She puzzled Mr. Keller. He tried to gain time—he bowed and pointed2 to a chair. Madame Fontaine took the chair in silence. Her hard eyes looked straight at the master of the house, overhung more heavily than usual by their drooping3 lids. Her thin lips never opened. The whole expression of the woman said plainly, "You speak first!"
Mr. Keller spoke4. His kindly5 instinct warned him not to refer to Minna, in alluding6 to the persons from whom he had derived7 his information. "I hear from my son," he said, "that you do not approve of our putting off the wedding-day, though it is only for a fortnight. Are you aware of the circumstances?"
"I am aware of the circumstances."
"Your daughter informed you of my sister's illness, I suppose?"
At that first reference to Minna, some inner agitation8 faintly stirred the still surface of Madame Fontaine's face.
"Yes," she said. "My thoughtless daughter informed me."
The epithet9 applied10 to Minna, aggravated11 by the deliberate emphasis laid on it, jarred on Mr. Keller's sense of justice. "It appears to me," he said, "that your daughter acted in this matter, not only with the truest kindness, but with the utmost good sense. Mrs. Wagner and my sister's physician were both present at the time, and both agreed with me in admiring her conduct. What has she done to deserve that you should call her thoughtless?"
"She ought to have remembered her duty to her mother. She ought to have consulted me, before she presumed to decide for herself."
"In that case, Madame Fontaine, would you have objected to change the day of the marriage?"
"I am well aware, sir, that your sister has honored my daughter by making her a magnificent present——"
Mr. Keller's face began to harden. "May I beg you to be so good as answer my question plainly?" he said, in tones which were peremptory12 for the first time. "Would you have objected to grant the fortnight's delay?"
She answered him, on the bare chance that a strong expression of her opinion, as the bride's mother, might, even now, induce him to revert13 to the date originally chosen for the wedding. "I should certainly have objected," she said firmly.
"What difference could it possibly make to you?" There was suspicion in his manner, as well as surprise, when he put that question. "For what reason would you have objected?"
"Is my objection, as Minna's mother, not worthy14 of some consideration, sir, without any needless inquiry15 into motives16?"
"Your daughter's objection—as the bride—would have been a final objection, to my mind," Mr. Keller answered. "But your objection is simply unaccountable; and I press you for your motives, having this good reason for doing so on my side. If I am to disappoint my sister—cruelly to disappoint her—it must be for some better cause than a mere17 caprice."
It was strongly put, and not easily answered. Madame Fontaine made a last effort—she invented the likeliest motives she could think of. "I object, sir, in the first place, to putting off the most important event in my daughter's life, and in my life, as if it was some trifling18 engagement. Besides, how do I know that some other unlucky circumstance may not cause more delays; and perhaps prevent the marriage from taking place at all?"
Mr. Keller rose from his chair. Whatever her true motives might be, it was now perfectly19 plain that she was concealing20 them from him. "If you have any more serious reasons to give me than these," he said quietly and coldly, "let me hear them between this and post-time tomorrow. In the meanwhile, I need not detain you any longer."
Madame Fontaine rose also—but she was not quite defeated yet.
"As things are, then," she resumed, "I am to understand, sir, that the marriage is put off to the thirteenth of January next?"
"Yes, with your daughter's consent."
"Suppose my daughter changes her mind, in the interval21?"
"Under your influence?"
"Mr. Keller! you insult me."
"I should insult your daughter, Madame Fontaine—after what she said in this room before me and before other witnesses—if I supposed her to be capable of changing her mind, except under your influence.
"Good evening, sir."
"Good evening, madam."
She went back to her room.
The vacant spaces on the walls were prettily22 filled up with prints and water-color drawings. Among these last was a little portrait of Mr. Keller, in a glazed23 frame. She approached it—looked at it—and, suddenly tearing it from the wall, threw it on the floor. It happened to fall with the glass uppermost. She stamped on it, in a perfect frenzy24 of rage; not only crushing the glass, but even breaking the frame, and completely destroying the portrait as a work of art. "There! that has done me good," she said to herself—and kicked the fragments into a corner of the room.
She was now able to take a chair at the fireside, and shape out for herself the course which it was safest to follow.
Minna was first in her thoughts. She could bend the girl to her will, and send her to Mr. Keller. But he would certainly ask, under what influence she was acting25, in terms which would place the alternative between a downright falsehood, or a truthful26 answer. Minna was truth itself; in her youngest days, she had been one of those rare children who never take their easy refuge in a lie. What influence would be most likely to persuade her to deceive Fritz's father? The widow gave up the idea, in the moment when it occurred to her. Once again, "Jezebel's Daughter" unconsciously touched Jezebel's heart with the light of her purity and her goodness. The mother shrank from deliberately27 degrading the nature of her own child.
The horrid28 question of the money followed. On the thirty-first of the month, the promissory note would be presented for payment. Where was the money to be found?
Some little time since, having the prospect29 of Minna's marriage on the thirtieth of December before her, she had boldly resolved on referring the holder30 of the note to Mr. Keller. Did it matter to her what the sordid31 old merchant said or thought, after Minna had become his son's wife? She would coolly say to him, "The general body of the creditors33 harassed34 me. I preferred having one creditor32 to deal with, who had no objection to grant me time. His debt has fallen due; and I have no money to pay it. Choose between paying it yourself, and the disgrace of letting your son's mother-in-law be publicly arrested in Frankfort for debt."
So she might have spoken, if her daughter had been a member of Mr. Keller's family. With floods of tears, with eloquent35 protestations, with threats even of self-destruction, could she venture on making the confession36 now?
She remembered how solemnly she had assured Mr. Keller that her debts were really and truly paid. She remembered the inhuman37 scorn with which he had spoken of persons who failed to meet their pecuniary38 engagements honestly. Even if he forgave her for deceiving him—which was in the last degree improbable—he was the sort of man who would suspect her of other deceptions39. He would inquire if she had been quite disinterested40 in attending at his bedside, and saving his life. He might take counsel privately41 with his only surviving partner, Mrs. Wagner. Mrs. Wagner might recall the interview in the drawing-room, and the conversation about Jack42; and might see her way to consulting Jack's recollections of his illness at Wurzburg. The risk to herself of encountering these dangers was trifling. But the risk to Minna involved nothing less than the breaking off of the marriage. She decided43 on keeping up appearances, at any sacrifice, until the marriage released her from the necessities of disguise.
So it came back again to the question of how the money was to be found.
Had she any reasonable hope of success, if she asked for a few days' leave of absence, and went to Wurzburg? Would the holder of the bill allow her to renew it for a fortnight?
She got up, and consulted her glass—and turned away from it again, with a sigh. "If I was only ten years younger!" she thought.
The letter which she received from Wurzburg had informed her that the present holder of the bill was "a middle-aged44 man." If he had been very young, or very old, she would have trusted in the autumn of her beauty, backed by her ready wit. But experience had taught her that the fascinations45 of a middle-aged woman are, in the vast majority of cases, fascinations thrown away on a middle-aged man. Even if she could hope to be one of the exceptions that prove the rule, the middle-aged man was an especially inaccessible46 person, in this case. He had lost money by her already—money either paid, or owing, to the spy whom he had set to watch her. Was this the sort of man who would postpone47 the payment of his just dues?
She opened one of the drawers in the toilette table, and took out the pearl necklace. "I thought it would come to this," she said quietly. "Instead of paying the promissory note, Mr. Keller will have to take the necklace out of pledge."
The early evening darkness of winter had set in. She dressed herself for going out, and left her room, with the necklace in its case, concealed48 under her shawl.
Poor puzzled Minna was waiting timidly to speak to her in the corridor. "Oh mamma, do forgive me! I meant it for the best."
The widow put one arm (the other was not at liberty) round her daughter's waist. "You foolish child," she said, "will you never understand that your poor mother is getting old and irritable49? I may think you have made a great mistake, in sacrificing yourself to the infirmities of an asthmatic stranger at Munich; but as to being ever really angry with you——! Kiss me, my love; I never was fonder of you than I am now. Lift my veil. Oh, my darling, I don't like giving you to anybody, even to Fritz."
Minna changed the subject—a sure sign that she and Fritz were friends again. "How thick and heavy your veil is!" she said.
"It is cold out of doors, my child, to-night."
"But why are you going out?"
"I don't feel very well, Minna. A brisk walk in the frosty air will do me good."
"Mamma, do let me go with you!"
"No, my dear. You are not a hard old woman like me—and you shall not run the risk of catching50 cold. Go into my room, and keep the fire up. I shall be back in half an hour.
"Where is my necklace, mamma?"
"My dear, the bride's mother keeps the bride's necklace—and, when we do try it on, we will see how it looks by daylight."
In a minute more, Madame Fontaine was out in the street, on her way to the nearest jeweler.
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1
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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spoke
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| 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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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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alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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aggravated
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| 使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火 | |
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peremptory
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| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
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revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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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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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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creditor
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| n.债仅人，债主，贷方 | |
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creditors
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| n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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pecuniary
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| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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deceptions
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| 欺骗( deception的名词复数 )； 骗术，诡计 | |
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40
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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42
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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45
fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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46
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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postpone
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| v.延期，推迟 | |
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48
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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49
irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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