章节正文
well educated, and of excellent dispositions.
"Now, Earnscliff;" exclaimed Hobbie, "I am glad to meet your
honour ony gate, and company's blithe on a bare moor like this
--it's an unco bogilly bit--Where hae ye been sporting?"
"Up the Carla Cleugh, Hobbie," answered Earnscliff, returning his
greeting. "But will our dogs keep the peace, think you?"
"Deil a fear o' mine," said Hobbie, "they hae scarce a leg to
stand on.--Odd! the deer's fled the country, I think! I have
been as far as Inger-fell-foot, and deil a horn has Hobbie seen,
excepting three red-wud raes, that never let me within shot of
them, though I gaed a mile round to get up the wind to them, an'
a'. Deil o' me wad care muckle, only I wanted some venison to
our auld gude-dame. The carline, she sits in the neuk yonder,
upbye, and cracks about the grand shooters and hunters lang syne
--Odd, I think they hae killed a' the deer in the country, for my
part."
"Well, Hobbie, I have shot a fat buck, and sent him to Earnscliff
this morning--you shall have half of him for your grandmother."
"Mony thanks to ye, Mr. Patrick, ye're kend to a' the country for
a kind heart. It will do the auld wife's heart gude--mair by
token, when she kens it comes frae you--and maist of a' gin ye'll
come up and take your share, for I reckon ye are lonesome now in
the auld tower, and a' your folk at that weary Edinburgh. I
wonder what they can find to do amang a wheen ranks o' stane-
houses wi' slate on the tap o' them, that might live on their ain
bonny green hills."
"My education and my sisters' has kept my mother much in
Edinburgh for several years," said Earnscliff; "but I promise you
I propose to make up for lost time."
"And ye'll rig out the auld tower a bit," said Hobbie, "and live
hearty and neighbour-like wi' the auld family friends, as the
Laird o' Earnscliff should? I can tell ye, my mother--my
grandmother I mean--but, since we lost our ain mother, we ca' her
sometimes the tane, and sometimes the tother--but, ony gate, she
conceits hersell no that distant connected wi' you."
"Very true, Hobbie, and I will come to the Heugh-foot to dinner
to-morrow with all my heart."
"Weel, that's kindly said! We are auld neighbours, an we were
nae kin--and my gude-dame's fain to see you--she clavers about
your father that was killed lang syne."
"Hush, hush, Hobbie--not a word about that--it's a story better
forgotten."
"I dinna ken--if it had chanced amang our folk, we wad hae keepit
it in mind mony a day till we got some mends for't--but ye ken
your ain ways best, you lairds--I have heard say that Ellieslaw's
friend stickit your sire after the laird himsell had mastered his
sword."
"Fie, fie, Hobbie; it was a foolish brawl, occasioned by wine and
politics--many swords were drawn--it is impossible to say who
struck the blow."
"At ony rate, auld Ellieslaw was aiding and abetting; and I am
sure if ye were sae disposed as to take amends on him, naebody
could say it was wrang, for your father's blood is beneath his
nails--and besides there's naebody else left that was concerned
to take amends upon, and he's a prelatist and a jacobite into the
bargain--I can tell ye the country folk look for something atween
ye."
"O for shame, Hobbie!" replied the young Laird; "you, that
profess religion, to stir your friend up to break the law, and
take vengeance at his own hand, and in such a bogilly bit too,
where we know not what beings may be listening to us!"
"Hush, hush!" said Hobbie, drawing nearer to his companion, "I
was nae thinking o' the like o' them--But I can guess a wee bit
what keeps your hand up, Mr. Patrick; we a' ken it's no lack o'
courage, but the twa grey een of a bonny lass, Miss Isabel Vere,
that keeps you sae sober."
"I assure you, Hobbie," said his companion, rather angrily, "I
assure you you are mistaken; and it is extremely wrong of you,
either to think of, or to utter, such an idea; I have no idea of
permitting freedoms to be carried so far as to connect my name
with that of any young lady."
