章节正文
that Betsy Dill was very pretty, in a fine, robust style, and all
four of us were decidedly enamored of her charms. Usually we
courted her in a body, and scrupulous fairness was observed in
the matter of seeking private interviews.
Smugg had never spoken to her--so we should all have sworn. But
now my wondering eyes saw, opposite Pyrrha (we began from this
day to call her Pyrrha) the figure of Smugg. Pyrrha was leaning
against a barn, one foot crossed over the other, her arms akimbo,
a string of her bonnet in her mouth, and her blue eyes laughing
from under long lashes. Smugg stood limply opposite her, his
trousers bagging over his half-bent knees, his hat in one hand,
and in the other a handkerchief, with which, from time to time,
he mopped his forehead. I could not hear (of course I did not
wish to) what they were saying; indeed, I have my doubts if they
said anything; but presently Smugg moved a hesitating step
nearer, when Pyrrha, with a merry laugh, darted by him and ran
away, turning a mocking face over her shoulder. Smugg stood
still for a minute, then put on his hat, looked at his watch, and
walked slowly away.
I did not keep Smugg's secret; I felt under no obligation to keep
it. He deserved no mercy, and I exposed him at breakfast
that very morning. But I could not help being a little sorry for
him when he came in. He bent his head under the shower of
reproach, chaff, and gibing; he did not try to excuse himself; he
simply opened his book at the old place, and we all shouted the
old ode, substituting "Betsa" for "Pyrrha" wherever we could.
Still, in spite of our jocularity, we all felt an under-current
of real anger.
We considered that Smugg was treating Pyrrha very badly--Smugg,
an engaged man, aged thirty, presumably past the heat and
carelessness of youth. We glowed with a sense of her wrongs, and
that afternoon we each went for a solitary walk--at least, we
started for a solitary walk--but half an hour later we all met at
the gate leading to Dill's meadows, and, in an explosion of
laughter, acknowledged our secret design of meeting Pyrrha, and
opening her eyes to Smugg's iniquity.
The great surprise was still to come. At eleven the next
morning, when we had just sat down to work, and Smugg had slid
into the room with the stealthy, ashamed air he wore after his
morning excursions, Mary appeared, and told us that Joe Shanks,
the butcher's son, had come with the chops, and wanted to speak
to us. We hailed the diversion, and had Joe shown in. Gayford
pushed the beer jug and a glass toward him, saying:
"Help yourself, Joe."
Joe drank a draught, wiped his mouth on his blue sleeve, and
remarked:
"No offense, gentlemen."
"None," said Gayford, who seemed to have assumed the chairmanship
of the meeting.
Joe, seemingslightly embarrassed, cleared his throat, and looked
round again.
"No offense, gentlemen," he repeated; "but she's bin walking with
me two years come Michaelmas."
A pause followed. Then the chairman expressed the views of the
meeting.
"The deuce she has!" said he.
"Off AND on," added Joe candidly.
I looked at Smugg. He had shrunk down low in his seat, and
rested his head on his hand. His face was half hidden; but he
was very warm, and the drops trickled from his forehead down his
nose.
"It seems to be a good deal off," said the chairman judicially.
"No offense," said Joe; "but I don't take it kind of you,
gentlemen. I've served you faithful."
"The chops are excellent," conceded the chairman.
"And I don't take it kind."
"Develop your complaint," said the chairman. "I mean, what's the
row, Joe?"
"Since you gentlemen came she's been saucy," said Joe.
"I do not see," observed the chairman, "that anything can be
done. If Pyrrha prefers us, Joe [he treated the case
collectively, which was certainly wise], what then?"
"Beg pardon, sir?"
"Oh, I mean if the lady prefers us, Joe?"
Joe brought his fat fist down on the table with a thump.
"It aint as if you meant it," said he doggedly; "you just
unsettles of 'er. I s'pose I can't help ye talking, and
laughing, and walking along of 'er, but you aint no call to kiss
'er."
Another pause ensued. The chairman held a consultation with
Tritton, who sat on his right hand.
"The meeting," said Gayford, "will proceed to declare, one by
one, whether it has ever--and if so, how often--kissed the lady.
I will begin. Never! Mr. Tritton?"
"Never!" said Tritton.
"Mr. Bird?"
"Never!" said Bird.
"Mr. Robertson?"
"Never!" said I.
"Mr. Smugg?"
"I seed 'im this very morning!" cried Joe, like an accusing
angel.
Smugg took his hand away from his face, after giving his wet brow
one last dab. He looked at Gayford and at Joe, but said nothing.
"Mr. Smugg?" repeated the chairman.
"Mr. Smugg," interposed Tritton suavely, "probably feels himself
in a difficulty. The secret is not, perhaps, entirely his own."
We all nodded.
"We enter a plea of not guilty for Mr. Smugg," observed the
chairman gravely.
"I seed 'im do it," said Joe.
No one spoke. Joe finished his beer, pulled his forelock, and
turned on his heel. Suddenly Smugg burst into speech. He could
hardly form his words, and they jostled one another in the
breathless confusion of his utterance.
"I--I--you've no right. I say nothing. If I choose, I shall--no
one has a right to stop me. If I love her--if she doesn't mind--
I say nothing--nothing at all. I won't hear a word. I shall do
as I like."
Joe had paused to hear him, and now stood looking at him in
wonder. Then he stepped quickly up to the table, and, leaning
across, asked in a harsh voice:
"You mean honest, do you, by her? You'd make her your wife,
would you?"
Smugg, looking straight in front of him, answered:
"Yes."
Joe drew back, touched his forelock again, and said:
"Then it's fair fighting, sir, begging your pardon; and no
offense. But the girl was mine first, sir."
Then Gayford interposed.
"Mr. Smugg," said he, "you tell Joe, here, that you'd marry this
lady. May I ask how you can--when----"
But for once Smugg was able to silence one of his pupils. He
arose from his seat, and brought his hand heavily down on
Gayford's shoulder.
"Hold your tongue!" he cried. "I must answer to God, but I
needn't answer to you."
Joe looked at him with round eyes, and, with a last salute,
slowly went out. None of us spoke, and presently Smugg opened
his Thucydides.
For my part, I took very considerable interest in Pyrrha's side
of the question. I amused myself by constructing a fancy-born
love of Pyrrha's for her social superior, and if he had been one
of ourselves, I should have seen no absurdity. But Smugg refused
altogether to fit into my frame. There was no glamour about
Smugg; and, to tell the truth, I should have thought that any
girl, be her station what it might, faced with the alternative of
Smugg and Joe, would have chosen Joe. In my opinion, Pyrrha was
merely amusing herself with Smugg, and I was rather comforted by
this reversal of the ordinary roles. Still, I could not
rest in conjecture, and my curiosity led me up to Dill's little
farm on the afternoon of the day of Joe's sudden appearance. The
others let me go alone. Directly after dinner Smugg went to his
bedroom, and the other three had gone off to play lawn tennis
at the vicar's. I lit my pipe, and strolled along till I
reached the gate that led to Dill's meadow. Here I waited till
Pyrrha should appear.
As I sat and smoked, a voice struck suddenly on my ear--the voice
of Mrs. Dill, raised to shrillness by anger.
"Be off with you," she said, "and mind your ways, or worse 'll
happen to you. 'Ere's your switch."
After a moment Pyrrha turned the corner, and came toward me. She
was wiping her eyes with the corner of her apron, and carried in
her hand a light hazel switch, which she used to guide errant
cows. She was almost at the gate before she saw me. She
started, and blushed very red.
"Lor! is it you, Mr. Robertson?" she said.
I nodded, but did not move.
"Let me pass, sir, please. I've no time to stop."
"What, not to talk to me, Pyrrha--Betsy, I mean?"
"Mother don't like me talking to gentlemen."
"You've been crying," said I.
"No, I haven't," said Pyrrha, quite violently.
"Mother been scolding you?"
"I wish you'd let me by, sir."
"What for?"
"It's all your fault," burst out Pyrrha. "I didn't want you; no,
nor him, either. What do you come and get me into trouble for?"
"I haven't done anything, Betsy. Come now!"
"You aint as bad as some," she conceded, a dim smile breaking
through the clouds.
"You mean Smugg," I observed.
"Who told you?" she cried.
"Joe," said I.
"Seems he's got a lot to say to everybody," she commented
resentfully.
"Ah! he told your mother, did he? Well, you know you shouldn't,
Betsy."
"I won't never speak to him again--I meant I won't ever [the
grammarian is abroad], Mr. Robertson."
"What! Not to Joe?"
"Joe! No; that Smugg."
"But Joe told of you."
"Well, and it was his right."
If she thought so, I had no more to say. Notions differ among
different sets. But I pressed the point a little.
"Joe got you your scolding."
Now, I can't say whether I did or did not emphasize the last word
unduly, but Pyrrha blushed again, and remarked:
"You want to know too much, sir, by a deal."
So I left that aspect to the subject, and continued:
"I suppose it was for letting Mr. Smugg kiss you?"
"I couldn't help it."
I had great doubts of that--she could have tackled Smugg with one
hand; but I said pleasantly:
"No more could he, I'm sure."
Pyrrha cast an alarmed glance at the house.
"Oh, I'll be careful," I laughed. "Yes, and I'll let you go.
But just tell me, Betsy, what do you think of Mr. Smugg?"
"I don't think that of him!" said she, snapping her pretty red
fingers. "Joe 'ud make ten of him. I wish Joe'd talk to him a
four of us were decidedly enamored of her charms. Usually we
courted her in a body, and scrupulous fairness was observed in
the matter of seeking private interviews.
Smugg had never spoken to her--so we should all have sworn. But
now my wondering eyes saw, opposite Pyrrha (we began from this
day to call her Pyrrha) the figure of Smugg. Pyrrha was leaning
against a barn, one foot crossed over the other, her arms akimbo,
a string of her bonnet in her mouth, and her blue eyes laughing
from under long lashes. Smugg stood limply opposite her, his
trousers bagging over his half-bent knees, his hat in one hand,
and in the other a handkerchief, with which, from time to time,
he mopped his forehead. I could not hear (of course I did not
wish to) what they were saying; indeed, I have my doubts if they
said anything; but presently Smugg moved a hesitating step
nearer, when Pyrrha, with a merry laugh, darted by him and ran
away, turning a mocking face over her shoulder. Smugg stood
still for a minute, then put on his hat, looked at his watch, and
walked slowly away.
I did not keep Smugg's secret; I felt under no obligation to keep
it. He deserved no mercy, and I exposed him at breakfast
that very morning. But I could not help being a little sorry for
him when he came in. He bent his head under the shower of
reproach, chaff, and gibing; he did not try to excuse himself; he
simply opened his book at the old place, and we all shouted the
old ode, substituting "Betsa" for "Pyrrha" wherever we could.
Still, in spite of our jocularity, we all felt an under-current
of real anger.
We considered that Smugg was treating Pyrrha very badly--Smugg,
an engaged man, aged thirty, presumably past the heat and
carelessness of youth. We glowed with a sense of her wrongs, and
that afternoon we each went for a solitary walk--at least, we
started for a solitary walk--but half an hour later we all met at
the gate leading to Dill's meadows, and, in an explosion of
laughter, acknowledged our secret design of meeting Pyrrha, and
opening her eyes to Smugg's iniquity.
The great surprise was still to come. At eleven the next
morning, when we had just sat down to work, and Smugg had slid
into the room with the stealthy, ashamed air he wore after his
morning excursions, Mary appeared, and told us that Joe Shanks,
the butcher's son, had come with the chops, and wanted to speak
to us. We hailed the diversion, and had Joe shown in. Gayford
pushed the beer jug and a glass toward him, saying:
"Help yourself, Joe."
Joe drank a draught, wiped his mouth on his blue sleeve, and
remarked:
"No offense, gentlemen."
"None," said Gayford, who seemed to have assumed the chairmanship
of the meeting.
Joe, seemingslightly embarrassed, cleared his throat, and looked
round again.
"No offense, gentlemen," he repeated; "but she's bin walking with
me two years come Michaelmas."
A pause followed. Then the chairman expressed the views of the
meeting.
"The deuce she has!" said he.
"Off AND on," added Joe candidly.
I looked at Smugg. He had shrunk down low in his seat, and
rested his head on his hand. His face was half hidden; but he
was very warm, and the drops trickled from his forehead down his
nose.
"It seems to be a good deal off," said the chairman judicially.
"No offense," said Joe; "but I don't take it kind of you,
gentlemen. I've served you faithful."
"The chops are excellent," conceded the chairman.
"And I don't take it kind."
"Develop your complaint," said the chairman. "I mean, what's the
row, Joe?"
"Since you gentlemen came she's been saucy," said Joe.
"I do not see," observed the chairman, "that anything can be
done. If Pyrrha prefers us, Joe [he treated the case
collectively, which was certainly wise], what then?"
"Beg pardon, sir?"
"Oh, I mean if the lady prefers us, Joe?"
Joe brought his fat fist down on the table with a thump.
"It aint as if you meant it," said he doggedly; "you just
unsettles of 'er. I s'pose I can't help ye talking, and
laughing, and walking along of 'er, but you aint no call to kiss
'er."
Another pause ensued. The chairman held a consultation with
Tritton, who sat on his right hand.
"The meeting," said Gayford, "will proceed to declare, one by
one, whether it has ever--and if so, how often--kissed the lady.
I will begin. Never! Mr. Tritton?"
"Never!" said Tritton.
"Mr. Bird?"
"Never!" said Bird.
"Mr. Robertson?"
"Never!" said I.
"Mr. Smugg?"
"I seed 'im this very morning!" cried Joe, like an accusing
angel.
Smugg took his hand away from his face, after giving his wet brow
one last dab. He looked at Gayford and at Joe, but said nothing.
"Mr. Smugg?" repeated the chairman.
"Mr. Smugg," interposed Tritton suavely, "probably feels himself
in a difficulty. The secret is not, perhaps, entirely his own."
We all nodded.
"We enter a plea of not guilty for Mr. Smugg," observed the
chairman gravely.
"I seed 'im do it," said Joe.
No one spoke. Joe finished his beer, pulled his forelock, and
turned on his heel. Suddenly Smugg burst into speech. He could
hardly form his words, and they jostled one another in the
breathless confusion of his utterance.
"I--I--you've no right. I say nothing. If I choose, I shall--no
one has a right to stop me. If I love her--if she doesn't mind--
I say nothing--nothing at all. I won't hear a word. I shall do
as I like."
Joe had paused to hear him, and now stood looking at him in
wonder. Then he stepped quickly up to the table, and, leaning
across, asked in a harsh voice:
"You mean honest, do you, by her? You'd make her your wife,
would you?"
Smugg, looking straight in front of him, answered:
"Yes."
Joe drew back, touched his forelock again, and said:
"Then it's fair fighting, sir, begging your pardon; and no
offense. But the girl was mine first, sir."
Then Gayford interposed.
"Mr. Smugg," said he, "you tell Joe, here, that you'd marry this
lady. May I ask how you can--when----"
But for once Smugg was able to silence one of his pupils. He
arose from his seat, and brought his hand heavily down on
Gayford's shoulder.
"Hold your tongue!" he cried. "I must answer to God, but I
needn't answer to you."
Joe looked at him with round eyes, and, with a last salute,
slowly went out. None of us spoke, and presently Smugg opened
his Thucydides.
For my part, I took very considerable interest in Pyrrha's side
of the question. I amused myself by constructing a fancy-born
love of Pyrrha's for her social superior, and if he had been one
of ourselves, I should have seen no absurdity. But Smugg refused
altogether to fit into my frame. There was no glamour about
Smugg; and, to tell the truth, I should have thought that any
girl, be her station what it might, faced with the alternative of
Smugg and Joe, would have chosen Joe. In my opinion, Pyrrha was
merely amusing herself with Smugg, and I was rather comforted by
this reversal of the ordinary roles. Still, I could not
rest in conjecture, and my curiosity led me up to Dill's little
farm on the afternoon of the day of Joe's sudden appearance. The
others let me go alone. Directly after dinner Smugg went to his
bedroom, and the other three had gone off to play lawn tennis
at the vicar's. I lit my pipe, and strolled along till I
reached the gate that led to Dill's meadow. Here I waited till
Pyrrha should appear.
As I sat and smoked, a voice struck suddenly on my ear--the voice
of Mrs. Dill, raised to shrillness by anger.
"Be off with you," she said, "and mind your ways, or worse 'll
happen to you. 'Ere's your switch."
After a moment Pyrrha turned the corner, and came toward me. She
was wiping her eyes with the corner of her apron, and carried in
her hand a light hazel switch, which she used to guide errant
cows. She was almost at the gate before she saw me. She
started, and blushed very red.
"Lor! is it you, Mr. Robertson?" she said.
I nodded, but did not move.
"Let me pass, sir, please. I've no time to stop."
"What, not to talk to me, Pyrrha--Betsy, I mean?"
"Mother don't like me talking to gentlemen."
"You've been crying," said I.
"No, I haven't," said Pyrrha, quite violently.
"Mother been scolding you?"
"I wish you'd let me by, sir."
"What for?"
"It's all your fault," burst out Pyrrha. "I didn't want you; no,
nor him, either. What do you come and get me into trouble for?"
"I haven't done anything, Betsy. Come now!"
"You aint as bad as some," she conceded, a dim smile breaking
through the clouds.
"You mean Smugg," I observed.
"Who told you?" she cried.
"Joe," said I.
"Seems he's got a lot to say to everybody," she commented
resentfully.
"Ah! he told your mother, did he? Well, you know you shouldn't,
Betsy."
"I won't never speak to him again--I meant I won't ever [the
grammarian is abroad], Mr. Robertson."
"What! Not to Joe?"
"Joe! No; that Smugg."
"But Joe told of you."
"Well, and it was his right."
If she thought so, I had no more to say. Notions differ among
different sets. But I pressed the point a little.
"Joe got you your scolding."
Now, I can't say whether I did or did not emphasize the last word
unduly, but Pyrrha blushed again, and remarked:
"You want to know too much, sir, by a deal."
So I left that aspect to the subject, and continued:
"I suppose it was for letting Mr. Smugg kiss you?"
"I couldn't help it."
I had great doubts of that--she could have tackled Smugg with one
hand; but I said pleasantly:
"No more could he, I'm sure."
Pyrrha cast an alarmed glance at the house.
"Oh, I'll be careful," I laughed. "Yes, and I'll let you go.
But just tell me, Betsy, what do you think of Mr. Smugg?"
"I don't think that of him!" said she, snapping her pretty red
fingers. "Joe 'ud make ten of him. I wish Joe'd talk to him a
- spoken [´spəukən]
speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词) - handkerchief [´hæŋkətʃif] n.手帕，手绢 (初中英语单词)
- forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- obligation [,ɔbli´geiʃən] n.义务；职责；合约 (初中英语单词)
- shower [´ʃauə] n.展出者；阵雨；淋浴 (初中英语单词)
- wherever [weər´evə] conj.无论在哪里 (初中英语单词)
- ashamed [ə´ʃeimd] a.惭愧；不好意思 (初中英语单词)
- sleeve [sli:v] n.袖子；袖套 (初中英语单词)
- offense [ə´fens] n.冒犯；触怒；犯法 (初中英语单词)
- slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
- throat [θrəut] n.咽喉；嗓子；出入口 (初中英语单词)
- hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- pardon [´pɑ:dən] n.&vt.原谅；饶恕；赦免 (初中英语单词)
- guilty [´gilti] a.有罪的；心虚的 (初中英语单词)
- confusion [kən´fju:ʒən] n.混乱(状态)；骚乱 (初中英语单词)
- considerable [kən´sidərəbəl] a.重要的；值得重视 (初中英语单词)
- curiosity [,kjuəri´ɔsiti] n.好奇；奇事；珍品 (初中英语单词)
- meadow [´medəu] n.草地；牧场 (初中英语单词)
- differ [´difə] vi.不同；有差别 (初中英语单词)
- aspect [´æspekt] n.面貌；神色；方向 (初中英语单词)
- decidedly [di´saididli] ad.坚决地，果断地 (高中英语单词)
- bonnet [´bɔnit] n.无边女帽；童帽 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
- solitary [´sɔlitəri] a.独居的；孤独的 (高中英语单词)
- explosion [ik´spləuʒən] n.爆炸；爆发；发作 (高中英语单词)
- draught [drɑ:ft] n.通风，通气；吸出 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- amusing [ə´mju:ziŋ] a.有趣的 (高中英语单词)
- switch [switʃ] n.开关 v.转换 (高中英语单词)
- emphasize [´emfəsaiz] vt.强调 (高中英语单词)
- diversion [dai´və:ʃən] n.转移；消遣 (英语四级单词)
- seeming [´si:miŋ] a.表面上的 n.外观 (英语四级单词)
- consultation [,kɔnsəl´teiʃən] n.商量；会诊；查阅 (英语四级单词)
- absurdity [əb´sə:diti] n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 (英语四级单词)
- alternative [ɔ:l´tə:nətiv] a.二中选一的 n.选择 (英语四级单词)
- conjecture [kən´dʒektʃə] n.&v.猜测(想)；设想 (英语四级单词)
- robust [rəu´bʌst] a.强建的；茁壮的 (英语六级单词)
- fairness [´fɛənis] n.公正；晴朗 (英语六级单词)
- presumably [pri´zju:məbli] ad.推测起来；大概 (英语六级单词)
- doggedly [´dɔgidli] ad.顽强地，固执地 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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