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Beauty and The Beast-Part14_Bayard Taylor(1825-1878)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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seemed to care much about you, and I suppose you're free to think

as you like; but this I say: I'll not stand by and see you spit



upon! `Covered with as much as it'll bear!' THAT'S a piece o'

luck anyhow. If we're poor, your wife must take your poverty with



you, or she don't come into MY doors. But first of all you must

make your journey!"



"My journey!" repeated Jacob.

"Weren't you thinking of it this night, before you took your seat



on that stump? A little more, and you'd have gone clean off, I

reckon."



Jacob was silent, and hung his head.

"Never mind! I've no right to think hard of it. In a week we'll



have finished our haying, and then it's a fortnight to wheat; but,

for that matter, Harry and I can manage the wheat by ourselves.



You may take a month, two months, if any thing comes of it. Under

a month I don't mean that you shall come back. I'll give you



twenty dollars for a start; if you want more you must earn it on

the road, any way you please. And, mark you, Jacob! since you



ARE poor, don't let anybody suppose you are rich. For my part,

I shall not expect you to buy Whitney's place; all I ask is that



you'll tell me, fair and square, just what things and what people

you've got acquainted with. Get to bed now--the matter's settled;



I will have it so."

They rose and walked across the meadow to the house. Jacob had



quite forgotten the events of the evening in the new prospect

suddenly opened to him, which filled him with a wonderful confusion



of fear and desire. His father said nothing more. They entered

the lonely house together at midnight, and went to their beds; but



Jacob slept very little.

Six days afterwards he left home, on a sparkling June morning, with



a small bundle tied in a yellow silk handkerchief under his arm.

His father had furnished him with the promised money, but had



positively refused to tell him what road he should take, or what

plan of action he should adopt. The only stipulation was that his



absence from home should not be less than a month.

After he had passed the wood and reached the highway which followed



the course of the brook, he paused to consider which course to

take. Southward the road led past Pardon's, and he longed to see



his only friends once more before encountering untried hazards; but

the village was beyond, and he had no courage to walk through its



one long street with a bundle, denoting a journey, under his arm.

Northward he would have to pass the mill and blacksmith's shop at



the cross-roads. Then he remembered that he might easily wade the

stream at a point where it was shallow, and keep in the shelter of



the woods on the opposite hill until he struck the road farther on,

and in that direction two or three miles would take him into a



neighborhood where he was not known.

Once in the woods, an exquisite sense of freedom came upon him.



There was nothing mocking in the soft, graceful stir of the

expanded foliage, in the twittering of the unfrightened birds,



or the scampering of the squirrels, over the rustling carpet of

dead leaves. He lay down upon the moss under a spreading beech-



tree and tried to think; but the thoughts would not come. He could

not even clearly recall the keen troubles and mortifications he had



endured: all things were so peaceful and beautiful that a portion

of their peace and beauty fell upon men and invested them with a



more kindly character.

Towards noon Jacob found himself beyond the limitedgeography of



his life. The first man he encountered was a stranger, who greeted

him with a hearty and respectful "How do you do, sir?"



"Perhaps," thought Jacob, "I am not so very different from other

people, if I only thought so myself."



At noon, he stopped at a farm-house by the roadside to get a drink

of water. A pleasant woman, who came from the door at that moment



with a pitcher, allowed him to lower the bucket and haul it up

dripping with precious coolness. She looked upon him with good-



will, for he had allowed her to see his eyes, and something in

their honest, appealing expression went to her heart.



"We're going to have dinner in five minutes," said she; "won't you

stay and have something?"



Jacob stayed and brake bread with the plain, hospitable family.

Their kindly attention to him during the meal gave him the lacking



nerve; for a moment he resolved to offer his services to the

farmer, but he presently saw that they were not really needed, and,



besides, the place was still too near home.




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