Long before Jennie Barton arrived in Richmond Socola had waked to the realization1 of the fact that he had been caught in the trap he had set for another. He had laughed at his growing interest in the slender dark little Southerner. He imagined that he had hypnotized himself into the idea that he really liked her. He had kept no account of the number of visits he had made. They were part of his programme. They had grown so swiftly into the habit of his thought and life he had not stopped to question the motive2 that prompted his zeal3 in pressing his attentions.
In fact his mind had become so evenly adjusted to hers, his happiness had been so quietly perfect, he had lost sight of the fact that he was pressing his attentions at all.
The day she was suddenly called South and he said good-by with her brown eyes looking so frankly4 into his he was brought sharply up against the fact that he was in love.
When he took her warm hand in his to press it for the last time, he felt an almost resistless impulse to bend and kiss her. From that moment he realized that he was in love—madly, hopelessly, desperately5.
He had left the car and hurried back to his post in the State Department, his heart beating like a trip hammer. It was a novel experience. He had never taken girls seriously before. The last girl on earth he had ever meant to take seriously was this slip of a Southern enthusiast6. For a moment he was furious at the certainty of his abject7 surrender. He lifted his eyes to the big columns of the Confederate Capitol and laughed:
"Come, come, man—common sense—this is a joke! Forget it all. To your work—your country calls!"
Somehow the country refused to issue but one call—the old eternal cry of love. Wherever he turned, Jennie's brown eyes were smiling into his. He looked at the Confederate Capitol to inspire him to deeds of daring and all he could remember was that she was a glorious little rebel with three brothers fighting for the flag that floated there. All he could get out of the supreme8 emblem9 of the "Rebellion" was that it was her Capitol and her flag and he loved her.
And then he laughed for sheer joy that love had come into his heart and made the world beautiful. He surrendered himself body and soul to the madness and wonder of it all.
If he could only see his mother and tell her, she could understand. He couldn't talk to the bundle of nerves Miss Van Lew had become. Her eyes burned each day with a deeper and deeper light of fanatical patriotism10. He had yielded none of his own enthusiasm. But this secret of his heart was too sweet to be shared by a comrade in arms.
Only God's eye, or the soul of the mother who bore him, could understand what he felt. The realization of his love for Jennie brought a new fear into his heart. His nerve was put daily to supreme test in the dangerous work in which he was engaged. A single mistake would start an investigation12 sure to end with a rope around his neck. Love had given life a new meaning. The chatter13 of the squirrels in the Capitol Square was all about their homes and babies in the tree tops. The song of birds in the old flower garden on Church Hill made his heart thump14 with a joy that was agony. The flowers were just bursting into full bloom and their perfume filled the air with the lazy dreaming of the southern spring.
He must speak his love. His heart would burst with its beating. His mate must know. And she had returned to Richmond with a bitterness against the North that was something new in the development of her character.
The newspapers of Richmond had published an elaborate account of the sacking of her father's house, the smashing of its furniture and theft of its valuables. It had created a profound sensation. There was no mistaking the passion with which she had told this story.
He had laughed at first over the fun of winning the fairest little rebel in the South and carrying his bride away a prize of war, against the combined efforts of his Southern rivals. His love and pride had not doubted for a moment that her heart would yield to the man she loved no matter what uniform he might wear at the end of this war.
He couldn't make up his mind to ask her to marry him until she should know his real name and his true principles.
What would she do if the truth were revealed? His heart fairly stopped its beating at the thought. The fall of Richmond he now regarded as a practical certainty. The Merrimac had proven a vain hope to the Confederacy.
McClellan was landing his magnificent army on the Peninsula and preparing to sweep all before him. McDowell's forty thousand men were moving on his old line of march straight from Washington. Their two armies would unite before the city and circle it with an invincible15 wall of fire and steel. Fremont, Milroy and Banks were sweeping16 through the valley of the Shenandoah. Their armies would unite, break the connections of the Confederacy at Lynchburg and the South would be crushed.
That this would all be accomplished17 within thirty days he had the most positive assurances from Washington. So sure was Miss Van Lew of McClellan's triumphant18 entry into Richmond she had put her house in order for his reception. Her parlor19 had been scrupulously20 cleaned. Its blinds were drawn21 and the room dark, but a flag staff was ready and a union standard concealed22 in one of her feather beds. Over the old house on Church Hill the emblem of the Nation would first be flung to the breeze in the conquered Capital of the Confederacy.
The certainty of his discovery in the rush of the union army into the city was now the nightmare which haunted his imagination.
He could fight the Confederate Government on even terms. He asked no odds23. His life was on the hazard. Something more than the life of a union spy was at stake in his affair with Jennie. Her life and happiness were bound in his. He felt this by an unerring instinct.
If this proud, sensitive, embittered24 girl should stumble on even a suspicion of the truth, she would tear her heart out of her body if necessary to put him out of her life.
For a moment he was tempted25 to give up his work and return to the North. It was the one sure way to avoid discovery when Richmond fell. The war over, he would have his even chance with other men when its bitterness had been softened26. His work in Richmond was practically done. His men could finish it. The number of soldiers in the Southern armies had been accurately27 counted and reported to Washington. Why should he risk the happiness of the woman he loved and his own happiness for life by remaining another day?
The thought had no sooner taken shape than he put it out of his mind.
"Bah! I've set my hand to a great task. I'm not a quitter. I'll stand by my guns. No true woman ever loved a coward!"
He would take his chances and tell her his love.
He lifted the old-fashioned brass28 knocker on Senator Barton's door and banged it with such force he laughed at his own foolish eagerness:
"At least I needn't smash my way in!" he muttered.
"Yassah, des walk right in de parlor, sah," Jennie's maid said, with her teeth shining in a knowing smile.
Senator Barton had recovered from his illness. There could be no doubt about it. He was in the library holding forth29 in eloquent30 tones to a group of Confederate Congressmen who made his house their rendezvous31. He was enjoying the martyrdom which the outrage32 on his home and the death of his aged11 mother and father had brought. He was using it to inveigh33 with new bitterness against the imbecility of Jefferson Davis and his administration. He held Davis personally responsible for every defeat of the South. He was the one man who had caused the fall of New Orleans, the loss of Fort Donelson and the failure to reap the victory at Shiloh.
"But you must remember, Senator," one of his henchmen mildly protested, "that Davis did save Albert Sidney Johnston to us and that alone made a victory possible."
"And what of it, if he threw it away by appointing a fool second in Command?"
There was a good answer to this—too good for the henchman to dare use it. He had sent Beauregard west to join Albert Sidney Johnston's command because Barton's junta34, supporting Joseph E. Johnston against the administration, would no longer tolerate Beauregard in the same camp with their chief. They had demanded a free field for Joseph E. Johnston in the conflict with McClellan or they had threatened his resignation and the disruption of the Confederate army.
The President, sick unto death over the wrangling35 of these two generals, had separated them and sent Beauregard west where the genius of Albert Sidney Johnston could use his personal popularity, and his own more powerful mind would neutralize36 in any council of war the little man's feeble generalship.
Socola listened to Barton's fierce, unreasoning invective37 with a sense of dread38. It was impossible to realize that this big-mouthed, bitter, vindictive39, ridiculous politician was the father of the gentle girl he loved. There must be something of his power of malignant40 hatred41 somewhere in Jennie's nature. He had caught just a glimpse of it in the story she had told the Richmond papers.
She stood in the doorway42 at last, a smiling vision of modest beauty. Her dress of fine old lace seemed woven of the tender smiles that played about the sensitive mouth.
He sprang to his feet and took her hand, his heart thumping43 with joy. She felt it tremble and laughed outright44.
"So you have returned a fiercer rebel than ever, Miss Jennie?" he said hesitatingly.
He tried to say something purely45 conventional but it popped out when he opened his mouth—the ugly thought that was gnawing46 at his happiness.
"Yes," she answered thoughtfully, "I never realized before what it meant to be with my own people. I could have burned New Orleans and laughed at its ruins to have smoked Ben Butler out of it—"
"President Davis has proclaimed him an outlaw47 I see," Socola added.
"If he can only capture and hang him, the people of Louisiana would be perfectly48 willing to lose all—"
"But your brother, the Judge, is still loyal to the union—you can't hate him you know?"
Jennie's eyes flashed into Socola's.
Why had he asked the one question that opened the wound in her heart? Perhaps her mind had suggested it. She had scarcely spoken the bitter words before she saw the vision of his serious face and regretted it.
"Strange you should have mentioned my brother's name at the very moment his image was before me," the girl thoughtfully replied.
"Clairvoyance49 perhaps—"
"You believe in such things?" Jennie asked.
"Yes. My mother leaped from her bed with a scream one night and told me that she had seen my father's spirit, felt him bend over her and touch her lips. He had died at exactly that moment."
"Wonderful, isn't it," Jennie murmured softly, "the vision of love!"
She was dreaming of the moments of her distress50 in the sacking of her home when the vision of this man's smiling face had suddenly set her to laughing.
"Yes," Socola answered. "I asked you about your older brother because I don't like the idea of you poisoning your beautiful young life with hatred. Such thoughts kill—they can't bring health and strength, Miss Jennie."
"Of course," the girl responded tenderly, "you can see things more calmly. You can't understand how deep the knife has entered our hearts in the South."
"That's just what I do understand. It's that against which I'm warning you. This war can't last always you know. There must be a readjustment—"
"Between the North and South?"
"Of course—"
"Never!"
With sudden emotion she leaped to her feet her little fists clinched51. She stood trembling in silence for a moment and her face paled.
"No, Signor," she went on in cold tones. "There can be no readjustment of this war. It's to the death now. I confess myself a rebel body and soul—Confess? I glory in it! I'm proud of being one. I thought my father extravagant52 at first. Ben Butler has changed my views. The South can't look back now. It's forward—forward—always forward to death—or independence!"
She paused overcome with emotion.
"Yes," she went on in quick tones, "I thank God we're two different tribes! I'm proud of the South and her old-fashioned, out-of-date chivalry53. The South respects and honors women. God never made the Southern white man who could issue Butler's orders in New Orleans or insult the heart-broken women who are forced to enter his office with the vile54 motto he has placed over his desk—"
Socola lifted his hand in gentle smiling protest.
"But you must remember, Miss Jennie, that General Butler is a peculiar55 individual. He probably does not represent the best that's in New England—"
"God knows I hope not for their sakes," was the answer. "I only wish I could fight in the ranks with our boys. If I can't fight at least I'm going to help our men in other ways. I'll work with my hands as a slave. I'll sew and knit and nurse. I'll breathe my soul into the souls of our men. I sing Dixie when I rise in the morning. I hum it all day. I sing it with my last thoughts as I go to sleep."
Socola moved uneasily.
She looked at him a moment with an expression of sudden tenderness.
"I can't tell you how proud and happy I am in the thought that I may have helped you to give your brilliant mind to the service of the South. It's my offering to my country and her cause!"
It was impossible to resist the glow of love in her shining face. Socola felt his soul dissolve.
With a little gesture of resignation she dropped to a seat on the lounge beside the window, her young face outlined against a mass of early roses in full bloom. Their perfume poured through the window and filled the room.
Socola seated himself deliberately56 by her side and held her gaze with direct purpose. She saw and understood and her heart beat in quick response.
"You realize that you are the incarnate57 Cause of the South for me?"
She smiled triumphantly58.
"I have always known it."
There was no silly boasting in her tones, no trace of the Southern girl's light mood with one of her numerous beaux. Her words were spoken with deliberate tenderness.
"And yet how deeply and wonderfully you could not know—"
"I have guessed perhaps—"
He took her hand in his.
"I love you, Jennie—"
Her voice was the tenderest whisper.
"And I love you, my sweetheart—"
He clasped her in his arms and held her in silence.
She pushed him at arm's length and looked wistfully into his face.
"For the past month my heart has been singing. Through all the shame and misery59 of the sacking of our home, I could laugh and be happy—foolishly happy, because I knew that you loved me—"
"How did you know?"
"You told me—"
"When?"
"With the last little touch of your hand when I went South."
He pressed it with desperate tenderness.
"It shall be forever?"
"Forever!"
"Neither life nor death, nor height nor depth can separate us?"
"What could separate us, my lover? You are mine. I am yours. You have given your life to our cause—"
"I am but a soldier of fortune—"
"You are my soldier—you have given your life because I asked it. I give you mine in return—"
"Swear to me that you'll love me always!"
She answered with a kiss.
"I swear it."
Again he clasped her in his arms and hurried from the house. The twilight60 was falling. Artillery61 wagons62 were rumbling63 through the streets. A troop train had arrived from the South. Its regiments64 were rushing across the city to re?nforce McGruder's thin lines on the Peninsula. McClellan's guns were already thundering on the shores.
He hurried to the house on Church Hill, his dark face flushed with happiness, his heart beating a reveille of fear and joy.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
realization
|
|
| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
enthusiast
|
|
| n.热心人，热衷者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
abject
|
|
| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
supreme
|
|
| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
emblem
|
|
| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
patriotism
|
|
| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
aged
|
|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
investigation
|
|
| n.调查，调查研究 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
thump
|
|
| v.重击，砰然地响；n.重击，重击声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
invincible
|
|
| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
sweeping
|
|
| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
parlor
|
|
| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
scrupulously
|
|
| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
odds
|
|
| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
embittered
|
|
| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
tempted
|
|
| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
softened
|
|
| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
accurately
|
|
| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
rendezvous
|
|
| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
inveigh
|
|
| v.痛骂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
junta
|
|
| n.团体；政务审议会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
wrangling
|
|
| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
neutralize
|
|
| v.使失效、抵消，使中和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
invective
|
|
| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
vindictive
|
|
| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
malignant
|
|
| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
thumping
|
|
| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
outright
|
|
| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
gnawing
|
|
| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
outlaw
|
|
| n.歹徒，亡命之徒；vt.宣布…为不合法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
clairvoyance
|
|
| n.超人的洞察力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
clinched
|
|
| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
extravagant
|
|
| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
chivalry
|
|
| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
vile
|
|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
deliberately
|
|
| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
incarnate
|
|
| adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
triumphantly
|
|
| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
artillery
|
|
| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
wagons
|
|
| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
rumbling
|
|
| n. 隆隆声, 辘辘声 adj. 隆隆响的 动词rumble的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
regiments
|
|
| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |