Tristrem descended1 the stair and hesitated a moment at the door of the smoking-room. Near-by, at a small table, two men were drinking brandy. He caught a fragment of their speech: it was about a woman. Beyond, another group was listening to that story of the eternal feminine which is everlastingly2 the same. Within, the air was lifeless and heavy with the odor of cigars, but in the hall there came through the wide portals of the entrance the irresistible3 breath of a night in May.
Tristrem turned and presently sauntered aimlessly out of the club and up the avenue. Before him, a man was loitering with a girl; his arm was in hers, and he was whispering in her ear. A cab passed, bearing a couple that sat waist-encircled devouring4 each other with insatiate eyes. And at Twenty-third Street, a few shop-girls, young and very pretty, that were laughing conspicuously5 together, were joined by some clerks, with whom they paired off and disappeared. At the corner, through the intersecting thoroughfares came couple after couple, silent for the most part, as though oppressed by the invitations of the night. Beyond, in the shadows of the Square, the benches were filled with youths and maidens6, who sat hand-in-hand, oblivious7 to the crowd that circled in indolent coils about them. The moon had not yet risen, but a leash8 of stars that night had loosed glowed and trembled with desire. The air was sentient9 with murmurs10, redolent with promise. The avenues and the adjacent streets seemed to have forgotten their toil11 and to swoon unhushed in the bewitchments of a dream of love.
Tristrem found himself straying through its mazes12 and convolutions. Whichever way he turned there was some monition of its presence. From a street-car which had stayed his passage he saw the conductor blow a kiss to a hurrying form, and through an open window of Delmonico's he saw a girl with summer in her eyes reach across the table at which she sat and give her companion's hand an abrupt13 yet deliberate caress14.
Tristrem continued his way, oppressed. He was beset15 by an insidious16 duscholia. He felt as one does who witnesses a festival in which there is no part for him. The town reeked17 with love as a brewery18 reeks19 with beer. The stars, the air, the very pavements told of it. It was omnipresent, and yet there was none for him.
He tried to put it from him and think of other things. Of Jones, for instance. Why had he spoken of Viola? And then, in the flight of fancies which surged through his mind, there was one that he stayed and detained. It was that he must see her again before she left town. He looked at his watch: it lacked twenty minutes to ten, and on the impulse of the moment he hailed a passing 'bus. It was inexplicable21 to him that the night before she should have let him go without a word as to her movements. It seemed to be understood that he was to come again to wish her a pleasant journey. And when was he to come if not that very evening? Surely at the time she had forgotten this engagement with the Wainwarings, and some note had been left for him at the door. And if no note had been left, then why should he not ask for her mother or wait till she returned? A bell rang sharply through the vehicle and aroused him from his reverie. He glanced up, and saw the driver eyeing him through the machicoulis of glass. It was the fare he wanted, and as Tristrem deposited it in the box he noticed that the familiar street was reached.
In a few moments he was at the house. On the stoop a servant was occupied with the mat.
"Is, eh, did——"
"Yes, sir," the man answered, promptly22. "Miss Raritan is in the parlor23."
In the surprise at the unexpected, Tristrem left his hat and coat, and pushing aside the portière, he entered the room unannounced. At first he fancied that the servant had been mistaken. Miss Raritan was not at her accustomed place, and he stood at the door-way gazing about in uncertainty24. But in an instant, echoing from the room beyond, he caught the sound of her voice; yet in the voice was a tone which he had never heard before—a tone of smothered25 anger that carried with it the accent of hate.
Moved by unconscious springs, he left the door-way and looked into the adjoining room. A man whom at first he did not recognize was standing26 by a lounge from which he had presumably arisen. And before him, with both her small hands clinched27 and pendent, and in her exquisite28 face an expression of relentless29 indignation, stood Miss Raritan. Another might have thought them rehearsing a tableau30 for some theatricals31 of the melodramatic order, but not Tristrem. He felt vaguely32 alarmed: there came to him that premonition without which no misfortune ever occurs; and suddenly the alarm changed to bewilderment. The man had turned: it was Royal Weldon. Tristrem could not credit his senses. He raised his hand to his head: it did not seem possible that a felon33 could have told a more wanton lie than he had been told but little over an hour before; and yet the teller34 of that lie was his nearest friend. And still he did not understand; surely there was some mistake. He would have spoken, but Weldon crossed the room to where he stood, and with set teeth and contracted muscles fronted him a second's space, and into his eyes he looked a defiance35 that was the more hideous36 in that it was mute. Then, with a gesture that almost tore the portière from its rings, he passed out into the hall and let the curtain fall behind him.
As he passed on Tristrem turned with the obedience37 of a subject under the influence of a mesmerist; and when the curtain fell again he started as subjects do when they awake from their trance.
The fairest, truest, and best may be stricken in the flush of health; yet after the grave has opened and closed again does not memory still subsist38, and to the mourner may not the old dreams return? However acute the grief may be, is it not often better to know that affection is safe in the keeping of the dead than to feel it at the mercy of the living? We may prate39 as we will, but there are many things less endurable than the funeral of the best-beloved. Death is by no means the worst that can come. Whoso discovers that affection reposed40 has been given to an illusory representation; to one not as he is, but as fancy pictured him; to a trickster that has cheated the heart—in fact, to a phantom41 that has no real existence outside of the imagination, must experience a sinking more sickening than any corpse42 can convey. At the moment, the crack of doom43 that is to herald44 an eternal silence cannot more appal45.
Tristrem still stood gazing at the portière through which Weldon had disappeared. He heard the front door close, and the sound of feet on the pavement. And presently he was back at St. Paul's, hurrying from the Upper School to intercede46 with the master. It was bitterly cold that morning, but in the afternoon the weather had moderated, and they had both gone to skate. And then the day he first came. He remembered his good looks, his patronizing, precocious47 ways; everything, even to the shirt he wore—blue, striped with white—and the watch with the crest48 and the motto Well done, Weldon. No, it was ill done, Weldon, and the lie was ignoble49. And why had he told it? Their friendship, seemingly, had been so stanch50, so unmarred by disagreement, that this lie was as a dash of blood on a white wall—an ineffaceable stain.
If there are years that count double, there are moments in which the hour-glass is transfixed. The entire scene, from Tristrem's entrance to Weldon's departure, was compassed in less than a minute, yet during that fragment of time there had been enacted51 a drama in epitome—a drama humdrum52 and ordinary indeed, but in which Tristrem found himself bidding farewell to one whom he had never known.
He was broken in spirit, overwhelmed by the suddenness of the disaster, and presently, as though in search of sympathy, he turned to Miss Raritan. The girl had thrown herself in a chair, and sat, her face hidden in her hands. As Tristrem approached her she looked up. Her cheeks were blanched53.
"He told me you were at the Wainwaring's," Tristrem began. "I don't see," he added, after a moment—"I don't understand why he should have done so. He knew you were here, yet he said——"
"Did you hear what he said to me?"
Tristrem for all response shook his head wonderingly.
The girl's cheeks from white had turned flame.
"He has not been to you the friend you think," she said, and raising her arm to her face, she made a gesture as though to brush from her some distasteful thing.
"But what has he done? What did he say?"
"Don't ask me. Don't mention him to me." She buried her face again in her hands and was silent.
Tristrem turned uneasily and walked into the other room, and then back again to where she sat; but still she hid her face and was silent. And Tristrem left her and continued his walk, this time to the dining-room and then back to the parlor which he had first entered. And after a while Miss Raritan stood up from her seat and as though impelled54 by the nervousness of her companion, she, too, began to pace the rooms, but in the contrary direction to that which Tristrem had chosen. At last she stopped, and when Tristrem approached her she beckoned55 him to her side.
"What did you say to me last night?" she asked.
"What did I say? I said—you asked me—I said it would be difficult."
"Do you think so still?"
"Always."
"Tristrem, I will be your wife."
A Cimmerian led out of darkness into sudden light could not marvel56 more at multicolored vistas57 than did Tristrem, at this promise. Truly they are most hopeless who have hoped the most. And Tristrem, as he paced the rooms, had told himself it was done. His hopes had scattered58 before him like last year's leaves. He had groped in shadows and had been conscious only of a blind alley59, with a dead wall, somewhere, near at hand. But now, abruptly60, the shadows had gone, the blind alley had changed into a radiant avenue, the dead wall had parted like a curtain, and beyond was a new horizon, gold-barred and blue, and landscapes of asphodels and beckoning61 palms. He was as one who, overtaken by sleep on the banks of the Styx, awakes in Arcadia.
His face was so eloquent62 with the bewitchments through which he roamed that, for the first time that evening, Miss Raritan smiled. She raised a finger warningly.
"Now, Tristrem, if you say anything ridiculous I will take it back."
But the warning was needless. Tristrem caught the finger, and kissed her hand with old-fashioned grace.
"Viola," he said, at last, "I thank you. I do not know what I can do to show how I appreciate this gift of gifts. But yet, if it is anything, if it can bring any happiness to a girl to know that she fills a heart to fulfilment itself, that she dwells in thought as the substance of thought, that she animates63 each fibre of another's being, that she enriches a life with living springs, and feels that it will be never otherwise, then you will be happy, for so you will always be to me."
The speech, if pardonably incoherent, was not awkwardly made, and it was delivered with a seriousness that befitted the occasion. In a tone as serious as his own, she answered:
"I will be true to you, Tristrem." That was all. But she looked in his face as she spoke20.
They had been standing, but now they found seats near to each other. Tristrem would not release her hand, and she let it lie unrebellious in his own. And in this fashion they sat and mapped the chartless future. Had Tristrem been allowed his way the marriage would have been an immediate64 one. But to this, of course, Miss Raritan would not listen.
"Not before November," she said, with becoming decision.
"Why, that is five months off!"
"And months are short, and then——"
"But, Viola, think! Five months! It is a kalpa of time. And besides," he added, with the cogent65 egotism of an accepted lover, "what shall I do with myself in the meantime?"
"If you are good you may come to the Pier66, and there we will talk edelweiss and myosotis, as all engaged people do." She said this so prettily67 that the sarcasm68, if sarcasm there were, was lost.
To this programme Tristrem was obliged to subscribe69.
"Well, then, afterward70 we will go abroad."
"Don't you like this country?" the girl asked, all the stars and stripes fluttering in her voice, and in a tone which one might use in reciting, "Breathes there the man, with soul so dead?"
"I think," he answered, apologetically, "that I do like this country. It is a great country. But New York is not a great city, at least not to my thinking. Collectively it is great, I admit, but individually not, and that is to me the precise difference between it and Paris. Collectively the French amount to little, individually it is otherwise."
"But you told me once that Paris was tiresome71."
"I was not there with you. And should it become so when we are there together, we have the whole world to choose from. In Germany we can have the middle ages over again. In London we can get the flush of the nineteenth century. There is all of Italy, from the lakes to Naples. We can take a doge's palace in Venice, or a C?sar's villa72 on the Baia. With a dahabieh we could float down into the dawn of history. You would look well in a dahabieh, Viola."
"As Aida?"
"Better. And that reminds me, Viola; tell me, you will give up all thought of the stage, will you not?"
"How foolish you are. Fancy Mrs. Tristrem Varick before the footlights. There are careers open to a girl that the acceptance of another's name must close. And the stage is one of them. I should have adopted it long ago, had it not been for mother. She seems to think that a Raritan—but there, you know what mothers are. Now, of course, I shall give it up. Besides, Italian opera is out of fashion. And even if it were otherwise, have I not now a lord, a master, whom I must obey?"
Her eyes looked anything but obedience, yet her voice was melodious73 with caresses74.
And so they sat and talked and made their plans, until it was long past the conventional hour, and Tristrem felt that he should go. He had been afloat in unnavigated seas of happiness, but still in his heart he felt the burn of a red, round wound. The lie that Weldon had told smarted still, yet with serener75 spirit he thought there might be some unexplained excuse.
"Tell me," he asked, as he was about to leave, "what was it Weldon said?"
Miss Raritan looked at him, and hesitated before she spoke. Then catching76 his face in her two hands she drew it to her own.
"He said you were a goose," she whispered, and touched her lips to his.
With this answer Tristrem was fain to be content. And presently, when he left the house, he reeled as though he had drunk beaker after flagon of the headiest wine.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
everlastingly
|
|
| 永久地，持久地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
devouring
|
|
| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
conspicuously
|
|
| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
maidens
|
|
| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
oblivious
|
|
| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
leash
|
|
| n.牵狗的皮带，束缚；v.用皮带系住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
sentient
|
|
| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
murmurs
|
|
| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
toil
|
|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
mazes
|
|
| 迷宫( maze的名词复数 )； 纷繁复杂的规则； 复杂难懂的细节； 迷宫图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
abrupt
|
|
| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
caress
|
|
| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
beset
|
|
| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
insidious
|
|
| adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
reeked
|
|
| v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的过去式和过去分词 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
brewery
|
|
| n.啤酒厂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
reeks
|
|
| n.恶臭( reek的名词复数 )v.发出浓烈的臭气( reek的第三人称单数 )；散发臭气；发出难闻的气味 (of sth)；明显带有（令人不快或生疑的跡象） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
inexplicable
|
|
| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
parlor
|
|
| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
uncertainty
|
|
| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
smothered
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
clinched
|
|
| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
exquisite
|
|
| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
relentless
|
|
| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tableau
|
|
| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
theatricals
|
|
| n.（业余性的）戏剧演出，舞台表演艺术；职业演员；戏剧的( theatrical的名词复数 )；剧场的；炫耀的；戏剧性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
felon
|
|
| n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
teller
|
|
| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
obedience
|
|
| n.服从，顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
subsist
|
|
| vi.生存，存在，供养 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
prate
|
|
| v.瞎扯，胡说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
reposed
|
|
| v.将（手臂等）靠在某人（某物）上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
phantom
|
|
| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
doom
|
|
| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
herald
|
|
| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
appal
|
|
| vt.使胆寒，使惊骇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
intercede
|
|
| vi.仲裁，说情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
precocious
|
|
| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
ignoble
|
|
| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
stanch
|
|
| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
enacted
|
|
| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
humdrum
|
|
| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
blanched
|
|
| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
impelled
|
|
| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
beckoned
|
|
| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
vistas
|
|
| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
alley
|
|
| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
beckoning
|
|
| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
animates
|
|
| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
cogent
|
|
| adj.强有力的，有说服力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
prettily
|
|
| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
sarcasm
|
|
| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
subscribe
|
|
| vi.(to)订阅，订购；同意；vt.捐助，赞助 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
tiresome
|
|
| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
villa
|
|
| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
melodious
|
|
| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
caresses
|
|
| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
serener
|
|
| serene（沉静的，宁静的，安宁的）的比较级形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
76
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |