Hope came down on the pier to Malbone, who was looking at the boats. He saw with surprise that her calm brow was a little clouded, her lips compressed, and her eyes full of tears.
“Do you doubt it?” said he, smiling, a little uneasily.
Fixing her eyes upon him, she said, more seriously: “There is a more important question, Philip. Tell me truly, do you care about Emilia?”
He started at the words, and looked eagerly in her face for an explanation. Her expression only showed the most anxious solicitude14.
For one moment the wild impulse came up in his mind to put an entire trust in this truthful15 woman, and tell her all. Then the habit of concealment16 came back to him, the dull hopelessness of a divided duty, and the impossibility of explanations. How could he justify17 himself to her when he did not really know himself? So he merely said, “Yes.”
“She is your sister,” he added, in an explanatory tone, after a pause; and despised himself for the subterfuge18. It is amazing how long a man may be false in action before he ceases to shrink from being false in words.
“Philip,” said the unsuspecting Hope, “I knew that you cared about her. I have seen you look at her with so much affection; and then again I have seen you look cold and almost stern. She notices it, I am sure she does, this changeableness. But this is not why I ask the question. I think you must have seen something else that I have been observing, and if you care about her, even for my sake, it is enough.”
Here Philip started, and felt relieved.
“You must be her friend,” continued Hope, eagerly. “She has changed her whole manner and habits very fast. Blanche Ingleside and that set seem to have wholly controlled her, and there is something reckless in all her ways. You are the only person who can help her.”
“How?”
“I do not know how,” said Hope, almost impatiently. “You know how. You have wonderful influence. You saved her before, and will do it again. I put her in your hands.”
“Everything,” said she. “If she has your society, she will not care for those people, so much her inferiors in character. Devote yourself to her for a time.”
“And leave you?” said Philip, hesitatingly.
“Anything, anything,” said she. “If I do not see you for a month, I can bear it. Only promise me two things. First, that you will go to her this very day. She dines with Mrs. Ingleside.”
Philip agreed.
“Then,” said Hope, with saddened tones, “you must not say it was I who sent you. Indeed you must not. That would spoil all. Let her think that your own impulse leads you, and then she will yield. I know Emilia enough for that.”
Malbone paused, half in ecstasy20, half in dismay. Were all the events of life combining to ruin or to save him? This young girl, whom he so passionately21 loved, was she to be thrust back into his arms, and was he to be told to clasp her and be silent? And that by Hope, and in the name of duty?
It seemed a strange position, even for him who was so eager for fresh experiences and difficult combinations. At Hope’s appeal he was to risk Hope’s peace forever; he was to make her sweet sisterly affection its own executioner. In obedience22 to her love he must revive Emilia’s. The tender intercourse23 which he had been trying to renounce24 as a crime must be rebaptized as a duty. Was ever a man placed, he thought, in a position so inextricable, so disastrous25? What could he offer Emilia? How could he explain to her his position? He could not even tell her that it was at Hope’s command he sought her.
He who is summoned to rescue a drowning man, knowing that he himself may go down with that inevitable26 clutch around his neck, is placed in some such situation as Philip’s. Yet Hope had appealed to him so simply, had trusted him so nobly! Suppose that, by any self-control, or wisdom, or unexpected aid of Heaven, he could serve both her and Emilia, was it not his duty? What if it should prove that he was right in loving them both, and had only erred27 when he cursed himself for tampering28 with their destinies? Perhaps, after all, the Divine Love had been guiding him, and at some appointed signal all these complications were to be cleared, and he and his various loves were somehow to be ingeniously provided for, and all be made happy ever after.
He really grew quite tender and devout29 over these meditations30. Phil was not a conceited31 fellow, by any means, but he had been so often told by women that their love for him had been a blessing32 to their souls, that he quite acquiesced33 in being a providential agent in that particular direction. Considered as a form of self-sacrifice, it was not without its pleasures.
Malbone drove that afternoon to Mrs. Ingleside’s charming abode34, whither a few ladies were wont35 to resort, and a great many gentlemen. He timed his call between the hours of dining and driving, and made sure that Emilia had not yet emerged. Two or three equipages beside his own were in waiting at the gate, and gay voices resounded36 from the house. A servant received him at the door, and taking him for a tardy37 guest, ushered38 him at once into the dining-room. He was indifferent to this, for he had been too often sought as a guest by Mrs. Ingleside to stand on any ceremony beneath her roof.
That fair hostess, in all the beauty of her shoulders, rose to greet him, from a table where six or eight guests yet lingered over flowers and wine. The gentlemen were smoking, and some of the ladies were trying to look at ease with cigarettes. Malbone knew the whole company, and greeted them with his accustomed ease. He would not have been embarrassed if they had been the Forty Thieves. Some of them, indeed, were not so far removed from that fabled39 band, only it was their fortunes, instead of themselves, that lay in the jars of oil.
“You find us all here,” said Mrs. Ingleside, sweetly. “We will wait till the gentlemen finish their cigars, before driving.”
“Count me in, please,” said Blanche, in her usual vein40 of frankness. “Unless mamma wishes me to conclude my weed on the Avenue. It would be fun, though. Fancy the dismay of the Frenchmen and the dowagers!”
“And old Lambert,” said one of the other girls, delightedly.
“Yes,” said Blanche. “The elderly party from the rural districts, who talks to us about the domestic virtues41 of the wife of his youth.”
“Thinks women should cruise with a broom at their mast-heads, like Admiral somebody in England,” said another damsel, who was rolling a cigarette for a midshipman.
“You see we do not follow the English style,” said the smooth hostess to Philip. “Ladies retiring after dinner! After all, it is a coarse practice. You agree with me, Mr. Malbone?”
“Speak your mind,” said Blanche, coolly. “Don’t say yes if you’d rather not. Because we find a thing a bore, you’ve no call to say so.”
“I always say,” continued the matron, “that the presence of woman is needed as a refining influence.”
Malbone looked round for the refining influences. Blanche was tilted42 back in her chair, with one foot on the rung of the chair before her, resuming a loud-toned discourse43 with Count Posen as to his projected work on American society. She was trying to extort44 a promise that she should appear in its pages, which, as we all remember, she did. One of her attendant nymphs sat leaning her elbows on the table, “talking horse” with a gentleman who had an undoubted professional claim to a knowledge of that commodity. Another, having finished her manufactured cigarette, was making the grinning midshipman open his lips wider and wider to receive it. Mrs. Ingleside was talking in her mincing45 way with a Jew broker46, whose English was as imperfect as his morals, and who needed nothing to make him a millionnaire but a turn of bad luck for somebody else. Half the men in the room would have felt quite ill at ease in any circle of refined women, but there was not one who did not feel perfectly47 unembarrassed around Mrs. Ingleside’s board.
“Upon my word,” thought Malbone, “I never fancied the English after-dinner practice, any more than did Napoleon. But if this goes on, it is the gentlemen who ought to withdraw. Cannot somebody lead the way to the drawing-room, and leave the ladies to finish their cigars?”
Till now he had hardly dared to look at Emilia. He saw with a thrill of love that she was the one person in the room who appeared out of place or ill at ease. She did not glance at him, but held her cigarette in silence and refused to light it. She had boasted to him once of having learned to smoke at school.
“What’s the matter, Emmy?” suddenly exclaimed Blanche. “Are you under a cloud, that you don’t blow one?”
“Blanche, Blanche,” said her mother, in sweet reproof48. “Mr. Malbone, what shall I do with this wild girl? Such a light way of talking! But I can assure you that she is really very fond of the society of intellectual, superior men. I often tell her that they are, after all, her most congenial associates. More so than the young and giddy.”
“You’d better believe it,” said the unabashed damsel. “Take notice that whenever I go to a dinner-party I look round for a clergyman to drink wine with.”
“Incorrigible!” said the caressing49 mother. “Mr. Malbone would hardly imagine you had been bred in a Christian50 land.”
“I have, though,” retorted Blanche. “My esteemed51 parent always accustomed me to give up something during Lent,—champagne, or the New York Herald52, or something.”
The young men roared, and, had time and cosmetics53 made it possible, Mrs. Ingleside would have blushed becomingly. After all, the daughter was the better of the two. Her bluntness was refreshing54 beside the mother’s suavity55; she had a certain generosity56, too, and in a case of real destitution57 would have lent her best ear-rings to a friend.
By this time Malbone had edged himself to Emilia’s side. “Will you drive with me?” he murmured in an undertone.
She nodded slightly, abruptly, and he withdrew again.
“It seems barbarous,” said he aloud, “to break up the party. But I must claim my promised drive with Miss Emilia.”
Blanche looked up, for once amazed, having heard a different programme arranged. Count Posen looked up also. But he thought he must have misunderstood Emilia’s acceptance of his previous offer to drive her; and as he prided himself even more on his English than on his gallantry, he said no more. It was no great matter. Young Jones’s dog-cart was at the door, and always opened eagerly its arms to anybody with a title.
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1
pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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dispersing
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| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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rippled
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| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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sloops
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| n.单桅纵帆船( sloop的名词复数 ) | |
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liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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8
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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9
vapors
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| n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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12
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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13
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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15
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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subterfuge
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| n.诡计；藉口 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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24
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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27
erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
tampering
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| v.窜改( tamper的现在分词 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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29
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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31
conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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32
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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33
acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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36
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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38
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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40
vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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41
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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42
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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43
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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44
extort
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| v.勒索，敲诈，强要 | |
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45
mincing
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| adj.矫饰的；v.切碎；切碎 | |
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46
broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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47
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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48
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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49
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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50
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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51
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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52
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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53
cosmetics
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| n.化妆品 | |
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54
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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55
suavity
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| n.温和；殷勤 | |
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56
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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57
destitution
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| n.穷困，缺乏，贫穷 | |
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