登陆注册
5302400000011

第11章 Wherein Sir Jeoffry's boon companions (3)

Let us take this one for our toast,and bring her up as girls should be brought up to be companions for men.I give you,Mistress Clorinda Wildairs--Mistress Clorinda,the enslaver of six years old--bumpers,lads!--bumpers!"

And they set her in the very midst of the big table and drank her health,standing,bursting into a jovial,ribald song;and the child,excited by the noise and laughter,actually broke forth and joined them in a high,strong treble,the song being one she was quite familiar with,having heard it often enough in the stable to have learned the words pat.

Two weeks after his meeting with her,Sir Jeoffry was seized with the whim to go up to London and set her forth with finery.'Twas but rarely he went up to town,having neither money to waste,nor finding great attraction in the more civilised quarters of the world.He brought her back such clothes as for richness and odd,unsuitable fashion child never wore before.There were brocades that stood alone with splendour of fabric,there was rich lace,fine linen,ribbands,farthingales,swansdown tippets,and little slippers with high red heels.He had a wardrobe made for her such as the finest lady of fashion could scarcely boast,and the tiny creature was decked out in it,and on great occasions even strung with her dead mother's jewels.

Among these strange things,he had the fantastical notion to have made for her several suits of boy's clothes:pink and blue satin coats,little white,or amber,or blue satin breeches,ruffles of lace,and waistcoats embroidered with colours and silver or gold.

There was also a small scarlet-coated hunting costume and all the paraphernalia of the chase.It was Sir Jeoffry's finest joke to bid her woman dress her as a boy,and then he would have her brought to the table where he and his fellows were dining together,and she would toss off her little bumper with the best of them,and rip out childish oaths,and sing them,to their delight,songs she had learned from the stable-boys.She cared more for dogs and horses than for finery,and when she was not in the humour to be made a puppet of,neither tire-woman nor devil could put her into her brocades;but she liked the excitement of the dining-room,and,as time went on,would be dressed in her flowered petticoats in a passion of eagerness to go and show herself,and coquet in her lace and gewgaws with men old enough to be her father,and loose enough to find her premature airs and graces a fine joke indeed.She ruled them all with her temper and her shrewish will.She would have her way in all things,or there should be no sport with her,and she would sing no songs for them,but would flout them bitterly,and sit in a great chair with her black brows drawn down,and her whole small person breathing rancour and disdain.

Sir Jeoffry,who had bullied his wife,had now the pleasurable experience of being henpecked by his daughter;for so,indeed,he was.Miss ruled him with a rod of iron,and wielded her weapon with such skill that before a year had elapsed he obeyed her as the servants below stairs had done in her infancy.She had no fear of his great oaths,for she possessed a strangely varied stock of her own upon which she could always draw,and her voice being more shrill than his,if not of such bigness,her ear-piercing shrieks and indomitable perseverance always proved too much for him in the end.It must be admitted likewise that her violence of temper and power of will were somewhat beyond his own,notwithstanding her tender years and his reputation.In fact,he found himself obliged to observe this,and finally made something of a merit and joke of it.

"There is no managing of the little shrew,"he would say."Neither man nor devil can bend or break her.If I smashed every bone in her carcass,she would die shrieking hell at me and defiance."If one admits the truth,it must be owned that if she had not had bestowed upon her by nature gifts of beauty and vivacity so extraordinary,and had been cursed with a thousandth part of the vixenishness she displayed every day of her life,he would have broken every bone in her carcass without a scruple or a qualm.But her beauty seemed but to grow with every hour that passed,and it was by exceeding good fortune exactly the fashion of beauty which he admired the most.When she attained her tenth year she was as tall as a fine boy of twelve,and of such a shape and carriage as young Diana herself might have envied.Her limbs were long,and most divinely moulded,and of a strength that caused admiration and amazement in all beholders.Her father taught her to follow him in the hunting-field,and when she appeared upon her horse,clad in her little breeches and top-boots and scarlet coat,child though she was,she set the field on fire.She learned full early how to coquet and roll her fine eyes;but it is also true that she was not much of a languisher,as all her ogling was of a destructive or proudly-attacking kind.It was her habit to leave others to languish,and herself to lead them with disdainful vivacity to doing so.She was the talk,and,it must be admitted,the scandal,of the county by the day she was fifteen.The part wherein she lived was a boisterous hunting shire where there were wide ditches and high hedges to leap,and rough hills and moors to gallop over,and within the region neither polite life nor polite education were much thought of;but even in the worst portions of it there were occasional virtuous matrons who shook their heads with much gravity and wonder over the beautiful Mistress Clorinda.

同类推荐
  • 代罗敷诮使君

    代罗敷诮使君

    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 Deliverance

    The Deliverance

    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。
  • 泰特斯·安德洛尼克斯

    泰特斯·安德洛尼克斯

    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 Adventures

    The Adventures

    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。
  • 普遍智藏般若波罗蜜多心经

    普遍智藏般若波罗蜜多心经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 土耳其人

    土耳其人

    该书阐述了土耳其的历史、文化和民情,以及如何与不同文化背景的人进行交流与合作等内容。
  • 上古灵域

    上古灵域

    这片土地叫做上古灵域,在这片大陆上,有着人,神,兽,仙,妖,魔,鬼,战神八个种族,各族之间相生相克,构成了这片大陆上强大的文明。
  • 医统江山

    医统江山

    前世过劳而死的医生转世大康第一奸臣之家,附身在聋哑十六年的白痴少年身上,究竟是他的幸运还是不幸,上辈子太累,这辈子只想娇妻美眷,儿孙绕膝,舒舒服服地做一个蒙混度日的富二代,却不曾想家道中落,九品芝麻官如何凭借医术权术,玩弄江湖庙堂,且看我医手遮天,一统山河!章鱼威信公众号Stonesquid欢迎加入
  • 2008年中考满分作文

    2008年中考满分作文

    精心撷选2008年全国中考考场满分作文100多篇,有多年中考实战经验的一线教师透彻点评得分要点,引领你揣摩成功心得,掌握满分门径,轻松胜出。本书是一部实用性和针对性极强、可以作为全国各地初中师生备战中考作文的最佳参考辅导书。
  • 中国模范生

    中国模范生

    即将走过的改革开放30年如同一场谁都无法预知答案的世纪“大考”,把浙江称之为这场“大考”中成绩优异的“中国模范生”应该是恰如其分的。其模范的意义并不仅仅在于它在这片土地上贡献了令人叹为观止的经济增长数据,更在于其每时每刻所展现出的与旧思维迥异的改革新世界。很多情况下,活泼泼的改革新世界生发于浙江,进而绽放于中国。正是循着这样的视角,我们清晰地发现了改革开放30年浙江样本的中国价值……本书以客观的记叙和充满理性的思考,使我们再次感受并分享了这一弥足珍贵的宏大篇章。
  • 中国微型小说百年经典(第3卷)

    中国微型小说百年经典(第3卷)

    微型小说,在我国虽然自古有之,如《世说新语》《唐元话本》《聊斋志异》等,但一直属于短篇小说的范畴,未能从短篇小说中独立出来。上世纪80年代,随着改革开放和人们生活节奏加快,读者没时间看长篇大论,喜欢看短小精悍的小说。微型小说便很快盛兴繁荣起来,受到读者的喜爱。因而一些报刊纷纷开辟微型小说栏目,据不完全统计,现在发表微型小说的报刊有两千家左右,每年发表的微型小说达七八万篇。《中国微型小说百年经典》以微型小说是一种独立的文体的眼光,重新审视了过去混杂在短篇小说中的微型作品,精心筛选了一个世纪以来的微型小说经典佳作。较之近来出版的一些标榜微型小说经典选集,更具有综合性、经典性和权威性。
  • 园丁集·新月集·飞鸟集(纯爱·英文馆)

    园丁集·新月集·飞鸟集(纯爱·英文馆)

    《新月集》主要译自1903年出版的孟加拉文诗集《儿童集》,诗人生动描绘了儿童们的游戏,巧妙地表现了孩子们的心理,以及他们活泼的想象。它的特殊的隽永的艺术魅力,把我们带到了一个纯洁的儿童世界,勾起了我们对于童年生活的美好回忆。《飞鸟集》是泰戈尔的代表作之一,也是世界上最杰出的诗集之一,它包括300余首清丽的小诗。
  • 成大事必备的九项修炼

    成大事必备的九项修炼

    要想成就一番事业,需要打造自我,锻造自我,这就要看运用什么方法和手段。《成大事必备的九项修炼》从九个方面阐述了如何才能成就一番事业。九个方面并不能把成大事的所需条件全部涵盖其中,这还要看读者如何运用到现实中去,与自身的条件相结合。九项修炼是画龙点睛之笔,有拨云见日之功,就看读者如何理解运用了。
  • 做生意必懂的九大算计

    做生意必懂的九大算计

    生意的本质是低买高卖,一个不会盘算自己成本的人(低买)、也不会通过算计抬高自己生意价格的(高卖),基本上做生意没戏。做生意会算计的核心精髓就是:算计时间成本、算计风险投资、算计开销与利润、算计人际关系等等。
  • 何氏虚劳心传

    何氏虚劳心传

    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。