The time had now arrived when our friend Jos. Larkin was to refresh the village of Gylingden with his presence. He had pushed matters forward with wonderful despatch2. The deeds, with their blue and silver stamps, were handsomely engrossed3 — having been approved in draft by Crompton S. Kewes, the eminent4 Queen’s Counsel, on a case furnished by Jos. Larkin, Esq., The Lodge5, Brandon Manor6, Gylingden, on behalf of his client, the Reverend William Wylder; and in like manner on behalf of Stanley Williams Brandon Lake, of Brandon Hall, in the county of — — Esq.
In neither draft did Jos. Larkin figure as the purchaser by name. He did not care for advice on any difficulty depending on his special relations to the vendors7 in both these cases. He wished, as was his custom, everything above-board, and such ‘an opinion’ as might be published by either client in the ‘Times’ next day if he pleased it. Besides these matters of Wylder and of Lake, he had also a clause to insert in a private Act, on behalf of the trustees of the Baptist Chapel8, at Naunton Friars; a short deed to be consulted upon on behalf of his client, Pudder Swynfen, Esq., of Swynfen Grange, in the same county; and a deed to be executed at Shillingsworth, which he would take en route for Gylingden, stopping there for that night, and going on by next morning’s train.
Those little trips to town paid very fairly.
In this particular case his entire expenses reached exactly ￡5 3_s., and what do you suppose was the good man’s profit upon that small item? Precisely9 ￡62 7_s.! The process is simple, Jos. Larkin made his own handsome estimate of his expenses, and the value of his time to and from London, and then he charged this in its entirety — shall we say integrity — to each client separately. In this little excursion he was concerned for no less than five.
His expenses, I say, reached exactly ￡5 3_s. But he had a right to go to Dondale’s if he pleased, instead of that cheap hostelry near Covent Garden. He had a right to a handsome lunch and a handsome dinner, instead of that economical fusion10 of both meals into one, at a cheap eating-house, in an out-of-the-way quarter. He had a right to his pint11 of high-priced wine, and to accomplish his wanderings in a cab, instead of, as the Italians say, ‘partly on foot, and partly walking.’ Therefore, and on this principle, Mr. Jos. Larkin had ‘no difficulty’ in acting12. His savings13, if the good man chose to practise self-denial, were his own — and it was a sort of problem while he stayed, and interested him curiously14 — keeping down his bill in matters which he would not have dreamed of denying himself at home.
The only client among his wealthy supporters, who ever went in a grudging15 spirit into one of these little bills of Jos. Larkin’s, was old Sir Mulgrave Bracton — the defunct16 parent of the Sir Harry17, with whom we are acquainted.
‘Don’t you think, Mr. Larkin, you could perhaps reduce this, just a little?’
‘Ah, the expenses?’
‘Well, yes.’
Mr. Jos. Larkin smiled — the smile said plainly, ‘what would he have me live upon, and where?’ We do meet persons of this sort, who would fain ‘fill our bellies18 with the husks’ that swine digest; what of that — we must remember who we are — gentlemen — and answer this sort of shabbiness, and every other endurable annoyance19, as Lord Chesterfield did — with a bow and a smile.
‘I think so,’ said the baronet, in a bluff20, firm way.
‘Well, the fact is, when I represent a client, Sir Mulgrave Bracton, of a certain rank and position, I make it a principle — and, as a man of business, I find it tells — to present myself in a style that is suitably handsome.’
‘Oh! an expensive house — where was this, now?’
‘Oh, Sir Mulgrave, pray don’t think of it — I’m only too happy — pray, draw your pen across the entire thing.’
‘I think so,’ said the baronet unexpectedly. ‘Don’t you think if we said a pound a-day, and your travelling expenses?’
‘Certainly — any_thing — what_ever you please, Sir.’
And the attorney waved his long hand a little, and smiled almost compassionately21; and the little alteration22 was made, and henceforward he spoke23 of Sir Mulgrave as not quite a pleasant man to deal with in money matters; and his confidential24 friends knew that in a transaction in which he had paid money out of his own pocket for Sir Mulgrave he had never got back more than seven and sixpence in the pound; and, what made it worse, it was a matter connected with the death of poor Lady Bracton! And he never lost an opportunity of conveying his opinion of Sir Mulgrave, sometimes in distinct and confidential sentences, and sometimes only by a sad shake of his head, or by awfully25 declining to speak upon the subject.
In the present instance Jos. Larkin was returning in a heavenly frame of mind to the Lodge, Brandon Manor, Gylingden. Whenever he was away he interpolated ‘Brandon Manor,’ and stuck it on his valise and hat-case; and liked to call aloud to the porters tumbling among the luggage —‘Jos. Larkin, Esquire, Brandon Manor, if you please;’ and to see the people read the inscription26 in the hall of his dingy27 hostelry. Well might the good man glow with a happy consciousness of a blessing28. In small things as in great he was prosperous.
This little excursion to London would cost him, as I said, exactly ￡5 3_s. It might have cost him ￡13 10_s. and at that sum his expenses figured in his ledger29; and as he had five clients on this occasion, the total reached ￡67 10_s., leaving a clear profit, as I have mentioned, of ￡62 7_s. on this item.
But what was this little tip from fortune, compared with the splendid pieces of scrivenery in his despatch box. The white parchment — the blue and silver stamps in the corner — the German text and flourishes at the top, and those broad, horizontal lines of recital30, ‘habendum,’ and so forth31 — marshalled like an army in procession behind his march of triumph into Five Oaks, to take the place of its deposed32 prince? From the captain’s deed to the vicar’s his mind glanced fondly.
He would yet stand the highest man in his county. He had found time for a visit to the King-at-Arms and the Heralds’ Office. He would have his pictures and his pedigree. His grandmother had been a Howard. Her branch, indeed, was a little under a cloud, keeping a small provision-shop in the town of Dwiddleston. But this circumstance need not be in prominence33. She was a Howard — that was the fact he relied on — no mortal could gainsay34 it; and he would be, first, J. Howard Larkin, then Howard Larkin, simply; then Howard Larkin Howard, and the Five Gaks’ Howards would come to be very great people indeed. And the Brandons had intermarried with other Howards, and Five Oaks would naturally, therefore, go to Howards; and so he and his, with clever management, would be anything but novi homines in the county.
‘He shall be like a tree planted by the water-side, that will bring forth his fruit in due season. His leaf also shall not wither35. So thought this good man complacently36. He liked these fine consolations37 of the Jewish dispensation — actual milk and honey, and a land of promise on which he could set his foot. Jos. Larkin, Esq., was as punctual as the clock at the terminus. He did not come a minute too soon or too late, but precisely at the moment which enabled him, without fuss, and without a tiresome38 wait, to proceed to the details of ticket, luggage, selection of place, and ultimate ascension thereto.
So now having taken all measures, gliding39 among the portmanteaus, hand-barrows, and porters, and the clangorous bell ringing, he mounted, lithe40 and lank41, into his place.
There was a pleasant evening light still, and the gas-lamps made a purplish glow against it. The little butter-cooler of a glass lamp glimmered42 from the roof. Mr. Larkin established himself, and adjusted his rug and mufflers about him, for, notwithstanding the season, there had been some cold, rainy weather, and the evening was sharp; and he set his two newspapers, his shilling book, and other triumphs of cheap literature in sundry43 shapes, in the vacant seat at his left hand, and made everything handsome about him. He glanced to the other end of the carriage, where sat his solitary44 fellow-passenger. This gentleman was simply a mass of cloaks and capes45, culminating in a queer battered46 felt hat; his shoulders were nestled into the corner, and his face buried among his loose mufflers. They sat at corners diagonally opposed, and were, therefore, as far apart as was practicable — an arrangement, not sociable47, to be sure, but on the whole, very comfortable, and which neither seemed disposed to disturb.
Mr. Larkin had a word to say to the porter from the window, and bought one more newspaper; and then looked out on the lamplit platform, and saw the officials loitering off to the clang of the carriage doors; then came the whistle, and then the clank and jerk of the start. And so the brick walls and lamps began to glide48 backward, and the train was off.
Jos. Larkin tried his newspaper, and read for ten minutes, or so, pretty diligently49; and then looked for a while from the window, upon receding50 hedgerows and farmsteads, and the level and spacious51 landscape; and then he leaned back luxuriously52, his newspaper listlessly on his knees, and began to read, instead, at his ease, the shapeless, wrapt-up figure diagonally opposite.
The quietude of the gentleman in the far corner was quite singular. He produced neither tract53, nor newspaper, nor volume — not even a pocket-book or a letter. He brought forth no cigar-case, with the stereotyped54, ‘Have you any objection to my smoking a cigar?’ He did not even change his attitude ever so little. A burly roll of cloaks, rugs, capes, and loose wrappers, placed in the corner, and tanquam cadaver55, passive and motionless.
I have sometimes in my travels lighted on a strangely shaped mountain, whose huge curves, and sombre colouring have interested me indefinably. In the rude mass at the far angle, Mr. Jos. Larkin, I fancy, found some such subject of contemplation. And the more he looked, the more he felt disposed to look.
As they got on there was more night fog, and the little lamp at top shone through a halo. The fellow-passenger at the opposite angle lay back, all cloaks and mufflers, with nothing distinct emerging but the felt hat at top, and the tip — it was only the tip now — of the shining shoe on the floor.
The gentleman was absolutely motionless and silent. And Mr. Larkin, though his mind was pretty universally of the inquisitive56 order, began in this particular case to feel a special curiosity. It was partly the monotony and their occupying the carriage all to themselves — as the two uncommunicative seamen57 did the Eddystone Lighthouse — but there was, beside, an indistinct feeling, that, in spite of all these wrappers and swathings, he knew the outlines of that figure; and yet the likeness58 must have been of the rudest possible sort.
He could not say that he recognised anything distinctly — only he fancied that some one he knew was sitting there, unrevealed, inside that mass of clothing. And he felt, moreover, as if he ought to be able to guess who he was.
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1
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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manor
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| n.庄园，领地 | |
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vendors
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| n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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fusion
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| n.溶化；熔解；熔化状态，熔和；熔接 | |
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pint
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| n.品脱 | |
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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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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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15
grudging
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| adj.勉强的，吝啬的 | |
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defunct
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| adj.死亡的；已倒闭的 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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19
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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compassionately
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| adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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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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24
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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ledger
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| n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿 | |
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recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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gainsay
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| v.否认，反驳 | |
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wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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consolations
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| n.安慰，慰问( consolation的名词复数 )；起安慰作用的人（或事物） | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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40
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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41
lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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42
glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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44
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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45
capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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46
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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47
sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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48
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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49
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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50
receding
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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51
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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52
luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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53
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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54
stereotyped
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| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
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55
cadaver
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| n.尸体 | |
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56
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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57
seamen
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| n.海员 | |
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58
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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