The Lady Letitia sat before the fire in the red parlor1 with a copy of the Gentleman’s Magazine lying upon her lap. In the fender lay a bundle of feathers which the old lady was burning, having heard that the smoke therefrom was very efficacious in the preventing of fevers. Very cross and querulous she felt, and very cross she looked as she sat there burning the feathers and taking snuff from time to time, for the Lady Letitia was not a woman fitted to play the Dorcas or to take pleasure in ministering to the sick. Pain, disease, and poverty were things she dreaded2 and detested3 as vulgar intruders, marring the polite gayeties of life.
Hence she had shown no little impatience4 that morning when Peter Gladden had announced the fact that Mr. Richard was indisposed and would keep his bed. Gladden, bearer of cocoa and shaving-water, had found his master looking flushed and feverish5, with dry lips and heavy eyes, and complaining of sickness and headache and sharp pain in the small of the back. Jeffray would not have the curtains drawn6, for the sunlight seemed to intensify7 his feeling of nausea8 and the feverish throbbing9 in his head. He had ordered Gladden to send a groom10 down to Rodenham village to insure Surgeon Stott’s calling that day.
As the Lady Letitia sat burning her feathers and muttering to herself in the red parlor, Peter Gladden’s black-coated figure appeared in the doorway11, his colorless face imperturbable12 as ever. The dowager glanced at the butler irritably13 over her shoulder, and asked him, sharply, what he wanted.
“Surgeon Stott, madam, requests the honor of speaking with you.”
“What’s the man want with me, Gladden?”
“It concerns Mr. Richard, madam.”
The Lady Letitia scowled—and straightened her cap.
“Tell the man to come in, Gladden,” she said. “Tell him to remain by the door. Of course his clothes reek14 of the small-pox.”
The butler disappeared with a cynical15 twinkle in his eyes, and turned to where Mr. Stott was standing16 with his broad back to the hall fire. The surgeon and Mr. Gladden looked at each other with a certain comical flash of sympathy. Stott was a florid and well-complexioned person who wore a blue coat, a scratch wig18, brown riding-breeches, and top-boots. The surgeon did not cultivate the town graces and delicacies19 of “the faculty20.” He had to ride through mud and ford21 streams, dive into hovels where gowns and periwigs would have been a nuisance and the pomposities of the profession more than ridiculous.
The dowager scrutinized22 Mr. Stott from top to toe with an air of aristocratic insolence23 as he bowed himself into the red parlor. She scanned his muddy boots, noticed the bourgeois24 redness of his face and hands, and desired him, with some hauteur25, not to approach too near her chair. Surgeon Stott’s humorous mouth twitched26 expressively27. He inhaled28 the odors of lavender and burned feathers, and seated himself, with the amiable29 docility30 of a philosopher, near the door.
“Well, sir, what is your business with me?”
“I have come to speak to you about Mr. Jeffray, madam.”
The dowager caught a solemn twinkle in the man’s vulgar, blue eyes; the suave32 curve of his clean-shaven mouth seemed to suggest that the surgeon possessed33 a strong sense of humor. The Lady Letitia’s dignity increased. She did not exist to amuse muddy apothecaries34 peddling35 boluses in provincial36 towns. She, to whom the great Dr. Billinghurst, of London, would listen for an hour, was not to be smiled at by this rustic37 blue-bottle.
“You are the apothecary38 from Rookhurst, sir, I believe?”
“Surgeon, madam.”
“A member of the company?”
“I claim that distinction.”
The Lady Letitia’s face expressed surprise. Her manner suggested to Mr. Stott that he had not impressed her with any great degree of authority in the art of healing.
“We thought we would have your opinion, sir,” she explained, “as a temporary satisfaction. Should my nephew show signs of serious indisposition, we shall send for a responsible physician to attend him. Now, sir, will you oblige me with your candid39 opinion as to Mr. Jeffray’s health.”
Surgeon Stott was watching the old lady with grim curiosity. She was a distinct study in aristocratic arrogance40 with her air of condescending41 patronage42, and her detestable old face painted and powdered to the very complexion17 of her vanity.
“If you care to consider my opinion, madam—”
“Well, sir?”
“I may state that Mr. Jeffray is sickening with the small-pox.”
“What!”
“That is my diagnosis44, madam,” he said. “I have bled Mr. Jeffray of ten ounces, and ordered him to be sponged with tepid45 water. One of the grooms46 is to ride back with me to Rookhurst for the physic. There will be a fever mixture and a bolus. Can I oblige your ladyship in any way?”
The dowager plied47 her handkerchief and strove to recover her disturbed dignity. Richard with the small-pox! How deplorably vexatious, not to say—inconsiderate—her nephew’s illness appeared! Meanwhile, Surgeon Stott had risen. He bowed to the dowager till his tight riding-breeches creaked, and seemed not a little amused at the old lady’s fluster48.
“With your kind permission, madam,” he said, “I will call again to-morrow. Your ladyship may even need my humble49 attention.”
