Chapter 23

When she returned from Sir Anthony's to her mother's lodgings¹, she found Herminia, very pale, in the sitting-room², waiting for her. Her eyes were fixed³ on a cherished autotype of a Pinturicchia at Perugia,—Alan's favorite picture. Out of her penury⁴ she had bought it. It represented the Madonna bending in worship over her divine child, and bore the inscription⁵: "Quem genuit adoravit." Herminia loved that group. To her it was no mere⁶ emblem⁷ of a dying creed⁸, but a type of the eternal religion of maternity⁹. The Mother adoring the Child! 'Twas herself and Dolly.

"Well?" Herminia said interrogatively, as her daughter entered, for she half feared the worst.

"Well," Dolores answered in a defiant¹⁰ tone, blurting¹¹ it out in sudden jerks, the rebellion of a lifetime finding vent¹² at last. "I've been to my grandfather, my father's father; and I've told him everything; and it's all arranged: and I'm to take his name; and I'm to go and live with him."

"Dolly!" the mother cried, and fell forward on the table with her face in her hands. "My child, my child, are you going to leave me?"

"It's quite time," Dolly answered, in a sullen¹³, stolid¹⁴ voice. "I can't stop here, of course, now I'm almost grown up and engaged to be married, associating any longer with such a woman as you have been. No right-minded girl who respected herself could do it."

Herminia rose and faced her. Her white lips grew livid. She had counted on every element of her martyrdom,—save one; and this, the blackest and fiercest of all, had never even occurred to her. "Dolly," she cried, "oh, my daughter, you don't know what you do! You don't know how I've loved you! I've given up my life for you. I thought when you came to woman's estate, and learned what was right and what wrong, you would indeed rise up and call me blessed. And now,—oh, Dolly, this last blow is too terrible. It will kill me, my darling. I can't go on out-living it."

"You will," Dolly answered. "You're strong enough and wiry enough to outlive anything. . . . But I wrote to Walter from Sir Anthony's this morning, and told him I would wait for him if I waited forever. For, of course, while YOU live, I couldn't think of marrying him. I couldn't think of burdening an honest man with such a mother-in-law as you are!"

Herminia could only utter the one word, "Dolly!" It was a heart-broken cry, the last despairing cry of a wounded and stricken creature.

1 lodgings   

n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍

参考例句：

• When he reached his lodgings the sun had set. 他到达公寓房间时，太阳已下山了。
• I'm on the hunt for lodgings. 我正在寻找住所。

2 sitting-room   

n.（BrE）客厅，起居室

参考例句：

• The sitting-room is clean.起居室很清洁。
• Each villa has a separate sitting-room.每栋别墅都有一间独立的起居室。

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 penury   

n.贫穷，拮据

参考例句：

• Hardship and penury wore him out before his time.受穷受苦使他未老先衰。
• A succession of bad harvest had reduced the small farmer to penury.连续歉收使得这个小农场主陷入了贫困境地。

5 inscription   

n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文

参考例句：

• The inscription has worn away and can no longer be read.铭文已磨损，无法辨认了。
• He chiselled an inscription on the marble.他在大理石上刻碑文。

6 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

7 emblem   

n.象征，标志；徽章

参考例句：

• Her shirt has the company emblem on it.她的衬衫印有公司的标记。
• The eagle was an emblem of strength and courage.鹰是力量和勇气的象征。

8 creed   

n.信条；信念，纲领

参考例句：

• They offended against every article of his creed.他们触犯了他的每一条戒律。
• Our creed has always been that business is business.我们的信条一直是公私分明。

9 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

10 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

11 blurting   

v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I can change my life minute by blurting out book. 脱口而出这本书，我就能够改变我的人生。 来自互联网
• B: I just practiced blurting out useful sentences every day for one year. 我只是用了一年的时间每天练习脱口而出有用的句子。 来自互联网

12 vent   

n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄

参考例句：

• He gave vent to his anger by swearing loudly.他高声咒骂以发泄他的愤怒。
• When the vent became plugged,the engine would stop.当通风口被堵塞时，发动机就会停转。

13 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

14 stolid   

adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的

参考例句：

• Her face showed nothing but stolid indifference.她的脸上毫无表情，只有麻木的无动于衷。
• He conceals his feelings behind a rather stolid manner.他装作无动于衷的样子以掩盖自己的感情。