining them, and had made a fool of myself, whilst they had been really great in doing their duty at home. However, he did back me up with Mother about going to sea, and got me on board the training-ship Albion; and my highest hope is to have the chance of bringing my share of renown7 to my father's name, that his cousin may never regret having helped me to my heart's desire.
Fred Johnson and I are very good friends, but since our barge voyage we have never been quite so [145]intimate. I think the strongest tie between us was his splendid stories of the captain, and I do not believe in them now.
Oddly enough, my chief friend—of the whole lot—is Weston. Rupert always said I had a vulgar taste in the choice of friends, so it seems curious that of our old schoolmates Johnson should be his friend and Weston mine. For Johnson's father is only a canal-carrier, and Weston is a fellow of good family.
He is so very clever! And I have such a habit of turning my pockets inside out for everybody to see, that I admire his reticence8; and then, though he is so ironical9 with himself, as well as other people, he has very fine ideas and ambitions and very noble and upright principles—when you know him well.
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," and the fire that burned down our house got Weston into print at last.
It was not a common letter either, in the "correspondence" part, with small type, and the editor not responsible. It was a leading article, printed big, and it was about the fire and Rupert and Henrietta. Thomas Johnson read it to us, and we did not know who wrote it; but it was true, and in good taste. After the account of the fire came a quotation10 from Horace,
[146]
And Johnson cried—"That's Weston, depend upon it. He's in the Weekly Spectator at last!"
And then, to my utter amazement12, came such a chronicle of the valiant13 deeds of Rupert's ancestors as Weston could only have got from one source. What had furnished his ready pen with matter for a comic ballad14 to punish my bragging15 had filled it also to do honour to Rupert and Henrietta's real bravery, and down to what the colonel of my father's regiment16 had said of him—it was all there.
Weston came to see me the other day at Dartmouth, where our training-ship Albion lies, and he was so charmed by the old town with its carved and gabled houses, and its luxuriant gardens rich with pale-blossomed laurels17, which no frost dwarfs18, and crimson19 fuchsias gnarled with age, and its hill-embosomed harbour, where the people of all grades and ages, and of both sexes, flit hither and thither20 in their boats as landlubbers would take an evening stroll—that I felt somewhat justified21 in the romantic love I have for the place.
And when we lay in one of the Albion's boats, rocking up and down in that soothing22 swell23 which freshens the harbour's mouth, Weston made me tell him all about the lion and the silver chain, and he called me a prig for saying so often that I did not believe in it now. I remember he said, "In this [147]sleepy, damp, delightful24 Dartmouth, who but a prig could deny the truth of a poetical25 dream?"
He declared he could see the lion in a cave in the rock, and that the poor beast wanted a new sea-green ribbon.
Weston speaks so much more cleverly than I can, that I could not explain to him then that I am still but too apt to dream! But the harbour's mouth is now only the beginning of my visions, which stretch far over the sea beyond, and over the darker line of that horizon where the ships come and go.
I hope it is not wrong to dream. My father was so modest as well as ambitious, so good as well as so gallant26, that I would rather die than disgrace him by empty conceit27 and unprofitable hopes.
Weston is a very religious fellow, though he does not "cant28" at all. When I was going away to Dartmouth, and he saw me off (for we were great friends), one of the last things he said to me was, "I say, don't leave off saying your prayers, you know."
I haven't, and I told him so this last time. I often pray that if ever I am great I may be good too; and sometimes I pray that if I try hard to be good God will let me be great as well.
The most wonderful thing was old Rowe's taking a cheap ticket and coming down to see me last [148]summer. I never can regret my voyage with him in the Betsy, for I did thoroughly enjoy it, though I often think how odd it is that
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
barge
|
|
| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
vexed
|
|
| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
motives
|
|
| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
expounded
|
|
| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
renown
|
|
| n.声誉，名望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
reticence
|
|
| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
quotation
|
|
| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
fortes
|
|
| n.特长，专长，强项( forte的名词复数 )；强音( fortis的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
valiant
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
ballad
|
|
| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
bragging
|
|
| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
regiment
|
|
| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
laurels
|
|
| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
dwarfs
|
|
| n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
thither
|
|
| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
soothing
|
|
| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
swell
|
|
| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
poetical
|
|
| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
conceit
|
|
| n.自负，自高自大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
cant
|
|
| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |