A week or so after the departure of Lord Minster, Mildred suggested that they should, on the following day, vary their amusements by going up to the Convent, a building perched on the hills some thousand feet above the town of Funchal, in palanquins, or rather hammocks swung upon long poles. Arthur, who had never yet travelled in these luxurious1 conveyances2, jumped at the idea, and even Miss Terry, when she discovered that she was to be carried, made no objection. The party was completed by the addition of a newly-married couple of whom Mrs. Carr had known something at home, and who had come to Madeira to spend the honeymoon3. Lady Florence also had been asked, but, rather to Arthur’s disappointment, she could not come.
When the long line of swinging hammocks, each with its two sturdy bearers, were marshalled, and the adventurous4 voyagers had settled themselves in them, they really formed quite an imposing5 procession, headed as it was by the extra-sized one that carried Miss Terry, who complained bitterly that “the thing wobbled and made her feel sick.”
But to Arthur’s mind there was something effeminate in allowing himself, a strong, active man, to be carted up hills as steep as the side of a house by two perspiring6 wretches7; so, hot as it was, he, to the intense amusement of his bearers, elected to get out and walk. The newly-married man followed his example, and for a while they went on together, till presently the latter gravitated towards his wife’s palanquin, and, overcome at so long a separation, squeezed her hand between the curtains. Not wishing to intrude8 himself on their conjugal9 felicity, Arthur in his turn gravitated to the side of Mrs. Carr, who was being lightly swung along in the second palanquin some twenty yards behind Miss Terry’s. Shortly afterwards they observed a signal of distress10 being flown by that lady, whose arm was to be seen violently agitating11 her green veil from between the curtains of her hammock, which immediately came to a dead stop.
“What is it?” cried Arthur and Mildred, in a breath, as they arrived on the scene of the supposed disaster.
“My dear Mildred, will you be so kind as to tell that man” (pointing to her front bearer, a stout12, flabby individual) “that he must not go on carrying me. I must have a cooler man. It makes me positively13 ill to see him puffing14 and blowing and dripping under my nose like a fresh basted15 joint16.”
Miss Terry’s realistic description of her bearer’s appearance, which was, to say the least of it, limp and moist, was no exaggeration. But then she herself, as Arthur well remembered, was no feather-weight, especially when, as in the present case, she had to be carted up the side of a nearly perpendicular17 hill some miles long, a fact very well exemplified by the condition of the bearer.
“My dear Agatha,” replied Mildred, laughing, “what is to be done? Of course the man is hot, you are not a feather-weight; but what is to be done?”
“I don’t know, but I won’t go on with him, it’s simply disgusting; he might let himself out as a watering-cart.”
“But we can’t get another here.”
“Then he must cool himself, the others might come and fan him. I won’t go on till he is cool, and that’s flat.”
“He will take hours to cool, and meanwhile we are broiling18 on this hot road. You really must come on, Agatha.”
“I have it,” said Arthur. “Miss Terry must turn herself round with her head towards the back of the hammock, and then she won’t see him.”
To this arrangement the aggrieved19 lady was after some difficulty persuaded to accede20, and the procession started again.
Their destination reached, they picnicked as they had arranged, and then separated, the bride and bridegroom strolling off in one direction, and Mildred and Arthur in another, whilst Miss Terry mounted guard over the plates and dishes.
Presently Arthur and Mildred came to a little English-looking grove21 of pine and oak, that extended down a gentle slope and was bordered by a steep bank, at the foot of which great ferns and beautiful Madeira flowers twined themselves into a shelter from the heat. Here they sat down and gazed at the splendid and many-tinted view set in its background of emerald ocean.
“What a view it is,” said Arthur. “Look, Mildred, how dark the clumps22 of sugar-cane look against the green of the vines, and how pretty the red roofs of the town are peeping out of the groves23 of fruit-trees. Do you see the great shadow thrown upon the sea by that cliff? how deep and cool the water looks within it, and how it sparkles where the sun strikes.”
“Yes, it is beautiful, and the pines smell sweet.”
“I wish Angela could see it,” he said, half to himself. Mildred, who was lying back lazily among the ferns, her hat off, her eyes closed, so that the long dark lashes24 lay upon her cheek, and her head resting on her arm, suddenly started up.
“What is the matter?”
“Nothing, you woke me from a sort of dream, that’s all.”
“This spring I remember going with her to look at a view near the Abbey House, and saying — what I often think when I look at anything beautiful and full of life — that it depressed25 one to know that all this was so much food for death, and its beauty a thing that today is and tomorrow is not.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said that to her it spoke26 of immortality27, and that in everything around her she saw evidence of eternal life.”
“She must be very fortunate. Shall I tell you of what it reminds me?”
“What?”
“Of neither death nor immortality, but of the full, happy, pulsing existence of the hour, and of the beautiful world that pessimists28 like yourself and mystics like your Angela think so poorly of, but which is really so glorious and so rich in joy. Why, this sunlight and those flowers, and the wide sparkle of that sea, are each and all a happiness, and the health in our veins29 and the beauty in our eyes, deep pleasures that we never realize till we lose them. Death, indeed, comes to us all, but why add to its terrors by thinking of them whilst it is far off? And, as for life after death, it is a faint, vague thing, more likely to be horrible than happy. This world is our only reality, the only thing that we can grasp; here alone we know that we can enjoy, and yet how we waste our short opportunities for enjoyment30! Soon youth will have slipped away, and we shall be too old for love. Roses fade fastest, Arthur, when the sun is bright; in the evening when they have fallen, and the ground is red with withering31 petals32, do you not think we shall wish that we had gathered more?”
“Yours is a pleasant philosophy, Mildred,” he said, struggling faintly in his own mind against her conclusions.
But at this moment, somehow, his fingers touched her own and were presently locked fast within her little palm, and for the first time in his life they sat hand in hand. But, happily for him, he did not venture to look into her eyes, and, before many minutes had passed, Miss Terry’s voice was heard calling him loudly.
“I suppose that you must go,” said Mildred, with a shade of vexation in her voice and a good many shades upon her face, “or she will be blundering down here. I will come, too; it is time for tea.”
On arriving at the spot whence the sounds proceeded, they found Miss Terry surrounded by a crowd of laughing and excited bearers, and pouring out a flood of the most vigorous English upon an unfortunate islander, who stood, a silver mug in each hand, bowing and shrugging his shoulders, and enunciating with every variety of movement indicative of humiliation33, these mystic words:
“Mee washeeuppee, signora, washeeuppee — e.”
“What is the matter now, Agatha?”
“Matter, why I woke up and found this man stealing the cups; I charged him at once with my umbrella, but he dodged34 and I fell down, and the umbrella has gone over the rock there. Take him up at once, Arthur — there’s the stolen property on his person. Hand him over to justice.”
“Good gracious, Agatha, what are you thinking about? The poor man only wants to wash the things out.”
“Then I should like to know why he could not tell me so in plain English,” said Miss Terry, retiring discomfited35 amidst shouts of laughter from the whole party, including the supposed thief.
After tea they all set out on a grand beetle-hunting expedition, and so intent were they upon this fascinating pursuit that they did not note the flight of time, till suddenly Mildred, pulling out her watch, gave a pretty cry of alarm.
“Do you know what time it is, good people? Half-past six, and the Custances are to dine with us at a quarter-past-seven. It will take us a good hour to get down; what shall we do?”
“I know,” said Arthur, “there are two sledges36 just below; I saw them as we came up. They will take us down to Funchal in a quarter of an hour, and we can get to the Quinta by about seven.”
“Arthur, you are invaluable38; the very thing. Come on, all of you, quick.”
Now these sledges are peculiar39 to Madeira, being made on the principle of the bullock car, with the difference that they travel down the smooth, stone-paved roadways by their own momentum40, guided by two skilled conductors, each with one foot naked to prevent his slipping, who hold the ropes, and when the sledge37 begins to travel more swiftly than they can follow, mount upon the projecting ends of the runners and are carried with it. By means of the swift and exhilarating rush of these sledges, the traveller traverses the distance, that it takes some hours to climb, in a very few minutes. Indeed, his journey up and down may be very well compared with that of the well-known British sailor who took five hours to get up Majuba mountain, but, according to his own forcibly told story, came down again with an almost incredible rapidity. It may therefore be imagined that sledge-travelling in Madeira is not very well suited to nervous voyagers.
Miss Terry had at times seen these wheelless vehicles shoot from the top of a mountain to the bottom like a balloon with the gas out, and had also heard of occasional accidents in connection with them. Stoutly41 she vowed42 that nothing should induce her to trust her neck to one of them.
“But you must, Agatha, or else be left behind. They are as safe as a church, and I can’t leave the Custances to wait till half-past eight for dinner. Come, get in. Arthur can go in front and hold you; I will sit behind.”
Thus admonished43 — Miss Terry entered groaning44, Arthur taking his seat beside her, and Mrs. Carr hers in a sort of dickey behind. The newly-married pair, who did not half like it, possessed45 themselves of the smaller sledge, determined46 to brave extinction47 in each other’s arms. Then the conductors seized the ropes, and, planting their one naked foot firmly before them, awaited the signal to depart.
“Stop,” said Miss Terry, lifting the recovered umbrella, “that man has forgotten to put on his shoe and stocking on his right leg. He will cut his foot, and, besides, it doesn’t look respectable to be seen flying through a place with a one-legged ragamuffin ——”
“Let her go,” shouted Arthur, and they did, to some purpose, for in a minute they were passing down that hill like a flash of light. Woods and houses appeared and vanished like the visions of a dream, and the soft air went singing away on either side of them as they clove48 it, flying downwards49 at an angle of thirty degrees, and leaving nothing behind them but the sound of Miss Terry’s lamentations. Soon they neared the bottom, but there was yet a dip — the deepest of them all, with a sharp turn at the end of it — to be traversed.
Away went the little connubial50 sled in front like a pigeon down the wind; away they sped after it like an eagle in pursuit; crack went the little sledge into the corner, and out shot the happy pair; crash went the big sledge into it, and Arthur became conscious of a wild yell, of a green veil fluttering through the air, and of a fall as on to a feather-bed. Miss Terry’s superior weight had brought her to her mother earth the first, and he, after a higher heavenward flight, had lit upon the top of her. He picked her up and sat her down against a wall to recover her breath, and then fished Mildred, dirty and bruised51, but as usual laughing, out of a gutter52; the loving pair had already risen and in an agony of mutual53 anxiety were rubbing each other’s shins. And then he started back with a cry, for there before him, surveying the disaster with an air of mingled54 amusement and benevolence55, stood — Sir John and Lady Bellamy.
Had it been the Prince and Princess of Evil — if, as is probable, there is a Princess — Arthur could scarcely have been more astounded56. Somehow he had always in his thoughts regarded Sir John and Lady Bellamy, when he thought about them at all, as possessing indeed individual characters and tendencies, but as completely “adscripti glebae” of the neighbourhood of the Abbey House as that house itself. He would as soon have expected to see Caresfoot’s Staff re-rooted in the soil of Madeira, as to find them strolling about Funchal. He rubbed his eyes; perhaps, he thought, he had been knocked silly and was labouring under a hallucination. No, there was no doubt about it; there they were, just the same as he had seen them at Isleworth, except that if possible Sir John looked even more like a ripe apple than usual, while the sun had browned his wife’s Egyptian face and given her a last finish as a perfect type of Cleopatra. Nor was the recognition on his side only, for next second his hand was grasped first by Sir John and then by Lady Bellamy.
“When we last met, Mr. Heigham,” said the gentleman, with a benevolent57 beam, “I think I expressed a wish that we might soon renew our acquaintance, but I little thought under what circumstances our next meeting would take place,” and he pointed58 to the overturned sledges and the prostrate59 sledgers.
“You have had a very merciful escape,” chimed in Lady Bellamy, cordially; “with so many hard stones about, affairs might have ended differently.”
“Now then, Mr. Heigham, we had better set to and run, that is, if Agatha has got a run left in her, or we shall be late after all. Thank goodness nobody is hurt; but we must find a hammock for Agatha, for to judge from her groans60 she thinks she is. Is my nose —— Oh, I beg your pardon,” and Mrs. Carr stopped short, observing for the first time that he was talking to strangers.
“Do not let me detain you, if you are in a hurry. I am so thankful that nobody is hurt,” said Lady Bellamy. “I believe that we are stopping at the same hotel, Mr. Heigham, I saw your name in the book, so we shall have plenty of opportunities of meeting.”
But Arthur felt that there was one question which he must ask before he went on, whether or no it exceeded the strict letter of his agreement with Philip; so, calling to Mrs. Carr that he was coming, he said, with a blush,
“How was Miss Caresfoot when — when you last saw her, Lady Bellamy?”
“Perfectly well,” she answered, smiling.
“And more lovely than ever,” added her husband.
“Thank you for that news, it is the best I have heard for some time. Good-bye for the present, we shall meet tomorrow at breakfast,” and he ran on after the others, happier than he had been for months, feeling that he had come again within call of Angela, and as though he had never sat hand in hand with Mildred Carr.
收听单词发音 |
1
luxurious
|
|
| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
conveyances
|
|
| n.传送( conveyance的名词复数 )；运送；表达；运输工具 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
honeymoon
|
|
| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
adventurous
|
|
| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
imposing
|
|
| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
perspiring
|
|
| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
wretches
|
|
| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
intrude
|
|
| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
conjugal
|
|
| adj.婚姻的，婚姻性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
agitating
|
|
| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
puffing
|
|
| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
basted
|
|
| v.打( baste的过去式和过去分词 )；粗缝；痛斥；（烤肉等时）往上抹[浇]油 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
joint
|
|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
perpendicular
|
|
| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
broiling
|
|
| adj.酷热的，炽热的，似烧的v.（用火）烤（焙、炙等）( broil的现在分词 )；使卷入争吵；使混乱；被烤（或炙） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
aggrieved
|
|
| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
accede
|
|
| v.应允，同意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
grove
|
|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
clumps
|
|
| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
groves
|
|
| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
lashes
|
|
| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
depressed
|
|
| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
immortality
|
|
| n.不死，不朽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
pessimists
|
|
| n.悲观主义者( pessimist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
withering
|
|
| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
petals
|
|
| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
humiliation
|
|
| n.羞辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
dodged
|
|
| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
discomfited
|
|
| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
sledges
|
|
| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
sledge
|
|
| n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
invaluable
|
|
| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
momentum
|
|
| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
stoutly
|
|
| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
admonished
|
|
| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
groaning
|
|
| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
extinction
|
|
| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
clove
|
|
| n.丁香味 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
downwards
|
|
| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
connubial
|
|
| adj.婚姻的，夫妇的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
bruised
|
|
| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
gutter
|
|
| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
benevolence
|
|
| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
astounded
|
|
| v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词)；愕然；愕；惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
prostrate
|
|
| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
groans
|
|
| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |