She was a forward thing—Miss Dulcie Ormerod. She patronized Eldon and tried to flirt7 with him at the same time. She forced conversation on him when he was morose8. She happened to meet him with extraordinary coincidence when he was outside the theater. And almost every time the two of them happened to be together they happened to meet Sheila.
Dulcie was one of those women who seem unable to address one without pawing or clinging—as if the arms were telephone cables, and there were no communicating without contact.
Sheila was of the wireless9 type. A touch from her was as important as a caress10. To put a hand familiarly or carelessly on her arm was not to be thought of, at least by Eldon. Others who attempted it found that she flinched12 aside or moved to a distance almost unconsciously. She kept herself precious in every way.
Eldon loathed13 the touch of Dulcie’s claws, especially as he could not seem to convince Sheila that he did not enjoy her incessant14 contiguity15. And the prehensive Dulcie was calling him “Floyd” before the third rehearsal16.
Batterson was calling him all sorts of names of the familiarity that implies contempt, for Eldon was not rehearsing well. He realized the confusing inconveniences that love can weave into the actor’s trade. If it had not been for Sheila he could have made a straight matter of art or business out of the love-scenes with Dulcie, or he could have thrown the hungry thing an occasional kind word to keep her quiet, or have fallen temporarily in love with her, for Dulcie was one of those actresses who insist that they “must feel a part to play it.” She was forever alluding17 to one of her r?les in which “she knew she was great because she wept real tears in it.”
Sheila belonged to the other school. Her father would say of a scene, “I knew I was great in that because I could guy it.” For then he was like the juggler18 who can chat with the audience without dropping a prop—a Cyrano who can fight for his life and compose a poem at the same time.
Sheila felt the emotions of her r?le when she first took it up, but she conquered them as soon as she could by studying and registering their manifestations19, so that her resources were like an instrument to play on. Thereafter her emotions were those of the concert violinist who plays upon his audience as well as his instrument.
Sheila watched a few rehearsals20. She hated the exaggerated sentimentalisms of Dulcie and her splay-footed comedy. Dulcie underscored every important word like a school-girl writing a letter. Sheila credited the audience with a sense of humor and kept its intelligence alert. Sheila made no bones of criticizing her successor. But when Eldon agreed with her, she was not convinced. She was far more jealous of him than she was of her r?le. But Eldon was not wise enough to take comfort from these proofs of her affection. They narrowly escaped quarreling during their last few meetings.
When Sheila went away Eldon could not even go to the train with her. Batterson held him to rehearsal.
Sheila said, “Don’t worry; Mr. Folwell will take care of me.” She could hardly have been ignorant of the torment21 this meant to Eldon, but her heart was aching, too, because he permitted a little thing like his business to keep him from paying the last tributes of tenderness.
Folwell was one of those affable leading men who always proffer22 their leading women as much gallantry as they care to accept. He had been a devoted23 suitor to Zelma Griffen and had graciously pretended to suffer agonies of jealousy24 over her humming-bird flirtations. He had done the same with the women stars of his last three engagements. He was Scotch25, and had a gift of sad-eyed sincerity26 for the moment, and a vocabulary of irresistible27 little pet names, and a grim earnestness about whatever interested him at the time. His real name was, curiously28, Robert Burns. He had changed it lest he be suspected of stealing it, or of advertising29 a much-advertised tobacco.
Eldon imagined that Folwell would begin to languish30 over Sheila the moment the train started, and was tempted11 to bash in his head so that he would be incapable31 of making love at all. He had won into Sheila’s good graces by knocking an anonymous32 student over the footlights. If he sent a pseudonymous actor the same way he might clinch33 his success with her. He little knew that the blow he had struck Bret Winfield had not yet ceased to sting that youth, and that Winfield was still repeating his vow34 to square himself with Eldon and with Sheila—in very different ways.
But Eldon let Folwell escape without planting his fists on him. And he let Sheila escape without imprinting35 the seal of his kiss upon her. He had never laid lip to her cheek. And now they were divorced, without being betrothed36.
If he had known how tenderly Sheila’s thoughts flew back to him, if he had known that she locked herself in her state-room and wept and never once saw Folwell on the train, he would have been happier and sadder both, with the incurable37 perversity38 of a forlorn lover. If he could have seen her very soul of souls he would have seen what she dared not admit to herself, that she was a little disappointed in him because he let her go. She doubted the greatness of his love of her because he loved the artist she was so well. Sheila was more jealous of her actress self than of Dulcie Ormerod.
It was not many days before Eldon, too, turned his back on Chicago, but facing westerly. The city was dear to him: he had passed through a whole lifetime of stages there, from crushing failure to success in a leading r?le, and from loneliness to reciprocated39 love and widowerhood.
Mrs. Vining tried to console him when he turned to her as at least a relative of Sheila’s. She made as much as she could of his performance as Folwell’s successor. It was a creditable and a promising40 beginning, though it offended her experienced standards in countless41 ways. But she flattered him with honeyed words, and she tried to wear away his love for Sheila.
She had seen so many nice young fellows and dear, sweet girls stretched on the rack of these situations—wrenched by the wheels of separation and all the suspicions that jealousy can imagine from opportunity. In all mercy she wished this couple well cured of the inflammation. She did her part to allay42 it with counter-irritants and caustics43. She wrote Sheila that Eldon was getting along famously with his r?le—and with Dulcie, who was “a dear little thing and winning excellent press notices.” She told Eldon that Sheila was in love with her new play, and that Tom Brereton was turning her head with his compliments. Folwell, who had the second male r?le in the new play, was also very attentive44, she said. And Sheila was going out a good deal in New York—dancing her feet off nearly every night. The author of the play was a third rival for her favor, in Mrs. Vining’s chronicles.
Everything collaborated45 to Eldon’s torture. The “Friend in Need” company was moving West in long jumps. Sheila’s letters had farther and farther to go. A sudden change of booking threw them off the track and two weeks passed without a line. He sent her day letters and night letters as affectionate in tone as he had the face to submit to the telegraph operators. Her answers did not satisfy him. They were never so prompt as his calculations and he did not credit her with restraint before the cold-eyed telegraphers.
She was far busier, too, than he imagined. Costumes were to be ordered and fitted; the new lines to be learned; photographs to be posed for; interviews to be given. Reben was grooming46 her for a star already, without giving her an inkling of his schemes. As for flirting47 with Brereton or Folwell, she was as far as possible from the thought of such a leisurely48 occupation. She was having battles with them, and still bitterer conflicts with the author.
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1
annoyances
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| n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事 | |
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invincibly
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| adv.难战胜地，无敌地 | |
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tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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mimicked
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| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似 | |
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intonations
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| n.语调，说话的抑扬顿挫( intonation的名词复数 )；（演奏或唱歌中的）音准 | |
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radically
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| ad.根本地，本质地 | |
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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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morose
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| adj.脾气坏的，不高兴的 | |
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wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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contiguity
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| n.邻近，接壤 | |
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rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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juggler
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| n. 变戏法者, 行骗者 | |
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manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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rehearsals
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| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
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21
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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22
proffer
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| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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30
languish
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| vi.变得衰弱无力，失去活力，（植物等）凋萎 | |
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31
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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32
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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33
clinch
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| v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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imprinting
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| n.胚教，铭记（动物生命早期即起作用的一种学习机能）；印记 | |
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36
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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perversity
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| n.任性；刚愎自用 | |
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39
reciprocated
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| v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动 | |
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40
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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41
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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42
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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43
caustics
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| n.苛性的( caustic的名词复数 )；腐蚀性的；尖刻的；刻薄的 | |
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44
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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45
collaborated
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| 合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国 | |
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46
grooming
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| n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发 | |
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47
flirting
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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48
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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