登陆注册
15289300000014

第14章

Such was this singular man, in his more superficial aspects. What nobler qualities he might possess below the surface, no one had ever discovered. Mr. Vanstone, it is true, stoutly asserted that "Mr. Clare's worst side was his outside"--but in this expression of opinion he stood alone among his neighbors. The association between these two widely-dissimilar men had lasted for many years, and was almost close enough to be called a friendship. They had acquired a habit of meeting to smoke together on certain evenings in the week, in the cynic-philosopher's study, and of there disputing on every imaginable subject--Mr. Vanstone flourishing the stout cudgels of assertion, and Mr. Clare meeting him with the keen edged-tools of sophistry. They generally quarreled at night, and met on the neutral ground of the shrubbery to be reconciled together the next morning. The bond of intercourse thus curiously established between them was strengthened on Mr. Vanstone's side by a hearty interest in his neighbor's three sons--an interest by which those sons benefited all the more importantly, seeing that one of the prejudices which their father had outlived was a prejudice in favor of his own children.

"I look at those boys," the philosopher was accustomed to say, "with a perfectly impartial eye; I dismiss the unimportant accident of their birth from all consideration; and I find them below the average in every respect. The only excuse which a poor gentleman has for presuming to exist in the nineteenth century, is the excuse of extraordinary ability. My boys have been addle-headed from infancy. If I had any capital to give them, I should make Frank a butcher, Cecil a baker, and Arthur a grocer--those being the only human vocations I know of which are certain to be always in request. As it is, I have no money to help them with; and they have no brains to help themselves. They appear to me to be three human superfluities in dirty jackets and noisy boots; and, unless they clear themselves off the community by running away, I don't myself profess to see what is to be done with them."Fortunately for the boys, Mr. Vanstone's views were still fast imprisoned in the ordinary prejudices. At his intercession, and through his influence, Frank, Cecil, and Arthur were received on the foundation of a well-reputed grammar-school. In holiday-time they were mercifully allowed the run of Mr. Vanstone's paddock; and were humanized and refined by association, indoors, with Mrs. Vanstone and her daughters. On these occasions, Mr. Clare used sometimes to walk across from his cottage (in his dressing-gown and slippers), and look at the boys disparagingly, through the window or over the fence, as if they were three wild animals whom his neighbor was attempting to tame. "You and your wife are excellent people," he used to say to Mr. Vanstone. "I respect your honest prejudices in favor of those boys of mine with all my heart. But you are so wrong about them--you are indeed! I wish to give no offense; I speak quite impartially--but mark my words, Vanstone: they'll all three turn out ill, in spite of everything you can do to prevent it."In later years, when Frank had reached the age of seventeen, the same curious shifting of the relative positions of parent and friend between the two neighbors was exemplified more absurdly than ever. A civil engineer in the north of England, who owed certain obligations to Mr. Vanstone, expressed his willingness to take Frank under superintendence, on terms of the most favorable kind. When this proposal was received, Mr. Clare, as usual, first shifted his own character as Frank's father on Mr. Vanstone's shoulders--and then moderated his neighbor's parental enthusiasm from the point of view of an impartial spectator.

"It's the finest chance for Frank that could possibly have happened," cried Mr. Vanstone, in a glow of fatherly enthusiasm.

"My good fellow, he won't take it," retorted Mr. Clare, with the icy composure of a disinterested friend.

"But he shall take it," persisted Mr. Vanstone.

"Say he shall have a mathematical head," rejoined Mr. Clare; "say he shall possess industry, ambition, and firmness of purpose. Pooh! pooh! you don't look at him with my impartial eyes. I say, No mathematics, no industry, no ambition, no firmness of purpose. Frank is a compound of negatives--and there they are.""Hang your negatives!" shouted Mr. Vanstone. "I don't care a rush for negatives, or affirmatives either. Frank shall have this splendid chance; and I'll lay you any wager you like he makes the best of it.""I am not rich enough to lay wagers, usually," replied Mr. Clare; "but I think I have got a guinea about the house somewhere; and I'll lay you that guinea Frank comes back on our hands like a bad shilling.""Done!" said Mr. Vanstone. "No: stop a minute! I won't do the lad's character the injustice of backing it at even money. I'll lay you five to one Frank turns up trumps in this business! You ought to be ashamed of yourself for talking of him as you do. What sort of hocus-pocus you bring it about by, I don't pretend to know; but you always end in making me take his part, as if I was his father instead of you. Ah yes! give you time, and you'll defend yourself. I won't give you time; I won't have any of your special pleading. Black's white according to you. I don't care: it's black for all that. You may talk nineteen to the dozen--I shall write to my friend and say Yes, in Frank's interests, by to-day's post."Such were the circumstances under which Mr. Francis Clare departed for the north of England, at the age of seventeen, to start in life as a civil engineer.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 重回末世:幸好有帅哥

    重回末世:幸好有帅哥

    明静冷漠:“不就是不,没有为什么。”旁白:亲,别激愤,她上一世亲眼目睹人类战败灭绝,受刺激太大,所以……你懂的。明静冷笑:“你们不是想赖账么。放心,我已经解决了这个事。彻底解决。”旁白:亲们,不说再见了——永别了!明静冷嗤:“教你?凭什么。你还真当自己是个人物了。”旁白:亲,她的意思是不白教。有物资吗?有宝贝吗?赶紧拿出来啊!都没有?那要是长得帅又做饭好吃,也能试试运气……明静吃饱喝足:“味道可以。”旁白:什么?!你打算卖色相卖厨艺、追她、娶她,造福自己造福大家,少奋斗三十年、再请她干掉基地外头那头大怪兽?别!千万别!她收集帅哥是当宠物、不是当男友!快打消这主意,否则小命不保,还连累九族!
  • 若如初见:穿越只为爱上你

    若如初见:穿越只为爱上你

    “嗯·······”蝶儿睡到了自然醒,心里很是爽快。可是,刚准备起身,却发现一只大手压在了她的胸上。蝶儿是有裸睡的习惯,因为科学上说,这样对身体好。大清早的,蝶儿睡的迷迷糊糊的,被那只手惊了一跳。“不对呀!这也不可能是老妈啊!我是一个人住的啊!”蝶儿仔细的想着。“那是谁呀?”蝶儿心里有种不祥的预感,可是这也说不通啊。蝶儿缓缓的转过头去,想一探究竟。“唔?”蝶儿被一张俊得能让人想入非非的脸迷住了,“修长的眉,高挺的鼻,性感的唇,眼睛闭着看不清是什么眼型!”蝶儿诺诺的说,不禁被迷得深了,眼睛一动不动的盯着这张脸,大脑也停止了思维······
  • 赤朱

    赤朱

    朱花胎记……命运注定如此。司命谶言:灾星降,则国无。命运的安排,让他们相知,相认;当一切风云淡去之日,他们是否还能记得曾经的对月起誓?命运的安排,他们所站立场不同;当真相浮面而出之时,他,是否还记得当年那位舍身救他的小女孩?她,是否还记得那个为她拂一座雪城的小男孩?面对命运的安排,情路的考验……他们又该何去何从?
  • 三回九转风飘摇

    三回九转风飘摇

    三回九转,她忘了自己是谁!三回九转,她居然成了替身!三回九转,她还是负了他的情!三回九转,她还是伤了他的心!
  • 猎刃之歌

    猎刃之歌

    这是一个最好的时代,这也是一个最坏的时代。血与火的爆发,钢与铁的较量,生与死的对抗。如果邪恶就是整个世界,我不如用血肉之躯,挑战整个世界!猎人手上的剑刃,终究成为一曲慷慨悲壮的赞歌!
  • 风雷耀世

    风雷耀世

    “动我妹妹者死,动我兄弟者死,前世如此,今世亦如此。”
  • 我们时代的历史人物

    我们时代的历史人物

    本书中的人物始于帝制崩溃的民国元年,而止于再次崩溃中的民国,那是一个枪杆子里出政治的时代,一个想和谐而不得和谐的时代,一个想共和而不得共和的时代。我们的人物经历着许许多多令人费解却又让人好奇的故事,其中有些奇异的巧合、偶然的突发事件,顺应或改变着历史的进程。
  • 没有比我更上的寂寞

    没有比我更上的寂寞

    没有人永远18岁,但永远有人18岁,这是青春的美好,也是青春的可耻。
  • 莫神君传奇

    莫神君传奇

    江山代有竖子出,一代庸人换旧人。前一个一百年过去了,此后还会不会有另一个一百年,死的是人,故事还没有结束,死的是肉体,血液还可以流淌。武道没落,人才凋零,剑法早已昔非今比,使剑的人死了,剑与剑法虽传了下来,可无人能使。总是青锋应垂泪,无人识却宝物心。
  • 咒魂之溯洄

    咒魂之溯洄

    莫名的家族巨变,却将洛纤尘卷入了一场诅咒的漩涡。在诅咒之力的洗礼中,洛纤尘重生到了一个与现世平行的“诅咒”世界——溯洄之世。这是一个被所谓的“神”遗弃的世界;一个无情冷漠的世界;一个弱肉强食甚至连死亡的权利都没有的世界。这难道就是诅咒的代价?亦或是一场命中注定的算计?在诅咒的命轮里,又有谁能与她相依相偎,共同打破这命运的藩篱?