Sir David Blythewood had a particularly infectious laugh, and like all men who make a plaything of their own dignity, he was wont1 to find his risibilities tickled2 consumedly before the solemnity of another’s self-importance. Sooner or later the humorous side of any situation would find him, and then, perhaps, it was only those at whom his mischief4 of merriment was directed who failed to appreciate his sense of the comical.
Now the history of the “Lake of Wine,” as he knew it, had been almost a life-long tradition with him, and a very seriously romantic one, too; but this latest phase of it was destined5 to quite suddenly make its appeal to him—after some weighty and respectful consideration—from a quarter that, it appeared, his gravity had left unguarded. That it did so is mentioned in this connection for the reason that a certain explosion of mirth on his part was fruitful of consequences.
He and Tuke had ridden over to Winchester to acquaint Luvaine of the progress of events. Perhaps they had not thought to do more than discuss the matter, according to promise, with this melancholy6 monomaniac. He, however, had relieved them of any hospitable7 embarrassment8 they might have felt by at once without any attempt at apology, inviting9 himself to return with them, with the intimation that it would go nearer to satisfy him if they could thresh out the question on the spot. In order to this, therefore, Tuke—stifling a certain natural antipathy10 he felt to the man—had prevailed upon him to become for awhile his guest at “Delsrop”; and now the three, slowly trotting11 by way of a harshly white and iron-bound country, were making, chill and rather silent, for that lonely dwelling-place.
Riding down into Stockbridge with little concern for anything but the dangerous road, Tuke had the tail of his eye, nevertheless, for the “First Inn,” and for Betty standing12 at the door thereof, serving a mug of ale to a solitary13 traveller. The girl dropped a curtsey, as in duty bound, to the gentlemen, two of whom saluted14 her in reply—Blythewood, smilingly; Tuke, gravely; but the wench’s fair soft figure, standing there in bravery of the bitter cold, and her sad mouth and lowered eyelids15, dwelt with him by many an after mile, and his heart throbbed16 out to the forlorn passion he was so hopeless to comfort.
“What the deuce is the matter with you?” said the latter.
“Eh? Oh! nothin’—nothin’ whatever, Tuke. I say, did you note the gentleman in the jumper?”
“Gentleman? Where?”
“Him that was drinkin’ the ale?”
“No, I don’t think I did.”
“Didn’t you? Well, you mark my word, we’ve some more of these misbegotten rooks flown into the neighbourhood, and it’ll behoove18 us to keep the salt ready for their tails.”
“Oh! did he look that sort?”
“That he did.”
“And it made you laugh, eh?”
For answer, all the little man’s features swelled19 to a ripe colour, and he seemed on the verge20 of an explosion. Tuke shook his head with a grin, repudiating21 responsibility in the matter, and they rode on a mile further without a word exchanged amongst them. Then suddenly Blythewood was rolling in his saddle, shrieking22 with laughter, and they all drew rein23 beside a little copse.
“Well, sir! if you’ll condescend27 to speak, perhaps we shall be quick to share in your merriment.”
It was so extremely unlikely as far as he was concerned, that the mere28 suggestion brought a fresh paroxysm from the delinquent29.
“Oh!” he cried at last—“to think of all these years of a grievance30 like yours—of the solemn counsels and the wise heads waggin’—and then to learn that the gashly eye of the creature that we turned from lookin’ at should ha’ been the very stone itself!”
Tuke caught himself grinning again, but Luvaine, furiously red in a moment, drew up stiff in his saddle.
“And you find this food for laughter?” he said, in a high voice. “A grievance, quotha!—only a grievance that hath wrought31 the ruin of two souls, and for me, in the prime of life, a childless and haunted old age!”
“Oh, Luvaine!” said Sir David, struggling for gravity, “I didn’t mean to cheapen you, man, or to withhold32 my sympathy from the problematic Mrs. L., who—who ‘very imprudently married the barber’”—he added, with a shout of merriment.
Tuke saw fit to put in a hasty word.
“He has earned a laugh. Let it be at you or me, Captain Luvaine; for though I take no loss of the robbery, I swear the knowledge of it has ridden me like a nightmare.”
The soldier waved his hand.
“Bah!” he said—“the crackling of thorns!”
At this the culprit went into a fresh fit.
“No, but,” he said, when he could recover his voice—“on your honour d’you believe the girl’s statement, Tuke?”
He was struggling with his own imp3 of merriment. The other had set it squiggling; so that he was fain to look upon all this portentous36 business from a new irreverent point of view.
“And that Cutwater kept the jewel in his eye-hole,” persisted Sir David, “for all the world to see? And did he sacrifice the sound article to accommodate it?”
“That I cannot account for. He was blind on one side before ever you saw him.”
“You’ve got him to the life, I perceive. And he wore a dummy37 optic, no doubt, and substituted t’other, all ingeniously painted, for it when he conceived the resplendent idea?”
“I confess I never thought it out! But you’ve done it masterly.”
“Ain’t I? What a genius I am!—almost as good a one as Cutwater (eh, Luvaine?), that was strung up on the downs and a fortune in his head for any crow to peck at. You’d have given an eye for an eye to know that, wouldn’t you? But it needed a crazed girl to see into the creature’s methods, and bag the prize when it fell, while all the rest of us were hunting counter.”
“Are you taunting38 me, sir? Let me tell you your jesting is ill-timed. I would have known better, at least, than to have ordered away the skull39 without first examining it.”
“On my honour, sir,” said Tuke, much amused, “I am not a coroner nor even a J. P.”
“Oh! well,” muttered the soldier—“I am ready, gentlemen.”
As he was preparing to mount:
“Tuke,” said Sir David, “now I think on’t—wasn’t it that girl at the inn first gave you warning of Mr. Breeds and his gang?”
“Betty Pollack? Yes.”
He answered brusquely, and touched his horse with his heel.
“The women, it seems, give us the lead in this business.”
“Betty,” said Tuke, with a little fierce glow of emotion, “is gold to the inside of her heart. Now, gentlemen—and keep your eyes alert, by your favour, as we pass the ‘Dog and Duck.’”
A creaking, and pounding of the frozen snow, and the three were on their way once more. The long white stretches of road behind them returned to the sombreness of quiet that their human voices had interrupted. The very dun sky, that seemed to have withdrawn41 in high offence at their careless chatter42, drooped43 down again, frowning and austere44, to resume its ward45 of the imprisoned46 forces of life. No movement was in the stiff spurs of grass or in the petrified47 Hedgerows; no least cry of bird or insect in all the wastes of air.
Yet something there was that gave out a stealthy sound by and by—something that all the time they talked had held its panic breath in the copse, and sweated with terror lest the little snap of some twig48 under its feet should reveal its hiding-place—something with a puffed49, leaden face and coward eyes—the unlovely Mr. Breeds, in fact.
He would not come out into the road, even after the last echo of the horsemen’s retreat had died away. But he crept to his little windy house on the hill by the way he had come—and Mr. Breeds’s way was always a backstairs one. Once only he paused, and his weak, evil features gathered all the definite expression of scoundrelism they could master.
“Betty Pollack!” he muttered. “So it was you, my girl, that set your dirty little torch to the beacon50! Now ain’t it dangerous to play with fire, Betty? And what should you say if it came to burn your own fingers?”
“But the skull comes first,” he murmured. “What’ll they give me for that piece of news, I wonder?”
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收听单词发音
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1
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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imp
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| n.顽童 | |
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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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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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15
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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behoove
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| v.理应；有益于 | |
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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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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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repudiating
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的现在分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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31
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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32
withhold
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| v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡 | |
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33
tighten
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| v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧 | |
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34
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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dummy
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| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
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38
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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39
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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40
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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41
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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43
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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45
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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46
imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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48
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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49
puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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50
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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51
thigh
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| n.大腿；股骨 | |
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