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CHAPTER XIII
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They were married abroad as it happened. Jim had exchanged; but his regiment1, before going on to India, had been appointed to the garrison3 at Malta. There the family had joined him for the winter.
 
Fate had spared Sir Harry4 his last disappointment in life. Jim had not told him about Eleanor. There was no hurry. It could be done at any time. And he had died, after a few days illness, early in the spring. He had been busy, unknown to the others, fixing up with his sister Mary for Eleanor to come out in London during the season, and had built great hopes upon the result. Thus, so far as that matter was concerned, the poor old gentleman had died happy. Eleanor and her mother stopped on at a little place up in the hills. Anthony came out at the end of the summer; and they had been married in the English church. It was arranged that Lady Coomber should remain at Malta till Jim left for India; it might be the next year or the year after. Then she would come back to England and live with them at The Abbey. Anthony had not hoped to be able to take Eleanor back to The[Pg 190] Abbey, but the summer had brought him unusual good fortune. As a matter of fact, everything seemed to be prospering5 with him just now. He was getting nervous about it, wondering how long it would last. He was glad that he had been able to pay Jim a good price for the place; beyond that, when everything was cleared up and Lady Coomber’s annuity6 provided for, there would not be much left.
 
Mrs. Strong’nth’arm would not come to live at The Abbey, though Eleanor was anxious that she should and tried to persuade her. Whether she thought Eleanor did not really want her or whether the reasons she gave him were genuine Anthony could not be sure.
 
“I should be wandering, without knowing it, into the kitchen,” she explained; “or be jumping up suddenly to answer a bell. Or maybe,” she added with a smile, “I’d be slipping out of the back door of an evening to the little gate behind the stables, and thinking I saw your father under the shadow of the elms, where he used to be always waiting for me. I’ll be happier in the old square. There are no ghosts there—leastways, not for my eyes to see.”
 
Besides, there was his aunt to be considered. He had thought that she might find a home with one[Pg 191] or another of her chapel7 friends. But Mrs. Newt had fallen away from grace, as it was termed, and was no longer in touch with her former circle. She had given back her fine tombstone to old Batson the stonemason who, not knowing what else to do with it, had used it to replace a broken doorstep leading to his office. She had come to picture her safe arrival at the gates of Endless Bliss8 with less complacency. She no longer felt sure of her welcome.
 
“Don’t see what I’ve done to deserve it,” she said. “All that I’ve ever tried to do has been to make myself comfortable in this world and to take good care, as I thought, to be on the right road for the next. I used to think it all depended upon faith: that all you had to do was to believe. But your poor uncle used to say it sounded a bit too cheap to be true. And if he was right and the Lord demands works, guess I’ll cut a poor figure.”
 
The idea had come to her to replace the optimism of her discarded tombstone by a simple statement of facts with underneath9: “Lord be merciful to me, a sinner.” But the head sexton, on being consulted as a friend, had objected to the quotation10 as one calculated to let down the tone of the cemetery11, and had urged something less committal.
 
So the two old ladies remained at Bruton Square, keeping for themselves the basement and the three[Pg 192] small rooms at the top. Anthony added an extra kitchen and let the rest of the house to a Mr. Arnold Landripp, an architect. He had for some years been occupying the two large schoolrooms as an office. He was a widower12. His daughter, who had been at school in the south of England and afterwards at University College, had now joined him. She was aged13 about twenty, and was said to be a “high-brow.” The term was just coming into use. She was a tall, pale girl with coal black eyes. She wore her hair brushed back from her forehead and, in secret, smoked cigarettes, it was rumoured14.
 
Betty and her father lived practically abroad. They had taken a flat in Florence and had let The Priory furnished to a cousin of Mr. Mowbray who owned the big steel works at Shawley, half-way up the valley.
 
Anthony had been generous over the sharing of profits; and Mr. Mowbray had expressed himself as more than satisfied.
 
“I was running the business on to the rocks,” he confessed. “There wouldn’t have been much left for Betty. As it is, I shall die with an easy mind, thanks to you.”
 
He held out his hand. He and Anthony had been having a general talk in the great room with its three domed15 windows that had been Mr. [Pg 193]Mowbray’s private office and was now Anthony’s. He and Betty would be leaving early the next morning on their return to Italy. He hesitated a moment, still holding Anthony’s hand, and then spoke16 again.
 
“I thought at one time,” he said, “that it might have been a closer relationship than that of mere17 partners. But she’s a strange girl. I don’t expect she ever will marry. I fancy I frightened her off it.” He laughed. “She knew that I loved her mother with as great a love as any woman could hope for. But it didn’t save me from making her life one of sorrow.
 
“Do you know what’s wrong with the Apostles Creed18?” he said. “They’ve left out the devil. Don’t you make the mistake, my lad, of not believing in him. He doesn’t want us to believe in him. He wants us to believe that he is dead, that he never lived, that he’s just an old wives’ tale. We talk about the still small voice of God. Yes, if we listen very hard and if it’s all quiet about us, we can hear it. What about the insistent19 tireless voice of the other one who whispers to us day and night, sits beside us at table, creeps with us into bed? David made a mistake; he should have said, ‘The fear of the devil is the beginning of wisdom.’ It began in the Garden of Eden. If the Lord only hadn’t forgot the serpent! It has been the trouble[Pg 194] of all the reformers. They might have accomplished20 something: if they hadn’t forgotten the devil. It’s the trouble of every youngster, thinking he sees his life before him; they all forget the devil.”
 
Anthony laughed.
 
“What line of tactics do you suggest for overcoming him?” he asked.
 
“Haven’t myself had sufficient success to justify21 my giving advice,” answered Mr. Mowbray. “All I can warn you is that he takes many shapes. Sometimes he dresses himself up as a dear old lady and calls himself Mother Nature. Sometimes he wears a shiny hat and claims to be nothing more than a plain man of business. Sometimes he comes clothed in glory and calls himself Love.”
 
The old gentleman reached for his hat.
 
“Didn’t expect to find me among the prophets, did you?” he added with a smile.
 
He was growing feeble, and Anthony walked back with him to The Priory. They passed St. Aldys churchyard on their way.
 
“I’ll just look in,” said Mr. Mowbray, “and say good-bye. I always like to before I go away.”
 
Mr. Mowbray had bought many years ago the last three vacant graves in the churchyard. His[Pg 195] wife lay in the centre one and Edward to the right of her.
 
They stood there for a while in silence.
 
“I suppose it’s only my fancy,” said Mr. Mowbray, “but you seem to me to grow more like Ted2 every year. I don’t mean in appearance, though even there I often see a look in your eyes that reminds me of him. But in other ways. Sometimes I could almost think it was he speaking.”
 
“I have changed,” said Anthony. “I feel it myself. His death made a great void in my life. I felt that I had been left with a wound that would never heal. And then one day the thought came to me—it can hardly be called a thought. I heard his very voice speaking to me, with just that little note of irritation22 in it that always came to him when he was arguing and got excited. ‘I am not dead,’ he said. ‘How foolishly you are talking. How can I be dead while you are thinking of me—while you still love me and are wanting me. Who wants the dead? It is because you know I live, and that I love you, and always shall, that you want me. I am not dead. I am with you.’”
 
“Yes,” said Mowbray after a little pause, “he loved you very dearly. I was puzzled at first because I thought you so opposite to one another. But now I know that it was my mistake.”
 
[Pg 196]
 
They did not talk during the short remainder of their walk. At the gate of The Priory the old gentleman stopped and turned.
 
“Kiss me, Anthony,” he said, “there’s nobody about.”
 
Anthony did so. It seemed quite natural somehow. He watched Mr. Mowbray pass up the flagged causeway to the door and then went back to his work.
 
Betty had been quite frank with him, or so he had thought.
 
“It’s fortunate we didn’t marry,” she said. “What a muddle23 it would have ended in—or else a tragedy. Do you remember that talk we had one evening?”
 
“Yes,” he answered. “You said that if you ever married it would be a man who would ‘like’ you—think of you as a friend, a comrade.”
 
“I know,” she laughed. “To be candid24, I had you in my mind at the moment. I thought that you would always be so sane—the sort of husband one could rely upon never to kick over the traces. Curious how little we know one another.”
 
“Would you really have been satisfied?” he asked, “when it came to the point. Would not you have demanded love as your right?”
 
“I don’t think so,” she answered, musing25. “I[Pg 197] suppose the explanation is that a woman’s love is maternal26 rather than sexual. It is the home she is thinking of more than the lover. Of course, I don’t mean in every case. There are women for whom their exists one particular He, or no other. But I fancy they are rare.”
 
“I wonder sometimes,” he said, “what would have happened to me if I’d never met her. I suppose I should have gone on being quite happy and contented27.”
 
“There are finer things than happiness,” she answered.
 
A child was born to them late in the year. Anthony had never seen a baby before, not at close quarters. In his secret heart, he was disappointed that it was not more beautiful. But as the days went by it seemed to him that this defect was passing away. He judged it to be a very serious baby. It had large round serious eyes. Even its smile was thoughtful. They called it John Anthony.
 
The elder Mrs. Strong’nth’arm resented the carriage being sent down for her. She said she wasn’t so old that she could not walk a few miles to see her own grandson. Both she and Eleanor agreed that he was going to be like Anthony. His odd ways, it was, that so strongly reminded the elder Mrs. Strong’nth’arm of his father at the same age.[Pg 198] They came together over John Anthony, the elder and the younger Mrs. Strong’nth’arm.
 
“It’s her artfulness,” had argued the elder Mrs. Strong’nth’arm to herself at first; “pretending to want my advice and hanging upon my words; while all the time, I reckon, she’s laughing at me.”
 
But the next day or the day after she would come again to answer delightedly the hundred questions put to her—to advise, discuss, to gossip and to laugh—to remember on her way home that she had kissed the girl, promising28 to come again soon.
 
Returning late one afternoon she met Anthony on the moor29.
 
“I’ve left her going to sleep,” she said. “Don’t disturb her. She doesn’t rest herself sufficiently30. I’ve been talking to her about it.
 
“I’m getting to like her,” she confessed shamefacedly. “She isn’t as bad as I thought her.”
 
He laughed, putting an arm about her.
 
“You’ll end by loving her,” he said. “You won’t be able to help it.”
 
“It’ll depend upon you, lad,” she answered. “So long as your good is her good I shall be content.”
 
She kissed him good night for it was growing dusk. Neither he nor Eleanor had ever been able to persuade her to stay the night. With the [Pg 199]nursery, which had been the former Lady Coomber’s dressing-room, she was familiar, having been one of the housemaids. But the big rooms on the ground floor overawed her. She never would enter by the great door, but always by a small side entrance leading to the house-keeper’s room. Eleanor had given instructions that it should always be left open.
 
He walked on slowly after he had left his mother. There, where the sun was sinking behind the distant elms, she lay sleeping. At the bend of the road was the old white thorn that had witnessed their first kiss. Reaching it he looked round stealthily and, seeing no one, flung himself upon the ground and, stretching out his arms, pressed his lips to the sweet-smelling earth.
 
He laughed as he rose to his feet. These lovers’ rhapsodies he had once thought idle nonsense! They were true. Going through fire and water—dying for her, worshipping the ground she trod on. This dear moorland with its lonely farmsteads and its scattered31 cots; its old folks with their furrowed32 faces, its little children with shy wondering eyes; its sandy hollows where the coneys frisked at twilight33; its hidden dells of fern and bracken where the primroses34 first blossomed; its high banks beneath the birches where the red fox had his [Pg 200]dwelling; its deep woods, bird-haunted: always he would love it, for her sake.
 
