A white bed and sleep; food and drink in judicious2 allowance; salve for his hands and love for his heart; not least, the conviction that he might rest secure of the right conduct of his little garrison—and the returned sufferer, committing himself to the processes of a radiant constitution, found his trust justified3 in such a rapid convalescence4 as he had hardly ventured to expect.
He slept off a dozen hours of the clock like one, and woke when it was nearing noon, already more than half restored to himself.
At the first sound of his moving, Sir David came to his bedside, and looked down upon him with a comical air of chagrin5.
“Good and satisfactory,” said the baronet; “and now, sir, we need your counsels to rid some innocent people of a very blackguard incubus6.”
“Heaven bless them! But one word first—Darda?”
“Thank God for that! How——?”
“Why, it seems she made a hole in the floor of the attic8 where she was held, dropped down into the very room you had quitted, and took advantage of the window you had left open. That other’s a rare wench of yours, Tuke.”
“Aye, aye.”
“You turn their heads, sir; and damme if your virtues9 compare with mine. Why, the mad girl, it appears, gave herself to the rogues11 on the chance of helping13 you, and was right savage14 when she found she had been forestalled15. Burn me if I can see so much in you! She would ha’ been on your tracks sooner, but that she must stop to collect a bag-full of her mummies and things; and there she was makin’ for the tunnel as cool as a gipsy, when Whimple sighted her.”
“Well, what is toward this morning?”
“Two are accounted for already—one by their own devilry, and one by Dennis’s knife.”
“Would you believe it, Tuke—the man’s as haunted as if stickin’ a mongrel were murder.”
“It is to him. He hath saddled himself with a life-long ghost for my sake.”
“Folly17, sir, folly. He hath not the right trick of sport. Will you rise and come to counsel? If only I could make to ‘Chatters’ for reinforcements, and take the enemy in the rear?”
“Ah, if we only could! Must I dress by candle-light?”
Half-an-hour later, refreshed and re-invigorated, though still conscious of a swimming weakness, the master of “Delsrop” descended20 to his dining-hall. On his way he passed a little group of his maids—a bevy21 of frighted and tear-stained faces that appealed to him humorously and pathetically. He stopped a moment.
“Take heart, my girls,” said he. “We’ll soon be quit of trouble now I’m come to my own again.”
“God bless you, sir! We never thought to see sich doings when we took service here.”
“Why, no more did I. And I swear my service is harder than yours.”
“Tut! What an unconscionable scoundrel! We must put a snuffer on him.”
He smiled and nodded and went on his way. He suffered some small trepidation23 thereby24 over the thought of what he was about to face.
Miss Royston rose with a little stiff laugh as he entered the room. She was trim and dainty for all her poverty of circumstance. He went straight up to her and bowed low.
“What can I offer you,” he said, “but my deep regrets?”
“Indeed, sir,” she answered loftily, “’tis our friend’s trouble that hath worked your misfortune. You are recovered, I hope?”
“I am almost well.”
The Viscount Dunlone, who had been seated over the hearth25, and who was in truth the only other present, rose here with a glowering26 face. His left arm was swathed in linen27 bandages.
“That being so,” he said, “I will ask you, is it not intolerable I should be brought by your invitation to this monstrous28 pass?”
“I have been wounded nigh to death, sir——”
“Oh, my lord!” put in Angela sharply, “the flesh was but cut.”
“Madam, permit me my own form of words. I have suffered a cursed mauling, sir, under your roof and in an affair that no whit1 concerns me.”
“And I am sorry, Lord Dunlone. What more can I say, but that the affair concerns me no more than that it affects my friend’s friend, and that I wish us all well out of it.”
“That isn’t enough for me, curse it! I’m to be flouted30 and shot at and treated with no more respect than a cursed commoner, and then be given an account of regrets! You’ve returned to your own, sir; and now I’ll look to you to put an end to this cursed business, and to procure31 me a safe pass out of your accursed wilderness32.”
“Lord Dunlone, listen to me. When this business is settled you can call me to what account you please. In the meantime, as I am master here, you will dispose yourself according to my direction and as I think most profitable to our security and welfare.”
He turned from the peer and walked to the fire-place.
“You belittle33 my lord and his grievance,” said Miss Angela primly34; “but no doubt you are within your right, Sir Robert.”
“Oh! very well,” he said in a high voice. “You take your course, and I mine when this matter is ended.”
He flung himself out and banged-to the oak behind him. Mr. Tuke looked gravely at his companion.
“So, he hath told you?” he said.
“He revealed it when he was very wild with his wound. You have not treated me well, Sir Robert.”
“I have no claim to the title. My repudiation36 of it was a condition of this inheritance.”
“And so your chickens came home to roost. Fie, Sir Robert! With what character would you pay your court to an innocent lady?”
“And to the glory of what Dulcinea?”
She looked at him searchingly; with what intention who shall say.
“Why not? Slander41 is the hall-mark on virtue10. ’Twas one of these ‘kitchen wenches,’ as I have the tale, was your salvation42 at the first.”
“Oh! I grant she knows a rogue12 by his scent43. She served the tap to such, I believe; and ’twas right noble of you to bring her to draw the ale to your honour.”
“Mercy on us! I meant no offence. I love her solicitude45 in sitting up for the wanderers all night, and closing the shutters on her friends the thieves when she saw them breaking out of the drive. But what was that to her taking the burden of your release on her shoulders? and I trust she hath not found herself conducting a forlorn hope.”
“Her conduct is and has been what any with nobility must applaud.”
“I thank you for including me amongst the elect.”
“My name, madam, should I choose to recover it—as I may—will rank with the oldest and stateliest. I regard it as the meanest bribe46 to the consideration of one that simple self-respect adorns47 beyond the favours of kings.”
“Ah, me! We poor worldlings! It is well, I see, to go to school to misfortune, and better to pull mugs of ale to country louts. I can congratulate Lady Linne, at least, upon a very knowing taste in liquors.”
Mr. Tuke stared in amazement48. Here, he could have thought, spoke49 the bitterness and scorn of jealousy50. What if, at his last meeting with her, she had thought fit to stultify51 her previous insolence52 by a show of condescension53 to him that for the moment conveyed its calculated charm? He had looked upon this, on reflection, as a mere54 move in her game of coquetry—a bait to the sulky lord who “drizzled.” He had hardly dreamed that anything personal to himself could weigh in her balance against broad acres and a title; and nothing she had then said had weaned him from his newly-indulged lust55 of liberty. Now, all at once it came to him that Mr. Tuke transmogrified might boast attractions to a semi-romantic nature that no titled idiotcy could rival; and at the thought a very rigour of fright seized all his limbs, and he spoke out in quite a tremor56 of hurry:
“I am my lord’s tailor, as you know, madam, and though Mrs. Pollack may not show the best of taste in condescending57 to me, she hath still done me that honour.”
The advantages, where vanity is to receive a blow, are all on the side of breeding. An irrepressible start and glance of astonishment—and Miss Royston found herself in a moment.
“Indeed?” she said. “And now I protest my wit is at least equal to hers in foresight58. But I applaud your determination to settle down in life at whatever price.”
She rippled59 out a spirited little bravura60 as she turned to some needlework that lay on the table. The necessity of, at the present crisis, conducting all the comedies of life by candle-light threw a curiously61 theatrical62 glamour63 over the scene.
“I hope for Lady Linne’s sake,” said Miss Royston, as she patted her work approvingly, “that a quick end may be put to this very unpleasant predicament. You will be married, of course, the moment you are a free agent again. Perhaps they have a recreant64 parson amongst our friends at the lodge65. They will take to thieving sometimes, I am told. Is not this a pretty stitch? Can Mrs. Pollack thread a needle? She will have had a sampler, I warrant, in the parlour, with a full pot foaming66 white wool for remarque. And I vow67, sir, you have never yet asked how it was my lord Dunlone came by his hurt.”
“I have not,” said the bewildered baronet. “You said it was but a flesh one, and I confess I attached little importance to it.”
“It was received in your service, sir; or, at least, under your roof. You must not think a fine independence releases you from the bonds of courtesy to those who stoop to favour you. ’Twas a ruffian fired at one of your grooms68 as the man went to close a shutter19, and the ball wounded my lord as he stood behind. Perhaps it was not much; but blue blood is a vintage we hold a little higher than small beer.”
She turned round with quite a radiant smile.
“Would you mind doing something?” she said. “We are really a trifle bored, you know, with this tame inactivity.”
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1
whit
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| n.一点，丝毫 | |
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judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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convalescence
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| n.病后康复期 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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incubus
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| n.负担；恶梦 | |
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jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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attic
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| n.顶楼，屋顶室 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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glowering
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| v.怒视( glower的现在分词 ) | |
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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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28
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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deplore
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| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
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flouted
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| v.藐视，轻视( flout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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belittle
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| v.轻视，小看，贬低 | |
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primly
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| adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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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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36
repudiation
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| n.拒绝；否认；断绝关系；抛弃 | |
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maligned
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| vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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vindicate
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| v.为…辩护或辩解，辩明；证明…正确 | |
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confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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47
adorns
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| 装饰，佩带( adorn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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49
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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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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51
stultify
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| v.愚弄；使呆滞 | |
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52
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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54
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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56
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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58
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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bravura
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| n.华美的乐曲；勇敢大胆的表现；adj.壮勇华丽的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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glamour
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| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
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recreant
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| n.懦夫；adj.胆怯的 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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66
foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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