But Sunday in the country, with your house full of visitors, is too often an exception to this general truth. It is a trial. Your guests cannot always be at church, and, if they could, would not like it. There is nothing to interest or amuse them; no sport; no castles or factories to visit; no adventurous4 expeditions; no gay music in the morn, and no light dance in the evening. There is always danger of the day becoming a course of heavy meals and stupid walks, for the external scene and all teeming5 circumstances, natural and human, though full of concern to you, are to your visitors an insipid6 blank.
How did Sunday go off at Muriel Towers?
In the first place, there was a special train, which, at an early hour, took the cardinal7 and his suite8 and the St. Jerome family to Grandchester, where they were awaited with profound expectation. But the Anglican portion of the guests were not without their share of ecclesiastical and spiritual excitement, for the bishop9 was to preach this day in the chapel10 of the Towers, a fine and capacious sanctuary11 of florid Gothic, and hit lordship was a sacerdotal orator12 of repute.
It had been announced that the breakfast-hour was to be somewhat earlier. The ladies in general were punctual, and seemed conscious of some great event impending13. The Ladies Flora14 and Grizell entered with, each in her hand, a prayer-book of purple velvet15, adorned16 with a decided17 cross, the gift of the primus. Lord Culloden, at the request of Lady Corisande, had consented to their hearing the bishop, which he would not do himself. He passed his morning in finally examining the guardians’ accounts, the investigation18 of which he conducted and concluded, during the rest of the day, with Mr. Putney Giles. Mrs. Campian did not leave her room. Lord St. Aldegonde came down late, and looked about him with an uneasy, ill-humored air.
Whether it were the absence of Theodora, or some other cause, he was brusk, ungracious, scowling19, and silent, only nodding to the bishop, who benignly20 saluted21 him, refusing every dish that was offered; then getting up, and helping22 himself at the side-table, making a great noise with the carving23 instruments, and flouncing down his plate when he resumed his seat. Nor was his costume correct. All the other gentlemen, though their usual morning-dresses were sufficiently24 fantastic—trunk-hose of every form, stockings bright as paroquets, wondrous25 shirts, and velvet-coats of every tint—habited themselves today, both as regards form and color, in a style indicative of the subdued26 gravity of their feelings. Lord St. Aldegonde had on his shooting-jacket of brown velvet and a pink-shirt and no cravat27, and his rich brown locks, always, to a certain degree, neglected, were peculiarly dishevelled.
Hugo Bohun, who was not afraid of him, and was a high-churchman, being, in religion, and in all other matters, always on the side of the duchesses, said: “Well, St. Aldegonde, are you going to chapel in that dress?” But St. Aldegonde would not answer; he gave a snort, and glanced at Hugo, with the eye of a gladiator.
The meal was over. The bishop was standing28 near the mantel-piece talking to the ladies, who were clustered round him; the archdeacon and the chaplain and some other clergy29 a little in the background; Lord St. Aldegonde, who, whether there were a fire or not, always stood with his back to the fireplace with his hands in his pockets, moved discourteously30 among them, assumed his usual position, and listened, as it were, grimly, for a few moments to their talk; then he suddenly exclaimed in a loud voice, and with the groan31 of a rebellious32 Titan, “How I hate Sunday!”
“Granville!” exclaimed Lady St. Aldegonde, turning pale. There was a general shudder33.
“I mean in a country-house,” said Lord St. Aldegonde. “Of course, I mean in a country-house. I do not dislike it when alone, and I do not dislike it in London. But Sunday in a country-house is infernal.”
“I think it is now time for us to go,” said the bishop, walking away with dignified34 reserve, and they all dispersed35.
The service was choral and intoned; for, although the Rev3. Dionysius Smylie had not yet had time or opportunity, as was his intention, to form and train a choir36 from the household of the Towers, he had secured from his neighboring parish and other sources external and effective aid in that respect. The parts of the service were skillfully distributed, and rarely were a greater number of priests enlisted37 in a more imposing38 manner. A good organ was well played; the singing, as usual, a little too noisy; there was an anthem39 and an introit—but no incense40, which was forbidden by the bishop; and, though there were candles on the altar, they were not permitted to be lighted.
The sermon was most successful; the ladies returned with elate and animated41 faces, quite enthusiastic and almost forgetting in their satisfaction the terrible outrage42 of Lord St. Aldegonde. He himself had by this time repented43 of what he had done, and recovered his temper, and greeted his wife with a voice and look which indicated to her practised senses the favorable change.
“Bertha,” he said, “you know I did not mean any thing personal to the bishop in what I said. I do not like bishops44; I think there is no use in them; but I have no objection to him personally; I think him an agreeable man; not at all a bore. Just put it right, Bertha. But I tell you what, Bertha, I cannot go to church here. Lord Culloden does not go, and he is a very religious man. He is the man I most agree with on these matters. I am a free-church man, and there is on end of it. I cannot go this afternoon. I do not approve of the whole thing. It is altogether against my conscience. What I mean to do, if I can manage it, is to take a real long walk with the Campians.”
Mrs. Campian appeared at luncheon45. The bishop was attentive46 to her; even cordial. He was resolved she should not feel he was annoyed by her not having been a member of his congregation in the morning. Lady Corisande too had said to him: “I wish so much you would talk to Mrs. Campian; she is a sweet, noble creature, and so clever! I feel that she might be brought to view things in the right light.”
“I never know,” said the bishop, “how to deal with these American ladies. I never can make out what they believe, or what they disbelieve. It is a sort of confusion between Mrs. Beecher Stowe and the Fifth Avenue congregation and—Barnum,” he added with a twinkling eye.
The second service was late; the dean preached. The lateness of the hour permitted the lord-lieutenant and those guests who had arrived only the previous day to look over the castle, or ramble47 about the gardens. St. Aldegonde succeeded in his scheme of a real long walk with the Campians, which Lothair, bound to listen to the head of his college, was not permitted to share.
In the evening Signor Mardoni, who had arrived, and Madame Isola Bella, favored them with what they called sacred music; principally prayers from operas and a grand Stabat Mater.
Lord Culloden invited Lothair into a farther saloon, where they might speak without disturbing the performers or the audience.
“I’ll just take advantage, my dear boy,” said Lord Culloden, in a tone of unusual tenderness, and of Doric accent, “of the absence of these gentlemen to have a little quiet conversation with you. Though I have not seen so much of you of late as in old days, I take a great interest in you, no doubt of that, and I was very pleased to see how good-natured you were to the girls. You have romped48 with them when they were little ones. Now, in a few hours, you will be master of a great inheritance, and I hope it will profit ye. I have been over the accounts with Mr. Giles, and I was pleased to hear that you had made yourself properly acquainted with them in detail. Never you sign any paper without reading It first, and knowing well what it means. You will have to sign a release to us if you be satisfied, and that you may easily be. My poor brother-in-law left you as large an income as may be found on this side Trent, but I will be bound he would stare if he saw the total of the whole of your rent-roll, Lothair. Your affairs have been well administered, though I say it who ought not. But it is not my management only, or principally, that has done it. It is the progress of the country, and you owe the country a good deal, and you should never forget you are born to be a protector of its liberties, civil and religious. And if the country sticks to free trade, and would enlarge its currency, and be firm to the Protestant faith, it will, under Divine Providence49, continue to progress.
“And here, my boy, I’ll just say a word, in no disagreeable manner, about your religious principles. There are a great many stories about, and perhaps they are not true, and I am sure I hope they are not. If popery were only just the sign of the cross, and music, and censer-pots, though I think them all superstitious50, I’d be free to leave them alone if they would leave me. But popery is a much deeper thing than that, Lothair, and our fathers found it out. They could not stand it, and we should be a craven crew to stand it now. A man should be master in his own house. You will be taking a wife, some day; at least it is to be hoped so; and how will you like one of these monsignores to be walking into her bedroom, eh; and talking to her alone when he pleases, and where he pleases; and when you want to consult your wife, which a wise man should often do, to find there is another mind between hers and yours? There’s my girls, they are just two young geese, and they have a hankering after popery, having had a Jesuit in the house. I do not know what has become of the women. They are for going into a convent, and they are quite right in that, for if they be papists they will not find a husband easily in Scotland, I ween.
“And as for you, my boy, they will be telling you that it is only just this and just that, and there’s no great difference, and what not; but I tell you that, if once you embrace the scarlet51 lady, you are a tainted52 corpse53. You’ll not be able to order your dinner without a priest, and they will ride your best horses without saying with your leave or by your leave.”
The concert in time ceased; there was a stir in the room; the Rev. Dionysius Smylie moved about mysteriously, and ultimately seemed to make an obeisance54 before the bishop. It was time for prayers.
“Shall you go?” said Lord St. Aldegonde to Mrs. Campian, by whom he was sitting.
“I like to pray alone,” she answered.
“As for that,” said Aldegonde, “I am not clear we ought to pray at all, either in public or private. It seems very arrogant55 in us to dictate56 to an all-wise Creator what we desire.”
“I believe in the efficacy of prayer,” said Theodora.
“And I believe in you,” said St. Aldegonde, after a momentary57 pause.
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1
harmoniously
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| 和谐地，调和地 | |
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ordinance
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| n.法令；条令；条例 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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15
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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benignly
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| adv.仁慈地，亲切地 | |
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saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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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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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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discourteously
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| adv.不礼貌地，粗鲁地 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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anthem
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| n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌 | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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43
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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45
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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46
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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47
ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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48
romped
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| v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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49
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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50
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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51
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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52
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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53
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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54
obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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55
arrogant
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| adj.傲慢的，自大的 | |
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56
dictate
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| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
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57
momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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