Deliver the house of an honest justice.
THE WIDOW.
The serenity1 of the Hall has been suddenly interrupted by a very important occurrence. In the course of this morning a posse of villagers was seen trooping up the avenue, with boys shouting in advance. As it drew near, we perceived Ready-Money Jack2 Tibbets striding along, wielding3 his cudgel in one hand, and with the other grasping the collar of a tall fellow, whom, on still nearer approach, we recognised for the redoubtable4 gipsy hero, Starlight Tom. He was now, however, completely cowed and crestfallen5, and his courage seemed to have quailed7 in the iron gripe of the lion-hearted Jack.
The whole gang of gipsy women and children came draggling in the rear; some in tears, others making a violent clamour about the ears of old Ready-Money, who, however, trudged8 on in silence with his prey9, heeding10 their abuse as little as a hawk11 that has pounced12 upon a barn-door hero regards the outcries and cacklings of his whole feathered seraglio.
He had passed through the village on his way to the Hall, and of course had made a great sensation in that most excitable place, where every event is a matter of gaze and gossip. The report flew like wildfire that Starlight Tom was in custody13. The ale-drinkers forthwith abandoned the tap-room; Slingsby's school broke loose, and master and boys swelled14 the tide that came rolling at the heels of old Ready-Money and his captive.
The uproar15 increased as they approached the Hall; it aroused the whole garrison16 of dogs, and the crew of hangers-on. The great mastiff barked from the dog-house; the staghound, and the greyhound, and the spaniel, issued barking from the Hall door, and my Lady Lillycraft's little dogs ramped17 and barked from the parlour window. I remarked, however, that the gipsy dogs made no reply to all these menaces and insults, but crept close to the gang, looking round with a guilty, poaching air, and now and then glancing up a dubious19 eye to their owners; which shows that the moral dignity, even of dogs, may be ruined by bad company!
Conscience Makes Cowards of the Dogs
When the throng20 reached the front of the house, they were brought to a halt by a kind of advanced guard, composed of old Christy, the gamekeeper, and two or three servants of the house, who had been brought out by the noise. The common herd21 of the village fell back with respect; the boys were driven back by Christy and his compeers; while Ready-Money Jack maintained his ground and his hold of the prisoner, and was surrounded by the tailor, the schoolmaster, and several other dignitaries of the village, and by the clamorous22 brood of gipsies, who were neither to be silenced nor intimidated23.
By this time the whole household were brought to the doors and windows, and the squire24 to the portal. An audience was demanded by Ready-Money Jack, who had detected the prisoner in the very act of sheep-stealing on his domains26, and had borne him off to be examined before the squire, who is in the commission of the peace.
A kind of tribunal was immediately held in the servants' hall, a large chamber27 with a stone floor and a long table in the centre, at one end of which, just under an enormous clock, was placed the squire's chair of justice, while Master Simon took his place at the table as clerk of the court. An attempt had been made by old Christy to keep out the gipsy gang, but in vain; and they, with the village worthies28, and the household, half filled the hall. The old housekeeper29 and the butler were in a panic at this dangerous irruption. They hurried away all the valuable things and portable articles that were at hand, and even kept a dragon watch on the gipsies, lest they should carry off the house clock or the deal table.
The Tribunal
Old Christy, and his faithful coadjutor, the gamekeeper, acted as constables30 to guard the prisoner, triumphing in having at last got this terrible offender31 in their clutches. Indeed I am inclined to think the old man bore some peevish32 recollection of having been handled rather roughly by the gipsy in the chance-medley affair of May-day.
Silence was now commanded by Master Simon; but it was difficult to be enforced in such a motley assemblage. There was a continued snarling33 and yelping34 of dogs, and, as fast as it was quelled35 in one corner, it broke out in another. The poor gipsy curs, who, like errant thieves, could not hold up their heads in an honest house, were worried and insulted by the gentleman dogs of the establishment, without offering to make resistance; the very curs of my Lady Lillycraft bullied36 them with impunity37.
The examination was conducted with great mildness and indulgence by the squire, partly from the kindness of his nature, and partly, I suspect, because his heart yearned38 towards the culprit, who had found great favour in his eyes, as I have already observed, from the skill he had at various times displayed in archery, morris-dancing, and other obsolete39 accomplishments40. Proofs, however, were too strong. Ready-Money Jack told his story in a straightforward41 independent way, nothing daunted42 by the presence in which he found himself. He had suffered from various depredations43 on his sheep-fold and poultry-yard, and had at length kept watch, and caught the delinquent44 in the very act of making off with a sheep on his shoulders.
Tibbets was repeatedly interrupted, in the course of his testimony45, by the culprit's mother, a furious old beldame, with an insufferable tongue, and who, in fact, was several times kept, with some difficulty, from flying at him tooth and nail. The wife, too, of the prisoner, whom I am told he does not beat above half a dozen times a week, completely interested Lady Lillycraft in her husband's behalf, by her tears and supplications; and several of the other gipsy women were awakening46 strong sympathy among the young girls and maid-servants in the background. The pretty, black-eyed gipsy girl, whom I have mentioned on a former occasion as the sibyl that read the fortunes of the general, endeavoured to wheedle47 that doughty48 warrior49 into their interests, and even made some approaches to her old acquaintance, Master Simon; but was repelled50 by the latter with all the dignity of office, having assumed a look of gravity and importance suitable to the occasion.
I was a little surprised, at first, to find honest Slingsby, the schoolmaster, rather opposed to his old crony Tibbets, and coming forwards as a kind of advocate for the accused. It seems that he had taken compassion51 on the forlorn fortunes of Starlight Tom, and had been trying his eloquence52 in his favour the whole way from the village, but without effect. During the examination of Ready-Money Jack, Slingsby had stood like "dejected Pity at his side," seeking every now and then, by a soft word, to soothe53 any exacerbation54 of his ire, or to qualify any harsh expression. He now ventured to make a few observations to the squire in palliation of the delinquent's offence; but poor Slingsby spoke55 more from the heart than the head, and was evidently actuated merely by a general sympathy for every poor devil in trouble, and a liberal toleration for all kinds of vagabond existence.
The ladies, too, large and small, with the kindheartedness of their sex, were zealous56 on the side of mercy, and interceded57 strenuously58 with the squire; insomuch that the prisoner, finding himself unexpectedly surrounded by active friends, once more reared his crest6, and seemed disposed for a time to put on the air of injured innocence59. The squire, however, with all his benevolence60 of heart, and his lurking61 weakness towards the prisoner, was too conscientious62 to swerve63 from the strict path of justice. There was abundant concurrent64 testimony that made the proof of guilt18 incontrovertible, and Starlight Tom's mittimus was made out accordingly.
The sympathy of the ladies was now greater than ever; they even made some attempts to mollify the ire of Ready-Money Jack; but that sturdy potentate65 had been too much incensed66 by the repeated incursions that had been made into his territories by the predatory band of Starlight Tom, and he was resolved, he said, to drive the "varmint reptiles67" out of the neighbourhood. To avoid all further importunities, as soon as the mittimus was made out, he girded up his loins, and strode back to his seat of empire, accompanied by his interceding68 friend, Slingsby, and followed by a detachment of the gipsy gang, who hung on his rear, assailing69 him with mingled70 prayers and execrations.
The question now was, how to dispose of the prisoner; a matter of great moment in this peaceful establishment, where so formidable a character as Starlight Tom was like a hawk entrapped71 in a dovecot. As the hubbub72 and examination had occupied a considerable time, it was too late in the day to send him to the county prison, and that of the village was sadly out of repair from long want of occupation. Old Christy, who took great interest in the affair, proposed that the culprit should be committed for the night to an upper loft73 of a kind of tower in one of the out-houses, where he and the gamekeeper would mount guard. After much deliberation this measure was adopted; the premises74 in question were examined and made secure, and Christy and his trusty ally, the one armed with a fowling-piece, the other with an ancient blunderbuss, turned out as sentries75 to keep watch over this donjon-keep.
The Guard
Such is the momentous76 affair that has just taken place, and it is an event of too great moment in this quiet little world not to turn it completely topsy-turvy. Labour is at a stand. The house has been a scene of confusion the whole evening. It has been beleaguered77 by gipsy women, with their children on their backs, wailing78 and lamenting79; while the old virago80 of a mother has cruised up and down the lawn in front, shaking her head and muttering to herself, or now and then breaking out into a paroxysm of rage, brandishing81 her fist at the Hall, and denouncing ill-luck upon Ready-Money Jack, and even upon the squire himself.
Lady Lillycraft has given repeated audiences to the culprit's weeping wife, at the Hall door; and the servant-maids have stolen out to confer with the gipsy women under the trees. As to the little ladies of the family, they are all outrageous82 at Ready-Money Jack, whom they look upon in the light of a tyrannical giant of fairy tale. Phoebe Wilkins, contrary to her usual nature, is the only one that is pitiless in the affair. She thinks Mr. Tibbets quite in the right; and thinks the gipsies deserve to be punished severely83 for meddling84 with the sheep of the Tibbetses.
In the meantime the females of the family have evinced all the provident85 kindness of the sex, ever ready to soothe and succour the distressed86, right or wrong. Lady Lillycraft has had a mattress87 taken to the out-house, and comforts and delicacies88 of all kinds have been taken to the prisoner; even the little girls have sent their cakes and sweet-meats; so that, I'll warrant, the vagabond has never fared so well in his life before. Old Christy, it is true, looks upon everything with a wary89 eye; struts90 about with his blunderbuss with the air of a veteran campaigner, and will hardly allow himself to be spoken to. The gipsy women dare not come within gunshot, and every tatterdemallion of a boy has been frightened from the park. The old fellow is determined91 to lodge92 Starlight Tom in prison with his own hands; and hopes, he says, to see one of the poaching crew made an example of.
I doubt, after all, whether the worthy93 squire is not the greatest sufferer in the whole affair. His honourable94 sense of duty obliges him to be rigid95, but the overflowing96 kindness of his nature makes this a grievous trial to him.
He is not accustomed to have such demands upon his justice in his truly patriarchal domain25; and it wounds his benevolent97 spirit, that, while prosperity and happiness are flowing in thus bounteously98 upon him, he should have to inflict99 misery100 upon a fellow-being.
He has been troubled and cast down the whole evening: took leave of the family, on going to bed, with a sigh, instead of his usual hearty101 and affectionate tone, and will, in all probability, have a far more sleepless102 night than his prisoner. Indeed this unlucky affair has cast a damp upon the whole household, as there appears to be an universal opinion that the unlucky culprit will come to the gallows103.
Morning.—The clouds of last evening are all blown over. A load has been taken from the squire's heart, and every face is once more in smiles. The gamekeeper made his appearance at an early hour, completely shamefaced and crestfallen. Starlight Tom had made his escape in the night; how he had got out of the loft no one could tell; the devil, they think, must have assisted him. Old Christy was so mortified104 that he would not show his face, but had shut himself up in his stronghold at the dog-kennel, and would not be spoken with. What has particularly relieved the squire is, that there is very little likelihood of the culprit's being retaken, having gone off on one of the old gentleman's best hunters.
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1
serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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2
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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3
wielding
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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4
redoubtable
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| adj.可敬的；可怕的 | |
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crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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quailed
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| 害怕，发抖，畏缩( quail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
trudged
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| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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9
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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10
heeding
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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12
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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13
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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14
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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15
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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16
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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17
ramped
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| 土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯 | |
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18
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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20
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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23
intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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25
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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27
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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28
worthies
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| 应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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32
peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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33
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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34
yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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quelled
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| v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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38
yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obsolete
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| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
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40
accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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41
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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42
daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
depredations
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| n.劫掠，毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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44
delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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45
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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46
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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47
wheedle
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| v.劝诱，哄骗 | |
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48
doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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49
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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50
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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51
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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52
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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53
soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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54
exacerbation
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| n.恶化，激怒，增剧；转剧 | |
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55
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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56
zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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57
interceded
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| v.斡旋，调解( intercede的过去式和过去分词 )；说情 | |
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strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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59
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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61
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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62
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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63
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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concurrent
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| adj.同时发生的，一致的 | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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67
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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interceding
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| v.斡旋，调解( intercede的现在分词 )；说情 | |
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assailing
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| v.攻击( assail的现在分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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entrapped
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| v.使陷入圈套，使入陷阱( entrap的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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73
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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74
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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75
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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momentous
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| adj.重要的，重大的 | |
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beleaguered
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| adj.受到围困[围攻]的；包围的v.围攻( beleaguer的过去式和过去分词)；困扰；骚扰 | |
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wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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80
virago
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| n.悍妇 | |
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brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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provident
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| adj.为将来做准备的，有先见之明的 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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delicacies
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| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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90
struts
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| （框架的）支杆( strut的名词复数 )； 支柱； 趾高气扬的步态； （尤指跳舞或表演时）卖弄 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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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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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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bounteously
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| adv.慷慨地，丰富地 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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102
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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103
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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