It affected3 ever after my involuntary estimate of the principal actors in it. An exhibition of such thorough inferiority, accompanied by such a shock to the feminine sense of elegance4, is not forgotten by any woman. Captain Oakley had been severely5 beaten by a smaller man. It was pitiable, but also undignified; and Milly’s anxieties about his teeth and nose, though in a certain sense horrible, had also a painful suspicion of the absurd.
People say, on the other hand, that superior prowess, even in such barbarous contests, inspires in our sex an interest akin7 to admiration8. I can positively9 say in my case it was quite the reverse. Dudley Ruthyn stood lower than ever in my estimation; for though I feared him more, it was by reason of these brutal10 and cold-blooded associations.
After this I lived in constant apprehension11 of being summoned to my uncle’s room, and being called on for an explanation of my meeting with Captain Oakley, which, notwithstanding my perfect innocence12, looked suspicious, but no such inquisition resulted. Perhaps he did not suspect me; or, perhaps, he thought, not in his haste, all women are liars13, and did not care to hear what I might say. I rather lean to the latter interpretation14.
The exchequer15 just now, I suppose, by some means, was replenished16, for next morning Dudley set off upon one of his fashionable excursions, as poor Milly thought them, to Wolverhampton. And the same day Dr. Bryerly arrived.
Milly and I, from my room window, saw him step from his vehicle to the court-yard.
A lean man, with sandy hair and whiskers, was in the chaise with him. Dr. Bryerly descended17 in the unchangeable black suit that always looked new and never fitted him.
The Doctor looked careworn18, and older, I thought, by several years, than when I last saw him. He was not shown up to my uncle’s room; on the contrary, Milly, who was more actively19 curious than I, ascertained20 that our tremulous butler informed him that my uncle was not sufficiently21 well for an interview. Whereupon Dr. Bryerly had pencilled a note, the reply to which was a message from Uncle Silas, saying that he would be happy to see him in five minutes.
As Milly and I were conjecturing22 what it might mean, and before the five minutes had expired, Mary Quince entered.
“Wyat bid me tell you, Miss, your uncle wants you this minute.”
When I entered his room, Uncle Silas was seated at the table, with his desk before him. He looked up. Could anything be more dignified6, suffering, and venerable?
“I sent for you, dear,” he said very gently, extending his thin, white hand, and taking mine, which he held affectionately while he spoke23, “because I desire to have no secrets, and wish you thoroughly24 to know all that concerns your own interests while subject to my guardianship26; and I am happy to think, my beloved niece, that you requite27 my candour. Oh, here is the gentleman. Sit down, dear.”
Doctor Bryerly was advancing, as it seemed, to shake hands with Uncle Silas, who, however, rose, with a severe and haughty28 air, not the least over-acted, and made him a slow, ceremonious bow. I wondered how the homely29 Doctor could confront so tranquilly30 that astounding31 statue of hauteur32.
A faint and weary smile, rather sad than contemptuous, was the only sign he showed of feeling his repulse33.
“How do you do, Miss?” he said, extending his hand, and greeting me after his ungallant fashion, as if it were an after-thought.
“I think I may as well take a chair, sir,” said Doctor Bryerly, sitting down serenely34, near the table, and crossing his ungainly legs.
My uncle bowed.
“You understand the nature of the business, sir. Do you with Miss Ruthyn to remain?” asked Doctor Bryerly.
“I sent for her, sir,” replied my uncle, in a very gentle and sarcastic35 tone, a smile on his thin lips, and his strangely-contorted eyebrows36 raised for a moment contemptuously. “This gentleman, my dear Maud, thinks proper to insinuate37 that I am robbing you. It surprises me a little, and, no doubt, you — I’ve nothing to conceal38, and wished you to be present while he favours me more particularly with his views. I’m right, I think, in describing it as robbery, sir?”
“Why,” said Doctor Bryerly thoughtfully, for he was treating the matter as one of right, and not of feeling, “it would be, certainly, taking that which does not belong to you, and converting it to your own use; but, at the worst, it would more resemble thieving, I think, than robbery.”
I saw Uncle Silas’s lip, eyelid39, and thin cheek quiver and shrink, as if with a thrill of tic-douloureux, as Doctor Bryerly spoke this unconsciously insulting answer. My uncle had, however, the self-command which is learned at the gaming-table. He shrugged40, with a chilly41, sarcastic, little laugh, and a glance at me.
“Your not says waste, I think, sir?”
“Yes, waste — the felling and sale of timber in the Windmill Wood, the selling of oak bark and burning of charcoal42, as I’m informed,” said Bryerly, as sadly and quietly as a man might relate a piece of intelligence from the newspaper.
“Detectives? or private spies of your own? — or, perhaps, my servants, bribed43 with my poor brother’s money? A very high-minded procedure.”
“Nothing of the kind, sir.”
My uncle sneered44.
“I mean, sir, there has been no undue45 canvass46 for evidence, and the question is simply one of right; and it is our duty to see that this inexperienced young lady is not defrauded47.”
“By her own uncle?”
“By anyone,” said Doctor Bryerly, with a natural impenetrability that excited my admiration.
“Of course you come armed with an opinion?” said my smiling uncle, insinuatingly48.
“The case is before Mr. Serjeant Grinders. These bigwigs don’t return their cases sometimes so quickly as we could wish.”
“Then you have no opinion?” smiled my uncle.
“My solicitor49 is quite clear upon it; and it seems to me there can be no question raised, but for form’s sake.”
“Yes, for form’s sake you take one, and in the meantime, upon a nice question of law, the surmises50 of a thick-headed attorney and of an ingenious apoth — I beg pardon, physician — are sufficient warrant for telling my niece and ward51, in my presence, that I am defrauding52 her!”
My uncle leaned back in his chair, and smiled with a contemptuous patience over Doctor Bryerly’s head, as he spoke.
“I don’t know whether I used that expression, sir, but I am speaking merely in a technical sense. I mean to say, that, whether by mistake or otherwise, you are exercising a power which you don’t lawfully53 possess, and that the effect of that is to impoverish54 the estate, and, by so much as it benefits you, to wrong this young lady.”
“I’m a technical defrauder55, I see, and your manner conveys the rest. I thank my God, sir, I am a very different man from what I once was.” Uncle Silas was speaking in a low tone, and with extraordinary deliberation. “I remember when I should have certainly knocked you down, sir, or tried it, at least, for a great deal less.”
“But seriously, sir, what do you propose?” asked Doctor Bryerly, sternly and a little flushed, for I think the old man was stirred within him; and though he did not raise his voice, his manner was excited.
“I propose to defend my rights, sir,” murmured Uncle Silas, very grim. “I’m not without an opinion, though you are.”
“You seem to think, sir, that I have a pleasure in annoying you; you are quite wrong. I hate annoying anyone — constitutionally — I hate it; but don’t you see, sir, the position I’m placed in? I wish I could please everyone, and do my duty.”
Uncle Silas bowed and smiled.
“I’ve brought with me the Scotch56 steward57 from Tolkingden, your estate, Miss, and if you let us we will visit the spot and make a note of what we observe, that is, assuming that you admit waste, and merely question our law.”
“If you please, sir, you and your Scotchman shall do no such thing; and, bearing in mind that I neither deny nor admit anything, you will please further never more to present yourself, under any pretext58 whatsoever59, either in this house or on the grounds of Bartram–Haugh, during my lifetime.”
Uncle Silas rose up with the same glassy smile and scowl60, in token that the interview was ended.
“Good-bye, sir,” said Doctor Bryerly, with a sad and thoughtful air, and hesitating for a moment, he said to me, “Do you think, Miss, you could afford me a word in the hall?”
“Not a word, sir,” snarled61 Uncle Silas, with a white flash from his eyes.
There was a pause.
“Sit where you are, Maud.”
Another pause.
“If you have anything to say to my ward, sir, you will please to say it here.”
Doctor Bryerly’s dark and homely face was turned on me with an expression of unspeakable compassion62.
“I was going to say, that if you think of any way in which I can be of the least service, Miss, I’m ready to act, that’s all; mind, any way.”
He hesitated, looking at me with the same expression as if he had something more to say; but he only repeated —
“That’s all, Miss.”
“Won’t you shake hands, Doctor Bryerly, before you go?” I said, eagerly approaching him.
Without a smile, with the same sad anxiety in his face, with his mind, as it seemed to me, on something else, and irresolute63 whether to speak it or be silent, he took my fingers in a very cold hand, and holding it so, and slowly shaking it, his grave and troubled glance unconsciously rested on Uncle Silas’s face, while in a sad tone and absent way he said —
“Good-bye, Miss.”
From before that sad gaze my uncle averted64 his strange eyes quickly, and looked, oddly, to the window.
In a moment more Doctor Bryerly let my hand go with a sigh, and with an abrupt65 little nod to me, he left the room; and I heard that smallest of sounds, the retreating footsteps of a true friend, lost.
“Lead us not into temptation; if we pray so, we must not mock the eternal Majesty66 of Heaven by walking into temptation of our own accord.”
This oracular sentence was not uttered by my uncle until Doctor Bryerly had been gone at least five minutes.
“I’ve forbid him my house, Maud — first, because his perfectly67 unconscious insolence68 tries my patience nearly beyond endurance; and again, because I have heard unfavourable reports of him. On the question of right which he disputes, I am perfectly informed. I am your tenant69, my dear niece; when I am gone you will learn how scrupulous70 I have been; you will see how, under the pressure of the most agonising pecuniary71 difficulties, the terrific penalty of a misspent youth, I have been careful never by a hair’s breadth to transgress72 the strict line of my legal privileges; alike, as your tenant, Maud, and as your guardian25; how, amid frightful73 agitations74, I have kept myself, by the miraculous75 strength and grace vouchsafed76 me — pure.
“The world,” he resumed after a short pause, “has no faith in any man’s conversion77; it never forgets what he was, it never believes him anything better, it is an inexorable and stupid judge. What I was I will describe in blacker terms, and with more heartfelt detestation, than my traducers — a reckless prodigal78, a godless profligate79. Such I was; what I am, I am. If I had no hope beyond this world, of all men most miserable81; but with that hop80, a sinner saved.”
Then he waxed eloquent82 and mystical. I think his Swedenborgian studies had crossed his notions of religion with strange lights. I never could follow him quite in these excursions into the region of symbolism. I only recollect83 that he talked of the deluge84 and the waters of Mara, and said, “I am washed — I am sprinkled,” and then, pausing, bathed his thin temples and forehead with eau de Cologne; a process which was, perhaps, suggested by his imagery of sprinkling and so forth85.
Thus refreshed, he sighed and smiled, and passed to the subject of Doctor Bryerly.
“Of Doctor Bryerly, I know that he is sly, that he loves money, was born poor, and makes nothing by his profession. But he possesses many thousand pounds, under my poor brother’s will, of your money; and he has glided86 with, of course a modest ‘nolo episcopari,’ into the acting87 trusteeship, with all its multitudinous opportunities, of your immense property. That is not doing so badly for a visionary Swedenborgian. Such a man must prosper88. But if he expected to make money of me, he is disappointed. Money, however, he will make of his trusteeship, as you will see. It is a dangerous resolution. But if he will seek the life of Dives, the worst I wish him is to find the death of Lazarus. But whether, like Lazarus, he be borne of angels into Abraham’s bosom89, or, like the rich man, only dies and is buried, and the rest, neither living nor dying do I desire his company.”
Uncle Silas here seemed suddenly overtaken by exhaustion90. He leaned back with a ghastly look, and his lean features glistened91 with the dew of faintness. I screamed for Wyat. But he soon recovered sufficiently to smile his odd smile, and with it and his frown, nodded and waved me away.
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1
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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liars
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| 说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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replenished
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| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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careworn
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| adj.疲倦的，饱经忧患的 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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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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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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conjecturing
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| v. & n. 推测，臆测 | |
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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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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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guardianship
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| n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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requite
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| v.报酬，报答 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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eyelid
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| n.眼睑，眼皮 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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charcoal
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| n.炭，木炭，生物炭 | |
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bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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canvass
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| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
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defrauded
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| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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insinuatingly
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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surmises
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的第三人称单数 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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51
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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defrauding
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| v.诈取，骗取( defraud的现在分词 ) | |
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lawfully
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| adv.守法地，合法地；合理地 | |
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impoverish
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| vt.使穷困，使贫困 | |
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defrauder
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| 诈骗者，骗子 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)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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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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71
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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72
transgress
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| vt.违反，逾越 | |
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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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74
agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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76
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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79
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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80
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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81
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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82
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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83
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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84
deluge
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| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
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85
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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86
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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87
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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88
prosper
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| v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣 | |
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89
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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90
exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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91
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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