简.爱 英文版 Jane Eyre
夏洛蒂.勃朗特 Charlotte Bronte
CHAPTER XVIII Page 2
"Voile, Monsieur Rochester, qui revient!"
I turned, and Miss Ingram darted forwards from her sofa: theothers, too, looked up from their several occupations; for at thesame time a crunching of wheels and a splashing tramp of horse-hoofsbecame audible on the wet gravel. A post-chaise was approaching.
Frederick Lynn. "Let us !
"What can possess him to come home in that style?" said Miss Ingram."He rode Mesrour (the black horse), did he not, when he went out?and Pilot was with him:- what has he done with the animals?"
As she said this, she approached her tall person and ample garmentsso near the window, that I was obliged to bend back almost to thebreaking of my spine: in her eagerness she did not observe me atfirst, but when she did, she curled her lip and moved to anothercasement. The post-chaise stopped; the driver rang the door-bell,and a gentleman alighted attired in travelling garb; but it was notMr. Rochester; it was a tall, fashionable-looking man, a stranger.
"How provoking!" exclaimed Miss Ingram: "you tiresome monkey!"(apostrophising Adele), "who perched you up in the window to givefalse intelligence?" and she cast on me an angry glance, as if Iwere in fault.
Some parleying was audible in the hall, and soon the new-comerentered. He bowed to Lady Ingram, as deeming her the eldest ladypresent.
"It appears I come at an inopportune time, madam, " said he, "whenmy friend, Mr. Rochester, is from home; but I arrive from a verylong journey, and I think I may presume so far on old and intimateacquaintance as to instal myself here till he returns. "
His manner was polite; his accent, in speaking, struck me as beingsomewhat unusual, -- not precisely foreign, but still not altogetherEnglish: his age might be about Mr. Rochester's, -- between thirtyand forty; his complexion was singularly sallow: otherwise he wasa fine-looking man, at first sight especially. On closer examination,you detected something in his face that displeased, or rather thatfailed to please. His features were regular, but too relaxed: hiseye was large and well cut, but the life looking out of it was atame, vacant life -- at least so I thought.
The sound of the dressing-bell dispersed the party. It was nottill after dinner that I saw him again: he then seemed quite athis ease. But I liked his physiognomy even less than before: itstruck me as being at the same time unsettled and inanimate. Hiseye wandered, and had no meaning in its wandering: this gave himan odd look, such as I never remembered to have seen. For a handsomeand not an unamiable-looking man, he repelled me exceedingly: therewas no power in that smooth-skinned face of a full oval shape: nofirmness in that aquiline nose and small cherry mouth; there wasno thought on the low, even forehead; no command in that blank,brown eye.
As I sat in my usual nook, and looked at him with the light ofthe girandoles on the mantelpiece beaming full over him -- for heoccupied an arm-chair drawn close to the fire, and kept shrinkingstill nearer, as if he were cold, I compared him with Mr. Rochester.I think (with deference be it spoken) the contrast could not bemuch greater between a sleek gander and a fierce falcon: betweena meek sheep and the rough-coated keen-eyed dog, its guardian.
He had spoken of Mr. Rochester as an old friend. A curious friendshiptheirs must have been: a pointed illustration, indeed, of the oldadage that "extremes meet. "
Two or three of the gentlemen sat near him, and I caught at timesscraps of their conversation across the room. At first I couldnot make much sense of what I heard; for the discourse of LouisaEshton and Mary Ingram, who sat nearer to me, confused the fragmentarysentences that reached me at intervals. These last were discussingthe stranger; they both called him "a beautiful man. " Louisasaid he was "a love of a creature, " and she "adored him;" and Maryinstanced his "pretty little mouth, and nice nose, " as her idealof the charming.
"And what a sweet-tempered forehead he has!" cried Louisa, -- "sosmooth -- none of those frowning irregularities I dislike so much;and such a placid eye and smile!"
And then, to my great relief, Mr. Henry Lynn summoned them to theother side of the room, to settle some point about the deferredexcursion to Hay Common.
I was now able to concentrate my attention on the group by the fire,and I presently gathered that the new-comer was called Mr. Mason;then I learned that he was but just arrived in England, and thathe came from some hot country: which was the reason, doubtless,his face was so sallow, and that he sat so near the hearth, andwore a surtout in the house. Presently the words Jamaica, Kingston,Spanish Town, indicated the West Indies as his residence; and itwas with no little surprise I gathered, ere long, that he had therefirst seen and become acquainted with Mr. Rochester. He spokeof his friend's dislike of the burning heats, the hurricanes, andrainy seasons of that region. I knew Mr. Rochester had been atraveller: Mrs. Fairfax had said so; but I thought the continentof Europe had bounded his wanderings; till now I had never hearda hint given of visits to more distant shores.
I was pondering these things, when an incident, and a somewhatunexpected one, broke the thread of my musings. Mr. Mason, shiveringas some one chanced to open the door, asked for more coal to beput on the fire, which had burnt out its flame, though its mass ofcinder still shone hot and red. The footman who brought the coal,in going out, stopped near Mr. Eshton's chair, and said somethingto him in a low voice, of which I heard only the words, "old woman, "-- "quite troublesome. "
"Tell her she shall be put in the stocks if she does not takeherself off, " replied the magistrate.
"No -- stop!" interrupted Colonel Dent. "Don't send her away,Eshton; we might turn the thing to account; better consult theladies. " And speaking aloud, he continued -- "Ladies, you talkedof going to Hay Common to visit the gipsy camp; Sam here says thatone of the old Mother Bunches is in the servants' hall at thismoment, and insists upon being brought in before 'the quality, ' totell them their fortunes. Would you like to see her?"
"Surely, colonel, " cried Lady Ingram, "you would not encourage sucha low impostor? Dismiss her, by all means, at once!"
"But I cannot persuade her to go away, my lady, " said the footman;"nor can any of the servants: Mrs. Fairfax is with her just now,entreating her to be gone; but she has taken a chair in the chimney-comer, and says nothing shall stir her from it till she gets leaveto come in here. "
"What does she want?" asked Mrs. Eshton.
"'To tell the gentry their fortunes, ' she says, ma'am; and sheswears she must and will do it. "
"What is she like?" inquired the Misses Eshton, in a breath.
"A shockingly ugly old creature, miss; almost as black as a crock. "
"Why, she's a real sorceress!" cried Frederick Lynn. "Let us haveher in, of course. "
"To be sure, " rejoined his brother; "it would be a thousand pitiesto throw away such a chance of fun. "
"My dear boys, what are you thinking about?" exclaimed Mrs. Lynn.
"I cannot possibly countenance any such inconsistent proceeding, "chimed in the Dowager Ingram.
"Indeed, mama, but you can -- and will, " pronounced the haughtyvoice of Blanche, as she turned round on the piano-stool; wheretill now she had sat silent, apparently examining sundry sheets ofmusic. "I have a curiosity to hear my fortune told: therefore,Sam, order the beldame forward. "
"My darling Blanche! recollect -- "
"I do -- I recollect all you can suggest; and I must have my will-- quick, Sam!"
"Yes -- yes -- yes!" cried all the juveniles, both ladies andgentlemen. "Let her come -- it will be excellent sport!"
The footman still lingered. "She looks such a rough one, " saidhe.
"Go!" ejaculated Miss Ingram, and the man went.
Excitement instantly seized the whole party: a running fire ofraillery and jests was proceeding when Sam returned.
"She won't come now, " said he. "She says it's not her mission toappear before the 'vulgar herd' (them's her words). I must showher into a room by herself, and then those who wish to consult hermust go to her one by one. "
"You see now, my queenly Blanche, " began Lady Ingram, "sheencroaches. Be advised, my angel girl -- and -- "
"Show her into the library, of course, " cut in the "angel girl. " "Itis not my mission to listen to her before the vulgar herd either:I mean to have her all to myself. Is there a fire in the library?"
"Yes, ma'am -- but she looks such a tinkler. "
"Cease that chatter, blockhead! and do my bidding. "
Again Sam vanished; and mystery, animation, expectation rose tofull flow once more.
"She's ready now, " said the footman, as he reappeared. "She wishesto know who will be her first visitor. "
"I think I had better just look in upon her before any of the ladiesgo, " said Colonel Dent.
"Tell her, Sam, a gentleman is coming. "
Sam went and returned.
"She says, sir, that she'll have no gentlemen; they need nottrouble themselves to come near her; nor, " he added, with difficultysuppressing a titter, "any ladies either, except the young, andsingle. "
"By Jove, she has taste!" exclaimed Henry Lynn.
Miss Ingram rose solemnly: "I go first, " she said, in a tone whichmight have befitted the leader of a forlorn hope, mounting a breachin the van of his men.
"Oh, my best! oh, my dearest! pause -- reflect!" was her mama'scry; but she swept past her in stately silence, passed throughthe door which Colonel Dent held open, and we heard her enter thelibrary.
A comparative silence ensued. Lady Ingram thought it "le cas" towring her hands: which she did accordingly. Miss Mary declaredshe felt, for her part, she never dared venture. Amy and LouisaEshton tittered under their breath, and looked a little frightened.
The minutes passed very slowly: fifteen were counted before thelibrary-door again opened. Miss Ingram returned to us through thearch.
Would she laugh? Would she take it as a joke? All eyes met herwith a glance of eager curiosity, and she met all eyes with one ofrebuff and coldness; she looked neither flurried nor merry: shewalked stiffly to her seat, and took it in silence.
"Well, Blanche?" said Lord Ingram.
"What did she say, sister?" asked Mary.
"What did you think? How do you feel? -- Is she a real fortune-teller?"demanded the Misses Eshton.
"Now, now, good people, " returned Miss Ingram, "don't press uponme. Really your organs of wonder and credulity are easily excited:you seem, by the importance of you all -- my good mama included-- ascribe to this matter, absolutely to believe we have a genuinewitch in the house, who is in close alliance with the old gentleman.I have seen a gipsy vagabond; she has practised in hackneyed fashionthe science of palmistry and told me what such people usually tell.My whim is gratified; and now I think Mr. Eshton will do well toput the hag in the stocks to-morrow morning, as he threatened. "
Miss Ingram took a book, leant back in her chair, and so declinedfurther conversation. I watched her for nearly half-an-hour: duringall that time she never turned a page, and her face grew momentlydarker, more dissatisfied, and more sourly expressive of disappointment.She had obviously not heard anything to her advantage: and itseemed to me, from her prolonged fit of gloom and taciturnity, thatshe herself, notwithstanding her professed indifference, attachedundue importance to whatever revelations had been made her.
Meantime, Mary Ingram, Amy and Louisa Eshton, declared they darednot go alone; and yet they all wished to go. A negotiation was openedthrough the medium of the ambassador, Sam; and after much pacingto and fro, till, I think, the said Sam's calves must have achedwith the exercise, permission was at last, with great difficulty,extorted from the rigorous Sibyl, for the three to wait upon herin a body.
Their visit was not so still as Miss Ingram's had been: we heardhysterical giggling and little shrieks proceeding from the library;and at the end of about twenty minutes they burst the door open,and came running across the hall, as if they were half-scared outof their wits.
"I am sure she is something not right!" they cried, one and all."She told us such things! She knows all about us!" and they sankbreathless into the various seats the gentlemen hastened to bringthem.
Pressed for further explanation, they declared she had told themof things they had said and done when they were mere children;described books and ornaments they had in their boudoirs at home:keepsakes that different relations had presented to them. Theyaffirmed that she had even divined their thoughts, and had whisperedin the ear of each the name of the person she liked best in theworld, and informed them of what they most wished for.
Here the gentlemen interposed with earnest petitions to be furtherenlightened on these two last-named points; but they got onlyblushes, ejaculations, tremors, and titters, in return for theirimportunity. The matrons, meantime, offered vinaigrettes andwielded fans; and again and again reiterated the expression oftheir concern that their warning had not been taken in time; andthe elder gentlemen laughed, and the younger urged their serviceson the agitated fair ones.
In the midst of the tumult, and while my eyes and ears were fullyengaged in the scene before me, I heard a hem close at my elbow:I turned, and saw Sam.
"If you please, miss, the gipsy declares that there is anotheryoung single lady in the room who has not been to her yet, and sheswears she will not go till she has seen all. I thought it mustbe you: there is no one else for it. What shall I tell her?"
"Oh, I will go by all means, " I answered: and I was glad of theunexpected opportunity to gratify my much-excited curiosity. Islipped out of the room, unobserved by any eye -- for the companywere gathered in one mass about the trembling trio just returned-- and I closed the door quietly behind me.
"If you like, miss, " said Sam, "I'll wait in the hall for you; andif she frightens you, just call and I'll come in. "
"No, Sam, return to the kitchen: I am not in the least afraid. "Nor was I; but I was a good deal interested and excited.