Part 3 In The Shadow Chapter 5

One day, in the first fortnight of June, as old Yvonne was returninghome, some neighbours told her that she had been sent for by theCommissioner from the Naval¹ Registry Office. Of course it concernedher grandson, but that did not frighten her in the least. The familiesof seafarers are used to the Naval Registry, and she, the daughter,wife, mother, and grandmother of seamen², had known that office for thepast sixty years.

　　Doubtless it had to do with his "delegation"; or perhaps there was asmall prize-money account from /La Circe/ to take through her proxy³.

　　As she knew what respect was due to "/Monsieur le Commissaire/," sheput on her best gown and a clean white cap, and set out about twoo'clock.

　　Trotting along swiftly on the pathways of the cliff, she nearedPaimpol; and musing⁴ upon these two months without letters, she grew abit anxious.

　　She met her old sweetheart sitting out at his door. He had greatlyaged since the appearance of the winter cold.

　　"Eh, eh! When you're ready, you know, don't make any ceremony, mybeauty!" That "suit of deal" still haunted his mind.

　　The joyous⁶ brightness of June smiled around her. On the rocky heightsthere still grew the stunted⁷ reeds with their yellow blossoms; butpassing into the hollow nooks sheltered against the bitter sea winds,one met with high sweet-smelling grass. But the poor old woman did notsee all this, over whose head so many rapid seasons had passed, whichnow seemed as short as days.

　　Around the crumbling⁸ hamlet with its gloomy walls grew roses, pinks,and stocks; and even up on the tops of the whitewashed⁹ and mossyroofs, sprang the flowerets that attracted the first "miller"butterflies of the season.

　　This spring-time was almost without love in the land of Icelanders,and the beautiful lasses of proud race, who sat out dreaming on theirdoorsteps, seemed to look far beyond the visible things with theirblue or brown eyes. The young men, who were the objects of theirmelancholy and desires, were remote, fishing on the northern seas.

　　But it was a spring-time for all that--warm, sweet, and troubling,with its buzzing of flies and perfume of young plants.

　　And all this soulless freshness smiled upon the poor old grandmother,who was quickly walking along to hear of the death of her last-borngrandson. She neared the awful moment when this event, which had takenplace in the so distant Chinese seas, was to be told to her; she wastaking that sinister¹⁰ walk that Sylvestre had divined at his death-hour--the sight of that had torn his last agonized¹¹ tears from him; hisdarling old granny summoned to Paimpol to be told that he was dead!

　　Clearly he had seen her pass along that road, running straight on,with her tiny brown shawl, her umbrella, and large head-dress. Andthat apparition¹² had made him toss and writhe¹³ in fearful anguish¹⁴, whilethe huge, red sun of the Equator, disappearing in its glory, peeredthrough the port-hole of the hospital to watch him die. But he, in hislast hallucination, had seen his old granny moving under a rain-ladensky, and on the contrary a joyous laughing spring-time mocked her onall sides.

　　Nearing Paimpol, she became more and more uneasy, and improved herspeed. Now she is in the gray town with its narrow granite¹⁵ streets,where the sun falls, bidding good-day to some other old women, hercontemporaries, sitting at their windows. Astonished to see her; theysaid: "Wherever is she going so quickly, in her Sunday gown, on aweek-day?""Monsieur le Commissaire" of the Naval Enlistment¹⁶ Office was not injust then. One ugly little creature, about fifteen years old, who washis clerk, sat at his desk. As he was too puny¹⁷ to be a fisher, he hadreceived some education and passed his time in that same chair, in hisblack linen¹⁸ dust-sleeves, scratching away at paper.

　　With a look of importance, when she had said her name, he got up toget the official documents from off a shelf.

　　There were a great many papers--what did it all mean? Parchments,sealed papers, a sailor's record-book, grown yellow on the sea, andover all floated an odour of death. He spread them all out before thepoor old woman, who began to tremble and feel dizzy. She had justrecognized two of the letters which Gaud used to write for her to hergrandson, and which were now returned to her never unsealed. The samething had happened twenty years ago at the death of her son Pierre;the letters had been sent back from China to "Monsieur leCommissaire," who had given them to her thus.

　　Now he was reading out in a consequential¹⁹ voice: "Moan, Jean-Marie-Sylvestre, registered at Paimpol, folio 213, number 2091, died onboard the /Bien Hoa/, on the 14th of ----.""What--what has happened to him, my good sir?""Discharged--dead," he answered.

　　It wasn't because this clerk was unkind, but if he spoke²⁰ in thatbrutal way, it was through want of judgment²¹, and from lack ofintelligence in the little incomplete being.

　　As he saw that she did not understand that technical expression, hesaid in Breton:

　　"/Marw eo/!""/Marw eo/!" (He is dead.)She repeated the words after him, in her aged⁵ tremulous voice, as apoor cracked echo would send back some indifferent phrase. So what shehad partly foreseen was true; but it only made her tremble; now thatit was certain, it seemed to affect her no more. To begin with, herfaculty to suffer was slightly dulled by old age, especially sincethis last winter. Pain did not strike her immediately. Somethingseemed to fall upside down in her brain, and somehow or another shemixed this death up with others. She had lost so many of them before.

　　She needed a moment to grasp that this was her very last one, herdarling, the object of all her prayers, life, and waiting, and of allher thoughts, already darkened by the sombre approach of secondchildhood.

　　She felt a sort of shame at showing her despair before this littlegentleman who horrified²² her. Was that the way to tell a grandmother ofher darling's death? She remained standing²³ before the desk, stiffened,and tearing the fringes of her brown shawl with her poor aged hands,sore and chapped with washing.

　　How far away she felt from home! Goodness! what a long walk back to begone through, and steadily²⁴, too, before nearing the whitewashed hut inwhich she longed to shut herself up, like a wounded beast who hides inits hole to die. And so she tried not to think too much and not tounderstand yet, frightened above all at the long home-journey.

　　They gave her an order to go and take, as the heiress, the thirtyfrancs that came from the sale of Sylvestre's bag; and then theletters, the certificates, and the box containing the military medal.

　　She took the whole parcel awkwardly with open fingers, unable to findpockets to put them in.

　　She went straight through Paimpol, looking at no one, her body bentslightly like one about to fall, with a rushing of blood in her ears;pressing and hurrying along like some poor old machine, which couldnot be wound up, at a great pressure, for the last time, without fearof breaking its springs.

　　At the third mile she went along quite bent²⁵ in two and exhausted²⁶; fromtime to time her foot struck against the stones, giving her a painfulshock up to the very head. She hurried to bury herself in her home,for fear of falling and having to be carried there.

1 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

2 seamen   

n.海员

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather. 有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• In the storm, many seamen wished they were on shore. 在暴风雨中，许多海员想，要是他们在陆地上就好了。

3 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

4 musing   

n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, with a musing face. “九点在台尔森银行大厦见面，”他想道。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
• She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. 她把那件上衣放到一边，站着沉思了一会儿。

5 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

6 joyous   

adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的

参考例句：

• The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
• They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。

7 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。

8 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

9 whitewashed   

粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The wall had been whitewashed. 墙已粉过。
• The towers are in the shape of bottle gourds and whitewashed. 塔呈圆形，状近葫芦，外敷白色。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文

10 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

11 agonized   

v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦

参考例句：

• All the time they agonized and prayed. 他们一直在忍受痛苦并且祈祷。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She agonized herself with the thought of her loss. 她念念不忘自己的损失，深深陷入痛苦之中。 来自辞典例句

12 apparition   

n.幽灵，神奇的现象

参考例句：

• He saw the apparition of his dead wife.他看见了他亡妻的幽灵。
• But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.这新出现的幽灵吓得我站在那里一动也不敢动。

13 writhe   

vt.挣扎，痛苦地扭曲；vi.扭曲，翻腾，受苦；n.翻腾，苦恼

参考例句：

• They surely writhe under this pressure.他们肯定对这种压力感到苦恼。
• Her words made him writhe with shame.她的话使他惭愧地感到浑身不自在。

14 anguish   

n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼

参考例句：

• She cried out for anguish at parting.分手时，她由于痛苦而失声大哭。
• The unspeakable anguish wrung his heart.难言的痛苦折磨着他的心。

15 granite   

adj.花岗岩，花岗石

参考例句：

• They squared a block of granite.他们把一块花岗岩加工成四方形。
• The granite overlies the older rocks.花岗岩躺在磨损的岩石上面。

16 enlistment   

n.应征入伍，获得，取得

参考例句：

• Illness as a disqualification for enlistment in the army. 疾病是取消参军入伍资格的一个原因。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• One obstacle to the enlistment of able professors was that they had to take holy orders. 征聘有才能的教授的障碍是他们必须成为牧师。 来自辞典例句

17 puny   

adj.微不足道的，弱小的

参考例句：

• The resources at the central banks' disposal are simply too puny.中央银行掌握的资金实在太少了。
• Antonio was a puny lad,and not strong enough to work.安东尼奥是个瘦小的小家伙，身体还不壮，还不能干活。

18 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

19 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

20 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：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

21 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

22 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

23 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

24 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

25 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

26 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。