When, in the evening, after all sorts of comings and goings, he finally returned to the old lady and the young one, in order to report the upshot, his demeanour was suitably toned to Constance's mood. The old lady had been very deeply disturbed by the tragedy, which, as she said, had passed under her very feet while she was calmly talking to Lily.
The whole truth came out in a short space of time. Mrs. Critchlow was suffering from melancholia. It appeared that for long she had been depressed1 by the failing trade of the shop, which was none of her fault. The state of the Square had steadily2 deteriorated3. Even the 'Vaults4' were not what they once were. Four or five shops had been shut up, as it were definitely, the landlords having given up hope of discovering serious tenants5. And, of those kept open, the majority were struggling desperately6 to make ends meet. Only Holl's and a new upstart draper, who had widely advertised his dress-making department, were really flourishing. The confectionery half of Mr. Brindley's business was disappearing. People would not go to Hanbridge for their bread or for their groceries, but they would go for their cakes. These electric trams had simply carried to Hanbridge the cream, and much of the milk, of Bursley's retail7 trade. There were unprincipled tradesmen in Hanbridge ready to pay the car-fares of any customer who spent a crown in their establishments. Hanbridge was the geographical8 centre of the Five Towns, and it was alive to its situation. Useless for Bursley to compete! If Mrs. Critchlow had been a philosopher, if she had known that geography had always made history, she would have given up her enterprise a dozen years ago. But Mrs. Critchlow was merely Maria Insull. She had seen Baines's in its magnificent prime, when Baines's almost conferred a favour on customers in serving them. At the time when she took over the business under the wing of her husband, it was still a good business. But from that instant the tide had seemed to turn. She had fought, and she kept on fighting, stupidly. She was not aware that she was fighting against evolution, not aware that evolution had chosen her for one of its victims! She could understand that all the other shops in the Square should fail, but not that Baines's should fail! She was as industrious9 as ever, as good a buyer, as good a seller, as keen for novelties, as economical, as methodical! And yet the returns dropped and dropped.
She naturally had no sympathy from Charles, who now took small interest even in his own business, or what was left of it, and who was coldly disgusted at the ultimate cost of his marriage. Charles gave her no money that he could avoid giving her. The crisis had been slowly approaching for years. The assistants in the shop had said nothing, or had only whispered among themselves, but now that the crisis had flowered suddenly in an attempted self-murder, they all spoke10 at once, and the evidences were pieced together into a formidable proof of the strain which Mrs. Critchlow had suffered. It appeared that for many months she had been depressed and irritable11, that sometimes she would sit down in the midst of work and declare, with every sign of exhaustion12, that she could do no more. Then with equal briskness13 she would arise and force herself to labour. She did not sleep for whole nights. One assistant related how she had complained of having had no sleep whatever for four nights consecutively14. She had noises in the ears and a chronic15 headache. Never very plump, she had grown thinner and thinner. And she was for ever taking pills: this information came from Charles's manager. She had had several outrageous16 quarrels with the redoubtable17 Charles, to the stupefaction of all who heard or saw them. ... Mrs. Critchlow standing18 up to her husband! Another strange thing was that she thought the bills of several of the big Manchester firms were unpaid19, when as a fact they had been paid. Even when shown the receipts she would not be convinced, though she pretended to be convinced. She would recommence the next day. All this was sufficiently20 disconcerting for female assistants in the drapery. But what could they do?
Then Maria Critchlow had gone a step further. She had summoned the eldest21 assistant to her corner and had informed her, with all the solemnity of a confession22 made to assuage23 a conscience which has been tortured too long, that she had on many occasions been guilty of sexual irregularity with her late employer, Samuel Povey. There was no truth whatever in this accusation24 (which everybody, however, took care not to mention to Constance); it merely indicated, perhaps, the secret aspirations25 of Maria Insull, the virgin26. The assistant was properly scandalized, more by the crudity27 of Mrs. Critchlow's language than by the alleged28 sin buried in the past. Goodness knows what the assistant would have done! But two hours later Maria Critchlow tried to commit suicide by stabbing herself with a pair of scissors. There was blood in the shop.
With as little delay as possible she had been driven away to the asylum29. Charles Critchlow, enveloped30 safely in the armour31 of his senile egotism, had shown no emotion, and very little activity. The shop was closed. And as a general draper's it never opened again. That was the end of Baines's. Two assistants found themselves without a livelihood32. The small tumble with the great.
Constance's emotion was more than pardonable; it was justified33. She could not eat and Lily could not persuade her to eat. In an unhappy moment Dick Povey mentioned--he never could remember how, afterwards--the word Federation34! And then Constance, from a passive figure of grief became a menace. She overwhelmed Dick Povey with her anathema35 of Federation, for Dick was a citizen of Hanbridge, where this detestable movement for Federation had had its birth. All the misfortunes of St. Luke's Square were due to that great, busy, grasping, unscrupulous neighbour. Had not Hanbridge done enough, without wanting to merge36 all the Five Towns into one town, of which of course itself would be the centre? For Constance, Hanbridge was a borough37 of unprincipled adventurers, bent38 on ruining the ancient 'Mother of the Five Towns' for its own glory and aggrandizement39. Let Constance hear no more of Federation! Her poor sister Sophia had been dead against Federation, and she had been quite right! All really respectable people were against it! The attempted suicide of Mrs. Critchlow sealed the fate of Federation and damned it for ever, in Constance's mind. Her hatred40 of the idea of it was intensified41 into violent animosity; insomuch that in the result she died a martyr42 to the cause of Bursley's municipal independence.
1 depressed | |
adj.沮丧的,抑郁的,不景气的,萧条的 | |
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2 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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3 deteriorated | |
恶化,变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 vaults | |
n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 );地下室;撑物跳高;墓穴 | |
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5 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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6 desperately | |
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地 | |
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7 retail | |
v./n.零售;adv.以零售价格 | |
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8 geographical | |
adj.地理的;地区(性)的 | |
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9 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
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10 spoke | |
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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11 irritable | |
adj.急躁的;过敏的;易怒的 | |
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12 exhaustion | |
n.耗尽枯竭,疲惫,筋疲力尽,竭尽,详尽无遗的论述 | |
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13 briskness | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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14 consecutively | |
adv.连续地 | |
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15 chronic | |
adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的 | |
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16 outrageous | |
adj.无理的,令人不能容忍的 | |
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17 redoubtable | |
adj.可敬的;可怕的 | |
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18 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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19 unpaid | |
adj.未付款的,无报酬的 | |
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20 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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21 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
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22 confession | |
n.自白,供认,承认 | |
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23 assuage | |
v.缓和,减轻,镇定 | |
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24 accusation | |
n.控告,指责,谴责 | |
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25 aspirations | |
强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 ); 志向; 发送气音; 发 h 音 | |
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26 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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27 crudity | |
n.粗糙,生硬;adj.粗略的 | |
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28 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
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29 asylum | |
n.避难所,庇护所,避难 | |
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30 enveloped | |
v.包围,笼罩,包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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32 livelihood | |
n.生计,谋生之道 | |
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33 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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34 federation | |
n.同盟,联邦,联合,联盟,联合会 | |
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35 anathema | |
n.诅咒;被诅咒的人(物),十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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36 merge | |
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体 | |
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37 borough | |
n.享有自治权的市镇;(英)自治市镇 | |
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38 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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39 aggrandizement | |
n.增大,强化,扩大 | |
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40 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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41 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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