The devil tempts1 us not — ’tis we tempt2 him.
Beckoning3 his skill with opportunity.
THE more permanent effect of Esther’s action in the trial was visible in a meeting which took place the next day in the principal room of the White Hart at Loamford. To the magistrates4 and other county gentlemen who were drawn5 together about noon, some of the necessary impulse might have been lacking but for that stirring of heart in certain just-spirited men and good fathers among them, which had been raised to a high pitch of emotion by Esther’s maidenly6 fervour. Among these one of the foremost was Sir Maximus Debarry, who had come to the assizes with a mind, as usual, slightly rebellious7 under an influence which he never ultimately resisted — the influence of his son. Philip Debarry himself was detained in London, but in his correspondence with his father he had urged him, as well as his uncle Augustus, to keep eyes and interest awake on the subject of Felix Holt, whom, from all the knowledge of the case he had been able to obtain, he was inclined to believe peculiarly unfortunate rather than guilty. Philip had said he was the more anxious that his family should intervene benevolently9 in this affair, if it were possible, because he understood that Mr Lyon took the young man’s case particularly to heart, and he should always regard himself as obliged to the old preacher. At this superfineness of consideration Sir Maximus had vented10 a few ‘pshaws!’ and, in relation to the whole affair, had grumbled11 that Phil was always setting him to do he didn’t know what — always seeming to turn nothing into something by dint12 of words which hadn’t so much substance as a mote13 behind them. Nevertheless he was coerced14; and in reality he was willing to do anything fair or good-natured which had a handle that his understanding could lay hold of. His brother, the rector, desired to be rigorously just; but he had come to Loamford with a severe opinion concerning Felix, thinking that some sharp punishment might be a wholesome16 check on the career of a young man disposed to rely too much on his own crude devices.
Before the trial commenced, Sir Maximus had naturally been one of those who had observed Esther with curiosity, owing to the report of her inheritance, and her probable marriage to his once welcome but now exasperating17 neighbour, Harold Transome; and he had made the emphatic18 comment — ‘A fine girl! something thoroughbred in the look of her. Too good for a Radical19; that’s all I have to say.’ But during the trial Sir Maximus was wrought20 into a state of sympathetic ardour that needed no fanning. As soon as he could take his brother by the buttonhole, he said —
‘I tell you what, Gus! we must exert ourselves to get a pardon for this young fellow. Confound it! what’s the use of mewing him up for four years? Example? Nonsense. Will there be a man knocked down the less for it? That girl made me cry. Depend upon it, whether she’s going to marry Transome or not, she’s been fond of Holt — in her poverty, you know. She’s a modest, brave, beautiful woman. I’d ride a steeplechase, old as I am, to gratify her feelings. Hang it! the fellow’s a good fellow if she thinks so. And he threw out a fine sneer21, I thought, at the Radical candidate. Depend upon it, he’s a good fellow at bottom.’
The rector had not exactly the same kind of ardour, nor was he open to precisely22 that process of proof which appeared to have convinced Sir Maximus; but he had been so far influenced as to be inclined to unite in an effort on the side of mercy, observing, also, that he ‘knew Phil would be on that side’. And by the cooperation of similar movements in the minds of other men whose names were of weight, a meeting had been determined23 on to consult about getting up a memorial to the Home Secretary on behalf of Felix Holt. His case had never had the sort of significance that could rouse political partisanship24; and such interest as was now felt in him was still more unmixed with that inducement. The gentlemen who gathered in the room at the White Hart were — not as the large imagination of the North Loamshire Herald25 suggested, ‘of all shades of political opinion,’ but — of as many shades as were to be found among the gentlemen of that county.
Harold Transome has been energetically active in bringing about this meeting. Over and above the stings of conscience and a determination to act up to the level of all recognised honourableness26, he had the powerful motive27 of desiring to do what would satisfy Esther. His gradually heightened perception that she had a strong feeling towards Felix Holt had not made him uneasy. Harold had a conviction that might have seemed like fatuity28 if it had not been that he saw the effect he produced on Esther by the light of his opinions about women in general. The conviction was, that Felix Holt could not be his rival in any formidable sense: Esther’s admiration29 for this eccentric young man was, he thought, a moral enthusiasm, a romantic fervour, which was one among those many attractions quite novel in his own experience; her distress30 about the trouble of one who had been a familiar object in her former home, was no more than naturally followed from a tender woman’s compassion31. The place young Holt had held in her regard had necessarily changed its relations now that her lot was so widely changed. It is undeniable, that what most conduced to the quieting nature of Harold’s conclusions was the influence on his imagination of the more or less detailed32 reasons that Felix Holt was a watchmaker, that his home and dress were of a certain quality, that his person and manners — that, in short (for Harold, like the rest of us, had many impressions which saved him the trouble of distinct ideas), Felix Holt was not the sort of man a woman would be likely to be in love with when she was wooed by Harold Transome.
Thus, he was sufficiently33 at rest on this point not to be exercising any painful self-conquest in acting34 as the zealous35 advocate of Felix Holt’s cause with all persons worth influencing; but it was by no direct intercourse36 between him and Sir Maximus that they found themselves in cooperation, for the old baronet would not recognise Harold by more than the faintest bow, and Harold was not a man to expose himself to a rebuff. Whatever he in his inmost soul regarded as nothing more than a narrow prejudice, he could defy, not with airs of importance, but with easy indifference37. He could bear most things good-humouredly where he felt that he had the superiority. The object of the meeting was discussed, and the memorial agreed upon without any clashing. Mr Lingon was gone home, but it was expected that his concurrence38 and signature would be given, as well as those of other gentlemen who were absent. The business gradually reached that stage at which the concentration of interest ceases — when the attention of all but a few who are more practically concerned drops off and disperses39 itself in private chat, and there is no longer any particular reason why everybody stays except that everybody is there. The room was rather a long one, and invited to a little movement: one gentleman drew another aside to speak in an under-tone about Scotch40 bullocks, another had something to say about the North Loamshire Hunt to a friend who was the reverse of good-looking, but who, nevertheless, while listening, showed his strength of mind by giving a severe attention also to his full-length reflection in the handsome tall mirror that filled the space between two windows. And in this way the groups were continually shifting
But in the meantime there were moving towards this room at the White Hart the footsteps of a person whose presence had not been invited, and who, very far from being drawn thither41 by the belief that he would be welcome, knew well that his entrance would, to one person at least, be bitterly disagreeable. They were the footsteps of Mr Jermyn, whose appearance that morning was not less comely42 and less carefully tended than usual, but who was suffering the torment43 of a compressed rage, which, if not impotent to inflict44 pain on another, was impotent to avert45 evil from himself. After his interview with Mrs Transome there had been for some reasons a delay of positive procedures against him by Harold, of which delay Jermyn had twice availed himself; first, to seek an interview with Harold and then to send him a letter. The interview had been refused; and the letter had been returned, with the statement that no communication could take place except through Harold’s lawyers. And yesterday Johnson had brought Jermyn the information that he would quickly hear of the proceedings46 in Chancery being resumed: the watch Johnson kept in town had given him secure knowledge on this head. A doomed47 animal, with every issue earthed up except that where its enemy stands, must, if it has teeth and fierceness, try its one chance without delay. And a man may reach a point in his life in which his impulses are not distinguished48 from those of a hunted brute49 by any capability50 of scruples51. Our selfishness is so robust52 and many-clutching, that, well encouraged, it easily devours53 all sustenance54 away from our poor little scmples.
Since Harold would not give Jermyn access to him, that vigorous attorney was resolved to take it. He knew all about the meeting at the White Hart, and he was going thither with the determination of accosting55 Harold. He thought he knew what he should say, and the tone in which he should say it. It would be a vague intimation, carrying the effect of a threat, which should compel Harold to give him a private interview. To any counter-consideration that presented itself in his mind — to anything that an imagined voice might say — that imagined answer arose, ‘That’s all very fine, but I’m not going to be ruined if I can help it — least of all, mined in that way.’ Shall we call it degeneration or gradual development — this effect of thirty additional winters on the soft-glancing, versifying young Jermyn?
When Jermyn entered the room at the White Hart he did not immediately see Harold. The door was at the extremity56 of the room, and the view was obstructed57 by groups of gentlemen with figures broadened by overcoats. His entrance excited no peculiar8 observation: several persons had come in late. Only one or two, who knew Jermyn well, were not too much preoccupied58 to have a glancing remembrance of what had been chatted about freely the day before — Harold’s irritated reply about his agent, from the witness-box. Receiving and giving a slight nod here and there, Jermyn pushed his way, looking round keenly, until he saw Harold standing15 near the other end of the room. The solicitor59 who had acted for Felix was just then speaking to him. but having put a paper into his hand turned away; and Harold, standing isolated60, though at no great distance from others, bent61 his eyes on the paper. He looked brilliant that moming; his blood was flowing prosperously. He had come in after a ride, and was additionally brightened by rapid talk and the excitement of seeking to impress himself favourably62, or at least powerfully, on the minds of neighbours nearer or more remote. He had just that amount of flush which indicates that life is more enjoyable than usual; and as he stood with his left hand caressing63 his whisker, and his right holding the paper and his riding-whip, his dark eyes running rapidly along the written lines, and his lips reposing64 in a curve of good-humour which had more happiness in it than a smile, all beholders might have seen that his mind was at ease.
Jermyn walked quickly and quietly close up to him. The two men were of the same height, and before Harold looked round Jermyn’s voice was saying, close to his ear, not in a whisper, but in a hard, incisive65, disrespectful and yet not loud tone —
‘Mr Transome, I must speak to you in private.’
The sound jarred through Harold with a sensation all the more insufferable because of the revulsion from the satisfied, almost elated, state in which it had seized him. He started and looked round into Jermyn’s eyes. For an instant, which seemed long, there was no sound between them, but only angry hatred66 gathering67 in the two faces. Harold felt himself going to crush this insolence68: Jermyn felt that he had words within him that were fangs69 to clutch this obstinate70 strength, and wring71 forth72 the blood and compel submission73. And Jermyn’s impulse was the more urgent. He said, in a tone that was rather lower, but yet harder and more biting — ‘You will repent74 else — for your mother’s sake.’
At that sound, quick as a leaping flame, Harold had struck Jermyn across the face with his whip. The brim of the hat had been a defence. Jermyn, a powerful man, had instantly thrust out his hand and clutched Harold hard by the clothes just below the throat, pushing him slightly so as to make him stagger.
By this time everybody’s attention had been called to this end of the room, but both Jermyn and Harold were beyond being arrested by any consciousness of spectators.
‘Let me go, you scoundrel!’ said Harold, fiercely, ‘or I’ll be the death of you.’
‘Do,’ said Jermyn, in a grating voice; ‘I am your father.’
In the thrust by which Harold had been made to stagger backward a little, the two men had got very near the long mirror. They were both white — both had anger and hatred in their faces; the hands of both were upraised. As Harold heard the last terrible words he started at a leaping throb75 that went through him, and in the start turned his eyes away from Jermyn’s face. He turned them on the same face in the glass with his own beside it, and saw the hated fatherhood reasserted.
The young strong man reeled with a sick faintness. But in the same moment Jermyn released his hold, and Harold felt himself supported by the arm. It was Sir Maximus Debarry who had taken hold of him.
‘Leave the room, sir!’ the baronet said to Jermyn, in a voice of imperious scorn. ‘This is a meeting of gentlemen.’
‘Come, Harold,’ he said, in the old friendly voice, ‘come away with me.’
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1
tempts
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| v.引诱或怂恿（某人）干不正当的事( tempt的第三人称单数 )；使想要 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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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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maidenly
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| adj. 像处女的, 谨慎的, 稳静的 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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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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benevolently
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| adv.仁慈地，行善地 | |
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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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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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mote
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| n.微粒；斑点 | |
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coerced
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| v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配 | |
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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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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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Partisanship
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| n. 党派性, 党派偏见 | |
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herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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honourableness
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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fatuity
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| n.愚蠢，愚昧 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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zealous
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| adj.狂热的，热心的 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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disperses
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| v.（使）分散( disperse的第三人称单数 )；疏散；驱散；散布 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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48
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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capability
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| n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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devours
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| 吞没( devour的第三人称单数 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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accosting
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的现在分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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56
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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57
obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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solicitor
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| n.初级律师，事务律师 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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64
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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incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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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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fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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71
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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