He was fastidious and over-critical, it might be, in his theories, but in practice he was easily suited and never vexed7.
He liked travelling, and he liked staying at home; he was so continually occupied as to give an apparent activity to all his life, and yet he was never too busy to be interrupted, especially if the intruder were a woman or a child. He liked to be with people of his own age, whatever their condition; he also liked old people because they were old, and children because they were young. In travelling by rail, he would woo crying babies out of their mothers’ arms, and still them; it was always his back that Irishwomen thumped8, to ask if they must get out at the next station; and he might be seen handing out decrepit9 paupers10, as if they were of royal blood and bore concealed11 sceptres in their old umbrellas. Exquisitely12 nice in his personal habits, he had the practical democracy of a good-natured young prince; he had never yet seen a human being who awed14 him, nor one whom he had the slightest wish to awe13. His courtesy, had, therefore, that comprehensiveness which we call republican, though it was really the least republican thing about him. All felt its attraction; there was really no one who disliked him, except Aunt Jane; and even she admitted that he was the only person who knew how to cut her lead-pencil.
That cheerful English premier15 who thought that any man ought to find happiness enough in walking London streets and looking at the lobsters16 in the fish-markets, was not more easily satisfied than Malbone. He liked to observe the groups of boys fishing at the wharves17, or to hear the chat of their fathers about coral-reefs and penguins’ eggs; or to sketch18 the fisher’s little daughter awaiting her father at night on some deserted19 and crumbling20 wharf21, his blue pea-jacket over her fair ring-leted head, and a great cat standing22 by with tail uplifted, her sole protector. He liked the luxurious23 indolence of yachting, and he liked as well to float in his wherry among the fleet of fishing schooners24 getting under way after a three days’ storm, each vessel25 slipping out in turn from the closely packed crowd, and spreading its white wings for flight. He liked to watch the groups of negro boys and girls strolling by the window at evening, and strumming on the banjo,—the only vestige26 of tropical life that haunts our busy Northern zone. But he liked just as well to note the ways of well-dressed girls and boys at croquet parties, or to sit at the club window and hear the gossip. He was a jewel of a listener, and was not easily bored even when Philadelphians talked about families, or New Yorkers about bargains, or Bostonians about books. A man who has not one absorbing aim can get a great many miscellaneous things into each twenty-four hours; and there was not a day in which Philip did not make himself agreeable and useful to many people, receive many confidences, and give much good-humored advice about matters of which he knew nothing. His friends’ children ran after him in the street, and he knew the pet theories and wines of elderly gentlemen. He said that he won their hearts by remembering every occurrence in their lives except their birthdays.
It was, perhaps, no drawback on the popularity of Philip Malbone that he had been for some ten years reproached as a systematic27 flirt28 by all women with whom he did not happen at the moment to be flirting29. The reproach was unjust; he had never done anything systematically30 in his life; it was his temperament that flirted31, not his will. He simply had that most perilous32 of all seductive natures, in which the seducer33 is himself seduced34. With a personal refinement35 that almost amounted to purity, he was constantly drifting into loves more profoundly perilous than if they had belonged to a grosser man. Almost all women loved him, because he loved almost all; he never had to assume an ardor36, for he always felt it. His heart was multivalve; he could love a dozen at once in various modes and gradations, press a dozen hands in a day, gaze into a dozen pair of eyes with unfeigned tenderness; while the last pair wept for him, he was looking into the next. In truth, he loved to explore those sweet depths; humanity is the highest thing to investigate, he said, and the proper study of mankind is woman. Woman needs to be studied while under the influence of emotion; let us therefore have the emotions. This was the reason he gave to himself; but this refined Mormonism of the heart was not based on reason, but on temperament and habit. In such matters logic37 is only for the by-standers.
His very generosity38 harmed him, as all our good qualities may harm us when linked with bad ones; he had so many excuses for doing kindnesses to his friends, it was hard to quarrel with him if he did them too tenderly. He was no more capable of unkindness than of constancy; and so strongly did he fix the allegiance of those who loved him, that the women to whom he had caused most anguish39 would still defend him when accused; would have crossed the continent, if needed, to nurse him in illness, and would have rained rivers of tears on his grave. To do him justice, he would have done almost as much for them,—for any of them. He could torture a devoted40 heart, but only through a sort of half-wilful unconsciousness; he could not bear to see tears shed in his presence, nor to let his imagination dwell very much on those which flowed in his absence. When he had once loved a woman, or even fancied that he loved her, he built for her a shrine41 that was never dismantled42, and in which a very little faint incense43 would sometimes be found burning for years after; he never quite ceased to feel a languid thrill at the mention of her name; he would make even for a past love the most generous sacrifices of time, convenience, truth perhaps,—everything, in short, but the present love. To those who had given him all that an undivided heart can give he would deny nothing but an undivided heart in return. The misfortune was that this was the only thing they cared to possess.
This abundant and spontaneous feeling gave him an air of earnestness, without which he could not have charmed any woman, and, least of all, one like Hope. No woman really loves a trifler; she must at least convince herself that he who trifles with others is serious with her. Philip was never quite serious and never quite otherwise; he never deliberately44 got up a passion, for it was never needful; he simply found an object for his emotions, opened their valves, and then watched their flow. To love a charming woman in her presence is no test of genuine passion; let us know how much you long for her in absence. This longing45 had never yet seriously troubled Malbone, provided there was another charming person within an easy walk.
If it was sometimes forced upon him that all this ended in anguish to some of these various charmers, first or last, then there was always in reserve the pleasure of repentance46. He was very winning and generous in his repentances, and he enjoyed them so much they were often repeated. He did not pass for a weak person, and he was not exactly weak; but he spent his life in putting away temptations with one hand and pulling them back with the other. There was for him something piquant47 in being thus neither innocent nor guilty, but always on some delicious middle ground. He loved dearly to skate on thin ice,—that was the trouble,—especially where he fancied the water to be just within his depth. Unluckily the sea of life deepens rather fast.
Malbone had known Hope from her childhood, as he had known her cousins, but their love dated from their meetings beside the sickbed of his mother, over whom he had watched with unstinted devotion for weary months. She had been very fond of the young girl, and her last earthly act was to place Hope’s hand in Philip’s. Long before this final consecration48, Hope had won his heart more thoroughly49, he fancied, than any woman he had ever seen. The secret of this crowning charm was, perhaps, that she was a new sensation. He had prided himself on his knowledge of her sex, and yet here was a wholly new species. He was acquainted with the women of society, and with the women who only wished to be in society. But here was one who was in the chrysalis, and had never been a grub, and had no wish to be a butterfly, and what should he make of her? He was like a student of insects who had never seen a bee. Never had he known a young girl who cared for the things which this maiden50 sought, or who was not dazzled by things to which Hope seemed perfectly indifferent. She was not a devotee, she was not a prude; people seemed to amuse and interest her; she liked them, she declared, as much as she liked books. But this very way of putting the thing seemed like inverting51 the accustomed order of affairs in the polite world, and was of itself a novelty.
Of course he had previously52 taken his turn for a while among Kate’s admirers; but it was when she was very young, and, moreover, it was hard to get up anything like a tender and confidential53 relation with that frank maiden; she never would have accepted Philip Malbone for herself, and she was by no means satisfied with his betrothal54 to her best beloved. But that Hope loved him ardently55 there was no doubt, however it might be explained. Perhaps it was some law of opposites, and she needed some one of lighter56 nature than her own. As her resolute57 purpose charmed him, so she may have found a certain fascination58 in the airy way in which he took hold on life; he was so full of thought and intelligence; possessing infinite leisure, and yet incapable59 of ennui; ready to oblige every one, and doing so many kind acts at so little personal sacrifice; always easy, graceful60, lovable, and kind. In her just indignation at those who called him heartless, she forgot to notice that his heart was not deep. He was interested in all her pursuits, could aid her in all her studies, suggest schemes for her benevolent61 desires, and could then make others work for her, and even work himself. People usually loved Philip, even while they criticised him; but Hope loved him first, and then could not criticise62 him at all.
Nature seems always planning to equalize characters, and to protect our friends from growing too perfect for our deserts. Love, for instance, is apt to strengthen the weak, and yet sometimes weakens the strong. Under its influence Hope sometimes appeared at disadvantage. Had the object of her love been indifferent, the result might have been otherwise, but her ample nature apparently63 needed to contract itself a little, to find room within Philip’s heart. Not that in his presence she became vain or petty or jealous; that would have been impossible. She only grew credulous64 and absorbed and blind. A kind of gentle obstinacy65, too, developed itself in her nature, and all suggestion of defects in him fell off from her as from a marble image of Faith. If he said or did anything, there was no appeal; that was settled, let us pass to something else.
I almost blush to admit that Aunt Jane—of whom it could by no means be asserted that she was a saintly lady, but only a very charming one—rather rejoiced in this transformation66.
“I like it better, my dear,” she said, with her usual frankness, to Kate. “Hope was altogether too heavenly for my style. When she first came here, I secretly thought I never should care anything about her. She seemed nothing but a little moral tale. I thought she would not last me five minutes. But now she is growing quite human and ridiculous about that Philip, and I think I may find her very attractive indeed.”
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1
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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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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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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ennui
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| n.怠倦，无聊 | |
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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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8
thumped
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| v.重击， （指心脏）急速跳动( thump的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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paupers
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| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
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11
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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13
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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14
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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15
premier
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| adj.首要的；n.总理，首相 | |
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lobsters
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| 龙虾( lobster的名词复数 )； 龙虾肉 | |
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wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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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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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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schooners
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| n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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27
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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flirting
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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systematically
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| adv.有系统地 | |
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flirted
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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seducer
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| n.诱惑者,骗子,玩弄女性的人 | |
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seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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35
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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38
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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40
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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41
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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42
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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43
incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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44
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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45
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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47
piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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48
consecration
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| n.供献，奉献，献祭仪式 | |
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49
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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50
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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51
inverting
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| v.使倒置，使反转( invert的现在分词 ) | |
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52
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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53
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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54
betrothal
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| n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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55
ardently
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| adv.热心地，热烈地 | |
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56
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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57
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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58
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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59
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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60
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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61
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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62
criticise
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| v.批评，评论；非难 | |
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63
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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credulous
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| adj.轻信的，易信的 | |
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obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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66
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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