With many doubtful pauses by the way;
Grief hath an influence so hush’d and holy.’
HOOD1.
‘Is not Margaret the heiress?’ whispered Edith to her husband, as they were in their room alone at night after the sad journey to Oxford3. She had pulled his tall head down, and stood upon tiptoe, and implored4 him not to be shocked, before she had ventured to ask this question. Captain Lennox was, however, quite in the dark; if he had ever heard, he had forgotten; it could not be much that a Fellow of a small college had to leave; but he had never wanted her to pay for her board; and two hundred and fifty pounds a year was something ridiculous, considering that she did not take wine. Edith came down upon her feet a little bit sadder; with a romance blown to pieces.
A week afterwards, she came prancing5 towards her husband, and made him a low curtsey:
‘I am right, and you are wrong, most noble Captain. Margaret has had a lawyer’s letter, and she is residuary legatee — the legacies6 being about two thousand pounds, and the remainder about forty thousand, at the present value of property in Milton.’
‘Indeed! and how does she take her good fortune?’
‘Oh, it seems she knew she was to have it all along; only she had no idea it was so much. She looks very white and pale, and says she’s afraid of it; but that’s nonsense, you know, and will soon go off. I left mamma pouring congratulations down her throat, and stole away to tell you.’
It seemed to be supposed, by general consent, that the most natural thing was to consider Mr. Lennox henceforward as Margaret’s legal adviser7. She was so entirely8 ignorant of all forms of business that in nearly everything she had to refer to him. He chose out her attorney; he came to her with papers to be signed. He was never so happy as when teaching her of what all these mysteries of the law were the signs and types.
‘Henry,’ said Edith, one day, archly; ‘do you know what I hope and expect all these long conversations with Margaret will end in?’
‘No, I don’t,’ said he, reddening. ‘And I desire you not to tell me.’
‘Oh, very well; then I need not tell Sholto not to ask Mr. Montagu so often to the house.’
‘Just as you choose,’ said he with forced coolness. ‘What you are thinking of, may or may not happen; but this time, before I commit myself, I will see my ground clear. Ask whom you choose. It may not be very civil, Edith, but if you meddle9 in it you will mar2 it. She has been very farouche with me for a long time; and is only just beginning to thaw10 a little from her Zenobia ways. She has the making of a Cleopatra in her, if only she were a little more pagan.’
‘For my part,’ said Edith, a little maliciously11, ‘I am very glad she is a Christian12. I know so very few!’
There was no Spain for Margaret that autumn; although to the last she hoped that some fortunate occasion would call Frederick to Paris, whither she could easily have met with a convoy13. Instead of Cadiz, she had to content herself with Cromer. To that place her aunt Shaw and the Lennoxes were bound. They had all along wished her to accompany them, and, consequently, with their characters, they made but lazy efforts to forward her own separate wish. Perhaps Cromer was, in one sense of the expression, the best for her. She needed bodily strengthening and bracing14 as well as rest.
Among other hopes that had vanished, was the hope, the trust she had had, that Mr. Bell would have given Mr. Thornton the simple facts of the family circumstances which had preceded the unfortunate accident that led to Leonards’ death. Whatever opinion — however changed it might be from what Mr. Thornton had once entertained, she had wished it to be based upon a true understanding of what she had done; and why she had done it. It would have been a pleasure to her; would have given her rest on a point on which she should now all her life be restless, unless she could resolve not to think upon it. It was now so long after the time of these occurrences, that there was no possible way of explaining them save the one which she had lost by Mr. Bell’s death. She must just submit, like many another, to be misunderstood; but, though reasoning herself into the belief that in this hers was no uncommon15 lot, her heart did not ache the less with longing16 that some time — years and years hence — before he died at any rate, he might know how much she had been tempted17. She thought that she did not want to hear that all was explained to him, if only she could be sure that he would know. But this wish was vain, like so many others; and when she had schooled herself into this conviction, she turned with all her heart and strength to the life that lay immediately before her, and resolved to strive and make the best of that.
She used to sit long hours upon the beach, gazing intently on the waves as they chafed18 with perpetual motion against the pebbly19 shore — or she looked out upon the more distant heave, and sparkle against the sky, and heard, without being conscious of hearing, the eternal psalm20, which went up continually. She was soothed21 without knowing how or why. Listlessly she sat there, on the ground, her hands clasped round her knees, while her aunt Shaw did small shoppings, and Edith and Captain Lennox rode far and wide on shore and inland. The nurses, sauntering on with their charges, would pass and repass her, and wonder in whispers what she could find to look at so long, day after day. And when the family gathered at dinner-time, Margaret was so silent and absorbed that Edith voted her moped, and hailed a proposal of her husband’s with great satisfaction, that Mr. Henry Lennox should be asked to take Cromer for a week, on his return from Scotland in October.
But all this time for thought enabled Margaret to put events in their right places, as to origin and significance, both as regarded her past life and her future. Those hours by the sea-side were not lost, as any one might have seen who had had the perception to read, or the care to understand, the look that Margaret’s face was gradually acquiring. Mr. Henry Lennox was excessively struck by the change.
‘The sea has done Miss Hale an immense deal of good, I should fancy,’ said he, when she first left the room after his arrival in their family circle. ‘She looks ten years younger than she did in Harley Street.’
‘That’s the bonnet22 I got her!’ said Edith, triumphantly23. ‘I knew it would suit her the moment I saw it.’
‘I beg your pardon,’ said Mr. Lennox, in the half-contemptuous, half-indulgent tone he generally used to Edith. ‘But I believe I know the difference between the charms of a dress and the charms of a woman. No mere24 bonnet would have made Miss Hale’s eyes so lustrous25 and yet so soft, or her lips so ripe and red — and her face altogether so full of peace and light. — She is like, and yet more,’— he dropped his voice — ‘like the Margaret Hale of Helstone.’
From this time the clever and ambitious man bent26 all his powers to gaining Margaret. He loved her sweet beauty. He saw the latent sweep of her mind, which could easily (he thought) be led to embrace all the objects on which he had set his heart. He looked upon her fortune only as a part of the complete and superb character of herself and her position: yet he was fully27 aware of the rise which it would immediately enable him, the poor barrister, to take. Eventually he would earn such success, and such honours, as would enable him to pay her back, with interest, that first advance in wealth which he should owe to her. He had been to Milton on business connected with her property, on his return from Scotland; and with the quick eye of a skilled lawyer, ready ever to take in and weigh contingencies28, he had seen that much additional value was yearly accruing29 to the lands and tenements30 which she owned in that prosperous and increasing town. He was glad to find that the present relationship between Margaret and himself, of client and legal adviser, was gradually superseding31 the recollection of that unlucky, mismanaged day at Helstone. He had thus unusual opportunities of intimate intercourse32 with her, besides those that arose from the connection between the families.
Margaret was only too willing to listen as long as he talked of Milton, though he had seen none of the people whom she more especially knew. It had been the tone with her aunt and cousin to speak of Milton with dislike and contempt; just such feelings as Margaret was ashamed to remember she had expressed and felt on first going to live there. But Mr. Lennox almost exceeded Margaret in his appreciation33 of the character of Milton and its inhabitants. Their energy, their power, their indomitable courage in struggling and fighting; their lurid34 vividness of existence, captivated and arrested his attention. He was never tired of talking about them; and had never perceived how selfish and material were too many of the ends they proposed to themselves as the result of all their mighty35, untiring endeavour, till Margaret, even in the midst of her gratification, had the candour to point this out, as the tainting36 sin in so much that was noble, and to be admired. Still, when other subjects palled37 upon her, and she gave but short answers to many questions, Henry Lennox found out that an enquiry as to some Darkshire peculiarity38 of character, called back the light into her eye, the glow into her cheek.
When they returned to town, Margaret fulfilled one of her sea-side resolves, and took her life into her own hands. Before they went to Cromer, she had been as docile39 to her aunt’s laws as if she were still the scared little stranger who cried herself to sleep that first night in the Harley Street nursery. But she had learnt, in those solemn hours of thought, that she herself must one day answer for her own life, and what she had done with it; and she tried to settle that most difficult problem for women, how much was to be utterly40 merged41 in obedience42 to authority, and how much might be set apart for freedom in working. Mrs. Shaw was as good-tempered as could be; and Edith had inherited this charming domestic quality; Margaret herself had probably the worst temper of the three, for her quick perceptions, and over-lively imagination made her hasty, and her early isolation43 from sympathy had made her proud; but she had an indescribable childlike sweetness of heart, which made her manners, even in her rarely wilful44 moods, irresistible45 of old; and now, chastened even by what the world called her good fortune, she charmed her reluctant aunt into acquiescence46 with her will. So Margaret gained the acknowledgment of her right to follow her own ideas of duty.
‘Only don’t be strong-minded,’ pleaded Edith. ‘Mamma wants you to have a footman of your own; and I’m sure you’re very welcome, for they’re great plagues. Only to please me, darling, don’t go and have a strong mind; it’s the only thing I ask. Footman or no footman, don’t be strong-minded.’
‘Don’t be afraid, Edith. I’ll faint on your hands at the servants’ dinner-time, the very first opportunity; and then, what with Sholto playing with the fire, and the baby crying, you’ll begin to wish for a strong-minded woman, equal to any emergency.’
‘And you’ll not grow too good to joke and be merry?’
‘Not I. I shall be merrier than I have ever been, now I have got my own way.’
‘And you’ll not go a figure, but let me buy your dresses for you?’
‘Indeed I mean to buy them for myself. You shall come with me if you like; but no one can please me but myself.’
‘Oh! I was afraid you’d dress in brown and dust-colour, not to show the dirt you’ll pick up in all those places. I’m glad you’re going to keep one or two vanities, just by way of specimens47 of the old Adam.’
‘I’m going to be just the same, Edith, if you and my aunt could but fancy so. Only as I have neither husband nor child to give me natural duties, I must make myself some, in addition to ordering my gowns.’
In the family conclave48, which was made up of Edith, her mother, and her husband, it was decided49 that perhaps all these plans of hers would only secure her the more for Henry Lennox. They kept her out of the way of other friends who might have eligible50 sons or brothers; and it was also agreed that she never seemed to take much pleasure in the society of any one but Henry, out of their own family. The other admirers, attracted by her appearance or the reputation of her fortune, were swept away, by her unconscious smiling disdain51, into the paths frequented by other beauties less fastidious, or other heiresses with a larger amount of gold. Henry and she grew slowly into closer intimacy52; but neither he nor she were people to brook53 the slightest notice of their proceedings54.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
hood
|
|
| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
mar
|
|
| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
Oxford
|
|
| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
implored
|
|
| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
prancing
|
|
| v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
legacies
|
|
| n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
adviser
|
|
| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
meddle
|
|
| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
thaw
|
|
| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
maliciously
|
|
| adv.有敌意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
convoy
|
|
| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
bracing
|
|
| adj.令人振奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
tempted
|
|
| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
chafed
|
|
| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
pebbly
|
|
| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
psalm
|
|
| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
soothed
|
|
| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
bonnet
|
|
| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
lustrous
|
|
| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
contingencies
|
|
| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
accruing
|
|
| v.增加( accrue的现在分词 )；（通过自然增长）产生；获得；（使钱款、债务）积累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tenements
|
|
| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
superseding
|
|
| 取代，接替( supersede的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
intercourse
|
|
| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
appreciation
|
|
| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
lurid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
tainting
|
|
| v.使变质( taint的现在分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
37
palled
|
|
| v.（因过多或过久而）生厌，感到乏味，厌烦( pall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
peculiarity
|
|
| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
docile
|
|
| adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
merged
|
|
| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
obedience
|
|
| n.服从，顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
isolation
|
|
| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
wilful
|
|
| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
acquiescence
|
|
| n.默许；顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
specimens
|
|
| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
conclave
|
|
| n.秘密会议，红衣主教团 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
eligible
|
|
| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
disdain
|
|
| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
proceedings
|
|
| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |