Chapter 21

To return to the bank. Skinner came back from the Dodds’ that miserable¹ afternoon in a state of genuine agitation² and regret. He was human, and therefore mixed, and their desolation had shocked him.

The footman told him Mr. Hardie was not at home; gone to London, he believed. Skinner walked away dejected. What did this mean? Had he left the country?

He smiled at his fears, and felt positive Mr. Hardie had misled the servants, and was quietly waiting for him in the bank parlour.

It was now dusk: he went round to that little dark nook of the garden the parlour window opened on, and tapped: there was no reply; the room looked empty. He tried the sash: it yielded. Mr. Hardie had been too occupied with embezzling³ another’s property to take common precautions in defence of his own; never in his life before had he neglected to fasten the iron shutters⁴ with his own hand, and today he had left the very window unfastened. This augured⁵ ill. “He is off: he has done me along with the rest,” thought Skinner. He stepped into the room, found a lucifer-box, shut the shutters, lighted a candle, and went peering about amongst the banker’s papers, to see if he could find a clue to his intentions; and, as he pottered and peered, he quaked as well: a detector⁶ by dishonest means feels thief-like, and is what he feels. He made some little discoveries that guided him in his own conduct; he felt more and more sure his employer would outwit him if he could, and resolved it should be diamond cut diamond.

The church clock struck one.

He started at the hour, crept out and closed the window softly, then away by the garden gate.

A light was still burning in Alfred’s room, and at this Skinner had another touch of compunction. “There is one won’t sleep this night along of our work,” thought he.

At three next afternoon Mr. Hardie reappeared.

He had gone up to town to change the form of the deposit:— He took care to think of it as a deposit still, the act of deposit having been complete, the withdrawal⁷ incomplete, and by no fault of his, for he had offered it back; but Fate and Accident had interposed. He had converted the notes into gold direct, and the bills into gold through notes; this was like going into the river to hide his trail. Next process: he turned his gold into L. 500 notes, and came flying home with them.

His return was greeted by Skinner with a sigh of relief. Hardie heard it, interpreted it aright, and sent for him into the parlour, and there told him with a great affectation of frankness what he had done, then asked significantly if there was any news at Albion Villa⁸.

Skinnier in reply told Mr. Hardie of the distress⁹ he had witnessed up at Albion Villa: “And, sir,” said he, lowering his voice, “Mr. Alfred helped carry the body upstairs. It is a nice mess altogether, sir, when you come to think.”

“Ah! all the better,” was the cool reply: “he will be useful to let us know what we want; he will tell Jane, and Jane me. You don’t think he will live, do you?”

“Live! no: and then who will know the money is here?”

“Who should know? Did not he say he had just landed, and been shipwrecked? Shipwrecked men do not bring fourteen thousand pounds ashore¹⁰.” The speaker’s eyes sparkled: Skinner watched him demurely¹¹. “Skinner,” said he solemnly, “I believe my daughter Jane is right, and that Providence¹² really interferes¹³ sometimes in the affairs of this world. You know how I have struggled to save my family from disgrace and poverty: those struggles have failed in a great degree: but Heaven has seen them, and saved this money from the sea, and dropped it into my very hands to retrieve¹⁴ my fortunes with. I must be grateful: spend a portion of it in charity, and rear a noble fortune on the rest. Confound it all!”

And his crestfallen¹⁵ countenance¹⁶ showed some ugly misgiving¹⁷ had flashed on him quite suddenly.

“What sir? what?” asked Skinner eagerly.

“The receipt!”

1 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

2 agitation   

n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动

参考例句：

• Small shopkeepers carried on a long agitation against the big department stores.小店主们长期以来一直在煽动人们反对大型百货商店。
• These materials require constant agitation to keep them in suspension.这些药剂要经常搅动以保持悬浮状态。

3 embezzling   

v.贪污，盗用（公款）( embezzle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Accordingly, object embezzling waste to be carried temporarily the schedule of administration. 因此，反对贪污浪费就提上了临时中央政府的议事日程。 来自互联网
• Some were sentenced for taking bribes, others executed for embezzling funds. 有的因受贿而被判刑，有的因侵吞公款而被判处死刑。 来自互联网

4 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

5 augured   

v.预示，预兆，预言( augur的过去式和过去分词 )；成为预兆；占卜

参考例句：

• The press saw the event as a straw in the wind that augured the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries. 报界把这件事看作是两国之间即将恢复邦交的预兆。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This augured disaster for 1945. 这就预示1945年要发生灾难。 来自互联网

6 detector   

n.发觉者，探测器

参考例句：

• The detector is housed in a streamlined cylindrical container.探测器安装在流线型圆柱形容器内。
• Please walk through the metal detector.请走过金属检测器。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 villa   

n.别墅，城郊小屋

参考例句：

• We rented a villa in France for the summer holidays.我们在法国租了一幢别墅消夏。
• We are quartered in a beautiful villa.我们住在一栋漂亮的别墅里。

9 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

10 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

11 demurely   

adv.装成端庄地，认真地

参考例句：

• "On the forehead, like a good brother,'she answered demurely. "吻前额，像个好哥哥那样，"她故作正经地回答说。 来自飘（部分）
• Punctuation is the way one bats one's eyes, lowers one's voice or blushes demurely. 标点就像人眨眨眼睛，低声细语，或伍犯作态。 来自名作英译部分

12 providence   

n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝

参考例句：

• It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
• To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事，是违背上帝的意志的。

13 interferes   

vi. 妨碍，冲突，干涉

参考例句：

• The noise interferes with my work. 这噪音妨碍我的工作。
• That interferes with my plan. 那干扰了我的计划。

14 retrieve   

vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索

参考例句：

• He was determined to retrieve his honor.他决心恢复名誉。
• The men were trying to retrieve weapons left when the army abandoned the island.士兵们正试图找回军队从该岛撤退时留下的武器。

15 crestfallen   

adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的

参考例句：

• He gathered himself up and sneaked off,crushed and crestfallen.他爬起来，偷偷地溜了，一副垂头丧气、被斗败的样子。
• The youth looked exceedingly crestfallen.那青年看上去垂头丧气极了。

16 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

17 misgiving   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕

参考例句：

• She had some misgivings about what she was about to do.她对自己即将要做的事情存有一些顾虑。
• The first words of the text filled us with misgiving.正文开头的文字让我们颇为担心。