Aunt Milly had prepared our rooms for us with the greatest care, that was very evident. There was the daintiest little bed for baby, all new and fresh, evidently bought for him, and quite a basketful of new toys, which already he was doing his best to pull all to pieces. Oh, such bright, luxurious15 rooms! I felt my heart grow a little cold as I looked at them. Neither Harry16 nor Aunt Milly had said a word to me on the subject. They thought they could deceive me, I suppose; but the moment I saw these apartments, don’t you think I could see what they were planned out for? I was to be taken there when he went away.
“And, my dear, what do you think of your Aunt Sarah?” said her kind sister, looking rather wistfully into my face.
I was so foolish that I was half afraid to answer. How could I tell that our words were not heard behind the screen yonder? And as for meeting her eyes I could not have done that for the world.
“But you know she is not my Aunt Sarah,” said I. “It is a love name, dear Aunt Milly. I—I don’t know Miss Mortimer yet; you must let me keep it for you.”
“Hush17! you have not known me much longer!” cried Aunt Milly, “No such thing, child! we are both the same relation to you. Poor dear Sarah! I forgot to tell you about her voice. Isn’t it very sad she should have lost her beautiful voice? She is very clever too, Milly,” said Aunt Milly, with a sigh. “When you know her better you will admire her very much.”
“But you know she jilted poor papa,” said I, trying to laugh and shake off my dread14 of the veiled woman downstairs.
“My dear! she jilted half the county!” said Aunt Milly, rather solemnly and not without a little pride. “Your Aunt Sarah was the greatest beauty that ever was seen when she was as young as you.”{279}
This speech made me smile in spite of myself. Dear Aunt Milly, perhaps, had been a little slighted by the county. She had no compunction about her sister’s prowess. I don’t know that I felt very sorry for her victims myself, even poor papa, I fear. But, ah me! what kind of a woman was this, I wonder, that had been an enchantress in her day! She was an enchantress still. She charmed me, as a serpent, I could suppose, might charm some poor creature. I wonder if there was any pity in her, any feeling that there was a God and a heaven, and not merely the century-old ceiling with the Mortimers’ arms on it, over her where she sat? I don’t believe she cared. I don’t think there was anything in the world but her own will and inclination18, whatever it might be, that ruled her in her dreadful solitude. I wonder when she looked across her knitting at such a human creature as Aunt Milly how she felt; whether it ever came into her head to wonder which of them was contrary to nature? But I don’t suppose Miss Mortimer cared anything about nature. In this wonderful world, all so throbbing19 with life and affection, I think she must have known nothing but herself.
Thinking like this, you may suppose I could not deceive Aunt Milly to make her think I admired her sister. I kept off speaking of her; which, of course, though not quite so unpleasant, tells one’s mind clearly enough. Aunt Milly gave a little sigh.
“My dear, I see you don’t take to Sarah just at once. I was in hopes if you had taken to each other she might, perhaps, have told you something of what is on her mind. Because, you know, after all we have heard, something must be on her mind, whether she shows it or not. I am afraid it is all beginning again now, Milly; but somehow she hasn’t let her courage down as she did when that young man was about before. I suppose she’s more prepared now. She drove out quite calm yesterday, just as usual; though Mr. Luigi’s servant was out here with a letter the very day I saw his master at your house.”
“So I heard,” said I.
“So you heard! Dear! How did you hear? I know things spread in the most dreadful way,” said Aunt Milly, in great distress20; “but to think that should have reached Chester already! What did you hear?”
“I heard it only from Lizzie, my little maid,” said I, pointing to the door of the other room. “Mr. Luigi’s servant and she are great friends.”{280}
Aunt Milly followed the movement of my hand with her eyes, a little awe-stricken. “She must speak his language, for he knows no English,” she said, with involuntary respect. “But dear, dear, she’s only a child! To be sure she’ll go and publish it all in the servants’ hall. But speaking of that, my dear, you ought to have a proper nurse. I felt very nervous about baby when I saw her carrying him. She may be big, you know, but she’s only a child.”
Here Lizzie, either because she had heard us, or by some sudden impulse of her own, knocked pretty loud at the door. I went to it a little timidly, rather apprehensive21 that she had been listening, and meant to defend herself. I did Lizzie great injustice22 however. She was standing23 in a paroxysm of joyful24 impatience25 on the other side of the door. I don’t believe the most injurious expression applied26 to herself could have reached Lizzie’s ears at that moment. She had her great arms stretched out, stooping over little Harry. Her face was perfectly27 radiant and flushed with delight. On they came, baby tottering28 on his own little limbs, half triumphant29, half terrified, Lizzie with her wings spread out, ready to snatch him up the moment he faltered30. Anybody may imagine what I did. I dropped down on the floor and held out my arms to him, and forgot all my troubles for the moment. When he came tottering into my arms, the touch of his little hands swept all the cares and sorrows out of the world. It was not for long. But a minute’s joy is a wonderful cordial; it strengthens one’s heart.
“And oh, mem!” cried Lizzie, lifting her apron31 to her eyes, “the Captain’ll see him afore he gangs away!”
“Go and fetch him,” cried Aunt Milly, turning her out of the room. Aunt Milly was nearly as delighted as she was; but she saw it was hard upon me to be continually reminded that Harry was to be gone so soon. By way of putting it out of my mind, she began such a lecture about letting babies walk too soon, and about weak ankles and bowed legs and all kinds of horrors, that I snatched my boy up on my knee, and was as much alarmed as I had been overjoyed. When Harry came, and found me half frightened to allow baby to exhibit his new accomplishment32, and Aunt Milly doing her best to soften33 down her own declarations, and convince me that she referred to babies in general, and not to my boy, he burst into fits of laughter. I rather think he kissed us all round, Aunt Milly and all. He was in very high spirits that day. It did not occur to him what a struggle I had come through before I overcame Miss Mortimer’s temptation; he was contented34 to think{281} I had fainted from heat and excitement and all the fatigue35 I had been exposed to of late; and it was a comfort to him to have my real voluntary consent to his going away. Then this was to be my home, and here was my dear kind friend beside me. His heart rose, he laughed out his amusement and pleasure with the freedom of a young man in the height of his strength and hope. The sound startled the unaccustomed walls. I saw Aunt Milly look at him with a kind of delighted surprise and pleasure. Youth had not been here for long. I wondered did manhood, after Harry’s fashion of it, belong to the Mortimers at all? Many a day since, sitting in these silent rooms, the echo of Harry’s laugh has come back to me ringing like silver bells. Ah, hush! we shall all laugh when he comes back.
But when Lizzie came to take her charge, the expression of the girl’s face had completely changed. She took the child away with a certain frightened gravity that had a great effect upon me. Aunt Milly had left me by this time, and Harry had gone out to see the grounds, leaving me to rest. Resting was not very much in my way; of course I got up from the sofa the moment they were gone. What good would it do me, does anybody suppose, to lie there and murder myself with thinking? I went after Lizzie to ask her what was wrong. Lizzie was very slow to answer. There was “naething wrang; she wasna minding. The man in blacks had asked if she was the nurse or the nursery-maid. But it’s no my place to answer questions,” said Lizzie, with indignation, “and thae English they’re that saucy36, they pretend they dinna ken1 what I’m saying. Eh, I would just like to let them ken, leddies and gentlemen ay ken grand what I’m saying! but they’ve nae education: ’Menico says that himsel’.”
“But what does ’Menico know about education, Lizzie?” said I.
Lizzie looked much affronted37. “He mayna maybe ken English,” she said, “but he may be a good scholar for a’ that. The tither maids just gape38 and cry La! when he takes the dictionary, and laugh at every word he says. He says they’ve nae education, thae English. He’s no’ a common servant-man like that man in blacks. He kens39 a’ the gentlemen’s business and what he’s wantin’, and everything about it. Eh,” cried Lizzie, opening her eyes wide, and glancing behind her with involuntary caution, “do you think yon would be her?”
“Who?” said I. Was it possible that Lizzie knew?{282}
“Mem!” said Lizzie, with national unconscious skill and the deepest earnestness, “do you think there’s ony witches in this country, like what there was lang syne40?”
I was a little startled by the question; it brought back to my mind in an instant that extraordinary picture which had so great an effect on my own imagination,—the veiled woman at her knitting with the screen behind her chair.
“Or the Evil Eye,” continued Lizzie, with a little gasp41 of visionary terror; “oh dinna say, if ye please, that I’m to bring him into yon muckle room! for I would do some ill to the house, or her, or myself—and would be carried, and no ken what I was doing, if she put any of her cantrips upon our bairn!”
“Lizzie!” cried I, “child, you forget what you are saying, and where you are!”
“Oh no, no’ me!” cried Lizzie with vehement42 tears in her eyes; “but, Mem, it maun be her; there’s nae other leddy except our leddy in this house. And if I was never to say another word, she’s no canny43; I ken she’s no canny, if it was only what Domenico says.”
“In the name of wonder what does Domenico say?” cried I, driven to despair by the wild words in which there was no meaning. I don’t believe she knew herself what the meaning was.
Lizzie stopped short and repeated, with a puzzled and troubled glance at me, “When it’s a long story it’s awfu’ fickle44 to ken,” she said, slowly; “but just that yon’s the leddy. Eh, I dinna ken what they ca’ her right, nor what ill-will they have at her; but ’Menico, he says—he says—Mem, you’ll no be angry, it wasna me,—he says she’s the deil himsel’.”
“Lizzie,” said I, in considerable agitation45, “try to recollect4; Miss Milly wants to know; what does Domenico say?”
Lizzie blushed, and made a long pause again. “You see it’s the Dictionary, Mem,” she said, with a sigh. “When he’s tired looking up the words, he just gi’es a great burst out in the Italian, and thinks he’s explained it a’. It’s awfu’ fickle when it’s a lang story; but just it’s her; and eh! I’m sure she’s no canny by what Domenico says.”
I had to be content with this very unsatisfactory conclusion. It was all Lizzie could give me,—it was her; and she was a dreaded46 mysterious person against whom the Italian was struggling in vain. I felt a strange thrill of curiosity, deeply as my own mind was pre-occupied. Was it a melodrama47 or a tragedy I was about to be present at? The crisis, whatever it{283} might be, could not be long delayed. What part were we to play in it? why did she want Harry to stay? I did not say anything either to him or Aunt Milly of Lizzie’s communication or my own fancies; but it seemed to me somehow, when I passed through the rooms or along the passages that a certain tingling48 stillness, the pause before the storm, was closing round and round about the house.
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1
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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3
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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15
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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18
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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19
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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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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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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28
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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29
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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30
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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33
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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37
affronted
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| adj.被侮辱的，被冒犯的v.勇敢地面对( affront的过去式和过去分词 )；相遇 | |
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38
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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39
kens
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| vt.知道（ken的第三人称单数形式） | |
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40
syne
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| adv.自彼时至此时，曾经 | |
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41
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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42
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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43
canny
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| adj.谨慎的，节俭的 | |
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44
fickle
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| adj.(爱情或友谊上)易变的，不坚定的 | |
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45
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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46
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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47
melodrama
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| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
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48
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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