"It is possible to announce that I am the Duke of Ormskirk—and to what end? Faith, I had as well proclaim myself the Pope of Rome or the Cazique of Mexico: the jackanapes will effect to regard my confession4 as the device of a desperate man and will hang me just the same; and his infernal comedy will go on without a hitch5. Nay6, I am fairly trapped, and Monsieur de Soyecourt holds the winning hand—Now that I think of it he even has, in Mr. Bulmer's letter of introduction, my formally signed statement that I am not Ormskirk. It was tactful of the small rascal7 not to allude8 to that crowning piece of stupidity: I appreciate his forbearance. But even so, to be outwitted—and hanged—-by a smirking9 Hop-o'-my-thumb!
"Oh, this is very annoying!" said John Bulmer, in his impotence.
He sat down once more, sulkily, like an overfed cat, and began to read with desperate attention: "'Here may men understand that be of worship, that he was never formed that at every time might stand, but sometimes he was put to the worse by evil fortune. And at sometimes the worse knight10 putteth the better knight into rebuke11.' Behold12 a niggardly13 salve rather than a panacea14." He turned several pages. "'And then said Sir Tristram to Sir Lamorake, "I require you if ye happen to meet with Sir Palomides—"'" Startled, John Bulmer glanced about the garden.
It turned on a sudden into the primal15 garden of Paradise. "I came," she loftily explained, "because I considered it my duty to apologize in person for leading you into great danger. Our scouts16 tell us that already Cazaio is marshalling his men upon the Taunenfels."
"And yet," John Bulmer said, as he arose, and put away his book, "Bellegarde is a strong place. And our good Marquis, whatever else he may be, is neither a fool nor a coward."
Claire shrugged17. "Cazaio has ten men to our one. Yet perhaps we can hold out till Gaston comes with his dragoons. And then—well, I have some influence with Gaston. He will not deny me,—ah, surely he will not deny me if I go down on my knees to him and wear my very prettiest gown. Nay, at bottom Gaston is kind, my friend, and he will spare you."
"To be your husband?" said John Bulmer.
Twice she faltered18 "No." And then she cried, with a sudden flare19 of irritation20: "I do not love you! I cannot help that. Oh, you—you unutterable bully21!"
Gravely he shook his head at her.
"But indeed you are a bully. You are trying to bully me into caring for you, and you know it. What else moved you to return to Bellegarde, and to sit here, a doomed22 man, tranquilly23 reading? Yes, but you were,—I happened to see you, through the key-hole in the gate. And why else should you be doing that unless you were trying to bully me into admiring you?"
"Because I adore you," said John Bulmer, taking affairs in order; "and because in this noble and joyous24 history of the great conqueror25 and excellent monarch26, King Arthur, I find much diverting matter; and because, to be quite frank, Claire, I consider an existence without you neither alluring27 nor possible."
She had noticeably pinkened. "Oh, monsieur," the girl cried, "you are laughing because you are afraid that I will laugh at what you are saying to me. Believe me, I have no desire to laugh. It frightens me, rather. I had thought that nowadays no man could behave with a foolishness so divine. I had thought all such extravagancy perished with the Launcelot and Palomides of your book. And I had thought—that in any event, you had no earthly right to call me Claire."
"Superficially, the reproach is just," he assented28, "but what was the name your Palomides cried in battle, pray? Was it not Ysoude! when his searching sword had at last found the joints29 of his adversary's armor, or when the foe's helmet spouted30 blood? Ysoude! when the line of adverse31 spears wavered and broke, and the Saracen was victor? Was it not Ysoude! he murmured riding over alien hill and valley in pursuit of the Questing Beast?—'the glatisant beast'? Assuredly, he cried Ysoude! and meantime La Beale Ysoude sits snug32 in Cornwall with Tristram, who dons his armor once in a while to roll Palomides in the sand coram populo. Still the name was sweet, and I protest the Saracen had a perfect right to mention it whenever he felt so inclined."
"You jest at everything," she lamented—"which is one of the many traits that I dislike in you."
"Knowing your heart to be very tender," he submitted, "I am endeavoring to present as jovial33 and callous34 an appearance as may be possible—to you, whom I love as Palomides loved Ysoude. Otherwise, you might be cruelly upset by your compassion35 and sympathy. Yet stay; is there not another similitude? Assuredly, for you love me much as Ysoude loved Palomides. What the deuce is all this lamentation36 to you? You do not value it the beard of an onion,—while of course grieving that your friendship should have been so utterly37 misconstrued, and wrongly interpreted,—and—trusting that nothing you have said or done has misled me—Oh, but I know you women!"
"Indeed, I sometimes wonder," she reflected, "what sort of women you have been friends with hitherto? They must have been very patient of nonsense."
"Ah, do you think so?—At all events, you interrupt my peroration38. For we have fought, you and I, a—battle which is over, so far as I am concerned. And the other side has won. Well! Pompey was reckoned a very pretty fellow in his day, but he took to his heels at Pharsalia, for all that; and Hannibal, I have heard, did not have matters entirely39 his own way at Zama. Good men have been beaten before this. So, without stopping to cry over spilt milk,—heyho!" he interpolated, with a grimace40, "it was uncommonly41 sweet milk, though,—let's back to our tents and reckon up our wounds."
"I am decidedly of the opinion," she said, "that for all your talk you will find your heart unscratched." Irony42 bewildered Claire, though she invariably recognized it, and gave it a polite smile.
John Bulmer said: "Faith, I do not intend to flatter your vanity by going into a decline on the spot. For in perfect frankness, I find no mortal wounds anywhere. No, we have it on the best authority that, while many men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, it was never for love. I am inclined to agree with Rosalind: an aneurism may be fatal, but a broken heart kills nobody. Lovers have died in divers43 manners since the antique world was made, but not the most luckless of them was slain44 by love. Even Palomides, as my book informs me, went abroad with Launcelot and probably died an old man here in France,—peaceably, in his bed, with the family physician in attendance, and every other circumstance becoming to a genteel demise45. And I dare assert that long before this he had learned to chuckle46 over his youthful follies47, and had protested to his wife that La Beale Ysoude squinted48, or was freckled49, or the like; and had insisted, laughingly, that the best of us must sow our wild oats. And at the last it was his wife who mixed his gruel50 and smoothed his pillow and sat up with him at night; so that if he died thinking of Madame Palomides rather than of La Beale Ysoude, who shall blame him? Not I, for one," said John Bulmer, stoutly51; "If it was not heroic, it was at least respectable, and, above all, natural; and I expect some day to gasp52 out a similar valedictory53. No, not to-morrow at noon, I think: I shall probably get out of this, somehow. And when, in any event, I set about the process of dying, I may be thinking of you, O fair lost lady! and again I may not be thinking of you. Who can say? A fly, for instance, may have lighted upon my nose and his tickling54 may have distracted my ultimate thoughts. Meanwhile, I love you consumedly, and you do not care a snap of your fingers for me."
"I—I am sorry," she said, inadequately55.
"You are the more gracious." And his face sank down into his hands, and
Claire was forgotten, for he was remembering Alison Pleydell and that
A hand, feather-soft, fell upon, his shoulder, "And who was your Ysoude,
Jean Bulmer?"
"A woman who died twenty years ago,—a woman dead before you were born, my dear."
But when he raised his head Claire was gone.
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1
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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2
barter
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| n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易 | |
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3
disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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5
hitch
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| v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉 | |
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6
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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7
rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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8
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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9
smirking
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| v.傻笑( smirk的现在分词 ) | |
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10
knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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11
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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12
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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niggardly
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| adj.吝啬的，很少的 | |
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14
panacea
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| n.万灵药；治百病的灵药 | |
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15
primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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16
scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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17
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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18
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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19
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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20
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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21
bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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22
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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23
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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24
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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26
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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28
assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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29
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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30
spouted
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| adj.装有嘴的v.（指液体）喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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31
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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32
snug
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| 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 | |
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33
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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34
callous
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| adj.无情的，冷淡的，硬结的，起老茧的 | |
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35
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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36
lamentation
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| n.悲叹，哀悼 | |
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37
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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38
peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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39
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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40
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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41
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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42
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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43
divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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44
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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45
demise
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| n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让 | |
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46
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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47
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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48
squinted
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| 斜视( squint的过去式和过去分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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49
freckled
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| adj.雀斑；斑点；晒斑；（使）生雀斑v.雀斑，斑点( freckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
gruel
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| n.稀饭，粥 | |
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51
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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52
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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53
valedictory
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| adj.告别的；n.告别演说 | |
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54
tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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55
inadequately
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| ad.不够地；不够好地 | |
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56
bankruptcy
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| n.破产；无偿付能力 | |
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57
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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58
revelling
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| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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59
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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60
loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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