Still, with disputes as to the precedence of trunks and dress-baskets simmering in the corridors without, it was easier to enjoy the Barley-sugar stick in one’s mouth, than the Novel in one’s hand.
“Thank God I’m not touchy5!” Mrs 171 Montgomery reflected, rolling her eyes lazily about the little white wainscoted room.
It was as if something of her native land had crept in through the doorway6 with her, so successfully had she inculcated its tendencies, or spiritual Ideals, upon everything around.
A solitary7 teapot, on a bracket, above the door, two Jubilee8 plates, some peacocks’ feathers, an image of a little Fisher-boy in bathing-drawers and a broken hand;—“a work of delicate beauty!” A mezzotint: The Coiffing of Maria—these were some of the treasures which the room contained.
“A blessing9 to be sure when the Court has gone!” she reflected half-rising to drop a curtsy to Prince Olaf who had entered.
“Word from your country,” sententiously he broke out: “My brother’s betrothed10! So need I go on with my preparation?”
“Put your tie straight! And just look at your socks all tumbling down. Such great jambons of knees!... What will become of you, I ask myself, when you’re a lower boy at Eton.” 172
“How can I be a lower boy when I’m a Prince?”
“I won’t be a lower boy! I will not!”
“Cs, Cs.”
“Damn the democracy.”
“Fie, sir.”
“Down with it.”
“For shame.”
“Revenge.”
“That will do: and now, let me hear your lessons: I should like,” Mrs Montgomery murmured, her eyes set in detachment upon the floor; “the present-indicative tense of the Verb To be! Adding the words, Political h-Hostess;—more for the sake of the pronunciation than for anything else.”
And after considerable persuasion12, prompting, and “bribing,” with various sorts of sweets:
“I am a Political Hostess,
Thou art a Political Hostess,
173
He is a Political Hostess,
We are Political Hostesses,
Ye are Political Hostesses,
They are Political Hostesses.”
“Very good, dear, and only one mistake. He is a Political h-Hostess: Can you correct yourself? The error is so slight....”
But alas13 the prince was in no mood for study; and Mrs Montgomery very soon afterwards was obliged to let him go.
Moving a little anxiously about the room, her meditations14 turned upon the future.
With the advent15 of Elsie a new régime would be established: increasing Britishers would wish to visit Pisuerga; and it seemed a propitious16 moment to abandon teaching, and to inaugurate in Kairoulla an English hotel.
“I have no more rooms. I am quite full up!” she smiled, addressing the silver andirons in the grate.
And what a deliverance to have done with instructing unruly children, she 174 reflected, going towards the glass mail-box attached to her vestibule door. Sometimes about this hour there would be a letter in it, but this evening there was only a picture postcard of a field mouse in a bonnet18, from her old friend Mrs Bedley.
“We have Valmouth at last,” she read, “and was it you, my dear, who asked for The Beard Throughout the Ages? It is in much demand, but I am keeping it back anticipating a reply. Several of the plates are missing I see, among them, those of the late King Edward, and of Assur Bani Pal1; I only mention it, that, you may know I shan’t blame you! We are having wonderful weather, and I am keeping pretty well, although poor Mrs Barleymoon, I fear, will not see through another winter. Trusting you are benefiting by the beautiful country air: your obedient servant to command,
Ann Bedley.
“P.S.—Man, and All About Him, is rebinding. Ready I expect soon.”
“Ah! Cunnie, Cunnie ...?” Mrs Montgomery murmured, laying the card 175 down near a photograph of the Court-physician with a sigh: “Ah! Arthur Amos Cuncliffe Babcock ...?” she invoked19 his name dulcetly in full: and as though in telepathic response, there came a tap at the door, and the doctor himself looked in.
He had been attending, it seemed, the young wife of the Comptroller of the Household at the extremity20 of the corridor; a creature, who, after two brief weeks of marriage, imagined herself to be in an interesting state: “I believe baby’s coming!” she would cry out every few hours.
“Do I intrude21?” he demanded, in his forceful, virile22 voice, that ladies knew and liked: “pray say so if I do.”
“Does he intrude!” Mrs Montgomery flashed an arch glance towards the cornice.
“Well, and how are you keeping?” the doctor asked, dropping on to a rep causeuse that stood before the fire.
