CHAPTER III

Stuart led Mary to a seat beneath an oak, brushed the dust away with hiscap and asked her to honor him. He bowed low over her hand and dared tokiss it.
She passed the gallant¹ act as a matter of course and sat down beside himwith quiet humor. She knew the symptoms. A born flirt², as every trueSouthern girl has always been, she eyed his embarrassment³ with surprise.
She knew that he was going to speak under the resistless impulse ofyouth and romance, and that no hearts would be broken on either side nomatter what the outcome.
She watched him indulgently. She had to like him. He was the kind of boya girl couldn't help liking⁴. He was vital, magnetic and exceptionallygood looking. He sang and danced and flirted⁵, but beneath the fun andfoolishness slumbered⁶ a fine spirit, tender, reverent⁷, deeply religious.
It was this undercurrent of strength that drew the girl. He was alwayshumming a song, his heart bubbling over with joy. He had never utteredan oath or touched a drop of liquor amid all the gaiety of the times inwhich he lived.
"Miss Mary," he began slowly.
"Now Jeb," she interrupted. "You don't _have_ to, you know--"Stuart threw his head back, laughed, and sang a stanza⁸ from "AnnieLaurie" in a low, tender voice. He paused and faced his fair tormentor⁹.
"Miss Mary, I've got to!""You don't have to make love to me just because you're my brother'sclassmate--""You know I'm not!" he protested.
"You're about to begin.""But not for that reason, Miss Mary--"He held her gaze so seriously that she blushed before she could recoverher poise¹⁰. He saw his advantage and pressed it.
"I'm telling you that I love you because you're the most adorable girlI've ever known."His boyish, conventional words broke the spell.
"I appreciate the tribute which you so gallantly¹¹ pay me, Sir Knight¹². ButI happen to know that the moonlight, the music of a dance, the song ofbirds this morning and the beauty of the landscape move you, as theyshould. You're young. You're too good looking. You're fine and unspoiledand I like you, Jeb. But you don't know yet what love means.""I do, Miss Mary, I do.""You don't and neither do I. You're in love with love. And so am I. It'sthe morning of life and why shouldn't we be like this?""There's no hope?" he asked dolefully.
"Of course, there's hope. There's something fine in you, and you'll findyourself in the world when you ride forth¹³ to play your part. And I'llfollow you with tender pride.""But not with love," he sighed.
"Maybe--who knows?" she smiled.
"Is that all the hope you can give me?""Isn't it enough?"He gazed into her serious eyes a moment and laughed with boyishenthusiasm.
"Yes, it is, Miss Mary! You're glorious. You're wonderful. You make meashamed of my foolishness. You inspire me to do things. And I'm going todo them for your sake.""For your own sake, because God has put the spark in your soul. Yourdeclaration of love has made me very happy. We're too young yet to takeit seriously. We must both live our life in its morning before we settledown to the final things. They'll come too soon.""I'm going to love you always, Miss Mary," he protested.
"I want you to. But you'll probably marry another girl.""Never!""And I know you'll be her loyal knight, her devoted¹⁴ slave. It's a wayour Southern boys have. And it's beautiful."Stuart studied the finely chiseled¹⁵ face with a new reverence¹⁶.
"Miss Mary, you've let me down so gently. I don't feel hurt at all."A sweet silence fell between them. A breeze blew the ringlets of thegirl's hair across the pink of her cheek. A breeze from the garden ladenwith the mingled¹⁷ perfume of roses. A flock of wild ducks swung acrossthe lawn high in the clear sky and dipped toward the river. Across thefields came a song of slaves at work in the cornfield, harvesting thefirst crop of peas planted between the rows.
Stuart caught her hand, pressed it tenderly and kissed it.
"You're an angel, Miss Mary. And I'm going to worship you, if you won'tlet me love you."The girl returned his earnest look with a smile and slowly answered:
"All right, Beauty Stuart, we'll see--"

1 gallant   

adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的

参考例句：

• Huang Jiguang's gallant deed is known by all men. 黄继光的英勇事迹尽人皆知。
• These gallant soldiers will protect our country.这些勇敢的士兵会保卫我们的国家的。

2 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。

3 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

4 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

5 flirted   

v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She flirted her fan. 她急速挥动着扇子。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• During his four months in Egypt he flirted with religious emotions. 在埃及逗留的这四个月期间，他又玩弄起宗教情绪来了。 来自辞典例句

6 slumbered   

微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The baby slumbered in his cradle. 婴儿安睡在摇篮中。
• At that time my virtue slumbered; my evil, kept awake by ambition. 就在那时，我的善的一面睡着了，我的邪恶面因野心勃勃而清醒着。

7 reverent   

adj.恭敬的，虔诚的

参考例句：

• He gave reverent attention to the teacher.他恭敬地听老师讲课。
• She said the word artist with a gentle,understanding,reverent smile.她说作家一词时面带高雅，理解和虔诚的微笑。

8 stanza   

n.（诗）节，段

参考例句：

• We omitted to sing the second stanza.我们漏唱了第二节。
• One young reporter wrote a review with a stanza that contained some offensive content.一个年轻的记者就歌词中包含有攻击性内容的一节写了评论。

9 tormentor   

n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter

参考例句：

• He was the tormentor, he was the protector, he was the inquisitor, he was the friend. 他既是拷打者，又是保护者；既是审问者，又是朋友。 来自英汉文学
• The tormentor enlarged the engagement garment. 折磨者加大了订婚服装。

10 poise   

vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信

参考例句：

• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise.她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。
• Ballet classes are important for poise and grace.芭蕾课对培养优雅的姿仪非常重要。

11 gallantly   

adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地

参考例句：

• He gallantly offered to carry her cases to the car. 他殷勤地要帮她把箱子拎到车子里去。
• The new fighters behave gallantly under fire. 新战士在炮火下表现得很勇敢。

12 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

13 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

14 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

15 chiseled   

adj.凿刻的，轮廓分明的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Woltz had chiseled the guy, given him peanuts for the book. 乌尔茨敲了这个作家的竹杠，用了他的书，却只给微不足道的一点点钱。 来自教父部分
• He chiseled the piece of wood into the shape of a head. 他把这块木头凿刻成人头的形状。 来自辞典例句

16 reverence   

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

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

17 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。