The popular Georgian watering-place was in a paroxysm of gaiety. The town was quite overpowered by the country round, much to the town’s delight and profit. The fear of invasion was such that six frigates2 lay in the roads to ensure the safety of the royal family, and from the regiments3 of horse and foot quartered at the barracks, or encamped on the hills round about, a picket5 of a thousand men mounted guard every day in front of Gloucester Lodge6, where the King resided. When Anne and her attendant reached this point, which they did on foot, stabling the horse on the outskirts7 of the town, it was about six o’clock. The King was on the Esplanade, and the soldiers were just marching past to mount guard. The band formed in front of the King, and all the officers saluted8 as they went by.
Anne now felt herself close to and looking into the stream of recorded history, within whose banks the littlest things are great, and outside which she and the general bulk of the human race were content to live on as an unreckoned, unheeded superfluity.
When she turned from her interested gaze at this scene, there stood John Loveday. She had had a presentiment9 that he would turn up in this mysterious way. It was marvellous that he could have got there so quickly; but there he was—not looking at the King, or at the crowd, but waiting for the turn of her head.
‘Trumpet-major, I didn’t see you,’ said Anne demurely10. ‘How is it that your regiment4 is not marching past?’
‘We take it by turns, and it is not our turn,’ said Loveday.
She wanted to know then if they were afraid that the King would be carried off by the First Consul11. Yes, Loveday told her; and his Majesty12 was rather venturesome. A day or two before he had gone so far to sea that he was nearly caught by some of the enemy’s cruisers. ‘He is anxious to fight Boney single-handed,’ he said.
‘What a good, brave King!’ said Anne.
Loveday seemed anxious to come to more personal matters. ‘Will you let me take you round to the other side, where you can see better?’ he asked. ‘The Queen and the princesses are at the window.’
Anne passively assented13. ‘David, wait here for me,’ she said; ‘I shall be back again in a few minutes.’
The trumpet-major then led her off triumphantly14, and they skirted the crowd and came round on the side towards the sands. He told her everything he could think of, military and civil, to which Anne returned pretty syllables15 and parenthetic words about the colour of the sea and the curl of the foam—a way of speaking that moved the soldier’s heart even more than long and direct speeches would have done.
‘And that other thing I asked you?’ he ventured to say at last.
‘We won’t speak of it.’
‘You don’t dislike me?’
‘O no!’ she said, gazing at the bathing-machines, digging children, and other common objects of the seashore, as if her interest lay there rather than with him.
‘There’s something more than worthiness17 required in such cases, you know,’ she said, still without calling her mind away from surrounding scenes. ‘Ah, there are the Queen and princesses at the window!’
‘Something more?’
‘Well, since you will make me speak, I mean the woman ought to love the man.’
The trumpet-major seemed to be less concerned about this than about her supposed superiority. ‘If it were all right on that point, would you mind the other?’ he asked, like a man who knows he is too persistent18, yet who cannot be still.
‘How can I say, when I don’t know? What a pretty chip hat the elder princess wears?’
Her companion’s general disappointment extended over him almost to his lace and his plume19. ‘Your mother said, you know, Miss Anne—’
‘Yes, that’s the worst of it,’ she said. ‘Let us go back to David; I have seen all I want to see, Mr. Loveday.’
The mass of the people had by this time noticed the Queen and princesses at the window, and raised a cheer, to which the ladies waved their embroidered20 handkerchiefs. Anne went back towards the pavement with her trumpet-major, whom all the girls envied her, so fine-looking a soldier was he; and not only for that, but because it was well known that he was not a soldier from necessity, but from patriotism21, his father having repeatedly offered to set him up in business: his artistic22 taste in preferring a horse and uniform to a dirty, rumbling23 flour-mill was admired by all. She, too, had a very nice appearance in her best clothes as she walked along—the sarcenet hat, muslin shawl, and tight-sleeved gown being of the newest Overcombe fashion, that was only about a year old in the adjoining town, and in London three or four. She could not be harsh to Loveday and dismiss him curtly24, for his musical pursuits had refined him, educated him, and made him quite poetical25. To-day he had been particularly well-mannered and tender; so, instead of answering, ‘Never speak to me like this again,’ she merely put him off with a ‘Let us go back to David.’
When they reached the place where they had left him David was gone.
‘He’s only gone to drink the King’s health,’ said Loveday, who had privately28 given David the money for performing that operation. ‘Depend upon it, he’ll be back soon.’
‘I will,’ said Loveday reluctantly; and he went.
Anne stood still. She could now escape her gallant30 friend, for, although the distance was long, it was not impossible to walk home. On the other hand, Loveday was a good and sincere fellow, for whom she had almost a brotherly feeling, and she shrank from such a trick. While she stood and mused31, scarcely heeding32 the music, the marching of the soldiers, the King, the dukes, the brilliant staff, the attendants, and the happy groups of people, her eyes fell upon the ground.
Before her she saw a flower lying—a crimson33 sweet-william—fresh and uninjured. An instinctive34 wish to save it from destruction by the passengers’ feet led her to pick it up; and then, moved by a sudden self-consciousness, she looked around. She was standing35 before an inn, and from an upper window Festus Derriman was leaning with two or three kindred spirits of his cut and kind. He nodded eagerly, and signified to her that he had thrown the flower.
What should she do? To throw it away would seem stupid, and to keep it was awkward. She held it between her finger and thumb, twirled it round on its axis36 and twirled it back again, regarding and yet not examining it. Just then she saw the trumpet-major coming back.
‘I can’t find David anywhere,’ he said; and his heart was not sorry as he said it.
Anne was still holding out the sweet-william as if about to drop it, and, scarcely knowing what she did under the distressing37 sense that she was watched, she offered the flower to Loveday.
His face brightened with pleasure as he took it. ‘Thank you, indeed,’ he said.
Then Anne saw what a misleading blunder she had committed towards Loveday in playing to the yeoman. Perhaps she had sown the seeds of a quarrel.
‘It was not my sweet-william,’ she said hastily; ‘it was lying on the ground. I don’t mean anything by giving it to you.’
‘But I’ll keep it all the same,’ said the innocent soldier, as if he knew a good deal about womankind; and he put the flower carefully inside his jacket, between his white waistcoat and his heart.
Festus, seeing this, enlarged himself wrathfully, got hot in the face, rose to his feet, and glared down upon them like a turnip-lantern.
‘Let us go away,’ said Anne timorously38.
‘I’ll see you safe to your own door, depend upon me,’ said Loveday. ‘But—I had near forgot—there’s father’s letter, that he’s so anxiously waiting for! Will you come with me to the post-office? Then I’ll take you straight home.’
Anne, expecting Festus to pounce39 down every minute, was glad to be off anywhere; so she accepted the suggestion, and they went along the parade together.
Loveday set this down as a proof of Anne’s relenting. Thus in joyful40 spirits he entered the office, paid the postage, and received the letter.
‘It is from Bob, after all!’ he said. ‘Father told me to read it at once, in case of bad news. Ask your pardon for keeping you a moment.’ He broke the seal and read, Anne standing silently by.
‘He is coming home to be married,’ said the trumpet-major, without looking up.
Anne did not answer. The blood swept impetuously up her face at his words, and as suddenly went away again, leaving her rather paler than before. She disguised her agitation41 and then overcame it, Loveday observing nothing of this emotional performance.
‘As far as I can understand he will be here Saturday,’ he said.
‘Indeed!’ said Anne quite calmly. ‘And who is he going to marry?’
‘That I don’t know,’ said John, turning the letter about. ‘The woman is a stranger.’
‘Come, John,’ he cried, ‘I have been waiting and waiting for that there letter till I was nigh crazy!’
John briefly43 explained the news, and when his father had recovered from his astonishment44, taken off his hat, and wiped the exact line where his forehead joined his hair, he walked with Anne up the street, leaving John to return alone. The miller was so absorbed in his mental perspective of Bob’s marriage, that he saw nothing of the gaieties they passed through; and Anne seemed also so much impressed by the same intelligence, that she crossed before the inn occupied by Festus without showing a recollection of his presence there.
该作者的其它作品
《忧郁的双眸 A Pair of Blue Eyes》
《韦塞克斯的故事 Wessex Tales》
《无名的裘德 Jude the Obscure》
《Tess of the D‘Urbervilles德伯家的苔丝》
该作者的其它作品
《忧郁的双眸 A Pair of Blue Eyes》
《韦塞克斯的故事 Wessex Tales》
《无名的裘德 Jude the Obscure》
《Tess of the D‘Urbervilles德伯家的苔丝》
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1
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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2
frigates
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| n.快速军舰( frigate的名词复数 ) | |
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3
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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5
picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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6
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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7
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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9
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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11
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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12
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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13
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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15
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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16
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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worthiness
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| 价值，值得 | |
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18
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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19
plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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20
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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23
rumbling
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| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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24
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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26
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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27
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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28
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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29
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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30
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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31
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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32
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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33
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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34
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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35
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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36
axis
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| n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线 | |
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37
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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timorously
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| adv.胆怯地，羞怯地 | |
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39
pounce
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| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
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40
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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41
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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42
miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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43
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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44
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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