It would seem something a matter for a wonder that a lady of Miss Royston’s refinement1 and varied2 capacity for ideals should be content to lead so long an annual series of her days to a pastoral retirement3. A month in London about the chill opening of the year, and another, later, at Epsom, Tunbridge Wells, or, perhaps, Newmarket, would comprise the wonted period of her absence from “Chatters.” This may have been so according to choice or necessity; but it was probably dictated4 by the first in greatest degree. It is true her brother’s smug, good-humoured little face misexpressed a character very fairly endowed with determination. He was, and desired to be, a country squire5; and, though he subscribed6 with infinite complacency to the extremest fashions of the town, it was only that he might thereby7 hold his neighbours to the right quantity of respect in alluding8 to his position amongst them. He would figure in their eyes, no Will Levett with a cudgel for Assembly Rooms, and still less a London fribble sporting with squirearchy; but a courteous9 lord of acres who should exemplify the best characteristics of both and the exaggerations of neither.
But his heart was with the country, and therefore it might be supposed that Miss Angela, in her rustic10 retirement, made a cloisteral virtue11 of necessity. It might be, and wrongfully, I believe. For this young lady’s tastes held much in common with those of her brother, enjoying different interests, but adapted to similar conditions. Perhaps she found a world of trees and flowers most fitting to her many excursions in romance. Perhaps she preferred conducting her own chorus of praise at “Chatters” to playing upon heart-strings12 in the crowded orchestras of fashion. Certainly she never had a mind to fiddle13 second, and, possibly, shrunk on that account from the necessity of ever assuming herself out-rivalled in that claim for leadership so passionately14 advanced by successive strings of town élégantes.
However that may be, her capacity for situations was extreme; her sensitiveness to any least appeal of the emotions a perpetual excuse for what, in a less gifted creature, would have passed for a most engaging inconstancy. Indeed, to thwart15 her in some pursuit of an ideal, was to feel the full force of the passion that impelled16 her to the chase.
So, for some nine months of the year, she held at her brother’s house her little feudatory court, and found, in the faithful homage17 of her squireens, a spring of content so untinged by jealousy18, or the necessity of it, as that it seemed the very rejuvenating19 water of life. There, did she tire of poetry, she smiled upon music in a way to make it almost in tune20 with itself; did she fall out of touch with Handel, she sickened, as it were, of art, and painted her name with an elegant flourish on the bright margin21 of the sky; did she weary of Tom, she handed him over for decent burial in a homelier heart, and coquetted with Dick during the whole of a St. Martin’s summer. And for all she did there was the appropriate background of woods and freshets and frisking lambs, that seemed to justify22 her most erratic23 courses. For the trees changed month by month, and the freshets swelled24 to torrents25, and the lambs frisked into mutton with fat wool and were shorn.
Now, about the period of Mr. Tuke’s invasion of her fields of romance, she was in her state aurelian; and, bursting its shell, her butterfly fancy lighted on him. Never before had she happened upon so dear a flower for the engagement of her sensibilities. She tested him with her delicate antennæ, and found him full of a rough honey that charmed her palate exceedingly. He had thorns; but with her little nippers she could pinch the tips off these and make them harmless. She fell into a really parlous26 state, and seemed to learn her womanliness—though she was rising twenty-seven—in a single sweet hour.
His image had dwelt with her ever since. It was with her now, as she stepped over the threshold of “Chatters” in her riding-habit. For she was for a canter with her brother; and secretly she hoped to come across him in the course of it.
At the very moment she came forth28, she heard her brother utter an exclamation29, and saw a light bounding figure fling itself towards him and, catching30 at his saddle-bow, make some appeal to him with a frenzy31 of gesture. It was the girl Darda, as she saw—hoodless, flushed and dishevelled; and the lady looked on a little amazed, and with a fine attitude of scorn towards a creature who could so forego the ethics32 of her sex under the stimulus33 of excitement.
“What is it, Davy?” she said, descending34 the steps, and coldly ignoring the wild-eyed young woman, who as indifferently returned her contempt with utter disregard of her presence.
“Hush!” he said to the girl, who still pleaded with him in a low clamour of words.
Darda fell silent; but she looked round on Miss Royston with lowered brows and her white teeth set doggedly36.
“We are going for a ride, are we not?”
“Yes. But lookee here. The girl says Tuke accuses her brother of some villainy, and hath shut him up in the ‘Priest’s Hole.’”
“He can do as he likes with his own, I presume.”
Darda broke into a mad outcry.
“Shame on you!” she screamed—“that can lock your woman’s breast from pity with a key of gold! He’s poor and friendless, or such as you would never dare to speak so!”
“Silence, girl!” said Sir David sternly; but his sister had flushed up a very stormy red.
“The fellow hath no more than his deserts, I’ll warrant,” she said loudly. “It must be ill managing a craven and an idiot.”
Sir David vaulted38 from his saddle. Miss Angel’s fingers were nervous with her little riding-whip, and her pale eyes glinted like broken flints.
“Have reason, Angel,” he said quickly. “What if I have small ground to interfere39? Dennis is my old friend; and, by cock, I can’t believe him guilty of aught but weakness at the worst. There must be some mistake. At least I can do no harm by seein’ the master.”
Darda caught his hand and kissed it passionately.
“You will let him free!” she cried. “Come, come, come! Every minute maddens him that he lies among the shadows. You don’t know what that is. Put my fine lady there and cure her of the vapours.”
“Come!” she shrieked42 again—“or that devil will have his own. I tried to stab him, but he saw and struck the knife out of my hand.”
Sir David started back.
“Oh!” he cried, with a fallen face. “What’s that? I must ride over in good truth. Follow, you, Darda; and keep those wicked fingers out of the fire.”
Miss Royston stepped forward haughtily43. The groom, a passive but greatly interested spectator of this pretty scene, touched his cap and held down his hand for stirrup.
“If you really intend it,” said the lady, making, on a sudden thought, a virtue of inclination44, “I will come with you. There may be bad blood fired, where one interferes45 unwarrantably with the actions of another.”
“I think not,” said Sir David quietly; “if Mr. Tuke is the man I take him to be. But, come, Angel. You may serve as an argument where none of mine would carry.”
She gave a light laugh as she was lifted into her saddle.
“You flatter me, brother,” she said. “I will persuade in the language of flowers, and you by club-law. We will see which hath the better wit.”
She flicked46 up her horse, and, whether by accident or design, drove it brushing against Darda as she stood near.
The girl sprang back, almost with an oath on her lips.
“Some day, perhaps,” she muttered in her teeth—“some day, perhaps, you shall set your wit against bright steel, mistress, and see which is the sharper.”
She caught sight of Sir David turning in his saddle and beckoning47 her to follow, and waved to him and cried wildly, “I am coming!”
“To ’a view hulloa!” said the attentive48 groom, with a grin. “Run un to earth, gal49, in the ‘Priest’s Hoal.’”
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1
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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4
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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5
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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6
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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7
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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8
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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9
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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11
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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12
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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13
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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14
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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15
thwart
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| v.阻挠，妨碍，反对；adj.横(断的) | |
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16
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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19
rejuvenating
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| 使变得年轻，使恢复活力( rejuvenate的现在分词 ) | |
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20
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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21
margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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22
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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23
erratic
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| adj.古怪的，反复无常的，不稳定的 | |
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24
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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25
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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26
parlous
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| adj.危险的，不确定的，难对付的 | |
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27
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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28
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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29
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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30
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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31
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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32
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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33
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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34
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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35
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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doggedly
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| adv.顽强地，固执地 | |
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37
foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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39
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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40
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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41
mangle
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| vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布 | |
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42
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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44
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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45
interferes
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| vi. 妨碍，冲突，干涉 | |
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46
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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47
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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48
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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49
gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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50
jeeringly
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| adv.嘲弄地 | |
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