'Leave the cloth and the coffee,' said John, the elder, 'Mr Liversage is coming in.'
'Yes, Mr John,' said Maggie.
'Yes, Mr Robert,' said Maggie.
She gave him a slate with slate-pencil attached, which hung on a nail near the mantlepiece.
Robert took the slate and wrote on it: 'What is Liversage coming about?'
And he pushed the slate across the table to John.
Whereupon John wrote on the slate: 'Don't know. He telephoned me he wanted to see us tonight.'
And he pushed back the slate to Robert.
This singular procedure was not in the least attributable to deafness on the part of the brothers; they were in the prime of life, aged forty-two and thirty-nine respectively, and in complete possession of all their faculties5. It was due simply to the fact that they had quarrelled, and would not speak to each other. The history of their quarrel would be incredible were it not full of that ridiculous pathetic quality known as human nature, and did not similar things happen frequently in the manufacturing Midlands, where the general temperament6 is a fearful and strange compound of pride, obstinacy7, unconquerableness, romance, and stupidity. Yes, stupidity.
No single word had passed between the brothers in that house for ten years. On the morning after the historical quarrel Robert had not replied when John spoke8 to him. 'Well,' said John's secret heart—and John's secret heart ought to have known better, as it was older than its brother heart—'I'll teach him a lesson. I won't speak until he does.' And Robert's secret heart had somehow divined this idiotic9 resolution, and had said: 'We shall see.' Maggie had been the first to notice the stubborn silence. Then their friends noticed it, especially Mr Liversage, the solicitor10, their most intimate friend. But you are not to suppose that anybody protested very strongly. For John and Robert were not the kind of men with whom liberties may be taken; and, moreover, Bursley was slightly amused—at the beginning. It assumed the attitude of a disinterested11 spectator at a fight. It wondered who would win. Of course, it called both the brothers fools, yet in a tone somewhat sympathetic, because such a thing as had occurred to the Hessians might well occur to any man gifted with the true Bursley spirit. There is this to be said for a Bursley man: Having made his bed, he will lie on it, and he will not complain.
The Hessians suffered severely12 by their self-imposed dumbness, but they suffered like Stoics13. Maggie also suffered, and Maggie would not stand it. Maggie it was who had invented the slate. Indeed, they had heard some plain truths from that stout14, bustling15 woman. They had not yielded, but they had accepted the slate in order to minimize the inconvenience to Maggie, and afterwards they deigned16 to make use of it for their own purposes. As for friends—friends accustomed themselves to the status quo. There came a time when the spectacle of two men chattering17 to everybody else in a company, and not saying a word to each other, no longer appealed to Bursley's sense of humour. The silent scenes at which Maggie assisted every day did not, either, appeal to Maggie's sense of humour, because she had none. So the famous feud18 grew into a sort of elemental fact of Nature. It was tolerated as the weather is tolerated. The brothers acquired pride in it; even Bursley regarded it as an interesting municipal curiosity. The sole imperfection in a lovely and otherwise perfect quarrel was that John and Robert, being both employed at Roycroft's Majolica Manufactory, the one as works manager and the other as commercial traveller, were obliged to speak to each other occasionally in the way of business. Artistically19, this was a pity, though they did speak very sternly and distantly. The partial truce20 necessitated21 by Roycroft's was confined strictly22 to Roycroft's. And when Robert was not on his journeys, these two tall, strong, dark, bearded men might often be seen of a night walking separately and doggedly23 down Oldcastle Street from the works, within five yards of each other.
And no one suggested the lunatic asylum24. Such is the force of pride, of rank stupidity, and of habit.
The slate-scratching was scarcely over that evening when Mr Powell Liversage appeared. He was a golden-haired man, with a jolly face, lighter25 and shorter in structure than the two brothers. His friendship with them dated from school-days, and it had survived even the entrance of Liversage into a learned profession. Liversage, who, being a bachelor like the Hessians, had many unoccupied evenings, came to see the brothers regularly every Saturday night, and one or other of them dropped in upon him most Wednesdays; but this particular night was a Thursday.
'How do?' replied Liversage.
'How do, Pow?' Robert greeted him in turn, also between two puffs of a pipe.
And 'How do, little 'un?' replied Liversage.
A chair was indicated to him, and he sat down, and Robert poured out some coffee into a third cup which Maggie had brought. John pushed away the extra special of the Staffordshire Signal, which he had been reading.
'What's up these days?' John demanded.
'Well,' said Liversage, and both brothers noticed that he was rather ill at ease, instead of being humorous and lightly caustic28 as usual, 'the will's turned up.'
'The devil it has!' John exclaimed. 'When?'
'This afternoon.'
And then, as there was a pause, Liversage added: 'Yes, my sons, the will's turned up.'
'But where, you cuckoo, sitting there like that?' asked Robert. 'Where?'
'It was in that registered letter addressed to your sister that the Post Office people wouldn't hand over until we'd taken out letters of administration.'
'Well, I'm dashed!' muttered John. 'Who'd have thought of that? You've got the will, then?'
Liversage nodded.
The Hessians had an elder sister, Mrs Bott, widow of a colour merchant, and Mrs Bott had died suddenly three months ago, the night after a journey to Manchester. (Even at the funeral the brothers had scandalized the town by not speaking to each other.) Mrs Bott had wealth, wit, and wisdom, together with certain peculiarities29, of which one was an excessive secrecy30. It was known that she had made a will, because she had more than once notified the fact, in a tone suggestive of highly important issues, but the will had refused to be found. So Mr Liversage had been instructed to take out letters of administration of the estate, which, in the continued absence of the will, would be divided equally between the brothers. And twelve or thirteen thousand pounds may be compared to a financial beef-steak that cuts up very handsomely for two persons. The carving-knife was about to descend31 on its succulence, when, lo! the will!
'How came the will to be in the post?' asked Robert.
'The handwriting on the envelope was your sister's,' said Liversage. 'And the package was posted in Manchester. Very probably she had taken the will to Manchester to show it to a lawyer or something of that sort, and then she was afraid of losing it on the journey back, and so she sent it to herself by registered post. But before it arrived, of course, she was dead.'
'That wasn't a bad scheme of poor Mary Ann's!' John commented.
Now, both these men were, no doubt excusably, agonized33 by curiosity to learn the contents of the will. But would either of them be the first to express that curiosity? Never in this world! Not for the fortune itself! To do so would scarcely have been Bursleyish. It would certainly not have been Hessianlike. So Liversage was obliged at length to say—
'I reckon I'd better read you the will, eh?'
The brothers nodded.
'Mind you,' said Liversage, 'it's not my will. I've had nothing to do with it; so kindly34 keep your hair on. As a matter of fact, she must have drawn35 it up herself. It's not drawn properly at all, but it's witnessed all right, and it'll hold water, just as well as if the blooming Lord Chancellor36 had fixed37 it up for her in person.'
He produced the document and read, awkwardly and self-consciously—
'"This is my will. You are both of you extremely foolish, John and Robert, and I've often told you so. Nobody has ever understood, and nobody ever will understand, why you quarrelled like that over Annie Emery. You are punishing yourselves, but you are punishing her as well, and it isn't fair her waiting all these years. So I give all my estate, no matter what it is, to whichever of you marries Annie. And I hope this will teach you a lesson. You need it more than you need my money. But you must be married within a year of my death. And if the one that marries cares to give five thousand pounds or so to the other, of course there's nothing to prevent him. This is just a hint. And if you don't either of you marry Annie within a year, then I just leave everything I have to Miss Annie Emery (spinster), stationer and fancy-goods dealer38, Duck Bank, Bursley. She deserves something for her disappointment, and she shall have it. Mr Liversage, solicitor, must kindly be my executor. And I commit my soul to God, hoping for a blessed resurrection. 20th January, 1896. Signed Mary Ann Bott, widow." As I told you, the witnessing is in order,' Liversage finished.
'Give it here,' said John shortly, and scanned the sheet of paper.
And Robert actually walked round the table and looked over his brother's shoulder—ample proof that he was terrifically moved.
'And do you mean to tell me that a will like that is good in law?' exclaimed John.
'Of course it's good in law!' Liversage replied. 'Legal phraseology is a useful thing, and it often saves trouble in the end; but it ain't indispensable, you know.'
'Humph!' was Robert's comment as he resumed his seat and relighted his pipe.
All three men were nervous. Each was afraid to speak, afraid even to meet the eyes of the other two. An unmajestic silence followed.
'Well, I'll be off, I think,' Liversage remarked at length with difficulty.
He rose.
'I say,' Robert stopped him. 'Better not say anything about this to Miss—to Annie, eh?'
'I will say nothing,' agreed Liversage (infamously and unprofessionally concealing39 the fact that he had already said something).
And he departed.
Ten years before, Annie Emery had been an orphan42 of twenty-three, bravely starting in business for herself amid the plaudits of the admiring town; and John had fallen in love with her courage and her sense and her feminine charm. But alas43, as Ovid points out, how difficult it is for a woman to please only one man! Robert also had fallen in love with Annie. Each brother had accused the other of underhand and unbrotherly practices in the pursuit of Annie. Each was profoundly hurt by the accusations44, and each, in the immense fatuity45 of his pride, had privately46 sworn to prove his innocence47 by having nothing more to do with Annie. Such is life! Such is man! Such is the terrible egoism of man! And thus it was that, for the sake of wounded pride, John and Robert not only did not speak to one another for ten years, but they spoilt at least one of their lives; and they behaved ignobly48 to Annie, who would certainly have married either one or the other of them.
At two o'clock in the morning John pulled a coin out of his pocket and made the gesture of tossing.
'Who shall go first!' he explained.
Robert had a queer sensation in his spine49 as his elder brother spoke to him for the first time in ten years. He wanted to reply vocally50. He had a most imperious desire to reply vocally. But he could not. Something stronger even than the desire prevented his tongue from moving.
John tossed the coin—it was a sovereign—and covered it with his hands.
But it was head.
Then they went to bed.
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1
middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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slate
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| n.板岩，石板，石片，石板色，候选人名单；adj.暗蓝灰色的，含板岩的；vt.用石板覆盖，痛打，提名，预订 | |
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laconically
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| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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6
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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7
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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8
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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9
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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11
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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12
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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13
stoics
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| 禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 ) | |
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15
bustling
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| adj.喧闹的 | |
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16
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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18
feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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19
artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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21
necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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23
doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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24
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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25
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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26
succinctly
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| adv.简洁地；简洁地，简便地 | |
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27
puffs
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| n.吸( puff的名词复数 )；（烟斗或香烟的）一吸；一缕（烟、蒸汽等）；（呼吸或风的）呼v.使喷出( puff的第三人称单数 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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28
caustic
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| adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的 | |
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29
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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30
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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31
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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32
pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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33
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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34
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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35
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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36
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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37
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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38
dealer
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| n.商人，贩子 | |
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39
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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40
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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41
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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42
orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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43
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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44
accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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45
fatuity
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| n.愚蠢，愚昧 | |
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46
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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47
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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48
ignobly
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| 卑贱地，下流地 | |
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49
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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50
vocally
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| adv. 用声音, 用口头, 藉著声音 | |
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51
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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