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1、【英文小说】红龙之下 Under the Red DragonCHAPTER I.-THE INVITATION.And she is to be there-nay, is there already; so one more chance is given me to meet her. But for what?-to part again silently, and more helplessly bewitched than ever, perhaps. Ah, never will she learn to love me as I love her! thought I, as
2、I turned over my old friends letter, not venturing, however, to give utterance to this aloud, as the quizzical eyes of Phil Caradoc were upon me.A penny for your thoughts, friend Harry? said he, laughing; try another cigar, and rouse yourself. What the deuce is in this letter, that it affects you so
3、? Have you put a pot of money on the wrong horse?Been jilted, had a bill returned, or what? suggested Gwynne.Neither, fortunately, said I; it is simply an invitation from Sir Madoc Lloyd, which rather perplexes me.At this time our regiment was then in the East, awaiting with the rest of the army som
4、e movement to be made from Varna, either towards Bessarabia or the Crimea-mens minds were undecided as to which, while her Majestys Ministers seemed to have no thought on the subject. Our dep?t belonged to the provisional battalion at Winchester, where Caradoc, Gwynne, two other subalterns, and I, w
5、ith some two hundred rank and file, expected ere long the fiat of the fates who reign at the Horse Guards to send us forth to win our laurels from the Russians, or, what seemed more probable, a grave where the pest was then decimating our hapless army, in the beautiful but perilous vale of Aladdyn,
6、on the coast of Bulgaria. We had just adjourned from mess, to have a quiet cheroot and glass of brandy-and-water in my quarters, when I received from my man, Owen Evans, the letter the contents of which awakened so many new hopes and tantalising wishes in my heart, and on which so much of my fate in
7、 the future might hinge.The bare, half-empty, or but partially-furnished single room accorded by the barrack authorities to me as a subaltern, in that huge square edifice built of old by Charles II. for a royal residence, seemed by its aspect but little calculated to flatter the brilliant hopes in q
8、uestion. Though ample in size, it was far from regal in its appurtenances-the barrack furniture, a camp-bed, my baggage trunks piled in one corner, swords and a gun-case in another, books, empty bottles, cigar-boxes, and a few pairs of boots ostentatiously displayed in a row by Evans, making up its
9、entire garniture, and by very contrast in its meagreness compelling me to smile sadly at myself for the ambitious ideas the letter of my old friend had suggested; and thus, for a minute or so ignoring, or rather oblivious of, the presence of my two companions, my eye wandered dreamily over the far-e
10、xtended mass of old brick houses and the gray church towers of the city, all visible from the open window, and then steeped in the silver haze of the moonlight.Sipping their brandy-and-water, each with a lighted cheroot between his fingers, their shell-jackets open, and their feet unceremoniously pl
11、anted on a hard wooden chair, while they lounged back upon another, were Phil Caradoc and Charley Gwynne. The first a good specimen of a handsome, curly-haired, and heedless young Englishman, who shot, fished, hunted, pulled a steady oar, and could keep his wicket against any man, while shining with
12、out effort in almost every manly sport, was moreover a finished gentleman and thorough good fellow. Less fashionable in appearance and less dashing in manner, though by no means less soldier-like, Gwynne was his senior by some ten years. He was more grave and thoughtful, for he had seen more of the
13、service and more of the world. Already a gray hair or so had begun to mingle with the blackness of his heavy moustache, and the lines of thought were traceable on his forehead and about the corners of his keen dark-gray eyes; for he was a hard-working officer, who had been promoted from the ranks wh
14、en the regiment lay at Barbadoes, and was every inch a soldier. And now they sat opposite me, waiting, with a half-comical expression, for farther information as to their queries; and though we were great friends, and usually had few secrets from each other, I began to find that I had one now, and t
15、hat a little reticence was necessary.You know Sir Madocs place in North Wales? said I.Of course, replied Caradoc; there are few of ours who dont. Half the regiment have been there as visitors at one time or other.Well, he wishes me to get leave between returns-for even longer if I can-and run down t
16、here for a few weeks. Come early, if possible, he adds; the girls insist on having an outdoor fte, and a lot of nice folks are coming. Winny has arranged that we shall have a regimental band-the Yeomanry one too, probably; then we are to have a Welsh harper, of course, and an itinerant Merlin in the
17、 grotto, to tell every ones fortune, and to predict your promotion and the C.B., if the seer remains sober. While I write, little Dora is drawing up a programme of the dances, and marking off, she says, those which she means to have with you.Here I paused; but seeing they expected to hear more, for
18、the writer was a friend of us all, I read on coolly, and with an air of as much unconsciousness as I could assume:Lady Estelle Cressingham is with us-by the way, she seems to know you, and would, I think, like to see more of you. She is a very fine girl, though not pure Welsh; but that she cannot he
19、lp-it is her misfortune, not her fault. We have also a fellow here, though I dont quite know how he got introduced-Hawkesby Guilfoyle, who met her abroad at Ems, or Baden-Baden, or one of those places where one meets everybody, and he seems uncommonly attentive-so much so, that I wonder her mother p
20、ermits it; but he seems to have some special power or influence over the old lady, though his name is not as yet, or ever likely to be, chronicled by Burke or Debrett. In lieu of the goat which your regiment lost in Barbadoes, Winifred has a beautiful pet one, a magnificent animal, which she means t
21、o present to the Welsh Fusileers. Tell them so. And now, for yourself, I will take no refusal, and Winny and Dora will take none either; so pack your traps, and come off so soon as you can get leave. You need not, unless you choose, bring horses; we have plenty of cavalry here. Hope you will be able
22、 to stay till the 12th, and have a shot at the grouse. Meanwhile, believe me, my dear Hardinge, yours, &c., Madoc Meredyth Lloyd.Kindly written, and so like the jolly style of the old Baronet, said Gwynne. I have ridden with him once or twice in the hunting-field-on a borrowed mount, of course, adde
23、d poor Charley; who had only his pay, and, being an enthusiast in his profession, was no lounger in the service.But what is there in all this that perplexes you? asked Caradoc, who, I suppose, had been attentively observing me. As he spoke, I coloured visibly, feeling the while that I did so.The dif
24、ficulty about leave, perhaps, I stammered.Youll go, of course, said Caradoc. His place-Craigaderyn Court-is one of the finest in North Wales; his daughters are indeed charming; and you are certain to meet only people of the best style there.Yet he seems to doubt this-what is his name?-Guilfoyle, how
25、ever, said I.What of that? One swallow-you know the adage. I should go, if I had the invitation. His eldest daughter has, I have heard, in her own right, no end of coal-mines somewhere, and many grassy acres of dairy farms in the happy hunting-grounds of the midland counties.By Jove, murmured Gwynne
26、, as he lit a fresh cigar; she should be the girl for me.But I have another inducement than even the fair Winny, said I.Oho! Lady-Sir Madoc, said I hastily, is an old friend of my family, and having known me from infancy, he almost views me as a son. Dont mistake me, I added, reddening with positive
27、 annoyance at the hearty laugh my admission elicited; Miss Lloyd and I are old friends too, and know each other a deuced deal too well to tempt the perils of matrimony together. We have no draughts ready for the East, nor will there be yet awhile; even our last recruits are not quite licked into sha
28、pe.No, sighed Gwynne, who had a special charge of the said licking into shape.And so, as the spring drills are over, I shall try my luck with old R-.The person thus bluntly spoken of was the lieutenant-colonel of the dep?t battalion-one who kept a pretty tight hand over us all in general, and the su
29、balterns in particular.Stay, I exclaimed suddenly; here is a postscript. Bring Caradoc of yours with you, and Gwynne, too, if you can. Winny has mastered the duet the former sent her, and is anxious to try it over with him.Caradoc will only be too happy, if the genius who presides over us in the ord
30、erly-room is propitious, said Phil, colouring and laughing.Thank Sir Madoc for me, old fellow, said Gwynne, half sadly. Tell him that the Fates have made me musketry instructor, and that daily I have thatDelightful task! to rear the tender thought,To teach the young idea how to shoot-to set up Taffy
31、 and Giles Chawbacon in the Hythe position, and drill them to fire without closing both eyes and blazing in the air.In the lawn, adds Sir Madoc, we are to have everything-from waltzing to croquet (which, being an old fellow, and being above insteps and all that sort of thing, I think the slowest gam
32、e known), and from cliquot and sparkling hock to bottled stout and bitter beer-unlimited flirtation too, according to that wag, Dora.A tempting bill of fare, especially with two such hostesses, said Gwynne; but for me to quit Winchester is impossible. Even the stale dodge of urgent private affairs w
33、ont serve me. Such droll ideas of the service old Sir Madoc must have, to think that three of us could leave the dep?t, and all at once too!I shall try my luck, however.And I too, rejoined Caradoc. I am entitled to leave. Price of ours will take my guards for me. Wales will be glorious in this hot m
34、onth. I did all the dear old Principality last year-went over every foot of Snowdonia, leaving nothing undone, from singing Jenny Jones to dancing a Welsh jig at a harvest-home.But you didnt go over Snowdonia with such a girl as Winifred Lloyd?No, certainly, said he, laughing, and almost reddening a
35、gain. Nature, even in my native Wales, must be more charming under such bright auspices and happy influence. So Wales be it, if possible. London, of course, is empty just now, and all who can get out of it will be yachting at Cowes, shooting in Scotland, fishing in Norway, backing the red at Baden-B
36、aden, climbing the Matterhorn, or, it may be, the Peter Botte; killing buffaloes in America, or voyaging up the Nile in canoes. Rotten-row will be a desert, the opera a place of silence and cobwebs; and the irresistible desire to go somewhere and be doing something, no matter what, which inspires al
37、l young Britons about this time, renders Sir Madocs invitation most tempting and acceptable.Till the route comes for the East, said I.Potting the Ruskies, and turning my musketry theory into practice, are likely to be my chief relaxations and excitement, said Gwynne, with a good-natured laugh, as he
38、 applied his hand to the brandy bottle. At present I have other work in hand than flirting with countesses, or visiting heiresses. But I envy you both, and heartily wish you all pleasure, he added, as he shook hands and left us early, as he had several squads to put through that most monotonous of a
39、ll drill (shot drill perhaps excepted)-a course of musketry-betimes in the morning.We knew that Gwynne, who was a tall, thin, close-flanked, and square shouldered, but soldier-like fellow, had nothing but his pay; and having a mother to support, he was fain to slave as a musketry instructor, the fiv
40、e shillings extra daily being a great pecuniary object to him. He was very modest withal, and feared that, nathless his red coat and stalwart figure, his chances of an heiress, even in Cottonopolis, were somewhat slender.CHAPTER II.-THE MOTH AND THE CANDLE.Philip Caradoc, perceiving that I was somew
41、hat dull and disposed to indulge in reverie, soon retired also, and we separated, intending to mature our plans after morning parade next day, as I knew that secretly Caradoc was very much attached to Winifred Lloyd, though that young lady by no means reciprocated his affection. But I, seized by an
42、irresistible impulse, could not wait for our appointed time; so, the moment he was gone, I opened my desk, wrote my application for leave, and desiring Evans to take it to the orderly-room among his first duties on the morrow, threw open a second window to admit the soft breeze of the summer night,
43、lit another cigar, and sat down to indulge in the train of thought Sir Madocs unexpected letter had awakened within my breast.Yet I was not much given to reflection-far from it, perhaps; and it is lucky for soldiers that they rarely indulge much in thought, or that the system of their life is apt to
44、 preclude time or opportunity for it. I had come home on a years sick-leave from the West Indies, where the baleful night-dews, and a fever caught in the rainy season, had nearly finished my career while stationed at Up Park Camp; and now, through the friendly interest of Sir Madoc, I had been gazet
45、ted to the Welsh Fusileers, as I preferred the chances of the coming war and military service in any part of Europe to broiling uselessly in the land of the Maroons. Our army was in the East, I have said, encamped in the vale of Aladdyn, between Varna and the sea. There camp-fever and the terrible c
46、holera were filling fast with graves the grassy plain and all the Valley of the Plague, as the Bulgarians so aptly named it; and though I was not sorry to escape the perils encountered where no honour could be won, I was pretty weary of the daily round at Winchester, of barrack life, of in-lying pic
47、kets, guards, parades, and drill. I had been seven years in the service, and deemed myself somewhat of a veteran, though only five-and-twenty. I was weary too of belonging to a provisional battalion, wherein, beyond the narrow circle of ones own dep?t, no two men have the slightest interest in each
48、other, or seem to care if they ever meet again, the whole organisation being temporary, and where the duties of such a battalion-it being, in effect, a strict military school for training recruits-are harassing to the newly-fledged, and a dreadful bore to the fully-initiated, soldier. So, till the time came when the order would be, Eastward, ho! Sir Madoc had opportunely offered me a little relaxation and escape from all this; and though he knew it not, his letter might be perhaps the means of doing much more-of opening up a path