"Why, there now--there now!" retorted Elliot; "did I not say it
was nae want o' spunk that made ye sae mim?--Weel, weel, I meant
nae offence; but there's just ae thing ye may notice frae a
friend. The auld Laird of Ellieslaw has the auld riding blood
far hetter at his heart than ye hae--troth, he kens naething
about thae newfangled notions o' peace and quietness--he's a' for
the auld-warld doings o' lifting and laying on, and he has a
wheen stout lads at his back too, and keeps them weel up in
heart, and as fu' o' mischief as young colts. Where he gets the
gear to do't nane can say; he lives high, and far abune his rents
here; however, he pays his way--Sae, if there's ony out-break in
the country, he's likely to break out wi' the first--and weel
does he mind the auld quarrels between ye, I'm surmizing he'll be
for a touch at the auld tower at Earnscliff."
"Well, Hobbie," answered the young gentleman, "if he should be so
ill advised, I shall try to make the old tower good against him,
as it has been made good by my betters against his betters many a
day ago."
"Very right--very right--that's speaking like a man now," said
the stout yeoman; "and, if sae should be that this be sae, if
ye'll just gar your servant jow out the great bell in the tower,
there's me, and my twa brothers, and little Davie of the
Stenhouse, will be wi' you, wi' a' the power we can make, in the
snapping of a flint."
"Many thanks, Hobbie," answered Earnscliff; "but I hope we shall
have no war of so unnatural and unchristian a kind in our time."
"Hout, sir, hout," replied Elliot; "it wad be but a wee bit
neighbour war, and Heaven and earth would make allowances for it
in this uncuItivated place--it's just the nature o' the folk and
the land--we canna live quiet like Loudon folk--we haena sae
muckle to do. It's impossible."
"Well, Hobbie," said the Laird, "for one who believes so deeply
as you do in supernatural appearances, I must own you take Heaven
in your own hand rather audaciously, considering where we are
walking."
"What needs I care for the Mucklestane-Moor ony mair than ye do
yoursell, Earnscliff?" said Hobbie, something offended; "to be
sure, they do say there's a sort o' worricows and lang-nebbit
things about the land, but what need I care for them? I hae a
good conscience, and little to answer for, unless it be about a
rant amang the lasses, or a splore at a fair, and that's no
muckle to speak of. Though I say it mysell, I am as quiet a lad
and as peaceable--"
"And Dick Turnbull's head that you broke, and Willie of Winton
whom you shot at?" said his travelling companion.
"Hout, Earnscliff, ye keep a record of a' men's misdoings
--Dick's head's healed again, and we're to fight out the quarrel
at Jeddart, on the Rood-day, so that's like a thing settled in a
peaceable way; and then I am friends wi' Willie again, puir
chield--it was but twa or three hail draps after a'. I wad let
onybody do the like o't to me for a pint o' brandy. But Willie's
lowland bred, poor fallow, and soon frighted for himsell--And,
for the worricows, were we to meet ane on this very bit--"
"As is not unlikely," said young Earnscliff, "for there stands
your old witch, Hobbie."
"I say," continued Elliot, as if indignant at this hint--"I say,
if the auld carline hersell was to get up out o' the grund just
before us here, I would think nae mair--But, gude preserve us,
Earnscliff; what can yon, be!"
CHAPTER III.
Brown Dwarf, that o'er the moorland strays,
Thy name to Keeldar tell!
"The Brown Man of the Moor, that stays
Beneath the heather-bell." JOHN LEYDEN
The object which alarmed the young farmer in the middle of his
valorous protestations, startled for a moment even his less
prejudiced companion. The moon, which had arisen during their
conversation, was, in the phrase of that country, wading or
struggling with clouds, and shed only a doubtful and occasional
light. By one of her beams, which streamed upon the great
granite column to which they now approached, they discovered a
form, apparently human, but of a size much less than ordinary,
which moved slowly among the large grey stones, not like a person
intending to journey onward, but with the slow, irregular,
flitting movement of a being who hovers around some spot of
melancholy recollection, uttering also, from time to time, a sort
of indistinct muttering sound. This so much resembled his idea
of the motions of an apparition, that Hobbie Elliot, making a
dead pause, while his hair erected itself upon his scalp,
whispered to his companion, "It's Auld Ailie hersell! Shall I
gie her a shot, in the name of God?"
"For Heaven's sake, no," said his companion, holding down the
weapon which he was about to raise to the aim--"for Heaven's
sake, no; it's some poor distracted creature."
"Ye're distracted yoursell, for thinking of going so near to
her," said Elliot, holding his companion in his turn, as he
prepared to advance. "We'll aye hae time to pit ower a bit
prayer (an I could but mind ane) afore she comes this length
--God! she's in nae hurry," continued he, growing bolder from
his companion's confidence, and the little notice the apparition
seemed to take of them. "She hirples like a hen on a het girdle.
I redd ye, Earnscliff" (this he added in a gentle whisper), "let
us take a cast about, as if to draw the wind on a buck--the bog
is no abune knee-deep, and better a saft road as bad company."
[The Scots use the epithet soft, IN MALAM PARTEM, in two cases,
at least. A SOFT road is a road through quagmire and bogs; and
SOFT weather signifies that which is very rainy.]
Earnscliff, however, in spite of his companion's resistance and
remonstrances, continued to advance on the path they had
originally pursued, and soon confronted the object of their
investigation.
The height of the figure, which appeared even to decrease as they
approached it, seemed to be under four feet, and its form, as far
as the imperfect light afforded them the means of discerning, was
very nearly as broad as long, or rather of a spherical shape,
which could only be occasioned by some strange personal
deformity. The young sportsman hailed this extraordinary
appearance twice, without receiving any answer, or attending to
the pinches by which his companion endeavoured to intimate that
their best course was to walk on, without giving farther
disturbance to a being of such singular and preternatural
exterior. To the third repeated demand of "Who are you? What do
you here at this hour of night?"--a voice replied, whose shrill,
uncouth, and dissonant tones made Elliot step two paces back, and
startled even his companion, "Pass on your way, and ask nought at
them that ask nought at you."
"What do you do here so far from shelter? Are you benighted on
your journey? Will you follow us home ('God forbid!' ejaculated
Hobbie Elliot, involuntarily), and I will give you a lodging?"
"I would sooner lodge by mysell in the deepest of the Tarras-
flow," again whispered Hobbie.
"Pass on your way," rejoined the figure, the harsh tones of his
voice still more exalted by passion. "I want not your guidance
--I want not your lodging--it is five years since my head was
under a human roof, and I trust it was for the last time."
"He is mad," said Earnscliff.
"He has a look of auld Humphrey Ettercap, the tinkler, that
perished in this very moss about five years syne," answered his
superstitious companion; "but Humphrey wasna that awfu' big in
the bouk."
"Now, Earnscliff;" exclaimed Hobbie, "I am glad to meet your
honour ony gate, and company's blithe on a bare moor like this
--it's an unco bogilly bit--Where hae ye been sporting?"
"Up the Carla Cleugh, Hobbie," answered Earnscliff, returning his
greeting. "But will our dogs keep the peace, think you?"
"Deil a fear o' mine," said Hobbie, "they hae scarce a leg to
stand on.--Odd! the deer's fled the country, I think! I have
been as far as Inger-fell-foot, and deil a horn has Hobbie seen,
excepting three red-wud raes, that never let me within shot of
them, though I gaed a mile round to get up the wind to them, an'
a'. Deil o' me wad care muckle, only I wanted some venison to
our auld gude-dame. The carline, she sits in the neuk yonder,
upbye, and cracks about the grand shooters and hunters lang syne
--Odd, I think they hae killed a' the deer in the country, for my
part."
"Well, Hobbie, I have shot a fat buck, and sent him to Earnscliff
this morning--you shall have half of him for your grandmother."
"Mony thanks to ye, Mr. Patrick, ye're kend to a' the country for
a kind heart. It will do the auld wife's heart gude--mair by
token, when she kens it comes frae you--and maist of a' gin ye'll
come up and take your share, for I reckon ye are lonesome now in
the auld tower, and a' your folk at that weary Edinburgh. I
wonder what they can find to do amang a wheen ranks o' stane-
houses wi' slate on the tap o' them, that might live on their ain
bonny green hills."
