Walled within his materialism4, he yet believed himself to be religious, his creed5 being a species of Mosaic6 law, practical and eminently7 rigid8. Had fate destined9 him for an Annas, he would have crucified a Christ with quiet conscience—ay, even with zest10. There was nothing spiritual about him in the higher sense; yet he passed as a good man, orthodox and respectable to the last button.
Hence it may be imagined that when Lord Gerald Gusset rode over to Saltire one morning, and proceeded to harangue11 the ex-tea-merchant on the iniquities12 of his son, John Strong gaped13 like a ravaged14 sepulchre, and discovered no relief in monosyllabic wrath15.
Above and before all things the master of Saltire had been ambitious for his son. It was the ambition of a tyrant16, a task-master who had conceived the erection of a social pyramid. He had thought to pinnacle17 his son on the summit of this ambition, to make of him a fashionable anachronism, a member of a New Nobility coroneted by commerce. It was the dream of a materialist18, of a man who trusted in his gold.
John Strong’s wrath may be pictured when he beheld19 this excellent edifice20 crumbling21 before his eyes. Grim man that he was, he was overwhelmed for the instant, beaten to his knees, threatened as with social bankruptcy22. His fibre, however, was not of the willow23. With twisted branches he stood to the storm, and shook out anathemas24 at the cloud that had given it birth. He turned iconoclast25 against his own ambition, and prepared to tear down with his own hands the idol26 that had disgraced his pride. Lacking any elasticity27 of sentiment, he was the more incensed29 against Gabriel, his son.
The morning after his reunion with Joan Gildersedge, Gabriel took horse and rode for Saltire to see his father. He was ignorant as to Lord Gerald’s previous visit and the insurrection of John Strong’s ambitious prejudices. Gabriel was in a sanguine31 mood. Joan’s spirit had borne him above himself; her love like a golden banner beaconed him from the hills. Chivalry32 stirred in his blood. His poetic33 pessimism34 had fallen from him like the bonds of a witch damsel broken by the hand of a saint.
He rode through Saltire village with his chin high and his horse well in hand. The few sleepy folk idling about the street gaped at him with an apathetic35 curiosity. He passed James Marjoy rolling along in his gig, a red carnation36 in his button-hole and his stethoscope hanging from his pocket. The doctor gave him a curt37 nod and stared blankly into space. By the church the Rev30. Jacob Mince38 eyed the horseman under the brim of his black hat, and turned from him with a pharisaical dignity. Gabriel tilted39 his chin more loftily towards the stars, put his shoulders back, touched his horse with the spurs.
Threading the park, a slumbering40 Arcady, he came, by the three sun-burnished fish-ponds, to the dusky edge of the Saltire garden. A wicket-gate closed a grass-path that delved41 into the green. Gabriel saw a streak42 of white amid the bushes and a hand that waved to him with quick appeal.
“Gabriel!”
The man dismounted, threw the reins43 over the fence, and turned to the gate. Judith stood there with her hand upon the latch44, her bronze hair brilliant in the sun. She was in white, fair as a magnolia in bloom, her eyes preternaturally dark in her pale and wistful face.
“Gabriel, I must speak to you.”
He met her very calmly, with the strength gotten of his rehallowed love. There was no distrust upon her face, only a sorrowful foreboding, a fear for that which was to follow. The man saw that the cup of malice45 had been emptied at her feet.
“Are you also against me?” he asked her, sadly.
Their hands met. Gabriel went in and stood beside her under the laurels46. He seemed taller than of yore, more deep of chest, keener about the eyes. Judith looked at him, a slight color suffusing47 her face.
“Gabriel, this is terrible.”
“Mere venom,” he said.
“I do not believe these lies,” she answered, with the calm of one whose convictions were carven out of white marble.
“For these words, dear, I thank you.”
“It is these women who have worked this web of slander48.”
Brother and sister stood silent a moment, looking at each other like two trustful children.
“What of father?” he asked her, suddenly.
A shadow swept across her face, and her eyes darkened.
“He is reasonless,” she said—“mad, mad.”
“I must renew his sanity49.”
“I doubt it—I doubt it.”
“Is he so ungenerous to his own son?”
“Ah, Gabriel, did I not warn you against prejudiced affections and ambitious love. Slander and shame have turned father into a Shylock. He will believe nothing, accept nothing.”
“I must face him,” he said to her, moving on amid the laurels.
“Be wise, weigh well your words.”
Judith followed at his heels. There was great sadness upon her face. Before the path upon the Saltire lawns, she touched Gabriel’s arm and beckoned50 him back within the shadows of the thicket51.
“Gabriel,” she said.
“Sister.”
“Tell me one thing before you go: do you love this Joan Gildersedge?”
He started to hear the hallowed name upon her lips, for he had never heard it save in his own heart.
“I love her as Dante loved Beatrice.”
“And she is worthy52?”
“Worthy indeed.”
Judith looked at the sky; her lips moved as in prayer; the sunlight played upon her face.
“Would to God, Gabriel, she had come into your life before.”
“Amen to that.”
“This will prove a fiery53 trial to you both.”
“Judith, I must stand betwixt her and the world.”
“Well said, brother mine; remember, I am with you ever.”
He kissed her, and passed on alone towards the house.
