the pupil-第4章
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〃Don't kick my shins;〃 said Pemberton while he reflected 〃Hang it;
I can't complain of them to the child!〃
〃There's another reason; too;〃 Morgan went on; keeping his legs
still。
〃Another reason for what?〃
〃Besides their not being your parents。〃
〃I don't understand you;〃 said Pemberton。
〃Well; you will before long。 All right!〃
He did understand fully before long; but he made a fight even with
himself before he confessed it。 He thought it the oddest thing to
have a struggle with the child about。 He wondered he didn't hate
the hope of the Moreens for bringing the struggle on。 But by the
time it began any such sentiment for that scion was closed to him。
Morgan was a special case; and to know him was to accept him on his
own odd terms。 Pemberton had spent his aversion to special cases
before arriving at knowledge。 When at last he did arrive his
quandary was great。 Against every interest he had attached
himself。 They would have to meet things together。 Before they
went home that evening at Nice the boy had said; clinging to his
arm:
〃Well; at any rate you'll hang on to the last。〃
〃To the last?〃
〃Till you're fairly beaten。〃
〃YOU ought to be fairly beaten!〃 cried the young man; drawing him
closer。
CHAPTER IV
A year after he had come to live with them Mr。 and Mrs。 Moreen
suddenly gave up the villa at Nice。 Pemberton had got used to
suddenness; having seen it practised on a considerable scale during
two jerky little tours … one in Switzerland the first summer; and
the other late in the winter; when they all ran down to Florence
and then; at the end of ten days; liking it much less than they had
intended; straggled back in mysterious depression。 They had
returned to Nice 〃for ever;〃 as they said; but this didn't prevent
their squeezing; one rainy muggy May night; into a second…class
railway…carriage … you could never tell by which class they would
travel … where Pemberton helped them to stow away a wonderful
collection of bundles and bags。 The explanation of this manoeuvre
was that they had determined to spend the summer 〃in some bracing
place〃; but in Paris they dropped into a small furnished apartment
… a fourth floor in a third…rate avenue; where there was a smell on
the staircase and the portier was hateful … and passed the next
four months in blank indigence。
The better part of this baffled sojourn was for the preceptor and
his pupil; who; visiting the Invalides and Notre Dame; the
Conciergerie and all the museums; took a hundred remunerative
rambles。 They learned to know their Paris; which was useful; for
they came back another year for a longer stay; the general
character of which in Pemberton's memory to…day mixes pitiably and
confusedly with that of the first。 He sees Morgan's shabby
knickerbockers … the everlasting pair that didn't match his blouse
and that as he grew longer could only grow faded。 He remembers the
particular holes in his three or four pair of coloured stockings。
Morgan was dear to his mother; but he never was better dressed than
was absolutely necessary … partly; no doubt; by his own fault; for
he was as indifferent to his appearance as a German philosopher。
〃My dear fellow; you ARE coming to pieces;〃 Pemberton would say to
him in sceptical remonstrance; to which the child would reply;
looking at him serenely up and down: 〃My dear fellow; so are you!
I don't want to cast you in the shade。〃 Pemberton could have no
rejoinder for this … the assertion so closely represented the fact。
If however the deficiencies of his own wardrobe were a chapter by
themselves he didn't like his little charge to look too poor。
Later he used to say 〃Well; if we're poor; why; after all;
shouldn't we look it?〃 and he consoled himself with thinking there
was something rather elderly and gentlemanly in Morgan's disrepair
… it differed from the untidiness of the urchin who plays and
spoils his things。 He could trace perfectly the degrees by which;
in proportion as her little son confined himself to his tutor for
society; Mrs。 Moreen shrewdly forbore to renew his garments。 She
did nothing that didn't show; neglected him because he escaped
notice; and then; as he illustrated this clever policy; discouraged
at home his public appearances。 Her position was logical enough …
those members of her family who did show had to be showy。
During this period and several others Pemberton was quite aware of
how he and his comrade might strike people; wandering languidly
through the Jardin des Plantes as if they had nowhere to go;
sitting on the winter days in the galleries of the Louvre; so
splendidly ironical to the homeless; as if for the advantage of the
calorifere。 They joked about it sometimes: it was the sort of
joke that was perfectly within the boy's compass。 They figured
themselves as part of the vast vague hand…to…mouth multitude of the
enormous city and pretended they were proud of their position in it
… it showed them 〃such a lot of life〃 and made them conscious of a
democratic brotherhood。 If Pemberton couldn't feel a sympathy in
destitution with his small companion … for after all Morgan's fond
parents would never have let him really suffer … the boy would at
least feel it with him; so it came to the same thing。 He used
sometimes to wonder what people would think they were … to fancy
they were looked askance at; as if it might be a suspected case of
kidnapping。 Morgan wouldn't be taken for a young patrician with a
preceptor … he wasn't smart enough; though he might pass for his
companion's sickly little brother。 Now and then he had a five…
franc piece; and except once; when they bought a couple of lovely
neckties; one of which he made Pemberton accept; they laid it out
scientifically in old books。 This was sure to be a great day;
always spent on the quays; in a rummage of the dusty boxes that
garnish the parapets。 Such occasions helped them to live; for
their books ran low very soon after the beginning of their
acquaintance。 Pemberton had a good many in England; but he was
obliged to write to a friend and ask him kindly to get some fellow
to give him something for them。
If they had to relinquish that summer the advantage of the bracing
climate the young man couldn't but suspect this failure of the cup
when at their very lips to have been the effect of a rude jostle of
his own。 This had represented his first blow…out; as he called it;
with his patrons; his first successful attempt … though there was
little other success about it … to bring them to a consideration of
his impossible position。 As the ostensible eve of a costly journey
the moment had struck him as favourable to an earnest protest; the
presentation of an ultimatum。 Ridiculous as it sounded; he had
never yet been able to compass an uninterrupted private interview
with the elder pair or with either of them singly。 They were
always flanked by their elder children; and poor Pemberton usually
had his own little charge at his side。 He was conscious of its
being a house in which the surface of one's delicacy got rather
smudged; nevertheless he had preserved the bloom of his scruple
against announcing to Mr。 and Mrs。 Moreen with publicity that he
shouldn't be able to go on longer without a little money。 He was
still simple enough to suppose Ulick and Paula and Amy might not
know that since his arrival he had only had a hundred and forty
francs; and he was magnanimous enough to wish not to compromise
their parents in their eyes。 Mr。 Moreen now listened to him; as he
listened to every one and to every thing; like a man of the world;
and seemed to appeal to him … though not of course too grossly … to
try and be a little more of one himself。 Pemberton recognised in
fact the importance of the character … from the advantage it gave
Mr。 Moreen。 He was not even confused or embarrassed; whereas the
young