By all reasonable law moral bankruptcy2 should have overwhelmed Gabriel that day. Public obloquy3 had been loosed upon his head; Saltire would point the finger of scorn at him; the mob would jeer4 and squeak5 over his shame. He was to be an outcast, an Adam driven by the Saltire seraphs from their fair Eden of charity and truth.
Yet the outcast was discovering his manhood amid the anathemas6 of his neighbors. He was one of those souls who are never stirred to the higher courage save by the heavier scourgings of misfortune. Luxury had enervated7 him, and as a Sybarite he had forfeited8 his own manhood. Battle had set the strong blood spinning in his heart, and he had sufficient of the Norse spirit left in him to set sail and dare the storm.
His thoughts that evening were for Joan and the dishonor that had descended9 upon her name. Though her heroism10 had pardoned him, he had no pardon for his own heart. His father’s iconoclasm had been no great doom11 to him. He had foreshadowed the worst after his last parley12 with his wife. It was the future that troubled him that evening, the future streaked13 with foam14 like a stormy sea. Joan’s heart was his. It was Gabriel’s thought that night how best he could casket this treasure against the world.
As the west darkened he entered the library by the garden window, and lit the lamp with his own hands. The immediate15 purpose to abandon Saltire was as iron in his mind. His needs should not be beholden for a day to his father’s exchequer16. The two hundred pounds he would reserve for a season, but he would refund17 the sum when the chance served him.
He unlocked his desk, sorted his letters, bound Joan’s in a bundle and laid them against his heart. As for the minor18 records of Mammon, he set them in order, a sinister19 legacy20 dedicated21 to his father’s care. He constructed a list of his small possessions, his books, his personal belongings22, the presents of his friends. He had determined23 to claim but little as his own. Lastly, he took Ophelia’s letters from their drawer, tore them in fragments, burned them as a sacrifice to the future good of his soul.
The night was calm and placid24, the sky ablaze25 with stars. A great silence pervaded26 the house, a silence figurative of Gabriel’s fortune. He was utterly27 alone, nor did the solitude28 grieve him, for he had his thoughts. Joan, in the spirit, stood ever at his elbow. On the morrow he would ride towards Rilchester and speak with her. Together they would take counsel of the Great Father and their own hearts, that Love might show to them the dawn-star of the future.
It was verging29 on midnight, and Gabriel was still writing at his desk when he heard a sound as of footsteps on the gravel-path. He straightened in his chair and listened. The French window stood open, showing a faint, silvery sky and the deep gloom of the summer garden. A shadow stole suddenly into the stream of light. The man started up and moved towards the window. A figure dawned to him out of the dusk, the tall, slim figure of Joan Gildersedge.
Gabriel gave a sudden cry.
“Joan!”
She came in to him, a cloak over her shoulders, her hat carried in her hand. The light glimmered30 on her hair. Her dress was damp with dew, her face white and strained, her eyes full of a strange despair.
“Joan!”
She tottered31 in as though weary even to death. Gabriel sprang to her, thrust forward a chair. She sank into it, her hands hanging limply over her knees, her head thrown back so that her white throat showed to the collar of her dress.
“What has happened?”
He bent32 over her with a great gesture of tenderness and gazed into her face.
“Gabriel!”
“Speak!”
She caught her breath, pressed a hand over her heart, spoke33 hurriedly and huskily, like one faint with suffering.
“To-night my father had a letter,” she said, “a letter with a great red seal. What was in it, Heaven only can declare. Ah! he was furious, mad—he raved34 at me—”
She faltered35 and drooped36. Gabriel bent to her; his arm went about her shoulders, his face overhung hers.
“Yes, yes!”
“He raved at me, such words I cannot speak them nor understand—”
“Joan!”
“He turned me from the house.”
“Joan!”
“I have come to you.”
The man stood back from her, white to the lips, his eyes strangely bright as he stared out into the gloom of the garden. A thousand clarions seemed sounding in his brain, a thousand roses burning in the night. The silence between them was as the calm before some passionate37 burst of song.
Joan was the first to speak again.
“Gabriel!” she said.
“Ah!”
“You will not fail me?”
The blood flooded to Gabriel’s face; he strode forward, held out both his hands. The girl rose and came to him with a great light shining in her eyes. Her cloak fell from her shoulders as she hung in the man’s arms.
“Gabriel, what could I do?”
“This is God’s desire.”
“You will not turn me away?”
“My life, are you not mine? We will face the world together.”
She lay heavy in his arms, as though her whole soul hung upon his strength. Presently she turned her face to his and he kissed her upon the lips. For a while there was silence between them. Then Gabriel lifted up his hand like one who makes a vow38 to Heaven.
“God judge me,” he said—“I had not worked for this. The world has outraged39 us; so be it; I defy the world! Henceforth I fling away my rotten reputation and my friends. Let all the fantasies of fools be dust! Lover and beloved, we will go out together into the night!”
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1
cypresses
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| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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2
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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3
obloquy
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| n.斥责，大骂 | |
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4
jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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5
squeak
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| n.吱吱声，逃脱；v.（发出）吱吱叫，侥幸通过；（俚）告密 | |
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6
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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7
enervated
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| adj.衰弱的，无力的v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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10
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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11
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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12
parley
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| n.谈判 | |
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13
streaked
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| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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14
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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15
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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16
exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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17
refund
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| v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款 | |
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18
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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19
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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20
legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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21
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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22
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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23
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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24
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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25
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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26
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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28
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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29
verging
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| 接近，逼近（verge的现在分词形式） | |
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30
glimmered
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| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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32
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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33
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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34
raved
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| v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说 | |
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35
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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36
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
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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38
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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39
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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