She was an American; that fact had at first made his doubt itself a little dubious3. And she was probably from the South (they were different there). Hence her softness, her full tone, her richness and her glow. Hence her exotic strain that went so well with the false tropics of the scene. But whether she were a provincial4 [Pg 158] or an urban, or, as she seemed, a cosmopolitan5 splendor6, Thesiger was not cosmopolitan enough to tell. She might have been the supreme7 flower of her astounding8 country. She might have been, for all he knew, unique.
She was tall, and her body, large and massive, achieved the grace of slenderness from the sheer perfection of its lines. Her attire9, within the bounds of its subservience10 to Paris, was certainly unique. It was wonderful the amount of decoration she could carry without being the worse for it. Her head alone, over and above its bronze hair, coil on coil and curl on curl, sustained several large tortoise-shell pins, a gold lace fillet, and a rose over each ear. It was no more to her than a bit of black ribbon to a young girl. Old rose and young rose mingled11 delicately in the silks and gauzes of her gown; here and there a topaz flashed rose from her bodice and from the dusk of her bared neck. There was a fine dusk in her whiteness and in the rose of her face, and in the purplish streaks12 under her eyes, and deeper dusks about the roots of her hair. And gold sprang out of her darkness there; gold and bronze and copper13 gleamed and glowed and flamed on every coil and curl. Her eyes held the light gloriously; they were of a luminous14, tawny15 brown, wide apart, and slightly round, with a sudden fineness at the corners. The lids had thick black lashes16, so short that when they drooped17 they had the effect of narrowing her eyes without darkening them. Her nose, small and straight, was a shade too broadly rounded at the tip, but that defect gave a sort of softness to her splendor. Of her mouth Thesiger could not judge; he hadn't seen it at rest; and when she talked her white teeth flashed at him and disturbed him.
As he looked at her, disturbed, and he hoped, disturbing, [Pg 159] he thought of little Vera Walters, of her slender virginal body, of her small virginal face, smooth, firm, and slightly pointed18 like a bud, of her gray eyes, clear as water, and of the pale gold and fawn19 of her hair. He thought of her tenderness and of her cruelty. He caught himself frowning at it over the mousse de volaille he was eating; and just then he thought that the other woman who was looking at him smiled. Most certainly she gazed.
The gaze was condoned20 and allowed by the two men who followed it.
She was superb; but the men, the men were awful. To begin with, they were American, altogether too American for Thesiger. One, whom the lady addressed with some ceremony as Mr. Tarbuck, was the big, full type, florid, rough-hewn, civilized21 by the cut of his clothes and the excessive cleanness of his shaving. From the first he had oppressed and offended Thesiger by his large and intolerably genial22 presence. The other, whom she familiarly and caressingly23 called Binky, was small and lean and yellow; he had a young face with old, nervous lines in it, the twitching24, tortured lines of the victim of premature25 high pressure, effete26 in one generation. The small man drank, most distinctly and disagreeably he drank. He might have been the wreck27 of saloon bars, or of the frequent convivial28 cocktail29, or of savage30, solitary31 drinking.
The lady seemed to be traveling under Tarbuck's awful wing, while the outrageous32 Binky wandered conspicuously33 and somewhat mysteriously under hers. She was attentive34 to the small man and peeled his peaches for him, while the large man, smiling largely and with irrepressible affection, peeled hers. The large man (flagrantly opulent) had ordered peaches. He supposed [Pg 160] they'd be the one thing that durned hotel hadn't got.
Thesiger conceived a violent hatred35 for him and for the small man, too. He always had hated the male of the American species. He looked on him as a disagreeable and alien creature; at his best a creature of predatory instincts who appropriated and monopolized36 all those things of power and beauty that belonged, properly speaking, to his betters; at his worst a defiler37 of the sacred wells, a murderer and mutilator of the language, of his, Oscar Thesiger's, language.
The two were murdering it now, the large man with a terrible slow assurance in the operation; the small man, as it were, worrying it between his teeth, disposing of it in little savage snaps and jerks and nasal snarlings. He would stop eating to do it. That was when his beautiful and hypothetical companion left him to himself.
For the lady had a curiously39 soothing40 and subduing41 effect on the small man. Sometimes, when his snarls42 were too obtrusive43, she would put out her hand, her small, perfect hand, and touch his sleeve, and he would cease snarling38 and begin to peck feebly at the things before him, or at the things before her, as the case might be. Thesiger actually saw her transferring the entrée she had just tasted from her own plate to his; he heard her coaxing44 and cajoling him, calling on him by his offensive name of Binky. "Eat, little Binky! Little Binky, eat!"
There seemed to be some rule in a game they had, by which, if she first touched or tasted anything, Binky could not honorably refuse it.
It was clear that she had a hold on the small man. Thesiger had noticed that when she cancelled his orders for drinks he made no resistance, while he bitterly [Pg 161] resented Mr. Tarbuck's efforts at control. She would then inquire gaily45 of Mr. Tarbuck whether he was in command of this expedition or was she?
To-night, her fine eyes being considerably46 occupied with Thesiger, the small man asserted his independence and was served, surreptitiously as it were, with a brimming whisky and soda48.
He had got his hand on it when the lady shot out a sudden arm across the table, and with a staggering dexterity49 and impudence50 possessed51 herself of his glass. Over the rim47 of it she kept her eyes on him, narrowed eyes, darting52 mockery of Binky under half-closed lids; and, with her head tilted53 back, she drank; she drank daintily, about an inch down, and then she gave the glass to the large man, and he, as if honor and chivalry54 compelled him also, emptied it.
"Did you that time, Binky," she murmured.
Thesiger heard her. She was looking at him, obviously to see how his fastidiousness had taken it. She leaned forward, her elbows on the table, and her head, propped55 on her hands, tilted slightly backward, and she gazed at him under her lowered eyelids56 with her narrowed, darting eyes. Then suddenly she lowered her chin and opened her eyes, and he met them full.
Her gaze, which had first fascinated, now excited him; very curiously it excited him, seeing that he was thinking about Vera Walters all the time. So unabashed it was, and so alluring57, it sent such challenge and encouragement to the adventurous58 blood, that under it the passion that Vera would have none of detached itself from Vera with a fierce revulsion, and was drawn59 and driven, driven and drawn toward that luminous and invincible60 gaze. And Thesiger began to say to himself that the world was all before him, although [Pg 162] for him Vera had walked out of it; that he was a man of the world; and that he didn't care.
It seemed to him that the beautiful American smiled again at him. Then she got up, and swept down the dining-hall, swinging her rosy61 draperies. The two men followed her, and Thesiger was left alone in that vast place, seated at his table, and staring into a half-empty wineglass, to the embarrassment62 of the waiter who hovered63 by his chair.
After all, she left him an ultimate scruple64; he could not altogether trust his doubt.
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1
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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dubious
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| adj.怀疑的，无把握的；有问题的，靠不住的 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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subservience
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| n.有利，有益；从属（地位），附属性；屈从，恭顺；媚态 | |
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11
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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12
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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13
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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14
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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16
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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17
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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condoned
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| v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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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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caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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effete
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| adj.无生产力的，虚弱的 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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29
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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31
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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32
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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34
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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36
monopolized
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| v.垄断( monopolize的过去式和过去分词 )；独占；专卖；专营 | |
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37
defiler
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| n.弄脏者，亵渎者 | |
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38
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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39
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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40
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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41
subduing
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| 征服( subdue的现在分词 )； 克制； 制服； 色变暗 | |
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42
snarls
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| n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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43
obtrusive
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| adj.显眼的；冒失的 | |
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44
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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45
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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46
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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47
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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48
soda
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| n.苏打水；汽水 | |
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49
dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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50
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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51
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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52
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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53
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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54
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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55
propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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57
alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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58
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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59
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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60
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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61
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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62
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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63
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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64
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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