At the side of the room were high windows of Ham-hill stone, upon either sill of which she could sit by first mounting a desk and using it as a footstool. As the evening advanced here she perched herself, as was her custom on such wet and gloomy occasions, put on a light shawl and bonnet3, opened the window, and looked out at the rain.
The window overlooked a field called the Grove4, and it was the position from which she used to survey the crown of Dick’s passing hat in the early days of their acquaintance and meetings. Not a living soul was now visible anywhere; the rain kept all people indoors who were not forced abroad by necessity, and necessity was less importunate5 on Sundays than during the week.
Sitting here and thinking again — of her lover, or of the sensation she had created at church that day? — well, it is unknown — thinking and thinking she saw a dark masculine figure arising into distinctness at the further end of the Grove — a man without an umbrella. Nearer and nearer he came, and she perceived that he was in deep mourning, and then that it was Dick. Yes, in the fondness and foolishness of his young heart, after walking four miles, in a drizzling6 rain without overcoat or umbrella, and in face of a remark from his love that he was not to come because he would be tired, he had made it his business to wander this mile out of his way again, from sheer wish of spending ten minutes in her presence.
“O Dick, how wet you are!” she said, as he drew up under the window. “Why, your coat shines as if it had been varnished7, and your hat — my goodness, there’s a streaming hat!”
“O, I don’t mind, darling!” said Dick cheerfully. “Wet never hurts me, though I am rather sorry for my best clothes. However, it couldn’t be helped; we lent all the umbrellas to the women. I don’t know when I shall get mine back!”
“And look, there’s a nasty patch of something just on your shoulder.”
“Ah, that’s japanning; it rubbed off the clamps of poor Jack’s coffin8 when we lowered him from our shoulders upon the bier! I don’t care about that, for ’twas the last deed I could do for him; and ’tis hard if you can’t afford a coat for an old friend.”
Fancy put her hand to her mouth for half a minute. Underneath9 the palm of that little hand there existed for that half-minute a little yawn.
“Dick, I don’t like you to stand there in the wet. And you mustn’t sit down. Go home and change your things. Don’t stay another minute.”
“One kiss after coming so far,” he pleaded.
“If I can reach, then.”
He looked rather disappointed at not being invited round to the door. She twisted from her seated position and bent10 herself downwards11, but not even by standing12 on the plinth was it possible for Dick to get his lips into contact with hers as she held them. By great exertion13 she might have reached a little lower; but then she would have exposed her head to the rain.
“Never mind, Dick; kiss my hand,” she said, flinging it down to him. “Now, good-bye.”
“Good-bye.”
He walked slowly away, turning and turning again to look at her till he was out of sight. During the retreat she said to herself, almost involuntarily, and still conscious of that morning’s triumph —“I like Dick, and I love him; but how plain and sorry a man looks in the rain, with no umbrella, and wet through!”
As he vanished, she made as if to descend14 from her seat; but glancing in the other direction she saw another form coming along the same track. It was also that of a man. He, too, was in black from top to toe; but he carried an umbrella.
He drew nearer, and the direction of the rain caused him so to slant15 his umbrella that from her height above the ground his head was invisible, as she was also to him. He passed in due time directly beneath her, and in looking down upon the exterior16 of his umbrella her feminine eyes perceived it to be of superior silk — less common at that date than since — and of elegant make. He reached the entrance to the building, and Fancy suddenly lost sight of him. Instead of pursuing the roadway as Dick had done he had turned sharply round into her own porch.
She jumped to the floor, hastily flung off her shawl and bonnet, smoothed and patted her hair till the curls hung in passable condition, and listened. No knock. Nearly a minute passed, and still there was no knock. Then there arose a soft series of raps, no louder than the tapping of a distant woodpecker, and barely distinct enough to reach her ears. She composed herself and flung open the door.
In the porch stood Mr. Maybold.
There was a warm flush upon his face, and a bright flash in his eyes, which made him look handsomer than she had ever seen him before.
“Good-evening, Miss Day.”
“Good-evening, Mr. Maybold,” she said, in a strange state of mind. She had noticed, beyond the ardent17 hue18 of his face, that his voice had a singular tremor19 in it, and that his hand shook like an aspen leaf when he laid his umbrella in the corner of the porch. Without another word being spoken by either, he came into the schoolroom, shut the door, and moved close to her. Once inside, the expression of his face was no more discernible, by reason of the increasing dusk of evening.
“I want to speak to you,” he then said; “seriously — on a perhaps unexpected subject, but one which is all the world to me — I don’t know what it may be to you, Miss Day.”
No reply.
“Fancy, I have come to ask you if you will be my wife?”
As a person who has been idly amusing himself with rolling a snowball might start at finding he had set in motion an avalanche21, so did Fancy start at these words from the vicar. And in the dead silence which followed them, the breathings of the man and of the woman could be distinctly and separately heard; and there was this difference between them — his respirations gradually grew quieter and less rapid after the enunciation22 hers, from having been low and regular, increased in quickness and force, till she almost panted.
“I cannot, I cannot, Mr. Maybold — I cannot! Don’t ask me!” she said.
“Don’t answer in a hurry!” he entreated23. “And do listen to me. This is no sudden feeling on my part. I have loved you for more than six months! Perhaps my late interest in teaching the children here has not been so single-minded as it seemed. You will understand my motive24 — like me better, perhaps, for honestly telling you that I have struggled against my emotion continually, because I have thought that it was not well for me to love you! But I resolved to struggle no longer; I have examined the feeling; and the love I bear you is as genuine as that I could bear any woman! I see your great charm; I respect your natural talents, and the refinement25 they have brought into your nature — they are quite enough, and more than enough for me! They are equal to anything ever required of the mistress of a quiet parsonage-house — the place in which I shall pass my days, wherever it may be situated26. O Fancy, I have watched you, criticized you even severely27, brought my feelings to the light of judgment28, and still have found them rational, and such as any man might have expected to be inspired with by a woman like you! So there is nothing hurried, secret, or untoward29 in my desire to do this. Fancy, will you marry me?”
No answer was returned.
“Don’t refuse; don’t,” he implored30. “It would be foolish of you — I mean cruel! Of course we would not live here, Fancy. I have had for a long time the offer of an exchange of livings with a friend in Yorkshire, but I have hitherto refused on account of my mother. There we would go. Your musical powers shall be still further developed; you shall have whatever pianoforte you like; you shall have anything, Fancy, anything to make you happy — pony-carriage, flowers, birds, pleasant society; yes, you have enough in you for any society, after a few months of travel with me! Will you, Fancy, marry me?”
Another pause ensued, varied31 only by the surging of the rain against the window-panes, and then Fancy spoke20, in a faint and broken voice.
“Yes, I will,” she said.
“God bless you, my own!” He advanced quickly, and put his arm out to embrace her. She drew back hastily. “No no, not now!” she said in an agitated32 whisper. “There are things; — but the temptation is, O, too strong, and I can’t resist it; I can’t tell you now, but I must tell you! Don’t, please, don’t come near me now! I want to think, I can scarcely get myself used to the idea of what I have promised yet.” The next minute she turned to a desk, buried her face in her hands, and burst into a hysterical33 fit of weeping. “O, leave me to myself!” she sobbed34; “leave me! O, leave me!”
“Don’t be distressed35; don’t, dearest!” It was with visible difficulty that he restrained himself from approaching her. “You shall tell me at your leisure what it is that grieves you so; I am happy — beyond all measure happy! — at having your simple promise.”
“And do go and leave me now!”
“But I must not, in justice to you, leave for a minute, until you are yourself again.”
“There then,” she said, controlling her emotion, and standing up; “I am not disturbed now.”
He reluctantly moved towards the door. “Good-bye!” he murmured tenderly. “I’ll come tomorrow about this time.”
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收听单词发音
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1
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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2
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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3
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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4
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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5
importunate
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| adj.强求的；纠缠不休的 | |
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6
drizzling
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| 下蒙蒙细雨，下毛毛雨( drizzle的现在分词 ) | |
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7
varnished
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| 浸渍过的，涂漆的 | |
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8
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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9
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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10
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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11
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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12
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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13
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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14
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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15
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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16
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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17
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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18
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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19
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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20
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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21
avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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22
enunciation
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| n.清晰的发音；表明，宣言；口齿 | |
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23
entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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25
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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26
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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27
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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28
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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29
untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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30
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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32
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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33
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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34
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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35
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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