Besides herself the congregation consisted only of the parson, clerk, school-children, and three old people living on alms, who sat under the reading-desk; and thus, when Mr. Torkingham blazed forth4 the denunciatory sentences of the Commination, nearly the whole force of them seemed to descend5 upon her own shoulders. Looking across the empty pews she saw through the one or two clear panes6 of the window opposite a youthful figure in the churchyard, and the very feeling against which she had tried to pray returned again irresistibly7.
When she came out and had crossed into the private walk, Swithin came forward to speak to her. This was a most unusual circumstance, and argued a matter of importance.
‘I have made an amazing discovery in connexion with the variable stars,’ he exclaimed. ‘It will excite the whole astronomical8 world, and the world outside but little less. I had long suspected the true secret of their variability; but it was by the merest chance on earth that I hit upon a proof of my guess. Your equatorial has done it, my good, kind Lady Constantine, and our fame is established for ever!’
He sprang into the air, and waved his hat in his triumph.
‘Oh, I am so glad — so rejoiced!’ she cried. ‘What is it? But don’t stop to tell me. Publish it at once in some paper; nail your name to it, or somebody will seize the idea and appropriate it — forestall9 you in some way. It will be Adams and Leverrier over again.’
‘If I may walk with you I will explain the nature of the discovery. It accounts for the occasional green tint10 of Castor, and every difficulty. I said I would be the Copernicus of the stellar system, and I have begun to be. Yet who knows?’
‘Now don’t be so up and down! I shall not understand your explanation, and I would rather not know it. I shall reveal it if it is very grand. Women, you know, are not safe depositaries of such valuable secrets. You may walk with me a little way, with great pleasure. Then go and write your account, so as to insure your ownership of the discovery. . . . But how you have watched!’ she cried, in a sudden accession of anxiety, as she turned to look more closely at him. ‘The orbits of your eyes are leaden, and your eyelids11 are red and heavy. Don’t do it — pray don’t. You will be ill, and break down.’
‘I have, it is true, been up a little late this last week,’ he said cheerfully. ‘In fact, I couldn’t tear myself away from the equatorial; it is such a wonderful possession that it keeps me there till daylight. But what does that matter, now I have made the discovery?’
‘Ah, it DOES matter! Now, promise me — I insist — that you will not commit such imprudences again; for what should I do if my Astronomer12 Royal were to die?’
She laughed, but far too apprehensively13 to be effective as a display of levity14.
They parted, and he went home to write out his paper. He promised to call as soon as his discovery was in print. Then they waited for the result.
It is impossible to describe the tremulous state of Lady Constantine during the interval15. The warm interest she took in Swithin St. Cleeve — many would have said dangerously warm interest — made his hopes her hopes; and though she sometimes admitted to herself that great allowance was requisite16 for the overweening confidence of youth in the future, she permitted herself to be blinded to probabilities for the pleasure of sharing his dreams. It seemed not unreasonable17 to suppose the present hour to be the beginning of realization18 to her darling wish that this young man should become famous. He had worked hard, and why should he not be famous early? His very simplicity19 in mundane20 affairs afforded a strong presumption21 that in things celestial22 he might be wise. To obtain support for this hypothesis she had only to think over the lives of many eminent23 astronomers24.
She waited feverishly25 for the flourish of trumpets26 from afar, by which she expected the announcement of his discovery to be greeted. Knowing that immediate27 intelligence of the outburst would be brought to her by himself, she watched from the windows of the Great House each morning for a sight of his figure hastening down the glade28.
But he did not come.
A long array of wet days passed their dreary29 shapes before her, and made the waiting still more tedious. On one of these occasions she ran across to the tower, at the risk of a severe cold. The door was locked.
Two days after she went again. The door was locked still. But this was only to be expected in such weather. Yet she would have gone on to his house, had there not been one reason too many against such precipitancy. As astronomer and astronomer there was no harm in their meetings; but as woman and man she feared them.
Ten days passed without a sight of him; ten blurred30 and dreary days, during which the whole landscape dripped like a mop; the park trees swabbed the gravel31 from the drive, while the sky was a zinc-coloured archi-vault of immovable cloud. It seemed as if the whole science of astronomy had never been real, and that the heavenly bodies, with their motions, were as theoretical as the lines and circles of a bygone mathematical problem.
She could content herself no longer with fruitless visits to the column, and when the rain had a little abated32 she walked to the nearest hamlet, and in a conversation with the first old woman she met contrived33 to lead up to the subject of Swithin St. Cleeve by talking about his grandmother.
‘Ah, poor old heart; ’tis a bad time for her, my lady!’ exclaimed the dame34.
‘What?’
‘Her grandson is dying; and such a gentleman through and through!’
‘What! . . . Oh, it has something to do with that dreadful discovery!’
‘Discovery, my lady?’
She left the old woman with an evasive answer, and with a breaking heart crept along the road. Tears brimmed into her eyes as she walked, and by the time that she was out of sight sobs35 burst forth tumultuously.
‘I am too fond of him!’ she moaned; ‘but I can’t help it; and I don’t care if it’s wrong — I don’t care!’
Without further considerations as to who beheld36 her doings she instinctively37 went straight towards Mrs. Martin’s. Seeing a man coming she calmed herself sufficiently38 to ask him through her dropped veil how poor Mr. St. Cleeve was that day. But she only got the same reply: ‘They say he is dying, my lady.’
When Swithin had parted from Lady Constantine, on the previous Ash-Wednesday, he had gone straight to the homestead and prepared his account of ‘A New Astronomical Discovery.’ It was written perhaps in too glowing a rhetoric39 for the true scientific tone of mind; but there was no doubt that his assertion met with a most startling aptness all the difficulties which had accompanied the received theories on the phenomena40 attending those changeable suns of marvellous systems so far away. It accounted for the nebulous mist that surrounds some of them at their weakest time; in short, took up a position of probability which has never yet been successfully assailed41.
The papers were written in triplicate, and carefully sealed up with blue wax. One copy was directed to Greenwich, another to the Royal Society, another to a prominent astronomer. A brief statement of the essence of the discovery was also prepared for the leading daily paper.
He considered these documents, embodying42 as they did two years of his constant thought, reading, and observation, too important to be entrusted43 for posting to the hands of a messenger; too important to be sent to the sub-post-office at hand. Though the day was wet, dripping wet, he went on foot with them to a chief office, five miles off, and registered them. Quite exhausted44 by the walk, after his long night-work, wet through, yet sustained by the sense of a great achievement, he called at a bookseller’s for the astronomical periodicals to which he subscribed45; then, resting for a short time at an inn, he plodded46 his way homewards, reading his papers as he went, and planning how to enjoy a repose47 on his laurels48 of a week or more.
On he strolled through the rain, holding the umbrella vertically49 over the exposed page to keep it dry while he read. Suddenly his eye was struck by an article. It was the review of a pamphlet by an American astronomer, in which the author announced a conclusive50 discovery with regard to variable stars.
The discovery was precisely51 the discovery of Swithin St. Cleeve. Another man had forestalled52 his fame by a period of about six weeks.
Then the youth found that the goddess Philosophy, to whom he had vowed53 to dedicate his whole life, would not in return support him through a single hour of despair. In truth, the impishness of circumstance was newer to him than it would have been to a philosopher of threescore-and-ten. In a wild wish for annihilation he flung himself down on a patch of heather that lay a little removed from the road, and in this humid bed remained motionless, while time passed by unheeded.
At last, from sheer misery54 and weariness, he fell asleep.
The March rain pelted55 him mercilessly, the beaded moisture from the heavily charged locks of heath penetrated56 him through back and sides, and clotted57 his hair to unsightly tags and tufts. When he awoke it was dark. He thought of his grandmother, and of her possible alarm at missing him. On attempting to rise, he found that he could hardly bend his joints58, and that his clothes were as heavy as lead from saturation59. His teeth chattering60 and his knees trembling he pursued his way home, where his appearance excited great concern. He was obliged at once to retire to bed, and the next day he was delirious61 from the chill.
It was about ten days after this unhappy occurrence that Lady Constantine learnt the news, as above described, and hastened along to the homestead in that state of anguish62 in which the heart is no longer under the control of the judgment63, and self-abandonment even to error, verges64 on heroism65.
On reaching the house in Welland Bottom the door was opened to her by old Hannah, who wore an assiduously sorrowful look; and Lady Constantine was shown into the large room — so wide that the beams bent66 in the middle — where she took her seat in one of a methodic range of chairs, beneath a portrait of the Reverend Mr. St. Cleeve, her astronomer’s erratic67 father.
The eight unwatered dying plants, in the row of eight flower-pots, denoted that there was something wrong in the house. Mrs. Martin came downstairs fretting68, her wonder at beholding69 Lady Constantine not altogether displacing the previous mood of grief.
‘Here’s a pretty kettle of fish, my lady!’ she exclaimed.
Lady Constantine said, ‘Hush!’ and pointed70 inquiringly upward.
‘He is not overhead, my lady,’ replied Swithin’s grandmother. ‘His bedroom is at the back of the house.’
‘How is he now?’
‘He is better, just at this moment; and we are more hopeful. But he changes so.’
‘May I go up? I know he would like to see me.’
Her presence having been made known to the sufferer, she was conducted upstairs to Swithin’s room. The way thither71 was through the large chamber72 he had used as a study and for the manufacture of optical instruments. There lay the large pasteboard telescope, that had been just such a failure as Crusoe’s large boat; there were his diagrams, maps, globes, and celestial apparatus73 of various sorts. The absence of the worker, through illness or death is sufficient to touch the prosiest workshop and tools with the hues74 of pathos75, and it was with a swelling76 bosom77 that Lady Constantine passed through this arena78 of his youthful activities to the little chamber where he lay.
Old Mrs. Martin sat down by the window, and Lady Constantine bent over Swithin.
‘Don’t speak to me!’ she whispered. ‘It will weaken you; it will excite you. If you do speak, it must be very softly.’
She took his hand, and one irrepressible tear fell upon it.
‘Nothing will excite me now, Lady Constantine,’ he said; ‘not even your goodness in coming. My last excitement was when I lost the battle. . . . Do you know that my discovery has been forestalled? It is that that’s killing79 me.’
‘But you are going to recover; you are better, they say. Is it so?’
‘I think I am, today. But who can be sure?’
‘The poor boy was so upset at finding that his labour had been thrown away,’ said his grandmother, ‘that he lay down in the rain, and chilled his life out.’
‘How could you do it?’ Lady Constantine whispered. ‘O, how could you think so much of renown80, and so little of me? Why, for every discovery made there are ten behind that await making. To commit suicide like this, as if there were nobody in the world to care for you!’
‘It was done in my haste, and I am very, very sorry for it! I beg both you and all my few friends never, never to forgive me! It would kill me with self-reproach if you were to pardon my rashness!’
At this moment the doctor was announced, and Mrs. Martin went downstairs to receive him. Lady Constantine thought she would remain to hear his report, and for this purpose withdrew, and sat down in a nook of the adjoining work-room of Swithin, the doctor meeting her as he passed through it into the sick chamber.
He was there a torturingly long time; but at length he came out to the room she waited in, and crossed it on his way downstairs. She rose and followed him to the stairhead.
‘How is he?’ she anxiously asked. ‘Will he get over it?’
The doctor, not knowing the depth of her interest in the patient, spoke81 with the blunt candour natural towards a comparatively indifferent inquirer.
‘No, Lady Constantine,’ he replied; ‘there’s a change for the worse.’
And he retired82 down the stairs.
Scarcely knowing what she did Lady Constantine ran back to Swithin’s side, flung herself upon the bed and in a paroxysm of sorrow kissed him.
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1
contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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3
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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8
astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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forestall
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| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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10
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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16
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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17
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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18
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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mundane
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| adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的 | |
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presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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feverishly
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| adv. 兴奋地 | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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abated
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| 减少( abate的过去式和过去分词 )； 减去； 降价； 撤消（诉讼） | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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36
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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41
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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embodying
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| v.表现( embody的现在分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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45
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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46
plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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47
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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vertically
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| adv.垂直地 | |
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50
conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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51
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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52
forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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56
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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57
clotted
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| adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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59
saturation
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| n.饱和(状态)；浸透 | |
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chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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verges
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| 边，边缘，界线( verge的名词复数 ) | |
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heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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fretting
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| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
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beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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70
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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71
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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74
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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77
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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78
arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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79
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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80
renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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81
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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82
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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