CAMILLA was again called upon for her note, before she had read the letter it was to answer; but relieved now from the pressure of her own terrifying apprehensions1, she gave it complete and willing attention.
It contained four sides of paper, closely yet elegantly written in the language of romantic sentiment. Mrs. Berlinton said she had spent, as yet, only a few minutes with her aunt; but they had been awfully2 important; and since she had exacted from her a promise to stay the whole day, she could not deny her disappointed friendship the transient solace3 of a paper conversation, to sooth the lingering interval4 of this unexpected absence. ‘My soul pines to unburden the weight of its sorrows into thy sympathising bosom5, my gentlest friend; but oh! there let them not sojourn6! receive but to lighten, listen but to commiserate7, and then, far, far thence dismiss them, retaining but the remembrance thou hast dismissed them with consolation8.’ She then bewailed the time lost to soft communication and confidence, in their journey, from the presence of others; for though one was a brother she so truly loved, she found, notwithstanding the tenderness of his nature, he had the prejudices of a man upon man’s prerogatives10, and her woes11 called for soothing12 not arguments; and the other, she briefly13 added, was but an accidental passenger. “Tis in thee only, O my beauteous friend! I would trust the sad murmurs14 of my irreversible and miserable15 destiny, of which I have learnt but this moment the cruel and desperate secret cause.’ She reserved, however, the discovery for their meeting, and called upon her pity for her unfortunate brother, as deeply involved in his future views, as she in her past, by this mystery: ‘And have I written this much,’ she burst forth16, ‘without speaking of the cherished correspondent whom so often I have described to thee? Ah! believe me not faithless to that partner of my chosen esteem17, that noble, that resistless possessor of my purest friendship! No, charming Camilla, think not so degradingly of her whom fate, in its sole pitying interval, has cast into thy arms.’ Two pages then ensued with this exclusive encomium19, painting him chief in every virtue20, and master of every grace. She next expressed her earnestness to see Indiana, Camilla had told her would be at Southampton. ‘Present me, I conjure21 thee, to the fair and amiable22 enslaver of my unhappy brother! I die to see, to converse23 with her, to catch from her lovely lips the modest wisdom with which he tells me they teem18; to read in her speaking eyes the intelligence which he assures me illumines them.’ She concluded with desiring her to give what orders she pleased for the coach, and the servants, and to pass the day with her friends.
Camilla, whose own sensations were now revived to happiness, read the letter with all the sympathy it claimed, and felt her eyes fill with generous tears at the contrast of their situations; yet she highly blamed the tenderness expressed for the unknown correspondent, though its innocence24 she was sure must vanquish25 even Edgar, since its so constant avowal26 proved it might be published to all mankind. She answered her in language nearly as affectionate, though less inflated27 than her own, and resolved to support her with Edgar, till her sweetness and purity should need no champions but themselves. She was ashamed of the species of expectation raised for Indiana, yet knew not how to interfere28 in Melmond’s idea of her capacity, lest it might seem unkind to represent its fallaciousness; but she was glad to find her soft friend seemed to have a strict guardian29 in her brother; and wished eagerly to communicate to Edgar a circumstance which she was sure would be so welcome to him.
Impatient to see Eugenia, she accepted the offer of the carriage, and desirous to escape Mrs. Mittin, begged to have it immediately; but that notable person came to the door at the same time as the coach, and, without the smallest ceremony, said she would accompany her to the hotel, in order to take the opportunity of making acquaintance with her friends.
Courage frequently, at least in females, becomes potent30 as an agent, where it has been feeble as a principal. Camilla, though she had wished, upon her own account, to repress Mrs. Mittin in the morning, had been too timid for such an undertaking31; but now, in her anxiety to oblige Edgar, she gathered resolution for declining her company. She then found, as is generally the case with the fearful, the task less difficult than she had expected; for Mrs. Mittin, content with a promise self-made, that the introduction should take place the next day, said she would go and help Mrs. Berlinton’s woman to unpack32 her lady’s things, which would make a useful friend for her in the house, for a thousand odd matters.
* * *
The carriage of Sir Hugh was just driving off as Camilla arrived at the hotel.
She hurried from Mrs. Berlinton’s coach, demanding which way the company was gone; and being answered, by a passing waiter, up stairs, ran on at once, without patience or thought for asking if she should turn to the right or left; till seeing a gentleman standing9 still upon the landing place, and leaning upon the bannisters, she was retreating, to desire a conductor, when she perceived it was Dr. Orkborne; who, while the ladies were looking at accommodations, and inquiring about lodgings33, in profound cogitation34, and with his tablets in his hands, undisturbed by the various noises around him, and unmoved by the various spectators continually passing and repassing, was finishing a period which he had begun in the coach for his great work.
Camilla, cheerfully greeting him, begged to know which way she should find Eugenia; but, making her a sign not to speak to him, he wrote on. Accustomed to his manner, and brought up to respect whatever belonged to study, from the studious life and turn of her father, she obeyed the mute injunction, and waited quietly by his side; till, tired of the delay, though unwilling35 to interrupt him, she glided36 softly about the passage, watching and examining if she could see any of the party, yet fearing to offend or mortify37 him if she called for a waiter.
While straying about thus, as far off as she could go without losing sight of Dr. Orkborne, a door she had just passed was flung open, and she saw young Halder, whose licentious38 insolence39 had so much alarmed her in the bathing-house, stroam out, yawning, stretching, and swearing unmeaningly, but most disgustingly, at every step.
Terrified at his sight, she went on, as she could not get to the Doctor without passing him; but the youth, recollecting40 her immediately, called out: ‘Ah, ha! are you there again, you little vixen?’ and pursued her.
‘Dr. Orkborne! Dr. Orkborne!’ she rather screamed than said, ‘pray come this way! I conjure–I beseech–I entreat–Dr. Orkborne!–’
The Doctor, catching41 nothing of this but his name, querulously exclaimed: ‘You molest42 me much!’ but without raising his eyes from his tablets; while Halder, at the appeal, cried: ‘Ay, ay, Doctor! keep your distance, Doctor! you are best where you are, Doctor, I can tell you, Doctor!’
Camilla, then, too much scared to be aware she ran a far greater risk than she escaped, desperately43 sought refuge by opening the nearest door; though by the sudden noises upon the stairs, and in all the adjoining passages, it seemed as if Dr. Orkborne were the only one not alarmed by her cries.
No one, however, could approach so soon as the person of whose chamber44 she had burst the door; who was an old gentleman, of a good and lively countenance45, who promptly46 presenting himself, looked at her with some surprise, but good humouredly asked her what she was pleased to want in his room.
‘That gentleman,’ she cried, panting and meaning to point to Dr. Orkborne; ‘that gentleman I want, sir!’ but such a medley47 of waiters, company, and servants, had in a moment assembled in the space between them, that the Doctor was no longer to be discerned.
‘Do you only open my door, then,’ said he, drily, ‘to tell me you want somebody else?’
Yet when Halder, vowing48 he owed her an ill turn for which she should pay, would have seized her by the hand, he protected with his own arm, saying: ‘Fie, boy, fie! let the girl alone! I don’t like violence.’
A gentleman now, forcing himself through the crowd, exclaimed–‘Miss Camilla Tyrold! Is it possible! what can you do here, madam?’
It was Dr. Marchmont, whom the affrighted Camilla, springing forward, could only answer in catching by the arm.
‘Tyrold!’ repeated the old gentleman; ‘Is her name Tyrold?’
Sorry now to have pronounced it in this mixt company, Dr. Marchmont evaded49 any answer; and, begging her to be composed, asked whither, or to whom, he might have the honour of conducting her.
‘Almost all my family are here,’ cried she, ‘but I could not make Dr. Orkborne shew me the way to them.’
The old gentleman then, repeating ‘Tyrold! why if her name is Tyrold, I’ll take care of her myself;’ invited her into his apartment.
Dr. Marchmont, thanking him, said: ‘This young lady has friends, who in all probability are now uneasily seeking her; we must lose no time in joining them.’
‘Well, but, well,’ cried the old stranger, ‘let her come into my room till the coast is clear, and, then take her away in peace. Come, there’s a good girl, come in, do! you’re heartily50 welcome; for there’s a person of your name that’s the best friend I ever had in the world. He’s gone from our parts, now; but he’s left nothing so good behind. Pray, my dear, did you ever hear of a gentleman, an old Yorkshire Baronet, of your name?’
‘What! my uncle?’
‘Your uncle! why are you niece to Sir Hugh Tyrold?’
Upon her answering yes, he clapped his hands with delight, and saying: ‘Why then I’ll take care of you myself, if it’s at the risk of my life!’ carried, rather than drew her into his room, the Doctor following. Then, loudly shutting his door in the face of Halder, he called out: ‘Enter my castle who dare! I shall turn a young man myself, at the age of seventy, to drub the first varlet that would attack the niece of my dear old friend!’
They soon heard the passage clear, and, without deigning51 to listen to the petulant52 revilings with which young Halder solaced53 his foolish rage, ‘Why, my dear,’ he continued, ‘why did not you tell me your name was Tyrold at once? I promise you, you need carry nothing else with you into our parts, to see all the doors fly open to you. You make much of him, I hope, where he is? for he left not a dry eye for twenty miles round when he quitted us. I don’t know how many such men you may have in Hampshire; but Yorkshire’s a large county, yet the best man in it would find it hard to get a seat in Parliament, where Sir Hugh Tyrold would offer himself to be a candidate. We all say, in Yorkshire, he’s so stuffed full of goodness and kindness, that there’s no room left in him for anything else; that’s our way of talking of him in Yorkshire; if you have a better way in Hampshire, I shall be glad to learn it; never too late for that; I hate pride.’
No possible disturbance54 could make Camilla insensible to pleasure in the praise of her uncle, or depress her spirits from joining in his eulogy55; and her attention, and brightening looks, drew a narrative56 from the old gentleman of the baronet’s good actions and former kindnesses, so pleasant both to the speaker and the hearer, that the one forgot he had never seen her before, and the other, the frightful57 adventure which occasioned their meeting now.
Dr. Marchmont at length, looking at his watch, inquired what she meant to do; to seek her sister and party, she answered; and, returning her host the warmest acknowledgments for his assistance and goodness, she was going; but, stopping her: ‘How now?’ he cried, ‘don’t you want to know who I am? Now I have told you I am a friend of your uncle, don’t you suppose he’ll ask you my name?’
Camilla, smiling, assured him she wished much to be informed, but knew not how to trouble him with the question.
‘Why my name, my dear, is Westwyn, and when you say that to your uncle, he won’t give you a sour look for your pains; take my word for that beforehand. I carried over his nephew and heir, a cousin, I suppose, of yours, to Leipsic with me, about eight years ago, along with a boy of my own, Hal Westwyn; a very good lad, I assure you, though I never tell him so to his face, for fear of puffing58 him up; I hate a boy puffed59 up; he commonly comes to no good; that’s the only fault of my honoured friend; he spoils all young people-witness that same cousin of yours, that I can’t say I much like; no more does he me; but tell your good uncle you have met me; and tell him I love and honour him as I ought to do; I don’t know how to do more, or else I would; tell him this, my dear. And I have not forgot what he did for me once, when I was hard run; and I don’t intend it; I’m no friend to short memories.’
Camilla said, his name, and her uncle’s regard for him, had long been familiar to her; and told him Clermont Lynmere was of the party to Southampton, though she knew not how to enter abruptly60 into an explanation of his mistake concerning the inheritance. Mr. Westwyn answered he was in no hurry to see Clermont, who was not at all to his taste; but would not quit Hampshire without visiting Cleves: and when he gathered that two more nieces of Sir Hugh were in the house, he desired to be presented to them.
Upon re-entering the passage, to the great amusement of Dr. Marchmont, and serious provocation61 of Camilla, they perceived Dr. Orkborne, standing precisely62 where he had first stationed himself; attending no more to the general hubbub63 than to her particular entreaty64, and as regardless of the various jolts65 he had received during the tumult66, as of the obstruction67 he caused, by his inconvenient68 position, to the haste of the passers by. Still steadily69 reposing70 against the bannisters, he worked hard at refining his paragraph, persuaded, since not summoned by Miss Margland, he had bestowed71 upon it but a few minutes, though he had been fixed72 to that spot near an hour.
Miss Margland received Camilla with a civility which, since her positive and public affiance to Edgar, she thought necessary to the mistress of Beech73 Park; but she looked upon Dr. Marchmont, whom she concluded to have been her advocate, with a cold illwill, which, for Mr. Westwyn, she seasoned still more strongly by a portion of contemptuous haughtiness74; from a ready disposition75 to believe every stranger, not formally announced, beneath her notice.
The Doctor soon retired76, and found Edgar in his apartment, just returned from a long stroll. He recounted to him the late transaction, with reiterated77 exhortations78 to circumspection79, from added doubts of the solidity, though with new praise of the attractions of Camilla. ‘She seems a character,’ he said, ‘difficult to resist, and yet more difficult to attach. Nothing serious appears to impress her for two minutes together. Let us see if the thoughtlessness and inadvertence thus perpetually fertile of danger, result from youthful inexperience, or have their source in innate80 levity81. Time and reason will rectify82 the first; but time, and even reason, will but harden and embolden83 the latter. Prudence84, therefore, must now interfere; or passion may fly, when the union it has formed most requires its continuance.’
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1
apprehensions
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| 疑惧 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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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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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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commiserate
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| v.怜悯，同情 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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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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prerogatives
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| n.权利( prerogative的名词复数 )；特权；大主教法庭；总督委任组成的法庭 | |
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woes
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| 困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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teem
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| vi.(with)充满，多产 | |
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encomium
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| n.赞颂；颂词 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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conjure
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| v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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vanquish
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| v.征服，战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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unpack
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| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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cogitation
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| n.仔细思考，计划，设计 | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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mortify
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| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
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licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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recollecting
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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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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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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medley
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| n.混合 | |
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vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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deigning
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的现在分词 ) | |
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petulant
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| adj.性急的，暴躁的 | |
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solaced
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| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的过去分词 ) | |
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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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eulogy
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| n.颂词；颂扬 | |
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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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frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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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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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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hubbub
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| n.嘈杂；骚乱 | |
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entreaty
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| n.恳求，哀求 | |
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jolts
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| （使）摇动， （使）震惊( jolt的名词复数 ) | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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obstruction
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| n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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reposing
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| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的现在分词 ) | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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72
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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73
beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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74
haughtiness
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| n.傲慢；傲气 | |
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75
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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76
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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77
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
exhortations
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| n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 )；极力推荐；（正式的）演讲；（宗教仪式中的）劝诫 | |
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79
circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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80
innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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81
levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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82
rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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83
embolden
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| v.给…壮胆，鼓励 | |
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84
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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