Chapter 16 Chapter Four: Eustacia's Involuntary Adventures

On the night of Eustacia's last absence, December 23rd, she was alone at home.All this hour she had been brooding over a rumor that had recently come to her ears about Bright's short visit home and leaving next week.It is very natural to do so.she thought to herself.A man who showed his skills like a fish in water in Huahua City would definitely not stay longer in the Eden Wasteland.So it seemed almost impossible for her to meet the man whose voice awakened her emotions during such a short vacation, unless she was constantly at his mother's house like a robin. Going around in circles is not only difficult but also disrespectful to do so.

The usual response of local girls and boys in such situations is to go to church.In the average country or town, it doesn't take much trouble to guess that any member of the native family who is not aged or despondent is not People who are interested in looking at others and don't want to be seen are guaranteed to appear in a certain row of church pews in new clothes full of hope and confidence on this holiday.Therefore, in the Christmas morning celebration, people from the surrounding area are mostly like Mrs. Tussold.She has preserved wax figures of many outstanding contemporary figures such as Voltaire to this day. ] Famous figures like those in the wax museum.Here comes the lady who stays at home all year without a sound, who can secretly observe the return of the lover who has forgotten her, and looks at him over the prayer-book, thinking about it as a novelty. When they lost their charm, he might rekindle his old feelings and renew his devotion to her.Here, a settler like Eustacia, who had not been here long, could watch with confidence a native who had left his country before her arrival and could contemplate, When he is away from home again, is it worthwhile for me to bond and develop friendships with his parents so that I can get to know him well the next time he returns home?

Yet the inhabitants of Edenmoor are so spread out that these ingenious maneuvers do not work well for them.In name they are all parishioners, but in fact they do not belong to any parish.People who came to these solitary homes to celebrate Christmas with friends always lingered in the friend's fireplace, drinking mead and other comforting drinks, until they parted.Rain, snow, ice, and mud everywhere made it impossible for them to walk two or three miles, get their feet soaked, and splash the muddy water up to the nape of their necks, and then go and sit on what could be called neighbors. Among the churchgoers, the latter can walk into the church clean because of its proximity to the church.Eustacia understood very well that to Clem.For a person like Bright who was home for a short vacation, who would never go to church during this time, then, for her, driving a buggy through a muddy and rough road , to think only of seeing him in church would be an exercise in vain.

It was dark, and she was sitting by the fire in the dining-room, or parl A great fireplace of mud-burning grass (the old captain's favorite fuel in the winter), which they preferred to sit in as a parlor at that time of the year.The only things visible in the room were the small objects on the window-sill, shaped by the gloom, the old hourglass in the center, and a pair of old English urns from a nearby ancient urn. Excavated from the mound, they were used as flowerpots in which two spiky cacti were planted.There is a knock on the door.The servant was not at home, and her grandfather was out.After waiting for a while, the man walked in and knocked on the living room door.

Who?asked Eustacia. Excuse me, Captain Vey, could you let us Eustacia rose and went to the door.I won't allow you to come in so recklessly.You should wait outside. The captain said I could come in if I wanted, and it didn't matter.A young man's cheerful voice answered. Oh, did he say it?Eustacia softened her voice. What are you doing, Charlie? Excuse me, tonight at seven, can your grandfather let us rehearse our parts in his woodshed? What, are you one of Eden's masqueraders this year? yes miss.The old captain always had the old masques rehearsing here. I see.Well, if you want to do it, rehearse it in the woodshed, said Eustacia lazily.

Because Captain Veil's house is almost in the center of Eden Moor, they chose his wood house as the rehearsal venue.The wood house is like a barn, very empty, and it is a good place for rehearsal.The lads who took part in this troupe lived in four places, and the meeting distance to this place was almost the same for all of them. Eustacia despised most of all masqueraders and masques.The masquerades never bothered with their art, but neither did they have much passion.It is only the absence of exciting actors that distinguishes traditional entertainment from a reenactment of an old play in which all the characters are passionate and exciting, and the old The custom is always carried on so dullly that one wonders how such a purely perfunctory entertainment has survived.Just like Balaam [Note: The prophet in the Bible, who was sent to curse the Israelites, after being rebuked by the donkey he was riding on, he turned to bless the Israelites. ] Like other passive prophets, these actors seem to be motivated entirely by an inner drive to play their assigned roles, whether they want to or not.In this era of reviving old customs, this kind of performance of knowing nothing and knowing nothing is a real performance. From this false imitation performance, a rigid old custom can be seen.

The play was known as "St. George," and everyone who was not on the stage, including the women of every household, prepared for the performance.Without the help of their sisters and sweethearts, a costume might well be in vain; but on the other hand, the helpers are not without flaws.When designing and decorating armor, the girls always fail to show respect for tradition, and they insist on sewing ribbons and velvet bows on the armor regardless of the occasion, to satisfy their appreciation taste.In the eyes of these women, throat armor, arm armor, light steel helmets with masks, breastplates, gloves, and sleeves have all become good places for them to sew cloth strips of various colors.

It usually happens that Joe, who is fighting for Christianity, has a sweetheart, and Jim, who is fighting for Muslims, also has a sweetheart.In making the costumes for the show, Jo's sweetheart knew full well that Jim's lover sewed brightly colored ribbons under her lover's sleeveless armor burqa, in addition to the ribbon on the visor. The bars of the house are invariably made of colored strips half an inch wide, hanging over the face, and these bars are also mostly made of ribbons and the like.Jo's lover, therefore, simply sewed beautiful silks on the scalloped edges of the mentioned skirts, and nay, she added bundles of ribbons to the shoulder straps.Jim's lover, unwilling to be compared, would sew bows and rosettes here and there on his lover's armor.

This time, in the end, the brave fighters of the Christian army are almost the same in their clothes and ornaments. The Turkish knights were indistinguishable; what was worse, at a cursory glance one might mistake St. George himself for his sworn enemy, the Muslims.Although these masquerade performers themselves are not very satisfied with the confusion between the enemy and us, they dare not offend those who help them dress up and benefit them a lot, so these innovations have been able to exist forever. It's true, though, that this convergence in clothing has its limits.The doctor or doctor in the play has always remained intact: he is dressed in black, with a special hat, and a medicine bottle dangling from under his arm. There is no mistake in this outfit.An equally constant traditional character is perhaps Santa Claus, the old man who, with a huge stick in his hand, accompanied the troupe on their long night journeys from parish to parish, like A general guardian, who is also in charge of the money of the show team.

At seven o'clock, when it was time for the rehearsal, Eustacia heard a commotion from the woodshed.In order to relieve her a little of the persistent darkness of this life, she went to the outhouse, or lean-to, which was the bungalow of the house, next to the woodshed.There was a rough little hole in the mud wall of the lean-to, which had been made to peek at the pigeons that were kept in the woodshed next door.Now a bright light shone through the little hole, and Eustacia stepped on a little stool to watch the rehearsal yonder. By the light of three tall rush candles perched on the ledge of the woodshed, seven or eight young men could be seen striding up and down, talking impassionedly, and trying to rehearse their roles in one another's cacophony.Humphrey, the woodcutter, and Sam, the peat digger, were looking on, and Timothy.Fareway was leaning against the wall, giving the boys his lines, throwing in a few comments now and then, or telling something about how he and the other boys played these masks in earlier years Funny things about playing characters.

Well, no matter what you do, acting up to this level is considered acceptable. He said that in those days, such a performance could not pass.Harry, your muslim walks with more air, and John doesn't need to stick his stomach out when he yells.Get rid of these, and you may get along.Have you all got your costumes ready? Get it on Monday. I think your first outing was Monday night, right? Yes, at Mrs. Yeobright's. Oh, Mrs Yeobright's.How did she come up with the idea of ​​seeing you perform?I thought a middle-aged woman would hate masquerades. She had already planned a party because it was the first time her son Clem had been home for Christmas in so many years. That's true, it's really her family's banquet!I'm going too.Omg I almost forgot. Eustacia's face darkened.There was going to be a party at the Yeobrights', and of course she had nothing to do with it.She was a complete stranger to all these local parties, and she always rarely regarded them as her own kind.But what a chance it would be if she went there!She could see the man who shone through her like a summer sun.To increase such influence is to desire excitement; to deny it may restore peace of mind; As the boy and the grown-ups were leaving the rehearsal, Eustacia returned to the fire.She fell into deep thought, but didn't think about it for long.In a few minutes Charlie, the young man who had come in earlier to beg to let them use the woodshed, reappeared, with the key to the kitchen in his hand.Eustacia heard him, opened the door and went into the passage, saying, Come here, Charlie. The boy was amazed.He went into the front room, flushed, like so many young men who have felt the charm of the girl's beauty and figure.She pointed to a seat by the fire, and walked to the other side of the fireplace by herself.It could be seen from her countenance that whatever motives she had for inviting the young man into the house, it would be clear in a moment. What part are you playing, Charlie is a Turkish knight, isn't he?asked the handsome man, looking through the smoke of the fire at the young man sitting opposite. Yes, madam, a Turkish knight, he answered obediently. Does your role carry weight? There are about nine lines. Can you recite it to me?Maybe I'd like to hear it. The young man smiled at the burning peat, and began to read: Here I come, a Turkish knight, I learned to fight in Turkey, He kept repeating his lines from scene to scene until, at the end of the scene, he was struck down by St. George himself. Eustacia had heard this part of the play occasionally before.When the young man finished reciting, she began to read it verbatim, and she read it all the way to the end without prompting or deviation.Although the reading was the same passage, the results were completely different.The words are the same, but more soft colors have been added, and there is a painting under the tutelage of Perugino [Note: Italian Renaissance painter. ] The phenomenon of Raphael, after faithfully reproducing the original subject matter of the same painting, makes the original art appear greatly inferior. Charlie's eyes widened in surprise.Ah, what a clever lady you are!he said admiringly.It took me three weeks to learn to recite this play. I've heard it before, she replied calmly, Well, will you do something to please me, Charlie? I'm willing to do a lot, miss. Can you let me play your part for one night? Oh miss!But you are wearing women's clothes so you can't pretend. I could get boys' clothes at least, and I had all the boys' clothes except the masquerade.Tell me how much it will be if you give me your costume and let me play for you for an hour or two on Monday nights and never tell who I am or what I do anyway.Of course, you'd have to find an excuse not to be in the show that night, say that one of Miss Veil's cousins ​​would play your part.None of the other masquerades ever spoke to me, so there's no way this would ever come out; and if it did, I wouldn't care.Well, how much should I give you for this?Half a crown? The young man shook his head. Five shillings? He shook his head again.This cannot be done with money.He said, rubbing the iron end of the firewood stick with his palm. What do you want, Charlie?asked Eustacia, disappointed. Miss, you know what you didn't promise me last time on May Day.The young man muttered, not daring to raise his head, but still stroking the end of the salary frame with his hand. Yes, said Eustacia, looking a little more haughtily.If I remember correctly, you wanted to hold my hand while dancing in a circle, didn't you? Just half an hour and I'll agree to it, miss. Eustacia gazed steadily at the young man.He was three years younger than her, but he showed no timidity because of his age.Holding hands for half an hour?Even though she could imagine it, she still asked. Take your hand with my hand. She stopped ringing.Pull for a quarter of an hour.she says. Well, Miss Eustacia, if I can kiss that hand, I will.Just a quarter of an hour.I swear I'll do my best to let you play my part and never let anyone know.Miss, don't you think someone might recognize your voice? This is also possible.I do however hold a small pebble in my mouth to make it less likely that others will hear me.Very well, I will let you hold my hand as soon as you bring your clothes, sword, and other things.I don't need you now. With Charlie gone, Eustacia found life more and more enjoyable.There was something to do, someone to see, and to see him in an attractively adventurous way.Ah, she said to herself, lack of purpose in life is the crux of my problem. Eustacia was passionate but not like a lively girl, and her ways were always very calm.But once she gets emotional, she will act impulsively for a while, just like a person with an active nature. She didn't care much about being recognizable.She was unlikely to be recognized among the acting boys.But among those guests who came to the banquet, she was not so sure.After all, being recognized isn't such a scary thing.What others will know is only the matter itself, and no one will know her motive for doing so.The incident would only be seen immediately as the whim of a girl whose ways were already perceived to be quite different.In most cases it was done for fun, of course, but in her case it was done for quite serious reasons, so that it was absolutely secret in any case. The next evening, Eustacia stood punctually at the door of the woodshed, waiting for dark to arrive when Charlie would come with his acting costumes.Her grandfather was at home tonight, so she couldn't invite her accomplice into the house. He appeared on the dark ridge of the moor like a fly on a Negro, panting with all his finery. Here are the things, he whispered, setting them on the threshold.all right miss estacia Take the reward.All ready.I keep my word. She leaned against the doorpost and gave him her hand.Charley took her hand between his own with indescribable tenderness, almost as a child holds a caught sparrow. Why, you still wear gloves on your hands!He said in a tone of disapproval. I've been walking, she affirmed. But here, miss! Well, this is really not fair.She took off her gloves and handed him her bare hands. They didn't talk anymore, they just stood together minute by minute, each looking at the dimmed scene, each thinking about their own thoughts. I don't think I'm going to shake it all tonight, said Charlie very reverently.At this time, he had carefully held her hand for six or seven minutes.Can I put the rest of that time in another grip? Whatever you want, she said completely coldly.But not more than one week.There's only one thing I want you to do now: wait until I get these clothes on, and then see how I look.But let me go inside and have a look. She disappeared for a minute or two and returned.Her grandfather fell asleep peacefully in his chair.Well, she said, turning around, you go to the garden, and I will call you when I have changed. Charlie moved away to wait, and after a while he heard a soft whistle.He went back to the door of the woodshed. You whistled, Miss Veil?Yes; come in, he heard Eustacia's voice from a rear corner, "Close the door and I'll light the lamp, lest the light be seen."Do you feel your way over there, and block the hole in the wall that leads to the scullery with your hat. Charlie did as she was told, and she lit the lamp.Under the light, I saw that she had turned into a boy with brightly colored clothes, armor and sword hanging from head to toe, and her whole body was armed.She might have flinched a little from Charlie's ardent gaze, but because she was dressed in men's clothing and a medieval helmet with eyelids, the stripes hid her face so that even if she Showing shyness, no one can see clearly. It fits so well, she said, looking down at the white suit, except that the sleeves of the tunic, call it what you will, are too long.I can fold the hem of the coat inside.Pay attention now. Eustacia began to act, and when the menacing lines were spoken, he swung his sword, hacked at the clubs and spears of his opponents, and strode proudly in true masquerade. come and go.From time to time Charlie made admiration, and a little mild criticism, for he still felt the touch of Eustacia's hand. Well, now it's your turn to say hi to the others that you can't act, she said, where do you meet before you go to Mrs Yeobright's? If you have no objection, madam, we would have liked to meet here.Just at eight o'clock, so I can be there at nine. Yes, fine, of course you don't have to show up.I left about five minutes late, got all dressed up, and told them you couldn't come.I've figured out that the best thing to do is for me to send you somewhere so there's a real excuse.My two moor ponies always like to run to that meadow, and you can go and see if they're there tomorrow night.I'll take care of the rest.Now you can go. yes miss.But I thought, if you don't mind, I'd like to take one more minute of the time you owe me. Eustacia gave him her hand as before. Just one minute, she said, counting until seven or eight minutes passed.Then she withdrew her hand.She also backed away a few feet away, showing a bit of her original grandeur.The bond was done, and she had erected an impenetrable barrier between them like a wall. Well, it's all over; I didn't want to shake it all at once, he said with a long sigh. You've held it long enough.she said, turning away. yes miss.Well, it's all over, and now I'm going home.