James Hancock, to use a simile1 taken from the garden, showed signs of sprouting2. A new hat had come home the night before from the hatter's, and he had bought a new necktie himself. Hitherto he had paid for his neckties and Patience had bought them, sombre neckties suitable to a lawyer and a celibate3. This thing from Amery and Loders, a thing of lilac silk suitable enough for a man of twenty, caused Patience to stare when it appeared at breakfast one morning round the neck of her brother.
But she said nothing, she poured out the tea and watched her brother opening his letters and reading his newspaper, and munching4 his toast. She listened to his remarks on the price of consols and the fall in Russian bonds, and his grumbles5 because the "bacon was fried to a cinder," just as she had watched and[Pg 32] listened for the last thirty years. Then, when he had finished and departed, she rose and went downstairs to bully6 the cook and terrorise the maids, which accomplished7, she retired8 to her own room to dress preparatory to going out.
The house in Gordon Square had the solidity of structure and the gloom peculiar9 to the higher class houses in Bloomsbury. The great drawing-room had a chandelier that lived in a bag, and sofas and chairs arrayed in brown holland overalls10; there were things in woolwork that Amelia Sedley might have worked, and abominations of art, deposited by the early Victorian age, struggled for pride of place with Georgian artistic11 attempts. The dining-room was furnished with solid mahogany, and everything in and about the place seemed solid and constructed with a view to eternity12 and the everlasting13 depression of man.
A week's sojourn14 in this house explained much of a certain epoch15 in English History to the mind of the sojourner16; at the termination of the visit one began to understand dimly the humours of Gillray and the fidelity17 to truth of that atmosphere of gloom pervading18 the pictures of Hogarth. One understood[Pg 33] why, in that epoch, men drank deep, why women swooned and improved swooning into a fine art, why Society was generally beastly and brutal19, and why great lords sat up all night soaking themselves with brandy and waiting to see the hangman turn off a couple of poor wretches20 in the dawn; also, why men hanged themselves without waiting for the hangman, alleging21 for reason "the spleen."
Miss Hancock, having arranged herself to her own satisfaction, took her parasol from the stand in the hall, and departed on business bent22.
She held three books in her hand—the butcher's, the baker's, and the greengrocer's. She felt in a cheerful mood, as her programme included and commenced with an attack on the butcher—Casus Belli—an overcharge made on the last leg of mutton but one. Having defeated the butcher, and tackled the other unfortunates and paid them, she paused near Mudie's Library as if in thought. Then she made direct for Southampton Row and the office of her brother, where, as she entered the outer office, Bridgewater was emerging from the sanctum of his master, holding clutched to his breast an armful of books and papers.
[Pg 34]
Bridgewater would have delighted the heart of John Leech23. He had a red and almost perfectly24 round face; his spectacles were round, his body was round, his eyes were round, and the expression of his countenance25, if I may be allowed the figure, was round. It was also slightly mazed26; he seemed forever lost in a mild astonishment27, the slightest thing out of the common, heightened this expression of chronic28 astonishment into one of acute amazement29. A rat in the office, a fall in the funds, a clerk giving notice to leave, any of these little incidents was sufficient to wreathe the countenance of Mr Bridgewater with an expression that would not have been out of place had he been gazing upon the ruins of Pompeii, or the eruption30 of Mont Pelée. He had scanty31 white hair and enormous feet, and was, despite his bemazed look, a very acute old gentleman in business hours. The inside of his head was stuffed with facts like a Whitaker's almanac, and people turned to him for reference as they would turn to "Pratt's Law of Highways" or "Archbold's Lunacy."
Bridgewater seeing Miss Hancock enter, released somewhat his tight hold on the books[Pg 35] and papers, and they all slithered pell mell on to the floor. She nodded to him, and, stepping over the papers, tapped with the handle of her parasol at the door of the inner office. Mr Hancock was disengaged, and she went in, closing the door behind her carefully as though fearful of some secret escaping.
She had no secret to communicate, however, and no business to transact32, she only wanted a loan of Bridgewater for an hour to consult him about the lease of a house at Peckham. (Miss Hancock had money in her own right.) Having obtained the loan and stropped her brother's temper to a fine edge, so that he was sharp with the clerks and irritable33 with the clients till luncheon34 time, Miss Hancock took herself off, saying to the head clerk as she passed out, "I want you to come round to luncheon, Bridgewater, to consult you about a lease; my brother says he can spare you. Come at half-past one sharp; Good-day."
"Well to be sure!" said Bridgewater scratching his encyclop?dic head, and gazing in the direction of the doorway35 through which the lady had vanished.
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1
simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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2
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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3
celibate
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| adj.独身的，独身主义的；n.独身者 | |
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munching
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
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5
grumbles
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| 抱怨( grumble的第三人称单数 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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6
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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7
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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8
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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9
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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10
overalls
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| n.（复）工装裤；长罩衣 | |
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11
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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12
eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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13
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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14
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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15
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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16
sojourner
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| n.旅居者，寄居者 | |
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17
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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18
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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19
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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20
wretches
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| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
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21
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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22
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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23
leech
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| n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人 | |
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24
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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25
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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26
mazed
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| 迷惘的，困惑的 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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28
chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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29
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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30
eruption
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| n.火山爆发；（战争等）爆发；（疾病等）发作 | |
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31
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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32
transact
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| v.处理；做交易；谈判 | |
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33
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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34
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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35
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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