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beyond the city(城市之上)-第4部分

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first one and then the other with a grip which crumpled up their little thin 

fingers。     〃The     days   for  work     and   healthful   exercise;    the   evenings    to 

Browning   and   high   discourse;   eh;   Charles?         Good…bye!〃       She   came   to 

the door with them; and as they glanced back they saw her still standing 

there with the yellow bull pup cuddled up under one forearm; and the thin 

blue reek of her cigarette ascending from her lips。 

     〃Oh;   what   a   dreadful;   dreadful   woman!〃   whispered   sister   Bertha;   as 

they hurried down the street。          〃Thank goodness that it is over。〃 

     〃But she'll return the visit;〃 answered the other。             〃I think that we had 



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better tell Mary that we are not at home。 



         



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                                   BEYOND THE CITY 



                              CHAPTER III。 



                        DWELLERS IN THE WILDERNESS。 



       How deeply are our destinies influenced by the most trifling causes! 

Had     the  unknown      builder    who    erected   and    owned    these   new    villas 

contented   himself   by   simply  building   each   within   its   own   grounds;  it   is 

probable   that   these   three   small   groups   of   people   would   have   remained 

hardly conscious of each other's existence; and that there would have been 

no opportunity for that action and reaction which is here set forth。                  But 

there was a common   link to bind them  together。               To single himself   out 

from all other Norwood builders the landlord had devised and laid out a 

common lawn tennis ground; which stretched behind the houses with taut… 

stretched   net;   green   close…cropped   sward;   and   widespread   whitewashed 

lines。    Hither in search of that hard exercise which is as necessary as air 

or   food   to  the   English    temperament;      came    young    Hay    Denver    when 

released from the toil of the City; hither; too; came Dr。 Walker and his two 

fair daughters; Clara and Ida; and hither also; champions of the lawn; came 

the   short…skirted;    muscular     widow     and   her  athletic   nephew。     Ere    the 

summer was gone they knew each other in this quiet nook as they might 

not have done after years of a stiffer and more formal acquaintance。 

     And especially to the Admiral and the Doctor were this closer intimacy 

and companionship of value。            Each had a void in his life; as every man 

must have who with unexhausted strength steps out of the great race; but 

each by his society might help to fill up that of his neighbor。                 It is true 

that   they  had   not   much   in   common;   but   that   is   sometimes   an   aid   rather 

than a bar to friendship。        Each had been an enthusiast in his profession; 

and had retained all his interest in it。        The Doctor still read from cover to 

cover     his  Lancet    and   his   Medical     Journal;   attended    all  professional 

gatherings;     worked     himself    into   an   alternate   state  of   exaltation    and 

depression   over   the   results   of   the   election   of   officers;   and   reserved   for 

himself a den of his own; in which before rows of little round bottles full 

of   glycerine;   Canadian   balsam;   and   staining   agents;   he   still   cut   sections 

with    a  microtome;     and   peeped     through    his  long;   brass;  old…fashioned 



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microscope at the arcana of nature。             With his typical face; clean shaven 

on lip and   chin; with   a firm  mouth; a   strong jaw;  a steady  eye; and   two 

little   white   fluffs   of   whiskers;   he   could   never   be   taken   for   anything   but 

what he was; a high…class British medical consultant of the age of fifty; or 

perhaps just a year or two older。 

     The Doctor; in his hey…day; had been cool over great things; but now; 

in his retirement; he was fussy over trifles。             The man who had operated 

without the quiver of a finger; when not only his patient's life but his own 

reputation   and   future   were   at   stake;   was   now   shaken   to   the   soul   by   a 

mislaid book or a careless maid。            He remarked it himself; and knew the 

reason。     〃When Mary was alive;〃 he would say; 〃she stood between me 

and the little troubles。       I could brace myself for the big ones。             My girls 

are as good as girls can be; but who can know a man as his wife knows 

him?〃      Then   his   memory   would   conjure   up   a   tuft   of   brown   hair   and   a 

single white; thin hand over a coverlet; and he would feel; as we have all 

felt; that if we do not live and know each other after death; then indeed we 

are tricked and betrayed by all the highest hopes and subtlest intuitions of 

our nature。 

     The Doctor had his compensations to make up for his loss。                   The great 

scales   of   Fate   had   been   held   on   a   level   for   him;   for   where   in   all   great 

London   could   one  find  two   sweeter girls;   more  loving;  more   intelligent; 

and more sympathetic than Clara and Ida Walker?                    So bright were they; 

so quick; so interested in all which interested him; that if it were possible 

for a man to be compensated for the loss of a good wife then Balthazar 

Walker might claim to be so。 

     Clara was tall and thin and supple; with a graceful; womanly figure。 

There was something stately and distinguished in her carriage; 〃queenly〃 

her   friends   called   her;   while   her   critics   described   her   as   reserved   and 

distant。 

     Such as it was; however; it was part and parcel of herself; for she was; 

and had always from her childhood been; different from any one around 

her。    There was nothing gregarious in her nature。               She thought with her 

own   mind;   saw   with   her   own   eyes;   acted   from   her   own   impulse。      Her 

face was pale; striking rather than pretty; but with two great dark eyes; so 



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earnestly questioning; so quick in their transitions from joy to pathos; so 

swift in their comment upon every word and deed around her; that those 

eyes alone were to many more attractive than all the beauty of her younger 

sister。   Hers was a strong; quiet soul; and it was her firm hand which had 

taken over the duties of her mother; had ordered the house; restrained the 

servants; comforted her father; and upheld her weaker sister; from the day 

of that great misfortune。 

     Ida Walker   was   a   hand's   breadth   smaller   than   Clara;   but   was   a   little 

fuller in the   face and   plumper in the   figure。        She had   light yellow   hair; 

mischievous   blue   eyes   with   the   light   of   humor   ever   twinkling   in   their 

depths; and a large; perfectly formed mouth; with that slight upward curve 

of the corners which goes with a keen appreciation of fun; suggesting even 

in repose that a latent smile is ever lurking at the edges of the lips。                She 

was modern to the soles of her dainty little high…heeled shoes; frankly fond 

of dress and of pleasure; devoted to tennis and to comic opera; delighted 

with a dance; which came her way only too seldom; longing ever for some 

new   excitement;   and   yet   behind   all   this   lighter   side   of   her   character   a 

thoroughly   good;   healthy…minded   English   girl;   the   life   and   soul   of   the 

house; and the idol of her sister and her father。              Such was the family at 

number two。        A peep into the remaining villa and our introductions are 

complete。 

     Admiral Hay Denver did not belong to the florid; white…haired; hearty 

school of sea…dogs which is more common in works of fiction than in the 

Navy  List。     On   the  contrary;  he   was   the  representative  of   a  much   more 

common type which is the antithesis of the conventional sailor。                  He was a 

thin;   hard…featured   man;   with   an   ascetic;   acquiline   cast   of   face;   grizzled 

and hollow…cheeked; clean…shaven with the exception of the tiniest curved 

promontory of ash…colored whisker。             An observer; accustomed to classify 

men; might have put him down as a canon of the church with a taste for 

lay costume and a country life; or as the master of a large public school; 

who joined his scholars in their outdoor sports。               His lips were firm; his 

chin pr
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