The spectacle of a pair of lovers equally pale and proud alighting at her door was rather dispiriting to Lady Sarah Maitland, but she did not lose heart. This she rightly considered to be the proper thing for them, not for her to do. At least they should not escape "the solitude1 of the crowd," and opportunities for bringing them into this sort of solitude were not lacking. The same afternoon an English lord, who had recently been making a tour of the States, with some officers of His Majesty's 70th Regiment2, then stationed at York, arrived at Stamford Cottage, and in their honour a large number of guests were assembled that evening. The soft radiance of mingled3 moonlight and candle light, the artistic4 luxury of the place and its surroundings, the exquisite5 robes of soft-voiced women, the cultivated tone and manner of the men, with a sort of subtle and distinguished6 aroma7 of British nobility shed over the whole--all of these things held for Edward Macleod a potent8 witchery. This evening he was in unusually good spirits, and was entertaining a group of gentlemen, who had gathered about him in the centre of the large drawing-room, by an amusing account of his hunting experiences in the backwoods. The sounds of subdued9 mirth that followed his recital10 induced a passing bevy11 of ladies to join them. Lady Sarah took the arm of Helene, and gave him her flattering attention along with the rest. A young man never talks poorly from the knowledge that he has gained the ear of his audience.
"Really, a remarkably12 bright young fellow," confided13 Lord E---- to Sir Peregrine, at the close of another story, which was accentuated14 by little bursts of gentle laughter.
A slight breeze blew from a suddenly opened door upon the wax tapers15, and the next moment a strange figure made its way through that brilliantly dressed assemblage, and laid its hand upon the arm of Edward. With his face flushed and eyes brightened by the sweetly breathed flattery that, like wine, was apt to go to his brain, he turned and beheld16 Wanda. She had evidently walked all the way from her home for the express purpose of finding him. Her dress, made up of various coloured garments, the cast-off raiment of those whose charity had fed and lodged17 her on the way, was covered with dust; her magnificent hair lay in a great straggling heap upon her shoulders. "My father has gone to the spirit-land," she said, "and now I come to you." Lady Sarah and Rose advanced immediately, with protestations of pity and sympathy, and entreaties18 that she would go at once with them to find food and rest. But she was immovable as granite19. "I have come to you," she said, her beautiful eyes fixed20 upon Edward, and she uttered a few words of endearment21 in the Huron tongue. Nobody understood them but the young man, his sister, and hostess. The latter lady felt herself growing very cold, but she accompanied the pair to a private parlour, and returned to her guests with an amused smile upon her lips.
"Poor thing!" she said in a clear voice, distinctly audible to all. "Her foster-father died last week, and left no end of messages and requests to Mr. Macleod, his friend and constant companion in his hunting expeditions. The girl has that exaggerated idea of filial duty common to the Indian races. She could not rest until she had fulfilled his dying wishes."
No; Lady Sarah certainly did not merit the compliment she had given her husband--she was not the soul of honour--but what would you? With her cheery voice and confident laugh she had dispelled22 at a breath the vile23 suspicion of scandal. The company experienced a wonderful relief, and the conversation naturally turned to the peculiarities24 of savages25. Rose had vanished, and it was generally supposed that she was with her brother and that queer Indian girl. In reality she was locked in her room, saturating27 her pillow with her tears.
Edward was alone with Wanda. For a moment the blood ran hot in his veins28, and he longed to act the part of a man. He longed to take the hand of this beautiful travel-stained savage26, and lead her back into the midst of those fashionably dressed, superficially smiling, ladies and gentlemen. He longed to declare, nay29, rather to thunder forth30, the words: "This is my promised wife! Through weary days and nights, with sore feet and sorer heart she has been coming to me. Burned by the sun and blinded with the dust, hungry and thirsty, and aching in every fibre, her trust never faltered31, her love never failed. And her love is matched by mine. The loyalty32 and devotion of my life I lay at her poor bleeding feet."
That would have satisfied his imagination, but in real life imagination must always go a-hungering. He sat down beside her with a face far more weary than her own.
"Wanda," he burst forth, "my poor fatherless, friendless child, what can I say to you? I am a villain33, a coward, a reptile34! I thought I loved you, and I do not. No, though my heart aches for you, I do not love you. Oh, you look as though I were murdering you, and it is better for me to murder you now by a few sharp terrible words, than by a life-time of neglect and loathing35."
The colour had all ebbed36 from her face. She fell on her knees beside him, and her liquid childish eyes and sweet lips were upraised to his.
"No, no, my little fawn37, I must not kiss you. It is wicked to kiss what we do not love. And I do not love you." He was sheltering himself behind that assertion, but of a sudden he broke into crying, and his tears fell upon her face. "Child," he said, rising and pacing the room, "do you know what it is to many a man, who cares a great deal for your lips and eyes, and nothing for your mind and soul? It is to marry a beast! You would be wretched with me. We should grow inexpressibly tired of each other. Tell me," he cried, stopping short in his swift walk to and fro, and confronting her with parched38 lips and wet eyes, "could you endure to have me say cruel things to you every day? Could you bear to have me think bitter things of you in my heart, though I left them unsaid? How could you live under my coldness and neglect? You must learn to hate me--to scorn me,--to think as harshly of me as I shall always think of myself."
She was faint and dizzy, but she rose to her feet, and groped feebly to the door, cowering39 from him as she went, with her hands over her eyes. Then she turned back with a low wail40 of irrepressible anguish41.
"I cannot leave you," she said, "I cannot give you up!"
Again he was bound in her chains. Her feverish42 hands held his, her burning eyes drank up the dew in his own, her pathetic presence thrilled him with a sense of love stronger than any he had dreamed of or imagined. Neglect, cruelty, bitterness, scorn! What did the words mean? Like poisonous weeds they had grown fast and rank before his eyes, but in the burning face of this all-conquering love they had shrunk, withered43 and dead to the earth. Yes, it was the vile earth from which they had sprung, and it was in the radiant heavens that this great love was shining. Wanda's victory was nearly complete. The only thing lacking to make it so was that she should renounce44 it altogether. And this she did--not with conscious art but by that sure instinct of womanliness which teaches that a man won by other than indirect methods is not won at all. Then she said, pushing him gently aside, "I will go away now, and never see you again, because I am a burden to you. No," for he had put his hand upon her wrist, "you must not touch me, because--" the words choked her for a moment, and then they fell from her lips with a sound of fathomless45 despair--"it is as though you were my little child that I was forced to leave forever." Again she had reached the door, but this time it was his arm around her that brought her back, his protestations of undying affection that revived her drooping46 frame.
There was a light tap at the door, which opened to admit Lady Sarah Maitland. "My maids will attend to this poor child," she said, addressing Edward. "She will have a bath, and food, and a bed. Meantime, I want you to help to entertain my guests."
"Really?" The young man frowned at the idea of rejoining that gay throng47. He was in a state of mental exaltation--so far up in the clouds that the idea of attending a reception given by his brilliant hostess seemed by contrast spiritless and earthy.
"It would be a great kindness to let me off," he pleaded.
"It would be the greatest kindness to compel you to come," she insisted. There was a significance in the eye and tone of this thorough-bred woman of the world that were not without effect upon Edward, who at once accompanied her. His bright face, collected manner, and ready speech, lessened48 the impression made upon the company by the episode which had drawn49 general attention to him early in the evening. Not till after the guests had begun to retire did he again see Wanda. Running upstairs to get a wrap for the fair shoulders of a young lady, who preferred a moonlit seat on the lawn to the rather oppressive warmth within doors, he chanced into a little sitting-room50 in which Wanda, left alone for a moment, was resting with closed eyes in a great easy chair. Fresh from her bath, with her damp heavy hair lying along the folds of a loose white neglige, she looked almost too tired to smile. Edward advanced with beating heart, but stopped half-way, suddenly smitten51 by the sight of a pair of little bruised52 feet, carefully bandaged, resting upon a stool--the little feet that had travelled such a long hard road, that had been torn and wounded for his sake. A great wave of shame swept over him.
She drew his head down for a moment under the dusky curtain of her overhanging hair, and then her eyes closed again.
Edward rose and beheld in the open doorway56 Helene DeBerczy; her large gaze, darker than a thunder cloud, was illumined by a long lightning flash of merciless irony57.
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1
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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recital
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| n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会 | |
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bevy
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| n.一群 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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14
accentuated
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| v.重读( accentuate的过去式和过去分词 )；使突出；使恶化；加重音符号于 | |
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15
tapers
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| （长形物体的）逐渐变窄( taper的名词复数 )； 微弱的光； 极细的蜡烛 | |
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16
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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17
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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endearment
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| n.表示亲爱的行为 | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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27
saturating
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| 浸湿，浸透( saturate的现在分词 )； 使…大量吸收或充满某物 | |
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28
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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29
nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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31
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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32
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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33
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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reptile
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| n.爬行动物；两栖动物 | |
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35
loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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36
ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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37
fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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38
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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39
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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40
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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41
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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42
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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43
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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44
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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45
fathomless
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| a.深不可测的 | |
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46
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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47
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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48
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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49
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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50
sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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51
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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52
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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53
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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54
penitently
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55
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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56
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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57
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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