Butter, Julia had rarely tasted; milk was almost as scarce; but she would have been quite willing to live on the delicious fruits and vegetables of the Indies, bread and coffee. Her mother, however, forced her to eat meat once a day, hoping to check the an?mia inevitable12 in the tropics.
Mrs. Edis, kind as she ever was to the one creature that had found the soft spot in her heart, did not like to be kept waiting, and Julia, pinning up her untidy hair as she ran, was in the dining-room before the gong had ceased to echo. Like the other rooms of Great House, and the older mansions13 of the West Indies in general, this was very large and very bare, although the sideboard, table, and chairs were of mahogany. Only two of the ancestral portraits hung on the whitewashed14 walls, John and Mary Fawcett; the grandparents, also, of one Alexander Hamilton, who had unaccountably become something or other in the United States of America, instead of serving his mother country. Mrs. Edis disapproved15 of his conduct, and rarely alluded16 to him, but Julia sometimes haunted the ruin of the house down near the shore, where he was supposed to have come to light, and would have liked to know more of him. There was an old print of him in the garret (her grandfather, it seemed, had admired him), and she liked his sparkling eyes and human mouth. A photograph of her brother Fawcett, taken some years ago in London, was not unlike, although the charming mouth had always been weaker; but now—and this was Julia’s only trouble—he was quite dreadful to look at, and came seldom to Great House. When he did, there were terrible scenes; Julia, much as she loved him, ran to the forest the moment she heard his voice.
Mrs. Edis was already at the head of the table, and for the moment took no notice of her daughter; her expression was still introspective, her face almost visibly veiled. Julia made a grimace17 at the dish of meat handed her by the servant.
“This is poor old Abraham, I suppose,” she remarked, with more flippancy18 than her austere19 mother and her elderly governesses had encouraged. “I shall feel like a cannibal. I’ve ridden on his back and talked to him when I’ve had nobody else. Well, he’ll have his revenge!”
Mrs. Edis suddenly emerged from the veil. She looked hard, practical, incisive20.
“Soon you will no longer be obliged to eat these old servants of the field,” she announced. “Your island days are over.”
Julia dropped both knife and fork with a clatter21. “Are we going to England to live? Oh, mother! Shall I see England? The queen? All the dear little princes and princesses? Are they the least bit like Fanny?”
“Not at all, nor like any other children,” replied the old royalist, who had dined at the queen’s table in her youth. “No, I probably shall never see England again. Nor do I desire to do so. The queen is old and so am I. Moreover, judging from your Aunt Maria’s letters, and her edifying22 discourse23 upon the rare occasions when she honors us with a visit, London must be sadly changed. The majestic24 simplicity25 of my day has vanished, and an extravagance in dress and living, an insane rush for excitement and pleasure, have taken its place. There are railways built beneath the earth, gorging26 and disgorging men like ant-hills. Women think of nothing but Paris clothes, no longer of their duty as wives and mothers. But although this would disturb and bewilder me, with you it will be different. Youth can adapt itself?—”
“But when am I going, and with whom?” shrieked27 Julia. “Has Aunt Maria sent for me?”
“Not she. She has never spent a penny on any one but herself. She lives to be smart, and is the silliest woman I have ever known. And that is saying a good deal, for they are all silly?—”
“But me—I—when—do explain, dear mother!”
Mrs. Edis paused a moment and then fixed28 her powerful little eyes on the eager innocent ones opposite. “Could you not see last night that Lieutenant29 France had fallen in love with you?” she asked.
“That horrid30 old thing! Why, he is nothing but a dancer. You don’t mean to say that I must marry him?” and Julia, for the first time since her childhood, and without in the least knowing why, burst into a storm of tears.
“I won’t marry him,” she sobbed31. “I won’t.”
Mrs. Edis waited until she was calm, then, having disposed of a square of tissue as old, relatively32, as her own, continued, “It is I that should weep, for I am to lose you and it will be very lonely here. But that is neither here nor there. When the time comes we all fulfil our destiny. Your time has come to marry, and take your first step upon the brilliant career which awaits you.”
“Please wait till the next squadron,” sobbed Julia. “The planets may have made a mistake?—”
This remark was unworthy of notice.
“I hate the planets.”
Mrs. Edis applied33 a sharp knife and an upright indomitable fork to another fragment of Abraham.
Julia, feeling no match for the combined forces of the heavens and her mother, dried her eyes.
“Has he a castle?”
“He will have.”
“And many books?”
“England is full of libraries, the greatest in the world.”
“Will Aunt Maria take me to parties?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“Will he find the Prince for me?”
“The what?”
“Well, I don’t mean a real prince, but a young man that I could love.”
“Certainly not! You will love your husband.”
“But he is old enough to be my father.”
“He is only forty.”
“I am only eighteen. When I am forty I could have a grandchild.”
“Nonsense. Husbands should always be older than their wives. They are then ready to settle down, and are capable of advising giddy young things like yourself. You may not feel any silly romantic love for him—I sincerely hope that you will not—but you will be a faithful and devoted34 wife, and as obedient to him as you have been to me.”
“I don’t mind obeying him if he is as dear as you are. Maybe he is, for you looked so much sterner than all the other mothers last night, and I am sure that not one of them is so kind. Has he some babies?”
“What?” Mrs. Edis almost dropped her fork.
“I’d like a few. Fanny is such a darling. I liked him less than any of the men I danced with, but if he has a castle, and would bring me to see you every year, and would let me run about as you do, and read a lot of books, and give me a lot of babies, I shouldn’t mind him so much.”
Mrs. Edis turned cold. For the first time she recognized the abysmal35 depths of her daughter’s ignorance. It was a subject to which she had never, indeed, given a thought. A governess had always been at the child’s heels. Julia had been brought up as she had been brought up herself, and she belonged to the school of dames36 to whom the enlightenment of youth was a monstrous37 indelicacy. Moreover, she was old enough to look back upon the material side of marriage as an automatic submission38 to the race. Women had a certain destiny to fulfil, and the whole matter should be dismissed at that. Nevertheless, as she looked at that personification of delicate and trusting innocence39, she felt a sudden and violent hatred40 of men, a keen longing41 that this perfect flower could go to her high destiny undefiled, and regret that she must not only travel the appointed road, but set out unprepared. She dimly recalled her own wedding and that she had hated her husband until kindly42 Time had made him one of the facts of existence. To warn the child was beyond her, but she made up her mind to postpone43 the ultimate moment as long as possible.
“You will have everything you want,” she said. “And as he cannot obtain leave of absence while away on duty, you will merely become engaged to him—no—” she remembered her planets; “you are to marry at once, but you will go to England by the Royal Mail, and have ample time to become accustomed to the change. Mrs. Higgins is going to England very shortly. She will take you, and if Mr. France is not there—his squadron goes to South America—you can stay with Maria until he arrives. That will give you time to buy some pretty clothes, and become accustomed to the idea of your—new position in life.”
“Will my clothes come from Paris?”
“No doubt. I have a hundred pounds in the bank and you are welcome to them.”
“A hundred pounds! I shall have a hundred frocks, one of every color that will go with my hair, and the rest white.”
“Not quite.” Mrs. Edis had but a faint appreciation44 of the cost of modern clothes, but she thought it best to begin at once to curb45 her daughter’s imagination. “It will buy you eight or ten, and no doubt your husband will give you more. But even if he has not as large an income now as he will have later, you have an instinct for dress. Your frock was the simplest at Government House last night, but I noticed that you had adjusted it, and your ribbons, with an air that made it look quite the smartest in the room. You have distinction and style. The President said so at once. You will make a little money go far.”
Julia stared at her mother. It was the first time she had heard her pay a compliment to any one. But she liked it and opened her eyes ingenuously46 for more. Mrs. Edis laughed, a rare relaxation47 of those hard muscles under the parchment skin. “Go and comb your hair,” she said, “and make yourself as pretty as possible. Lieutenant France is coming to call this afternoon, and if he does not ask for your hand to-day, he will to-morrow.”
“What shall I do with him? We can’t dance. And I couldn’t think of a thing to say to him last night. I could to some of the young men.”
“The less you say, the better! I will entertain him.”
Tears had threatened again, but they retreated at the prospect48 of deliverance from an ordeal49 as formidable as matrimony. “Mother!” she exclaimed suddenly. “Why don’t you marry him?”
“I?”
“Yes. He’ll be like my father, anyhow, and then I should not only have you still, but you could always talk to him?—”
“Run and do your hair.”
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1
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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2
predilection
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| n.偏好 | |
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3
crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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4
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
invitingly
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| adv. 动人地 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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7
mincingly
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superannuated
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| adj.老朽的，退休的；v.因落后于时代而废除，勒令退学 | |
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9
doughtiness
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| n.傲慢；傲气 | |
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10
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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11
shroud
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| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
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12
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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13
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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14
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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18
flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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19
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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20
incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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21
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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22
edifying
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| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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23
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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24
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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25
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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26
gorging
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| v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的现在分词 )；作呕 | |
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27
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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29
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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30
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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31
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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32
relatively
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| adv.比较...地，相对地 | |
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33
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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34
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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35
abysmal
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| adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的 | |
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36
dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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37
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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38
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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39
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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40
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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41
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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42
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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43
postpone
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| v.延期，推迟 | |
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44
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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45
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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46
ingenuously
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| adv.率直地，正直地 | |
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47
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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48
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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49
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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