“You look hot, sir; have a drink. Old English ale, out of the barrel.”
The tone was hearty1. He poured out the sparkling ale into a big tumbler, with hospitable2 good-will. Mr. Mool was completely, and most agreeably, taken by surprise. He too was feeling the influence of the doctor’s good humour — enriched in quality by pleasant remembrances of his interview with the cook.
“I live in the suburbs, Doctor Benjulia, on this side of London,” Mr. Mool explained; “and I have had a nice walk from my house to yours. If I have done wrong, sir, in visiting you on Sunday, I can only plead that I am engaged in business during the week —”
“All right. One day’s the same as another, provided you don’t interrupt me. You don’t interrupt me now. Do you smoke?”
“No, thank you.”
“Do you mind my smoking?”
“I like it, doctor.”
“Very amiable3 on your part, I’m sure. What did you say your name was?”
“Mool.”
Benjulia looked at him suspiciously. Was he a physiologist4, and a rival? “You’re not a doctor — are you?” he said.
“I am a lawyer.”
One of the few popular prejudices which Benjulia shared with his inferior fellow-creatures was the prejudice against lawyers. But for his angry recollection of the provocation5 successfully offered to him by his despicable brother, Mrs. Gallilee would never have found her way into his confidence. But for his hearty enjoyment6 of the mystification of the cook, Mr. Mool would have been requested to state the object of his visit in writing, and would have gone home again a baffled man. The doctor’s holiday amiability7 had reached its full development indeed, when he allowed a strange lawyer to sit and talk with him!
“Gentlemen of your profession,” he muttered, “never pay visits to people whom they don’t know, without having their own interests in view. Mr. Mool, you want something of me. What is it?”
Mr. Mool’s professional tact9 warned him to waste no time on prefatory phrases.
“I venture on my present intrusion,” he began, “in consequence of a statement recently made to me, in my office, by Mrs. Gallilee.”
“Stop!” cried Benjulia. “I don’t like your beginning, I can tell you. Is it necessary to mention the name of that old —?” He used a word, described in dictionaries as having a twofold meaning. (First, “A female of the canine10 kind.” Second, “A term of reproach for a woman.”) It shocked Mr. Mool; and it is therefore unfit to be reported.
“Really, Doctor Benjulia!”
“Does that mean that you positively11 must talk about her?”
Mr. Mool smiled. “Let us say that it may bear that meaning,” he answered.
“Go on, then — and get it over. She made a statement in your office. Out with it, my good fellow. Has it anything to do with me?”
“I should not otherwise, Doctor Benjulia, have ventured to present myself at your house.” With that necessary explanation, Mr. Mool related all that had passed between Mrs. Gallilee and himself.
At the outset of the narrative12, Benjulia angrily laid aside his pipe, on the point of interrupting the lawyer. He changed his mind; and, putting a strong constraint13 on himself, listened in silence. “I hope, sir,” Mr. Mool concluded, “you will not take a hard view of my motive14. It is only the truth to say that I am interested in Miss Carmina’s welfare. I felt the sincerest respect and affection for her parents. You knew them too. They were good people. On reflection you must surely regret it, if you have carelessly repeated a false report? Won’t you help me to clear the poor mother’s memory of this horrid15 stain?”
Benjulia smoked in silence. Had that simple and touching16 appeal found its way to him? He began very strangely, when he consented at last to open his lips.
“You’re what they call, a middle-aged17 man,” he said. “I suppose you have had some experience of women?”
Mr. Mool blushed. “I am a married man, sir,” he replied gravely.
“Very well; that’s experience — of one kind. When a man’s out of temper, and a woman wants something of him, do you know how cleverly she can take advantage of her privileges to aggravate18 him, till there’s nothing he won’t do to get her to leave him in peace? That’s how I came to tell Mrs. Gallilee, what she told you.”
He waited a little, and comforted himself with his pipe.
“Mind this,” he resumed, “I don’t profess8 to feel any interest in the girl; and I never cared two straws about her parents. At the same time, if you can turn to good account what I am going to say next — do it, and welcome. This scandal began in the bragging19 of a fellow-student of mine at Rome. He was angry with me, and angry with another man, for laughing at him when he declared himself to be Mrs. Robert Graywell’s lover: and he laid us a wager20 that we should see the woman alone in his room, that night. We were hidden behind a curtain, and we did see her in his room. I paid the money I had lost, and left Rome soon afterwards. The other man refused to pay.”
“On what ground?” Mr. Mool eagerly asked.
“On the ground that she wore a thick veil, and never showed her face.”
“An unanswerable objection, Doctor Benjulia!”
“Perhaps it might be. I didn’t think so myself. Two hours before, Mrs. Robert Graywell and I had met in the street. She had on a dress of a remarkable21 colour in those days — a sort of sea-green. And a bonnet22 to match, which everybody stared at, because it was not half the size of the big bonnets23 then in fashion. There was no mistaking the strange dress or the tall figure, when I saw her again in the student’s room. So I paid the bet.”
“Do you remember the name of the man who refused to pay?”
“His name was Egisto Baccani.”
“Have you heard anything of him since?”
“Yes. He got into some political scrape, and took refuge, like the rest of them, in England; and got his living, like the rest of them, by teaching languages. He sent me his prospectus24 — that’s how I came to know about it.”
“Have you got the prospectus?”
“Torn up, long ago.”
Mr. Mool wrote down the name in his pocket-book. “There is nothing more you can tell me?” he said.
“Nothing.”
“Accept my best thanks, doctor. Good-day!”
“If you find Baccani let me know. Another drop of ale? Are you likely to see Mrs. Gallilee soon?”
“Yes — if I find Baccani.”
“Do you ever play with children?”
“I have five of my own to play with,” Mr. Mool answered.
“Very well. Ask for the youngest child when you go to Mrs. Gallilee’s. We call her Zo. Put your finger on her spine25 — here, just below the neck. Press on the place — so. And, when she wriggles26, say, With the big doctor’s love.”
Getting back to his own house, Mr. Mool was surprised to find an open carriage at the garden gate. A smartly-dressed woman, on the front seat, surveyed him with an uneasy look. “If you please, sir,” she said, “would you kindly27 tell Miss Carmina that we really mustn’t wait any longer?”
The woman’s uneasiness was reflected in Mr. Mool’s face. A visit from Carmina, at his private residence, could have no ordinary motive. The fear instantly occurred to him that Mrs. Gallilee might have spoken to her of her mother.
Before he opened the drawing-room door, this alarm passed away. He heard Carmina talking with his wife and daughters.
“May I say one little word to you, Mr. Mool?”
He took her into his study. She was shy and confused, but certainly neither angry nor distressed28.
“My aunt sends me out every day, when it’s fine, for a drive,” she said. “As the carriage passed close by, I thought I might ask you a question.”
“Certainly, my dear! As many questions as you please.”
“It’s about the law. My aunt says she has the authority over me now, which my dear father had while he was living. Is that true?”
“Quite true.”
“For how long is she my guardian29?”
“Until you are twenty-one years old.”
The faint colour faded from Carmina’s face. “More than three years perhaps to suffer!” she said sadly.
“To suffer? What do you mean, my dear?”
She turned paler still, and made no reply. “I want to ask one thing more?” she resumed, in sinking tones. “Would my aunt still be my guardian — supposing I was married?”
Mr. Mool answered this, with his eyes fixed30 on her in grave scrutiny31.
“In that case, your husband is the only person who has any authority over you. These are rather strange questions, Carmina. Won’t you take me into your confidence?”
In sudden agitation32 she seized his hand and kissed it. “I must go!” she said. “I have kept the carriage waiting too long already.”
She ran out, without once looking back.
收听单词发音 |
1
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
hospitable
|
|
| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
amiable
|
|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
physiologist
|
|
| n.生理学家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
provocation
|
|
| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
amiability
|
|
| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
profess
|
|
| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
tact
|
|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
canine
|
|
| adj.犬的，犬科的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
constraint
|
|
| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
touching
|
|
| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
middle-aged
|
|
| adj.中年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
aggravate
|
|
| vt.加重(剧)，使恶化；激怒，使恼火 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bragging
|
|
| v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
wager
|
|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
bonnet
|
|
| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bonnets
|
|
| n.童帽( bonnet的名词复数 )；（烟囱等的）覆盖物；（苏格兰男子的）无边呢帽；（女子戴的）任何一种帽子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
prospectus
|
|
| n.计划书；说明书；慕股书 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
spine
|
|
| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
wriggles
|
|
| n.蠕动，扭动( wriggle的名词复数 )v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的第三人称单数 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
distressed
|
|
| 痛苦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
guardian
|
|
| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
scrutiny
|
|
| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
agitation
|
|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |