For some reason she kept glancing at him with a troubled air—perhaps from some dread6 in connection with her plain avowals; but Charley was the quiet gentleman in every word and look; and before they left, all seemed to be quite at ease, so that the young man was almost angry with himself for feeling so quiet and happy during the half-hour or so the visit had lasted, besides which he had been merrily laughing two or three times with Nelly.
“Do, do, please!” Nelly had whispered; and those whispers had made Laura’s breast heave as she interpreted them to relate to Ella Bedford, whose name, however, had not been mentioned.
“I daren’t,” said Charley laughingly, in answer to Nelly’s appeal.
“O do—do—do!” whispered Nelly again. “You owe me ever so much for being your friend.”
Charley’s face darkened.
“Please I didn’t mean to hurt you,” said Nelly gently; “don’t be angry with me,” for she had seen the cloud cross his countenance.
“I’m not angry, my child,” he said, smiling again.
“That’s right!” whispered Nelly. “I do love to see you laugh; it makes you look so handsome. I say, Charley, I do wish you had been my brother! But now, I say, do declare you won’t come unless they let me dine with you all. I am so sick of the schoolroom.”
Poor Nelly! Inadvertently she kept touching7 chords that thrilled in Charley Vining’s breast; but he beat back the feelings, and laughingly said aloud that he thought he should not be able to come.
“O, really,” shrieked8 Mrs Bray1, “I shall be so disappointed!”
Laura looked pained, but she did not direct her eyes Vining-ward.
“I find that a particular old friend of mine is not coming to dinner,” said Charley, “and therefore I shall decline.”
“O, really, my dear Vining,” said Mr Bray, ceasing to warm the tails of his coat, “don’t say so; give us his name, and we’ll invite him at once.”
“’Tain’t a him at all,” cried the ungrammatical one, jumping up, laughing, and clapping her hands; “it’s a her, and it’s me; so there now—you must have me to dinner, after all. And why not, I should like to know. I’m only an inch shorter than pa.”
So Nelly dined with them that day, and Charley took her down, and sat between her and Laura, “behaving more jolly than ever he did before,” so Nelly vowed9; while Laura could not but own to the quiet, staid, gentlemanly tact10 with which he avoided all the past; and trembling and hopeful, she watched him unseen the whole evening.
He did not, neither did she, seek a tête-à-tête; but at the first opportunity Nelly dragged him aside in one of the drawing-rooms, under the pretence11 of showing him pictures; and though Laura saw all, she did not stir.
“That’s pretty, ain’t it?” said Nelly. “I sketched12 that.” Then in a low voice, “You like me, Charley, don’t you?”
“Yes, very much, my child,” said Charley quietly. “Do you want me to do something for you?”
“No,” said Nelly; “I only want to say something.”
“Go on, then.”
“You will not be cross?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes, my child,” said Charley sadly.
“It’s about that I wanted to talk to you,” said Nelly. “I don’t like seeing you so low and dumpy when you ought to be jolly and happy. You know you are miserable13 about some one that I got to love very—very much.”
Charley was silent; but his breath came thick and fast.
“And do you know, I’m sure that, if she had been left alone she would have been all that’s wise and good and dear? May I go on?”
“Yes,” said Charley, with quite a hiss14.
“I thought you would like me to say anything, when you wouldn’t hear it from any one else. Do you know, Charley, you mustn’t be miserable about Miss B—any more? and if I wasn’t going to have Hugh Lingon when I get big—I mean old enough—I should ask you to let me love you, and try and comfort you, and make you happy. I do love you very much now, you know, but I mean the other way.”
She was silent for a few moments, while he went on turning over the pictures.
“Charley,” she then said earnestly, “I don’t think she has done right; but whether she’s been persuaded, or somebody’s told stories about you. Max goes to see her very often—nearly every day now—and she writes to him lots of letters. O Charley, dear Charley!” she half sobbed15, “what have I done? Pray!—please don’t look like that! I thought telling you would make you leave off looking miserable, and ready to be happy again when you knew you couldn’t have her. But pray—pray don’t look like that!”
For the young man’s ghastly face had frightened her, as he stood gazing full in her eyes, crushing the while one of the drawings in his hand.
“How do you know that?” he whispered hoarsely16.
“I heard Max tell Laury; and one day, when I went with her to his rooms, there was a whole heap of little narrow envelopes directed to him, and they were all in her handwriting. But please try and not fret17, or I shall be so—so unhappy.”
Charley drew a deep long breath, and for the space of a good minute he stood there supporting himself by, and gazing blankly down at, the table, for a sharp pang18 had shot through him, and he felt giddy; but the next minute it passed off, as he muttered to himself:
“Not yet, not yet. I must have farther proof!”
Then, by an effort, he recovered himself, and leading Nelly to the piano, he sat by her while she sang. A few minutes after, he was by Laura’s side, talking to her quietly and gently, as he would have talked to any other lady.
And she knew the while what had passed in the farther drawing-room—knew as well as if she had listened; for she knew that Nelly had heard her brothers words, and, in spite of Nelly’s quickness, Laura had seen her looking at the letters that were in Ella’s handwriting.
Laura’s breast heaved as Charley sat beside her, and again she trembled, and her heart smote19 her as she saw how deeply that wound had been cut. But though she pitied, she was hopeful; for she said to herself, “The day must come when Max’s words will be true, and he will run to me for solace20. The day must come! But when?”
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1
bray
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n.驴叫声, 喇叭声;v.驴叫 | |
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2
mansion
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n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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3
dreary
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adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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4
constrained
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adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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5
countenance
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n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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6
dread
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vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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7
touching
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adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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8
shrieked
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v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
vowed
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起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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10
tact
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n.机敏,圆滑,得体 | |
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11
pretence
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n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
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12
sketched
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v.草拟(sketch的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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13
miserable
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adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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14
hiss
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v.发出嘶嘶声;发嘘声表示不满 | |
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15
sobbed
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哭泣,啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 ); 哭诉,呜咽地说 | |
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16
hoarsely
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adv.嘶哑地 | |
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17
fret
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v.(使)烦恼;(使)焦急;(使)腐蚀,(使)磨损 | |
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18
pang
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n.剧痛,悲痛,苦闷 | |
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19
smote
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v.猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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20
solace
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n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
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