All these encumbrances10 were now removed, and as the afternoon advanced, the guests gathered on the spot, where music, dancing, and the singing of songs went forward with great spirit throughout the evening. The propriety11 of every one was intense by reason of the influence of Fancy, who, as an additional precaution in this direction, had strictly12 charged her father and the tranter to carefully avoid saying ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ in their conversation, on the plea that those ancient words sounded so very humiliating to persons of newer taste; also that they were never to be seen drawing the back of the hand across the mouth after drinking — a local English custom of extraordinary antiquity13, but stated by Fancy to be decidedly dying out among the better classes of society.
In addition to the local musicians present, a man who had a thorough knowledge of the tambourine14 was invited from the village of Tantrum Clangley — a place long celebrated15 for the skill of its inhabitants as performers on instruments of percussion16. These important members of the assembly were relegated17 to a height of two or three feet from the ground, upon a temporary erection of planks18 supported by barrels. Whilst the dancing progressed the older persons sat in a group under the trunk of the tree — the space being allotted19 to them somewhat grudgingly20 by the young ones, who were greedy of pirouetting room — and fortified21 by a table against the heels of the dancers. Here the gaffers and gammers, whose dancing days were over, told stories of great impressiveness, and at intervals22 surveyed the advancing and retiring couples from the same retreat, as people on shore might be supposed to survey a naval23 engagement in the bay beyond; returning again to their tales when the pause was over. Those of the whirling throng24, who, during the rests between each figure, turned their eyes in the direction of these seated ones, were only able to discover, on account of the music and bustle25, that a very striking circumstance was in course of narration26 — denoted by an emphatic27 sweep of the hand, snapping of the fingers, close of the lips, and fixed28 look into the centre of the listener’s eye for the space of a quarter of a minute, which raised in that listener such a reciprocating29 working of face as to sometimes make the distant dancers half wish to know what such an interesting tale could refer to.
Fancy caused her looks to wear as much matronly expression as was obtainable out of six hours’ experience as a wife, in order that the contrast between her own state of life and that of the unmarried young women present might be duly impressed upon the company: occasionally stealing glances of admiration30 at her left hand, but this quite privately31; for her ostensible32 bearing concerning the matter was intended to show that, though she undoubtedly33 occupied the most wondrous34 position in the eyes of the world that had ever been attained35, she was almost unconscious of the circumstance, and that the somewhat prominent position in which that wonderfully-emblazoned left hand was continually found to be placed, when handing cups and saucers, knives, forks, and glasses, was quite the result of accident. As to wishing to excite envy in the bosoms36 of her maiden37 companions, by the exhibition of the shining ring, every one was to know it was quite foreign to the dignity of such an experienced married woman. Dick’s imagination in the meantime was far less capable of drawing so much wontedness from his new condition. He had been for two or three hours trying to feel himself merely a newly-married man, but had been able to get no further in the attempt than to realize that he was Dick Dewy, the tranter’s son, at a party given by Lord Wessex’s head man-incharge, on the outlying Yalbury estate, dancing and chatting with Fancy Day.
Five country dances, including ‘Haste to the Wedding,’ two reels, and three fragments of horn-pipes, brought them to the time for supper, which, on account of the dampness of the grass from the immaturity38 of the summer season, was spread indoors. At the conclusion of the meal Dick went out to put the horse in; and Fancy, with the elder half of the four bridesmaids, retired39 upstairs to dress for the journey to Dick’s new cottage near Mellstock.
“How long will you be putting on your bonnet40, Fancy?” Dick inquired at the foot of the staircase. Being now a man of business and married, he was strong on the importance of time, and doubled the emphasis of his words in conversing41, and added vigour42 to his nods.
“Only a minute.”
“How long is that?”
“Well, dear, five.”
“Ah, sonnies!” said the tranter, as Dick retired, “’tis a talent of the female race that low numbers should stand for high, more especially in matters of waiting, matters of age, and matters of money.”
“True, true, upon my body,” said Geoffrey.
“Ye spak with feeling, Geoffrey, seemingly.”
“Anybody that d’know my experience might guess that.”
“What’s she doing now, Geoffrey?”
“Claning out all the upstairs drawers and cupboards, and dusting the second-best chainey — a thing that’s only done once a year. ‘If there’s work to be done I must do it,’ says she, ‘wedding or no.’”
“’Tis my belief she’s a very good woman at bottom.”
“She’s terrible deep, then.”
Mrs. Penny turned round. “Well, ’tis humps and hollers with the best of us; but still and for all that, Dick and Fancy stand as fair a chance of having a bit of sunsheen as any married pair in the land.”
“Ay, there’s no gainsaying43 it.”
Mrs. Dewy came up, talking to one person and looking at another. “Happy, yes,” she said. “’Tis always so when a couple is so exactly in tune44 with one another as Dick and she.”
“When they be’n’t too poor to have time to sing,” said grandfather James.
“I tell ye, neighbours, when the pinch comes,” said the tranter: “when the oldest daughter’s boots be only a size less than her mother’s, and the rest o’ the flock close behind her. A sharp time for a man that, my sonnies; a very sharp time! Chanticleer’s comb is a-cut then, ‘a believe.”
“That’s about the form o’t,” said Mr. Penny. “That’ll put the stuns45 upon a man, when you must measure mother and daughter’s lasts to tell ’em apart.”
“You’ve no cause to complain, Reuben, of such a close-coming flock,” said Mrs. Dewy; “for ours was a straggling lot enough, God knows!”
“I d’know it, I d’know it,” said the tranter. “You be a well-enough woman, Ann.”
Mrs. Dewy put her mouth in the form of a smile, and put it back again without smiling.
“And if they come together, they go together,” said Mrs. Penny, whose family had been the reverse of the tranter’s; “and a little money will make either fate tolerable. And money can be made by our young couple, I know.”
“Yes, that it can!” said the impulsive46 voice of Leaf, who had hitherto humbly47 admired the proceedings48 from a corner. “It can be done — all that’s wanted is a few pounds to begin with. That’s all! I know a story about it!”
“Let’s hear thy story, Leaf,” said the tranter. “I never knew you were clever enough to tell a story. Silence, all of ye! Mr. Leaf will tell a story.”
“Tell your story, Thomas Leaf,” said grandfather William in the tone of a schoolmaster.
“Once,” said the delighted Leaf, in an uncertain voice, “there was a man who lived in a house! Well, this man went thinking and thinking night and day. At last, he said to himself, as I might, ‘If I had only ten pound, I’d make a fortune.’ At last by hook or by crook49, behold50 he got the ten pounds!”
“Only think of that!” said Nat Callcome satirically.
“Silence!” said the tranter.
“Well, now comes the interesting part of the story! In a little time he made that ten pounds twenty. Then a little time after that he doubled it, and made it forty. Well, he went on, and a good while after that he made it eighty, and on to a hundred. Well, by-and-by he made it two hundred! Well, you’d never believe it, but — he went on and made it four hundred! He went on, and what did he do? Why, he made it eight hundred! Yes, he did,” continued Leaf, in the highest pitch of excitement, bringing down his fist upon his knee with such force that he quivered with the pain; “yes, and he went on and made it A Thousand!”
“Hear, hear!” said the tranter. “Better than the history of England, my sonnies!”
“Thank you for your story, Thomas Leaf,” said grandfather William; and then Leaf gradually sank into nothingness again.
Amid a medley51 of laughter, old shoes, and elder-wine, Dick and his bride took their departure, side by side in the excellent new spring-cart which the young tranter now possessed52. The moon was just over the full, rendering53 any light from lamps or their own beauties quite unnecessary to the pair. They drove slowly along Yalbury Bottom, where the road passed between two copses. Dick was talking to his companion.
“Fancy,” he said, “why we are so happy is because there is such full confidence between us. Ever since that time you confessed to that little flirtation54 with Shiner by the river (which was really no flirtation at all), I have thought how artless and good you must be to tell me o’ such a trifling55 thing, and to be so frightened about it as you were. It has won me to tell you my every deed and word since then. We’ll have no secrets from each other, darling, will we ever? — no secret at all.”
“None from today,” said Fancy. “Hark! what’s that?”
From a neighbouring thicket56 was suddenly heard to issue in a loud, musical, and liquid voice —
“Tippiwit! swe-e-et! ki-ki-ki! Come hither, come hither, come hither!”
“O, ’tis the nightingale,” murmured she, and thought of a secret she would never tell.
The End
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1
abutted
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| v.（与…）邻接( abut的过去式和过去分词 )；（与…）毗连；接触；倚靠 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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5
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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fungi
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| n.真菌，霉菌 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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moles
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| 防波堤( mole的名词复数 )； 鼹鼠； 痣； 间谍 | |
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10
encumbrances
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| n.负担( encumbrance的名词复数 )；累赘；妨碍；阻碍 | |
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11
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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12
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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13
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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14
tambourine
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| n.铃鼓，手鼓 | |
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15
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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16
percussion
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| n.打击乐器；冲突，撞击；震动，音响 | |
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17
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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18
planks
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| （厚）木板( plank的名词复数 )； 政纲条目，政策要点 | |
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19
allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20
grudgingly
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21
fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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22
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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23
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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24
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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25
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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26
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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27
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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28
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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29
reciprocating
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| adj.往复的；来回的；交替的；摆动的v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的现在分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动 | |
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30
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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31
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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ostensible
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| adj.(指理由)表面的，假装的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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35
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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36
bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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38
immaturity
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| n.不成熟；未充分成长；未成熟；粗糙 | |
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39
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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40
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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41
conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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42
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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43
gainsaying
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| v.否认，反驳( gainsay的现在分词 ) | |
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44
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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45
stuns
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| v.击晕( stun的第三人称单数 )；使大吃一惊；给（某人）以深刻印象；使深深感动 | |
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46
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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47
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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48
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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49
crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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50
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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51
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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52
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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53
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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54
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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55
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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56
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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