The good woman, being not a little embarrassed by the novelty of her situation, and certain material apprehensions5 that perhaps by this time little Jacob, or the baby, or both, had fallen into the fire, or tumbled down stairs, or had been squeezed behind doors, or had scalded their windpipes in endeavouring to allay7 their thirst at the spouts8 of tea-kettles, preserved an uneasy silence; and meeting from the window the eyes of turnpike-men, omnibus-drivers, and others, felt in the new dignity of her position like a mourner at a funeral, who, not being greatly afflicted9 by the loss of the departed, recognizes his every-day acquaintance from the window of the mourning coach, but is constrained10 to preserve a decent solemnity, and the appearance of being indifferent to all external objects.
To have been indifferent to the companionship of the single gentleman would have been tantamount to being gifted with nerves of steel. Never did chaise inclose, or horses draw, such a restless gentleman as he. He never sat in the same position for two minutes together, but was perpetually tossing his arms and legs about, pulling up the sashes and letting them violently down, or thrusting his head out of one window to draw it in again and thrust it out of another. He carried in his pocket, too, a fire-box of mysterious and unknown construction; and as sure as ever Kit’s mother closed her eyes, so surely — whisk, rattle11, fizz — there was the single gentleman consulting his watch by a flame of fire, and letting the sparks fall down among the straw as if there were no such thing as a possibility of himself and Kit’s mother being roasted alive before the boys could stop their horses. Whenever they halted to change, there he was — out of the carriage without letting down the steps, bursting about the inn-yard like a lighted cracker12, pulling out his watch by lamp-light and forgetting to look at it before he put it up again, and in short committing so many extravagances that Kit’s mother was quite afraid of him. Then, when the horses were to, in he came like a Harlequin, and before they had gone a mile, out came the watch and the fire-box together, and Kit’s mother as wide awake again, with no hope of a wink13 of sleep for that stage.
‘Are you comfortable?’ the single gentleman would say after one of these exploits, turning sharply round.
‘Quite, Sir, thank you.’
‘Are you sure? An’t you cold?’
‘It is a little chilly14, Sir,’ Kit’s mother would reply.
‘I knew it!’ cried the single gentleman, letting down one of the front glasses. ‘She wants some brandy and water! Of course she does. How could I forget it? Hallo! Stop at the next inn, and call out for a glass of hot brandy and water.’
It was in vain for Kit’s mother to protest that she stood in need of nothing of the kind. The single gentleman was inexorable; and whenever he had exhausted15 all other modes and fashions of restlessness, it invariably occurred to him that Kit’s mother wanted brandy and water.
In this way they travelled on until near midnight, when they stopped to supper, for which meal the single gentleman ordered everything eatable that the house contained; and because Kit’s mother didn’t eat everything at once, and eat it all, he took it into his head that she must be ill.
‘You’re faint,’ said the single gentleman, who did nothing himself but walk about the room. ‘I see what’s the matter with you, ma’am. You’re faint.’
‘Thank you, sir, I’m not indeed.’
‘I know you are. I’m sure of it. I drag this poor woman from the bosom16 of her family at a minute’s notice, and she goes on getting fainter and fainter before my eyes. I’m a pretty fellow! How many children have you got, ma’am?’
‘Two, sir, besides Kit.’
‘Boys, ma’am?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Are they christened?’
‘Only half baptised as yet, sir.’
‘I’m godfather to both of ’em. Remember that, if you please, ma’am. You had better have some mulled wine.’
‘I couldn’t touch a drop indeed, sir.’
‘You must,’ said the single gentleman. ‘I see you want it. I ought to have thought of it before.’
Immediately flying to the bell, and calling for mulled wine as impetuously as if it had been wanted for instant use in the recovery of some person apparently17 drowned, the single gentleman made Kit’s mother swallow a bumper18 of it at such a high temperature that the tears ran down her face, and then hustled19 her off to the chaise again, where — not impossibly from the effects of this agreeable sedative20 — she soon became insensible to his restlessness, and fell fast asleep. Nor were the happy effects of this prescription21 of a transitory nature, as, notwithstanding that the distance was greater, and the journey longer, than the single gentleman had anticipated, she did not awake until it was broad day, and they were clattering22 over the pavement of a town.
‘This is the place!’ cried her companion, letting down all the glasses. ‘Drive to the wax-work!’
The boy on the wheeler touched his hat, and setting spurs to his horse, to the end that they might go in brilliantly, all four broke into a smart canter, and dashed through the streets with a noise that brought the good folks wondering to their doors and windows, and drowned the sober voices of the town-clocks as they chimed out half-past eight. They drove up to a door round which a crowd of persons were collected, and there stopped.
‘What’s this?’ said the single gentleman thrusting out his head. ‘Is anything the matter here?’
‘A wedding Sir, a wedding!’ cried several voices. ‘Hurrah!’
The single gentleman, rather bewildered by finding himself the centre of this noisy throng23, alighted with the assistance of one of the postilions, and handed out Kit’s mother, at sight of whom the populace cried out, ‘Here’s another wedding!’ and roared and leaped for joy.
‘The world has gone mad, I think,’ said the single gentleman, pressing through the concourse with his supposed bride. ‘Stand back here, will you, and let me knock.’
Anything that makes a noise is satisfactory to a crowd. A score of dirty hands were raised directly to knock for him, and seldom has a knocker of equal powers been made to produce more deafening24 sounds than this particular engine on the occasion in question. Having rendered these voluntary services, the throng modestly retired25 a little, preferring that the single gentleman should bear their consequences alone.
‘Now, sir, what do you want!’ said a man with a large white bow at his button-hole, opening the door, and confronting him with a very stoical aspect.
‘Who has been married here, my friend?’ said the single gentleman.
‘I have.’
‘You! and to whom in the devil’s name?’
‘What right have you to ask?’ returned the bridegroom, eyeing him from top to toe.
‘What right!’ cried the single gentleman, drawing the arm of Kit’s mother more tightly through his own, for that good woman evidently had it in contemplation to run away. ‘A right you little dream of. Mind, good people, if this fellow has been marrying a minor26 — tut, tut, that can’t be. Where is the child you have here, my good fellow. You call her Nell. Where is she?’
As he propounded27 this question, which Kit’s mother echoed, somebody in a room near at hand, uttered a great shriek28, and a stout29 lady in a white dress came running to the door, and supported herself upon the bridegroom’s arm.
‘Where is she!’ cried this lady. ‘What news have you brought me? What has become of her?’
The single gentleman started back, and gazed upon the face of the late Mrs Jarley (that morning wedded30 to the philosophic31 George, to the eternal wrath32 and despair of Mr Slum the poet), with looks of conflicting apprehension6, disappointment, and incredulity. At length he stammered33 out,
‘I ask YOU where she is? What do you mean?’
‘Oh sir!’ cried the bride, ‘If you have come here to do her any good, why weren’t you here a week ago?’
‘She is not — not dead?’ said the person to whom she addressed herself, turning very pale.
‘No, not so bad as that.’
‘I thank God!’ cried the single gentleman feebly. ‘Let me come in.’
They drew back to admit him, and when he had entered, closed the door.
‘You see in me, good people,’ he said, turning to the newly-married couple, ‘one to whom life itself is not dearer than the two persons whom I seek. They would not know me. My features are strange to them, but if they or either of them are here, take this good woman with you, and let them see her first, for her they both know. If you deny them from any mistaken regard or fear for them, judge of my intentions by their recognition of this person as their old humble34 friend.’
‘I always said it!’ cried the bride, ‘I knew she was not a common child! Alas35, sir! we have no power to help you, for all that we could do, has been tried in vain.’
With that, they related to him, without disguise or concealment36, all that they knew of Nell and her grandfather, from their first meeting with them, down to the time of their sudden disappearance37; adding (which was quite true) that they had made every possible effort to trace them, but without success; having been at first in great alarm for their safety, as well as on account of the suspicions to which they themselves might one day be exposed in consequence of their abrupt38 departure. They dwelt upon the old man’s imbecility of mind, upon the uneasiness the child had always testified when he was absent, upon the company he had been supposed to keep, and upon the increased depression which had gradually crept over her and changed her both in health and spirits. Whether she had missed the old man in the night, and knowing or conjecturing39 whither he had bent40 his steps, had gone in pursuit, or whether they had left the house together, they had no means of determining. Certain they considered it, that there was but slender prospect41 left of hearing of them again, and that whether their flight originated with the old man, or with the child, there was now no hope of their return. To all this, the single gentleman listened with the air of a man quite borne down by grief and disappointment. He shed tears when they spoke42 of the grandfather, and appeared in deep affliction.
Not to protract43 this portion of our narrative44, and to make short work of a long story, let it be briefly45 written that before the interview came to a close, the single gentleman deemed he had sufficient evidence of having been told the truth, and that he endeavoured to force upon the bride and bridegroom an acknowledgment of their kindness to the unfriended child, which, however, they steadily46 declined accepting. In the end, the happy couple jolted47 away in the caravan48 to spend their honeymoon49 in a country excursion; and the single gentleman and Kit’s mother stood ruefully before their carriage-door.
‘Where shall we drive you, sir?’ said the post-boy.
‘You may drive me,’ said the single gentleman, ‘to the —’ He was not going to add ‘inn,’ but he added it for the sake of Kit’s mother; and to the inn they went.
Rumours50 had already got abroad that the little girl who used to show the wax-work, was the child of great people who had been stolen from her parents in infancy51, and had only just been traced. Opinion was divided whether she was the daughter of a prince, a duke, an earl, a viscount, or a baron52, but all agreed upon the main fact, and that the single gentleman was her father; and all bent forward to catch a glimpse, though it were only of the tip of his noble nose, as he rode away, desponding, in his four-horse chaise.
What would he have given to know, and what sorrow would have been saved if he had only known, that at that moment both child and grandfather were seated in the old church porch, patiently awaiting the schoolmaster’s return!
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收听单词发音
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1
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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3
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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7
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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8
spouts
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| n.管口( spout的名词复数 )；（喷出的）水柱；（容器的）嘴；在困难中v.（指液体）喷出( spout的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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9
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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12
cracker
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| n.（无甜味的）薄脆饼干 | |
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13
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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14
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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15
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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16
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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17
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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18
bumper
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| n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的 | |
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19
hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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sedative
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| adj.使安静的，使镇静的；n. 镇静剂，能使安静的东西 | |
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21
prescription
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| n.处方，开药；指示，规定 | |
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22
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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23
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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24
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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25
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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26
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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27
propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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30
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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32
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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33
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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35
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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36
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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37
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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38
abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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39
conjecturing
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| v. & n. 推测，臆测 | |
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40
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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41
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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42
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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43
protract
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| v.延长，拖长 | |
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44
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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45
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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46
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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47
jolted
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
caravan
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| n.大蓬车；活动房屋 | |
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49
honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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50
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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51
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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52
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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