“Where’s your friend?” Austin began.
“Gone!” was the answer, sounding cavernous from behind hair and fingers. An explanation presently followed, that a summons had come for him in the morning from Mr. Thompson; and that Mr. Ripton had departed against his will.
In fact, Ripton had protested that he would defy his parent and remain by his friend in the hour of adversity and at the post of danger. Sir Austin signified his opinion that a boy should obey his parent, by giving orders to Benson for Ripton’s box to be packed and ready before noon; and Ripton’s alacrity5 in taking the baronet’s view of filial duty was as little feigned6 as his offer to Richard to throw filial duty to the winds. He rejoiced that the Fates had agreed to remove him from the very hot neighbourhood of Lobourne, while he grieved, like an honest lad, to see his comrade left to face calamity7 alone. The boys parted amicably8, as they could hardly fail to do, when Ripton had sworn fealty9 to the Feverels with a warmth that made him declare himself bond, and due to appear at any stated hour and at any stated place to fight all the farmers in England, on a mandate10 from the heir of the house.
“So you’re left alone,” said Austin, contemplating11 the boy’s shapely head. “I’m glad of it. We never know what’s in us till we stand by ourselves.”
There appeared to be no answer forthcoming. Vanity, however, replied at last, “He wasn’t much support.”
“Remember his good points now he’s gone, Ricky.”
“Oh! he was staunch,” the boy grumbled12.
“And a staunch friend is not always to be found. Now, have you tried your own way of rectifying13 this business, Ricky?”
“I have done everything.”
“And failed!”
There was a pause, and then the deep-toned evasion14 —
“Tom Bakewell’s a coward!”
“I suppose, poor fellow,” said Austin, in his kind way, “he doesn’t want to get into a deeper mess. I don’t think he’s a coward.”
“He is a coward,” cried Richard. “Do you think if I had a file I would stay in prison? I’d be out the first night! And he might have had the rope, too — a rope thick enough for a couple of men his size and weight. Ripton and I and Ned Markham swung on it for an hour, and it didn’t give way. He’s a coward, and deserves his fate. I’ve no compassion15 for a coward.”
“Nor I much,” said Austin.
Richard had raised his head in the heat of his denunciation of poor Tom. He would have hidden it had he known the thought in Austin’s clear eyes while he faced them.
“I never met a coward myself,” Austin continued. “I have heard of one or two. One let an innocent man die for him.”
“How base!” exclaimed the boy.
“Yes, it was bad,” Austin acquiesced17.
“Bad!” Richard scorned the poor contempt. “How I would have spurned18 him! He was a coward!”
“I believe he pleaded the feelings of his family in his excuse, and tried every means to get the man off. I have read also in the confessions19 of a celebrated20 philosopher, that in his youth he committed some act of pilfering21, and accused a young servant-girl of his own theft, who was condemned22 and dismissed for it, pardoning her guilty accuser.”
“What a coward!” shouted Richard. “And he confessed it publicly?”
“You may read it yourself.”
“He actually wrote it down, and printed it?”
“You have the book in your father’s library. Would you have done so much?”
Richard faltered23. No! he admitted that he never could have told people.
“Then who is to call that man a coward?” said Austin. “He expiated24 his cowardice25 as all who give way in moments of weakness, and are not cowards, must do. The coward chooses to think ‘God does not see. I shall escape.’ He who is not a coward, and has succumbed26, knows that God has seen all, and it is not so hard a task for him to make his heart bare to the world. Worse, I should fancy it, to know myself an impostor when men praised me.”
Young Richard’s eyes were wandering on Austin’s gravely cheerful face. A keen intentness suddenly fixed27 them, and he dropped his head.
“So I think you’re wrong, Ricky, in calling this poor Tom a coward because he refuses to try your means of escape,” Austin resumed. “A coward hardly objects to drag in his accomplice28. And, where the person involved belongs to a great family, it seems to me that for a poor plough-lad to volunteer not to do so speaks him anything but a coward.”
Richard was dumb. Altogether to surrender his rope and file was a fearful sacrifice, after all the time, trepidation29, and study he had spent on those two saving instruments. If he avowed30 Tom’s manly31 behaviour, Richard Feverel was in a totally new position. Whereas, by keeping Tom a coward, Richard Feverel was the injured one, and to seem injured is always a luxury; sometimes a necessity, whether among boys or men.
In Austin the Magian conflict would not have lasted long. He had but a blind notion of the fierceness with which it raged in young Richard. Happily for the boy, Austin was not a preacher. A single instance, a cant32 phrase, a fatherly manner, might have wrecked33 him, by arousing ancient or latent opposition34. The born preacher we feel instinctively35 to be our foe36. He may do some good to the wretches37 that have been struck down and lie gasping38 on the battlefield: he rouses antagonism39 in the strong. Richard’s nature, left to itself, wanted little more than an indication of the proper track, and when he said, “Tell me what I can do, Austin?” he had fought the best half of the battle. His voice was subdued40. Austin put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
“You must go down to Farmer Blaize.”
“Well!” said Richard, sullenly41 divining the deed of penance42.
“You’ll know what to say to him when you’re there.”
The boy bit his lip and frowned. “Ask a favour of that big brute43, Austin? I can’t!”
“Just tell him the whole case, and that you don’t intend to stand by and let the poor fellow suffer without a friend to help him out of his scrape.”
“But, Austin,” the boy pleaded, “I shall have to ask him to help off Tom Bakewell! How can I ask him, when I hate him?”
Austin bade him go, and think nothing of the consequences till he got there.
Richard groaned44 in soul.
“You’ve no pride, Austin.”
“Perhaps not.”
“You don’t know what it is to ask a favour of a brute you hate.”
Richard stuck to that view of the case, and stuck to it the faster the more imperatively45 the urgency of a movement dawned upon him.
“Why,” continued the boy, “I shall hardly be able to keep my fists off him!”
“Surely you’ve punished him enough, boy!” said Austin.
“He struck me!” Richard’s lip quivered. “He dared not come at me with his hands. He struck me with a whip. He’ll be telling everybody that he horsewhipped me, and that I went down and begged his pardon. Begged his pardon! A Feverel beg his pardon! Oh, if I had my will!”
“The man earns his bread, Ricky. You poached on his grounds. He turned you off, and you fired his rick.”
“And I’ll pay him for his loss. And I won’t do any more.”
“Because you won’t ask a favour of him?”
“No! I will not ask a favour of him.”
Austin looked at the boy steadily46. “You prefer to receive a favour from poor Tom Bakewell?”
At Austin’s enunciation16 of this obverse view of the matter Richard raised his brow. Dimly a new light broke in upon him. “Favour from Tom Bakewell, the ploughman? How do you mean, Austin?”
“To save yourself an unpleasantness you permit a country lad to sacrifice himself for you? I confess I should not have so much pride.”
“Pride!” shouted Richard, stung by the taunt47, and set his sight hard at the blue ridges48 of the hills.
Not knowing for the moment what else to do, Austin drew a picture of Tom in prison, and repeated Tom’s volunteer statement. The picture, though his intentions were far from designing it so, had to Richard, whose perception of humour was infinitely49 keener, a horrible chaw-bacon smack50 about it. Visions of a grinning lout51, open from ear to ear, unkempt, coarse, splay-footed, rose before him and afflicted52 him with the strangest sensations of disgust and comicality, mixed up with pity and remorse53 — a sort of twisted pathos54. There lay Tom; hob-nail Tom! a bacon-munching, reckless, beer-swilling animal! and yet a man; a dear brave human heart notwithstanding; capable of devotion and unselfishness. The boy’s better spirit was touched, and it kindled55 his imagination to realize the abject56 figure of poor clodpole Tom, and surround it with a halo of mournful light. His soul was alive. Feelings he had never known streamed in upon him as from an ethereal casement57, an unwonted tenderness, an embracing humour, a consciousness of some ineffable58 glory, an irradiation of the features of humanity. All this was in the bosom59 of the boy, and through it all the vision of an actual hob-nail Tom, coarse, unkempt, open from ear to ear; whose presence was a finger of shame to him and an oppression of clodpole; yet toward whom he felt just then a loving-kindness beyond what he felt for any living creature. He laughed at him, and wept over him. He prized him, while he shrank from him. It was a genial60 strife61 of the angel in him with constituents62 less divine; but the angel was uppermost and led the van — extinguished loathing63, humanized laughter, transfigured pride — pride that would persistently64 contemplate65 the corduroys of gaping66 Tom, and cry to Richard, in the very tone of Adrian’s ironic67 voice, “Behold your benefactor68!”
Austin sat by the boy, unaware69 of the sublimer70 tumult71 he had stirred. Little of it was perceptible in Richard’s countenance72. The lines of his mouth were slightly drawn73; his eyes hard set into the distance. He remained thus many minutes. Finally he jumped to his legs, saying, “I’ll go at once to old Blaize and tell him.”
Austin grasped his hand, and together they issued out of Daphne’s Bower, in the direction of Lobourne.
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收听单词发音
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1
knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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dubbed
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| v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制 | |
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bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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4
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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fealty
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| n.忠贞，忠节 | |
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mandate
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| n.托管地；命令，指示 | |
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contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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12
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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13
rectifying
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| 改正，矫正( rectify的现在分词 )； 精馏； 蒸流； 整流 | |
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14
evasion
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| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
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15
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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16
enunciation
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| n.清晰的发音；表明，宣言；口齿 | |
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17
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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20
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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21
pilfering
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| v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的现在分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸） | |
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22
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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23
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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24
expiated
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| v.为（所犯罪过）接受惩罚，赎（罪）( expiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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26
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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27
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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28
accomplice
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| n.从犯，帮凶，同谋 | |
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29
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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30
avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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31
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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32
cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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36
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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37
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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38
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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39
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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40
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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41
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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42
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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43
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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44
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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45
imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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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
taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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48
ridges
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| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
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49
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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50
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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51
lout
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| n.粗鄙的人；举止粗鲁的人 | |
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52
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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53
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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54
pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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55
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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56
abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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57
casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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58
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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59
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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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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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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63
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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64
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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65
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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66
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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67
ironic
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| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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68
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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69
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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70
sublimer
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| 使高尚者，纯化器 | |
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71
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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72
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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