Being arrived at Eutaw Castle, he inferred[107] from what the Major said and from what Ulrica looked that the domestic storm of the previous day had been a vigorous one—and was glad that he had kept out of it. But it had blown over pretty well, and his good-natured chaff7 about their adventure swept away the few remaining clouds.
"It is vehy handsome of yo', suh," said the Major, "to treat the matteh as yo' do. My daughteh's conduct was most inexcusable—fo' when she cahried yo' into that great dangeh she broke heh sacred wo'd to me."
"But it was quite as much my fault as hers," Maltham answered. "I should not have let her go. You see, the sailing was so delightfully9 exciting that we both lost our heads a little. Luckily, I got mine back before it was too late."
"Yo' behaved nobly, suh, nobly! My daughteh has told me how youah only thought was of heh dangeh, and how white yo' went when yo' realized youah inability to save heh if the boat went down. Those weh the feelings of a gentleman, suh, and of a vehy gallant10 gentleman—such as yo' suahly ah. Youah conduct could not have been fineh, Mr. Maltham, had yo' been bo'n and bred in South Cahrolina. Suh, I can say no mo' than that!"
[108]
Ulrica took little part in the talk. Her eyes were dull and she moved languidly, as though she were weary. Not until her father left the room—going to fetch his maps and charts, that he might demonstrate the Point's glorious future—did she speak freely.
"I could not sleep last night, Mr. Maltham," she said hurriedly. "I lay awake the whole night—thinking about what I had done, and about what you must think about me for doing it. If I had drowned you, after breaking my word to father that way, it would have been almost murder. It was very noble of you, just now, to say that it was as much your fault as it was mine. But it was not. It was my fault all the way through."
"But the danger was just as great for you as it was for me," Maltham answered. "You would have been drowned too, you know."
"Oh, that would not have counted. It would not have counted at all. I should have got only what I deserved."
Maltham came close to her and took her hand. "Don't you think that it would have counted for a good deal to me?" he asked. Then he dropped her hand quickly and moved away from her as the Major re-entered the room.
[109]
Inasmuch as he would have been drowned along with her, this speech was lacking in logic11; but Ulrica, who was not on the lookout12 for logic just then, was more than satisfied with it. Suddenly she was elate again. For the dread13 that had kept her wakeful had vanished: his second thoughts about the peril14 into which she had taken him had not set him against her—he still was the same! She could not answer him with her lips, but she answered him with her eyes.
Maltham's feelings were complex as he saw the effect that his words had upon her. He had made several resolutions not to say anything of that sort to her again. Even if she did like flirting16 (as he had put it in his own mind) it was not quite the thing, under the existing conditions, for him to flirt15 with her. He resolutely17 kept the word flirting well forward in his thoughts. It agreeably qualified18 the entire situation. As he very well knew, Miss Strangford was not above flirting herself. But it was not easy to classify under that head Ulrica's sudden change in manner and the look that she had given him. In spite of himself, his first impression of her would come back and get in the way of the new impression that he very[110] much wished to form. When he first had seen her—only the day before, but time does not count in the ordinary way in the case of those who have been close to the gates of death together—he had felt the fire that was in her, and had known that it slumbered19. After what he had just seen in her eyes he could not conquer the conviction that the fire slumbered no longer and that he had kindled20 its strong flame.
Nor did he wholly wish to conquer this conviction. It was thrillingly delightful8 to think that he had gained so great a power over her, for all her queenliness, in so short a time. Over Miss Strangford—the contrast was a natural one—he had very little power. That young lady was not queenly, but she had a notable aptitude21 for ruling—and came by it honestly, from a father whose hard head and hard hand made him conspicuous22 even among Chicago men of affairs. It was her strength that had attracted him to her; and the discovery that with her strength was sweetness that had made him love her. He was satisfied that she loved him in return—but he could not fancy her giving him such a look as Ulrica had just given him; still less could he fancy her whole being irradiated by a touch and a word.
[111] And so he came again to the same half-formed conclusion that he had come to in the boat on the preceding day: he would let matters drift along pleasantly a little farther before he set them as they should be with a strong hand.
This chain of thought went through his mind while the Major was exhibiting the maps and expounding23 the Point's future; and his half-conclusion was a little hastened by the Major's abrupt24 stop, and sudden facing about upon him with: "I feah, suh, that yo' do not quite follow me. If I have not made myself cleah, suh, I will present the matteh in anotheh way."
Maltham shot a quizzical glance at Ulrica—which made her think that she knew where his thoughts had been wool-gathering, and so brought more light to her eyes—and answered with a becoming gravity: "The fact is I didn't quite catch the point that you were making, Major, and I'll be very much obliged if you'll take the trouble to go over it again."
"It is no trouble—it is a pleasuah, suh," the Major replied with an animated25 affability. And with that he was off again, and ran on for an hour or more—until he had established the[112] glorious future of Minnesota Point in what he believed to be convincing terms. "When the time to which I am looking fo'wa'd comes, Mr. Maltham, and it will come vehy soon, suh," he said in enthusiastic conclusion, "it stands to reason that the fortunes of this great metropolis26 of the No'thwest will be fo'eveh and unchangeably established. Only I must wahn yo', suh, that we must begin to get ready fo' it right away. We must take time by the fo'lock and provide at once—I say at once, suh—fo' the needs of that magnificent futuah that is almost heah now!"
He took a long breath as he finished his peroration27, and then came down smiling to the level of ordinary conversation and added: "I feah, Mr. Maltham, that I pehmit my enthusiasm to get away with me a little. I feah I may even boah yo', suh. I promise not to say anotheh wohd on the subject this evening. And now, as it is only a little while befo' suppeh, we cannot do betteh, suh, than to take a drink."
Maltham had not intended to stay to supper. He even had intended not to. But he did—and on through the evening until the Major had to warn him that he either must consent to sleep[113] in Eutaw Castle or else hurry along up the Point before the ferry-boat stopped running for the night. The Major urged him warmly to stay. Finding that his invitation certainly would not be accepted, he went off for a lantern—and was rather put out when Maltham declined it and said that he could find his way very well by the light of the stars.
Actually, Maltham did not find his way very well by the light of the stars. Two or three times he ran against trees. Once—this was while he was trying to give the graveyard a wide offing—he stumbled over a root and fell heavily. When he got up again he found that he had wrenched28 his leg, and that every step he took gave him intense pain. But he was glad of his flounderings against trees, and of his fall and the keen pain that followed it—for he was savage29 with himself.
And yet it was not his fault, he grumbled30. Why had the Major gone off that way to hunt up a lantern—and so left them alone? Toward the end of his walk—his pain having quieted his excitement, and so lessened31 his hatred32 of himself—he added much more lightly: "But what does a single kiss amount to, after all?"
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
drearily
|
|
| 沉寂地，厌倦地，可怕地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
desolate
|
|
| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
graveyard
|
|
| n.坟场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
berth
|
|
| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
questionable
|
|
| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
chaff
|
|
| v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
delightfully
|
|
| 大喜，欣然 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
logic
|
|
| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
lookout
|
|
| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
flirt
|
|
| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
flirting
|
|
| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
qualified
|
|
| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
slumbered
|
|
| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
kindled
|
|
| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
aptitude
|
|
| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
expounding
|
|
| 论述，详细讲解( expound的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
abrupt
|
|
| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
animated
|
|
| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
metropolis
|
|
| n.首府；大城市 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
peroration
|
|
| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
wrenched
|
|
| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
lessened
|
|
| 减少的，减弱的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |