John sat down to breakfast at about nine o’clock, or thereabouts, the following Wednesday morning. It was the Feast of Our Lady’s Assumption; he had been to Mass at Delancey Chapel1.
A letter was lying in his place. He took it up, and opened it. Here are its contents.
“Dear John,—Unexpected business has brought me over to London. It seems a thousand pities to go back to Ireland without seeing you. Could you get rooms for me at your sequestered2 spot for ten days or so? Send me an early wire if possible, and I’ll come down by the train arriving tomorrow evening.
“Your affectionate sister,
“Elizabeth Darcy.”
Now, it is very certain that, from the time of our Mother Eve, women have played an important part [Pg 217]in the affairs of mankind, either for good or ill. But it is equally certain that John had not the faintest conception of the part Elizabeth would play in the life of at least one person by this her proposed visit.
“Elizabeth suggests coming down for a few days,” said John tentatively, and helping3 himself to bacon.
“Elizabeth?” echoed Corin, gazing enquiringly at John.
“My sister, Mrs. Darcy. I forgot you didn’t know her.”
“By all means advocate her coming,” quoth Corin. “I shall be delighted to make her acquaintance.”
“I wonder—” began John, and stopped.
“I wonder whether Mrs. Trimwell has another room. Elizabeth suggests that I should take rooms for her. She wants an early reply.”
“Then my suggestion,” remarked Corin calmly, “is that you ask Mrs. Trimwell. On the whole it would be simpler and more practical than merely wondering.”
[Pg 218]
Mrs. Trimwell, it appeared, had not. She was profuse6 in her apologies for the lack of accommodation. You would have imagined that she was entirely7 to blame for the fact that the White Cottage possessed8 merely three bedrooms and a cupboard, so to speak. Tilda and Benny—aged four—slept in the cupboard.
“But there’s the Green Man what isn’t seven minutes’ walk from here, and though I’ll not vouch9 for the cooking myself, a bit of bacon and a cup of coffee for breakfast is what any idiot might rise to, it being pleasanter for the lady not to be afoot too early, and the beds I believe is clean, while for other meals she’ll natural take them along of you.”
Of course Chance—so-called—had a hand in the arrangement. If Elizabeth had both slept and breakfasted at the White Cottage, I’ll vouch for it that matters would not have happened precisely10 as they did; indeed, they would probably have been totally different.
John finished his breakfast, and then took a telegram to the post-office.
He was genuinely, undeniably pleased that Elizabeth was coming. He had a sensation of [Pg 219]something like exultation11 in the thought. She was so extraordinarily12 reliable. Never under any circumstances did Elizabeth “let you down,” to use a slang phrase. There was never the smallest occasion to remind Elizabeth that the intimate remarks you made to her were confidences. It was a foregone conclusion in her eyes. She would no more dream of repeating them than she would dream of tampering13 with another person’s letters. Also, so reflected John, she never reminded you that you had made them, unless it was entirely obvious that you desired to be so reminded. She never glossed14 over any difficulty, but faced it squarely with you. The only people who were ever disappointed in Elizabeth were those who looked for a maudlin15 sympathy from her, who desired her to fight their battles, when she was fully16 aware that they alone could fight them. Yet Elizabeth was entirely feminine, from the top of her glossy17 brown hair, to the tip of her dainty shoes. John, perhaps more than any one else in the world, understood and appreciated both her strength and her femininity. It was therefore with a feeling of intense satisfaction that he dispatched his telegram.
[Pg 220]
“Things move when Elizabeth’s around,” reflected John.
And then he walked on to the Green Man.
John, on the platform of Whortley station, surveyed the people there collected with idle interest.
It was market day in Whortley. Stout18 market women, clutching empty, or partially19 empty, baskets, sat on benches, their feet squarely planted on the ground. Leather-gaitered men, whose clothes gave forth20 a powerful aroma21 of horses and cattle, strolled up and down, and talked in groups. Children, hot and tired, and consequently slightly irritable22, bickered23 with each other, or poked24 sticks at bewildered and exhausted25 hens in crates26. Somewhere in the back regions of the station a couple of refractory27 oxen were being driven into trucks. An atmosphere of almost aggressive patience pervaded28 the much-tried porters.
“’Eat may be mighty29 good for the ’arvest,” remarked one motherly looking woman, wiping her face with a large white handkerchief, “but I do say as ’ow it’s a bit trying to the spirit, and likewise the body.”
[Pg 221]
“It’s the tempers of most people it gets at,” replied her neighbour succinctly30.
To which remark John responded with an inward and fervent31 acquiescence32. There was no denying the heat; there was no denying the sultriness of the dusty platform.
John strolled down to its further end.
Behind the town the sky was crimsoning33 to sunset. The roofs of the dingy34 houses were being painted red-gold in its light. The smoke from a factory hung like a veil in the still air, lending mystery to the atmosphere. The buildings lay in a web of colour,—blue, grey, purple, and gold. A cynic might have likened the sunset glory to the glamour35 with which some foolish people endow a merely sordid36 existence. In a measure, too, his simile37 might have been justifiable38; but, whereas he would have scoffed39, John, with something of the same simile in mind, thanked God for the gift of imagination.
And then, far to the right, he caught a glimpse of white smoke above a dark serpent of an oncoming train.
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1
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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2
sequestered
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| adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押 | |
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3
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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5
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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6
profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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7
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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vouch
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| v.担保；断定；n.被担保者 | |
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10
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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13
tampering
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| v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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14
glossed
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| v.注解( gloss的过去式和过去分词 )；掩饰（错误）；粉饰；把…搪塞过去 | |
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maudlin
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| adj.感情脆弱的，爱哭的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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bickered
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| v.争吵( bicker的过去式和过去分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁 | |
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poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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crates
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| n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱 | |
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refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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succinctly
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| adv.简洁地；简洁地，简便地 | |
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fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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33
crimsoning
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| 变为深红色（crimson的现在分词形式） | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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glamour
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| n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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justifiable
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| adj.有理由的，无可非议的 | |
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scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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