Unchastity, it has been well said, is union without love; and Alan would have none of it.
He went back to Herminia more than ever convinced of that spotless woman's moral superiority to every one else he had ever met with. She sat, a lonely soul, enthroned amid the halo of her own perfect purity. To Alan, she seemed like one of those early Italian Madonnas, lost in a glory of light that surrounds and half hides them. He reverenced21 her far too much to tell her all that had happened. How could he wound those sweet ears with his father's coarse epithets22?
They took the club train that afternoon to Paris. There they slept the night in a fusty hotel near the Gare du Nord, and went on in the morning by the daylight express to Switzerland. At Lucerne and Milan they broke the journey once more. Herminia had never yet gone further afield from England than Paris; and this first glimpse of a wider world was intensely interesting to her. Who can help being pleased, indeed, with that wonderful St. Gothard—the crystal green Reuss shattering itself in white spray into emerald pools by the side of the railway; Wasen church perched high upon its solitary23 hilltop; the Biaschina ravine, the cleft24 rocks of Faido, the serpentine25 twists and turns of the ramping26 line as it mounts or descends27 its spiral zigzags28? Dewy Alpine29 pasture, tossed masses of land-slip, white narcissus on the banks, snowy peaks in the background—all alike were fresh visions of delight to Herminia; and she drank it all in with the pure childish joy of a poetic30 nature. It was the Switzerland of her dreams, reinforced and complemented31 by unsuspected detail.
One trouble alone disturbed her peace of mind upon that delightful32 journey. Alan entered their names at all the hotels where they stopped as "Mr. and Mrs. Alan Merrick of London." That deception33, as Herminia held it, cost her many qualms34 of conscience; but Alan, with masculine common-sense, was firm upon the point that no other description was practically possible; and Herminia yielded with a sign to his greater worldly wisdom. She had yet to learn the lesson which sooner or later comes home to all the small minority who care a pin about righteousness, that in a world like our own, it is impossible for the righteous always to act consistently up to their most sacred convictions.
At Milan, they stopped long enough to snatch a glimpse of the cathedral, and to take a hasty walk through the pictured glories of the Brera. A vague suspicion began to cross Herminia's mind, as she gazed at the girlish Madonna of the Sposalizio, that perhaps she wasn't quite as well adapted to love Italy as Switzerland. Nature she understood; was art yet a closed book to her? If so, she would be sorry; for Alan, in whom the artistic35 sense was largely developed, loved his Italy dearly; and it would be a real cause of regret to her if she fell short in any way of Alan's expectations. Moreover, at table d'hote that evening, a slight episode occurred which roused to the full once more poor Herminia's tender conscience. Talk had somehow turned on Shelley's Italian wanderings; and a benevolent-looking clergyman opposite, with that vacantly well-meaning smile, peculiar36 to a certain type of country rector, was apologizing in what he took to be a broad and generous spirit of divine, toleration for the great moral teacher's supposed lapses37 from the normal rule of tight living. Much, the benevolent-looking gentleman opined, with beaming spectacles, must be forgiven to men of genius. Their temptations no doubt are far keener than with most of us. An eager imagination—a vivid sense of beauty—quick readiness to be moved by the sight of physical or moral loveliness—these were palliations, the old clergyman held, of much that seemed wrong and contradictory38 to our eyes in the lives of so many great men and women.
At sound of such immoral39 and unworthy teaching, Herminia's ardent40 soul rose up in revolt within her. "Oh, no," she cried eagerly, leaning across the table as she spoke41. "I can't allow that plea. It's degrading to Shelley, and to all true appreciation42 of the duties of genius. Not less but more than most of us is the genius bound to act up with all his might to the highest moral law, to be the prophet and interpreter of the highest moral excellence43. To whom much is given, of him much shall be required. Just because the man or woman of genius stands raised on a pedestal so far above the mass have we the right to expect that he or she should point us the way, should go before us as pioneer, should be more careful of the truth, more disdainful of the wrong, down to the smallest particular, than the ordinary person. There are poor souls born into this world so petty and narrow and wanting in originality44 that one can only expect them to tread the beaten track, be it ever so cruel and wicked and mistaken. But from a Shelley or a George Eliot, we expect greater things, and we have a right to expect them. That's why I can never quite forgive George Eliot—who knew the truth, and found freedom for herself, and practised it in her life—for upholding in her books the conventional lies, the conventional prejudices; and that's why I can never admire Shelley enough, who, in an age of slavery, refused to abjure45 or to deny his freedom, but acted unto death to the full height of his principles."
The benevolent-looking clergyman gazed aghast at Herminia. Then he turned slowly to Alan. "Your wife," he said in a mild and terrified voice, "is a VERY advanced lady."
Herminia longed to blurt46 out the whole simple truth. "I am NOT his wife. I am not, and could never be wife or slave to any man. This is a very dear friend, and he and I are travelling as friends together." But a warning glance from Alan made her hold her peace with difficulty and acquiesce16 as best she might in the virtual deception. Still, the incident went to her heart, and made her more anxious than ever to declare her convictions and her practical obedience47 to them openly before the world. She remembered, oh, so well one of her father's sermons that had vividly48 impressed her in the dear old days at Dunwich Cathedral. It was preached upon the text, "Come ye out and be ye separate."
From Milan they went on direct to Florence. Alan had decided49 to take rooms for the summer at Perugia, and there to see Herminia safely through her maternal50 troubles. He loved Perugia, he said; it was cool and high-perched; and then, too, it was such a capital place for sketching51. Besides, he was anxious to complete his studies of the early Umbrian painters. But they must have just one week at Florence together before they went up among the hills. Florence was the place for a beginner to find out what Italian art was aiming at. You got it there in its full logical development—every phase, step by step, in organic unity52; while elsewhere you saw but stages and jumps and results, interrupted here and there by disturbing lacunae. So at Florence they stopped for a week en route, and Herminia first learnt what Florentine art proposed to itself.
Ah, that week in Florence! What a dream of delight! 'Twas pure gold to Herminia. How could it well be otherwise? It seemed to her afterwards like the last flicker53 of joy in a doomed54 life, before its light went out and left her forever in utter darkness. To be sure, a week is a terribly cramped55 and hurried time in which to view Florence, the beloved city, whose ineffable56 glories need at least one whole winter adequately to grasp them. But failing a winter, a week with the gods made Herminia happy. She carried away but a confused phantasmagoria, it is true, of the soaring tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, pointing straight with its slender shaft57 to heaven; of the swelling58 dome59 and huge ribs60 of the cathedral, seen vast from the terrace in front of San Miniato; of the endless Madonnas and the deathless saints niched in golden tabernacles at the Uffizi and the Pitti; of the tender grace of Fra Angelico at San Marco; of the infinite wealth and astounding61 variety of Donatello's marble in the spacious62 courts of the cool Bargello. But her window at the hotel looked straight as it could look down the humming Calzaioli to the pierced and encrusted front of Giotto's campanile, with the cupola of San Lorenzo in the middle distance, and the facade63 of Fiesole standing64 out deep-blue against the dull red glare of evening in the background. If that were not enough to sate65 and enchant66 Herminia, she would indeed have been difficult. And with Alan by her side, every joy was doubled.
She had never before known what it was to have her lover continuously with her. And his aid in those long corridors, where bambinos smiled down at her with childish lips, helped her wondrously67 to understand in so short a time what they sought to convey to her. Alan was steeped in Italy; he knew and entered into the spirit of Tuscan art; and now for the first time Herminia found herself face to face with a thoroughly68 new subject in which Alan could be her teacher from the very beginning, as most men are teachers to the women who depend upon them. This sense of support and restfulness and clinging was fresh and delightful to her. It is a woman's ancestral part to look up to the man; she is happiest in doing it, and must long remain so; and Herminia was not sorry to find herself in this so much a woman. She thought it delicious to roam through the long halls of some great gallery with Alan, and let him point out to her the pictures he loved best, explain their peculiar merits, and show the subtle relation in which they stood to the pictures that went before them and the pictures that came after them, as well as to the other work of the same master or his contemporaries. It was even no small joy to her to find that he knew so much more about art and its message than she did; that she could look up to his judgment69, confide70 in his opinion, see the truth of his criticism, profit much by his instruction. So well did she use those seven short days, indeed, that she came to Florence with Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, mere71 names; and she went away from it feeling that she had made them real friends and possessions for a life-time.
So the hours whirled fast in those enchanted72 halls, and Herminia's soul was enriched by new tastes and new interests. O towers of fretted73 stone! O jasper and porphyry! Her very state of health made her more susceptible74 than usual to fresh impressions, and drew Alan at the same time every day into closer union with her. For was not the young life now quickening within her half his and half hers, and did it not seem to make the father by reflex nearer and dearer to her? Surely the child that was nurtured75, unborn, on those marble colonnades76 and those placid77 Saint Catherines must draw in with each pulse of its antenatal nutriment some tincture of beauty, of freedom, of culture! So Herminia thought to herself as she lay awake at night and looked out of the window from the curtains of her bed at the boundless78 dome and the tall campanile gleaming white in the moonlight. So we have each of us thought—especially the mothers in Israel among us—about the unborn babe that hastens along to its birth with such a radiant halo of the possible future ever gilding79 and glorifying80 its unseen forehead.
点击收听单词发音
1 injustice | |
n.非正义,不公正,不公平,侵犯(别人的)权利 | |
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2 abject | |
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的 | |
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3 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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4 dungeon | |
n.地牢,土牢 | |
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5 vaults | |
n.拱顶( vault的名词复数 );地下室;撑物跳高;墓穴 | |
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6 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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7 abstaining | |
戒(尤指酒),戒除( abstain的现在分词 ); 弃权(不投票) | |
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8 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
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9 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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10 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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11 remorse | |
n.痛恨,悔恨,自责 | |
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12 virility | |
n.雄劲,丈夫气 | |
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13 bartered | |
v.作物物交换,以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 wedded | |
adj.正式结婚的;渴望…的,执著于…的v.嫁,娶,(与…)结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15 acquiesced | |
v.默认,默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16 acquiesce | |
vi.默许,顺从,同意 | |
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17 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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18 reprobate | |
n.无赖汉;堕落的人 | |
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19 exponents | |
n.倡导者( exponent的名词复数 );说明者;指数;能手 | |
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20 creed | |
n.信条;信念,纲领 | |
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21 reverenced | |
v.尊敬,崇敬( reverence的过去式和过去分词 );敬礼 | |
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22 epithets | |
n.(表示性质、特征等的)词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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23 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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24 cleft | |
n.裂缝;adj.裂开的 | |
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25 serpentine | |
adj.蜿蜒的,弯曲的 | |
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26 ramping | |
土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 ); 斜道; 斜路; (装车或上下飞机的)活动梯 | |
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27 descends | |
v.下来( descend的第三人称单数 );下去;下降;下斜 | |
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28 zigzags | |
n.锯齿形的线条、小径等( zigzag的名词复数 )v.弯弯曲曲地走路,曲折地前进( zigzag的第三人称单数 ) | |
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29 alpine | |
adj.高山的;n.高山植物 | |
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30 poetic | |
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
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31 complemented | |
有补助物的,有余格的 | |
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32 delightful | |
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的 | |
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33 deception | |
n.欺骗,欺诈;骗局,诡计 | |
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34 qualms | |
n.不安;内疚 | |
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35 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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36 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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37 lapses | |
n.失误,过失( lapse的名词复数 );小毛病;行为失检;偏离正道v.退步( lapse的第三人称单数 );陷入;倒退;丧失 | |
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38 contradictory | |
adj.反驳的,反对的,抗辩的;n.正反对,矛盾对立 | |
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39 immoral | |
adj.不道德的,淫荡的,荒淫的,有伤风化的 | |
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40 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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41 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 | |
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42 appreciation | |
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨 | |
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43 excellence | |
n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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44 originality | |
n.创造力,独创性;新颖 | |
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45 abjure | |
v.发誓放弃 | |
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46 blurt | |
vt.突然说出,脱口说出 | |
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47 obedience | |
n.服从,顺从 | |
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48 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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49 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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50 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
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51 sketching | |
n.草图 | |
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52 unity | |
n.团结,联合,统一;和睦,协调 | |
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53 flicker | |
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现 | |
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54 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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55 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
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56 ineffable | |
adj.无法表达的,不可言喻的 | |
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57 shaft | |
n.(工具的)柄,杆状物 | |
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58 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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59 dome | |
n.圆屋顶,拱顶 | |
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60 ribs | |
n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 );(船或屋顶等的)肋拱;肋骨状的东西;(织物的)凸条花纹 | |
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61 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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62 spacious | |
adj.广阔的,宽敞的 | |
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63 facade | |
n.(建筑物的)正面,临街正面;外表 | |
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64 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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65 sate | |
v.使充分满足 | |
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66 enchant | |
vt.使陶醉,使入迷;使着魔,用妖术迷惑 | |
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67 wondrously | |
adv.惊奇地,非常,极其 | |
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68 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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69 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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70 confide | |
v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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71 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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72 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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73 fretted | |
焦躁的,附有弦马的,腐蚀的 | |
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74 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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75 nurtured | |
养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 ); 培育; 滋长; 助长 | |
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76 colonnades | |
n.石柱廊( colonnade的名词复数 ) | |
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77 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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78 boundless | |
adj.无限的;无边无际的;巨大的 | |
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79 gilding | |
n.贴金箔,镀金 | |
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80 glorifying | |
赞美( glorify的现在分词 ); 颂扬; 美化; 使光荣 | |
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