How gross he had been at Mr. Fielding’s—spoiling the talk and walking off in the middle of the haunting song! As he drove them away in the tum-tum, her irritation7 became unbearable8, and she did not realize that much of it was directed against herself. She longed for an opportunity to fly out at him, and since he felt cross too, and they were both in India, an opportunity soon occurred. They had scarcely left the College grounds before she heard him say to his mother, who was with him on the front seat, “What was that about caves?” and she promptly10 opened fire.
“Mrs. Moore, your delightful11 doctor has decided12 on a picnic, instead of a party in his house; we are to meet him out there—you, myself, Mr. Fielding, Professor Godbole—exactly the same party.”
“Out where?” asked Ronny.
“The Marabar Caves.”
“Well, I’m blessed,” he murmured after a pause. “Did he descend14 to any details?”
“He did not. If you had spoken to him, we could have arranged them.”
He shook his head laughing.
“Have I said anything funny?”
“I was only thinking how the worthy16 doctor’s collar climbed up his neck.”
“I thought you were discussing the caves.”
“So I am. Aziz was exquisitely17 dressed, from tie-pin to spats18, but he had forgotten his back collar-stud, and there you have the Indian all over: inattention to detail; the fundamental slackness that reveals the race. Similarly, to ‘meet’ in the caves as if they were the clock at Charing19 Cross, when they’re miles from a station and each other.”
“Have you been to them?”
“No, but I know all about them, naturally.”
“Oh naturally!”
“Are you too pledged to this expedition, mother?”
“Mother is pledged to nothing,” said Mrs. Moore, rather unexpectedly. “Certainly not to this polo. Will you drive up to the bungalow20 first, and drop me there, please? I prefer to rest.”
“drop me too,” said Adela. “I don’t want to watch polo either, I’m sure.”
“Simpler to drop the polo,” said Ronny. Tired and disappointed, he quite lost self-control, and added in a loud lecturing voice, “I won’t have you messing about with Indians any more! If you want to go to the Marabar Caves, you’ll go under British auspices21.”
“I’ve never heard of these caves, I don’t know what or where they are,” said Mrs. Moore, “but I really can’t have”—she tapped the cushion beside her—“so much quarrelling and tiresomeness22!”
The young people were ashamed. They dropped her at the bungalow and drove on together to the polo, feeling it was the least they could do. Their crackling bad humour left them, but the heaviness of their spirit remained; thunderstorms seldom clear the air. Miss Quested was thinking over her own behaviour, and didn’t like it at all. Instead of weighing Ronny and herself, and coming to a reasoned conclusion about marriage, she had incidentally, in the course of a talk about mangoes, remarked to mixed company that she didn’t mean to stop in India. Which meant that she wouldn’t marry Ronny: but what a way to announce it, what a way for a civilized24 girl to behave! She owed him an explanation, but unfortunately there was nothing to explain. The “thorough talk” so dear to her principles and temperament25 had been postponed26 until too late. There seemed no point in being disagreeable to him and formulating27 her complaints against his character at this hour of the day, which was the evening. . . . The polo took place on the Maidan near the entrance of Chandrapore city. The sun was already declining and each of the trees held a premonition of night. They walked away from the governing group to a distant seat, and there, feeling that it was his due and her own, she forced out of herself the undigested remark: “We must have a thorough talk, Ronny, I’m afraid.”
“My temper’s rotten, I must apologize,” was his reply. “I didn’t mean to order you and mother about, but of course the way those Bengalis let you down this morning annoyed me, and I don’t want that sort of thing to keep happening.”
“It’s nothing to do with them that I . . .”
“No, but Aziz would make some similar muddle28 over the caves. He meant nothing by the invitation, I could tell by his voice; it’s just their way of being pleasant.”
“It’s something very different, nothing to do with caves, that I wanted to talk over with you.” She gazed at the colourless grass. “I’ve finally decided we are not going to be married, my dear boy.”
The news hurt Ronny very much. He had heard Aziz announce that she would not return to the country, but had paid no attention to the remark, for he never dreamt that an Indian could be a channel of communication between two English people. He controlled himself and said gently, “You never said we should marry, my dear girl; you never bound either yourself or me—don’t let this upset you.”
