Seventeen（2）

II
Coming to the vicarage was like coming home.
The front door was hospitably¹ open, and as I stepped inside I was con-scious of a burden slipping from my shoulders.
Mrs. Dane Calthrop came through a door at the back of the hall, carry-ing for some reason unfathomable to me an enormous plastic pail ofbright green.
“Hallo, it’s you,” she said. “I thought it would be.”
She handed me the pail. I had no idea what to do with it and stood look-ing awkward.
“Outside the door, on the step,” said Mrs. Calthrop impatiently, asthough I ought to have known.
I obeyed. Then I followed her into the same dark shabby room we hadsat in before. There was a rather moribund² fire there, but Mrs. Dane Cal-throp poked³ it into flame and dumped a log on it. Then she motioned meto sit down, plumped down herself, and fixed⁴ me with a bright impatienteye.
“Well?” she demanded. “What have you done?”
From the vigour⁵ of her manner we might have had a train to catch.
“You told me to do something. I am doing something.”
“Good. What?”
I told her. I told her everything. In some unspoken way I told her thingsI did not quite know myself.
“Tonight?” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop thoughtfully.
“Yes.”
She was silent for a minute, obviously thinking. Unable to help myself Iblurted out,
“I don’t like it. My God, I don’t like it.”
“Why should you?”
That, of course, was unanswerable.
“I’m so horribly afraid for her.”
She looked at me kindly⁶.
“You don’t know,” I said, “how—how brave she is. If, in some way, theymanage to harm her….”
Mrs. Dane Calthrop said slowly:
“I don’t see—I really don’t see—how they can harm her in the way youmean.”
“But they have harmed—other people.”
“It would seem so, yes…” She sounded dissatisfied.
“In any other way, she will be all right. We’ve taken every imaginableprecaution. No material harm can happen to her.”
“But it’s material harm that these people claim to be able to produce,”
Mrs. Dane Calthrop pointed⁷ out. “They claim to be able to work throughthe mind on the body. Illness—disease. Very interesting if they can. Butquite horrible! And it’s got to be stopped, as we’ve already agreed.”
“But she’s the one who’s taking the risk,” I muttered.
“Someone has to,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop calmly. “It upsets your pride,that it shouldn’t be you. You’ve got to swallow that. Ginger⁸’s ideally suitedfor the part she’s playing. She can control her nerves and she’s intelligent.
She won’t let you down.”
“I’m not worrying about that!”
“Well, stop worrying at all. It won’t do her any good. Don’t let’s shirk theissue. If she dies as a result of this experiment, then she dies in a goodcause.”
“My God, you’re brutal⁹!”
“Somebody has to be,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop. “Always envisage¹⁰ theworst. You’ve no idea how that steadies the nerves. You begin at once tobe sure that it can’t be as bad as what you imagine.”
She nodded at me reassuringly¹¹.
“You may be right,” I said doubtfully.
Mrs. Dane Calthrop said with complete certainty that of course she wasright.
I proceeded to details.
“You’re on the telephone here?”
“Naturally.”
I explained what I wanted to do.
“After this—this business tonight is over, I may want to keep in closetouch with Ginger. Ring her up every day. If I could telephone from here?”
“Of course. Too much coming and going at Rhoda’s. You want to be sureof not being overheard.”
“I shall stay on at Rhoda’s for a bit. Then perhaps go to Bournemouth.
I’m not supposed to—go back to London.”
“No use looking ahead,” Mrs. Dane Calthrop said. “Not beyond tonight.”
“Tonight…” I got up. I said a thing that was out of character. “Pray forme—for us,” I said.
“Naturally,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop, surprised that I should need toask.
As I went out of the front door a sudden curiosity made me say,“Why the pail? What’s it for?”
“The pail? Oh, it’s for the schoolchildren, to pick berries and leaves fromthe hedges—for the church. Hideous¹², isn’t it, but so handy.”
I looked out over the richness of the autumn world. Such soft stillbeauty….
“Angels and Ministers of grace defend us,” I said.
“Amen,” said Mrs. Dane Calthrop.

1 hospitably   

亲切地，招待周到地，善于款待地

参考例句：

• At Peking was the Great Khan, and they were hospitably entertained. 忽必烈汗在北京，他们受到了盛情款待。
• She was received hospitably by her new family. 她的新家人热情地接待了她。

2 moribund   

adj.即将结束的，垂死的

参考例句：

• The moribund Post Office Advisory Board was replaced.这个不起作用的邮局顾问委员会已被替换。
• Imperialism is monopolistic,parasitic and moribund capitalism.帝国主义是垄断的、寄生的、垂死的资本主义。

3 poked   

v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交

参考例句：

• She poked him in the ribs with her elbow. 她用胳膊肘顶他的肋部。
• His elbow poked out through his torn shirt sleeve. 他的胳膊从衬衫的破袖子中露了出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

5 vigour   

（=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力

参考例句：

• She is full of vigour and enthusiasm.她有热情，有朝气。
• At 40,he was in his prime and full of vigour.他40岁时正年富力强。

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

8 ginger   

n.姜，精力，淡赤黄色；adj.淡赤黄色的；vt.使活泼，使有生气

参考例句：

• There is no ginger in the young man.这个年轻人没有精神。
• Ginger shall be hot in the mouth.生姜吃到嘴里总是辣的。

9 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

10 envisage   

v.想象，设想，展望，正视

参考例句：

• Nobody can envisage the consequences of total nuclear war.没有人能够想像全面核战争的后果。
• When do you envisage being able to pay me back?你看你什么时候能还我钱？

11 reassuringly   

ad.安心，可靠

参考例句：

• He patted her knee reassuringly. 他轻拍她的膝盖让她放心。
• The doctor smiled reassuringly. 医生笑了笑，让人心里很踏实。

12 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。