Five days afterward7, as Major Bergan was about to sally forth8 for his customary morning visit to his beloved rice fields, a letter was put into his hands. It ran as follows:
"DEAR MAJOR BERGAN: I duly received your notice of foreclosure, and I thank you for the measure of forbearance that you have hitherto exercised toward me. As you are doubtless aware, I have no means of paying off the mortgage, except by the sale of the property which it covers. As I am about to leave Berganton, for a time, on account of my daughter's health, I hereby surrender my house and grounds into your hands, to be sold, or otherwise disposed of, as you may deem best for our mutual9 interests. If they sell for more than the amount of the mortgage (as I hope they will), I know I may safely trust to you, as a man of honor, and a good friend of my late husband, to hold the balance subject to my order. You will find the house in charge of my old and faithful servant, Cato; whom I also venture to commend to your kind care, until I shall be able to send for him. I cannot find it in my heart to sell him; besides, he is too old to be of much value, though still quite able to earn his bread, on your plantation10.
"This is not a man's way of doing business, I am well aware; it is only a woman's way of shirking responsibility, in matters that she does not understand. I know that my interests are safer in your hands than in my own. As soon as I am comfortably settled anywhere, I will let you know my address. Till then, believe me,
"Very truly yours,
"CATHERINE LYTE."
It will be seen that this epistle was a masterpiece of diplomacy11, in its way. Though it proved Mrs. Lyte to be a most unbusiness-like woman, it none the less evinced her thorough knowledge of the one-sided and contradictory12 character of the man with whom she had to deal. Grasping and impracticable as Major Bergan would be sure to be, with a surly and obstinate13 debtor who met him squarely on his own ground, she believed that he would not fail to show himself scrupulously14 just, and even generous, to the woman who, without a word of reproach or remonstrance15, quietly resigned herself and her affairs into his hands, to be dealt with according to his good pleasure.
In this conclusion, she was justified16 by the event. A more astonished and disgusted man than Major Bergan, after he had mastered the contents of her letter, it would be hard to find. For once, even his brandy bottle was empty of comfort. He could only partially17 relieve his mind, while his horse was being saddled, by pouring forth volley upon volley of curses; distributed, impartially18, at first, among Mrs. Lyte, Doctor Remy, his nephew, his frightened servants, and himself. Later, his wrath19 began to concentrate itself on Doctor Remy. That personage had undoubtedly20 influenced him to the commission of the act which he now stigmatized21, in his most emphatic22 manner, as unworthy a Bergan and a gentleman. In return, he threatened to break every bone in the doctor's body, and grimly consigned24 the fragments to a place of deposit always much in favor with men of his habits. Finally, he mounted his horse, and trotted25 rapidly toward Berganton.
His first visit was, of course, to Doctor Remy. With the most imperturbable26 good humor, that gentleman listened to the flow of his oaths and objurgations, until it had partially exhausted27 itself by its own fury. He then assured the Major that his surprise and regret at Mrs. Lyte's departure were fully28 equalled by his own. The thing had been managed so quietly and adroitly29, that he had not suspected it, until his attention had been attracted by the deserted30 look of the house. At the same time, he must acknowledge that it was only a short time since he had advised Mrs. Lyte to try a change of air, both for herself and her daughter; and doubtless that had had its share in influencing her action. Besides, it was on the whole the best thing that could do to take Miss Astra out of the way, until the present cloud of gossip had blown over. Finally, he threw out a suggestion that the twain had possibly gone to join Mr. Arling.
Hereupon, Major Bergan's wrath broke out afresh. It was not in human nature—certainly not in that particular species of human nature represented by the Major—to hear with equanimity31 that the very measure which he had taken to prevent what he considered to be an unsuitable marriage, had possibly availed to hasten it forward. The walls of the doctor's office trembled with the oral thunderbolts launched at the offenders32. In due time, however, these also subsided33 into the low growl34 of the exhausted tempest; dying away, at last, in muttered imprecations upon that curious turn of events—the grim humor of which the Major was now quite capable of appreciating—which had made him the trustee of Mrs. Lyte's affairs, and the guardian35 of her interests.
To the Major's credit be it spoken, that he was incapable36 of betraying the trust thus committed to him. Quitting Doctor Remy's office, he went in search of old Cato, put the premises37 in his charge during the absence of his mistress, promised him an occasional visit of inspection38 (and a sound thrashing if all was not found in complete order), made due provision for his maintenance, and then took himself grumblingly39 home, to drown the remnant of his chagrin40 in the Lethean glass that had already swallowed up so many of his better thoughts, impulses, and characteristics.
Of course, Mrs. Lyte's departure—or flight, as it was not infrequently termed—made the nine days' wonder of Berganton. Some few gentle, charitable souls there were, no doubt, who, judging their neighbor by themselves, saw no harm either in the fact or the manner of her going. She was ill; so was her daughter; they had neither time nor heart for leavetakings. But there were others, wise in the crooked41 ways of the human heart through much practice therein, who scrupled42 not to find motives43 and objects for the course of the pale-faced widow and her gifted daughter, with which it is not necessary to stain this page. There was the more room for this, inasmuch as Major Bergan, partly out of consideration for Mrs. Lyte, and partly out of shame on his own account, had taken care that the existence of the mortgage should not transpire45. Yet Mrs. Lyte had depended upon the ultimate disclosure of this fact, to furnish that explanation of her departure which she had shunned46 to give herself, and to turn the current of popular sympathy in her favor. In yielding to Astra's morbid47 desire not only to leave the scene of her untoward48 love behind, but to do it in such swift and silent wise that neither curiosity, nor sympathy, nor malevolence49, could immediately follow them, to inflict50 their various torture upon her sore heart, Mrs. Lyte had looked confidently forward to this forthcoming justification51 of her step. Her old friends, she thought, would be sure to understand the feeling that led her to flee from the sight of the sale of her lifelong home (it might be under the auctioneer's hammer), and to shut off all means of communication between herself and the painful transaction, until time had given her strength to bear it.
Next to Major Bergan, the person who felt most aggrieved52 at the fact and manner of her departure was Carice. Astra, to be sure, had not failed to send her friend a brief note of farewell; but it was couched in such vague terms, owing to the confusion and distress53 of mind in which it had been written, as to afford little satisfaction to the reader. She could only gather from it that, in one way or another, Astra's happiness was very seriously compromised; so much so as to make a change desirable, though it were only a change of pain. And, in Carice's present circumstances, this was either too much or too little. The rumors54 which had filled Berganton had found their way to Oakstead also; and, for the first time in their lives, parents and daughter were divided in sentiment, and alien in sympathy. Mr. and Mrs. Bergan—terrified that their idolized child should have given her heart to a man persistently55 held up to view as a thin mask of outward morality over an inward rottenness of intemperance56, indebtedness, and unscrupulous trifling57 with affection—could think of no better way of correcting the mischief58 than by continually repeating in her unwilling59 ears the various dark rumors in circulation, together with such facts and theories as tended to confirm them. Carice, on her part, turned from them all with the instinctive60 disgust of a pure mind, and the generous faith and confidence of a true affection. And she was right. Trust, as long as it is in anywise possible, is the heart's deepest wisdom, as well as its surest instinct.
Nevertheless, it was hard to find her parents arrayed against her, with all the rest of the world. Duty, decorum, forbade her to set up her own opinion in opposition61 to theirs; often she had but to listen in silence to statements and inferences which she could neither admit nor disprove. She would have been glad, therefore, had Astra's note furnished one scrap62 of evidence in support of her own convictions; on the contrary, its testimony63 went quite the other way. She could only neutralize64 its effect upon herself by supposing that Astra had given her affections to Bergan unsought, and was now suffering from a disappointment none the less bitter that she had brought it upon herself. But Carice was too delicate and generous to breathe this suspicion aloud; at the same time she knew that it would have no weight with minds so deeply prejudiced as those of her parents.
Carice's worst trial was, however, her growing wonder why nothing was heard from Bergan. His last words to her had been a promise to write immediately, both to her father and herself,—to the former by way of frankly65 avowing66 his love, and asking for permission to address his daughter; to the latter, as a necessary sequence to that brief interview by the singing river, the thought of which was Carice's one subject of delightful67 contemplation. But no letter came, not so much as a word of regret or excuse for necessary delay. As time dragged its slow length along, a touching68 look of wistfulness, mingled69 with a sorrowful patience, came into the face that had lately been so serenely70 happy,—a look over which Mr. and Mrs. Bergan scarcely knew whether most to lament71 or to rejoice, it was grievous to behold72 it there; and yet, if Bergan would only keep silent, she must eventually give him up!
Alas73 for Carice! there was no doubt whatever that Bergan would keep silent—or seem to do so. Her parents' minds would have been set at rest on that point, if they could invisibly have followed Doctor Remy into the Berganton Post Office some weeks previous, and listened to his conversation with the pale, slight, weak-looking young man in charge. One month before, he had so obstinately74 and successfully fought death at the bedside of this young man's newly wedded75 wife, as to call forth an unusual amount of gratitude76. To this fact he now alluded77.
"Well, Jekyll," said he, "I have come to make trial of that eternal gratitude which you swore to me, not long ago."
"I am glad of it, sir," responded Jekyll, warmly. "What can I do for you?"
"The question is rather, what will you do for me?" returned the doctor, with marked emphasis.
"Anything, anything, that is not wrong," replied Jekyll.
"Right and wrong are relative terms," replied Doctor Remy, quietly. "If you had understood the nature of the drugs which I gave your wife the other night, you would have said that I was trying to poison her;—yet, you see, I saved her life. It is the motive44 which determines the character of the act."
"Y-e-s, sir," rejoined Jekyll, considerably78 bewildered; but, nevertheless, feeling quite certain that so learned a man as Doctor Remy must understand these matters a great deal better than he did.
"And so," continued the doctor, suavely79, "what I am about to ask you to do, is not really wrong, though it may seem so at first sight. It is only a quiet method of averting80 a great deal of trouble and scandal from a very worthy23 family. Should you recognize this handwriting, if you were to see it again?"
Jekyll looked at the paper held towards him, and answered,—"Yes, certainly; it is—"
"Never mind whose it is," interrupted the doctor; "it is just as well not to know anything about that. Well, Jekyll, what I want you to do, is simply to keep a sharp lookout81 for any letters, in that handwriting, which may come to Godfrey Bergan, or his daughter, or his wife, and hand them over to me."
Jekyll opened his eyes wide with surprise and terror. "Good gracious!" he exclaimed, "it's a penitentiary82 business!"
"Not at all," replied Doctor Remy, calmly. "In the first place, no one will know anything about it but you and me. In the second, you are not doing this thing for your own advantage, but just to help me to save certain excellent people from sore sorrow and trouble."
Jekyll did not answer, but he still looked dismayed and unconvinced.
"If it will ease your scruples83 any," pursued the doctor, after a pause, "I don't mind telling you, in confidence, that Mr. Godfrey Bergan very much desires the suppression of these letters, though he does not want to appear in the matter himself. And you must admit that he has a right to control the correspondence of his own household.
"But why does he want his own letters stopped?" asked Jekyll.
"For the best of reasons,—he does not want to receive them. He prefers to be able to say that he hears nothing, and knows nothing. Therefore, you will readily understand that nothing is to be said, or even hinted, to him. He puts the matter in my hands, and you are responsible to me only."
It is unnecessary to trace the conversation to the end. Its results are already patent to the reader. Doctor Remy was specious84 and plausible85; Jekyll was weak and grateful; the yielding of the pliant86 nature of the former to the stronger one of the latter, could only be a question of time.
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1
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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purported
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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outlawed
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| 宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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stigmatized
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| v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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25
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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32
offenders
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| n.冒犯者( offender的名词复数 )；犯规者；罪犯；妨害…的人（或事物） | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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34
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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grumblingly
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| 喃喃报怨着，发牢骚着 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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scrupled
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| v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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45
transpire
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| v.(使)蒸发，(使)排出 ；泄露，公开 | |
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46
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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50
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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51
justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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52
aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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53
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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54
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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55
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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56
intemperance
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| n.放纵 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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59
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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60
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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62
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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64
neutralize
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| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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avowing
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| v.公开声明，承认( avow的现在分词 ) | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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69
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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70
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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71
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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obstinately
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| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
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75
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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77
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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79
suavely
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80
averting
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| 防止，避免( avert的现在分词 )； 转移 | |
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81
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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82
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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83
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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84
specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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85
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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86
pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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