She felt ashamed. How decent he was! He might force his opinions down her throat, but did not press her to an “engagement,” because he believed, like herself, in the sanctity of personal relationships: it was this that had drawn29 them together at their first meeting, which had occurred among the grand scenery of the English Lakes. Her ordeal30 was over, but she felt it should have been more painful and longer. Adela will not marry Ronny. It seemed slipping away like a dream. She said, “But let us discuss things; it’s all so frightfully important, we mustn’t make false steps. I want next to hear your point of view about me—it might help us both.”
His manner was unhappy and reserved. “I don’t much believe in this discussing—besides, I’m so dead with all this extra work Mohurram’s bringing, if you’ll excuse me.”
“I only want everything to be absolutely clear between us, and to answer any questions you care to put to me on my conduct.”
“But I haven’t got any questions. You’ve acted within your rights, you were quite right to come out and have a look at me doing my work, it was an excellent plan, and anyhow it’s no use talking further—we should only get up steam.” He felt angry and bruised31; he was too proud to tempt32 her back, but he did not consider that she had behaved badly, because where his compatriots were concerned he had a generous mind.
“I suppose that there is nothing else; it’s unpardonable of me to have given you and your mother all this bother,” said Miss Quested heavily, and frowned up at the tree beneath which they were sitting. A little green bird was observing her, so brilliant and neat that it might have hopped33 straight out of a shop. On catching35 her eye it closed its own, gave a small skip and prepared to go to bed. Some Indian wild bird. “Yes, nothing else,” she repeated, feeling that a profound and passionate36 speech ought to have been delivered by one or both of them. “We’ve been awfully37 British over it, but I suppose that’s all right.”
“As we are British, I suppose it is.”
“Anyhow we’ve not quarrelled, Ronny.”
“Oh, that would have been too absurd. Why should we quarrel?”
“I think we shall keep friends.”
“I know we shall.”
“Quite so.”
As soon as they had exchanged this admission, a wave of relief passed through them both, and then transformed itself into a wave of tenderness, and passed back. They were softened38 by their own honesty, and began to feel lonely and unwise. Experiences, not character, divided them; they were not dissimilar, as humans go; indeed, when compared with the people who stood nearest to them in point of space they became practically identical. The Bhil who was holding an officer’s polo pony39, the Eurasian who drove the Nawab Bahadur’s car, the Nawab Bahadur himself, the Nawab Bahadur’s debauched grandson—none would have examined a difficulty so frankly40 and coolly. The mere41 fact of examination caused it to diminish. Of course they were friends, and for ever. “Do you know what the name of that green bird up above us is?” she asked, putting her shoulder rather nearer to his.
“Bee-eater.”
“Oh no, Ronny, it has red bars on its wings.”
“Parrot,” he hazarded.
“Good gracious no.”
The bird in question dived into the dome42 of the tree. It was of no importance, yet they would have liked to identify it, it would somehow have solaced43 their hearts.
But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge44 in something else.
“McBryde has an illustrated45 bird book,” he said dejectedly. “I’m no good at all at birds, in fact I’m useless at any information outside my own job. It’s a great pity.”
“So am I. I’m useless at everything.”
“What do I hear?” shouted the Nawab Bahadur at the top of his voice, causing both of them to start. “What most improbable statement have I heard? An English lady useless? No, no, no, no, no.” He laughed genially46, sure, within limits, of his welcome.
“Hallo, Nawab Bahadur! Been watching the polo again?” said Ronny tepidly47.
“I have, sahib, I have.”
“How do you do?” said Adela, likewise pulling herself together. She held out her hand. The old gentleman judged from so wanton a gesture that she was new to his country, but he paid little heed48. Women who exposed their face became by that one act so mysterious to him that he took them at the valuation of their men folk rather than at his own. Perhaps they were not immoral49, and anyhow they were not his affair. On seeing the City Magistrate50 alone with a maiden51 at twilight52, he had borne down on them with hospitable53 intent. He had a new little car, and wished to place it at their disposal; the City Magistrate would decide whether the offer was acceptable.
