05下 | 沿途偶遇的路人，莫名其妙的哲学

上集回顾

像小船使出海港，管家终于离开在路上。不安与兴奋交织，要停下来缓缓。下车有什么偶遇呢？

正文阅读

I decided to step out and stretch my legs a little and when I did so, I received a stronger impression than ever of being perched on the side of a hill. On one side of the road, thickets and small trees rose steeply , while on the other I could now glimpse through the foliage the distant country-side.

Sitting on the large stone that marked this spot was a thin, white-haired man in a cloth cap, smoking his pipe. He called to me again and though I could not quite make out his words, I could see him gesturing for me to join him. For a moment, I took him for a vagrant, but then I saw he was just some local fellow enjoying the fresh air and summer sunshine, and saw no reason not to comply.

"Just wondering, sir," he said, as I approached, "how fit your legs were."
"I beg your pardon?" .

The fellow gestured up the footpath. "You got to have a good pair of legs and a good pair of lungs to go up there. Me, I haven't got neither, so I stay down here. But if I was in better shape, I'd be sitting up there. There's a nice little spot up there, a bench and everything. And you won't get a better view anywhere in the whole of England."

"If what you say is true," I said, "I think I'd rather stay here. I happen to be embarking on a motoring trip during the course of which I hope to see many splendid views. To see the best before I have properly begun would be somewhat premature."

I glanced up the path, which did look steep and rather rough.

"I'm telling you, sir, you'll be sorry if you don't take a walk up there. And you never know. A couple more years and it might be too late" - he gave a rather vulgar laugh - "Better go on up while you still can."

I found it quite offensive and it may well have been the urge to demonstrate just how foolish his insinuation had been that caused me to set off up the footpath.

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