Constance, alone in the parlour, stood expectant by the set tea- table. She was not wearing weeds; her mother and she, on the death of her father, had talked of the various disadvantages of weeds; her mother had worn them unwillingly2, and only because a public opinion not sufficiently3 advanced had intimidated4 her. Constance had said: "If ever I'm a widow I won't wear them," positively5, in the tone of youth; and Mrs. Baines had replied: "I hope you won't, my dear." That was over twenty years ago, but Constance perfectly6 remembered. And now, she was a widow! How strange and how impressive was life! And she had kept her word; not positively, not without hesitations7; for though times were changed, Bursley was still Bursley; but she had kept it.
This was the first Monday after Samuel's funeral. Existence in the house had been resumed on the plane which would henceforth be the normal plane. Constance had put on for tea a dress of black silk with a jet brooch of her mother's. Her hands, just meticulously9 washed, had that feeling of being dirty which comes from roughening of the epidermis10 caused by a day spent in fingering stuffs. She had been 'going through' Samuel's things, and her own, and ranging all anew. It was astonishing how little the man had collected, of 'things,' in the course of over half a century. All his clothes were contained in two long drawers and a short one. He had the least possible quantity of haberdashery and linen11, for he invariably took from the shop such articles as he required, when he required them, and he would never preserve what was done with. He possessed12 no jewellery save a set of gold studs, a scarf-ring, and a wedding-ring; the wedding-ring was buried with him. Once, when Constance had offered him her father's gold watch and chain, he had politely refused it, saying that he preferred his own--a silver watch (with a black cord) which kept excellent time; he had said later that she might save the gold watch and chain for Cyril when he was twenty-one. Beyond these trifles and a half-empty box of cigars and a pair of spectacles, he left nothing personal to himself. Some men leave behind them a litter which takes months to sift13 and distribute. But Samuel had not the mania14 for owning. Constance put his clothes in a box. to be given away gradually (all except an overcoat and handkerchiefs which might do for Cyril); she locked up the watch and its black cord, the spectacles and the scarf-ring; she gave the gold studs to Cyril; she climbed on a chair and hid the cigar-box on the top of her wardrobe; and scarce a trace of Samuel remained!
By his own wish the funeral had been as simple and private as possible. One or two distant relations, whom Constance scarcely knew and who would probably not visit her again until she too was dead, came--and went. And lo! the affair was over. The simple celerity of the funeral would have satisfied even Samuel, whose tremendous self-esteem hid itself so effectually behind such externals that nobody had ever fully15 perceived it. Not even Constance quite knew Samuel's secret opinion of Samuel. Constance was aware that he had a ridiculous side, that his greatest lack had been a lack of spectacular dignity. Even in the coffin16, where nevertheless most people are finally effective, he had not been imposing--with his finicky little grey beard persistently17 sticking up.
The vision of him in his coffin--there in the churchyard, just at the end of King Street!--with the lid screwed down on that unimportant beard, recurred18 frequently in the mind of the widow, as something untrue and misleading. She had to say to herself: "Yes, he is really there! And that is why I have this particular feeling in my heart." She saw him as an object pathetic and wistful, not majestic19. And yet she genuinely thought that there could not exist another husband quite so honest, quite so just, quite so reliable, quite so good, as Samuel had been. What a conscience he had! How he would try, and try, to be fair with her! Twenty years she could remember, of ceaseless, constant endeavour on his part to behave rightly to her! She could recall many an occasion when he had obviously checked himself, striving against his tendency to cold abruptness20 and to sullenness21, in order to give her the respect due to a wife. What loyalty22 was his! How she could depend on him! How much better he was than herself (she thought with modesty)!
His death was an amputation23 for her. But she faced it with calmness. She was not bowed with sorrow. She did not nurse the idea that her life was at an end; on the contrary, she obstinately24 put it away from her, dwelling25 on Cyril. She did not indulge in the enervating26 voluptuousness27 of grief. She had begun in the first hours of bereavement28 by picturing herself as one marked out for the blows of fate. She had lost her father and her mother, and now her husband. Her career seemed to be punctuated29 by interments. But after a while her gentle commonsense30 came to insist that most human beings lose their parents, and that every marriage must end in either a widower31 or a widow, and that all careers are punctuated by interments. Had she not had nearly twenty-one years of happy married life? (Twenty-one years--rolled up! The sudden thought of their naive32 ignorance of life, hers and his, when they were first married, brought tears into her eyes. How wise and experienced she was now!) And had she not Cyril? Compared to many women, she was indeed very fortunate.
