That evening Sally was making 'pinners' for the milkers, who werenow increased by two, for her mother and herself no longer joined inmilking the cows themselves. But upon the whole there was littlechange in the household economy, and not much in its appearance,beyond such minor1 particulars as that the crack over the window,which had been a hundred years coming, was a trifle wider; that thebeams were a shade blacker; that the influence of modernism hadsupplanted the open chimney corner by a grate; that Rebekah, who hadworn a cap when she had plenty of hair, had left it off now she hadscarce any, because it was reported that caps were not fashionable;and that Sally's face had naturally assumed a more womanly andexperienced cast.
Mrs. Hall was actually lifting coals with the tongs3, as she had usedto do.
'Five years ago this very night, if I am not mistaken--' she said,laying on an ember.
'Not this very night--though 'twas one night this week,' said thecorrect Sally.
'Well, 'tis near enough. Five years ago Mr. Darton came to marryyou, and my poor boy Phil came home to die.' She sighed. 'Ah,Sally,' she presently said, 'if you had managed well Mr. Dartonwould have had you, Helena or none.'
'Don't be sentimental4 about that, mother,' begged Sally. 'I didn'tcare to manage well in such a case. Though I liked him, I wasn't soanxious. I would never have married the man in the midst of such ahitch as that was,' she added with decision; 'and I don't think Iwould if he were to ask me now.'
'I am not sure about that, unless you have another in your eye.'
'I wouldn't; and I'll tell you why. I could hardly marry him forlove at this time o' day. And as we've quite enough to live on ifwe give up the dairy to-morrow, I should have no need to marry forany meaner reason . . . I am quite happy enough as I am, and there'san end of it.'
Now it was not long after this dialogue that there came a mild rapat the door, and in a moment there entered Rebekah, looking asthough a ghost had arrived. The fact was that that accomplishedskimmer and churner (now a resident in the house) had overheard thedesultory observations between mother and daughter, and on openingthe door to Mr. Darton thought the coincidence must have a grislymeaning in it. Mrs. Hall welcomed the farmer with warm surprise, asdid Sally, and for a moment they rather wanted words.
'Can you push up the chimney-crook for me, Mr Darton? the notcheshitch,' said the matron. He did it, and the homely5 little actbridged over the awkward consciousness that he had been a strangerfor four years.
Mrs. Hall soon saw what he had come for, and left the principalstogether while she went to prepare him a late tea, smiling atSally's recent hasty assertions of indifference6, when she saw howcivil Sally was. When tea was ready she joined them. She fanciedthat Darton did not look so confident as when he had arrived; butSally was quite light-hearted, and the meal passed pleasantly.
About seven he took his leave of them. Mrs. Hall went as far as thedoor to light him down the slope. On the doorstep he said frankly--'I came to ask your daughter to marry me; chose the night andeverything, with an eye to a favourable7 answer. But she won't.'
'Then she's a very ungrateful girl!' emphatically said Mrs. Hall.
Darton paused to shape his sentence, and asked, 'I--I supposethere's nobody else more favoured?'
'I can't say that there is, or that there isn't,' answered Mrs.
Hall. 'She's private in some things. I'm on your side, however,Mr. Darton, and I'll talk to her.'
'Thank 'ee, thank 'ee!' said the farmer in a gayer accent; and withthis assurance the not very satisfactory visit came to an end.
Darton descended8 the roots of the sycamore, the light was withdrawn,and the door closed. At the bottom of the slope he nearly ranagainst a man about to ascend9.
'Can a jack-o'-lent believe his few senses on such a dark night, orcan't he?' exclaimed one whose utterance10 Darton recognized in amoment, despite its unexpectedness. 'I dare not swear he can,though I fain would!' The speaker was Johns.
Darton said he was glad of this opportunity, bad as it was, ofputting an end to the silence of years, and asked the dairyman whathe was travelling that way for.
Japheth showed the old jovial11 confidence in a moment. 'I'm going tosee your--relations--as they always seem to me,' he said--'Mrs. Halland Sally. Well, Charles, the fact is I find the naturalbarbarousness of man is much increased by a bachelor life, and, asyour leavings were always good enough for me, I'm tryingcivilization here.' He nodded towards the house.
'Not with Sally--to marry her?' said Darton, feeling something likea rill of ice water between his shoulders.
'Yes, by the help of Providence12 and my personal charms. And I thinkI shall get her. I am this road every week--my present dairy isonly four miles off, you know, and I see her through the window.
'Tis rather odd that I was going to speak practical to-night to herfor the first time. You've just called?'
'Yes, for a short while. But she didn't say a word about you.'
'A good sign, a good sign. Now that decides me. I'll swing themallet and get her answer this very night as I planned.'
A few more remarks, and Darton, wishing his friend joy of Sally in aslightly hollow tone of jocularity, bade him good-bye. Johnspromised to write particulars, and ascended13, and was lost in theshade of the house and tree. A rectangle of light appeared whenJohns was admitted, and all was dark again.
'Happy Japheth!' said Darton. 'This then is the explanation!'
He determined14 to return home that night. In a quarter of an hour hepassed out of the village, and the next day went about his swede-lifting and storing as if nothing had occurred.
He waited and waited to hear from Johns whether the wedding-day wasfixed: but no letter came. He learnt not a single particular till,meeting Johns one day at a horse-auction15, Darton exclaimed genially16--rather more genially than he felt--'When is the joyful17 day to be?'
To his great surprise a reciprocity of gladness was not conspicuousin Johns. 'Not at all,' he said, in a very subdued18 tone. ''Tis abad job; she won't have me.'
Darton held his breath till he said with treacherous19 solicitude,'Try again--'tis coyness.'
'O no,' said Johns decisively. 'There's been none of that. Wetalked it over dozens of times in the most fair and square way. Shetells me plainly, I don't suit her. 'Twould be simply annoying herto ask her again. Ah, Charles, you threw a prize away when you lether slip five years ago.'
'I did--I did,' said Darton.
He returned from that auction with a new set of feelings in play.
He had certainly made a surprising mistake in thinking Johns hissuccessful rival. It really seemed as if he might hope for Sallyafter all.
This time, being rather pressed by business, Darton had recourse topen-and-ink, and wrote her as manly2 and straightforward20 a proposalas any woman could wish to receive. The reply came promptly:-'DEAR MR. DARTON,--I am as sensible as any woman can be of thegoodness that leads you to make me this offer a second time. Betterwomen than I would be proud of the honour, for when I read your nicelong speeches on mangold-wurzel, and such like topics, at theCasterbridge Farmers' Club, I do feel it an honour, I assure you.
But my answer is just the same as before. I will not try to explainwhat, in truth, I cannot explain--my reasons; I will simply say thatI must decline to be married to you. With good wishes as in formertimes, I am, your faithful friend,'SALLY HALL.'
Darton dropped the letter hopelessly. Beyond the negative, therewas just a possibility of sarcasm21 in it--'nice long speeches onmangold-wurzel' had a suspicious sound. However, sarcasm or none,there was the answer, and he had to be content.
He proceeded to seek relief in a business which at this timeengrossed much of his attention--that of clearing up a curiousmistake just current in the county, that he had been nearly ruinedby the recent failure of a local bank. A farmer named Darton hadlost heavily, and the similarity of name had probably led to theerror. Belief in it was so persistent22 that it demanded several daysof letter-writing to set matters straight, and persuade the worldthat he was as solvent23 as ever he had been in his life. He hadhardly concluded this worrying task when, to his delight, anotherletter arrived in the handwriting of Sally.
Darton tore it open; it was very short.
'DEAR MR. DARTON,--We have been so alarmed these last few days bythe report that you were ruined by the stoppage of --'s Bank, that,now it is contradicted I hasten, by my mother's wish, to say howtruly glad we are to find there is no foundation for the report.
After your kindness to my poor brother's children, I can do no lessthan write at such a moment. We had a letter from each of them afew days ago.--Your faithful friend,'SALLY HALL.'
'Mercenary little woman!' said Darton to himself with a smile.
'Then that was the secret of her refusal this time--she thought Iwas ruined.'
Now, such was Darton, that as hours went on he could not helpfeeling too generously towards Sally to condemn24 her in this. Whatdid he want in a wife? he asked himself. Love and integrity. Whatnext? Worldly wisdom. And was there really more than worldlywisdom in her refusal to go aboard a sinking ship? She now knew itwas otherwise. 'Begad,' he said, 'I'll try her again.'
The fact was he had so set his heart upon Sally, and Sally alone,that nothing was to be allowed to baulk him; and his reasoning waspurely formal.
Anniversaries having been unpropitious, he waited on till a brightday late in May--a day when all animate25 nature was fancying, in itstrusting, foolish way, that it was going to bask26 out of doors forevermore. As he rode through Long-Ash Lane it was scarcerecognizable as the track of his two winter journeys. No mistakecould be made now, even with his eyes shut. The cuckoo's note wasat its best, between April tentativeness and midsummer decrepitude,and the reptiles27 in the sun behaved as winningly as kittens on ahearth. Though afternoon, and about the same time as on the lastoccasion, it was broad day and sunshine when he entered Hintock, andthe details of the Knap dairy-house were visible far up the road.
He saw Sally in the garden, and was set vibrating. He had firstintended to go on to the inn; but 'No,' he said; 'I'll tie my horseto the garden-gate. If all goes well it can soon be taken round:
if not, I mount and ride away'
The tall shade of the horseman darkened the room in which Mrs. Hallsat, and made her start, for he had ridden by a side path to the topof the slope, where riders seldom came. In a few seconds he was inthe garden with Sally.
Five--ay, three minutes--did the business at the back of that row ofbees. Though spring had come, and heavenly blue consecrated28 thescene, Darton succeeded not. 'NO,' said Sally firmly. 'I willnever, never marry you, Mr. Darton. I would have done it once; butnow I never can.'
'But!'--implored Mr. Darton. And with a burst of real eloquence29 hewent on to declare all sorts of things that he would do for her. Hewould drive her to see her mother every week--take her to London--settle so much money upon her--Heaven knows what he did not promise,suggest, and tempt30 her with. But it availed nothing. Sheinterposed with a stout31 negative, which closed the course of hisargument like an iron gate across a highway. Darton paused.
'Then,' said he simply, 'you hadn't heard of my supposed failurewhen you declined last time?'
'I had not,' she said. 'But if I had 'twould have been all thesame.'
'And 'tis not because of any soreness from my slighting you yearsago?'
'No. That soreness is long past.'
'Ah--then you despise me, Sally?'
'No,' she slowly answered. 'I don't altogether despise you. Idon't think you quite such a hero as I once did--that's all. Thetruth is, I am happy enough as I am; and I don't mean to marry atall. Now, may _I_ ask a favour, sir?' She spoke32 with an ineffablecharm, which, whenever he thought of it, made him curse his loss ofher as long as he lived.
'To any extent.'
'Please do not put this question to me any more. Friends as long asyou like, but lovers and married never.'
'I never will,' said Darton. 'Not if I live a hundred years.'
And he never did. That he had worn out his welcome in her heart wasonly too plain.
When his step-children had grown up, and were placed out in life,all communication between Darton and the Hall family ceased. It wasonly by chance that, years after, he learnt that Sally,notwithstanding the solicitations her attractions drew down uponher, had refused several offers of marriage, and steadily33 adhered toher purpose of leading a single lifeMay 1884.
收听单词发音 |
1
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
manly
|
|
| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
tongs
|
|
| n.钳；夹子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
homely
|
|
| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
favourable
|
|
| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ascend
|
|
| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
utterance
|
|
| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
jovial
|
|
| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
providence
|
|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
auction
|
|
| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
genially
|
|
| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
joyful
|
|
| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
treacherous
|
|
| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
straightforward
|
|
| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
sarcasm
|
|
| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
persistent
|
|
| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
solvent
|
|
| n.溶剂；adj.有偿付能力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
condemn
|
|
| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
animate
|
|
| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
bask
|
|
| vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
reptiles
|
|
| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
consecrated
|
|
| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
eloquence
|
|
| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tempt
|
|
| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |