"We go to bed early at Beachcrest," she explained. They went to bed early in town, for that matter, though the full truth went uncommunicated.
"Where are the girls?" demanded the Rev. Needham, looking anxiously round.
Louise came up hurriedly, followed by Barry. "Are you starting home now, papa?" she asked, with what sounded strangely like eagerness.
"Well, we thought we'd just be starting along. It's—it's not late yet, you know. We'll just slip on ahead and get the cottage lighted."
"I think we'll go along now too."
"Oh, I wouldn't hurry. The fire's quite good yet."
"Lynndal is tired," she insisted. "He didn't sleep more than a couple of hours on the boat." And she gave him a very complex glance in which there was something whisperingly like an element of tenderness.
[Pg 263]
"Well," capitulated Mrs. Needham.
But Louise was only one daughter. Where was Hilda?
Where indeed? Where was she?
Anxious eyes explored the assembled company. Most of the young people had mysteriously made off, some this way and some that, but all alike into the friendly embrace of the darkness which lay so thick beyond the glow of the fire. Where was Hilda?
"I think I saw her with the lad—is it Leslie?" said Lynndal Barry.
"Oh—Leslie," repeated Mrs. Needham.
"You didn't notice which way they went?" asked the minister.
"No, I'm afraid I didn't."
Then Louise came to the rescue. She pointed2 miserably3, yet also with a faint, new fact-facing grimness, toward the lake.
"They haven't taken out the canoe ...!" Alfred Needham was horror struck.
"It's perfectly4 calm, papa," Louise reminded him dryly.
Then, indeed, they saw the canoe, on the moonlit water. Both Leslie and Hilda were paddling. But they were not exactly paddling toward the shore.
"She knows it's not allowed, out like this at all hours of the night!" cried the minister.
But his wife reassured5 him in her gentle way. "Alf, I wouldn't worry. Leslie will look out for her."
[Pg 264]
Louise lowered her head. Then she moved almost imperceptibly closer to Lynndal. At length the homeward march was begun. But the Rev. Needham stopped again suddenly, looking at his wife in a helpless way.
"Anna, where's your sister?"
"Dear me!" cried Anna Needham. "We were starting right off without her!"
"Is that Miss Whitcom?" asked Barry.
"Who?"
"Where?"
"The lady just ahead, coming this way."
It was true. There was a lady approaching along the beach. But she was with a man, and the man....
"Alf!" whispered Anna, gripping her husband's arm.
"Well?"
"Oh—look!"
"What is it, Anna?"
She murmured in almost an ecstasy6: "Why, he's got his arm right round her waist!"
The awful intelligence that this was indeed Marjory, and that a man had his arm around her waist, smote7 the minister's consciousness with peculiar8 and climactic force.
Hilda and Leslie took their own good time about coming in off the lake. It was so wonderful out there in the moonlight.
"I've had a perfectly grand time!" she told him,[Pg 265] her voice thrilling richly with conviction. She knew she had had a grand time, and whatever might be the sequel when she faced her parents, the grandness would never, never diminish.
They ascended9 the slight sand elevation10 and reached the steps leading up to the porch. Moonlight patched and patterned the steps. They did not go any farther.
Hilda sat down, drawing her knees and chin together, while Leslie whistled softly.
"Will your father be mad?" he asked.
"Oh, no!" the girl exclaimed, with the full and emphatic11 authority of one who is gravely in doubt. "Why?" she added. "It isn't late, is it?"
Leslie pulled out his watch. "N-o-o. Only twenty after eleven."
"Twenty after eleven? Twenty after eleven! Oh, my goodness! I didn't have any idea it was so late. It seemed as though we were only out there a couple of minutes!"
"It did to me, too," admitted Leslie.
The lateness of the hour, however, appeared to exert no immediate12 influence upon either his recognition of the wisdom of departure or hers of withdrawal13 to bed. Leslie swung back and forth14, clinging to a slender birch tree which grew quite close to the cottage. Its silver leaves crashed gently together, as though a breeze were thrusting its way through.
"I could simply sit out here all night!" Hilda declared.
[Pg 266]
Leslie admitted he could too. Presently he did sit down. He sat down beside Hilda, but, as before, one step below her. It was certainly a lovely night. His head somehow found her knee; then Eros could hardly contain himself! Hilda ran her fingers very lightly through his hair. They did not bother to talk much.
At length he asked: "Shall we go out after raspberries tomorrow? Would you like to?"
"Oh, Les—that would be lots of fun!"
"All right."
"Shall we take a lunch so we won't have to hurry?"
"Good idea."
"What time will you come, Les?"
"What time do you want me?"
"Oh—I don't know."
"Right after breakfast?"
"Oh, yes!" Her answer to this question held no slightest inflection of doubt.
"What time do you have breakfast?"
"Never later than eight o'clock, and it only takes me a minute to eat!"
Leslie appeared to have forgotten all about going back to the city, after all....
There was another warm silence. The boy had no idea of starting for his own cottage, nor had Hilda any idea of going to bed. It didn't, for some strange reason, occur to either that the parent Needhams might be waiting up in there, and that the minister, harassed15 over dim prospects16 of ruin perceived in the[Pg 267] relationship of his daughter and the man who handled the Western interests, was attaining17 an attitude of really appalling18 austerity. No, they didn't bother their spoony young heads about any of these things, until all at once the cottage door opened, letting out upon them a flood of light from the living room.
"Hello, papa!" cried Hilda, guiltily and very affectionately. She jumped up.
The Rev. Needham did not say much out on the porch; but when Leslie had crept off, after hurriedly squeezing the girl's hand, and Hilda had been marshalled within, the law was laid down with unusual vigour19. Mrs. Needham took it all rather more quietly, primarily because she did not share, in its full poignancy20, her husband's alarm over Louise. Of course she was concerned. But the poise21 of climax22 was beginning to assert itself. No doubt tomorrow, if a reign23 of chaos24 really did set in, Mrs. Needham would rule over the turmoil25 like a very judge. She would become dominant26, as when she went to rescue her daughter from the Potomac. It was perhaps her only complex.
Hilda had just been sent up to bed, rather subdued27, but in her heart immensely radiant, when Marjory arrived home. O'Donnell wanted to hang around awhile, but she wouldn't let him. No, she positively28 refused to linger any longer in the moonlight. She reproved herself a little. She reproved him a little, too. They had already been quite romantic enough[Pg 268] for one night. And she hustled29 him off with a lack of ceremony which went with her years and her temperament30. All the same, he managed to steal a glancing kiss. And Eros—who I forgot to say had remained in hiding out there—Eros told himself that this was infinitely31 better for his purposes than a mere32 handshake!
When he had gone, she sat down on the steps alone, for a moment. It was so wonderful—life was—and the night. She watched the moon declining over a just-troubled sea. Then abruptly33 she became conscious of voices in the cottage living room.
"Now, your sister!"
"Well, Alf?"
"She's still out!"
"Oh, Marjory knows the way."
"But at such an hour!"
"It's only a quarter to twelve, Alf."
"I know how the Point will be talking tomorrow!"
"Alf, I—"
"Oh—I've nothing to say. No, Anna, I realize she's your sister. But I must tell you what I think." And he was back once more on the topic that so turbulently absorbed him. "I think Marjory has been led into an unfortunate way of living. She's always run so free and never cared what people thought or said. I really don't know how the Point is going to take her." And after a moment's pause, during which the minister could be heard pacing up and down: "Anna, what do we know about the nature of[Pg 269] her life in Tahulamaji? Has she told you anything definitely about that? No. But she's hinted...." He paced on, and presently added: "Now here she is, just back; and the very first thing she does is walk all over with a man's arm round her!"
Miss Whitcom abandoned the wonderful night. When she entered, her sister smiled and brightened generally. But her brother-in-law seemed rather taken off his feet.
Marjory wanted to make the minister feel perfectly at home, so she sat down and began rocking cosily34.
"How snug35 you're fixed36 here!" she murmured. "How happy you ought to be, Alfred, in your little nest! Ah, it's fine to be in the bosom37 of a family again. You know, I feel somehow as though I'd come back from an absence of nearly a lifetime. It's a curious feeling, to come back like this. Like a sort of prodigal38, Alfred—just fancy! But I did have to go away," she pleaded earnestly. "In the beginning, it was quite necessary! You see there were such a lot of things I wanted to find out, and I felt from the very first—Anna, you remember how I used to talk to you about life, and all that?—well, I somehow felt I shouldn't find out anything just sitting in the front parlour with a family album spread open on my lap. You see, it wasn't what the others were like that I wanted to be like, and it wasn't what all the others had done that I wanted to do in the world. So I broke away. Yes, the prodigal left, to roam far and wide. Now that we're chatting here all snug, I[Pg 270] may tell you, Alfred, that it's been pretty interesting and pretty broadening."
"Marjie, dear—"
"Now, Anna, don't let's go up to bed just yet. Not just yet. It is so cosy39 down here, and I'm much too excited to sleep. Just a little while. I—I want to visit with Alfred a little about my life in Tahulamaji." The atmosphere in the living room grew subtly electric. The minister sat rigid40. But the speaker went on in a cheery, simple way: "Just think, just think! When you would be sitting down in your nice house in Ohio, there I was...." She interrupted herself with a laugh. "It does sound rather dreadful, now doesn't it? You in Ohio and me.... Fancy my going way off there alone—for you know the Tahulamajians were once cannibals!—all by myself, and—and living! Gracious, how extraordinary it does sound!"
She rocked with folded arms and peeped at her brother-in-law out of the wicked corners of her eyes.
"But it's such fun," she went on, a little solemnly, "keeping your personal life all ship-shape—all ship-shape, Alfred—and yet really feeling, as you go along, that you're not missing a single thing that's worth while. No, not a single blessed thing, Alfred. When I went to Tahulamaji I hadn't an awfully41 clear notion of what I was going to do there. You see I thought I'd just have a look-around, as we say. Oh, Alfred," she chatted, "such a lovely spot! So warm[Pg 271] and tropical, with music at night over the water.... Alfred, how you would love it there!"
He shifted uneasily, and she went on: "What I did, though—what my life in Tahulamaji really turned out to be—wasn't after all very poetic42, or even essentially43 tropical, when it comes to that. Yes, I've often thought I might have chosen a more harmonious44 vocation45. But one must grasp what one can and be content. The fact is, Alfred, I went into the drygoods business."
"Drygoods!" cried her sister.
"Yes—just think of that—and after all the really exciting things I've done in my life! But that's exactly what I did, Anna. Yes, that's what my life was in Tahulamaji. And you've simply no idea how the thing took! The natives, you see, were just beginning to wear clothes—regular clothes, I mean, dear brother. And in a few months I had an establishment—an establishment, I tell you, with departments and counters and clerks.... It was perfectly beautiful to see them skipping about, and the little cash boxes running on their tracks overhead...."
"Marjie, really?"
"Yes, indeed. Of course that came just a little later on, after electricity had been introduced. The arrangement was somewhat crude, but it worked. Anna, you've no idea the things you can do if you really set your heart on them! Yes, in time we even had cash boxes overhead, and there was I, up in the[Pg 272] cage where all the cash boxes went to, making change and keeping the books! That's what makes me laugh so, when I think of it: you living in your nice house in Ohio, and me up in the little cage with the cash coming in by trolley46!"
"Marjory, Marjory!"
"The third year I had a dressmaker over from San Francisco, and the business trebled at once. The poor dears had been trying to make their own clothes, but of course they didn't know much about styles. I had a circulating library of pattern books, but it was a great day, I tell you, when the dressmaker arrived! They closed the schools, and a reception was held. Even the Queen came down the line! I have a manager now," she concluded, "running the business. I said I simply had to get off for a rest. Alfred," she soared to her climax, "your sister has worked herself weary and rich. How much will the new parish house cost?"
The Rev. Needham gasped47. This is really not an exaggeration. He gasped—and it was, this time, no merely inner gasping48, either. Marjory—the new parish house ...!
"Why, Marjory!" he cried, his heart deeply touched. There sounded again here that former note of appeal or even pathos49.
Nevertheless, long afterward50, when the fine new parish house was all finished, and the church could hold its own a little while longer in a world which was changing so rapidly, a grim spectre stalked[Pg 273] between the minister and her magnificent donation. It was the spectre of the Bishop51 whose bed she had seen made up. Did Marjory think he would sleep on two mattresses52, like the Bishop? And buy an upper for his golf sticks?
Miss Whitcom had risen to bid them good night. The indignant cottage lamp had begun to sputter53 and fail. It had never before been kept burning so late. But she lingered long enough to give them the full benefit of one of her delightful54 and so characteristic shafts55 of bluntness.
"O'Donnell," she said, "has stood by all these years. Think of it! Think of its taking so long as that to be sure! Of course it wasn't that I ever cared two straws for anybody else. O'Donnell's never had any active competition, except from my overwhelming notions about being free to work out my life. Well, I've had my freedom, and I've worked it out. And now—well, he's asked me again—tonight. But what do you think? I haven't given him a definite answer yet—not yet! I'm going over to the Elmbrook Inn as soon as the sun's up, though. I guess I'll stand down under his window and call out to him softly. And when he comes to the window, I'll say: 'Barrett, I've had my fling!' Alfred—you don't think I could find my way through tonight ...?"
"Marjory! Of course not! Tomorrow, if you must...."
[Pg 274]
But she chattered56 gaily57 and unquenchably on. "I don't know how it's all going to turn out, I'm sure—about our future, I mean. You see, if he'll come along to Tahulamaji, I'll sell him a half interest in the business, and we could let the manager go. But I doubt if he'll do it. It's so far, and then, you see, he's been with the Babbits so long. I can fancy one's growing very much attached to the Babbits!"
"And if he doesn't want to go to Tahulamaji?" asked her sister.
"If he doesn't? If he doesn't? Well, then I'll have to follow his lead."
The Rev. Needham had a sudden flash of wholly disorganizing inspiration. "Marjory, you don't mean Babbit & Babbit?"
But it was just exactly what she did mean! "Yes, in that case I'll travel for Babbit & Babbit. Must be doing something, I can tell you, with all these parish houses to be built! And it won't be my first job on the road, by any manner of means, either!"
Then she kissed her sister affectionately on the mouth and her brother-in-law affectionately on the cheek. And then the cottage lamp went out.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
rev
|
|
| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
miserably
|
|
| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
ecstasy
|
|
| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
smote
|
|
| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
elevation
|
|
| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
emphatic
|
|
| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
withdrawal
|
|
| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
harassed
|
|
| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
attaining
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的现在分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
appalling
|
|
| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
vigour
|
|
| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
poignancy
|
|
| n.辛酸事，尖锐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
poise
|
|
| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
climax
|
|
| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
reign
|
|
| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
chaos
|
|
| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
turmoil
|
|
| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
dominant
|
|
| adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
positively
|
|
| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
hustled
|
|
| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
infinitely
|
|
| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
cosily
|
|
| adv.舒适地，惬意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
snug
|
|
| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
prodigal
|
|
| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
cosy
|
|
| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
poetic
|
|
| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
harmonious
|
|
| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
vocation
|
|
| n.职业，行业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
trolley
|
|
| n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
gasping
|
|
| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
pathos
|
|
| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
bishop
|
|
| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
mattresses
|
|
| 褥垫，床垫( mattress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
sputter
|
|
| n.喷溅声；v.喷溅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
shafts
|
|
| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
chattered
|
|
| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
gaily
|
|
| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |