The boy who resided at Agathox Lodge1, 28, Buckingham Park Road, Surbiton, had often been puzzled by the old sign-post that stood almost opposite. He asked his mother about it, and she replied that it was a joke, and not a very nice one, which had been made many years back by some naughty young men, and that the police ought to remove it. For there were two strange things about this sign-post: firstly, it pointed2 up a blank alley3, and, secondly4, it had painted on it in faded characters, the words, "To Heaven."
"What kind of young men were they?" he asked.
"I think your father told me that one of them wrote verses, and was expelled from the University and came to grief in other ways. Still, it was a long time ago. You must ask your father about it. He will say the same as I do, that it was put up as a joke."
"So it doesn't mean anything at all?"
She sent him upstairs to put on his best things, for the Bonses were coming to tea, and he was to hand the cake-stand.
It struck him, as he wrenched5 on his tightening6 trousers, that he might do worse than ask Mr. Bons about the sign-post. His father, though very kind, always laughed at him—shrieked7 with laughter whenever he or any other child asked a question or spoke8. But Mr. Bons was serious as well as kind. He had a beautiful house and lent one books, he was a churchwarden, and a candidate for the County Council; he had donated to the Free Library enormously, he presided over the Literary Society, and had Members of Parliament to stop with him—in short, he was probably the wisest person alive.
Yet even Mr. Bons could only say that the sign-post was a joke—the joke of a person named Shelley.
"Off course!" cried the mother; "I told you so, dear. That was the name."
"Had you never heard of Shelley?" asked Mr. Bons.
"No," said the boy, and hung his head.
"But is there no Shelley in the house?"
"Why, yes!" exclaimed the lady, in much agitation9. "Dear Mr. Bons, we aren't such Philistines10 as that. Two at the least. One a wedding present, and the other, smaller print, in one of the spare rooms."
"I believe we have seven Shelleys," said Mr. Bons, with a slow smile. Then he brushed the cake crumbs11 off his stomach, and, together with his daughter, rose to go.
The boy, obeying a wink12 from his mother, saw them all the way to the garden gate, and when they had gone he did not at once return to the house, but gazed for a little up and down Buckingham Park Road.
His parents lived at the right end of it. After No. 39 the quality of the houses dropped very suddenly, and 64 had not even a separate servants' entrance. But at the present moment the whole road looked rather pretty, for the sun had just set in splendour, and the inequalities of rent were drowned in a saffron afterglow. Small birds twittered, and the breadwinners' train shrieked musically down through the cutting—that wonderful cutting which has drawn13 to itself the whole beauty out of Surbiton, and clad itself, like any Alpine14 valley, with the glory of the fir and the silver birch and the primrose15. It was this cutting that had first stirred desires within the boy—desires for something just a little different, he knew not what, desires that would return whenever things were sunlit, as they were this evening, running up and down inside him, up and down, up and down, till he would feel quite unusual all over, and as likely as not would want to cry. This evening he was even sillier, for he slipped across the road towards the sign-post and began to run up the blank alley.
The alley runs between high walls—the walls of the gardens of "Ivanhoe" and "Belle16 Vista17" respectively. It smells a little all the way, and is scarcely twenty yards long, including the turn at the end. So not unnaturally18 the boy soon came to a standstill. "I'd like to kick that Shelley," he exclaimed, and glanced idly at a piece of paper which was pasted on the wall. Rather an odd piece of paper, and he read it carefully before he turned back. This is what he read:
S. AND C.R.C.C.
Alteration19 in Service.
Owing to lack of patronage20 the Company are regretfully compelled to suspend the hourly service, and to retain only the
Sunrise and Sunset Omnibuses,
which will run as usual. It is to be hoped that the public will patronize an arrangement which is intended for their convenience. As an extra inducement, the Company will, for the first time, now issue
Return Tickets!
(available one day only), which may be obtained of the driver. Passengers are again reminded that no tickets are issued at the other end, and that no complaints in this connection will receive consideration from the Company. Nor will the Company be responsible for any negligence21 or stupidity on the part of Passengers, nor for Hailstorms, Lightning, Loss of Tickets, nor for any Act of God.
For the Direction.
Now he had never seen this notice before, nor could he imagine where the omnibus went to. S. of course was for Surbiton, and R.C.C. meant Road Car Company. But what was the meaning or the other C.? Coombe and Maiden22, perhaps, of possibly "City." Yet it could not hope to compete with the South-Western. The whole thing, the boy reflected, was run on hopelessly unbusiness-like lines. Why no tickets from the other end? And what an hour to start! Then he realized that unless the notice was a hoax23, an omnibus must have been starting just as he was wishing the Bonses good-bye. He peered at the ground through the gathering24 dusk, and there he saw what might or might not be the marks of wheels. Yet nothing had come out of the alley. And he had never seen an omnibus at any time in the Buckingham Park Road. No: it must be a hoax, like the sign-posts, like the fairy tales, like the dreams upon which he would wake suddenly in the night. And with a sigh he stepped from the alley—right into the arms of his father.
Oh, how his father laughed! "Poor, poor Popsey!" he cried. "Diddums! Diddums! Diddums think he'd walky-palky up to Evvink!" And his mother, also convulsed with laughter, appeared on the steps of Agathox Lodge. "Don't, Bob!" she gasped25. "Don't be so naughty! Oh, you'll kill me! Oh, leave the boy alone!"
But all that evening the joke was kept up. The father implored26 to be taken too. Was it a very tiring walk? Need one wipe one's shoes on the door-mat? And the boy went to bed feeling faint and sore, and thankful for only one thing—that he had not said a word about the omnibus. It was a hoax, yet through his dreams it grew more and more real, and the streets of Surbiton, through which he saw it driving, seemed instead to become hoaxes27 and shadows. And very early in the morning he woke with a cry, for he had had a glimpse of its destination.
He struck a match, and its light fell not only on his watch but also on his calendar, so that he knew it to be half-an-hour to sunrise. It was pitch dark, for the fog had come down from London in the night, and all Surbiton was wrapped in its embraces. Yet he sprang out and dressed himself, for he was determined28 to settle once for all which was real: the omnibus or the streets. "I shall be a fool one way or the other," he thought, "until I know." Soon he was shivering in the road under the gas lamp that guarded the entrance to the alley.
To enter the alley itself required some courage. Not only was it horribly dark, but he now realized that it was an impossible terminus for an omnibus. If it had not been for a policeman, whom he heard approaching through the fog, he would never have made the attempt. The next moment he had made the attempt and failed. Nothing. Nothing but a blank alley and a very silly boy gaping29 at its dirty floor. It was a hoax. "I'll tell papa and mamma," he decided30. "I deserve it. I deserve that they should know. I am too silly to be alive." And he went back to the gate of Agathox Lodge.
There he remembered that his watch was fast. The sun was not risen; it would not rise for two minutes. "Give the bus every chance," he thought cynically31, and returned into the alley.
But the omnibus was there.
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1
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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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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6
tightening
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| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
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7
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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10
philistines
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| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
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11
crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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12
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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13
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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14
alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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15
primrose
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| n.樱草，最佳部分， | |
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16
belle
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| n.靓女 | |
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17
vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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18
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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19
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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23
hoax
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| v.欺骗，哄骗，愚弄；n.愚弄人，恶作剧 | |
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24
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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25
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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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
hoaxes
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| n.恶作剧，戏弄( hoax的名词复数 )v.开玩笑骗某人，戏弄某人( hoax的第三人称单数 ) | |
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28
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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29
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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30
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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31
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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