章节正文
am told, a manufacturer; I am an artist; I have seen better
days; I have moved in societies where you would not be
received, and dined where you would be glad to pay a pound to
see me dining. The so-calledaristocracy of wealth, sir, I
despise. I refuse to help you; I refuse to be helped by you.
There lies the door.'
And the Admiral stood forth in a halo.
It was then that Dick entered. He had been waiting in the
porch for some time back, and Esther had been listlessly
standing by his side. He had put out his hand to bar her
entrance, and she had submitted without surprise; and though
she seemed to listen, she scarcely appeared to comprehend.
Dick, on his part, was as white as a sheet; his eyes burned
and his lips trembled with anger as he thrust the door
suddenly open, introduced Esther with ceremonious gallantry,
and stood forward and knocked his hat firmer on his head like
a man about to leap.
'What is all this?' he demanded.
'Is this your father, Mr. Naseby?' inquired the Admiral.
'It is,' said the young man.
'I make you my compliments,' returned Van Tromp.
'Dick!' cried his father, suddenly breaking forth, 'it is not
too late, is it? I have come here in time to save you.
Come, come away with me - come away from this place.'
And he fawned upon Dick with his hands.
'Keep your hands off me,' cried Dick, not meaning unkindness,
but because his nerves were shattered by so many successive
miseries.
'No, no,' said the old man, 'don't repulse your father, Dick,
when he has come here to save you. Don't repulse me, my boy.
Perhaps I have not been kind to you, not quite considerate,
too harsh; my boy, it was not for want of love. Think of old
times. I was kind to you then, was I not? When you were a
child, and your mother was with us.' Mr. Naseby was
interrupted by a sort of sob. Dick stood looking at him in a
maze. 'Come away,' pursued the father in a whisper; 'you
need not be afraid of any consequences. I am a man of the
world, Dick; and she can have no claim on you - no claim, I
tell you; and we'll be handsome too, Dick - we'll give them a
good round figure, father and daughter, and there's an end.'
He had been trying to get Dick towards the door, but the
latter stood off.
'You had better take care, sir, how you insult that lady,'
said the son, as black as night.
'You would not choose between your father and your mistress?'
said the father.
'What do you call her, sir?' cried Dick, high and clear.
Forbearance and patience were not among Mr. Naseby's
qualities.
'I called her your mistress,' he shouted, 'and I might have
called her a - '
'That is an unmanly lie,' replied Dick, slowly.
'Dick!' cried the father, 'Dick!'
'I do not care,' said the son, strengthening himself against
his own heart; 'I - I have said it, and it is the truth.'
There was a pause.
'Dick,' said the old man at last, in a voice that was shaken
as by a gale of wind, 'I am going. I leave you with your
friends, sir - with your friends. I came to serve you, and
now I go away a broken man. For years I have seen this
coming, and now it has come. You never loved me. Now you
have been the death of me. You may boast of that. Now I
leave you. God pardon you.'
With that he was gone; and the three who remained together
heard his horse's hoofs descend the lane. Esther had not
made a sign throughout the interview, and still kept silence
now that it was over; but the Admiral, who had once or twice
moved forward and drawn back again, now advanced for good.
'You are a man of spirit, sir,' said he to Dick; 'but though
I am no friend to parental interference, I will say that you
were heavy on the governor.' Then he added with a chuckle:
'You began, Richard, with a silver spoon, and here you are in
the water like the rest. Work, work, nothing like work. You
have parts, you have manners; why, with application you may
die a millionaire!' Dick shook himself. He took Esther by
the hand, looking at her mournfully.
'Then this is farewell,' he said.
'Yes,' she answered. There was no tone in her voice, and she
did not return his gaze.
'For ever,' added Dick.
'For ever,' she repeated mechanically.
'I have had hard measure,' he continued. 'In time I believe
I could have shown you I was worthy, and there was no time
long enough to show how much I loved you. But it was not to
be. I have lost all.'
He relinquished her hand, still looking at her, and she
turned to leave the room.
'Why, what in fortune's name is the meaning of all this?'
cried Van Tromp. 'Esther come back!'
'Let her go,' said Dick, and he watched her disappear with
strangely mingled feelings. For he had fallen into that
stage when men have the vertigo of misfortune, court the
strokes of destiny, and rush towards anything decisive, that
it may free them from suspense though at the cost of ruin.
It is one of the many minor forms of suicide.
'She did not love me,' he said, turning to her father.
'I feared as much,' said he, 'when I sounded her. Poor Dick,
poor Dick. And yet I believe I am as much cut up as you are.
I was born to see others happy.'
'You forget,' returned Dick, with something like a sneer,
'that I am now a pauper.'
Van Tromp snapped his fingers.
'Tut!' said he; 'Esther has plenty for us all.'
Dick looked at him with some wonder. It had never dawned
upon him that this shiftless, thriftless, worthless, sponging
parasite was yet, after and in spite of all, not mercenary in
the issue of his thoughts; yet so it was.
'Now,' said Dick, 'I must go.'
'Go?' cried Van Tromp. 'Where? Not one foot, Mr. Richard
Naseby. Here you shall stay in the meantime! and - well, and
do something practical - advertise for a situation as private
secretary - and when you have it, go and welcome. But in the
meantime, sir, no false pride; we must stay with our friends;
we must sponge a while on Papa Van Tromp, who has sponged so
often upon us.'
'By God,' cried Dick, 'I believe you are the best of the
lot.'
'Dick, my boy,' replied the Admiral, winking, 'you mark me, I
am not the worst.'
'Then why,' began Dick, and then paused. 'But Esther,' he
began again, once more to interrupt himself. 'The fact is,
Admiral,' he came out with it roundly now, 'your daughter
wished to run away from you to-day, and I only brought her
back with difficulty.'
'In the pony carriage?' asked the Admiral, with the silliness
of extreme surprise.
'Yes,' Dick answered.
'Why, what the devil was she running away from?'
Dick found the question unusually hard to answer.
'Why,' said he, 'you know, you're a bit of a rip.'
'I behave to that girl, sir, like an archdeacon,' replied Van
Tromp warmly.
'Well - excuse me - but you know you drink,' insisted Dick.
'I know that I was a sheet in the wind's eye, sir, once -
once only, since I reached this place,' retorted the Admiral.
'And even then I was fit for any drawing-room. I should like
you to tell me how many fathers, lay and clerical, go
upstairs every day with a face like a lobster and cod's eyes
- and are dull, upon the back of it - not even mirth for the
money! No, if that's what she runs for, all I say is, let
her run.'
'You see,' Dick tried it again, 'she has fancies - '
'Confound her fancies!' cried Van Tromp. 'I used her kindly;
she had her own way; I was her father. Besides I had taken
quite a liking to the girl, and meant to stay with her for
good. But I tell you what it is, Dick, since she has trifled
with you - Oh, yes, she did though! - and since her old
papa's not good enough for her - the devil take her, say I.'
'You will be kind to her at least?' said Dick.
'I never was unkind to a living soul,' replied the Admiral.
'Firm I can be, but not unkind.'
'Well,' said Dick, offering his hand, 'God bless you, and
farewell.'
The Admiral swore by all his gods he should not go. 'Dick,'
he said, 'You are a selfish dog; you forget your old Admiral.
You wouldn't leave him alone, would you?'
It was useless to remind him that the house was not his to
dispose of, that being a class of considerations to which his
intelligence was closed; so Dick tore himself off by force,
and, shouting a good-bye, made off along the lane to
Thymebury.
CHAPTER IX - IN WHICH THE LIBERAL EDITOR RE-APPEARS AS 'DEUS
EX MACHINA'
IT was perhaps a week later, as old Mr. Naseby sat brooding
in his study, that there was shown in upon him, on urgent
business, a little hectic gentleman shabbily attired.
'I have to ask pardon for this intrusion, Mr. Naseby,' he
said; 'but I come here to perform a duty. My card has been
sent in, but perhaps you may not know, what it does not tell
you, that I am the editor of the THYMEBURY STAR.'
Mr. Naseby looked up, indignant.
'I cannot fancy,' he said, 'that we have much in common to
discuss.'
'I have only a word to say - one piece of information to
communicate. Some months ago, we had - you will pardon my
referring to it, it is absolutely necessary - but we had an
unfortunate difference as to facts.'
'Have you come to apologise?' asked the Squire, sternly.
'No, sir; to mention a circumstance. On the morning in
question, your son, Mr. Richard Naseby - '
'I do not permit his name to be mentioned.'
'You will, however, permit me,' replied the Editor.
'You are cruel,' said the Squire. He was right, he was a
broken man.
Then the Editor described Dick's warning visit; and how he
had seen in the lad's eye that there was a thrashing in the
wind, and had escaped through pity only - so the Editor put
it - 'through pity only sir. And oh, sir,' he went on, 'if
you had seen him speaking up for you, I am sure you would
have been proud of your son. I know I admired the lad
myself, and indeed that's what brings me here.'
'I have misjudged him,' said the Squire. 'Do you know where
he is?'
'Yes, sir, he lies sick at Thymebury.'
'You can take me to him?'
'I can.'
'I pray God he may forgive me,' said the father.
And he and the Editor made post-haste for the country town.
Next day the report went abroad that Mr. Richard was
reconciled to his father and had been taken home to Naseby
House. He was still ailing, it was said, and the Squire
days; I have moved in societies where you would not be
received, and dined where you would be glad to pay a pound to
see me dining. The so-calledaristocracy of wealth, sir, I
despise. I refuse to help you; I refuse to be helped by you.
There lies the door.'
And the Admiral stood forth in a halo.
It was then that Dick entered. He had been waiting in the
porch for some time back, and Esther had been listlessly
standing by his side. He had put out his hand to bar her
entrance, and she had submitted without surprise; and though
she seemed to listen, she scarcely appeared to comprehend.
Dick, on his part, was as white as a sheet; his eyes burned
and his lips trembled with anger as he thrust the door
suddenly open, introduced Esther with ceremonious gallantry,
and stood forward and knocked his hat firmer on his head like
a man about to leap.
'What is all this?' he demanded.
'Is this your father, Mr. Naseby?' inquired the Admiral.
'It is,' said the young man.
'I make you my compliments,' returned Van Tromp.
'Dick!' cried his father, suddenly breaking forth, 'it is not
too late, is it? I have come here in time to save you.
Come, come away with me - come away from this place.'
And he fawned upon Dick with his hands.
'Keep your hands off me,' cried Dick, not meaning unkindness,
but because his nerves were shattered by so many successive
miseries.
'No, no,' said the old man, 'don't repulse your father, Dick,
when he has come here to save you. Don't repulse me, my boy.
Perhaps I have not been kind to you, not quite considerate,
too harsh; my boy, it was not for want of love. Think of old
times. I was kind to you then, was I not? When you were a
child, and your mother was with us.' Mr. Naseby was
interrupted by a sort of sob. Dick stood looking at him in a
maze. 'Come away,' pursued the father in a whisper; 'you
need not be afraid of any consequences. I am a man of the
world, Dick; and she can have no claim on you - no claim, I
tell you; and we'll be handsome too, Dick - we'll give them a
good round figure, father and daughter, and there's an end.'
He had been trying to get Dick towards the door, but the
latter stood off.
'You had better take care, sir, how you insult that lady,'
said the son, as black as night.
'You would not choose between your father and your mistress?'
said the father.
'What do you call her, sir?' cried Dick, high and clear.
Forbearance and patience were not among Mr. Naseby's
qualities.
'I called her your mistress,' he shouted, 'and I might have
called her a - '
'That is an unmanly lie,' replied Dick, slowly.
'Dick!' cried the father, 'Dick!'
'I do not care,' said the son, strengthening himself against
his own heart; 'I - I have said it, and it is the truth.'
There was a pause.
'Dick,' said the old man at last, in a voice that was shaken
as by a gale of wind, 'I am going. I leave you with your
friends, sir - with your friends. I came to serve you, and
now I go away a broken man. For years I have seen this
coming, and now it has come. You never loved me. Now you
have been the death of me. You may boast of that. Now I
leave you. God pardon you.'
With that he was gone; and the three who remained together
heard his horse's hoofs descend the lane. Esther had not
made a sign throughout the interview, and still kept silence
now that it was over; but the Admiral, who had once or twice
moved forward and drawn back again, now advanced for good.
'You are a man of spirit, sir,' said he to Dick; 'but though
I am no friend to parental interference, I will say that you
were heavy on the governor.' Then he added with a chuckle:
'You began, Richard, with a silver spoon, and here you are in
the water like the rest. Work, work, nothing like work. You
have parts, you have manners; why, with application you may
die a millionaire!' Dick shook himself. He took Esther by
the hand, looking at her mournfully.
'Then this is farewell,' he said.
'Yes,' she answered. There was no tone in her voice, and she
did not return his gaze.
'For ever,' added Dick.
'For ever,' she repeated mechanically.
'I have had hard measure,' he continued. 'In time I believe
I could have shown you I was worthy, and there was no time
long enough to show how much I loved you. But it was not to
be. I have lost all.'
He relinquished her hand, still looking at her, and she
turned to leave the room.
'Why, what in fortune's name is the meaning of all this?'
cried Van Tromp. 'Esther come back!'
'Let her go,' said Dick, and he watched her disappear with
strangely mingled feelings. For he had fallen into that
stage when men have the vertigo of misfortune, court the
strokes of destiny, and rush towards anything decisive, that
it may free them from suspense though at the cost of ruin.
It is one of the many minor forms of suicide.
'She did not love me,' he said, turning to her father.
'I feared as much,' said he, 'when I sounded her. Poor Dick,
poor Dick. And yet I believe I am as much cut up as you are.
I was born to see others happy.'
'You forget,' returned Dick, with something like a sneer,
'that I am now a pauper.'
Van Tromp snapped his fingers.
'Tut!' said he; 'Esther has plenty for us all.'
Dick looked at him with some wonder. It had never dawned
upon him that this shiftless, thriftless, worthless, sponging
parasite was yet, after and in spite of all, not mercenary in
the issue of his thoughts; yet so it was.
'Now,' said Dick, 'I must go.'
'Go?' cried Van Tromp. 'Where? Not one foot, Mr. Richard
Naseby. Here you shall stay in the meantime! and - well, and
do something practical - advertise for a situation as private
secretary - and when you have it, go and welcome. But in the
meantime, sir, no false pride; we must stay with our friends;
we must sponge a while on Papa Van Tromp, who has sponged so
often upon us.'
'By God,' cried Dick, 'I believe you are the best of the
lot.'
'Dick, my boy,' replied the Admiral, winking, 'you mark me, I
am not the worst.'
'Then why,' began Dick, and then paused. 'But Esther,' he
began again, once more to interrupt himself. 'The fact is,
Admiral,' he came out with it roundly now, 'your daughter
wished to run away from you to-day, and I only brought her
back with difficulty.'
'In the pony carriage?' asked the Admiral, with the silliness
of extreme surprise.
'Yes,' Dick answered.
'Why, what the devil was she running away from?'
Dick found the question unusually hard to answer.
'Why,' said he, 'you know, you're a bit of a rip.'
'I behave to that girl, sir, like an archdeacon,' replied Van
Tromp warmly.
'Well - excuse me - but you know you drink,' insisted Dick.
'I know that I was a sheet in the wind's eye, sir, once -
once only, since I reached this place,' retorted the Admiral.
'And even then I was fit for any drawing-room. I should like
you to tell me how many fathers, lay and clerical, go
upstairs every day with a face like a lobster and cod's eyes
- and are dull, upon the back of it - not even mirth for the
money! No, if that's what she runs for, all I say is, let
her run.'
'You see,' Dick tried it again, 'she has fancies - '
'Confound her fancies!' cried Van Tromp. 'I used her kindly;
she had her own way; I was her father. Besides I had taken
quite a liking to the girl, and meant to stay with her for
good. But I tell you what it is, Dick, since she has trifled
with you - Oh, yes, she did though! - and since her old
papa's not good enough for her - the devil take her, say I.'
'You will be kind to her at least?' said Dick.
'I never was unkind to a living soul,' replied the Admiral.
'Firm I can be, but not unkind.'
'Well,' said Dick, offering his hand, 'God bless you, and
farewell.'
The Admiral swore by all his gods he should not go. 'Dick,'
he said, 'You are a selfish dog; you forget your old Admiral.
You wouldn't leave him alone, would you?'
It was useless to remind him that the house was not his to
dispose of, that being a class of considerations to which his
intelligence was closed; so Dick tore himself off by force,
and, shouting a good-bye, made off along the lane to
Thymebury.
CHAPTER IX - IN WHICH THE LIBERAL EDITOR RE-APPEARS AS 'DEUS
EX MACHINA'
IT was perhaps a week later, as old Mr. Naseby sat brooding
in his study, that there was shown in upon him, on urgent
business, a little hectic gentleman shabbily attired.
'I have to ask pardon for this intrusion, Mr. Naseby,' he
said; 'but I come here to perform a duty. My card has been
sent in, but perhaps you may not know, what it does not tell
you, that I am the editor of the THYMEBURY STAR.'
Mr. Naseby looked up, indignant.
'I cannot fancy,' he said, 'that we have much in common to
discuss.'
'I have only a word to say - one piece of information to
communicate. Some months ago, we had - you will pardon my
referring to it, it is absolutely necessary - but we had an
unfortunate difference as to facts.'
'Have you come to apologise?' asked the Squire, sternly.
'No, sir; to mention a circumstance. On the morning in
question, your son, Mr. Richard Naseby - '
'I do not permit his name to be mentioned.'
'You will, however, permit me,' replied the Editor.
'You are cruel,' said the Squire. He was right, he was a
broken man.
Then the Editor described Dick's warning visit; and how he
had seen in the lad's eye that there was a thrashing in the
wind, and had escaped through pity only - so the Editor put
it - 'through pity only sir. And oh, sir,' he went on, 'if
you had seen him speaking up for you, I am sure you would
have been proud of your son. I know I admired the lad
myself, and indeed that's what brings me here.'
'I have misjudged him,' said the Squire. 'Do you know where
he is?'
'Yes, sir, he lies sick at Thymebury.'
'You can take me to him?'
'I can.'
'I pray God he may forgive me,' said the father.
And he and the Editor made post-haste for the country town.
Next day the report went abroad that Mr. Richard was
reconciled to his father and had been taken home to Naseby
House. He was still ailing, it was said, and the Squire
- manufacturer [,mænju´fæktʃərə]
n.制造人；工厂主 (初中英语单词) - wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
- admiral [´ædmərəl] n.海军上将，舰队司令 (初中英语单词)
- waiting [´weitiŋ] n.等候；伺候 (初中英语单词)
- thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推；冲；刺；挤进 (初中英语单词)
- whisper [´wispə] v.耳语 n.低语；沙沙声 (初中英语单词)
- insult [in´sʌlt, ´insʌlt] n.&vt.侮辱；损害 (初中英语单词)
- patience [´peiʃəns] n.忍耐(力)；耐心；坚韧 (初中英语单词)
- pardon [´pɑ:dən] n.&vt.原谅；饶恕；赦免 (初中英语单词)
- descend [di´send] v.下来，下降 (初中英语单词)
- interview [´intəvju:] n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词)
- advanced [əd´vɑ:nst] a.先进的；高级的 (初中英语单词)
- application [,æpli´keiʃən] n.申请；申请书；应用 (初中英语单词)
- worthy [´wə:ði] a.有价值的；值得的 (初中英语单词)
- welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
- interrupt [,intə´rʌpt] v.中断；打扰 (初中英语单词)
- extreme [ik´stri:m] a.尽头的 n.极端 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- behave [bi´heiv] v.举止；表现；举止端正 (初中英语单词)
- selfish [´selfiʃ] a.自私的，利己的 (初中英语单词)
- useless [´ju:sləs] a.无用的，无价值的 (初中英语单词)
- remind [ri´maind] vt.提醒；使记(想)起 (初中英语单词)
- liberal [´libərəl] a.大方的 n.开明的人 (初中英语单词)
- absolutely [´æbsəlu:tli] ad.绝对地；确实 (初中英语单词)
- squire [skwaiə] n.护卫，侍从；乡绅 (初中英语单词)
- forgive [fə´giv] vt.原谅，谅解，宽恕 (初中英语单词)
- abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
- so-called [´sou ´kɔ:ld] a.所谓的，号称的 (高中英语单词)
- interference [,intə´fiərəns] n.干涉，干扰，妨碍 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的；重复的 (高中英语单词)
- misfortune [mis´fɔ:tʃən] n.不幸；灾祸 (高中英语单词)
- destiny [´destini] n.命运 (高中英语单词)
- worthless [´wə:θləs] a.无价值的 (高中英语单词)
- advertise [´ædvətaiz] v.登(做)广告；通知 (高中英语单词)
- sponge [spʌndʒ] n.海绵(状物) (高中英语单词)
- offering [´ɔfəriŋ] n.提供；礼物；捐献 (高中英语单词)
- aristocracy [,æris´tɔkrəsi] n.贵族政治；贵族 (英语四级单词)
- repulse [ri´pʌls] vt.拒绝；排斥 n.击退 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- decisive [di´saisiv] a.决定性的，确定的 (英语四级单词)
- unusually [ʌn´ju:ʒuəli] ad.异常地；非常 (英语四级单词)
- lobster [´lɔbstə] n.龙虾(肉) (英语四级单词)
- unkind [,ʌn´kaind] a.不客气的；不和善的 (英语四级单词)
- warning [´wɔ:niŋ] n.警告；前兆 a.预告的 (英语四级单词)
- suspense [sə´spens] n.悬挂；悬虑不安 (英语六级单词)
- mercenary [´mə:sinəri] a.唯利是图的；雇佣的 (英语六级单词)
- clerical [´klerikəl] a.牧师的；教士的 (英语六级单词)
- liking [´laikiŋ] n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 (英语六级单词)
- intrusion [in´tru:ʒən] n.侵入；打扰；强加 (英语六级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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