“You want to report me to ‘Uncle Sam’.”
“That’s about it!” I answered, and hurried on to give her a reason before she made up her mind to object.
“Remember, my dear, that your nation is at war; and, though you are at present safe in a country friendly to both belligerents5, there are evil-minded people in all countries who will take advantage of anything unusual, to work their own ends. That splendid gift of yours to the nation, while it has made you a public favourite and won for you millions of friends—and proposals—has yet made for you a host of enemies. It is not as if you had given a hospital-ship or an ambulance. Your gift belongs to the war side and calls out active hatred6; and no doubt there are men banded together to do you harm. This cannot be allowed. Your friends, and the nation as a[174] whole, would take any step to prevent such a thing; but they might all be powerless if you were hidden anywhere where they could not find you.” As I spoke4, Marjory looked at me keenly, not with hostility7, but with genuine interest. When I had finished she said quietly:
“That is very well; but now tell me, dear”—how the word thrilled me; it was the first time she had used it to me—“did Sam Adams fill you up with that argument, or is it your own? Don’t think me nasty; but I want to know something of what is going on. Believe me, I am willing to do all you wish if it is your own will; and I am grateful for your thought for me. But I don’t want you to be a mere8 mouthpiece for any party moves by the politicians at home.”
“How do you mean?”
“My dear boy, I don’t suppose you know enough of American politics to see how a certain lot would use to their own advantage anything that came in their way. Anybody or anything which the public takes an interest in would be, and is, used by them unscrupulously. Why, if the hangers-on to the war party wanted to make a show, they might enroll9 my proposers and start a new battalion10.”
“But,” I remonstrated11, “you don’t think the Government is like that?” In reply she smiled:
“I don’t altogether know about that. Parties are parties all the world over. But of course the Washington people wouldn’t do things that are done by local politicians. And one other thing. Don’t imagine for a moment that I think Sam Adams is anything of the kind. He belongs to the service of the nation and takes his orders from his chief. How can he, or any one fixed12 like him, know the ins and outs of things; except from what he hears privately13 from home, or gathers from what goes on around him if he is cute?” It appeared to me that all this was tending to establish an argument against taking[175] the American Embassy into confidence, so I struck in before it should be complete. As I was not at liberty to take Marjory into confidence with regard to my source of information, I had to try to get her to agree to what I thought right or necessary on other grounds:
“My dearest, can you not leave out politics, American or otherwise. What on earth have politics to do with us?” She opened her eyes in wonder; she was reasoning better than I was. With an air of conviction she said:
“Why, everything! If any one wants to do me harm, it must be on the grounds of politics. I don’t believe there is any one in the world who could want to injure me on private grounds. Oh! my dear, I don’t want to talk about it, not even to you; but all my life I have tried to help other people in a quiet way. My guardians14 would tell you that I have asked them for too much money to give to charities; and personally I have tried to do what a girl can in a helpful way to others. I have been in hospitals and homes of all kinds; and I have classes of girls in my own house and try to make them happier and better. Archie, don’t think poorly of me for speaking like this; but I couldn’t bear that you should think I had no sense of the responsibility of great wealth. I have always looked on it as a trust; and I hope, my dear, that in time to come you will help me to bear the burden and to share the trust!” I had thought up to now that I couldn’t love her more than I did. But when I heard her words, and recognised the high purpose that lay behind them, and saw the sweet embarrassment15 which came to her in speaking them to me, I felt that I had been mistaken. She looked at me lovingly, and, holding my hand in both of hers, went on:
“What then could hurt me except it came from the political side. I could quite understand it if Spaniards[176] wished to harm me, for I have done what I can to hinder them from murdering and torturing other victims. And I could understand if some of our own low-down politicians would try to use me as a stalking horse, though they wouldn’t harm me. I want to keep clear of politics; and I tell you frankly16 that I shall if I can.”
“But Marjory dear, there may be, I believe there are, Spaniards who would try to harm you. If you were in America you would be safer from them; for there at present, whilst the war is on, every stranger is a marked man. Here, on neutral ground, foreigners are free; and they are not watched and observed in the same way. If there were such fiends, and I am told there are, they might do you a harm before any one could know their intention or have time to forestall17 them.”
All the native independence of Marjory’s race and nature stood out in strong relief as she answered me:
“My dear Archie, I come from a race of men who have held their lives in their hands from the cradle to the grave. My father, and my grandfather, and my great grandfather were pioneers in Illinois, in Kentucky, in the Rockies and California. They knew that there were treacherous18 foes19 behind them every hour of their lives; and yet they were not afraid. And I am not afraid either. Their blood is in my veins21, and speaks loudly to me when any sense of fear comes near me. Their brains, as well as their hands, kept guard on their lives; and my brains are like theirs. I do not fear any foe20, open or secret. Indeed, when I think of a secret foe all the keenness of my people wakes in me, and I want to fight. And this secret work is a way in which a woman can fight in an age like ours. If my enemies plot, I can counter-plot; if they watch without faltering22 to catch me off guard, I can keep guard unflinchingly. A woman can’t go out now-a-days, except at odd times, and fight with weapons like Joan of Arc, or[177] the Maid of Saragossa; but she can do her fighting in her own way, level with her time. I don’t see that if there is to be danger around me, why I shouldn’t do as my ancestors did, fight harder than their foes. Here! let me tell you something now, that I intended to say later. Do you know what race of men I come from? Does my name tell you nothing? If not, then this will!”
She took from her neck, where again it had been concealed23 by a lace collar, the golden jewel which I had rescued from the sea. As I took it in my hand and examined it she went on:
“That came to me from my father, who got it from his, and he from his, on and on till our story of it, which is only verbal, for we have no records, is lost in the legend that it is a relic24 of the Armada brought to America by two cousins who had married, both being of the family to which the great Sir Francis Drake belonged. I didn’t know, till lately, and none of us ever did, where exactly in the family the last owners of the brooch came in, or how they became possessed25 of such a beautiful jewel. But you have told me in your translation of Don de Escoban’s narrative26. That was the jewel that Benvenuto Cellini made in duplicate when he wrought27 the figurehead for the Pope’s galley28. The Pope gave it to Bernardino de Escoban, and he gave it to Admiral Pedro de Valdes. I have been looking up the history of the time since I saw you, and I found that Admiral de Valdes when he was taken prisoner by Sir Francis Drake at the fight with the Armada was kept, pending29 his ransom30, in the house of Richard Drake, kinsman31 of Sir Francis. How the Drake family got possession of the brooch I don’t know; but anyhow I don’t suppose they stole it. They were a kindly32 lot in private, any of them that I ever knew; though when they were in a fight they fought like demons33. The old Spanish Dons were generous and free with their presents,[178] and I take it that when Pedro de Valdes got his ransom he made the finest gift he could to those who had been kind to him. That is the way I figure it out.”
Whilst she was speaking, thoughts kept crowding in upon me. Here was indeed the missing link in the chain of Marjory’s connection with the hidden treasure; and here was the beginning of the end of Gormala’s prophecy, for as such I had come to regard it. The Fates were at work upon us. Clotho was spinning the thread which was to enmesh Marjory and myself and all who were in the scheme of the old prophecy of the Mystery of the Sea and its working out.
Once more the sense of impotence grew upon me. We were all as shuttlecocks, buffeted34 to and fro without power to alter our course. With the thought came that measure of resignation which is the anodyne35 to despair. In a sort of trance of passivity I heard Marjory’s voice run on:
“Therefore, my dear Archie, I will trust to you to help me. The comradeship which has been between us, will never through this grow less; though nearer and dearer and closer ties may seem to overshadow it.”
I could not answer such reasoning; but I took her in my arms and kissed her. I understood, as she did, that my kisses meant acquiescence36 in her wishes. After a while I said to her:
“One thing I must do. I owe it as a duty of honour to tell my informant that I am unable to give your address to the American Embassy, and that I cannot myself take a part in anything which is to be done except by your consent. But oh! my dear, I fear we are entering on a dangerous course. We are all staying deliberately37 in the dark, whilst there is light to be had; and we shall need all the light which we can get.” Then a thought struck me and I added, “By the way, I suppose I am free to give information how I can, so long as you are not committed[179] or compromised?” She thought for quite a few minutes before she answered. I could see that she was weighing up the situation, and considering it from all points of view. Then she said, putting both her hands in mine:
“In this, as in all ways, Archie, I know that I can trust you. There is so much more than even this between us, that I should feel mean to give it a thought hereafter!”
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1
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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2
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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4
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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5
belligerents
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| n.交战的一方（指国家、集团或个人）( belligerent的名词复数 ) | |
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6
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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7
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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8
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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9
enroll
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| v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol | |
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10
battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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11
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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12
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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13
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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14
guardians
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| 监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者 | |
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15
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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16
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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17
forestall
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| vt.抢在…之前采取行动；预先阻止 | |
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18
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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19
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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faltering
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| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
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23
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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26
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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27
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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28
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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29
pending
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| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
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30
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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31
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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32
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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33
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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34
buffeted
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| 反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续猛击； 打来打去； 推来搡去 | |
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35
anodyne
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| n.解除痛苦的东西，止痛剂 | |
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36
acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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37
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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