"My education and my sisters' has kept my mother much in
Edinburgh for several years," said Earnscliff; "but I promise you
I propose to make up for lost time."
"And ye'll rig out the auld tower a bit," said Hobbie, "and live
hearty and neighbour-like wi' the auld family friends, as the
Laird o' Earnscliff should? I can tell ye, my mother--my
grandmother I mean--but, since we lost our ain mother, we ca' her
sometimes the tane, and sometimes the tother--but, ony gate, she
conceits hersell no that distant connected wi' you."
"Very true, Hobbie, and I will come to the Heugh-foot to dinner
to-morrow with all my heart."
"Weel, that's kindly said! We are auld neighbours, an we were
nae kin--and my gude-dame's fain to see you--she clavers about
your father that was killed lang syne."
"Hush, hush, Hobbie--not a word about that--it's a story better
forgotten."
"I dinna ken--if it had chanced amang our folk, we wad hae keepit
it in mind mony a day till we got some mends for't--but ye ken
your ain ways best, you lairds--I have heard say that Ellieslaw's
friend stickit your sire after the laird himsell had mastered his
sword."
"Fie, fie, Hobbie; it was a foolish brawl, occasioned by wine and
politics--many swords were drawn--it is impossible to say who
struck the blow."
"At ony rate, auld Ellieslaw was aiding and abetting; and I am
sure if ye were sae disposed as to take amends on him, naebody
could say it was wrang, for your father's blood is beneath his
nails--and besides there's naebody else left that was concerned
to take amends upon, and he's a prelatist and a jacobite into the
bargain--I can tell ye the country folk look for something atween
ye."
"O for shame, Hobbie!" replied the young Laird; "you, that
profess religion, to stir your friend up to break the law, and
take vengeance at his own hand, and in such a bogilly bit too,
where we know not what beings may be listening to us!"
"Hush, hush!" said Hobbie, drawing nearer to his companion, "I
was nae thinking o' the like o' them--But I can guess a wee bit
what keeps your hand up, Mr. Patrick; we a' ken it's no lack o'
courage, but the twa grey een of a bonny lass, Miss Isabel Vere,
that keeps you sae sober."
"I assure you, Hobbie," said his companion, rather angrily, "I
assure you you are mistaken; and it is extremely wrong of you,
either to think of, or to utter, such an idea; I have no idea of
permitting freedoms to be carried so far as to connect my name
with that of any young lady."
"Why, there now--there now!" retorted Elliot; "did I not say it
was nae want o' spunk that made ye sae mim?--Weel, weel, I meant
nae offence; but there's just ae thing ye may notice frae a
friend. The auld Laird of Ellieslaw has the auld riding blood
far hetter at his heart than ye hae--troth, he kens naething
about thae newfangled notions o' peace and quietness--he's a' for
the auld-warld doings o' lifting and laying on, and he has a
wheen stout lads at his back too, and keeps them weel up in
heart, and as fu' o' mischief as young colts. Where he gets the
gear to do't nane can say; he lives high, and far abune his rents
here; however, he pays his way--Sae, if there's ony out-break in
the country, he's likely to break out wi' the first--and weel
does he mind the auld quarrels between ye, I'm surmizing he'll be
for a touch at the auld tower at Earnscliff."
"Well, Hobbie," answered the young gentleman, "if he should be so
ill advised, I shall try to make the old tower good against him,
as it has been made good by my betters against his betters many a
day ago."
"Very right--very right--that's speaking like a man now," said
the stout yeoman; "and, if sae should be that this be sae, if
ye'll just gar your servant jow out the great bell in the tower,
there's me, and my twa brothers, and little Davie of the
Stenhouse, will be wi' you, wi' a' the power we can make, in the
snapping of a flint."
"Many thanks, Hobbie," answered Earnscliff; "but I hope we shall
have no war of so unnatural and unchristian a kind in our time."
"Hout, sir, hout," replied Elliot; "it wad be but a wee bit
neighbour war, and Heaven and earth would make allowances for it
in this uncuItivated place--it's just the nature o' the folk and
the land--we canna live quiet like Loudon folk--we haena sae
muckle to do. It's impossible."
"Well, Hobbie," said the Laird, "for one who believes so deeply
as you do in supernatural appearances, I must own you take Heaven
in your own hand rather audaciously, considering where we are
walking."
"What needs I care for the Mucklestane-Moor ony mair than ye do
yoursell, Earnscliff?" said Hobbie, something offended; "to be
sure, they do say there's a sort o' worricows and lang-nebbit
things about the land, but what need I care for them? I hae a
good conscience, and little to answer for, unless it be about a
rant amang the lasses, or a splore at a fair, and that's no
muckle to speak of. Though I say it mysell, I am as quiet a lad
and as peaceable--"
"And Dick Turnbull's head that you broke, and Willie of Winton
whom you shot at?" said his travelling companion.
"Hout, Earnscliff, ye keep a record of a' men's misdoings
--Dick's head's healed again, and we're to fight out the quarrel
at Jeddart, on the Rood-day, so that's like a thing settled in a
peaceable way; and then I am friends wi' Willie again, puir
chield--it was but twa or three hail draps after a'. I wad let
onybody do the like o't to me for a pint o' brandy. But Willie's
lowland bred, poor fallow, and soon frighted for himsell--And,
for the worricows, were we to meet ane on this very bit--"
"As is not unlikely," said young Earnscliff, "for there stands
your old witch, Hobbie."
"I say," continued Elliot, as if indignant at this hint--"I say,
if the auld carline hersell was to get up out o' the grund just
before us here, I would think nae mair--But, gude preserve us,
Earnscliff; what can yon, be!"
CHAPTER III.
Brown Dwarf, that o'er the moorland strays,
Thy name to Keeldar tell!
"The Brown Man of the Moor, that stays
Beneath the heather-bell." JOHN LEYDEN
The object which alarmed the young farmer in the middle of his
valorous protestations, startled for a moment even his less
prejudiced companion. The moon, which had arisen during their
conversation, was, in the phrase of that country, wading or
struggling with clouds, and shed only a doubtful and occasional
light. By one of her beams, which streamed upon the great
granite column to which they now approached, they discovered a
form, apparently human, but of a size much less than ordinary,
which moved slowly among the large grey stones, not like a person
intending to journey onward, but with the slow, irregular,
flitting movement of a being who hovers around some spot of
melancholy recollection, uttering also, from time to time, a sort
of indistinct muttering sound. This so much resembled his idea
of the motions of an apparition, that Hobbie Elliot, making a
dead pause, while his hair erected itself upon his scalp,
whispered to his companion, "It's Auld Ailie hersell! Shall I
gie her a shot, in the name of God?"
"For Heaven's sake, no," said his companion, holding down the
weapon which he was about to raise to the aim--"for Heaven's
sake, no; it's some poor distracted creature."
"Ye're distracted yoursell, for thinking of going so near to
her," said Elliot, holding his companion in his turn, as he
prepared to advance. "We'll aye hae time to pit ower a bit
prayer (an I could but mind ane) afore she comes this length
--God! she's in nae hurry," continued he, growing bolder from
his companion's confidence, and the little notice the apparition
seemed to take of them. "She hirples like a hen on a het girdle.
I redd ye, Earnscliff" (this he added in a gentle whisper), "let
us take a cast about, as if to draw the wind on a buck--the bog
is no abune knee-deep, and better a saft road as bad company."
[The Scots use the epithet soft, IN MALAM PARTEM, in two cases,
at least. A SOFT road is a road through quagmire and bogs; and
SOFT weather signifies that which is very rainy.]
Earnscliff, however, in spite of his companion's resistance and
remonstrances, continued to advance on the path they had
originally pursued, and soon confronted the object of their
investigation.
