“Yes, pet, I wanted to have you all to myself.”
Katie was standing1 with her elbow on the mantel, her smooth forehead was knitted up into a frown, and she looked a very thoughtful little personage indeed.
“So that is the Fred Bingham I have often heard you speak of, Frank?”
Frank nodded.
“And you really like him, Frank, really think him honest and true?”
“I don't like him so very much, Katie, but I think he is a thoroughly2 good-hearted fellow.”
“Frank, I would not trust him as far as I could see him.”
[251]
“No, Katie!” Frank said, half amused, half vexed3 at finding his wife thus early set against the friend for whom he had already fought so many hard battles. “Don't you like him, then?”
“He is amusing,” Katie said, indifferently, “but oh, Frank! he is so false. My flesh crept all over when he shook hands with me this morning.”
“Now, that's not like you, Katie; I am sure he made himself very agreeable. I don't like you to take prejudices against men I have so long known.”
“I am sorry, Frank,” she said, simply, “but I can't help myself. A man I don't like at first sight I never like. A man I do like, I like very much; and I always find I am right. It is an instinct, or a prejudice, if you like, Frank, but in some things instinct is stronger than reason.”
Frank was vexed, but he only said, “Well, Katie, one can't argue against a prejudice. Only, remember I like Fred Bingham, and have always found him a very good fellow, and I have known him for many years. Besides, [252] Katie, you know your prejudices are sometimes erroneous.”
“Come, Katie, you know you almost hated me at first, and yet I think you like me a little now.”
Katie coloured. “You silly boy, you know that was a different thing; you know why I hated you.”
“No, really, Katie; why?”
But this was a secret Katie could only tell when she had nestled close up to her husband, and his arm was round her waist. Then she looked up in his face, and said, “I hated you, Frank, because you were making me love you before I thought you loved me.”
“And now, Katie,” Frank said presently, “I must tell you what I have learned from Fred Bingham, and it has affected5 me very much, dear.”
Katie was all attention now, and took her stand by her husband's chair, so that she could pet him if such a step were necessary.
“It is rather a difficult thing for a man to say, Katie, and it is only because I was really [253] ignorant and wholly innocent in the affair that I can tell you at all. I am very much afraid that, without the slightest intention on my part, I have made a very dear, good girl unhappy.”
Katie drew a little farther off now.
“Alice Heathcote?”
“Yes, dear, Alice Heathcote; Fred says, and he was certainly quite in earnest about it, that my uncle's anger is caused by his disappointment at my not marrying Alice. He says my uncle has harped6 upon the subject until he thinks with me that his brain has gone a little wrong. But the worst of it is, he is convinced that Alice—well, it seems absurd, Katie—did love me, and that my uncle's indignation and anger are upon her account.”
“You are sure, quite sure, Frank, that you never made love to her?”
“Quite sure, you jealous little thing. I always liked her, Kate, just as I might like a sister. I never had the slightest idea of making love to her. I would tell you if I had, dear, for I do not want to have any secrets from you. She, [254] no doubt, misinterpreted my manner, and her uncle having made up his mind I was to marry her, led her into the mistake. She has been poorly for some time, Katie, and I am really afraid it is from that. It is very absurd, of course.”
“I am really very sorry, Frank,” Katie said, feeling that Frank was speaking the whole truth, and that she could afford to be magnanimous, “but what is to be done? I am afraid it is too late for me to give you up now.”
“You are a goose, Katie. But be serious, and give me your opinion. What is to be done?”
“The only thing which I can suggest, Frank, is for me to go to her and say that I am sorry the mistake has occurred, and that I will go back to Staffordshire again, and let you do as you like.”
Katie had never seen Miss Heathcote; nevertheless, from what Frank had told her of their early life together, she had somehow intuitively felt her to be a rival, and now, like a true woman, could not help a little enjoyment7 of her triumph.
[255]
“Very well, Katie, if that is the way you look upon it, we will not discuss the matter any farther.”
“No, no, Frank!” she said, throwing her arm round his neck as he was rising from his chair. “I am wrong, dear, I am very wrong; but you know I am a wild little thing; don't be angry with me, darling. It was natural, you know, that I should be a little jealous of other people loving my Frank as I love him. But I quite believe what you say, and am really very sorry for Miss Heathcote. I can fancy how unhappy she must be. She is very nice, isn't she?”
“She is very nice, Katie, and most men would have loved her very much. She is not my style, you know; I like something I can pet and love; she was too tall and stately, not a bit like you, Katie; as nice in her way as you are in yours, but then her way was not my way, and I suppose yours is.”
Katie was quite mollified now.
[256]
“Poor Alice!” she said, “I wish I had known her.”
“I can't quite make it all out,” Frank said thoughtfully. “Alice certainly was quiet, and looked ill for some time after that row I had with Captain Bradshaw. But she was looking better and brighter again lately, and since I have been engaged to you she has been more natural and affectionate again with me. Whatever she may have felt, I am certain that she will be as sorry for this insane conduct of my uncle's as I am. I wish I could see her and have a chat with her; but Fred tells me that my uncle has made her give him a solemn promise not to meet me, or even to speak to me if she accidentally comes across me. So you see, Katie, there is nothing to be done but to take matters quietly, and to trust in their coming right in the end.”
His wife was silent for some time. Presently she said, “You won't be vexed at my asking you a question, Frank?”
“No, Katie.”
“You promise?”
Frank nodded.
[257]
“You and Mr. Bingham are the two nearest relations to Captain Bradshaw, are you not?”
“Yes, dear.”
“Then, in the event of your uncle permanently9 quarrelling with you, I suppose Fred Bingham will be his heir?”
“Most likely, Katie.”
“Now, Frank, don't be vexed, but I won't talk of it again. I own I do not see how he could have done you any harm in this matter, but I feel sure he would if he could. Please, please, Frank, don't trust him. He is not good, I am sure of it.”
“There, Katie, I won't be vexed because I promised. But you are wrong, dear. However, right or wrong, Fred can do me no harm. If my uncle comes to his senses again, I am sure he will be heartily10 sorry for what he has done, and I know Alice will bring things round if she can. At the same time I do not deceive myself. Harry11 Bradshaw is not a man very easily to get an idea out of his head. He is a most kind-hearted man, but as obstinate12 as a mule13. He has never spoken to his sister since she married Mr. [258] Bingham. Did I ever tell you about his only daughter, Katie?”
“No, Frank, I did not even know he had any children.”
Hereupon Frank told what he knew about Captain Bradshaw's daughter having made some low marriage, of his having sent her off, and of her having, as Frank had heard from his parents, died somewhere in great poverty. And Katie, after hearing it, made up her own mind that Captain Bradshaw must be a very cruel man; and that, except as to the money, the loss of his acquaintance was no great matter. As for Alice Heathcote, of course she was very sorry for her; but perhaps on the whole it was just as well—of course, for her sake—that she and Frank were not to meet again. These opinions, however, Katie wisely kept to herself.
These three days had passed very slowly to the inhabitants of Lowndes Square. The first day Captain Bradshaw had sworn more violently than ever; the second day he was more quiet; and the third day he was very sad. Alice, too, had suffered terribly, her eyes were swollen14 with [259] crying, and the colour faded altogether out from her cheeks. On that day, after dinner, he said suddenly, after a long silence,—
“It is no use waiting any longer, Alice. Let us go away for a bit.”
Alice's eyes filled with tears. Neither she nor her guardian15 had ever spoken of Frank's fault since that first day, but each perfectly16 understood the other's thoughts; both knew how they had longed for Frank's return, and how they had hoped that he would offer some protest against his sentence, would urge some point in mitigation of his offence; that, at least, he would have cried, “I have sinned, and I am deeply punished; have pity upon me.” Alice then knew what her uncle meant. It was no use waiting any more. Frank had nothing to say, nothing to urge; he would not even write to express sorrow. He was separated from her for ever, more than time or place, more even than death could have divided them. Her tears fell fast, but she tried to speak steadily17.
“Yes, uncle, please let us go abroad.”
“Yes, Alice,” and his voice too shook as he [260] spoke; “suppose we go to Rome for the winter. I have often thought of taking you; and then next spring, you know, we can go to Jerusalem, and the Nile, and all sorts of places. We can be away as long as we like, my dear, no one will miss us here.”
Alice was kneeling by his side now, crying unrestrainedly.
“Poor child!” he said, stroking her hair. “I have been a downright brute18 lately, but I could not help it; we shall get on better again after a while. To think how all my plans and schemes have gone wrong. How I loved that boy, and trusted him and believed in him. How I have gladdened my heart to think that after I was gone you would be standing together in the old hall of Wyvern. And how he has turned out——”
“No, no, uncle!” Alice burst out, “don't say anything against him—I can't bear it, I can't bear it! I know it is so; but even now, though I know it, though he says not a word, I don't believe it in my heart. The Frank I loved—for I did love him, [261] uncle—could not have done it, I know he could not. You tell me he has. He does not answer. He tells me so himself. Still I say he could not. Please don't speak against him, uncle—please never mention him again. Let us think he is dead; we can forgive the dead, you know. Let us think he died a month ago when he said good-bye.”
“Ah, that mistake of mine,” the old man began, when Alice interrupted him,—
“No, uncle, you must not think that—that pain is over long ago. I did love him once, dearly, and I suffered, yes, I own I suffered, when I found out I had deceived myself, but I had got over that. He could never be anything to me, and I had taught myself to look upon him as a dear friend, a brother. No, uncle, it is not the man I had loved, but the brother I esteemed19 and trusted and believed in, whom I am grieving for now.”
“It shall be as you like, dear,” her uncle said, kissing her. “And now, when will you be ready to start?”
“The sooner the better, uncle. I have nothing [262] to do but to pack up. By the day after to-morrow I shall be quite ready.”
And so, in two more days, the house at Lowndes Square was shut up, and the old captain was missed from his well known seat at his club.
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收听单词发音
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1
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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2
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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3
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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4
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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5
affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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6
harped
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| vi.弹竖琴（harp的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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7
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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8
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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9
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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10
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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11
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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12
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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13
mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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14
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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15
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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16
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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17
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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18
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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19
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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