Pleasingly conspicuous7 among a bunch of indifferent riders pacing along by the rails where the onlookers8 were thickest was Courtenay Youghal, on his handsome plum-roan gelding Anne de Joyeuse. That delicately stepping animal had taken a prize at Islington and nearly taken the life of a stable-boy of whom he disapproved9, but his strongest claims to distinction were his good looks and his high opinion of himself. Youghal evidently believed in thorough accord between horse and rider.
“Please stop and talk to me,” said a quiet beckoning10 voice from the other side of the rails, and Youghal drew rein11 and greeted Lady Veula Croot. Lady Veula had married into a family of commercial solidity and enterprising political nonentity12. She had a devoted13 husband, some blonde teachable children, and a look of unutterable weariness in her eyes. To see her standing14 at the top of an expensively horticultured staircase receiving her husband’s guests was rather like watching an animal performing on a music-hall stage.
One always tells oneself that the animal likes it, and one always knows that it doesn’t.
“Lady Veula is an ardent15 Free Trader, isn’t she?” someone once remarked to Lady Caroline.
“I wonder,” said Lady Caroline, in her gently questioning voice; “a woman whose dresses are made in Paris and whose marriage has been made in Heaven might be equally biassed16 for and against free imports.”
Lady Veula looked at Youghal and his mount with slow critical appraisement17, and there was a note of blended raillery and wistfulness in her voice.
“You two dear things, I should love to stroke you both, but I’m not sure how Joyeuse would take it. So I’ll stroke you down verbally instead. I admired your attack on Sir Edward immensely, though of course I don’t agree with a word of it. Your description of him building a hedge round the German cuckoo and hoping he was isolating18 it was rather sweet. Seriously though, I regard him as one of the pillars of the Administration.”
“So do I,” said Youghal; “the misfortune is that he is merely propping19 up a canvas roof. It’s just his regrettable solidity and integrity that makes him so expensively dangerous. The average Briton arrives at the same judgment20 about Roan’s handling of foreign affairs as Omar does of the Supreme21 Being in his dealings with the world: He’s a good fellow and ’twill all be well.’”
Lady Veula laughed lightly. “My Party is in power so I may exercise the privilege of being optimistic. Who is that who bowed to you?” she continued, as a dark young man with an inclination22 to stoutness23 passed by them on foot; “I’ve seen him about a good deal lately. He’s been to one or two of my dances.”
“Andrei Drakoloff,” said Youghal; “he’s just produced a play that has had a big success in Moscow and is certain to be extremely popular all over Russia. In the first three acts the heroine is supposed to be dying of consumption; in the last act they find she is really dying of cancer.”
“Are the Russians really such a gloomy people?”
“Gloom-loving but not in the least gloomy. They merely take their sadness pleasurably, just as we are accused of taking our pleasures sadly. Have you noticed that dreadful Klopstock youth has been pounding past us at shortening intervals24. He’ll come up and talk if he half catches your eye.”
“I only just know him. Isn’t he at an agricultural college or something of the sort?”
“Yes, studying to be a gentleman farmer, he told me. I didn’t ask if both subjects were compulsory25.”
“You’re really rather dreadful,” said Lady Veula, trying to look as if she thought so; “remember, we are all equal in the sight of Heaven.”
For a preacher of wholesome26 truths her voice rather lacked conviction.
“If I and Ernest Klopstock are really equal in the sight of Heaven,” said Youghal, with intense complacency, “I should recommend Heaven to consult an eye specialist.”
There was a heavy spattering of loose earth, and a squelching27 of saddle-leather, as the Klopstock youth lumbered28 up to the rails and delivered himself of loud, cheerful greetings. Joyeuse laid his ears well back as the ungainly bay cob and his appropriately matched rider drew up beside him; his verdict was reflected and endorsed29 by the cold stare of Youghal’s eyes.
“I’ve been having a nailing fine time,” recounted the newcomer with clamorous30 enthusiasm; “I was over in Paris last month and had lots of strawberries there, then I had a lot more in London, and now I’ve been having a late crop of them in Herefordshire, so I’ve had quite a lot this year.” And he laughed as one who had deserved well and received well of Fate.
“The charm of that story,” said Youghal, “is that it can be told in any drawing-room.” And with a sweep of his wide-brimmed hat to Lady Veula he turned the impatient Joyeuse into the moving stream of horse and horsemen.
“That woman reminds me of some verse I’ve read and liked,” thought Youghal, as Joyeuse sprang into a light showy canter that gave full recognition to the existence of observant human beings along the side walk. “Ah, I have it.”
