章节正文
unstarved by twenty years of Blackjack. For so long
a time the sounds in her ears had been the scaly-barks
dropping in the woods at noon, and the wolves singing
among the rocks at night, and it was enough to have
purged her of vanities. She had grown fat and sad and
yellow and dull. But when the means came, she felt a
rekindled desire to assume the perquisites of her sex --
to sit at tea tables; to buy futile things; to whitewash
the hideous veracity of life with a little form and ceremony.
So she coldly vetoed Pike's proposed system of fortifica-
tions, and announced that thev would descend upon the
world, and gyrate socially.
And thus, at length, it was decided, and the thing
done. The village of Laurel was their compromise
between Mrs. Garvey's preference for one of the large
valley towns and Pike's hankering for primeval solitudes.
Laurel yielded a halting round of feeble social distractions
omportable with Martella's ambitions, and was not
entirely without recommendation to Pike, its contiguity
to the mountains presenting advantages for sudden retreat
in case fashionable society should make it advisable.
Their descent upon Laurel had been coincident with
Yancey Goree's feverish desire to convert property into
cash, and they bought the old Goree homestead, paying
four thousand dollars ready money into the spendthrift's
shaking hands.
Thus it happened that while the disreputable last of
the Gorees sprawled in his disreputable office, at the end
of his row, spurned by the cronies whom he had gorged,
strangers dwelt in the halls of his fathers.
A cloud of dust was rolling, slowly up the parched
street, with something travelling in the midst of it. A
little breeze wafted the cloud to one side, and a new,
brightly painted carryall, drawn by a slothful gray horse,
became visible. The vehicle deflected from the middle
of the street as it neared Goree's office, and stopped in the
gutter directly in front of his door.
On the front seat sat a gaunt, tall man, dressed in
black broadcloth, his rigid hands incarcerated in yellow
kid gloves. On the back seat was a lady who triumphed
over the June heat. Her stout form was armoured in a
skintight silk dress of the description known as "change-
able," being a gorgeouscombination of shifting hues.
She sat erect, waving a much-omamented fan, with her
eyes fixed stonily far down the street. However Martella
Garvey's heart might be rejoicing at the pleasures of her
new life, Blackjack had done his work with her exterior.
He had carved her countenance to the image of emptiness
and inanity; had imbued her with the stolidity of his
crags, and the reserve of his hushed interiors. She always
seemed to hear, whatever her surroundings were, the
scaly-barks falling and pattering down the mountain-
side. She could always hear the awful silence of Black-
jack sounding through the stillest of nights.
Goree watched this solemn equipage, as it drove to
his door, with only faint interest; but when the lank
driver wrapped the reins about his whip, awkwardly
descended, and stepped into the office, he rose unsteadily
to receive him, recognizing Pike Garvey, the new, the
transformed, the recently civilized.
The mountaineer took the chair Goree offered him.
They who cast doubts upon Garvey's soundness of mind
had a strong witness in the man's countenance. His face
was too long, a dull saffron in hue, and immobile as a
statue's. Pale-blue, unwinking round eyes without
lashes added to the singularity of his gruesome visage.
Goree was at a loss to account for the visit.
"Everything all right at Laurel, Mr. Garvey?" he
inquired.
"Everything all right, sir, and mighty pleased is Missis
Garvey and me with the property. Missis Garvey likes
yo' old place, and she likes the neighbourhood. Society
is what she 'lows she wants, and she is gettin' of it. The
Rogerses, the Hapgoods, the Pratts and the Troys hev
been to see Missis Garvey, and she hev et meals to most
of thar houses. The best folks hev axed her to differ'nt
kinds of doin's. I cyan't say, Mr. Goree, that sech
things suits me -- fur me, give me them thar." Garvey's
huge, yellow-gloved hand flourished in the direction of
the mountains. "That's whar I b'long, 'mongst the
wild honey bees and the b'ars. But that ain't what I
come fur to say, Mr. Goree. Thar's somethin' you got
what me and Missis Garvey wants to buy."
"Buy!" echoed Goree. "From me?" Then he
laughed harshly. "I reckon you are mistaken about
that. I reckon you are mistaken about that. I sold out
to you, as you yourself expressed it, 'lock, stock and
barrel.' There isn't even a ramrod left to sell."
"You've got it; and we 'uns want it. 'Take the
money,' says Missis Garvey, 'and buy it fa'r and
squared'.'"
Goree shook his head. "The cupboard's bare," he
said.
"We've riz," pursued the mountaineer, undetected
from his object, "a heap. We was pore as possums,
and now we could hev folks to dinner every day. We
been recognized, Missis Garvey says, by the best society.
But there's somethin' we need we ain't got. She says
it ought to been put in the 'ventory ov the sale, but it
tain't thar. 'Take the money, then,' says she, 'and buy
it fa'r and squar'."'
"Out with it," said Goree, his racked nerves growing
impatient.
Garvey threw his slouch bat upon the table, and leaned
forward, fixing his unblinking eves upon Goree's.
"There's a old feud," he said distinctly and slowly,
"'tween you 'uns and the Coltranes."
Goree frowned ominously. To speak of his feud to
a feudist is a serious breach of the mountain etiquette.
The man from "back yan'" knew it as well as the lawyer
did.
"Na offense," he went on "but purely in the way of
business. Missis Garvey hev studied all about feuds.
Most of the quality folks in the mountains hev 'em. The
Settles and the Goforths, the Rankins and the Boyds, the
Silers and the Galloways, hev all been cyarin' on feuds
f'om twenty to a hundred year. The last man to drap
was when yo' uncle, Jedge Paisley Goree, 'journed co't
and shot Len Coltrane f'om the bench. Missis Garvey
and me, we come f'om the po' white trash. Nobody
wouldn't pick a feud with we 'uns, no mo'n with a fam'ly
of tree-toads. Quality people everywhar, says Missis
Garvey, has feuds. We 'uns ain't quality, but we're
uyin' into it as fur as we can. 'Take the money, then,'
says Missis Garvey, 'and buy Mr. Goree's feud, fa'r
and squar'.'"
The squirrelhunter straightened a leg half across the
room, drew a roll of bills from his pocket, and threw them
on the table.
"Thar's two hundred dollars, Mr. Goree; what you
would call a fa'r price for a feud that's been 'lowed to
run down like yourn hev. Thar's only you left to cyar'
on yo' side of it, and you'd make mighty po' killin'. I'll
take it off yo' hands, and it'll set me and Missis Garvey
up among the quality. Thar's the money."
The little roll of currency on the table slowly untwisted
itself, writhing and jumping as its folds relaxed. In the
silence that followed Garvey's last speech the rattling of
the poker chips in the court-house could be plainly heard.
Goree knew that the sheriff had just won a pot, for the
subdued whoop with which he always greeted a victory
floated across the sqquare upon the crinkly heat waves.
Beads of moisture stood on Goree's brow. Stooping, he
drew the wicker-covered demijohn from under the table,
and filled a tumbler from it.
"A little corn liquor, Mr. Garvey? Of course you
are joking about what you spoke of? Opens quite a
new market, doesn't it? Feuds. Prime, two-fifty to
three. Feuds, slightly damaged -- two hundred, I
believe you said, Mr. Garvey?"
Goree laughed self-consciously.
The mountaineer took the glass Goree handed him,
and drank the whisky without a tremor of the lids of
his staring eyes. The lawyer applauded the feat by a
look of enviousadmiration. He poured his own drink,
and took it like a drunkard, by gulps, and with shudders
at the smell and taste.
"Two hundred," repeated Garvey. "Thar's the money."
A sudden passion flared up in Goree's brain. He
struck the table with his fist. One of the bills flipped
over and touched his hand. He flinched as if something
had stung him.
"Do you come to me," he shouted, "seriously with such
a ridiculous, insulting, darned-fool proposition?"
"It's fa'r and squar'," said the squirrelhunter, but he
reached out his hand as if to take back the money; and
then Goree knew that his own flurry of rage had not been
from pride or resentment, but from anger at himself,
knowing that he would set foot in the deeper depths that
were being opened to him. He turned in an instant from
an outraged gentleman to an anxious chafferer recom-
mending his goods.
"Don't be in a hurry, Garvey," he said, his face crimson
and his speech thick. "I accept your p-p-proposition,
though it's dirt cheap at two hundred. A t-trade's all
right when both p-purchaser and b-buyer are s-satisfied.
Shall I w-wrap it up for you, Mr. Garvey?"
Garvey rose, and shook out his broadcloth. "Missis
Garvev will be pleased. You air out of it, and it stands
Coltrane and Garvey. Just a scrap ov writin', Mr.
Goree, you bein' a lawyer, to show we traded."
Goree seized a sheet of paper and a pen. The money
was clutched in his moist hand. Everything else sud-
denly seemed to grow trivial and light.
"Bill of sale, by all means. 'Right, title, and interest
in and to' . . . 'forever warrant and -- ' No,
Garvey, we'll have to leave out that 'defend,'" said
Goree with a loud laugh. "You'll have to defend this
title yourself."
The mountaineer received the amazing screed that the
lawyer handed him, folded it with immense labour, and
laced it carefully in his pocket.
Goree was standing near the window. "Step here,
said, raising his finger, "and I'll show you your recently
purchased enemy. There he goes, down the other side
of the street."
The mountaineercrooked his long frame to look
through the window in the direction indicated by the other.
Colonel Abner Coltrane, an erect, portly gentleman of
about fifty, wearing the inevitable long, double-breasted
frock coat of the Southern lawmaker, and an old high
a time the sounds in her ears had been the scaly-barks
dropping in the woods at noon, and the wolves singing
among the rocks at night, and it was enough to have
purged her of vanities. She had grown fat and sad and
yellow and dull. But when the means came, she felt a
rekindled desire to assume the perquisites of her sex --
to sit at tea tables; to buy futile things; to whitewash
the hideous veracity of life with a little form and ceremony.
So she coldly vetoed Pike's proposed system of fortifica-
tions, and announced that thev would descend upon the
world, and gyrate socially.
And thus, at length, it was decided, and the thing
done. The village of Laurel was their compromise
between Mrs. Garvey's preference for one of the large
valley towns and Pike's hankering for primeval solitudes.
Laurel yielded a halting round of feeble social distractions
omportable with Martella's ambitions, and was not
entirely without recommendation to Pike, its contiguity
to the mountains presenting advantages for sudden retreat
in case fashionable society should make it advisable.
Their descent upon Laurel had been coincident with
Yancey Goree's feverish desire to convert property into
cash, and they bought the old Goree homestead, paying
four thousand dollars ready money into the spendthrift's
shaking hands.
Thus it happened that while the disreputable last of
the Gorees sprawled in his disreputable office, at the end
of his row, spurned by the cronies whom he had gorged,
strangers dwelt in the halls of his fathers.
A cloud of dust was rolling, slowly up the parched
street, with something travelling in the midst of it. A
little breeze wafted the cloud to one side, and a new,
brightly painted carryall, drawn by a slothful gray horse,
became visible. The vehicle deflected from the middle
of the street as it neared Goree's office, and stopped in the
gutter directly in front of his door.
On the front seat sat a gaunt, tall man, dressed in
black broadcloth, his rigid hands incarcerated in yellow
kid gloves. On the back seat was a lady who triumphed
over the June heat. Her stout form was armoured in a
skintight silk dress of the description known as "change-
able," being a gorgeouscombination of shifting hues.
She sat erect, waving a much-omamented fan, with her
eyes fixed stonily far down the street. However Martella
Garvey's heart might be rejoicing at the pleasures of her
new life, Blackjack had done his work with her exterior.
He had carved her countenance to the image of emptiness
and inanity; had imbued her with the stolidity of his
crags, and the reserve of his hushed interiors. She always
seemed to hear, whatever her surroundings were, the
scaly-barks falling and pattering down the mountain-
side. She could always hear the awful silence of Black-
jack sounding through the stillest of nights.
Goree watched this solemn equipage, as it drove to
his door, with only faint interest; but when the lank
driver wrapped the reins about his whip, awkwardly
descended, and stepped into the office, he rose unsteadily
to receive him, recognizing Pike Garvey, the new, the
transformed, the recently civilized.
The mountaineer took the chair Goree offered him.
They who cast doubts upon Garvey's soundness of mind
had a strong witness in the man's countenance. His face
was too long, a dull saffron in hue, and immobile as a
statue's. Pale-blue, unwinking round eyes without
lashes added to the singularity of his gruesome visage.
Goree was at a loss to account for the visit.
"Everything all right at Laurel, Mr. Garvey?" he
inquired.
"Everything all right, sir, and mighty pleased is Missis
Garvey and me with the property. Missis Garvey likes
yo' old place, and she likes the neighbourhood. Society
is what she 'lows she wants, and she is gettin' of it. The
Rogerses, the Hapgoods, the Pratts and the Troys hev
been to see Missis Garvey, and she hev et meals to most
of thar houses. The best folks hev axed her to differ'nt
kinds of doin's. I cyan't say, Mr. Goree, that sech
things suits me -- fur me, give me them thar." Garvey's
huge, yellow-gloved hand flourished in the direction of
the mountains. "That's whar I b'long, 'mongst the
wild honey bees and the b'ars. But that ain't what I
come fur to say, Mr. Goree. Thar's somethin' you got
what me and Missis Garvey wants to buy."
"Buy!" echoed Goree. "From me?" Then he
laughed harshly. "I reckon you are mistaken about
that. I reckon you are mistaken about that. I sold out
to you, as you yourself expressed it, 'lock, stock and
barrel.' There isn't even a ramrod left to sell."
"You've got it; and we 'uns want it. 'Take the
money,' says Missis Garvey, 'and buy it fa'r and
squared'.'"
Goree shook his head. "The cupboard's bare," he
said.
"We've riz," pursued the mountaineer, undetected
from his object, "a heap. We was pore as possums,
and now we could hev folks to dinner every day. We
been recognized, Missis Garvey says, by the best society.
But there's somethin' we need we ain't got. She says
it ought to been put in the 'ventory ov the sale, but it
tain't thar. 'Take the money, then,' says she, 'and buy
it fa'r and squar'."'
"Out with it," said Goree, his racked nerves growing
impatient.
Garvey threw his slouch bat upon the table, and leaned
forward, fixing his unblinking eves upon Goree's.
"There's a old feud," he said distinctly and slowly,
"'tween you 'uns and the Coltranes."
Goree frowned ominously. To speak of his feud to
a feudist is a serious breach of the mountain etiquette.
The man from "back yan'" knew it as well as the lawyer
did.
"Na offense," he went on "but purely in the way of
business. Missis Garvey hev studied all about feuds.
Most of the quality folks in the mountains hev 'em. The
Settles and the Goforths, the Rankins and the Boyds, the
Silers and the Galloways, hev all been cyarin' on feuds
f'om twenty to a hundred year. The last man to drap
was when yo' uncle, Jedge Paisley Goree, 'journed co't
and shot Len Coltrane f'om the bench. Missis Garvey
and me, we come f'om the po' white trash. Nobody
wouldn't pick a feud with we 'uns, no mo'n with a fam'ly
of tree-toads. Quality people everywhar, says Missis
Garvey, has feuds. We 'uns ain't quality, but we're
uyin' into it as fur as we can. 'Take the money, then,'
says Missis Garvey, 'and buy Mr. Goree's feud, fa'r
and squar'.'"
The squirrelhunter straightened a leg half across the
room, drew a roll of bills from his pocket, and threw them
on the table.
"Thar's two hundred dollars, Mr. Goree; what you
would call a fa'r price for a feud that's been 'lowed to
run down like yourn hev. Thar's only you left to cyar'
on yo' side of it, and you'd make mighty po' killin'. I'll
take it off yo' hands, and it'll set me and Missis Garvey
up among the quality. Thar's the money."
The little roll of currency on the table slowly untwisted
itself, writhing and jumping as its folds relaxed. In the
silence that followed Garvey's last speech the rattling of
the poker chips in the court-house could be plainly heard.
Goree knew that the sheriff had just won a pot, for the
subdued whoop with which he always greeted a victory
floated across the sqquare upon the crinkly heat waves.
Beads of moisture stood on Goree's brow. Stooping, he
drew the wicker-covered demijohn from under the table,
and filled a tumbler from it.
"A little corn liquor, Mr. Garvey? Of course you
are joking about what you spoke of? Opens quite a
new market, doesn't it? Feuds. Prime, two-fifty to
three. Feuds, slightly damaged -- two hundred, I
believe you said, Mr. Garvey?"
Goree laughed self-consciously.
The mountaineer took the glass Goree handed him,
and drank the whisky without a tremor of the lids of
his staring eyes. The lawyer applauded the feat by a
look of enviousadmiration. He poured his own drink,
and took it like a drunkard, by gulps, and with shudders
at the smell and taste.
"Two hundred," repeated Garvey. "Thar's the money."
A sudden passion flared up in Goree's brain. He
struck the table with his fist. One of the bills flipped
over and touched his hand. He flinched as if something
had stung him.
"Do you come to me," he shouted, "seriously with such
a ridiculous, insulting, darned-fool proposition?"
"It's fa'r and squar'," said the squirrelhunter, but he
reached out his hand as if to take back the money; and
then Goree knew that his own flurry of rage had not been
from pride or resentment, but from anger at himself,
knowing that he would set foot in the deeper depths that
were being opened to him. He turned in an instant from
an outraged gentleman to an anxious chafferer recom-
mending his goods.
"Don't be in a hurry, Garvey," he said, his face crimson
and his speech thick. "I accept your p-p-proposition,
though it's dirt cheap at two hundred. A t-trade's all
right when both p-purchaser and b-buyer are s-satisfied.
Shall I w-wrap it up for you, Mr. Garvey?"
Garvey rose, and shook out his broadcloth. "Missis
Garvev will be pleased. You air out of it, and it stands
Coltrane and Garvey. Just a scrap ov writin', Mr.
Goree, you bein' a lawyer, to show we traded."
Goree seized a sheet of paper and a pen. The money
was clutched in his moist hand. Everything else sud-
denly seemed to grow trivial and light.
"Bill of sale, by all means. 'Right, title, and interest
in and to' . . . 'forever warrant and -- ' No,
Garvey, we'll have to leave out that 'defend,'" said
Goree with a loud laugh. "You'll have to defend this
title yourself."
The mountaineer received the amazing screed that the
lawyer handed him, folded it with immense labour, and
laced it carefully in his pocket.
Goree was standing near the window. "Step here,
said, raising his finger, "and I'll show you your recently
purchased enemy. There he goes, down the other side
of the street."
The mountaineercrooked his long frame to look
through the window in the direction indicated by the other.
Colonel Abner Coltrane, an erect, portly gentleman of
about fifty, wearing the inevitable long, double-breasted
frock coat of the Southern lawmaker, and an old high
- coldly [´kəuldli]
ad.冷淡地 (初中英语单词) - system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
- descend [di´send] v.下来，下降 (初中英语单词)
- feeble [´fi:bəl] a.虚弱的，无力的 (初中英语单词)
- convert [kən´və:t, ´kɔnvə:t] v.转变 n.改变信仰者 (初中英语单词)
- breeze [bri:z] n.微风；不费力的事 (初中英语单词)
- visible [´vizəbəl] a.可见的；明显的 (初中英语单词)
- description [di´skripʃən] n.描写 (初中英语单词)
- combination [,kɔmbi´neiʃən] n.结合；联合；团体 (初中英语单词)
- countenance [´kauntinəns] n.面部表情；脸色；面容 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- solemn [´sɔləm] a.严肃的；隆重的 (初中英语单词)
- witness [´witnis] n.见证人 vt.目击 (初中英语单词)
- account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
- reckon [´rekən] v.计算；认为；估计 (初中英语单词)
- distinctly [di´stiŋktli] ad.清楚地，明晰地 (初中英语单词)
- purely [´pjuəli] ad.仅仅；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- squirrel [´skwirəl] n.松鼠 (初中英语单词)
- hunter [´hʌntə] n.猎人；猎狗；猎马 (初中英语单词)
- plainly [´pleinli] ad.平坦地；简单地 (初中英语单词)
- sheriff [´ʃerif] n.郡长；行政长官 (初中英语单词)
- moisture [´mɔistʃə] n.潮湿；温度；水份 (初中英语单词)
- liquor [´likə] n.酒类；(溶)液 (初中英语单词)
- slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
- lawyer [´lɔ:jə] n.律师；法学家 (初中英语单词)
- admiration [,ædmə´reiʃən] n.赞赏，钦佩 (初中英语单词)
- passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间 (初中英语单词)
- anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
- amazing [ə´meiziŋ] a.惊人的；惊奇的 (初中英语单词)
- immense [i´mens] a.广大的，无限的 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- hideous [´hidiəs] a.丑陋的，可怕的 (高中英语单词)
- decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
- laurel [´lɔrəl] n.月桂树(叶)；桂冠 (高中英语单词)
- preference [´prefərəns] n.优先选择；偏爱(物) (高中英语单词)
- recommendation [,rekəmen´deiʃən] n.推荐；劝告 (高中英语单词)
- fashionable [´fæʃənəbəl] a.流行的，时髦的 (高中英语单词)
- descent [di´sent] n.出身，家世 (高中英语单词)
- gorgeous [´gɔ:dʒəs] a.华丽的；宜人的 (高中英语单词)
- rejoicing [ri´dʒɔisiŋ] n.高兴；欢呼 (高中英语单词)
- mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
- mistaken [mis´teikən] mistake的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- breach [bri:tʃ] n.&v.破坏；违犯 (高中英语单词)
- studied [´stʌdid] a.故意的；有计划的 (高中英语单词)
- currency [´kʌrənsi] n.通货；通用；货币 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- ridiculous [ri´dikjuləs] a.荒谬的；可笑的 (高中英语单词)
- resentment [ri´zentmənt] n.不满；怨恨；忿恨 (高中英语单词)
- crooked [´krukid] a.弯曲的；畸形的 (高中英语单词)
- inevitable [i´nevitəbəl] a.不可避免的 (高中英语单词)
- futile [´fju:tail] a.无用的，无益的 (英语四级单词)
- feverish [´fi:vəriʃ] a.发烧的；狂热的 (英语四级单词)
- homestead [´həumsted] n.家宅，宅基 (英语四级单词)
- vehicle [´vi:ikəl] n.车辆；媒介物 (英语四级单词)
- mountaineer [,maunti´niə] n.山地人 vi.爬山 (英语四级单词)
- envious [´enviəs] a.妒忌的，羡慕的 (英语四级单词)
- trivial [´triviəl] a.琐碎的；不重要的 (英语四级单词)
- warrant [´wɔrənt] n.根据；委任书；权利 (英语四级单词)
- harshly [´hɑ:ʃli] ad.粗糙地，冷酷地 (英语六级单词)
- tumbler [´tʌmblə] n.杂技演员；不倒翁 (英语六级单词)
- drunkard [´drʌŋkəd] n.醉汉；酒鬼 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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