“I’m only semi-well, doctor, thanks!”
“Why, what’s the trouble?”
“You know my organism is not a very strong one, Dr Cuncliffe ...” Mrs Montgomery replied, drawing up a chair, and 176 settling a cushion with a sigh of resignation at her back.
“Imagination!”
“If only it were!”
“Imagination,” he repeated, fixing a steady eye on the short train of her black brocaded robe that all but brushed his feet.
“If that’s your explanation for continuous broken sleep ...” she gently snapped.
“Try mescal.”
“I’m trying Dr Fritz Millar’s treatment,” the lady stated, desiring to deal a slight scratch to his masculine amour propre.
“What is it?”
“Cold what? I never heard of such a thing: It’s enough to kill you.”
“And would you care, doctor, so very much if it did?” she asked, as a page made his appearance with an ice-bucket and champagne28.
“To toast our young Princess!”
“Oh, oh, Dr Cuncliffe? What a wicked man you are:” And for a solemn moment their thoughts went out in unison29 to the sea-girt land of their birth—Barkers’, Selfridges’, Brighton-pier, the Zoological gardens on a Sunday afternoon.
“The Bride, and,” Mrs Montgomery raised her glass, “the Old Folks at h-home.”
“Bollinger, you naughty man,” the lady murmured, amiably32 seating herself on the causeuse at his side.
“You’ll find it dull here all alone after the Court has gone,” he observed, smiling down, a little despotically, on to her bright, abundant hair.
“When the wind goes whistling up and 178 down under the colonnades34: oh, then!” she shivered.
“You’ll wish for a fine, bold Pisuergian husband; shan’t you?” he answered, his foot drawing closer to hers.
“Often of an evening, I feel I need fostering,” she owned, glancing up yearningly35 into his face.
“Why is it that wine always makes me feel so good?”
“Probably, because it fills you with affection for your neighbour!”
“It’s true; I feel I could be very affectionate: I’m what they call an ‘amoureuse’ I suppose, and there it is....”
There fell a busy silence between them.
“It’s almost too warm for a fire,” she murmured, repairing towards the window; “but I like to hear the crackle!”
“Company, eh?” he returned, following her (a trifle unsteadily) across the room.
“The night is so clear the moon looks to be almost transparent,” she languorously38 observed, with a long tugging39 sigh. 179
“And so it does,” he absently agreed.
“I adore the Pigeons in my wee court towards night, when they sink down like living sapphires40 upon the stones,” she sentimentally41 said, sighing languorously again.
“Ours,” he assured her; “since the surgery looks on to it, too....”
“Did you ever see anything so ducky-wucky, so completely twee!” she inconsequently chirruped.
“Allow me to fill this empty glass.”
“I want to go out on all that gold floating water!” she murmured listlessly, pointing towards the lake.
“Alone?”
“Drive me towards the sweet seaside,” she begged, taking appealingly his hand.
“Aggie?”
“Arthur—Arthur, for God’s sake!” she shrilled42, as with something between a snarl43 and a roar, he impulsively44 whipped out the light.
“H-Help! Oh Arth——”
Thus did they celebrate the “Royal engagement.”
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1
pal
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| n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友 | |
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2
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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3
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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4
Forsaken
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| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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5
touchy
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| adj.易怒的；棘手的 | |
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6
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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8
jubilee
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| n.周年纪念；欢乐 | |
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9
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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14
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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15
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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17
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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18
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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19
invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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20
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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21
intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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23
incisively
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| adv.敏锐地，激烈地 | |
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24
covertly
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| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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25
pique
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| v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气 | |
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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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languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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28
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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29
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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30
quaffed
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| v.痛饮( quaff的过去式和过去分词 )；畅饮；大口大口将…喝干；一饮而尽 | |
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31
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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32
amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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33
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
colonnades
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| n.石柱廊( colonnade的名词复数 ) | |
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35
yearningly
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| 怀念地，思慕地，同情地； 渴 | |
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36
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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38
languorously
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| adv.疲倦地，郁闷地 | |
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39
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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40
sapphires
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| n.蓝宝石，钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 )；蔚蓝色 | |
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41
sentimentally
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| adv.富情感地 | |
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42
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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44
impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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