She said to herself that if it came to that she would allow herself a daily cab-fare rather than leave Palamon, and she toiled5 up the steep stairs carrying him. Taylor opened the door to her.
“Give me the dog, Miss Hilda; you do look that tired. You are to go at once into the drawing-room, Miss. Lord Allan Hope has been waiting for some time.”
Hilda was surprised to find that she had been thinking of Palamon rather than of the ordeal6 before her. She felt calm now, perfectly7, as she walked into the drawing-room, a little taken aback, however, to find Lord Allan there waiting for her and alone.
Katherine was in the next room, her own pretty room, a rather perplexed8 smile of expectancy9 on her face. Taylor brought in Palamon, and Katherine gave him a drink and patted him kindly10. Palamon would go with Hilda to her new home—dear old Palamon! The thought of Hilda’s new home and homes—of the castle in Somersetshire and the shooting-lodge in Scotland, and the big house in Grosvenor Square, deepened the look of perplexity on Katherine’s brow.
While Palamon lapped the water, she watched him with an expression of absent-minded concentration. She could hear nothing in the drawing-room, except now and then the slightly raised quiet of Allan Hope’s fine voice. Presently there was a long silence, and Katherine paused near the door.
The quizzical lift of her eyebrows11 spoke her amused inquiry12. She could hardly imagine Hilda allowing herself to be kissed, and as the silence continued, Katherine felt a touch of impatience13 color her sisterly sympathy. Lord Allan’s voice, pitched on a deep note of pain, startled her. There followed quite a burst of ardent14 eloquence15. With a little moue of self-disapproval Katherine bent16 her ear to the door. She heard Lord Allan quite distinctly. He was pleading in more desperate accents than she could have imagined possible from him, and Katherine caught, too, the half frightened reiteration17 of Hilda’s voice: “I can’t, I can’t; really I can’t. I am so—so sorry, so sorry—“ The childishness of this helpless repetition brought a quick frown to Katherine’s brow.
“Little idiot! Baby!”
She straightened herself and stood staring at the gray houses across the way. Then, at renewed silence in the drawing-room, she walked to the mirror and looked at her amethyst-robed reflection.
Her eyes lingered on the contour of her waist, the supple18 elegance19 of the line that fell gleaming from her hip20. She met the half-shamed, half-daring glance of her deeply set eyes. The silence continued, and Katherine walked out through the entrance and into the drawing-room.
Hilda was sitting upright on a tall chair, looking at the floor with an expression of painful endurance, and Lord Allan stood looking at her.
He turned his eyes almost unseeingly on Katherine and remained silent, while Hilda rose and put out her hand to him. Hilda had no variety of metaphor21; “I am so sorry,” she repeated.
She left her hand in his for one moment and then passed swiftly out of the room. Katherine was left facing the unfortunate lover. Katherine showed great tact22.
“Lord Allan, don’t mind me. Sit down for a moment. Perhaps then you may be able to tell me. Perhaps I can help you.”
“No good, Miss Archinard; it’s all up with me.”
Her gentle voice evidently turned aside the current of his frank despair. Instead of rushing out, he dropped on the sofa and looked at the carpet over his locked hands.
“I am not going to talk to you for a little while.”
The lamps were lighted and the tea-things all in readiness on the little table. Katherine lit the kettle and turned a log on the fire. Lord Allan’s silence implied a dull acquiescence23. He did not move until Katherine came and sat down on the chair beside him.
“I am so sorry, too,” she said, with a sad little smile. “Lord Allan, I thought she cared for you.”
“I hoped so.”
“And have you no more hope?”
“None—absolutely none. I tell you it’s rough on a fellow, Miss Archinard. I—I adore that child.”
“Poor Lord Allan,” Katherine gently breathed. She stretched out her slim hand and laid it almost tenderly on his. Katherine was rather surprised at herself, and to herself her motives24 were rather confused. “I should have liked you as a brother, Lord Allan.”
“You are awfully25 kind.” He lifted his dreary26 eyes and surveyed her absently, but with some gratitude27. “I suppose I had best be going,” he added suddenly, as if struck by the anti-climax of his position.
“No, no; not unless you feel you must.” Katherine put out her hand again and detained his rising. “I can’t bear to think of you going out alone like that into the cold. Just wait. You are bruised28. Get back your breath. I am not going to be tiresome29.”
Lord Allan leaned back in the sofa with a long sigh, relapsing into the same half stunned30 silence, while Katherine moved about the tea-table, measuring out the tea from the caddy to the teapot, pouring on the boiling water, and pausing to wait for the tea to steep. Presently Lord Allan was startled by a proffered32 steaming cup.
“Will you?” she said. “I made it for you. It is such a chilly33 evening.”
“Oh, how awfully kind of you,” he started from his crushed recumbency of attitude, “but you know I really can’t!” But at the grieved gentleness of Katherine’s eyes he took the cup. “It is too awfully kind of you. I do feel abominably34 chilly.” He gulped35 down the tea, and gave a half shame-faced smile as she took the cup for replenishment36.
“No, don’t get up,” she urged, as he made an effort to collect his courtesy; “let me wait on you,” and she returned with a discreetly37 tempting38 plate of the thinnest bread and butter. She sat down beside him again, looking into the fire with kind, sad eyes as she stirred her tea. She asked him presently, in the same quietly gentle voice, some little question about the most recent debate in the House. Lord Allan had rather distinguished39 himself in that debate; it was on the crest40 of that wave of triumph that he had come to Hilda. From monosyllabic replies he was led on to a rather doleful recitation of his own prowess; it seemed that Katherine had followed it all in the newspapers, so tactfully intelligent were her comments. He found himself sipping41 his third cup of tea, enjoying in a dreary way the expounding42 of his favorite political theories to the quiet, purple-robed figure beside him. He remembered that Miss Archinard had always been interested in his career; she, of course, was the intellectual one, though Hilda’s beauty sent a sharp stab of pain through him as he made the comparison; he appreciated now Miss Archinard’s kindness and sympathy with a brotherly warmth of gratitude. When he at last rose to go, he was dejected; but no longer the crushed individual of an hour before.
“You have been too good to a beaten man,” he said, taking her hand.
“Oh, Lord Allan, by the laws of compensation you must lose sometimes. Hilda, poor child, doesn’t know what she has done; she cannot know. Her little achievements bound the world for her. She doesn’t see outside her studio walls. Your great world of action, true beneficent action, would stun31 her. Do you leave Paris directly, Lord Allan? Yes! Then won’t you write to me now and then? I am interested in you. I won’t relinquish43 the claim of ‘it might have been.’ May I keep in touch with you—as a sister would?”
“You are too good, Miss Archinard.”
“To an old friend? A man I have followed and admired as I have you? Lord Allan, I respect you from the bottom of my heart for the way in which you have borne this knock-down from fate. You are strong, it won’t hurt you in the end. Let me know how you get on.”
Katherine’s eyes were compelling in their candid44 kindness. Lord Allan said that he would, with emphasis. As he went down the long staircase, the purple-robed figure filled his thoughts with a reviving beneficence. He felt that the blow was perhaps not so bad as he had imagined—might even be for the best; better for him, for his career. Katherine’s words enveloped45 him in an atmosphere that was soothing46.
Left alone, Katherine finished her second cup of tea, and made, as she looked thoughtfully into the fire, a second little moue of self-disapprobation.
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1
rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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2
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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3
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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4
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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5
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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6
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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7
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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8
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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9
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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10
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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11
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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12
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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13
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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14
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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15
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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16
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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17
reiteration
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| n. 重覆, 反覆, 重说 | |
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18
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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19
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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20
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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21
metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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22
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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23
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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24
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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25
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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26
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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27
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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28
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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29
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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30
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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31
stun
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| vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹 | |
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32
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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34
abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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35
gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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36
replenishment
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| n.补充(货物) | |
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37
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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38
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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39
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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40
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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41
sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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42
expounding
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的现在分词 ) | |
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43
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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44
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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45
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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