Chapter 11

On his last evening, he went up to Worge to say good-bye. He felt already as if he did not belong to the place. Harry’s drastic dealings with the tilth seemed to have taken the fields away from him—he no longer felt even a distant guardianship¹ of those brown-ribbed acres which had been green when he worked on them. He felt, too, with a sense of estrangement², the dirt and litter of the house, the muddling³ business which at six o’clock had Ivy⁴ swilling⁵ out the scullery and Mrs. Beatup still struggling with the washing. Thyrza never did a stroke of housework after dinner, and yet her morning’s tasks were never hurried; she never had Ivy’s flushed, red face and tousled hair, or Mrs. Beatup’s forehead shiny with sweat.

His family were conscious of this—conscious that he now had a standard of comparison by which to measure their short-comings, and it made them sulkily suspicious in their attitude. He was already the alien—the bird that has left the nest, the puppy that has grown up and gone a-hunting on his own. But this sense of estrangement [148] only seemed to make his parting sadder, for he vaguely⁶ felt as if he had left them before he need, had already divided himself from them by an earlier good-bye, of which this was only the echo and the ghost.

Mrs. Beatup enquired⁷ politely after Thyrza, and sent Ivy out to fetch in the others. Zacky climbed on Tom’s knee and asked him to send him home a German helmet, and Harry—whose heart was really very warm and loving towards Tom—stood shyly behind his chair and could not speak a word. Mus’ Beatup gave Tom an account of the Battle of the Ancre, but failed to create the usual respectful impression.

“You see, faather, I was out there, and I know that it happened different. St. Quentin aun’t anywhere near the Rhine.”

“There’s more’n one St. Quentin, saum as there’s more’n one Mockbeggar, and more’n one Iden Green. How do you know as there’s no St. Quentin on the Rhine? You’ve never bin⁸ there, and you’ll never be there, nuther.”

“I reckon I’ll be there before I’m many months older.”

“You woan’t,” said Mus’ Beatup solemnly, “it’s more likely as the Germans ull be crossing the River Cuckmere than as you’ll ever be crossing the River Rhine. Now, be quiet, Nell, and a-done do, fur I tell you it’s bin proved as we’ll never git to the River Rhine, so where’s the sense of going on wud the war, I’d like to know?”

“To prevent the Germans crossing the River Cuckmere,” snapped Nell.

“Oh, doan’t go talking such tar’ble stuff,” moaned Mrs. Beatup. “If the Germans caum here I’d die of fits.”

“They woan’t come here,” said her husband, “and [149] we’ll never git there, so wot’s the sense of all this vrother, and giving up our lads and ploughing up our grass and going short of beer, all to end where we started? If this war had bin a-going to do us any good, it ud a-done it before now, surelye; but it’s a lousy, tedious, lamentaable war, and the sooner we git shut of it the better.”

“Well, I must be going,” said Tom, standing⁹ up. He felt rather angry with his father, who, he thought, talked like a “conscientious objector,” and was prostrating¹⁰ his mighty¹¹ intellect to base uses. “But maybe the beer has addled¹² him—he’s had a regular souse this winter, by his looks.”

He said good-bye to the family, refusing his mother’s invitation to stay to supper, as he had promised to take Thyrza for a walk that evening. However, he asked her to come with him to the door, as there was something he wanted to say to her alone.

Mrs. Beatup felt pleased at this mark of confidence, but all Tom had to say as he kissed her on the threshold was—

“Mother, if anything wur to happen to me ... out there, you know ... you’d be good to Thyrza?”

“Oh, Tom—you aun’t expecting aught?”

“I hope not, surelye—but how am I to know?”

Her face wrinkled for crying.

“You didn’t use to spik lik that....”

“Come, mother—be sensible. There aun’t no sense spikking different, things being wot they are. I dudn’t use to be married ... it’s being married that maakes a chap think of wot might happen.”

“You’d want me to taake Thyrza to live here?...”

“Reckon I wouldn’t. She’ll have her liddle bit of money, thank God, and maybe a pension besides. It aun’t money as I’m thinking of—it’s just—it’s just as she’ll break her heart.”

“And I’ll break mine, too, I reckon.”

Tom groaned¹³.

[150]

“You’re a valiant¹⁴ help to me, mother. I ask you a thing to maake me a bit easier, and all you do is to vrother me the more.”

“Doan’t you go abusing your mother, Tom—wud your last breath. If Thyrza’s heart gits broke I’ll give her a bit of mine to mend it with—but no good ever caum of talking of such things.”

“I woan’t talk of them no more. Only, it had to be done—you see, mother, there might be a little ’un as well as Thyrza....”

“Oh, Tom, a liddle baby fur you!”

He blushed—“There aun’t no knowing, and I’d be easier if....”

“Oh, but I’d justabout love a liddle grandchild. You need never fret¹⁵ over that, Tom. I’d give my days to a liddle young un of yourn.”

He kissed her, and they parted in love.

1 guardianship   

n. 监护, 保护, 守护

参考例句：

• They had to employ the English language in face of the jealous guardianship of Britain. 他们不得不在英国疑忌重重的监护下使用英文。
• You want Marion to set aside her legal guardianship and give you Honoria. 你要马丽恩放弃她的法定监护人资格，把霍诺丽娅交给你。

2 estrangement   

n.疏远，失和，不和

参考例句：

• a period of estrangement from his wife 他与妻子分居期间
• The quarrel led to a complete estrangement between her and her family. 这一争吵使她同家人完全疏远了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 muddling   

v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的现在分词 )；使糊涂；对付，混日子

参考例句：

• Don't do that—you're muddling my papers. 别动—你会弄乱我的文件的。
• In our company you see nobody muddling along. 在咱们公司，看不到混日子的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。

5 swilling   

v.冲洗( swill的现在分词 )；猛喝；大口喝；（使）液体流动

参考例句：

• They sat there swilling champagne. 他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They were swilling down gin. 他们正在大喝杜松子酒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

7 enquired   

打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问

参考例句：

• He enquired for the book in a bookstore. 他在书店查询那本书。
• Fauchery jestingly enquired whether the Minister was coming too. 浮式瑞嘲笑着问部长是否也会来。

8 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 prostrating   

v.使俯伏，使拜倒( prostrate的现在分词 )；（指疾病、天气等）使某人无能为力

参考例句：

• The pain associated with pancreatitis has been described as prostrating. 胰腺炎的疼痛曾被描述为衰竭性的。 来自辞典例句

11 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

12 addled   

adj.（头脑）糊涂的，愚蠢的；（指蛋类）变坏v.使糊涂( addle的过去式和过去分词 )；使混乱；使腐臭；使变质

参考例句：

• Being in love must have addled your brain. 坠入爱河必已使你神魂颠倒。
• He has addled his head with reading and writing all day long. 他整天读书写字，头都昏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 valiant   

adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人

参考例句：

• He had the fame of being very valiant.他的勇敢是出名的。
• Despite valiant efforts by the finance minister,inflation rose to 36%.尽管财政部部长采取了一系列果决措施，通货膨胀率还是涨到了36%。

15 fret   

v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损

参考例句：

• Don't fret.We'll get there on time.别着急，我们能准时到那里。
• She'll fret herself to death one of these days.她总有一天会愁死的.