The Bridge Way was an irregular straggling street, where the town fringed off raggedly7 into the Whitlow road: rows of new red-brick houses, in which ribbon-looms were rattling8 behind long lines of window, alternating with old, half-thatched, half-tiled cottages—one of those dismal9 wide streets where dirt and misery10 have no long shadows thrown on them to soften11 their ugliness. Here, about half-past five o’clock, Silly Caleb, an idiot well known in Dog Lane, but more of a stranger in the Bridge Way, was seen slouching along with a string of boys hooting12 at his heels; presently another group, for the most part out at elbows, came briskly in the same direction, looking round them with an air of expectation; and at no long interval13, Deb Traunter, in a pink flounced gown and floating ribbons, was observed talking with great affability to two men in seal-skin caps and fustian14, who formed her cortege. The Bridge Way began to have a presentiment15 of something in the wind. Phib Cook left her evening wash-tub and appeared at her door in soap-suds, a bonnet-poke, and general dampness; three narrow-chested ribbon-weavers, in rusty16 black streaked17 with shreds18 of many-coloured silk, sauntered out with their hands in their pockets; and Molly Beale, a brawny19 old virago20, descrying21 wiry Dame22 Ricketts peeping out from her entry, seized the opportunity of renewing the morning’s skirmish. In short, the Bridge Way was in that state of excitement which is understood to announce a ‘demonstration’ on the part of the British public; and the afflux of remote townsmen increasing, there was soon so large a crowd that it was time for Bill Powers, a plethoric23 Goliath, who presided over the knot of beer-drinkers at the Bear and Ragged Staff, to issue forth24 with his companions, and, like the enunciator25 of the ancient myth, make the assemblage distinctly conscious of the common sentiment that had drawn26 them together. The expectation of the delegates’ chaise, added to the fight between Molly Beale and Dame Ricketts, and the ill-advised appearance of a lean bull-terrier, were a sufficient safety-valve to the popular excitement during the remaining quarter of an hour; at the end of which the chaise was seen approaching along the Whitlow road, with oak boughs27 ornamenting28 the horses’ heads; and, to quote the account of this interesting scene which was sent to the Rotherby Guardian29, ‘loud cheers immediately testified to the sympathy of the honest fellows collected there, with the public-spirited exertions30 of their fellow-townsmen.’ Bill Powers, whose bloodshot eyes, bent31 hat, and protuberant32 altitude, marked him out as the natural leader of the assemblage, undertook to interpret the common sentiment by stopping the chaise, advancing to the door with raised hat, and begging to know of Mr. Dempster, whether the Rector had forbidden the ‘canting lecture’.
‘Yes, yes,’ said Mr. Dempster. ‘Keep up a jolly good hurray.’
No public duty could have been more easy and agreeable to Mr. Powers and his associates, and the chorus swelled34 all the way to the High Street, where, by a mysterious coincidence often observable in these spontaneous ‘demonstrations’, large placards on long poles were observed to shoot upwards35 from among the crowd, principally in the direction of Tucker’s Lane, where the Green Man was situated36. One bore, ‘Down with the Tryanites!’ another, ‘No Cant33!’ another, ‘Long live our venerable Curate!’ and one in still larger letters, ‘Sound Church Principles and no Hypocrisy37!’ But a still more remarkable38 impromptu39 was a huge caricature of Mr. Tryan in gown and band, with an enormous aureole of yellow hair and upturned eyes, standing40 on the pulpit stairs and trying to pull down old Mr. Crewe. Groans41, yells, and hisses—hisses, yells, and groans—only stemmed by the appearance of another caricature representing Mr. Tryan being pitched head-foremost from the pulpit stairs by a hand which the artist, either from subtilty of intention or want of space, had left unindicated. In the midst of the tremendous cheering that saluted42 this piece of symbolical43 art, the chaise had reached the door of the Red Lion, and loud cries of ‘Dempster for ever!’ with a feebler cheer now and then for Tomlinson and Budd, were presently responded to by the appearance of the public-spirited attorney at the large upper window, where also were visible a little in the background the small sleek44 head of Mr. Budd, and the blinking countenance45 of Mr. Tomlinson.
Mr. Dempster held his hat in his hand, and poked46 his head forward with a butting47 motion by way of bow. A storm of cheers subsided48 at last into dropping sounds of ‘Silence!’ ‘Hear him!’ ‘Go it, Dempster!’ and the lawyer’s rasping voice became distinctly audible.
‘Fellow-townsmen! It gives us the sincerest pleasure—I speak for my respected colleagues as well as myself—to witness these strong proofs of your attachment49 to the principles of our excellent Church, and your zeal for the honour of our venerable pastor50. But it is no more than I expected of you. I know you well. I’ve known you for the last twenty years to be as honest and respectable a set of ratepayers as any in this county. Your hearts are sound to the core! No man had better try to thrust his cant and hypocrisy down your throats. You’re used to wash them with liquor of a better flavour. This is the proudest moment in my own life, and I think I may say in that of my colleagues, in which I have to tell you that our exertions in the cause of sound religion and manly51 morality have been crowned with success. Yes, my fellow-townsmen! I have the gratification of announcing to you thus formally what you have already learned indirectly52. The pulpit from which our venerable pastor has fed us with sound doctrine53 for half a century is not to be invaded by a fanatical, sectarian, double-faced, Jesuitical interloper! We are not to have our young people demoralized and corrupted54 by the temptations to vice55, notoriously connected with Sunday evening lectures! We are not to have a preacher obtruding56 himself upon us, who decries57 good works, and sneaks58 into our homes perverting59 the faith of our wives and daughters! We are not to be poisoned with doctrines60 which damp every innocent enjoyment61, and pick a poor man’s pocket of the sixpence with which he might buy himself a cheerful glass after a hard day’s work, under pretence62 of paying for bibles to send to the Chicktaws!
‘But I’m not going to waste your valuable time with unnecessary words. I am a man of deeds’ (‘Ay, damn you, that you are, and you charge well for ’em too,’ said a voice from the crowd, probably that of a gentleman who was immediately afterwards observed with his hat crushed over his head.) ‘I shall always be at the service of my fellow-townsmen, and whoever dares to hector over you, or interfere63 with your innocent pleasures, shall have an account to settle with Robert Dempster.
‘Now, my boys! you can’t do better than disperse64 and carry the good news to all your fellow-townsmen, whose hearts are as sound as your own. Let some of you go one way and some another, that every man, woman, and child in Milby may know what you know yourselves. But before we part, let us have three cheers for True Religion, and down with Cant!’
When the last cheer was dying, Mr. Dempster closed the window, and the judiciously-instructed placards and caricatures moved off in divers65 directions, followed by larger or smaller divisions of the crowd. The greatest attraction apparently66 lay in the direction of Dog Lane, the outlet67 towards Paddiford Common, whither the caricatures were moving; and you foresee, of course, that those works of symbolical art were consumed with a liberal expenditure68 of dry gorse-bushes and vague shouting.
After these great public exertions, it was natural that Mr. Dempster and his colleagues should feel more in need than usual of a little social relaxation69; and a party of their friends was already beginning to assemble in the large parlour of the Red Lion, convened70 partly by their own curiosity, and partly by the invaluable71 Mat Paine. The most capacious punch-bowl was put in requisition; and that born gentleman, Mr. Lowme, seated opposite Mr. Dempster as ‘Vice’, undertook to brew72 the punch, defying the criticisms of the envious73 men out of office, who with the readiness of irresponsibility, ignorantly suggested more lemons. The social festivities were continued till long past midnight, when several friends of sound religion were conveyed home with some difficulty, one of them showing a dogged determination to seat himself in the gutter74.
Mr. Dempster had done as much justice to the punch as any of the party; and his friend Boots, though aware that the lawyer could ‘carry his liquor like Old Nick’, with whose social demeanour Boots seemed to be particularly well acquainted, nevertheless thought it might be as well to see so good a customer in safety to his own door, and walked quietly behind his elbow out of the inn-yard. Dempster, however, soon became aware of him, stopped short, and, turning slowly round upon him, recognized the well-known drab waistcoat sleeves, conspicuous75 enough in the starlight.
‘You twopenny scoundrel! What do you mean by dogging a professional man’s footsteps in this way? I’ll break every bone in your skin if you attempt to track me, like a beastly cur sniffing76 at one’s pocket. Do you think a gentleman will make his way home any the better for having the scent77 of your blacking-bottle thrust up his nostrils79?’
Boots slunk back, in more amusement than ill-humour, thinking the lawyer’s ‘rum talk’ was doubtless part and parcel of his professional ability; and Mr. Dempster pursued his slow way alone.
His house lay in Orchard81 Street, which opened on the prettiest outskirt of the town—the church, the parsonage, and a long stretch of green fields. It was an old-fashioned house, with an overhanging upper storey; outside, it had a face of rough stucco, and casement82 windows with green frames and shutters83; inside, it was full of long passages, and rooms with low ceilings. There was a large heavy knocker on the green door, and though Mr. Dempster carried a latch-key, he sometimes chose to use the knocker. He chose to do so now. The thunder resounded84 through Orchard Street, and, after a single minute, there was a second clap louder than the first. Another minute, and still the door was not opened; whereupon Mr. Dempster, muttering, took out his latch-key, and, with less difficulty than might have been expected, thrust it into the door. When he opened the door the passage was dark.
‘Janet!’ in the loudest rasping tone, was the next sound that rang through the house.
‘Janet!’ again—before a slow step was heard on the stairs, and a distant light began to flicker85 on the wall of the passage.
‘Curse you! you creeping idiot! Come faster, can’t you?’
Yet a few seconds, and the figure of a tall woman, holding aslant86 a heavy-plated drawing-room candlestick, appeared at the turning of the passage that led to the broader entrance.
She had on a light dress which sat loosely about her figure, but did not disguise its liberal, graceful87 outline. A heavy mass of straight jet-black hair had escaped from its fastening, and hung over her shoulders. Her grandly-cut features, pale with the natural paleness of a brunette, had premature88 lines about them, telling that the years had been lengthened89 by sorrow, and the delicately-curved nostril78, which seemed made to quiver with the proud consciousness of power and beauty, must have quivered to the heart-piercing griefs which had given that worn look to the corners of the mouth. Her wide open black eyes had a strangely fixed90, sightless gaze, as she paused at the turning, and stood silent before her husband.
‘I’ll teach you to keep me waiting in the dark, you pale staring fool!’ he said, advancing with his slow drunken step. ‘What, you’ve been drinking again, have you? I’ll beat you into your senses.’
He laid his hand with a firm grip on her shoulder, turned her round, and pushed her slowly before him along the passage and through the dining-room door, which stood open on their left hand.
There was a portrait of Janet’s mother, a grey-haired, dark-eyed old woman, in a neatly91 fluted92 cap, hanging over the mantelpiece. Surely the aged93 eyes take on a look of anguish94 as they see Janet—not trembling, no! it would be better if she trembled—standing stupidly unmoved in her great beauty while the heavy arm is lifted to strike her. The blow falls—another—and another. Surely the mother hears that cry—‘O Robert! pity! pity!’
Poor grey-haired woman! Was it for this you suffered a mother’s pangs95 in your lone80 widowhood five-and-thirty years ago? Was it for this you kept the little worn morocco shoes Janet had first run in, and kissed them day by day when she was away from you, a tall girl at school? Was it for this you looked proudly at her when she came back to you in her rich pale beauty, like a tall white arum that has just unfolded its grand pure curves to the sun?
The mother lies sleepless96 and praying in her lonely house, weeping the difficult tears of age, because she dreads97 this may be a cruel night for her child.
She too has a picture over her mantelpiece, drawn in chalk by Janet long years ago. She looked at it before she went to bed. It is a head bowed beneath a cross, and wearing a crown of thorns.
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收听单词发音
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1
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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ovation
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| n.欢呼，热烈欢迎，热烈鼓掌 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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solidify
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| v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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raggedly
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| 破烂地，粗糙地 | |
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rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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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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soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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hooting
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| （使）作汽笛声响，作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 )； 倒好儿； 倒彩 | |
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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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fustian
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| n.浮夸的；厚粗棉布 | |
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presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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brawny
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| adj.强壮的 | |
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virago
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| n.悍妇 | |
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descrying
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| v.被看到的，被发现的，被注意到的( descried的过去分词 ) | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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plethoric
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| adj.过多的，多血症的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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enunciator
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| n.声明者，宣言者，发音清晰者 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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28
ornamenting
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| v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的现在分词 ) | |
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29
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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30
exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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31
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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protuberant
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| adj.突出的，隆起的 | |
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cant
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| n.斜穿，黑话，猛扔 | |
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34
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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35
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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impromptu
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| adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地) | |
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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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41
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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42
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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43
symbolical
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| a.象征性的 | |
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44
sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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45
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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46
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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47
butting
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| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
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48
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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50
pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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51
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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52
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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53
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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54
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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55
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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56
obtruding
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| v.强行向前，强行，强迫( obtrude的现在分词 ) | |
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57
decries
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| v.公开反对，谴责( decry的第三人称单数 ) | |
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58
sneaks
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| abbr.sneakers (tennis shoes) 胶底运动鞋（网球鞋）v.潜行( sneak的第三人称单数 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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59
perverting
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| v.滥用( pervert的现在分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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60
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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61
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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62
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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63
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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64
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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65
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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66
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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67
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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68
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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69
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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70
convened
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| 召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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71
invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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72
brew
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| v.酿造，调制 | |
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73
envious
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| adj.嫉妒的，羡慕的 | |
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74
gutter
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| n.沟，街沟，水槽，檐槽，贫民窟 | |
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75
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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sniffing
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| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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nostril
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| n.鼻孔 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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80
lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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83
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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84
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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85
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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aslant
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| adv.倾斜地；adj.斜的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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fluted
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| a.有凹槽的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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dreads
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| n.恐惧，畏惧( dread的名词复数 )；令人恐惧的事物v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的第三人称单数 ) | |
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