Mr. Jericho sat in his study; and still his dream sat astride his spirit. Much of the first distinctness of the vision had faded in the morning light; nevertheless, he could piece out sufficient from its mistiness1 to make him dull and dumpish. He was not a superstitious2 man—certainly not. He would despise himself to be troubled by a dream; and then he shifted in his seat, and took up the newspaper and laid it down again. And then he thought all dreams were to be read backwards3: and thus, his vision of the Bank Cellars was to be mockingly realised by the Queen’s Bench. And then he looked about him and took heart. Pooh! dreams were playthings for conjurors and gypsies; quite beneath the thought of a reasonable, a respectable man. He had often dreamt he had been hanged, and what had come of it?[Pg 40] Nothing; good or bad. Mr. Jericho again took up the newspaper, and was endeavouring to interest himself in the affairs of his holiness the Pope, when the door opened. He winced4, for he knew the feminine turn of the handle; he winced, we say, but nevertheless manfully with the paper before his eyes tried to keep his soul apart—far away at the Court of Rome. He heard the well-known rustling5 of the well-known skirts, and shivered just a little at the sound. Three or four of the softest footsteps told distinctly on the silence; and then—he knew it, though he saw it not—Mrs. Jericho in her morning muslin, subsided6 upon the opposite chair like a summer wave.
Mr. Jericho, almost without knowing it, had shifted himself to the Tyrol, and was trying to wonder at the next move of the Emperor of Austria, when Mrs. Jericho slightly coughed. Upon this, Jericho, a little agitated7, found himself among the list of bankrupts; then he took flight to the House of Commons; where he became intensely absorbed by the Sugar Question, in which he would have been happy to be busied all the morning, when the wife of his bosom8 observed,—
“Mr. Jericho”——
“My dear, just now it is impossible,” said Jericho, shifting.
“What is impossible, Mr. Jericho?” asked the lady, with cold wonder.
“Why, just now—I—I cannot let you have any money,” said Jericho; and he wiped his brow.
“Did I ask for money, Mr. Jericho?” inquired the wife, wounded by the imputation9.
“Eh! Why—humph! Didn’t you?” cried Jericho, somewhat incredulous.
“Will you oblige me, Mr. Jericho, by looking at that?” and Mrs. Jericho handed in the Carraways’ letter.
“Oh! Ha!” cried Jericho—“An invitation to their grand party. Very kind of ’em. People who ought to be cultivated. Considering the money they have, they don’t hold their head quite high enough, to be sure; nevertheless, very good people; very rich people. We shall go, my dear, of course.”
[Pg 41]
Mrs. Jericho folded her hands together, dropt them gently into her lap, then turned her very placid10 face full in the face of her husband, and slowly, and very anxiously put to him these words—“And how are we to go, Mr. Jericho?”
“How, my dear!” cried Jericho, in the darkest ignorance—“How would you go?”
“As your family, Mr. Jericho; as your wife and daughters”—said the lady, “we ought to go drest.”
“Why, yes, my dear”—said Jericho—“’twould look very particular, if you didn’t. He! he!”
“I admire wit, true wit, Mr. Jericho,” said the lady, with a pitying smile; “but no real gentleman ever descends11 to humour. Major Pennibacker never—but that is not the question. In a word, Mr. Jericho, your wife and daughters have no clothes to go in. Therefore, as you have decided12 to accept the invitation, may I ask, when can you let me have some money?”
“Oh, very well, very well”—said Mrs. Jericho, with cutting vivacity—“I can write a refusal: of course; we are ill, or are going out of town, or have a better engagement; anything will do.”
“Now, my dear creature, will you be reasonable?” cried Jericho, intreatingly. “What do you want?”
Mrs. Jericho replied with admirable brevity. “Want! Everything.”
“Impossible,” said Jericho.
“If we cannot go like your wife and daughters, we had better—far better for your credit—stay at home. Well, I did not think it would come to this”—said Mrs. Jericho, a little affected—“I did not think when I consented to marry you, that you would suffer my dear girls to want the necessaries of life.”
“Why, you don’t call fine extravagant15 clothes the necessaries of life?” cried Jericho.
“Yes, I do, sir; for such a party as that of Carraways; and for girls that are marriageable. Why all the world—that[Pg 42] is, the richest people in the world—will be at the fête. And are the poor things, the dear girls, to remain always at home—kept in the dark, like jewels in boxes—for nobody to see them? Why, Mr. Jericho, you’re a king Herod to the dear children, and nothing better. Indeed to kill them outright16, would be more merciful.”
“My dear creature”—Mrs. Jericho snatched an angry look at the word—“my dear Sabilla, what would you have me do? I’m sure I don’t want to keep the girls at home. I’m sure—” Jericho spoke17 with increasing earnestness—“I’m sure I should be delighted to see them married. Why, you must confess, my dear; you must own, my love, that it was only a fortnight ago, I gave you fifty pounds, for”—
“And what’s fifty pounds among three women?” asked Mrs. Jericho.
Jericho, with early habits of clerkship, quickly replied—“Sixteen pounds, thirteen and fourpence a piece.”
“I have told you, Mr. Jericho, that I admire wit—but no low humour. As much wit as you please, sir, but no buffoonery. Very well”—and Mrs. Jericho rose—“I’ll write and decline the engagement.”
“You know best, my dear, of course. I’ll leave it all to you;” and Jericho resumed the paper. A brief pause; and then he added,—“I’m sure I only wish I was made of wealth; but, I can’t make money, you know; I wish I could. The expenses of this family”—
“My good woman,” cried Jericho, falling back in his seat with a hopeless stare, “what do you mean?”
“You know very well what I mean; and—no, no, Mr. Jericho—I am not to be deceived by such hypocrisy19. I have tried to smother20 the dark thought as it rose; I have struggled to crush the scorpion21 suspicion that preys22 upon my peace; I have wrestled23 with myself to hide my sorrow from the world, that my wound”—
[Pg 43]
“Wound!” cried Jericho, striking the table; “in heaven’s name, woman, what wound?”
“That my wound might bleed inwardly”—continued the wife—“but it is impossible for me to consent to be quite a fool: no, indeed, you ask too much. Not quite a fool, Mr. Jericho.”
Let us at once explain. Let us possess the reader with the dark thought that, fitfully, would shadow the clear day of Mrs. Jericho’s life; let us at once produce upon the page the scorpion complained of.
Mrs. Jericho was so convinced that her household expenses were of such petty amount; was so assured that the family, in its various outlay24, cost the head of the house next to nothing,—that when Mr. Jericho pleaded lack of means, the scorpion aforesaid, with the malice25 of its kind, would insinuate26 the cruellest, the falsest suspicion of the truth and constancy of the husband. Not, however, that Mrs. Jericho believed it: let us do her so much justice. Hence, when—to the first horror of Jericho—she hazarded an opinion that “there must be another wife and family out of doors, or where could the money go to?”—when to Jericho’s contempt, astonishment27, and wrath28, his honoured wife implied so withering29 an accusation30, the good woman herself had really no belief in the treason. It was the very waywardness of affection; it was love-in-idleness frolicking now with a thorn, and now a nettle31. This, however, was in earlier days. As time wore on, Mrs. Jericho would press the thorn, would flourish the nettle, with greater force and purpose, and possibly for this reason; she had found the instruments of unexpected value. Jericho, to escape them, would make the required concession32, would consent to the expense demanded. Briefly33, Mrs. Jericho had only to call up the shadowy wife and family out-of-doors, to compel Jericho to concede to any request for the living spouse34 and children beneath his roof. So useful, so valuable were these shadows found by Mrs. Jericho, that it is not to be wondered at that the good woman, without even confessing it to herself, should, as time wore on, believe them to be something more than shades; and yet not real things; on the[Pg 44] other hand, not altogether ideal mist. Having explained this much, the reader will take the taunts35 of Mrs. Jericho at their real worth; will value them as so much thistle-down that, blown about by idle air, nevertheless contains in its floating lightness the seed of thistles.
Mrs. Jericho remained the undisputed possessor of the last word. With a despairing twitch36, Jericho had again seized the newspaper. “Well, then”—said the wife—“it is no use my wasting my time; I will write to the Carraways that we shan’t come.”
“You will do just as you please, I am sure, my dear. You always do,” said Jericho.
“Not I indeed; oh dear no. But, I dare say, your wife out of doors does as she likes; I have no doubt of that. I am sure, again and again have I wished I had been a Hindoo wife; then I had sacrificed myself upon the pyre and been happy—but I am rightly served.” Jericho, resolutely37, held fast by the newspaper, determining to forego his allowed share of the conversation in favour of his wife: she should have all the talk; he would not deprive her of a single syllable38. “And, Mr. Jericho, you have decided? We are not to go to Jogtrot Lodge39? We are to miss—what I consider, thinking of my poor dear girls—miss one of the greatest opportunities of the season! And this because you spend out of doors what should go to your own family. I dare say, if I could only see—and I will, if I live, that I am determined40 upon—if I could only see how other people are drest; if I could only know the jewellery that’s lavished41 upon them; if I could only know what they cost, it would be pretty plain why we are debarred the common decencies of life. Once, I was foolish, weak enough to believe that your wife and family—I mean the wife and family under this roof—had all your money, and all your thoughts; but I have lived to find the bitter contrary.” Still Jericho held manfully by the newspaper; and with his blood burning and bubbling in his ears, would not make reply—not one word. “And you are resolved that the dear girls shall not go? You have made[Pg 45] your mind up to blight42 their future prospects43? You are determined to keep us all here like nuns44, that other people—I said other people, Mr. Jericho—should run riot in what lawfully45 belongs to your own family? And your excuse is—you haven’t the means! But I know better.”
And here Jericho, with a wan14 look, laid down the newspaper; then ventured to glance appealingly in the face of Mrs. Jericho, and sighed.
Mrs. Jericho was not to be moved. She was there to fulfil a great purpose. She had, or thought she had, some solemn warning in her breast that the approaching festival at Jogtrot Lodge portended46 greatness to one, haply to both her daughters: and the children should make a seemly preparation for their destiny. They should be drest and adorned47 for the best luck that could befal them. With whatever state it might please fortune to smile upon them, they should be worthy48 of her most affectionate notice. This determination every moment grew stronger in the heart of the mother, who dropt her cold regards upon the newspaper, and then slowly raised it in her hand. A cruel, cutting smile of irony49 sharpened her lips. “Oh yes,” she said, “I see what has engaged you in this paper. It’s very plain!”
“What’s plain?” asked Jericho.
“Oh, the advertisement here. ’Pon my word, I think the press of the country has come to something, when it brings morning vipers50 into the bosom of a family.”
“Morning vipers! What is the woman after?”
“The liberty of the press! The libertinism51, Mr. Jericho, that’s the word. Now, do you suppose that I can be so darkened, not to see that this advertisement is addressed to you?” and Mrs. Jericho pointed52 her finger like a dagger53 to the top of a column.
“Is the woman mad?” asked Jericho.
“No, sir; and it’s the wonder of all my friends—all who know your conduct—that I am not. For this—this is enough to make me mad,” and Mrs. Jericho read from the top column these mysterious words:—
[Pg 46]
BARBARA ***** is anxious to hear from J. The last Bank-note was received. Darling S. is quite well; but prattles54 continually about J.
“And seated before me you can read this! Why, of course, that’s where your money goes,” and Mrs. Jericho, to be prepared, twitched55 forth56 her pocket-handkerchief.
Jericho groaned and shook his head; silent, helpless, hopeless.
The wife interpreted everything with astonishing readiness. “Of course;” she said, as though pleased with the discovery, “Barbara writes to J. And who can J. be, but Jericho! And their darling S. who prattles so, is Solomon;—of course, there can be no doubt of it. Mrs. Barbara Stars and your own ‘Solomon.’ It’s now all clear; and now I’m sure of it; now I know where your money goes.”
It was very strange. At this moment, a smile suddenly broke over Jericho’s face, and he looked straight at his wife. Mrs. Jericho quickly drew up at the pleasant aspect of her lord. There was something so queer, so odd in the man. Quite a new look of satisfaction gleamed from his eyes, and his mouth had such a smile of compliance57! What could ail58 him!
“Jericho,” cried the wife, suddenly familiar.
“My dear—my love,” answered Jericho, the words dropping melted from his heart.
“What—why—that is—I mean, what do you smile at? What makes you look so very, very odd?”
“Really, my love,” said Jericho, with deepening tenderness, “I can’t tell; but upon my word I don’t know how it is. I should think there was a great lump of luck going to fall upon us. I—somehow, I—never felt in such a pleasant humour in all my days. Upon my life, it is strange! But everything about me seems to have a new glow—a strange look of freshness in it. As true as I’m alive, Sabilla, you don’t look above five-and-twenty. Never saw you look so young in all my life.”
“There’s nothing so very—so particularly strange in that, Mr. Jericho. But what is the matter with you? Anything in the paper that”—
[Pg 47]
“Not at all; nothing—not a word. Ha! ha! well it is very odd; but I somehow feel as if I could take everybody in the world—that is every respectable person of course—take ’em all in my arms and embrace ’em.”
“I trust, Mr. Jericho,” said the wife—“I trust you have not been eating opium59? I have seen horrible examples in the East, and—no, you have not been eating opium, Jericho?”
“Pooh! Opium! No drug in the world could make a man feel so happy as I am now,” and Jericho snapt his fingers, and cut a caper60. “Why, it’s a bit of paradise.”
“He doesn’t look mad,” thought Mrs. Jericho, a little anxious.
“I feel as if I had got new blood, new flesh, new bones, new brain! Wonderful!” Jericho trod up and down the room, and snapt his fingers; now suddenly stopt at Mrs. Jericho, and—startled woman! she herself could hardly believe it—and put his hand tenderly beneath her chin, and inflicted61 upon her lips a vigorous kiss.
“Jericho! Well, this is stranger than everything,” said the astonished wife.
“You cannot think, Sabilla, how happy I do feel,” and Jericho threw himself in his chair, and rubbed his hands, and still looked joyously62 about him. “Something’s going to happen.”
“And now, my dear, about this party to Jogtrot Hall. Are we to go?”
“Go! Of course,” said Jericho. “Let the dear girls go. I should be a monster to refuse them. Besides, it’s only right they should go. And Basil, too. A noble youth; a little too fond of rats and dogs,—but a noble young fellow. Some day, no doubt, he’ll be an honour to the bench. Fal lal de ral, lal, lal,” and Jericho’s full spirit overflowed65 in song.
“It will not take a great deal of money, after all,” said Mrs. Jericho.
[Pg 48]
“I think a hundred pounds—because I want the girls on such an occasion to make a blow—I do almost think, yes I am nearly sure that a hundred pounds, for we must have a few trinkets, will do pretty well.”
“A hundred pounds, after all, isn’t much,” said Jericho, airily.
“Not with a great, a vital object in view,” responded his wife.
“And as the world goes,” said Jericho, “people who would be somebody must make an appearance.”
“It is the compulsion of our artificial state of life: I wish it were otherwise. But as it is so, my dear,—you will let me have the money?”
At this question a strangely pleasurable thrill passed through the breast of Jericho; his heart glowed and expanded as it had never done before; and he felt his hand drawn—as though some fairy pulled at either finger end—to his bosom. His bare hand pressed his heart, that, at the pressure, gave a sudden and delicious flutter.
“You will let me have the money?” repeated Mrs. Jericho.
Jericho answered not a word, but withdrew his hand from his breast: between his finger and his thumb he held, in silver purity, a virgin67 Bank of England note!
“What a dear, good creature you are, Jericho”—said his wife “to surprise me in this manner! To bring a note for the exact amount with you! Just a hundred! Well, you are a love,” and hastily pressing him round the neck, Mrs. Jericho ran from the room, as though embarrassed by the freedom.
And Jericho sat, with his heart beating the faster. Again, he placed his hand to his breast; again drew forth another Bank note. He jumped to his feet; tore away his dress, and running to a mirror, saw therein reflected, not human flesh; but over the region of his heart a loose skin of Bank paper, veined with marks of ink. He touched it; and still in his hand there lay another note!
His thoughtless wish had been wrought68 into reality. Solomon Jericho was, in very truth, a Man made of Money.
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收听单词发音
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1
mistiness
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| n.雾，模糊，不清楚 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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3
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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4
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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6
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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7
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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10
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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11
descends
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| v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 )；下去；下降；下斜 | |
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12
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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13
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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14
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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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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hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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21
scorpion
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| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
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preys
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| v.掠食( prey的第三人称单数 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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26
insinuate
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| vt.含沙射影地说，暗示 | |
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27
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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nettle
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| n.荨麻；v.烦忧，激恼 | |
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concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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taunts
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| 嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 ) | |
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twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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39
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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blight
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| n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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44
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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45
lawfully
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| adv.守法地，合法地；合理地 | |
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46
portended
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| v.预示( portend的过去式和过去分词 )；预兆；给…以警告；预告 | |
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47
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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48
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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49
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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50
vipers
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| n.蝰蛇( viper的名词复数 )；毒蛇；阴险恶毒的人；奸诈者 | |
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51
libertinism
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| n.放荡，玩乐，（对宗教事物的）自由思想 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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54
prattles
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的第三人称单数 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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55
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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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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compliance
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| n.顺从；服从；附和；屈从 | |
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ail
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| v.生病，折磨，苦恼 | |
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opium
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| n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的 | |
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60
caper
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| v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏 | |
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61
inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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62
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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63
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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67
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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68
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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