CHAPTER XIII

 The little pale image of goodness so frequently seen sitting in Cutter’s car before the bank waiting for him around five o’clock in the afternoon was what remained of the original Helen two years after he had relinquished¹ his plan to live in New York.

Keeping an entirely² good resolution may be strengthening to character, but it is fearfully damaging to feminine beauty. For one thing such women lose the sense of clothes. Helen had known how to dress in the happy, wild-rose period of her youth; but how can you keep up the flaunting³, flowing sweetness of your draperies when you are no longer a girl to be won, but have become a wife who has been reduced to her duties and her virtues⁴?

Still, things had not been as bad for her as she had expected they would be. George was away from home now much of the time. He had interests in New York and spent at least a part of every month there. But she heard from him regularly, usually a wire, sometimes a brief note. When he was at home, it was the same old routine,[154] except that he spent more time at the golf and country club.

The truth was that Helen got on his nerves frightfully with her silence and dutifulness and patience. The impeccable wife is a difficult proposition, if you tackle it. Cutter instinctively⁵ avoided the issue. He accepted Helen for this awfully⁶ “better” woman than he had bargained for. There was none of that human “worse” in her, so amply provided for in the marriage ceremony, with which to vary the monotony of their life together. Often he wished for a stormy scene, such as by nature married people are entitled to have. If he was irritable⁷, she left him alone. If he was calm, she would come and sit and sew a fine seam in a sweet silence that was perfectly⁸ maddening. If he flung the paper he was reading on the floor, slammed his feet down and groaned⁹, she would look up at him, then drop her eyes once more to this seam—or she would rise and leave the room noiselessly.

Good heavens! He could not stand it, meaning “her.” Why didn’t she complain that he neglected her? Why didn’t she say something, show some spirit? Why didn’t she appeal to his conscience? That was what a wife was for—one thing, at least. If she would only show some[155] fight, he might regain¹⁰ control of himself; as it was, he was slipping. Why couldn’t she see that and stop him? He really wanted to slow up; but how was a man to do it with his wife letting him go like this?

Cutter was the kind of man who would eventually account for his transgression¹¹ by saying if he had married another sort of woman he might have been a better man. In that case, you may be sure, if his wife had married a totally different kind of man, she would have been a happier woman.

Meanwhile Helen was prepared for the worst. This is a terrific preparation, but sometimes the only one a woman can make; and it leaves her in a singularly placid¹² state of mind. If she had understood the situation, she might have behaved differently. But she did not understand Cutter.

The woman who knows only one man never knows much about him. To understand a husband, you must do a lot of collateral¹³ reading of mankind. He is all of them, from the best to the worst. You are not so apt then to be mystified by his various manifestations¹⁴. And if you have any sense of the proper courage of your sex, you will act according to his symptoms, not your own sanity¹⁵, even if it is to burst into tears[156] and cry: “Undone¹⁶! Undone! Oh, my God!”

He will fall for it and react every time; because God, upon whom you have just called, no doubt having your emergencies in view, has created men so that almost without exception they have no defense¹⁷ against a weeping woman.

At the same time it is the worst possible governing principle not to vary your tears with laughter, tyranny and some sort of lovely unreasonableness¹⁸. Men cannot endure a perfectly logical and sane¹⁹ woman. She is too much like a petticoated edition of themselves. They want action. You must keep your ball rolling, you must convince your husband of your mental inferiority and of your tender superiority.

Helen, poor girl, was not that much smarter than her husband. She was straight. She lacked the dearer deviousness²⁰ of her sex, and, within her limits, was utterly²¹ all to the good. Whether a state of unmitigated morality is profitable is a thing I have always wanted to know. And in the course of a long life, the only answer I have ever been able to find is that any state bordering on immorality²², or unmoralness, is sure to prove unprofitable. The difference between these two equations offered the only light at the time on Helen’s future.

1 relinquished   

交出，让给( relinquish的过去式和过去分词 )； 放弃

参考例句：

• She has relinquished the post to her cousin, Sir Edward. 她把职位让给了表弟爱德华爵士。
• The small dog relinquished his bone to the big dog. 小狗把它的骨头让给那只大狗。

2 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

3 flaunting   

adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来

参考例句：

• He did not believe in flaunting his wealth. 他不赞成摆阔。
• She is fond of flaunting her superiority before her friends and schoolmates. 她好在朋友和同学面前逞强。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 virtues   

美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处

参考例句：

• Doctors often extol the virtues of eating less fat. 医生常常宣扬少吃脂肪的好处。
• She delivered a homily on the virtues of family life. 她进行了一场家庭生活美德方面的说教。

5 instinctively   

adv.本能地

参考例句：

• As he leaned towards her she instinctively recoiled. 他向她靠近，她本能地往后缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He knew instinctively where he would find her. 他本能地知道在哪儿能找到她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

7 irritable   

adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的

参考例句：

• He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
• Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 groaned   

v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦

参考例句：

• He groaned in anguish. 他痛苦地呻吟。
• The cart groaned under the weight of the piano. 大车在钢琴的重压下嘎吱作响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

11 transgression   

n.违背；犯规；罪过

参考例句：

• The price can make an action look more like a transaction than a transgression.罚款让一个行为看起来更像是一笔交易而不是一次违法行为。
• The areas of transgression are indicated by wide spacing of the thickness contours.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。

12 placid   

adj.安静的，平和的

参考例句：

• He had been leading a placid life for the past eight years.八年来他一直过着平静的生活。
• You should be in a placid mood and have a heart-to- heart talk with her.你应该心平气和的好好和她谈谈心。

13 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

14 manifestations   

n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• These were manifestations of the darker side of his character. 这些是他性格阴暗面的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To be wordly-wise and play safe is one of the manifestations of liberalism. 明哲保身是自由主义的表现之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 sanity   

n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确

参考例句：

• I doubt the sanity of such a plan.我怀疑这个计划是否明智。
• She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。

16 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

17 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

18 unreasonableness   

无理性； 横逆

参考例句：

• Figure out the unreasonableness and extend the recommendation of improvement. 对发现的不合理性，提供改进建议。
• I'd ignore every one of them now, embrace every quirk or unreasonableness to have him back. 现在，对这些事情，我情愿都视而不见，情愿接受他的每一个借口或由着他不讲道理，只要他能回来。

19 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

20 deviousness   

参考例句：

• Besides, deviousness isn't your style. 此外，旁敲侧击也不是你的作风。
• These adjectives mean disposed to or marked by indirection or deviousness in the gaining an end. 这些形容词都有通过或表明通过间接或迂回手段最终获得。

21 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

22 immorality   

n. 不道德, 无道义

参考例句：

• All the churchmen have preached against immorality. 所有牧师都讲道反对不道德的行为。
• Where the European sees immorality and lawlessness, strict law rules in reality. 在欧洲人视为不道德和无规则的地方，事实上都盛行着一种严格的规则。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源