CHAPTER XX.

The Curate stood in front of the looking-glass and solemnly divested¹ himself of his collar.

 

"I never heard a more fantastic story," said Mrs Mendham from the basket chair. "The man must be mad. Are you sure——."

 

"Perfectly², my dear. I've told you every word, every incident——."

 

"Well!" said Mrs Mendham, and spread her hands. "There's no sense in it."

 

"Precisely³, my dear."

 

"The Vicar," said Mrs Mendham, "must be mad."

 

"This hunchback is certainly one of the strangest creatures I've seen for a long time. Foreign looking, with a big bright coloured face and long brown hair.... It can't have been cut for months!" The Curate put his studs carefully upon the shelf of the dressing-table. "And a kind of staring look about his[Pg 89] eyes, and a simpering smile. Quite a silly looking person. Effeminate."

 

"But who can he be?" said Mrs Mendham.

 

"I can't imagine, my dear. Nor where he came from. He might be a chorister or something of that sort."

 

"But why should he be about the shrubbery ... in that dreadful costume?"

 

"I don't know. The Vicar gave me no explanation. He simply said, 'Mendham, this is an Angel.'"

 

"I wonder if he drinks.... They may have been bathing near the spring, of course," reflected Mrs Mendham. "But I noticed no other clothes on his arm."

 

The Curate sat down on his bed and unlaced his boots.

 

"It's a perfect mystery to me, my dear." (Flick⁴, flick of laces.) "Hallucination is the only charitable——"

 

"You are sure, George, that it was not a woman."

 

"Perfectly," said the Curate.

 

"I know what men are, of course."

 

[Pg 90]

 

"It was a young man of nineteen or twenty," said the Curate.

 

"I can't understand it," said Mrs Mendham. "You say the creature is staying at the Vicarage?"

 

"Hilyer is simply mad," said the Curate. He got up and went padding round the room to the door to put out his boots. "To judge by his manner you would really think he believed this cripple was an Angel." ("Are your shoes out, dear?")

 

("They're just by the wardrobe"), said Mrs Mendham. "He always was a little queer, you know. There was always something childish about him.... An Angel!"

 

The Curate came and stood by the fire, fumbling⁵ with his braces⁶. Mrs Mendham liked a fire even in the summer. "He shirks all the serious problems in life and is always trifling⁷ with some new foolishness," said the Curate. "Angel indeed!" He laughed suddenly. "Hilyer must be mad," he said.

 

Mrs Mendham laughed too. "Even that doesn't explain the hunchback," she said.

 

[Pg 91]

 

"The hunchback must be mad too," said the Curate.

 

"It's the only way of explaining it in a sensible way," said Mrs Mendham. [Pause.]

 

"Angel or no angel," said Mrs Mendham, "I know what is due to me. Even supposing the man thought he was in the company of an angel, that is no reason why he should not behave like a gentleman."

 

"That is perfectly true."

 

"You will write to the Bishop⁸, of course?"

 

Mendham coughed. "No, I shan't write to the Bishop," said Mendham. "I think it seems a little disloyal.... And he took no notice of the last, you know."

 

"But surely——"

 

"I shall write to Austin. In confidence. He will be sure to tell the Bishop, you know. And you must remember, my dear——"

 

"That Hilyer can dismiss you, you were going to say. My dear, the man's much too weak! I should have a word to say about that. And besides, you do all his work for him. Practically, we manage the parish from end to end.[Pg 92] I do not know what would become of the poor if it was not for me. They'd have free quarters in the Vicarage to-morrow. There is that Goody Ansell——"

 

"I know, my dear," said the Curate, turning away and proceeding⁹ with his undressing. "You were telling me about her only this afternoon."

1 divested   

v.剥夺( divest的过去式和过去分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服

参考例句：

• He divested himself of his jacket. 他脱去了短上衣。
• He swiftly divested himself of his clothes. 他迅速脱掉衣服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

3 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

4 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

5 fumbling   

n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理

参考例句：

• If he actually managed to the ball instead of fumbling it with an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。
• If he actually managed to secure the ball instead of fumbling it awkwardly an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-50提议有时。他从off-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。

6 braces   

n.吊带，背带；托架( brace的名词复数 )；箍子；括弧；（儿童）牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来

参考例句：

• The table is shaky because the braces are loose. 这张桌子摇摇晃晃，因为支架全松了。
• You don't need braces if you're wearing a belt! 要系腰带，就用不着吊带了。

7 trifling   

adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的

参考例句：

• They quarreled over a trifling matter.他们为这种微不足道的事情争吵。
• So far Europe has no doubt, gained a real conveniency,though surely a very trifling one.直到现在为止,欧洲无疑地已经获得了实在的便利，不过那确是一种微不足道的便利。

8 bishop   

n.主教，（国际象棋）象

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• Two years after his death the bishop was canonised.主教逝世两年后被正式封为圣者。

9 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。