Chapter VIII

A square-set man and honest.

— TENNYSON.

“DICK,” said Lord Newhaven, laying hold of that gentleman as he was leaving Tattersall’s, “what mischief¹ have you been up to for the last ten days?”

“I lay low till I got my clothes,” said Dick, “and then I went to the Duke of —. I’ve just been looking at a hack² for him. He says he does not want one that takes a lot of sitting on. I met him the first night I landed. In fact, I stepped out of the train on to his royal toe travelling incog. I was just going to advise him to draw in his feelers a bit, and give the Colonies a chance, when he turned round and I saw who it was. I knew him when I was A.D.C. at Melbourne before I took to the drink. He said he thought he’d know my foot anywhere, and asked me down for — races.

“And you enjoyed it? ”

“Rather. I did not know what to call the family at first, so I asked him if he had any preference and what was the right thing, and he told me how I must hop³ up whenever he came in, and all that sort of child’s play. There was a large party and some uncommonly⁴ pretty women. And I won a tenner off his Royal Highness, and here I am.”

“And what are you going to do now? ”

“Go down to the city and see what Darnell’s cellars are like before I store my wine in them. It won’t take long. Er! — I Say, Cack — Newhaven?”

“Well?”

“Ought I to — how about my calling on Miss —. I never caught her name?”

“Miss West, the heiress?”

“Yes. Little attention on my part.”

“Did she ask you to call?”

“No, but I think it was an oversight⁵. I expect she would like it.”

“Well, then, go and be — snubbed.”

“I don’t want snubbing. A little thing like me wants encouragement.”

“A good many other people are on the look out for encouragement in that quarter.”

“That settles it,” said Dick, “I’ll go at once. I’ve got to call on Lady Susan Gresley, and I’ll take Miss —”

“West. West. West.”

“Miss West on the way.”

“My dear fellow, Miss West does not live on the way to Woking. Lady Susan Gresley died six months ago.”

“Great Scot! I never heard of it. And what has become of Hester? She is a kind of cousin of mine.”

“Miss Gresley has gone to live in the country a few miles from us, with her clergyman brother.”

“James Gresley. I remember him. He’s a bad egg.”

“Now, Dick, are you in earnest, or are you talking nonsense about Miss West?”

“I’m in earnest.” He looked it.

“Then, for heaven’s sake, don’t put your foot in it by calling. My wife has taken a violent fancy to Miss West. I don’t think it is returned, but that is a detail. If you want to give her a chance leave it to me.”

“I know what that means. You married men are mere⁶ sieves⁷. You’ll run straight home with your tongue out and tell Lady Newhaven that I want to marry Miss — I can’t clinch⁸ her name, and then she’ll tell her when they are combing their back hair. And then if I find, later on, I don’t like her and step off the grass I shall have behaved like a perfect brute⁹, and all that sort of thing. A man I knew out in Melbourne told me that by the time he’d taken a little notice of a likely girl he’d gone too far to go back and he had to marry her.”

“You need not be so coy. I don’t intend to mention the subject to my wife. Besides, I don’t suppose Miss West will look at you. You’re a wretched match for her. With her money she might marry a brewery¹⁰ or a peerage.”

“I’ll put myself in focus anyhow,” said Dick. “Hang it all. If you could get a woman to marry you, there is hope for everybody. I don’t expect it will be as easy as falling off a log. But if she is what I take her to be I shall go for all I’m worth.”

Some one else was going for all he was worth. Lord Newhaven rode early, and he had frequently seen Rachel and Hugh riding together at foot’s pace. Possibly his offer to help Dick was partly prompted by an unconscious desire to put a spoke¹¹ in Hugh’s wheel.

Dick, whose worst enemy could not accuse him of diffidence, proved a solid spoke but for a few days only. Rachel suddenly broke all her engagements and left London.

1 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

2 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

3 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

4 uncommonly   

adv. 稀罕(极，非常)

参考例句：

• an uncommonly gifted child 一个天赋异禀的儿童
• My little Mary was feeling uncommonly empty. 我肚子当时正饿得厉害。

5 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 sieves   

筛，漏勺( sieve的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This thesis emphasized on the preparation of mesoporous molecular sieves MSU. 中孔分子筛MSU是当今认为在稳定性方面很有发展前途的一种催化新材料。
• The mesoporous silica molecular sieves Zr-MCM-41 were synthesized in ethylenediamine. 以乙二胺为碱性介质合成了Zr-MCM-41介孔分子筛。

8 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。

9 brute   

n.野兽，兽性

参考例句：

• The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
• That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲，它咬人。

10 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

11 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。