It was a great and important time to Abel when Jan learned to walk; but, as he was neither precocious2 nor behindhand in this respect, his biographer may be pardoned for not dwelling3 on it at any length.
He had a charming demure4 little face, chiefly differing from the faces of the other children of the district by an overwhelming superiority in the matter of forehead.
Mrs. Lake had had great hopes that he would differ in another respect also.
Most of the children of the neighborhood were fair. Not fair as so many North-country children are, with locks of differing, but equally brilliant, shades of gold, auburn, red, and bronze; but white-headed, and often white-faced, with white-lashed inexpressive eyes, as if they had been bleaching5 through several generations.
Now, when the dark bright eyes of the little Jan first came to be of tender interest with Mrs. Lake, she fully6 hoped, and constantly prophesied7, that he would be “as black as a rook;” a style of complexion8 to which she gave a distinct preference, though the miller was fair by nature as well as white by trade. Jan’s eyes seemed conclusive9.
“Black as slans they be,” said his foster-mother. And slans meant sloe-berries where Mrs. Lake was born.
An old local saying had something perhaps to do with her views:—
“Lang and lazy,
Black and proud;
Vair and voolish,
Little and loud.”
“Fair and foolish” youngsters certainly abounded10 in the neighborhood to an extent which justified11 a wish for a change.
As to pride, meek12 Mrs. Lake was far from regarding it as a failing in those who had any thing to be proud of, such as black hair and a possible connection with the gentry13. And fate having denied to her any chance of being proud or aggressive on her own account, she derived14 a curious sort of second-hand15 satisfaction from seeing these qualities in those who belonged to her. It did to some extent console her for the miller’s roughness to herself, to hear him rating George. And she got a sort of reflected dignity out of being able to say, “My maester’s a man as will have his way.”
But her hopes were not realized. That yellow into which the beefsteak stage of Jan’s infant complexion had faded was not destined16 to deepen into gipsy hues18. It gave place to the tints19 of the China rose, and all the wind and sunshine on the downs could not tan, though they sometimes burnt, his cheeks. The hair on his little head became more abundant, but it kept its golden hue17. His eyes remained dark,—a curious mixture; for as to hair and complexion he was irredeemably fair.
The mill had at least one “vair and voolish” inmate20, by common account, though by his own (given in confidence to intimate friends) he was “not zuch a vool as he looked.”
This was George Sannel, the miller’s man.
Master Lake had had a second hand in to help on that stormy night when Jan made his first appearance at the mill; but as a rule he only kept one man, whom he hired for a year at a time, at the mop or hiring fair held yearly in the next town.
George, or Gearge as he was commonly called, had been more than two years in the windmill, and was looked upon in all respects as “one of the family.” He slept on a truckle-bed in the round-house, which, though of average size, would not permit him to stretch his legs too recklessly without exposing his feet to the cold.
For “Gearge” was six feet one and three-quarters in his stockings.
He had a face in some respects like a big baby’s. He had a turn-up nose, large smooth cheeks, a particularly innocent expression, a forehead hardly worth naming, small dull eyes, with a tendency to inflammation of the lids which may possibly have hindered the lashes21 from growing, and a mouth which was generally open, if he were neither eating nor sucking a “bennet.” When this countenance22 was bathed in flour, it might be an open question whether it were improved or no. It certainly looked both “vairer” and more “voolish!”
There is some evidence to show that he was “lazy,” as well as “lang,” and yet he and Master Lake contrived23 to pull on together.
Either because his character was as childlike as his face, and because—if stupid and slothful by nature—he was also of so submissive, susceptible24, and willing a temper that he disarmed25 the justest wrath26; or because he was, as he said, not such a fool as he looked, and had in his own lubberly way taken the measure of the masterful windmiller to a nicety, George’s most flagrant acts of neglect had never yet secured his dismissal.
Indeed, it really is difficult to realize that any one who is lavish27 of willingness by word can wilfully28 and culpably29 fail in deed.
“I be a uncommon30 vool, maester, sartinly,” blubbered George on one occasion when the miller was on the point of turning him off, as a preliminary step on the road to the “gallus,” which Master Lake expressed his belief that he was “sartin sure to come to.” And, as he spoke31, George made dismal32 daubs on his befloured face with his sleeve, as he rubbed his eyes with his arm from elbow to wrist.
“Sech a governor as you be, too!” he continued. “Poor mother! she allus said I should come to no good, such a gawney as I be! No more I shouldn’t but for you, Master Lake, a-keeping of me on. Give un another chance, sir, do ’ee! I be mortal stoopid, sir, but I’d work my fingers to the bwoan for the likes of you, Master Lake!”
George stayed on, and though the very next time the windmiller was absent his “voolish” assistant did not get so much as a toll-dish of corn ground to flour, he was so full of penitence33 and promises that he weathered that tempest and many a succeeding one.
On that very eventful night of the storm, and of Jan’s arrival, George’s neglect had risked a recurrence34 of the sail catastrophe35. At least if the second man’s report was to be trusted.
This man had complained to the windmiller that, during his absence with the strangers, George, instead of doubling his vigilance now that the men were left short-handed, had taken himself off under pretext36 of attending to the direction of the wind and the position of the sails outside, a most important matter, to which he had not, after all, paid the slightest heed37; and what he did with himself, whilst leaving the mill to its fate and the fury of the storm, his indignant fellow-servant professed38 himself “blessed if he knew.”
But few people are as grateful as they should be when informed of misconduct in their own servants. It is a reflection on one’s judgment39.
And unpardonable as George’s conduct was, if the tale were true, the words in which he couched his self-defence were so much more grateful to the ears of the windmiller than the somewhat free and independent style in which the other man expressed his opinion of George’s conduct and qualities, that the master took his servant’s part, and snubbed the informer for his pains.
In justice to George, too, it should be said that he stoutly40 and repeatedly denied the whole story, with many oaths and imprecations of horrible calamities41 upon himself if he were lying in the smallest particular. And this with reiteration42 so steady, and a countenance so guileless and unmoved, as to contrast favorably with the face of the other man, whose voice trembled and whose forehead flushed, either with overwhelming indignation or with a guilty consciousness that he was bearing false witness.
Master Lake employed him no more, and George stayed on.
But, for that matter, Master Lake’s disposition43 was not one which permitted him to profit by the best qualities of those connected with him. He was a bit of a tyrant44, and more than one man, six times as clever, and ten times as hard-working as George, had gone when George would have stayed, from crossing words with the windmiller. The safety of the priceless sails, if all were true, had been risked by the man he kept, and secured by the man he sent away, but Master Lake was quite satisfied with his own decision.
“I bean’t so fond myself of men as is so mortal sprack and fussy45 in a strange place,” the miller observed to Mrs. Lake in reference to this matter.
Mrs. Lake had picked up several of her husband’s bits of proverbial wisdom, which she often flattered him by retailing46 to his face.
“Too hot to hold, mostly,” was her reply, in knowing tones.
“Ay, ay, missus, so a be,” said the windmiller. And after a while he added, “Gearge is slow, sartinly, mortal slow; but Gearge is sure.”
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1
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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2
precocious
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| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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demure
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| adj.严肃的；端庄的 | |
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bleaching
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| 漂白法，漂白 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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7
prophesied
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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9
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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12
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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13
gentry
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| n.绅士阶级，上层阶级 | |
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14
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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15
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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16
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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19
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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20
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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21
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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22
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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27
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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28
wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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29
culpably
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| adv.该罚地，可恶地 | |
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30
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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31
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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32
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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33
penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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34
recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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37
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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38
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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39
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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40
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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41
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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42
reiteration
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| n. 重覆, 反覆, 重说 | |
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43
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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44
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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45
fussy
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| adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的 | |
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46
retailing
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| n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词) | |
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