And he quoted almost aloud, as one does in the exhilaration of a canter:
“How much I loved that way you had Of smiling most, when very sad, A smile which carried tender hints Of sun and spring, And yet, more than all other thing, Of weariness beyond all words.”
And having satisfactorily fitted Lady Veula on to a quotation31 he dismissed her from his mind. With the constancy of her sex she thought about him, his good looks and his youth and his railing tongue, till late in the afternoon.
While Youghal was putting Joyeuse through his paces under the elm trees of the Row a little drama in which he was directly interested was being played out not many hundred yards away. Elaine and Comus were indulging themselves in two pennyworths of Park chair, drawn32 aside just a little from the serried33 rows of sitters who were set out like bedded plants over an acre or so of turf. Comus was, for the moment, in a mood of pugnacious34 gaiety, disbursing35 a fund of pointed36 criticism and unsparing anecdote37 concerning those of the promenaders or loungers whom he knew personally or by sight. Elaine was rather quieter than usual, and the grave serenity38 of the Leonardo da Vinci portrait seemed intensified39 in her face this morning. In his leisurely40 courtship Comus had relied almost exclusively on his physical attraction and the fitful drollery41 of his wit and high spirits, and these graces had gone far to make him seem a very desirable and rather lovable thing in Elaine’s eyes. But he had left out of account the disfavour which he constantly risked and sometimes incurred42 from his frank and undisguised indifference43 to other people’s interests and wishes, including, at times, Elaine’s. And the more that she felt that she liked him the more she was irritated by his lack of consideration for her. Without expecting that her every wish should become a law to him she would at least have liked it to reach the formality of a Second Reading. Another important factor he had also left out of his reckoning, namely the presence on the scene of another suitor, who also had youth and wit to recommend him, and who certainly did not lack physical attractions. Comus, marching carelessly through unknown country to effect what seemed already an assured victory, made the mistake of disregarding the existence of an unbeaten army on his flank.
To-day Elaine felt that, without having actually quarrelled, she and Comus had drifted a little bit out of sympathy with one another. The fault she knew was scarcely hers, in fact from the most good-natured point of view it could hardly be denied that it was almost entirely44 his. The incident of the silver dish had lacked even the attraction of novelty; it had been one of a series, all bearing a strong connecting likeness45. There had been small unrepaid loans which Elaine would not have grudged46 in themselves, though the application for them brought a certain qualm of distaste; with the perversity47 which seemed inseparable from his doings, Comus had always flung away a portion of his borrowings in some ostentatious piece of glaring and utterly48 profitless extravagance, which outraged49 all the canons of her upbringing without bringing him an atom of understandable satisfaction. Under these repeated discouragements it was not surprising that some small part of her affection should have slipped away, but she had come to the Park that morning with an unconfessed expectation of being gently wooed back to the mood of gracious forgetfulness that she was only too eager to assume. It was almost worth while being angry with Comus for the sake of experiencing the pleasure of being coaxed50 into friendliness51 again with the charm which he knew so well how to exert. It was delicious here under the trees on this perfect June morning, and Elaine had the blessed assurance that most of the women within range were envying her the companionship of the handsome merry-hearted youth who sat by her side. With special complacence she contemplated52 her cousin Suzette, who was self-consciously but not very elatedly basking53 in the attentions of her fiance, an earnest-looking young man who was superintendent54 of a People’s something-or-other on the south side of the river, and whose clothes Comus had described as having been made in Southwark rather than in anger.
Most of the pleasures in life must be paid for, and the chair-ticket vendor55 in due time made his appearance in quest of pennies.
Comus paid him from out of a varied assortment56 of coins and then balanced the remainder in the palm of his hand. Elaine felt a sudden foreknowledge of something disagreeable about to happen and a red spot deepened in her cheeks.
“Four shillings and fivepence and a half-penny,” said Comus, reflectively. “It’s a ridiculous sum to last me for the next three days, and I owe a card debt of over two pounds.”
“Yes?” commented Elaine dryly and with an apparent lack of interest in his exchequer57 statement. Surely, she was thinking hurriedly to herself, he could not be foolish enough to broach58 the matter of another loan.
“The card debt is rather a nuisance,” pursued Comus, with fatalistic persistency59.
“You won seven pounds last week, didn’t you?” asked Elaine; “don’t you put by any of your winnings to balance losses?”
“The four shillings and the fivepence and the half-penny represent the rearguard of the seven pounds,” said Comus; “the rest have fallen by the way. If I can pay the two pounds today I daresay I shall win something more to go on with; I’m holding rather good cards just now. But if I can’t pay it of course I shan’t show up at the club. So you see the fix I am in.”
Elaine took no notice of this indirect application. The Appeal Court was assembling in haste to consider new evidence, and this time there was the rapidity of sudden determination about its movement.
The conversation strayed away from the fateful topic for a few moments and then Comus brought it deliberately60 back to the danger zone.
“It would be awfully61 nice if you would let me have a fiver for a few days, Elaine,” he said quickly; “if you don’t I really don’t know what I shall do.”
“If you are really bothered about your card debt I will send you the two pounds by messenger boy early this afternoon.” She spoke62 quietly and with great decision. “And I shall not be at the Connor’s dance to-night,” she continued; “it’s too hot for dancing. I’m going home now; please don’t bother to accompany me, I particularly wish to go alone.”
Comus saw that he had overstepped the mark of her good nature. Wisely he made no immediate63 attempt to force himself back into her good graces. He would wait till her indignation had cooled.
His tactics would have been excellent if he had not forgotten that unbeaten army on his flank.
Elaine de Frey had known very clearly what qualities she had wanted in Comus, and she had known, against all efforts at self-deception, that he fell far short of those qualities. She had been willing to lower her standard of moral requirements in proportion as she was fond of the boy, but there was a point beyond which she would not go. He had hurt her pride besides alarming her sense of caution.
Suzette, on whom she felt a thoroughly64 justified65 tendency to look down, had at any rate an attentive66 and considerate lover. Elaine walked towards the Park gates feeling that in one essential Suzette possessed67 something that had been denied to her, and at the gates she met Joyeuse and his spruce young rider preparing to turn homeward.
“Get rid of Joyeuse and come and take me out to lunch somewhere,” demanded Elaine.
“How jolly,” said Youghal. “Let’s go to the Corridor Restaurant. The head waiter there is an old Viennese friend of mine and looks after me beautifully. I’ve never been there with a lady before, and he’s sure to ask me afterwards, in his fatherly way, if we’re engaged.”
The lunch was a success in every way. There was just enough orchestral effort to immerse the conversation without drowning it, and Youghal was an attentive and inspired host. Through an open doorway68 Elaine could see the cafe reading-room, with its imposing69 array of Neue Freie Presse, Berliner Tageblatt, and other exotic newspapers hanging on the wall. She looked across at the young man seated opposite her, who gave one the impression of having centred the most serious efforts of his brain on his toilet and his food, and recalled some of the flattering remarks that the press had bestowed70 on his recent speeches.
“Doesn’t it make you conceited71, Courtenay,” she asked, “to look at all those foreign newspapers hanging there and know that most of them have got paragraphs and articles about your Persian speech?”
Youghal laughed.
“There’s always a chastening corrective in the thought that some of them may have printed your portrait. When once you’ve seen your features hurriedly reproduced in the Matin, for instance, you feel you would like to be a veiled Turkish woman for the rest of your life.”
And Youghal gazed long and lovingly at his reflection in the nearest mirror, as an antidote72 against possible incitements to humility73 in the portrait gallery of fame.
Elaine felt a certain soothed74 satisfaction in the fact that this young man, whose knowledge of the Middle East was an embarrassment75 to Ministers at question time and in debate, was showing himself equally well-informed on the subject of her culinary likes and dislikes. If Suzette could have been forced to attend as a witness at a neighbouring table she would have felt even happier.
“Did the head waiter ask if we were engaged?” asked Elaine, when Courtenay had settled the bill, and she had finished collecting her sunshade and gloves and other impedimenta from the hands of obsequious76 attendants.
“Yes,” said Youghal, “and he seemed quite crestfallen77 when I had to say ‘no.’”
“It would be horrid78 to disappoint him when he’s looked after us so charmingly,” said Elaine; “tell him that we are.”
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1
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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stagnation
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| n. 停滞 | |
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galloping
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| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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nonentity
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| n.无足轻重的人 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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biassed
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| （统计试验中）结果偏倚的，有偏的 | |
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appraisement
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| n.评价，估价；估值 | |
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isolating
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| adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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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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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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stoutness
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| 坚固，刚毅 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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squelching
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| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的现在分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
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lumbered
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| 砍伐（lumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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endorsed
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| vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品 | |
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clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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quotation
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| n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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serried
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| adj.拥挤的；密集的 | |
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pugnacious
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| adj.好斗的 | |
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disbursing
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| v.支出，付出( disburse的现在分词 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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drollery
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| n.开玩笑，说笑话；滑稽可笑的图画（或故事、小戏等） | |
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incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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perversity
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| n.任性；刚愎自用 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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basking
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| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
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superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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vendor
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| n.卖主；小贩 | |
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assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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broach
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| v.开瓶，提出(题目) | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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spoke
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| 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 | |
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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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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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obsequious
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| adj.谄媚的，奉承的，顺从的 | |
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crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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