“Call by all means,” she retorted, “but I shall have transferred myself to some locality where I can obtain trustworthy advice.”
When Mr. Stott had gone, the dowager pealed51 the bell, and almost squealed52 at Gladden when his emotionless face appeared at the door.
“Send Parsons to me at once, and order Betsy to pack my boxes.”
Peter Gladden bowed, smiled curiously53, and departed. At the end of three minutes Parsons, the Lady Letitia’s confidential54 man, a thin, circumspect55 individual with a prim56 mouth and a long nose, marched in to receive his mistress’s orders.
“Parsons, we must leave Rodenham at once. Have the coach ready by one, and order Betsy to pack my trunks. Can we make Tunbridge Wells before dusk?”
Parsons bowed, and apologized for the roads—in that they had the bad taste to be execrably heavy.
“Drat the roads,” quoth the old lady, in a fine fume57. “No decent folk should venture into this abominable58 wilderness59. Where can we bait for the night, Parsons?”
“We can find a good inn at Grinstead, madam.”
“Let it be Grinstead, then. And Parsons, see that Gladden and the servants have their vails; a guinea will do for the wenches; here is my purse. And see to your pistols, Parsons; this beggarly slough60 is full of smugglers and footpads.”
The suave and obsequious61 Parsons left to prepare his mistress’s departure. The Lady Letitia, still unduly62 distressed63, hobbled up to her bedroom by the back stairs, so that she should not pass her nephew’s door. The guineas Richard had loaned to her were sewn up in a leather bag under her hoop64. Miss Betsy was flinging gowns, petticoats, and underclothing into the trunks, being no less eager than the Lady Letitia to flee the house that the pest had entered. The room was littered with scarves, pomade-boxes, pins, ribbons, jewelry65, gowns, stockings, and shoes. The dowager stood leaning on her stick, scolding and directing the girl as she hurried the multifarious articles into the trunks.
“Drat the small-pox,” she said, with feeling; “one would think that the devil had the sowing of the pest. Confusion, wench, what are you doing with that green silk sack? Don’t crush it up as though it were dirty linen68. Yes. I have told Parsons that we must make Grinstead before dusk.”
Miss Betsy sat back on her heels as she knelt beside the largest trunk, and glanced round at the hundred and one articles littering the floor.
“Poor Mr. Richard!” she said.
“What’s that you’re saying?”
“It does seem mean, ma’am, that we should be running away and leaving him alone.”
“La, ma’am!”
“What good can we do by staying here, hey? You should be grateful that I have the moral courage to go.”
Before she departed the Lady Letitia wrote an affectionate note to her nephew, addressing him as “Mon beau Richard, mon cher neveu,” praying for his speedy recovery, and explaining that nothing but the extreme delicacy70 of her health persuaded her to leave him at such a crisis. Shortly after noon the dowager’s coach rolled away from the priory porch, with Peter Gladden bowing stiffly on the threshold, and staring a contemptuous farewell at Mr. Parsons on the back seat, who was looking to his pistols. Richard, half delirious71 in his room above, heard the grinding of the wheels and the rattling72 of the harness. He understood dimly that his aunt was deserting him with his guineas under her petticoat. And thus the small-pox drove the old lady out of Rodenham, and the sick man was left to Peter Gladden and Surgeon Stott.
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1
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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2
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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detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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7
intensify
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| vt.加强；变强；加剧 | |
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nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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14
reek
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| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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delicacies
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| n.棘手( delicacy的名词复数 )；精致；精美的食物；周到 | |
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20
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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22
scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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24
bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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hauteur
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| n.傲慢 | |
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twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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expressively
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| ad.表示(某事物)地；表达地 | |
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28
inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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31
beak
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| n.鸟嘴，茶壶嘴，钩形鼻 | |
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32
suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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33
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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34
apothecaries
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| n.药剂师，药店( apothecary的名词复数 ) | |
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peddling
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| 忙于琐事的，无关紧要的 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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38
apothecary
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| n.药剂师 | |
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39
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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40
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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41
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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42
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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43
perked
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| （使）活跃( perk的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）增值； 使更有趣 | |
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44
diagnosis
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| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
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45
tepid
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| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
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46
grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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47
plied
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| v.使用（工具）( ply的过去式和过去分词 )；经常供应（食物、饮料）；固定往来；经营生意 | |
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48
fluster
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| adj.慌乱，狼狈，混乱，激动 | |
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49
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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50
bridled
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的过去式和过去分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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51
pealed
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| v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
squealed
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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54
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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55
circumspect
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| adj.慎重的，谨慎的 | |
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56
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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57
fume
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| n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟，气，汽 | |
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58
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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59
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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60
slough
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| v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃 | |
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61
obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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62
unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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63
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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64
hoop
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| n.（篮球）篮圈，篮 | |
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65
jewelry
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| n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝 | |
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66
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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67
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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68
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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69
curtly
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| adv.简短地 | |
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70
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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71
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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72
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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