目
录
写在前面Preface. 1
第一卷 三 个 女 人
Book One The Three Women 第一章 岁月变换容貌依旧
Chapter 1 A Face on Which Time Makes but Little Impression. 4
第二章 烦恼相伴的人物现身荒原
Chapter 2 Humanity Appears upon the Scene, Hand in
Hand with Trouble. 9
第三章 乡村的习俗
Chapter 3 The Custom of the Country. 17
第四章 在收税路上小憩
Chapter 4 The Halt on the Turnpike Road. 39
第五章 老实人的困惑
Chapter 5 Perplexity among Honest People. 45
第六章 天边的人影
Chapter 6 The Figure against the Sky. 59
第七章 夜的女王
Chapter 7 Queen of Night 75
第八章 在传说的无人之地发现有人
Chapter 8 Those Who Are Found Where There Is Said to
Be Nobody. 82
第九章 爱使聪明男人想出计谋
Chapter 9 Love Leads a Shrewd Man into Strategy. 88
第十章 不顾一切地劝说
Chapter 10 A Desperate Attempt at Persuasion. 100
第十一章 一个诚实女人的不诚实
Chapter 11 The Dishonesty of an Honest Woman. 110
第二卷 到 达
Book Two The Arrival 第一章 来者的消息
Chapter 1 Tidings of the Comer 120
第二章 花落村的人们准备好了
Chapter 2 The People at Blooms-End Make Ready. 125
第三章 一点声音是如何引发一个美梦的
Chapter 3 How a Little Sound Produced a Great Dream... 130
第四章 佑斯塔西亚被迫冒险
Chapter 4 Eustacia Is Led on to an Adventure. 136
第五章 穿越月光
Chapter 5 Through the Moonlight 146
第六章 两个面对面站着的人
Chapter 6 The Two Stand Face to Face. 154
第七章 美丽与古怪的结合
Chapter 7 A Coalition between Beauty and Oddness. 166
第八章 一颗柔弱的心变得坚定
Chapter 8 Firmness Is Discovered in a Gentle Heart 177
第三卷 迷 恋
Book Three The Fascination 第一章 我的心便是我的王国
Chapter 1 My Mind to Me a Kingdom Is. 190
第二章 新的做法引起一片失望
Chapter 2 The New Course Causes Disappointment 196
第三章 一出陈旧戏的第一幕
Chapter 3 The First Act in a Timeworn Drama. 205
第四章 一小时的欢乐和许多小时的悲哀
Chapter 4 An Hour of Bliss and Many Hours of Sadness. 221
第五章 尖刻话语引发的危机
Chapter 5 Sharp Words Are Spoken, and a Crisis Ensues. 230
第六章 约布莱特离开，裂痕出现
Chapter 6 Yeobright Goes, and the Breach Is Complete. 238
第七章 一天的早晨和晚上
Chapter 7 The Morning and the Evening of a Day. 246
第八章 新的力量加入斗争
Chapter 8 A New Force Disturbs the Current 262
第四卷 紧闭的大门
Book Four The Closed Door 第一章 池塘边发生的冲突
Chapter 1 The Rencounter by the Pool 272
第二章 他在逆境面前歌唱生活
Chapter 2 He Is Set upon by Adversities but He
Sings a Song. 280
第三章 她为摆脱沮丧而出走
Chapter 3 She Goes Out to Battle against Depression. 291
第四章 使用粗鲁的压制手段
Chapter 4 Rough Coercion Is Employed. 305
第五章 穿越荒原的旅行
Chapter 5 The Journey across the Heath. 313
第六章 一次巧合及其对旁人带来的影响
Chapter 6 A Conjuncture, and Its Result upon the Pedestrian. 318
第七章 两个老朋友的悲痛的见面
Chapter 7 The Tragic Meeting of Two Old Friends. 330
第八章 佑斯塔西亚听到别人的好消息而自己却遭厄运
Chapter 8 Eustacia Hears of Good Fortune, and Beholds Evil 339
第五卷 真 相 大 白
Book Five The Discovery 第一章 在哪里赐给那受难的人光？
Chapter 1 Wherefore Is Light Given to Him That Is in
Misery. 350
第二章 一道亮光使得迷茫的心豁然开朗
Chapter 2 A Lurid Light Breaks in upon a Darkened
Understanding. 359
第三章 佑斯塔西亚在一个阴暗的早晨独自打扮
Chapter 3 Eustacia Dresses Herself on a Black Morning. 370
第四章 一个快被遗忘的人的照料
Chapter 4 The Ministrations of a Half-forgotten One. 380
第五章 偶然间重复了一个老动作
Chapter 5 An Old Move Inadvertently Repeated. 386
第六章 托玛茜与表兄发生争吵，表兄写了一封信
Chapter 6 Thomasin Argues with Her Cousin,
and He Writes a Letter 394
第七章 十一月六日的晚上
Chapter 7 The Night of the Sixth of November 402
第八章 大雨、黑暗和焦急的寻找者
Chapter 8 Rain, Darkness, and Anxious Wanderers. 412
第九章 场景和声音把行人吸引在一起
Chapter 9 Sights and Sounds Draw the Wanderers Together 423
第六卷 后 来
Book Six Aftercourses 第一章 不可避免的走向
Chapter 1 The Inevitable Movement Onward. 436
第二章 托玛茜在罗马路边的草地上漫步
Chapter 2 Thomasin Walks in a Green Place by the
Roman Road. 446
第三章 克莱姆和表妹之间的严肃交流
Chapter 3 The Serious Discourse of Clym with His Cousin. 450
第四章 快乐再次光临花落村，克莱姆找到自己的位置
Chapter 4 Cheerfulness Again Asserts Itself at Blooms-End,
and Clym Finds His Vocation. 456
第五章 老实人的困惑Chapter 5 Perplexity among Honest People托玛茜无力地回答说，她和怀尔德夫到了角堡镇，牧师发现结婚许可证有些不合规定的地方，就没有让他们结婚。托玛茜不想和怀尔德夫一起回来，看见狄格雷维恩后，便搭了维恩的顺路车回来了。她还哀求约布莱特太太原谅她的这件丢脸事。约布莱特太太心中同时生出同情和愤怒的感情。她开口道，自己早就阻止过托玛茜的婚事，而且早就不相信怀尔德夫能带给托玛茜幸福。不过既然已经订婚，那无论出了什么状况，托玛茜都一定要嫁给怀尔德夫。说着，约布莱特太太带着托玛茜朝淑女店走去，要看看怀尔德夫会在自己面前耍什么心眼。淑女店面朝着荒原和雨冢，后面是花园，再过去是一条深邃的溪流。此刻夜色沉沉，依稀可以看见灯光下淑女店的男主人的身影。托玛茜本来不想再见怀尔德夫，但她的姑妈坚决要如此，两人便一起走了进来。怀尔德夫十分年轻，体型健美，举止优雅。他转过身来，迎接两位女客。约布莱特太太立刻带着傲慢的口气质问起来，怀尔德夫彬彬有礼地解释了结婚许可证的事情。托玛茜发觉约布莱特太太和怀尔德夫的对话越来越不愉快，便请求约布莱特太太先待在外面，自己和怀尔德夫在里屋说几句话。一进里屋，托玛茜就泪流满面地向怀尔德夫陈述说，自己非常痛苦，但仍然竭力控制住，好不让自己的姑妈再责怪怀尔德夫。她没有想到结婚跟自己想象的温馨甜美完全不同，现在只恳求怀尔德夫再同自己结婚，好不让自己的姑妈和即将回家的表哥因为自己而感到羞愧。怀尔德夫毫不掩饰自己对于约布莱特太太的不满，说自己绝不会忘记结婚公告被人反对这件事。怀尔德夫发现托玛茜神色痛苦，便连忙补充说，他一定会让婚礼完成，托玛茜立刻高兴起来。这时，淑女店外传来一阵吵嚷声和歌声，从中可以明显听出蒂莫西费尔韦和坎特大爷的声音。怀尔德夫明白这是荒原上的人们给他们唱歌祝贺来了。约布莱特太太从外屋冲了进来，要带托玛茜离开。怀尔德夫止住了他们，说由自己出去应对。临走时，还骂了句这帮蠢货。怀尔德夫来到外屋，迎来了以坎特大爷和蒂莫西费尔韦为首的几十个人。他们面带笑容地唱了一首歌，坎特大爷代表大家真诚地献出了祝福。怀尔德夫干巴巴地回应了一句，接着，便拿出一罐蜂蜜酒，希望他们能喝完酒后早点离开。蜂蜜酒在来人中传开了，他们一边喝酒，一边大声地拉着家常，先恭祝怀尔德夫娶了托玛茜，又称赞起已经去世的约布莱特先生。他们热情地称赞起约布莱特先生吹奏单簧管和拉低音提琴的高超技术，再次对约布莱特先生的英年早逝感到可惜，还有几个人回忆了约布莱特先生去世的那个下午发生的事情。怀尔德夫感到难以忍受。一阵沉默后，蒂莫西从窗外看到了那处小巧明亮的篝火，询问是怎么回事。没有人留意怀尔德夫那一闪而过的知情表情。他们又谈论了几句老船长维伊家的外孙女，之后便打算离开了。怀尔德夫拒绝了坎特大爷临走前再唱一首歌的提议，说自己以后会再办一个晚会，便送走了祝贺的人群。等怀尔德夫走进里屋，发现约布莱特太太和托玛茜已经从窗口逃离了房间。怀尔德夫无意中看到答应要送给道顿家的半瓶酒，便拿着酒瓶出了门。外面一片黑暗，怀尔德夫将酒送到了道顿家，又向那处小篝火望了望，然后朝着篝火走去。homasin looked as if quite overcome by her aunts change of manner. It means just what it seems to mean： I am not married, she replied faintly. Excuse me for humiliating you, Aunt, by this mishap I am sorry for it. But I cannot help it.Me? Think of yourself first.It was nobodys fault. When we got there the parson wouldnt marry us because of some trifling irregularity in the license.What irregularity?I dont know. Mr. Wildeve can explain. I did not think when I went away this morning that I should come back like this. It being dark, Thomasin allowed her emotion to escape her by the silent way of tears, which could roll down her cheek unseen.I could almost say that it serves you right if I did not feel that you dont deserve it, continued Mrs. Yeobright, who, possessing two distinct moods in close contiguity, a gentle mood and an angry, flew from one to the other without the least warning. Remember, Thomasin, this business was none of my seeking; from the very first, when you began to feel foolish about that man, I warned you he would not make you happy. I felt it so strongly that I did what I would never have believed myself capable of doing stood up in the church, and made myself the public talk for weeks. But having once consented, I dont submit to these fancies without good reason. Marry him you must after this.Do you think I wish to do otherwise for one moment? said Thomasin, with a heavy sigh. I know how wrong it was of me to love him, but dont pain me by talking like that, Aunt! You would not have had me stay there with him, would you? and your house is the only home I have to return to. He says we can be married in a day or two.I wish he had never seen you.Very well; then I will be the miserablest woman in the world, and not let him see me again. No, I wont have him!It is too late to speak so. Come with me. I am going to the inn to see if he has returned. Of course I shall get to the bottom of this story at once. Mr. Wildeve must not suppose he can play tricks upon me, or any belonging to me.It was not that. The license was wrong, and he couldnt get another the same day. He will tell you in a moment how it was, if he comes.Why didnt he bring you back?That was me! again sobbed Thomasin. When I found we could not be married I didnt like to come back with him, and I was very ill. Then I saw Diggory Venn, and was glad to get him to take me home. I cannot explain it any better, and you must be angry with me if you will.I shall see about that, said Mrs. Yeobright; and they turned towards the inn, known in the neighbourhood as the Quiet Woman, the sign of which represented the figure of a matron carrying her head under her arm, beneath which gruesome design was written the couplet so well known to frequenters of the inn：SINCE THE WOMANS QUIETLET NO MAN BREED A RIOT.[1]1The inn which really bore this sign and legend stood some miles to the northwest of the present scene, wherein the house more immediately referred to is now no longer an inn; and the surroundings are much changed. But another inn, some of whose features are also embodied in this description, the RED LION at Winfrith, still remains as a haven for the wayfarer 1912.The front of the house was towards the heath and Rainbarrow, whose dark shape seemed to threaten it from the sky. Upon the door was a neglected brass plate, bearing the unexpected inscription, Mr. Wildeve, Engineer a useless yet cherished relic from the time when he had been started in that profession in an office at Budmouth by those who had hoped much from him, and had been disappointed. The