He had flung away a deal of money that evening, with something which to him was dearer. Had you attempted to condole5 with him he would not have understood you.
"But what would you have had a gentleman do, sir?" Colonel Musgrave would have said, in real perplexity.
Besides, it was, in fact, not sorrow that he felt, rather it was contentment, when he remembered the girl's present happiness; and what alone depressed6 the colonel's courtly affability toward the universe at large was the queer, horrible new sense of being somehow out of touch with yesterday's so comfortable world, of being out-moded, of being almost old.
"Eh, well!" he said; "I am of a certain age undoubtedly7."
By an odd turn the colonel thought of how his friends of his own class and generation had honestly admired the after-dinner speech which he had made that evening. And he smiled, but very tenderly, because they were all men and women whom he loved.
"The most of us have known each other for a long while. The most of us, in fact, are of a certain age…. I think no people ever met the sorry problem that we faced. For we were born the masters of a leisured, ordered world; and by a tragic8 quirk9 of destiny were thrust into a quite new planet, where we were for a while the inferiors, and after that just the competitors of yesterday's slaves.
"We couldn't meet the new conditions. Oh, for the love of heaven, let us be frank, and confess that we have not met them as things practical go. We hadn't the training for it. A man who has not been taught to swim may rationally be excused for preferring to sit upon the bank; and should he elect to ornament10 his idleness with protestations that he is self-evidently an excellent swimmer, because once upon a time his progenitors11 were the only people in the world who had the slightest conception of how to perform a natatorial masterpiece, the thing is simply human nature. Talking chokes nobody, worse luck.
"And yet we haven't done so badly. For the most part we have sat upon the bank our whole lives long. We have produced nothing—after all—which was absolutely earth-staggering; and we have talked a deal of clap-trap. But meanwhile we have at least enhanced the comeliness12 of our particular sand-bar. We have lived a courteous13 and tranquil14 and independent life thereon, just as our fathers taught us. It may be—in the final outcome of things—that will be found an even finer pursuit than the old one of producing Presidents.
"Besides, we have produced ourselves. We have been gentlefolk in spite of all, we have been true even in our iniquities15 to the traditions of our race. No, I cannot assert that these traditions always square with ethics16 or even with the Decalogue, for we have added a very complex Eleventh Commandment concerning honor. And for the rest, we have defiantly17 embroidered18 life, and indomitably we have converted the commonest happening of life into a comely19 thing. We have been artists if not artizans."
There was upon the table a large photograph in sepia of Patricia
Stapylton. He studied this now. She was very beautiful, he thought.
"'Nor thou detain her vesture's hem'—" said the colonel aloud. "Oh, that infernal Yankee understood, even though he was born in Boston!" And this as coming from a Musgrave of Matocton, may fairly be considered as a sweeping20 tribute to the author of Give All to Love.
Colonel Musgrave was intent upon the portrait…. So! she had chosen at last between himself and this young fellow, a workman born of workmen, who went about the world building bridges and canals and tunnels and such, in those far countries which were to Colonel Musgrave just so many gray or pink or fawn-colored splotches on the map. It seemed to Colonel Musgrave almost an allegory.
So Colonel Musgrave filled a glass with the famed Lafayette madeira of Matocton, and solemnly drank yet another toast. He loved to do, as you already know, that which was colorful.
"To this new South," he said. "To this new South that has not any longer need of me or of my kind.
"To this new South! She does not gaze unwillingly21, nor too complacently22, upon old years, and dares concede that but with loss of manliness23 may any man encroach upon the heritage of a dog or of a trotting-horse, and consider the exploits of an ancestor to guarantee an innate24 and personal excellence25.
"For to her all former glory is less a jewel than a touchstone, and with her portion of it daily she appraises26 her own doing, and without vain speech. And her high past she values now, in chief, as fit foundation of that edifice27 whereon she labors28 day by day, and with augmenting29 strokes."
* * * * *
And yet—"It may be he will serve you better. But, oh, it isn't possible that he should love you more than I," said Colonel Musgrave of Matocton.
The man was destined30 to remember that utterance—and, with the recollection, to laugh not altogether in either scorn or merriment.
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1
contractors
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n.(建筑、监造中的)承包人( contractor的名词复数 ) | |
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2
renovation
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n.革新,整修 | |
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3
heralds
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n.使者( herald的名词复数 );预报者;预兆;传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 );宣布(好或重要) | |
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4
dealing
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n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
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5
condole
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v.同情;慰问 | |
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6
depressed
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adj.沮丧的,抑郁的,不景气的,萧条的 | |
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7
undoubtedly
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adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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8
tragic
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adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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9
quirk
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n.奇事,巧合;古怪的举动 | |
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10
ornament
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v.装饰,美化;n.装饰,装饰物 | |
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11
progenitors
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n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 );先驱;前辈;原本 | |
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12
comeliness
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n. 清秀, 美丽, 合宜 | |
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13
courteous
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adj.彬彬有礼的,客气的 | |
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14
tranquil
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adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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15
iniquities
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n.邪恶( iniquity的名词复数 );极不公正 | |
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16
ethics
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n.伦理学;伦理观,道德标准 | |
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17
defiantly
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adv.挑战地,大胆对抗地 | |
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18
embroidered
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adj.绣花的 | |
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19
comely
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adj.漂亮的,合宜的 | |
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20
sweeping
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adj.范围广大的,一扫无遗的 | |
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21
unwillingly
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adv.不情愿地 | |
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22
complacently
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adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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23
manliness
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刚毅 | |
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24
innate
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adj.天生的,固有的,天赋的 | |
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25
excellence
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n.优秀,杰出,(pl.)优点,美德 | |
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26
appraises
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v.估价( appraise的第三人称单数 );估计;估量;评价 | |
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27
edifice
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n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿,教室) | |
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28
labors
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v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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29
augmenting
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使扩张 | |
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30
destined
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adj.命中注定的;(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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