He turned and looked back and down the winding35 road. The noisome36 town half-hidden by its pall37 of smoke lay stretched beneath him, a few faint lights twinkling from out the gloom. There too her feet had trod. Its long sad streets with their weary white-faced people; its foul38, neglected places where the children played with dirt. This city of maimed souls and stunted39 bodies! It must be cleansed40, purified—made worthy41 for her feet to pass. It should be his life’s work, his gift to his beloved.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 regiment JATzZ     
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制
参考例句:
  • As he hated army life,he decide to desert his regiment.因为他嫌恶军队生活,所以他决心背弃自己所在的那个团。
  • They reformed a division into a regiment.他们将一个师整编成为一个团。
2 ted 9gazhs     
vt.翻晒,撒,撒开
参考例句:
  • The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
  • She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。
3 garrison uhNxT     
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防
参考例句:
  • The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
  • The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。
4 harry heBxS     
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼
参考例句:
  • Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天,人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
  • Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。
5 prospering b1bc062044f12a5281fbe25a1132df04     
成功,兴旺( prosper的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Our country is thriving and prospering day by day. 祖国日益繁荣昌盛。
  • His business is prospering. 他生意兴隆。
6 annuity Kw2zF     
n.年金;养老金
参考例句:
  • The personal contribution ratio is voluntary in the annuity program.企业年金中个人缴费比例是自愿的。
  • He lives on his annuity after retirement.他退休后靠退休金维生。
7 chapel UXNzg     
n.小教堂,殡仪馆
参考例句:
  • The nimble hero,skipped into a chapel that stood near.敏捷的英雄跳进近旁的一座小教堂里。
  • She was on the peak that Sunday afternoon when she played in chapel.那个星期天的下午,她在小教堂的演出,可以说是登峰造极。
8 bliss JtXz4     
n.狂喜,福佑,天赐的福
参考例句:
  • It's sheer bliss to be able to spend the day in bed.整天都可以躺在床上真是幸福。
  • He's in bliss that he's won the Nobel Prize.他非常高兴,因为获得了诺贝尔奖金。
9 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
10 quotation 7S6xV     
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情
参考例句:
  • He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
  • The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。
11 cemetery ur9z7     
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场
参考例句:
  • He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
  • His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。
12 widower fe4z2a     
n.鳏夫
参考例句:
  • George was a widower with six young children.乔治是个带著六个小孩子的鳏夫。
  • Having been a widower for many years,he finally decided to marry again.丧偶多年后,他终于决定二婚了。
13 aged 6zWzdI     
adj.年老的,陈年的
参考例句:
  • He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了,也老点了。
  • He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老,然而记忆力还好。
14 rumoured cef6dea0bc65e5d89d0d584aff1f03a6     
adj.谣传的;传说的;风
参考例句:
  • It has been so rumoured here. 此间已有传闻。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • It began to be rumoured that the jury would be out a long while. 有人传说陪审团要退场很久。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
15 domed e73af46739c7805de3b32498e0e506c3     
adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • I gazed up at the domed ceiling arching overhead. 我抬头凝望着上方弧形的穹顶。
  • His forehead domed out in a curve. 他的前额呈弯曲的半球形。
16 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
17 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
18 creed uoxzL     
n.信条;信念,纲领
参考例句:
  • They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
  • Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。
19 insistent s6ZxC     
adj.迫切的,坚持的
参考例句:
  • There was an insistent knock on my door.我听到一阵急促的敲门声。
  • He is most insistent on this point.他在这点上很坚持。
20 accomplished UzwztZ     
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的
参考例句:
  • Thanks to your help,we accomplished the task ahead of schedule.亏得你们帮忙,我们才提前完成了任务。
  • Removal of excess heat is accomplished by means of a radiator.通过散热器完成多余热量的排出。
21 justify j3DxR     
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护
参考例句:
  • He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
  • Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗?
22 irritation la9zf     
n.激怒,恼怒,生气
参考例句:
  • He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
  • Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说,但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。
23 muddle d6ezF     
n.困惑,混浊状态;vt.使混乱,使糊涂,使惊呆;vi.胡乱应付,混乱
参考例句:
  • Everything in the room was in a muddle.房间里每一件东西都是乱七八糟的。
  • Don't work in a rush and get into a muddle.克服忙乱现象。
24 candid SsRzS     
adj.公正的,正直的;坦率的
参考例句:
  • I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
  • He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。
25 musing musing     
n. 沉思,冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • "At Tellson's banking-house at nine," he said, with a musing face. “九点在台尔森银行大厦见面,”他想道。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
  • She put the jacket away, and stood by musing a minute. 她把那件上衣放到一边,站着沉思了一会儿。
26 maternal 57Azi     
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的
参考例句:
  • He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
  • The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。
27 contented Gvxzof     
adj.满意的,安心的,知足的
参考例句:
  • He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
  • The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。
28 promising BkQzsk     
adj.有希望的,有前途的
参考例句:
  • The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
  • We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。
29 moor T6yzd     
n.荒野,沼泽;vt.(使)停泊;vi.停泊
参考例句:
  • I decided to moor near some tourist boats.我决定在一些观光船附近停泊。
  • There were hundreds of the old huts on the moor.沼地上有成百上千的古老的石屋。
30 sufficiently 0htzMB     
adv.足够地,充分地
参考例句:
  • It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
  • The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。
31 scattered 7jgzKF     
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的
参考例句:
  • Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来,塞进文件夹里。
32 furrowed furrowed     
v.犁田,开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Overhead hung a summer sky furrowed with the rash of rockets. 头顶上的夏日夜空纵横着急疾而过的焰火。 来自辞典例句
  • The car furrowed the loose sand as it crossed the desert. 车子横过沙漠,在松软的沙土上犁出了一道车辙。 来自辞典例句
33 twilight gKizf     
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期
参考例句:
  • Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
  • Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。
34 primroses a7da9b79dd9b14ec42ee0bf83bfe8982     
n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 );淡黄色;追求享乐(招至恶果)
参考例句:
  • Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The primroses were bollming; spring was in evidence. 迎春花开了,春天显然已经到了。 来自互联网
35 winding Ue7z09     
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈
参考例句:
  • A winding lane led down towards the river.一条弯弯曲曲的小路通向河边。
  • The winding trail caused us to lose our orientation.迂回曲折的小道使我们迷失了方向。
36 noisome nHPxy     
adj.有害的,可厌的
参考例句:
  • The air is infected with noisome gases.空气受到了有害气体的污染。
  • I destroy all noisome and rank weeds ,I keep down all pestilent vapours.我摧毁了一切丛生的毒草,控制一切有害的烟雾。
37 pall hvwyP     
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕
参考例句:
  • Already the allure of meals in restaurants had begun to pall.饭店里的饭菜已经不像以前那样诱人。
  • I find his books begin to pall on me after a while.我发觉他的书读过一阵子就开始对我失去吸引力。
38 foul Sfnzy     
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规
参考例句:
  • Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
  • What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气!
39 stunted b003954ac4af7c46302b37ae1dfa0391     
adj.矮小的;发育迟缓的
参考例句:
  • the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
  • But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。
40 cleansed 606e894a15aca2db0892db324d039b96     
弄干净,清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The nurse cleansed the wound before stitching it. 护士先把伤口弄干净后才把它缝合。
  • The notorious Hell Row was burned down in a fire, and much dirt was cleansed away. 臭名远场的阎王路已在一场大火中化为乌有,许多焦土灰烬被清除一空。
41 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。


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