The height of the figure, which appeared even to decrease as they
approached it, seemed to be under four feet, and its form, as far
as the imperfect light afforded them the means of discerning, was
very nearly as broad as long, or rather of a spherical shape,
which could only be occasioned by some strange personal
deformity. The young sportsman hailed this extraordinary
appearance twice, without receiving any answer, or attending to
the pinches by which his companion endeavoured to intimate that
their best course was to walk on, without giving farther
disturbance to a being of such singular and preternatural
exterior. To the third repeated demand of "Who are you? What do
you here at this hour of night?"--a voice replied, whose shrill,
uncouth, and dissonant tones made Elliot step two paces back, and
startled even his companion, "Pass on your way, and ask nought at
them that ask nought at you."
"What do you do here so far from shelter? Are you benighted on
your journey? Will you follow us home ('God forbid!' ejaculated
Hobbie Elliot, involuntarily), and I will give you a lodging?"
"I would sooner lodge by mysell in the deepest of the Tarras-
flow," again whispered Hobbie.
"Pass on your way," rejoined the figure, the harsh tones of his
voice still more exalted by passion. "I want not your guidance
--I want not your lodging--it is five years since my head was
under a human roof, and I trust it was for the last time."
"He is mad," said Earnscliff.
"He has a look of auld Humphrey Ettercap, the tinkler, that
perished in this very moss about five years syne," answered his
superstitious companion; "but Humphrey wasna that awfu' big in
the bouk."
- scarce [skeəs, skers]
a.缺乏的；稀有的 (初中英语单词) - reckon [´rekən] v.计算；认为；估计 (初中英语单词)
- companion [kəm´pæniən] n.同伴；同事；伴侣 (初中英语单词)
- extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
- doings [´du:iŋz] n.行动；所作的事 (初中英语单词)
- mischief [´mistʃif] n.伤害；故障；调皮 (初中英语单词)
- conscience [´kɔnʃəns] n.良心；道德心 (初中英语单词)
- preserve [pri´zə:v] v.保藏 n.保藏物 (初中英语单词)
- phrase [freiz] n.短语；词组；措词 (初中英语单词)
- column [´kɔləm] n.柱；柱状物；纵队 (初中英语单词)
- movement [´mu:vmənt] n.活动；运动；动作 (初中英语单词)
- resistance [ri´zistəns] n.抵抗；抵制；耐力 (初中英语单词)
- height [hait] n.高度；顶点；卓越 (初中英语单词)
- decrease [di´kri:s, ´di:kri:s] v.&n.减少；减退 (初中英语单词)
- sportsman [´spɔ:tsmən] n.运动员；好运动的人 (初中英语单词)
- intimate [´intimit] a.亲密的 n.知己 (初中英语单词)
- passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- lonesome [´ləunsəm] a.孤独的；冷清清的 (高中英语单词)
- vengeance [´vendʒəns] n.报复，复仇 (高中英语单词)
- angrily [´æŋgrili] ad.生气地；愤怒地 (高中英语单词)
- mistaken [mis´teikən] mistake的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- doubtful [´dautful] a.怀疑的，可疑的 (高中英语单词)
- apparently [ə´pærəntli] ad.显然，表面上地 (高中英语单词)
- onward [´ɔnwəd] ad.&a.向前(的) (高中英语单词)
- recollection [,rekə´lekʃən] n.回忆；追想；记忆力 (高中英语单词)
- singular [´siŋgjulə] a.单一的；非凡的 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- edinburgh [´edinbərə] n.爱丁堡 (英语四级单词)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
- yeoman [´jəumən] n.自由民；自耕农 (英语四级单词)
- unnatural [,ʌn´nætʃərəl] a.不自然的 (英语四级单词)
- considering [kən´sidəriŋ] prep.就...而论 (英语四级单词)
- brandy [´brændi] n.白兰地酒 (英语四级单词)
- indignant [in´dignənt] a.义愤的，愤慨的 (英语四级单词)
- arisen [ə´rizn] arise的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- imperfect [im´pə:fikt] a.不完全的；未完成的 (英语四级单词)
- nought [nɔ:t] n.=naught (英语四级单词)
- blithe [´blaið] a.快乐的；冒失的 (英语六级单词)
- venison [´venisən] n.鹿肉；野味 (英语六级单词)
- amends [ə´mendz] n.赔偿；赔罪 (英语六级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
- apparition [,æpə´riʃən] n.(幽灵)出现；鬼；幻影 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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