酷兔英语
    当前位置:
  1. 首页
  2. 文章
  3. 娱乐英语
  4. 原版小说
  5. 正文

The Warden-Part26_Antony Trollope(1815-1882)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

0 收藏 0 分享 0 赞

章节正文
文章总共2页
atoned for the imperfection of the language; and it was really



a pity that these eight old men could not be sent through the

country as moral missionaries, instead of being immured and



starved in that wretched almshouse.

Bold finished the number; and as he threw it aside, he



thought that that at least had no direct appliance to Mr Harding,

and that the absurdly strong colouring of the picture would



disenable the work from doing either good or harm. He was

wrong. The artist who paints for the million must use glaring



colours, as no one knew better than Mr Sentiment when he

described the inhabitants of his almshouse; and the radical



reform which has now swept over such establishments has

owed more to the twenty numbers of Mr Sentiment's novel,



than to all the true complaints which have escaped from the

public for the last half century.



CHAPTER XVI

A Long Day in London



The warden had to make use of all his very moderate

powers of intrigue to give his son-in-law the slip, and get



out of Barchester without being stopped on his road. No

schoolboy ever ran away from school with more precaution



and more dread of detection; no convict, slipping down from

a prison wall, ever feared to see the gaoler more entirely than



Mr Harding did to see his son-in-law as he drove up in the

pony carriage to the railway station, on the morning of his



escape to London.

The evening before he went he wrote a note to the archdeacon,



explaining that he should start on the morrow on his

journey; that it was his intention to see the attorney-general



if possible, and to decide on his future plans in accordance with

what he heard from that gentleman; he excused himself for



giving Dr Grantly no earlier notice, by stating that his resolve

was very sudden; and having entrusted this note to Eleanor,



with the perfect, though not expressed, understanding that it

was to be sent over to Plumstead Episcopi without haste, he



took his departure.

He also prepared and carried with him a note for Sir



Abraham Haphazard, in which he stated his name, explaining

that he was the defendant in the case of 'The Queen on



behalf of the Wool-carders of Barchester v. Trustees under the

will of the late John Hiram,' for so was the suit denominated,



and begged the illustrious and learned gentleman to vouchsafe

to him ten minutes' audience at any hour on the next day.



Mr Harding calculated that for that one day he was safe; his

son-in-law, he had no doubt, would arrive in town by an early



train, but not early enough to reach the truant till he should

have escaped from his hotel after breakfast; and could he thus



manage to see the lawyer on that very day, the deed might be

done before the archdeacon could interfere.



On his arrival in town the warden drove, as was his wont.

to the Chapter Hotel and Coffee House, near St Paul's. His



visits to London of late had not been frequent; but in those

happy days when Harding's Church Music was going through



the press, he had been often there; and as the publisher's

house was in Paternoster Row, and the printer's press in Fleet



Street, the Chapter Hotel and Coffee House had been convenient.

It was a quiet, sombre, clerical house, beseeming such



a man as the warden, and thus he afterwards frequented

it. Had he dared, he would on this occasion have gone elsewhere



to throw the archdeacon further off the scent; but he did not

know what violent steps his son-in-law might take for his



recovery if he were not found at his usual haunt, and he

deemed it not prudent to make himself the object of a hunt



through London.

Arrived at his inn, he ordered dinner, and went forth to



the attorney-general's chambers. There he learnt that Sir

Abraham was in Court, and would not probably return that



day. He would go direct from Court to the House; all

appointments were, as a rule, made at the chambers; the



clerk could by no means promise an interview for the next

day; was able, on the other hand, to say that such interview



was, he thought, impossible; but that Sir Abraham would




文章总共2页
文章标签:名著  

章节正文
Copyright © 2023 Qeto All rights reserved.
商务合作 | 联系我们 | 关于我们 | 版权声明 | 隐私条款 | 如果智培

京ICP备05059198号-1 京公网安备 11011202003401号