The Editorial Secretary
i
Arthur Dayson, though a very good shorthand writer, and not without experience as a newspaper reporter and sub-editor, was a nincompoop. There could be no other explanation of his bland1, complacent2 indifference3 as he sat poking4 at a coke stove one cold night of January, 1880, in full view of a most marvellous and ravishing spectacle. The stove was in a room on the floor above the offices labelled as Mr. Q. Karkeek’s; its pipe, supported by wire stays, went straight up nearly to the grimy ceiling, and then turned horizontally and disappeared through a clumsy hole in the scorched5 wall. It was a shabby stove, but not more so than the other few articles of furniture—a large table, a small desk, three deteriorated6 cane-chairs, two gas brackets, and an old copying-press on its rickety stand. The sole object that could emerge brightly from the ordeal7 of the gas-flare was a splendid freshly printed blue poster gummed with stamp-paper to the wall: which poster bore the words, in vast capitals of two sizes: “The Five Towns Chronicle and Turnhill Guardian8.” Copies of this poster had also been fixed9, face outwards10, on the two curtainless black windows, to announce to the Market Square what was afoot in the top storey over the ironmonger’s.
A young woman, very soberly attired11, was straining at the double iron-handles of the copying-press. Some copying-presses have a screw so accurately12 turned and so well oiled, and handles so massively like a fly-wheel, that a touch will send the handles whizzing round and round till they stop suddenly, and then one slight wrench14 more, and the letters are duly copied! But this was not such a press. It had been outworn in Mr. Karkeek’s office; rust15 had intensified16 its original defects of design, and it produced the minimum of result with the maximum of means. Nevertheless, the young woman loved it. She clenched17 her hands and her teeth, and she frowned, as though she loved it. And when she had sufficiently18 crushed the letter-book in the press, she lovingly unscrewed and drew forth19 the book; and with solicitude20 she opened the book on the smaller table, and tenderly detached the blotting-paper from the damp tissue paper, and at last extracted the copied letter and examined its surface.
“Smudged!” she murmured, tragic21.
And the excellent ass13 Dayson, always facetiously22 cheerful, and without a grain of humour, remarked:
“Copiousness with the H2O, Miss Lessways, is the father of smudged epistles. I’m ready to go through these proofs with you as soon as you are.”
He was over thirty. He had had affairs with young women. He reckoned that there remained little for him to learn. He had deliberately23 watched this young woman at the press. He had clearly seen her staring under the gas-jet at the copied letter. And yet in her fierce muscular movements, and in her bendings and straightenings, and in her delicate caressings, and in her savage24 scowlings and wrinklings, and in her rapt gazings, and in all her awful absorption, he had quite failed to perceive the terrible eager outpouring of a human soul, mighty25, passionate26, and wistful. He had kept his eyes on her slim bust27 and tight-girded waist that sprung suddenly neat and smooth out of the curving skirt-folds, and it had not occurred to him to exclaim even in his own heart: “With your girlishness and your ferocity, your intimidating28 seriousness and your delicious absurdity29, I would give a week’s wages just to take hold of you and shake you!” No! The dolt30 had seen absolutely naught31 but a conscientious32 female beginner learning the duties of the post which he himself had baptized as that of ‘editorial secretary.’
ii
Hilda was no longer in a nameless trouble. She no longer wanted she knew not what. She knew beyond all questioning that she had found that which she had wanted. For nearly a year she had had lessons in phonography from Miss Dayson’s nephew, often as a member of a varying night-class, and sometimes alone during the day. She could not write shorthand as well as Mr. Dayson, and she never would, for Mr. Dayson had the shorthand soul; but, as the result of sustained and terrific effort, she could write it pretty well. She had grappled with Isaac Pitman as with Apollyon and had not been worsted. She could scarcely believe that in class she had taken down at the rate of ninety words a minute Mr. Dayson’s purposely difficult political speechifyings (which always contained the phrase ‘capital punishment,’ because ‘capital punishment’ was a famous grammalogue); but it was so, Mr. Dayson’s watch proved it.
About half-way through the period of study, she had learnt from Mr. Cannon33, on one of his rare visits to her mother’s, something about his long-matured scheme for a new local paper. She had at once divined that he meant to offer her some kind of a situation in the enterprise, and she was right. Gratitude34 filled her. Mrs. Lessways, being one of your happy-go-lucky, broad-minded women, with an experimental disposition35—a disposition to let things alone and see how they will turn out—had made little objection, though she was not encouraging.
Instantly the newspaper had become the chief article of Hilda’s faith. She accepted the idea of it as a nun36 accepts the sacred wafer, in ecstasy37. Yet she knew little about it. She was aware that Mr. Cannon meant to establish it first as a weekly, and then, when it had grown, to transform it into a daily and wage war with that powerful monopolist, The Staffordshire Signal, which from its offices at Hanbridge covered the entire district. The original title had been The Turnhill Guardian and Five Towns General Chronicle, and she had approved it; but when Mr. Cannon, with a view to the intended development, had inverted38 the title to The Five Towns Chronicle and Turnhill Guardian, she had enthusiastically applauded his deep wisdom. Also she had applauded his project of moving, later on, to Hanbridge, the natural centre of the Five Towns. This was nearly the limit of her knowledge. She neither knew nor cared anything about the resources or the politics or the programme or the prospects39 of the paper. To her all newspapers were much alike. She did not even explore, in meditation40, the extraordinary psychology41 of Mr. Cannon—the man whose original energy and restless love of initiative was leading him to found a newspaper on the top of a successful but audaciously irregular practice as a lawyer. She incuriously and with religious admiration42 accepted Mr. Cannon as she accepted the idea of the paper. And being, of course, entirely43 ignorant of journalism44, she was not in a position to criticize the organizing arrangements of the newspaper. Not that these would have seemed excessively peculiar45 to anybody familiar with the haphazard46 improvisations of minor47 journalism in the provinces! She had indeed, in her innocence48, imagined that the basic fact of a newspaper enterprise would be a printing-press; but when Mr. Dayson, who had been on The Signal and on sundry49 country papers in Shropshire, assured her that the majority of weekly sheets were printed on jobbing presses in private hands, she corrected her foolish notion.
Her sole interest—but it was tremendous!—lay in what she herself had to do—namely, take down from dictation, transcribe50, copy, classify, and keep letters and documents, and occasionally correct proofs. All beyond this was misty51 for her, and she never adjusted her sight in order to pierce the mist.
Save for her desire to perfect herself in her duties, she had no desire. She was content. In the dismal52, dirty, untidy, untidiable, uncomfortable office, arctic near the windows, and tropic near the stove, with dust on her dress and ink on her fingers and the fumes53 of gas in her quivering nostrils54, and her mind strained and racked by an exaggerated sense of her responsibilities, she was in heaven! She who so vehemently55 objected to the squalid mess of the business of domesticity, revelled56 in the squalid mess of this business. She whose heart would revolt because Florrie’s work was never done, was delighted to wait all hours on the convenience of men who seemed to be the very incarnation of incalculable change and caprice. And what was she? Nothing but a clerk, at a commencing salary of fifteen shillings per week! Ah! but she was a priestess! She had a vocation57 which was unsoiled by the economic excuse. She was a pioneer. No young woman had ever done what she was doing. She was the only girl in the Five Towns who knew shorthand. And in a fortnight (they said) the paper was to come out!
iii
At the large table which was laden58 with prodigious59, heterogeneous60 masses of paper and general litter, she bent61 over the proofs by Mr. Dayson’s side. He had one proof; she had a duplicate; the copy lay between them. It was the rough galley62 of a circular to the burgesses that they were correcting together. Reading and explaining aloud, he inscribed63 the cabalistic signs of correction in the margin64 of his proof, and she faithfully copied them in the margin of hers, for practice.
“l.c.,” he intoned.
“What does that mean?”
“Lower case,” he explained grandiosely65, in the na?ve vanity of his knowledge. “Small letter; not a capital.”
“Thank you,” she said, and, writing “l.c.,” noted66 in her striving brain that ‘lower case’ meant a small letter instead of a capital; but she knew not why, and she did not ask; the reason did not trouble her.
“I think we’ll put ‘enlightened’ there, before ‘public’ Ring it, will you?”
“Ring it? Oh! I see!”
“Yes, put a ring round the word in the margin. That’s to show it isn’t the intelligent compositor’s mistake, you see!”
Then there was a familiar and masterful footstep on the stairs, and the attention of both of them wavered.
iv
Arthur Dayson and his proof-correcting lost all interest and all importance for Hilda as Mr. Cannon came into the room. The unconscious, expressive67 gesture, scornful and abrupt68, with which she neglected them might have been terribly wounding to a young man more sensitive than Dayson. But Dayson, in his self-sufficient, good-natured mediocrity, had the hide of an alligator69. He even judged her movement quite natural, for he was a flunkey born. Hilda gazed at her master with anxiety as he deposited his black walking-stick in the corner behind the door and loosed his white muffler and large overcoat (which Dayson called an ‘immensikoff.’) She thought the master looked tired and worried. Supposing he fell ill at this supreme70 juncture71! The whole enterprise would be scotched72, and not forty Daysons could keep it going! The master was doing too much—law by day and journalism by night. They were perhaps all doing too much, but the others did not matter. Nevertheless, Mr. Cannon advanced to the table buoyant and faintly smiling, straightening his shoulders back, proudly proving to himself and to them that his individual force was inexhaustible. That straightening of the shoulders always affected73 Hilda as something wistful, as almost pathetic in its confident boyishness. It made her feel maternal74 and say to herself (but not in words) with a sort of maternal superiority: “How brave he is, poor thing!” Yes, in her heart she would apply the epithet75 ‘poor thing’ to this grand creature whose superiority she acknowledged with more fervour than anybody. As for the undaunted straightening of the shoulders, she adopted it, and after a time it grew to be a characteristic gesture with her.
“Well?” Mr. Cannon greeted them.
“Well,” said Arthur Dayson, with a factitious air of treating him as an equal, “I’ve been round to Bennions and made it clear to him that if he can’t guarantee to run off a maximum of two thousand of an eight-page sheet we shall have to try Clayhanger at Bursley, even if it’s the last minute.”
“What did he say?”
“Grunted.”
“I shall risk two thousand, any way.”
“Paper delivered, governor?” Dayson asked in a low voice, leering pawkily, as though to indicate that he was a man who could be trusted to think of everything.
“Will be tomorrow, I think,” said Mr. Cannon. “Got that letter ready, Miss Lessways?”
Hilda sprang into life.
“Yes,” she said, handing it diffidently. “But if you’d like me to do it again—you see it’s—”
“Plethora of H2O,” Dayson put in, indulgent.
“Oh no!” Mr. Cannon decided76. Having read the letter, he gave it to Dayson. “It doesn’t matter, but you ought to have signed it before it was copied in the letter-book.”
“Gemini! Miss!” murmured Dayson, glancing at Hilda with uplifted brows.
The fact was that both of them had forgotten this formality. Dayson took a pen, and after describing a few flourishes in the air, about a quarter of an inch above the level of the paper, he magnificently signed: “Dayson & Co.” Such was the title of the proprietorship77. Just as Karkeek was Mr. Cannon’s dummy78 in the law, so was Dayson in the newspaper business. But whereas Karkeek was privately79 ashamed, Dayson was proud of his r?le, which gave him the illusion of power and glory.
“Just take this down, will you?” said Mr. Cannon.
Hilda grasped at her notebook and seized a pencil, and then held herself tense to receive the message, staring downwards80 at the blank page. Dayson lolled in his chair, throwing his head back. He knew that the presence of himself, the great shorthand expert, made Hilda nervous when she had to write from dictation; and this flattered his simple vanity. Hilda hated and condemned81 her nervousness, but she could not conquer it.
Mr. Cannon, standing82 over the table, pushed his hat away from his broad, shining forehead, and then, meditative83, absently lifted higher his carefully tended hand and lowered the singing gas-jet, only to raise it again.
“Mr. Ezra Brunt. Dear Sir, Re advertisement. With reference to your letter replying to ours in which you inquire as to the circulation of the above newspaper, we beg to state that it is our intention to print four thousand of—”
“Two thousand,” Hilda interrupted confidently.
Unruffled, Mr. Cannon went on politely: “No—four thousand of the first number. Our representative would be pleased to call upon you by appointment. Respectfully yours.—You might sign that, Dayson, and get it off to-night. Is Sowter here?”
For answer, Dayson jerked his head towards an inner door. Sowter was the old clerk who had first received Hilda into the offices of Mr. Q. Karkeek. He was earning a little extra money by clerical work at nights in connection with the advertisement department of the new organ.
Mr. Cannon marched to the inner door and opened it. Then he turned and called:
“Dayson—a moment.”
“Certainly,” said Dayson, jumping up. He planted his hat doggishly at the back of his head, stuck his hands into his pockets, and swaggered after his employer.
The inner door closed on the three men. Hilda, staring at the notebook, blushing and nibbling84 at the pencil, was left alone under the gas. She could feel her heart beating violently.
收听单词发音 |
1
bland
|
|
| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
complacent
|
|
| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
indifference
|
|
| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
poking
|
|
| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
scorched
|
|
| 烧焦，烤焦( scorch的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（植物）枯萎，把…晒枯； 高速行驶； 枯焦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
deteriorated
|
|
| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
ordeal
|
|
| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
guardian
|
|
| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
outwards
|
|
| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
attired
|
|
| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
accurately
|
|
| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
ass
|
|
| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
wrench
|
|
| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
rust
|
|
| n.锈；v.生锈；(脑子)衰退 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
intensified
|
|
| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
solicitude
|
|
| n.焦虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
facetiously
|
|
| adv.爱开玩笑地；滑稽地，爱开玩笑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
passionate
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
bust
|
|
| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
intimidating
|
|
| vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
absurdity
|
|
| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
dolt
|
|
| n.傻瓜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
naught
|
|
| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
conscientious
|
|
| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
cannon
|
|
| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
nun
|
|
| n.修女，尼姑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
inverted
|
|
| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
meditation
|
|
| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
psychology
|
|
| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
journalism
|
|
| n.新闻工作，报业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
haphazard
|
|
| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
transcribe
|
|
| v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
misty
|
|
| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
dismal
|
|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
fumes
|
|
| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
vehemently
|
|
| adv. 热烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
revelled
|
|
| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
vocation
|
|
| n.职业，行业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
laden
|
|
| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
prodigious
|
|
| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
heterogeneous
|
|
| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
galley
|
|
| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
inscribed
|
|
| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
margin
|
|
| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
grandiosely
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
66
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
expressive
|
|
| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
abrupt
|
|
| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
alligator
|
|
| n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
juncture
|
|
| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
scotched
|
|
| v.阻止( scotch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止（车轮）转动；弄伤；镇压 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
affected
|
|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
maternal
|
|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
epithet
|
|
| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
proprietorship
|
|
| n.所有（权）；所有权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
dummy
|
|
| n.假的东西；(哄婴儿的)橡皮奶头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
privately
|
|
| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
downwards
|
|
| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
meditative
|
|
| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
nibbling
|
|
| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |