Opening the window, she said lightly and warmly —“Thank you, singers, thank you!”
Together went the window quickly and quietly, and the blind started downward on its return to its place. Her fair forehead and eyes vanished; her little mouth; her neck and shoulders; all of her. Then the spot of candlelight shone nebulously as before; then it moved away.
“How pretty!” exclaimed Dick Dewy.
“If she’d been rale wexwork she couldn’t ha’ been comelier,” said Michael Mail.
“As near a thing to a spiritual vision as ever I wish to see!” said tranter Dewy.
“O, sich I never, never see!” said Leaf fervently6.
All the rest, after clearing their throats and adjusting their hats, agreed that such a sight was worth singing for.
“Now to Farmer Shiner’s, and then replenish7 our insides, father?” said the tranter.
“Wi’ all my heart,” said old William, shouldering his bass-viol.
Farmer Shiner’s was a queer lump of a house, standing8 at the corner of a lane that ran into the principal thoroughfare. The upper windows were much wider than they were high, and this feature, together with a broad bay-window where the door might have been expected, gave it by day the aspect of a human countenance turned askance, and wearing a sly and wicked leer. To-night nothing was visible but the outline of the roof upon the sky.
The front of this building was reached, and the preliminaries arranged as usual.
“Four breaths, and number thirty-two, ‘Behold the Morning Star,’” said old William.
They had reached the end of the second verse, and the fiddlers were doing the up bow-stroke previously10 to pouring forth11 the opening chord of the third verse, when, without a light appearing or any signal being given, a roaring voice exclaimed —
“Shut up, woll ‘ee! Don’t make your blaring row here! A feller wi’ a headache enough to split his skull12 likes a quiet night!”
Slam went the window.
“Hullo, that’s a’ ugly blow for we!” said the tranter, in a keenly appreciative13 voice, and turning to his companions.
“Finish the carrel, all who be friends of harmony!” commanded old William; and they continued to the end.
“Four breaths, and number nineteen!” said William firmly. “Give it him well; the quire can’t be insulted in this manner!”
A light now flashed into existence, the window opened, and the farmer stood revealed as one in a terrific passion.
“Drown en! — drown en!” the tranter cried, fiddling14 frantically15. “Play fortissimy, and drown his spaking!”
“Fortissimy!” said Michael Mail, and the music and singing waxed so loud that it was impossible to know what Mr. Shiner had said, was saying, or was about to say; but wildly flinging his arms and body about in the forms of capital Xs and Ys, he appeared to utter enough invectives to consign16 the whole parish to perdition.
“Very onseemly — very!” said old William, as they retired17. “Never such a dreadful scene in the whole round o’ my carrel practice — never! And he a churchwarden!”
“Only a drap o’ drink got into his head,” said the tranter. “Man’s well enough when he’s in his religious frame. He’s in his worldly frame now. Must ask en to our bit of a party tomorrow night, I suppose, and so put en in humour again. We bear no mortal man ill-will.”
They now crossed Mellstock Bridge, and went along an embowered path beside the Froom towards the church and vicarage, meeting Voss with the hot mead18 and bread-and-cheese as they were approaching the churchyard. This determined19 them to eat and drink before proceeding20 further, and they entered the church and ascended21 to the gallery. The lanterns were opened, and the whole body sat round against the walls on benches and whatever else was available, and made a hearty22 meal. In the pauses of conversation there could be heard through the floor overhead a little world of undertones and creaks from the halting clockwork, which never spread further than the tower they were born in, and raised in the more meditative23 minds a fancy that here lay the direct pathway of Time.
Having done eating and drinking, they again tuned24 the instruments, and once more the party emerged into the night air.
“Where’s Dick?” said old Dewy.
Every man looked round upon every other man, as if Dick might have been transmuted25 into one or the other; and then they said they didn’t know.
“Well now, that’s what I call very nasty of Master Dicky, that I do,” said Michael Mail.
“He’ve clinked off home-along, depend upon’t,” another suggested, though not quite believing that he had.
“Dick!” exclaimed the tranter, and his voice rolled sonorously26 forth among the yews27.
He suspended his muscles rigid28 as stone whilst listening for an answer, and finding he listened in vain, turned to the assemblage.
“The treble man too! Now if he’d been a tenor29 or counter chap, we might ha’ contrived30 the rest o’t without en, you see. But for a quire to lose the treble, why, my sonnies, you may so well lose your . . . “ The tranter paused, unable to mention an image vast enough for the occasion.
“Your head at once,” suggested Mr. Penny.
The tranter moved a pace, as if it were puerile31 of people to complete sentences when there were more pressing things to be done.
“Was ever heard such a thing as a young man leaving his work half done and turning tail like this!”
“Never,” replied Bowman, in a tone signifying that he was the last man in the world to wish to withhold32 the formal finish required of him.
“I hope no fatal tragedy has overtook the lad!” said his grandfather.
“O no,” replied tranter Dewy placidly33. “Wonder where he’s put that there fiddle9 of his. Why that fiddle cost thirty shillings, and good words besides. Somewhere in the damp, without doubt; that instrument will be unglued and spoilt in ten minutes — ten! ay, two.”
“What in the name o’ righteousness can have happened?” said old William, more uneasily. “Perhaps he’s drownded!”
Leaving their lanterns and instruments in the belfry they retraced34 their steps along the waterside track. “A strapping35 lad like Dick d’know better than let anything happen onawares,” Reuben remarked. “There’s sure to be some poor little scram reason for’t staring us in the face all the while.” He lowered his voice to a mysterious tone: “Neighbours, have ye noticed any sign of a scornful woman in his head, or suchlike?”
“Not a glimmer36 of such a body. He’s as clear as water yet.”
“And Dicky said he should never marry,” cried Jimmy, “but live at home always along wi’ mother and we!”
“Ay, ay, my sonny; every lad has said that in his time.”
They had now again reached the precincts of Mr. Shiner’s, but hearing nobody in that direction, one or two went across to the schoolhouse. A light was still burning in the bedroom, and though the blind was down, the window had been slightly opened, as if to admit the distant notes of the carollers to the ears of the occupant of the room.
Opposite the window, leaning motionless against a beech37 tree, was the lost man, his arms folded, his head thrown back, his eyes fixed38 upon the illuminated39 lattice.
“Why, Dick, is that thee? What b’st doing here?”
Dick’s body instantly flew into a more rational attitude, and his head was seen to turn east and west in the gloom, as if endeavouring to discern some proper answer to that question; and at last he said in rather feeble accents —“Nothing, father.”
“Th’st take long enough time about it then, upon my body,” said the tranter, as they all turned anew towards the vicarage.
“I thought you hadn’t done having snap in the gallery,” said Dick.
“Why, we’ve been traypsing and rambling40 about, looking everywhere, and thinking you’d done fifty deathly things, and here have you been at nothing at all!”
“The stupidness lies in that point of it being nothing at all,” murmured Mr. Spinks.
The vicarage front was their next field of operation, and Mr. Maybold, the lately-arrived incumbent41, duly received his share of the night’s harmonies. It was hoped that by reason of his profession he would have been led to open the window, and an extra carol in quick time was added to draw him forth. But Mr. Maybold made no stir.
“A bad sign!” said old William, shaking his head.
However, at that same instant a musical voice was heard exclaiming from inner depths of bedclothes —“Thanks, villagers!”
“What did he say?” asked Bowman, who was rather dull of hearing. Bowman’s voice, being therefore loud, had been heard by the vicar within.
“I said, ‘Thanks, villagers!’” cried the vicar again.
“Oh, we didn’t hear ‘ee the first time!” cried Bowman.
“Now don’t for heaven’s sake spoil the young man’s temper by answering like that!” said the tranter.
“You won’t do that, my friends!” the vicar shouted.
“Well to be sure, what ears!” said Mr. Penny in a whisper. “Beats any horse or dog in the parish, and depend upon’t, that’s a sign he’s a proper clever chap.”
“We shall see that in time,” said the tranter.
Old William, in his gratitude42 for such thanks from a comparatively new inhabitant, was anxious to play all the tunes43 over again; but renounced44 his desire on being reminded by Reuben that it would be best to leave well alone.
“Now putting two and two together,” the tranter continued, as they went their way over the hill, and across to the last remaining houses; “that is, in the form of that young female vision we zeed just now, and this young tenor-voiced parson, my belief is she’ll wind en round her finger, and twist the pore young feller about like the figure of 8 — that she will so, my sonnies.”
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1
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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2
illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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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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4
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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5
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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6
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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7
replenish
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| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
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8
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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9
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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10
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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11
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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12
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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13
appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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14
fiddling
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| 微小的 | |
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15
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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16
consign
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| vt.寄售（货品），托运，交托，委托 | |
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17
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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18
mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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19
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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20
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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21
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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23
meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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24
tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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25
transmuted
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| v.使变形，使变质，把…变成…( transmute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
sonorously
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| adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；堂皇地；朗朗地 | |
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27
yews
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| n.紫杉( yew的名词复数 ) | |
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28
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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29
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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30
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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31
puerile
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| adj.幼稚的，儿童的 | |
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32
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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33
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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34
retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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35
strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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36
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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37
beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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38
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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39
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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40
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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41
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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42
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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43
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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44
renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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