Through the Moonlight
The next evening the mummers were assembled in the same spot, awaiting the entrance of the Turkish Knight1.
"Twenty minutes after eight by the Quiet Woman, and Charley not come."
"Ten minutes past by Blooms-End."
"It wants ten minutes to, by Grandfer Cantle's watch."
"And 'tis five minutes past by the captain's clock."
On Egdon there was no absolute hour of the day. The time at any moment was a number of varying doctrines2 professed3 by the different hamlets, some of them having originally grown up from a common root, and then become divided by secession, some having been alien from the beginning. West Egdon believed in Blooms-End time, East Egdon in the time of the Quiet Woman Inn. Grandfer Cantle's watch had numbered many followers4 in years gone by, but since he had grown older faiths were shaken. Thus, the mummers having gathered hither from scattered5 points each came with his own tenets on early and late; and they waited a little longer as a compromise.
Eustacia had watched the assemblage through the hole; and seeing that now was the proper moment to enter, she went from the "linhay" and boldly pulled the bobbin of the fuelhouse door. Her grandfather was safe at the Quiet Woman.
"Here's Charley at last! How late you be, Charley."
"'Tis not Charley," said the Turkish Knight from within his visor. "'Tis a cousin of Miss Vye's, come to take Charley's place from curiosity. He was obliged to go and look for the heath-croppers that have got into the meads, and I agreed to take his place, as he knew he couldn't come back here again tonight. I know the part as well as he."
Her graceful6 gait, elegant figure, and dignified7 manner in general won the mummers to the opinion that they had gained by the exchange, if the newcomer were perfect in his part.
"It don't matter--if you be not too young," said Saint George. Eustacia's voice had sounded somewhat more juvenile8 and fluty than Charley's.
"I know every word of it, I tell you," said Eustacia decisively. Dash being all that was required to carry her triumphantly9 through, she adopted as much as was necessary. "Go ahead, lads, with the try-over. I'll challenge any of you to find a mistake in me."
The play was hastily rehearsed, whereupon the other mummers were delighted with the new knight. They extinguished the candles at half-past eight, and set out upon the heath in the direction of Mrs. Yeobright's house at Bloom's-End.
There was a slight hoarfrost that night, and the moon, though not more than half full, threw a spirited and enticing10 brightness upon the fantastic figures of the mumming band, whose plumes11 and ribbons rustled12 in their walk like autumn leaves. Their path was not over Rainbarrow now, but down a valley which left that ancient elevation13 a little to the east. The bottom of the vale was green to a width of ten yards or thereabouts, and the shining facets14 of frost upon the blades of grass seemed to move on with the shadows of those they surrounded. The masses of furze and heath to the right and left were dark as ever; a mere15 half-moon was powerless to silver such sable16 features as theirs.
Half-an-hour of walking and talking brought them to the spot in the valley where the grass riband widened and led down to the front of the house. At sight of the place Eustacia who had felt a few passing doubts during her walk with the youths, again was glad that the adventure had been undertaken. She had come out to see a man who might possibly have the power to deliver her soul from a most deadly oppression. What was Wildeve? Interesting, but inadequate17. Perhaps she would see a sufficient hero tonight.
As they drew nearer to the front of the house the mummers became aware that music and dancing were briskly flourishing within. Every now and then a long low note from the serpent, which was the chief wind instrument played at these times, advanced further into the heath than the thin treble part, and reached their ears alone; and next a more than usual loud tread from a dancer would come the same way. With nearer approach these fragmentary sounds became pieced together, and were found to be the salient points of the tune18 called "Nancy's Fancy."
He was there, of course. Who was she that he danced with? Perhaps some unknown woman, far beneath herself in culture, was by the most subtle of lures19 sealing his fate this very instant. To dance with a man is to concentrate a twelvemonth's regulation fire upon him in the fragment of an hour. To pass to courtship without acquaintance, to pass to marriage without courtship, is a skipping of terms reserved for those alone who tread this royal road. She would see how his heart lay by keen observation of them all.
The enterprising lady followed the mumming company through the gate in the white paling, and stood before the open porch. The house was encrusted with heavy thatchings, which dropped between the upper windows; the front, upon which the moonbeams directly played, had originally been white; but a huge pyracanth now darkened the greater portion.
It became at once evident that the dance was proceeding21 immediately within the surface of the door, no apartment intervening. The brushing of skirts and elbows, sometimes the bumping of shoulders, could be heard against the very panels. Eustacia, though living within two miles of the place, had never seen the interior of this quaint20 old habitation. Between Captain Vye and the Yeobrights there had never existed much acquaintance, the former having come as a stranger and purchased the long-empty house at Mistover Knap not long before the death of Mrs. Yeobright's husband; and with that event and the departure of her son such friendship as had grown up became quite broken off.
"Is there no passage inside the door, then?" asked Eustacia as they stood within the porch.
"No," said the lad who played the Saracen. "The door opens right upon the front sitting-room22, where the spree's going on."
"So that we cannot open the door without stopping the dance."
"That's it. Here we must bide23 till they have done, for they always bolt the back door after dark."
"They won't be much longer," said Father Christmas.
This assertion, however, was hardly borne out by the event. Again the instruments ended the tune; again they recommenced with as much fire and pathos24 as if it were the first strain. The air was now that one without any particular beginning, middle, or end, which perhaps, among all the dances which throng25 an inspired fiddler's fancy, best conveys the idea of the interminable--the celebrated26 "Devil's Dream." The fury of personal movement that was kindled27 by the fury of the notes could be approximately imagined by these outsiders under the moon, from the occasional kicks of toes and heels against the door, whenever the whirl round had been of more than customary velocity28.
The first five minutes of listening was interesting enough to the mummers. The five minutes extended to ten minutes, and these to a quarter of an hour; but no signs of ceasing were audible in the lively "Dream." The bumping against the door, the laughter, the stamping, were all as vigorous as ever, and the pleasure in being outside lessened29 considerably30.
"Why does Mrs. Yeobright give parties of this sort?" Eustacia asked, a little surprised to hear merriment so pronounced.
"It is not one of her bettermost parlour-parties. She's asked the plain neighbours and workpeople without drawing any lines, just to give 'em a good supper and such like. Her son and she wait upon the folks."
"I see," said Eustacia.
"'Tis the last strain, I think," said Saint George, with his ear to the panel. "A young man and woman have just swung into this corner, and he's saying to her, 'Ah, the pity; 'tis over for us this time, my own.'"
"Thank God," said the Turkish Knight, stamping, and taking from the wall the conventional lance that each of the mummers carried. Her boots being thinner than those of the young men, the hoar had damped her feet and made them cold.
"Upon my song 'tis another ten minutes for us," said the Valiant31 Soldier, looking through the keyhole as the tune modulated32 into another without stopping. "Grandfer Cantle is standing33 in this corner, waiting his turn."
"'Twon't be long; 'tis a six-handed reel," said the Doctor.
"Why not go in, dancing or no? They sent for us," said the Saracen.
"Certainly not," said Eustacia authoritatively34, as she paced smartly up and down from door to gate to warm herself. "We should burst into the middle of them and stop the dance, and that would be unmannerly."
"He thinks himself somebody because he has had a bit more schooling35 than we," said the Doctor.
"You may go to the deuce!" said Eustacia.
There was a whispered conversation between three or four of them, and one turned to her.
"Will you tell us one thing?" he said, not without gentleness. "Be you Miss Vye? We think you must be."
"You may think what you like," said Eustacia slowly. "But honourable36 lads will not tell tales upon a lady."
"We'll say nothing, miss. That's upon our honour."
"Thank you," she replied.
At this moment the fiddles37 finished off with a screech38, and the serpent emitted a last note that nearly lifted the roof. When, from the comparative quiet within, the mummers judged that the dancers had taken their seats, Father Christmas advanced, lifted the latch39, and put his head inside the door.
"Ah, the mummers, the mummers!" cried several guests at once. "Clear a space for the mummers."
Humpbacked Father Christmas then made a complete entry, swinging his huge club, and in a general way clearing the stage for the actors proper, while he informed the company in smart verse that he was come, welcome or welcome not; concluding his speech with
"Make room, make room, my gallant40 boys, And give us space to rhyme; We've come to show Saint George's play, Upon this Christmas time."
The guests were now arranging themselves at one end of the room, the fiddler was mending a string, the serpent-player was emptying his mouthpiece, and the play began. First of those outside the Valiant Soldier entered, in the interest of Saint George-
"Here come I, the Valiant Soldier; Slasher is my name";
and so on. This speech concluded with a challenge to the infidel, at the end of which it was Eustacia's duty to enter as the Turkish Knight. She, with the rest who were not yet on, had hitherto remained in the moonlight which streamed under the porch. With no apparent effort or backwardness she came in, beginning-
"Here come I, a Turkish Knight, Who learnt in Turkish land to fight; I'll fight this man with courage bold: If his blood's hot I'll make it cold!"
During her declamation41 Eustacia held her head erect42, and spoke43 as roughly as she could, feeling pretty secure from observation. But the concentration upon her part necessary to prevent discovery, the newness of the scene, the shine of the candles, and the confusing effect upon her vision of the ribboned visor which hid her features, left her absolutely unable to perceive who were present as spectators. On the further side of a table bearing candles she could faintly discern faces, and that was all.
Meanwhile Jim Starks as the Valiant Soldier had come forward, and, with a glare upon the Turk, replied-
"If, then, thou art that Turkish Knight, Draw out thy sword, and let us fight!"
And fight they did; the issue of the combat being that the Valiant Soldier was slain44 by a preternaturally inadequate thrust from Eustacia, Jim, in his ardour for genuine histrionic art, coming down like a log upon the stone floor with force enough to dislocate his shoulder. Then, after more words from the Turkish Knight, rather too faintly delivered, and statements that he'd fight Saint George and all his crew, Saint George himself magnificently entered with the well-known flourish-
"Here come I, Saint George, the valiant man, With naked sword and spear in hand, Who fought the dragon and brought him to the slaughter45, And by this won fair Sabra, the King of Egypt's daughter; What mortal man would dare to stand Before me with my sword in hand?"
This was the lad who had first recognized Eustacia; and when she now, as the Turk, replied with suitable defiance46, and at once began the combat, the young fellow took especial care to use his sword as gently as possible. Being wounded, the Knight fell upon one knee, according to the direction. The Doctor now entered, restored the Knight by giving him a draught47 from the bottle which he carried, and the fight was again resumed, the Turk sinking by degrees until quite overcome--dying as hard in this venerable drama as he is said to do at the present day.
This gradual sinking to the earth was, in fact, one reason why Eustacia had thought that the part of the Turkish Knight, though not the shortest, would suit her best. A direct fall from upright to horizontal, which was the end of the other fighting characters, was not an elegant or decorous part for a girl. But it was easy to die like a Turk, by a dogged decline.
Eustacia was now among the number of the slain, though not on the floor, for she had managed to sink into a sloping position against the clock-case, so that her head was well elevated. The play proceeded between Saint George, the Saracen, the Doctor, and Father Christmas; and Eustacia, having no more to do, for the first time found leisure to observe the scene round, and to search for the form that had drawn48 her hither.
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1
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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2
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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juvenile
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| n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的 | |
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9
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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10
enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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12
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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facets
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| n.（宝石或首饰的）小平面( facet的名词复数 )；（事物的）面；方面 | |
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15
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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16
sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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lures
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| 吸引力，魅力（lure的复数形式） | |
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20
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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21
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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22
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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23
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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27
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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28
velocity
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| n.速度，速率 | |
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29
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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30
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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31
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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32
modulated
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| 已调整[制]的，被调的 | |
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33
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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34
authoritatively
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| 命令式地，有权威地，可信地 | |
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35
schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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37
fiddles
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| n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动 | |
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38
screech
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| n./v.尖叫；(发出)刺耳的声音 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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40
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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declamation
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| n. 雄辩，高调 | |
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42
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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43
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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44
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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45
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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46
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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47
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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48
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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