CHAPTER IV HANCOCK & HANCOCK

Frank Leavesley's uncle, Mr James Hancock of Gordon Square and Southampton Row, Solicitor¹, was, in the year of this story, still unmarried.

The firm of Hancock & Hancock had thrived in Bloomsbury for upwards² of a hundred years. By a judicious³ exercise of the art of dropping bad clients and picking up good, and retaining the good when picked up, it had built for itself a business second to none in the soliciting⁴ world of the Metropolis⁵.

To be a successful solicitor is not so easy[Pg 27] a matter as you may suppose. Take your own case, for instance, and imagine how many men you would trust with the fact that your wife is in a madhouse and not on a visit to her aunt; with the reason why your son requires cutting off with a shilling; why you have to pay so much a month to So-and-so—and so on. How many men would you trust with your title-deeds, and bonds, and scrip, even as you would trust yourself?

The art of inspiring confidence combined with the less facile arts of straight dealing⁶ and right living, had placed the Hancocks in the first rank of their profession, and kept them there for over a hundred years.

James, the last of the race, was in personal appearance typical of his forebears. Rather tall, thin, with a high colour suggestive of port wine, and a fidgety manner, you would never have guessed him at first sight to be one of the keenest business men in London, the depository of awful secrets, and the instigator⁷ and successful leader of legal forlorn hopes.

His dress was genteel, verging⁸ on the shabby, a hideous⁹ brown horse-hair watch guard crossed his waistcoat, and he habitually[Pg 28] carried an umbrella that would have damned the reputation of any struggling professional man.

His sister kept house for him in Gordon Square. She was just one year his senior. An acid woman, early-Victorian in her tendencies and get-up, Patience Hancock, to use the cook's expression, had been "born with the key of the coal cellar in her pocket." She certainly carried the key of the wine cellar there, and the keys of the plate pantry, larder¹⁰, jam depository, and Tantalus case. Everything lock-upable in the Gordon Square establishment was locked up, and every month or so she received a "warning" from one of the domestics under her charge.

The art of setting by the ears and treading on corns came to her by nature, it was her misfortune, not her fault, for despite her acidity¹¹ she had a heart, atrophied¹² from disuse, perhaps, but still a heart.

She treated her brother as though she were twenty years his senior, and she had prevented him from marrying by subtle arts of her own, exercised unconsciously, perhaps, but none the less potently¹³. His affair with Miss Wilkinson, eldest¹⁴ daughter of Alderman[Pg 29] Wilkinson, an affair which occurred twenty years ago, had been withered¹⁵, or blasted, if you like the expression better, by Patience Hancock. She had caused no bitter feelings towards herself in the breast of either of the parties concerned in this old-time love affair, but all the same she had parted them.

Two other attempts on the part of James Hancock to mate and have done with the business failed for no especial reason, and of late years, from all external signs, he appeared to have come to the determination to have done with the business without mating.

Patience had almost dismissed the subject from her mind; secure in the conviction that her brother's heart had jellified and set, she had almost given up espionage¹⁶, and had settled down before the prospect¹⁷ of a comfortable old age with lots of people to bully¹⁸ and a free hand in the management of her brother and his affairs.

Bridgewater, Hancock's confidential¹⁹ clerk, a man of seventy adorned²⁰ with the simplicity²¹ of a child of ten, had hitherto been her confidant.

Bridgewater, seduced²² with a glass of port wine and a biscuit, had helped materially in[Pg 30] the blasting of the Wilkinson affair twenty years before. He had played the part of spy several times, unconsciously, or partly so, and to-day he was just the same old blunderer, ready to fall into any trap set for him by an acute woman.

He adored Patience Hancock for no perceptible earthly reason except that he had known her in short frocks, and besides this weak-minded adoration²³ he regarded her as part and parcel of the business, and regarded her commands as equivalent to the commands of her brother.

Of late years his interviews with Patience had been few, she had no need for him; and as he sat over his bachelor's fire at nights rubbing his shins and thinking and dreaming, sometimes across his recollective faculty²⁴ would stray the old past, the confidences, the port, and the face of Patience Hancock all in a pleasant jumble²⁵.

He felt that of late years, somehow, his power to please had in some mysterious manner waned²⁶, and, failing a more valid²⁷ reason, he put it down to that change in things and people which is the saddest accompaniment of age.

1 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

2 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

3 judicious   

adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的

参考例句：

• We should listen to the judicious opinion of that old man.我们应该听取那位老人明智的意见。
• A judicious parent encourages his children to make their own decisions.贤明的父亲鼓励儿女自作抉择。

4 soliciting   

v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求

参考例句：

• A prostitute was soliciting on the street. 一名妓女正在街上拉客。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• China Daily is soliciting subscriptions. 《中国日报》正在征求订户。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

5 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 instigator   

n.煽动者

参考例句：

• It is not a and differs from instigator in nature. 在刑法理论中，通常将教唆犯作为共犯的一种类型加以探究。 来自互联网
• If we are really the instigator, we are awaiting punishment. 如果我们真的是煽动者，那我们愿意接受惩罚。 来自互联网

8 verging   

接近，逼近（verge的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed understanding, verging on sympathy, for our approach. 他宣称对我们提出的做法很理解，而且近乎同情。
• He's verging on 80 now and needs constant attention. 他已近80岁，需要侍候左右。

9 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

10 larder   

n.食物贮藏室，食品橱

参考例句：

• Please put the food into the larder.请将您地食物放进食物柜内。
• They promised never to raid the larder again.他们答应不再随便开食橱拿东西吃了。

11 acidity   

n.酸度，酸性

参考例句：

• This plant prefers alkaline soil,though it will readily tolerate some acidity.这种植物在酸性土壤中也能生存，但硷性土壤更加适宜。
• Gastric acidity would not prevent the organism from passing into the gut.胃的酸度不能防止细菌进入肠道。

12 atrophied   

adj.萎缩的，衰退的v.（使）萎缩，（使）虚脱，（使）衰退( atrophy的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Patients exercised their atrophied limbs in the swimming pool. 病人们在泳池里锻炼萎缩的四肢。 来自辞典例句
• Method: Using microwave tissue thermocoaqulation to make chronic tonsillitis coagulated and atrophied. 方法：采用微波热凝方法使慢性扁桃体炎组织凝固、萎缩。 来自互联网

13 potently   

参考例句：

• Various level of SSBB shall to supervise and manage potently for boiler's quality of installation. 各级安全监察机构应加强对锅炉安装质量的监察监督管理。 来自互联网

14 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

15 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

16 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

17 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

18 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

19 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

20 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

21 simplicity   

n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯

参考例句：

• She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。
• The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

22 seduced   

诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷

参考例句：

• The promise of huge profits seduced him into parting with his money. 高额利润的许诺诱使他把钱出了手。
• His doctrines have seduced many into error. 他的学说把许多人诱入歧途。

23 adoration   

n.爱慕，崇拜

参考例句：

• He gazed at her with pure adoration.他一往情深地注视着她。
• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。

24 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

25 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

26 waned   

v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• However,my enthusiasm waned.The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. 然而，我的热情减退了。我在做操上花的时间逐渐减少了。 来自《用法词典》
• The bicycle craze has waned. 自行车热已冷下去了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

27 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？