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the holly-tree-第2章

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it was a mere snowball; similarly; the men and boys who ran along

beside us to the town's end; turning our clogged wheels and

encouraging our horses; were men and boys of snow; and the bleak

wild solitude to which they at last dismissed us was a snowy Sahara。

One would have thought this enough:  notwithstanding which; I pledge

my word that it snowed and snowed; and still it snowed; and never

left off snowing。



We performed Auld Lang Syne the whole day; seeing nothing; out of

towns and villages; but the track of stoats; hares; and foxes; and

sometimes of birds。  At nine o'clock at night; on a Yorkshire moor;

a cheerful burst from our horn; and a welcome sound of talking; with

a glimmering and moving about of lanterns; roused me from my drowsy

state。  I found that we were going to change。



They helped me out; and I said to a waiter; whose bare head became

as white as King Lear's in a single minute; 〃What Inn is this?〃



〃The Holly…Tree; sir;〃 said he。



〃Upon my word; I believe;〃 said I; apologetically; to the guard and

coachman; 〃that I must stop here。〃



Now the landlord; and the landlady; and the ostler; and the post…

boy; and all the stable authorities; had already asked the coachman;

to the wide…eyed interest of all the rest of the establishment; if

he meant to go on。  The coachman had already replied; 〃Yes; he'd

take her through it;〃meaning by Her the coach;〃if so be as

George would stand by him。〃  George was the guard; and he had

already sworn that he would stand by him。  So the helpers were

already getting the horses out。



My declaring myself beaten; after this parley; was not an

announcement without preparation。  Indeed; but for the way to the

announcement being smoothed by the parley; I more than doubt

whether; as an innately bashful man; I should have had the

confidence to make it。  As it was; it received the approval even of

the guard and coachman。  Therefore; with many confirmations of my

inclining; and many remarks from one bystander to another; that the

gentleman could go for'ard by the mail to…morrow; whereas to…night

he would only be froze; and where was the good of a gentleman being

frozeah; let alone buried alive (which latter clause was added by

a humorous helper as a joke at my expense; and was extremely well

received); I saw my portmanteau got out stiff; like a frozen body;

did the handsome thing by the guard and coachman; wished them good…

night and a prosperous journey; and; a little ashamed of myself;

after all; for leaving them to fight it out alone; followed the

landlord; landlady; and waiter of the Holly…Tree up…stairs。



I thought I had never seen such a large room as that into which they

showed me。  It had five windows; with dark red curtains that would

have absorbed the light of a general illumination; and there were

complications of drapery at the top of the curtains; that went

wandering about the wall in a most extraordinary manner。  I asked

for a smaller room; and they told me there was no smaller room。



They could screen me in; however; the landlord said。  They brought a

great old japanned screen; with natives (Japanese; I suppose)

engaged in a variety of idiotic pursuits all over it; and left me

roasting whole before an immense fire。



My bedroom was some quarter of a mile off; up a great staircase at

the end of a long gallery; and nobody knows what a misery this is to

a bashful man who would rather not meet people on the stairs。  It

was the grimmest room I have ever had the nightmare in; and all the

furniture; from the four posts of the bed to the two old silver

candle…sticks; was tall; high…shouldered; and spindle…waisted。

Below; in my sitting…room; if I looked round my screen; the wind

rushed at me like a mad bull; if I stuck to my arm…chair; the fire

scorched me to the colour of a new brick。  The chimney…piece was

very high; and there was a bad glasswhat I may call a wavy glass

above it; which; when I stood up; just showed me my anterior

phrenological developments;and these never look well; in any

subject; cut short off at the eyebrow。  If I stood with my back to

the fire; a gloomy vault of darkness above and beyond the screen

insisted on being looked at; and; in its dim remoteness; the drapery

of the ten curtains of the five windows went twisting and creeping

about; like a nest of gigantic worms。



I suppose that what I observe in myself must be observed by some

other men of similar character in themselves; therefore I am

emboldened to mention; that; when I travel; I never arrive at a

place but I immediately want to go away from it。  Before I had

finished my supper of broiled fowl and mulled port; I had impressed

upon the waiter in detail my arrangements for departure in the

morning。  Breakfast and bill at eight。  Fly at nine。  Two horses;

or; if needful; even four。



Tired though I was; the night appeared about a week long。  In cases

of nightmare; I thought of Angela; and felt more depressed than ever

by the reflection that I was on the shortest road to Gretna Green。

What had I to do with Gretna Green?  I was not going that way to the

Devil; but by the American route; I remarked in my bitterness。



In the morning I found that it was snowing still; that it had snowed

all night; and that I was snowed up。  Nothing could get out of that

spot on the moor; or could come at it; until the road had been cut

out by labourers from the market…town。  When they might cut their

way to the Holly…Tree nobody could tell me。



It was now Christmas…eve。  I should have had a dismal Christmas…time

of it anywhere; and consequently that did not so much matter; still;

being snowed up was like dying of frost; a thing I had not bargained

for。  I felt very lonely。  Yet I could no more have proposed to the

landlord and landlady to admit me to their society (though I should

have liked itvery much) than I could have asked them to present me

with a piece of plate。  Here my great secret; the real bashfulness

of my character; is to be observed。  Like most bashful men; I judge

of other people as if they were bashful too。  Besides being far too

shamefaced to make the proposal myself; I really had a delicate

misgiving that it would be in the last degree disconcerting to them。



Trying to settle down; therefore; in my solitude; I first of all

asked what books there were in the house。  The waiter brought me a

Book of Roads; two or three old Newspapers; a little Song…Book;

terminating in a collection of Toasts and Sentiments; a little Jest…

Book; an odd volume of Peregrine Pickle; and the Sentimental

Journey。  I knew every word of the two last already; but I read them

through again; then tried to hum all the songs (Auld Lang Syne was

among them); went entirely through the jokes;in which I found a

fund of melancholy adapted to my state of mind; proposed all the

toasts; enunciated all the sentiments; and mastered the papers。  The

latter had nothing in them but stock advertisements; a meeting about

a county rate; and a highway robbery。  As I am a greedy reader; I

could not make this supply hold out until night; it was exhausted by

tea…time。  Being then entirely cast upon my own resources; I got

through an hour in considering what to do next。  Ultimately; it came

into my head (from which I was anxious by any means to exclude

Angela and Edwin); that I would endeavour to recall my experience of

Inns; and would try how long it lasted me。  I stirred the fire;

moved my chair a little to one side of the screen;not daring to go

far; for I knew the wind was waiting to make a rush at me; I could

hear it growling;and began。



My first impressions of an Inn dated from the Nursery; consequently

I went back to the Nursery for a starting…point; and found myself at

the knee of a sallow woman with a fishy eye; an aquiline nose; and a

green gown; whose specially was a dismal narrative of a landlord by

the roadside; whose visitors unaccountably disappeared for many

years; until it was discovered that the pursuit of his life had been

to convert them into pies。  For the better devotion of himself to

this branch of industry; he had constructed a secret door behind the

head of the bed; and when the visitor (oppressed with pie) had

fallen asleep; this wicked landlord would look softly in with a lamp

in one hand and a knife in the other; would cut his throat; and

would make him into pies; for which purpose he had coppers;

underneath a trap…door; always boiling; and rolled out his pastry in

the dead of the night。  Yet even he was not insensible to the stings

of conscience; for he never went to sleep without being heard to

mutter; 〃Too much pepper!〃 which was eventually the cause of his

being brought to justice。  I had no sooner disposed of this criminal

than there started up another of the same period; whose profession

was originally house…breaking; in the pursuit of which art he had

had his right ear chopped off one night; a
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