CHAPTER VII

 Mr. Maumbry had over-exerted himself in the relief of the suffering poor, and fell a victim—one of the last—to the pestilence¹ which had carried off so many.  Two days later he lay in his coffin².

 

Laura was in the room below.  A servant brought in some letters, and she glanced them over.  One was the note from herself to Maumbry, informing him that she was unable to endure life with him any longer and was about to elope with Vannicock.  Having read the letter she took it upstairs to where the dead man was, and slipped it into his coffin.  The next day she buried him.

 

She was now free.

 

She shut up his house at Durnover Cross and returned to her lodgings³ at Creston.  Soon she had a letter from Vannicock, and six weeks after her husband’s death her lover came to see her.

 

‘I forgot to give you back this—that night,’ he said presently, handing her the little bag she had taken as her whole luggage when leaving.

 

Laura received it and absently shook it out.  There fell upon the carpet her brush, comb, slippers⁴, nightdress, and other simple necessaries for a journey.  They had an intolerably ghastly look now, and she tried to cover them.

 

‘I can now,’ he said, ‘ask you to belong to me legally—when a proper interval⁵ has gone—instead of as we meant.’

 

There was languor⁶ in his utterance⁷, hinting at a possibility that it was perfunctorily made.  Laura picked up her articles, answering that he certainly could so ask her—she was free.  Yet not her expression either could be called an ardent⁸ response.  Then she blinked more and more quickly and put her handkerchief to her face.  She was weeping violently.

 

He did not move or try to comfort her in any way.  What had come between them?  No living person.  They had been lovers.  There was now no material obstacle whatever to their union.  But there was the insistent⁹ shadow of that unconscious one; the thin figure of him, moving to and fro in front of the ghastly furnace in the gloom of Durnover Moor¹⁰.

 

Yet Vannicock called upon Laura when he was in the neighbourhood, which was not often; but in two years, as if on purpose to further the marriage which everybody was expecting, the ---st Foot returned to Budmouth Regis.

 

Thereupon the two could not help encountering each other at times.  But whether because the obstacle had been the source of the love, or from a sense of error, and because Mrs. Maumbry bore a less attractive look as a widow than before, their feelings seemed to decline from their former incandescence¹¹ to a mere¹² tepid¹³ civility.  What domestic issues supervened in Vannicock’s further story the man in the oriel never knew; but Mrs. Maumbry lived and died a widow.

 

1900.

1 pestilence   

n.瘟疫

参考例句：

• They were crazed by the famine and pestilence of that bitter winter.他们因那年严冬的饥饿与瘟疫而折磨得发狂。
• A pestilence was raging in that area. 瘟疫正在那一地区流行。

2 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

3 lodgings   

n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍

参考例句：

• When he reached his lodgings the sun had set. 他到达公寓房间时，太阳已下山了。
• I'm on the hunt for lodgings. 我正在寻找住所。

4 slippers   

n. 拖鞋

参考例句：

• a pair of slippers 一双拖鞋
• He kicked his slippers off and dropped on to the bed. 他踢掉了拖鞋，倒在床上。

5 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

6 languor   

n.无精力，倦怠

参考例句：

• It was hot,yet with a sweet languor about it.天气是炎热的，然而却有一种惬意的懒洋洋的感觉。
• She,in her languor,had not troubled to eat much.她懒懒的，没吃多少东西。

7 utterance   

n.用言语表达，话语，言语

参考例句：

• This utterance of his was greeted with bursts of uproarious laughter.他的讲话引起阵阵哄然大笑。
• My voice cleaves to my throat,and sob chokes my utterance.我的噪子哽咽，泣不成声。

8 ardent   

adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的

参考例句：

• He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
• Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。

9 insistent   

adj.迫切的，坚持的

参考例句：

• There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
• He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。

10 moor   

n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊

参考例句：

• I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
• There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。

11 incandescence   

n.白热，炽热；白炽

参考例句：

• A fine wire is heated electrically to incandescence in an electric lamp. 灯丝在电灯中电加时成白炽状态。 来自辞典例句
• A fine wire heated electrically to incandescence in an electric lamp. 电灯光亮来自白热的灯丝。 来自互联网

12 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

13 tepid   

adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的

参考例句：

• She bent her mouth to the tap and drank the tepid water.她把嘴伸到水龙头底下去喝那微温的水。
• Her feet firmly planted on the tepid rough brick of the floor.她一双脚稳固地立在微温而粗糙的砖地上。