She looked a respectable young spinster, with a grace of manner beyond her station, and a decency1 and propriety2 of demeanour that inspired respect.
She was a married woman, separated from her husband by mutual3 consent: and she had had many lovers, each of whom she had loved ardently—for a little while. She was a woman that brought to bear upon foolish, culpable5, loves, a mental power that would have adorned6 the wool-sack.
The moment prudence7 or waning8 inclination9 made it advisable to break with the reigning10 favourite, she set to work to cool him down by deliberate coldness, sullenness11, insolence12; and generally succeeded. But, if he was incurable13, she never hesitated as to her course; she smiled again on him and looked out for another place: being an invaluable14 servant, she got one directly; and was off to fresh pastures.
A female rake; but with the air of a very prude.
Still the decency and propriety of her demeanour were not all hypocrisy15, but half hypocrisy, and half inborn16 and instinctive17 good taste and good sense.
On her arrival at Hernshaw Castle she cast her eyes round to see what there was to fall in love with; and observed the gamekeeper, Tom Leicester. She gave him a smile or two that won his heart; but there she stopped: for soon the ruddy cheek, brown eyes, manly19 proportions, and square shoulders of her master attracted this connoisseur20 in masculine beauty. And then his manner was so genial21 and hearty22, with a smile for everybody. Mrs. Ryder eyed him demurely23 day by day, and often opened a window slily to watch him unseen.
From that she got to throwing herself in his way: and this with such art that he never discovered it, though he fell in with her about the house six times as often as he met his wife or any other inmate24.
She had already studied his character, and, whether she arranged to meet him full, or to cross him, it was always with a curtsy and a sunshiny smile; he smiled on her in his turn, and felt a certain pleasure at sight of her: for he loved to see people bright and cheerful about him.
Then she did, of her own accord, what no other master on earth would have persuaded her to do: looked over his linen25; sewed on buttons for him; and sometimes the artful jade26 deliberately27 cut a button off a clean shirt, and then came to him and sewed it on during wear. This brought about a contact none knew better than she how to manage to a man's undoing28. The eyelashes lowered over her work, deprecating, yet inviting,—the twenty stitches, when six would have done,—the one coy glance at leaving. All this soft witchcraft29 beset30 Griffith Gaunt, and told on him; but not as yet in the way his inamorata intended. "Kate," said he one day, "that girl of yours is worth her weight in gold."
When Caroline found that her master was single-hearted, and loved his wife too well to look elsewhere, instead of hating him, she began to love him more seriously, and to hate his wife, that haughty32 beauty who took such a husband as a matter of course, and held him tight without troubling her head.
It was a coarse age, and in that very county more than one wife had suffered jealous agony from her own domestic. But here the parts were inverted33: the lady was at her ease; the servant paid a bitter penalty for her folly34. She was now passionately35 in love, and had to do menial offices for her rival every hour of the day: she must sit with Mrs. Gaunt, and make her dresses, and consult with her how to set off her hateful beauty to the best advantage. She had to dress her, and look daggers36 at her satin skin and royal neck, and to sit behind her an hour at a time combing and brushing her long golden hair.
How she longed to tear a handful of it out, and then run away! Instead of that, her happy rival expected her to be as tender and coaxing37 with it as Madame de Maintenon was with the Queen's of France.
Ryder called it "yellow stuff" down in the kitchen; that was one comfort: but a feeble one; the sun came in at the lady's window, and Ryder's shapely hand was overflowed38, and her eyes offended, by waves of burnished39 gold: and one day Griffith came in and kissed it in her very hand. His lips felt nothing but his wife's glorious hair; but, by that exquisite40 sensibility which the heart can convey in a moment to the very fingernails, Caroline's hand, beneath, felt the soft touch through her mistress's hair; and the enamoured hypocrite thrilled, and then sickened at her own folly.
For in her good sense could be overpowered, but never long blinded.
On the day in question she was thinking of Griffith, as usual, and wondering whether he would always prefer yellow hair to black. This actually put her off her guard for once, and she gave the rival hair a little contemptuous tug41: and the reader knows what followed.
Staggered by her mistress's question, Caroline made no reply, but only panted a little, and proceeded more carefully.
But, oh the struggle it cost her not to slap both Mrs. Gaunt's fair cheeks with the backs of the brushes! And what with this struggle, and the reprimand, and the past agitations42, by-and-by the comb ceased, and the silence was broken by faint sobs43.
Mrs. Gaunt turned calmly round and looked full at her hysterical44 handmaid.
"What is to do?" said she. "Is it because I chid45 you, child? Nay46, you need not take that to heart; it is just my way: I can bear anything but my hair pulled." With this she rose and poured some drops of sal-volatile into water, and put it to her secret rival's lips: it was kindly47 done, but with that sort of half contemptuous and thoroughly48 cold pity women are apt to show to women, and especially when one of them is Mistress and the other is Servant.
Still it cooled the extreme hatred49 Caroline had nursed, and gave her a little twinge, and awakened50 her intelligence. Now her intelligence was truly remarkable51 when not blinded by passion. She was a woman with one or two other masculine traits beside her roving heart. For instance, she could sit and think hard and practically for hours together: and on these occasions her thoughts were never dreamy and vague; it was no brown study, but good hard thinking. She would knit her coal-black brows, like Lord Thurlow himself, and realize the situation, and weigh the pros52 and cons4 with a steady judicial53 power rarely found in her sex: and, nota bene, when once her mind had gone through this process, then she would act with almost monstrous54 resolution.
She now shut herself up in her own room for some hours and weighed the matter carefully.
The conclusion she arrived at was this: that, if she stayed at Hernshaw Castle, there would be mischief55; and probably she herself would be the principal sufferer to the end of the chapter, as she was now.
She said to herself, "I shall go mad, or else expose myself, and be turned away with loss of character; and then what will become of me, and my child? Better lose life or reason than character. I know what I have to go through; I have left a man ere now with my heart tugging56 at me to stay beside him. It is a terrible wrench57: and then all seems dead for a long while without him. But the world goes on and takes you round with it; and by-and-by you find there are as good fish left in the sea as ever came out on't. I'll go, while I've sense enough left to see I must."
The very next day she came to Mrs. Gaunt and said she wished to leave. "Certainly," said Mrs. Gaunt, coldly. "May I ask the reason?"
"Oh, I have no complaint to make, ma'am, none whatever; but I am not happy here; and I wish to go when my month's up, or sooner, ma'am, if you could suit yourself."
Mrs. Gaunt considered a moment: then she said, "You came all the way from Gloucestershire to me: had you not better give the place a fair trial? I have had two or three good servants that felt uncomfortable at first; but they soon found out my ways, and stayed with me till they married. As for leaving me before your month, that is out of the question." To this Ryder said not a word, but merely vented58 a little sigh, half dogged, half submissive; and went cat-like about, arranging her mistress's things with admirable precision and neatness. Mrs. Gaunt watched her, without seeming to do so, and observed that her discontent did not in the least affect her punctual discharge of her duties. Said Mrs. Gaunt to herself, "This servant is a treasure: she shall not go." And Ryder to herself, "Well, 'tis but for a month; and then no power shall keep me here."
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1
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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cons
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| n.欺骗，骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗，哄骗( con的第三人称单数 ) | |
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culpable
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| adj.有罪的，该受谴责的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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8
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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9
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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sullenness
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| n. 愠怒, 沉闷, 情绪消沉 | |
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12
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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13
incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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14
invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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inborn
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| adj.天生的，生来的，先天的 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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18
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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19
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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connoisseur
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| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
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21
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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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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23
demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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24
inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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25
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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26
jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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28
undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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29
witchcraft
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| n.魔法，巫术 | |
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30
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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31
frigidly
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| adv.寒冷地；冷漠地；冷淡地；呆板地 | |
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32
haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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33
inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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36
daggers
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| 匕首，短剑( dagger的名词复数 ) | |
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37
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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38
overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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39
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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40
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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41
tug
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| v.用力拖(或拉)；苦干；n.拖；苦干；拖船 | |
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42
agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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43
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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44
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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45
chid
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| v.责骂，责备( chide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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47
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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48
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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49
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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50
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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51
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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52
pros
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| abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物 | |
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53
judicial
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| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
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54
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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55
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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56
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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57
wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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58
vented
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| 表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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