That Mr. Paragon at this time should sensibly have softened4 from the bitterness of his youth, was as much due to his large garden as to the influence of his wife and the effect of his prosperity. In his oldest and toughest clothes, working as English labourers worked before they had lost the secret, Mr. Paragon in no way resembled himself as member of the Labour church and a popular orator5. The land absorbed him. He handled his spade in an indescribable, professional manner. You recognised the connoisseur6 who gathers in his palms the rarest china. You trust the man who by mere7 handling of an object can convey to you a sense of its value. In the same way you trusted Mr. Paragon with a spade. When Mr. Paragon took a cutting it always struck. When he selected seeds they always were fruitful. When he built a bank or rounded the[Pg 15] curve of a plot the result was always pleasing; and it came of itself, without reflection or difficulty. His gift was from nature. He had read no literature of gardening, and he had had no instruction. It was his charming privilege that a garden naturally blossomed under his hands.
Mrs. Paragon encouraged in every possible way her husband's love of the soil. Instinctively8 she divined that here he was best, and that here he was nearest herself. She was rarely without some of his flowers upon her table or pinned in her dress; and when on free days Mr. Paragon spent absorbed and laborious9 hours in the garden, Mrs. Paragon brought him cheese and beer, or tea and muffins, waiting at his elbow, interested and critical, while he discussed his plans, and asked her for advice which he never regarded. Had Mrs. Paragon neglected to feed him on these occasions he would not have noticed it, for he lost all count of time, and did not remember he was hungry till darkness came.
The most striking event of the year for Mr. Paragon and his house was the disposal of the season's rubbish. For twelve months it accumulated in a large hole, rotting in the rain and sun. Mr. Paragon dug it carefully into the soil at the end of the year, using it as a foundation for beds and banks. Usually the whole family assisted at the carting of the rubbish, with a box on wheels.
Peter was master of the convoy10 for carting the rubbish, and this was a military enterprise.[Pg 16] Miranda harassed11 his operations to the best of her ability. There were ambuscades, surprises, excursions and alarms.
Mr. Smith looked upon these operations with delight. He liked to see Mr. Paragon at work in the garden. He was proud of his successful neighbour, and took real pleasure in his competence12. Moreover, he delighted in Peter's lively and interesting pretences13. He would himself have led the attack upon Peter's convoy had he been free of Mrs. Smith's critical and contemptuous survey from the back-parlour window. Once he had actively14 taken part, and Mrs. Smith discovered him on all fours among the gooseberries, whence he had intended to create a diversion in Peter's rear. The rational frigidity15 with which she had come from the house to inquire what he imagined himself to be doing effectually prevented a repetition.
This afternoon there was a sharp encounter. This was a great moment in Peter's life owing to a brief, almost instantaneous, passage. Miranda met Peter's onslaught in her manly16 fashion, and soon they were locked in a desperate embrace. Suddenly Peter saw Miranda, as it seemed to him afterwards, for the first time. Her head was flung back, her cheeks crimsonly defiant17, eyes shining, and hair scattered18. For Peter it was a vision. He saw with uneasy terror that Miranda was beautiful. He had a quailing19 instinct to release her. It passed; but Miranda[Pg 17] met the look that came into his eyes and understood.
Who can say how softly and insensibly the change had been prepared? The books they had read; the strange couples that walked in the evening, curiously20 linked; the half-thoughts and surmises21; queer little impulses of cruelty or tenderness that had passed between them—all were suddenly gathered up.
Peter realised the difference in his life that this moment had made for him in the late evening when Mr. Paragon was showing him a transit22 of Jupiter's third moon. Astronomy was a passion with Mr. Paragon. Astronomy overthrew23 Genesis and confounded religion. He had picked up cheap a six-inch reflecting telescope, and very frequently on fine evenings he probed the heavens for uninspected nebul?, resolved double stars, mapped the surface of the moon, followed the fascinating mutation24 of the variables. Peter was very soon attracted and absorbed into his father's pastime. It had a breathless appeal for him. Awed25 and excited, he would project his mind into the measureless dark spaces. It was an adventure. Sometimes they would rise after midnight, and these were the times Peter loved best. The extreme quiet of the hour; loneliness upon earth giving a keener edge to the loneliness of heaven; the silence of the sleeping street lending almost a terror to the imagined silence of space; the secret flavour which crept into the enterprise from the[Pg 18] mere fact of waking while the world was asleep—all this gave to the situation, for Peter, an agreeable poignancy27. Already he had discovered the appeal of Shelley, and he would repeat, pleasantly shuddering28, passages of his favourite story:
"I have made my bed
In charnels and on coffins30, where black death
Keeps record of the trophies31 won from thee,
Hoping to still these obstinate32 questionings
Of thee and thine, by forcing some lone26 ghost,
Thy messenger, to render up the tale
Of what we are."
The contrast was striking at these times between Peter and his father. For Mr. Paragon every double star resolved was a nail in the coffin29 of the Established Church; every wonder of the skies, inspected and verified, was a confirmation33 that society was built on stubble. But for Peter these excursions were food for fancy, the stuff of his dreams. He soared into space, not as Mr. Paragon intended, to discover the fraud of priests and kings, but to voyage with Shelley's Mab through the beautiful stars.
To-night the adventure had lost its edge. Nothing could be more exciting than a transit of Jupiter's third moon. The gradual approach of the tiny moon to the edge of the planet; its momentary34 extinction35; the slow passage of the little shadow on the cloud-bright surface—the loveliness of this miniature play was sharpened for[Pg 19] Peter by knowledge of its immensity. Mr. Paragon gave up the telescope to Peter, and waited for breathless exclamation36. But Peter was silent.
"Well," said Mr. Paragon, "can't you see it?"
"Yes," answered Peter indifferently.
"Perhaps the focus isn't quite right," suggested Mr. Paragon. He looked anxiously at Peter. Peter's indifference37 was unusual.
"It's all right, father, I can see it well. It's a black spot, and it's moving across."
"Wonderful!" said Mr. Paragon. "Think of it, Peter. Jupiter to-night is 60,000,000 miles away. It would easily hold 1300 of us, and it's got five moons. Looks as if it were made for lighting38 people to bed, don't it?"
"Yes, father," said Peter without interest.
Peter's fancy had suddenly flown to a passage in Romeo and Juliet, hitherto passed as absurd—something about cutting up Romeo into little stars. Peter smelled the wet earth and remembered Miranda. His imagination to-night refused the cold voyage into space. His father's figures, after which his mind had so often adventurously39 strained, were senseless.
His attention fell suddenly asleep at the telescope.
He realised that his father was asking him whether the transit was finished. He started into watchfulness40 and replied, still indifferently, that it was.
Mr. Paragon was mortified41. He showed Peter[Pg 20] the wonders of the universe with a sort of proprietary42 satisfaction. He was proud of the size of Jupiter. He was personally exalted43 that the distance between the earth and the moon should be 240,000 miles. He had the pride of a conscientious44 cicerone; of the native who does the honours of his town. Peter to-night was disappointing.
"Well," said Mr. Paragon desperately45, "what do you think of it?"
"It was very clear," Peter dutifully answered.
"There's not many lads your age," grumbled46 Mr. Paragon, "that have seen a transit of Jupiter's third moon."
"I know," said Peter, trying to feel excited and grateful. He had been looking forward to this evening for weeks. Why was he unable to enjoy it?
He repeated the question to himself as, half an hour later, he lay peacefully in bed. Then he found himself trying to remember the exact phrase about Romeo and the little stars.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
paragon
|
|
| n.模范，典型 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
chrysanthemum
|
|
| n.菊，菊花 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
meditated
|
|
| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
softened
|
|
| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
orator
|
|
| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
connoisseur
|
|
| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
laborious
|
|
| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
convoy
|
|
| vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
harassed
|
|
| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
competence
|
|
| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
pretences
|
|
| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
actively
|
|
| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
frigidity
|
|
| n.寒冷；冷淡；索然无味；（尤指妇女的）性感缺失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
manly
|
|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
defiant
|
|
| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
quailing
|
|
| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
20
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
surmises
|
|
| v.臆测，推断( surmise的第三人称单数 )；揣测；猜想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
transit
|
|
| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
overthrew
|
|
| overthrow的过去式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
mutation
|
|
| n.变化，变异，转变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
awed
|
|
| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
lone
|
|
| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
poignancy
|
|
| n.辛酸事，尖锐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
shuddering
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
coffin
|
|
| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
coffins
|
|
| n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
trophies
|
|
| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
obstinate
|
|
| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
confirmation
|
|
| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
extinction
|
|
| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
exclamation
|
|
| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
adventurously
|
|
| adv.爱冒险地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
40
watchfulness
|
|
| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
mortified
|
|
| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
proprietary
|
|
| n.所有权，所有的；独占的；业主 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
exalted
|
|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
conscientious
|
|
| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |