against offering the car to the Winfields, but Sheila and Polly had taken it away from him.
He had resisted their scheme for the dinner with even greater vigor3, but Polly mocked him and gave her orders. Seeing himself committed to the plot, he said, “Well,
if we’ve got to have this try-out performance we’ll make a production of it with complete change of costumes, calciums, and extra people.”
Polly and Roger did not approve of Bret any more than the Winfields approved of Sheila; but they resolved to jolt4 the Philistines5 while they were at it.
After a day in the Kemble limousine6 the Winfields picked up Sheila, who had been spending an hour on her toilet, though she apologized for the wreckage7 of rehearsals8.
She dazzled both of them with her beauty. She did most of the talking, but permitted restful silences for meditation9. The Winfields were as shy and as staring as
children. It was the first time they had been so close to an actress.
The Kemble cottage on Long Island was a pleasant enough structure at any time, but at night under a flattering moon it looked twice its importance.
The dinner was elaborate and the guests impressive. Roger apologized for the presence of a famous millionaire, Tilton, his wife, and their visitor Lady Braithwaite. He
said that they had been invited before, though it would have been more accurate to say that they had been implored10 at the last moment, and had consented because Roger
said he needed them.
Sheila never acted harder. She never suffered worse from stage-fright and never concealed11 it more completely. She suffered both as author and as actor. Her little
comedy was, like Hamlet’s brief tragedy, produced for an ulterior purpose. Which it accomplished12.
The Kembles had succeeded in shifting the burden of discomfort13 to their observers. The Winfields felt hopelessly small town. Polly and Sheila were exquisitely
gracious, and Lady Braithwaite kept my-dearing Polly, while the millionaire called Kemble by his first name. Roger set old Winfield roaring over his stories and, as if
quite casually14, he let fall occasional allusions15 to the prosperity of prosperous stage people. He referred to the fact that a certain actress, “poor Nina Fielding,”
had “had a bad season, and cleared only sixty thousand dollars.”
Tilton exclaimed, “Impossible! that’s equivalent to six per cent, on a million dollars.”
Roger shrugged16 his shoulders. “Well, there are others that make more, and if Nina is worth a million, Sheila is worth two of her. And she’ll prove it, too. And why
shouldn’t actors get rich? They do the world as much good as your manufacturers of shoes and electricity and automobiles17. Why shouldn’t they make as much money?”
Tilton said: “Well, perhaps they should, but they haven’t done so till recently. It’s a big change from the time when you actors were rated as beggars and
vagabonds; you’ll admit that much, won’t you?”
He had touched Kemble on a sensitive spot, a subject that he had fumed18 over and studied. Roger was always ready to deliver a lecture on the topic. He blustered19 now:
“That old idiocy20! Do you believe it, too? Don’t you know that the law that branded actors as vagrants21 referred only to actors without a license22 and not enrolled23 in
an authorized24 company? At that very time the chief noblemen had their own troupes25 and the actors were entertained royally in castles and palaces.
“For a time the monks26 and nuns27 used to give plays, and there was a female playwright29 who was a nun28 in the tenth century. The Church sometimes fought against the
theater during the dark ages, but so it fought against sculpture and painting the human form. Actors were forbidden Christian30 burial once and were treated as outlaws,
but so were the Catholics in Protestant countries and Protestants in Catholic regions, and Presbyterians and Episcopalians in each other’s realms, and Quakers in
Boston.
“The Puritans did not believe in the theater any more than the theater believed in the Puritans, and there was a period in England when plays had to be given secretly
in private houses. But what does that prove? Religious services had to be given the same way; and political meetings.
“There are plenty of people who hate the theater to-day. It always will have enemies—like the other sciences and arts.
“But one thing is sure. Wherever actors have been permitted at all, they have always gone with the best people. Several English actors have been knighted recently,
but that’s nothing new. The actor Roscius was knighted at Rome in 50 b.c. In Greece they carved the successful actors’ names in stone.
“We made big money then, too. The actor ?sopus—Cicero’s friend—left his good-for-nothing son so much money that the cub31 dissolved a pearl in vinegar and drank it.
“In the Roman Empire actors like Paris stood so high at court that Juvenal said, ‘If you want to get the royal favor ask an actor, not a lord.’ When Josephus went
to Rome to plead for the lives of some priests, a Jewish actor named Aliturus introduced him to Nero and his empress and got him his petition. It seems funny to think
of a Jewish actor at the court of Nero. The Roman emperor Justinian married an actress and put her on the throne beside him.
“In Italy after the Renaissance33 one of the actresses—I forget her name—was so much honored that when she came to a town she was received with a salute34 of cannon35.
“Louis XIV. loved Molière, stood godfather to his child, and suggested a scene for one of his plays. One of Napoleon’s few intimate friends was the actor Talma.
“David Garrick was in high favor at court and he sold his interest in Drury Lane, when he retired36, for one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. He is buried in
Westminster Abbey.
“And if I may speak of my own ancestors, Mrs. Siddons was one of the most highly esteemed37 and irreproachable38 women of her time. Sir Joshua Reynolds was proud to paint
her as the Tragic39 Muse40 and old Dr. Samuel Johnson wrote his autograph on the canvas along the edge of her robe because he said he wanted his name to go down to
“Her brother, John Philip Kemble, was so successful that he bought a sixth share in Covent Garden for over one hundred thousand dollars. When it burned down it would
have ruined him if the Duke of Northumberland had not made him a loan of fifty thousand dollars. And later he refused repayment42.
“Take an actress of our own time, Sarah Bernhardt. What woman in human history has had more honor, or made more money? Or take—”
Polly felt it time to intervene. “For Heaven’s sake, ring down! You’re not at Chautauqua, you know.”
Kemble started and blinked like a sleep-walker abruptly43 wakened. “I beg your pardon,” he said. “I was riding my hobby and he ran away.”
The Winfields were plentifully44 impressed and Mrs. Winfield completely overwhelmed when Lady Braithwaite said:
“He’s quite right, my dear. There’s no question of the social position of the stage. So many actresses have married into our peerage that you can’t tell which is
the annex45 of which; and no end of young peers are going on the stage. They can’t act, but it keeps them out of mischief46 in a way. And I can’t see that stage-
marriages are any less permanent than the others. Can you? I mean to say, I’ve known most charming cases. My poor friend the Duchess of Stonehenge had a son who was a
hopeless little cad and rotter—and he married an actress—you know the one I mean—from the Halls she was, too. And you know she’s made a man of him—a family man,
Somehow the character Lady Braithwaite gave the stage made more impression on Mrs. Winfield than all of Roger’s history.
On the long, late ride back to their hotel the old couple were meek48, quite whipped-out. They had come to redeem49 an actress from perdition or bribe50 her not to drag
their son to her own level; they returned with their ears full of stage glories and a bewildered feeling that an alliance with the Kemble family would be the making of
them.
As the train bore them homeward, however, their old prejudices resumed sway. They began to feel resentful. If Sheila had been more lowly, suppliant51, and helpless they
might have stooped to her. But a daughter-in-law who could earn over fifty thousand dollars a year was a dangerous thing about the house. Sheila’s scenario52 had worked
just a little too well.
Young Winfield met his parents at the train and searched their faces eagerly. They looked guilty and almost pouting53. They said nothing till they were in their own car
—it looked shabby after the Kemble turnout. Then Bret pleaded:
“Well, what do you think of Sheila?”
“She’s very nice,” said his mother, stingily.
“Is that all? She wrote me that you were wonderful. She said my father was one of the most distinguished-looking men she ever saw, and as for my mother, she was
simply beautiful, so fashionable and aristocratic—an angel, she called you, mother.”
One may see through these things, but they can’t be resisted. As Roger Kemble used to put it: “Say what you will, a bouquet54 beats a brickbat for comfort no matter
what direction it comes from.”
The Winfields blushed with pride and warmed over their comments on Sheila. In fact, they went so far as to say that she would never give up the fame and fortune and
admiration55 that were waiting for her, just to marry a common manufacturer’s son.
This threw the fear of love into Bret and made him more than ever frantic56 to see Sheila and be reassured57 or put out of his misery58. There was no restraining him. His
father protested that he was needed at home. But it was mating-season with the young man, and parents were only in his way, as their parents had been in theirs.
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1
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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hem
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| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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philistines
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| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
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limousine
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| n.豪华轿车 | |
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7
wreckage
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| n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏 | |
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8
rehearsals
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| n.练习( rehearsal的名词复数 )；排练；复述；重复 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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10
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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12
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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13
discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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16
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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17
automobiles
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| n.汽车( automobile的名词复数 ) | |
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18
fumed
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| 愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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19
blustered
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| v.外强中干的威吓( bluster的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮；（风）呼啸；狂吹 | |
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20
idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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21
vagrants
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| 流浪者( vagrant的名词复数 )； 无业游民； 乞丐； 无赖 | |
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22
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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23
enrolled
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| adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起 | |
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24
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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25
troupes
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| n. （演出的）一团, 一班 vi. 巡回演出 | |
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26
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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27
nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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28
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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29
playwright
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| n.剧作家，编写剧本的人 | |
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30
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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31
cub
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| n.幼兽，年轻无经验的人 | |
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32
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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33
renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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34
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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35
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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36
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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37
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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38
irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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40
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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41
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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42
repayment
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| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
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43
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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44
plentifully
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| adv. 许多地，丰饶地 | |
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45
annex
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| vt.兼并，吞并；n.附属建筑物 | |
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46
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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47
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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48
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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49
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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50
bribe
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| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
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51
suppliant
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| adj.哀恳的；n.恳求者，哀求者 | |
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52
scenario
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| n.剧本，脚本；概要 | |
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53
pouting
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的现在分词 ) | |
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54
bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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55
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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56
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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57
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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58
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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