But not all the world of Joan was at war. The Sheldrick circle, for example, after some wide fluctuations1 during which Sydney almost became a nurse and Babs nearly enlisted2 into the Women’s Legion, took a marked list under the influence of one of the sons-in-law towards pacifism. Antonia, who had taken two German prizes at school, was speedily provoked by the general denunciation of “Kultur” into a distinctly pro-German attitude. The Sheldrick circle settled down on the whole as a pro-German circle, with a poor opinion of President Wilson, a marked hostility3 to Belgians, and a disposition4 to think the hardships of drowning by U-boats much exaggerated.
The Sheldricks were like seedlings5 that begin flourishing and then damp off. From amusing schoolfellows they had changed into irritating and disappointing friends. Energy leaked out of them at adolescence6. They seemed to possess the vitality7 for positive convictions no longer, they displayed an instinctive8 hostility to any wave of popular feeling that threatened to swamp their weak but still obstinate9 individualities. Their general attitude towards life was one of protesting refractoriness10. Whatever it was that people believed or did, you were given to understand by undertones and abstinences that the Sheldricks knew better, and for the most exquisite11 reasons didn’t. All their friends were protesters and rebels and seceders, or incomprehensible poets, or inexplicable12 artists. And from the first the war was altogether too big and strong for them. Confronted by such questions as whether fifty years of belligerent13 preparation, culminating in the most cruel and wanton invasion of a peaceful country it is possible to imagine, was to be resisted by mankind or condoned14, the Sheldricks fell back upon the 476counter statement that Sir Edward Grey, being a landowner, was necessarily just as bad as a German Junker, or that the Government of Russia was an unsatisfactory one.
In a few months it was perfectly15 clear to the Sheldricks that they would have nothing to do with the war at all. They were going to ignore it. Sydney just went on quietly doing her little statuettes that nobody would buy, little portrait busts16 of her sisters and suchlike things; now and then her mother contrived17 to get her a commission. Babs kept on trying to get a part in somebody’s play; Antonia continued to produce djibbahs in chocolate and grocer’s blue and similar tints18. One saw the sisters drifting about London in costumes still trailingly Pre-Raphaelite when all the rest of womankind was cutting its skirts shorter and shorter, their faces rather pained in expression and deliberately19 serene20, ignoring the hopes and fears about them, the stir, the huge effort, the universal participation21. It was not their affair, thank you. They were not going to wade22 through this horrid23 war; they were going round.
Every time Joan went to see them, either they had become more phantomlike and incredible, or she had become coarser and more real. Would they ever get round? she asked herself; and what would they be like when at last they attempted, if ever they attempted, to rejoin the main stream of human interests again?
They kept up their Saturday evenings, but their gatherings25 became thinner and less and less credible24 as the war went on. The first wave of military excitement carried off most of the sightly young men, and presently the more capable and enterprising of the women vanished one after another to nurse, to join the Women’s Legion, to become substitute clerks and release men to volunteer, to work in canteens and so forth26. There was, however, a certain coming and going of ambiguous adventurers, who in those early days went almost unchallenged between London and Belgium on ambulance work, on mysterious missions and with no missions at all. Belgian refugees drifted in and, when they found a lack of sympathy for their simple thirst for the destruction of Germans under all possible circumstances, out again. Then Ireland called her own, and Patrick Lynch went off to die a martyr’s death 477with arms in his hands after three days of the most exhilarating mixed shooting in the streets of Dublin. Antonia discovered passionate27 memories as soon as he was dead, and nobody was allowed to mention the name of Bunny in the Sheldrick circle for fear of spoiling the emotional atmosphere. Hetty Reinhart, after some fluctuations, went khaki, flitted from one ministry28 to another in various sorts of clerical capacities, took such opportunities as offered of entertaining young officers lonely in our great capital, and was no more seen in Hampstead. What was left of this little group in the Hampstead Quartier Latin drew together into a band of resistance to the creeping approach of compulsory29 service.
Huntley’s lofty scorn of the war had intensified30 steadily31; the harsh disappointment of Joan’s patriotism32 had stung him to great efforts of self-justification, and he became one of the most strenuous33 writers in the extreme Pacifist press. Not an act or effort of the Allies, he insisted, that was not utterly34 vile35 in purpose and doomed36 to accelerate our defeat. Not an act of the enemy’s that was not completely thought out, wisely calculated, and planned to give the world peace and freedom on the most reasonable terms. He was particularly active in preparing handbills and pamphlets of instruction for lifelong Conscientious37 Objectors to war service who had not hitherto thought about the subject. Community of view brought him very close in feeling to both Babs and Sydney Sheldrick. There was much talk of a play he was to write which was to demonstrate the absurdity38 of Englishmen fighting Germans just because Germans insisted upon fighting Englishmen, and which was also to bring out the peculiarly charming Babsiness of Babs. He studied her thoroughly39 and psychologically and physiologically40 and intensively and extensively.
By a great effort of self-control he abstained41 from sending his writings to Joan. Once however they were near meeting. On one of Joan’s rare calls Babs told her that he was coming to discuss the question whether he should go to prison and hunger-strike, or consent to take up work of national importance. Babs was very full of the case for each alternative. She was doubtful which course involved the greatest moral courage. Moral courage, it was evident, was 478being carried to giddy heights by Huntley. It would be pure hypocrisy42, he felt, to ignore the vital value of his writings, and while he could go on with these quite comfortably while working as a farm hand, with a little judicious43 payment to the farmer, their production would become impossible in prison. He must crucify himself upon the cross of harsh judgments44, he felt, and take the former course. He wanted to make his views exactly clear to every one to avoid misunderstanding.
Joan hesitated whether she should stay and insult him or go, and chose the seemlier course.
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1
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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3
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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seedlings
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| n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 ) | |
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adolescence
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| n.青春期，青少年 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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8
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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refractoriness
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| 耐火性；耐热度；耐熔度；耐熔性 | |
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11
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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12
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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13
belligerent
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| adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者 | |
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14
condoned
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| v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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16
busts
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| 半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕 | |
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17
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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18
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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23
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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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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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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30
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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32
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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33
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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37
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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38
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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39
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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40
physiologically
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| ad.生理上，在生理学上 | |
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41
abstained
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| v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票） | |
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42
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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43
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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44
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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