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the holly-tree(圣树)-第1部分

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                   THE HOLLY…TREETHREE BRANCHES 



  THE HOLLY…TREE 

THREE BRANCHES 



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                           THE HOLLY…TREETHREE BRANCHES 



             FIRST BRANCHMYSELF 



     I have kept one secret in the course of my life。            I am a bashful man。 

Nobody would suppose it; nobody ever does suppose it; nobody ever did 

suppose it; but I am naturally a bashful man。              This is the secret which I 

have never breathed until now。 

     I might greatly move the reader by some account of the innumerable 

places I have not been to; the innumerable people I have not called upon 

or received; the innumerable social evasions I have been guilty of; solely 

because I am by original constitution and character a bashful man。                  But I 

will leave the reader unmoved; and proceed with the object before me。 

     That object is to give a plain account of my travels and discoveries in 

the   Holly…Tree   Inn;   in   which   place   of   good   entertainment   for   man   and 

beast I was once snowed up。 

     It happened in the memorable year when I parted for ever from Angela 

Leath; whom I was shortly to have married; on making the discovery that 

she    preferred   my    bosom    friend。    From     our  school…days     I  had   freely 

admitted   Edwin;   in   my   own      mind;   to   be   far   superior   to  myself;   and; 

though   I   was   grievously   wounded   at   heart;   I   felt   the   preference   to   be 

natural; and tried to forgive them both。          It was under these circumstances 

that I resolved to go to Americaon my way to the Devil。 

     Communicating   my   discovery   neither   to   Angela   nor   to   Edwin;   but 

resolving to write each of them an affecting letter conveying my blessing 

and forgiveness; which the steam…tender for shore should carry to the post 

when I myself should be bound for the New World; far beyond recall;I 

say;   locking   up   my   grief   in   my   own   breast;   and   consoling   myself   as   I 

could with the prospect of being generous; I quietly left all I held dear; and 

started on the desolate journey I have mentioned。 

     The dead winter…time was in full dreariness when I left my chambers 

for ever; at five o'clock in the morning。          I had shaved by candle… light; of 

course;     and   was    miserably     cold;   and   experienced     that   general    all… 



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                             THE HOLLY…TREETHREE BRANCHES 



pervading sensation of getting up to be hanged which I have usually found 

inseparable from untimely rising under such circumstances。 

     How well I remember the forlorn aspect of Fleet Street when I came 

out of  the Temple!         The  street…lamps flickering   in   the gusty  north…  east 

wind; as if the very gas were contorted with cold; the white… topped houses; 

the bleak;   star…lighted   sky;   the   market   people   and   other   early  stragglers; 

trotting   to   circulate   their   almost   frozen   blood;   the   hospitable   light   and 

warmth of the few coffee…shops and public…houses that were open for such 

customers; the hard; dry; frosty rime with which the air was charged (the 

wind had already beaten it into every crevice); and which lashed my face 

like a steel whip。 

     It wanted nine days to the end of the month; and end of the year。 The 

Post…office   packet   for   the   United   States   was   to   depart   from   Liverpool; 

weather      permitting;    on   the   first  of  the  ensuing     month;    and   I  had   the 

intervening time   on   my  hands。          I   had taken this   into   consideration;  and 

had resolved to make a visit to a certain spot (which I need not name) on 

the   farther   borders   of Yorkshire。       It   was   endeared   to   me   by   my   having 

first   seen Angela   at   a   farmhouse   in   that   place;   and   my   melancholy   was 

gratified by the idea of taking a wintry leave of it before my expatriation。 

I   ought   to   explain;   that;  to   avoid   being   sought   out   before   my   resolution 

should have been rendered irrevocable by being carried into full effect; I 

had    written    to  Angela     overnight;    in  my    usual   manner;     lamenting     that 

urgent business; of which she should know all particulars by…and…by… …took 

me unexpectedly away from her for a week or ten days。 

     There   was   no   Northern   Railway   at   that   time;   and   in   its   place   there 

were   stage…coaches;   which   I   occasionally   find   myself;   in   common   with 

some other people; affecting to lament now; but which everybody dreaded 

as a very serious penance then。            I had secured the box…seat on the fastest 

of these;  and   my  business in   Fleet   Street   was   to get into   a   cab   with  my 

portmanteau; so to make the best of my way to the Peacock at Islington; 

where I was to join this coach。            But when one of our Temple watchmen; 

who carried   my portmanteau into Fleet   Street for   me; told   me about the 

huge blocks of ice that had for some days past been floating in the river; 



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                            THE HOLLY…TREETHREE BRANCHES 



having closed up in the night; and made a walk from the Temple Gardens 

over to the Surrey shore; I began to ask myself the question; whether the 

box…seat   would   not   be   likely   to   put   a   sudden   and   a   frosty   end   to   my 

unhappiness。       I was heart…broken; it is true; and yet I was not quite so far 

gone as to wish to be frozen to death。 

     When I got up to the Peacock;where I found everybody drinking hot 

purl; in self…preservation;I asked if there were an inside seat to spare。                 I 

then discovered that; inside or out; I was the only passenger。                  This gave 

me a still livelier idea of the great inclemency of the weather; since that 

coach     always    loaded    particularly    well。   However;       I  took   a  little  purl 

(which I found uncommonly good); and got into the coach。                      When I was 

seated; they built me up with straw to the waist; and; conscious of making 

a rather ridiculous appearance; I began my journey。 

     It was still   dark when   we left the   Peacock。         For   a little   while;  pale; 

uncertain   ghosts   of   houses   and   trees   appeared   and   vanished;   and   then   it 

was hard; black; frozen day。          People were lighting their fires; smoke was 

mounting   straight   up   high   into   the   rarified   air;   and   we   were   rattling   for 

Highgate Archway over the hardest ground I have ever heard the ring of 

iron   shoes   on。    As   we   got   into   the   country;   everything   seemed   to   have 

grown old and gray。          The roads; the trees; thatched roofs of cottages and 

homesteads; the ricks in farmers' yards。             Out…door work was abandoned; 

horse…troughs at   road… side  inns   were frozen  hard; no stragglers   lounged 

about; doors were close shut; little turnpike houses had blazing fires inside; 

and children (even turnpike people have children; and seem to like them) 

rubbed the frost from the little panes of glass with their chubby arms; that 

their bright eyes might catch a glimpse of the solitary coach going by。                     I 

don't   know   when   the   snow   begin   to   set   in;   but   I   know   that   we   were 

changing horses somewhere when I heard the guard remark; 〃That the old 

lady   up   in   the   sky   was   picking   her   geese   pretty   hard   to…day。〃   Then; 

indeed; I found the white down falling fast and thick。 

     The lonely day wore on; and I dozed it out; as a lonely traveller does。 

I   was   warm   and     valiant   after  eating   and   drinking;    particularly    after 

dinner; cold and depressed at all other times。             I was always bewildered as 



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                            THE HOLLY…TREETHREE BRANCHES 



to time and place; and always more or less out of my senses。                    The coach 

and    horses    seemed     to  execute    in  chorus    Auld    Lang    Syne;   without     a 

moment's   intermission。         They   kept   the   time   and   tune   with   the   greatest 

regularity; and rose into the swell at the beginning of the Refrain; with a 

precision that worried me to death。            While we changed horses; the guard 

and   coachman   went   stumping   up   and   down   the   road;   printing   off   their 

shoes in the snow; and poured so much liquid consolation into themselves 

without being   any  the  worse for  it;  that   I began to  confound   them;  as   it 

darkened again; with two great white casks standing on e
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