CHAPTER IV

 The soldier was silent during two or three double bars of the tune¹.  ‘When were you to have been married to the said Mr. Bartholomew Miller²?’ he inquired.

 

‘Quite soon.’

 

‘How soon?’

 

‘Next week—O yes—just the same as it was with you and me.  There’s a strange fate of interruption hanging over me, I sometimes think!  He had bought the licence, which I preferred so that it mightn’t be like—ours.  But it made no difference to the fate of it.’

 

‘Had bought the licence!  The devil!’

 

‘Don’t be angry, dear John.  I didn’t know!’

 

‘No, no, I’m not angry.’

 

‘It was so kind of him, considering!’

 

‘Yes . . . I see, of course, how natural your action was—never thinking of seeing me any more!  Is it the Mr. Miller who is in this dance?’

 

‘Yes.’

 

Clark glanced round upon Bartholomew and was silent again, for some little while, and she stole a look at him, to find that he seemed changed.  ‘John, you look ill!’ she almost sobbed³.  ‘’Tisn’t me, is it?’

 

‘O dear, no.  Though I hadn’t, somehow, expected it.  I can’t find fault with you for a moment—and I don’t . . . This is a deuce of a long dance, don’t you think?  We’ve been at it twenty minutes if a second, and the figure doesn’t allow one much rest.  I’m quite out of breath.’

 

‘They like them so dreadfully long here.  Shall we drop out?  Or I’ll stop the fiddler.’

 

‘O no, no, I think I can finish.  But although I look healthy enough I have never been so strong as I formerly⁴ was, since that long illness I had in the hospital at Scutari.’

 

‘And I knew nothing about it!’

 

‘You couldn’t, dear, as I didn’t write.  What a fool I have been altogether!’  He gave a twitch⁵, as of one in pain.  ‘I won’t dance again when this one is over.  The fact is I have travelled a long way to-day, and it seems to have knocked me up a bit.’

 

There could be no doubt that the sergeant-major was unwell, and Selina made herself miserable⁶ by still believing that her story was the cause of his ailment⁷.  Suddenly he said in a changed voice, and she perceived that he was paler than ever: ‘I must sit down.’

 

Letting go her waist he went quickly to the other room.  She followed, and found him in the nearest chair, his face bent⁸ down upon his hands and arms, which were resting on the table.

 

‘What’s the matter?’ said her father, who sat there dozing⁹ by the fire.

 

‘John isn’t well . . . We are going to New Zealand when we are married, father.  A lovely country!  John, would you like something to drink?’

 

‘A drop o’ that Schiedam of old Owlett’s, that’s under stairs, perhaps,’ suggested her father.  ‘Not that nowadays ’tis much better than licensed¹⁰ liquor.’

 

‘John,’ she said, putting her face close to his and pressing his arm.  ‘Will you have a drop of spirits or something?’

 

He did not reply, and Selina observed that his ear and the side of his face were quite white.  Convinced that his illness was serious, a growing dismay seized hold of her.  The dance ended; her mother came in, and learning what had happened, looked narrowly at the sergeant-major.

 

‘We must not let him lie like that, lift him up,’ she said.  ‘Let him rest in the window-bench on some cushions.’

 

They unfolded his arms and hands as they lay clasped upon the table, and on lifting his head found his features to bear the very impress of death itself.  Bartholomew Miller, who had now come in, assisted Mr. Paddock to make a comfortable couch in the window-seat, where they stretched out Clark upon his back.

 

Still he seemed unconscious.  ‘We must get a doctor,’ said Selina.  ‘O, my dear John, how is it you be taken like this?’

 

‘My impression is that he’s dead!’ murmured Mr. Paddock.  ‘He don’t breathe enough to move a tomtit’s feather.’

 

There were plenty to volunteer to go for a doctor, but as it would be at least an hour before he could get there the case seemed somewhat hopeless.  The dancing-party ended as unceremoniously as it had begun; but the guests lingered round the premises¹¹ till the doctor should arrive.  When he did come the sergeant-major’s extremities¹² were already cold, and there was no doubt that death had overtaken him almost at the moment that he had sat down.

 

The medical practitioner¹³ quite refused to accept the unhappy Selina’s theory that her revelation had in any way induced Clark’s sudden collapse¹⁴.  Both he and the coroner afterwards, who found the immediate¹⁵ cause to be heart-failure, held that such a supposition was unwarranted by facts.  They asserted that a long day’s journey, a hurried drive, and then an exhausting dance, were sufficient for such a result upon a heart enfeebled by fatty degeneration after the privations of a Crimean winter and other trying experiences, the coincidence of the sad event with any disclosure of hers being a pure accident.

 

This conclusion, however, did not dislodge Selina’s opinion that the shock of her statement had been the immediate stroke which had felled a constitution so undermined.

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

2 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

3 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

4 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

5 twitch   

v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛

参考例句：

• The smell made my dog's nose twitch.那股气味使我的狗的鼻子抽动着。
• I felt a twitch at my sleeve.我觉得有人扯了一下我的袖子。

6 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

7 ailment   

n.疾病，小病

参考例句：

• I don't have even the slightest ailment.我什么毛病也没有。
• He got timely treatment for his ailment.他的病得到了及时治疗。

8 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。

9 dozing   

v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡

参考例句：

• The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
• He never falters in his determination. 他的决心从不动摇。

10 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

11 premises   

n.建筑物，房屋

参考例句：

• According to the rules,no alcohol can be consumed on the premises.按照规定，场内不准饮酒。
• All repairs are done on the premises and not put out.全部修缮都在家里进行，不用送到外面去做。

12 extremities   

n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地

参考例句：

• She was most noticeable, I thought, in respect of her extremities. 我觉得她那副穷极可怜的样子实在太惹人注目。 来自辞典例句
• Winters may be quite cool at the northwestern extremities. 西北边区的冬天也可能会相当凉。 来自辞典例句

13 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

14 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

15 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。