Fortune, however, favors the resolute even more decidedly than she favors the brave. This fact Dorothy comprehended thoroughly6, and uniformly acted upon. Each time that even a remote possibility of a yacht cruise presented itself she instantly brought her batteries to bear; and, with a nice understanding of her uncle’s intellectual peculiarities7, she each time treated the matter as though it never before had been discussed.
Therefore it was that when Miss Lee’s eyes were gladdened one day—just as she and her uncle were about to begin their lunch on the shady veranda8 of the Casino—by the sight of a trim schooner9 yacht sliding down the wind from the direction of Newport, the subject of the cruise was revived with a suddenness and point that Mr. Port found highly disconcerting. The yacht rounded to off the Casino, and the sound of a plunge10 and a clanking chain floated across the water as her anchor went overboard.
The Yacht Rounded to off the Casino 060
“Oh, isn’t she a beauty!” exclaimed Dorothy, with enthusiasm. “Now, Uncle Hutchinson, her owner is coming ashore11—they have just brought the gig round to the gangway—and if you don’t know him you must get somebody to introduce you to him; and then you must introduce him to me; and then he will ask us to go on a cruise; and of course we will go, and have just the loveliest time in the world. I haven’t been on board a yacht for nearly five years (just look at the gig: don’t the men pull splendidly?)—not since that nice little Lord Alderhone took poor dear mamma and me up to Norway. We did have such a good time! Poor dear mamma, of course, was desperately12 sick—she always was horribly sea-sick, you know; but I’m never sea-sick the least bit, and it was perfectly13 delightful14. Look, Uncle Hutchinson, they’ve made the dock, and now he’s coming right up here. What a handsome man he is, and how well he looks in his club uniform! It seems to me I’ve seen him somewhere. Do you know him, Uncle Hutchinson?”
A serious difficulty under which Mr. Port labored15 in his dealings with his niece was his inability—due to his Philadelphia habit of mind—to keep up with the exceptionally rapid flow of her ideas. On the present occasion, while he still was engaged in consideration of the irrational16 proposition that he should court the desperate misery17 that attends a bilious man at sea by as good as asking to be taken on a yacht voyage, he suddenly found his ideas twisted off into another direction by the reference to his sister’s sufferings on a similar occasion in the past; and before he could frame in words the reproof18 that he was disposed to administer to Dorothy for what he probably would have styled her heartlessness, he found his thoughts shunted to yet another track by a direct question. It is within the bounds of possibility that Miss Lee had arrived at a just estimate of her relative’s intellectual peculiarities, and that she even sometimes framed her discourses19 with a view to taking advantage of them.
The direct question being the simplest section of Dorothy’s complex utterance20, Mr. Port abandoned his intended remonstrance21 and reproof and proceeded to answer it. “Yes,” he said, “I know him. It’s Van Rensselaer Livingstone. His cousin, Van Ruy-ter Livingstone, married your cousin Grace—Grace Winthrop, you know. He’s a great scamp—this one, I mean; gambles, and that sort of thing, I’m told, and drinks, and—and various things. I shall have to speak to him if he sees me, I suppose; but of course I shall not introduce him to you.”
“Mr. Van Rensselaer Livingstone! Why so it is! How perfectly delightful! I know him very well, Uncle Hutchinson. He was in Nice the last winter we were there; and he broke the bank at Monaco; and he played that perfectly absurd trick on little Prince Sporetti: cut off his little black mustache when Prince Sporetti was—was not exactly sober, you know, and gummed on a great red mustache instead of it; and then, before the prince was quite himself again, took him to Lady Orrasby’s ball. All Nice was in a perfect roar over it. And they had a duel22 afterwards, and Mr. Livingstone—he is a wonderful shot—instead of hurting the little prince, just shot away the tip of his left ear as nicely as possible. Oh, he is a delightful man—and here he comes.” And Dorothy, half rising from her chair, and paying no more attention to Mr. Port’s kicks under the table than she did to his smothered23 verbal remonstrances24, extended her well-shaped white hand in the most cordial manner, and in the most cordial tone exclaimed:
“Won’t you speak to me in English, Mr. Livingstone? We talked French, I think it was, the last time we met. And how is your friend Prince Sporetti? Has his ear grown out again? You know my uncle, I think? Mr. Hutchinson Port.”
Livingstone took the proffered25 hand with even more cordiality than it was given, and then extended his own to Mr. Port—who seemed much less inclined to shake it than to bite it.
“I think that we are justified26 in regarding ourselves as relations now, Miss Lee, since our cousins have married each other, you know. Quite a romance, wasn’t it? And how very jolly it is to meet you here—when I thought that you certainly were in Switzerland or Norway, or even over in that new place that people are going to in Roumania! I flatter myself that I always have rather a knack27 of falling on my feet, but, by Jove, I’m doing it more than usual this morning!”
Miss Lee seemed to be entirely28 unaware29 of the fact that her uncle was looking like an animated30 thunder-cloud. “It is just like a bit out of a delightful novel,” was her encouraging response. “A long, low, black schooner suddenly coming in from the seaward and anchoring close off shore, and the hero landing in a little boat just in time to slay31 the villain32 and rescue the beautiful bride. Of course I’m the beautiful bride, but my uncle is not a villain, but the very best of guardians—by-the-way, I don’t think that you know that poor dear mamma is dead, Mr. Livingstone? Yes, she died only a week or two after you left us. So you see you must be very nice to the villain—and you can begin your kind treatment of him by having lunch with him and with me too. Uncle Hutchinson was so pleased when he saw you come ashore. He said that we certainly must capture you, and he sent a man to bring some hot soup for you at once—here it is now.” And so it was, for Dorothy herself very thoughtfully had given the order that she now modestly attributed to her uncle.
And so in less than ten minutes from the moment when Mr. Port had informed Dorothy that Van Rensselaer Livingstone was a very objectionable person whom he desired to avoid, and whose introduction to her was not even to be thought of, they all three were lunching together in what to the casual observer seemed to be the most amicable33 manner possible.
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1
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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3
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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bilious
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| adj.胆汁过多的；易怒的 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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7
peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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9
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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10
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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11
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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12
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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14
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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15
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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16
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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18
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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19
discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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20
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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21
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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24
remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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30
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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31
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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32
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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33
amicable
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| adj.和平的，友好的；友善的 | |
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