She was hurried along to a small door, which she found gave access to the house—Jack was evidently known to the man in charge, who nodded familiarly and called him “Capting”—and having descended5 some dusty, red-covered steps, she found herself suddenly in a little box in full view of the audience. Her first impression was that she had never seen so many people so tightly squeezed together before, and so intent on the comedian6 with the red nose and battered7 silk hat who was holding forth[208] from the middle of the stage. All the theatres she had ever seen had been more or less roomy, but these people reminded her of an old-fashioned solid bouquet8, except that there was practically no colour in the house. In a West-End theatre various bits of colour strike the eye, especially in the stalls and dress-circle; but as the curtain descended to great applause she saw that the house was a study in black and white—the clothing black, the faces white. There must have been some bits of colour, but they did not show. Her second impression was that she had never before realized how toiling10 humanity in a mass can smell. It was the odour of toil9 and scanty11 bathing, mingled12 with the inevitable13 orange and the reek14 of gas.
A number went up in the slot at the side—twelve—the star turn of the evening, The Girlie Girl.
The orchestra struck up one of her popular songs, and the audience, and especially the gallery boys—they looked to Claudia as though they were hanging on the ceiling by their eyelashes like flies—began to cheer and beat time to the music. She happened to glance at Jack, and she was amused to see a complacent15 smile taking the place of the dumbly-worried look he had been wearing since the episode of the pendant.
“They adore her,” he whispered. “She believes in making friends with the gallery boys. She says it’s the secret of her success.... I say, Claud, what could I do about that beastly pendant? She doesn’t see things as we do. She’s like a blessed babe, or a savage16, in some things.”
A huge burst of cheering stopped any further conversation, and Claudia found herself looking down at her sister-in-law laughing and kissing her hands to the gallery. In the limelight she looked extraordinarily17 pretty and alive, and there was no man present that could have failed to see the gamine charm of her, though he might not have wanted to espouse18 her. Her blue eyes laughed[209] in a friendly fashion at the house and her pretty feet began to dance to the measure while she waved aloft a sort of d’Orsay walking-stick tied up with green and orange ribbons.
Her voice, though sweet—unusually sweet for the music-halls—was nothing wonderful, and Claudia detected already signs of hard wear. She had a few particularly good notes in her top register, but it was not for her voice that she was so applauded. There was an air of infectious gaiety, a “I-like-you-and-you-like-me” camaraderie19 that made the vapid20 song and words—how incredibly bad the words were!—seem amusing.
The song was all about a ladybird and a rose in an old-fashioned garden. The rose was sweet and innocent, and the ladybird “knew a bit.” It was neither funny nor frankly21 improper22; but the audience roared with laughter, especially when she completed each verse with a huge wink23. At the end of the song she threw a kiss deliberately24 up to their box, which made the entire audience turn and look at them, and reduced Claudia to a state of helpless and fiery25 embarrassment26.
“All right, boys, it’s my husband,” called out the Girlie Girl, with a chuckle27, as she departed into the wings. There followed a burst of yelling, cat-calling and clapping, with cries of “Good luck!” “Send us a bit of cake, Girlie,” “Keep him in order,” “Wish you joy!”
Claudia was sorry she had not put on a veil or a more shady hat. She knew that her face was scarlet28. She had never been in such a scene in her life, and she took no pleasure in being conspicuous29 at any time. Jack was looking sheepish, but evidently he was more used to such things.
The audience went on singing the chorus of her last song while Fay was changing in the wings. Then the orchestra struck up another tune30 as she appeared in a smart little vivandière costume of blue, with red facings,[210] and a cap that was stuck coquettishly sideways on her huge bunch of curls. This time she led the singing of the chorus from the stage, every now and then ceasing to sing herself, and beating time with encouraging gestures to the rather hoarse31, flat voices of the crowd. It was a wonderful sight to Claudia, who was so fascinated that she forgot her embarrassment and leaned forward. As she looked round the house all the lips seemed moving—men and women, boys and children.
The audience would not part with her, and after taking eight curtains she came back to sing the last verse once more.
“Now boys, I want you to sing loudly this time. Let’s raise the roof and take the slates32 off. Shan’t be coming to Milton Green for a long time. Don’t whisper—sing. All of you sing, Tom and Bill, and Kate and Mary. Sing out as you would if you got your wages doubled to-morrow. Now....”
“I’m one of the King’s little drummer-boys,
And I serve....”
The packed audience positively33 yelled, and Fay laughing, kept on encouraging them with remarks:
“Go it, boys!... It’s a cure for sore throats.... Get it off your chests.... Bill, you’re not opening your mouth wide enough; no flies to-night.... Mary, a bit louder....”
Then how the tragedy happened no one ever quite understood. Fay was laughing and kissing her little hands up to the gallery, as alive as a piece of quicksilver, when the heavy curtain came down suddenly, and before anyone could shout, struck her. Claudia, who had risen in horror, caught a look of almost childish surprise in the blue eyes before Fay lay flattened34 out on the ground the two pretty arms thrown out helplessly in front of her, the curtain, as it were, cutting her in two.
[211]
For a moment there was a horrible awed35 hush36; then a woman in the audience gave vent4 to a piercing shriek37, and immediately a tumult38 of cries and shouts filled the auditorium39. Claudia, who had been almost stunned40 by the suddenness of the thing, had just time to see the men fighting their way to the front, apparently41 with some vague idea of raising the curtain off the little body, when she saw the curtain move up a few inches and half a dozen hands gently drag the body behind it. She turned to Jack. He was staring down at the stage, his face ashen42 grey, his eyes starting out of his head. But he made no movement to go to his wife.
“Jack,” she panted, “we must go round. Quick! Don’t you want to get to her?”
Still he did not move, nor did he seem to hear her. He was still staring down at the stage.
“Jack!” she shook his arm. “Rouse yourself! Come quick!”
“I can’t,” he said, with dry lips and shaking from head to foot. “I can’t.... Is she dead?”
“No, no, of course not.... Jack, you must go to her.”
“I can’t stand things like that,” he whispered, passing his hand over his clammy forehead. “You know I never could.... Oh, my God! she’s dead! Fay’s dead, and I saw her killed!”
Claudia remembered that he never could stand ugly sights or any kind of illness or decay. His ordinary good-nature entirely46 deserted47 him at such times. He had refused to go and see an old schoolfellow in his last illness, and had always tried to escape visiting his grandmother, who had died slowly of cancer.
“Jack, you must!” cried Claudia hotly, propelling him[212] to the door. “Don’t be a coward. Perhaps she’s only stunned and wants you. You’ve got to play the man, or I’ll never speak to you again.”
Even the biting contempt in her voice did not rouse him; but he allowed himself to be dragged like one in a dream through the door and up the red stairs.
“For the sake of your manhood and the honour of the Iversons, if not for poor Fay, pull yourself together,” said Claudia sharply, as they stepped upon the stage.
A group of men were bending down over something that had been laid on a pile of coats. Others were crowding together, talking in excited, frightened whispers. The stout48 lady came rushing on the stage, sobbing49 hysterically50 and wringing51 her red hands. The orchestra commenced to play again.
A man came pushing his way after them through the door from the auditorium. Accustomed as she was to the conventional garb52 of West End physicians, Claudia was surprised to hear this man in a pepper-and-salt suit say: “I’m a doctor. Let me go to her.”
Jack was still dazed. With a last glance of contempt at him, Claudia went forward and took command of the situation. “Please, doctor, do all you can. I am her sister-in-law. Tell me what we should do.”
She followed him towards the little group, inwardly shrinking and desperately53 frightened, but outwardly calm and collected. She stood with the stage hands, as one of them. She could see by their faces that they feared a bad verdict.
Various hoarse whispers reached her while she waited, feeling as though the world had suddenly turned topsy-turvy.
“ ... The next turn ... can’t go on.... Let the orchestra play.... Tell the audience she isn’t badly hurt ... turned my blood cold.... Hadn’t time to shout.... Who dropped the damned thing?... Must have[213] broken her spine54.... Rather anyone than The Girlie Girl.”
The doctor had risen from his examination and was coming towards her. She nerved herself for a shock; but she could hear her own heart thumping55 against her ribs56.
“Not—not——” She could not get the words out of her dry lips.
The doctor gravely shook his head. “No, she’s alive. Bad injury to the spine, I should say. Get her to a hospital”—then taking in the quality of the woman who had said she was the sister-in-law—“or to her home at once and call in a specialist.”
Claudia read the look in his eyes, which was compounded of pity and deep emotion. She had seen that look once in the eyes of a man who had been entrusted57 with the task of breaking the news of her husband’s death to a poor woman on their country estate.
“Is she—very bad?” she whispered. “Will she die?”
“I’m afraid not—yet.”
Claudia reeled up against a piece of scenery. She never forgot that moment. The orchestra playing a rag-time melody, the stout woman sobbing, the regret in the eyes of the doctor.
“You mean——”
“It’s not likely she will ever move off her bed again. She’s paralysed.”
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收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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2
guffaws
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| n.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的名词复数 )v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的第三人称单数 ) | |
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3
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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5
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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comedian
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| n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员 | |
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7
battered
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| adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损 | |
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bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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9
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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10
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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11
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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12
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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13
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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14
reek
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| v.发出臭气；n.恶臭 | |
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15
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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16
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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17
extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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18
espouse
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| v.支持，赞成，嫁娶 | |
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19
camaraderie
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| n.同志之爱，友情 | |
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20
vapid
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| adj.无味的；无生气的 | |
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21
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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22
improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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23
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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24
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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25
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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26
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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27
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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28
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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29
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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30
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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31
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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32
slates
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| （旧时学生用以写字的）石板( slate的名词复数 )； 板岩； 石板瓦； 石板色 | |
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33
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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34
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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35
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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37
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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38
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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39
auditorium
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| n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂 | |
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40
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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41
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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42
ashen
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| adj.灰的 | |
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43
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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44
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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45
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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46
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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47
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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49
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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50
hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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51
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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52
garb
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| n.服装，装束 | |
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53
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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54
spine
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| n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊 | |
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55
thumping
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| 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 | |
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56
ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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57
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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