‘Lady Bertie and Bellair returns Lord Montacute his carriage with a thousand compliments and thanks. She fears she greatly incommoded Lord Montacute, but begs to assure him how very sensible she is of his considerate courtesy.
‘Upper Brook2 Street, Wednesday.’
The handwriting was of that form of scripture3 which attracts; refined yet energetic; full of character. Tancred recognised the titles of Bertie and Bellair as those of two not inconsiderable earldoms, now centred in the same individual. Lady Bertie and Bellair was herself a lady of the high nobility; a daughter of the present Duke of Fitz–Aquitaine; the son of that duke who was the father-in-law of Lord de Mowbray, and whom Lady Firebrace, the present Lady Bardolf, and Tadpole4, had dexterously5 converted to conservatism by persuading him that he was to be Sir Robert’s Irish viceroy. Lady Bertie and Bellair, therefore, was first-cousin to Lady Joan Mountchesney, and her sister, who is still Lady Maud Fitz–Warene. Tancred was surprised that he never recollected7 to have met before one so distinguished8 and so beautiful. His conversation with Sidonia, however, had driven the little adventure of the morning from his memory, and now that it was thus recalled to him, he did not dwell upon it. His being was absorbed in his paramount9 purpose. The sympathy of Sidonia, so complete, and as instructive as it was animating10, was a sustaining power which we often need when we are meditating11 great deeds. How often, when all seems dark, and hopeless, and spiritless, and tame, when slight obstacles figure in the cloudy landscape as Alps, and the rushing cataracts12 of our invention have subsided13 into drizzle14, a single phrase of a great man instantaneously flings sunshine on the intellectual landscape, and the habitual15 features of power and beauty, over which we have so long mused16 in secret confidence and love, resume all their energy and lustre17.
The haunting thought that occasionally, notwithstanding his strong will, would perplex the soul and agitate18 the heart of Tancred; the haunting thought that, all this time, he was perhaps the dupe of boyish fantasies, was laid today. Sometimes he had felt, Why does no one sympathise with my views; why, though they treat them with conventional respect, is it clear that all I have addressed hold them to be absurd? My parents are pious19 and instructed; they are predisposed to view everything I say, or do, or think, with an even excessive favour. They think me moonstruck. Lord Eskdale is a perfect man of the world; proverbially shrewd, and celebrated20 for his judgment21; he looks upon me as a raw boy, and believes that, if my father had kept me at Eton and sent me to Paris, I should by this time have exhausted22 my crudities. The bishop23 is what the world calls a great scholar; he is a statesman who, aloof24 from faction25, ought to be accustomed to take just and comprehensive views; and a priest who ought to be under the immediate26 influence of the Holy Spirit. He says I am a visionary. All this might well be disheartening; but now comes one whom no circumstances impel27 to judge my project with indulgence; who would, at the first glance, appear to have many prejudices arrayed against it, who knows more of the world than Lord Eskdale, and who appears to me to be more learned than the whole bench of bishops28, and he welcomes my ideas, approves my conclusions, sympathises with my suggestions; develops, illustrates29, enforces them; plainly intimates that I am only on the threshold of initiation30, and would aid me to advance to the innermost mysteries.
There was this night a great ball at Lady Bardolfs, in Belgrave Square. One should generally mention localities, because very often they indicate character. Lady Bardolf lived next door to Mrs. Guy Flouncey. Both had risen in the world, though it requires some esoteric knowledge to recognise the patrician31 parvenue; and both had finally settled themselves down in the only quarter which Lady Bardolf thought worthy32 of her new coronet, and Mrs. Guy Flouncey of her new visiting list.
Lady Bardolf had given up the old family mansion33 of the Firebraces in Hanover Square, at the same time that she had resigned their old title. Politics being dead, in consequence of the majority of 1841, who, after a little kicking for the million, satisfactorily assured the minister that there was no vice6 in them.
Lady Bardolf had chalked out a new career, and one of a still more eminent34 and exciting character than her previous pursuit. Lady Bardolf was one of those ladies — there are several — who entertain the curious idea that they need only to be known in certain high quarters to be immediately selected as the principal objects of court favour. Lady Bardolf was always putting herself in the way of it; she never lost an opportunity; she never missed a drawing-room, contrived35 to be at all the court balls, plotted to be invited to a costume fête, and expended36 the tactics of a campaign to get asked to some grand chateau37 honoured by august presence. Still Her Majesty38 had not yet sent for Lady Bardolf. She was still very good friends with Lord Masque, for he had social influence, and could assist her; but as for poor Tadpole, she had sadly neglected him, his sphere being merely political, and that being no longer interesting. The honest gentleman still occasionally buzzed about her, slavering portentous39 stories about malcontent40 country gentlemen, mumbling41 Maynooth, and shaking his head at Young England. Tadpole was wont42 to say in confidence, that for his part he wished Sir Robert had left alone religion and commerce, and confined himself to finance, which was his forte43 as long as he had a majority to carry the projects which he found in the pigeon-holes of the Treasury44, and which are always at the service of every minister.
Well, it was at Lady Bardolfs ball, close upon midnight, that Tancred, who had not long entered, and had not very far advanced in the crowded saloons, turning his head, recognised his heroine of the morning, his still more recent correspondent, Lady Bertie and Bellair. She was speaking to Lord Valentine. It was impossible to mistake her; rapid as had been his former observation of her face, it was too remarkable45 to be forgotten, though the captivating details were only the result of his present more advantageous46 inspection47. A small head and large dark eyes, dark as her rich hair which was quite unadorned, a pale but delicate complexion48, small pearly teeth, were charms that crowned a figure rather too much above the middle height, yet undulating and not without grace. Her countenance49 was calm without being grave; she smiled with her eyes.
She was for a moment alone; she looked round, and recognised Tancred; she bowed to him with a beaming glance. Instantly he was at her side.
‘Our second meeting today,’ she said, in a low, sweet voice.
‘How came it that we never met before?’ he replied.
‘I have just returned from Paris; the first time I have been out; and, had it not been for you,’ she added, ‘I should not have been here to-night. I think they would have put me in prison.’
‘Lady Bardolf ought to be very much obliged to me, and so ought the world.’
‘I am,’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair.
‘That is worth everything else,’ said Tancred.
‘What a pretty carriage you have! I do not think I shall ever get into mine again. I am almost glad they have destroyed my chariot. I am sure I shall never be able to drive in anything else now except a brougham.’
‘Why did you not keep mine?’
‘You are magnificent; too gorgeous and oriental for these cold climes. You shower your presents as if you were in the East, which Lord Valentine tells me you are about to visit. When do you leave us?’
‘I think of going immediately.’
‘Indeed!’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair, and her countenance changed. There was a pause, and then she continued playfully, yet as it were half in sadness, ‘I almost wish you had not come to my rescue this morning.’
‘And why?’ ‘Because I do not like to make agreeable acquaintances only to lose them.’
‘I think that I am most to be pitied,’ said Tancred.
‘You are wearied of the world very soon. Before you can know us, you leave us.’
‘I am not wearied of the world, for indeed, as you say, I know nothing of it. I am here by accident, as you were in the stoppage today. It will disperse50, and then I shall get on.’
‘Lord Valentine tells me that you are going to realise my dream of dreams, that you are going to Jerusalem.’
‘Ah!’ said Tancred, kindling51, ‘you too have felt that want?’
‘But I never can pardon myself for not having satisfied it,’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair in a mournful tone, and looking in his face with her beautiful dark eyes. ‘It is the mistake of my life, and now can never be remedied. But I have no energy. I ought, as a girl, when they opposed my purpose, to have taken up my palmer’s staff, and never have rested content till I had gathered my shell on the strand52 of Joppa.’
‘It is the right feeling’ said Tancred. ‘I am persuaded we ought all to go.’
‘But we remain here,’ said the lady, in a tone of suppressed and elegant anguish53; ‘here, where we all complain of our hopeless lives; with not a thought beyond the passing hour, yet all bewailing its wearisome and insipid54 moments.’
‘Our lot is cast in a material age,’ said Tancred.
‘The spiritual can alone satisfy me,’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair.
‘Because you have a soul,’ continued Tancred, with animation55, ‘still of a celestial56 hue57. They are rare in the nineteenth century. Nobody now thinks about heaven. They never dream of angels. All their existence is concentrated in steamboats and railways.’
‘You are right,’ said the lady, earnestly; ‘and you fly from it.’
‘I go for other purposes; I would say even higher ones,’ said Tancred.
‘I can understand you; your feelings are my own. Jerusalem has been the dream of my life. I have always been endeavouring to reach it, but somehow or other I never got further than Paris.’
‘And yet it is very easy now to get to Jerusalem,’ said Tancred; ‘the great difficulty, as a very remarkable man said to me this morning, is to know what to do when you are there.’
‘Who said that to you?’ inquired Lady Bertie and Bellair, bending her head.
‘It was the person I was going to call upon when I met you; Monsieur de Sidonia.’
‘Monsieur de Sidonia!’ said the lady, with animation. ‘Ah! you know him?’
‘Not as much as I could wish. I saw him today for the first time. My cousin, Lord Eskdale, gave me a letter of introduction to him, for his advice and assistance about my journey. Sidonia has been a great traveller.’
‘There is no person I wish to know so much as M. de Sidonia,’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair. ‘He is a great friend of Lord Eskdale, I think? I must get Lord Eskdale,’ she added, musingly58, ‘to give me a little dinner, and ask M. de Sidonia to meet me.’
‘He never goes anywhere; at least I have heard so,’ said Tancred.
‘He once used to do, and to give us great fêtes. I remember hearing of them before I was out. We must make him resume them. He is immensely rich.’
‘I dare say he may be,’ said Tancred. ‘I wonder how a man with his intellect and ideas can think of the accumulation of wealth.’
”Tis his destiny,’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair. ‘He can no more disembarrass himself of his hereditary59 millions than a dynasty of the cares of empire. I wonder if he will get the Great Northern. They talked of nothing else at Paris.’
‘Of what?’ said Tancred.
‘Oh! let us talk of Jerusalem!’ said Lady Bertie and Bellair. ‘Ah, here is Augustus! Let me make you and my husband acquainted.’
Tancred almost expected to see the moustached companion of the morning, but it was not so. Lord Bertie and Bellair was a tall, thin, distinguished, withered-looking young man, who thanked Tancred for his courtesy of the morning with a sort of gracious negligence60, and, after some easy talk, asked Tancred to dine with them on the morrow. He was engaged, but he promised to call on Lady Bertie and Bellair immediately, and see some drawings of the Holy Land.
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1
musing
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| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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tadpole
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| n.[动]蝌蚪 | |
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dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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paramount
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| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
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animating
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| v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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cataracts
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| n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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drizzle
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| v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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agitate
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| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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impel
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| v.推动；激励，迫使 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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29
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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portentous
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| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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40
malcontent
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| n.不满者，不平者；adj.抱不平的，不满的 | |
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41
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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42
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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43
forte
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| n.长处，擅长；adj.(音乐)强音的 | |
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44
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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45
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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46
advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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47
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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48
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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49
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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50
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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51
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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52
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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53
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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54
insipid
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| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
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55
animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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56
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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57
hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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58
musingly
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| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
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59
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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60
negligence
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| n.疏忽，玩忽，粗心大意 | |
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