They found her mightily4 changed. They were proud of her. They could see that she had taken good care of her body. They knew that she had succeeded in her art. They
wondered what she had done with her soul. They had reached that thrilling, horribly anxious state of parentage when the girl child is grown to a woman and when every
step is dangerous. Authority is ended; advice is untranslatable, and the parents become only spectators at a play whose star they have provided but whose cast they
cannot select.
Sheila was not troubled about these things. Her chief excitement was in the luxury of having her afternoons to herself and every evening free. She was like a night-
watchman on a vacation. It was wonderful to be her own mistress from twilight5 to midnight. She had no make-up to put on except for the eyes of the sun. There were no
footlights. The only need for attention to her skin was to fight off sunburn and the attacks of the surf in which she spent hours upon hours.
The business of her neighbors and herself was improvising6 hilarities: the sea, the motors, saddle-horses, tennis, golf, watching polo-games, horse-races, airship-
races, all the summer industries of Long Island.
The Kembles had a wide and easy acquaintance with the aristocracy. Roger and Polly forgot, if the others did not, that they were stage folk. They enjoyed the
elegancies of life and knew how to be familiar without being vulgar. Sheila inherited their acquaintance and had been bred to their graces.
Young women and old of social importance made the girl one of their intimates. Any number of more or less nice young plutocrats offered to lead her along the primrose
path as far as she would go. But she compelled respect, perhaps with a little extra severity for the sake of her maligned7 profession. Before many days she would have
to return to it, but she was in no hurry.
One morning in the sun-flailed surf she grew weary of the jigging8 crowd of rope-dancers. Seeing that one of the floats was empty, she swam out to it. It was more of a
journey than she thought, for we judge distances as walkers, not as swimmers. She climbed aboard with difficulty and rested, staring out to sea, the boundless9 sea
where big waves came bowing in, nodding their white feathers.
She heard some one else swimming up, but did not look around. She did not want to talk to any of the men she had swum away from. She felt the float tilt10 as whoever it
was sprang from the water and seated himself, dripping. Then she heard a voice with all the morning in it:
“Good morning!”
“Sheila Kemble!” he laughed.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
“I’m not on earth; I’m alone in midocean with you.”
“But what brought you? Where did you come from?”
“Home. I just couldn’t stand it.”
“Stand what?”
“Being away from you.”
“Good heavens!”
“It’s been the other place to me.”
“Really?”
“I told Dad I needed a rest; that something was the matter with my mind. He admitted that, but blamed it to lack of use. Then I ducked. I shipped my car to New York,
and flew down the Motor Parkway to here. Got here yesterday. Been hanging round, trying to find you alone. Swell12 chance! There’s a swarm13 after you all the time, isn’
t there?”
“Is there?”
“Last night I saw you dancing at the hotel with every Tom, Dick, and Harry14. I hoped you’d come out and sit on the piazza15 so that I could sandbag the man and carry
you off. But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t care to be alone with any of them.”
“Lord bless your sweet soul! Were you thinking of me?”
“Not necessarily.”
“Are you glad to see me?”
“Oh yes. The more the merrier.”
This impudence16 brought his high hopes down. But they soared again when she said, with charming inconsistency:
“Dog-on it! here comes somebody!”
A fat man who somewhat resembled the globular figures cartoonists use to represent the world, wallowed out, splashing like a side-wheel raft-boat. He tried to climb
aboard, but his equator was too wide for his short arms, and neither Sheila nor Winfield offered to lend him a hand. He gave up and propelled himself back to shore
with the grace of a bell-buoy.
“Good-by, old flotsam and jetsam,” said Winfield.
Sheila could not but note the difference between the other man and Winfield. There was every opportunity for observation in both cases. Each inly acknowledged that the
other was perfection physically17. Each wished to be able to observe the other’s soul in equal completeness of display. But that power was denied them.
It would have served them little to know each other’s souls, since happiness in love is not a question of individual perfections, but of their combination and what
results from it. Fire and water are excellent in their place, but brought together, the result is familiar—either the water changes the flame to sodden18 ashes, or the
flame changes the water to steam. Both lose their qualities, change unrecognizably.
In any case, Winfield courted Sheila with all the impetuous stubbornness of his nature. He had no visible rivals to fight, but the affair was not denied the added
charm of danger.
One blistering19 day, when all of the populace that could slid off the hot land into the water like half-baked amphibians20, Sheila and Winfield plunged21 into the nearest
fringe of surf. The beach was like Broadway when the matinées let out. They swam to the float. It was as crowded as a seal-rock with sirens, sea-leopards, sea-cows,
walruses22, dugongs, and manatees23. There was no room for Sheila till an obliging faun gallantly24 offered her his seat and dived from the raft more graciously than
gracefully25, for he smacked26 the water flatly in what is known as a belly-buster or otherwise. He nearly swamped her in his back-wash.
She felt a longing27 for the outer solitudes28 and, when she had rested and breathed a few times, she struck out for the open sea beyond the ropes. Winfield followed her
gaily29 and they reveled in the life of mer-man and mer-girl till suddenly she realized that she was tired.
Forgetting where she was, she attempted to stand up. She thrust her feet down into a void. There is hardly a more hideous30 sensation, or a more terrifying, for an
Winfield was just diving into a big wave and did not see her. The same wave caught Sheila by the back of her head and held her face down, then swept on, leaving her
strangling and smitten32 into a panic. She struck out for shore with all awkwardness, as if robbed of experience with the water.
Winfield turned to her, and sang, “A life on the bounding waves for me.” An ugly, snarling33 breaker whelmed her again, and a third found her unready and cowering
before its toppling wall. She called Winfield by his first name for the first time:
“Bret, I can’t get back.”
He crept to her side with all his speed, and spoke34 soothing35 words: “You poor child! of course you can.”
“I—I’m afraid.”
A massive green billow flung on her a crest36 like a cartload of paving-stones, and sent her spinning, bewildered. Winfield just heard her moan:
“I give up.”
He clutched her sleeve as she drooped37 under the petty wave that succeeded. He tried to remember what the books and articles said, but he had never saved anybody and he
was only an ordinary swimmer himself.
He swam on his side, reaching out with one hand and dragging her with the other. But helplessly he kicked her delicate body and she floated face downward. He turned on
his back and, suddenly remembering the instructions, put his hands in her armpits and lifted her head above all but the ripple-froth, propelling himself with his feet
alone.
But his progress was dismally38 slow, and he could not see where he was going. The laughter of the bathers and their shrieks39 as the breakers charged in among them grew
fainter. A longshore current was haling them away from the crowds. The life-savers were busy hoisting40 a big woman into their boat and everybody was watching the
rescue. Nobody had missed Sheila. Her own father and mother were whooping41 like youngsters in the surf.
Winfield twisted his head and tried to make out his course, but his dim eyes could not see so far without the glasses he had left at the boat-house; and the light on
the water was blinding.
He was tired and dismayed. He rested for a while, then struck out till he must rest again. At last he spoke to her: “Sheila.”
“Yes, dear.”
“You’ll have to help me. I can’t see far enough.”
“You poor boy!” she cried. “Tell me what to do.”
“Can you put your hands on my shoulders, and tell me which way to swim? I’m all turned round.”
He drew her to him, and revolved42 her and set her hands on his shoulders, then turned his back to her, and swam with all-fours. She floated out above him like a mantle,
and, holding her head high, directed him. She was his eyes, and he was her limbs, and thus curiously43 twinned they fought their way through the alien element.
The sea seemed to want them for its own. It attacked them with waves that went over them with the roar of railroad trains. Beneath, the icy undertow gripped at his
Sheila’s weight, for all the lightness the water gave it, threatened to drown them both. But her words were full of help. In his behalf she put into her voice more
Now and then she would call aloud for help, but the salt-water had weakened her throat and there was always some new sensation ashore46.
At length, Winfield could hear the crash of the breakers and at length Sheila was telling him that they were almost in. Again and again he stabbed downward for a
footing and found none. Eventually, however, he felt the blessed foundation of the world beneath him and, turning, caught Sheila about the waist and thrust her forward
till she too could stand.
The beach was bad where they landed and the baffled waters dragged at their trembling legs like ropes, but they made onward47 to the dry sand. They fell down, panting,
aghast, and stared at the innocent sea, where joyous48 billows came in like young men running with their hands aloft. Far to their deft49 the mob shrieked50 and cavorted51.
When breathing was less like swallowing swords they looked at each other, smiled with sickly lips, and clasped cold, shriveled hands.
“Well,” said Sheila, “you saved my life, didn’t you?”
“No,” he answered; “you saved mine.”
She gave him a pale-blue smile and, as the chill seized her, she spoke, with teeth knocking together, “We s-saved dea-dea chother.”
“Ye-yes,” he ch-chattered, “so w-we bu-bu-bu-bulong to wea-weachother.”
“All r-r-right-t-t-t.”
That was his proposal and her acceptance. They rose and clasped hands and ran for the bath-house, while agues of rapture53 made scroll-work of their outlines. They had
escaped from dying together, but they were not to escape from living together.
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收听单词发音
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1
hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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improvising
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| 即兴创作（improvise的现在分词形式） | |
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maligned
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| vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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jigging
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| n.跳汰选，簸选v.（使）上下急动( jig的现在分词 ) | |
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9
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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10
tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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11
mermaid
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| n.美人鱼 | |
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12
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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14
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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15
piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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16
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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17
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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18
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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19
blistering
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| adj.酷热的；猛烈的；使起疱的；可恶的v.起水疱；起气泡；使受暴晒n.[涂料] 起泡 | |
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20
amphibians
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| 两栖动物( amphibian的名词复数 )； 水陆两用车； 水旱两生植物； 水陆两用飞行器 | |
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21
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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22
walruses
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| n.海象( walrus的名词复数 ) | |
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23
manatees
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| n.海牛（水生哺乳动物，体宽扁，尾圆，有鳃状肢）( manatee的名词复数 ) | |
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24
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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25
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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26
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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27
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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28
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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29
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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30
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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31
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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32
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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33
snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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34
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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35
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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36
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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37
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
dismally
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| adv.阴暗地，沉闷地 | |
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39
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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40
hoisting
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| 起重，提升 | |
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41
whooping
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| 发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的 | |
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42
revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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43
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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44
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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45
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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46
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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47
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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48
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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49
deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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50
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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51
cavorted
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| v.跳跃( cavort的过去式 ) | |
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52
maniacs
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| n.疯子（maniac的复数形式） | |
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53
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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