The one visitation which had been specially33 hers was the disappearance34 of Sophia. And yet even that was not worse than the death outright35 of Sophia, was perhaps not so bad. For Sophia might return out of the darkness. The blow of Sophia's flight had seemed unique when it was fresh, and long afterwards; had seemed to separate the Baines family from all other families in a particular shame. But at the age of forty-three Constance had learnt that such events are not uncommon36 in families, and strange sequels to them not unknown. Thinking often of Sophia, she hoped wildly and frequently.
She looked at the clock; she had a little spasm37 of nervousness lest Cyril might fail to keep his word on that first day of their new regular life together. And at the instant he burst into the room, invading it like an armed force, having previously38 laid waste the shop in his passage.
"I'm not late, mother! I'm not late!" he cried proudly.
She smiled warmly, happy in him, drawing out of him balm and solace39. He did not know that in that stout40 familiar body before him was a sensitive, trembling soul that clutched at him ecstatically as the one reality in the universe. He did not know that that evening meal, partaken of without hurry after school had released him to her, was to be the ceremonial sign of their intimate unity41 and their interdependence, a tender and delicious proof that they were 'all in all to each other': he saw only his tea, for which he was hungry--just as hungry as though his father were not scarcely yet cold in the grave.
But he saw obscurely that the occasion demanded something not quite ordinary, and so exerted himself to be boyishly charming to his mother. She said to herself 'how good he was.' He felt at ease and confident in the future, because he detected beneath her customary judicial42, impartial43 mask a clear desire to spoil him.
After tea, she regretfully left him, at his home-lessons, in order to go into the shop. The shop was the great unsolved question. What was she to do with the shop? Was she to continue the business or to sell it? With the fortunes of her father and her aunt, and the economies of twenty years, she had more than sufficient means. She was indeed rich, according to the standards of the Square; nay44, wealthy! Therefore she was under no material compulsion to keep the shop. Moreover, to keep it would mean personal superintendence and the burden of responsibility, from which her calm lethargy shrank. On the other hand, to dispose of the business would mean the breaking of ties and leaving the premises45: and from this also she shrank. Young Lawton, without being asked, had advised her to sell. But she did not want to sell. She wanted the impossible: that matters should proceed in the future as in the past, that Samuel's death should change nothing save in her heart.
In the meantime Miss Insull was priceless. Constance thoroughly46 understood one side of the shop; but Miss Insull understood both, and the finance of it also. Miss Insull could have directed the establishment with credit, if not with brilliance47. She was indeed directing it at that moment. Constance, however, felt jealous of Miss Insull; she was conscious of a slight antipathy48 towards the faithful one. She did not care to be in the hands of Miss Insull.
There were one or two customers at the millinery counter. They greeted her with a deplorable copiousness49 of tact50. Most tactfully they avoided any reference to Constance's loss; but by their tone, their glances, at Constance and at each other, and their heroically restrained sighs, they spread desolation as though they had been spreading ashes instead of butter on bread. The assistants, too, had a special demeanour for the poor lone1 widow which was excessively trying to her. She wished to be natural, and she would have succeeded, had they not all of them apparently51 conspired52 together to make her task impossible.
She moved away to the other side of the shop, to Samuel's desk, at which he used to stand, staring absently out of the little window into King Street while murmurously casting figures. She lighted the gas-jet there, arranged the light exactly to suit her, and then lifted the large flap of the desk and drew forth8 some account books.
"Miss Insull!" she called, in a low, clear voice, with a touch of haughtiness53 and a touch of command in it. The pose, a comical contradiction of Constance's benevolent54 character, was deliberately55 adopted; it illustrated56 the effects of jealousy57 on even the softest disposition58.
Miss Insull responded. She had no alternative but to respond. And she gave no sign of resenting her employer's attitude. But then Miss Insull seldom did give any sign of being human.
The customers departed, one after another, obsequiously59 sped by the assistants, who thereupon lowered the gases somewhat, according to secular60 rule; and in the dim eclipse, as they restored boxes to shelves, they could hear the tranquil61, regular, half-whispered conversation of the two women at the desk, discussing accounts; and then the chink of gold.
Suddenly there was an irruption. One of the assistants sprang instinctively62 to the gas; but on perceiving that the disturber of peace was only a slatternly girl, hatless and imperfectly clean, she decided63 to leave the gas as it was, and put on a condescending64, suspicious demeanour.
"If you please, can I speak to the missis?" said the girl, breathlessly.
She seemed to be about eighteen years of age, fat and plain. Her blue frock was torn, and over it she wore a rough brown apron65, caught up at one corner to the waist. Her bare forearms were of brick-red colour.
"What is it?" demanded the assistant.
Miss Insull looked over her shoulder across the shop. "It must be Maggie's--Mrs. Hollins's daughter!" said Miss Insull under her breath.
"What can she want?" said Constance, leaving the desk instantly; and to the girl, who stood sturdily holding her own against the group of assistants: "You are Mrs. Hollins's daughter, aren't you?"
"Yes, mum."
"What's your name?"
"Maggie, mum. And, if you please, mother's sent me to ask if you'll kindly66 give her a funeral card."
"A funeral card?"
"Yes. Of Mr. Povey. She's been expecting of one, and she thought as how perhaps you'd forgotten it, especially as she wasn't asked to the funeral."
The girl stopped.
Constance perceived that by mere67 negligence68 she had seriously wounded the feelings of Maggie, senior. The truth was, she had never thought of Maggie. She ought to have remembered that funeral cards were almost the sole ornamentation of Maggie's abominable69 cottage.
"Certainly," she replied after a pause. "Miss Insull, there are a few cards left in the desk, aren't there? Please put me one in an envelope for Mrs. Hollins."
She gave the heavily bordered envelope to the ruddy wench, who enfolded it in her apron, and with hurried, shy thanks ran off.
"Tell your mother I send her a card with pleasure," Constance called after the girl.
The strangeness of the hazards of life made her thoughtful. She, to whom Maggie had always seemed an old woman, was a widow, but Maggie's husband survived as a lusty invalid70. And she guessed that Maggie, vilely71 struggling in squalor and poverty, was somehow happy in her frowsy, careless way.
She went back to the accounts, dreaming.
收听单词发音 |
1
lone
|
|
| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
unwillingly
|
|
| adv.不情愿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
sufficiently
|
|
| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
intimidated
|
|
| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
hesitations
|
|
| n.犹豫( hesitation的名词复数 )；踌躇；犹豫（之事或行为）；口吃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
meticulously
|
|
| adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
epidermis
|
|
| n.表皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
sift
|
|
| v.筛撒，纷落，详察 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
mania
|
|
| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
coffin
|
|
| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
persistently
|
|
| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
recurred
|
|
| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
majestic
|
|
| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
abruptness
|
|
| n. 突然，唐突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
sullenness
|
|
| n. 愠怒, 沉闷, 情绪消沉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
loyalty
|
|
| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
amputation
|
|
| n.截肢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
obstinately
|
|
| ad.固执地，顽固地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
enervating
|
|
| v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
voluptuousness
|
|
| n.风骚，体态丰满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
bereavement
|
|
| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
punctuated
|
|
| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
commonsense
|
|
| adj.有常识的；明白事理的；注重实际的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
widower
|
|
| n.鳏夫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
naive
|
|
| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
specially
|
|
| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
disappearance
|
|
| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
outright
|
|
| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
uncommon
|
|
| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
spasm
|
|
| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
previously
|
|
| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
solace
|
|
| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
unity
|
|
| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
judicial
|
|
| adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
impartial
|
|
| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
premises
|
|
| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
brilliance
|
|
| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
antipathy
|
|
| n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
copiousness
|
|
| n.丰裕，旺盛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
50
tact
|
|
| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
conspired
|
|
| 密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
haughtiness
|
|
| n.傲慢；傲气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
illustrated
|
|
| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
jealousy
|
|
| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
obsequiously
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
secular
|
|
| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
tranquil
|
|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
instinctively
|
|
| adv.本能地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
condescending
|
|
| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
negligence
|
|
| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
abominable
|
|
| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
invalid
|
|
| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
vilely
|
|
| adv.讨厌地，卑劣地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |