"In the freshness of the morning"—
"In the freshness of the morning"—
"Do you, dear? I thought you scorned young men?"
"As a class, yes!—Especially the Cambridge variety. But not in particular. I make an exception in this case."
"So good of you!" murmured Margaret in her best company manner.
"Why did you never tell me how nice he was?"
"Tell you how nice he was? I don't remember ever discussing him with you in any shape or form whatever."
"Not to say discussed exactly, but you can't deny that you've mentioned him occasionally."
"So I have William Shakespeare and Alfred Tennyson—"
"And Charles Pixley!"
"That's quite different—"
"You're right, my dear. This is a horse of quite another colour. An awfully3 decent colour too. I'm glad you appreciate it. He's as brown as a gipsy and not an ounce of flab about him. Charles Pixley is mostly flab—"
"Don't be rude, Hen. You don't know Charles. And do drop your school slang—"
"Can't, my child. It's part of my holiday, so none of your pi-jaw! If you want me to enjoy myself you must let me have my head. You can't imagine how awfully good it tastes when you've been doing your best to choke girls off it for a year or two. It's one of the outward and visible signs of emancipation4. This is another!" and she sprang up the high turf bank of the orchard5 of La Tour and danced a breakdown6 on it, and then jumped back into the road with ballooning skirts, to the intense amazement7 of old Mrs. Hamon of Le Fort, who had just come round the corner to draw sweet water from the La Tour well.
"People will think you're crazy," remonstrated8 Margaret.
"So I am, and you're my keeper, though it's supposed to be the other way about. The air of Sark has got into my head. What a quaint9 bonnet10 that old lady has! I wonder what colour it was in its infancy11. Good-morning, ma'am! Isn't this a glorious day?" And old Madame Hamon murmured a word and passed hastily on lest worse should befall.
"Hennie, be sensible for a minute or two. I want you to consider something seriously."
"Sensible, if you like, Chummie, for 'tis my nature to. Serious?—Never! How could one, with those larks bursting themselves in a sky like that? And did you ever see hedges like these in all your life? What's it all about?—Ripply12-Hair?"
"Yes. Don't you see how awkward the whole matter is—"
"Awkward for Charles Pixley maybe. I don't see that anybody else need worry themselves thin about it."
"I'm not thinking of Mr. Pixley. It's—"
"Ripply-Hair? Well, that's all right! Jolly sight nicer to think about him. I like his eyes too. There's something in them that seems to invite one's confidence. Perhaps you haven't noticed it? If I had a father-confessor—which, thank's-be, I haven't, and a jolly good thing for him!—I should stipulate13 for him having eyes just like that. Ripply hair too, I think. Yes. I should insist on his having hair just like Mr. Graeme's."
They had strolled along past Le Fort till the road lost itself in a field above Banquette, and there they came to an involuntary stand and stood gazing.
Before them, the long, broken slopes of the Eperquerie swept down from the heights to the sea, one vast blaze of flaming gorse—a tumultuous torrent14 of solid sunshine stayed suddenly in its course. And, in below the sunshine of the gorse, where rough Mother Earth should have been, there lay instead a soft sunset cloud, the tender cream-yellow and green of myriads15 of primroses16 and the just uncurling fronds17 of the bracken—primroses in such unbroken sheets and masses as to give a weird18 effect of remoteness and impalpability to that which was solid and close at hand.
"Wonderful!" murmured Margaret.
"Glorious!" murmured Miss Penny. "Is it really old Mother Earth we're looking at?"
"No, dear! It's a bit of the sky fallen down there and the sun has rolled over it into the sea. See the bits of him in the wavelets! And did you ever in your life see a green like that water below the rocks?"
"Sky and sun above, sun and sky below!—with trimmings of liquid emerald and sapphire19, shot with white and gold. Meg, my child, this is a long way from No. 1 Melgrave Square."
"A long, long way!" assented20 Margaret thoughtfully. And then, to take advantage of her companion's comparative soberness through the stirring of her feelings,—"Hennie, do you think we ought to stop?"
"Stop?" and Miss Penny fronted her squarely. "Stop? Why, we've only just come. What's disgruntling you, Chummie?"
"Can't you see how awkward it is?"
"Well,—that depends—"
"No one would believe it was all pure accident."
"Perhaps it isn't," said Miss Penny oracularly.
"Why, what do you mean?" said Margaret, bristling21 in her turn.
"Oh, I'm imputing22 no guile23, my child. I'm miles away up past that kind of thing. What I mean is this—perhaps it was meant to be, and you couldn't help yourselves. Now if that should be the case, it would be flying in the face of Providence24 to go and upset it all. What are your feelings towards him?"
"Feelings? I have no feelings—"
"Oh yes, you have, my child. You're not made of marble, though you can look it when you try. Why, I have myself. I like him—the little I've seen of him—and in spite of the fact that he caught me doing my hair, which is enough to turn anyone against anyone. I shall probably like him still more the better I get to know him. What have you against him?"
"I've nothing whatever against him. I—"
"Then, my dear, we'll sit tight. If anyone should go it's he, since he's been here a month, and we've only been one day. But if he goes it will only be because you make him. You've no ill-will towards him?"
"I've no feeling at all about him, except that it's awkward his being here."
"Then we'll just put the blame on Providence, and sit tight, as I said before. I'll see you come to no harm, my child. I could make that young man, or any young man, fly to the other end of the island by simply looking at him."
"Think so, dear?" and Margaret, the issue being decided25 for her, came back to equanimity26.
"Sure!" said Miss Penny.
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收听单词发音
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1
rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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2
larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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3
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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4
emancipation
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| n.（从束缚、支配下）解放 | |
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5
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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6
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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7
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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8
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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9
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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10
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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11
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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12
ripply
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| 波纹状的，潺潺声的 | |
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13
stipulate
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| vt.规定，（作为条件）讲定，保证 | |
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14
torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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15
myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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16
primroses
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| n.报春花( primrose的名词复数 )；淡黄色；追求享乐（招至恶果） | |
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17
fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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18
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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19
sapphire
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| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
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20
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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22
imputing
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的现在分词 ) | |
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23
guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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24
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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25
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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26
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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