So the young people sitting in the little drawing-room of Redman’s farm pursued their dialogue; Rachel Lake had spoken last, and it was the captain’s turn to speak next.
‘Do you remember Miss Beauchamp, Radie?’ he asked rather suddenly, after a very long pause.
‘Miss Beauchamp? Oh! to be sure; you mean little Caroline; yes, she must be quite grown up by this time — five years — she promised to be pretty. What of her?’
Rachel, very flushed and agitated1 still, was now trying to speak as usual.
‘She is good-looking — a little coarse some people think,’ resumed the young man; ‘but handsome; black eyes — black hair — rather on a large scale, but certainly handsome. A style I admire rather, though it is not very refined, nor at all classic. But I like her, and I wish you’d advise me.’ He was talking, after his wont2, to the carpet.
‘Oh?’ she exclaimed, with a gentle sort of derision.
‘You mean,’ he said, looking up for a moment, with a sudden stare, ‘she has got money. Of course she has; I could not afford to admire her if she had not; but I see you are not just now in a mood to trouble yourself about my nonsense — we can talk about it to-morrow; and tell me now, how do you get on with the Brandon people?’
Rachel was curious, and would, if she could, have recalled that sarcastic3 ‘oh’ which had postponed4 the story; but she was also a little angry, and with anger there was pride, which would not stoop to ask for the revelation which he chose to defer5; so she said, ‘Dorcas and I are very good friends; but I don’t know very well what to make of her. Only I don’t think she’s quite so dull and apathetic6 as I at first supposed; but still I’m puzzled. She is either absolutely uninteresting, or very interesting indeed, and I can’t say which.’
‘Does she like you?’ he asked.
‘I really don’t know. She tolerates me, like everything else; and I don’t flatter her; and we see a good deal of one another upon those terms, and I have no complaint to make of her. She has some aversions, but no quarrels; and has a sort of laziness — mental, bodily, and moral — that is sublime7, but provoking; and sometimes I admire her, and sometimes I despise her; and I do not yet know which feeling is the juster.’
‘Surely she is woman enough to be fussed a little about her marriage?’
‘Oh, dear, no! she takes the whole affair with a queenlike and supernatural indifference8. She is either a fool or a very great philosopher, and there is something grand in the serene9 obscurity that envelopes her,’ and Rachel laughed a very little.
‘I must, I suppose, pay my respects; but to-morrow will be time enough. What pretty little tea-cups, Radie — quite charming — old cock china, isn’t it? These were Aunt Jemima’s, I think.’
‘Yes; they used to stand on the little marble table between the windows.’
Old Tamar had glided10 in while they here talking, and placed the little tea equipage on the table unnoticed, and the captain was sipping11 his cup of tea, and inspecting the pattern, while his sister amused him.
‘This place, I suppose, is confoundedly slow, is not it? Do they entertain the neighbours ever at Brandon?’
‘Sometimes, when old Lady Chelford and her son are staying there.’
‘But the neighbours can’t entertain them, I fancy, or you. What a dreary12 thing a dinner party made up of such people must be — like “Aesop’s Fables,” where the cows and sheep converse13.’
‘And sometimes a wolf or a fox,’ she said.
‘Well, Radie, I know you mean me; but as you wish it, I’ll carry my fangs14 elsewhere; — and what has become of Will Wylder?’
‘Oh! he’s in the Church!’
‘Quite right — the only thing he was fit for;’ and Captain Lake laughed like a man who enjoys a joke slily. ‘And where is poor Billy quartered?’
‘Not quite half a mile away; he has got the vicarage of Naunton Friars.’
‘Oh, then, Will is not quite such a fool as we took him for.’
‘It is worth just ￡180 a year! but he’s very far from a fool.’
‘Yes, of course, he knows Greek poets and Latin fathers, and all the rest of it. I don’t mean he ever was plucked. I dare say he’s the kind of fellow you’d like very well, Radie.’ And his sly eyes had a twinkle in them which seemed to say, ‘Perhaps I’ve divined your secret.’
‘And so I do, and I like his wife, too, very much.’
‘His wife! So William has married on ￡180 a year;’ and the captain laughed quietly but very pleasantly again.
‘On a very little more, at all events; and I think they are about the happiest, and I’m sure they are the best people in this part of the world.’
‘Well, Radie, I’ll see you to-morrow again. You preserve your good looks wonderfully. I wonder you haven’t become an old woman here.’
And he kissed her, and went his way, with a slight wave of his hand, and his odd smile, as he closed the little garden gate after him.
He turned to his left, walking down towards the town, and the innocent green trees hid him quickly, and the gush15 and tinkle16 of the clear brook17 rose faint and pleasantly through the leaves, from the depths of the glen, and refreshed her ear after his unpleasant talk.
She was flushed, and felt oddly; a little stunned18 and strange, although she had talked lightly and easily enough.
‘I forgot to ask him where he is staying: the Brandon Arms, I suppose. I don’t at all like his coming down here after Mark Wylder; what can he mean? He certainly never would have taken the trouble for me. What can he want of Mark Wylder? I think he knew old Mr. Beauchamp. He may be a trustee, but that’s not likely; Mark Wylder was not the person for any such office. I hope Stanley does not intend trying to extract money from him; anything rather than that degradation19 — than that villainy. Stanley was always impracticable, perverse20, deceitful, and so foolish with all his cunning and suspicion — so very foolish. Poor Stanley. He’s so unscrupulous; I don’t know what to think. He said he could force Mark Wylder to leave the country. It must be some bad secret. If he tries and fails, I suppose he will be ruined. I don’t know what to think; I never was so uneasy. He will blast himself, and disgrace all connected with him; and it is quite useless speaking to him.’
Perhaps if Rachel Lake had been in Belgravia, leading a town life, the matter would have taken no such dark colouring and portentous21 proportions. But living in a small old house, in a dark glen, with no companion, and little to occupy her, it was different.
She looked down the silent way he had so lately taken, and repeated, rather bitterly, ‘My only brother! my only brother! my only brother!’
That young lady was not quite a pauper22, though she may have thought so. Comparatively, indeed, she was; but not, I venture to think, absolutely. She had just that symmetrical three hundred pounds a year, which the famous Dean of St. Patrick’s tells us he so ‘often wished that he had clear.’ She had had some money in the Funds besides, still more insignificant23 but this her Brother Stanley had borrowed and begged piecemeal24, and the Consols were no more. But though something of a nun25 in her way of life, there was no germ of the old maid in her, and money was not often in her thoughts. It was not a bad dot; and her Brother Stanley had about twice as much, and therefore was much better off than many a younger son of a duke. But these young people, after the manner of men were spited with fortune; and indeed they had some cause. Old General Lake had once had more than ten thousand pounds a year, and lived, until the crash came, in the style of a vicious old prince. It was a great break up, and a worse fall for Rachel than for her brother, when the plate, coaches, pictures, and all the valuable effects’ of old Tiberius went to the hammer, and he himself vanished from his clubs and other haunts, and lived only — a thin intermittent26 rumour27 — surmised28 to be in gaol29, or in Guernsey, and quite forgotten soon, and a little later actually dead and buried.
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1
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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4
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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5
defer
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| vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从 | |
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6
apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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7
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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8
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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9
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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10
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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11
sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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12
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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13
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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14
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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18
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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pauper
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| n.贫民，被救济者，穷人 | |
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23
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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28
surmised
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| v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想 | |
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29
gaol
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| n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢 | |
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