Partly Retrospective, yet Very Necessary to be Perused1.
EARLY five years had elapsed between the event which formed the subject of our last chapter and the recall to England of the regiment2 in which Captain Armine now commanded a company. This period of time had passed away not unfruitful of events in the experience of that family, in whose fate and feelings I have attempted to interest the reader. In this interval4 Ferdinand Armine had paid one short visit to his native land; a visit which had certainly been accelerated, if not absolutely occasioned, by the untimely death of his cousin Augustus, the presumptive heir of Grandison. This unforeseen event produced a great revolution in the prospects5 of the family of Armine; for although the title and an entailed6 estate devolved to a distant branch, the absolute property of the old lord was of great amount; and, as he had no male heir now living, conjectures8 as to its probable disposition9 were now rife10 among all those who could possibly become interested in it. Whatever arrangement the old lord might decide upon, it seemed nearly certain that the Armine family must be greatly benefited. Some persons even went so far as to express their conviction that everything would be left to Mr. Armine, who everybody now discovered to have always been a particular favourite with his grandfather. At all events, Sir Ratcliffe, who ever maintained upon the subject a becoming silence, thought it as well that his son should remind his grandfather personally of his existence; and it was at his father’s suggestion that Ferdinand had obtained a short leave of absence, at the first opportunity, to pay a hurried visit to Grandison and his grandfather.
The old lord yielded him a reception which might have flattered the most daring hopes. He embraced Ferdinand, and pressed him to his heart a thousand times; he gave him his blessing11 in the most formal manner every morning and evening; and assured everybody that he now was not only his favourite but his only grandson. He did not even hesitate to affect a growing dislike for his own seat, because it was not in his power to leave it to Ferdinand; and he endeavoured to console that fortunate youth for his indispensable deprivation12 by mysterious intimations that he would, perhaps, find quite enough to do with his money in completing Armine Castle, and maintaining its becoming splendour. The sanguine13 Ferdinand returned to Malta with the conviction that he was his grandfather’s heir; and even Sir Ratcliffe was almost disposed to believe that his son’s expectations were not without some show of probability, when he found that Lord Grandison had absolutely furnished him with the funds for the purchase of his company.
Ferdinand was fond of his profession. He had entered it under favourable14 circumstances. He had joined a crack regiment in a crack garrison15. Malta is certainly a delightful16 station. Its city, Valetta, equals in its noble architecture, if it even do not excel, any capital in Europe; and although it must be confessed that the surrounding region is little better than a rock, the vicinity, nevertheless, of Barbary, of Italy, and of Sicily, presents exhaustless resources to the lovers of the highest order of natural beauty. If that fair Valetta, with its streets of palaces, its picturesque17 forts and magnificent church, only crowned some green and azure18 island of the Ionian Sea, Corfu for instance, I really think that the ideal of landscape would be realised.
To Ferdinand, who was inexperienced in the world, the dissipation of Malta, too, was delightful. It must be confessed that, under all circumstances, the first burst of emancipation19 from domestic routine hath in it something fascinating. However you may be indulged at home, it is impossible to break the chain of childish associations; it is impossible to escape from the feeling of dependence20 and the habit of submission21. Charming hour when you first order your own servants, and ride your own horses, instead of your father’s! It is delightful even to kick about your own furniture; and there is something manly22 and magnanimous in paying our own taxes. Young, lively, kind, accomplished23, good-looking, and well-bred, Ferdinand Armine had in him all the elements of popularity; and the novelty of popularity quite intoxicated24 a youth who had passed his life in a rural seclusion25, where he had been appreciated, but not huzzaed. Ferdinand was not only popular, but proud of being popular. He was popular with the Governor, he was popular with his Colonel, he was popular with his mess, he was popular throughout the garrison. Never was a person so popular as Ferdinand Armine. He was the best rider among them, and the deadliest shot; and he soon became an oracle26 at the billiard-table, and a hero in the racquet-court. His refined education, however, fortunately preserved him from the fate of many other lively youths: he did not degenerate27 into a mere28 hero of sports and brawls29, the genius of male revels30, the arbiter31 of roistering suppers, and the Comus of a club. His boyish feelings had their play; he soon exuded32 the wanton heat of which a public school would have served as a safety-valve. He returned to his books, his music, and his pencil. He became more quiet, but he was not less liked. If he lost some companions, he gained many friends; and, on the whole, the most boisterous33 wassailers were proud of the accomplishments34 of their comrade; and often an invitation to a mess dinner was accompanied by a hint that Armine dined there, and that there was a chance of hearing him sing. Ferdinand now became as popular with the Governor’s lady as with the Governor himself, was idolised by his Colonel’s wife, while not a party throughout the island was considered perfect without the presence of Mr. Armine.
Excited by his situation, Ferdinand was soon tempted3 to incur35 expenses which his income did not justify36. The facility of credit afforded him not a moment to pause; everything he wanted was furnished him; and until the regiment quitted the garrison he was well aware that a settlement of accounts was never even desired. Amid this imprudence he was firm, however, in his resolution never to trespass37 on the resources of his father. It was with difficulty that he even brought himself to draw for the allowance which Sir Ratcliffe insisted on making him; and he would gladly have saved his father from making even this advance, by vague intimations of the bounty38 of Lord Grandison, had he not feared this conduct might have led to suspicious and disagreeable enquiries. It cannot be denied that his debts occasionally caused him anxiety, but they were not considerable; he quieted his conscience by the belief that, if he were pressed, his grandfather could scarcely refuse to discharge a few hundred pounds for his favourite grandson; and, at all events, he felt that the ultimate resource of selling his commission was still reserved for him. If these vague prospects did not drive away compunction, the qualms39 of conscience were generally allayed40 in the evening assembly, in which his vanity was gratified. At length he paid his first visit to England. That was a happy meeting. His kind father, his dear, dear mother, and the faithful Glastonbury, experienced some of the most transporting moments of their existence, when they beheld41, with admiring gaze, the hero who returned to them. Their eyes were never satiated with beholding42 him; they hung upon his accents. Then came the triumphant43 visit to Grandison; and then Ferdinand returned to Malta, in the full conviction that he was the heir to fifteen thousand a year.
Among many other, there is one characteristic of capitals in which Valetta is not deficient44: the facility with which young heirs apparent, presumptive, or expectant, can obtain any accommodation they desire. The terms; never mind the terms, who ever thinks of them? As for Ferdinand Armine, who, as the only son of an old baronet, and the supposed future inheritor of Armine Park, had always been looked upon by tradesmen with a gracious eye, he found that his popularity in this respect was not at all diminished by his visit to England, and its supposed consequences; slight expressions, uttered on his return in the confidence of convivial45 companionship, were repeated, misrepresented, exaggerated, and circulated in all quarters. We like those whom we love to be fortunate. Everybody rejoices in the good luck of a popular character; and soon it was generally understood that Ferdinand Armine had become next in the entail7 to thirty thousand a year and a peerage. Moreover, he was not long to wait for his inheritance. The usurers pricked46 up their ears, and such numerous proffers47 of accommodation and assistance were made to the fortunate Mr. Armine, that he really found it quite impossible to refuse them, or to reject the loans that were almost forced on his acceptance.
Ferdinand Armine had passed the Rubicon. He was in debt. If youth but knew the fatal misery48 that they are entailing49 on themselves the moment they accept a pecuniary50 credit to which they are not entitled, how they would start in their career! how pale they would turn! how they would tremble, and clasp their hands in agony at the precipice51 on which they are disporting52! Debt is the prolific53 mother of folly54 and of crime; it taints55 the course of life in all its dreams. Hence so many unhappy marriages, so many prostituted pens, and venal56 politicians! It hath a small beginning, but a giant’s growth and strength. When we make the monster we make our master, who haunts us at all hours, and shakes his whip of scorpions57 for ever in our sight. The slave hath no overseer so severe. Faustus, when he signed the bond with blood, did not secure a doom58 more terrific. But when we are young we must enjoy ourselves. True; and there are few things more gloomy than the recollection of a youth that has not been enjoyed. What prosperity of manhood, what splendour of old age, can compensate59 for it? Wealth is power; and in youth, of all seasons of life, we require power, because we can enjoy everything that we can command. What, then, is to be done? I leave the question to the schoolmen, because I am convinced that to moralise with the inexperienced availeth nothing.
The conduct of men depends upon their temperament60, not upon a bunch of musty maxims61. No one had been educated with more care than Ferdinand Armine; in no heart had stricter precepts62 of moral conduct ever been instilled63. But he was lively and impetuous, with a fiery64 imagination, violent passions, and a daring soul. Sanguine he was as the day; he could not believe in the night of sorrow, and the impenetrable gloom that attends a career that has failed. The world was all before him; and he dashed at it like a young charger in his first strife65, confident that he must rush to victory, and never dreaming of death.
Thus would I attempt to account for the extreme imprudence of his conduct on his return from England. He was confident in his future fortunes; he was excited by the applause of the men, and the admiration66 of the women; he determined67 to gratify, even to satiety68, his restless vanity; he broke into profuse69 expenditure70; he purchased a yacht; he engaged a villa71; his racing-horses and his servants exceeded all other establishments, except the Governor’s, in breeding, in splendour, and in number. Occasionally wearied with the monotony of Malta, he obtained a short leave of absence, and passed a few weeks at Naples, Palermo, and Rome, where he glittered in brilliant circles, and whence he returned laden72 with choice specimens73 of art and luxury, and followed by the report of strange and flattering adventures. Finally, he was the prime patron of the Maltese opera, and brought over a celebrated74 Prima Donna from San Carlo in his own vessel75.
In the midst of his career, Ferdinand received intelligence of the death of Lord Grandison. Fortunately, when he received it he was alone; there was no one, therefore, to witness his blank dismay when he discovered that, after all, he was not his grandfather’s heir! After a vast number of trifling76 legacies77 to his daughters, and their husbands, and their children, and all his favourite friends, Lord Grandison left the whole of his property to his grand-daughter Katherine, the only remaining child of his son, who had died early in life, and the sister of the lately deceased Augustus.
What was to be done now? His mother’s sanguine mind, for Lady Armine broke to him the fatal intelligence, already seemed to anticipate the only remedy for this ‘unjust will.’ It was a remedy delicately intimated, but the intention fell upon a fine and ready ear. Yes! he must marry; he must marry his cousin; he must marry Katherine Grandison. Ferdinand looked around him at his magnificent rooms; the damask hangings of Tunis, the tall mirrors from Marseilles, the inlaid tables, the marble statues, and the alabaster78 vases that he had purchased at Florence and at Rome, and the delicate mats that he had himself imported from Algiers. He looked around and he shrugged79 his shoulders: ‘All this must be paid for,’ thought he; ‘and, alas80! how much more!’ And then came across his mind a recollection of his father and his cares, and innocent Armine, and dear Glastonbury, and his sacrifice. Ferdinand shook his head and sighed.
‘How have I repaid them,’ thought he. ‘Thank God, they know nothing. Thank God, they have only to bear their own disappointments and their own privations; but it is in vain to moralise. The future, not the past, must be my motto. To retreat is impossible; I may yet advance and conquer. Katherine Grandison: only think of my little cousin Kate for a wife! They say that it is not the easiest task in the world to fan a lively flame in the bosom81 of a cousin. The love of cousins is proverbially not of a very romantic character. ’Tis well I have not seen her much in my life, and very little of late. Familiarity breeds contempt, they say. Will she dare to despise me?’ He glanced at the mirror. The inspection82 was not unsatisfactory. Plunged83 in profound meditation84, he paced the room.
收听单词发音 |
1
perused
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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entail
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| vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要 | |
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conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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deprivation
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| n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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brawls
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| 吵架，打架( brawl的名词复数 ) | |
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revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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arbiter
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| n.仲裁人，公断人 | |
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exuded
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| v.缓慢流出，渗出，分泌出( exude的过去式和过去分词 )；流露出对（某物）的神态或感情 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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trespass
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| n./v.侵犯，闯入私人领地 | |
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bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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qualms
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| n.不安；内疚 | |
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allayed
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| v.减轻，缓和( allay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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43
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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deficient
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| adj.不足的，不充份的，有缺陷的 | |
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convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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46
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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proffers
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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entailing
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| 使…成为必要( entail的现在分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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50
pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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51
precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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disporting
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| v.嬉戏，玩乐，自娱( disport的现在分词 ) | |
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prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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54
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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taints
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| n.变质( taint的名词复数 )；污染；玷污；丑陋或腐败的迹象v.使变质( taint的第三人称单数 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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56
venal
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| adj.唯利是图的，贪脏枉法的 | |
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scorpions
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| n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 ) | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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instilled
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| v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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satiety
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| n.饱和；(市场的)充分供应 | |
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profuse
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| adj.很多的，大量的，极其丰富的 | |
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expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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77
legacies
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| n.遗产( legacy的名词复数 )；遗留之物；遗留问题；后遗症 | |
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78
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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79
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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80
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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81
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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82
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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83
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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84
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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