CHAPTER VIII. A WEDDING IN HONEY FAIR.

 But that such contrasts are all too common in life, you might think it scarcely seemly to go direct from a house of death to a house of marriage. This same morning which witnessed the death of Jane Halliburton, witnessed also the wedding of Mary Ann Cross and Ben Tyrrett. Upon which there was wonderful rejoicing at the Crosses' house.

 

Of course, whether a wedding was a good one or a bad one (speaking from a pecuniary¹ point of view), it was equally the custom to feast over it in Honey Fair. Benjamin Tyrrett was only what is called a jobber² in the glove trade, earning fifteen or sixteen shillings a week; but Mary Ann Cross made up her mind to have him—in defiance³ of parental⁴ and other admonitions that she ought to look over Ben's head. They had gone to work Honey Fair fashion, preparing nothing. Every shilling that Mary Ann Cross could spare went in finery—had long gone in finery. In vain Charlotte East impressed upon her the necessity of saving: of waiting. Mary Ann would do neither one nor the other.

 

"All that you can spare from back debts, and from present actual wants, you should put by," Charlotte had urged. "You don't know how many more calls there are for money after marriage than before it."

 

"There'll be two of us to earn it then," logically replied Mary Ann.

 

"And two of you to live," said Charlotte. "To marry upon nothing is to rush into trouble."

 

"How you do go on, Charlotte East! He'll earn his wages, and I shall earn mine. Where'll be the trouble? I shan't want to spend so much upon my back when I am married."

 

"To marry as you are going to do, must bring trouble," persisted Charlotte. "He will manage to get together a few bits of cheap furniture, just what you can't do without, to put into one room; and there you will be set up, neither of you having one sixpence laid by to fall back upon; and perhaps the furniture unpaid⁵, hanging like a log upon you. What shall you do when children come, Mary Ann?"

 

Mary Ann Cross giggled⁶. "If ever I heard the like of you, Charlotte! If children do come, they must come, that's all. We can't send 'em back again."

 

"No, you can't," said Charlotte. "They generally arrive in pretty good troops: and sometimes there's little to welcome them on. Half the quarrels between man and wife, in our class of life, spring from nothing but large families and small means. Their tempers get soured with each other, and never get pleased again."

 

"Folks must take their chance, Charlotte."

 

"There's no must in it. You are nineteen, Ben Tyrrett's twenty-three; suppose you made up your minds to wait two or three years. You would be quite young enough then: and meanwhile, if both of you laid by, you would have something in hand to meet extra expenses, or sickness if it came."

 

"Opinions differs," shortly returned Mary Ann. "If folks tell true, you were putting by ever so long for your marriage, and it all ended in smoke. I'd rather make sure of a husband when I can get him."

 

An expression of pain crossed the face of Charlotte East. "Whether I marry or not," she answered calmly, "I shall be none the worse for having laid money by instead of squandering⁷ it. If the best man that ever was born came to me, I would not marry him if we had made no better provision for a rainy day than you and Tyrrett have. What can come of such unions, Mary Ann?"

 

"It's the way most of us girls do marry," returned Mary Ann.

 

"And what comes of it, I ask? Blows sometimes, Mary Ann; the workhouse sometimes; trouble always."

 

"Is it true that you put by, Charlotte?"

 

"Yes. I put by what I can."

 

"But how in wonder do you manage it? You dress as well as we do. I'm sure our backs take all our money; father pretty nigh keeps the house."

 

"I dress better than you in one sense, Mary Ann. I don't have on a silk gown one day and a petticoat in rags the next. No one ever sees me otherwise than neat and clean, and my clothes keep good a long while. It's the finery that runs away with your money. I am not ashamed to make a bonnet⁸ last two years; you'd have two in a season. Another thing, Mary Ann: I do not waste my time—I sit to my work; and I dare say I earn double what you do."

 

"Let us hear what you earned last week, if it isn't impertinent," was Mary Ann's answer.

 

"Ten and ninepence."

 

"Look at that!" cried the girl, lifting her hands. "I brought out but five and twopence, and I left no money for silk, and am in debt two quarterns. 'Melia was worse. Hers came to four and eleven. That surly old foreman says to me when he was paying, 'What d'ye leave for silk, Mary Ann Cross? There's two quarterns down.' 'I know there is, sir,' says I, 'but I don't leave nothing to-day.' He gave a grunt⁹ at that, the old file did."

 

"And I suppose you spent your five shillings in some useless thing?"

 

"I had to pay up at Bankes's, and the rest went in a new peach bonnet-ribbon."

 

"Peach! You should have bought white, if you must be married."

 

"Thank you, Charlotte! What next? Do you suppose I'm going to be married in that shabby old straw, that I've worn all the spring? Not if I know it."

 

"Where's your money to come from for a new one? There will be other things wanted, more essential than a bonnet."

 

"I'll have a new one if I go in trust for it," returned Mary Ann. "Tyrrett buys the ring. And it is of no use for you to preach, Charlotte; if you preach your tongue out, it'll do no good."

 

Charlotte might, indeed, have preached a very long sermon before she could effect any change in the system of improvidence¹⁰ obtaining in Honey Fair. Neither Benjamin Tyrrett nor Mary Ann Cross was gifted with forethought, and they took no pains to acquire it.

 

The marriage was carried out, and this was the happy day. Mrs. Cross gave an entertainment in honour of the event, at which the bride and bridegroom assisted—as the French say—with as many others as the kitchen would hold. Tea for the ladies, pipes and ale for the gentlemen, supper for all, with spirits-and-water handed round.

 

How Mrs. Cross had contrived¹¹ to go on so long without an exposé, she scarcely knew herself. The wonder was, that she had gone on at all. It took the energies of her life to patch up her embarrassments¹², and hide her difficulties from her husband. The evil day, however, was only delayed. It could not be averted¹³.

1 pecuniary   

adj.金钱的；金钱上的

参考例句：

• She denies obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.她否认通过欺骗手段获得经济利益。
• She is so independent that she refused all pecuniary aid.她很独立，所以拒绝一切金钱上的资助。

2 jobber   

n.批发商；(股票买卖)经纪人；做零工的人

参考例句：

• David work as a jobber before he find a permanent job.大卫在找到固定工作以前做零工。
• I need to call my jobber to sell some share.我需要给我的股票经纪人打电话卖些股票。

3 defiance   

n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗

参考例句：

• He climbed the ladder in defiance of the warning.他无视警告爬上了那架梯子。
• He slammed the door in a spirit of defiance.他以挑衅性的态度把门砰地一下关上。

4 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

5 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

6 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 squandering   

v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• You're faced with ending it all, of squandering what was given. 把到手的东西就这样随随便便弄掉。 来自辞典例句
• I see all this potential And I see squandering. 你们的潜力都被浪费了。 来自互联网

8 bonnet   

n.无边女帽；童帽

参考例句：

• The baby's bonnet keeps the sun out of her eyes.婴孩的帽子遮住阳光，使之不刺眼。
• She wore a faded black bonnet garnished with faded artificial flowers.她戴着一顶褪了色的黑色无边帽，帽上缀着褪了色的假花。

9 grunt   

v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝

参考例句：

• He lifted the heavy suitcase with a grunt.他咕噜着把沉重的提箱拎了起来。
• I ask him what he think,but he just grunt.我问他在想什麽，他只哼了一声。

10 improvidence   

n.目光短浅

参考例句：

• Dissension and improvidence reigned. 你争我夺和挥霍浪费之风盛行。 来自互联网

11 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

12 embarrassments   

n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事

参考例句：

• But there have been many embarrassments along the way. 但是一路走来已经是窘境不断。 来自互联网
• The embarrassments don't stop there. 让人难受的事情还没完。 来自互联网

13 averted   

防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• A disaster was narrowly averted. 及时防止了一场灾难。
• Thanks to her skilful handling of the affair, the problem was averted. 多亏她对事情处理得巧妙，才避免了麻烦。