Chapter 26 Move the First.

After the lapse¹ of a few days, during which Victor Carrington carefully matured his plans, while apparently² only pursuing his ordinary business, and leading his ordinary life of dutiful attention to his mother and quiet domestic routine, he received a letter in a handwriting which was unfamiliar³ to him. It contained the following words:

“In accordance with your desire, and my promise, I write to inform you that, D. D. has notified his return to London and his intention to visit P. He did not know whether she was in town, and, therefore, wrote before coming. She seemed much affected⁴ by his letter, and has replied to it, appointing Wednesday after-noon for receiving him, and inviting⁵ him to luncheon⁶. No communication has been received from R. E., and she takes the fact easily. If you have any advice, or I suppose I should say instructions, to give me, you had better come here to-morrow (Tuesday), when I can see you alone. — C. B.”

Victor Carrington read this note with a smile of satisfaction, which faithfully interpreted the feelings it produced. There was a business~like tone in his correspondent’s letter which exactly suited his ideas of what it was advisable his agent should be.

“She is really admirable,” he said, as he destroyed Miss Brewer⁷’s note; “just clever enough to be useful, just shrewd enough to understand the precise force and weight of an argument, but not clever enough, or shrewd enough, to find out that she is used for any purpose but the one for which she has bargained.”

And then Victor Carrington wrote a few lines to Miss Brewer, in which he thanked her for her note, and prepared her to receive a visit from him on the following day. This written and posted, he walked up and down his laboratory, in deep thought for some time, and then once more seated himself at his desk. This time his communication was addressed to Sir Reginald Eversleigh, and merely consisted of a request that that gentleman should call upon him — Victor Carrington — on a certain day, at a week’s distance from the present date.

“I shall have more trouble with this shallow fool than with all the rest of them,” said Victor to himself, as he sealed his letter; and, as he said it, he permitted his countenance⁸ to assume a very unusual expression of vexation; “his vanity will make him kick against letting Paulina turn him off; and he will run the risk of destroying the game sooner than suffer that mortification⁹. But I will take care he shall suffer it, and not destroy the game.

“No, no, Sir Reginald Eversleigh, you shall not be my stumbling-block in this instance. How horribly afraid he is of me,” thought Victor Carrington, and a smile of cruel satisfaction, which might have become a demon¹⁰, lighted his pale face at the reflection; “he is dying to know exactly how that business of Dale the elder was managed; he has the haziest¹¹ notions in connection with it, and, by Jove, he dare not ask me. And yet, I am only his agent — his to be paid agent — and he shakes in his shoes before me. Yes, and I will be paid too, richly paid, Sir Reginald, not only in money, but in power. In power — the best and most enjoyable thing that money has to buy.”

Victor Carrington sent his letter to the post, and joined his mother in her sitting-room¹², where her life passed placidly¹³ away, among her birds and her flowers. Mrs. Carrington had none of the vivacity¹⁴ about her which is so general an attribute of French women. She liked her quiet life, and had little sympathy with her son’s restless ambition and devouring¹⁵ discontent. A cold, silent, self-contained woman, she shut herself up in her own occupations, and cared for nothing beyond them. She had the French national taste and talent for needlework, and generally listened to her son, as he talked or read to her, with a piece of elaborate embroidery¹⁶ in her hand. On the present occasion, she was engaged as usual, and Victor looked at her work and praised it, according to his custom.

“What is it for, mother?” he asked.

“An altar-cloth,” she replied. “I cannot give money, you know, Victor, and so I am glad to give my work.”

The young man’s dark eyes flashed, as he replied; —

“True, mother, but the time will come — it is not far off now — when you and I shall both be set free from poverty, when we shall once more take our place in our own rank — when we shall be what the Champfontaines were, and do as the Champfontaines did — when this hateful English name shall be thrown aside, and this squalid English home abandoned, and the past restored to us, we to the past.” He rose as he spoke¹⁷, and walked about the room. A faint flush brightened his sallow face, an unwonted light glittered in his deep-set eyes. His mother continued to ply¹⁸ her needle, with downcast eyes, and a face which showed no sign of sympathy with her son’s enthusiasm.

“Industry and talent are good, my Victor,” she said, “and they bring comfort, they bring le bienêtre in their train; but I do not think all the industry and talent you can display as a surgeon in London will ever enable you to restore the dignity and emulate¹⁹ the wealth of the old Champfontaines.”

Victor Carrington glanced at his mother almost angrily, and for an instant felt the impulse rise within him which prompted him to tell her that it was not only by the employment of means so tame and common~place that he designed to realize the cherished vision of his ambition. But he checked it instantly, and only said, with the reverential inflection which his voice never failed to take when he addressed his mother, “What, then, would you advise me to try, in addition?”

“Marry a rich woman, my Victor; marry one of these moneyed English girls, who are, for the most part, permitted to follow their inclinations²⁰ — inclinations which would surely, if encouraged, lead many of them your way.” Mrs. Carrington spoke in the calmest tone possible.

“Marry — I marry?” said Victor, in a tone of surprise, in which a quick ear would have noticed something also of disappointment. “I thought you would never like that, mother. It would part us, you know, and then what would you do?”

“There is always the convent for me, Victor,” said his mother, “if you no longer needed me.” And she composedly threaded her needle, and began a very minute leaf in the pattern of her embroidery.

Victor Carrington looked at his mother with surprise, and some vague sense of pain. She could make up her mind to part with him — she had thought of the possibility, and with complacence. He muttered something about having something to do, and left her, strangely moved, while she calmly worked in at her embroidery.

1 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

6 luncheon   

n.午宴，午餐，便宴

参考例句：

• We have luncheon at twelve o'clock.我们十二点钟用午餐。
• I have a luncheon engagement.我午饭有约。

7 brewer   

n. 啤酒制造者

参考例句：

• Brewer is a very interesting man. 布鲁尔是一个很有趣的人。
• I decided to quit my job to become a brewer. 我决定辞职，做一名酿酒人。

8 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

9 mortification   

n.耻辱，屈辱

参考例句：

• To my mortification, my manuscript was rejected. 使我感到失面子的是：我的稿件被退了回来。
• The chairman tried to disguise his mortification. 主席试图掩饰自己的窘迫。

10 demon   

n.魔鬼，恶魔

参考例句：

• The demon of greed ruined the miser's happiness.贪得无厌的恶习毁掉了那个守财奴的幸福。
• He has been possessed by the demon of disease for years.他多年来病魔缠身。

11 haziest   

有薄雾的( hazy的最高级 )； 模糊的； 不清楚的； 糊涂的

参考例句：

• In the beginning, Chueh-hui had only the haziest conceptions. 但是最初他所理解的也不过是一些含糊的概念。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• She could retain only the haziest remembrance of what took place. 她只能依稀记得所发生的事情。

12 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

13 placidly   

adv.平稳地，平静地

参考例句：

• Hurstwood stood placidly by, while the car rolled back into the yard. 当车子开回场地时，赫斯渥沉着地站在一边。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• The water chestnut floated placidly there, where it would grow. 那棵菱角就又安安稳稳浮在水面上生长去了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

14 vivacity   

n.快活，活泼，精神充沛

参考例句：

• Her charm resides in her vivacity.她的魅力存在于她的活泼。
• He was charmed by her vivacity and high spirits.她的活泼与兴高采烈的情绪把他迷住了。

15 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

16 embroidery   

n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品

参考例句：

• This exquisite embroidery won people's great admiration.这件精美的绣品，使人惊叹不已。
• This is Jane's first attempt at embroidery.这是简第一次试着绣花。

17 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。

18 ply   

v.(搬运工等)等候顾客，弯曲

参考例句：

• Taxis licensed to ply for hire at the railway station.许可计程车在火车站候客。
• Ferryboats ply across the English Channel.渡船定期往返于英吉利海峡。

19 emulate   

v.努力赶上或超越，与…竞争；效仿

参考例句：

• You must work hard to emulate your sister.你必须努力工作，赶上你姐姐。
• You must look at the film and try to emulate his behavior.你们必须观看这部电影，并尽力模仿他的动作。

20 inclinations   

倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡

参考例句：

• She has artistic inclinations. 她有艺术爱好。
• I've no inclinations towards life as a doctor. 我的志趣不是行医。