The street up and down which she glanced was in a sense familiar to her, for she had been born and reared on a hillside road not far away, and until her eighteenth year had beheld1 no finer or more important place than this Thessaly—which once had seemed so big and grand, and now, despite the obvious march of “improvement,” looked so dwarfed2 and countrified in its overlarge, misfitting coat of snow.
She found herself puzzled vaguely3 by the confusion of objects she remembered with things which appeared not at all to belong to the scene. There was the old Dearborn House, for example, on the same old corner, with its high piazza4 overhanging both streets, and its seedy brown clapboard sides that had needed a fresh painting as long as she could recollect—and had not got it yet. But beside it, where formerly5 had been a long, straggling line of decrepit6 sheds, was reared now a tall, narrow, flat-roofed brick building—the village fire-engine house; and through the half-open door, in which a man and a bull-dog stood surveying her, she could see the brassy brightness of a huge modern machine within. It seemed only yesterday that the manhood of Thessaly had rejoiced and perspired7 over the heavy, unwieldy wheeled pump which was dragged about with ropes and worked by means of long hand-brakes, with twelve men on a side, and a ducking from the hose for all shirkers. And here was a citified brick engine-house, and a “steamer” drawn8 by horses!
Everywhere, as she looked, this incongruous jumbling9 of the familiar and the novel forced itself upon the girl’s attention. And neither the old nor the new bore on its face any welcome for her.
In a narrower and more compact street than this main thoroughfare of Thessaly, the people in view would have constituted almost a crowd. The stores all seemed to be doing a thriving business, particularly if those who lounged about looking in the windows might be counted upon presently to buy something. Both sides of the road were lined with rustic10 sleighs, drawn up wherever paths had been cut through the deep snow to the sidewalks; and farmers in big overcoats, comforters, and mittens11 were visible by scores, spreading buffalo-robes over their horses, or getting out armfuls of turkeys and tubs of butter from the straw in the bottoms of their sleds, or stamping with their heavy boots on the walks for warmth, as they discussed prices and the relative badness of the various snow-blocked roads in the vicinity. Farther down the street a load of hay had tipped over in the middle of the road, and the driver, an old man with a faded army-overcoat and long hair, was hurling12 loud imprecations at some boys who had snowballed him, and who now, from a safe distance, yelled back impolite rejoinders.
Among all who passed, Jessica caught sight of no accustomed face. In a way, indeed, they were all familiar enough: they were types in feature and voice and dress and manner of the people among whom her whole earlier life had been spent. But she knew none of them—and was at once glad of this, and very melancholy13.
She had done a rash and daring thing in coming back to Dearborn County. It had seemed the right thing to do, and she had found the strength and resolution to do it. But there had been many moments of quaking trepidation14 during the long railroad journey from Tecumseh that day, and she was conscious now, as she looked about her, of a well-nigh complete collapse15 of courage. The tears would come, and she had more than once furtively16 to lift her handkerchief to her face.
It was not a face with which one, at first glance, would readily associate tears. The features were regularly, almost firmly cut; and the eyes—large, fine eyes though they were—had commonly a wide awake, steady, practical look, which expressed anything rather than weakness. The effect of the countenance17, as a whole, suggested an energetic, self-contained young woman, who knew her way about, who was likely to be neither cheated nor flattered out of her rights, and who distinctly belonged to the managing division of the human race. This conception of her was aided by the erect18, independent carriage of her shoulders, which made her seem taller than she really was, and by the clever simplicity19 of her black tailor-made jacket and dress, and her round, shapely, turban-like hat.
But if one looked closely into this face, here in the snowlight of the November afternoon, there would be found sundry20 lines and shadows of sensibility and of suffering which were at war with its general expression. And these, when one caught them, had an air of being new, and of not yet having had time to lay definite hold upon the face itself. They were nearer it now, perhaps, as the tears came, than they had often been before, yet even now both they and the moisture glistening21 on the long lashes22, appeared foreign to the calm immobility of the countenance. Tears did not seem to belong there, nor smiles.
Yet a real smile did all at once move to softness the compressed lines of her lips, and bring color to her cheeks and a pleasant mellowing23 of glance into her eyes. She had been striving to occupy her all-too-introspective mind by reading the signs with which the house-fronts were thickly covered; and here, on a doorway24 close beside her, was one at sight of which her whole face brightened. And it was a charming face now—a face to remember—with intelligence and fine feeling and frank happiness in every lineament, yet with the same curious suggestion, too, of the smile, like the tears, being rare and unfamiliar25.
The sign was a small sheet of tin, painted in yellow letters on a black ground:=
`````REUBEN TRACY,
````Attorney and Counsellor at Law,
`````Second Floor.=
“Oh, he is here, then; he has come back!” she said aloud. She repeated, with an air of enjoying the sound of the words: “He has come back.”
She walked up to the sign, read it over and over again, and even touched it, in a meditative26 way, with the tip of her gloved finger. The smile came to her face once more as she murmured: “He will know—he will make it easier for me.”
But even as she spoke27 the sad look spread over her face again. She walked back to the place where she had been standing28, and looked resolutely29 away from the sign—at the tipped-over load of hay, at the engine-house, at the sleighs passing to and fro—through eyes dimmed afresh with tears.
Thus she still stood when her father returned. The expressman who halted his bob-sleigh at the cutting in front of her, and who sat holding the reins30 while her father piled her valise and parcels on behind, looked her over with a half-awed, half-quizzical glance, and seemed a long time making up his mind to speak. Finally he said:
“How d’do? Want to ride here, on the seat, longside of me?”
There was an indefinable something in his tone, and in the grin that went with it, which she resented quickly.
“I had no idea of riding at all,” she made answer.
Her father, who had seated himself on a trunk in the centre of the sleigh, interposed. “Why, Jess, you remember Steve, don’t you?” he asked, apologetically.
The expressman and the girl looked briefly31 at one another, and nodded in a perfunctory manner.
Lawton went on: “He offered himself to give us a lift as far as the house. He’s goin’ that way—ain’t you, Steve?”
The impulse was strong in Jessica to resist—precisely why she might have found it difficult to explain—but apparently32 there was no choice remaining to her. “Very well, then,” she said, “I will sit beside you, father.”
She stepped into the sleigh at this, and took her seat on the other end of the big trunk. The express-man gave a slap of the lines and a cluck to the horse, which started briskly down the wide street, the bell at its collar giving forth33 a sustained, cheery tinkle34 as they sped through the snow.
“Well, what do you think—ain’t this better’n walkin’?” remarked Lawton, after a time, knocking his heels in a satisfied way against the side of the trunk.
“I felt as if the walk would do me good,” she answered, simply. Her face was impassivity itself, as she looked straight before her, over the express-man’s shoulder.
Ben Lawton felt oppressed by the conviction that his daughter was annoyed. Perhaps it was because he had insisted on riding—instead of saying that he would walk too, when she had disclosed her preference. He ventured upon an explanation, stealing wistful glances at her meantime:
“You see, Jess, Dave Rantell’s got a turkey-shoot on to-day, down at his place, and I kind o’ thought I’d try my luck with this here half-dollar, ’fore it gets dark. The days are shortenin’ so, this season o’ year, that I couldn’t get there without Steve give me a lift. And if I should get a turkey—why, we’ll have a regular Thanksgiving dinner; and with you come home, too!”
To this she did not trust herself to make answer, but kept her face rigidly35 set, and her eyes fixed36 as if engrossed37 in meditation38. They had passed the great iron-works on the western outskirts39 of the village now, and the road leading to the suburb of Burfield ran for a little through almost open country. The keener wind raised here in resistance to the rapid transit40 of the sleigh—no doubt it was this which brought the deep flush to her cheeks and the glistening moisture to her eyes.
They presently overtook two young men who were trudging41 along abreast42, each in one of the tracks made by traffic, and who stepped aside to let the sleigh go by.
“Hello, Hod!” called out the expressman as he passed. “I’ve got your trunks. Come back for good?”
“Hello, Steve!... I don’t quite know yet,” was the reply which came back—the latter half of it too late for the expressman’s ears.
Jessica had not seen the pedestrians43 until the sleigh was close upon them; then, in the moment’s glimpse of them vouchsafed44 her, she had recognized young Mr. Boyce, and, in looking away from him with swift decision, had gazed full into the eyes of his companion. This other remembered her too, it was evident, even in that brief instant of passing, for a smile of greeting was in the glance he returned, and he lifted his hat as she swept by.
This was Reuben Tracy, then! Despite his beard, he seemed scarcely to have aged45 in face during these last five years; but he looked straighter and stronger, and his bearing had more vigor46 and firmness than she remembered of him in the days when she was an irregular pupil at the little old Burfield-road school-house, and he was the teacher. She was glad that he looked so hale and healthful. And had her tell-tale face, she wondered, revealed as she passed him all the deep pleasure she felt at seeing him again—at knowing he was near? She tried to recall whether she had smiled, and could not make sure. But he had smiled—of that there was not a doubt; and he had known her on the instant, and had taken off his hat, not merely jerked his finger toward it. Ah, what delight there was in these thoughts!
She turned to her father, and lifting her voice above the jingle48 of the bell, spoke with animation49:
“Tell me about the second man we just, passed—Mr. Tracy. Has he been in Thessaly long, and is he doing a good business?” She added hastily, as if to forestall50 some possible misconception: “He used to be my school-teacher, you know.”
“Guess he’s gettin’ on all right,” replied Lawton: “I hain’t heard nothin’ to the contrary. He must a’ been back from New York along about a year—maybe two.” To her great annoyance51 he shouted out to the driver: “Steve, how long’s Rube Tracy been back in Thessaly? You keep track o’ things better’n I do.”
The expressman replied over his shoulder: “Should say about a year come Christmas.” Then, after a moment’s pause, he transferred the reins to his other hand, twisted himself half around on his seat, and looked into Jessica’s face with his earlier and offensive expression of mingled52 familiarity and diffidence. “He appeared to remember you: took off his hat,” he said. There was an unmistakable leer on his lank53 countenance as he added:
“That other fellow was Hod Boyce, the General’s son, you know—just come back from the old country.”
“Yes, I know!” she made answer curtly54, and turned away from him.
During what remained of the journey she preserved silence, keeping her gaze steadily55 fixed on the drifted fields beyond the fence in front of her and thinking about these two young men—at first with infinite bitterness and loathing56 of the one, and then, for a longer time, and with a soft, half-saddened pleasure, of the other.
It was passing strange that she should find herself here at all—here in this village which for years at a time she had sworn never to see again. But, when she thought of it, it seemed still more remarkable57 that at the very outset she should see, walking together, the two men whom memory most distinctly associated with her old life here as a girl. She had supposed them both—her good and her evil genius—to be far away; in all her inchoate58 specula-tions about how she should meet various people, no idea of encountering either of these had risen in her mind. Yet here they were—and walking together!
Their conjunction disturbed and vaguely troubled her. She tried over and over again to reassure59 herself by saying that it was a mere47 accident; of course they had been acquainted with each other for years, and they had happened to meet, and what more natural than that they should walk on side by side? And yet it somehow seemed wrong.
Reuben Tracy was the best man she had ever known. Poor girl—so grievous had been her share of life’s lessons that she really thought of him as the only good man she had ever known. In all the years of her girlhood—unhappy, wearied, and mutinous60, with squalid misery61 at home, and no respite62 from it possible outside which, looked back upon at this distance, did not seem equally coarse and repellent—there had been but this solitary63 gleam of light, the friendship of Reuben Tracy. Striving now to recall the forms in which this friendship had been manifested, she was conscious that there was not much to remember. He had simply impressed her as a wise and unselfish friend—that was all. The example of kindness, gentleness, of patient industry which he had set before her in the rude, bare-walled little school-room, and which she felt now had made a deep and lasting64 impression on her, had been set for all the rest as well. If sometimes he had seemed to like her better than the other girls, his preference was of a silent, delicate, unexpressed sort—as if prompted solely65 by acquaintance with her greater need for sympathy. Without proffers66 of aid, almost without words, he had made her comprehend that, if evil fell upon her, the truest and most loyal help and counsel in all the world could be had from him for the asking.
The evil had fallen, in one massed, cruel, stunning67 stroke, and she had staggered blindly away—away anywhere, anyhow, to any fate. Almost her instincts had persuaded her to go to him; but he was a young man, only a few years her senior—and she had gone away without seeing him. But she had carried into the melancholy, bitter exile a strange sense of gratitude68, if so it may be called, to Reuben Tracy for the compassionate69 aid he would have extended, had he known; and she said to herself now, in her heart of hearts, that it was this good feeling which had remained like a leaven70 of hope in her nature, and had made it possible for her at last, by its mysterious and beneficent workings, to come out into the open air again and turn her face toward the sunlight.
And he had taken off his hat to her!
The very thought newly nerved her for the ordeal71 which she had proposed to herself—the task of bearing, here in the daily presence of those among whom she had been reared, the burden of a hopelessly discredited72 life.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
dwarfed
|
|
| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
piazza
|
|
| n.广场；走廊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
decrepit
|
|
| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
perspired
|
|
| v.出汗，流汗( perspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
jumbling
|
|
| 混杂( jumble的现在分词 )； （使）混乱； 使混乱； 使杂乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
mittens
|
|
| 不分指手套 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
hurling
|
|
| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
trepidation
|
|
| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
collapse
|
|
| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
furtively
|
|
| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
glistening
|
|
| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
lashes
|
|
| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
mellowing
|
|
| 软化，醇化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
unfamiliar
|
|
| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
meditative
|
|
| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
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： |
|
|
|
|
28
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
reins
|
|
| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
briefly
|
|
| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
tinkle
|
|
| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
rigidly
|
|
| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
engrossed
|
|
| adj.全神贯注的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
meditation
|
|
| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
transit
|
|
| n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
trudging
|
|
| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
abreast
|
|
| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
pedestrians
|
|
| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
vouchsafed
|
|
| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
vigor
|
|
| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
jingle
|
|
| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
animation
|
|
| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
forestall
|
|
| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
annoyance
|
|
| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
lank
|
|
| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
curtly
|
|
| adv.简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
loathing
|
|
| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
remarkable
|
|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
inchoate
|
|
| adj.才开始的，初期的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
reassure
|
|
| v.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
mutinous
|
|
| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
respite
|
|
| n.休息，中止，暂缓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
lasting
|
|
| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
proffers
|
|
| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
67
stunning
|
|
| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
compassionate
|
|
| adj.有同情心的，表示同情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
leaven
|
|
| v.使发酵；n.酵母；影响 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
ordeal
|
|
| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
discredited
|
|
| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |