“Up you get,” said the Reverend Mr. Sumption, “and into that bath, and I’ll take your clothes down to be cleaned and mended before you go to the station.”
“I’m not going to the station.”
“You’re going there two hours from now, or you won’t be in Waterheel to-night.”
“I don’t want to be in Waterheel ever again.”
But Mr. Sumption was not having any nonsense. A large hairy paw like a gorilla’s shot out and swung Jerry by the collar on to the floor. “Now strip, you ungodly good-for-nothing, and I’ll send you out looking like a clergyman’s son.”
Jerry, groaning1 and moaning to himself, got into the bath, while Mr. Sumption took his dirty bundle of clothes down to Mrs. Hubble’s kitchen, where a long and noisy argument followed on her abilities to make bricks without straw, as she called his request to make his son look decent. He returned to the study to find Jerry less stiff in the joints2, but growing every minute more defiant3 and miserable4 as the steaming water cleared the fogs of sleep from his brain.
[101]
“I’m not going back to camp. I’d die if I was to go there—with Ivy5 lost. It was bad enough when I had her to think of and all——But now ... I’d justabout break my heart.”
“Maybe after a time you can write to her again——”
“I can’t, I tell you. You don’t understand. I’ve lost her for ever. I frightened her—I made her scream.”
“You’re a beast,” said his father.
“Reckon I am, and reckon you’re treating me like one.”
“If you stay behind, they’ll nab you for an absentee.”
“I don’t care if they do. I’d sooner be locked up, than a soldier any more.”
“For shame, boy!”
“Well, how’d you like to be a soldier?—sworn at all day by bloody6 sergeants7, and always fatigue8 and C.B. I’m fed up, I tell you, and I’m not going back.”
“You’ll go back, if I have to pull you all the way by the ears.”
“You’re the cruellest father I ever heard of.”
Mr. Sumption lost his temper, and cuffed9 Jerry’s head as he sat in the tub. Luckily the boy’s defiance10 had been only the false flare11 of damp spirits, and instead of receiving the blow with an explosion of anger, he was merely cowed by it. Whereat Mr. Sumption’s heart melted, and he saw the piteousness of this poor little soldier, whose heart was black with some evil beyond his help.
The rest of the time passed amicably12, till Mrs. Hubble, with many contemptuous sniffs13, brought up Jerry’s uniform brushed and mended, and after he was dressed he did not look so bad, especially as the bath had had the humiliating result of making his skin look several shades lighter14.
Breakfast followed, and afterwards he and his father set out for Senlac Station, taking the longer North Road by Woods Corner and Darwell Hole, instead of that shorter, more dangerous, way past the gate of Worge. [102] It was a morning of clear, golden distances, with pillars and towers and arches of cloud moving solemnly before the wind across a borage-blue sky. Drops of dew fell from the trees on the backs of the two men, and the air was full of the smell of earth and wet leaves, and that faint mocking smell of spring which sometimes comes in autumn.
As they tramped along the North Road, away from the Obelisk15 by Lobden’s House, which allows a Dallington man to see his village for miles after he has left it, Mr. Sumption spoke16 very patiently and kindly17 to his son.
“Keep good and straight,” he said, “for you’re a good woman’s son, and some day you’ll find a woman whom you’ll love as I loved your mother. May she be to you all that your mother was to me, and may you keep her longer. But don’t go running after strange women, or think to forget love in wantonness. One day, if you trust the Lord, you’ll meet a girl that has been worth keeping good for, that you’ll find lovelier than Ivy Beatup, and ull think herself honoured to marry a clergyman’s son.”
“Clergyman’s son ...” murmured Jerry, in tones that made Mr. Sumption swoop18 round on him with uplifted hand, to see a look on his face that made him thrust it back into his pocket.
His eyes were still full of his mysterious trouble, but he did not speak of it so much. He just plodded19 on beside his father like a calf20 to slaughter21, and at last they came to Senlac Town, with the houses like barley-stacks in the sunshine. They were early, and had half an hour to wait at the station. A train had just come in, and as they crossed the bridge they suddenly met Tom Beatup.
“Tom!” cried the minister, cracking his joints with delight. “Who’d have thought to meet you! I’d no idea you were coming home.”
[103]
“Nor had I till yesterday—seven days’ leave before I go to France. I sent off a telegram, but I reckon it was too late for them to get it last night. Hullo, Jerry! Enjoyed yourself?”
“Unaccountable,” said Jerry with a leer.
“Wait for me, Tom,” said Mr. Sumption, “and we’ll walk home together. I shan’t be more than twenty minutes or so.”
“I’m justabout sorry, but I must git off this wunst. Reckon I’ll see you again soon.”
“Come round to the Horselunges one evening.”
“I will, surelye”—and Tom was off, whistling “Sussex by the Sea.”
It seemed to Mr. Sumption that he looked a bigger, older man than the Tom Beatup of five months ago. He seemed to have grown and filled out, he had lost his yokel22 shuffle23, and his uniform was smart and neat. The minister glanced down at Jerry, who stood beside him, small, untidy, cowed and furtive24. Jerry undoubtedly25 did not look his best in uniform—it seemed to exaggerate the worst of those gipsy characteristics which he had inherited from the Rossarmescroes or Hearns. Now, in civvies he used not to look so bad—he was a well-made, graceful26 little chap....
“Jerry,” said Mr. Sumption, “why can’t you look like Tom Beatup?”
“I reckon it’s because I’m Jerry Sumption—the clergyman’s son.”
And again there was that look on his face which prevented retaliation27.
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收听单词发音
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1
groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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2
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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3
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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4
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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5
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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6
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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7
sergeants
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| 警官( sergeant的名词复数 )； （美国警察）警佐； （英国警察）巡佐； 陆军（或空军）中士 | |
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8
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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9
cuffed
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| v.掌打，拳打( cuff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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11
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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12
amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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13
sniffs
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的第三人称单数 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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14
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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15
obelisk
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| n.方尖塔 | |
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16
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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17
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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18
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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19
plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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20
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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21
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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22
yokel
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| n.乡下人；农夫 | |
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23
shuffle
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| n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走 | |
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24
furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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25
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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26
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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27
retaliation
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| n.报复，反击 | |
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