It happened to be market-day, and Nicholas, having postponed1 the engagements which called him thither2 to keep the appointment with her in the Sallows, rushed off at the end of the afternoon to attend to them as well as he could. Arriving thus in a great hurry on account of the lateness of the hour, he still retained the wild, amphibious appearance which had marked him when he came up from the meadows to her side—an exceptional condition of things which had scarcely ever before occurred. When she crossed the pavement from the shop door, the shopman bowing and escorting her to the carriage, Nicholas chanced to be standing4 at the road-waggon office, talking to the master of the waggons5. There were a good many people about, and those near paused and looked at her transit6, in the full stroke of the level October sun, which went under the brims of their hats, and pierced through their button-holes. From the group she heard murmured the words: ‘Mrs. Nicholas Long.’
The unexpected remark, not without distinct satire7 in its tone, took her so greatly by surprise that she was confounded. Nicholas was by this time nearer, though coming against the sun he had not yet perceived her. Influenced by her father’s lecture, she felt angry with him for being there and causing this awkwardness. Her notice of him was therefore slight, supercilious8 perhaps, slurred9 over; and her vexation at his presence showed distinctly in her face as she sat down in her seat. Instead of catching10 his waiting eye, she positively11 turned her head away.
A moment after she was sorry she had treated him so; but he was gone.
Reaching home she found on her dressing-table a note from her father. The statement was brief:
I have considered and am of the same opinion. You must marry him. He can leave home at once and travel as proposed. I have written to him to this effect. I don’t want any victuals12, so don’t wait dinner for me.
Nicholas was the wrong kind of man to be blind to his Christine’s mortification13, though he did not know its entire cause. He had lately foreseen something of this sort as possible.
‘It serves me right,’ he thought, as he trotted14 homeward. ‘It was absurd—wicked of me to lead her on so. The sacrifice would have been too great—too cruel!’ And yet, though he thus took her part, he flushed with indignation every time he said to himself, ‘She is ashamed of me!’
On the ridge15 which overlooked Froom-Everard he met a neighbour of his—a stock-dealer—in his gig, and they drew rein16 and exchanged a few words. A part of the dealer’s conversation had much meaning for Nicholas.
‘I’ve had occasion to call on Squire17 Everard,’ the former said; ‘but he couldn’t see me on account of being quite knocked up at some bad news he has heard.’
Nicholas rode on past Froom-Everard to Elsenford Farm, pondering. He had new and startling matter for thought as soon as he got there. The Squire’s note had arrived. At first he could not credit its import; then he saw further, took in the tone of the letter, saw the writer’s contempt behind the words, and understood that the letter was written as by a man hemmed18 into a corner. Christine was defiantly—insultingly—hurled at his head. He was accepted because he was so despised.
And yet with what respect he had treated her and hers! Now he was reminded of what an agricultural friend had said years ago, seeing the eyes of Nicholas fixed19 on Christine as on an angel when she passed: ‘Better a little fire to warm ’ee than a great one to burn ’ee. No good can come of throwing your heart there.’ He went into the mead3, sat down, and asked himself four questions:
1. How could she live near her acquaintance as his wife, even in his absence, without suffering martyrdom from the stings of their contempt?
2. Would not this entail20 total estrangement21 between Christine and her family also, and her own consequent misery22?
4. Supposing that her father rigged them out as colonists24 and sent them off to America, was not the effect of such exile upon one of her gentle nurture25 likely to be as the last?
In short, whatever they should embark26 in together would be cruelty to her, and his death would be a relief. It would, indeed, in one aspect be a relief to her now, if she were so ashamed of him as she had appeared to be that day. Were he dead, this little episode with him would fade away like a dream.
Mr. Everard was a good-hearted man at bottom, but to take his enraged27 offer seriously was impossible. Obviously it was hotly made in his first bitterness at what he had heard. The least thing that he could do would be to go away and never trouble her more. To travel and learn and come back in two years, as mapped out in their first sanguine28 scheme, required a staunch heart on her side, if the necessary expenditure29 of time and money were to be afterwards justified30; and it were folly31 to calculate on that when he had seen to-day that her heart was failing her already. To travel and disappear and not be heard of for many years would be a far more independent stroke, and it would leave her entirely32 unfettered. Perhaps he might rival in this kind the accomplished33 Mr. Bellston, of whose journeyings he had heard so much.
He sat and sat, and the fog rose out of the river, enveloping34 him like a fleece; first his feet and knees, then his arms and body, and finally submerging his head. When he had come to a decision he went up again into the homestead. He would be independent, if he died for it, and he would free Christine. Exile was the only course. The first step was to inform his uncle of his determination.
Two days later Nicholas was on the same spot in the mead, at almost the same hour of eve. But there was no fog now; a blusterous autumn wind had ousted35 the still, golden days and misty36 nights; and he was going, full of purpose, in the opposite direction. When he had last entered the mead he was an inhabitant of the Froom valley; in forty-eight hours he had severed37 himself from that spot as completely as if he had never belonged to it. All that appertained to him in the Froom valley now was circumscribed38 by the portmanteau in his hand.
In making his preparations for departure he had unconsciously held a faint, foolish hope that she would communicate with him and make up their estrangement in some soft womanly way. But she had given no signal, and it was too evident to him that her latest mood had grown to be her fixed one, proving how well founded had been his impulse to set her free.
He entered the Sallows, found his way in the dark to the garden-door of the house, slipped under it a note to tell her of his departure, and explaining its true reason to be a consciousness of her growing feeling that he was an encumbrance39 and a humiliation40. Of the direction of his journey and of the date of his return he said nothing.
His course now took him into the high road, which he pursued for some miles in a north-easterly direction, still spinning the thread of sad inferences, and asking himself why he should ever return. At daybreak he stood on the hill above Shottsford-Forum, and awaited a coach which passed about this time along that highway towards Melchester and London.
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1
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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2
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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3
mead
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| n.蜂蜜酒 | |
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4
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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5
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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6
transit
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| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
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7
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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8
supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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9
slurred
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| 含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
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10
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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12
victuals
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| n.食物；食品 | |
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13
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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14
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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15
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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16
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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17
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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18
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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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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20
entail
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| vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要 | |
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21
estrangement
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| n.疏远，失和，不和 | |
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22
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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23
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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24
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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25
nurture
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| n.养育，照顾，教育；滋养，营养品；vt.养育，给与营养物，教养，扶持 | |
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26
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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27
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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28
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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29
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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30
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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31
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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32
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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33
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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34
enveloping
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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35
ousted
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| 驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺 | |
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36
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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37
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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38
circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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39
encumbrance
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| n.妨碍物，累赘 | |
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40
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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