Surprised and grateful, she treated the man with a tenderness and sweetness she had otherwise been too wary3 to betray....
By Thursday it was settled that they were to open on Monday at Poli's Theatre in Springfield, for an engagement of a week. If the audiences there endorsed4 the verdict of the first, Boskerk promised Quard a full season's booking.
From the Springfield house he was to receive three hundred and fifty dollars. He permitted Joan to understand, however, that his fee would be no more than the sum he had first mentioned—three hundred dollars.
It was decided5 to leave New York by a Sunday train which would put them down in Springfield in the middle of the afternoon, enabling the company to find suitable lodgings6 before meeting to run through their lines in the evening. They would have an opportunity for a sketchy7, scrambly rehearsal9 on the stage Monday morning, but dared not depend on that; for the greater part of their allotted10 period would necessarily be consumed in the selection of a practicable "set" from the stock of the theatre, in making arrangements for suitable furniture properties, and in drilling the house electrician in the uncommonly11 heavy schedule of light cues—any one of which, if bungled12, was calculated seriously to impair13 the illusion of the sketch8.
Joan thoughtfully stipulated14 for twenty-five dollars advance, against expenses. Quard protested, alleging15 financial straits due to his already heavy outlay16, but the girl was firm. True, she still had (unknown to him) one hundred and twenty-five dollars; but not until near the end of their week at Springfield would they know whether or not they were to get further booking.
In the end the actor ungraciously surrendered.
She made her preparations for leaving her hall-bedroom with a craft and stealth worthy17 of a burglar preparing to break prison.
If her break with Matthias was to become absolute, she was determined18 not to leave any clue whereby she might be traced.
An enquiry as to the best place to take a dress to be dry-cleaned furnished sufficient excuse for lugging19 away one well-filled suit-case, which Joan left at a cheap theatrical20 hotel a few blocks farther uptown and east of Broadway, where she simultaneously21 engaged a room for Saturday night. And on Saturday afternoon she carried away a second suit-case containing the remainder of her wardrobe, informing Madame Duprat that she was going to visit her folks for a day or two.
But first she had to undergo a bad quarter-hour in the back-parlour.
The sense of her treachery would not lift from her mood. Perhaps she felt its oppression the more heavily because of her uncertainty22: she couldn't yet be sure she wasn't committing herself to a step of irrevocable error; she was only sure that she was doing what she wanted to do with all her heart, whatever evil might come of it. And there would be more ease in companionship with Quard; with him she could have her own way in everything, could always be her natural self and still retain his respect—and her own. On the other hand, she could not look up to him, and was by no means as fond of him as of Matthias. Her fiancée was without reproach: he loved her; but his respect she could never own. Dimly she recognized this fact; though he thought he respected her, and did truly honour her as his promised wife, he was his own dupe, passion-blinded. Actually, they were people of different races, their emotional natures differently organized, their mental processes working from widely divergent views of life.
Even in this instance, Joan's perception of the gulf23 between them was more emotional than thoughtful....
She moved slowly about the room, resentfully distressed24, touching25 with reluctant fingers objects indelibly associated in her memory with the man of her first love.
Sitting at his desk, she enclosed in a large envelope his letters. Two had arrived since Thursday; but these she had not opened. She hardly understood why she desired not to open them; she still took a real and deep interest in his fortunes; but she was desperately26 loath27 to read the mute reproach legible, if to her eyes alone, between his lines.
She meant to leave him a note of her own, tenderly contrite28 and at the same time firmly final; but in spite of a mood saturate29 with an appropriately gentle and generous melancholy30, she could not, apparently31, fix it down with ink on paper. Eventually she gave it up: destroyed what she had attempted, and sealed the packet, leaving Matthias no written word of hers save his name on the face of the envelope.
There remained the most difficult duty of all.
With painful reluctance32, Joan removed the ring from her finger (where it had been ever since she had last parted with Quard) and replacing it in its leather-covered case, sat for a long time looking her farewell upon that brilliant and more than intrinsically precious jewel.
At length, closing the case, she placed it on top of the envelope, rose and moved to the door. There she hesitated, looking back in pain and longing33.
There was no telling what might happen to it before Matthias returned. A prying34 chambermaid....
And then it was quite possible that "The Lie" would not last out the week in Springfield.
Quard had more than once pointed35 out: "There's nothing sure in this game but the fact that you're bound to close sooner 'n you looked for."
"Maybe I'll be back inside a week," Joan doubted.
There was always that chance; and she had already left one door open against her return.
"Anyway, it isn't safe, there. And I can mail it to him, registered, when I'm sure he's home."
Turning back, she snatched up the leather case and darted36 guiltily from the study and out of the house.
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收听单词发音
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1
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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alcoholic
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| adj.（含）酒精的，由酒精引起的；n.酗酒者 | |
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3
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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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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5
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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6
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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7
sketchy
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| adj.写生的，写生风格的，概略的 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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12
bungled
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| v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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impair
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| v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少 | |
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14
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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17
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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18
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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lugging
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| 超载运转能力 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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contrite
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| adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的 | |
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saturate
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| vt.使湿透，浸透；使充满，使饱和 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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31
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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32
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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33
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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34
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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35
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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