Lydia had plenty to occupy her days. The house in Curzon Street had been bought and she had been a round of furnishers, paper-hangers and fitters of all variety.
The trip to the Riviera came at the right moment. She could leave Mrs. Morgan in charge and come back to her new home, which was to be ready in two months.
Amongst other things, the problem of the watchful1 Mr. Jaggs would be settled automatically.
She spoke2 to him that night when he came.
"By the way, Mr. Jaggs, I am going to the South of France next week."
"A pretty place by all accounts," volunteered Mr. Jaggs.
"A lovely place--by all accounts," repeated Lydia with a smile. "And you're going to have a holiday, Mr. Jaggs. By the way, what am I to pay you?"
"The gentleman pays me, miss," said Mr. Jaggs with a sniff3. "The lawyer gentleman."
"Well, he must continue paying you whilst I am away," said the girl. "I am very grateful to you and I want to give you a little present before I go. Is there anything you would like, Mr. Jaggs?"
Mr. Jaggs rubbed his beard, scratched his head and thought he would like a pipe.
"Though bless you, miss, I don't want any present."
"You shall have the best pipe I can buy," said the girl. "It seems very inadequate4."
"I'd rather have a briar, miss," said old Jaggs mistakenly.
He was on duty until the morning she left, and although she rose early he had gone. She was disappointed, for she had not given him the handsome case of pipes she had bought, and she wanted to thank him. She felt she had acted rather meanly towards him. She owed her life to him twice.
"Didn't you see him go?" she asked Mrs. Morgan.
"No, miss," the stout5 housekeeper6 shook her head. "I was up at six and he'd gone then, but he'd left his chair in the passage--I've got an idea that's where he slept, miss, if he slept at all."
"Poor old man," said the girl gently. "I haven't been very kind to him, have I? And I do owe him such a lot."
"Maybe he'll turn up again," said Mrs. Morgan hopefully. She had the mother feeling for the old, which is one of the beauties of her class, and she regretted Lydia's absence probably as much because it would entail7 the disappearance8 of old Jaggs as for the loss of her mistress. But old Jaggs did not turn up. Lydia hoped to see him at the station, hovering9 on the outskirts10 of the crowd in his furtive11 way, but she was disappointed.
She left by the eleven o'clock train, joining Mrs. Cole-Mortimer on the station. That lady had arranged to spend a day in Paris, and the girl was not sorry, after a somewhat bad crossing of the English Channel, that she had not to continue her journey through the night.
The South of France was to be a revelation to her. She had no conception of the extraordinary change of climate and vegetation that could be experienced in one country.
She passed from a drizzly12, bedraggled Paris into a land of sunshine and gentle breezes; from the bare sullen13 lands of the Champagne14, into a country where flowers grew by the side of the railway, and that in February; to a semi-tropic land, fragrant15 with flowers, to white beaches by a blue, lazy sea and a sky over all unflecked by clouds.
It took her breath away, the beauty of it; and the sense and genial16 warmth of it. The trees laden17 with lemons, the wisteria on the walls, the white dust on the road, and the glory of the golden mimosa that scented18 the air with its rare and lovely perfume.
They left the train at Nice and drove along the Grande Corniche. Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had a call to make in Monte Carlo and the girl sat back in the car and drank in the beauty of this delicious spot, whilst her hostess interviewed the house agent.
Surely the place must be kept under glass. It looked so fresh and clean and free from stain.
The Casino disappointed her--it was a place of plaster and stucco, and did not seem built for permanent use.
They drove back part of the way they had come, on to the peninsula of Cap Martin and she had a glimpse of beautiful villas19 between the pines and queer little roads that led into mysterious dells. Presently the car drew up before a good looking house (even Mrs. Cole-Mortimer was surprised into an expression of her satisfaction at the sight of it).
Lydia, who thought that this was Mrs. Cole-Mortimer's own demesne20, was delighted.
"You are lucky to have a beautiful home like this, Mrs. Cole-Mortimer," she said, "it must be heavenly living here."
The habit of wealth had not been so well acquired that she could realise that she also could have a beautiful house if she wished--she thought of that later. Nor did she expect to find Jean Briggerland there, and Mr. Briggerland too, sitting on a big cane21 chair on the veranda22 overlooking the sea and smoking a cigar of peace.
Mrs. Cole-Mortimer had been very careful to avoid all mention of Jean on the journey.
"Didn't I tell you they would be here?" she said in careless amazement23. "Why, of course, dear Jean left two days before we did. It makes such a nice little party. Do you play bridge?"
Lydia did not play bridge, but was willing to be taught.
She spent the remaining hour of daylight exploring the grounds which led down to the road which fringed the sea.
She could look across at the lights already beginning to twinkle at Monte Carlo, to the white yachts lying off Monaco, and farther along the coast to a little cluster of lights that stood for Beaulieu.
"It is glorious," she said, drawing a long breath.
Mrs. Cole-Mortimer, who had accompanied her in her stroll, purred the purr of the pleased patron whose protegee has been thankful for favours received.
Dinner was a gay meal, for Jean was in her brightest mood. She had a keen sense of fun and her sly little sallies, sometimes aimed at her father, sometimes at Lydia's expense, but more often directed at people in the social world, whose names were household words, kept Lydia in a constant gurgle of laughter.
Mrs. Cole-Mortimer alone was nervous and ill at ease. She had learnt unpleasant news and was not sure whether she should tell the company or keep her secret to herself. In such dilemma24, weak people take the most sensational25 course, and presently she dropped her bombshell.
"Celeste says that the gardener's little boy has malignant26 smallpox27," she almost wailed28.
Jean was telling a funny story to the girl who sat by her, and did not pause for so much as a second in her narrative29. The effect on Mr. Briggerland was, however, wholly satisfactory to Mrs. Cole-Mortimer. He pushed back his chair and blinked at his "hostess."
"Smallpox?" he said in horror, "here--in Cap Martin? Good God, did you hear that, Jean?"
"Did I hear what?" she asked lazily, "about the gardener's little boy? Oh, yes. There has been quite an epidemic30 on the Italian Riviera, in fact they closed the frontier last week."
"But--but here!" spluttered Briggerland.
Lydia could only look at him in open-eyed amazement. The big man's terror was pitiably apparent. The copper31 skin had turned a dirty grey, his lower lip was trembling like a frightened child's.
"Why not here?" said Jean coolly, "there is nothing to be scared about. Have you been vaccinated32 recently?" she turned to the girl, and Lydia shook her head.
"Not since I was a baby--and then I believe the operation was not a success."
"Anyway, the child is isolated33 in the cottage and they are taking him to Nice to-night," said Jean. "Poor little fellow! Even his own mother has deserted34 him. Are you going to the Casino?" she asked.
"I don't know," replied Lydia. "I'm very tired but I should love to go."
"Take her, father--and you go, Margaret. By the time you return the infection will be removed."
"Won't you come too?" asked Lydia.
"No, I'll stay at home to-night. I turned my ankle to-day and it is rather stiff. Father!"
This time her voice was sharp, menacing almost, thought Lydia, and Mr. Briggerland made an heroic attempt to recover his self-possession.
"Cer--certainly, my dear--I shall be delighted--er--delighted."
He saw her alone whilst Lydia was changing in her lovely big dressing-room, overlooking the sea.
"Why didn't you tell me there was smallpox in Cap Martin?" he demanded fretfully.
"Because I didn't know till Margaret relieved her mind at our expense," said his daughter coolly. "I had to say something. Besides, I'd heard one of the maids say that somebody's mother had deserted him--I fitted it in. What a funk you are, father!"
"I hate the very thought of disease," he growled35. "Why aren't you coming with us--there is nothing the matter with your ankle?"
"Because I prefer to stay at home."
He looked at her suspiciously.
"Jean," he said in a milder voice, "hadn't we better let up on the girl for a bit--until that lunatic doctor affair has blown over?"
She reached out and took a gold case from his waistcoat pocket, extracted a cigarette and replaced the case before she spoke.
"We can't afford to 'let up' as you call it, for a single hour. Do you realise that any day her lawyer may persuade her to make a will leaving her money to a--a home for cats, or something equally untouchable? If there was no Jack36 Glover we could afford to wait months. And I'm less troubled about him than I am about the man Jaggs. Father, you will be glad to learn that I am almost afraid of that freakish old man."
"Neither of them are here--" he began.
"Exactly," said Jean, "neither are here--Lydia had a telegram from him just before dinner asking if he could come to see her next week."
At this moment Lydia returned and Jean Briggerland eyed her critically.
"My dear, you look lovely," she said and kissed her.
Mr. Briggerland's nose wrinkled, as it always did when his daughter shocked him.
收听单词发音 |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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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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sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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entail
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| vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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furtive
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| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
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drizzly
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| a.毛毛雨的(a drizzly day) | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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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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villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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demesne
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| n.领域，私有土地 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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sensational
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| adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的 | |
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malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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smallpox
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| n.天花 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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epidemic
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| n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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vaccinated
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| [医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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