The invitation had come as a sort of farewell attention to Durant. Its valedictory8 character was further emphasized by Mrs. Fazakerly's proposing to walk home with them, and finally falling into the rear with Durant.
As a turn in the drive brought them within sight of Coton Manor, Mrs. Fazakerly balanced her pince-nez on the bridge of her nose. It remained there, and he judged that Mrs. Fazakerly was in no mood for mirth.
"That house," said Mrs. Fazakerly, "annoys me."
"Why?"
"Because it hasn't had justice done to it."
"I should have thought that was a ground for pity rather than resentment10."
Mrs. Fazakerly shrugged11 her shoulders ever so little. "That drawing-room—did you ever see anything like it? And such possibilities in it, too. I can't bear to think of all those beautiful things wasted, just for want of a little taste, a little arrangement—the right touch."
The widow's white fingers twitched12. It was not vulgar cupidity13; it was the passion of the born genius, of the lover of art for art's sake, who sees his opportunity given into the hands of an inferior. If only she had the ordering, the decoration of Coton Manor! Durant thought of the cottage at the gates, her cramped14 and humble15 sphere; it was not her fault so much as the defect of her instrument, that forcing of the note of taste; no wonder that she longed for the rich harmonies of Coton Manor under "the right touch," the touch of the master. [Pg 281]
She continued, "But poor dear Miss Tancred, you know, she will have it left just as it was in Mrs. Tancred's time; she won't change a picture or a chair in it. That's Frida all over. She's made that house a monument to her mother's memory. And think what she might have made it."
"I'm thinking what she might have made of her life. She seems to be making that a monument to her father's memory."
"Ah! and the things she could have done with it."
Impossible to say whether Mrs. Fazakerly referred to Miss Tancred's house or her life. Durant smiled at her probable conception of Coton Manor, with its tragedy of splendid possibilities gone to waste; but Mrs. Fazakerly's idea cut both ways.
She sighed wearily.
"These drives were not made to be walked up. There's another mile and a half of it, and I'm half-dead already. I shall sit down."
She led the way to an elm tree fallen in the grass, examined it critically, sat down, and made a place for him at her side.
"So you're going to-morrow? Is that so?"
"It is—probably."
"It's a pity—just as you and Miss Tancred have made friends."
"The best of friends must part," said he lightly.
"Yes. Well, I'm glad you've managed to be nice to her, after all. She's come out in the most astonishing manner since you came. What have you been doing to her?"
"I've done nothing to her, I assure you."
"Ah, you mean you've not been making love to her."
"I don't mean anything of the sort."
Durant was angry. It was borne in upon him that [Pg 282] Mrs. Fazakerly was vulgar, after all. She looked at him, and her pince-nez balanced itself on the bridge of her nose, then leapt its suicidal leap. She was amused with the ambiguity16 of his reply.
"That's all right. Heaven help the man who does make love to her, if he means it. That girl's a riddle17 to me. I used to think she cared a little for her father; but it's my belief that Frida Tancred cares for nobody, not even herself. She simply doesn't know what love is, and she doesn't want to know. Why am I saying these alarming things to you? I'm saying them because I'm old enough to be your mother, and because I like you. You're clever, and you've got a sense of humor, too, though I can't say it's been much use to you since you came here. But, with all your cleverness, you'll never understand Frida Tancred. She's not like other women, the sort you've flirted18 with so much. Don't tell me you haven't; for you have. She can't help it. Her mother was a queer fantastic creature, and Frida's just like her, only stronger, much stronger, and deeper, which makes it worse. I'm sorry for her, because you see I'm very fond of her, and I think there's nothing—positively nothing—I wouldn't do to help her."
"It's an intolerable existence for her."
"Intolerable? Ah, my dear Mr. Durant, you're delightfully19 young; so is Frida, though you mightn't think it; and you young people are all so tragic20. Frida's absurd about her father; she's always been going about with that face of hers, playing at being Antigone, and as the poor, dear Colonel is as blind as What's-his-name? he naturally doesn't see it. She's brought it all on herself. She looks on her father as her fate, and treats him accordingly—in the grand style—and it doesn't suit him. What a subject like [Pg 283] the Colonel wants is a light touch. With me, for instance, he's a dear."
"Is he? I thought he rather bored you," said Durant maliciously21.
"When did you think that? Oh, that first night when we all laughed so much, except poor Frida. I wasn't bored—not a bit; on the contrary, I was amused at the expression of your face, and at your atrocious manners and still more atrocious puns. Nothing ever bores me. It's only you young people who let yourselves be bored. Tragedy again. Too much tragedy for my taste."
Mrs. Fazakerly paused to let her communications sink in and take root. There was a deep hush22 on the landscape, as if in deference23 to her awful confidences. A deer stood knee-deep in the grass and gazed at them inquiringly. And as Mrs. Fazakerly stared unabashed into the face of Nature, Durant thought of Frida's remark, and wondered if she found it "soothing24."
"Mind you, I don't mean to say that she's cold. On the contrary, I believe she's capable of a tremendous passion for something—I don't quite know what. It might be a person,"—she rose—"but let me tell you it's much more likely to be a thing."
They were talking quite innocently about art and literature when they appeared at the house.
Durant vainly tried to unravel25 the possible motives26 for her confidence. They were so many and so mixed. It was possible that she honestly suspected him of a dawning passion for Frida and that she meant to warn him of the hopelessness of such an attachment27; apparently28 she understood her friend. Or the conversation may have been designed as an apology for her own future conduct. Durant knew that she would not refuse to marry Colonel Tancred if he made the offer; [Pg 284] he knew, or thought he knew, her inmost opinion of that ridiculous person. She must be aware that her own dignity was considerably29 compromised by the situation; perhaps she hoped by rehabilitating30 the Colonel's behavior to justify31 her own. But why that insistence32 on the enigma33 of Frida Tancred's? Why this superfluous34 and elaborate cover for her own very simple meaning?
Unless, indeed, she was not quite so simple as she seemed. In courtship the Colonel had shown himself vacillating, to say the least of it. If Mrs. Fazakerly wanted to bring him to the point it was obviously her interest to get Miss Tancred out of her way. In other words, to throw her in Durant's way. His delicacy35 shrank from the baseness of this conjecture36, but his reason, as well as his experience, suggested that the thing was not impossible. Mrs. Fazakerly had been studying him, and she was shrewd enough to see that the surest way to interest him in Miss Tancred was to set his intellect to work on her. She had doubtless observed his fin9 de siècle contempt for the obvious, his passion for the thing beyond his grasp, his worship of the far-fetched, the intangible, the obscure. Thus she thought to inflame37 his curiosity by hinting that Frida Tancred was incomprehensible, while she touched the very soul of desire by representing her as unattainable. All this was no doubt very clever of Mrs. Fazakerly; but it was not quite what he had expected of her.
His suspicions were confirmed by Frida's behavior. Ever since their last interview she had relapsed into something like her former reticence38. To-night, as if she had an inkling of the atrocious plot, she avoided him with a sort of terror.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
inadequate
|
|
| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
elegance
|
|
| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
riveted
|
|
| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
manor
|
|
| n.庄园，领地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
valedictory
|
|
| adj.告别的；n.告别演说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
fin
|
|
| n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
resentment
|
|
| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
twitched
|
|
| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
cupidity
|
|
| n.贪心，贪财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
cramped
|
|
| a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
ambiguity
|
|
| n.模棱两可；意义不明确 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
riddle
|
|
| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
flirted
|
|
| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
delightfully
|
|
| 大喜，欣然 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
tragic
|
|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
maliciously
|
|
| adv.有敌意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hush
|
|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
deference
|
|
| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
soothing
|
|
| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
unravel
|
|
| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
motives
|
|
| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
attachment
|
|
| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
rehabilitating
|
|
| 改造（罪犯等）( rehabilitate的现在分词 )； 使恢复正常生活； 使恢复原状； 修复 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
justify
|
|
| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
insistence
|
|
| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
enigma
|
|
| n.谜，谜一样的人或事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
superfluous
|
|
| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
delicacy
|
|
| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
conjecture
|
|
| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
inflame
|
|
| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
reticence
|
|
| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |