For the moment the stillness was so complete that the surging of the sea could be heard outside the harbour-bar. Then it was broken by the footsteps of the clerk going towards the west door to open it in the usual manner for the exit of the assembly. Before, however, he had reached the doorway1, the latch2 was lifted from without, and the dark figure of a man in a sailor’s garb3 appeared against the light.
The clerk stepped aside, the sailor closed the door gently behind him, and advanced up the nave4 till he stood at the chancel-step. The parson looked up from the private little prayer which, after so many for the parish, he quite fairly took for himself; rose to his feet, and stared at the intruder.
‘I beg your pardon, sir,’ said the sailor, addressing the minister in a voice distinctly audible to all the congregation. ‘I have come here to offer thanks for my narrow escape from shipwreck5. I am given to understand that it is a proper thing to do, if you have no objection?’
The parson, after a moment’s pause, said hesitatingly, ‘I have no objection; certainly. It is usual to mention any such wish before service, so that the proper words may be used in the General Thanksgiving. But, if you wish, we can read from the form for use after a storm at sea.’
‘Ay, sure; I ain’t particular,’ said the sailor.
The clerk thereupon directed the sailor to the page in the prayer-book where the collect of thanksgiving would be found, and the rector began reading it, the sailor kneeling where he stood, and repeating it after him word by word in a distinct voice. The people, who had remained agape and motionless at the proceeding6, mechanically knelt down likewise; but they continued to regard the isolated7 form of the sailor who, in the precise middle of the chancel-step, remained fixed8 on his knees, facing the east, his hat beside him, his hands joined, and he quite unconscious of his appearance in their regard.
When his thanksgiving had come to an end he rose; the people rose also, and all went out of church together. As soon as the sailor emerged, so that the remaining daylight fell upon his face, old inhabitants began to recognize him as no other than Shadrach Jolliffe, a young man who had not been seen at Havenpool for several years. A son of the town, his parents had died when he was quite young, on which account he had early gone to sea, in the Newfoundland trade.
He talked with this and that townsman as he walked, informing them that, since leaving his native place years before, he had become captain and owner of a small coasting-ketch, which had providentially been saved from the gale9 as well as himself. Presently he drew near to two girls who were going out of the churchyard in front of him; they had been sitting in the nave at his entry, and had watched his doings with deep interest, afterwards discussing him as they moved out of church together. One was a slight and gentle creature, the other a tall, large-framed, deliberative girl. Captain Jolliffe regarded the loose curls of their hair, their backs and shoulders, down to their heels, for some time.
‘Who may them two maids be?’ he whispered to his neighbour.
‘The little one is Emily Hanning; the tall one Joanna Phippard.’
‘Emily, you don’t know me?’ said the sailor, turning his beaming brown eyes on her.
‘I think I do, Mr. Jolliffe,’ said Emily shyly.
The other girl looked straight at him with her dark eyes.
‘The face of Miss Joanna I don’t call to mind so well,’ he continued. ‘But I know her beginnings and kindred.’
They walked and talked together, Jolliffe narrating12 particulars of his late narrow escape, till they reached the corner of Sloop13 Lane, in which Emily Hanning dwelt, when, with a nod and smile, she left them. Soon the sailor parted also from Joanna, and, having no especial errand or appointment, turned back towards Emily’s house. She lived with her father, who called himself an accountant, the daughter, however, keeping a little stationery-shop as a supplemental provision for the gaps of his somewhat uncertain business. On entering Jolliffe found father and daughter about to begin tea.
‘O, I didn’t know it was tea-time,’ he said. ‘Ay, I’ll have a cup with much pleasure.’
He remained to tea and long afterwards, telling more tales of his seafaring life. Several neighbours called to listen, and were asked to come in. Somehow Emily Hanning lost her heart to the sailor that Sunday night, and in the course of a week or two there was a tender understanding between them.
One moonlight evening in the next month Shadrach was ascending14 out of the town by the long straight road eastward15, to an elevated suburb where the more fashionable houses stood—if anything near this ancient port could be called fashionable—when he saw a figure before him whom, from her manner of glancing back, he took to be Emily. But, on coming up, he found she was Joanna Phippard. He gave a gallant16 greeting, and walked beside her.
‘Go along,’ she said, ‘or Emily will be jealous!’
He seemed not to like the suggestion, and remained. What was said and what was done on that walk never could be clearly recollected17 by Shadrach; but in some way or other Joanna contrived18 to wean him away from her gentler and younger rival. From that week onwards, Jolliffe was seen more and more in the wake of Joanna Phippard and less in the company of Emily; and it was soon rumoured19 about the quay20 that old Jolliffe’s son, who had come home from sea, was going to be married to the former young woman, to the great disappointment of the latter.
Just after this report had gone about, Joanna dressed herself for a walk one morning, and started for Emily’s house in the little cross-street. Intelligence of the deep sorrow of her friend on account of the loss of Shadrach had reached her ears also, and her conscience reproached her for winning him away.
Joanna was not altogether satisfied with the sailor. She liked his attentions, and she coveted21 the dignity of matrimony; but she had never been deeply in love with Jolliffe. For one thing, she was ambitious, and socially his position was hardly so good as her own, and there was always the chance of an attractive woman mating considerably22 above her. It had long been in her mind that she would not strongly object to give him back again to Emily if her friend felt so very badly about him. To this end she had written a letter of renunciation to Shadrach, which letter she carried in her hand, intending to send it if personal observation of Emily convinced her that her friend was suffering.
Joanna entered Sloop Lane and stepped down into the stationery-shop, which was below the pavement level. Emily’s father was never at home at this hour of the day, and it seemed as though Emily were not at home either, for the visitor could make nobody hear. Customers came so seldom hither that a five minutes’ absence of the proprietor23 counted for little. Joanna waited in the little shop, where Emily had tastefully set out—as women can—articles in themselves of slight value, so as to obscure the meagreness of the stock-in-trade; till she saw a figure pausing without the window apparently24 absorbed in the contemplation of the sixpenny books, packets of paper, and prints hung on a string. It was Captain Shadrach Jolliffe, peering in to ascertain25 if Emily were there alone. Moved by an impulse of reluctance26 to meet him in a spot which breathed of Emily, Joanna slipped through the door that communicated with the parlour at the back. She had frequently done so before, for in her friendship with Emily she had the freedom of the house without ceremony.
Jolliffe entered the shop. Through the thin blind which screened the glass partition she could see that he was disappointed at not finding Emily there. He was about to go out again, when Emily’s form darkened the doorway, hastening home from some errand. At sight of Jolliffe she started back as if she would have gone out again.
‘Don’t run away, Emily; don’t!’ said he. ‘What can make ye afraid?’
‘I’m not afraid, Captain Jolliffe. Only—only I saw you all of a sudden, and—it made me jump!’ Her voice showed that her heart had jumped even more than the rest of her.
‘I just called as I was passing,’ he said.
‘For some paper?’ She hastened behind the counter.
‘No, no, Emily; why do ye get behind there? Why not stay by me? You seem to hate me.’
‘I don’t hate you. How can I?’
‘Then come out, so that we can talk like Christians27.’
Emily obeyed with a fitful laugh, till she stood again beside him in the open part of the shop.
‘There’s a dear,’ he said.
‘You mustn’t say that, Captain Jolliffe; because the words belong to somebody else.’
‘Ah! I know what you mean. But, Emily, upon my life I didn’t know till this morning that you cared one bit about me, or I should not have done as I have done. I have the best of feelings for Joanna, but I know that from the beginning she hasn’t cared for me more than in a friendly way; and I see now the one I ought to have asked to be my wife. You know, Emily, when a man comes home from sea after a long voyage he’s as blind as a bat—he can’t see who’s who in women. They are all alike to him, beautiful creatures, and he takes the first that comes easy, without thinking if she loves him, or if he might not soon love another better than her. From the first I inclined to you most, but you were so backward and shy that I thought you didn’t want me to bother ’ee, and so I went to Joanna.’
‘Don’t say any more, Mr. Jolliffe, don’t!’ said she, choking. ‘You are going to marry Joanna next month, and it is wrong to—to—’
‘O, Emily, my darling!’ he cried, and clasped her little figure in his arms before she was aware.
Joanna, behind the curtain, turned pale, tried to withdraw her eyes, but could not.
‘It is only you I love as a man ought to love the woman he is going to marry; and I know this from what Joanna has said, that she will willingly let me off! She wants to marry higher I know, and only said “Yes” to me out of kindness. A fine, tall girl like her isn’t the sort for a plain sailor’s wife: you be the best suited for that.’
‘I wonder—are you sure—Joanna is going to break off with you? O, are you sure? Because—’
‘O, I hope—I hope she will! Don’t stay any longer, Captain Jolliffe!’
He lingered, however, till a customer came for a penny stick of sealing-wax, and then he withdrew.
Green envy had overspread Joanna at the scene. She looked about for a way of escape. To get out without Emily’s knowledge of her visit was indispensable. She crept from the parlour into the passage, and thence to the front door of the house, where she let herself noiselessly into the street.
The sight of that caress30 had reversed all her resolutions. She could not let Shadrach go. Reaching home she burnt the letter, and told her mother that if Captain Jolliffe called she was too unwell to see him.
Shadrach, however, did not call. He sent her a note expressing in simple language the state of his feelings; and asked to be allowed to take advantage of the hints she had given him that her affection, too, was little more than friendly, by cancelling the engagement.
Looking out upon the harbour and the island beyond he waited and waited in his lodgings31 for an answer that did not come. The suspense32 grew to be so intolerable that after dark he went up the High Street. He could not resist calling at Joanna’s to learn his fate.
Her mother said her daughter was too unwell to see him, and to his questioning admitted that it was in consequence of a letter received from himself; which had distressed33 her deeply.
‘You know what it was about, perhaps, Mrs. Phippard?’ he said.
Mrs. Phippard owned that she did, adding that it put them in a very painful position. Thereupon Shadrach, fearing that he had been guilty of an enormity, explained that if his letter had pained Joanna it must be owing to a misunderstanding, since he had thought it would be a relief to her. If otherwise, he would hold himself bound by his word, and she was to think of the letter as never having been written.
Next morning he received an oral message from the young woman, asking him to fetch her home from a meeting that evening. This he did, and while walking from the Town Hall to her door, with her hand in his arm, she said:
‘It is all the same as before between us, isn’t it, Shadrach? Your letter was sent in mistake?’
‘It is all the same as before,’ he answered, ‘if you say it must be.’
‘I wish it to be,’ she murmured, with hard lineaments, as she thought of Emily.
Shadrach was a religious and scrupulous34 man, who respected his word as his life. Shortly afterwards the wedding took place, Jolliffe having conveyed to Emily as gently as possible the error he had fallen into when estimating Joanna’s mood as one of indifference35.
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1
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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nave
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| n.教堂的中部；本堂 | |
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shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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7
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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8
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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9
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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10
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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12
narrating
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| v.故事( narrate的现在分词 ) | |
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13
sloop
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| n.单桅帆船 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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eastward
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| adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部 | |
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16
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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17
recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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31
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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32
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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33
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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34
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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35
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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