A path betwixt yews54 led him to the garden below the terrace, a garden redolent of jasmine, lavender, and rose. A thousand flowers upturned their innocent faces at his feet.
Beyond the balustrading of the terrace, with its rampart of red roses, Gabriel saw his father standing55 in the sun. The old man turned to meet him as he climbed the steps. There was a ruthlessness upon his stubborn face, an arrogance56 in his stout57, stolid58 manner. John Strong stood out like a patriarch of old, save that there was but little ardor59 in his keen, gray eyes.
Without one word to his son, and with no outstretching of the hand, he turned towards the library and entered by the open window, Gabriel following him. John Strong locked the door with the composure of a man sure of his own cause.
Father and son faced each other in the silent room. The antique clock measured the moments with unhurried hand. John Strong was the first to open the debate.
“A nice muddle60 you have made of life,” was his magnanimous decree.
Gabriel, leaning against the carved pillar of the mantel-shelf, regarded his father with a melancholy61 smile.
“So you believe these lies,” he said, with a twinge of scorn.
John Strong retreated to the library chair before his escritoire and fingered a quill62.
“Let me tell you,” he began, “that you have acted like a scoundrel and a blackguard. Son of mine that you are, the evidence of your guilt63 is overwhelming. What can you plead to lessen64 you dishonor?”
“That there is no truth in these allusions65.”
“Pah! Am I a fool?”
“Has God made you a judge to read truth or evil in the hearts of others?”
Gabriel walked the room behind his father’s chair. The summer sunshine smote66 into the room, and the incense28 of flowers perfumed the atmosphere.
“Will you tell me,” said the son, “upon what evidence you base your condemnation67?”
“I am not here, sir, to argue.”
“Nor to damn me—like a tyrant.”
John Strong flashed round and stared in his son’s face.
“Come,” he said; “have you had to do with this bawdy68 rustic69, or have you not? There lies the pith of the problem.”
Gabriel faced him, his shoulders squared.
“I remember that you are my father,” he said.
“A rare privilege, it seems.”
“The instincts of a gentleman—”
“Answer my question.”
“—should keep you from dishonorable abuse.”
John Strong’s temper burst its bonds. He sprang up, overturning his chair in the effort, and stood with his gray eyes gleaming under his bushy brows.
“You young fool!” he said—“insolent even in your folly70. For this farm wench you have damned your life, shamed your sister, soiled our name. Think of it, you puppy, to wreck71 your career for—”
Gabriel’s voice, clear yet passionate72, rang out, drowning the elder man’s violent refrain. He stood at his full height, defiant73 and eager.
“Silence! I have heard enough!”
“By Heaven—”
“Silence! You have bullied74 me over long; I will turn tyrant at the last.”
John Strong’s broad face grew a shade grayer. He mastered the wrath that streamed to his lips, grew calm and deliberate like the hard man that he was. The spirit of the commercial autocrat75 rose to chasten him. He spoke76 slowly and distinctly, fixing his hands on the back of a chair.
“Very well,” he said, “I give you one month to leave Saltire. Your house, your furniture, your very servants are mine. You defy me? Very good; go out and starve.”
Gabriel stood with head thrown back, breathing deeply, staring in his father’s face.
“Let it be so,” he said, calmly.
“The remnant of your quarter’s allowance, two hundred pounds, I leave with you. Not another farthing shall you ever draw out of my pocket. Defy me if you will, but, by God, I’ll drive you out of Saltire!”
Gabriel stood a moment as in thought. Then he turned to the window, unlatched it, and stepped out onto the terrace.
“Let it be so,” he said; “I will be pampered77 no more that I may act a lie.”
When Gabriel had gone, John Strong walked to his escretoire, took down his son’s photograph that stood thereon. Pursing up his lips, he stared at it calmly, tore it into fragments, and threw them into the empty grate.
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1
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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abhorred
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| v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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materialism
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| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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harangue
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| n.慷慨冗长的训话，言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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iniquities
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| n.邪恶( iniquity的名词复数 )；极不公正 | |
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gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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14
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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18
materialist
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| n. 唯物主义者 | |
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19
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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20
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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anathemas
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| n.（天主教的）革出教门( anathema的名词复数 )；诅咒；令人极其讨厌的事；被基督教诅咒的人或事 | |
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iconoclast
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| n.反对崇拜偶像者 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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elasticity
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| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
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28
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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29
incensed
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| 盛怒的 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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31
sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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32
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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pessimism
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| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
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apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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36
carnation
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| n.康乃馨（一种花） | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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38
mince
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| n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说 | |
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39
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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40
slumbering
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| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
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41
delved
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| v.深入探究，钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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43
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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44
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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45
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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46
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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47
suffusing
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的现在分词 ) | |
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48
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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49
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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50
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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52
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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53
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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54
yews
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| n.紫杉( yew的名词复数 ) | |
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55
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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56
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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58
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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59
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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60
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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61
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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62
quill
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| n.羽毛管；v.给（织物或衣服）作皱褶 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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64
lessen
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| vt.减少，减轻；缩小 | |
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65
allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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66
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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67
condemnation
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| n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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bawdy
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| adj.淫猥的，下流的；n.粗话 | |
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69
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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70
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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72
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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73
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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74
bullied
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| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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76
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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77
pampered
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| adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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