Ronny was by this time rather ashamed of his curtness54 to Aziz and Godbole, and here was an opportunity of showing that he could treat Indians with consideration when they deserved it. So he said to Adela, with the same sad friendliness55 that he had employed when discussing the bird, “Would half an hour’s spin entertain you at all?”
“Oughtn’t we to get back to the bungalow.”
“Why?” He gazed at her.
“I think perhaps I ought to see your mother and discuss future plans.”
“That’s as you like, but there’s no hurry, is there?”
“Let me take you to the bungalow, and first the little spin,” cried the old man, and hastened to the car.
“He may show you some aspect of the country I can’t, and he’s a real loyalist. I thought you might care for a bit of a change.”
Determined56 to give him no more trouble, she agreed, but her desire to see India had suddenly decreased. There had been a factitious element in it.
How should they seat themselves in the car? The elegant grandson had to be left behind. The Nawab Bahadur got up in front, for he had no intention of neighbouring an English girl. “Despite my advanced years, I am learning to drive,” he said. “Man can learn everything if he will but try.” And foreseeing a further difficulty, he added, “I do not do the actual steering57. I sit and ask my chauffeur58 questions, and thus learn the reason for everything that is done before I do it myself. By this method serious and I may say ludicrous accidents, such as befell one of my compatriots during that delightful reception at the English Club, are avoided. Our good Panna Lal! I hope, sahib, that great damage was not done to your flowers. Let us have our little spin down the Gangavati road. Half one league onwards!” He fell asleep.
Ronny instructed the chauffeur to take the Marabar road rather than the Gangavati, since the latter was under repair, and settled himself down beside the lady he had lost. The car made a burring noise and rushed along a chaussée that ran upon an embankment above melancholy59 fields. Trees of a poor quality bordered the road, indeed the whole scene was inferior, and suggested that the country-side was too vast to admit of excellence60. In vain did each item in it call out, “Come, come.”
There was not enough god to go round. The two young people conversed61 feebly and felt unimportant. When the darkness began, it seemed to well out of the meagre vegetation, entirely62 covering the fields each side of them before it brimmed over the road. Ronny’s face grew dim—an event that always increased her esteem63 for his character. Her hand touched his, owing to a jolt64, and one of the thrills so frequent in the animal kingdom passed between them, and announced that all their difficulties were only a lovers’ quarrel. Each was too proud to increase the pressure, but neither withdrew it, and a spurious unity9 descended65 on them, as local and temporary as the gleam that inhabits a firefly. It would vanish in a moment, perhaps to reappear, but the darkness is alone durable66. And the night that encircled them, absolute as it seemed, was itself only a spurious unity, being modified by the gleams of day that leaked up round the edges of the earth, and by the stars.
They gripped . . . bump, jump, a swerve67, two wheels lifted in the air, breaks on, bump with tree at edge of embankment, standstill. An accident. A slight one. Nobody hurt. The Nawab Bahadur awoke. He cried out in Arabic, and violently tugged68 his beard.
“What’s the damage?” enquired69 Ronny, after the moment’s pause that he permitted himself before taking charge of a situation. The Eurasian, inclined to be flustered70, rallied to the sound of his voice, and, every inch an Englishman, replied, “You give me five minutes’ time, I’ll take you any dam anywhere.”
“Frightened, Adela?” He released her hand.
“Not a bit.”
“I consider not to be frightened the height of folly,” cried the Nawab Bahadur quite rudely.
“Well, it’s all over now, tears are useless,” said Ronny, dismounting. “We had some luck butting71 that tree.”
“All over . . . oh yes, the danger is past, let us smoke cigarettes, let us do anything we please. Oh yes . . . enjoy ourselves—oh my merciful God . . .” His words died into Arabic again.
“Wasn’t the bridge. We skidded72.”
“We didn’t skid,” said Adela, who had seen the cause of the accident, and thought everyone must have seen it too. “We ran into an animal.”
A loud cry broke from the old man: his terror was disproportionate and ridiculous.
“An animal?”
“A large animal rushed up out of the dark on the right and hit us.”
“By Jove, she’s right,” Ronny exclaimed. “The paint’s gone.”
“By Jove, sir, your lady is right,” echoed the Eurasian. Just by the hinges of the door was a dent23, and the door opened with difficulty.
“Of course I’m right. I saw its hairy back quite plainly.”
“I say, Adela, what was it?”
“I don’t know the animals any better than the birds here—too big for a goat.”
“Exactly, too big for a goat . . .” said the old man.
Ronny said, “Let’s go into this; let’s look for its tracks.”
“Exactly; you wish to borrow this electric torch.”
The English people walked a few steps back into the darkness, united and happy. Thanks to their youth and upbringing, they were not upset by the accident. They traced back the writhing73 of the tyres to the source of their disturbance74. It was just after the exit from a bridge; the animal had probably come up out of the nullah. Steady and smooth ran the marks of the car, ribbons neatly75 nicked with lozenges, then all went mad. Certainly some external force had impinged, but the road had been used by too many objects for any one track to be legible, and the torch created such high lights and black shadows that they could not interpret what it revealed. Moreover, Adela in her excitement knelt and swept her skirts about, until it was she if anyone who appeared to have attacked the car. The incident was a great relief to them both. They forgot their abortive76 personal relationship, and felt adventurous77 as they muddled78 about in the dust.
“I believe it was a buffalo,” she called to their host, who had not accompanied them.
“Exactly.”
“Unless it was a hyena79.”
Ronny approved this last conjecture80. Hyenas81 prowl in nullahs and headlights dazzle them.
“Excellent, a hyena,” said the Indian with an angry irony82 and a gesture at the night. “Mr. Harris!”
“Half a mo-ment. Give me ten minutes’ time.”
“Sahib says hyena.”
“Don’t worry Mr. Harris. He saved us from a nasty smash. Harris, well done!”
“A smash, sahib, that would not have taken place had he obeyed and taken us Gangavati side, instead of Marabar.”
“My fault that. I told him to come this way because the road’s better. Mr. Lesley has made it pukka right up to the hills.”
“Ah, now I begin to understand.” Seeming to pull himself together, he apologized slowly and elaborately for the accident. Ronny murmured, “Not at all,” but apologies were his due, and should have started sooner: because English people are so calm at a crisis, it is not to be assumed that they are unimportant. The Nawab Bahadur had not come out very well.
At that moment a large car approached from the opposite direction. Ronny advanced a few steps down the road, and with authority in his voice and gesture stopped it. It bore the inscription83 “Mudkul State” across its bonnet84. All friskiness85 and friendliness, Miss Derek sat inside.
“Mr. Heaslop, Miss Quested, what are you holding up an innocent female for?”
“We’ve had a breakdown86.”
“But how putrid87!”
“We ran into a hyena!”
“How absolutely rotten!”
“Can you give us a lift?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“Take me too,” said the Nawab Bahadur.
“Heh, what about me?” cried Mr. Harris.
“Now what’s all this? I’m not an omnibus,” said Miss Derek with decision. “I’ve a harmonium and two dogs in here with me as it is. I’ll take three of you if one’ll sit in front and nurse a pug. No more.”
“I will sit in front,” said the Nawab Bahadur.
“Then hop34 in: I’ve no notion who you are.”
“Heh no, what about my dinner? I can’t be left alone all the night.” Trying to look and feel like a European, the chauffeur interposed aggressively. He still wore a topi, despite the darkness, and his face, to which the Ruling Race had contributed little beyond bad teeth, peered out of it pathetically, and seemed to say, “What’s it all about? Don’t worry me so, you blacks and whites. Here I am, stuck in dam India same as you, and you got to fit me in better than this.”
“Nussu will bring you out some suitable dinner upon a bicycle,” said the Nawab Bahadur, who had regained88 his usual dignity. “I shall despatch89 him with all possible speed. Meanwhile, repair my car.”
They sped off, and Mr. Harris, after a reproachful glance, squatted90 down upon his hams. When English and Indians were both present, he grew self-conscious, because he did not know to whom he belonged. For a little he was vexed91 by opposite currents in his blood, then they blended, and he belonged to no one but himself.
But Miss Derek was in tearing spirits. She had succeeded in stealing the Mudkul car. Her Maharajah would be awfully sick, but she didn’t mind, he could sack her if he liked. “I don’t believe in these people letting you down,” she said. “If I didn’t snatch like the devil, I should be nowhere. He doesn’t want the car, silly fool! Surely it’s to the credit of his State I should be seen about in it at Chandrapore during my leave. He ought to look at it that way. Anyhow he’s got to look at it that way. My Maharani’s different—my Maharani’s a dear. That’s her fox terrier, poor little devil. I fished them out both with the driver. Imagine taking dogs to a Chiefs’ Conference! As sensible as taking Chiefs, perhaps.” She shrieked92 with laughter. “The harmonium—the harmonium’s my little mistake, I own. They rather had me over the harmonium. I meant it to stop on the train. Oh lor’!”
Ronny laughed with restraint. He did not approve of English people taking service under the Native States, where they obtain a certain amount of influence, but at the expense of the general prestige. The humorous triumphs of a free lance are of no assistance to an administrator93, and he told the young lady that she would outdo Indians at their own game if she went on much longer.
“They always sack me before that happens, and then I get another job. The whole of India seethes94 with Maharanis and Ranis and Begums who clamour for such as me.”
“Really. I had no idea.”
“How could you have any idea, Mr. Heaslop? What should he know about Maharanis, Miss Quested? Nothing. At least I should hope not.”
“I understand those big people are not particularly interesting,” said Adela, quietly, disliking the young woman’s tone. Her hand touched Ronny’s again in the darkness, and to the animal thrill there was now added a coincidence of opinion.
“Ah, there you’re wrong. They’re priceless.”
“I would scarcely call her wrong,” broke out the Nawab Bahadur, from his isolation95 on the front seat, whither they had relegated96 him. “A Native State, a Hindu State, the wife of a ruler of a Hindu State, may beyond doubt be a most excellent lady, and let it not be for a moment supposed that I suggest anything against the character of Her Highness the Maharani of Mudkul. But I fear she will be uneducated, I fear she will be superstitious97. Indeed, how could she be otherwise? What opportunity of education has such a lady had? Oh, superstition98 is terrible, terrible! oh, it is the great defect in our Indian character!”—and as if to point his criticism, the lights of the civil station appeared on a rise to the right. He grew more and more voluble. “Oh, it is the duty of each and every citizen to shake superstition off, and though I have little experience of Hindu States, and none of this particular one, namely Mudkul (the Ruler, I fancy, has a salute99 of but eleven guns)—yet I cannot imagine that they have been as successful as British India, where we see reason and orderliness spreading in every direction, like a most health-giving flood!”
Miss Derek said “Golly!”
Undeterred by the expletive, the old man swept on. His tongue had been loosed and his mind had several points to make. He wanted to endorse100 Miss Quested’s remark that big people are not interesting, because he was bigger himself than many an independent chief; at the same time, he must neither remind nor inform her that he was big, lest she felt she had committed a discourtesy. This was the groundwork of his oration101; worked in with it was his gratitude102 to Miss Derek for the lift, his willingness to hold a repulsive103 dog in his arms, and his general regret for the trouble he had caused the human race during the evening. Also he wanted to be dropped near the city to get hold of his cleaner, and to see what mischief104 his grandson was up to. As he wove all these anxieties into a single rope, he suspected that his audience felt no interest, and that the City Magistrate fondled either maiden behind the cover of the harmonium, but good breeding compelled him to continue; it was nothing to him if they were bored, because he did not know what boredom105 is, and it was nothing to him if they were licentious106, because God has created all races to be different. The accident was over, and his life, equably useful, distinguished107, happy, ran on as before and expressed itself in streams of well-chosen words.
When this old geyser left them, Ronny made no comment, but talked lightly about polo; Turton had taught him that it is sounder not to discuss a man at once, and he reserved what he had to say on the Nawab’s character until later in the evening. His hand, which he had removed to say good-bye, touched Adela’s again; she caressed108 it definitely, he responded, and their firm and mutual109 pressure surely meant something. They looked at each other when they reached the bungalow, for Mrs. Moore was inside it. It was for Miss Quested to speak, and she said nervously110, “Ronny, I should like to take back what I said on the Maidan.” He assented111, and they became engaged to be married in consequence.
Neither had foreseen such a consequence. She had meant to revert112 to her former condition of important and cultivated uncertainty113, but it had passed out of her reach at its appropriate hour. Unlike the green bird or the hairy animal, she was labelled now. She felt humiliated114 again, for she deprecated labels, and she felt too that there should have been another scene between her lover and herself at this point, something dramatic and lengthy115. He was pleased instead of distressed116, he was surprised, but he had really nothing to say. What indeed is there to say? To be or not to be married, that was the question, and they had decided it in the affirmative.
“Come along and let’s tell the mater all this”—opening the perforated zinc117 door that protected the bungalow from the swarms118 of winged creatures. The noise woke the mater up. She had been dreaming of the absent children who were so seldom mentioned, Ralph and Stella, and did not at first grasp what was required of her. She too had become used to thoughtful procrastination119, and felt alarmed when it came to an end.
When the announcement was over, he made a gracious and honest remark. “Look here, both of you, see India if you like and as you like—I know I made myself rather ridiculous at Fielding’s, but . . . it’s different now. I wasn’t quite sure of myself.”
“My duties here are evidently finished, I don’t want to see India now; now for my passage back,” was Mrs. Moore’s thought. She reminded herself of all that a happy marriage means, and of her own happy marriages, one of which had produced Ronny. Adela’s parents had also been happily married, and excellent it was to see the incident repeated by the younger generation. On and on! the number of such unions would certainly increase as education spread and ideals grew loftier, and characters firmer. But she was tired by her visit to Government College, her feet ached, Mr. Fielding had walked too fast and far, the young people had annoyed her in the tum-tum, and given her to suppose they were breaking with each other, and though it was all right now she could not speak as enthusiastically of wedlock120 or of anything as she should have done. Ronny was suited, now she must go home and help the others, if they wished. She was past marrying herself, even unhappily; her function was to help others, her reward to be informed that she was sympathetic. Elderly ladies must not expect more than this.
They dined alone. There was much pleasant and affectionate talk about the future. Later on they spoke15 of passing events, and Ronny reviewed and recounted the day from his own point of view. It was a different day from the women’s, because while they had enjoyed themselves or thought, he had worked. Mohurram was approaching, and as usual the Chandrapore Mohammedans were building paper towers of a size too large to pass under the branches of a certain pepul tree. One knew what happened next; the tower stuck, a Mohammedan climbed up the pepul and cut the branch off, the Hindus protested, there was a religious riot, and Heaven knew what, with perhaps the troops sent for. There had been deputations and conciliation121 committees under the auspices of Turton, and all the normal work of Chandrapore had been hung up. Should the procession take another route, or should the towers be shorter? The Mohammedans offered the former, the Hindus insisted on the latter. The Collector had favoured the Hindus, until he suspected that they had artificially bent122 the tree nearer the ground. They said it sagged123 naturally. Measurements, plans, an official visit to the spot. But Ronny had not disliked his day, for it proved that the British were necessary to India; there would certainly have been bloodshed without them. His voice grew complacent124 again; he was here not to be pleasant but to keep the peace, and now that Adela had promised to be his wife, she was sure to understand.
“What does our old gentleman of the car think?” she asked, and her negligent125 tone was exactly what he desired.
“Our old gentleman is helpful and sound, as he always is over public affairs. You’ve seen in him our show Indian.”
“Have I really?”
“I’m afraid so. Incredible, aren’t they, even the best of them? They’re all—they all forget their back collar studs sooner or later. You’ve had to do with three sets of Indians to-day, the Bhattacharyas, Aziz, and this chap, and it really isn’t a coincidence that they’ve all let you down.”
“I like Aziz, Aziz is my real friend,” Mrs. Moore interposed.
“When the animal runs into us the Nawab loses his head, deserts his unfortunate chauffeur, intrudes126 upon Miss Derek . . . no great crimes, no great crimes, but no white man would have done it.”
“What animal?”
“Oh, we had a small accident on the Marabar road. Adela thinks it was a hyena.”
“An accident?” she cried.
“Nothing; no one hurt. Our excellent host awoke much rattled127 from his dreams, appeared to think it was our fault, and chanted exactly, exactly.”
Mrs. Moore shivered, “A ghost!” But the idea of a ghost scarcely passed her lips. The young people did not take it up, being occupied with their own outlooks, and deprived of support it perished, or was reabsorbed into the part of the mind that seldom speaks.
“Yes, nothing criminal,” Ronny summed up, “but there’s the native, and there’s one of the reasons why we don’t admit him to our clubs, and how a decent girl like Miss Derek can take service under natives puzzles me. . . . But I must get on with my work. Krishna!” Krishna was the peon who should have brought the files from his office. He had not turned up, and a terrific row ensued. Ronny stormed, shouted, howled, and only the experienced observer could tell that he was not angry, did not much want the files, and only made a row because it was the custom. Servants, quite understanding, ran slowly in circles, carrying hurricane lamps. Krishna the earth, Krishna the stars replied, until the Englishman was appeased128 by their echoes, fined the absent peon eight annas, and sat down to his arrears129 in the next room.
“Will you play Patience with your future mother-in-law, dear Adela, or does it seem too tame?”
“I should like to—I don’t feel a bit excited—I’m just glad it’s settled up at last, but I’m not conscious of vast changes. We are all three the same people still.”
“That’s much the best feeling to have.” She dealt out the first row of “demon.”
“I suppose so,” said the girl thoughtfully.
“I feared at Mr. Fielding’s that it might be settled the other way . . . black knave130 on a red queen. . . .” They chatted gently about the game.
Presently Adela said: “You heard me tell Aziz and Godbole I wasn’t stopping in their country. I didn’t mean it, so why did I say it? I feel I haven’t been—frank enough, attentive131 enough, or something. It’s as if I got everything out of proportion. You have been so very good to me, and I meant to be good when I sailed, but somehow I haven’t been. . . . Mrs. Moore, if one isn’t absolutely honest, what is the use of existing?”
She continued to lay out her cards. The words were obscure, but she understood the uneasiness that produced them. She had experienced it twice herself, during her own engagements—this vague contrition132 and doubt. All had come right enough afterwards and doubtless would this time—marriage makes most things right enough. “I wouldn’t worry,” she said. “It’s partly the odd surroundings; you and I keep on attending to trifles instead of what’s important; we are what the people here call ‘new.’”
“You mean that my bothers are mixed up with India?”
“India’s——” She stopped.
“What made you call it a ghost?”
“Call what a ghost?”
“The animal thing that hit us. Didn’t you say ‘Oh, a ghost,’ in passing.”
“I couldn’t have been thinking of what I was saying.”
“It was probably a hyena, as a matter of fact.”
“Ah, very likely.”
And they went on with their Patience. Down in Chandrapore the Nawab Bahadur waited for his car. He sat behind his town house (a small unfurnished building which he rarely entered) in the midst of the little court that always improvises133 itself round Indians of position. As if turbans were the natural product of darkness a fresh one would occasionally froth to the front, incline itself towards him, and retire. He was preoccupied134, his diction was appropriate to a religious subject. Nine years previously135, when first he had had a car, he had driven it over a drunken man and killed him, and the man had been waiting for him ever since. The Nawab Bahadur was innocent before God and the Law, he had paid double the compensation necessary; but it was no use, the man continued to wait in an unspeakable form, close to the scene of his death. None of the English people knew of this, nor did the chauffeur; it was a racial secret communicable more by blood than speech. He spoke now in horror of the particular circumstances; he had led others into danger, he had risked the lives of two innocent and honoured guests. He repeated, “If I had been killed, what matter? it must happen sometime; but they who trusted me——”
The company shuddered136 and invoked137 the mercy of God. Only Aziz held aloof138, because a personal experience restrained him: was it not by despising ghosts that he had come to know Mrs. Moore? “You know, Nureddin,” he whispered to the grandson—an effeminate youth whom he seldom met, always liked, and invariably forgot—“you know, my dear fellow, we Moslems simply must get rid of these superstitions139, or India will never advance. How long must I hear of the savage140 pig upon the Marabar Road?” Nureddin looked down. Aziz continued: “Your grandfather belongs to another generation, and I respect and love the old gentleman, as you know. I say nothing against him, only that it is wrong for us, because we are young. I want you to promise me—Nureddin, are you listening?—not to believe in Evil Spirits, and if I die (for my health grows very weak) to bring up my three children to disbelieve in them too.” Nureddin smiled, and a suitable answer rose to his pretty lips, but before he could make it the car arrived, and his grandfather took him away.
The game of Patience up in the civil lines went on longer than this. Mrs. Moore continued to murmur13 “Red ten on a black knave,” Miss Quested to assist her, and to intersperse141 among the intricacies of the play details about the hyena, the engagement, the Maharani of Mudkul, the Bhattacharyas, and the day generally, whose rough desiccated surface acquired as it receded142 a definite outline, as India itself might, could it be viewed from the moon. Presently the players went to bed, but not before other people had woken up elsewhere, people whose emotions they could not share, and whose existence they ignored. Never tranquil143, never perfectly144 dark, the night wore itself away, distinguished from other nights by two or three blasts of wind, which seemed to fall perpendicularly145 out of the sky and to bounce back into it, hard and compact, leaving no freshness behind them: the hot weather was approaching.
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收听单词发音
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1
subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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2
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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4
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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bray
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| n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫 | |
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7
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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8
unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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10
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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12
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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14
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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15
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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16
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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18
spats
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| n.口角( spat的名词复数 )；小争吵；鞋罩；鞋套v.spit的过去式和过去分词( spat的第三人称单数 )；口角；小争吵；鞋罩 | |
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19
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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20
bungalow
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| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
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21
auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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22
tiresomeness
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23
dent
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| n.凹痕，凹坑；初步进展 | |
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24
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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25
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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26
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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27
formulating
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| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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28
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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29
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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31
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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32
tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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33
hopped
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| 跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 )； 单足蹦跳； 齐足（或双足）跳行； 摘葎草花 | |
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34
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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35
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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36
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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37
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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38
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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39
pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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40
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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41
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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42
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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43
solaced
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| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的过去分词 ) | |
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44
merge
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| v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体 | |
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45
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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46
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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47
tepidly
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48
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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49
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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50
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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51
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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52
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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53
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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54
curtness
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| n.简短；草率；简略 | |
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55
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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56
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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57
steering
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| n.操舵装置 | |
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58
chauffeur
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| n.(受雇于私人或公司的)司机；v.为…开车 | |
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59
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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60
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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61
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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62
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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63
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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64
jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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65
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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66
durable
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| adj.持久的，耐久的 | |
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67
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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68
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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70
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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71
butting
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| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
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72
skidded
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| v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的过去式和过去分词 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区 | |
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73
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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74
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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75
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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76
abortive
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| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
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77
adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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78
muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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79
hyena
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| n.土狼，鬣狗 | |
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80
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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81
hyenas
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| n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
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82
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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83
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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84
bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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85
friskiness
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| n.活泼，闹着玩 | |
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86
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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87
putrid
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| adj.腐臭的；有毒的；已腐烂的；卑劣的 | |
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88
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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89
despatch
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| n./v.(dispatch)派遣；发送；n.急件；新闻报道 | |
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90
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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91
vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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92
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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93
administrator
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| n.经营管理者，行政官员 | |
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94
seethes
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的第三人称单数 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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95
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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96
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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97
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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98
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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99
salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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100
endorse
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| vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意 | |
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101
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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102
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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103
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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104
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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105
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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106
licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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107
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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108
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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109
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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110
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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111
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112
revert
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| v.恢复，复归，回到 | |
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113
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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114
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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115
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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116
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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117
zinc
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| n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌 | |
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118
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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119
procrastination
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| n.拖延，耽搁 | |
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120
wedlock
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| n.婚姻，已婚状态 | |
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121
conciliation
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| n.调解，调停 | |
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122
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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123
sagged
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| 下垂的 | |
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124
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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125
negligent
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| adj.疏忽的；玩忽的；粗心大意的 | |
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126
intrudes
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| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的第三人称单数 )；把…强加于 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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129
arrears
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| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
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130
knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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131
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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contrition
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| n.悔罪，痛悔 | |
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133
improvises
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| 临时制作，临时凑成( improvise的名词复数 )； 即兴创作（音乐、台词、演讲词等） | |
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134
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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135
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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136
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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invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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138
aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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139
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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140
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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141
intersperse
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| vt.散布，散置，点缀 | |
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142
receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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143
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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