Your fellow-man? — Divide the epithet1:
Say rather, you’re the fellow, he the man.
WHEN Christian2 quitted the Free School with the discovery that the young lady whose appearance had first startled him with an indefinable impression in the market-place was the daughter of the old Dissenting3 preacher who had shown so much agitated4 curiosity about his name, he felt very much like an uninitiated chess-player who sees that the pieces are in a peculiar5 position on the board, and might open the way for him to give checkmate, if he only knew how. Ever since his interview with Jermyn, his mind had been occupied with the charade6 it offered to his ingenuity7. What was the real meaning of the lawyer’s interest in him, and in his relations with Maurice Christian Bycliffe? Here was a secret; and secrets were often a source of profit, of that agreeable kind which involved little labour. Jermyn had hinted at profit which might possibly come through him; but Christian said inwardly, with well-satisfied self-esteem, that he was not so pitiable a nincompoop as to trust Jermyn. On the contrary, the only problem before him was to find out by what combination of independent knowledge he could outwit Jermyn, elude8 any purchase the attorney had on him through his past history, and get a handsome bonus, by which a somewhat shattered man of pleasure might live well without a master. Christian, having early exhausted9 the more impulsive10 delights of life, had become a sober calculator; and he had made up his mind that, for a man who had long ago run through his own money, servitude in a great family was the best kind of retirement11 after that of a pensioner12; but if a better chance offered, a person of talent must not let it slip through his fingers. He held various ends of threads, but there was danger in pulling at them too impatiently. He had not forgotten the surprise which had made him drop the punch-ladle, when Mr Crowder, talking in the steward’s room, had said that a scamp named Henry Scaddon had been concerned in a lawsuit13 about the Transome estate. Again, Jermyn was the family lawyer of the Transomes; he knew about the exchange of names between Scaddon and Bycliffe; he clearly wanted to know as much as he could about Bycliffe’s history. The conclusion was not remote that Bycliffe had had some claim on the Transome property, and that a difficulty had arisen from his being confounded with Henry Scaddon. But hitherto the other incident which had been apparently14 connected with the interchange of names — Mr Lyon’s demand that he should write down the name Maurice Christian, accompanied with the question whether that were his whole name — had had no visible link with the inferences arrived at through Crowder and Jermyn.
The discovery made this morning at the Free School that Esther was the daughter of the Dissenting preacher at last suggested a possible link. Until then, Christian had not known why Esther’s face had impressed him so peculiarly; but the minister’s chief association for him was with Bycliffe, and that association served as a flash to show him that Esther’s features and expression, and still more her bearing, now she stood and walked, revived Bycliffe’s image. Daughter? There were various ways of being a daughter. Suppose this were a case of adoption15: suppose Bycliffe were known to be dead, or thought to be dead. ‘Begad, if the old parson had fancied the original father was come to life again, it was enough to frighten him a little. Slow and steady,’ Christian said to himself; ‘I’ll get some talk with the old man again. He’s safe enough: one can handle him without cutting one’s self. I’ll tell him I knew Bycliffe, and was his fellow-prisoner. I’ll worm out the truth about this daughter. Could pretty Annette have married again, and married this little scarecrow? There’s no knowing what a woman will not do.’
Christian could see no distinct result for himself from his industry; but if there were to be any such result, it must be reached by following out every clue; and to the non-legal mind there are dim possibilities in law and heirship16 which prevent any issue from seeming too miraculous17.
The consequence of these meditations18 was, that Christian hung about Treby more than usual in his leisure time, and that on the first opportunity he accosted19 Mr Lyon in the street with suitable civility, stating that since the occasion which had brought them together some weeks before he had often wished to renew their conversation, and, with Mr Lyon’s permission, would now ask to do so. After being assured, as he had been by Jermyn, that this courier, who had happened by some accident to possess the memorable20 locket and pocket-book, was certainly not Annette’s husband, and was ignorant whether Maurice Christian Bycliffe were living or dead, the minister’s mind had become easy again; his habitual21 lack of interest in personal details rendering22 him gradually oblivious23 of Jermyn’s precautionary statement that he was pursuing inquiries24, and that if anything of interest turned up, Mr Lyon should be made acquainted with it. Hence, when Christian addressed him, the minister, taken by surprise and shaken by the recollections of former anxieties, said, helplessly —
‘If it is business, sir, you would perhaps do better to address yourself to Mr Jermyn.’
He could not have said anything that was a more valuable hint to Christian. He inferred that the minister had made a confidant of Jermyn, and it was needful to be wary26
‘On the contrary, sir,’ he answered, ‘it may be of the utmost importance to you that what passes between us should not be known to Mr Jermyn.’
Mr Lyon was perplexed27, and felt at once that he was no more in clear daylight concerning Jermyn than concerning Christian. He dared not neglect the possible duty of hearing what this man had to say, and he invited him to proceed to Malthouse Yard, where they could converse28 in private.
Once in Mr Lyon’s study, Christian opened the dialogue by saying that since he was in this room before it had occurred to him that the anxiety he had observed in Mr Lyon might be owing to some acquaintance with Maurice Christian Bycliffe — a fellow-prisoner in France whom he, Christian, had assisted in getting freed from his imprisonment29, and who, in fact, had been the owner of the trifles which Mr Lyon had recently had in his possession and had restored. Christian hastened to say that he knew nothing of Bycliffe’s history since they had parted in France, but that he knew of his marriage with Annette Ledru, and had been acquainted with Annette herself. He would be very glad to know what became of Bycliffe, if he could, for he liked him uncommonly30.
Here Christian paused; but Mr Lyon only sat changing colour and trembling. This man’s bearing and tone of mind were made repulsive31 to him by being brought in contact with keenly-felt memories, and he could not readily summon the courage to give answers or ask questions.
‘May I ask if you knew my friend Bycliffe?’ said Christian, trying a more direct method.
‘No, sir; I never saw him.’
‘Ah I well — you have seen a very striking likeness32 of him. It’s wonderful — unaccountable; but when I saw Miss Lyon at the Free School the other day, I could have sworn she was Bycliffe’s daughter.’
‘Sir!’ said Mr Lyon, in his deepest tone, half rising, and holding by the arms of his chair, ‘these subjects touch me with too sharp a point for you to be justified33 in thrusting them on me out of mere34 levity35. Is there any good you seek or any injury you fear in relation to them?’
‘Precisely, sir. We shall come now to an understanding. Suppose I believed that the young lady who goes by the name of Miss Lyon was the daughter of Bycliffe?’
Mr Lyon moved his lips silently.
‘And suppose I had reason to suspect that there would be some great advantage for her if the law knew who was her father?’
‘Sir!’ said Mr Lyon, shaken out of all reticence36, ‘I would not conceal37 it. She believes herself to be my daughter. But I will bear all things rather than deprive her of a right. Nevertheless I will appeal to the pity of any fellow-man, not to thrust himself between her and me, but to let me disclose the truth to her myself.’
‘All in good time,’ said Christian. ‘We must do nothing rash. Then Miss Lyon is Annette’s child?’
The minister shivered as if the edge of a knife had been drawn38 across his hand. But the tone of the question, by the very fact that it intensified39 his antipathy40 to Christian, enabled him to collect himself for what must be simply the endurance of a painful operation. After a moment or two he said more coolly, ‘It is true, sir. Her mother became my wife. Proceed with any statement which may concern my duty.’
‘I have no more to say than this: If there’s a prize that the law might hand over to Bycliffe’s daughter, I am much mistaken if there isn’t a lawyer who’ll take precious good care to keep the law hoodwinked. And that lawyer is Mat Jermyn. Why, my good sir, if you’ve been taking Jermyn into your confidence, you’ve been setting the fox to keep off the weasel. It strikes me that when you were made a little anxious about those articles of poor Bycliffe’s, you put Jermyn on making inquiries of me. Eh? I think I am right?’
‘I do not deny it.’
‘Ah! — it was very well you did, for by that means I’ve found out that he’s got hold of some secrets about Bycliffe which he means to stifle42. Now, sir, if you desire any justice for your daughter, step-daughter, I should say — don’t so much as wink41 to yourself before Jermyn; and if you’ve got any papers or things of that sort that may come in evidence, as these confounded rescals the lawyers call it, clutch them tight, for if they get into Jermyn’s hands they may soon fly up the chimney. Have I said enough?’
‘I had not purposed any further communication with Mr Jermyn, sir; indeed, I have nothing further to communicate. Except that one fact concerning my daughter’s birth, which I have erred25 in concealing43 from her, I neither seek disclosures nor do I tremble before them.’
‘Then I have your word that you will be silent about this conversation between us? It is for your daughter’s interest, mind.’
‘Sir, I shall be silent,’ said Mr Lyon, with cold gravity. ‘Unless,’ he added, with an acumen44 as to possibilities rather disturbing to Christian’s confident contempt for the old man — ‘unless I were called upon by some tribunal to declare the whole truth in this relation; in which case I should submit myself to that authority of investigation45 which is a requisite46 of social order.’
Christian departed, feeling satisfied that he had got the utmost to be obtained at present out of the Dissenting preacher, whom he had not dared to question more closely. He must look out for chance lights, and perhaps, too, he might catch a stray hint by stirring the sediment47 of Mr Crowder’s memory. But he must not venture on inquiries that might be noticed. He was in awe48 of Jermyn.
When Mr Lyon was alone he paced up and down among his books, and thought aloud, in order to relieve himself after the constraint49 of this interview. ‘I will not wait for the urgency of necessity,’ he said, more than once. ‘I will tell the child, without compulsion. And then I shall fear nothing. And an unwonted spirit of tenderness has filled her of late. She will forgive me.’
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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dissenting
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| adj.不同意的 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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charade
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| n.用动作等表演文字意义的字谜游戏 | |
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7
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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pensioner
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| n.领养老金的人 | |
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lawsuit
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| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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heirship
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| n.继承权 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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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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imprisonment
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| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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levity
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| n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变 | |
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reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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antipathy
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| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
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wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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acumen
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| n.敏锐，聪明 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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sediment
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| n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物) | |
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48
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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