During the months that followed, Mr. Ramy visited the sisterswith increasing frequency. It became his habit to call on themevery Sunday evening, and occasionally during the week he wouldfind an excuse for dropping in unannounced as they were settlingdown to their work beside the lamp. Ann Eliza noticed that Evelinanow took the precaution of putting on her crimson1 bow every eveningbefore supper, and that she had refurbished with a bit of carefullywashed lace the black silk which they still called new because ithad been bought a year after Ann Eliza's.
Mr. Ramy, as he grew more intimate, became lessconversational, and after the sisters had blushingly accorded himthe privilege of a pipe he began to permit himself long stretchesof meditative2 silence that were not without charm to his hostesses.
There was something at once fortifying3 and pacific in the sense ofthat tranquil4 male presence in an atmosphere which had so longquivered with little feminine doubts and distresses5; and thesisters fell into the habit of saying to each other, in moments ofuncertainty: "We'll ask Mr. Ramy when he comes," and of acceptinghis verdict, whatever it might be, with a fatalistic readiness thatrelieved them of all responsibility.
When Mr. Ramy drew the pipe from his mouth and became, in histurn, confidential7, the acuteness of their sympathy grew almostpainful to the sisters. With passionate8 participation9 theylistened to the story of his early struggles in Germany, and of thelong illness which had been the cause of his recent misfortunes.
The name of the Mrs. Hochmuller (an old comrade's widow) who hadnursed him through his fever was greeted with reverential sighs andan inward pang10 of envy whenever it recurred11 in his biographicalmonologues, and once when the sisters were alone Evelina called aresponsive flush to Ann Eliza's brow by saying suddenly, withoutthe mention of any name: "I wonder what she's like?"One day toward spring Mr. Ramy, who had by this time become asmuch a part of their lives as the letter-carrier or the milkman,ventured the suggestion that the ladies should accompany him to anexhibition of stereopticon views which was to take place atChickering Hall on the following evening.
After their first breathless "Oh!" of pleasure there was asilence of mutual12 consultation13, which Ann Eliza at last broke bysaying: "You better go with Mr. Ramy, Evelina. I guess we don'tboth want to leave the store at night."Evelina, with such protests as politeness demanded, acquiescedin this opinion, and spent the next day in trimming a white chipbonnet with forget-me-nots of her own making. Ann Eliza broughtout her mosaic15 brooch, a cashmere scarf of their mother's was takenfrom its linen16 cerements, and thus adorned17 Evelinablushingly departed with Mr. Ramy, while the elder sister sat downin her place at the pinking-machine.
It seemed to Ann Eliza that she was alone for hours, and shewas surprised, when she heard Evelina tap on the door, to find thatthe clock marked only half-past ten.
"It must have gone wrong again," she reflected as she rose tolet her sister in.
The evening had been brilliantly interesting, and severalstriking stereopticon views of Berlin had afforded Mr. Ramy theopportunity of enlarging on the marvels18 of his native city.
"He said he'd love to show it all to me!" Evelina declared asAnn Eliza conned19 her glowing face. "Did you ever hear anything sosilly? I didn't know which way to look."Ann Eliza received this confidence with a sympathetic murmur20.
"My bonnet14 IS becoming, isn't it?" Evelina went onirrelevantly, smiling at her reflection in the cracked glass abovethe chest of drawers.
"You're jest lovely," said Ann Eliza.
Spring was making itself unmistakably known to the distrustfulNew Yorker by an increased harshness of wind and prevalence ofdust, when one day Evelina entered the back room at supper-timewith a cluster of jonquils in her hand.
"I was just that foolish," she answered Ann Eliza's wonderingglance, "I couldn't help buyin' 'em. I felt as if I must havesomething pretty to look at right away.""Oh, sister," said Ann Eliza, in trembling sympathy. She feltthat special indulgence must be conceded to those in Evelina'sstate since she had had her own fleeting21 vision of such mysteriouslongings as the words betrayed.
Evelina, meanwhile, had taken the bundle of dried grasses outof the broken china vase, and was putting the jonquils in theirplace with touches that lingered down their smooth stems and blade-like leaves.
"Ain't they pretty?" she kept repeating as she gathered theflowers into a starry22 circle. "Seems as if spring was really here,don't it?"Ann Eliza remembered that it was Mr. Ramy's evening.
When he came, the Teutonic eye for anything that blooms madehim turn at once to the jonquils.
"Ain't dey pretty?" he said. "Seems like as if de spring wasreally here.""Don't it?" Evelina exclaimed, thrilled by the coincidence oftheir thought. "It's just what I was saying to my sister."Ann Eliza got up suddenly and moved away; she remembered thatshe had not wound the clock the day before. Evelina was sitting atthe table; the jonquils rose slenderly between herself and Mr.
Ramy.
"Oh," she murmured with vague eyes, "how I'd love to get awaysomewheres into the country this very minute--somewheres where itwas green and quiet. Seems as if I couldn't stand the city anotherday." But Ann Eliza noticed that she was looking at Mr. Ramy, andnot at the flowers.
"I guess we might go to Cendral Park some Sunday," theirvisitor suggested. "Do you ever go there, Miss Evelina?""No, we don't very often; leastways we ain't been for a goodwhile." She sparkled at the prospect23. "It would be lovely,wouldn't it, Ann Eliza?""Why, yes," said the elder sister, coming back to her seat.
"Well, why don't we go next Sunday?" Mr. Ramy continued. "Andwe'll invite Miss Mellins too--that'll make a gosy little party."That night when Evelina undressed she took a jonquil from thevase and pressed it with a certain ostentation24 between the leavesof her prayer-book. Ann Eliza, covertly25 observing her, felt thatEvelina was not sorry to be observed, and that her own acuteconsciousness of the act was somehow regarded as magnifying itssignificance.
The following Sunday broke blue and warm. The Bunner sisterswere habitual26 church-goers, but for once they left their prayer-books on the what-not, and ten o'clock found them, gloved andbonneted, awaiting Miss Mellins's knock. Miss Mellins presentlyappeared in a glitter of jet sequins and spangles, with a tale ofhaving seen a strange man prowling under her windows till he wascalled off at dawn by a confederate's whistle; and shortlyafterward came Mr. Ramy, his hair brushed with more thanusual care, his broad hands encased in gloves of olive-green kid.
The little party set out for the nearest street-car, and aflutter of mingled27 gratification and embarrassment28 stirred AnnEliza's bosom29 when it was found that Mr. Ramy intended to pay theirfares. Nor did he fail to live up to this opening liberality; forafter guiding them through the Mall and the Ramble30 he led the wayto a rustic31 restaurant where, also at his expense, they faredidyllically on milk and lemon-pie.
After this they resumed their walk, strolling on with theslowness of unaccustomed holiday-makers from one path to another--through budding shrubberies, past grass-banks sprinkled with lilaccrocuses, and under rocks on which the forsythia lay like suddensunshine. Everything about her seemed new and miraculously32 lovelyto Ann Eliza; but she kept her feelings to herself, leaving it toEvelina to exclaim at the hepaticas under the shady ledges33, and toMiss Mellins, less interested in the vegetable than in the humanworld, to remark significantly on the probable history of thepersons they met. All the alleys34 were thronged35 with promenadersand obstructed36 by perambulators; and Miss Mellins's runningcommentary threw a glare of lurid37 possibilities over the placidfamily groups and their romping38 progeny39.
Ann Eliza was in no mood for such interpretations40 of life;but, knowing that Miss Mellins had been invited for the solepurpose of keeping her company she continued to cling to the dress-maker's side, letting Mr. Ramy lead the way with Evelina. MissMellins, stimulated41 by the excitement of the occasion, grew moreand more discursive42, and her ceaseless talk, and the kaleidoscopicwhirl of the crowd, were unspeakably bewildering to Ann Eliza. Herfeet, accustomed to the slippered43 ease of the shop, ached with theunfamiliar effort of walking, and her ears with the din6 of thedress-maker's anecdotes44; but every nerve in her was aware ofEvelina's enjoyment45, and she was determined46 that no weariness ofhers should curtail47 it. Yet even her heroism48 shrank from thesignificant glances which Miss Mellins presently began to cast atthe couple in front of them: Ann Eliza could bear to connive49 atEvelina's bliss50, but not to acknowledge it to others.
At length Evelina's feet also failed her, and she turned tosuggest that they ought to be going home. Her flushed face hadgrown pale with fatigue51, but her eyes were radiant.
The return lived in Ann Eliza's memory with the persistence52 ofan evil dream. The horse-cars were packed with the returningthrong, and they had to let a dozen go by before they could pushtheir way into one that was already crowded. Ann Eliza had neverbefore felt so tired. Even Miss Mellins's flow of narrative53 randry, and they sat silent, wedged between a negro woman and a pock-marked man with a bandaged head, while the car rumbled54 slowly downa squalid avenue to their corner. Evelina and Mr. Ramy sattogether in the forward part of the car, and Ann Eliza could catchonly an occasional glimpse of the forget-me-not bonnet and theclock-maker's shiny coat-collar; but when the little party got outat their corner the crowd swept them together again, and theywalked back in the effortless silence of tired children to theBunner sisters' basement. As Miss Mellins and Mr. Ramy turned togo their various ways Evelina mustered55 a last display of smiles;but Ann Eliza crossed the threshold in silence, feeling thestillness of the little shop reach out to her like consoling arms.
That night she could not sleep; but as she lay cold and rigidat her sister's side, she suddenly felt the pressure of Evelina'sarms, and heard her whisper: "Oh, Ann Eliza, warn't it heavenly?"
收听单词发音 |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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fortifying
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的现在分词 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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marvels
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| n.奇迹( marvel的名词复数 )；令人惊奇的事物（或事例）；不平凡的成果；成就v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的第三人称单数 ) | |
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conned
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| adj.被骗了v.指挥操舵( conn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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ostentation
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| n.夸耀，卖弄 | |
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covertly
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| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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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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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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ramble
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| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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miraculously
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| ad.奇迹般地 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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alleys
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| 胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径 | |
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thronged
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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38
romping
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| adj.嬉戏喧闹的，乱蹦乱闹的v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的现在分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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interpretations
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| n.解释( interpretation的名词复数 )；表演；演绎；理解 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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discursive
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| adj.离题的，无层次的 | |
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slippered
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| 穿拖鞋的 | |
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anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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curtail
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| vt.截短，缩短；削减 | |
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48
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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connive
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| v.纵容；密谋 | |
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50
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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51
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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52
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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53
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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54
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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55
mustered
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| v.集合，召集，集结（尤指部队）( muster的过去式和过去分词 )；（自他人处）搜集某事物；聚集；激发 | |
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