"Monsieur," said she, "will you be pleased to tell me the meaning of this comedy?"
"Ah," said she, "believe me, I do not undervalue your perception. I have always esteemed15 your cleverness, monsieur, however much"—she paused for a moment, a fluctuating smile upon her lips,—"however much I may have regretted its manifestations16. I am not clever, and to me cleverness has always seemed to be an infinite incapacity for hard work; its results are usually a few sonnets17, an undesirable18 wife, and a warning for one's acquaintances. In your case it is, of course, different; you have your statesmanship to play with—"
"And statesmen have no need of cleverness, you would imply, madame?"
"I do not say that. In any event, you are the Duc de Puysange, and the weight of a great name stifles20 stupidity and cleverness without any partiality. With you, cleverness has taken the form of a tendency to intoxication21, amours, and—amiability. I have acquiesced22 in this. But, for the past month—"
"The happiest period of my life!" breathed the Duke.
"—you have been pleased to present me with flowers, bonbons23, jewels, and what not. You have actually accorded your wife the courtesies you usually preserve for the ladies of the ballet. You have dogged my footsteps, you have attempted to intrude24 into my bedroom, you have talked to me as—well, very much as—"
"Much as the others do?" de Puysange queried25, helpfully. "Pardon me, madame, but, in one's own husband, I had thought this very routine might savor26 of originality27."
The Duchess flushed, "All the world knows, monsieur, that in your estimation what men have said to me, or I to them, has been for fifteen years a matter of no moment! It is not due to you that I am still—"
"A pearl," finished the Duke, gallantly,—then touched himself upon the chest,—"cast before swine," he sighed.
She rose to her feet. "Yes, cast before swine!" she cried, with a quick lift of speech. She seemed very tall as she stood tapping her fingers upon the table, irresolutely28; but after an instant she laughed and spread out her fine hands in an impotent gesture. "Ah, monsieur," she said, "my father entrusted29 to your keeping a clean-minded girl! What have you made of her, Gaston?"
A strange and profoundly unreasonable30 happiness swept through the Duke's soul as she spoke his given name for the first time within his memory. Surely, the deep contralto voice had lingered over it?—half-tenderly, half-caressingly, one might think.
The Duke put aside his coffee-cup and, rising, took his wife's soft hands in his. "What have I made of her? I have made of her, Hélène, the one object of all my desires."
Her face flushed. "Mountebank31!" she cried, and struggled to free herself; "do you mistake me, then, for a raddle-faced actress in a barn? Ah, les demoiselles have formed you, monsieur,—they have formed you well!"
"Pardon!" said the Duke. He released her hands, he swept back his hair with a gesture of impatience32. He turned from his wife, and strolled toward a window, where, for a little, he tapped upon the pane33, his murky34 countenance35 twitching36 oddly, as he stared into the quiet and sunlit street. "Madame," he began, in a level voice, "I will tell you the meaning of the comedy. To me,—always, as you know, a creature of whims,—there came, a month ago, a new whim37 which I thought attractive, unconventional, promising38. It was to make love to my own wife rather than to another man's. Ah, I grant you, it is incredible," he cried, when the Duchess raised her hand as though to speak,—"incredible, fantastic, and ungentlemanly! So be it; nevertheless, I have played out my rôle. I have been the model husband; I have put away wine and—les demoiselles; for it pleased me, in my petty insolence39, to patronize, rather than to defy, the laws of God and man. Your perfection irritated me, madame; it pleased me to demonstrate how easy is this trick of treating the world as the antechamber of a future existence. It pleased me to have in my life one space, however short, over which neither the Recording40 Angel nor even you might draw a long countenance. It pleased me, in effect, to play out the comedy, smug-faced and immaculate,—for the time. I concede that I have failed in my part. Hiss41 me from the stage, madame; add one more insult to the already considerable list of those affronts42 which I have put upon you; one more will scarcely matter."
She faced him with set lips. "So, monsieur, your boasted comedy amounts only to this?"
"I am not sure of its meaning, madame. I think that, perhaps, the swine, wallowing in the mire43 which they have neither strength nor will to leave, may yet, at times, long—and long whole-heartedly—" De Puysange snapped his fingers. "Peste!" said he, "let us now have done with this dreary44 comedy! Beyond doubt de Soyecourt has much to answer for, in those idle words which were its germ. Let us hiss both collaborators, madame."
"De Soyecourt!" she marveled, with, a little start. "Was it he who prompted you to make love to me?"
"Without intention," pleaded the Duke. "He twitted me for my inability, as your husband, to gain your affections; but I do not question his finest sensibilities would be outraged45 by our disastrous46 revival47 of Philemon and Baucis."
"Ah—!" said she. She was smiling at some reflection or other.
There was a pause. The Duc de Puysange drummed upon the window-pane; the Duchess, still faintly smiling, trifled with the thin gold chain that hung about her neck. Both knew their display of emotion to have been somewhat unmodern, not entirely à la mode.
"Decidedly," spoke de Puysange, and turned toward her with a slight grimace48, "I am no longer fit to play the lover; yet a little while, madame, and you must stir my gruel-posset, and arrange the pillows more comfortably about the octogenarian."
"Ah, Gaston," she answered, and in protest raised her slender fingers, "let us have no more heroics. We are not well fitted for them, you and I."
"So it would appear," the Duc de Puysange conceded, not without sulkiness.
"Let us be friends," she pleaded. "Remember, it was fifteen years ago I made the grave mistake of marrying a very charming man—"
"Merci!" cried the Duke.
"—and I did not know that I was thereby49 denying myself the pleasure of his acquaintance. I have learned too late that marrying a man is only the most civil way of striking him from one's visiting-list." The Duchess hesitated. "Frankly50, Gaston, I do not regret the past month."
"It has been adorable!" sighed the Duke.
"Yes," she admitted; "except those awkward moments when you would insist on making love to me."
"But no, madame," cried he, "it was precisely—"
"O my husband, my husband!" she interrupted, with a shrug51 of the shoulders; "why, you do it so badly!"
The Duc de Puysange took a short turn about the apartment. "Yet I married you," said he, "at sixteen—out of a convent!"
"Mon ami," she murmured, in apology, "am I not to be frank with you? Would you have only the connubial52 confidences?"
"But I had no idea—" he began.
"Why, Gaston, it bored me to the very verge53 of yawning in my lover's countenance. I, too, had no idea but that it would bore you equally—"
"Hein?" said the Duke.
"—to hear what d'Humières—"
"—or de Créquy—"
"That red-haired ape!" he muttered.
"—or d'Arlanges, or—or any of them, was pleased to say. In fact, it was my duty to conceal55 from my husband anything which might involve him in duels56. Now that we are friends, of course it is entirely different."
The Duchess smiled; the Duke walked up and down the room with the contained ferocity of a caged tiger.
"In duels! in a whole series of duels! So these seducers besiege57 you in platoons. Ma foi, friendship is a good oculist58! Already my vision improves."
"Gaston!" she cried. The Duchess rose and laid both hands upon his shoulders. "Gaston—?" she repeated.
For a heart-beat the Duc de Puysange looked into his wife's eyes; then he sadly smiled and shook his head. "Madame," said the Duke, "I do not doubt you. Ah, believe me, I have comprehended, always, that in your keeping my honor was quite safe—far more safe than in mine, as Heaven and most of the fiends well know. You have been a true and faithful wife to a worthless brute59 who has not deserved it." He lifted her fingers to his lips. De Puysange stood very erect60; his heels clicked together, and his voice was earnest. "I thank you, madame, and I pray you to believe that I have never doubted you. You are too perfect to err—Frankly, and between friends." added the Duke, "it was your cold perfection which frightened me. You are an icicle, Hélène."
She was silent for a moment. "Ah!" she said, and sighed; "you think so?"
"Once, then—?" The Duc de Puysange seated himself beside his wife, and took her hand.
"Between friends," the Duke suggested, "there should be no reservations."
"But it is such a pitiably inartistic little history!" the Duchess protested. "Eh bien, if you must have it! For I was a girl once,—an innocent girl, as given as are most girls to long reveries and bright, callow day-dreams. And there was a man—"
"There always is," said the Duke, darkly.
"Why, he never even knew, mon ami!" cried his wife, and laughed, and clapped her hands. "He was much older than I; there were stories about him—oh, a great many stories,—and one hears even in a convent—" She paused with a reminiscent smile. "And I used to wonder shyly what this very fearful reprobate62 might be like. I thought of him with de Lauzun, and Dom Juan, and with the Duc de Grammont, and all those other scented63, shimmering64, magnificent libertines65 over whom les ingénues—wonder; only, I thought of him, more often than of the others, I made little prayers for him to the Virgin66. And I procured67 a tiny miniature of him. And, when I came out of the convent, I met him at my father's house. [Footnote: She was of the Aigullon family, and sister to d'Agenois, the first and very politic68 lover of Madame de la Tournelle, afterward69 mistress to Louis Quinze under the title of Duchesse de Châteauroux. The later relations between the d'Aigullons and Madame du Barry are well-known.] And that was all."
"All?" The Duc de Puysange had raised his swart eyebrows, and he slightly smiled.
"All," she re-echoed, firmly. "Oh, I assure you he was still too youthful to have any time to devote to young girls. He was courteous—no more. But I kept the picture,—ah, girls are so foolish, Gaston!" The Duchess, with a light laugh, drew upward the thin chain about her neck. At its end was a little heart-shaped locket of dull gold, with a diamond sunk deep in each side. She regarded the locket with a quaint19 sadness. "It is a long while since I have seen that miniature, for it has been sealed in here," said she, "ever since—since some one gave me the locket"
Now the Duc de Puysange took this trinket, still tepid70 and perfumed from contact with her flesh. He turned it awkwardly in his hand, his eyes flashing volumes of wonderment and inquiry71. Yet he did not appear jealous, nor excessively unhappy. "And never," he demanded, some vital emotion catching72 at his voice—"never since then—?"
"I never, of course, approved of him," she answered; and at this point de Puysange noted—so near as he could remember for the first time in his existence,—the curve of her trailing lashes. Why but his wife had lovely eyelashes, lashes so unusual that he drew nearer to observe them more at his ease. "Still,—I hardly know how to tell you—still, without him the world was more quiet, less colorful; it held, appreciably73, less to catch the eye and ear. Eh, he had an air, Gaston; he was never an admirable man, but, somehow, he was invariably the centre of the picture."
"And you have always—always you have cared for him?" said the Duke, drawing nearer and yet more near to her.
"Other men," she murmured, "seem futile74 and of minor75 importance, after him." The lashes lifted. They fell, promptly76. "So, I have always kept the heart, mon ami. And, yes, I have always loved him, I suppose."
The chain had moved and quivered in his hand. Was it man or woman who trembled? wondered the Duc de Puysange. For a moment he stood immovable, every nerve in his body tense. Surely, it was she who trembled? It seemed to him that this woman, whose cold perfection had galled77 him so long, now stood with downcast eyes, and blushed and trembled, too, like any rustic78 maiden79 come shamefaced to her first tryst80.
"Hélène—!" he cried.
"But no, my story is too dull," she protested, and shrugged81 her shoulders, and disengaged herself—half-fearfully, it seemed to her husband. "Even more insipid82 than your comedy," she added, with a not unkindly smile. "Do we drive this afternoon?"
"In effect, yes!" cried the Duke. He paused and laughed—a low and gentle laugh, pulsing with unutterable content. "Since this afternoon, madame—"
"Is cloudless?" she queried.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
nuance
|
|
| n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
exhaled
|
|
| v.呼出，发散出( exhale的过去式和过去分词 )；吐出（肺中的空气、烟等），呼气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
discreet
|
|
| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
lithe
|
|
| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
reticence
|
|
| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
splendor
|
|
| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
crass
|
|
| adj.愚钝的，粗糙的；彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
digestion
|
|
| n.消化，吸收 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
lapsed
|
|
| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
amenities
|
|
| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
spoke
|
|
| 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： |
|
|
|
|
13
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
esteemed
|
|
| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
manifestations
|
|
| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
sonnets
|
|
| n.十四行诗( sonnet的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
undesirable
|
|
| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
stifles
|
|
| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 )； 镇压，遏制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
intoxication
|
|
| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
acquiesced
|
|
| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bonbons
|
|
| n.小糖果( bonbon的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
intrude
|
|
| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
queried
|
|
| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
savor
|
|
| vt.品尝，欣赏；n.味道，风味；情趣，趣味 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
originality
|
|
| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
irresolutely
|
|
| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
entrusted
|
|
| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
unreasonable
|
|
| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
mountebank
|
|
| n.江湖郎中；骗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
pane
|
|
| n.窗格玻璃，长方块 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
murky
|
|
| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
twitching
|
|
| n.颤搐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
whim
|
|
| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
insolence
|
|
| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
recording
|
|
| n.录音，记录 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
hiss
|
|
| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
affronts
|
|
| n.（当众）侮辱，（故意）冒犯( affront的名词复数 )v.勇敢地面对( affront的第三人称单数 )；相遇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
mire
|
|
| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
dreary
|
|
| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
outraged
|
|
| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
disastrous
|
|
| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
revival
|
|
| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
grimace
|
|
| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
thereby
|
|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
shrug
|
|
| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
connubial
|
|
| adj.婚姻的，夫妇的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
squints
|
|
| 斜视症( squint的名词复数 )； 瞥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
duels
|
|
| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
besiege
|
|
| vt.包围，围攻，拥在...周围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
oculist
|
|
| n.眼科医生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
lashes
|
|
| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
reprobate
|
|
| n.无赖汉；堕落的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
shimmering
|
|
| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
libertines
|
|
| n.放荡不羁的人，淫荡的人( libertine的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
procured
|
|
| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
politic
|
|
| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
tepid
|
|
| adj.微温的，温热的，不太热心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
appreciably
|
|
| adv.相当大地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
minor
|
|
| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
promptly
|
|
| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
galled
|
|
| v.使…擦痛( gall的过去式和过去分词 )；擦伤；烦扰；侮辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
maiden
|
|
| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
tryst
|
|
| n.约会；v.与…幽会 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
insipid
|
|
| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
Amended
|
|
| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
refulgent
|
|
| adj.辉煌的，灿烂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |