"Sophia, will you come and see the elephant? Do come!" Constance entered the drawing-room with this request on her eager lips.
"No," said Sophia, with a touch of condescension1. "I'm far too busy for elephants."
Only two years had passed; but both girls were grown up now; long sleeves, long skirts, hair that had settled down in life; and a demeanour immensely serious, as though existence were terrific in its responsibilities; yet sometimes childhood surprisingly broke through the crust of gravity, as now in Constance, aroused by such things as elephants, and proclaimed with vivacious2 gestures that it was not dead after all. The sisters were sharply differentiated3. Constance wore the black alpaca apron4 and the scissors at the end of a long black elastic5, which indicated her vocation6 in the shop. She was proving a considerable success in the millinery department. She had learnt how to talk to people, and was, in her modest way, very self-possessed. She was getting a little stouter7. Everybody liked her. Sophia had developed into the student. Time had accentuated8 her reserve. Her sole friend was Miss Chetwynd, with whom she was, having regard to the disparity of their ages, very intimate. At home she spoke9 little. She lacked amiability10; as her mother said, she was 'touchy11.' She required diplomacy12 from others, but did not render it again. Her attitude, indeed, was one of half-hidden disdain13, now gentle, now coldly bitter. She would not wear an apron, in an age when aprons14 were almost essential to decency15. No! She would not wear an apron, and there was an end of it. She was not so tidy as Constance, and if Constance's hands had taken on the coarse texture16 which comes from commerce with needles, pins, artificial flowers, and stuffs, Sophia's fine hands were seldom innocent of ink. But Sophia was splendidly beautiful. And even her mother and Constance had an instinctive17 idea that that face was, at any rate, a partial excuse for her asperity18.
"Well," said Constance, "if you won't, I do believe I shall ask mother if she will."
Sophia, bending over her books, made no answer. But the top of her head said: "This has no interest for me whatever."
Constance left the room, and in a moment returned with her mother.
"Sophia," said her mother, with gay excitement, "you might go and sit with your father for a bit while Constance and I just run up to the playground to see the elephant. You can work just as well in there as here. Your father's asleep."
"Oh, very, well!" Sophia agreed haughtily19. "Whatever is all this fuss about an elephant? Anyhow, it'll be quieter in your room. The noise here is splitting." She gave a supercilious20 glance into the Square as she languidly rose.
It was the morning of the third day of Bursley Wakes; not the modern finicking and respectable, but an orgiastic carnival21, gross in all its manifestations22 of joy. The whole centre of the town was given over to the furious pleasures of the people. Most of the Square was occupied by Wombwell's Menagerie, in a vast oblong tent, whose raging beasts roared and growled23 day and night. And spreading away from this supreme24 attraction, right up through the market-place past the Town Hall to Duck Bank, Duck Square and the waste land called the 'playground' were hundreds of booths with banners displaying all the delights of the horrible. You could see the atrocities25 of the French Revolution, and of the Fiji Islands, and the ravages26 of unspeakable diseases, and the living flesh of a nearly nude27 human female guaranteed to turn the scale at twenty- two stone, and the skeletons of the mysterious phantoscope, and the bloody28 contests of champions naked to the waist (with the chance of picking up a red tooth as a relic). You could try your strength by hitting an image of a fellow-creature in the stomach, and test your aim by knocking off the heads of other images with a wooden ball. You could also shoot with rifles at various targets. All the streets were lined with stalls loaded with food in heaps, chiefly dried fish, the entrails of animals, and gingerbread. All the public-houses were crammed29, and frenzied30 jolly drunkards, men and women, lunged along the pavements everywhere, their shouts vying31 with the trumpets32, horns, and drums of the booths, and the shrieking33, rattling34 toys that the children carried.
It was a glorious spectacle, but not a spectacle for the leading families. Miss Chetwynd's school was closed, so that the daughters of leading families might remain in seclusion35 till the worst was over. The Baineses ignored the Wakes in every possible way, choosing that week to have a show of mourning goods in the left- hand window, and refusing to let Maggie outside on any pretext36. Therefore the dazzling social success of the elephant, which was quite easily drawing Mrs. Baines into the vortex, cannot imaginably be over-estimated.
On the previous night one of the three Wombwell elephants had suddenly knelt on a man in the tent; he had then walked out of the tent and picked up another man at haphazard37 from the crowd which was staring at the great pictures in front, and tried to put this second man into his mouth. Being stopped by his Indian attendant with a pitchfork, he placed the man on the ground and stuck his tusk38 through an artery39 of the victim's arm. He then, amid unexampled excitement, suffered himself to be led away. He was conducted to the rear of the tent, just in front of Baines's shuttered windows, and by means of stakes, pulleys, and ropes forced to his knees. His head was whitewashed40, and six men of the Rifle Corps41 were engaged to shoot at him at a distance of five yards, while constables42 kept the crowd off with truncheons. He died instantly, rolling over with a soft thud. The crowd cheered, and, intoxicated43 by their importance, the Volunteers fired three more volleys into the carcase, and were then borne off as heroes to different inns. The elephant, by the help of his two companions, was got on to a railway lorry and disappeared into the night. Such was the greatest sensation that has ever occurred, or perhaps will ever occur, in Bursley. The excitement about the repeal44 of the Corn Laws, or about Inkerman, was feeble compared to that excitement. Mr. Critchlow, who had been called on to put a hasty tourniquet45 round the arm of the second victim, had popped in afterwards to tell John Baines all about it. Mr. Baines's interest, however, had been slight. Mr. Critchlow succeeded better with the ladies, who, though they had witnessed the shooting from the drawing-room, were thirsty for the most trifling46 details.
The next day it was known that the elephant lay near the playground, pending47 the decision of the Chief Bailiff and the Medical Officer as to his burial. And everybody had to visit the corpse48. No social exclusiveness could withstand the seduction of that dead elephant. Pilgrims travelled from all the Five Towns to see him.
"We're going now," said Mrs. Baines, after she had assumed her bonnet49 and shawl.
"All right," said Sophia, pretending to be absorbed in study, as she sat on the sofa at the foot of her father's bed.
And Constance, having put her head in at the door, drew her mother after her like a magnet.
Then Sophia heard a remarkable50 conversation in the passage.
"Are you going up to see the elephant, Mrs. Baines?" asked the voice of Mr. Povey.
"Yes. Why?"
"I think I had better come with you. The crowd is sure to be very rough." Mr. Povey's tone was firm; he had a position.
"But the shop?"
"We shall not be long," said Mr. Povey.
"Oh yes, mother," Constance added appealingly.
Sophia felt the house thrill as the side-door banged. She sprang up and watched the three cross King Street diagonally, and so plunge51 into the Wakes. This triple departure was surely the crowning tribute to the dead elephant! It was simply astonishing. It caused Sophia to perceive that she had miscalculated the importance of the elephant. It made her regret her scorn of the elephant as an attraction. She was left behind; and the joy of life was calling her. She could see down into the Vaults52 on the opposite side of the street, where working men--potters and colliers--in their best clothes, some with high hats, were drinking, gesticulating, and laughing in a row at a long counter.
She noticed, while she was thus at the bedroom window, a young man ascending53 King Street, followed by a porter trundling a flat barrow of luggage. He passed slowly under the very window. She flushed. She had evidently been startled by the sight of this young man into no ordinary state of commotion54. She glanced at the books on the sofa, and then at her father. Mr. Baines, thin and gaunt, and acutely pitiable, still slept. His brain had almost ceased to be active now; he had to be fed and tended like a bearded baby, and he would sleep for hours at a stretch even in the daytime. Sophia left the room. A moment later she ran into the shop, an apparition55 that amazed the three young lady assistants. At the corner near the window on the fancy side a little nook had been formed by screening off a portion of the counter with large flower-boxes placed end-up. This corner had come to be known as "Miss Baines's corner." Sophia hastened to it, squeezing past a young lady assistant in the narrow space between the back of the counter and the shelf-lined wall. She sat down in Constance's chair and pretended to look for something. She had examined herself in the cheval-glass in the showroom, on her way from the sick-chamber. When she heard a voice near the door of the shop asking first for Mr. Povey and then for Mrs. Baines, she rose, and seizing the object nearest to her, which happened to be a pair of scissors, she hurried towards the showroom stairs as though the scissors had been a grail, passionately56 sought and to be jealously hidden away. She wanted to stop and turn round, but something prevented her. She was at the end of the counter, under the curving stairs, when one of the assistants said:
"I suppose you don't know when Mr. Povey or your mother are likely to be back, Miss Sophia? Here's--"
It was a divine release for Sophia.
"They're--I--" she stammered57, turning round abruptly58. Luckily she was still sheltered behind the counter.
The young man whom she had seen in the street came boldly forward.
"Good morning, Miss Sophia," said he, hat in hand. "It is a long time since I had the pleasure of seeing you."
Never had she blushed as she blushed then. She scarcely knew what she was doing as she moved slowly towards her sister's corner again, the young man following her on the customer's side of the counter.
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1
condescension
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| n.自以为高人一等，贬低(别人) | |
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vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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differentiated
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| 区分，区别，辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 )； 区别对待； 表明…间的差别，构成…间差别的特征 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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vocation
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| n.职业，行业 | |
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stouter
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| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
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accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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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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amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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touchy
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| adj.易怒的；棘手的 | |
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diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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atrocities
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| n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪 | |
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ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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nude
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| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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crammed
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| adj.塞满的，挤满的；大口地吃；快速贪婪地吃v.把…塞满；填入；临时抱佛脚( cram的过去式) | |
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frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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vying
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| adj.竞争的；比赛的 | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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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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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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haphazard
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| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
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tusk
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| n.獠牙，长牙，象牙 | |
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artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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repeal
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| n.废止，撤消；v.废止，撤消 | |
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tourniquet
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| n.止血器，绞压器，驱血带 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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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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51
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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52
vaults
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| n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 )；地下室；撑物跳高；墓穴 | |
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53
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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56
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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