张律师欢迎您的访问。
Ball of Fat 3
But there was something in the air, a something strange and subtle, an
intolerable foreign atmosphere like a penetrating odor—the odor of invasion. It
permeated dwellings and places of public resort, changed the taste of food, made
one imagine one's self in far-distant lands, amid dangerous, barbaric tribes.
The conquerors exacted money, much money. The inhabitants paid what was asked;
they were rich. But, the wealthier a Norman tradesman becomes, the more he
suffers at having to part with anything that belongs to him, at having to see
any portion of his substance pass into the hands of another.
Nevertheless, within six or seven miles of the town, along the course of the
river as it flows onward to Croisset, Dieppedalle and Biessart, boat-men and
fishermen often hauled to the surface of the water the body of a German, bloated
in his uniform, killed by a blow from knife or club, his head crushed by a
stone, or perchance pushed from some bridge into the stream below. The mud of
the river-bed swallowed up these obscure acts of vengeance—savage, yet
legitimate; these unrecorded deeds of bravery; these silent attacks fraught with
greater danger than battles fought in broad day, and surrounded, moreover, with
no halo of romance. For hatred of the foreigner ever arms a few intrepid souls,
ready to die for an idea.
At last, as the invaders, though subjecting the town to the strictest
discipline, had not committed any of the deeds of horror with which they had
been credited while on their triumphal march, the people grew bolder, and the
necessities of business again animated the breasts of the local merchants. Some
of these had important commercial interests at Havre —occupied at present by the
French army—and wished to attempt to reach that port by overland route to
Dieppe, taking the boat from there.
Through the influence of the German officers whose acquaintance they had made,
they obtained a permit to leave town from the general in command.
A large four-horse coach having, therefore, been engaged for the journey, and
ten passengers having given in their names to the proprietor, they decided to
start on a certain Tuesday morning before daybreak, to avoid attracting a crowd.
The ground had been frozen hard for some time-past, and about three o'clock on
Monday afternoon—large black clouds from the north shed their burden of snow
uninterruptedly all through that evening and night.
At half-past four in the morning the travellers met in the courtyard of the
Hotel de Normandie, where they were to take their seats in the coach.
They were still half asleep, and shivering with cold under their wraps. They
could see one another but indistinctly in the darkness, and the mountain of
heavy winter wraps in which each was swathed made them look like a gathering of
obese priests in their long cassocks. But two men recognized each other, a third
accosted them, and the three began to talk. "I am bringing my wife," said one.
"So am I." "And I, too." The first speaker added: "We shall not return to Rouen,
and if the Prussians approach Havre we will cross to England." All three, it
turned out, had made the same plans, being of similar disposition and
temperament.
Still the horses were not harnessed. A small lantern carried by a stable-boy
emerged now and then from one dark doorway to disappear immediately in another.
The stamping of horses' hoofs, deadened by the dung and straw of the stable, was
heard from time to time, and from inside the building issued a man's voice,
talking to the animals and swearing at them. A faint tinkle of bells showed that
the harness was being got ready; this tinkle soon developed into a continuous
jingling, louder or softer according to the movements of the horse, sometimes
stopping altogether, then breaking out in a sudden peal accompanied by a pawing
of the ground by an iron-shod hoof.
Ball of Fat 4 这样的员工老板喜欢 基因表达 人事经理的转基因工程 标点符号的用法
张律师感谢您的访问。