Chapter 10 ten

The semester is finally over.I stepped out of the train again at Heitang Town Station, feeling very excited.I've grown a little taller, and I've had a new suit made in Turcanbury, blue serge, which is very nice, and a new tie.I intended to call on the Driffields as soon as I had tea at home.I trust the shipping company to get my boxes in time for me to wear that new suit.In this way, I look like a full-grown adult.I've started putting Vaseline on my upper lip every night to help my beard grow faster.As we walked through town, I looked towards the street where the Driffields lived, hoping to see them.I should have liked to drop in and say hello to them, but I knew that Driffield was writing in the morning, and Mrs Driffield was not yet fit for company.I have some exciting things to tell them.I won the first place in the 100-yard race and the second place in the hurdle race at the sports meeting.I'm going to try for a history scholarship in the summer, so I'm going to work hard on British history over the holidays.Although the east wind was blowing that day, the sky was blue and there was already a hint of spring in the air.All the colors on the street were blown away by the wind, and the outline of the whole line seemed to be so clearly outlined with a new paintbrush. Looking back now, the scene was quite similar to Samuel.Scott [Note: British painter. ], peaceful, natural, and friendly; but at that time it was just a street in Heishan Town in my eyes.I walked over to the railway bridge and saw two or three houses breaking ground.

Why, I say, Lord George has really done it. In the far field some snow-white lambs were romping and frolicking, and the elms were just beginning to shoot their green shoots.I went into the Vicarage by the side door, and my uncle was reading The Times in his arm-chair by the fire.I called my aunt loudly, and she came down from upstairs, her haggard face flushed with excitement from seeing me.She put her old, thin arms around my neck, and said all the things I wanted to hear. You have grown so much!Gosh, you're almost growing a beard! I kissed my uncle's bald forehead, and then I stood in front of the fire with my legs spread apart and my back to the fire, all in a very grown-up pose.Then I went upstairs to say hello to Emily, then to the kitchen to shake hands with Marianne, and finally to the garden to see the gardener.

I was very hungry when I sat down to eat, and my uncle was cutting up a leg of lamb, and I asked my aunt: What's the news in town while I'm away? Nothing.Mrs. Greencourt to Menton [Note: A seaside health resort on the Mediterranean coast of France. 】I went for six weeks and just came back a few days ago.The major had a gout attack. Also, your friends Driffields slipped away.uncle added. What happened to them?I asked aloud. slip away.One night they packed up and went to London.They owe a lot of debt here.Rent and furniture had not been paid, and they owed nearly thirty pounds to Harris, the butcher.

I can't think of it.I said. It was bad enough, said the aunt, but it seemed they owed even the maid who had worked for them for three months. I was dumbfounded for a moment, and seemed to feel a little sick. I'll see, said my uncle, and you'll be wise to stop associating with people my aunt and I think you shouldn't. No one can help feeling sorry for the buyers and sellers who have been duped by them.aunt said. They deserve it too, said the uncle, who told them to give credit to such people!I thought anyone could see that they were just two liars. I've always wondered why they came here?

They just want to show off.I guess they also thought it would be easier to get credit since everyone here knew who they were. I don't think my uncle's argument is very reasonable, but the news hit me too hard to argue with him. As soon as I had an opportunity, I ran to ask Marianne what she knew about the matter. To my surprise, her opinion was quite different from that of my uncle and aunt.She giggled. They coaxed everyone.She said that they usually spend a lot of money, and everyone thinks they have a lot of money.The butcher always sells them the neck ribs of lamb, and for steaks they have to sell them the flanks of the sirloin, and asparagus and grapes and all sorts of other things I don't know.Every shop in town has their bills owed.I really don't understand how those people can be so stupid.

But it was evident that she was talking chiefly of the shopkeepers, not of the Driffields. But how could they slip away without anyone noticing?I asked. Oh, that's exactly what everyone wants to know.It is said that Lord George helped.How, you think, could they carry the box to the station if he didn't have his buggy to help them carry it? What did he say about it? He said he didn't know anything either.The town had seldom been so noisy since the day the Driffields were found fleeing in the dark.I find it funny.Lord George said he had no idea they had nothing left.He pretended to be as surprised as the others.But I don't believe him at all.We all knew about their relationship before Rosie got married, and between the two of us, I don't believe it ended after she got married.It is said that last summer, I saw the two of them walking in the field together, and he was in and out of their house almost every day.

How did you find out that they had escaped? Oh, here's the thing.They got a girl to do the work for them, and they told the girl she could go home and spend the night with her mother, but be back by eight o'clock the next morning.When she came back the next morning she couldn't get into the house.She knocked on the door and rang the bell, but no one answered.She had to run to the next door and ask the wife of that house what she should do.The lady said she'd better report it to the police.The inspector from the police station came back with her later.He also knocked and rang the bell, but no one answered.So the inspector asked the girl if they had paid her, and the girl said they hadn't paid her for three months.The inspector said you'd have to take my word for it, they got away in the dark, that's how it must be.She and the inspector finally went in and found they had taken all the clothes and books, Ted.Driffield had a large collection of books and took them all anyway.

Haven't heard from them since then? Oh, that's not true, after they'd been gone for about a week, the girl got a letter from London, and when she opened it, there wasn't a letter or anything in it, but a note for her wages. Money order.If I ask you, they do a pretty good job of refusing to keep a poor girl out of the wages she earns. I was much more shocked by this than Marianne was.I am a very decent young man.The reader must notice that I accepted the customs and fashions of my class as completely as if they were the laws of nature.Although I find it romantic in books to have large debts, and the debt collectors and lenders are familiar characters in my imagination, I have to admit that it is despicable to default on the shopkeeper's bill.Whenever people talked about the Driffields in my presence, I listened uneasily.If anyone mentions that they are my friends, I will say: Well, I just know them.If someone asks me: aren't they very vulgar?I'm going to say: Well, they really weren't Willie, anyway.De.People like Willie [Note: Refers to gentle and elegant people. 】.Poor Mr. Galloway was very much annoyed by the incident.

Of course, I don't think they're rich, he told me, but I think they'll get on anyway.The house is well furnished and the piano is new.It never occurred to me that none of them were paid for.They never live frugally.The deceit they play really pains me.I used to go to see them, thinking they liked me very much.They are always hospitable.You won't believe me when I tell you that the last time I went to see them, and shook hands when I said goodbye, Mrs. Driffield asked me to come back the next day, and Driffield added: Muffins for tea tomorrow.In fact, when they said these words, they had bundled up all their things upstairs, and they took the last train to London that night.

What did Lord George say? To tell you the truth, I haven't been around to see him lately.This incident was a lesson for me.There is a proverb about the harm of bad association [Note] I think it should be kept in mind. 【Note】That is, the English proverb that bad friendship detracts from good manners. My opinion of Lord George was about the same as Galloway's, and I was a little nervous.If it suddenly occurred to him to tell people that I was at the Driffields almost every day at Christmas, and the word got to my uncle's ears, I could foresee an unpleasant commotion.My uncle would accuse me of cheating, lying, not listening to my elders, and not behaving like a gentleman.I didn't know at the time how I would react if something like this happened.I knew my uncle well enough to know that he wouldn't let it go, that he would keep reminding me of my mistake for years on end.I'm also glad I didn't meet Lord George.But then one day, I ran into him head-on on the street.

hi lad.He shouted, I really hate it when he calls me that, I guess you're back from vacation. You guessed right.I replied in what I thought were acerbic irony. To make matters worse, he laughed instead. You speak so sharply, you accidentally hurt yourself.He said excitedly, Well, it looks like we can't make whist at the moment.You see how bad it is to live beyond your means.I always say to my sons that if you make a pound and spend nineteen shillings and sixpence, you are a rich man.But if you spend twenty shillings and sixpence, you're a pauper.Young man, if you don't spend the small money indiscriminately, the big money will come naturally. However, although Lord George said so verbally, there was no disapproval in his voice. On the contrary, there was a burst of laughter, as if he was secretly laughing at these wise words. I heard that you helped them escape.I said. I?There was an air of astonishment on his face, but there was a sly smile in his eyes.Why, when they came to tell me the news of the Driffields' escape during the night, I was literally stunned.They also owe me four pounds, seventeen and sixpence for coal.We were all taken in, even poor Mr. Galloway, who never got a muffin for tea. I never thought Lord George could be so old and thick-skinned.I wanted to say something irrefutable and made him speechless, but I couldn't think of what to say for a while, so in the end I just told him that I still had something to do, nodded to him rudely, and walked away.