Chapter 64. The Allied Armies Advance on Ravenshoe.

How near the end we are getting, and yet so much to come. Never mind. We will tell it all naturally and straightforwardly¹, and then there will be nothing to offend you.

By-and-by it became necessary that Charles should have air and exercise. His arm was well Every splinter had been taken out of it, and he must lie on the sofa no longer.

So he was driven out through pleasant places, through the budding spriag, in one of Lord Hainault’s carriages. AU the meadows had been bush-harrowed and rolled long ago, and now the orchises and fritillaries were begianing to make the grass look purple. Lady Hainault had a low carriage, and a pair of small cobs, and this was given up to Charles; and Lady Hainault’s first coachman declined to drive her ladyship out in the daytime, for fear that the second coachman (a meritorious² young man of forty) should frighten Charles by a reckless and inexperienced way of driving.

Consequently Lady Hainault went a buying flannel³ petticoats and tliat sort of thing, for the poor people in Casterton and Henley, driven by her second coachman; and Charles was trundled all over the country by the first coachman, in a low carriage with the pair of cobs. But Lady Hainault was as well pleased with the arrangement as the old coachman himself, and so it is no business of ours. For the curious thing was, that no one who ever knew Charles, would have hesitated for an instant in giving up to him, his or her, bed, or dinner, or carriage, or any other thing in this world. For people are great fools, you know.

Perhaps the reason of it was that every one who made Charles’s acquaintance, knew by instinct that he would have cut off his right hand to serve them. I don’t know why it was. But there is the fact.

Sometimes Lady Ascot would go with him, and sometimes William. And one day, when William was with him, they were bowling⁴ quietly along a by-road on the opposite side of the water from Hurley. And in a secret place, they came on a wicked old gentleman, breaking the laws of his country, and catching⁵ perch⁶ in close time, out of a punt, with a chair, and a stone bottle, and a fisherman from Maidenliead, who shall be nameless, but who must consider himself cautioned.

The Eajah of Ahmednuggur lives close by there; nd he was reading the Times, when Charles asked the coachman to pull up, that he might see the sport. The Eajah’s attention was caught by seeing the carriage stop; and he looked through a double-barrelled opera glass, and not only saw Charles and William in the carriage, but saw, through the osiers, the hoary⁷ old profligate⁸ with his paternoster pulling the perch out as fast as he could put his line in. Fired by a virtuous⁹ indignation (I wish every gentleman on the Thames would do likewise), he ran in his breeches and slippers¹⁰ down the lawn, and began blowing up like Old Gooseberry.

The old gentleman who was fishing looked at the rajah’s red-brick house, and said, “If my face was as ugly as that house, I would wear a green veil; “but he ordered the fisherman to take up the rypecks, and he floated away down stream.

And as Charles and William drove along, Charles said, “My dear boy, there could not be any harm in catching a few roach. I should so like to go about among pleasant places in a punt once more.”

When they got home, the head keeper was sent for. Charles told him that he would so much like to go fishing, and that a few roach would not make much difference. The keeper scornfully declined arguing about the matter, but only wanted to know what time

Mr. Ravenshoe would like to go, adding that any one who made objections would be brought up uncommon¹¹ short.

So William and he went fishing in a punt, and one day Charles said, “I don’t care about this punt-fishing much. I wish — I wish I could get back to the trout¹² at Ravenshoe.”

“Do you really mean that?” said William.

“Ah, Willy!” said Charles. “If I could only see it again!”

“How I have been waiting to hear you say that!” said William. “Come to your home with me; why, the people are wondering where we are. My darling bird will be jealous, if I stay here much longer. Come down to my wedding.”

“When are you to be married, William?”

“On the same day as yourself,” said William sturdily.

Said Charles, “Put the punt ashore¹³, will you?” And they did. And Charles, with his nose in the air, and his chest out, walked beside William across the spring meadows, through the lengthening¹⁴ grass, through the calthas, and the orchises, and the ladies’ slippers, and the cowslips, and the fritillaries, through the budding flower garden which one finds in spring among the English meadows, a hale strong man. And when they had clomb the precipitous slope of the deer-park,

Charles picked a rhododendron flower, and put it in his buttonhole, and turned round to William, with the flush of health on his face, and said —

“Brother, we will go to Ravenshoe, and you will be with your love. Shall we be married in London?”

“In St. Petersburgh, if you like, now I see you looking your old self again. But why?”

“A fancy of mine. When I remember what I went through in London through my own obstinacy¹⁵, I should like to take my revenge on the place, by spending the happiest day of my life there. Do you agree?”

“Of course.”

“Ask Lady Ascot and Mary and the children down to Ravenshoe. Lady Hainault will come too, but he can’t. And have General Mainwaring and the Tiernays. Have as many of the old circle as we can get.”

“This is something like life again,” said William. “Remember, Charles, I am not spending the revenues of Ravenshoe. They are yours. I know it. I am spending about 400?. a year. When our grandfather’s marriage is proved, you will provide for me and my wife, I know that. Be quiet. But we shall never prove that till we find Ellen.”

“Find Ellen!” exclaimed Charles, turning round. “I will not go near Ellen yet.”

“Do you know where she is?” asked William, eagerly.

“Of course I do.” said Charles. “She is at Hackney. Hornby told me so when he was dying. But let her be or a time.”

“I tell you,” said William, “that I am sure that she knows everything. At Hackney!”

The allied¹⁶ powers, General Mainwaring, Lady Ascot, Lord Hainault, and William, were not long before they searched every hole and corner of Hackney, in and out. There was only one nunnery there, but, in that nunnery, there was no young lady at all resembling Ellen. The priests, particularly Father Mackworth’s friend Butler, gave them every assistance in their power. But it was no good.

As Charles and William were in the railway carriage going westward¹⁷, Charles said —

“Well, we have failed to find Ellen. Mackworth, poor fellow, is still at Ravenshoe.”

“Yes,” said William, “and nearly idiotic¹⁸. All his fine-spun cobwebs cast to the winds. But he holds the clue to this mystery, or I am mistaken. The younger Tiernay takes care of him. He probably won’t know you. But Charles, when you come into Ravenshoe, keep a corner for Mackworth.”

“He ought to be an honoured guest of the house as long as he lives,” said Charles. “You still persist in saying that Ravenshoe is mine.”

“I am sure it is,” said William.

And, at this same time, William wrote to two other people telling all about the state of affairs, and asking them to come and join the circle. And John Marston came across into my room and said, “Let us go.” And I said, “My dear John, we ought to go. It is not every day that we see a man, and such a man, risen from the dead, as Charles Ravenshoe.”

And so we went.

1 straightforwardly   

adv.正直地

参考例句：

• He hated her straightforwardly, making no effort to conceal it. 他十分坦率地恨她，从不设法加以掩饰。 来自辞典例句
• Mardi, which followed hard on its heels, was another matter. Mardi begins straightforwardly. 紧跟着出版的《玛地》，却是另一回事。《玛地》开始时平铺直叙。 来自辞典例句

2 meritorious   

adj.值得赞赏的

参考例句：

• He wrote a meritorious theme about his visit to the cotton mill.他写了一篇关于参观棉纺织厂的有价值的论文。
• He was praised for his meritorious service.他由于出色地工作而受到称赞。

3 flannel   

n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服

参考例句：

• She always wears a grey flannel trousers.她总是穿一条灰色法兰绒长裤。
• She was looking luscious in a flannel shirt.她穿着法兰绒裙子，看上去楚楚动人。

4 bowling   

n.保龄球运动

参考例句：

• Bowling is a popular sport with young and old.保龄球是老少都爱的运动。
• Which sport do you 1ike most,golf or bowling?你最喜欢什么运动，高尔夫还是保龄球？

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 perch   

n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于

参考例句：

• The bird took its perch.鸟停歇在栖木上。
• Little birds perch themselves on the branches.小鸟儿栖歇在树枝上。

7 hoary   

adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的

参考例句：

• They discussed the hoary old problem.他们讨论老问题。
• Without a word spoken,he hurried away,with his hoary head bending low.他什么也没说，低着白发苍苍的头，匆匆地走了。

8 profligate   

adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者

参考例句：

• This young man had all the inclination to be a profligate of the first water.这个青年完全有可能成为十足的浪子。
• Similarly Americans have been profligate in the handling of mineral resources.同样的，美国在处理矿产资源方面亦多浪费。

9 virtuous   

adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的

参考例句：

• She was such a virtuous woman that everybody respected her.她是个有道德的女性，人人都尊敬她。
• My uncle is always proud of having a virtuous wife.叔叔一直为娶到一位贤德的妻子而骄傲。

10 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

11 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。

12 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

13 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

14 lengthening   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长

参考例句：

• The evening shadows were lengthening. 残阳下的影子越拉越长。
• The shadows are lengthening for me. 我的影子越来越长了。 来自演讲部分

15 obstinacy   

n.顽固；（病痛等）难治

参考例句：

• It is a very accountable obstinacy.这是一种完全可以理解的固执态度。
• Cindy's anger usually made him stand firm to the point of obstinacy.辛迪一发怒，常常使他坚持自见，并达到执拗的地步。

16 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

17 westward   

n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西

参考例句：

• We live on the westward slope of the hill.我们住在这座山的西山坡。
• Explore westward or wherever.向西或到什么别的地方去勘探。

18 idiotic   

adj.白痴的

参考例句：

• It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
• The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。