As she remained silent, making no reference to Maltham's engagement, the Major felt that the proprieties5 of the case were not being attended to and prompted her. "I have been wishing Geo'ge joy and prospehrity, my deah," he said. "Have yo' nothing to say to him youahself about his coming happiness?"
"Yes," she answered slowly, "I have a great deal to say to him—so much that I am going to carry him off in the Nixie to say it." She turned to Maltham and added: "You will come with me for a last sail, will you not?"
Maltham hesitated, and then answered doubtfully: "Isn't it a little cold for sailing to-day?[125] Your father says that you are not feeling well. I do think that it will be better not to go—unless you really insist upon it, of course."
"Yo' mustn't think of such a thing!" the Major struck in peremptorily6. "The weatheh is like ice. Yo' will catch yo' death of cold!"
"It is no colder, father, than that day when I took George out in the Nixie for the first time—and it will do my head good," Ulrica answered. And added, to Maltham: "I do insist. Come!"
Against the Major's active remonstrance7, and against Maltham's passive resistance, she carried her point. "Come!" she said again—and led Maltham out by the side door into the ragged8 garden. There she left him for a moment and returned to her father—who was standing9 in a very melancholy10 way before the fire.
"Do not mind, father," she said. "It is the best thing for me—it is the only thing for me."
He looked at her inquiringly, puzzled by her words and by her vehement11 tone. Suddenly she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Remember always, father, that I have loved you with my whole heart for almost my whole life long. And remember always," she[126] went on with a curiously12 savage13 earnestness, "that I am loving you with my whole heart—with every bit of it—to-day!"
"I am suah yo' ah, my daughteh," the Major answered, very huskily.
She kissed him again, holding him tight in her arms. Then she unclasped her arms with a sudden quick energy and swiftly left the room.
She led Maltham silently to the boat, and silently—when she had cast off the mooring—motioned to him to enter it. He found this silence ominous14, and tried to break it. But the commonplace words which he wanted to speak would not come.
And then, as he sat in the stern and mechanically steadied the tiller while she hoisted15 the sail, the queer feeling again came over him that it still was that wonderful first day. This feeling grew stronger as all that he remembered so well was repeated: Ulrica's rapid movement aft to the tiller; his own shifting of his seat; her quick loosing of the centreboard as the wind caught them; and then the heeling over of the boat, and her steady motion, and the bubbling hiss16 of the water beneath the bow. It all so lulled17 him, so numbed18 his sense of time and fact,[127] that suddenly he looked up in her face and smiled—just as he had done on that first day.
"'I HAVE LOVED YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART'"
But the look in Ulrica's eyes killed his smile, and brought him back with a sharp wrench19 to reality. Her eyes no longer were dull. They were glowing—and they seemed to cut into him like knives.
"Well," she asked, "have you anything to say for yourself?"
"No," he answered, "except that fate has been too strong for me."
"Fate sometimes is held accountable for a great deal," she said dryly, but with a catch in her voice.
They were silent again, and for a long while. The boat was running down the bay rapidly—even more rapidly, the wind being much stronger, than on that first day. They could hear, as they had not heard then, the surf crashing upon the outer beach of the Point.
The silence became more than he could stand. "Can you forgive me?" he asked at last.
Ulrica looked at him with a curious surprise. "No," she answered quite calmly. "Think for a moment about what you have done and about what you intend to do. Do you not see that it is impossible?"
[128] "But I love you!" he cried eagerly. "I love you more than I can tell. It is not my will that is separating us—it is fate!"
Her look softened20 for an instant as he began, but as he ended it hardened again. She did not answer him. A strong gust21 of wind heeled the boat farther over. They were going at a slashing22 rate. Before them the inlet was opening. The booming of the surf was very loud.
He saw that his words had taken hold upon her, and repeated them: "I do love you, Ulrica—and, oh, you don't know how very wretched I have been! More than once in this past month I have been very near killing23 myself."
She gave him a searching look, and seemed satisfied that he spoke24 the truth. "I am glad that you have wanted to kill yourself," she said slowly and earnestly. They were at the mouth of the inlet. As she spoke, she luffed sharply and they entered it close-hauled.
"Yes," she repeated, speaking still more earnestly, "I am very glad of that. It makes me feel much easier in my mind about what I am going to do."
Her tone startled him. He looked up at her quickly and anxiously. "What are you going to do?" he asked.
[129] "Drown you," she answered simply.
For an instant he did not take in the meaning of her words. Then his face became very white, though he tried to smile. His voice shook as he said: "I do not think that this is a good time for joking." The boat was biting her way into the wind sharply, plunging25 and bucketing through the partly spent waves which came in from outside.
"You know that I am not joking," Ulrica answered very quietly. "I am going to drown you, and to drown myself too. I have thought it all out, and this seems the best thing to do. It is the best for father," her voice trembled, "and it is the best," she went on again, firmly, "for me. As for you, it does not matter whether it is the best for you or not—it is what you deserve. For you are a liar26 and a traitor27—a liar and a traitor to me, and to that other woman too!" As she spoke these last words her calmness left her, and there was the ring of passionate28 anger in her tone. The fire that she had been smothering29, at last was in full blaze.
They were at the very mouth of the inlet. The white-capped surface of the lake swelled30 and tossed before them. The boat was wallowing heavily.
[130] Maltham's paleness changed to a greenish-grey. He uttered a shrill31 scream—a cry of weakly helpless terror. "Put about! For God's sake put about!" he gasped32. "We shall be drowned!"
For answer, she hauled the sheet a little and brought the boat still closer into the wind—heading straight out into the lake. "I told you once that the Nixie could sail into the wind's eye," she said, coolly. "Now she is doing it. Does she not go well?"
At that, being desperate, he rallied a little. Springing to his feet, but standing unsteadily, he grasped the tiller and tried to shift the helm. Ulrica, standing firmly, laid her hand flat against his breast and thrust him away savagely—with such force that he reeled backward and fell, striking against the combing and barely missing going over the side.
"You fool!" she exclaimed. "Do you not see that it is too late?" She did not trouble herself to look at him. Her gaze was fixed33 in a keen ecstasy34 on the great oncoming waves.
What she said was true—it was too late. They were fairly out on the open lake, and all possibility of return was gone. To try to go about would be to throw the Nixie into the[131] trough of the sea—and so send her rolling over like a log. At the best, the little boat could live in that surge and welter for only a very few minutes more.
Maltham did not attempt to rise. His fall had hurt him, and what little was left of his spirit was cowed. He lay in a miserable35 heap, uttering little whimpering moans. The complaining noise that he made annoyed her. For the last time she looked at him, burning him for an instant with her glowing eyes. "Silence, you coward!" she cried, fiercely—and at her strong command he was still. Then her look was fixed on the great oncoming waves again, and she cast him out from her mind.
Even in her rage—partly because of it—Ulrica felt in every drop of her Norse blood the glow and the thrill of this glorious battle with great waters. The sheer delight of it was worth dying for—and so richly worth living through to the very last tingling36 instant that she steered37 with a strong and a steady hand. And again—as she stood firmly on the tossing boat, her draperies blown close about her, her loosened hair streaming out in golden splendour—she was Aslauga's very self. Sorrow and life together were ending well for her—in high[132] emotion that filled and satisfied her soul. Magnificent, commanding, defiant38, she sailed on in joyful39 triumph: glad and eager to give herself strongly to the strong death-clasp of the waves.
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1
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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2
pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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3
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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4
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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5
proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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7
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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8
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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9
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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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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11
vehement
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| adj.感情强烈的；热烈的；(人)有强烈感情的 | |
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12
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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13
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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14
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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15
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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17
lulled
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| vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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18
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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20
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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21
gust
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| n.阵风，突然一阵（雨、烟等），（感情的）迸发 | |
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22
slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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23
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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24
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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25
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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26
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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28
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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29
smothering
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的现在分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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30
swelled
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| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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31
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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32
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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33
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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34
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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35
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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36
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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37
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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38
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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39
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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