little teeth; if you made her angry, she would not raise her voice,

but would probably say one of the bitterest things you have ever tasted



the flavor of; if you did her a kindness, she would never forget it.

Mary admired the keen-faced handsome little Vicar in his well-brushed



threadbare clothes more than any man she had had the opportunity

of knowing. She had never heard him say a foolish thing, though she



knew that he did unwise ones; and perhaps foolish sayings were more

objectionable to her than any of Mr. Farebrother's unwise doings.



At least, it was remarkable that the actual imperfections of the

Vicar's clericalcharacter never seemed to call forth the same



scorn and dislike which she showed beforehand for the predicted

imperfections of the clericalcharacter sustained by Fred Vincy.



These irregularities of judgment, I imagine, are found even in riper

minds than Mary Garth's: our impartiality is kept for abstract



merit and demerit, which none of us ever saw. Will any one guess

towards which of those widely different men Mary had the peculiar



woman's tenderness?--the one she was most inclined to be severe on,

or the contrary?



"Have you any message for your old playfellow, Miss Garth?"

said the Vicar, as he took a fragrant apple from the basket which she



held towards him, and put it in his pocket. "Something to soften

down that harsh judgment? I am going straight to see him."



"No," said Mary, shaking her head, and smiling. "If I were to say

that he would not be ridiculous as a clergyman" target="_blank" title="n.牧师；教士">clergyman, I must say that he



would be something worse than ridiculous. But I am very glad

to hear that he is going away to work."



"On the other hand, I am very glad to hear that YOU are not

going away to work. My mother, I am sure, will be all the happier



if you will come to see her at the vicarage: you know she is fond

of having young people to talk to, and she has a great deal to tell



about old times. You will really be doing a kindness."

"I should like it very much, if I may," said Mary. "Everything



seems too happy for me all at once. I thought it would always

be part of my life to long for home, and losing that grievance



makes me feel rather empty: I suppose it served instead of sense

to fill up my mind?"



"May I go with you, Mary?" whispered Letty--a most inconvenient child,

who listened to everything. But she was made exultant by having



her chin pinched and her cheek kissed by Mr. Farebrother--

an incident which she narrated to her mother and father.



As the Vicar walked to Lowick, any one watching him closely might

have seen him twice shrug his shoulders. I think that the rare



Englishmen who have this gesture are never of the heavy type--

for fear of any lumberinginstance to the contrary, I will say,



hardly ever; they have usually a fine temperament and much tolerance

towards the smaller errors of men (themselves inclusive). The Vicar



was holding an inward dialogue in which he told himself that there

was probably something more between Fred and Mary Garth than the



regard of old playfellows, and replied with a question whether

that bit of womanhood were not a great deal too choice for that



crude young gentleman. The rejoinder to this was the first shrug.

Then he laughed at himself for being likely to have felt jealous,



as if he had been a man able to marry, which, added he, it is

as clear as any balance-sheet that I am not. Whereupon followed



the second shrug.

What could two men, so different from each other, see in this



"brown patch," as Mary called herself? It was certainly not her

plainness that attracted them (and let all plain young ladies be



warned against the dangerous encouragement given them by Society

to confide in their want of beauty). A human being in this aged



nation of ours is a very wonderful whole, the slow creation of long

interchanging influences: and charm is a result of two such wholes,



the one loving and the one loved.

When Mr. and Mrs. Garth were sitting alone, Caleb said, "Susan, guess



what I'm thinking of."

"The rotation of crops," said Mrs. Garth, smiling at him,



above her knitting, "or else the back-doors of the Tipton cottages."

"No," said Caleb, gravely; "I am thinking that I could do a great



turn for Fred Vincy. Christy's gone, Alfred will be gone soon,

and it will be five years before Jim is ready to take to business.



I shall want help, and Fred might come in and learn the nature

of things and act under me, and it might be the making of him into



a useful man, if he gives up being a parson. What do you think?"

"I think, there is hardly anything honest that his family would



object to more," said Mrs. Garth, decidedly.

• connection [kə´nekʃən] n.联系；关系；联运 (初中英语单词)


• employment [im´plɔimənt] n.工作；职业；雇用 (初中英语单词)


• politics [´pɔlitiks] n.政治(学)；政治活动 (初中英语单词)


• injury [´indʒəri] n.伤害；毁坏；侮辱 (初中英语单词)


• contrary [´kɔntrəri] a.相反的 n.相反 (初中英语单词)


• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)


• frankly [´fræŋkli] ad.直率地；慷慨地 (初中英语单词)


• profession [prə´feʃən] n.职业；声明；表白 (初中英语单词)


• forgive [fə´giv] vt.原谅，谅解，宽恕 (初中英语单词)


• otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)


• ignorant [´ignərənt] a.无知的，愚昧的 (初中英语单词)


• western [´westən] a.西的；西方的 (初中英语单词)


• carriage [´kæridʒ] n.马车；客车；货运 (初中英语单词)


• amusement [ə´mju:zmənt] n.娱乐；文娱设施 (初中英语单词)


• flavor [´fleivə] n.滋味 vt.给….调味 (初中英语单词)


• knowing [´nəuiŋ] a.会意的，心照不宣的 (初中英语单词)


• remarkable [ri´mɑ:kəbl] a.值得注意的；显著的 (初中英语单词)


• actual [´æktʃuəl] a.现实的；实际的 (初中英语单词)


• character [´kæriktə] n.特性；性质；人物；字 (初中英语单词)


• dislike [dis´laik] vt.&n.不喜爱，厌恶 (初中英语单词)


• severe [si´viə] a.严厉的；苛刻的 (初中英语单词)


• incident [´insidənt] n.小事件；事变 (初中英语单词)


• gesture [´dʒestʃə] n.手势 v.打手势 (初中英语单词)


• lumbering [´lʌmbəriŋ] n.伐木(业) (初中英语单词)


• instance [´instəns] n.例子，实例，例证 (初中英语单词)


• creation [kri´eiʃən] n.创作；作品；创造 (初中英语单词)


• knitting [´nitiŋ] n.编织(物)；接合；联合 (初中英语单词)


• gravely [´greivli] ad.庄重地，严肃地 (初中英语单词)


• horseback [´hɔ:sbæk] n.马背 (高中英语单词)


• congratulate [kən´grætjuleit] vt.祝贺 (高中英语单词)


• heartily [´hɑ:tili] ad.衷心地；亲切地 (高中英语单词)


• guarantee [,gærən´ti:] n.保证；担保 vt.允诺 (高中英语单词)


• reconcile [´rekənsail] vt.调和；使和谐 (高中英语单词)


• clergyman [´klə:dʒimən] n.牧师；教士 (高中英语单词)


• hinder [´hində, ´haində] vt.阻止 a.后面的 (高中英语单词)


• delicacy [´delikəsi] n.精美；娇弱，微妙 (高中英语单词)


• uncomfortable [ʌn´kʌmftəbəl] a.不舒服的，不自在的 (高中英语单词)


• workman [´wə:kmən] n.工人；工作人员 (高中英语单词)


• contempt [kən´tempt] n.轻蔑；受辱；不顾 (高中英语单词)


• behavior [bi´heiviə] n.举止，行为 (高中英语单词)


• bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)


• grudge [grʌdʒ] vt.&n.吝啬；怨恨 (高中英语单词)


• seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)


• brightness [´braitnis] n.光明；快乐 (高中英语单词)


• lavender [´lævində] n.熏衣草；淡紫色 (高中英语单词)


• crowded [´kraudid] a.充(拥)满了的 (高中英语单词)


• disagreeable [,disə´gri:əbl] a.令人不悦的 (高中英语单词)


• fragrant [´freigrənt] a.芳香的，芬芳的 (高中英语单词)


• ridiculous [ri´dikjuləs] a.荒谬的；可笑的 (高中英语单词)


• temperament [´tempərəmənt] n.气质；性格 (高中英语单词)


• inward [´inwəd] a.向内的；心灵上的 (高中英语单词)


• encouragement [in´kʌridʒmənt] n.鼓励；赞助；引诱 (高中英语单词)


• confide [kən´faid] v.委托；吐露；信任 (高中英语单词)


• loving [´lʌviŋ] a.爱的，有爱情的 (高中英语单词)


• parson [´pɑ:sən] n.教区牧师 (高中英语单词)


• decidedly [di´saididli] ad.坚决地，果断地 (高中英语单词)


• clergy [´klə:dʒi] n.牧师；教士 (英语四级单词)


• wanton [´wɔntən, ´wɑ:n-] a.顽皮的 n.&vi.荡妇 (英语四级单词)


• beforehand [bi´fɔ:hænd] ad.事先；提前 (英语四级单词)


• whereupon [,weərə´pɔn] ad.在什么上面；因此 (英语四级单词)


• rotation [rəu´teiʃən] n.旋转；循环，交替 (英语四级单词)


• speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)


• uneasily [ʌn´i:zili] ad.不安地；局促地 (英语六级单词)


• contemptible [kən´temptəbəl] a.可鄙的；可轻视的 (英语六级单词)


• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)


• amends [ə´mendz] n.赔偿；赔罪 (英语六级单词)


• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)


• unwise [ʌn´waiz] a.不聪明的，愚笨的 (英语六级单词)


• clerical [´klerikəl] a.牧师的；教士的 (英语六级单词)


• inconvenient [,inkən´vi:niənt] a.不方便的 (英语六级单词)