Miss Grizel Hopkins, too—the cousin of an Earl, and Mrs Bedley the “Mother” of 83 the English Colony, both had been ignored. It was true Ann Bedley kept a circulating library and a tea-room combined and gave “Information” to tourists as well (a thing she had done these forty years), but was that a sufficient reason why she should be totally taboo3? No, in old Lord Clanlubber’s time all had been made welcome, and there had been none of these heartburnings at all. Even the Irish coachman of the Archduchess was known to have been received—although it had been outside of course upon the lawn. Only gross carelessness, it was felt, on the part of those attachés could account for the extraordinary present neglect.
“I don’t myself mind much,” Mrs Bedley said, who was seated over a glass of morning milk and “a plate of fingers” in the Circulating end of the shop: “going out at night upsets me. And the last time Dr Babcock was in he warned me not.”
“What is the Embassy there for but to be hospitable4?” Mrs Barleymoon demanded from the summit of a ladder, from where she was choosing herself a book. 84
“You’re shewing your petticoat, dear—excuse me telling you,” Mrs Bedley observed.
“When will you have something new, Mrs Bedley?”
“Soon, dear ... soon.”
“It’s always ‘soon,’” Mrs Barleymoon complained.
“Are you looking for anything, Bessie, in particular?” a girl, with loose blue eyes that did not seem quite firm in her head, and a literary face enquired5.
“No, only something,” Mrs Barleymoon replied, “I’ve not had before and before and before.”
“By the way, Miss Hopkins,” Mrs Bedley said, “I’ve to fine you for pouring tea over My Stormy Past.”
“It was coffee, Mrs Bedley—not tea.”
“Never mind, dear, what it was the charge for a stain is the same as you know,” Mrs Bedley remarked, turning to attend to Mrs Montgomery who, with his Lankiness6, Prince Olaf, had entered the Library.
“Is it in?” Mrs Montgomery mysteriously asked.
Mrs Bedley assumed her glasses. 85
“Mmnops,” she replied, peering with an air of secretiveness in her private drawer where she would sometimes reserve or ‘hold back’ a volume for a subscriber7 who happened to be in her special good graces.
“I’ve often said,” Mrs Barleymoon from her ladder sarcastically8 let fall, “that Mrs Bedley has her pets!”
“You are all my pets, my dear,” Mrs Bedley softly cooed.
“Have you read Men—my Delight, Bessie?” Miss Hopkins asked, “by Cora Velasquez.”
“No!”
“Most women’s novels seem to run off the rails before they reach the end, and I’m not very fond of them,” Mrs Barleymoon said.
“And anyway, dear, it’s out,” Mrs Bedley asserted.
“The Passing of Rose I read the other day,” Mrs Montgomery said, “and so enjoyed it.” 86
“Isn’t that one of Ronald Firbank’s books?”
“No, dear, I don’t think it is. But I never remember an author’s name and I don’t think it matters!”
“I suppose I’m getting squeamish! But this Ronald Firbank I can’t take to at all. Valmouth! Was there ever a novel more coarse. I assure you I hadn’t gone very far when I had to put it down.”
“I once met him,” Miss Hopkins said, dilating11 slightly the retin? of her eyes: “He told me writing books was by no means easy!”
“Try The Call of the Stage, dear,” Mrs Bedley suggested.
“You forget, Mrs Bedley,” Mrs Barleymoon replied, regarding solemnly her crêpe.
“Or Mary of the Manse, dear.” 87
“I’ve read Mary of the Manse twice, Mrs Bedley—and I don’t propose to read it again.”
“..........?”
“..........!”
“It’s dreadful how many poets take to drink,” she reflected.
“I’m taking Men are Animals, by the Hon. Mrs Victor Smythe, and What Every Soldier Ought to Know, Mrs Bedley,” Miss Hopkins breathed.
“And I The East is Whispering,” Mrs Barleymoon in hopeless tones affirmed.
“Robert Hitchinson! He’s a good author.”
“Do you think so? I feel his books are all written in hotels with the bed unmade at the back of the chair.”
“And I daresay you’re right, my dear.”
“Well, Mrs Bedley, I must go—if I want to walk to my husband’s grave,” Mrs Barleymoon declared.
“Poor Bessie Barleymoon,” Mrs Bedley 88 sighed, after Mrs Barleymoon and Miss Hopkins had gone: “I fear she frets17!”
“We all have our trials, Mrs Bedley.”
“And some more than others.”
“Court life, Mrs Bedley, it’s a funny thing.”
“It looks as though we may have an English Queen, Mrs Montgomery.”
“I don’t believe it!”
“Most of the daily prints I see are devoting leaders to the little dog the Princess Elsie sent out the other day.”
“It seems, dear, he ran from room to room looking for her until he came to the prince’s door, where he just lay down and whined19.”
“And what does that prove, Mrs Bedley?”
“I really don’t know, Mrs Montgomery. But the press seemed to find it significant,’” Mrs Bedley replied as a Nun20 of the Flaming-Hood with a jolly face all gold with freckles21 entered the shop:
“Have you Valmouth by Ronald Firbank or Inclinations22 by the same author?” she asked. 89
“Neither I’m sorry—both are out!”
“Maladetta ????! But I’ll be passing soon again,” the Sister answered as she twinklingly withdrew.
“You’d not think now by the look of her she had been at Girton!” Mrs Bedley remarked.
“Once a Girton girl always a Girton girl, Mrs Bedley.”
“It seems a curate drove her to it....”
“I’m scarcely astonished. Looking back I remember the average curate at home as something between a eunuch and a snigger.”
“Still, dear, I could never renounce23 my religion. As I said to the dear Chaplain only the other day (while he was having some tea), Oh, if only I were a man, I said! Wouldn’t I like to denounce the disgraceful goings on every Sabbath down the street at the church of the Blue Jesus.”
“And I assure you it’s positively24 nothing, Mrs Bedley, at the Jesus, to what it is at the church of St Mary the Fair! I was at the wedding of one of the equerries lately, and never saw anything like it.” 90
“It’s about time there was an English wedding, in my opinion, Mrs Montgomery!”
“There’s not been one in the Colony indeed for some time.”
Mrs Bedley smiled undaunted.
“I trust I may be spared to dance before long at Dr and Mrs Babcock’s!” she exclaimed.
“Kindly leave Cunnie out of it, Mrs Bedley,” Mrs Montgomery begged.
“So it’s Cunnie already you call him!”
“Dr Cuncliffe and I scarcely meet.”
“People talk of the immense sameness of marriage, Mrs Montgomery; but all the same, my dear, a widow’s not much to be envied.”
“There are times, it’s true, Mrs Bedley, when a woman feels she needs fostering; but it’s a feeling she should try to fight against.”
“Ah my dear, I never could resist a mon!” Mrs Bedley exclaimed.
Mrs Montgomery sighed.
“Once,” she murmured meditatively25, “men (those procurers of delights) engaged me utterly26.... I was their slave.... 91 Now.... One does not burn one’s fingers twice, Mrs Bedley.”
Mrs Bedley grew introspective.
“My poor husband sometimes would be a little frightening, a little fierce ... at night, my dear, especially. Yet how often now I miss him!”
“You’re better off as you are, Mrs Bedley, believe me,” Mrs Montgomery declared, looking round for the little prince who was amusing himself on the library-steps.
“You must find him a handful to educate, my dear.”
“It will be a relief indeed, Mrs Bedley, when he goes to Eton!”
“I’m told so long as a boy is grounded....”
“His English accent is excellent, Mrs Bedley, and he shews quite a talent for languages,” Mrs Montgomery assured.
“I’m delighted, I’m sure, to hear it!”
“Well, Mrs Bedley, I mustn’t stand dawdling27: I’ve to ’ave my ’air shampooed and waved for the Embassy party to-night you know!” And taking the little prince by the hand, the Royal Governess withdrew.
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收听单词发音
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1
omissions
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| n.省略( omission的名词复数 )；删节；遗漏；略去或漏掉的事（或人） | |
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2
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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3
taboo
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| n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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6
lankiness
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| n.又瘦又高的，过分细长的 | |
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7
subscriber
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| n.用户，订户；（慈善机关等的）定期捐款者；预约者；签署者 | |
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8
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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9
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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suavely
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dilating
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| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的现在分词 ) | |
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12
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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13
enthralling
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| 迷人的 | |
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persuasively
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| adv.口才好地；令人信服地 | |
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abstruse
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| adj.深奥的，难解的 | |
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16
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
frets
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| 基质间片； 品丝（吉他等指板上定音的）( fret的名词复数 ) | |
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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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19
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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20
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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21
freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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22
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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23
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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24
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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dawdling
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| adj.闲逛的，懒散的v.混（时间）( dawdle的现在分词 ) | |
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