‘I cannot comprehend how a Christian1 can be uninterested in a people who have handed down to him immortal2 truths.’
‘All the world is not as sensible of the obligation as yourself, noble traveller.’
‘But who are the world? Do you mean the inhabitants of Europe, which is a forest not yet cleared; or the inhabitants of Asia, which is a ruin about to tumble?’
‘The railroads will clear the forest,’ said Besso. ‘And what is to become of the ruin?’ asked Tancred.
‘God will not forget His land.’ ‘That is the truth; the government of this globe must be divine, and the impulse can only come from Asia.’
‘If your government only understood the Eastern question!’ said Mr. Consul–General Laurella, pricking3 up his ears at some half phrase that he had caught, and addressing Tancred across the table. ‘It is more simple than you imagine, and before you return to England to take your seat in your Parliament, I should be very happy to have some conversation with you.
I think I could tell you some things ——’ and he gave a glance of diplomatic mystery. Tancred bowed.
‘For my part,’ said Hillel Besso, shrugging his shoulders, and speaking in an airy tone, ‘it seems to me that your Eastern question is a great imbroglio4 that only exists in the cabinets of diplomatists. Why should there be any Eastern question? All is very well as it is. At least we might be worse: I think we might be worse.’
‘I am so happy to find myself once more among you,’ whispered Fakredeen to his neighbour, Madame Mourad Farhi. ‘This is my real home.’
‘All here must be happy and honoured to see you, too, noble Emir.’
‘And the good Signor Mourad: I am afraid I am not a favourite of his?’ pursued Fakredeen, meditating5 a loan.
‘I never heard my husband speak of you, noble Emir, but with the greatest consideration.’
‘There is no man I respect so much,’ said Fakredeen; ‘no one in whom I have such a thorough confidence. Excepting our dear host, who is really my father, there is no one on whose judgment6 I would so implicitly7 rely. Tell him all that, my dear Madame Mourad, for I wish him to respect me.’
‘I admire his hair so much,’ whispered Thérèse Laurella, in an audible voice to her sister, across the broad form of the ever-smiling Madame Picholoroni. ’Tis such a relief after our dreadful turbans.’
‘And his costume, so becoming! I wonder how any civilised being can wear the sort of things we see about us. ’Tis really altogether like a wardrobe of the Comédie.’
‘Well, Sophonisbe,’ said the sensible Moses Laurella, ‘I admire the Franks very much; they have many qualities which I could wish our Levantines shared; but I confess that I do not think that their strong point is their costume.’
‘Oh, my dear uncle!’ said Thérèse; ‘look at that beautiful white cravat8. What have we like it? So simple, so distinguished9! Such good taste! And then the boots. Think of our dreadful slippers10! powdered with pearls and all sorts of trash of that kind, by the side of that lovely French polish.’
‘He must be terribly ennuyé here,’ said Thérèse to Sophonisbe, with a look of the initiated11.
‘Indeed, I should think so: no balls, not an opera; I quite pity him. What could have induced him to come here?’
‘I should think he must be attached to some one,’ said Thérèse: ‘he looks unhappy.’
‘There is not a person near him with whom he can have an idea in common.’
‘Except Mr. Hillel Besso,’ said Thérèse. ‘He appears to be quite enlightened. I spoke12 to him a little before dinner. He has been a winter at Pera, and went to all the balls.’
‘Lord Palmerston understood the Eastern question to a certain degree,’ said Mr. Consul–General Laurella; ‘but, had I been in the service of the Queen of England, I could have told him some things;’ and he mysteriously paused.
‘I cannot endure this eternal chatter13 about Palmerston,’ said the Emir, rather pettishly14. ‘Are there no other statesmen in the world besides Palmerston? And what should he know about the Eastern question, who never was in the East?’
‘Ah, noble Emir, these are questions of the high diplomacy15. They cannot be treated unless by the cabinets which have traditions.’
‘I could settle the Eastern question in a month, if I were disposed,’ said Fakredeen.
Mr. Consul–General Laurella smiled superciliously17, and then said, ‘But the question is, what is the Eastern question?’
‘For my part,’ said Hillel Besso, in a most epigrammatic manner, ‘I do not see the use of settling anything.’
‘The Eastern question is, who shall govern the Mediterranean18?’ said the Emir. ‘There are only two powers who can do it: Egypt and Syria. As for the English, the Russians, the Franks, your friends the Austrians, they are strangers. They come, and they will go; but Syria and Egypt will always remain.’
‘Egypt has tried, and failed.’
‘Then let Syria try, and succeed.’
‘Do you visit Egypt before you return from the East, noble sir?’ asked Besso, of Tancred.
‘I have not thought of my return; but I should not be sorry to visit Egypt. It is a country that rather perplexes us in Europe. It has undergone great changes.’
Besso shook his head, and slightly smiled.
‘Egypt,’ said he, ‘never changes. ’Tis the same land as in the days of the Pharaohs: governed on their principles of political economy, with a Hebrew for prime minister.’
‘A Hebrew for prime minister!’
‘Even so: Artim Bey, the present prime minister of Egypt, formerly19 the Pasha’s envoy20 at Paris, and by far the best political head in the Levant, is not only the successor but the descendant of Joseph.’
‘He must be added then to your friend M. de Sidonia’s list of living Hebrew statesmen,’ said Tancred.
‘We have our share of the government of the world,’ said Besso.
‘It seems to me that you govern every land except your own.’
‘That might have been done in ‘39,’ said Besso musingly21; ‘but why speak of a subject which can little interest you?’
‘Can little interest me!’ exclaimed Tancred. ‘What other subject should interest me? More than six centuries ago, the government of that land interested my ancestor, and he came here to achieve it.’
The stars were shining before they quitted the Arabian tabernacle of Besso. The air was just as soft as a sweet summer English noon, and quite as still. The pavilions of the terrace and the surrounding bowers22 were illuminated23 by the varying tints24 of a thousand lamps. Bright carpets and rich cushions were thrown about for those who cared to recline; the brothers Farhi, for example, and indeed most of the men, smoking inestimable nargilehs. The Consul–General Laurella begged permission to present Lord Montacute to his daughters Thérèse and Sophonisbe, who, resolved to show to him that Damascus was not altogether so barbarous as he deemed it, began talking of new dances and the last opera. Tancred would have found great difficulty in sustaining his part in the conversation, had not the young ladies fortunately been requested to favour those present with a specimen25 of the art in which they excelled, which they did after much solicitation26, vowing27 that they had no voice to-night, and that it was impossible at all times to sing except in a chamber28.
‘For my part,’ said Hillel Besso, with an extremely piquant29 air, ‘music in a chamber is very charming, but I think also in the open air it is not so bad.’
Tancred took advantage of this movement to approach Eva, who was conversing30, as they took their evening walk, with the soft-eyed sister of Hillel and Madame Nassim Farhi; a group of women that the drawing-rooms of Europe and the harems of Asia could perhaps not have rivalled.
‘The Mesdemoiselles Laurella are very accomplished,’ said Tancred, ‘but at Damascus I am not content to hear anything but sackbuts and psalteries.’
‘But in Europe your finest music is on the subjects of our history,’ said Eva.
‘Naturally,’ said Tancred, ‘music alone can do justice to such themes. They baffle the uninspired pen.’
‘There is a prayer which the Mesdemoiselles Laurella once sang, a prayer of Moses in Egypt,’ said Madame Nassim, somewhat timidly. ‘It is very fine.’
‘I wish they would favour us with it,’ said Eva; ‘I will ask Hillel to request that kindness;’ and she beckoned31 to Hillel, who sauntered toward her, and listened to her whispered wish with a smile of supercilious16 complacency.
‘At present they are going to favour us with Don Pasquale,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘A prayer is a very fine thing, but for my part, at this hour, I think a serenade is not so bad.’
‘And how do you like my father?’ said Eva to Tancred in a hesitating tone, and yet with a glance of blended curiosity and pride.
‘He is exactly what Sidonia prepared me for; worthy32 not only of being your father, but the father of mankind.’
‘The Moslemin say that we are near paradise at Damascus,’ said Madame Nassim, ‘and that Adam was fashioned out of our red earth.’
‘He much wished to see you,’ said Eva, ‘and your meeting is as unexpected as to him it is agreeable.’
‘We ought to have met long before,’ said Tancred. ‘When I first arrived at Jerusalem, I ought to have hastened to his threshold. The fault and the misfortune were mine. I scarcely deserved the happiness of knowing you.’
‘I am happy we have all met, and that you now understand us a little. When you go back to England, you will defend us when we are defamed? You will not let them persecute33 us, as they did a few years back, because they said we crucified their children at the feast of our passover?’
‘I shall not go back to England,’ said Tancred, colouring; ‘and if you are persecuted34, I hope I shall be able to defend you here.’
The glowing sky, the soft mellow35 atmosphere, the brilliant surroundings, and the flowers and flashing gems37, rich dresses and ravishing music, and every form of splendour and luxury, combined to create a scene that to Tancred was startling, as well from its beauty as its novel character. A rich note of Thérèse Laurella for an instant arrested their conversation. They were silent while it lingered on their ear. Then Tancred said to the soft-eyed sister of Hillel, ‘All that we require here to complete the spell are your beautiful children.’
‘They sleep,’ said the lady, ‘and lose little by not being present, for, like the Queen of Sheba, I doubt not they are dreaming of music and flowers.’
‘They say that the children of our race are the most beautiful in the world,’ said Eva, ‘but that when they grow up, they do not fulfil the promise of their infancy38.’
‘That were scarcely possible,’ said the soft-eyed mother.
‘It is the sense of shame that comes on them and dims their lustre,’ said Eva. ‘Instead of joyousness39 and frank hilarity40, anxiety and a shrinking reserve are soon impressed upon the youthful Hebrew visage. It is the seal of ignominy. The dreadful secret that they are an expatriated and persecuted race is soon revealed to them, at least among the humbler classes. The children of our house are bred in noble thoughts, and taught self-respect. Their countenances42 will not change.’
And the countenance41 from whose beautiful mouth issued those gallant43 words, what of that? It was one that might wilder the wisest. Tancred gazed upon it with serious yet fond abstraction. All heavenly and heroic thoughts gathered around the image of this woman. From the first moment of their meeting at Bethany to this hour of sacred festival, all the passages of his life in which she had been present flashed through his mind. For a moment he was in the ruins of the Arabian desert, and recalled her glance of sweet solicitude44, when, recovered by her skill and her devotion, he recognised the fair stranger whose words had, ere that, touched the recesses45 of his spirit, and attuned46 his mind to high and holiest mysteries. Now again their eyes met; an ineffable47 expression suffused48 the countenance of Lord Monta-cute. He sighed.
At this moment Hillel and Fakredeen advanced with a hurried air of gaiety. Hillel offered his hand to Eva with jaunty49 grace, exclaiming at the same time, ‘Ladies, if you like to follow us, you shall see a casket just arrived from Marseilles, and which Eva will favour me by carrying to Aleppo. It was chosen for me by the Lady of the Austrian Internuncio, who is now at Paris. For my part, I do not see much advantage in the diplomatic corps50, if occasionally they do not execute a commission for one.’
Hillel hurried Eva away, accompanied by his sister and Madame Nassim. Tancred and Fakredeen remained behind.
‘Who is this man?’ said Tancred.
”Tis her affianced,’ said the Emir; ‘the man who has robbed me of my natural bride. It is to be hoped, however, that, when she is married, Besso will adopt me as his son, which in a certain sense I am, having been fostered by his wife. If he do not leave me his fortune, he ought at least to take up all my bills in Syria. Don’t you think so, my Tancred?’
‘What?’ said Tancred, with a dreamy look.
There was a burst of laughter in the distance.
‘Come, come,’ said Fakredeen, ‘see how they are all gathering51 round the marriage casket. Even Nassim Farhi has risen. I must go and talk to him: he has impulses, that man, at least compared with his brother; Mourad is a stone, a precious stone though, and you cannot magnetise him through his wife, for she has not an idea; but Madame Nassim is immensely mesmeric. Come, come, Tancred.’
‘I follow.’
But instead of following his friend, Tancred entered one of the marble pavilions that jutted52 out from each corner of the terraced roof, and commanded splendid views of the glittering and gardened city. The moon had risen over that unrivalled landscape; the white minarets53 sparkled in its beam, and the vast hoods54 of the cupolaed mosques55 were suffused with its radiancy or reposed56 in dark shadow, almost as black as the cypress57 groves58 out of which they rose. In the extreme distance, beyond the fertile plain, was the desert, bright as the line of the sea, while otherwise around him extended the chains of Lebanon and of the North.
The countenance of Tancred was more than serious, it was sad, as, leaning against one of the wreathed marble pillars, he sighed and murmured: ‘If I were thou, most beautiful Damascus, Aleppo should not rob me of such a gem36! But I must tear up these thoughts from my heart by their roots, and remember that I am ordained59 for other deeds.’
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
immortal
|
|
| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
pricking
|
|
| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
imbroglio
|
|
| n.纷乱，纠葛，纷扰，一团糟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
meditating
|
|
| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
implicitly
|
|
| adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
cravat
|
|
| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
slippers
|
|
| n. 拖鞋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
initiated
|
|
| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
pettishly
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
diplomacy
|
|
| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
supercilious
|
|
| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
superciliously
|
|
| adv.高傲地；傲慢地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
Mediterranean
|
|
| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
envoy
|
|
| n.使节，使者，代表，公使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
musingly
|
|
| adv.沉思地，冥想地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
22
bowers
|
|
| n.（女子的）卧室( bower的名词复数 )；船首锚；阴凉处；鞠躬的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
illuminated
|
|
| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
tints
|
|
| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
solicitation
|
|
| n.诱惑；揽货；恳切地要求；游说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
vowing
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
piquant
|
|
| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
conversing
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
beckoned
|
|
| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
persecute
|
|
| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
persecuted
|
|
| （尤指宗教或政治信仰的）迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 )； 烦扰，困扰或骚扰某人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
mellow
|
|
| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
gem
|
|
| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
gems
|
|
| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
infancy
|
|
| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
joyousness
|
|
| 快乐，使人喜悦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
hilarity
|
|
| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
countenances
|
|
| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
solicitude
|
|
| n.焦虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
recesses
|
|
| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
attuned
|
|
| v.使协调( attune的过去式和过去分词 )；调音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
ineffable
|
|
| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
suffused
|
|
| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
jaunty
|
|
| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
corps
|
|
| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
jutted
|
|
| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
minarets
|
|
| n.（清真寺旁由报告祈祷时刻的人使用的）光塔( minaret的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
hoods
|
|
| n.兜帽( hood的名词复数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩v.兜帽( hood的第三人称单数 )；头巾；（汽车、童车等的）折合式车篷；汽车发动机罩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
mosques
|
|
| 清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
reposed
|
|
| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
cypress
|
|
| n.柏树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
groves
|
|
| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
ordained
|
|
| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |