It speedily became apparent that, whatever their motives3 might be, they had definitely determined4 upon a lengthy5 stay, for relays of plumbers6 and of joiners came down from Wigtown, and there was hammering and repairing going on from morning till night.
It was surprising how quickly the signs of the wind and weather were effaced7, until the great, square-set house was all as spick-and-span as though it had been erected8 yesterday. There were abundant signs that money was no consideration to General Heatherstone, and that it was not on the score of retrenchment9 that he had taken up his abode10 among us.
“It may be that he is devoted11 to study,” suggested my father, as we discussed the question round the breakfast table. “Perhaps he has chosen this secluded12 spot to finish some magnum opus upon which he is engaged. If that is the case I should be happy to let him have the run of my library.”
Esther and I laughed at the grandiloquent13 manner in which he spoke14 of the two potato-sacksful of books.
“It may be as you say,” said I, “but the general did not strike me during our short interview as being a man who was likely to have any very pronounced literary tastes. If I might hazard a guess, I should say that he is here upon medical advice, in the hope that the complete quiet and fresh air may restore his shattered nervous system. If you had seen how he glared at me, and the twitching15 of his fingers, you would have thought it needed some restoring.”
“I do wonder whether he has a wife and a family,” said my sister. “Poor souls, how lonely they will be! Why, excepting ourselves, there is not a family that they could speak to for seven miles and more.”
“General Heatherstone is a very distinguished16 soldier,” remarked my father.
“Why, papa, however came you to know anything about him?”
“Ah, my dears,” said my father, smiling at us over his coffee-cup, “you were laughing at my library just now, but you see it may be very useful at times.” As he spoke he took a red-covered volume from a shelf and turned over the pages. “This is an Indian Army List of three years back,” he explained, “and here is the very gentleman we want-‘Heatherstone, J. B., Commander of the Bath,’ my dears, and ‘V.C.’, think of that, ‘V.C.’—‘formerly colonel in the Indian Infantry17, 41st Bengal Foot, but now retired18 with the rank of major-general.’ In this other column is a record of his services —‘capture of Ghuznee and defence of Jellalabad, Sobraon 1848, Indian Mutiny and reduction of Oudh. Five times mentioned in dispatches.’ I think, my dears, that we have cause to be proud of our new neighbour.”
“It doesn’t mention there whether he is married or not, I suppose?” asked Esther.
“No,” said my father, wagging his white head with a keen appreciation19 of his own humour. “It doesn’t include that under the heading of ‘daring actions’— though it very well might, my dear, it very well might.”
All our doubts, however, upon this head were very soon set at rest, for on the very day that the repairing and the furnishing had been completed I had occasion to ride into Wigtown, and I met upon the way a carriage which was bearing General Heatherstone and his family to their new home. An elderly lady, worn and sickly-looking, was by his side, and opposite him sat a young fellow about my own age and a girl who appeared to be a couple of years younger.
I raised my hat, and was about to pass them, when the general shouted to his coachman to pull up, and held out his hand to me. I could see now in the daylight that his face, although harsh and stern, was capable of assuming a not unkindly expression.
“How are you, Mr. Fothergill West?” he cried. “I must apologise to you if I was a little brusque the other night — you will excuse an old soldier who has spent the best part of his life in harness — All the same, you must confess that you are rather dark-skinned for a Scotchman.”
“We have a Spanish strain in our blood,” said I, wondering at his recurrence20 to the topic.
“That would, of course, account for it,” he remarked. “My dear,” to his wife, “allow me to introduce Mr. Fothergill West to you. This is my son and my daughter. We have come here in search of rest, Mr. West — complete rest.”
“And you could not possibly have come to a better place,” said I.
“Oh, you think so?” he answered. “I suppose it is very quiet indeed, and very lonely. You might walk through these country lanes at night, I dare say, and never meet a soul, eh?”
“Well, there are not many about after dark,” I said.
“And you are not much troubled with vagrants21 or wandering beggars, eh? Not many tinkers or tramps or rascally22 gipsies — no vermin of that sort about?”
“I find it rather cold,” said Mrs. Heatherstone, drawing her thick sealskin mantle23 tighter round her figure. “We are detaining Mr. West, too.”
“So we are, my dear, so we are. Drive on, coachman. Good-day, Mr. West.”
The carriage rattled24 away towards the Hall, and I trotted25 thoughtfully onwards to the little country metropolis26.
As I passed up the High Street, Mr. McNeil ran out from his office and beckoned27 to me to stop.
“Our new tenants have gone out,” he said. “They drove over this morning.”
“I met them on the way,” I answered.
As I looked down at the little factor, I could see that his face was flushed and that he bore every appearance of having had an extra glass.
“Give me a real gentleman to do business with,” he said, with a burst of laughter. “They understand me and I understand them. ‘What shall I fill it up for?’ says the general, taking a blank cheque out o’ his pouch28 and laying it on the table. ‘Two hundred,’ says I, leaving a bit o’ a margin29 for my own time and trouble.”
“I thought that the landlord had paid you for that,” I remarked.
“Aye, aye, but it’s well to have a bit margin. He filled it up and threw it over to me as if it had been an auld30 postage stamp. That’s the way business should be done between honest men — though it wouldna do if one was inclined to take an advantage. Will ye not come in, Mr. West, and have a taste of my whisky?”
“No, thank you” said I, “I have business to do.”
“Well, well, business is the chief thing. It’s well not to drink in the morning, too. For my own part, except a drop before breakfast to give me an appetite, and maybe a glass, or even twa, afterwards to promote digestion31, I never touch spirits before noon. What d’ye think o’ the general, Mr. West?”
“Why, I have hardly had an opportunity of judging,” I answered.
Mr. McNeil tapped his forehead with his forefinger32.
“That’s what I think of him,” he said in a confidential33 whisper, shaking his head at me. “He’s gone, sir, gone, in my estimation. Now what would you take to be a proof of madness, Mr. West?”
“Why, offering a blank cheque to a Wigtown house-agent,” said I.
“Ah, you’re aye at your jokes. But between oorsel’s now, if a man asked ye how many miles it was frae a seaport34, and whether ships come there from the East, and whether there were tramps on the road, and whether it was against the lease for him to build a high wall round the grounds, what would ye make of it, eh?”
“I should certainly think him eccentric,” said I.
“If every man had his due, our friend would find himsel’ in a house with a high wall round the grounds, and that without costing him a farthing,” said the agent.
“Where then?” I asked, humouring his joke.
“Why, in the Wigtown County Lunatic Asylum,” cried the little man, with a bubble of laughter, in the midst of which I rode on my way, leaving him still chuckling35 over his own facetiousness36.
The arrival of the new family at Cloomber Hall had no perceptible effect in relieving the monotony of our secluded district, for instead of entering into such simple pleasures as the country had to offer, or interesting themselves, as we had hoped, in our attempts to improve the lot of our poor crofters and fisherfolk, they seemed to shun37 all observation, and hardly ever to venture beyond the avenue gates.
We soon found, too, that the factor’s words as to the inclosing of the grounds were founded upon fact, for gangs of workmen were kept hard at work from early in the morning until late at night in erecting38 a high, wooden fence round the whole estate.
When this was finished and topped with spikes39, Cloomber Park became impregnable to any one but an exceptionally daring climber. It was as if the old soldier had been so imbued40 with military ideas that, like my Uncle Toby, he could not refrain even in times of peace from standing41 upon the defensive42.
Stranger still, he had victualled the house as if for a siege, for Begbie, the chief grocer of Wigtown, told me himself in a rapture43 of delight and amazement44 that the general had sent him an order for hundreds of dozens of every imaginable potted meat and vegetable.
It may be imagined that all these unusual incidents were not allowed to pass without malicious45 comment. Over the whole countryside and as far away as the English border there was nothing but gossip about the new tenants of Cloomber Hall and the reasons which had led them to come among us.
The only hypothesis, however, which the bucolic46 mind could evolve, was that which had already occurred to Mr. McNeil, the factor — namely, that the old general and his family were one and all afflicted47 with madness, or, as an alternative conclusion, that he had committed some heinous48 offence and was endeavouring to escape the consequences of his misdeeds.
These were both natural suppositions under the circumstances, but neither of them appeared to me to commend itself as a true explanation of the facts.
It is true that General Heatherstone’s behaviour on the occasion of our first interview was such as to suggest some suspicion of mental disease, but no man could have been more reasonable or more courteous49 than he had afterwards shown himself to be.
Then, again, his wife and children led the same secluded life that he did himself, so that the reason could not be one peculiar50 to his own health.
As to the possibility of his being a fugitive51 from justice, that theory was even more untenable. Wigtownshire was bleak52 and lonely, but it was not such an obscure corner of the world that a well-known soldier could hope to conceal53 himself there, nor would a man who feared publicity54 set every one’s tongue wagging as the general had done.
On the whole, I was inclined to believe that the true solution of the enigma55 lay in his own allusion56 to the love of quiet, and that they had taken shelter here with an almost morbid57 craving58 for solitude59 and repose60. We very soon had an instance of the great lengths to which this desire for isolation61 would carry them.
My father had come down one morning with the weight of a great determination upon his brow.
“You must put on your pink frock today, Esther,” said he, “and you, John, you must make yourself smart, for I have determined that the three of us shall drive round this afternoon and pay our respects to Mrs. Heatherstone and the general.”
“A visit to Cloomber,” cried Esther, clapping her hands.
“I am here,” said my father, with dignity, “not only as the laird’s factor, but also as his kinsman62. In that capacity I am convinced that he would wish me to call upon these newcomers and offer them any politeness which is in our power. At present they must feel lonely and friendless. What says the great Firdousi? ‘The choicest ornaments63 to a man’s house are his friends.’”
My sister and I knew by experience that when the old man began to justify64 his resolution by quotations65 from the Persian poets there was no chance of shaking it. Sure enough that afternoon saw the phaeton at the door, with my father perched upon the seat, with his second-best coat on and a pair of new driving-gloves.
“Jump in, my dears,” he cried, cracking his whip briskly, “we shall show the general that he has no cause to be ashamed of his neighbours.”
Alas66! pride always goes before a fall. Our well-fed ponies67 and shining harness were not destined68 that day to impress the tenants of Cloomber with a sense of our importance.
We had reached the avenue gate, and I was about to get out and open it, when our attention was arrested by a very large wooden placard, which was attached to one of the trees in such a manner that no one could possibly pass without seeing it. On the white surface of this board was printed in big, black letters the following hospitable69 inscription70:
GENERAL AND MRS. HEATHERSTONE
HAVE NO WISH
TO INCREASE
THE CIRCLE OF THEIR ACQUAINTANCE.
We all sat gazing at this announcement for some moments in silent astonishment71. Then Esther and I, tickled72 by the absurdity73 of the thing, burst out laughing, but my father pulled the ponies’ heads round, and drove home with compressed lips and the cloud of much wrath74 upon his brow. I have never seen the good man so thoroughly75 moved, and I am convinced that his anger did not arise from any petty feeling of injured vanity upon his own part, but from the thought that a slight had been offered to the Laird of Branksome, whose dignity he represented.
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1
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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plumbers
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| n.管子工，水暖工( plumber的名词复数 )；[美][口]（防止泄密的）堵漏人员 | |
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effaced
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| v.擦掉( efface的过去式和过去分词 )；抹去；超越；使黯然失色 | |
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8
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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retrenchment
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| n.节省，删除 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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12
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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grandiloquent
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| adj.夸张的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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15
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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vagrants
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| 流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 )； 无业游民； 乞丐； 无赖 | |
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rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pouch
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| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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seaport
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| n.海港，港口，港市 | |
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chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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facetiousness
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| n.滑稽 | |
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shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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erecting
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| v.使直立，竖起( erect的现在分词 )；建立 | |
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spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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imbued
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| v.使（某人/某事）充满或激起（感情等）( imbue的过去式和过去分词 )；使充满；灌输；激发（强烈感情或品质等） | |
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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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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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44
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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bucolic
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| adj.乡村的；牧羊的 | |
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47
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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heinous
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| adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的 | |
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49
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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50
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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51
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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52
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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53
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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54
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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55
enigma
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| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
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56
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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57
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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58
craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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61
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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62
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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63
ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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64
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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65
quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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66
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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67
ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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68
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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69
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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70
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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71
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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72
tickled
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| （使）发痒( tickle的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）愉快，逗乐 | |
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73
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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74
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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75
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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