【英文小说】前面的岩石.docx

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1、【英文小说】前面的岩石 The Rock AheadCHAPTER I.Whispered.Hot in Brighton, very hot. The August sun reflected off white-chalk cliff and red-brick pavement, and the sea shining and sparkling like a sapphire; the statue of George the Fourth, in its robe of verdigris, looking on in blighted perspiration at the cab

2、men at its base, as though imploring a drink; the cabmen lolling undemonstratively on the boxes of their vehicles, not seeking for employment, and-partly by reason of the heat, but more, perhaps in consequence of the money received recently at the races-rather annoyed than otherwise when their servi

3、ces were called into requisition. For the Brighton races had just taken place, and the town, always so full, had been more crammed than ever. All the grand hotels had been filled with the upper ten thousand, who moved easily over from Chichester and Worthing and Bognor, where they had been staying f

4、or Goodwood, which immediately precedes Brighton; and all the lodgings had been taken by the betting-men and the turfites,-the professionals, with whom the whole affair is the strictest matter of business, and to whom it is of no interest whether the race is run at Torquay or Wolverhampton, in blazi

5、ng sunshine or pouring hailstorm, so long as the right thing comes off, and they land the winner.It was all right for the bookmakers this time at Brighton: the favourites, against which so much money had been staked, had been beaten, and dark horses, scarcely heard of, and backed for nothing, had ca

6、rried off the principal prizes. So it followed that most of the gentry of the betting-ring, instead of hurrying off to the scene of their next trials of fortune, finding themselves with plenty of money in their pockets, at a pleasant place in lovely weather, made up their minds to remain there durin

7、g the intervening Saturday and Sunday, and to drop business so far as possible until the Monday morning, when they would speed away by the early express-trains.So far as possible, but not entirely. It is impossible for them to drop business altogether even on this glorious Sunday afternoon, when the

8、 whole face of Nature is blandly smiling. See the broad blue bosom of the sea smooth and sparkling as glass, dotted here and there with white-sailed pleasure-boats; see far away, beyond the encircling belt of brick and stone, the broad shoulder of the bare and bushless downs, over which the fresh ai

9、r careering comes away laden with the delicious scents of trodden turf and wild thyme and yellow gorse; see the brown beach, where under the lee of the fishing-smacks, or making a table of the large flukes of rusty anchors, sit groups of excursionists,-pallid Londoners, exulting in the unwonted luxu

10、ry of escaping from the stony streets, and more excited by the brisk and revivifying sea air than by the contents of the stone bottle which stands in the midst of each group, and whose contents are so perpetually going round from hand to hand in the little footless glass; see the Esplanade thronged

11、with its hundreds of foot passengers, its scores of flies and carriages; see the Stock Exchange in all its glory, and the children of Israel gorgeous in long ringlets, thunder-and-lightning neckties, and shot-silk parasols; and see the turf-men standing here and there in little knots, trying to be i

12、nterested in the scenes passing around them, but ever and again turning to each other with some question of odds, for some scrap of intelligence.The ring is strongly represented this Sunday afternoon on Brighton Parade, both in its highest and its lowest form. The short stout man in the greasy suit

13、of black, with the satin waistcoat frayed round the pockets by the rubbing of his silver watch-guard, who is jotting down memoranda with a fat cedar-pencil in his betting-book, enters freely into conversation and is on an equality with the gentlemanly-looking man whose only visible horseyness is exp

14、ressed in his tightly-cut trousers and his birds-eye neckerchief with the horseshoe pin. Patrons of the turf, owners of racehorses, commission-agents, bookmakers, touts, tipsters, hangers-on of every kind to turf speculations and turf iniquities, are here at Brighton on this lovely Sunday afternoon.

15、There was one group, consisting of three people, planted on the Esplanade, just in front of the Old Ship Hotel, the three component members of which were recognised and saluted by nearly everyone who passed. One of them was a short square-built man, with keen eyes closely set and sunken, small red w

16、hiskers, and a sharp-pointed nose. He was dressed in black, with a wonderfully neatly-tied long white cravat, folded quite flat, with a dogs tooth set in gold for a pin; and he wore a low-crowned hat. The other two were young men, dressed in the best style of what is known as horsey get-up. They had

17、 been talking and laughing ever since they had taken up their position, immediately after lunching at the hotel, out of which they had strolled with cigars in their mouths; and it was obvious that any respect which the elder man might receive was not paid to him on account of his age, but rather in

18、acknowledgment of the caustic remarks with which he amused his companions. These remarks seemed at last to have come to an end. There had been a long silence, which was broken by the elder man asking,O, seen anything of Gore-Harvey Gore? Has he gone back, or what?Dont know; havent seen him since Thu

19、rsday night, said the taller of the young men.Won a pot of money on the Cup, said the other sententiously; regular hatful.What did his pal do? asked the elder man. Lloyd I mean. Did he pull through?Dropped his tin, Foxey dear. Held on like grim death to Gaslight, and was put in the hole like the res

20、t of us. He tells me he has been hit for-He tells you! interrupted the elder man; He tells you! Ive known Gilbert Lloyd for two or three years, and anything he tells me I should take deuced good care not to believe.Very good, Foxey dear! very nice, you sweet old thing! only dont halloo out quite so

21、loud, because heres G.L. coming across the road to speak to us, and he mightnt-How do, Lloyd, old fellow?The new-comer was a man of about four-and-twenty, a little above the middle height, and slightly but strongly built. His face would generally have been considered handsome, though a physiognomist

22、 would have read shiftiness and suspicion in the small and sunken blue eyes, want of geniality in the tightly-closing mouth visible under the slight fair moustache, and determination in the jaw. Though there was a slight trace of the stable in his appearance, he was decidedly more gentlemanly-lookin

23、g than his companions, having a distinct stamp of birth and breeding which they lacked. He smiled as he approached the group, and waved a small stick which he carried in a jaunty manner; but Foxey noticed a flushed appearance round his eyes, an eager worn straining round his mouth, and said to his f

24、riend who had last spoken, Youre right, Jack; Lloyd has had it hot and strong this time, and no mistake.The young man had by this time crossed the road and stood leaning over the railing. In answer to a repetition of their salutes, he said:Not very bright. None of us are always up to the mark, save

25、Foxey here, who is perennial; and just now Im worried and bothered. O, not as you fellows imagine, he said hastily, as he saw a smile go round; and as he said it his face darkened, and the clenching of his jaws gave him a very savage expression,-not from what Ive dropped at this meeting; thats neith

26、er here nor there: lightly come; lightly gone; but the fact is that Gore, who is living with me over there, is deuced seedy.Thought he looked pulled and done on Thursday, said Foxey. Didnt know whether it was backing Gaslight that had touched him up, or-No, interrupted Lloyd hurriedly; a good deal o

27、f champagne under a tremendously hot sun; thats the cause, I believe. Harvey has a way of turning up his little finger under excitement, and never will learn to moderate his transports. Hes overdone it this time, and Im afraid is really bad. I must send for a doctor; and now Im off to the telegraph-

28、office, to send a message to my wife. Gore was to have cleared out of this early this morning, to spend a day or two with Sandcrack, the vet, at Shoreham; and my proprietress was coming down here; but theres no room for her now, and I must put her off.Do you think Harvey Gores really bad? asked one

29、of the younger men.Well, I think hes got something like sunstroke, and I know hes a little off his head, responded Lloyd. Hell pull round, I daresay-Ive no doubt. But still he cant be moved just yet, and a woman would only be in the way under such circumstances, let alone its not being very lively f

30、or her; so Ill just send her a message to keep off. Ta-ta! I shall look into the smoking-room to-night at the Ship, when Harveys gone off to sleep. And with a nod and a smile, Gilbert Lloyd started off.Queer customer that, Foxey.Queer indeed; which his golden number is Number One! said Foxey enigmat

31、ically.Whats his wife like?Never saw her, said Foxey; but I should think she had a pleasant time of it with that youth. It will be an awful disappointment to him, her not coming down, wont it?Foxey, you are an unbeliever of the deepest dye. Domestic happiness in your eyes is-Bosh! You never said a t

32、ruer word. Now, lets have half-a-crowns-worth of fly, and go up the cliff.A short time after Gilbert Lloyd had left the house in which he had taken lodgings, consisting of the parlour-floor and a bedroom upstairs, Mrs. Bush, the landlady, whose mind was rather troubled, partly because the servant, w

33、hose Sunday out it was, had not yet returned from the Methodist chapel where she performed her devotions-a delay which her mistress did not impute entirely to the blandishments of the preacher-and partly for other reasons, took up her position in the parlour-window, and began to look up and down the

34、 street. Mrs. Bush was not a landlady of the jolly type; she was not ruddy of complexion, or thin and trim of ankle, neither did she adorn herself with numerous ribbons of florid hue. On the contrary, she was a pale, anxious-faced woman, who looked as if she had had too much to do, and quite enough

35、to fret about, all her life. And now, as she stood in the parlour-window on a hot Sunday, and contemplated the few loungers who straggled through the street on their way to the seashore, she assumed a piteous expression of countenance, and shook her head monotonously.I wish I hadnt let em the rooms,

36、 Im sure, said Mrs. Bush to herself. Its like my luck-and in the race-week too. If hes able to be up and away from this in a day or two, then I know nothing of sickness; and Ive seen a good deal of it too in my time. No sign of that girl! But whos this?Asking this, under the circumstances, unsatisfa

37、ctory question, Mrs. Bush drew still closer to the parlour-window, holding the inevitable red-moreen curtain still farther back, and looked with mingled curiosity and helplessness at a cab which stopped unmistakably at the door of her house, and from the window of which a handsome young female head

38、protruded itself. Mrs. Bush could not doubt that the intention of the lady in the cab was to get out of it and come into her house; and that good-for-nothing Betsy had not come in, and there was nobody to open the door but Mrs. Bush-a thing which, though a meek-enough woman in general, she did not l

39、ike doing. The lady gave her very little time to consider whether she liked it or not; for she descended rapidly from the cab, took a small travelling-bag from the hand of the cabman, paid him, mounted the three steps which led to the door, and knocked and rang with so determined a purpose of being

40、admitted that Mrs. Bush, without a moments hesitation,-but with a muttered Mercy on us! Suppose hed been asleep now! which seemed to imply that the ladys vehemence might probably damage somebodys nerves,-crossed the hall and opened the door.She found herself confronted by a very young lady, a girl o

41、f not more, and possibly less, than nineteen years, in whose manner there was a certain confidence strongly suggestive of her entertaining an idea that the house which she was evidently about to enter was her own, and not that of the quiet, but not well-pleased, looking person who asked her civilly

42、enough, yet not with any cordiality of tone, whom she wished to see.Is Mr. Lloyd not at home? This is his address, I know, was the enigmatical reply of the young lady.A Mr. Lloyd is lodging here, miss, returned Mrs. Bush, with a glance of anything but approbation at her questioner, and planting hers

43、elf rather demonstratively in the doorway; but he isnt in. Did you wish to see him?I am Mrs. Lloyd, replied the young lady with a frown, and depositing her little travelling-bag within the threshold; did you not know I was coming? Let me in, please.And the next minute-Mrs. Bush could not tell exactl

44、y how it happened-she found the hall-door shut, and she was standing in the passage, while the young lady who had announced herself as Mrs. Lloyd was calmly walking into the parlour. Mrs. Bush was confounded by the sudden and unexpected nature of this occurrence; but the only thing she could do was

45、to follow the unlooked-for visitor into the parlour, and she did it. The young lady had already seated herself on a small hard sofa, covered with crimson moreen to match the window-curtains, had put off her very becoming and fashionable bonnet, and was then taking off her gloves. She looked annoyed,

46、 but not in the least embarrassed.That is Mr. Lloyds room, I presume? she said, as she pointed to the folding-doors which connected the parlours, and which stood slightly open.Yes, mm; but-Mrs. Bush hesitated; but as the young lady rose, took up her bag, and instantly pushed the door she had indicat

47、ed quite open, and walked into the apartment, Mrs. Bush felt that the case was getting desperate. Though a depressed woman habitually, she was not by any means a timid one, and had fought many scores of highly successful battles with lodgers in her time. But this was quite a novel experience, and Mr

48、s. Bush was greatly at a loss how to act. Something must be done, that was quite clear. Not so what that something was to be; and more than ever did Mrs. Bush resent the tarrying of Betsys feet on her return from Beulah Chapel.She would have shut the door in her face, and kept her out until I saw how things really were, thought the aggrieved landlady; but she said boldly enough, as she closely followed the intruder, and glanced at her left hand, on which the symbol of lawful matrimony duly shone:If you please, mm, you wasnt expected. Mr. Lloyd nor the other ge