But Swithin St. Cleeve did not decease, a fact of which, indeed, the habituated reader will have been well aware ever since the rain came down upon the young man in the ninth chapter, and led to his alarming illness. Though, for that matter, so many maimed histories are hourly enacting10 themselves in this dun-coloured world as to lend almost a priority of interest to narratives11 concerning those
‘Who lay great bases for eternity12
Which prove more short than waste or ruining.’
How it arose that he did not die was in this wise; and his example affords another instance of that reflex rule of the vassal13 soul over the sovereign body, which, operating so wonderfully in elastic14 natures, and more or less in all, originally gave rise to the legend that supremacy15 lay on the other side.
The evening of the day after the tender, despairing, farewell kiss of Lady Constantine, when he was a little less weak than during her visit, he lay with his face to the window. He lay alone, quiet and resigned. He had been thinking, sometimes of her and other friends, but chiefly of his lost discovery. Although nearly unconscious at the time, he had yet been aware of that kiss, as the delicate flush which followed it upon his cheek would have told; but he had attached little importance to it as between woman and man. Had he been dying of love instead of wet weather, perhaps the impulsive16 act of that handsome lady would have been seized on as a proof that his love was returned. As it was her kiss seemed but the evidence of a naturally demonstrative kindliness17, felt towards him chiefly because he was believed to be leaving her for ever.
The reds of sunset passed, and dusk drew on. Old Hannah came upstairs to pull down the blinds and as she advanced to the window he said to her, in a faint voice, ‘Well, Hannah, what news today?’
‘Oh, nothing, sir,’ Hannah replied, looking out of the window with sad apathy18, ‘only that there’s a comet, they say.’
‘A WHAT?’ said the dying astronomer19, starting up on his elbow.
‘A comet — that’s all, Master Swithin,’ repeated Hannah, in a lower voice, fearing she had done harm in some way.
‘Well, tell me, tell me!’ cried Swithin. ‘Is it Gambart’s? Is it Charles the Fifth’s, or Halley’s, or Faye’s, or whose?’
‘Hush!’ said she, thinking St. Cleeve slightly delirious20 again. ‘’Tis God A’mighty’s, of course. I haven’t seed en myself, but they say he’s getting bigger every night, and that he’ll be the biggest one known for fifty years when he’s full growed. There, you must not talk any more now, or I’ll go away.’
Here was an amazing event, little noise as it had made in the happening. Of all phenomena21 that he had longed to witness during his short astronomical22 career, those appertaining to comets had excited him most. That the magnificent comet of 1811 would not return again for thirty centuries had been quite a permanent regret with him. And now, when the bottomless abyss of death seemed yawning beneath his feet, one of these much-desired apparitions23, as large, apparently24, as any of its tribe, had chosen to show itself.
‘O, if I could but live to see that comet through my equatorial!’ he cried.
Compared with comets, variable stars, which he had hitherto made his study, were, from their remoteness, uninteresting. They were to the former as the celebrities25 of Ujiji or Unyamwesi to the celebrities of his own country. Members of the solar system, these dazzling and perplexing rangers26, the fascination27 of all astronomers28, rendered themselves still more fascinating by the sinister29 suspicion attaching to them of being possibly the ultimate destroyers of the human race. In his physical prostration30 St. Cleeve wept bitterly at not being hale and strong enough to welcome with proper honour the present specimen31 of these desirable visitors.
The strenuous32 wish to live and behold33 the new phenomenon, supplanting34 the utter weariness of existence that he had heretofore experienced, gave him a new vitality35. The crisis passed; there was a turn for the better; and after that he rapidly mended. The comet had in all probability saved his life. The limitless and complex wonders of the sky resumed their old power over his imagination; the possibilities of that unfathomable blue ocean were endless. Finer feats36 than ever he would perform were to be achieved in its investigation37. What Lady Constantine had said, that for one discovery made ten awaited making, was strikingly verified by the sudden appearance of this splendid marvel38.
The windows of St. Cleeve’s bedroom faced the west, and nothing would satisfy him but that his bed should be so pulled round as to give him a view of the low sky, in which the as yet minute tadpole39 of fire was recognizable. The mere40 sight of it seemed to lend him sufficient resolution to complete his own cure forthwith. His only fear now was lest, from some unexpected cause or other, the comet would vanish before he could get to the observatory41 on Rings-Hill Speer.
In his fervour to begin observing he directed that an old telescope, which he had used in his first celestial42 attempts, should be tied at one end to the bed-post, and at the other fixed43 near his eye as he reclined. Equipped only with this rough improvisation44 he began to take notes. Lady Constantine was forgotten, till one day, suddenly, wondering if she knew of the important phenomenon, he revolved45 in his mind whether as a fellow-student and sincere friend of his she ought not to be sent for, and instructed in the use of the equatorial.
But though the image of Lady Constantine, in spite of her kindness and unmistakably warm heart, had been obscured in his mind by the heavenly body, she had not so readily forgotten him. Too shy to repeat her visit after so nearly betraying her secret, she yet, every day, by the most ingenious and subtle means that could be devised by a woman who feared for herself, but could not refrain from tampering46 with danger, ascertained47 the state of her young friend’s health. On hearing of the turn in his condition she rejoiced on his account, and became yet more despondent48 on her own. If he had died she might have mused49 on him as her dear departed saint without much sin: but his return to life was a delight that bewildered and dismayed.
One evening a little later on he was sitting at his bedroom window as usual, waiting for a sufficient decline of light to reveal the comet’s form, when he beheld50, crossing the field contiguous to the house, a figure which he knew to be hers. He thought she must be coming to see him on the great comet question, to discuss which with so delightful51 and kind a comrade was an expectation full of pleasure. Hence he keenly observed her approach, till something happened that surprised him.
When, at the descent of the hill, she had reached the stile that admitted to Mrs. Martin’s garden, Lady Constantine stood quite still for a minute or more, her gaze bent52 on the ground. Instead of coming on to the house she went heavily and slowly back, almost as if in pain; and then at length, quickening her pace, she was soon out of sight. She appeared in the path no more that day.
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1
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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10
enacting
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 ) | |
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11
narratives
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| 记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分 | |
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12
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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13
vassal
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| n.附庸的；属下；adj.奴仆的 | |
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14
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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16
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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17
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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18
apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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19
astronomer
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| n.天文学家 | |
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20
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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astronomical
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| adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的 | |
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23
apparitions
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| n.特异景象( apparition的名词复数 )；幽灵；鬼；（特异景象等的）出现 | |
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24
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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celebrities
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| n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉 | |
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26
rangers
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| 护林者( ranger的名词复数 )； 突击队员 | |
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27
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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28
astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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29
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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30
prostration
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| n. 平伏, 跪倒, 疲劳 | |
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31
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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32
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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33
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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34
supplanting
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的现在分词 ) | |
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35
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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36
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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37
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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38
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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tadpole
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| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
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40
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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41
observatory
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| n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台 | |
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42
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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43
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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44
improvisation
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| n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作 | |
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45
revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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46
tampering
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| v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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47
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
despondent
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| adj.失望的，沮丧的，泄气的 | |
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49
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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50
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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51
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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52
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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