The reason had to do most intimately with frocks.
Vera had been married ten years. But no one would have guessed it, to watch her girlish figure and her birdlike ways. You see, she was the only child in the house. She often bitterly regretted the absence of offspring to the name and honour of Cheswardine. She envied other wives their babies. She doted on babies. She said continually that in her deliberate opinion the proper mission of women was babies. She was the sort of woman that regards a cathedral as a place built especially to sit in and dream soft domestic dreams; the sort of woman that adores music simply because it makes her dream. And Vera's brown studies, which were frequent, consisted chiefly of babies. But as babies amused themselves by coming down the chimneys of all the other houses in Bursley, and avoiding her house, she sought comfort in frocks. She made the best of herself. And it was a good best. Her figure was as near perfect as a woman's can be, and then there were those fine emotional eyes, and that flutteringness of the pigeon, and an ever-changing charm of gesture. Vera had become the best-dressed woman in Bursley. And that is saying something. Her husband was wealthy, with an increasing income, though, of course, as an earthenware1 manufacturer, and the son and grandson of an earthenware manufacturer, he joined heartily2 in the general Five Towns lamentation3 that there was no longer any money to be made out of 'pots'. He liked to have a well-dressed woman about the house, and he allowed her an incredible allowance, the amount of which was breathed with awe4 among Vera's friends; a hundred a year, in fact. He paid it to her quarterly, by cheque. Such was his method.
Now a ball was to be given by the members of the Ladies' Hockey Club (or such of them as had not been maimed for life in the pursuit of this noble pastime) on the very night after the conversation about murder. Vera belonged to the Hockey Club (in a purely5 ornamental6 sense), and she had procured7 a frock for the ball which was calculated to crown her reputation as a mirror of elegance9. The skirt had—but no (see the columns of the Staffordshire Signal for the 9th November, 1901). The mischief10 was that the gown lacked, for its final perfection, one particular thing, and that particular thing was separated from Vera by the glass front of Brunt's celebrated11 shop at Hanbridge. Vera could have managed without it. The gown would still have been brilliant without it. But Vera had seen it, and she WANTED it.
Its cost was a guinea. Well, you will say, what is a guinea to a dainty creature with a hundred a year? Let her go and buy the article. The point is that she couldn't, because she had only six and sevenpence left in the wide world. (And six weeks to Christmas!) She had squandered—oh, soul above money!—twenty-five pounds, and more than twenty-five pounds, since the 29th of September. Well, you will say, credit, in other words, tick? No, no, no! The giant Stephen absolutely and utterly12 forbade her to procure8 anything whatever on credit. She was afraid of him. She knew just how far she could go with Stephen. He was great and terrible. Well, you will say, why couldn't she blandish and cajole Stephen for a sovereign or so? Impossible! She had a hundred a year on the clear understanding that it was never exceeded nor anticipated. Well, you will discreetly13 hint, there are certain devices known to housewives.... Hush14! Vera had already employed them. Six and sevenpence was not merely all that remained to her of her dress allowance; it was all that remained to her of her household allowance till the next Monday.
Hence her nerves.
There that poor unfortunate woman lay, with her unconscious tyrant16 of a husband snoring beside her, desolately17 wakeful under the night-light in the large, luxurious18 bedroom—three servants sleeping overhead, champagne19 in the cellar, furs in the wardrobe, valuable lace round her neck at that very instant, grand piano in the drawing-room, horses in the stable, stuffed bear in the hall—and her life was made a blank for want of fourteen and fivepence! And she had nobody to confide20 in. How true it is that the human soul is solitary21, that content is the only true riches, and that to be happy we must be good!
It was at that juncture22 of despair that she thought of mandarins. Or rather—I may as well be frank—she had been thinking of mandarins all the time since retiring to rest. There MIGHT be something in Charlie's mandarin23 theory.... According to Charlie, so many queer, inexplicable24 things happened in the world. Occult—subliminal—astral—thoughtwaves. These expressions and many more occurred to her as she recollected25 Charlie's disconcerting conversations. There MIGHT.... One never knew.
Suddenly she thought of her husband's pockets, bulging26 with silver, with gold, and with bank-notes. Tantalizing27 vision! No! She could not steal. Besides, he might wake up.
And she returned to mandarins. She got herself into a very morbid28 and two-o'clock-in-the-morning state of mind. Suppose it was a dodge29 that DID work. (Of course, she was extremely superstitious30; we all are.) She began to reflect seriously upon China. She remembered having heard that Chinese mandarins were very corrupt31; that they ground the faces of the poor, and put innocent victims to the torture; in short, that they were sinful and horrid32 persons, scoundrels unfit for mercy. Then she pondered upon the remotest parts of China, regions where Europeans never could penetrate33. No doubt there was some unimportant mandarin, somewhere in these regions, to whose district his death would be a decided34 blessing35, to kill whom would indeed be an act of humanity. Probably a mandarin without wife or family; a bachelor mandarin whom no relative would regret; or, in the alternative, a mandarin with many wives, whose disgusting polygamy merited severe punishment! An old mandarin already pretty nearly dead; or, in the alternative, a young one just commencing a career of infamy36!
'I'm awfully37 silly,' she whispered to herself. 'But still, if there SHOULD be anything in it. And I must, I must, I must have that thing for my dress!'
She looked again at the dim forms of her husband's clothes, pitched anyhow on an ottoman. No! She could not stoop to theft!
So she murdered a mandarin; lying in bed there; not any particular mandarin, a vague mandarin, the mandarin most convenient and suitable under all the circumstances. She deliberately38 wished him dead, on the off-chance of acquiring riches, or, more accurately39, because she was short of fourteen and fivepence in order to look perfectly40 splendid at a ball.
In the morning when she woke up—her husband had already departed to the works—she thought how foolish she had been in the night. She did not feel sorry for having desired the death of a fellow-creature. Not at all. She felt sorry because she was convinced, in the cold light of day, that the charm would not work. Charlie's notions were really too ridiculous, too preposterous41. No! She must reconcile herself to wearing a ball dress which was less than perfection, and all for the want of fourteen and fivepence. And she had more nerves than ever!
She had nerves to such an extent that when she went to unlock the drawer of her own private toilet-table, in which her prudent42 and fussy43 husband forced her to lock up her rings and brooches every night, she attacked the wrong drawer—an empty unfastened drawer that she never used. And lo! the empty drawer was not empty. There was a sovereign lying in it!
This gave her a start, connecting the discovery, as naturally at the first blush she did, with the mandarin.
Surely it couldn't be, after all.
Then she came to her senses. What absurdity44! A coincidence, of course, nothing else? Besides, a mere15 sovereign! It wasn't enough. Charlie had said 'rich for life'. The sovereign must have lain there for months and months, forgotten.
However, it was none the less a sovereign. She picked it up, thanked Providence45, ordered the dog-cart, and drove straight to Brunt's. The particular thing that she acquired was an exceedingly thin, slim, and fetching silver belt—a marvel46 for the money, and the ideal waist decoration for her wonderful white muslin gown. She bought it, and left the shop.
And as she came out of the shop, she saw a street urchin47 holding out the poster of the early edition of the Signal. And she read on the poster, in large letters: 'DEATH OF LI HUNG CHANG.' It is no exaggeration to say that she nearly fainted. Only by the exercise of that hard self-control, of which women alone are capable, did she refrain from tumbling against the blue-clad breast of Adams, the Cheswardine coachman.
She purchased the Signal with well-feigned calm, opened it and read: 'Stop-press news. Pekin. Li Hung Chang, the celebrated Chinese statesman, died at two o'clock this morning.—Reuter.'
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1
earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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5
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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7
procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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8
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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9
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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11
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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14
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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15
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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16
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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17
desolately
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| 荒凉地，寂寞地 | |
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18
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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19
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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20
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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21
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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23
Mandarin
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| n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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25
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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26
bulging
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| 膨胀； 凸出（部）； 打气； 折皱 | |
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27
tantalizing
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| adj.逗人的；惹弄人的；撩人的；煽情的v.逗弄，引诱，折磨( tantalize的现在分词 ) | |
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28
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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29
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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31
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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32
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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33
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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34
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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35
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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36
infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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37
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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38
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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40
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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41
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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42
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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43
fussy
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| adj.为琐事担忧的，过分装饰的，爱挑剔的 | |
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44
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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45
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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46
marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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47
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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