Straker saw that very plainly. He wondered whether Miss Tarrant would see it, too, and if she did whether it would make any difference in her method.
It was very clear to Straker that Miss Tarrant was considering Furnival, as she had considered him, as she had considered young Reggy Lawson, as she had considered Mr. Higginson, who was not so young. As for Reggy and his successor, she had done with them. All that could be known of their fatuity6 she knew. Perhaps they had never greatly interested her. But she was interested in Laurence Furnival. She told Straker that he was the most amusing man of her acquaintance. She was, Straker noticed, perpetually aware of him. All Monday morning, in the motor, Miss Tarrant in front with Brocklebank, Furnival with Mrs. Viveash, and Straker behind, it was an incessant7 duel8 between Furnival's eyes and the eyes that Miss Tarrant had in the back of her head. All Monday afternoon she had him at her heels, at her elbow. With every gesture she seemed to point to him and say: "Look at this little animal I've caught. Did you ever see such an amusing little animal?"
She was quite aware that it was an animal, the creature she had captured and compelled to follow her; it might hide itself now and then, but it never failed to leap madly forward at her call. The animal [Pg 113] in Furnival, so simple, so undisguised, and so spontaneous, was what amused her.
Its behavior that Monday after tea on the terrace was one of the most disconcerting things that had occurred at Amberley. You could see that Mrs. Viveash couldn't bear it, that she kept looking away, that Brocklebank didn't know where to look, and that even Fanny was perturbed9.
As for Mr. Higginson, it was altogether too much for him and his honesty. He was visibly alienated10, and from that moment he devoted11 himself and his honesty to Mary Probyn.
Young Reggy was alienated, too, so profoundly that he spoke12 about it aside to Straker.
"Between you and me," said young Reggy, "it's a bit too strong. I can't stick it, the way she goes on. What does she mean by it, Straker?"
People were always appealing to Straker to tell them what women meant by it. As if he knew.
He was glad to see that young Reggy had turned, that he could turn. He liked Reggy, and he felt that he owed him a good deal. If it had not been for Reggy he might, two years ago, have been numbered as one of the fallen. He had been pretty far gone two years ago, so far that he had frequently wondered how it was that he had not fallen. Now it was clear to him. It had been her method with Reggy that had checked his own perilous13 approaches. It had offended his fine sense of the fitting (a fastidiousness which, in one of her moods of ungovernable frankness, she had qualified14 as "finicking"). For Reggy was a nice boy, and her method had somehow resulted in making him appear not so nice. It nourished and brought to the surface that secret, indecorous, primordial15 quality that he shared, though in less splendor16 and abundance, with [Pg 114] Laurence Furnival. He had kept his head, or had seemed inimitably to have kept it. At any rate, he had preserved his sense of decency17. He was incapable18 of presenting on the terrace at Amberley the flaming pageant19 of his passion. Straker was not sure how far this restraint, this level-headedness of young Reggy, had been his undoing20. It might be that Miss Tarrant had required of him a pageant. Anyhow, Reggy's case had been very enlightening to Straker.
And it was through Reggy, or rather through his own intent and breathless observation of the two, that Straker had received his final illumination. It had come suddenly in one inspiring and delivering flash; he could recall even now his subsequent sensations, the thrilling lucidity21 of soul, the prodigious22 swiftness of body, after his long groping in obscurities and mysteries. For it had been a mystery to him how she had resisted Reggy in his young physical perfection and with the charm he had, a charm that spiritualized him, a charm that should have appealed to everything that was supersensuous in Philippa Tarrant (and Philippa would have had you believe that there was very little in her that was not). It was incomprehensible therefore to Straker how any woman who had a perfect body, with a perfect heart in it, could have resisted Reggy at his best—and for Mr. Higginson.
To be sure, compared with Mr. Higginson he was impecunious23; but that, to Straker's mind, was just what gave him, with the other things, his indomitable distinction. Reggy's distinction stood straight and clean, naked of all accessories. An impecuniousness24 so unexpressed, so delicate, so patrician25 could never have weighed with Philippa against Reggy's charm. That she should deliberately26 have reckoned up his income, compared it with Mr. Higginson's, and deducted27 Reggy [Pg 115] with the result was inconceivable. Whatever Straker had thought of her he had never thought of her as mercenary. It wasn't that. He had found out what it was. Watching her at play with Reggy's fire (for to the inconspicuous observer the young man had flamed sufficiently), it had struck Straker that she herself was flameless.
It was in the nature of Reggy's perfection that it called, it clamored for response. And Philippa had not responded. She hadn't got it in her to respond.
All this came back vividly28 to Straker as he watched her now on the terrace, at play with the fiercer conflagration29 that was Laurence Furnival.
She was cold; she had never kindled30, never would, never could kindle31. Her eyes did, if you like; they couldn't help it—God made them lights and flames—but her mouth couldn't. To Straker in his illumination all the meaning of Philippa Tarrant was in her mouth. The small, exquisite32 thing lacked fulness and the vivid rose that should have been the flowering of her face. A certain tightness at the corners gave it an indescribable expression of secrecy33 and mystery and restraint. He saw in it the almost monstrous34 denial and mockery of desire. He could not see it, as he had seen Nora Viveash's mouth, curved forward, eager, shedding flame at the brim, giving itself to lips that longed for it. Philippa's mouth was a flower that opened only at the touch, the thrill of her own gorgeous egoism. He read in it the triumph of Philippa over the flesh and blood of her race. She had nothing in her of the dead. That was the wonder of her. The passion of the dead had built up her body to the semblance35 and the promise of their own delight; their desire, long forgotten, rose again, lightening and darkening in her amazing eyes; the imperishable instinct that [Pg 116] impelled36 them to clothe her in their flesh and blood survived in her, transfigured in strange impulses and intuitions, but she herself left unfulfilled their promise and their desire.
Yes—that was what her mouth meant; it was treacherous37; it betrayed the promise of her body and her eyes. And Furnival was feeding his infatuation on the meanings of her eyes and of her body—meanings that were unmistakable to Straker.
As if she had known what the older man was thinking of her, Philippa rose abruptly38 and turned her back on Furnival and began to make violent love to old Lady Paignton. Her eyes challenged Straker's across the terrace. They said: "Look at me. I will be as beautiful for this old lady as for any male thing on earth. More beautiful. Have I ever set my cap so becomingly at any of you as I am setting it now at her? Have you ever seen finer eyes than these that I make at her, that I lavish39 on her out of the sheer exuberance40 of my nature? Very well, then; doesn't that prove that you're wrong in all things you've been thinking about me. I know what you've been thinking!"
As if she knew what he was thinking she made herself beautiful for him. She allowed him presently to take her for a walk, for quite a long walk. The woods of Amberley lured41 them, westward42, across the shining fields. They went, therefore, through the woods and back by the village in the cool of the evening.
He had seldom, he might say he had never, seen Philippa in so agreeable a mood. She had sunk her sex. She was tired of her terrible game, the game that Straker saw through; she was playing another one, a secret, innocent, delightful43 game. She laid herself out to amuse Straker, instead of laying him out (as he put it), on the table, to amuse herself. [Pg 117]
"Philippa," he said, "you've been adorable for the last half hour."
"For the last half hour I've been myself."
She smiled as if to herself, a secret, meditative44 smile. The mystery of it was not lost on Straker.
"I can always be myself," she said, "when I'm with you."
"For half an hour," he murmured.
She went on. "You're not tiresome45, like the others. I don't know what there is about you, but you don't bore me."
"Perhaps not—for half an hour."
"Not for millions of half hours."
"Consecutive46?"
"Oh, yes."
She tilted47 her head back and gazed at him with eyes narrowed and slanting48 under their deep lids.
"Not in an immortality49," she said.
She laughed aloud her joyous50 appreciation51 of him.
Straker was neither uplifted nor alarmed. He knew exactly where he stood with her. She was not considering him; she was not trying to get at him; she was aware of his illumination and his disenchantment; she was also aware of his continuous interest in her, and it was his continuous interest, the study that he made of her, that interested Philippa. She was anxious that he should get her right, that he should accept her rendering52 of herself. She knew at each moment what he was thinking of her, and the thing that went on between them was not a game—it was a duel, an amicable53 duel, between her lucidity and his. Philippa respected his lucidity.
"All the same," said Straker, "I am not the most amusing man you know. You don't find me exciting."
"No." She turned it over. "No; I don't find you [Pg 118] at all exciting or very amusing. How is it, then, that you don't bore me?"
"How can I say?"
"I think it is because you're so serious, because you take me seriously."
"But I don't. Not for a moment. As for an immortality of seriousness——"
"At least," she said, "you would admit that possibly I might have a soul. At any rate, you behave as if you did."
He dodged54 it dexterously55.
"That's where the immortality comes in, is it?"
"Of course," said Philippa.
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1
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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plunges
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| n.跳进，投入vt.使投入，使插入，使陷入vi.投入，跳进，陷入v.颠簸( plunge的第三人称单数 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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fatuity
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| n.愚蠢，愚昧 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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alienated
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| adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等） | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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primordial
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| adj.原始的；最初的 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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lucidity
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| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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impecunious
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| adj.不名一文的，贫穷的 | |
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impecuniousness
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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deducted
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| v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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conflagration
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| n.建筑物或森林大火 | |
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30
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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39
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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41
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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westward
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| n.西方，西部；adj.西方的，向西的；adv.向西 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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49
immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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51
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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52
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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53
amicable
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| adj.和平的，友好的；友善的 | |
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54
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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