"Let me think," said I, "how that would work out in actual practice. I'm not so sure, after all, that we should be altogether the better or the happier for it."
I.
They sat together in a corner of the beautiful phalanstery garden, Olive and Clarence, on the marble seat that overhung the mossy dell where the streamlet danced and bickered3 among its pebbly4 stickles; they sat there, hand in hand, in lovers' guise5, and felt their two bosoms6 beating and thrilling in some strange, sweet fashion, just like two foolish unregenerate young people of the old antisocial prephalansteric days. Perhaps it was the leaven7 of their unenlightened ancestors still leavening8 by heredity the whole lump; perhaps it was the inspiration of the calm soft August evening and the delicate afterglow of the setting sun; perhaps it was the deep heart of man and woman vibrating still as of yore in human sympathy, and stirred to its innermost recesses9 by the unutterable breath of human emotion. But at any rate there they sat,[Pg 302] the beautiful strong man in his shapely chiton, and the dainty fair girl in her long white robe with the dark green embroidered10 border, looking far into the fathomless11 depths of one another's eyes, in silence sweeter and more eloquent12 than many words. It was Olive's tenth-day holiday from her share in the maidens13' household duty of the community; and Clarence, by arrangement with his friend Germain, had made exchange from his own decade (which fell on Plato) to this quiet Milton evening, that he might wander through the park and gardens with his chosen love, and speak his full mind to her now without reserve.
"If only the phalanstery will give its consent, Clarence," Olive said at last with a little sigh, releasing her hand from his, and gathering14 up the folds of her stole from the marble flooring of the seat; "if only the phalanstery will give its consent! but I have my doubts about it. Is it quite right? Have we chosen quite wisely? Will the hierarch and the elder brothers think I am strong enough and fit enough for the duties of the task? It is no light matter, we know, to enter into bonds with one another for the responsibilities of fatherhood and motherhood. I sometimes feel—forgive me, Clarence—but I sometimes feel as if I were allowing my own heart and my own wishes to guide me too exclusively in this solemn question: thinking too much about you and me, about ourselves (which is only an enlarged form of selfishness, after all), and too little about the future good of the community and—and—" blushing a little, for women will be women even in a phalanstery—"and of the precious lives we may be the means of adding to it. You remember, Clarence, what the hierarch said, that we ought to think least and last of our own feelings, first and foremost of the progressive evolution of universal humanity."
"I remember, darling," Clarence answered, leaning over towards her tenderly; "I remember well, and in my own way, so far as a man can (for[Pg 303] we men haven't the moral earnestness of you women, I'm afraid, Olive), I try to act up to it. But, dearest, I think your fears are greater than they need be: you must recollect15 that humanity requires for its higher development tenderness, and truth, and love, and all the softer qualities, as well as strength and manliness16; and if you are a trifle less strong than most of our sisters here, you seem to me at least (and I really believe to the hierarch and to the elder brothers too) to make up for it, and more than make up for it, in your sweet and lovable inner nature. The men of the future mustn't all be cast in one unvarying stereotyped17 mould; we must have a little of all good types combined, in order to make a perfect phalanstery."
Olive sighed again. "I don't know," she said pensively18. "I don't feel sure. I hope I am doing right. In my aspirations19 every evening I have desired light on this matter, and have earnestly hoped that I was not being misled by my own feelings; for, oh, Clarence, I do love you so dearly, so truly, so absorbingly, that I half fear my love may be taking me unwittingly astray. I try to curb20 it; I try to think of it all as the hierarch tells us we ought to; but in my own heart I sometimes almost fear that I may be lapsing21 into the idolatrous love of the old days, when people married and were given in marriage, and thought only of the gratification of their own personal emotions and affections, and nothing of the ultimate good of humanity. Oh, Clarence, don't hate me and despise me for it; don't turn upon me and scold me: but I love you, I love you, I love you; oh, I'm afraid I love you almost idolatrously!"
Clarence lifted her small white hand slowly to his lips, with that natural air of chivalrous22 respect which came so easily to the young men of the phalanstery, and kissed it twice over fervidly23 with quiet reverence24. "Let us go into the music-room, Olive dearest," he said as he rose; "you are too sad to-night. You shall play me that sweet piece of[Pg 304] Marian's that you love so much; and that will quiet you, darling, from thinking too earnestly about this serious matter."
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1
compassionately
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| adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地 | |
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2
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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3
bickered
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| v.争吵( bicker的过去式和过去分词 )；口角；（水等）作潺潺声；闪烁 | |
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4
pebbly
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| 多卵石的，有卵石花纹的 | |
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5
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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6
bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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7
leaven
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| v.使发酵；n.酵母；影响 | |
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8
leavening
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| n.酵母，发酵，发酵物v.使（面团）发酵( leaven的现在分词 )；在…中掺入改变的因素 | |
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9
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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10
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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11
fathomless
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| a.深不可测的 | |
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12
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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13
maidens
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| 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 | |
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14
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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15
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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16
manliness
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| 刚毅 | |
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17
stereotyped
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| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
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18
pensively
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| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
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19
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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20
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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21
lapsing
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| v.退步( lapse的现在分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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22
chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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23
fervidly
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| adv.热情地，激情地 | |
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24
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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