My first impressions of the gentle, dignified3, and yet genial4 old man were entirely5 favourable6: and the real satisfaction that showed itself on his daughter's face, as she met me with the words “this is indeed an unlooked-for pleasure!”, was very soothing7 for whatever remains8 of personal vanity the failures and disappointments of many long years, and much buffeting9 with a rough world, had left in me.
Yet I noted10, and was glad to note, evidence of a far deeper feeling than mere11 friendly regard, in her meeting with Arthur though this was, as I gathered, an almost daily occurrence—and the conversation between them, in which the Earl and I were only occasional sharers, had an ease and a spontaneity rarely met with except between very old friends: and, as I knew that they had not known each other for a longer period than the summer which was now rounding into autumn, I felt certain that 'Love,' and Love alone, could explain the phenomenon.
“How convenient it would be,” Lady Muriel laughingly remarked, a propos of my having insisted on saving her the trouble of carrying a cup of tea across the room to the Earl, “if cups of tea had no weight at all! Then perhaps ladies would sometimes be permitted to carry them for short distances!”
“One can easily imagine a situation,” said Arthur, “where things would necessarily have no weight, relatively12 to each other, though each would have its usual weight, looked at by itself.”
“Well, suppose this house, just as it is, placed a few billion miles above a planet, and with nothing else near enough to disturb it: of course it falls to the planet?”
The Earl nodded. “Of course though it might take some centuries to do it.”
“And is five-o'clock-tea to be going on all the while?” said Lady Muriel.
“That, and other things,” said Arthur. “The inhabitants would live their lives, grow up and die, and still the house would be falling, falling, falling! But now as to the relative weight of things. Nothing can be heavy, you know, except by trying to fall, and being prevented from doing so. You all grant that?”
We all granted that.
“Well, now, if I take this book, and hold it out at arm's length, of course I feel its weight. It is trying to fall, and I prevent it. And, if I let go, it fails to the floor. But, if we were all falling together, it couldn't be trying to fall any quicker, you know: for, if I let go, what more could it do than fall? And, as my hand would be falling too—at the same rate—it would never leave it, for that would be to get ahead of it in the race. And it could never overtake the failing floor!”
“I see it clearly,” said Lady Muriel. “But it makes one dizzy to think of such things! How can you make us do it?”
“There is a more curious idea yet,” I ventured to say. “Suppose a cord fastened to the house, from below, and pulled down by some one on the planet. Then of course the house goes faster than its natural rate of falling: but the furniture—with our noble selves—would go on failing at their old pace, and would therefore be left behind.”
“Practically, we should rise to the ceiling,” said the Earl. “The inevitable14 result of which would be concussion15 of brain.”
“To avoid that,” said Arthur, “let us have the furniture fixed16 to the floor, and ourselves tied down to the furniture. Then the five-o'clock-tea could go on in peace.”
“With one little drawback!” Lady Muriel gaily17 interrupted. “We should take the cups down with us: but what about the tea?”
“I had forgotten the tea,” Arthur confessed. “That, no doubt, would rise to the ceiling unless you chose to drink it on the way!”
“Which, I think, is quite nonsense enough for one while!” said the Earl. “What news does this gentleman bring us from the great world of London?”
This drew me into the conversation, which now took a more conventional tone. After a while, Arthur gave the signal for our departure, and in the cool of the evening we strolled down to the beach, enjoying the silence, broken only by the murmur18 of the sea and the far-away music of some fishermen's song, almost as much as our late pleasant talk.
We sat down among the rocks, by a little pool, so rich in animal, vegetable, and zoophytic—or whatever is the right word—life, that I became entranced in the study of it, and, when Arthur proposed returning to our lodgings19, I begged to be left there for a while, to watch and muse20 alone.
The fishermen's song grew ever nearer and clearer, as their boat stood in for the beach; and I would have gone down to see them land their cargo21 of fish, had not the microcosm at my feet stirred my curiosity yet more keenly.
One ancient crab22, that was for ever shuffling23 frantically24 from side to side of the pool, had particularly fascinated me: there was a vacancy25 in its stare, and an aimless violence in its behaviour, that irresistibly26 recalled the Gardener who had befriended Sylvie and Bruno: and, as I gazed, I caught the concluding notes of the tune27 of his crazy song.
The silence that followed was broken by the sweet voice of Sylvie. “Would you please let us out into the road?”
“What! After that old beggar again?” the Gardener yelled, and began singing:—
“He thought he saw a Kangaroo
That worked a coffee-mill:
He looked again, and found it was
A Vegetable-pill
'Were I to swallow this,' he said,
'I should be very ill!'”
{Image...He thought he saw a kangaroo}
“We don't want him to swallow anything,” Sylvie explained. “He's not hungry. But we want to see him. So Will you please—”
“Certainly!” the Gardener promptly28 replied. “I always please. Never displeases29 nobody. There you are!” And he flung the door open, and let us out upon the dusty high-road.
We soon found our way to the bush, which had so mysteriously sunk into the ground: and here Sylvie drew the Magic Locket from its hiding-place, turned it over with a thoughtful air, and at last appealed to Bruno in a rather helpless way. “What was it we had to do with it, Bruno? It's all gone out of my head!”
“Kiss it!” was Bruno's invariable recipe in cases of doubt and difficulty. Sylvie kissed it, but no result followed.
“Rub it the wrong way,” was Bruno's next suggestion.
“Which is the wrong way?”, Sylvie most reasonably enquired30. The obvious plan was to try both ways.
Rubbing from left to right had no visible effect whatever.
From right to left—“Oh, stop, Sylvie!” Bruno cried in sudden alarm. “Whatever is going to happen?”
For a number of trees, on the neighbouring hillside, were moving slowly upwards31, in solemn procession: while a mild little brook32, that had been rippling33 at our feet a moment before, began to swell34, and foam35, and hiss36, and bubble, in a truly alarming fashion.
“Rub it some other way!” cried Bruno. “Try up-and-down! Quick!”
It was a happy thought. Up-and-down did it: and the landscape, which had been showing signs of mental aberration37 in various directions, returned to its normal condition of sobriety with the exception of a small yellowish-brown mouse, which continued to run wildly up and down the road, lashing38 its tail like a little lion.
“Let's follow it,” said Sylvie: and this also turned out a happy thought. The mouse at once settled down into a business-like jog-trot, with which we could easily keep pace. The only phenomenon, that gave me any uneasiness, was the rapid increase in the size of the little creature we were following, which became every moment more and more like a real lion.
Soon the transformation39 was complete: and a noble lion stood patiently waiting for us to come up with it. No thought of fear seemed to occur to the children, who patted and stroked it as if it had been a Shetland-pony.
{Image...The mouse-lion}
“Help me up!” cried Bruno. And in another moment Sylvie had lifted him upon the broad back of the gentle beast, and seated herself behind him, pillion-fashion. Bruno took a good handful of mane in each hand, and made believe to guide this new kind of steed. “Gee-up!', seemed quite sufficient by way of verbal direction: the lion at once broke into an easy canter, and we soon found ourselves in the depths of the forest. I say 'we,' for I am certain that I accompanied them though how I managed to keep up with a cantering lion I am wholly unable to explain. But I was certainly one of the party when we came upon an old beggar-man cutting sticks, at whose feet the lion made a profound obeisance40, Sylvie and Bruno at the same moment dismounting, and leaping in to the arms of their father.
“From bad to worse!” the old man said to himself, dreamily, when the children had finished their rather confused account of the Ambassador's visit, gathered no doubt from general report, as they had not seen him themselves. “From bad to worse! That is their destiny. I see it, but I cannot alter it. The selfishness of a mean and crafty41 man—the selfishness of an ambitious and silly woman——the selfishness of a spiteful and loveless child all tend one way, from bad to worse! And you, my darlings, must suffer it awhile, I fear. Yet, when things are at their worst, you can come to me. I can do but little as yet—”
Gathering42 up a handful of dust and scattering43 it in the air, he slowly and solemnly pronounced some words that sounded like a charm, the children looking on in awe-struck silence:—
“Let craft, ambition, spite,
Till weakness turn to might,
Till what is dark be light,
Till what is wrong be right!”
The cloud of dust spread itself out through the air, as if it were alive, forming curious shapes that were for ever changing into others.
“It makes letters! It makes words!” Bruno whispered, as he clung, half-frightened, to Sylvie. “Only I ca'n't make them out! Read them, Sylvie!”
“I'll try,” Sylvie gravely replied. “Wait a minute—if only I could see that word—”
“I should be very ill!', a discordant45 voice yelled in our ears.
“Were I to swallow this,' he said,
'I should be very ill!'”
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收听单词发音
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1
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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buffeting
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| 振动 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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14
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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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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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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20
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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21
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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23
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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29
displeases
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| 冒犯，使生气，使不愉快( displease的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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31
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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aberration
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| n.离开正路，脱离常规，色差 | |
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38
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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39
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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40
obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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41
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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42
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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43
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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44
quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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45
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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