And of all that fair land of France, whose beauty is so bright and bravery is so famous, there is no spot greener or fairer than that one over which our travellers wended, and which stretches between the good towns of Vendemiaire and Nivose. ’Tis common now to a hundred thousand voyagers: the English tourist, with his chariot and his Harvey’s Sauce, and his imperials; the bustling17 commis-voyageur on the roof of the rumbling18 diligence; the rapid malle-poste thundering over the chaussee at twelve miles an hour — pass the ground hourly and daily now: ’twas lonely and unfrequented at the end of that seventeenth century with which our story commences.
Along the darkening mountain-paths the two gentlemen (for such their outward bearing proclaimed them) caracoled together. The one, seemingly the younger of the twain, wore a flaunting19 feather in his barret-cap, and managed a prancing20 Andalusian palfrey that bounded and curveted gayly. A surcoat of peach-colored samite and a purfled doublet of vair bespoke21 him noble, as did his brilliant eye, his exquisitely22 chiselled23 nose, and his curling chestnut24 ringlets.
Youth was on his brow; his eyes were dark and dewy, like spring-violets; and spring-roses bloomed upon his cheek — roses, alas25! that bloom and die with life’s spring! Now bounding over a rock, now playfully whisking off with his riding rod a floweret in his path, Philibert de Coquelicot rode by his darker companion.
His comrade was mounted upon a destriere of the true Norman breed, that had first champed grass on the green pastures of Aquitaine. Thence through Berry, Picardy, and the Limousin, halting at many a city and commune, holding joust26 and tourney in many a castle and manor27 of Navarre, Poitou, and St. Germain l’Auxerrois, the warrior28 and his charger reached the lonely spot where now we find them.
The warrior who bestrode the noble beast was in sooth worthy29 of the steed which bore him. Both were caparisoned in the fullest trappings of feudal30 war. The arblast, the mangonel, the demiculverin, and the cuissart of the period, glittered upon the neck and chest of the war-steed; while the rider, with chamfron and catapult, with ban and arriere-ban, morion and tumbrel, battle-axe and rifflard, and the other appurtenances of ancient chivalry, rode stately on his steel-clad charger, himself a tower of steel. This mighty31 horseman was carried by his steed as lightly as the young springald by his Andalusian hackney.
“’Twas well done of thee, Philibert,” said he of the proof-armor, “to ride forth32 so far to welcome thy cousin and companion in arms.”
“Companion in battledore and shuttlecock, Romane de Clos-Vougeot!” replied the younger Cavalier. “When I was yet a page, thou wert a belted knight33; and thou wert away to the Crusades ere ever my beard grew.”
“I stood by Richard of England at the gates of Ascalon, and drew the spear from sainted King Louis in the tents of Damietta,” the individual addressed as Romane replied. “Well-a-day! since thy beard grew, boy, (and marry ’tis yet a thin one,) I have broken a lance with Solyman at Rhodes, and smoked a chibouque with Saladin at Acre. But enough of this. Tell me of home — of our native valley — of my hearth34, and my lady-mother, and my good chaplain — tell me of HER, Philibert,” said the knight, executing a demivolt, in order to hide his emotion.
Philibert seemed uneasy, and to strive as though he would parry the question. “The castle stands on the rock,” he said, “and the swallows still build in the battlements. The good chaplain still chants his vespers at morn, and snuffles his matins at even-song. The lady-mother still distributeth tracts35, and knitteth Berlin linsey-woolsey. The tenants36 pay no better, and the lawyers dun as sorely, kinsman37 mine,” he added with an arch look.
“But Fatima, Fatima, how fares she?” Romane continued. “Since Lammas was a twelvemonth, I hear nought38 of her; my letters are unanswered. The postman hath traversed our camp every day, and never brought me a billet. How is Fatima, Philibert de Coquelicot?”
“She is — well,” Philibert replied; “her sister Anne is the fairest of the twain, though.”
“Her sister Anne was a baby when I embarked39 for Egypt. A plague on sister Anne! Speak of Fatima, Philibert — my blue-eyed Fatima!”
“I say she is — well,” answered his comrade gloomily.
“Is she dead? Is she ill? Hath she the measles40? Nay41, hath she had the small-pox, and lost her beauty? Speak; speak, boy!” cried the knight, wrought42 to agony.
“Her cheek is as red as her mother’s, though the old Countess paints hers every day. Her foot is as light as a sparrow’s, and her voice as sweet as a minstrel’s dulcimer; but give me nathless the Lady Anne,” cried Philibert; “give me the peerless Lady Anne! As soon as ever I have won spurs, I will ride all Christendom through, and proclaim her the Queen of Beauty. Ho, Lady Anne! Lady Anne!” and so saying — but evidently wishing to disguise some emotion, or conceal43 some tale his friend could ill brook44 to hear — the reckless damoiseau galloped45 wildly forward.
But swift as was his courser’s pace, that of his companion’s enormous charger was swifter. “Boy,” said the elder, “thou hast ill tidings. I know it by thy glance. Speak: shall he who hath bearded grim Death in a thousand fields shame to face truth from a friend? Speak, in the name of heaven and good Saint Botibol. Romane de Clos-Vougeot will bear your tidings like a man!”
“Fatima is well,” answered Philibert once again; “she hath had no measles: she lives and is still fair.”
“Fair, ay, peerless fair; but what more, Philibert? Not false? By Saint Botibol, say not false,” groaned46 the elder warrior.
“A month syne,” Philibert replied, “she married the Baron47 de Barbazure.”
With that scream which is so terrible in a strong man in agony, the brave knight Romane de Clos-Vougeot sank back at the words, and fell from his charger to the ground, a lifeless mass of steel.
点击收听单词发音
1 gorges | |
n.山峡,峡谷( gorge的名词复数 );咽喉v.(用食物把自己)塞饱,填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 );作呕 | |
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2 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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3 tints | |
色彩( tint的名词复数 ); 带白的颜色; (淡色)染发剂; 痕迹 | |
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4 luminary | |
n.名人,天体 | |
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5 gilding | |
n.贴金箔,镀金 | |
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6 hemmed | |
缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 ); 包围 | |
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7 devious | |
adj.不坦率的,狡猾的;迂回的,曲折的 | |
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8 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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9 scanty | |
adj.缺乏的,仅有的,节省的,狭小的,不够的 | |
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10 plaintive | |
adj.可怜的,伤心的 | |
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11 glimmer | |
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光 | |
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12 serenely | |
adv.安详地,宁静地,平静地 | |
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13 azure | |
adj.天蓝色的,蔚蓝色的 | |
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14 chivalry | |
n.骑士气概,侠义;(男人)对女人彬彬有礼,献殷勤 | |
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15 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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16 valor | |
n.勇气,英勇 | |
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17 bustling | |
adj.喧闹的 | |
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18 rumbling | |
n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
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19 flaunting | |
adj.招摇的,扬扬得意的,夸耀的v.炫耀,夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 );有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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20 prancing | |
v.(马)腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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21 bespoke | |
adj.(产品)订做的;专做订货的v.预定( bespeak的过去式 );订(货);证明;预先请求 | |
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22 exquisitely | |
adv.精致地;强烈地;剧烈地;异常地 | |
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23 chiselled | |
adj.凿过的,凿光的; (文章等)精心雕琢的v.凿,雕,镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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24 chestnut | |
n.栗树,栗子 | |
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25 alas | |
int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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26 joust | |
v.马上长枪比武,竞争 | |
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27 manor | |
n.庄园,领地 | |
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28 warrior | |
n.勇士,武士,斗士 | |
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29 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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30 feudal | |
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的 | |
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31 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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32 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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33 knight | |
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
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34 hearth | |
n.壁炉炉床,壁炉地面 | |
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35 tracts | |
大片土地( tract的名词复数 ); 地带; (体内的)道; (尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的)短文 | |
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36 tenants | |
n.房客( tenant的名词复数 );佃户;占用者;占有者 | |
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37 kinsman | |
n.男亲属 | |
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38 nought | |
n./adj.无,零 | |
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39 embarked | |
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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40 measles | |
n.麻疹,风疹,包虫病,痧子 | |
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41 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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42 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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43 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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44 brook | |
n.小河,溪;v.忍受,容让 | |
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45 galloped | |
(使马)飞奔,奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 ); 快速做[说]某事 | |
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46 groaned | |
v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 );发牢骚;抱怨;受苦 | |
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47 baron | |
n.男爵;(商业界等)巨头,大王 | |
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