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a book of scoundrels(流浪之书)-第33部分

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there was no enemy for whom he did not intercede。  He prayed for his
gaolers; for his executioner; for the Ordinary; for his wife; for Mrs。
Thompson; his drunken doxy; and he went to his death with the sure step
of one who; having done his duty; is reconciled with the world。  The mob
testified its affectionate admiration by dubbing him ‘Charley;' and
remembered with effusion his last grim pleasantry。  ‘What is the
scaffold?' he asked with sublime earnestness。  And the answer came
quick and sanctimonious:  ‘A short cut to Heaven!'     

                                      III A PARALLEL   
     A PARALLEL (DEACON BRODIE AND CHARLES PEACE)      
     NOT a parallel; but a contrast; since at all points Peace is Brodie's
antithesis。  The one is the austerest of Classics; caring only for the
ultimate perfection of his work。  The other is the gayest of Romantics;
happiest when by the way he produces a glittering effect; or dazzles the
ear by a vain impertinence。  Now; it is by thievery that Peace reached
magnificence。  A natural aptitude drove him from the fiddle to the centre…
bit。  He did but rob; because genius followed the impulse。  He had
studied the remotest details of his business; he was sternly professional in
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                                       A BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS
the conduct of his life; and; as became an old gaol…bird; there was no antic
of the policeman wherewith he was not familiar。  Moreover; not only had
he reduced house…breaking to a science; but; being ostensibly nothing
better than a picture… frame maker; he had invented an incomparable set of
tools wherewith to enter and evade his neighbour's house。  Brodie; on the
other hand; was a thief for distraction。  His method was as slovenly as
ignorance could make it。  Though by trade a wright; and therefore a
master of all the arts of joinery; he was so deficient in seriousness that he
stole a coulter wherewith to batter the walls of the Excise Office。  While
Peace fought the battle in solitude; Brodie was not only attended by a gang;
but listened to the command of his subordinates; and was never permitted
to perform a more intricate duty than the sounding of the alarm。  And yet
here is the ironical contrast。  Peace; the professional thief; despised his
brothers; and was never heard to patter a word of flash。  Brodie; the
amateur; courted the society of all cross coves; and would rather express
himself in Pedlar's French than in his choicest Scots。  While the
Englishman scraped Tate and Brady from a one…stringed fiddle; the Scot
limped a chaunt from The Beggar's Opera; and thought himself a devil of a
fellow。  The one was a man about town masquerading as a thief; the other
the most serious among housebreakers; singing psalms in all good faith。
     But if Peace was incomparably the better craftsman; Brodie was the
prettier gentleman。  Peace would not have permitted Brodie to drive his
pony…trap the length of Evelina Road。  But Brodie; in revenge; would
have cut Peace had he met him in the Corn…market。  The one was a
sombre savage; the other a jovial comrade; and it was a witty freak of
fortune that impelled both to follow the same trade。  And thus you arrive
at another point of difference。  The Englishman had no intelligence of
life's amenity。  He knew naught of costume: clothes were the limit of his
ambition。  Dressed always for work; he was like the caterpillar which
assumes the green of the leaf; wherein it hides: he wore only such duds as
should attract the smallest notice; and separate him as far as might be from
his business。  But the Scot was as fine a dandy as ever took (haphazard)
to the cracking of kens。  If his refinement permitted no excess of
splendour; he went ever gloriously and appropriately apparelled。  He was
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                                       A BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS
well…mannered; cultured; with scarce a touch of provincialism to mar his
gay demeanour: whereas Peace knew little enough outside the practice of
burglary; and the proper handling of the revolver。     
     Our Charles; for example; could neither spell nor write; he dissembled
his low origin with the utmost difficulty; and at the best was plastered over
(when not at work) with the parochialism of the suburbs。  So far the
contrast is complete; and even in their similarities there is an evident
difference。  Each led a double life; but while Brodie was most himself
among his own kind; the real Peace was to be found not fiddle…scraping in
Evelina Road but marking down policemen in the dusky byways of
Blackheath。  Brodie's grandeur was natural to him; Peace's respectability;
so far as it transcended the man's origin; was a cloak of villainy。
     Each; again; was an inventor; and while the more innocent Brodie
designed a gallows; the more hardened Peace would have gained notoriety
by the raising of wrecks and the patronage of Mr。 Plimsoll。  And since
both preserved a certain courage to the end; since both died on the scaffold
as becomes a man; the contrast is once more characteristic。  Brodie's
cynicism is a fine foil to the piety of Peace; and while each end was
natural after its own fashion; there is none who will deny to the Scot the
finer sense of fitness。  Nor did any step in their career explain more
clearly the difference in their temperament than their definitions of the
gallows。  For Peace it is ‘a short cut to Heaven'; for Brodie it is ‘a leap in
the dark。'  Again the Scot has the advantage。  Again you reflect that; if
Peace is the most accomplished Classic among the housebreakers; the
Deacon is the merriest companion who ever climbed the gallows by the
shoulders of the incomparable Macheath。                

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                                       A BOOK OF SCOUNDRELS

         THE MAN IN THE GREY SUIT                      
     THE Abb…le…Berenger。  He counted a dozen Chouans among his
ancestry; and brigandage swam in his blood。  Even his childhood was
crimson with crimes; which the quick memory of the countryside long ago
lost in the pride of having bred a priest。  He stained his first cure of souls
with the poor; sad sin of arson; which the bishop; fearful of scandal and
loth to check a promising career; condoned with a suitable advancement。
At Entrammes; his next benefice; he entered into his full inheritance of
villainy; and here it wasdespite his own protestthat he devised the grey
suit which brought him ruin and immortality。  To the wild; hilarious
dissipation of Laval; the nearest town; he fell an immediate and
unresisting prey。  Think of the glittering lamps; the sparkling taverns; the
bright…eyed women; the manifold fascinations; which are the character and
delight of this forgotten city!  Why; if the Abb disappeared with a
commendable constancy; and with that just sense of secrecy which should
compel even an archiepiscopal admiration。  He was not of those who
would drag his cloth through the mire。  Not until the darkness he loved so
fervently covered the earth would he escape from the dull respectability of
Entrammes; nor did he ever thus escape unaccompanied by his famous
valise。  The grey suit was an effectual disguise to his calling; and so
jealous was he of the Church's honour that he neverunless in his cups
disclosed his tonsure。  One of his innumerable loves confessed in the
witness…box that Bruneau always retained his hat in the glare of the
Caf
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