That evening at dinner Virginia studied her father's face again. She saw the square settled line of the jaw1 under the beard, the unwavering frown of the heavy eyebrows2, the unblinking purpose of the cavernous, mysterious eyes. Never had she felt herself very close to this silent, inscrutable man, even in his moments of more affectionate expansion. Now a gulf3 divided them.
And yet, strangely enough, she experienced no revulsion, no horror, no recoil4 even. He had merely become more aloof5, more incomprehensible; his purposes vaster, less susceptible6 to the grasp of such as she. There may have been some basis for this feeling, or it may have been merely the reflex glow of a joy that made all other things seem insignificant7.
As soon as might be after the meal Virginia slipped away, carrying the rifle, the cartridges8, the matches, and the salt. She was cruelly frightened.
The night was providentially dark. No aurora9 threw its splendor10 across the dome11, and only a few rare stars peeped between the light cirrus clouds. Virginia left behind her the buildings of the Post, she passed in safety the tin-steepled chapel12 and the church house; there remained only the Indian camp between her and the woods trail. At once the dogs began to bark and howl, the fierce _giddes_ lifting their pointed13 noses to the sky. The girl hurried on, swinging far to the right through the grass. To her relief the camp did not respond to the summons. An old crone or so appeared in the flap of a teepee, eyes dazzled, to throw uselessly a billet of wood or a volley of Cree abuse at the animals nearest. In a moment Virginia entered the trail.
Here was no light at all. She had to proceed warily14, feeling with her moccasins for the beaten pathway, to which she returned with infinite caution whenever she trod on grass or leaves. Though her sight was dulled, her hearing was not. A thousand scurrying15 noises swirled16 about her; a multitude of squeaks17, whistles, snorts, and whines18 attested19 that she disturbed the forest creatures at their varied20 businesses; and underneath21 spoke22 an apparent dozen of terrifying voices which were in reality only the winds and the trees. Virginia knew that these things were not dangerous--that daylight would show them to be only deer-mice, hares, weasels, bats, and owls--nevertheless, they had their effect. For about her was cloying23 velvet24 blackness--not the closed-in blackness of a room, where one feels the embrace of the four walls, but the blackness of infinite space through which sweep mysterious currents of air. After a long time she turned sharp to the left. After a long time more she perceived a faint, opalescent25 glimmer26 in the distance ahead. This she knew to be the river.
She felt her way onward27, still cautiously; then she choked back a scream and dropped her burden with a clatter28 to the ground. A dark figure seemed to have risen mysteriously at her side.
"I didn't mean to frighten you," said Ned Trent, in guarded tones. "I heard you coming. I thought you could hear me."
He picked up the fallen articles, running his hands over them rapidly.
"Good," he whispered. "I got some moccasins to-day--traded a few things I had in my pockets for them. I'm fixed29."
"Have you a canoe?" she asked.
"Yes--here on the beach."
He preceded her down the few remaining yards of the trail. She followed, already desolated30 at the thought of parting, for the wilderness31 was very big. The bulk of the man partly blotted32 out the lucent spot where the river was--now his arm, now his head, now the breadth of his shoulders. This silhouette33 of him was dear to her, the sound of his movements, the faint stir of his breathing borne to her on the light breeze. Virginia's tender heart almost overflowed34 with longing35 and fear for him.
They emerged on a little slope and at once pushed the canoe into the current.
She accepted the aid of his hand for a moment, and sank to her place, facing him. He spurned36 lightly the shore, and so they were adrift.
In a moment they seemed to be floating on a vast vapor37 of night, infinitely38 remote from anywhere, surrounded by the silence that might have been before the world's beginning. A faint splash could have been a muskrat39 near at hand or a caribou40 far away. The paddle rose and dipped with a faint _swish, swish_, and the steersman's twist of it was taken up by the man's strong wrist so it did not click against the gunwale; the bow of the craft divided the waters with a murmuring so faint as to seem but the echo of a silence. Neither spoke. Virginia watched him, her heart too full for words; watched the full swing of his strong shoulders, the balance of his body at the hips41, the poise42 of his head against the dull sky. In a moment more the parting would have to come. She dreaded43 it, and yet she looked forward to it with a hungry joy. Then he would say what she had seen in his eyes; then he would speak; then she would hear the words that should comfort her in the days of waiting. For a woman lives much for the present, and the moment's word is an important thing.
The man swung his paddle steadily44, throwing into the strokes a wanton exuberance45 that showed how high his spirits ran. After a time, when they were well out from the shore, he took a deep breath of delight.
"Ah, you don't know how happy I am," he exulted46, "you don't know! To be free, to play the game, to match my wits against theirs--ah, that is life!"
"I am sorry to see you go," she murmured, "very sorry. The days will be full of terror until I know you are safe."
"Oh, yes," he answered; "but I'll get there, and I shall tell it all to you at Quebec--at Quebec in August. It will be a brave tale! You will be there--surely?"
"Yes," said the girl, softly; "I will be there--surely."
"Good! Feel the wind on your cheek? It is from the Southland, where I am going. I have ventured--and I have not lost! It is something not to lose, when one has ventured against many. They have my goods--but I--"
"You?" repeated Virginia, as he hesitated.
"Ah, I don't go back empty-handed!" he cried. Her heart stood still, then leaped in anticipation47 of what he would say. Her soul hungered for the words, the words that should not only comfort her, but should be to her the excuse for many things. She saw him--shadowy, graceful48 against the dim gray of the river and sky--lean ever so slightly toward her. But then he straightened again to his paddle, and contented49 himself with repeating merely: "Quebec--in August, then."
The canoe grated. Ned Trent with an exclamation50 drove his paddle into the clay.
"Lucky the bottom is soft here," said he; "I did not realize we were so close ashore51."
He drew the canoe up on the shelving beach, helped Virginia out, took his rifle, and so stood ready to depart.
"Leave the canoe just where we got in," he advised; "it is around the point, you see, and that may fool them a little."
"You are going," she said, dully. Then she came close to him and looked up at him with her wonderful eyes. "Good-by."
"Good-by," said he.
Was this to be all? Had he nothing more to tell her? Was the word to lack, the word she needed so much? She had given herself unreservedly into this man's hands, and at parting he had no more to say to her than "Good-by." Virginia's eyes were tearful, but she would not let him know that. She felt that her heart would break.
"Well, good-by," he said again after a moment, which he had spent inspecting the heavens. "Ah, you don't _know_ what it is to be free! By to-morrow morning I shall be half-way to the Mattagami. I can hardly wait to see it, for then I am safe! And then next day--why, next day they won't know which of a dozen ways I've gone!" He was full of the future, man-fashion.
He took her hands, leaned over, and lightly kissed her on the mouth. Instantly Virginia became wildly and unreasonably52 angry. She could not have told herself why, but it was the lack of the word she had wanted so much, the pain of feeling that he could go like that, the thwarted53 bitterness of a longing that had grown stronger than she had even yet realized.
Instinctively54 she leaped into the canoe, sending it spinning from the bank.
"Ah, you had no _right_ to do that!" she cried. "I gave you no _right_!"
Then, heedless of what he was saying, she began to paddle straight from the shore, weeping bitterly, her face upraised, her hair in her eyes, and the tears coursing unheeded down her cheeks.
收听单词发音 |
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jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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cartridges
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| 子弹( cartridge的名词复数 )； （打印机的）墨盒； 录音带盒； （唱机的）唱头 | |
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aurora
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| n.极光 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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scurrying
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| v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 ) | |
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swirled
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| v.旋转，打旋( swirl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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squeaks
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| n.短促的尖叫声，吱吱声( squeak的名词复数 )v.短促地尖叫( squeak的第三人称单数 )；吱吱叫；告密；充当告密者 | |
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whines
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| n.悲嗥声( whine的名词复数 )；哀鸣者v.哀号( whine的第三人称单数 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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spoke
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| 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 | |
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cloying
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| adj.甜得发腻的 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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opalescent
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| adj.乳色的，乳白的 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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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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desolated
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| adj.荒凉的，荒废的 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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silhouette
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| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vapor
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| n.蒸汽，雾气 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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muskrat
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| n.麝香鼠 | |
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caribou
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| n.北美驯鹿 | |
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hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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43
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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50
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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51
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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52
unreasonably
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| adv. 不合理地 | |
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53
thwarted
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| 阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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