Not even Mums had ever hugged or kissed Marise like that! There had always been just a perceptible holding at a distance lest hair or laces should be rumpled1. But there was no dread2 of rumpling3 here! Marise knew that Mrs. Mooney wouldn't have cared if her hair had come down or her funny old bonnet4 had been squashed flat. There was something oddly delicious, almost pathetic—oh, but very pathetic as things really were between her and Garth!—in being taken to that full, motherly bosom5 where the heart within beat like the wings of a glad bird. Suddenly—perhaps because she was tired and a little nervous after her immense journey—Marise wanted to cry in the nice woman's neck, which smelt6 good, like some sort of warm, fresh fruit. But she didn't cry. She smiled, and behaved herself well, as Mrs. Mooney turned her affectionate attentions to "Johnny."
"Sure, boy," she said, when Garth had come in for a full share of caresses7, "your bride's beautiful. You didn't tell me half, and neither did——"
But Mothereen broke off short, and squeezed the gloved hands of Marise, shaking them up and down to cover an instant's confusion. She had been solemnly warned by Zélie that the name of Marks was taboo8, and now she had nearly let it out!
"There's an automobile9 waiting," she hurried on. "Not that I've got one, or the likes of one, meself, but ye're from N'York, me dear, and I felt it would be the right thing to have."
"So it is, Mothereen," said Garth. "Now I'll just get the 'shuvver' to help me with our bags and things——"
"Not yet, boy, please," she begged excitedly. "There's a lot of folks waitin' for the good word with ye, the minute we've had our meetin' over. I couldn't keep 'em from comin', Johnny, honest I couldn't, try as I might. I believe if we had a carriage instead of an auto10 to drive home in, they'd take out the horses and draw ye along themselves, singin' 'Hail the Conquerin' Hero'!"
As if her words were a signal, a crowd of men and women, mostly young, burst out from the hotel, or from the Indian museum with its window display of brilliant rugs, totems, turquoises11, black opals, and chased silver. "Hurrah12 for our Jack13! Hurrah for our V.C.!" they yelled.
Marise was taken aback and hardly knew what to do. It was so odd to hear roars of applause which were not for her!
It wasn't that she wanted the roars, or envied the embarrassed recipient14 of the unexpected honours; but it was strange to stand there—she, the famous and beautiful Marise Sorel—with no one looking at or thinking anything about her at all.
Garth was a V.C., of course, and worthy15 of praise for brave deeds he must have done (she'd never heard what they were, or thought very much about them!), yet it did seem funny, just for the first surprised moment, that these creatures should be so wild over him without caring an atom for her!
"Oh, darlint, and ain't we two women proud of him!" gasped16 Mothereen, squeezing the girl's arm convulsively.
Marise glanced down at the plump, black-clad form quivering with emotion at the sight of Garth being shaken hands with and pounded on the back. "Yes, we are," she echoed kindly17, for she would not have pained the dear woman for anything on earth.
"I shall have my work cut out for me, while I'm in her house, if she expects me to be chorus for her adopted son," the transported favourite told herself. "But she is a darling, and I'll do my best for the few days I'm here, at—well, at almost any price."
When Garth's old friends had thrown themselves upon him like a tidal wave, the reflex action came, and they were willing to meet and be nice to his wife. Male and female, they saw that she was tremendously pretty and smart. Many knew who she was, and had heard of her success, even though they had never seen her on the stage. But what was a star of the theatre, compared with a hero of the war? Garth was It. Marise was only It's second fiddle18.
"Isn't he great?—fine?—wonderful?" were the adjectives flung at her head by gushing19 girls. "I suppose he lets you wear his V.C.?" a man pleasantly condescended20. Everyone was sure, as Mothereen had been sure, that she must be "very proud" of the splendid husband she'd been lucky enough to catch.
Marise smiled as she pictured what Mums' expression would have been among these adorers of the Fiend, the Brute21, beings from another world, for whom the celebrated22 Miss Sorel was nobody. Really, the scene on this platform was like a village green in a comic opera, with all the minor23 characters dancing round the tenor24!
At last Garth—happy yet ill at ease and half ashamed—contrived to rescue his mother and wife. They got to the motor-car waiting outside the station; but there they collided with a new procession, belated yet enthusiastic. It was, "Garth forever!" again: more shouts of joy, more slaps, more introductions to the harmless, necessary bride.
Even when the three had ambushed25 themselves in the car, boys hung on behind, singing, "For he's a jolly good fellow!" and girls threw flowers in at the windows.
"This is the happiest hour of my life since I first met up with ye, Johnny dear," choked Mothereen, wiping her smiling eyes. "And I'm sure it's the same for you, isn't it, my child?"
"Oh yes—ye-es!" responded Marise.
Garth laughed.
The town of Albuquerque was very Spanish-looking. Indeed, it would have been strange if it were not so, since the Spanish had built much of it in the Great Days of their prime, hundreds of years ago. It was on the outskirts26 of the place that Mrs. Mooney lived, in a house—as she explained to Marise—"architected for her by Johnny himself."
"He and I lived here together after he brought me back to me dearly-loved west, from N'York," she went on; "as happy as turtle-doves till the war broke on us. That house at the Canyon27 where he's takin' you—the later the better, because I want to keep ye here as long as I can!—was never for me. He thought he'd like to go and brood over his work in it, all alone, once or twice a year. He felt as if that Grand Canyon would be a kind of inspiration. I doubt if it ever popped into his head in those times that he'd be takin' a pretty young wife like a princess from a fairy tale there some day. Not that aught except a fairy-tale princess would be good enough for him."
Marise did not answer. What was there to say? But they had arrived at Mothereen's house.
It, too, was Spanish, in a modern, miniature way, and Mothereen explained it to Marise. "Johnny wanted to build me something bigger and more statuesque like," she said. "But I wouldn't let him. I love a little house. I'm at home in it. I have no grand ways. I hope it's the same with you, me dear! Though for sure it will be, on yer honeymoon28, with the best boy in the wurruld, just back safe from the terrible war! Zé—I mean he—did speak of a 'suite29' to put the two of ye up in, but I warrant ye won't be the one to say yer quarters are too small!... Come in, will ye? And welcome ye both are as the sunshine after rain!"
Marise obeyed the arm round her waist, but a presentiment30 of trouble was upon the girl. She foresaw a dilemma31. And it had two long horns. She was between them!
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1
rumpled
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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3
rumpling
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| v.弄皱，使凌乱( rumple的现在分词 ) | |
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4
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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5
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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6
smelt
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| v.熔解，熔炼；n.银白鱼，胡瓜鱼 | |
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7
caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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8
taboo
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| n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止 | |
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9
automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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10
auto
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| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
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11
turquoises
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| n.绿松石( turquoise的名词复数 )；青绿色 | |
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12
hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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13
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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14
recipient
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| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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15
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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16
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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17
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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18
fiddle
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| n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动 | |
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19
gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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20
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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21
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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22
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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23
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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24
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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25
ambushed
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| v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着 | |
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26
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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27
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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28
honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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29
suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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30
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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31
dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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