When Pete went back into the room he found him struggling under the bedclothes, the sweat trickling2 down his face.
"Pete!" he cried chokingly—"I won't die!—I won't die!"
"And you w?an't, nuther," said Pete, soothing3 him.
"But I heard what the doctor said to you."
Pete was at a loss. He could lie if the lie were not too constructive4, but in a case like this he was done for.
"Well, d?an't you fret5, nohow," he murmured tenderly.
But it was no good telling Albert not to fret. He threw himself from side to side in the bed, moaned, and almost raved6. For months now he had known that he must die soon, but somehow the idea had not really come home to him till this moment. He would not let Pete leave him, though there was a load of mangolds to be brought in; he clung to his brother's hand like a child, and babbled7 of strange sins.
"I've been so wicked—I daren't die. I've been the lowest scum. I'm lost. Pete, I'm damned—I shall go to hell."
Albert had been known openly to scoff8 at hell, whereas Pete had never thought much about it. Now it confronted them both under a new aspect—the scoffer9 trembled and the thoughtless was preoccupied10.
"D?an't fret," reiterated11 poor Pete, desperate under the fresh complication of theology, "I reckon you're not bad enough to go to hell, surelye."
"But I'm the worst—the worst that ever was. I'm scum, I'm dirt"—and out poured more of the turbid12 stream, till Pete sickened.
"If I could only see a parson," sobbed13 Albert at last.
"A parson?"
"Yes—maybe he could comfort me. Oh, I know[Pg 368] I've mocked 'em and scoffed14 'em all my life, but I reckon they could do summat for me now."
In his weakness he had gone back not only to the religious terrors of his youth, but to the Sussex dialect he had long forgotten.
Pete scarcely knew what to do. He had become used to his brother's gradual disintegration15, but this utter collapse16 was terrifying. He offered his own ministrations.
"You've told me a dunnamany things, and you can tell me as many more as you justabout like"—touching the climax of self-sacrifice.
But Albert's weak mind clung to its first idea with scared tenacity17. He was still raving18 about it when Pete came in from his work that evening.
"I want a parson," he moaned, throwing himself about the bed, and his terrors seemed to grow upon him as the darkness grew.
Neither of them slept that night. Albert was half delirious19, and obsessed20 by the thought of hell. The room looked out on Boarzell, and he became convinced that the swart, tufted mass outlined against the sprinkled stars was hell, the country of the lost. He pictured himself wandering over and over it in torment21. He said he saw fire on it, scaring the superstitious22 Pete out of his life.
"On the great Moor23 of the lost
Wander all the proud and dead—
Those who brothers' blood have shed,
Those who brothers' love have crossed."
He broke into his own verse, pouring it out deliriously24:
"There's the shuddering25 ghost of me
Lips all black with fire and brine,
Chained between the libertine26
And the fasting Pharisee."
Then he became obsessed by the idea that he was out on the Moor, wandering on it, and bound to it. The[Pg 369] earth was red-hot under his feet, and he picked them up off the bed like a cat on hot bricks, till Pete began to laugh inanely27. He saw round him all the places he had known as a child, and called out for them, because he longed to escape to them from the burning Moor—"Castweasel! Castweasel!... Ramstile!... Ellenwhorne...."
It was strange to hear a man calling out the names of places in his fever as other men might call the names of people.
It was all a return to Albert's childhood. In spite of fifteen years in London, of a man's work and a man's love and a man's faith, he had gone back completely to the work and love and faith of his childhood. Odiam had swallowed him up, it had swallowed him up completely, his very hell was bounded by it. He spoke28 with a Sussex accent; he forgot the names of the women he had loved, and cried instead the names of places, and he forgot that he did not believe in hell, but thought of it as Boarzell Moor punctured29 by queer singing flames.
Pete lay and listened shuddering, waiting with sick desire for the kindling30 of the dawn and the whiteness that moved among the trees. At last they came, the sky bloomed, and the orchard31 flickered32 against it, stirred by a soundless wind. The poor fellow sat up in bed, all troubled and muddled33 by things that had never touched him before. He stretched himself and yawned from force of habit, for he was not in the least sleepy, then he began to dress.
"What is it?" mumbled34 Albert, himself again for a moment.
"I'm going to fetch a parson," said Pete.
It was very gallant35 of him to do so, for it meant venturing still further into new spheres of thought. None of the Backfields had been to church for years, though Reuben prided himself on being a good churchman, and Pete was rather at a loss what to do in a[Pg 370] ghostly crisis such as this. However, on one thing he was resolved—that he would not go through another night like the last, and he credited a parson with mysterious cabalistic powers which would miraculously36 soothe37 the invalid38 and assure him of sleep in future.
So he tramped off towards the Rectory, wondering a little what he should say when he got there, but leaving it to the inspiration of the moment. He warmed his honest heart with thoughts of Albert sleeping peacefully and dying beautifully, though it chilled him a little to think of death. Why could not Albert live?—Pete would have liked to think of him lying for years and years in that big untidy bed, pathetic and feeble, and always claiming by his weakness the whole strength that a day of unresting toil39 had left his brother.
The morning flushed. A soft pink crept into ponds and dawn-swung windows. The light perfumes of April softened40 the cold, clear air—the scent41 of sprouting42 leaves in the woods, and of primroses43 in the grass, while the anemones44 frothed scentless45 against the hedges. Pete was about half a mile from the village when he heard the sound of angry voices round a bend in the lane, pricked46 by little screams from a woman. Expecting a fight he hurried up eagerly, and was just in time to see one of the grandest upper cuts in his life. A short, well-built man in black had just knocked down a huge, hulking tramp who had evidently been improving the hour with a woman now blotted47 against the hedge. He lay flat in the road, unconscious, while his adversary48 stood over him, his fist still clenched49 and all the skin off his knuckles50.
"Lordy! but that wur justabout pr?aper!" cried Pete, bustling51 up, and sorry that the tramp showed no signs of getting on to his feet.
"It's settled him anyhow," said the man in black.
They both stooped and eyed him critically.
"You've landed him in a good pl?ace," said Pete; "a little farther back and he'd have been gone."
"Praise be to God that his life was spared."
Pete looked in some surprise at the bruiser, who continued:
"I'm out of practice, or I shouldn't have skinned myself like this—ah, here's Coalbran's trap. Perhaps he'll give you a lift, ma'am, into Peasmarsh."
The woman was helped into the trap, and after some discussion it was decided52 not to give themselves the trouble of taking the tramp to the police station, but to pull him to the side of the road and leave him to the consequences he had brought upon himself.
"He's had some punishment," said Pete when they were alone. He inspected the tramp, now feebly moaning, with the air of a connoisseur53. "I'm hemmed54 if I ever saw a purtier knock-out."
"I'm out of training, as I told you," said the stranger.
"Then you must have bin55 a valiant56 basher in your day. It's a pity you let yourself go slack."
"It was not becoming that I should use my fists, except to defend the weak. I am a minister of the Lord."
"A parson!" cried Pete.
"A minister of the Lord," repeated with some severity the man in black, "of the brotherhood57 named Ebenezer."
Pete remembered hearing that a new parson was coming to the local Methodists, but nothing had led him to expect such thrilling developments.
"I used to be in the fancy," said the minister, "but five years ago the Lord challenged me, and knocked me out in the first round."
Pete was following a train of thought.
"Is a minister the same as a parson?" he asked at length.
"Is a priest of Jehovah the same as a priest of Baal? For shame, young man!"
"I mean can a minister do wot a Parson does?—tell a poor feller wot's dying that he w?an't go to hell."
"Not if he's washed in the blood of the Lamb."
"That's wot I mean, surelye. Could you come and talk to a sick man about all that sort of thing?"
A gleam came into the minister's eyes, very much the same as when he had knocked out the tramp.
"Reckon I could!" he cried fierily58. "Reckon I can snatch a brand from the burning, reckon I can find the lost piece of silver; reckon I can save the wandering sheep, and wash it in the blood of the Lamb."
"Same as a parson?" enquired59 Pete anxiously.
"Better than any mitred priest of Ammon, for I shall not vex60 the sinner's soul with dead works, but wash it in the crimson61 fountain. You trust your sick man to me, young feller—I'll wash him in blood, I'll clothe him in righteousness, I'll feed him with salvation62."
"I'll justabout t?ake you to him, then. He asked fur a 'stablished parson, but I'd sooner far bring you, for, Lordy, if you ?un't the pr?aperest bruiser I've ever set eyes on."
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1
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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2
trickling
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| n.油画底色含油太多而成泡沫状突起v.滴( trickle的现在分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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constructive
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| adj.建设的，建设性的 | |
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fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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6
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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7
babbled
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| v.喋喋不休( babble的过去式和过去分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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8
scoff
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| n.嘲笑，笑柄，愚弄；v.嘲笑，嘲弄，愚弄，狼吞虎咽 | |
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9
scoffer
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| 嘲笑者 | |
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10
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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11
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
turbid
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| adj.混浊的，泥水的，浓的 | |
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13
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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14
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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17
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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18
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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19
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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21
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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22
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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24
deliriously
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| adv.谵妄（性）；发狂；极度兴奋/亢奋；说胡话 | |
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25
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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26
libertine
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| n.淫荡者；adj.放荡的，自由思想的 | |
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27
inanely
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28
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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29
punctured
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| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
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30
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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31
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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32
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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34
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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36
miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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37
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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38
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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39
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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40
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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41
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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42
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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43
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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44
anemones
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| n.银莲花( anemone的名词复数 )；海葵 | |
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45
scentless
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| adj.无气味的，遗臭已消失的 | |
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46
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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47
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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48
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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49
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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51
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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52
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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53
connoisseur
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| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
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54
hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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55
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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56
valiant
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| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
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57
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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58
fierily
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| 如火地，炽热地，猛烈地 | |
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59
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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60
vex
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| vt.使烦恼，使苦恼 | |
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61
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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62
salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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