Nancy had left Sainte Anne-de-Beaupré with scant6 regret, the night before. She had spent numberless interesting hours in the society of Mr. Cecil Barth. He had piqued7 her, antagonized her and occasionally had even compelled her to like him in spite of herself. However, the whole episode had been forced upon her. Now that it was ended, she was glad to dismiss it entirely8 into the past, and she had not thought it necessary to inform Barth that she too expected to pass some weeks in Quebec. There was scant chance of their meeting again, and Nancy had imagined that she had parted from him without regret.
On his side, Barth had been at no pains to conceal9 his regrets. As Dr. Howard had reminded him, Nancy had been a most loyal nurse; and the young Englishman took it quite as a matter of course that his attendant should be a girl of brains and breeding as well. He had heard much of the American college girl, and he promptly10 pigeonholed11 Nancy with others of that class, although in fact she had been educated by her father and polished by a year or so spent at a famous old school on the Hudson. Barth admired Nancy’s brains, her common sense and her alert deftness12. To his mind, these qualities in part atoned13 for her independence and her hot-headed Americanism; but only in part. Her society was often restful, but never cloying14; and Barth, now able to hobble about his room, peered mournfully out of his window after his departing nurse with feelings akin15 to those of a youngster suddenly deprived of his best mechanical toy. Bereft16 of his nurse, he took to his pipe, smoked himself into lethargy, and emerged from his lethargy so cross that Madame Gagnier, lumbering17 into the room to settle him for the night, fled from his presence with her cap awry18 and her checked pinafore pressed to her aged19 eyes.
Dusk had fallen, when Nancy and her father drove up the steep slope of Palace Hill, passed the Basilica and stopped at the low yellow door of The Maple Leaf. Of the city Nancy saw but little. Of The Maple Leaf, glaring with electric lights, she saw much and, even at the first glance, she assured herself that that much was wholly to her liking20. It was not alone the curved ceiling of the entrance hallway, nor the cheery little dining-room where the four tables and the huge mahogany sideboard struggled not to elbow each other in their close quarters; nor yet the deep window-seats of the rooms with their French casements21 and their panelled shutters22. It was the nameless flavor of the place, pervading23 all things and beautifying all things, the flavor of nothing in the world but of old Quebec. The Chateau might exist anywhere; The Maple Leaf could have existed nowhere outside of the ancient city wall.
“Don’t you love it, daddy?” Nancy urged for the third time, as they came up from their late supper.
“It seems very central,” the doctor assented24 tranquilly25. “Of course, it is a great advantage for me to be so near Laval. I only hope you won’t be lonely here, Nancy.”
She laughed scornfully.
“Lonely! After Sainte Anne-de-Beaupré!” she protested.
“The town is often a good deal more lonely than the country,” he assured her.
But Nancy, whose eyes had not been entirely busy with the furniture of the dining-room, shook her head. Then she went into her own room, to fall asleep and, quite as a matter of course, to dream that Mr. Cecil Barth, union Jack26 in hand, was chasing her around and around the little fountain she could hear plashing down in the Ring.
All the next morning, Nancy was busy in their two adjoining rooms, hanging up her gowns and trying to devise an arrangement which should keep her father’s shirts from too close connection with his bottle of ink. Now and then she halted beside his windows which looked down on a gray-walled courtyard where an aged habitant sat on a chopping-block and peeled potatoes without end. Occasionally she wandered back to her own room, and stood gazing out at the Champlain statue by the northern end of the terrace and at the pointed27 copper28 roofs of the huge Chateau. Then she went on brushing her father’s clothes, and sorting out her own tangle29 of gloves and belts and the kindred trifles that add a touch of chaos30 to even the most orderly of trunks. At last, her work done, she smoothed her hair, tweaked her gown into position and, without a glance into the long mirror of her wardrobe, she ran down to the dining-room in search of her father.
She found him the sole occupant of a table near the door, and the other tables were absolutely deserted31. As she went back to her room, Nancy was forced to admit that the meal had been a bit dull. A father and daughter who have been constant companions for years, are unable to produce an unfailing stream of brilliant table talk; and Dr. Howard, tired with the effort of getting his bearings in a strange library, was even more taciturn than was his wont32. Accordingly, it was in a mood dangerously akin to homesickness that Nancy left the empty dining-room and returned to her equally empty bedroom. Once inside the door, she made the mortifying33 discovery that her lashes34 were wet; and, with a swift realization35 of the ignominy of her mood, she caught up her hat and coat, and started out to explore the city on her own account.
As she dressed herself for supper, two nights later, Nancy confessed to herself that the past two days were the dreariest36 days she had ever spent. Totally engrossed37 in his historical research, her father spent his daytime hours in poring over the manuscripts in Laval library, his evening in rearranging and copying his hurried notes. Left entirely to herself, Nancy discovered the truth of his words, that a town could be far more lonely than the country. At Sainte Anne-de-Beaupré, every one had had a word of greeting for the bright-faced American girl; here it seemed to her that she had no more personality than one of the pawns38 on a chessboard. She walked the streets by the hour at a time, straying at random39 from church to church, loitering on the terrace, or tramping swiftly out the Grand Allée far past the Franciscan convent and the tollgate beyond. The tourist season was almost ended. A few honeymoon40 couples were still straying blissfully about the ramparts; but, for the most part, Quebec had come back from summer quarters on lake and river, and was settling into winter routine. Nancy watched it all with wide, interested, dissatisfied eyes. The show delighted her; but, as at all other shows, she felt the need of some companion whose elbow she could joggle in moments of extreme excitement.
As a part of the show, The Maple Leaf had gratified her whole artistic41 sense. Humanly speaking, she had found it a bit disappointing. Man?uvre as she would, she could never succeed in finding the dining-room full. There seemed to be something utterly42 inconsequent in the way in which the boarders took their meals, now late, now early, and now apparently43 not at all. She had been told that there were forty of them; but, so far as she could discover, six constituted a quorum44, and the meal was served accordingly. Once only, the entire quorum had occurred at her own table. Four fresh-faced elderly Frenchmen had marched into the room in procession, and had planted themselves opposite Nancy and her father. Dr. Howard read French, but spoke45 it not at all. Nancy felt that her own three words would prove inadequate46. Accordingly, after one international deadlock47 over the possession of the salt, silence had fallen. When she left the table, Nancy felt that she had gained a full perception of the viewpoint of a deaf mute.
It was with a spirit of absolute desperation that Nancy flung open the door of her wardrobe, that night. Humanity failing, she would take refuge in clothes. At Sainte Anne, she had lived chiefly in a short skirt and blouse; at The Maple Leaf, she had been waiting to discover the prevailing48 habits of dress. Now she told herself that two women at a time could not make a habit; and, furthermore, she assured herself that she cared nothing for local habits anyway. The wardrobe held three new gowns, obviously of New York manufacture. Nancy did not hesitate. With unerring instinct, she chose the most ornate one of the three, which also chanced to be the one which was most becoming.
And so it came to pass that Reginald Brock, pausing in the hall to take off his overcoat, whistled softly to himself as he caught a glimpse of a pale gown of dusky blue and a head capped with heavy coils of tawny49 hair. The coat slid off in a hurry, Brock gave one hurried look into the tiny mirror of the rack; then, his honest Canadian face beaming with content, he came striding into the dining-room and dropped into his place at Nancy’s side, with a friendly nod of greeting.
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1
chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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pane
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| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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6
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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7
piqued
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的过去式和过去分词 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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8
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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pigeonholed
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| v.把…搁在分类架上( pigeonhole的过去式和过去分词 )；把…留在记忆中；缓办；把…隔成小格 | |
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deftness
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atoned
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| v.补偿，赎（罪）( atone的过去式和过去分词 )；补偿，弥补，赎回 | |
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cloying
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| adj.甜得发腻的 | |
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akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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awry
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| adj.扭曲的，错的 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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casements
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| n.窗扉( casement的名词复数 ) | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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mortifying
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| adj.抑制的，苦修的v.使受辱( mortify的现在分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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34
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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dreariest
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| 使人闷闷不乐或沮丧的( dreary的最高级 )； 阴沉的； 令人厌烦的； 单调的 | |
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engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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pawns
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| n.（国际象棋中的）兵( pawn的名词复数 )；卒；被人利用的人；小卒v.典当，抵押( pawn的第三人称单数 )；以（某事物）担保 | |
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39
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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40
honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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41
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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42
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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43
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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44
quorum
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| n.法定人数 | |
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45
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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46
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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47
deadlock
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| n.僵局，僵持 | |
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48
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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49
tawny
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| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
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