It had begun to snow by the time Jeffray had left Pevensel Forest for the meadow-lands and brown fallows that spoke1 of civilization. Dusk had fallen, the whirling snow-flakes dimming the red glow in the west, yet filling the twilight2 with a gray radiance. Richard saw the lights of Rodenham village glimmering4 faintly in the valley below him. Soon he was riding through his own park with the thickening snow driving like mist amid the trees.
Jeffray left his mare5 at the stables and entered the house by the side door from the garden. The old priory of Rodenham was one of those dream-houses that seem built up out of the idyls of the past. It was full of long galleries, dark entries, beams, recessed7 windows, huge cupboards, and winding8 stairs. Casements9 glimmered10 in unexpected places. The rooms led one into the other at all angles, and were rarely on a level. Here were panels black with age, phantasmal beds, carved chests that might have tombed mysteries for centuries, faded tapestries11 that breathed forth12 tragedy as they waved upon the walls. All was dark, mellow13, stately, silent. The very essences of life seemed to have melted into the stones; the deep throes of the human heart had become as echoes in each solemn room.
Jeffray found the Lady Letitia, his aunt, playing piquet in the damask drawing-room with Dr. Sugg, the rector of Rodenham. The Lady Letitia was a red-beaked and bushy browed old vulture, with wicked eyes and a budding beard. Her towering “head” was stuffed full of ribbons and feathers, her stupendous hoop15 of red damask, her gown flowered red and blue. The Lady Letitia was one of those preposterous16 old ladies who labor17 under the delusion18 that a woman of sixty may still presume to trade upon the reputation of impudent19 loveliness she had created some thirty years ago. Everything about the Lady Letitia was false and artificial. Her teeth and eyebrows20 were emblems21 of what her virtues22 were, manufactured articles to make the wearer passable in society. The old lady had deigned23 to drive down from London in her coach-and-four to spend Christmas with her nephew, a piece of affectionate economy necessitated24 by heavy losses at cards. She had deigned also to take Richard’s education in hand. The lad was deplorably quiet, gauche25, and sensitive.
“So you are back at last, Richard,” she said, looking like a pompous26 old parrot, with one eye on her cards and one on her nephew. “Seat yourself, Dr. Sugg; Richard does not want you to stand on ceremony. Snowing, eh? Detestable weather; the country is like a quagmire27 already, as I may see by your coat and breeches, nephew. It is usual for a gentleman to dress before presenting himself to a lady. You look surprised, Richard. ‘Is it not my own house?’ you say. Certainly, mon cher, so it is, but I am a lady of birth, sir, and I like to be treated as such. How is Mistress Jilian? Deft28 at the harpsichord29 as ever?”
Richard, whose face had flushed towards the end of this oration30, drew a chair beside the card-table, and seated himself before the fire. It was characteristic of the Lady Letitia that she had a habit of ruling and correcting every one. She would tilt31 her beak14 of a nose, fix her wicked little eyes on the victim, and drop gall6 and bitterness from her shrivelled old mouth with a condescension32 that made her detestable. There was an avaricious33 glint in the old lady’s eyes for the moment. Poor Dr. Sugg, purple-faced and stertorous34, came nightly to the priory in clean ruffles35 and a well-powdered wig36 to permit the Lady Letitia to possess herself of his small cash in the hope that the worthy37 dowager might use her influence on his behalf with my lord the bishop38.
Aunt Letitia turned suddenly and rapped her nephew’s shoulder with her fan.
Jeffray apologized and shifted his chair. Dr. Sugg was engaged in shuffling40 the cards; the dowager’s black eyes were busy scanning her nephew’s person with the critical keenness of a woman of the world.
“Richard, where did you get that coat?” she asked.
“At Lewes, aunt.”
“Pooh! the rascal41 has made it like a sack. You must have a smart tailor, boy. I cannot allow you to be disgraced by your clothes.”
Dr. Sugg, who was glancing over his cards, cast a pathetic look at Richard, and groaned42 over his inveterate43 bad luck. Aunt Letitia’s eyes glistened44; her rouged45 and scraggy face was radiant with miserly good humor.
“My dear Richard,” she said, benignantly, “I must really take you to The Wells with me, and introduce you into respectable society. You must learn elegance46, dignity, address. These virtues are as necessary to a young man of good family as a good tailor or a smart hatter. You must have your hair dressed properly; I will instruct Gladden myself in the latest fashion. Bucolic47 melancholy48 does not pass for fine breeding in elegant circles.”
Jeffray smiled somewhat cynically49 at his aunt as he watched her clutching at poor Sugg’s shillings. He was heartily50 tired of his elderly relative’s imperial patronage51. She condescended52 to accept his hospitality, and improved the occasion by pestering53 him with her worldly superficialities, abusing his “bookishness” and amending54 his manners. The nephew looked forward to his aunt’s departure with a sincerity55 that was ingenuous56 and enthusiastic. The Lady Letitia was still, however, bent57 upon economy. Though the country bored her excessively, she was saving money at her nephew’s expense, and his hospitality would enable her to go to Tunbridge Wells in the spring unencumbered by debt.
Dr. Suggs departed with an empty purse after supper, to trudge58 home to the parsonage through the drifting snow. The Lady Letitia established herself in a fauteuil beside the fire in the damask drawing-room, with Tom Jones on her knee and a glass of steaming rum at her elbow. Jeffray had taken refuge in the library, the only room in the house that Aunt Letitia suffered him to possess in peace. The dowager bore herself as though she were the mistress of Rodenham Priory, walked the linen-room and kitchen, rated the servants, and even bearded old Peter Gladden, the butler, in his den3.
Richard Jeffray had brought many books, pictures, and curios from abroad, having been plentifully59 supplied with money by his father, who had been something of an antiquary and a man of taste. The old library, with its towering shelves and wainscoted walls, held the treasures that Richard had transmitted from time to time from Italy. Here were Etruscan and Greek vases; boxes of coins, rings, and charms; fragments of statuary and of mosaic60. The gathering61 of engraved62 stones had formed Jeffray’s most extravagant63 hobby. Egyptian scarabæi, gnostic charms, classical cameos and intaglios, mostly forged, were packed away in a satinwood bureau. Jeffray boasted a strong-box full of sapphires64, emeralds, garnets, opals, chalcedonies, sards, jaspers and other stones. Old Peter Gladden had set two lighted candles on the escritoire near the window. A manuscript lay open on the writing flap, the manuscript of an epic65 that Richard had been laboring66 at for months. It was conceived in the Miltonic style, and dealt with the descent of Christ into Hades.
The Lady Letitia was yawning over the love affairs of Sophia Weston when her nephew joined her in the drawing-room. She roused herself, sat up stiffly in her chair, and held up her fan to keep the heat of the fire from her painted face. The dowager regarded Richard with the solemnity of a witch of Endor. Jeffray had learned to dread67 these nightly interviews. Aunt Letitia was forever flinging her sarcasms68 at his head, and being a sensitive and easy-tempered youth he had never presumed to flout69 her in her pedagogic utterances70.
It was evident to Richard that the dowager had been meditating71 as usual over his youthful eccentricities72. She looked more pompous and austere73 than usual, like some hoary74 catechist ready to hear the callow creed75 of youth. The wind was moaning over the great house, tossing the sombre boughs76 of the cedars77 that towered above the lawns. The windows rattled78; every chimney was full of sound. Jeffray flung more wood upon the fire, and sat down opposite his aunt with a look of melancholy resignation on his face.
Jeffray roused himself as from a reverie.
“You are often at Hardacre House.”
“Am I, Aunt Letitia?”
“Often enough, Richard, to suggest the attraction to me.”
Jeffray turned and watched the fire. The light played upon his sallow face and melancholy eyes, his plain black coat, the white ruffles falling down upon the small and refined hands. There was an air of picturesqueness80 about him that even Aunt Letitia recognized, despite the fact that she preferred a mischievous81 dandy to a book-befogged scholar.
“Richard.”
The young man glanced at her inquiringly.
“Jilian is thirty-five if she is a day. She pads her figure and dyes her hair. You must be careful, lad. The wench has angled these twenty years. I can make a better match for you than that.”
Richard had grown accustomed to the Lady Letitia’s blunt methods of attack. He crossed one leg over the other, and strove to appear at his ease under the old lady’s critical gaze. The dowager was forever hinting at the undesirable82 nature of an alliance with the Hardacre family. They had birth, certainly, but what were a baronet’s blazonings in aristocratic England? Sir Peter was as poor as a parson; his estates were mortgaged to the last tree. Miss Jilian had been in the market for years, and would bring nothing in the shape of a dowry. The Lady Letitia dilated83 materially on all these points, as though she were advising her nephew on the purchase of a mansion84.
“You are very kind, Aunt Letitia,” said the young man, somewhat sullenly85, at the end thereof, “but I believe I am capable of choosing myself a wife.”
The old lady’s eyes glittered.
“So you are going to marry Jilian Hardacre, eh?”
“I did not say so.”
“Pooh, boy! haven’t I eyes in my head? So she has caught you, has she, the minx? Yet I must confess, nephew, that you do not seem ravished at the thought of embracing such a bride.”
Richard drew his knees up and fidgeted in his chair.
“Nothing of a serious nature has passed between us,” he said, awkwardly.
“Nothing serious, eh? And what do you call ‘serious,’ mon cher? Oglings and letters, gloves, flowers, whisperings in window-seats! Egad, nephew, you will have that gambling86 oaf of a Lot to deal with. They are mad to marry Jilian, and they want money.”
The old lady was quite flushed and eloquent87, while Richard’s brown face expressed surprise. He was innocent of worldly guile88, nor had he scented89 such matrimonial subtleties90 in the Hardacre mansion.
“Sir Peter has been very kind to me,” he said.
“Noble old gentleman! And he has never been for pushing Miss Jilian into your arms, eh? No, I warrant you, the wench is spry and buxom91 enough herself. You are not a bad-looking lad, Richard, and you have money.”
Jeffray still appeared in a fog.
“I do not understand you, aunt,” he said.
“Not understand me!”
“No.”
“Nephew Dick, you are a bigger fool than I thought you were. Come, lad, blab to me; have you offered yourself to the fair Jilian?”
“It has not gone as far as that,” he confessed.
“Well, nephew,” she said, brusquely, “are you in love with the lady?”
“I thought I was—”
“Dear little love-bird,” she rasped, ironically; “let me warn you, Richard, before it is too late, that unless this pretty romance is locked in the lumber-room you will have that bully95 of a Lot raging round here about his sister’s honor.”
Richard straightened up stiffly in his chair and stared at his aunt in melancholy astonishment96.
“I have done nothing to compromise Miss Jilian,” he said.
“Nothing!” and the old lady cackled.
“On my honor, Aunt Letitia.”
“Dear lad, how innocent you are! Your virginity is better than a sermon. A pity Miss Jilian Hardacre cannot say the same about her sweet person. Well, Richard, if you take an old woman’s advice, you will break with the lady, delicately, gently, mind you. Miss Jilian is a tender young thing, and must be handled with discretion98.”
“And Cousin Lot—?”
“Can you fight, Richard?”
“Well, I am not much of a swordsman. But if Sir Peter thinks—”
“Yes—”
“Aunt Letitia, I trust I shall never act dishonorably by any woman.”
The dowager shut up her fan suddenly with a snap, yawned, and announced that she was going to her chamber100.
“You are an incorrigible101 fool, Richard,” she said, contemptuously; “please ring for my maid. I see that it is quite useless to reason with such a saint.”
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1
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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2
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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3
den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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4
glimmering
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| n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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5
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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7
recessed
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| v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的过去式和过去分词 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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8
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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9
casements
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| n.窗扉( casement的名词复数 ) | |
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10
glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tapestries
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| n.挂毯( tapestry的名词复数 )；绣帷，织锦v.用挂毯（或绣帷）装饰( tapestry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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12
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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13
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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14
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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hoop
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| n.（篮球）篮圈，篮 | |
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16
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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17
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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18
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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19
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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21
emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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22
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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23
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
necessitated
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
gauche
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| adj.笨拙的，粗鲁的 | |
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26
pompous
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
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quagmire
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| n.沼地 | |
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deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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29
harpsichord
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| n.键琴（钢琴前身） | |
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30
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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31
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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32
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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33
avaricious
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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34
stertorous
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| adj.打鼾的 | |
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35
ruffles
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| 褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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37
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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38
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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39
asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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40
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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41
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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42
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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43
inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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44
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
rouged
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| 胭脂，口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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47
bucolic
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| adj.乡村的；牧羊的 | |
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48
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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49
cynically
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| adv.爱嘲笑地，冷笑地 | |
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50
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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51
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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52
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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53
pestering
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| 使烦恼，纠缠( pester的现在分词 ) | |
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54
amending
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| 改良，修改，修订( amend的现在分词 )； 改良，修改，修订( amend的第三人称单数 )( amends的现在分词 ) | |
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55
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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56
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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57
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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58
trudge
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| v.步履艰难地走；n.跋涉，费力艰难的步行 | |
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59
plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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60
mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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61
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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62
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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63
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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64
sapphires
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| n.蓝宝石，钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 )；蔚蓝色 | |
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65
epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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66
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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67
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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68
sarcasms
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，挖苦( sarcasm的名词复数 ) | |
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69
flout
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| v./n.嘲弄，愚弄，轻视 | |
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70
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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71
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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72
eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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73
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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74
hoary
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| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
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75
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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cedars
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| 雪松，西洋杉( cedar的名词复数 ) | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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tilting
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| 倾斜，倾卸 | |
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picturesqueness
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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subtleties
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| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
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buxom
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| adj.（妇女）丰满的，有健康美的 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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incorrigible
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| adj.难以纠正的，屡教不改的 | |
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