Tristrem passed the night in dreams that told of Her. He strayed through imperishable beauties, through dawns surrounded by candors of hope. The breath of brooks6 caressed7 him, he was enveloped8 in the sorceries of a sempiternal spring. The winds, articulate with song, choired to the skies ululations and messages of praise. Each vista9 held a promise. The horizon was a prayer fulfilled. He saw grief collapse10 and joy enthroned. From bird and blossom he caught the incommunicable words of love. And when from some new witchery he at last awoke, he smiled—the real was fairer than the dream.
For some time he loitered in the gardens which his fancy disclosed, spectacular-wise, for his own delight, until at last he bethought him of the new duties of his position and of the accompanying necessity of making those duties known to those to whom he was related. Then, after a breakfast of sliced oranges and coffee, he rang for the servant and told him to ask his father whether he could spare a moment that morning. In a few minutes the servant returned. "Mr. Varick will be happy to see you, sir," he said.
"What did he say?" Tristrem asked; "what were his exact words?"
"Well, sir, I said as how you presented your compliments, and could you see him, and he didn't say nothing; he was feeding the bird. But I could tell, sir; when Mr. Varick doesn't like a thing, he looks at you and if he does, he doesn't."
"And he didn't look at you?"
"No, sir, he didn't turn his 'ead."
"H'm," said Tristrem to himself, as he descended11 the stairs, "I wonder, when I tell him, whether he will look at me." And the memory of his father's stare cast a shadow on his buoyant spirits.
On entering the room in which Mr. Varick passed his mornings, Tristrem found that gentleman seated at a table. In one hand he held a bronze-colored magazine, and in the other a silver knife. In the window was a gilt12 cage in which a bird was singing, and on the table was a profusion13 of roses—the room itself was vast and chill. One wall was lined, the entire length, with well-filled book-shelves. In a corner was a square pile of volumes, bound in pale sheep, which a lawyer would have recognized as belonging to the pleasant literature of his profession. And over the book-shelves was a row of Varicks, standing14 in the upright idleness which is peculiar15 to portraits in oil. It was many years since Tristrem had entered this room; yet now, save for the scent16 of flowers and the bird-cage, it was practically unchanged.
"Father," he began at once, "I would not have ventured to disturb you if—if—that is, unless I had something important to say." He was looking at his father, but his father was not looking at him. "It is this," he continued, irritated in spite of himself by the complete disinterestedness17 of one whose son he was; "I am engaged to be married."
At this announcement Mr. Varick fluttered the paper-knife, but said nothing.
"The young lady is Miss Raritan," he added, and then paused, amazed at the expression of his father's face. It was as though unseen hands were torturing it at will. The mouth, cheeks, and eyelids18 quivered and twitched19, and then abruptly20 Mr. Varick raised the bronze-colored magazine, held it before his tormented21 features, and when he lowered it again his expression was as apathetic22 as before.
"You are ill!" Tristrem exclaimed, advancing to him.
But Mr. Varick shook his head, and motioned him back. "It is nothing," he answered. "Let me see, you were saying——?"
"I am engaged to Miss Raritan."
"The daughter of——"
"Her father was Roanoke Raritan. He was minister somewhere—to England or to France, I believe."
While Tristrem was giving this information Mr. Varick went to the window. He looked at the occupant of the gilt cage, and ran a thumb through the wires. The bird ruffled23 its feathers, cocked its head, and edged gingerly along the perch24, reproving the intrusive25 finger with the scorn and glitter of two eyes of bead26. But the anger of the canary was brief. In a moment Mr. Varick left the cage, and turned again to his son.
"Nothing you could do," he said, "would please me better."
"Thank you," Tristrem answered, "I——"
"Are you to be married at once?"
"Not before November, sir."
"I wish it were sooner. I do not approve of protracted27 engagements. But, of course, you know your own business best. If I remember rightly, the father of this young lady did not leave much of a fortune, did he?"
"Nothing to speak of, I believe."
"You have my best wishes. The match is very suitable, very suitable. I wish you would say as much, with my compliments, to the young lady's mother. I would do so myself, but, as you know, I am something of an invalid28. You might add that, too—and—er—I don't mean to advise you, but I would endeavor to hasten the ceremony. In such matters, it is usual for the young lady to be coy, but it is for the man to be pressing and resolute29. I only regret that her father could not know of it. In regard to money, your allowance will have to be increased—well, I will attend to that. There is nothing else, is there? Oh, do me the favor not to omit to say that I am much pleased. I knew Miss Raritan's father." Mr. Varick looked up at the ceiling, and put his hand to his mouth. It was difficult to say whether he was concealing30 a smile or a yawn. "He would be pleased, I know." And with that Mr. Varick resumed his former position, and took up again the magazine.
"It is very good of you," Tristrem began; "I didn't know, of course—you see, I knew that if you saw the young lady—but what am I calling her a young lady for?" he asked, in an aside, of himself—"Miss Raritan, I mean," he continued aloud, "you would think me fortunate as a king's cousin." He paused. "I am sure," he reflected, "I don't know what I am talking about. What I say—is sheer imbecility. However," he continued, again, "I want to thank you. You have seen so little of me that I did not expect you would be particularly interested, I—I——"
He hesitated again, and then ceased speaking. He had been looking at his father, and something in his father's stare fascinated and disturbed his train of thought. For the moment he was puzzled. From his childhood he had felt that his father disliked him, though the reason of that dislike he had never understood. It was one of those things that you get so accustomed to that it is accepted, like baldness, as a matter of course, as a thing which had to be and could not be otherwise. To his grandfather, who was at once the most irascible and gentlest of men, and whom he had loved instinctively31, from the first, with the unreasoning faith that children have—to him he had, in earlier days, spoken more than once of the singularity of his father's attitude. The old gentleman, however, had no explanation to give. Or, if he had one, he preferred to keep it to himself. But he petted the boy outrageously32, with some idea of making up for it all, and of showing that he at least had love enough for two.
And now, as Tristrem gazed in his father's face, he seemed to decipher something that was not dislike—rather the contented33 look of one who learns of an enemy's disgrace, a compound of malice34 and of glee.
"That was all I had to say," Tristrem added, with his winning smile, as though apologizing for the lameness35 of the conclusion. And thereupon he left the room and went out to consult a jeweller and bear the tidings to other ears.
For some time he was absurdly happy. His grandfather received the announcement of the coming marriage with proper enthusiasm. He laughed sagaciously at Tristrem's glowing descriptions of the bride that was to be, and was for going to call on the mother and daughter at once, and was only prevented on learning that they had both left town.
"But I must write," he said, and write he did, two elaborate letters, couched in that phraseology at once recondite36 and simple which made our ancestors the delightful37 correspondents that they were. The letters were old-fashioned indeed. Some of the sentences were enlivened with the eccentricities38 of orthography39 which were in vogue40 in the days of the Spectator. The handwriting was infamous41, and the signature on each was adorned42 with an enormous flourish. They were not models for a Perfect Letter Writer, but they were heartfelt and honest, and they served their purpose very well.
"And, Tristrem," the old gentleman said, when the addresses had been dried with a shower of sand and the letters despatched, "you must take her this, with my love. I gave it to your mother on her wedding day, and now it should go to her." From a little red case he took a diamond brooch, set in silver, which he polished reflectively on his sleeve. "She was very sweet, Tristrem, your mother was—a good girl, and a pretty one. Did I ever tell you about the time——"
And the old gentleman ran on with some anecdote43 of the dear dead days in which his heart was tombed. Tristrem listened with the interest of those that love. He had heard the story, and many others of a similar tenor44, again and again, but, somehow, he never heard them too often. There was nothing wearisome to him in such chronicles; and as he sat listening, and now and then prompting with some forgotten detail, anyone who had happened on the scene would have accounted it pleasant to watch the young fellow and the old man talking together over the youth of her who had been mother to one and daughter to the other.
"See!" said Tristrem at last, when his grandfather had given the brooch into his keeping. "See! I have something for her too." And with that he displayed a ruby45, unset, that was like a clot46 of blood. "I shall have it put in a ring," he explained, "but this might do for a bonnet-pin;" and then he produced a green stone, white-filmed, that had a heart of oscillating flame.
Mr. Van Norden had taken the ruby in his hand and held it off at arm's length, and then between two fingers, to the light, that he might the better judge of its beauty. But at the mention of the bonnet-pin he turned to look:
"Surely, Tristrem, you would not give her that; it's an opal."
"And what if it is?"
"But it is not lucky."
Tristrem smiled blithely47, with the bravery that comes of nineteenth-century culture.
"It's a pearl with a soul," he answered, "that's what it is. And if Viola doesn't like it I'll send it to you."
"God forbid," Mr. Van Norden replied; "if anyone sent me an opal I would swear so hard that if the devil heard me he'd go in a corner and cross himself."
At this threat Tristrem burst out laughing, and the old gentleman, amused in spite of himself at the fantasy of his own speech, burst out laughing too.
Then there was more chat, and more reminiscences, and much planning as to how Tristrem should best assume the rank and appanages of the married state. Tristrem dined with his grandfather that evening, and when Mr. Van Norden started out to his club for a game of whist, Tristrem accompanied him as far as the club door.
When they parted, Tristrem was in such spirits that he could have run up to Central Park and back again. "Divinities of Pindar," he kept exclaiming—a phrase that he had caught somewhere—"divinities of Pindar, she is mine."
Thereafter, for several days, he lived, as all true lovers do, on air and the best tenderloins he could obtain.
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收听单词发音
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1
bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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2
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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3
creditor
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| n.债仅人，债主，贷方 | |
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4
outlawed
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| 宣布…为不合法（outlaw的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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5
bleakest
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| 阴冷的( bleak的最高级 )； （状况）无望的； 没有希望的； 光秃的 | |
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6
brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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7
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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10
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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11
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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12
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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13
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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14
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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15
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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16
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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17
disinterestedness
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18
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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19
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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20
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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21
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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22
apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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23
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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24
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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25
intrusive
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| adj.打搅的；侵扰的 | |
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26
bead
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| n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠 | |
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27
protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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28
invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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29
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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30
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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31
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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32
outrageously
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| 凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地 | |
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33
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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34
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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35
lameness
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| n. 跛, 瘸, 残废 | |
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36
recondite
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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37
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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38
eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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39
orthography
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| n.拼字法，拼字式 | |
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40
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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41
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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42
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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43
anecdote
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| n.轶事，趣闻，短故事 | |
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44
tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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45
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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46
clot
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| n.凝块；v.使凝成块 | |
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47
blithely
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| adv.欢乐地，快活地，无挂虑地 | |
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