Such an appearance it had on Midsummer Eve of this year, and as the hour grew later, and nine o’clock drew on, the irradiation of the daytime became broken up by weird7 shadows and ghostly nooks of indistinctness. Imagination could trace upon the trunks and boughs strange faces and figures shaped by the dying lights; the surfaces of the holly8-leaves would here and there shine like peeping eyes, while such fragments of the sky as were visible between the trunks assumed the aspect of sheeted forms and cloven tongues. This was before the moonrise. Later on, when that planet was getting command of the upper heaven, and consequently shining with an unbroken face into such open glades9 as there were in the neighborhood of the hamlet, it became apparent that the margin11 of the wood which approached the timber-merchant’s premises12 was not to be left to the customary stillness of that reposeful13 time.
Fitzpiers having heard a voice or voices, was looking over his garden gate — where he now looked more frequently than into his books — fancying that Grace might be abroad with some friends. He was now irretrievably committed in heart to Grace Melbury, though he was by no means sure that she was so far committed to him. That the Idea had for once completely fulfilled itself in the objective substance — which he had hitherto deemed an impossibility — he was enchanted14 enough to fancy must be the case at last. It was not Grace who had passed, however, but several of the ordinary village girls in a group — some steadily15 walking, some in a mood of wild gayety. He quietly asked his landlady16, who was also in the garden, what these girls were intending, and she informed him that it being Old Midsummer Eve, they were about to attempt some spell or enchantment17 which would afford them a glimpse of their future partners for life. She declared it to be an ungodly performance, and one which she for her part would never countenance18; saying which, she entered her house and retired19 to bed.
The young man lit a cigar and followed the bevy20 of maidens21 slowly up the road. They had turned into the wood at an opening between Melbury’s and Marty South’s; but Fitzpiers could easily track them by their voices, low as they endeavored to keep their tones.
In the mean time other inhabitants of Little Hintock had become aware of the nocturnal experiment about to be tried, and were also sauntering stealthily after the frisky23 maidens. Miss Melbury had been informed by Marty South during the day of the proposed peep into futurity, and, being only a girl like the rest, she was sufficiently24 interested to wish to see the issue. The moon was so bright and the night so calm that she had no difficulty in persuading Mrs. Melbury to accompany her; and thus, joined by Marty, these went onward25 in the same direction.
Passing Winterborne’s house, they heard a noise of hammering. Marty explained it. This was the last night on which his paternal26 roof would shelter him, the days of grace since it fell into hand having expired; and Giles was taking down his cupboards and bedsteads with a view to an early exit next morning. His encounter with Mrs. Charmond had cost him dearly.
When they had proceeded a little farther Marty was joined by Grammer Oliver (who was as young as the youngest in such matters), and Grace and Mrs. Melbury went on by themselves till they had arrived at the spot chosen by the village daughters, whose primary intention of keeping their expedition a secret had been quite defeated. Grace and her step-mother paused by a holly-tree; and at a little distance stood Fitzpiers under the shade of a young oak, intently observing Grace, who was in the full rays of the moon.
He watched her without speaking, and unperceived by any but Marty and Grammer, who had drawn27 up on the dark side of the same holly which sheltered Mrs. and Miss Melbury on its bright side. The two former conversed28 in low tones.
“If they two come up in Wood next Midsummer Night they’ll come as one,” said Grammer, signifying Fitzpiers and Grace. “Instead of my skellington he’ll carry home her living carcass before long. But though she’s a lady in herself, and worthy29 of any such as he, it do seem to me that he ought to marry somebody more of the sort of Mrs. Charmond, and that Miss Grace should make the best of Winterborne.”
Marty returned no comment; and at that minute the girls, some of whom were from Great Hintock, were seen advancing to work the incantation, it being now about midnight.
“Directly we see anything we’ll run home as fast as we can,” said one, whose courage had begun to fail her. To this the rest assented30, not knowing that a dozen neighbors lurked31 in the bushes around.
“I wish we had not thought of trying this,” said another, “but had contented32 ourselves with the hole-digging tomorrow at twelve, and hearing our husbands’ trades. It is too much like having dealings with the Evil One to try to raise their forms.”
However, they had gone too far to recede33, and slowly began to march forward in a skirmishing line through the trees towards the deeper recesses34 of the wood. As far as the listeners could gather, the particular form of black-art to be practised on this occasion was one connected with the sowing of hemp-seed, a handful of which was carried by each girl. At the moment of their advance they looked back, and discerned the figure of Miss Melbury, who, alone of all the observers, stood in the full face of the moonlight, deeply engrossed35 in the proceedings36. By contrast with her life of late years they made her feel as if she had receded37 a couple of centuries in the world’s history. She was rendered doubly conspicuous38 by her light dress, and after a few whispered words, one of the girls — a bouncing maiden22, plighted39 to young Timothy Tangs — asked her if she would join in. Grace, with some excitement, said that she would, and moved on a little in the rear of the rest.
Soon the listeners could hear nothing of their proceedings beyond the faintest occasional rustle40 of leaves. Grammer whispered again to Marty: “Why didn’t ye go and try your luck with the rest of the maids?”
“I don’t believe in it,” said Marty, shortly.
“Why, half the parish is here — the silly hussies should have kept it quiet. I see Mr. Winterborne through the leaves, just come up with Robert Creedle. Marty, we ought to act the part o’ Providence41 sometimes. Do go and tell him that if he stands just behind the bush at the bottom of the slope, Miss Grace must pass down it when she comes back, and she will most likely rush into his arms; for as soon as the clock strikes, they’ll bundle back home — along like hares. I’ve seen such larries before.”
“Do you think I’d better?” said Marty, reluctantly.
“Oh yes, he’ll bless ye for it.”
“I don’t want that kind of blessing42.” But after a moment’s thought she went and delivered the information; and Grammer had the satisfaction of seeing Giles walk slowly to the bend in the leafy defile43 along which Grace would have to return.
Meanwhile Mrs. Melbury, deserted44 by Grace, had perceived Fitzpiers and Winterborne, and also the move of the latter. An improvement on Grammer’s idea entered the mind of Mrs. Melbury, for she had lately discerned what her husband had not — that Grace was rapidly fascinating the surgeon. She therefore drew near to Fitzpiers.
“You should be where Mr. Winterborne is standing45,” she said to him, significantly. “She will run down through that opening much faster than she went up it, if she is like the rest of the girls.”
Fitzpiers did not require to be told twice. He went across to Winterborne and stood beside him. Each knew the probable purpose of the other in standing there, and neither spoke46, Fitzpiers scorning to look upon Winterborne as a rival, and Winterborne adhering to the off-hand manner of indifference47 which had grown upon him since his dismissal.
Neither Grammer nor Marty South had seen the surgeon’s manoeuvre48, and, still to help Winterborne, as she supposed, the old woman suggested to the wood-girl that she should walk forward at the heels of Grace, and “tole” her down the required way if she showed a tendency to run in another direction. Poor Marty, always doomed49 to sacrifice desire to obligation, walked forward accordingly, and waited as a beacon50, still and silent, for the retreat of Grace and her giddy companions, now quite out of hearing.
The first sound to break the silence was the distant note of Great Hintock clock striking the significant hour. About a minute later that quarter of the wood to which the girls had wandered resounded51 with the flapping of disturbed birds; then two or three hares and rabbits bounded down the glade10 from the same direction, and after these the rustling52 and crackling of leaves and dead twigs53 denoted the hurried approach of the adventurers, whose fluttering gowns soon became visible. Miss Melbury, having gone forward quite in the rear of the rest, was one of the first to return, and the excitement being contagious54, she ran laughing towards Marty, who still stood as a hand-post to guide her; then, passing on, she flew round the fatal bush where the undergrowth narrowed to a gorge55. Marty arrived at her heels just in time to see the result. Fitzpiers had quickly stepped forward in front of Winterborne, who, disdaining56 to shift his position, had turned on his heel, and then the surgeon did what he would not have thought of doing but for Mrs. Melbury’s encouragement and the sentiment of an eve which effaced57 conventionality. Stretching out his arms as the white figure burst upon him, he captured her in a moment, as if she had been a bird.
“Oh!” cried Grace, in her fright.
“You are in my arms, dearest,” said Fitzpiers, “and I am going to claim you, and keep you there all our two lives!”
She rested on him like one utterly58 mastered, and it was several seconds before she recovered from this helplessness. Subdued59 screams and struggles, audible from neighboring brakes, revealed that there had been other lurkers thereabout for a similar purpose. Grace, unlike most of these companions of hers, instead of gasping60 and writhing61, said in a trembling voice, “Mr. Fitzpiers, will you let me go?”
“Certainly,” he said, laughing; “as soon as you have recovered.”
She waited another few moments, then quietly and firmly pushed him aside, and glided62 on her path, the moon whitening her hot blush away. But it had been enough — new relations between them had begun.
The case of the other girls was different, as has been said. They wrestled63 and tittered, only escaping after a desperate struggle. Fitzpiers could hear these enactments64 still going on after Grace had left him, and he remained on the spot where he had caught her, Winterborne having gone away. On a sudden another girl came bounding down the same descent that had been followed by Grace — a fine-framed young woman with naked arms. Seeing Fitzpiers standing there, she said, with playful effrontery65, “May’st kiss me if ‘canst catch me, Tim!”
Fitzpiers recognized her as Suke Damson, a hoydenish66 damsel of the hamlet, who was plainly mistaking him for her lover. He was impulsively67 disposed to profit by her error, and as soon as she began racing68 away he started in pursuit.
On she went under the boughs, now in light, now in shade, looking over her shoulder at him every few moments and kissing her hand; but so cunningly dodging69 about among the trees and moon-shades that she never allowed him to get dangerously near her. Thus they ran and doubled, Fitzpiers warming with the chase, till the sound of their companions had quite died away. He began to lose hope of ever overtaking her, when all at once, by way of encouragement, she turned to a fence in which there was a stile and leaped over it. Outside the scene was a changed one — a meadow, where the half-made hay lay about in heaps, in the uninterrupted shine of the now high moon.
Fitzpiers saw in a moment that, having taken to open ground, she had placed herself at his mercy, and he promptly71 vaulted72 over after her. She flitted a little way down the mead70, when all at once her light form disappeared as if it had sunk into the earth. She had buried herself in one of the hay-cocks.
Fitzpiers, now thoroughly73 excited, was not going to let her escape him thus. He approached, and set about turning over the heaps one by one. As soon as he paused, tantalized74 and puzzled, he was directed anew by an imitative kiss which came from her hiding-place, and by snatches of a local ballad75 in the smallest voice she could assume:
“O come in from the foggy, foggy dew.”
In a minute or two he uncovered her.
“Oh, ’tis not Tim!” said she, burying her face.
Fitzpiers, however, disregarded her resistance by reason of its mildness, stooped and imprinted76 the purposed kiss, then sunk down on the next hay-cock, panting with his race.
“Whom do you mean by Tim?” he asked, presently.
“My young man, Tim Tangs,” said she.
“Now, honor bright, did you really think it was he?”
“I did at first.”
“But you didn’t at last?”
“I didn’t at last.”
“Do you much mind that it was not?”
“No,” she answered, slyly.
Fitzpiers did not pursue his questioning. In the moonlight Suke looked very beautiful, the scratches and blemishes77 incidental to her out-door occupation being invisible under these pale rays. While they remain silent the coarse whir of the eternal night-jar burst sarcastically78 from the top of a tree at the nearest corner of the wood. Besides this not a sound of any kind reached their ears, the time of nightingales being now past, and Hintock lying at a distance of two miles at least. In the opposite direction the hay-field stretched away into remoteness till it was lost to the eye in a soft mist.
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1
denser
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| adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的 | |
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filigree
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| n.金银丝做的工艺品；v.用金银细丝饰品装饰；用华而不实的饰品装饰；adj.金银细丝工艺的 | |
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3
opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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4
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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5
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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6
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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12
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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13
reposeful
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| adj.平稳的，沉着的 | |
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14
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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15
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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18
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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19
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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21
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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22
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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23
frisky
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| adj.活泼的，欢闹的；n.活泼，闹着玩；adv.活泼地，闹着玩地 | |
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24
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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25
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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26
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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27
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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28
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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29
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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30
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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32
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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33
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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34
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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35
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；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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38
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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39
plighted
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| vt.保证，约定（plight的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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40
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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41
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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42
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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43
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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44
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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45
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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46
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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47
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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48
manoeuvre
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| n.策略，调动；v.用策略，调动 | |
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49
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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50
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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51
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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52
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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53
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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54
contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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55
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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56
disdaining
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| 鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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57
effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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58
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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59
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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60
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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61
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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62
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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63
wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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64
enactments
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| n.演出( enactment的名词复数 )；展现；规定；通过 | |
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65
effrontery
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| n.厚颜无耻 | |
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66
hoydenish
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| adj.顽皮的，爱嬉闹的，男孩子气的 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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68
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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69
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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70
mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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71
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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72
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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73
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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74
tantalized
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| v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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76
imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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77
blemishes
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| n.（身体的）瘢点( blemish的名词复数 )；伤疤；瑕疵；污点 | |
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78
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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