"Between now and a while," said Freydis, "you must be capturing Bellegarde and cutting off Duke Asmund's ugly head, because by right and by King Ferdinand's own handwriting all Poictesme belongs to you."
"Well, we will let that wait a bit," says Manuel, "for I do not so heartily5 wish to be tied down with parchments in a count's gilded6 seat as I do to travel everywhither and see the ends of this world and judge them. At all events, dear Freydis, I am content enough for the present, in this little home of ours, and public affairs can wait."
"Still, something ought to be done about it," said Freydis. And, since Manuel displayed an obstinate7 prejudice against any lethal8 plague, she put the puckerel curse upon Asmund, by which he was afflicted9 with all small bodily ills that can intervene between corns and dandruff.
On Upper Morven Freydis had reared by enchantment10 a modest home, that was builded of jasper and porphyry and yellow and violet breccia. Inside, the stone walls were everywhere covered with significant traceries in low relief, and were incrusted at intervals11 with disks and tesserae of turquoise-colored porcelain12. The flooring, of course, was of zinc13, as a defence against the unfriendly Alfs, who are at perpetual war with Audela, and, moreover, there was a palisade, enclosing all, of peeled willow14 wands, not buttered but oiled, and fastened with unknotted ribbons.
Everything was very simple and homelike, and here the servitors of Freydis attended them when there was need. The fallen Queen was not a gray witch—not in appearance certainly, but in her endowments, which were not limited as are the powers of black witches and white witches. She instructed Dom Manuel in the magic of Audela, and she and Manuel had great times together that spring and summer, evoking15 ancient dis-crowned gods and droll16 monsters and instructive ghosts to entertain them in the pauses between other pleasures.
They heard no more, for that turn, of the clay figure to which they had given life, save for the news brought, by a bogglebo, that as the limping gay young fellow went down from Morven the reputable citizenry everywhere were horrified17 because he went as he was created, stark-naked, and this was not considered respectable. So a large tumble-bug came from the west, out of the quagmires18 of Philistia and followed after the animated19 figure, yelping20 and spluttering, "Morals, not art!" And for that while, the figure went out of Manuel's saga21, thus malodorously accompanied.
"But we will make a much finer figure," says Freydis, "so it does not matter."
"Yes, by and by," says Manuel, "but we will let that wait a bit."
"You are always saying that nowadays!"
"Ah, but, my dear, it is so very pleasant to rest here doing nothing serious for a little while, now that my geas is discharged. Presently of course we must be travelling everywhither, and when we have seen the ends of this world, and have judged them, I shall have time, and greater knowledge too, to give to this image making—"
"It is not from any remote strange places, dear Manuel, but from his own land that a man must get the earth for this image making—"
"Well, be that as it may, your kisses are to me far more delicious than your magic."
"I love to hear you say that, my dearest, but still—"
"No, not at all, for you are really much nicer when you are cuddling so, than when you are running about the world pretending to be pigs and snakes and fireworks, and murdering people with your extravagant22 sorceries."
Saying this, he kissed her, and thus stilled her protests, for in these amiable23 times Queen Freydis also was at bottom less interested in magic than in kisses. Indeed, there was never any sorceress more loving and tender than Freydis, now that she had become a human woman.
If ever she was irritable24 it was only when Manuel confessed, in reply to jealous questionings, that he did not find her quite so beautiful nor so clever as Niafer had been: but this, as Manuel pointed25 out, could not be helped. For there had never been anybody like Niafer, and it would be nonsense to say otherwise.
It is possible that Dom Manuel believed this. The rather homely26, not intelligent, and in no respect bedazzling servant girl may well have been—in the inexplicable27 way these things fell out,—the woman whom Manuel's heart had chosen, and who therefore in his eyes for the rest of time must differ from all other persons. Certainly no unastigmatic judge would have decreed this swarthy Niafer fit, as the phrase is, to hold a candle either to Freydis or Alianora: whereas Manuel did not conceal28, even from these royal ladies themselves, his personal if unique evaluations29.
To the other side, some say that ladies who are used to hourly admiration30 cannot endure the passing of a man who seems to admire not quite wholeheartedly. He who does not admire at all is obviously a fool, and not worth bothering about. But to him who admits, "You are well enough," and makes as though to pass on, there is a mystery attached: and the one way to solve it is to pursue this irritating fellow. Some (reasoning thus) assert that squinting31 Manuel was aware of this axiom, and that he respected it in all his dealings with Freydis and Alianora. Either way, these theorists did not ever get any verbal buttressing32 from Dom Manuel. Niafer dead and lost to him, he, without flaunting33 any unexampled ardors, fell to loving Alianora: and now that Freydis had put off immortality34 for his kisses, the tall boy had, again, somewhat the air of consenting to accept this woman's sacrifice, and her loveliness and all her power and wisdom, as being upon the whole the handiest available substitute for Niafer's sparse35 charms.
Yet others declare, more simply, that Dom Manuel was so constituted as to value more cheaply every desire after he had attained36 it. And these say he noted37 that—again in the inexplicable way these things fall out,—now Manuel possessed38 the unearthly Queen she had become, precisely39 as Alianora had become, a not extraordinary person, who in all commerce with her lover dealt as such.
"But do you really love me, O man of all men?" Freydis would say, "and, this damned Niafer apart, do you love me a little more than you love any other woman?"
"Why, are there any other women?" says Manuel, in fine surprise. "Oh, to be sure, I suppose there are, but I had forgotten about them. I have not heard or seen or thought of those petticoated creatures since my dear Freydis came."
The sorceress purred at this sort of talk, and she rested her head where there seemed a place especially made for it. "I wish I could believe your words, king of my heart. I have to strive so hard, nowadays, to goad40 you into saying these idiotic41 suitable dear things: and even when at last you do say them your voice is light and high, and makes them sound as though you were joking."
He kissed the thick coil of hair which lay fragrant42 against his lips. "Do you know, in spite of my joking, I do love you a great deal?"
"I would practise saying that over to myself," observed Freydis critically. "You should let your voice break a little after the first three words."
"I speak as I feel. I love you, Freydis, and I tell you so."
"Yes, but you are no longer a perpetual nuisance about it."
"Alas43, my dear, you are no longer the unattainable Queen of the country on the other side of the fire, and that makes a difference, certainly. It is equally certain that I love you over and above all living women."
"Ah, but, my dearest, who loves you more than any human tongue can tell?"
"A peculiarly obstinate and lovely imbecile," says Manuel; and he did that which seemed suitable.
Later Freydis sighed luxuriously44. "That saves you the trouble of talking, does it not? And you talked so madly and handsomely that first night, when you wanted to get around me on account of the image, but now you do not make me any pretty speeches at all."
"Oh, heavens!" said Manuel, "but I am embracing a monomaniac. Dear Freydis, whatever I might say would be perforce the same old words that have been whispered by millions of men to many more millions of women, and my love for you is a quite unparalleled thing which ought not to be travestied by any such shopworn apparel."
"Now again you must be putting me off with solemn joking in that light high voice, and there is no faithfulness in that voice, and its talking troubles me."
"I speak as I feel. I love you, Freydis, and I tell you so, but I cannot be telling it over and over again every quarter of the hour."
"Oh, but very certainly this big squinting boy is the most unloquacious and the most stubborn brute45 that ever lived!"
"And would you have me otherwise?"
"No, that is the queer part of it. But it is a grief to me to wonder if you foresaw as much."
"I!" says Manuel, jovially46. "But what would I be doing with any such finespun policies? My dear, until you comprehend I am the most frank and downright creature that ever lived you do not begin to appreciate me."
"I know you are, big boy. But still, I wonder," Freydis said, "and the wondering is a thin little far-off grief."
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1
narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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amicably
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| adv.友善地 | |
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iniquitous
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| adj.不公正的；邪恶的；高得出奇的 | |
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usurper
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| n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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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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lethal
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| adj.致死的；毁灭性的 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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zinc
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| n.锌；vt.在...上镀锌 | |
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willow
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| n.柳树 | |
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evoking
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| 产生，引起，唤起( evoke的现在分词 ) | |
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droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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quagmires
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| n.沼泽地，泥潭( quagmire的名词复数 ) | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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yelping
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| v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的现在分词 ) | |
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saga
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| n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇 | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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evaluations
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| 估价( evaluation的名词复数 )； 赋值； 估计价值； [医学]诊断 | |
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30
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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31
squinting
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| 斜视( squint的现在分词 )； 眯着眼睛； 瞟； 从小孔或缝隙里看 | |
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buttressing
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| v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的现在分词 ) | |
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flaunting
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| adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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goad
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| n.刺棒，刺痛物；激励；vt.激励，刺激 | |
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41
idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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42
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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43
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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45
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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jovially
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| adv.愉快地，高兴地 | |
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