garden was at the back, and behind this ran a still deep stream, forming the margin of the heath in that direction, meadow-land appearing beyond the stream.But the thick obscurity permitted only skylines to be visible of any scene at present. The water at the back of the house could be heard, idly spinning whirpools in its creep between the rows of dry feather-headed reeds which formed a stockade along each bank. Their presence was denoted by sounds as of a congregation praying humbly, produced by their rubbing against each other in the slow wind.The window, whence the candlelight had shone up the vale to the eyes of the bonfire group, was uncurtained, but the sill lay too high for a pedestrian on the outside to look over it into the room. A vast shadow, in which could be dimly traced portions of a masculine contour, blotted half the ceiling.He seems to be at home, said Mrs. Yeobright.Must I come in, too, Aunt? asked Thomasin faintly. I suppose not; it would be wrong.You must come, certainly to confront him, so that he may make no false representations to me. We shall not be five minutes in the house, and then well walk home.Entering the open passage, she tapped at the door of the private parlour, unfastened it, and looked in.The back and shoulders of a man came between Mrs. Yeobrights eyes and the fire. Wildeve, whose form it was, immediately turned, arose, and advanced to meet his visitors.He was quite a young man, and of the two properties, form and motion, the latter first attracted the eye in him. The grace of his movement was singular it was the pantomimic expression of a lady-killing career. Next came into notice the more material qualities, among which was a profuse crop of hair impending over the top of his face, lending to his forehead the high-cornered outline of an early Gothic shield; and a neck which was smooth and round as a cylinder. The lower half of his figure was of light build. Altogether he was one in whom no man would have seen anything to admire, and in whom no woman would have seen anything to dislike.He discerned the young girls form in the passage, and said, Thomasin, then, has reached home. How could you leave me in that way, darling? And turning to Mrs. Yeobright It was useless to argue with her. She would go, and go alone.But whats the meaning of it all? demanded Mrs. Yeobright haughtily.Take a seat, said Wildeve, placing chairs for the two women. Well, it was a very stupid mistake, but such mistakes will happen. The license was useless at Anglebury. It was made out for Budmouth, but as I didnt read it I wasnt aware of that.But you had been staying at Anglebury?No. I had been at Budmouth till two days ago and that was where I had intended to take her; but when I came to fetch her we decided upon Anglebury, forgetting that a new license would be necessary. There was not time to get to Budmouth afterwards.I think you are very much to blame, said Mrs. Yeobright.It was quite my fault we chose Anglebury, Thomasin pleaded. I proposed it because I was not known there.I know so well that I am to blame that you need not remind me of it, replied Wildeve shortly.Such things dont happen for nothing, said the aunt. It is a great slight to me and my family; and when it gets known there will be a very unpleasant time for us. How can she look her friends in the face tomorrow? It is a very great injury, and one I cannot easily forgive. It may even reflect on her character.Nonsense, said Wildeve.Thomasins large eyes had flown from the face of one to the face of the other during this discussion, and she now said anxiously, Will you allow me, Aunt, to talk it over alone with Damon for five minutes? Will you, Damon?Certainly, dear, said Wildeve, if your aunt will excuse us. He led her into an adjoining room, leaving Mrs. Yeobright by the fire.As soon as they were alone, and the door closed, Thomasin said, turning up her pale, tearful face to him, It is killing me, this, Damon! I did not mean to part from you in anger at Anglebury this morning; but I was frightened and hardly knew what I said. Ive not let Aunt know how much I suffered today; and it is so hard to command my face and voice, and to smile as if it were a slight thing to me; but I try to do so, that she may not be still more indignant with you. I know you could not help it, dear, whatever Aunt may think.She is very unpleasant.Yes, Thomasin murmured, and I suppose I seem so now. .?.?. Damon, what do you mean to do about me?Do about you?Yes. Those who dont like you whisper things which at moments make me doubt you. We mean to marry, I suppose, dont we?Of course we do. We have only to go to Budmouth on Monday, and we marry at once.Then do let us go! O Damon, what you make me say! She hid her face in her handkerchief. Here am I asking you to marry me, when by rights you ought to be on your knees imploring me, your cruel mistress, not to refuse you, and saying it would break your heart if I did. I used to think it would be pretty and sweet like that; but how different!Yes, real life is never at all like that.But I dont care personally if it never takes place, she added with a little dignity; no, I can live without you. It is Aunt I think of. She is so proud, and thinks so much of her family respectability, that she will be cut down with mortification if this story should get abroad before it is done. My cousin Clym, too, will be much wounded.Then he will be very unreasonable. In fact, you are all rather unreasonable.Thomasin coloured a little, and not with love. But whatever the momentary feeling which caused that flush in her, it went as it came, and she humbly said, I never mean to be, if I can help it. I merely feel that you have my aunt to some extent in your power at last.As a matter of justice it is almost due to me, said Wildeve. Think what I have gone through to win her consent; the insult that it is to any man to have the banns forbidden the double insult to a man unlucky enough to be cursed with sensitiveness, and blue demons, and Heaven knows what, as I am. I can never forget those banns. A harsher man would rejoice now in the power I have of turning upon your aunt by going no further in the business.She looked wistfully at him with her sorrowful eyes as he said those words, and her aspect showed that more than one person in the room could deplore the possession of sensitiveness. Seeing that she was really suffering he seemed disturbed and added, This is merely a reflection you know. I have not the least intention to refuse to complete the marriage, Tamsie mine I could not bear it.You could not, I know! said the fair girl, brightening. You, who cannot bear the sight of pain in even an insect, or any disagreeable sound, or unpleasant smell even, will not long cause pain to me and mine.I will not, if I can help it.Your hand upon it, Damon.He carelessly gave her his hand.Ah, by my crown, whats that? he said suddenly.There fell upon their ears the sound of numerous voices singing in front of the house. Among these, two made themselves prominent by their peculiarity： one was a very strong bass, the other a wheezy thin piping. Thomasin recognized them as belonging to Timothy Fairway and Grandfer Cantle respectively.What does it mean it is not skimmity-riding, I hope? she said, with a frightened gaze at Wildeve.Of course not; no, it is that the heath-folk have come to sing to us a welcome. This is intolerable! He began pacing about, the men outside singing cheerily?He told her that she was the joy of his life, And if shed con-sent he would make her his wife; She could not refuse him; to church so they went, Young Will was forgot, and young Sue was content; And then was she kissd and set down on his knee, No man in the world was so lov-ing as he!Mrs. Yeobright burst in from the outer room. Thomasin, Thomasin! she said, looking indignantly at Wildeve; heres a pretty exposure! Let us escape at once. Come!It was, however, too late to get away by the passage. A rugged knocking had begun upon the door of the front room. Wildeve, who had gone to the window, came back.Stop! he said imperiously, putting his hand upon Mrs. Yeobrights arm. We are regularly besieged. There are fifty of them out there if theres one. You stay in this room with Thomasin; Ill go out and face them. You must stay now, for my sake, till they are gone, so that it may seem as if all was right. Come, Tamsie dear, dont go making a scene we must marry after this; that you can see as well as I. Sit still, thats all and dont speak much. Ill manage them. Blundering fools!He pressed the agitated girl into a seat, returned to the outer room and opened the door. Immediately outside, in the passage, appeared Grandfer Cantle singing in concert with those still standing in front of the house. He came into the room and nodded abstractedly to Wildeve, his lips still parted, and his features excruciatingly strained in the emission of the chorus. This being ended, he said heartily, Heres welcome to the new-made couple, and God bless em!Thank you, said Wildeve, with dry resentment, his face as gloomy as a thunderstorm.At the Grandfers heels now came the rest of the group, which included Fairway, Christian, Sam the turf-cutter, Humphrey, and a dozen others. All smiled upon Wildeve, and upon his tables and chairs likewise, from a general sense of friendliness towards the articles as well as towards their owner.We be not here afore Mrs. Yeobright after all, said Fairway, recognizing the matrons bonnet through the glass partition which divided the public apartment they had entered from the room where the women sat. We struck down across, dye see, Mr. Wildeve, and she went round by the path.And I see the young brides little head! said Grandfer, peeping in the same direction, and discerning Thomasin, who was waiting beside her aunt in a miserable and awkward way. Not quite settled in yet well, well, theres plenty of time.Wildeve made no reply; and probably feeling that the sooner he treated them the sooner they would go, he produced a stone jar, which threw a warm halo over matters at once.Thats a drop of the right sort, I can see, said Grandfer Cantle, with the air of a man too well-mannered to show any hurry to taste it.Yes, said Wildeve, tis some old mead. I hope you will like it.O ay! replied the guests, in the hearty tones natural when the words demanded by politeness coincide with those of deepest feeling. There isnt a prettier drink under the sun.Ill take my oath there isnt, added Grandfer Cantle. All that can be said against mead is that tis rather heady, and apt to lie about a man a good while. But tomorrows Sunday, thank God.I feeld for all the world like some bold soldier after I had had some once, said Christian.You shall feel so again, said Wildeve, with condescension, Cups or glasses, gentlemen?Well, if you dont mind, well have the beaker, and pass en round; tis better than heling it out in dribbles.Jown the slippery glasses, said Grandfer Cantle. Whats the good of a thing that you cant put down in the ashes to warm, hey, neighbours; thats what I ask?Right, Grandfer, said Sam; and the mead then circulated.Well, said Timothy Fairway, feeling demands upon his praise in some form or other, tis a worthy thing to be married, Mr. Wildeve; and the woman youve got is a dimant, so says I. Yes, he continued, to Grandfer Cantle, raising his voice so as to be heard through the partition, her father inclining his head towards the inner room was as good a feller as ever lived. He always had his great indignation ready against anything underhand.Is that very dangerous? said Christian.And there were few in these parts that were upsides with him, said Sam. Whenever a club walked hed play the clarinet in the band that marched before em as if hed never touched anything but a clarinet all his life. And then, when they got to church door hed throw down the clarinet, mount the gallery, snatch up the bass viol, and rozum away as if hed never played anything but a bass viol. Folk would say folk that knowed what a true stave was Surely, surely thats never the same man that I saw handling the clarinet so masterly by now!I can mind it, said the furze-cutter. Twas a wonderful thing that one body could hold it all and never mix the fingering.There was Kingsbere church likewise, Fairway recommenced, as one opening a new vein of the same mine of interest.Wildeve breathed the breath of one intolerably bored, and glanced through the partition at the prisoners.He used to walk over there of a Sunday afternoon to visit his old acquaintance Andrew Brown, the first clarinet there; a good man enough, but rather screechy in his music, if you can mind?A was.And neighbour Yeobright would take Andreys place for some part of the service, to let Andrey have a bit of a nap, as any friend would naturally do.As any friend would, said Grandfer Cantle, the other listeners expressing the same accord by the shorter way of nodding their heads.No sooner was Andrey asleep and the first whiff of neighbour Yeobrights wind had got inside Andreys clarinet than everyone in church feeled in a moment there was a great soul among em. All heads would turn, and theyd say, Ah, I thought twas he! One Sunday I can well mind a bass viol day that time, and Yeobright had brought his own. Twas the Hundred-and-thirty-third to Lydia; and when theyd come to Ran down his beard and oer his robes its costly moisture shed, neighbour Yeobright, who had just warmed to his work, drove his bow into them strings that glorious grand that he een amost sawed the bass viol into two pieces. Every winder in church rattled as if twere a thunderstorm. Old Pason Williams lifted his hands in his great holy surplice as natural as if hed been in common clothes, and seemed to say hisself, O for such a man in our parish! But not a soul in Kingsbere could hold a candle to Yeobright.Was it quite safe when the winder shook? Christian inquired.He received no answer, all for the moment sitting rapt in admiration of the performance described. As with Farinellis singing before the princesses, Sheridans renowned Begum Speech, and other such examples, the fortunate condition of its being for ever lost to the world invested the deceased Mr. Yeobrights tour de force on that memorable afternoon with a cumulative glory which comparative criticism, had that been possible, might considerably have shorn down.He was the last youd have expected to drop off in the prime of life, said Humphrey.Ah, well; he was looking for the earth some months afore he went. At that time women used to run for smocks and gown-pieces at Greenhill Fair, and my wife that is now, being a long-legged slittering maid, hardly husband-high, went with the rest of the maidens, for a was a good, runner afore she got so heavy. When she came home I said we were then just beginning to walk together What have ye got, my honey? Ive won well, Ive won a gown-piece, says she, her colours coming up in a moment. Tis a smock for a crown, I thought; and so it turned out. Ay, when I think what shell say to me now without a mossel of red in her face, it do seem strange that a wouldnt say such a little thing then. .?.?. However, then she went on, and thats what made me bring up the story. Well, whatever clothes Ive won, white or figured, for eyes to see or for eyes not to see a could do a pretty stroke of modesty in those days, Id sooner have lost it than have seen what I have. Poor Mr. Yeobright was took bad directly he reached the fair ground, and was forced to go home again. That was the last time he ever went out of the parish.A faltered on from one day to another, and then we heard he was gone.Dye think he had great pain when a died? said Christian.O no quite different. Nor any pain of mind. He was lucky enough to be God Amightys own man.And other folk dye think twill be much pain to em, Mister Fairway?That depends on whether they be afeard.I baint afeard at all, I thank God! said Christian strenuously. Im glad I baint, for then twont pain me. .?.?. I dont think I be afeard or if I be I cant help it, and I dont deserve to suffer. I wish I was not afeard at all!There was a solemn silence, and looking from the window, which was unshuttered and unblinded, Timothy said, Well, what a fess little bonfire that one is, out by Capn Vyes! Tis burning just the same now as ever, upon my life.All glances went through the window, and nobody noticed that Wildeve disguised a brief, telltale look. Far away up the sombre valley of heath, and to the right of Rainbarrow, could indeed be seen the light, small, but steady and persistent as before.It was lighted before ours was, Fairway continued; and yet every one in the country round is out afore n.Perhaps theres meaning in it! murmured Christian.How meaning? said Wildeve sharply.Christian was too scattered to reply, and Timothy helped him.He means, sir, that the lonesome dark-eyed creature up there that some say is a witch ever I should call a fine young woman such a name is always up to some odd conceit or other; and so perhaps tis she.Id be very glad to ask her in wedlock, if shed hae me and take the risk of her wild dark eyes ill-wishing me, said Grandfer Cantle staunchly.Dont ye say it, Father! implored Christian.Well, be dazed if he who do marry the maid wont hae an uncommon picture for his best parlour, said Fairway in a liquid tone, placing down the cup of mead at the end of a good pull.And a partner as deep as the North Star, said Sam, taking up the cup and finishing the little that remained. Well, really, now I think we must be moving, said Humphrey, observing the emptiness of the vessel.But well gie em another song? said Grandfer Cantle. Im as full of notes as a bird!Thank you, Grandfer, said Wildeve. But we will not trouble you now. Some other day must do for that when I have a party.Be jownd if I dont learn ten new songs fort, or I wont learn a line! said Grandfer Cantle. And you may be sure I wont disappoint ye by biding away, Mr. Wildeve.I quite believe you, said that gentleman.All then took their leave, wishing their entertainer long life and happiness as a married man, with recapitulations which occupied some time. Wildeve attended them to the door, beyond which the deep-dyed upward stretch of heath stood awaiting them, an amplitude of darkness reigning from their feet almost to the zenith, where a definite form first became visible in the lowering forehead of Rainbarrow. Diving into the dense obscurity in a line headed by Sam the turf-cutter, they pursued their trackless way home.When the scratching of the furze against their leggings had fainted upon the ear, Wildeve returned to the room where he had left Thomasin and her aunt. The women were gone.They could only have left the house in one way, by the back window; and this was open.Wildeve laughed to himself, remained a moment thinking, and idly returned to the front room. Here his glance fell upon a bottle of wine which stood on the mantelpiece. Ah old Dowden! he murmured; and going to the kitchen door shouted, Is anybody here who can take something to old Dowden?There was no reply. The room was empty, the lad who acted as his factotum having gone to bed. Wildeve came back put on his hat, took the bottle, and left the house, turning the key in the door, for there was no guest at the inn tonight. As soon as he was on the road the little bonfire on Mistover Knap again met his eye.Still waiting, are you, my lady? he murmured.However, he did not proceed that way just then; but leaving the hill to the left of him, he stumbled over a rutted road that brought him to a cottage which, like all other habitations on the heath at this hour, was only saved from being visible by a faint shine from its bedroom window. This house was the home of Olly Dowden, the besom-maker, and he entered.The lower room was in darkness; but by feeling his way he found a table, whereon he placed the bottle, and a minute later emerged again upon the heath. He stood and looked northeast at the undying little fire high up above him, though not so high as Rainbarrow.We have been told what happens when a woman deliberates; and the epigram is not always terminable with woman, provided that one be in the case, and that a fair one. Wildeve stood, and stood longer, and breathed perplexedly, and then said to himself with resignation, Yes by Heaven, I must go to her, I suppose!Instead of turning in the direction of home he pressed on rapidly by a path under Rainbarrow towards what was evidently a signal light.[1] The inn which really bore this sign and legend stood some miles to the northwest of the present scene, wherein the house more immediately referred to is now no longer an inn; and the surroundings are much changed. But another inn, some of whose features are also embodied in this description, the RED LION at Winfrith, still remains as a haven for the wayfarer 1912.??
??
??
??
The Returnof the Native
Perplexity among?Honest People
46
45
購物車/收銀台(0) | 在線留言板
| 付款方式
| 運費計算
| 聯絡我們
| 幫助中心 |
加入書簽
HOME
新書上架
