【英文文学】By Birth a Lady.docx

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1、【英文文学】By Birth a LadyVolume OneChapter One. Something about a Letter.“He mustnt have so much corn, Joseph,” said Mr Tiddson, parish doctor of Croppley Magna, addressing a grinning boy of sixteen, who, with his smock-frock rolled up and twisted round his waist, was holding the bridle of a very thin,

2、dejected-looking pony, whose mane and tail seemed to have gone to the cushion-makers, leaving in their places a few strands that had missed the shears. The ponys eyes were half shut, and his nose hung low; but, as if attending to his masters words, one ear was twitched back, while the other pointed

3、forward; and no sooner had his owner finished speaking than the poor little beast whinnied softly and shook its evidently remonstrating head. “He mustnt have so much corn, Joseph,” said Mr Tiddson importantly. “Hes growing wild and vicious, and it was as much as I could do this morning to hold him.”

4、“What did he do, zir?” said the boy, grinning a wider grin.“Do, Joseph? He wanted to go after the hounds, and took the bit in his teeth, and kicked when they crossed the road. I shall have to diet him. Give him some water, Joseph, but no corn.”The poor pony might well shake his head, for it was a st

5、anding joke in Croppley that the doctor tried experiments on that pony: feeding him with chaff kept in an oaty bag, and keeping him low and grey hound-like of rib, for the sake of speed when a union patient was ill.But the pony had to be fetched out again before Joseph had removed his saddle; for ju

6、st as Mr Tiddson was taking off his gloves and overcoat, a man came running up to the door, and tore at the bell, panting the while with his exertions.“Well, what now? Is Betty Starger worse?”“No,”puff“no, sir;”puff“itsits”“Well? Why dont you speak, man?”“Breath, sir!”puff. “Runall way!puff.”“Yes, y

7、es,” said Mr Tiddson. “And now what is it?”“Haxhaxiden, sir,” puffed the messenger.“Bless my soul, my good man! Where?” exclaimed the doctor, rubbing his hands.“Down by Crossroads, sir; and they war takin a gate off the hinges to lay him on, and carry him to the Seven Bells, when I run for you, sir.

8、”“And how was it?and who is it?” said the doctor.“Gent, sir; along o the hounds.”“Here, stop a minute,” exclaimed the doctor, ringing furiously till a servant came. “Jane, tell Joseph to bring Peter round directly; Im wanted.Now go on, my good man,” he continued.“See him comin myself, sir. Dogs had

9、gone over the fallows, givin mouth bea-u-u-tiful, when he comesthis gent, you knowfull tear, lifts his horse, clears the hedge, and drops into the laneRugley-lane, you know, sir, where the cutting is, with the sand-martins nestes in the bank. Well, sir, he comes down nice as could be, and then put h

10、is horse at tother bank, as it couldnt be expected to get up, though it did try; and then, before you knowd it, down it come backards, right on to the poor gent, and rolled over him, so that when three or four on us got up he was as white and still as your ankychy, sir, that he war; and so I come of

11、f arter you. And you aint got sech a thing as a drop o beer in the house, have you, sir?”“No, my man, I have not,” said Mr Tiddson, mounting his steed, which had just been brought round to the front; “but if you will call at my surgery when I return, I daresay I can find you a glass of something.Go

12、on, Peter.”But Peter did not seem disposed to go on; and it was not until his bare ribs had been drummed by the doctors heels, and he had been smitten between the ears by the doctors umbrella, that he condescended to shuffle off in a shambling trota pace that put the messenger to no inconvenience to

13、 keep alongside, since it was only about half the rate at which he had brought the news.To have seen Mr, or, as he was generally called, Dr Tiddson ride, any one would have called to mind the printed form upon his medicine labels“To be well shaken;” for he was well shaken in the process, and had at

14、short intervals to push forward his hat, which made a point of getting down over his ears. But, though not effectively, Dr Tiddson and his pony Peter managed to shuffle over the ground, and arrived at the Seven Bellsa little roadside innjust as four labouring men bore a gate to the door, and then, c

15、arefully lifting an insensible figure, carried it into the parlour, where a mattress had been prepared by the landlady.Dr Tiddson did not have an accident to tend every day, while those he did have to do with were the mishaps of very ordinary people. This, then, was something to make him descend fro

16、m his pony with the greatest of dignity, throwing the reins to the messenger, and entering the little parlour as if monarch of all he surveyed.“Tuttuttut!” he exclaimed. “Clear the room directly; the man wants air. Mrs Pottles, send every one out, and lock that door.”The sympathising landlady obeyed

17、, and then the examination commenced.“Hum!” muttered the doctor. “Ribs crushedtwo, four, certainly; probable laceration of the right lobe; concussion of the brain, evidently. And what have we here? Dear me! A sad case, Mrs Pottles; a fracture of the clavicle, I fear.”“Lawk a deary me! Poor gentleman

18、! he ave got it bad,” said the landlady, raising her hands.“Yes, Mrs Pottles,” said the doctor, compressing his lips, “it is, I fear, a serious case. But we must do what we can, Mrs Pottleswe must do what we can.”“Of course we must, sir!” exclaimed the landlady. “And what shall us do first?”“Let me

19、see; another pillow, I think, Mrs Pottles,” said the doctor, not heeding the question. “He will not be able to leave here for some time to come.”Mrs Pottles sighed; and then from time to time supplied the doctor with bandages, water, sponge, and such necessaries as he needed; when, the patient prese

20、nting an appearance of recovering from his swoon, they watched him attentively.“He wont die this time, Mrs Pottles,” said the doctor, with authority.“Lawk a deary me! no, sir, I hope not,” said the landlady“a fine, nice, handsome young fellow like he! Hell live and break some arts yet, Ill be bound.

21、 Its all very well for old folks like us, sir, to die; but I shouldnt like to see him go that-a-wayjust when out taking his pleasure, too.”Mr Tiddson did not consider himself one of the “old folks,” so did not reply.“A poor dear!” said Mrs Pottles. “I wonder who he is? Therell be more n one pair o b

22、right eyes wet because of his misfortun, I know. Youve no idee, sir, how like he is to my Tomhim as got into that bit of trouble with the squire, sir.”“Pooh, woman!not a bit. Tchsh!”The raised finger of the doctor accompanied his ejaculation, as the patient unclosed his eyes, muttered a little, and

23、then, turning his head, seemed to sink into a state of half sleep, half stupor.The doctor sat for some time before speaking, frowning severely at the landlady, and then impatiently pulling down the blind to get rid of half a dozen lads, who were spoiling the symmetry of their noses against the windo

24、w.“I spose you have no idea who he is?” said the doctor at last.“Not the leastest bit in the world, sir. They do say theyve had a tremenjus run to-day. But perhaps we shall have some of the gents coming back this way, and they may know him.”“Precisely so, Mrs Pottles; but youd better feel in his poc

25、kets, and we may be able to find out where his friends are, and so send them word of his condition.”“Lawk a deary me, sir! But wouldnt it be wrong for me to be peeping and poking in his pockets? But how so be if you wish it, sir, Ill look.”“I dont wish it, Mrs Pottles; but it is our duty to acquaint

26、 his friends, so you had better search.”Now Mrs Pottless fingers were itching to make an examination; and doubtless, had the doctor left, her first act would have been to “peep and poke,” as she termed it; so, taking up garment after garment, she drew out a handsome gold watch and seal chain with an

27、 eagle crest; then a cigar-case bearing the same crest, and the letters “C.Y.;” and lastly a plain porte-monnaie, containing four sovereigns and some silver.“No information there, Mrs Pottles. But Ill make a list of these, and leave them in your charge till the patient recovers.”“Lawk a deary me, no

28、, sir, dont do that! Were as honest as the day is long here, sir, so dont put no temptation in our way. Make a list of the gentleman, if you like, and leave him in our charge, and well nurse him well again; but youd better take the watch and things along of you.”“Very good, Mrs Pottlesve-ery good,”

29、said the doctor, noting down the articles he placed in his pocket, and thinking that, even if called upon for no further attendance, through the coming of some family doctor, he was safe of the amount in the porte-monnaie, for he considered that no gentleman would dream of taking that back.“And you

30、think hell get well, then, sir?” said Mrs Pottles.“Ye-e-e-syes, with care, Mrs Pottleswith care. But Ill ride over to my surgery now, and obtain a little medicine. I shall be back in an hour.”Mrs Pottles curtsied him out, and then returned to seat herself by her injured visitor, looking with motherl

31、y admiration on his broad white forehead and thick golden beard, as she again compared him with her Tom, who got into that bit of trouble with the squire. But before the doctor had been gone an hour, the patient began to display sundry restless movements, ending by opening his eyes widely and fixing

32、 them upon the landlady.“Who are you? and where am I?” he exclaimed. “Let me see, thoughI recollect now: my horse came down with me. I dont think Im much hurt, though.”“O, but you are, sir, and very badly, too. Mr Tiddson says you are to be very quiet.”“Who the deuce is Mr Tiddson?” said the patient

33、, trying to rise, but sinking back with a groan.“Lawk a deary me, sir! I thought everybody knowd Mr Tiddson: hes our doctor, and they do say as hes very clever; but he aint in rheumatiz, for he never did me a bit o good.”“Poor dad!” muttered the young man thoughtfully, and then aloud: “Give me a pen

34、 and ink and a sheet of paper.”“But sewerly, sir, youre not going to try to”“Get me the pen and ink, woman!” exclaimed the sufferer impatiently.Mrs Pottles raised her hands, and then hurriedly placed a little dirty blotting-case before her guest, holding it and the rusty ink so that he was able to w

35、rite a short note, which he signed, and then doubled hastily, for he was evidently in pain.“Let some man take that to the Kings Arms at Lexville, and ask for Mr Bray. If he is not there, let them send for him; but the note is to be given to no one else.”“Very good, sir,” said the woman; “but its a m

36、any miles there. Hows he to go?”“Rideride!” exclaimed the sufferer impatiently, and then he sank back deeper in his pillow.“I didnt think, or I would have sent for some one else,” he muttered, after a pause; “but I daresay he will come.”And then he lay thinking in a dreamy, semi-delirious fashion of

37、 the contents of that notea note so short, and yet of itself containing matter that might bring to the writer a life of regret, and to another, loving, gentle, and true-hearted, the breaking of that true gentle heart, and the cold embrace of the bridegroom Death!Volume OneChapter Two. “Bai Jove!”Thr

38、ee months after the incidents recorded in the last chapter, Littleborough Station, on the Great Middleland and Conjunction Railway, woke into life; for it was nearly noon, and the mid-day up-train would soon run alongside of the platform, stay for the space of half a minute, and then proceed again o

39、n its hurrying, panting course towards the great metropolis; for though such a thing did sometimes happen, the taking up or setting down of passengers at Littleborough was not as a matter of course. Nobody ever wanted to come to Littleborough, which was three miles from the station, and very few peo

40、ple ever seemed to take tickets from Littleborough to proceed elsewhere: the consequence being that the station-mastera fair young man with budding whiskers, and a little cotton-woolly moustachespent the greater part of his time in teaching a rough dog to stand upon his hind-legs, to walk, beg, smok

41、e pipes, and perform various other highly interesting feats, while the one porter spent his in yawning and playing “push halfpenny,” right hand against lefta species of gambling that left him neither richer nor poorer at the days end. But his yawning was something frightful, being extensive enough t

42、o have startled a child into the belief that ogres really had an existence in the flesh, though the said porter was after all but a simple, lazy, ignorant boor, with as little of harm in his nature as there was of activity.But, as before said, Littleborough Station now woke into life; for after craw

43、ling into the booking-office, and yawing frightfully at the clock, the porter went and turned a handle, altering the position of a signal, and then returned to find the station-master framed in the little doorway through which he issued tickets, and now pitching little bits of biscuit for the dog to

44、 catch.“Heres summun a-coming!” said the porter, excitedly running to the door and checking a yawn half-way.“No!is there?” cried the station-master, running out, catching up the dog and carrying it in, to shut himself up once more behind his official screen and railway-clerk dignity.“Swell in a dog-

45、cart, with groom a-drivin,” said the porter aloud; and then, as the vehicle came nearer: “Portmanty and bag with him, and that there gums all dried up, and wont stick on no labels. Blest if here aint somebody else, too, in the Borough fly, and two boxes on the top.”The porter threw open the doors ve

46、ry widely, the station-master tried his ticket-stamper to see if it would work, and then peered excitedly out for the coming travellers.He had not to wait long. The smart dog-cart was drawn up at the door; and as the horse stood champing its bit and throwing the white foam in all directions, a very

47、languid, carefully-dressed gentleman descended, waved his hand towards his luggage and wrappers in answer to the porters obsequious salute, and then sauntering, cigar in hand, to the station-masters pigeon-hole, he languidly drawled out:“First cla-a-assLondon.”“Twenty-eight-and-six, sir,” said the s

48、tation-master, when the traveller slowly placed a sovereign and a half before him.“Tha-a-anks. No! Give the change to the porter fellare.” And the new arrival strolled on to the platform, leaving the porter grinning furiously, and carrying the portmanteau and bag about without there being the slightest necessity for such proceedings.Meanwhile the fly had drawn up, the driver dismounted, and opened the door for a closely veiled young lady in black to alight, when she proceeded to pay the