贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > robert falconer >

第1章

robert falconer-第1章

小说: robert falconer 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!





Robert Falconer



by George MacDonald








TO



THE MEMORY



OF THE MAN WHO



STANDS HIGHEST IN THE ORATORY



OF MY MEMORY;



ALEXANDER JOHN SCOTT;



I; DARING; PRESUME TO DEDICATE THIS BOOK。











PART I。HIS BOYHOOD。







CHAPTER I。



A RECOLLECTION。



Robert Falconer; school…boy; aged fourteen; thought he had never

seen his father; that is; thought he had no recollection of having

ever seen him。  But the moment when my story begins; he had begun to

doubt whether his belief in the matter was correct。  And; as he went

on thinking; he became more and more assured that he had seen his

father somewhere about six years before; as near as a thoughtful boy

of his age could judge of the lapse of a period that would form half

of that portion of his existence which was bound into one by the

reticulations of memory。



For there dawned upon his mind the vision of one Sunday afternoon。

Betty had gone to church; and he was alone with his grandmother;

reading The Pilgrim's Progress to her; when; just as Christian

knocked at the wicket…gate; a tap came to the street door; and he

went to open it。  There he saw a tall; somewhat haggard…looking man;

in a shabby black coat (the vision gradually dawned upon him till it

reached the minuteness of all these particulars); his hat pulled

down on to his projecting eyebrows; and his shoes very dusty; as

with a long journey on footit was a hot Sunday; he remembered

thatwho looked at him very strangely; and without a word pushed

him aside; and went straight into his grandmother's parlour;

shutting the door behind him。  He followed; not doubting that the

man must have a right to go there; but questioning very much his

right to shut him out。  When he reached the door; however; he found

it bolted; and outside he had to stay all alone; in the desolate

remainder of the house; till Betty came home from church。



He could even recall; as he thought about it; how drearily the

afternoon had passed。  First he had opened the street door; and

stood in it。  There was nothing alive to be seen; except a sparrow

picking up crumbs; and he would not stop till he was tired of him。

The Royal Oak; down the street to the right; had not even a

horseless gig or cart standing before it; and King Charles; grinning

awfully in its branches on the signboard; was invisible from the

distance at which he stood。  In at the other end of the empty

street; looked the distant uplands; whose waving corn and grass were

likewise invisible; and beyond them rose one blue truncated peak in

the distance; all of them wearily at rest this weary Sabbath day。

However; there was one thing than which this was better; and that

was being at church; which; to this boy at least; was the very fifth

essence of dreariness。



He closed the door and went into the kitchen。  That was nearly as

bad。  The kettle was on the fire; to be sure; in anticipation of

tea; but the coals under it were black on the top; and it made only

faint efforts; after immeasurable intervals of silence; to break

into a song; giving a hum like that of a bee a mile off; and then

relapsing into hopeless inactivity。  Having just had his dinner; he

was not hungry enough to find any resource in the drawer where the

oatcakes lay; and; unfortunately; the old wooden clock in the corner

was going; else there would have been some amusement in trying to

torment it into demonstrations of life; as he had often done in less

desperate circumstances than the present。  At last he went up…stairs

to the very room in which he now was; and sat down upon the floor;

just as he was sitting now。  He had not even brought his Pilgrim's

Progress with him from his grandmother's room。  But; searching about

in all holes and corners; he at length found Klopstock's Messiah

translated into English; and took refuge there till Betty came home。

Nor did he go down till she called him to tea; when; expecting to

join his grandmother and the stranger; he found; on the contrary;

that he was to have his tea with Betty in the kitchen; after which

he again took refuge with Klopstock in the garret; and remained

there till it grew dark; when Betty came in search of him; and put

him to bed in the gable…room; and not in his usual chamber。  In the

morning; every trace of the visitor had vanished; even to the thorn

stick which he had set down behind the door as he entered。



All this Robert Falconer saw slowly revive on the palimpsest of his

memory; as he washed it with the vivifying waters of recollection。









CHAPTER II。



A VISITOR。



It was a very bare little room in which the boy sat; but it was his

favourite retreat。  Behind the door; in a recess; stood an empty

bedstead; without even a mattress upon it。  This was the only piece

of furniture in the room; unless some shelves crowded with papers

tied up in bundles; and a cupboard in the wall; likewise filled with

papers; could be called furniture。  There was no carpet on the

floor; no windows in the walls。  The only light came from the door;

and from a small skylight in the sloping roof; which showed that it

was a garret…room。  Nor did much light come from the open door; for

there was no window on the walled stair to which it opened; only

opposite the door a few steps led up into another garret; larger;

but with a lower roof; unceiled; and perforated with two or three

holes; the panes of glass filling which were no larger than the

small blue slates which covered the roof: from these panes a little

dim brown light tumbled into the room where the boy sat on the

floor; with his head almost between his knees; thinking。



But there was less light than usual in the room now; though it was

only half…past two o'clock; and the sun would not set for more than

half…an…hour yet; for if Robert had lifted his head and looked up;

it would have been at; not through; the skylight。  No sky was to be

seen。  A thick covering of snow lay over the glass。  A partial thaw;

followed by frost; had fixed it therea mass of imperfect cells and

confused crystals。  It was a cold place to sit in; but the boy had

some faculty for enduring cold when it was the price to be paid for

solitude。  And besides; when he fell into one of his thinking moods;

he forgot; for a season; cold and everything else but what he was

thinking abouta faculty for which he was to be envied。



If he had gone down the stair; which described half the turn of a

screw in its descent; and had crossed the landing to which it

brought him; he could have entered another bedroom; called the gable

or rather ga'le room; equally at his service for retirement; but;

though carpeted and comfortably furnished; and having two windows at

right angles; commanding two streets; for it was a corner house; the

boy preferred the garret…roomhe could not tell why。  Possibly;

windows to the streets were not congenial to the meditations in

which; even now; as I have said; the boy indulged。



These meditations; however; though sometimes as abstruse; if not so

continuous; as those of a metaphysicianfor boys are not

unfrequently more given to metaphysics than older people are able

or; perhaps; willing to believewere not by any means confined to

such subjects: castle…building had its full share in the occupation

of those lonely hours; and for this exercise of the constructive

faculty; what he knew; or rather what he did not know; of his own

history gave him scope enough; nor was his brain slow in supplying

him with material corresponding in quantity to the space afforded。

His mother had been dead for so many years that he had only the

vaguest recollections of her tenderness; and none of her person。

All he was told of his father was that he had gone abroad。  His

grandmother would never talk about him; although he was her own son。

When the boy ventured to ask a question about where he was; or when

he would return; she always r

返回目录 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的