A few days later Constance was arranging the more precious of her wedding presents in the parlour; some had to be wrapped in tissue and in brown paper and then tied with string and labelled; others had special cases of their own, leather without and velvet1 within. Among the latter was the resplendent egg-stand holding twelve silver-gilt egg-cups and twelve chased spoons to match, presented by Aunt Harriet. In the Five Towns' phrase, 'it must have cost money.' Even if Mr and Mrs. Povey had ten guests or ten children, and all the twelve of them were simultaneously2 gripped by a desire to eat eggs at breakfast or tea--even in this remote contingency3 Aunt Harriet would have been pained to see the egg-stand in use; such treasures are not designed for use. The presents, few in number, were mainly of this character, because, owing to her mother's heroic cession4 of the entire interior, Constance already possessed5 every necessary. The fewness of the presents was accounted for by the fact that the wedding had been strictly6 private and had taken place at Axe7. There is nothing like secrecy8 in marriage for discouraging the generous impulses of one's friends. It was Mrs. Baines, abetted9 by both the chief parties, who had decided10 that the wedding should be private and secluded11. Sophia's wedding had been altogether too private and secluded; but the casting of a veil over Constance's (whose union was irreproachable) somehow justified12, after the event, the circumstances of Sophia's, indicating as it did that Mrs. Baines believed in secret weddings on principle. In such matters Mrs. Baines was capable of extraordinary subtlety13.
And while Constance was thus taking her wedding presents with due seriousness, Maggie was cleaning the steps that led from the pavement of King Street to the side-door, and the door was ajar. It was a fine June morning.
Suddenly, over the sound of scouring14, Constance heard a dog's low growl15 and then the hoarse16 voice of a man:
"Mester in, wench?"
"Happen he is, happen he isn't," came Maggie's answer. She had no fancy for being called wench.
Constance went to the door, not merely from curiosity, but from a feeling that her authority and her responsibilities as house- mistress extended to the pavement surrounding the house.
The famous James Boon17, of Buck18 Row, the greatest dog-fancier in the Five Towns, stood at the bottom of the steps: a tall, fat man, clad in stiff, stained brown and smoking a black clay pipe less than three inches long. Behind him attended two bull-dogs.
"Morning, missis!" cried Boon, cheerfully. "I've heerd tell as th' mister is looking out for a dog, as you might say."
"I don't stay here with them animals a-sniffing at me--no, that I don't!" observed Maggie, picking herself up.
"Is he?" Constance hesitated. She knew that Samuel had vaguely19 referred to dogs; she had not, however, imagined that he regarded a dog as aught but a beautiful dream. No dog had ever put paw into that house, and it seemed impossible that one should ever do so. As for those beasts of prey20 on the pavement ...!
"Ay!" said James Boon, calmly.
"I'll tell him you're here," said Constance. "But I don't know if he's at liberty. He seldom is at this time of day. Maggie, you'd better come in."
She went slowly to the shop, full of fear for the future.
"Sam," she whispered to her husband, who was writing at his desk, "here's a man come to see you about a dog."
Assuredly he was taken aback. Still, he behaved with much presence of mind.
"Oh, about a dog! Who is it?"
"It's that Jim Boon. He says he's heard you want one."
The renowned21 name of Jim Boon gave him pause; but he had to go through with the affair, and he went through with it, though nervously22. Constance followed his agitated23 footsteps to the side- door.
"Morning, Boon."
"Morning, master."
They began to talk dogs, Mr Povey, for his part, with due caution.
"Now, there's a dog!" said Boon, pointing to one of the bull-dogs, a miracle of splendid ugliness.
"Yes," responded Mr. Povey, insincerely. "He is a beauty. What's it worth now, at a venture?"
"I'll tak' a hundred and twenty sovereigns for her," said Boon. "Th' other's a bit cheaper--a hundred."
"Oh, Sam!" gasped24 Constance.
And even Mr. Povey nearly lost his nerve. "That's more than I want to give," said he timidly.
"But look at her!" Boon persisted, roughly snatching up the more expensive animal, and displaying her cannibal teeth.
Mr. Povey shook his head. Constance glanced away.
"That's not quite the sort of dog I want," said Mr. Povey.
"Fox-terrier?"
"Yes, that's more like," Mr. Povey agreed eagerly.
"What'll ye run to?"
"Oh," said Mr. Povey, largely, "I don't know."
"Will ye run to a tenner?"
"I thought of something cheaper."
"Well, hoo much? Out wi' it, mester."
"Not more than two pounds," said Mr. Povey. He would have said one pound had he dared. The prices of dogs amazed him.
"I thowt it was a dog as ye wanted!" said Boon. "Look 'ere, mester. Come up to my yard and see what I've got."
"I will," said Mr. Povey.
"And bring missis along too. Now, what about a cat for th' missis? Or a gold-fish?"
The end of the episode was that a young lady aged25 some twelve months entered the Povey household on trial. Her exiguous26 legs twinkled all over the parlour, and she had the oddest appearance in the parlour. But she was so confiding27, so affectionate, so timorous28, and her black nose was so icy in that hot weather, that Constance loved her violently within an hour. Mr. Povey made rules for her. He explained to her that she must never, never go into the shop. But she went, and he whipped her to the squealing29 point, and Constance cried an instant, while admiring her husband's firmness.
The dog was not all.
On another day Constance, prying30 into the least details of the parlour, discovered a box of cigars inside the lid of the harmonium, on the keyboard. She was so unaccustomed to cigars that at first she did not realize what the object was. Her father had never smoked, nor drunk intoxicants; nor had Mr. Critchlow. Nobody had ever smoked in that house, where tobacco had always been regarded as equally licentious31 with cards, 'the devil's playthings.' Certainly Samuel had never smoked in the house, though the sight of the cigar-box reminded Constance of an occasion when her mother had announced an incredulous suspicion that Mr. Povey, fresh from an excursion into the world on a Thursday evening, 'smelt32 of smoke.'
She closed the harmonium and kept silence.
That very night, coming suddenly into the parlour, she caught Samuel at the harmonium. The lid went down with a resonant33 bang that awoke sympathetic vibrations34 in every corner of the room.
"What is it?" Constance inquired, jumping.
"Oh, nothing!" replied Mr. Povey, carelessly. Each was deceiving the other: Mr. Povey hid his crime, and Constance hid her knowledge of his crime. False, false! But this is what marriage is.
And the next day Constance had a visit in the shop from a possible new servant, recommended to her by Mr. Holl, the grocer.
"Will you please step this way?" said Constance, with affable primness35, steeped in the novel sense of what it is to be the sole responsible mistress of a vast household. She preceded the girl to the parlour, and as they passed the open door of Mr. Povey's cutting-out room, Constance had the clear vision and titillating36 odour of her husband smoking a cigar. He was in his shirt-sleeves, calmly cutting out, and Fan (the lady companion), at watch on the bench, yapped at the possible new servant.
"I think I shall try that girl," said she to Samuel at tea. She said nothing as to the cigar; nor did he.
On the following evening, after supper, Mr. Povey burst out:
"I think I'll have a weed! You didn't know I smoked, did you?"
Thus Mr. Povey came out in his true colours as a blood, a blade, and a gay spark.
But dogs and cigars, disconcerting enough in their degree, were to the signboard, when the signboard at last came, as skim milk is to hot brandy. It was the signboard that, more startlingly than anything else, marked the dawn of a new era in St. Luke's Square. Four men spent a day and a half in fixing it; they had ladders, ropes, and pulleys, and two of them dined on the flat lead roof of the projecting shop-windows. The signboard was thirty-five feet long and two feet in depth; over its centre was a semicircle about three feet in radius37; this semicircle bore the legend, judiciously38 disposed, "S. Povey. Late." All the sign-board proper was devoted39 to the words, "John Baines," in gold letters a foot and a half high, on a green ground.
The Square watched and wondered; and murmured: "Well, bless us! What next?"
It was agreed that in giving paramount40 importance to the name of his late father-in-law, Mr. Povey had displayed a very nice feeling.
Some asked with glee: "What'll the old lady have to say?"
Constance asked herself this, but not with glee. When Constance walked down the Square homewards, she could scarcely bear to look at the sign; the thought of what her mother might say frightened her. Her mother's first visit of state was imminent41, and Aunt Harriet was to accompany her. Constance felt almost sick as the day approached. When she faintly hinted her apprehensions42 to Samuel, he demanded, as if surprised--
"Haven't you mentioned it in one of your letters?"
"Oh NO!"
"If that's all," said he, with bravado43, "I'll write and tell her myself."
收听单词发音 |
1
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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cession
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| n.割让，转让 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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abetted
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| v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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12
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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scouring
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| 擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤 | |
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15
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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16
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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exiguous
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| adj.不足的，太少的 | |
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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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28
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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29
squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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30
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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31
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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32
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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33
resonant
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| adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的 | |
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34
vibrations
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| n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 )；震动；感受；（偏离平衡位置的）一次性往复振动 | |
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35
primness
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| n.循规蹈矩，整洁 | |
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36
titillating
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| adj.使人痒痒的； 使人激动的，令人兴奋的v.使觉得痒( titillate的现在分词 )；逗引；激发；使高兴 | |
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37
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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38
judiciously
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| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
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39
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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40
paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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41
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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42
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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