【荆棘鸟】第三章 14

They would have to go steerage on the ship, but it was only three days after all, not too bad. Not like the weeks and weeks between England and the Antipodes. All they could afford to take with them were clothes, china, cutlery, household linens², cooking utensils³ and those shelves of precious books; the furniture would have to be sold to cover the cost of shipping⁴ Fee's few bits and pieces in the parlor⁵, her spinet⁶ and rugs and chairs. "I won't hear of your leaving them behind," Paddy told Fee firmly. "Are you sure we can afford it?"

  "Positive. As to the other furniture, Mary says she's readying the head stockman's house and that it's got everything we're likely to be needing. I'm glad we don't have to live in the same house as Mary."

  "So am I," said Fee.

  Paddy went into Wanganui to book them an eight-berth steerage cabin on the Wahine; strange that the ship and their nearest town should have the same name. They were due to sail at the end of August, so by the beginning of that month everyone started realizing the big adventure was actually going to happen. The dogs had to be given away, the horses and the buggy sold, the furniture loaded onto old Angus MacWhirter's dray and taken into Wanganui for auction⁷, Fee's few pieces crated⁸ along with the china and linen¹ and books and kitchen goods.

  Frank found his mother standing⁹ by the beautiful old spinet, stroking its faintly pink, streaky paneling and looking vaguely¹⁰ at the powdering of gold dust on her fingertips.

  "Did you always have it, Mum?" he asked.

  "Yes. What was actually mine they couldn't take from me when I married. The spinet, the Persian carpets, the Louis Quinze sofa and chairs, the Regency escritoire. Not much, but they were rightfully mine." The grey, wistful eyes stared past his shoulder at the oil painting on the wall behind him, dimmed with age a little, but still showing clearly the golden-haired woman in her pale-pink lace gown, crinolined with a hundred and seven flounces. "Who was she?" he asked curiously¹¹, turning his head. "I've always wanted to know."

  "A great lady."

  "Well, she's got to be related to you; she looks like you a bit." "Her? A relation of mine?" The eyes left their contemplation of the picture and rested on her son's face ironically. "Now, do I look as if I could ever have had a relative like her?"

  "Yes."

  "You've cobwebs in your brain; brush them out."

 

他们打算坐统舱去，好在毕竟只有三天的路程，还不算太糟糕。不象从英国到南半球那样，得走好几个星期。他们能出得起钱。带走的东西是衣物、磁器、刀叉、被单、床单、炊具和那几格珍贵的书籍。家具不得不卖掉，以偿付菲卧室里的那几件东西--古钢琴、小地毯和椅子--的运费。

　　"我不愿意听你说把它们留下来的话。"帕迪坚决地跟菲说道。

　　"你肯定我们花得起这份钱吗？"

　　"没问题。至于其它的家具嘛：玛丽说她为我们准备下了牧场工头的房子，我们可能需要的那里都一应俱全。我很高兴，我们用不着和玛丽住在同一座房子里。"

　　"我也很高兴。"菲说道。

　　帕迪到旺加努伊给他们在"韦汉"号上订了八张统舱的铺位。令人奇怪的是，这艘船和离他们最近的镇子同名。他们定在八月底上路，因此，一到八月初，每个人都开始感到他们真的就要进行这次关系重大的冒险了。那几只狗得送人，马匹和轻便马车卖掉了，家具装上了老安梅斯·麦克怀尔特家的大车，运到旺加努伊去拍卖；菲的那几件东西和磁器、床单和被单、书籍以及厨房用具一起装进了板条箱。

　　弗兰克发现他母亲站在那架漂亮而陈旧的古钢琴旁，抚摸着那淡粉色的带条纹的饰板，呆呆地望着沾在指尖上的金粉。

　　"妈，它一直就是你的吗？"他问道。

　　"是的。是我结婚的时候，他们不能从我这儿拿走的东西。这架古钢琴、波斯小地毯、路易十五时期的沙发和椅子、还有摄政时期的写字台。东西不多，不过它们理所当然地是属于我的。"那双灰色、忧郁的眼睛越赤他的肩头，凝视着挂在他身后墙上的那张油画；由于年深日久，那画的色彩有些暗淡了，但那穿着镶有浅粉色花边、周围有107个褶边的长裙的金发女人却依然清晰可见。

　　"她是谁？"他转过头去，好奇地问道。"我一直想知道。"

　　"一位了不起的太太。"

　　"哦，她准定和你有亲属关系，她和你有点儿象呢。"

　　"她？我的亲戚？"那双沉思的眼睛离开了画像，讥讽地落在了儿子的脸上。"哦，我看上去象有她这样一位亲戚吗？"

　　"象。"

　　"你糊涂了，仔细想想吧。"

1 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

2 linens   

n.亚麻布( linen的名词复数 )；家庭日用织品

参考例句：

• All linens and towels are provided. 提供全套日用织品和毛巾。 来自辞典例句
• Linen, Table Linens, Chair Covers, Bed and Bath Linens. Linen. 采购产品亚麻布，亚麻布，椅子套子，床和沭浴亚麻布。 来自互联网

3 utensils   

器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物

参考例句：

• Formerly most of our household utensils were made of brass. 以前我们家庭用的器皿多数是用黄铜做的。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

4 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

5 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

6 spinet   

n.小型立式钢琴

参考例句：

• One afternoon,when I was better,I played the spinet.有天下午，我好了一点时，便弹奏钢琴。
• The spinet was too big for me to play.钢琴太大了不适合我弹。

7 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

8 crated   

把…装入箱中( crate的过去式 )

参考例句：

• If I know Rhoda she's already crated and boxed them out of sight. 如果没猜错罗达的脾气，我相信她已经把它们装了箱放到一边了。
• Tanks must be completely drained of fuel before the vehicles are crated. 车辆在装箱前必须把油箱里的燃油完全排干。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

11 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。