“And forthwith came there out blood and water,” he said aloud, and looked at the red stain on the cotton wool. He repeated the words again and again, and at the fiftieth repetition burst out laughing.
The bell in the kitchen suddenly buzzed. Who could it be? He went to the front door and opened it. On the landing outside stood a tall slender young woman with slanting8 Chinese eyes and a wide mouth, elegantly dressed 281in a black frock piped with white. Keeping the cotton-wool still pressed to his bleeding arm, Coleman bowed as gracefully9 as he could.
“Do come in,” he said. “You are just in the nick of time. I am on the point of bleeding to death. And forthwith came there out blood and water. Enter, enter,” he added, seeing the young woman still standing10 irresolutely11 on the threshold.
“But I wanted to see Mr. Coleman,” she said, stammering12 a little and showing her embarrassment13 by blushing.
“I am Mr. Coleman.” He took the cotton-wool for a moment from his arm and looked with the air of a connoisseur14 at the blood on it. “But I shall very soon cease to be that individual unless you come and tie up my wounds.”
“But you’re not the Mr. Coleman I thought you were,” said the young lady, still more embarrassed. “You have a beard, it is true; but....”
“Then I must resign myself to quit this life, must I?” He made a gesture of despair, throwing out both hands, “Out, out brief Coleman. Out, damned spot,” and he made as though to close the door.
The young lady checked him. “If you really need tying up,” she said, “I’ll do it of course. I passed my First-Aid Exam, in the war.”
Coleman reopened the door. “Saved!” he said. “Come in.”
It had been Rosie’s original intention yesterday to go straight on from Mr. Mercaptan’s to Toto’s. She would see him at once, she would ask him what he meant by playing that stupid trick on her. She would give him a good talking to. She would even tell him that she would never see him again. But, of course, if he showed himself 282sufficiently contrite15 and reasonably explanatory, she would consent—oh, very reluctantly—to take him back into favour. In the free, unprejudiced circles in which she now moved, this sort of joke, she imagined, was a mere16 trifle. It would be absurd to quarrel seriously about it. But still, she was determined17 to give Toto a lesson.
When, however, she did finally leave Mr. Mercaptan’s delicious boudoir, it was too late to think of going all the way to Pimlico, to the address which Mr. Mercaptan had given her. She decided18 to put it off till the next day.
And so the next day, duly, she had set out for Pimlico—to Pimlico, and to see a man called Coleman! It seemed rather dull and second-rate after Sloane Street and Mr. Mercaptan. Poor Toto!—the sparkle of Mr. Mercaptan had made him look rather tarnished19. That essay on the “Jus Prim20? Noctis”—ah! Walking through the unsavoury mazes21 of Pimlico, she thought of it, and, thinking of it, smiled. Poor Toto! And also, she mustn’t forget, stupid, malicious22, idiotic23 Toto! She had made up her mind exactly what she should say to him; she had even made up her mind what Toto would say to her. And when the scene was over they would go and dine at the Café Royal—upstairs, where she had never been. And she would make him rather jealous by telling him how much she had liked Mr. Mercaptan; but not too jealous. Silence is golden, as her father used to say when she used to fly into tempers and wanted to say nasty things to everybody within range. Silence, about some things, is certainly golden.
In the rather gloomy little turning off Lupus Street to which she had been directed, Rosie found the number, found, in the row of bells and cards, the name. Quickly and decidedly she mounted the stairs.
283“Well,” she was going to say as soon as she saw him, “I thought you were a civilized24 being.” Mr. Mercaptan had dropped a hint that Coleman wasn’t really civilized; a hint was enough for Rosie. “But I see,” she would go on, “that I was mistaken. I don’t like to associate with boors25.” The fastidious lady had selected him as a young poet, not as a ploughboy.
Well rehearsed, Rosie rang the bell. And then the door had opened on this huge bearded Cossack of a man, who smiled, who looked at her with bright, dangerous eyes, who quoted the Bible and who was bleeding like a pig. There was blood on his shirt, blood on his trousers, blood on his hands, bloody26 finger-marks on his face; even the blond fringe of his beard, she noticed, was dabbled27 here and there with blood. It was too much, at first, even for her aristocratic equanimity28.
In the end, however, she followed him across a little vestibule into a bright, whitewashed29 room empty of all furniture but a table, a few chairs and a large box-spring and mattress30, which stood like an island in the middle of the floor and served as bed or sofa as occasion required. Over the mantelpiece was pinned a large photographic reproduction of Leonardo’s study of the anatomy31 of love. There were no other pictures on the walls.
“All the apparatus32 is here,” said Coleman, and he pointed33 to the table. “Lint, bandages, cotton-wool, iodine, gauze, oiled silk. I have them all ready in preparation for these little accidents.”
“But do you often manage to cut yourself in the arm?” asked Rosie. She took off her gloves and began to undo34 a fresh packet of lint.
“One gets cut,” Coleman explained. “Little differences 284of opinion, you know. If your eye offend you, pluck it out; love your neighbour as yourself. Argal: if his eye offend you—you see? We live on Christian35 principles here.”
“But who are ‘we’?” asked Rosie, giving the cut a last dressing36 of iodine and laying a big square of lint over it.
“Merely myself and—how shall I put it?—my helpmate,” Coleman answered. “Ah! you’re wonderfully skilful37 at this business,” he went on. “You’re the real hospital nurse type; all maternal38 instincts. When pain and anguish39 wring40 the brow, an interesting mangle41 thou, as we used to say in the good old days when the pun and the Spoonerismus were in fashion.”
Rosie laughed. “Oh, I don’t spend all my time tying up wounds,” she said, and turned her eyes for an instant from the bandage. After the first surprise she was feeling her cool self again.
“Brava!” cried Coleman. “You make them too, do you? Make them first and cure them afterwards in the grand old hom?opathic way. Delightful42! You see what Leonardo has to say about it.” With his free hand he pointed to the photograph over the mantelpiece.
Rosie, who had noticed the picture when she came into the room, preferred not to look at it too closely a second time. “I think it’s rather revolting,” she said, and was very busy with the bandage.
“Ah! but that’s the point, that’s the whole point,” said Coleman, and his clear blue eyes were alive with dancing lights. “That’s the beauty of the grand passion. It is revolting. You read what the Fathers of the Church have to say about love. They’re the men. It was Odo of Cluny, wasn’t it, who called woman a saccus stercoris, 285a bag of muck. Si quis enim considerat qu? intra nares et qu? intra fauces et qu? intra ventrem lateant, sordes ubique reperiet.” The Latin rumbled43 like eloquent44 thunder in Coleman’s mouth. “Et si nec extremis digitis flegma vel stercus tangere patimur, quomodo ipsum stercoris saccum amplecti desideramus.” He smacked45 his lips. “Magnificent!” he said.
“I don’t understand Latin,” said Rosie, “and I’m glad of it. And your bandage is finished. Look.”
“Interesting mangle!” Coleman smiled his thanks. “But Bishop46 Odo, I fear, wouldn’t even have spared you; not even for your good works. Still less for your good looks, which would only have provoked him to dwell with the more insistency47 on the visceral secrets which they conceal48.”
“Really,” Rosie protested. She would have liked to get up and go away, but the Cossack’s blue eyes glittered at her with such a strange expression and he smiled so enigmatically, that she found herself still sitting where she was, listening with a disgusted pleasure to his quick talk, his screams of deliberate and appalling49 laughter.
“Ah!” he exclaimed, throwing up his hands, “what sensualists these old fellows were! What a real voluptuous50 feeling they had for dirt and gloom and sordidness52 and boredom53, and all the horrors of vice54. They pretended they were trying to dissuade55 people from vice by enumerating56 its horrors. But they were really only making it more spicy57 by telling the truth about it. O esca vermium, O massa pulveris! What nauseating58 embracements! To conjugate59 the copulative verb, boringly, with a sack of tripes—what could be more exquisitely60 and piercingly and deliriously61 vile62?” And he threw back his head and 286laughed; the blood-dabbled tips of his blond beard shook. Rosie looked at them, fascinated with disgust.
“There’s blood on your beard,” she felt compelled to say.
“What of it? Why shouldn’t there be?” Coleman asked.
Confused, Rosie felt herself blushing. “Only because it’s rather unpl—leasant. I don’t know why. But it is.”
“What a reason for immediately falling into my arms!” said Coleman. “To be kissed by a beard is bad enough at any time. But by a bloody beard—imagine!”
“After all,” he said, “what interest or amusement is there in doing the ordinary things in the obvious way? Life au naturel.” He shook his head. “You must have garlic and saffron. Do you believe in God?”
“Not m—much,” said Rosie, smiling.
“I pity you. You must find existence dreadfully dull. As soon as you do, everything becomes a thousand times life-size. Phallic symbols five hundred feet high,” he lifted his hand. “A row of grinning teeth you could run the hundred yards on.” He grinned at her through his beard. “Wounds big enough to let a coach-and-six drive into their purulent recesses64. Every slightest act eternally significant. It’s only when you believe in God, and especially in hell, that you can really begin enjoying life. For instance, when in a few moments you surrender yourself to the importunities of my bloody beard, how prodigiously65 much more you’d enjoy it if you could believe you were committing the sin against the Holy Ghost—if you kept thinking calmly and dispassionately all the time the affair was going on: All this is not only a horrible sin, it is also ugly, grotesque66, a mere def?cation, a——”
287Rosie held up her hand. “You’re really horrible,” she said. Coleman smiled at her. Still, she did not go.
“He who is not with me is against me,” said Coleman. “If you can’t make up your mind to be with, it’s surely better to be positively67 against than merely negatively indifferent.”
“Nonsense!” exclaimed Rosie feebly.
“When I call my lover a nymphomaniacal dog, she runs the pen-knife into my arm.”
“Well, do you enjoy it?” asked Rosie.
“Piercingly,” he answered. “It is at once sordid51 to the last and lowest degree and infinitely68 and eternally significant.”
Coleman was silent and Rosie too said nothing. Futilely69 she wished it had been Toto instead of this horrible, dangerous Cossack. Mr. Mercaptan ought to have warned her. But then, of course, he supposed that she already knew the creature. She looked up at him and found his bright eyes fixed70 upon her; he was silently laughing.
“Don’t you want to know who I am?” she asked. “And how I got here?”
Rosie felt more helpless, somehow, than ever. “Why not?” she asked as bravely and impertinently as she could.
Coleman answered with another question. “Why should I?”
“It would be natural curiosity.”
“But I know all I want to know,” he said. “You are a woman, or, at any rate, you have all the female stigmata. Not too sumptuously72 well-developed, let me add. You have no wooden legs. You have eyelids73 that flutter up 288and down over your eyes like a moving shutter74 in front of a signalling lamp, spelling out in a familiar code the letters: A.M.O.R., and not, unless I am very much mistaken, those others: C.A.S.T.I.T.A.S. You have a mouth that looks as though it knew how to taste and how to bite. You....”
Rosie jumped up. “I’m going away,” she said.
Coleman leaned back in his chair and hallooed with laughter. “Bite, bite, bite,” he said. “Thirty-two times.” And he opened and shut his mouth as fast as he could, so that his teeth clicked against one another with a little dry, bony noise. “Every mouthful thirty-two times. That’s what Mr. Gladstone said. And surely Mr. Gladstone”—he rattled75 his sharp, white teeth again—“surely Mr. Gladstone should know.”
“Good-bye,” said Rosie from the door.
“Good-bye,” Coleman called back; and immediately afterwards jumped to his feet and made a dash across the room towards her.
Rosie uttered a cry, slipped through the door and, slamming it behind her, ran across the vestibule and began fumbling76 with the latches77 of the outer door. It wouldn’t open, it wouldn’t open. She was trembling; fear made her feel sick. There was a rattling78 at the door behind her. There was a whoop79 of laughter, and then the Cossack’s hands were on her arms, his face came peering over her shoulder, and the blond beard dabbled with blood prickled against her neck and face.
“Oh, don’t, don’t, don’t!” she implored80, turning away her head. Then all at once she began violently crying.
“Tears!” exclaimed Coleman in rapture81, “genuine tears!” He bent82 eagerly forward to kiss them away, to 289drink them as they fell. “What an intoxication,” he said, looking up to the ceiling like a chicken that has taken a sip83 of water; he smacked his lips.
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收听单词发音
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1
oozed
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的过去式和过去分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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2
dabbed
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| （用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）… | |
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iodine
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| n.碘，碘酒 | |
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lint
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| n.线头；绷带用麻布，皮棉 | |
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5
smearing
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| 污点，拖尾效应 | |
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copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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7
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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irresolutely
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| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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13
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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connoisseur
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| n.鉴赏家，行家，内行 | |
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contrite
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| adj.悔悟了的，后悔的，痛悔的 | |
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16
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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19
tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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21
mazes
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| 迷宫( maze的名词复数 )； 纷繁复杂的规则； 复杂难懂的细节； 迷宫图 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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boors
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| n.农民( boor的名词复数 )；乡下佬；没礼貌的人；粗野的人 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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27
dabbled
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| v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
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equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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40
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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41
mangle
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| vt.乱砍，撕裂，破坏，毁损，损坏，轧布 | |
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42
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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43
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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44
eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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45
smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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47
insistency
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| 强迫，坚决要求 | |
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48
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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49
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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50
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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51
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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52
sordidness
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| n.肮脏；污秽；卑鄙；可耻 | |
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53
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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54
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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55
dissuade
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| v.劝阻，阻止 | |
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56
enumerating
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的现在分词 ) | |
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57
spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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58
nauseating
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| adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 ) | |
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59
conjugate
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| vt.使成对，使结合；adj.共轭的，成对的 | |
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60
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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61
deliriously
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| adv.谵妄（性）；发狂；极度兴奋/亢奋；说胡话 | |
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62
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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63
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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64
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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65
prodigiously
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| adv.异常地，惊人地，巨大地 | |
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66
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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67
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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68
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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69
futilely
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| futile（无用的）的变形； 干 | |
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70
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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71
blandly
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| adv.温和地，殷勤地 | |
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72
sumptuously
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| 奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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73
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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74
shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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75
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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76
fumbling
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| n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理 | |
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77
latches
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| n.（门窗的）门闩( latch的名词复数 )；碰锁v.理解( latch的第三人称单数 )；纠缠；用碰锁锁上（门等）；附着（在某物上） | |
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78
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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79
whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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80
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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81
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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82
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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83
sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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84
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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