Four days after Churchill took his departure from Quebec and its Maple1 Leaf, Brock came striding into the dining-room, his head erect2, his gray eyes shining.
“Miss Howard, you are going for a walk, this afternoon,” he said, as he drew back his chair.
“How do you know?”
“Because I am counting on you. Have you anything else to do?”
“I was going to the library,” she suggested. “The new magazines are just in.”
“Let them wait,” he said coolly. “It is too fine a day to be wasted over a fire and a book. I’ll not only show you a new picture; but I promise to tell you a better story than any that ever was written into a magazine.”
Nancy looked up into his happy eyes.
“Then the week is over?” she questioned.
“At last.”
She laughed at his accent of relief.
“Not so bad as that,” he began; but she interrupted him mockingly.
“And how many people have you been telling, in the meantime?”
“Not one.”
“Truthfully?”
“Yes. I wanted to tell you, first of all.”
She smiled back at him fearlessly.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“And will you go?”
An hour later, she joined him in the hall. Brock stared at her approvingly. Her dark green cloth gown was the work of a tailor of sorts; the plumes5 of her wide hat made an admirable setting for her halo of ruddy hair. And Nancy returned the approval in full measure. Few men were better to look upon than was Reginald Brock, tall and supple6, his well-set head thatched with crisp brown hair and lighted with those merry, clear gray eyes. No sinister7 thought had ever left its line on Brock’s honest, manly8 face.
“Come, then,” he said, as he opened the door. “You are in my hands, this afternoon.”
He led the way to the Lower Town. Then, leaving Notre Dame9 des Victoires far behind them, they passed the custom house, crossed to the Louise Embankment and, rounding the angle by the immigration sheds, came out on the end of the Commissioners’ Wharf10.
“There!” Brock said triumphantly11. “What do you think of this?”
Nancy drew a long breath of sheer delight.
“One can’t think; one can only feel,” she said slowly.
The river, lying deep blue in the yellow sunlight, slid past their very feet, its glittering wavelets crossed and recrossed with silvery reflections caught from the sky above. Far down its course, the dark indigo12 Laurentides seemed jutting13 out into the stream that washed their feet. Above was the Citadel14, a crown of gray upon its purplish cliff. Behind them, the noise of the city lost itself in the murmur15 of the hurrying tide. Close at hand, a network of cables was lowering freight into the hold of an ocean-going steamer; and, out in the middle of the stream, a clumsy craft, loaded to the water’s edge, crawled sluggishly16 upward against current and tide, ready for the morrow’s market.
“Shall we sit down?” he asked.
Nancy took her place in silence. Silently he dropped down beside her. It was a long time before the stillness was broken, save by the lapping of the river at their feet and the hoarse18 cries of the men in the steamer’s hold. For the moment, they were as isolated19 as if they had been in some remote desert, rather than upon the edge of one of the busiest spots of the entire city.
Brock’s impatience20 appeared to have left him. With his gaze on the river, he was whistling almost inaudibly to himself; but it was plain to Nancy, as she watched him, that his thoughts were altogether pleasant ones. So were her own, for the matter of that. The past month had been a happy one to her, and Brock had caused some of its happiest memories. She had trusted him completely, and she had never known him to fail her. His chivalry21, his courtesy, his brother-like care had been for her, from the hour of their meeting. She could still recall the glad look in his eyes, as they had rested upon her when he entered the dining-room, that first night. From that hour onward22, Nancy Howard and Reginald Brock had been sure, each of the other’s friendship.
“What about it?” Brock asked, as he suddenly turned to face her.
“About what?”
“The subject of your thoughts.”
“All good things,” she answered unhesitatingly. “I was thinking about you, just then.”
“And wishing me good?”
“All good, even as you have been good to me,” she responded, with quiet dignity.
He smiled.
“Nothing to count. But now for the picture.”
“It is beautiful beyond words.”
He smiled again.
“Wait. You haven’t seen it yet.”
With a quick motion of his hand, he drew his watch from his pocket, opened the case and held it out to Nancy. There was no cloud of reservation in the girl’s happy eyes, as she looked at the picture within.
“Mr. Brock!”
“Yes?”
His accent was full of happy question. Downright and prompt came Nancy’s answer.
“She is adorable.”
Gently he took the watch from her hand and looked steadily23 at the picture, a picture of a round girlish face set as proudly as Brock’s own upon its shapely shoulders.
There was no mistaking the gladness in Nancy’s tone, as she responded,—
“I think I was never more delighted in all my life. You were good to tell me, first of all.”
“I wanted to,” Brock replied, with boyish eagerness. “We’ve been such good chums, all this last month, that I was sure you would be interested. I want you to meet her. We weren’t going to announce it just yet; but I coaxed25 her to hurry it up a little, so I could bring her to call on you, before you go home.”
Nancy still held the picture in her hand.
“Is she really as pretty as this?” she asked.
“Why,—yes, I suppose so. I used to think so. Lately, I haven’t thought much about her looks, one way or the other,” he confessed. “She always seems to me about right, and she knows things, too. Really, Miss Howard,” as he spoke26, he faced Nancy, with his eyes shining; “really, I’m in great luck. It isn’t every day that a girl of her sort falls in love with a fellow like me.”
There was no hint of coquetry in Nancy’s manner. With a frankness his own sister might have shown, she held out her hand in token of congratulation.
“I am not so sure of that,” she answered, with a smile.
Then the pause lengthened27. Brock’s thoughts were far afield; Nancy’s were fixed28 upon the man at her side. In all sincerity29, she did rejoice at his unexpected tidings. No sentimental30 regrets entered into her perfect content. Her friendship for Brock had been friendship pure and simple; on neither side had it ever been mingled31 with a thought of love. From chance playmates of an October holiday, they had grown into a loyal liking32 which was to outlast33 many a dividing year and mile. And Brock deserved all good things, even the love of this dainty bit of girlhood whose eyes smiled bravely back into her own.
“Tell me all about it,” she said at last.
Brock roused himself from his reverie.
“There’s not so much to tell. I’ve known her always; we’ve always been good friends, but, last summer at Cacouna, it was—different.”
Nancy smiled at the pause which added explanatory force to the last word.
“And was it then?”
“No; not till two or three weeks ago. You see, it took me a good while to get to where I dared speak about it.”
“And when—?”
Brock looked up suddenly.
“I don’t dare think of that yet, Miss Howard,” he answered a bit unsteadily. “The present is so perfect that I am afraid to tempt34 Fate by asking anything more of the future. For the present, I am like the river out there,” he pointed to the shining stream before him; “just drifting along in the sunshine.”
And the sunshine found an answering light in Nancy’s eyes, as, accepting his offered hand, she slowly rose to her feet and turned her face towards home.
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收听单词发音
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1
maple
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| n.槭树，枫树，槭木 | |
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2
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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3
preyed
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| v.掠食( prey的过去式和过去分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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6
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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7
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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8
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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9
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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11
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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indigo
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| n.靛青，靛蓝 | |
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13
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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14
citadel
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| n.城堡；堡垒；避难所 | |
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15
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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16
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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18
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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19
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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21
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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22
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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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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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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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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lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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29
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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31
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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32
liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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33
outlast
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| v.较…耐久 | |
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34
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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