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CHAPTER XXV IN THE DEANERY GARDEN
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Katharine Morrell sat in a sheltered nook in the Deanery garden, all flooded with the mellow1 sunshine of an April afternoon.
The trim, box-edged garden beds were gay with spring flowers, and the air was full of the song of birds and of the faint, sweet, sleepy scent2 of the poplar.
Before her the great grey cathedral reared its mighty3 pile against a sky of pale, pure blue, relieved by clouds of fleecy whiteness. Pigeons were sunning themselves here and there on some projecting buttress4, or in some quaintly-carved niche5. The whole world seemed full of peace and hope and life renewed.
Katharine’s hat was on the grass beside her, and the soft spring breeze lightly stirred the fair hair on her smooth, white brow, and
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 brought a touch of pure rose colour to her fair face.
On her knee there lay an opened letter in Sydney’s hand-writing. She took it up and read the last page through again.
“It is so good to see St. Quentin walk across the room, even though still leaning on a stick. Dr. Lorry says he is making a most marvellous recovery, and Sir Anthony, who has been down to the Castle twice since the operation, is delighted with him. Sir Anthony said several ever such nice things about Hugh; I wish father could have heard him. He would have been so pleased.
“St. Quentin actually went yesterday to see that poor man Duncombe, who has come down here to live with his mother. He is to do light work in the gardens as soon as he is strong enough. He was so pleased to see St. Quentin, and he could not say enough about Hugh’s kindness to him while he was at the Blue-friars Hospital. He seems a nice man, and is terribly sorry for all the harm which he has done St. Quentin, though St. Quentin tells him ‘not to think about it any more.’
“This morning we have been to call upon the Vicar. St. Quentin walked all round the
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 Vicarage garden to look at Mr. Seaton’s hyacinths, and was not over-tired. Doesn’t that sound like being really better?
“He talks of driving in to Donisbro’ to thank the Dean for his kind enquiries.”
It was this last sentence that Katharine read again and again, with a light in her eyes and a flush upon her cheek.
“He talks of driving in to Donisbro’ to thank the Dean for his kind enquiries.”
Bees hummed in and out among the flowers, with their peculiar6 sound of infinite contentment; along the sunny borders the yellow heads of the daffodils were nodding gently in the breeze. Katharine thought she had never known the garden look so lovely—never since that spring day nine long years ago, when her father brought Lord Lisle, as St. Quentin had been called then, into it for the first time.
Nine years—was it really nine years since that April afternoon when she had gone out to gather daffodils to fill the vases in the drawing-room?
She was eighteen then, and dressed in a gown of pale green, she remembered. Her father had a fancy for green and loved to see her in it.
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She remembered how the tall young man at the Dean’s side had looked at that young Katharine of nine years ago, and how presently they were walking side by side along the straight flagged garden paths, he carrying her bunch of daffodils.
What had they said? Nothing very much, she fancied. They talked about the flowers, and he spoke7 of his mother’s famous orchids8 at St. Quentin Castle, and said how much he should like the Dean and Miss Morrell to see them.
Nine years ago; but she could recall every line of the tall young figure, with handsome head erect9, and eyes that said so much. She could even bring back to her memory the very look of the strong, shapely hand that held the daffodils—her daffodils.
Had not daffodils been the flowers she loved best ever since—yes, ever since! though she had tried to think she hated them upon a certain day five years ago when she had burnt a little dried-up bunch of them which for four years had lain among her treasures.
Had a spring and daffodil time ever come and gone through all these nine years that she had not thought of the tall figure and the handsome face, and of the grey eyes
[272]
 that looked at her more often than the flowers he had come to see?
A rather faltering10 step was upon the flagged path skirting the close-shaven lawn. Katharine looked up.
He was there before her, the man of whom she had been thinking—the same, yet not the same. There was little to remind her of the gay young lover of nine years ago, except the eyes, which looked forth11 from the worn face with the old expression in them—the old expression she remembered so well, only deepened and intensified12.
“Katharine!” said Lord St. Quentin.
She was at his side in a moment. “You should not be standing13! Take my arm. Here is an easy chair for you.”
He sank into the chair she had drawn14 forward; she sat down quietly at his side.
Around them hyacinths were springing everywhere about the grass—it was a fancy of the Dean’s to grow them so, instead of in the garden beds. The air seemed filled with their rare fragrance15.
Under the grey line of the old Deanery ran a border bright with golden daffodils.
“You stood there when I saw you first,” St. Quentin said. “You were outlined against
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 the grey wall in your pale green gown, and you held a bunch of daffodils in one hand. You wore no hat, and the breeze was stirring your hair on your temples as it is to-day.”
She put her hand to her head with a nervous gesture quite unusual with her.
“Nine years ago,” she said. “I have changed.”
“And I have changed more,” he answered gravely. “Katharine, look at me.”
She looked as he bade, almost timidly, at the thin earnest face beside her.
“You know—you must know why it is I have come here to you to-day,” he said, his voice vibrating strangely. “Katharine! I have no right to ask or expect that you can care for me still. And I am not here to offer you my love; I gave it to you nine long years ago, and you have had it ever since. I have come to make you a confession16.”
He told the story of his selfishness and folly—hiding nothing. She listened silently, her head bent17, her hands clasped on her knee.
“I have no right to offer you what’s left from the wreck18 I’ve made of my life,” he concluded, “but my love is yours—as it always has been since that first spring afternoon I
[274]
 saw you, as it always must be through life and beyond it.”
He rose slowly from his chair, leaning upon his stick.
“Thank you for listening to me, dear. Good-bye.”
She came swiftly towards him, and laid her two hands upon his arm.
“You have no faith,” she said, “though perhaps I hardly deserve that you should believe in my love after that cruel letter that I wrote five years ago. St. Quentin, don’t you know that I have cared always?—that I cared even when I told you that I never wished to see or hear of you again? It is not possible to give up caring, and, dear, I care more, far more now, than ever I cared in that bright spring time long ago. Dear, don’t you understand?”
And St. Quentin did.
“I don’t deserve it,” he said hoarsely19, “but please God you sha’n’t regret your trust and your forgiveness.”
“We both have something to forgive,” she said; and then he caught her to him with a murmured, “My darling! my darling!” and there fell a silence on the two in the flower-filled garden, flooded with the mellow sunshine of that April afternoon. And overhead a full-throated
[275]
 thrush broke into its liquid song—a song which was so wonderfully full of gladness that it almost seemed as though it spoke the words of thankfulness to which they could not give voice.
The silver-haired Dean found the two among the hyacinths, when he came down the paved walk an hour later, and was filled at once with kindly20 solicitude21 upon his guest’s behalf.
“My dear St. Quentin, it is most delightful22 to see you on your feet again; but, my dear boy, what rashness to come all the way to Donisbro’ so soon! What was your doctor thinking of? What could possess you to do anything so foolish?”
The Marquess wondered vaguely23 what had been the reason he had given to himself and others for his visit to Donisbro’. Katharine, with a little gleam of laughter in her clear eyes, came to his assistance.
“St. Quentin came to return thanks in person for your kind enquiries, father,” she said, taking the old man’s hands in both hers. “That was so, wasn’t it, St. Quentin? And while he was here he thought he had better tell me something as well.”
A smile of understanding broke out upon the Dean’s benevolent24 old face.
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“Will you forgive me, sir, and trust her with me?” said St. Quentin, holding out his hand. “I am not worthy25 of her, but with God’s help I’ll try to do my best to be so, and to make her happy. Will you give her to me?”
The old man’s warm handclasp was sufficient answer, and made the hearty26 words, “With all my heart,” unnecessary. And he added, as he drew his daughter to him, kissing her upon the forehead, “I am not afraid to trust her to you now, St. Quentin.”
“Please God, you shan’t regret it, sir,” St. Quentin said, as he had said before to Katharine, and the three went toward the Deanery together along the path beside the daffodil-filled border.
“It was little Sydney who sent me here to-day,” St. Quentin said to Katharine, as they stood a moment just inside the low-browed, quaintly-carved stone porch of the old Deanery, looking back on what must be to them for evermore an enchanted27 garden; “it was she whose faith in love’s endurance sent me here to-day to test it, Katharine. God bless the child for that, and for all!”
And Katharine echoed from her heart, “Yes, God bless her!”


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mellow F2iyP     
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟
参考例句:
  • These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节,苹果就熟透了。
  • The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时,色彩变得柔和了。
2 scent WThzs     
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉
参考例句:
  • The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
  • The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。
3 mighty YDWxl     
adj.强有力的;巨大的
参考例句:
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
4 buttress fcOyo     
n.支撑物;v.支持
参考例句:
  • I don't think they have any buttress behind them.我认为他们背后没有什么支持力量。
  • It was decided to buttress the crumbling walls.人们决定建造扶壁以支撑崩塌中的墙。
5 niche XGjxH     
n.壁龛;合适的职务(环境、位置等)
参考例句:
  • Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
  • The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。
6 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
7 spoke XryyC     
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
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
8 orchids 8f804ec07c1f943ef9230929314bd063     
n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Wild flowers such as orchids and primroses are becoming rare. 兰花和报春花这类野花越来越稀少了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She breeds orchids in her greenhouse. 她在温室里培育兰花。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 erect 4iLzm     
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的
参考例句:
  • She held her head erect and her back straight.她昂着头,把背挺得笔直。
  • Soldiers are trained to stand erect.士兵们训练站得笔直。
10 faltering b25bbdc0788288f819b6e8b06c0a6496     
犹豫的,支吾的,蹒跚的
参考例句:
  • The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
  • I canfeel my legs faltering. 我感到我的腿在颤抖。
11 forth Hzdz2     
adv.向前;向外,往外
参考例句:
  • The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
  • He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。
12 intensified 4b3b31dab91d010ec3f02bff8b189d1a     
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
  • The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
13 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
14 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
15 fragrance 66ryn     
n.芬芳,香味,香气
参考例句:
  • The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
  • The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。
16 confession 8Ygye     
n.自白,供认,承认
参考例句:
  • Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
  • The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。
17 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
18 wreck QMjzE     
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难
参考例句:
  • Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
  • No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。
19 hoarsely hoarsely     
adv.嘶哑地
参考例句:
  • "Excuse me," he said hoarsely. “对不起。”他用嘶哑的嗓子说。
  • Jerry hoarsely professed himself at Miss Pross's service. 杰瑞嘶声嘶气地表示愿为普洛丝小姐效劳。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
20 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
21 solicitude mFEza     
n.焦虑
参考例句:
  • Your solicitude was a great consolation to me.你对我的关怀给了我莫大的安慰。
  • He is full of tender solicitude towards my sister.他对我妹妹满心牵挂。
22 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。
23 vaguely BfuzOy     
adv.含糊地,暖昧地
参考例句:
  • He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
  • He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面,对一切都视而不见。
24 benevolent Wtfzx     
adj.仁慈的,乐善好施的
参考例句:
  • His benevolent nature prevented him from refusing any beggar who accosted him.他乐善好施的本性使他不会拒绝走上前向他行乞的任何一个乞丐。
  • He was a benevolent old man and he wouldn't hurt a fly.他是一个仁慈的老人,连只苍蝇都不愿伤害。
25 worthy vftwB     
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的
参考例句:
  • I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
  • There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。
26 hearty Od1zn     
adj.热情友好的;衷心的;尽情的,纵情的
参考例句:
  • After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了,他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
  • We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。
27 enchanted enchanted     
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • She was enchanted by the flowers you sent her. 她非常喜欢你送给她的花。
  • He was enchanted by the idea. 他为这个主意而欣喜若狂。


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