"So He giveth His beloved sleep," she murmured to herself as, in the summer dawn, she watched the little face so tranquilly3 turned towards her; and though occasionally there was a little fluttering sob4, it was only a relic5 of yesterday's passionate6 weeping. Once when Violet smiled in her sleep and nestled more closely to her, Lizzie kissed her gently on the forehead. The child moved, smiled again, a broadening, happy smile, and said with a sigh of content, "On mother's breast."
Aunt Lizzie could not sleep. She watched the[Pg 106] bands of crimson7 rising slowly up behind the roofs opposite like streaks8 of blood. The cocks crew and screamed from yard, and garden, and barn. The fountain at the angle of the street dribbled9 and splashed monotonously10. There was a child crying in an opposite house, bitterly, ceaselessly. The canary awoke, stretched its wings with the help of its thin yellow legs, took a drink at the green fountain, having eyed it first with suspicion, and then burst out into a loud joyous11 carol. Aunt Lizzie was afraid it would awake Violet; but she slept calmly on.
Then the sun itself rose up in all its splendour and shone gloriously over all. The red roofs blazed and glistened12. The orange weather-cock on the chimney of Madame Bellard's house looked as if each separate painted feather on its wings were a tongue of fire, while the scarlet13 nasturtiums creeping up the red brick shaft14 trembled and glowed brilliantly.
Aunt Lizzie's mind, from the long night's watching, felt hot and confused. The rays of the sun which shone slantingly through the round old-fashioned panes15 of glass in the window threw stripes of prismatic colour on the floor and on the chest which held the dead mother's clothes and all the little relics17 of her homely18 happy life. If that bitter crying opposite would cease, Lizzie felt as if she could think [Pg 107]connectedly. If it were not for the fear of disturbing Violet, she would have got up ere now and closed the open pane16 in the window.
She tried to think of the little children at home at Gützberg, of their bright smiles, and hearts innocent of care, but it was impossible. A drum in the distant barrack had begun to throb19, and her heart, leaping up to a sudden agony, throbbed20 with it.
How many other hearts, too, were stirring at that call! men buckling21 on their armour22; and women, who had not slept all night, starting up to fresh paroxysms of grief and despair. It was vain to hope that all the brave fellows going forth23 this day from their homes would come back to them safe and unharmed. Yet each one cried in their heart, "O God, let this bitterness not come to me"—"Spare, good Lord, spare my husband"—"Lord Jesus, have pity on my son"—"Beloved, thou wilt24 return to me safe"—"Ah, dear one, forget me not;" while the little ones smiled their adieus, knowing not the dread25 future.
At six o'clock the whole town seemed astir. Men were talking in the streets; spurs were clanking on the pavement as soldiers hurried to and fro. Bugles26 were calling, and the incessant27 rolling of drums came now, not only from the distant barrack across the river, but it seemed as if the whole air and[Pg 108] the blue sky itself were full of this dread prophetic sound.
At seven o'clock, Lizzie, slipping her arm quietly from under Violet, got up and dressed herself. When she came to the window, the first thing she saw opposite was Ella. She was standing28 in her little night-dress at the small top window in the roof. Her fair hair was partly tied back with a little white night-cap, but stray locks hung out disconsolately29. Her face was supported by her two dimpled hands, and her elbows rested on the sill. It needed but one glance at the child's face and eyes for Aunt Lizzie to know who it was who had spent the night in such ceaseless bitter weeping. Even now, though her attention seemed temporarily attracted by the bustle30 in the street, she saw the white frilled sleeve from time to time passed quickly across the child's face.
In a few minutes Fritz appeared at the other little window in the red roof opposite. He also was attired31 in his night-dress; but he had a drum hung round his neck by a piece of cord, on which, as he looked down into the street, he began to beat with a prodigious32 noise; and on his head was a newspaper cap, from which streamed ribbons of scarlet, yellow, and blue. When he was momentarily exhausted33 he flung open the window, and stretched out his head excitedly.
[Pg 109]
"War, war, war!" he shouted. "Fritz will go to the war. Fritz will beat the drum and kill the French, and bang and hack34 and slash35 with all his might, till every man is dead." A brass36 trumpet37 which generally hung on a nail in the garret window, and which was often used by Fritz as a signal to attract Violet's attention, was now taken down and blown vehemently38 into the air; and then the drum was rattled39 upon more vigorously than ever.
A few of those gathered beneath in the street looked up on hearing the noise, and recognizing Fritz, smiled somewhat sadly; but when Lizzie glanced across again at the little window of Ella's room, the child had vanished, and the drum having ceased clattering40 for a moment, she could hear that the crying in the room opposite had been resumed.
"How she does weep, poor little girl! and what a noise the boy makes," said Lizzie, closing over the casement41. "He will certainly awaken our Violet." She tried to attract Fritz's attention, to make him desist, but finding it useless, she fastened the bolt and turned back into the room.
To her surprise, on looking round, she found Violet sitting up in her bed, her eyes wide open and her face very pale.
"Aunt Lizzie?"
[Pg 110]
"Well, darling, hast thou been long awake?"
"A little while. When will father be here?"
"Very soon now."
"I do not want to say 'Good-bye,' Aunt Lizzie."
"No, darling, it is a hard word to speak."
"Will father say 'Good-bye' to Violet?"
"I suppose so. It is at least likely; but wherefore, darling child, dost thou ask Aunt Lizzie this question?"
"I do not want to say 'Good-bye,'" repeated Violet in the same sad voice. "It makes Violet cry to say 'Good-bye.'"
"Ah"—Aunt Lizzie paused with a little start as she suddenly recognized the cause of the child's distressful42 thoughts—"ah, I understand it. Violet would rather that there were no 'good-byes' said. Aunt Lizzie will tell father so, and he will understand what Violet wishes. Is not this what thou meanest, dearest child?"
Violet nodded her head. "Aunt Lizzie, what is Fritz shouting about over there at the window? and is not his father also going away to the war?"
"Yes, my child; and Fritz is screaming out that he will be a soldier too. He is a noisy lad, that Fritz."
"Violet wants to be a soldier too," said she in an[Pg 111] almost inaudible voice; "but father is so long in coming, and Violet's heart goes so quick, Aunt Lizzie, and it makes her sick."
"Here, let me smooth thy hair." Her aunt stooped quickly and kissed the little white face. "Let me bathe thy face and put on a nice clean pinafore, and then thou wilt look so bright and fresh for father. And now try and drink this cup of milk. It will do thee good."
She offered the cup to her, but the child shook her head. "I could not drink it. All the morning something is in Violet's throat, just here, and she cannot make it go down."
"Well, we will not mind the milk." Aunt Lizzie put the cup on the table, and brushed out her long fair hair and tied it up with her purple ribbon. She bathed her face with warm water from the sauce-pan on the stove, and the pinafore was already half over her head, when the door opened and John came in.
"Aunt Lizzie, is it father? Tell him, tell him quickly," cried Violet in a sudden tremor43. "Violet cannot be a soldier unless thou tellest him first what I said to thee."
Lizzie turned from the bed, leaving the pinafore still over the child's face. John was already half-way across the room, and there was such a look of [Pg 112]questioning anguish in his gaze as it met hers that she could scarcely frame the words of poor Violet's request. She whispered, however, something in his ear, which after a second's thought he readily understood; and stepping over towards the bed, he waited until Lizzie drew the pinafore down from his little girl's face, gazing at her with the expression in his eyes of one who waits with a speechless pain and dread to look on the features of the dead.
But what was this! When the face was uncovered there was a smile, an actual smile on her lips, and one which grew with the mounting colour in her cheeks as she stretched up her arms quickly and said in a hurried whisper, "Father, Violet has been waiting for thee."
"Yes, darling, I am somewhat late, but it was with difficulty I could push my way up here through the streets. I thought at one time I should hardly have been able to force my way through them at all, and that I should have been forced to say 'Good-bye' from the street."
"From the street?" cried Aunt Lizzie and Violet in one breath.
"Yes; the colonel has decided44 that we are to march through the Market-place and then down by the fountain and along past these windows to the station."
[Pg 113]
"And I shall see thee again, father?"
"Yes, my darling."
"Aunt Lizzie will hold me in her arms, and I will look out at thee from the window."
"Yes, little treasure, yes."
"And Violet will watch thee coming up the street; and then she will see thee all the way along, along, until at last she will look, and look and will see thee no more." The smile had spread wider and wider, and the eyes fixed45 on his face had dilated46 and darkened to their deepest purple; but now there came a sudden pause, and the lips trembled. It was evident the struggle could not last much longer. The little heart was brave, but the flesh was weak.
"Father, I have a secret."
"Yes, my own Violet; what is it?"
He stooped down, and Aunt Lizzie moved away.
"Dost thou see my face, father?"
"Yes, yes; the sweetest face in all the world.
"But dost thou see it, father?"
"Yes."
"Put thy arms round my neck, and I will tell thee Violet's secret."
He put his arms round his little daughter, and held her tightly to his breast while she placed her lips to his ear. "Violet is a soldier. The Lord Jesus[Pg 114] can make even little sick girls brave. And, father, listen; look once more at Violet's face; look at her eyes." There was a pause, and then came the whisper, scarcely more than a fluttering breath—"Dost thou not see?—no more tears."
He held her back for one moment and looked into her eyes. He kissed her passionately47 twice; then recognizing that this whisper was his darling's farewell, he drew her to his heart with one long, silent pressure, and turned away quickly. One moment he gazed from the window, then stretching out his hand to Lizzie with averted48 face, he passed out into the street.
The Farewell Kiss
The Farewell Kiss. Page 114.
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1
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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9
dribbled
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| v.流口水( dribble的过去式和过去分词 )；（使液体）滴下或作细流；运球，带球 | |
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monotonously
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| adv.单调地，无变化地 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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26
bugles
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| 妙脆角，一种类似薯片但做成尖角或喇叭状的零食； 号角( bugle的名词复数 )； 喇叭； 匍匐筋骨草； （装饰女服用的）柱状玻璃（或塑料）小珠 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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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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disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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attired
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| adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服，使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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hack
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| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
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slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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40
clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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distressful
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| adj.苦难重重的，不幸的，使苦恼的 | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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45
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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46
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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