Then winter came, with carol-singing, and the choristers tramped round, lantern-led, from farm to farm. There in the fluttering light outside Kitchenhour, Old Turk, Ellenwhorne, or Edzell, Robert would watch Bessie's chicory-flower eyes under her hood2, while the steam of their breath mingled3 in the frosty air, and they drooped4 their heads together, singing to each other, only to each other, "Good King Wenceslas," "As Joseph was a-walking," or "In the Fields with their Flocks."
As they were both simple souls, their love only made the words more real. Sometimes it seemed almost as if they could see up in the white glistering field behind the barn, the manger with the baby in it, the mother watching near, and the ox and the ass5 standing6 meekly7 beside them in the straw. Bessie said she felt sure that the shepherds watched their flocks by night in the little old meadow at the corner of Totease ... she once thought she had heard them singing. But she would not go and look.
As the year climbed up again into spring, a tender pity for Bessie mingled with Robert's love. It was not the pity which begets8 love, but the sweeter kind which is begotten9 of it. Robert forgot all about his own hard life, the monotonous10 ruthless grind of work, the absence of all softness, homeliness11, or sympathy, the denial of all gaiety and sport. He thought only of Bessie's troubles, and would have given the world to lighten[Pg 144] them. He longed to give her some little treat, or a present. But he had no money. For the first time he inwardly rebelled against the system which kept him penniless. None of the boys had any money, except Pete on Fair days—not even Albert, for the Rye Advertiser did not pay its poets. For the first time Robert saw this as unjust.
March blew some warm twilights to Peasmarsh, and the choristers began their summer lingering. Bessie and Robert often took the longer way home by Ellenwhorne—he would not leave her now till they were at her cottage door, and often he would run home hare-footed from Eggs Hole, afraid that he might be shut out of Odiam, and perhaps his precious comradeship discovered and put under the tyrant's ban.
Then came an evening in April, when the air smelled of primroses12 and young leaves. The choir13 practice was early, and rifts14 of sunshine sloped up the clerk's kitchen, linking in one golden slant15 Robert's dark healthy face just under the ceiling, Bessie's shoulders pressed against his arm, the frail16 old hands of Joe Hearsfield on his flute17, and the warm plum-brown of the bass18 viol close to the floor. To Robert it was all a dream of holiness and harmony. Old Spodgram confined himself almost entirely19 to two notes, Miss Hubble insisted on her four bars of arrears20, young Ditch extemporised an alto of surprising reediness, and Robert bellowed21 the last lines of the last verse just as the other choristers were loudly taking in breath preparatory to line three—but the whole thing was to him a foretaste of Paradise and the angels singing ever world without end.
When the practice was over it was still light, and Robert and Bessie turned inevitably22 along the little bostal that trickles23 through the fields towards Ramstile. As usual they did not speak, but in each glowed the thought that they had a full two hours to live through together in the mystery of these sorrowless fields.
The sun set as they came to Ellenwhorne. They stood and watched it dip behind the little cluster of roofs and oast-houses in the west. The turrets25 of the oasts stood out black against the crimson26, then suddenly they purpled, faded into their background of night-washed cloud.
The fields were very dark in their low corners, only their high sweeps shimmered28 in the ghostly lemon glow. Out of the rabbit-warrens along the hedges, from the rims27 of the woods, ran the rabbits to scuttle29 and play. Bessie and Robert saw the bob of their white tails through the dusk, and now and then a little long-eared shape.
The boy and girl were still silent. But in the consciousness each had of the other, kindled30 and spread a strange dear poignancy31. They walked side by side through the dusk, now faintly cold. Dew began to tremble and shine on the grass, to pearl the brambles and glimmer32 on the twigs33.
Robert looked sideways at Bessie. She was colourless in the dark, or rather coloured all over with the same soft grey, which gathered up into itself the purple of her gown and the pale web of her hair. In her eyes was a quiver of starlight.
Their feet splashed on the soaking grass, and suddenly Bessie stopped and lifted her shoe:
"It's justabout wet, Robby."
He looked.
"So it be—I shudn't have brought you through all this damp grass. We shud have gone by the lane, I reckon."
"Oh, no," she breathed, and her voice and the half-seen glimmer of her eyes troubled him strangely.
"Lookee, I'll carry you—you mustn't git wet."
She opened her lips to protest, but the sound died on them, for he stooped and swept her up in his arms. She slipped her hand to his neck to steady herself, and they went forward again towards the south.
Bessie was a sturdily built little person, but the weight of her was a rich delight, and if his arms strained, they strained with tenderness as well as with effort. Under them her frock crushed and gave out a fragrance34 of crumpled35 cotton, her hand was warm against his neck, and on his cheek tickled36 her soft hair. The shadows ran towards them from the corners of the field, slipping like ghosts over the grass, and one or two pale stars kindled before them, where the sky dropped into the woods.... An owl24 lifted his note of sadness, which wandered away over the fields to Ellenwhorne....
Her young face bowed to his neck, and suddenly his lips crept round and lay against the coolness of her cheek. She did not move, and he still walked on, the grass splashing under his feet, the rabbits scampering37 round him, showing their little cotton-tails in the dark.
Then his mouth stole downwards38 and groped for hers. Their lips fluttered together like moths39. Then suddenly she put her arms round his neck, and strained his head to her, and kissed him and kissed him, with queer little sobs40 in her throat....
He still walked on through the deepening night and skipping rabbits. He never paused, just carried her and kissed her; and she kissed him, stroking his face with her hands—and all without a word.
At last they reached the lane by Eggs Hole Cottage, which with shimmering41 star-washed front looked towards the south. He stopped, and she slid to the ground. Then suddenly the words came.
"Oh, my liddle thing! My dear liddle thing ... my sweet liddle thing!"
"Robby, Robby...."
They kissed each other again and again, eagerly like children, but with the tears of men and women in their eyes.
"Robby ... I love you ... I love you so!"
"Oh, you liddle thing!"
They were hungry ... their arms wound about each other and their faces pressed close, now cheek to cheek, now with lips fluttering together in those sweet kisses of youth which have so much of shyness in their passion.
Suddenly a light kindled in the little house. Bessie slipped from him, and ran up the pathway into the dark gape42 of the door.
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1
tinted
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| adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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3
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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drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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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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7
meekly
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| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
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8
begets
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| v.为…之生父( beget的第三人称单数 )；产生，引起 | |
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9
begotten
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| v.为…之生父( beget的过去分词 )；产生，引起 | |
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10
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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homeliness
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| n.简朴，朴实；相貌平平 | |
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12
primroses
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| n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果） | |
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13
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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14
rifts
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| n.裂缝( rift的名词复数 )；裂隙；分裂；不和 | |
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15
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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16
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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17
flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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18
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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19
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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21
bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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23
trickles
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| n.细流( trickle的名词复数 )；稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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24
owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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25
turrets
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| （六角）转台( turret的名词复数 )； （战舰和坦克等上的）转动炮塔； （摄影机等上的）镜头转台； （旧时攻城用的）塔车 | |
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26
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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27
rims
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| n.（圆形物体的）边( rim的名词复数 )；缘；轮辋；轮圈 | |
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28
shimmered
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
scuttle
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| v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗 | |
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30
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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poignancy
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| n.辛酸事，尖锐 | |
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32
glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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33
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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34
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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35
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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36
tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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37
scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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38
downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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39
moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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40
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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41
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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42
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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