登陆注册
5254300000125

第125章

Chapter 50 She plunged into the chilly equinoctial darkness as the clock struck ten, for her fifteen miles' walk under the steely stars.In lonely districts night is a protection rather than a danger to a noiseless pedestrian, and knowing this Tess pursued the nearest course along by-lanes that she would almost have feared in the day time; but marauders were wanting now, and spectral fears were driven out of her mind by thoughts of her mother.Thus she proceeded mile after mile, ascending and descending till she came to Bulbarrow, and about midnight looked from that height into the abyss of chaotic shade which was all that revealed itself of the vale on whose further side she was born.Having already traversed about five miles on the upland she had now some ten or eleven in the lowland before her journey would be finished.The winding road downwards became just visible to her under the wan starlight as she followed it, and soon she paced a soil so contrasting with that above it that the difference was perceptible to the tread and to the smell.It was the heavy clay land of Blackmoor Vale, and a part of the Vale to which turnpike-roads had never penetrated.Superstitions linger longest on these heavy soils.Having once been forest, at this shadowy time it seemed to assert something of its old character, the far and the near being blended, and every tree and tall hedge making the most of its presence.The harts that had been hunted here, the witches that had been pricked and ducked, the green-spangled fairies that `whickered' at you as you passed; the place teemed with beliefs in them still, and they formed an impish multitude now.

At Nuttlebury she passed the village inn, whose sign creaked in response to the greeting of her footsteps, which not a human soul heard but herself.

Under the thatched roofs her mind's eye beheld relaxed tendons and flaccid muscles, spread out in the darkness beneath coverlets made of little purple patchwork squares, and undergoing a bracing process at the hands of sleep for renewed labour on the morrow, as soon as a hint of pink nebulosity appeared on Hambledon Hill.

At three she turned the last corner of the maze of lanes she had threaded, and entered Marlott, passing the field in which, as a club-girl, she had first seen Angel Clare, when he had not danced with her; the sense of disappointment remained with her yet.In the direction of her mother's house she saw a light.It came from the bedroom window, and a branch waved in front of it and made it wink at her.As soon as she could discern the outline of the house - newly thatched with her money - it had all its old effect upon Tess's imagination.Part of her body and life it ever seemed to be; the slope of its dormers, the finish of its gables, the broken courses of brick which topped the chimney, all had something in common with her personal character.A stupefaction had come into these features, to her regard;it meant the illness of her mother.

She opened the door so softly as to disturb nobody; the lower room was vacant, but the neighbour who was sitting up with her mother came to the top of the stairs, and whispered that Mrs Durbeyfield was no better, though she was sleeping just then.Tess prepared herself a breakfast, and then took her place as nurse in her mother's chamber.

In the morning, when she contemplated the children, they had all a curiously elongated look; although she had been away little more than a year their growth was astounding; and the necessity of applying herself heart and soul to their needs took her out of her own cares.

Her father's ill-health was of the same indefinite kind, and he sat in his chair as usual.But the day after her arrival he was unusually bright.

He had a rational scheme for living, and Tess asked him what it was.

`I'm thinking of sending round to all the old antiqueerians in this part of England,' he said, `asking them to subscribe to a fund to maintain me.I'm sure they'd see it as a romantical, artistical, and proper thing to do.They spend lots o' money in keeping up old ruins, and finding the bones o'things, and such like; and living remains must be more interesting to 'em still, if they only knowed of me.Would that somebody would go round and tell 'em what there is living among 'em, and they thinking nothing of him! If Pa'son Tringham, who discovered me, had lived, he'd ha done it, I'm sure.'

Tess postponed her arguments on this high project till she had grappled with pressing matters in hand, which seemed little improved by her remittances.

When indoor necessities had been cased she turned her attention to external things.It was now the season for planting and sowing; many gardens and allotments of the villagers had already received their spring tillage;but the garden and the allotment of the Durbeyfields were behindhand.She found, to her dismay, that this was owing to their having eaten all the seed potatoes,-that last lapse of the improvident.At the earliest moment she obtained what others she could procure, and in a few days her father was well enough to see to the garden, under Tess's persuasive efforts:

while she herself undertook the allotment-plot which they rented in a field a couple of hundred yards out of the village.

She liked doing it after the confinement of the sick chamber, where she was not now required by reason of her mother's improvement.Violent motion relieved thought.The plot of ground was in a high, dry open enclosure, where there were forty or fifty such pieces, and where labour was at its briskest when the hired labour of the day had ended.Digging began usually at six o'clock, and extended indefinitely into the dusk or moonlight.Just now heaps of dead weeds and refuse were burning on many of the plots, the dry weather favouring their combustion.

同类推荐
  • 佛说决罪福经

    佛说决罪福经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 洪恩灵济真君集福宿启仪

    洪恩灵济真君集福宿启仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 阿毗达磨俱舍释论

    阿毗达磨俱舍释论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Mansion

    The Mansion

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 龙虚篇

    龙虚篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 0—3岁聪明宝宝营养餐

    0—3岁聪明宝宝营养餐

    《美食天下(第1辑):0-3岁聪明宝宝营养餐》根据婴幼儿生长发育的特点,介绍了合理喂养与婴幼儿生长发育的关系;根据婴幼儿不同生长发育时期的营养需要特点和咀嚼与消化能力,介绍了不同的辅食制作方法和营养特点,以及辅食制作过程中应注意的问题。同时,还给予缺乏育儿经验的新手妈妈一些必备的喂养技巧,让妈妈们能轻轻松松掌握。宝宝在0~3岁这个时期,身体抵抗力差、免疫力低,往往难以抵御疾病的“袭击”,宝宝一生病,妈妈就着急上火,担心吊针、吃药副作用大。
  • 总裁,不做你的女人

    总裁,不做你的女人

    一夜醒来,莫名被拍了照片,她被人设计惹上一个冷魅男人。她只等恶梦结束的那一天,从此,远离他的世界。但是在分手的一个月后发现居然有了身孕。再度相遇,他淡淡一笑,“女人,孩子都生了,以后就叫老婆吧。”
  • 末日之丧尸侵袭

    末日之丧尸侵袭

    贺豪,一名死刑犯人。在押赴刑场的途中遭遇末日的陨石浩劫,意外失去右臂的他获得了名为渡鸦的机械手臂。且看他如何利用科技的力量封为末世王侯——“胜利的喜悦,令我咆哮不已!”
  • 最强无所系统

    最强无所系统

    只有想不到,没有做不到,无所不能,简称无所,最强无所系统为你保驾护航。
  • 至尊高校生:恶劣学长

    至尊高校生:恶劣学长

    冷傲的恶劣学长看上了顽皮学妹,听到同学们要去欺负她时,他会站出来狂傲不羁地说:“爷的女人谁敢动!”她伤心哭泣时,他会温柔地把她拉进怀里,霸道又蛮不讲理:“哭什么哭,再哭我就亲你!”与她擦肩而过时,他回头抓住她的手腕,用冰冷的指尖在她的手心里轻轻写下我爱你。
  • 清末民初历史演义(套装共5册)

    清末民初历史演义(套装共5册)

    《清末民初历史演义全集》以小说的形式触及到晚清所谓“庇护制网络结构”与王朝衰败之间的关系。正如费正清在《剑桥中国晚清史》中指出,“清代中国政治行为的特殊型式即庇护制网络结构的形成”,是导致清末官场招权纳贿、任人唯亲、裙带关系盛行和政治腐化的根源。《清末民初历史演义》通过记述一系列重要政治人物的逸闻轶事,揭露并谴责了晚清官员的丑态和官场黑幕,同时也从历史的角度反思了庇护制网络结构不断超出可控范围使政治体制沦为“私利”工具的这一历史现象。这也使得《清末民初历史演义》超出一般谴责小说的范畴而具有了更加深刻的意义。  
  • 文明的记录:科技发明

    文明的记录:科技发明

    人类的文明总是在科学汇集的道路上前进,人类的生活总是在无数的发明中改变。有时候,很多发明的问世都源于一个一闪而过的奇思妙想,一次不经意的偶然失误,一次特立独行的大胆尝试……由此走进智慧之门,进入发明创造的趣味王国,使发明带来了“种豆得瓜”的科学效应。新技术的大量使用,使世界科学体系得到逐步完善更重要的是实事求是、追求真理的科学精神得到了发扬。本书精心编选了各方面具有代表性的科技发明,讲述每一项发明的来龙去脉,描述发明者在创造过程中是如何经历无数次的探索与改进,弘扬他们艰苦耐劳与顽强执着的精神,开拓大家的视野,扩充知识,陶冶心灵,不断地提升我们的智慧,激发我们的灵感,培养我们独具特色的创造力。
  • 世界的梦里我们曾存在过

    世界的梦里我们曾存在过

    时空阻拦不住我们的相遇,等待却又是我们的宿命。也许世界可以改变我,改变不了我对你的心!
  • 神龙古墓

    神龙古墓

    鲁一深在一次同学聚会上看到一张带龙模样的照片,想起这个很像爷爷给他讲的一个故事。带着疑问他回家问了父亲,父亲告诉了他一切,并交给了他爷爷的遗物。之后他误闯龙王洞,得到了又把稻草人给的道具。回家后父亲又把鲁家的历史告诉了他,从而得知,鲁家原来是雄霸南方的盗墓家族。雄霸南方的鲁家跟盘踞在北方的林家突然消失背后有什么不可告人的秘密呢?
  • 总裁太坏

    总裁太坏

    “叶落你个贱人!”那天,他把一叠照片用力的甩在她的脸上。“你不配做我郝家的女人,滚!”她被扫地出门。