When the concourse separated, and, dividing into chance clusters, drew off in various directions, there still remained upon the scene of the late disturbance1, one man. This man was Gashford, who, bruised2 by his late fall, and hurt in a much greater degree by the indignity3 he had undergone, and the exposure of which he had been the victim, limped up and down, breathing curses and threats of vengeance4.
It was not the secretary’s nature to waste his wrath5 in words. While he vented6 the froth of his malevolence7 in those effusions, he kept a steady eye on two men, who, having disappeared with the rest when the alarm was spread, had since returned, and were now visible in the moonlight, at no great distance, as they walked to and fro, and talked together.
He made no move towards them, but waited patiently on the dark side of the street, until they were tired of strolling backwards8 and forwards and walked away in company. Then he followed, but at some distance: keeping them in view, without appearing to have that object, or being seen by them.
They went up Parliament Street, past Saint Martin’s church, and away by Saint Giles’s to Tottenham Court Road, at the back of which, upon the western side, was then a place called the Green Lanes. This was a retired9 spot, not of the choicest kind, leading into the fields. Great heaps of ashes; stagnant10 pools, overgrown with rank grass and duckweed; broken turnstiles; and the upright posts of palings long since carried off for firewood, which menaced all heedless walkers with their jagged and rusty11 nails; were the leading features of the landscape: while here and there a donkey, or a ragged12 horse, tethered to a stake, and cropping off a wretched meal from the coarse stunted13 turf, were quite in keeping with the scene, and would have suggested (if the houses had not done so, sufficiently14, of themselves) how very poor the people were who lived in the crazy huts adjacent, and how foolhardy it might prove for one who carried money, or wore decent clothes, to walk that way alone, unless by daylight.
Poverty has its whims15 and shows of taste, as wealth has. Some of these cabins were turreted16, some had false windows painted on their rotten walls; one had a mimic17 clock, upon a crazy tower of four feet high, which screened the chimney; each in its little patch of ground had a rude seat or arbour. The population dealt in bones, in rags, in broken glass, in old wheels, in birds, and dogs. These, in their several ways of stowage, filled the gardens; and shedding a perfume, not of the most delicious nature, in the air, filled it besides with yelps18, and screams, and howling.
Into this retreat, the secretary followed the two men whom he had held in sight; and here he saw them safely lodged19, in one of the meanest houses, which was but a room, and that of small dimensions. He waited without, until the sound of their voices, joined in a discordant20 song, assured him they were making merry; and then approaching the door, by means of a tottering21 plank22 which crossed the ditch in front, knocked at it with his hand.
‘Muster23 Gashfordl’ said the man who opened it, taking his pipe from his mouth, in evident surprise. ‘Why, who’d have thought of this here honour! Walk in, Muster Gashford — walk in, sir.’
Gashford required no second invitation, and entered with a gracious air. There was a fire in the rusty grate (for though the spring was pretty far advanced, the nights were cold), and on a stool beside it Hugh sat smoking. Dennis placed a chair, his only one, for the secretary, in front of the hearth24; and took his seat again upon the stool he had left when he rose to give the visitor admission.
‘What’s in the wind now, Muster Gashford?’ he said, as he resumed his pipe, and looked at him askew25. ‘Any orders from head-quarters? Are we going to begin? What is it, Muster Gashford?’
‘Oh, nothing, nothing,’ rejoined the secretary, with a friendly nod to Hugh. ‘We have broken the ice, though. We had a little spurt26 to-day — eh, Dennis?’
‘A very little one,’ growled27 the hangman. ‘Not half enough for me.’
‘Nor me neither!’ cried Hugh. ‘Give us something to do with life in it — with life in it, master. Ha, ha!’
‘Why, you wouldn’t,’ said the secretary, with his worst expression of face, and in his mildest tones, ‘have anything to do, with — with death in it?’
‘I don’t know that,’ replied Hugh. ‘I’m open to orders. I don’t care; not I.’
‘Nor I!’ vociferated Dennis.
‘Brave fellows!’ said the secretary, in as pastor-like a voice as if he were commending them for some uncommon28 act of valour and generosity29. ‘By the bye’— and here he stopped and warmed his hands: then suddenly looked up —‘who threw that stone to-day?’
Mr Dennis coughed and shook his head, as who should say, ‘A mystery indeed!’ Hugh sat and smoked in silence.
‘It was well done!’ said the secretary, warming his hands again. ‘I should like to know that man.’
‘Would you?’ said Dennis, after looking at his face to assure himself that he was serious. ‘Would you like to know that man, Muster Gashford?’
‘I should indeed,’ replied the secretary.
‘Why then, Lord love you,’ said the hangman, in his hoarest chuckle30, as he pointed31 with his pipe to Hugh, ‘there he sits. That’s the man. My stars and halters, Muster Gashford,’ he added in a whisper, as he drew his stool close to him and jogged him with his elbow, ‘what a interesting blade he is! He wants as much holding in as a thorough-bred bulldog. If it hadn’t been for me to-day, he’d have had that ‘ere Roman down, and made a riot of it, in another minute.’
‘And why not?’ cried Hugh in a surly voice, as he overheard this last remark. ‘Where’s the good of putting things off? Strike while the iron’s hot; that’s what I say.’
‘Ah!’ retorted Dennis, shaking his head, with a kind of pity for his friend’s ingenuous32 youth; ‘but suppose the iron an’t hot, brother! You must get people’s blood up afore you strike, and have ’em in the humour. There wasn’t quite enough to provoke ’em to-day, I tell you. If you’d had your way, you’d have spoilt the fun to come, and ruined us.’
‘Dennis is quite right,’ said Gashford, smoothly33. ‘He is perfectly34 correct. Dennis has great knowledge of the world.’
‘I ought to have, Muster Gashford, seeing what a many people I’ve helped out of it, eh?’ grinned the hangman, whispering the words behind his hand.
The secretary laughed at this jest as much as Dennis could desire, and when he had done, said, turning to Hugh:
‘Dennis’s policy was mine, as you may have observed. You saw, for instance, how I fell when I was set upon. I made no resistance. I did nothing to provoke an outbreak. Oh dear no!’
‘No, by the Lord Harry35!’ cried Dennis with a noisy laugh, ‘you went down very quiet, Muster Gashford — and very flat besides. I thinks to myself at the time “it’s all up with Muster Gashford!” I never see a man lay flatter nor more still — with the life in him — than you did to-day. He’s a rough ‘un to play with, is that ‘ere Papist, and that’s the fact.’
The secretary’s face, as Dennis roared with laughter, and turned his wrinkled eyes on Hugh who did the like, might have furnished a study for the devil’s picture. He sat quite silent until they were serious again, and then said, looking round:
‘We are very pleasant here; so very pleasant, Dennis, that but for my lord’s particular desire that I should sup with him, and the time being very near at hand, I should he inclined to stay, until it would be hardly safe to go homeward. I come upon a little business — yes, I do — as you supposed. It’s very flattering to you; being this. If we ever should be obliged — and we can’t tell, you know — this is a very uncertain world’—
‘I believe you, Muster Gashford,’ interposed the hangman with a grave nod. ‘The uncertainties36 as I’ve seen in reference to this here state of existence, the unexpected contingencies37 as have come about!— Oh my eye!’ Feeling the subject much too vast for expression, he puffed38 at his pipe again, and looked the rest.
‘I say,’ resumed the secretary, in a slow, impressive way; ‘we can’t tell what may come to pass; and if we should be obliged, against our wills, to have recourse to violence, my lord (who has suffered terribly to-day, as far as words can go) consigns39 to you two — bearing in mind my recommendation of you both, as good staunch men, beyond all doubt and suspicion — the pleasant task of punishing this Haredale. You may do as you please with him, or his, provided that you show no mercy, and no quarter, and leave no two beams of his house standing40 where the builder placed them. You may sack it, burn it, do with it as you like, but it must come down; it must be razed41 to the ground; and he, and all belonging to him, left as shelterless as new-born infants whom their mothers have exposed. Do you understand me?’ said Gashford, pausing, and pressing his hands together gently.
‘Understand you, master!’ cried Hugh. ‘You speak plain now. Why, this is hearty42!’
‘I knew you would like it,’ said Gashford, shaking him by the hand; ‘I thought you would. Good night! Don’t rise, Dennis: I would rather find my way alone. I may have to make other visits here, and it’s pleasant to come and go without disturbing you. I can find my way perfectly well. Good night!’
He was gone, and had shut the door behind him. They looked at each other, and nodded approvingly: Dennis stirred up the fire.
‘This looks a little more like business!’ he said.
‘Ay, indeed!’ cried Hugh; ‘this suits me!’
‘I’ve heerd it said of Muster Gashford,’ said the hangman, ‘that he’d a surprising memory and wonderful firmness — that he never forgot, and never forgave.— Let’s drink his health!’
Hugh readily complied — pouring no liquor on the floor when he drank this toast — and they pledged the secretary as a man after their own hearts, in a bumper43.
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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vented
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| 表达，发泄（感情，尤指愤怒）( vent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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stagnant
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| adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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stunted
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| adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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turreted
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| a.(像炮塔般)旋转式的 | |
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mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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yelps
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| n.（因痛苦、气愤、兴奋等的）短而尖的叫声( yelp的名词复数 )v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的第三人称单数 ) | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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plank
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| n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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askew
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| adv.斜地；adj.歪斜的 | |
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spurt
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| v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆 | |
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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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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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36
uncertainties
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| 无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物 | |
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contingencies
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| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
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puffed
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| adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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consigns
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的第三人称单数 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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40
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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razed
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| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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43
bumper
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| n.(汽车上的)保险杠；adj.特大的，丰盛的 | |
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