"That is an Angel," whispered the Vicar. "You don't understand."
"But the wings?"
"Quite natural, quite ... if a little abnormal."
"Are you sure they are natural?"
"My dear fellow, everything that is, is natural. There is nothing unnatural2 in the world. If I thought there was I should give up practice and go into Le Grand Chartreuse. There are abnormal phenomena3, of course. And——"
"But the way I came upon him," said the Vicar.
"Yes, tell me where you picked him up," said the Doctor. He sat down on the hall table.
The Vicar began rather hesitatingly—he was not very good at story telling—with the rumours4 of a strange great bird. He told the story in[Pg 56] clumsy sentences—for, knowing the Bishop5 as he did, with that awful example always before him he dreaded6 getting his pulpit style into his daily conversation—and at every third sentence or so, the Doctor made a downward movement of his head—the corners of his mouth tucked away, so to speak—as though he ticked off the phases of the story and so far found it just as it ought to be. "Self-hypnotism," he murmured once.
"I beg your pardon?" said the Vicar.
"Nothing," said the Doctor. "Nothing, I assure you. Go on. This is extremely interesting."
The Vicar told him he went out with his gun.
"After lunch, I think you said?" interrupted the Doctor.
"Immediately after," said the Vicar.
"You should not do such things, you know. But go on, please."
He came to the glimpse of the Angel from the gate.
"In the full glare," said the Doctor, in parenthesis7. "It was seventy-nine in the shade."
When the Vicar had finished, the Doctor[Pg 57] pressed his lips together tighter than ever, smiled faintly, and looked significantly into the Vicar's eyes.
"You don't ..." began the Vicar, falteringly8.
The Doctor shook his head. "Forgive me," he said, putting his hand on the Vicar's arm.
"You go out," he said, "on a hot lunch and on a hot afternoon. Probably over eighty. Your mind, what there is of it, is whirling with avian expectations. I say, 'what there is of it,' because most of your nervous energy is down there, digesting your dinner. A man who has been lying in the bracken stands up before you and you blaze away. Over he goes—and as it happens—as it happens—he has reduplicate fore-limbs, one pair being not unlike wings. It's a coincidence certainly. And as for his iridescent9 colours and so forth——. Have you never had patches of colour swim before your eyes before, on a brilliant sunlight day?... Are you sure they were confined to the wings? Think."
"But he says he is an Angel!" said the Vicar, staring out of his little round eyes, his plump hands in his pockets.
[Pg 58]
"Ah!" said the Doctor with his eye on the Vicar. "I expected as much." He paused.
"But don't you think ..." began the Vicar.
"That man," said the Doctor in a low, earnest voice, "is a mattoid."
"A what?" said the Vicar.
"A mattoid. An abnormal man. Did you notice the effeminate delicacy10 of his face? His tendency to quite unmeaning laughter? His neglected hair? Then consider his singular dress...."
The Vicar's hand went up to his chin.
"Marks of mental weakness," said the Doctor. "Many of this type of degenerate11 show this same disposition12 to assume some vast mysterious credentials13. One will call himself the Prince of Wales, another the Archangel Gabriel, another the Deity14 even. Ibsen thinks he is a Great Teacher, and Maeterlink a new Shakespeare. I've just been reading all about it—in Nordau. No doubt his odd deformity gave him an idea...."
"But really," began the Vicar.
[Pg 59]
"No doubt he's slipped away from confinement15."
"I do not altogether accept...."
"You will. If not, there's the police, and failing that, advertisement; but, of course, his people may want to hush16 it up. It's a sad thing in a family...."
"He seems so altogether...."
"Probably you'll hear from his friends in a day or so," said the Doctor, feeling for his watch. "He can't live far from here, I should think. He seems harmless enough. I must come along and see that wing again to-morrow." He slid off the hall table and stood up.
"Those old wives' tales still have their hold on you," he said, patting the Vicar on the shoulder. "But an angel, you know—Ha, ha!"
"Weigh the evidence," said the Doctor, still fumbling18 at his watch. "Weigh the evidence with our instruments of precision. What does it leave you? Splashes of colour, spots of fancy—muscae volantes."
[Pg 60]
"And yet," said the Vicar, "I could almost swear to the glory on his wings...."
"Think it over," said the Doctor (watch out); "hot afternoon—brilliant sunshine—boiling down on your head.... But really I must be going. It is a quarter to five. I'll see your—angel (ha, ha!) to-morrow again, if no one has been to fetch him in the meanwhile. Your bandaging was really very good. I flatter myself on that score. Our ambulance classes were a success you see.... Good afternoon."
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1
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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2
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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3
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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4
rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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5
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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6
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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7
parenthesis
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| n.圆括号，插入语，插曲，间歇，停歇 | |
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8
falteringly
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| 口吃地，支吾地 | |
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9
iridescent
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| adj.彩虹色的，闪色的 | |
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10
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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11
degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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12
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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13
credentials
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| n.证明，资格，证明书，证件 | |
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14
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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15
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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16
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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17
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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18
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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