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 Ayrshire Legatees-Part4_John Galt(1779-1839)_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
universe, as my brother calls it, as if my weak feminine pen were



equal to the stupendous theme!

But, before entering on the subject, let me first satisfy the



anxiety of your faithful bosom with respect to my father's legacy.

All the accounts, I am happy to tell you, are likely to be amicably



settled; but the exact amount is not known as yet, only I can see,

by my brother's manner, that it is not less than we expected, and my



mother speaks about sending me to a boarding-school to learn

accomplishments. Nothing, however, is to be done until something is



actually in hand. But what does it all avail to me? Here am I, a

solitary being in the midst of this wilderness of mankind, far from



your sympathising affection, with the dismalprospect before me of

going a second time to school, and without the prospect of enjoying,



with my own sweet companions, that light and bounding gaiety we were

wont to share, in skipping from tomb to tomb in the breezy



churchyard of Irvine, like butterflies in spring flying from flower

to flower, as a Wordsworth or a Wilson would express it.



We have got elegant lodgings at present in Norfolk Street, but my

brother is trying, with all his address, to get us removed to a more



fashionable part of the town, which, if the accounts were once

settled, I think will take place; and he proposes to hire a carriage



for a whole month. Indeed, he has given hints about the saving that

might be made by buying one of our own; but my mother shakes her



head, and says, "Andrew, dinna be carri't." From all which it is

very plain, though they don't allow me to know their secrets, that



the legacy is worth the coming for. But to return to the lodgings;-

-we have what is called a first and second floor, a drawing-room,



and three handsome bedchambers. The drawing-room is very elegant;

and the carpet is the exact same pattern of the one in the dress-



drawing-room of Eglintoun Castle. Our landlady is indeed a lady,

and I am surprised how she should think of letting lodgings, for she



dresses better, and wears finer lace, than ever I saw in Irvine.

But I am interrupted. -



I now resume my pen. We have just had a call from Mrs. and Miss

Argent, the wife and daughter of the colonel's man of business.



They seem great people, and came in their own chariot, with two

grand footmen behind; but they are pleasant and easy, and the object



of their visit was to invite us to a family dinner to-morrow,

Sunday. I hope we may become better acquainted; but the two livery



servants make such a difference in our degrees, that I fear this is

a vain expectation. Miss Argent was, however, very frank, and told



me that she was herself only just come to London for the first time

since she was a child, having been for the last seven years at a



school in the country. I shall, however, be better able to say more

about her in my next letter. Do not, however, be afraid that she



shall ever supplant you in my heart. No, my dear friend, companion

of my days of innocence,--that can never be. But this call from



such persons of fashion looks as if the legacy had given us some

consideration; so that I think my father and mother may as well let



me know at once what my prospects are, that I might show you how

disinterestedly and truly I am, my dear Bell, yours,



RACHEL PRINGLE.

When Miss Isabella Tod had read the letter, there was a solemn pause



for some time--all present knew something, more or less, of the fair

writer; but a carriage, a carpet like the best at Eglintoun, a



Hussar officer, and two footmen in livery, were phantoms of such

high import, that no one could distinctly express the feelings with



which the intelligenceaffected them. It was, however, unanimously

agreed, that the Doctor's legacy had every symptom of being equal to



what it was at first expected to be, namely, twenty thousand

pounds;--a sum which, by some occult or recondite moral influence of



the Lottery, is the common maximum, in popular estimation, of any

extraordinary and indefinite windfall of fortune. Miss Becky



Glibbans, from the purest motives of charity, devoutly wished that

poor Rachel might be able to carry her full cup with a steady hand;



and the Rev. Mr. Snodgrass, that so commendable an expression might




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