Teddy was keenly sensitive to the precariousness6 of his situation. He was aware that, if he confessed himself, there wasn’t a living soul would take him seriously. Even Dearie and Jimmie Boy, to whom he told almost everything, would laugh at him. It made him feel very lonely; it was bard7 to think that you had to be laughed at just because you were young. Of course ordinary boys, who were going to be greengrocers or policemen when they grew up, didn’t fall in love; but boys who already felt the shadow of future greatness brooding over them might. In fact, such boys were just the sort of boys to pine away and die if their love went unrequited—the sort of fine-natured boys who, whether love came to them at nine or twenty, could love only once.
Here he was secretly engaged to Vashti and threatened by many unknown rivals. He didn’t know her surname and he didn’t know her address. He had to find her; when he found her he wasn’t sure what he ought to do with her. But find her he must. Four days had passed since she had accepted his hand. If he were not to lose her, he must certainly get into communication with her. How? To make the most discreet8 inquiries9 of so magic a person as Mrs. Sheerug would be to tell her everything. If she knew everything, she might not want him in her house, for she believed that he had feigned10 illness solely11 out of fondness for herself. The only other person to whom he could turn was Mr. Sheerug, with whom already he shared one guilty secret; but from this house of lightning arrivals and departures Mr. Sheerug had vanished—vanished as completely as if he had mounted on a broomstick and been whisked off into thin air. Teddy did not discover this till lunch.
Lunch was a typically Sheerugesque makeshift, consisting of boiled Spanish onions, sardines12 and cream-puffs. It was served in a dark room, like a Teniers’ interior, with plates lining13 the walls arranged on shelves. There was a door at either end, one leading into the kitchen, the other into the hall. When one of these doors banged, which it did quite frequently, a plate fell down. Perhaps it was to economize14 on this constant toll15 of breakages that Mrs. Sheerug used enamel-ware on her table. The table had a frowsy appearance, as though the person who had set the breakfast had forgotten to clear away the last night’s supper, and the person who had set the lunch had been equally careless about the breakfast. Mrs. Sheerug explained: “I always keep it set, my dear; we’re so irregular and it saves worry when our friends drop in at odd seasons.”
This room, as was the case with half the rooms in the house, had steps leading down to it, the floor of the hall being on a higher level. Whether it was that the house had muddled17 itself into odd angles and useless passages under the influence of Mrs. Sheerug’s tenancy, or that the mazelike originality18 of its architecture had effected the pattern of her character, there could be no doubt that Orchid19 Lodge20, with its rambling21 spaciousness22, awkward comfort, and dusty hospitality, was the exact replica23 in bricks and mortar24 of its mistress’s personality.
“What’s the matter, Teddy? Don’t you like Spanish onions? You’ll have to make yourself like them. They’re good for you. I’ve known them cure consumption.”
“I haven’t got consumption.”
“But why don’t you eat them? You keep looking about you as if you’d lost something.”
“I was wondering whether Mr. Sheerug was coming.”
She rested her fork on her plate, tapping with it and gazing at him. “Well, I never! You’re a queer child for scattering25 your affections. You’re the first little boy I ever knew to take a fancy to Alonzo. He’s so silent and looks so gruff.”
Teddy laughed. “But he talks to me. When shall I see him again?”
“Upon my soul! What’s the man done to you? I don’t know, Teddy—I never do know when I’m going to see him. He goes away to earn money—that’s what men are made for—and he stays away sometimes for a week and sometimes for months; it all depends on how long he takes to find it There have been times,” she raised her voice with a note of pride, “when my husband has come back a very rich man. Once, for almost a year, we lived in West Kensington and kept our carriage. But there have been times——-” She left the sentence unended and shook her head. “It’s ups and downs, Teddy; and if we’re kind when we have money, the good Lord provides for us when we haven’t. ’Tisn’t money, it’s the heart inside us that makes us happy.”
Teddy wasn’t paying attention to the faery-godmother’s philosophy; he was thinking of Alonzo Sheerug, who had gone away to earn money. He pictured him as a fat explorer, panting off into a wilderness26 with a pail. When the pail was filled, and not until it was filled, he would return to his wife. That was what men were made for—to be fetch-and-carry persons. Teddy was thinking that if he could reach Mr. Sheerug, he would ask him to carry an extra bucket.
That an interval27 might elapse between his flow of questions, he finished his Spanish onion. Then, “I’d like to write him a question if you’d send it.”
“Oh, come!” She patted his hand. “There’s no question that you could ask him that I couldn’t answer. He’s only a man.”
Teddy knew that he would have to ask her something; so he asked her a question, but not the question. “Who is Hal?”
“My son.”
“Does he like the lady who sang in the bedroom?”
“He——” She frowned. “You’re too curious, Teddy; you want to know too much. See, here’s Harriet waiting to take the dishes and get on with her work.”
Mrs. Sheerug rose and trundled up the steps. Since it was she who had invited his curiosity, Teddy felt a little crestfallen28 at the injustice29 of her rebuff. He was preparing to follow her, when he caught the red-headed giantess from the kitchen winking30 at him as though she would squeeze her eye out of its socket31. In her frantic32 efforts to attract his notice her entire face was convulsed. As the swish of Mrs. Sheerug’s skirts grew faint across the hall, the girl tiptoed over to Teddy and stood staring at him with her fists planted firmly on the table. Slowly she bent33 down—so slowly that he wondered what was coming.
“Does ’e like ’er!” she whispered scornfully. “Why, ’e loves ’er, you little Gubbins. Wot on h’earth possessed34 yer ter go and h’arsk ’is ’eart-sick ma a h’idiot quesching like that?”
To be twice blamed for a fault which had not been of his own choosing was too much. There was anger as well as a hint of tears in his voice when he answered, “My name isn’t Gubbins. And it wasn’t an idiot question. She made me ask her something, so I asked her that.”
The girl wagged her head with an immense display of tragedy. His anger seemed only to deepen her despondency. “H’it’s tumble,” she sighed, “tumble, h’all this business abart love. ’Ere’s h’every one wantin’ some one ter love ’em, and some of ’em is lovin’ the wrong pusson, and some of ’em is bein’ loved by three or four, and some-some of h’us ain’t got no one. H’it don’t look as though we h’ever shall ’ave. If I wuz Gawd——” She checked herself, awed35 by the Irreverence36 of her supposition. “If I wuz Gawd,” she repeated, lowering her voice, “I’d come right darn from ’eaven and sort awt the proper couples. H’I wouldn’t loll around with them there h’angels till h’every gal37 ’ad got ‘er feller. Gawd ought ter ’ave been a woman, I tell yer strite. If ’E wuz, things wouldn’t be in this ’ere muddle16. A she-Gawd wouldn’t let h’us maike such fools of h’ourselves, if you’ll h’excuse me strong lang-widge.”
Teddy stared at her. It wasn’t her “strong langwidge” that made him stare; it was the confession38 that her words implied. “You’re—you’re in love?”
She jerked up her head defiantly39. “In love! Yus, I’m in love. And ’oo isn’t?”
He watched her clearing the table; when that was done, he followed her into the kitchen. The idea that she was suffering from his complaint fascinated him. She of all persons should be able to tell him how to proceed in the matter.
She paused in her washing of the dishes; across her shoulder she had caught him looking at her. “You may well stare,” she said. “H’I’m a cureehosity, I h’am. I wuz left.” She nodded impressively.
He didn’t understand, but he knew the information was supposed to be staggering. “Left!”
“Yus. I wuz left—left h’at a work’ouse and brought h’up in a h’orphanage. P’raps I never wuz born. P’raps I never ’ad no parents. There’s no one can say. I wuz found on a doorstep, all finely dressed and tied h’up in a fish-basket—just left. H’I’m different from h’other gals40, h’I am. My ma may ’ave been a queen—there’s never no tellin’.”
Harriet sank into a chair. Supporting her chin in her hand, she gazed wistfully into the fire. “Wot is it that yer wants wiv me, Gubbins?”
“Is it very difficult to get married?” he faltered41.
She nodded. “One ‘as ter ’ave money. If a man didn’t ’ave no money, ’is wife would ’ave ter go out charing42. She wouldn’t like that.”
“What’s the least a man ought to have?”
She deliberated. “Depends on the lady. If it wuz me, I should want five pounds. But look ’ere, wot maikes yer h’arsk so many queschings? Surely a little chap like you ain’t in love?”
He flushed. “Five pounds! But wouldn’t three be enough if two people were very, very much in love?”
“Five pounds, Gubbins.” She rose from her chair and went back to her dishes. “Not a penny less. I knows wot I’m talkin’ abart My ma wuz a queen, p’raps; ter h’offer a lady less would be a h’insult.”
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1
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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2
bungles
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| n.拙劣的工作( bungle的名词复数 )v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的第三人称单数 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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3
finesse
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| n.精密技巧，灵巧，手腕 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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5
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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6
precariousness
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7
bard
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| n.吟游诗人 | |
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8
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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9
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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10
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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12
sardines
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| n. 沙丁鱼 | |
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13
lining
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| n.衬里，衬料 | |
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14
economize
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| v.节约，节省 | |
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15
toll
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| n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟) | |
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16
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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17
muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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18
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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19
orchid
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| n.兰花，淡紫色 | |
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20
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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21
rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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22
spaciousness
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| n.宽敞 | |
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replica
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| n.复制品 | |
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24
mortar
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| n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合 | |
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25
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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26
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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27
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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28
crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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29
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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30
winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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31
socket
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| n.窝，穴，孔，插座，插口 | |
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32
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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33
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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34
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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35
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
irreverence
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| n.不尊敬 | |
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37
gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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38
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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39
defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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40
gals
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| abbr.gallons （复数）加仑（液量单位）n.女孩，少女( gal的名词复数 ) | |
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41
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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42
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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