For the day remained gray and boisterous2 until late in the afternoon. They had lunched—with less exuberance3 than they had breakfasted—on potatoes and salt and a thin medicinal-tasting decoction made from breakfast's tea-leaves; they were looking forward with no undue4 eagerness to potato dinner without even the palliative of medicinal tea; and even Miss Penny acknowledged that, choice being offered her, she would give the preference to some other vegetable for a week to come;—when, of a sudden, the gray veil of the west opened slowly, like the lifting of an iron curtain, and let the light behind shine through.
And the light was as they could imagine the light of heaven—a pure lucent yellow as of the early primrose5, but diaphanous7 and almost transparent8, as though this, which seemed to them light, was itself in reality but an outer veil hiding the still greater glory behind. The curtain lifted but a span, and the lower rim6 of it curved in a gentle arch from the middle of Guernsey to the filmy line of Alderney. All below the sharp-cut rim was the sea of heavenly primrose, with here and there a floating purple island edged with gold. All above was sombre plum-colour flushed with rose, the edges fraying9 in the wind, and floating in thin rosy10 streamers up the dark sky above.
The sun, larger than they had ever seen him in their lives, dropped gently like a great brass11 shield from behind the dark curtain into the sea of primrose light, and the primrose flushed with crimson12 over Guernsey and with tender green and blue over Alderney.
They hastened away to Belême cliff, and then they saw what they had hoped to see, and more;—the mighty13 granite14 frontlets of Sark all washed with living gold—- shining from their long conflict with the waves, and gleaming, every one, like a jewel,—from Bec-du-Nez to Moie de Bretagne. And, out in the dimness, behind which lay Jersey15, there suddenly appeared the perfect circle of a rainbow such as none of them had ever dreamed of—a perfect orb16 of the living colours of the Promise—resting bodily on the dark sea like a gigantic iridescent17 soap-bubble, glowing and pulsing and throbbing18 under the level beams of the setting sun.
"Wonderful!" murmured Margaret.
"I never saw more than half a bow before," whispered Miss Penny.
"Nor I," said Graeme. "But then, you see, nothing ever was as it is now. Things happened last night."
At which Miss Penny smiled and murmured, "Of course! That accounts for everything. The whole world is changed."
And they watched and watched, in breathless admiration20, first the cliffs, and then the bow, and then the sun, and then the cliffs and bow again, till the last tiny rim of the sun sank behind the dark line of Herm, and the bow went out with a snap, and the cliffs in front grew gray and sank back into their sleep, as the shadows crept up out of the sea.
And, presently, the primrose sea in the clouds lost its transparent softness and flushed with rose and carmine21. The tender greens and blues22 in the north deepened, and the sky above glowed crimson right into the far east. And the sea below was like a ripe plum with a rippling23 bloom upon it, and then it answered to the glow "above and became like burnished24 copper25. And over it, from the south end of Sark, came a dancing white sail, at sight of which Graeme leaped to his feet.
"The show is over," he cried, "and here comes your highnesses' carriage."
"I wouldn't have missed it for anything," said Margaret softly, with a rapt face still.
"It was worth living on potatoes for a month for," said Miss Penny. "All the same, I hope Mrs. Carré will have some dinner for us when we get home."
The boat was heading for the Pente-à-Fouaille where they had landed the day before, and they hurried to meet it, Graeme full of misgivings26 as to the embarkation27, for the waves were still roaring up the rocks in bursts of foam28, though the wind had fallen somewhat.
But the boatmen knew their business, and had brought an extra hand for its safe accomplishment29. They dropped the sail and pulled round a corner of the black rock. Then, while two of them kept the boat from destruction, the other stood and Graeme dropped the girls one by one into his arms, and was a very thankful man when he tumbled in himself, all in a heap, and wiped the big drops of sweat from his brow.
A stroke or two with the oars30 and they were plunging31 back through the hissing32 white caps, but not, as he had expected, to Havre Gosselin.
"Where to?" he shouted to the blue-guernseyed stalwart nearest him.
"Grande Grève. We couldn' beach in Havre Gosselin, and mebbe the leddies wouldn' like to climb the ladders," with a grin at the leddies.
"Not much!" said Miss Penny. "Margaret, my dear, prepare yourself! I'm going to be sick if this goes on much longer."
But before she had time to be sick they had rounded the shoulder of Port-és-Saies, and their boat's nose ran up the soft sand of a low tide in Grande Grève, and the green waves came curling exultantly33 in over the stern. The men leaped out and hauled bravely, and in a moment the girls were ashore34.
"Couldn' get back nohow last night, sir. 'Twould a bin19 as much as our lives were worth. Hope ye didn' starve," said the spokesman with another genial35 grin.
"No, we didn't expect you. We dug potatoes and cooked them. Here you are, and thanks for coming as soon as you could," and, from their smiling faces, their reward without doubt covered not only that which they had actually done but that also which they had unwittingly helped to do.
The boat shoved off and made for its own anchorage, and Graeme led the girls up the toilsome path to the Coupée.
It was after nine when they reached the cottage, and the first thing they saw was Johnnie Vautrin sitting in the hedge opposite, with Marielihou licking her lips alongside.
"I just seen seven crows," cried Johnnie gleefully.
"Little rascal36! You dream crows," said Graeme, whose desires at the moment ran to something more palatable37 and satisfying.
"And what do seven crows mean, Johnnie?" asked Margaret.
"Seven crows means everything's oll right!"
"Clever boy! You see just what you want to see," said Graeme, and then Mrs. Carré appeared at the door of the cottage.
"Ah then, here you are!" she said, with a large welcoming smile. "And the dinner I haf been keeping for you for an hour an' more."
"You're a good angel, Mrs. Carré," said Graeme gratefully. "We are a bit late, aren't we? I hope you've put yesterday's dinner and to-day's together. We've had nothing to eat to speak of for a month. What did you think when we never turned up last night?"
"Oh, but I knew you would be all right. There iss a house on Brecqhou, and there iss watter, and you had things to eat, and it was better on Brecqhou last night than on the watter."
"It was," said Graeme heartily38, and sped off up the garden for a much-needed wash and brush-up.
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1
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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primrose
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| n.樱草，最佳部分， | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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diaphanous
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| adj.(布)精致的，半透明的 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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fraying
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| v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的现在分词 ) | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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iridescent
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| adj.彩虹色的，闪色的 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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carmine
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| n.深红色，洋红色 | |
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blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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24
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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misgivings
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
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embarkation
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| n. 乘船, 搭机, 开船 | |
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foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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31
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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32
hissing
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| n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
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33
exultantly
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| adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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palatable
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| adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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