On that first evening Mrs. Lewknor came down the broad stair-case in "review order," as she called it, to celebrate the consummation of the first stage of her project, and found her husband standing4 at the sea-ward window of the hall, a Mestophelian figure, holding back the curtain and peeping out. Quietly she came and stood beside him, about her shoulders the scarlet5 cape6 a Rajput Princess had given her after Lord Curzon's durbar.
The house, which was the solitary7 building in the great coombe, stood back some hundred yards from the cliff along which the coast-guard's path to Beau-nez showed up white-dotted in the darkness. The Colonel was staring out over the misty8 and muffled9 waters, mumbling10 to himself, as was his way.
"We shall get a nice view from here, anyway," he said with his satyr-like chuckle11.
She laid her hand upon his shoulder.
"Of what?" she asked.
"The landing," he replied.
She rippled12 off into a delicious titter. After thirty years of married life her Jocko was still for Rachel Lewknor the most entertaining of men.
"You and Mr. Trupp!" she said. "A pair of you!" For the two men had drawn13 singularly close since the Colonel on retirement14 had established himself in Meads.
The old soldier in truth came as something of a revelation to the great surgeon, who delighted in the other's philosophical15 mind, his freedom from the conventional limitations and prejudices of the officer-caste, his wide reading and ironical16 humour.
On his evening ride one day about this time Mr. Trupp and Bess came upon the Colonel halted at the flag-staff on the top of the Head, and gazing out over the wide-spread waters with solemn eyes, as though watching for a tidal wave to sweep up out of the East and overwhelm his country. Mr. Trupp knew that the old soldier was often at that spot in that attitude at that hour, a sentinel on guard at the uttermost end of the uttermost peninsula that jutted17 out into the Channel; and he knew why.
"Well, is it coming?" the doctor growled18, half serious, half chaffing.
The Colonel, standing with his hat off, his fine forehead and cadaverous face thrusting up into the blue, answered with quiet conviction.
"It's coming all right."
"It's been coming all my time," answered the other sardonically19. "If it don't come soon I shall miss it. In the seventies it was Russia. Any fool, who wasn't a criminal or a traitor20 or both, could see that a clash was inevitable21. Two great races expanding at incredible speed in Asia, etc., etc. Then in the nineties it was France. Any man in his right mind could see it. It was mathematically demonstrable. Two great races expanding in Africa, etc., etc.... And now it's Germany..." He coughed and ended gruffly, "Well, you may be right this time."
"We were right about William the Conqueror22," said the Colonel urbanely23. "He came."
"But that was some time ago, my daughter tells me," replied Mr. Trupp. "And you've been wrong every time since."
Bess giggled24; and the Colonel adjusted his field-glasses with delicate precision.
"If you say it's going to rain and keep on saying it long enough you'll probably prove right in the end," he remarked. "It's dogged as does it in the realm of speculation25 as elsewhere in my experience."
The old surgeon and his daughter turned their backs on the flagstaff and the solitary watchman beside it, and jogged towards the sunset red-strewn behind the white bluff26 of the Seven Sisters Newhaven-way.
Two figures topped the brow of Warren Hill in front and came swiftly over the short turf towards them. It was Saturday: Ruth and Ernie were on their way to their secret covert27 above Cow Gap as usual.
"About your last week-end up here before the weather breaks, I should say," chaffed the old surgeon as he passed them.
Ernie laughed a little nervously28.
"Yes, sir. Just what I were a-sayin to Ruth," he answered. He had thought his secret known to none.
"Well, I hope the police won't catch you," remarked the other with a grin as he rode on.
"Never!—not unless someone was to give us away, sir!" said Ruth demurely29, as she looked across the sea under lowered brows.
Bess called back reassuringly30 over her shoulder:
"You're all right, Ruth. I'll square Mr. Trupp."
The riders struck Duke's Drive and dropped down into Meads.
"How happy Ernie looks now!" said Bess. "It's delightful31 to see him."
"Yes," replied her father—"too happy. He's going to sleep again—just what I told you. And when he's well away in the land of dreams IT'll pounce32 on him once more."
That evening over his coffee Mr. Trupp returned to the subject, which was a favourite with him.
"I always knew how it would be," he said with gloomy complacency.
"Of course," answered Mrs. Trupp, glancing mischievously33 at Bess.
"Makes him too comfortable," the wise man continued. "Fatal mistake. What he wants is an occasional flick34 with the whip to keep him up to the mark. We all do."
It was not, indeed, in Ruth's nature to use the whip or inspire the fear which few of us as yet are able to do without. And at present she did not bother much. For at first her beauty and spiritual power were quite enough to hold Ernie. He found in her the comfort and the stay the tree finds in the earth it is rooted in. She was the element in which he lived and moved and had his being. She satisfied his body and his spirit as the sea satisfies the fish which dwells in it. She steadied him and that was what he needed.
The marriage, indeed, proved as successful as are most. That is to say it was not a failure, in that both the contracting parties were on the whole the happier for it. Certainly Ern was: for there was no doubt that he was in love with Ruth, nor that his love was real and enduring.
Ruth on her side was fond of Ern, and grateful to him, if only because of little Alice; although her feeling was more that of the mother for the child than of the woman for her mate. She was full of pity for him and occasionally unuttered resentment35. That was inevitable because Ern was weak. She had continually to prop36 him up, though she would rather have let him do the propping37. And perhaps for her own growth it was good that she must give support rather than receive it.
In a way she was not the ideal wife for Ern: her strength was her weakness. She appeared almost too big of soul and tranquil38 of spirit. But there was another side of her, largely undeveloped, that had as yet only revealed itself in gleams, or rather, to be exact, in one lurid39 flash of lightning which had thrown her firmament40 into ghastly and twittering relief. Her quiet was the hushed and crouching41 quiet of the young lilac in winter, lying secretly in wait for the touch of April sun, to leap forth42 from its covert in an amazing ecstasy43 of colour, fragrance44, loveliness and power.
For the time being Ruth was glad to lie up, as a tigress in whelp, after long hunting, is content to harbour in the green darkness, drinking in draughts45 of refreshing46 through sleep, while her mate prowls out at dusk to find meat. But that would not last for ever. Her life must be full and brimming over or her insatiable vitality47 and that all-devouring spirit of hers, reaching out like a creeper to embrace the world, might find outlet48 in mischief49, innocent enough in the intention, and yet, as experience had already proved, catastrophic in its consequences.
In her secret deeps, indeed, Ruth was one to whom danger was the breath of life, although she was still unaware50 of it: an explorer and pioneer, gay and gallant51, sailing her skiff over virgin52 oceans, reckless of the sunken reefs that might at any moment rip the bottom out of her frail53 craft. The outward sedateness54 of the Sussex peasant was liable at any moment to sudden overthrow55, as some chance spark caused the southern blood in her veins56 to leap and frolic into flame; and that Castilian hidalgo, her remote ancestor, who lurked57 behind the arras of the centuries, called her away from the timid herd58 to some dear and desperate enterprise of romance.
Mrs. Trupp alone was aware of this buccaneer quality hidden in the young woman's heart and undiscovered of the world. Ruth's Miss Caryll had told her friend of it long ago when the girl was in her service at the Dower-house, Aldwoldston.
"It's the Spaniard in her," Miss Caryll had said.
And when at the time of her distress59 Ruth had told her story to the wife of the great surgeon who had succoured her, Mrs. Trupp, keen-eyed for all her gentleness, had more than once detected the flash of a sword in the murk of the tragedy.
The girl had dared—and been defeated. She would dare again—until she found her conqueror: thus Mrs. Trupp envisaged60 the position.
Was Ernie that man?
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
blot
|
|
| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
hostel
|
|
| n.（学生）宿舍，招待所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
cape
|
|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
solitary
|
|
| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
misty
|
|
| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
muffled
|
|
| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
mumbling
|
|
| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
chuckle
|
|
| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
rippled
|
|
| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
retirement
|
|
| n.退休，退职 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
philosophical
|
|
| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ironical
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，冷嘲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
jutted
|
|
| v.（使）突出( jut的过去式和过去分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
sardonically
|
|
| adv.讽刺地，冷嘲地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
traitor
|
|
| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
conqueror
|
|
| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
urbanely
|
|
| adv.都市化地，彬彬有礼地，温文尔雅地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
giggled
|
|
| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
speculation
|
|
| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
bluff
|
|
| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
covert
|
|
| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
nervously
|
|
| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
demurely
|
|
| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
reassuringly
|
|
| ad.安心，可靠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
pounce
|
|
| n.猛扑；v.猛扑，突然袭击，欣然同意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
mischievously
|
|
| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
flick
|
|
| n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
resentment
|
|
| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
prop
|
|
| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
propping
|
|
| 支撑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
tranquil
|
|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
lurid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
firmament
|
|
| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
crouching
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
fragrance
|
|
| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
draughts
|
|
| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
refreshing
|
|
| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
vitality
|
|
| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
outlet
|
|
| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
mischief
|
|
| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
unaware
|
|
| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
frail
|
|
| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
sedateness
|
|
| n.安详，镇静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
overthrow
|
|
| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
lurked
|
|
| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
herd
|
|
| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
envisaged
|
|
| 想像，设想( envisage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |