The disappointment she had experienced at his wish, the shock given to her girlish sensibilities by his irreverent views of marriage, together with the sure and near approach of the day fixed2 for committing her future to his keeping, made her so restless that she could scarcely sleep at all that night. She rose when the sparrows began to walk out of the roof-holes, sat on the floor of her room in the dim light, and by-and-by peeped out behind the window-curtains. It was even now day out-of-doors, though the tones of morning were feeble and wan3, and it was long before the sun would be perceptible in this overshadowed vale. Not a sound came from any of the out-houses as yet. The tree-trunks, the road, the out-buildings, the garden, every object wore that aspect of mesmeric fixity which the suspensive quietude of daybreak lends to such scenes. Outside her window helpless immobility seemed to be combined with intense consciousness; a meditative4 inertness5 possessed6 all things, oppressively contrasting with her own active emotions. Beyond the road were some cottage roofs and orchards7; over these roofs and over the apple-trees behind, high up the slope, and backed by the plantation8 on the crest9, was the house yet occupied by her future husband, the rough-cast front showing whitely through its creepers. The window-shutters were closed, the bedroom curtains closely drawn10, and not the thinnest coil of smoke rose from the rugged11 chimneys.
Something broke the stillness. The front door of the house she was gazing at opened softly, and there came out into the porch a female figure, wrapped in a large shawl, beneath which was visible the white skirt of a long loose garment. A gray arm, stretching from within the porch, adjusted the shawl over the woman’s shoulders; it was withdrawn12 and disappeared, the door closing behind her.
The woman went quickly down the box-edged path between the raspberries and currants, and as she walked her well-developed form and gait betrayed her individuality. It was Suke Damson, the affianced one of simple young Tim Tangs. At the bottom of the garden she entered the shelter of the tall hedge, and only the top of her head could be seen hastening in the direction of her own dwelling13.
Grace had recognized, or thought she recognized, in the gray arm stretching from the porch, the sleeve of a dressing14-gown which Mr. Fitzpiers had been wearing on her own memorable15 visit to him. Her face fired red. She had just before thought of dressing herself and taking a lonely walk under the trees, so coolly green this early morning; but she now sat down on her bed and fell into reverie. It seemed as if hardly any time had passed when she heard the household moving briskly about, and breakfast preparing down-stairs; though, on rousing herself to robe and descend16, she found that the sun was throwing his rays completely over the tree-tops, a progress of natural phenomena17 denoting that at least three hours had elapsed since she last looked out of the window.
When attired18 she searched about the house for her father; she found him at last in the garden, stooping to examine the potatoes for signs of disease. Hearing her rustle19, he stood up and stretched his back and arms, saying, “Morning t’ye, Gracie. I congratulate ye. It is only a month today to the time!”
She did not answer, but, without lifting her dress, waded20 between the dewy rows of tall potato-green into the middle of the plot where he was.
“I have been thinking very much about my position this morning — ever since it was light,” she began, excitedly, and trembling so that she could hardly stand. “And I feel it is a false one. I wish not to marry Mr. Fitzpiers. I wish not to marry anybody; but I’ll marry Giles Winterborne if you say I must as an alternative.”
Her father’s face settled into rigidity21, he turned pale, and came deliberately22 out of the plot before he answered her. She had never seen him look so incensed23 before.
“Now, hearken to me,” he said. “There’s a time for a woman to alter her mind; and there’s a time when she can no longer alter it, if she has any right eye to her parents’ honor and the seemliness of things. That time has come. I won’t say to ye, you SHALL marry him. But I will say that if you refuse, I shall forever be ashamed and a-weary of ye as a daughter, and shall look upon you as the hope of my life no more. What do you know about life and what it can bring forth24, and how you ought to act to lead up to best ends? Oh, you are an ungrateful maid, Grace; you’ve seen that fellow Giles, and he has got over ye; that’s where the secret lies, I’ll warrant me!”
“No, father, no! It is not Giles — it is something I cannot tell you of —”
“Well, make fools of us all; make us laughing-stocks; break it off; have your own way.”
“But who knows of the engagement as yet? how can breaking it disgrace you?”
Melbury then by degrees admitted that he had mentioned the engagement to this acquaintance and to that, till she perceived that in his restlessness and pride he had published it everywhere. She went dismally25 away to a bower26 of laurel at the top of the garden. Her father followed her.
“It is that Giles Winterborne!” he said, with an upbraiding27 gaze at her.
“No, it is not; though for that matter you encouraged him once,” she said, troubled to the verge28 of despair. “It is not Giles, it is Mr. Fitzpiers.”
“You’ve had a tiff29 — a lovers’ tiff — that’s all, I suppose
“It is some woman —”
“Ay, ay; you are jealous. The old story. Don’t tell me. Now do you bide30 here. I’ll send Fitzpiers to you. I saw him smoking in front of his house but a minute by-gone.”
He went off hastily out of the garden-gate and down the lane. But she would not stay where she was; and edging through a slit31 in the garden-fence, walked away into the wood. Just about here the trees were large and wide apart, and there was no undergrowth, so that she could be seen to some distance; a sylph-like, greenish-white creature, as toned by the sunlight and leafage. She heard a foot-fall crushing dead leaves behind her, and found herself reconnoitered by Fitzpiers himself, approaching gay and fresh as the morning around them.
His remote gaze at her had been one of mild interest rather than of rapture32. But she looked so lovely in the green world about her, her pink cheeks, her simple light dress, and the delicate flexibility33 of her movement acquired such rarity from their wild-wood setting, that his eyes kindled34 as he drew near.
“My darling, what is it? Your father says you are in the pouts35, and jealous, and I don’t know what. Ha! ha! ha! as if there were any rival to you, except vegetable nature, in this home of recluses36! We know better.”
“Jealous; oh no, it is not so,” said she, gravely. “That’s a mistake of his and yours, sir. I spoke38 to him so closely about the question of marriage with you that he did not apprehend39 my state of mind.”
“But there’s something wrong — eh?” he asked, eying her narrowly, and bending to kiss her. She shrank away, and his purposed kiss miscarried.
“What is it?” he said, more seriously for this little defeat.
She made no answer beyond, “Mr. Fitzpiers, I have had no breakfast, I must go in.”
“Come,” he insisted, fixing his eyes upon her. “Tell me at once, I say.”
It was the greater strength against the smaller; but she was mastered less by his manner than by her own sense of the unfairness of silence. “I looked out of the window,” she said, with hesitation40. “I’ll tell you by-and-by. I must go indoors. I have had no breakfast.”
By a sort of divination41 his conjecture42 went straight to the fact. “Nor I,” said he, lightly. “Indeed, I rose late today. I have had a broken night, or rather morning. A girl of the village — I don’t know her name — came and rang at my bell as soon as it was light — between four and five, I should think it was — perfectly43 maddened with an aching tooth. As no-body heard her ring, she threw some gravel37 at my window, till at last I heard her and slipped on my dressing-gown and went down. The poor thing begged me with tears in her eyes to take out her tormentor44, if I dragged her head off. Down she sat and out it came — a lovely molar, not a speck45 upon it; and off she went with it in her handkerchief, much contented46, though it would have done good work for her for fifty years to come.”
It was all so plausible47 — so completely explained. knowing nothing of the incident in the wood on old Midsummer-eve, Grace felt that her suspicions were unworthy and absurd, and with the readiness of an honest heart she jumped at the opportunity of honoring his word. At the moment of her mental liberation the bushes about the garden had moved, and her father emerged into the shady glade48. “Well, I hope it is made up?” he said, cheerily.
“Oh yes,” said Fitzpiers, with his eyes fixed on Grace, whose eyes were shyly bent49 downward.
“Now,” said her father, “tell me, the pair of ye, that you still mean to take one another for good and all; and on the strength o’t you shall have another couple of hundred paid down. I swear it by the name.”
Fitzpiers took her hand. “We declare it, do we not, my dear Grace?” said he.
Relieved of her doubt, somewhat overawed, and ever anxious to please, she was disposed to settle the matter; yet, womanlike, she would not relinquish50 her opportunity of asking a concession51 of some sort. “If our wedding can be at church, I say yes,” she answered, in a measured voice. “If not, I say no.”
Fitzpiers was generous in his turn. “It shall be so,” he rejoined, gracefully52. “To holy church we’ll go, and much good may it do us.”
They returned through the bushes indoors, Grace walking, full of thought between the other two, somewhat comforted, both by Fitzpiers’s ingenious explanation and by the sense that she was not to be deprived of a religious ceremony. “So let it be,” she said to herself. “Pray God it is for the best.”
From this hour there was no serious attempt at recalcitration on her part. Fitzpiers kept himself continually near her, dominating any rebellious53 impulse, and shaping her will into passive concurrence54 with all his desires. Apart from his lover-like anxiety to possess her, the few golden hundreds of the timber-dealer, ready to hand, formed a warm background to Grace’s lovely face, and went some way to remove his uneasiness at the prospect55 of endangering his professional and social chances by an alliance with the family of a simple countryman.
The interim56 closed up its perspective surely and silently. Whenever Grace had any doubts of her position, the sense of contracting time was like a shortening chamber57: at other moments she was comparatively blithe58. Day after day waxed and waned59; the one or two woodmen who sawed, shaped, spokeshaved on her father’s premises60 at this inactive season of the year, regularly came and unlocked the doors in the morning, locked them in the evening, supped, leaned over their garden-gates for a whiff of evening air, and to catch any last and farthest throb61 of news from the outer world, which entered and expired at Little Hintock like the exhausted62 swell63 of a wave in some innermost cavern64 of some innermost creek65 of an embayed sea; yet no news interfered66 with the nuptial67 purpose at their neighbor’s house. The sappy green twig-tips of the season’s growth would not, she thought, be appreciably68 woodier on the day she became a wife, so near was the time; the tints69 of the foliage70 would hardly have changed. Everything was so much as usual that no itinerant71 stranger would have supposed a woman’s fate to be hanging in the balance at that summer’s decline.
But there were preparations, imaginable readily enough by those who had special knowledge. In the remote and fashionable town of Sandbourne something was growing up under the hands of several persons who had never seen Grace Melbury, never would see her, or care anything about her at all, though their creation had such interesting relation to her life that it would enclose her very heart at a moment when that heart would beat, if not with more emotional ardor72, at least with more emotional turbulence73 than at any previous time.
Why did Mrs. Dollery’s van, instead of passing along at the end of the smaller village to Great Hintock direct, turn one Saturday night into Little Hintock Lane, and never pull up till it reached Mr. Melbury’s gates? The gilding74 shine of evening fell upon a large, flat box not less than a yard square, and safely tied with cord, as it was handed out from under the tilt75 with a great deal of care. But it was not heavy for its size; Mrs. Dollery herself carried it into the house. Tim Tangs, the hollow-turner, Bawtree, Suke Damson, and others, looked knowing, and made remarks to each other as they watched its entrance. Melbury stood at the door of the timber-shed in the attitude of a man to whom such an arrival was a trifling76 domestic detail with which he did not condescend77 to be concerned. Yet he well divined the contents of that box, and was in truth all the while in a pleasant exaltation at the proof that thus far, at any rate, no disappointment had supervened. While Mrs. Dollery remained — which was rather long, from her sense of the importance of her errand — he went into the out-house; but as soon as she had had her say, been paid, and had rumbled78 away, he entered the dwelling, to find there what he knew he should find — his wife and daughter in a flutter of excitement over the wedding-gown, just arrived from the leading dress-maker of Sandbourne watering-place aforesaid.
During these weeks Giles Winterborne was nowhere to be seen or heard of. At the close of his tenure79 in Hintock he had sold some of his furniture, packed up the rest — a few pieces endeared by associations, or necessary to his occupation — in the house of a friendly neighbor, and gone away. People said that a certain laxity had crept into his life; that he had never gone near a church latterly, and had been sometimes seen on Sundays with unblacked boots, lying on his elbow under a tree, with a cynical80 gaze at surrounding objects. He was likely to return to Hintock when the cider-making season came round, his apparatus81 being stored there, and travel with his mill and press from village to village.
The narrow interval82 that stood before the day diminished yet. There was in Grace’s mind sometimes a certain anticipative satisfaction, the satisfaction of feeling that she would be the heroine of an hour; moreover, she was proud, as a cultivated woman, to be the wife of a cultivated man. It was an opportunity denied very frequently to young women in her position, nowadays not a few; those in whom parental83 discovery of the value of education has implanted tastes which parental circles fail to gratify. But what an attenuation84 was this cold pride of the dream of her youth, in which she had pictured herself walking in state towards the altar, flushed by the purple light and bloom of her own passion, without a single misgiving85 as to the sealing of the bond, and fervently86 receiving as her due
“The homage87 of a thousand hearts; the fond, deep love of one.”
Everything had been clear then, in imagination; now something was undefined. She had little carking anxieties; a curious fatefulness seemed to rule her, and she experienced a mournful want of some one to confide88 in.
The day loomed89 so big and nigh that her prophetic ear could, in fancy, catch the noise of it, hear the murmur90 of the villagers as she came out of church, imagine the jangle of the three thin-toned Hintock bells. The dialogues seemed to grow louder, and the ding-ding-dong of those three crazed bells more persistent91. She awoke: the morning had come.
Five hours later she was the wife of Fitzpiers.
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1
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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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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wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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inertness
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| n.不活泼，没有生气；惰性；惯量 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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16
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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18
attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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20
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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23
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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upbraiding
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| adj.& n.谴责（的）v.责备，申斥，谴责( upbraid的现在分词 ) | |
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28
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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tiff
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| n.小争吵，生气 | |
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bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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slit
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| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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flexibility
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| n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性 | |
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34
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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35
pouts
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| n.撅嘴，生气( pout的名词复数 )v.撅（嘴）( pout的第三人称单数 ) | |
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recluses
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| n.隐居者，遁世者，隐士( recluse的名词复数 ) | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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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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39
apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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40
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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41
divination
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| n.占卜，预测 | |
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42
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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43
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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44
tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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45
speck
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| n.微粒，小污点，小斑点 | |
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46
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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47
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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48
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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49
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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50
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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51
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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52
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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53
rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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54
concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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55
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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56
interim
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| adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间 | |
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57
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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58
blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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59
waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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60
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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61
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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63
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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66
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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nuptial
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| adj.婚姻的，婚礼的 | |
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appreciably
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| adv.相当大地 | |
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69
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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70
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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71
itinerant
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| adj.巡回的；流动的 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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73
turbulence
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| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
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74
gilding
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| n.贴金箔，镀金 | |
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75
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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77
condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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78
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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81
apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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82
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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83
parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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84
attenuation
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| n.变薄；弄细；稀薄化；减少 | |
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85
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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86
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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87
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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88
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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89
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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90
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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