It seemed very fortunate to Jack1 Delancy that he should have such a clever woman as Carmen for his confidante, a man so powerful as Henderson as his backer, and a person so omniscient2 as Mavick for his friend. No combination could be more desirable for a young man who proposed to himself a career of getting money by adroit3 management and spending it in pure and simple self-indulgence. There are plenty of men who have taken advantage of like conditions to climb from one position to another, and have then kicked down the ladders behind them as fast as they attained4 a new footing. It was Jack's fault that he was not one of these. You could scarcely dignify5 his character by saying that he had an aim, except to saunter through life with as little personal inconvenience as possible. His selfishness was boneless. It was not by any means negative, for no part of his amiable6 nature was better developed than regard for his own care and comfort; but it was not strong enough to give him Henderson's capacity for hard work and even self-denial, nor Mavick's cool, persevering7 skill in making a way for himself in the world. Why was not Edith his confidante? His respect for her was undoubted; his love for her was unquestioned; his trust in her was absolute. And yet with either Carmen or Miss Tavish he fell into confidential8 revelations of himself which instinctively9 he did not make to Edith. The explanation of this is on the surface, and it is the key to half the unhappiness in domestic life. He felt that Edith was not in sympathy with the associations and the life he was leading. The pitiful and hopeless part of it is that if she had been in sympathy with them, Jack would have gone on in his frivolous10 career at an accelerated pace. It was not absence of love, it was not unfaithfulness, that made Jack enjoy the hours he spent with Carmen, or with the pleasing and not too fastidious Miss Tavish, with a zest11 that was wanting to his hours at home. If he had been upon a sinking steamboat with the three women, and could have saved only one of them, he would not have had a moment's hesitation12 in rescuing Edith and letting the other two sink out of his life. The character is not unusual, nor the situation uncommon13. What is a woman to do? Her very virtues14 are enemies of her peace; if she appears as a constant check and monitor, she repels15; if she weakly acquiesces16, the stream will flow over both of them. The dilemma17 seems hopeless.
It would be a mistake to suppose that either Edith or Jack put their relations in any such definite shape as this. He was unthinking. She was too high-spirited, too confident of her position, to be assailed18 by such fears. And it must be said, since she was a woman, that she had the consciousness of power which goes along with the possession of loveliness and keen wit. Those who knew her best knew that under her serenity19 was a gay temperament20, inherited from the original settlers of Manhattan, an abounding21 enjoyment22 of life, and capacity for passion. It was early discovered in her childhood that little Edith had a will of her own.
Lent was over. It was the time of the twittering of sparrows, of the opening of windows, of putting in order the little sentimental23 spots called "squares," where the poor children get their idea of forests, and the rich renew their faint recollections of innocence24 and country life; when the hawkers go about the streets, and the hand-organs celebrate the return of spring and the possibility of love. Even the idle felt that it was a time for relaxation25 and quiet.
"Have you answered Miss Tavish's invitation?" asked Jack one morning at the breakfast-table.
"Not yet. I shall decline today for myself."
"Why? It's for charity."
"Well, my charity extends to Miss Tavish. I don't want to see her dance."
"That leaves me in a nice hole. I said I'd go."
"And why not? You go to a good many places you don't take me--the clubs, brokers26' offices, Stalker's, the Conventional, and--"
"Oh, go on. Why do you object to my going to see this dance?"
"My dear Jack," said Edith, "I haven't objected the least in the world;" and her animated27 face sparkled with a smile, which seemed to irritate Jack more than a frown would have done.
"I don't see why you set yourself up. I'll bet Miss Tavish will raise more money for the Baxter Street Guild28, yes, and do more good, than you and the priest and that woman doctor slopping about on the East Side in six months."
"Very likely," replied Edith, still with the same good-humored smile. "But, Jack, it's delightful29 to see your philanthropic spirit stirred up in this way. You ought to be encouraged. Why don't you join Miss Tavish in this charity? I have no doubt that if it was advertised that Miss Tavish and Mr. Jack Delancy would dance for the benefit of an East Side guild in the biggest hall in the city, there wouldn't be standing30 room."
"Oh, bosh!" said Jack, getting up from his chair and striding about the room, with more irritation31 than he had ever shown to Edith before. "I wouldn't be a prude."
Edith's eyes flashed and her face flushed, but her smile came back in a moment, and she was serene32 again. "Come here, Jack. Now, old fellow, look me straight in the eyes, and tell me if you would like to have me dance the serpentine33 dance before a drawing-room full of gossiping women, with, as you say, just a few men peeping in at the doors."
Jack did look, and the serene eyes, yet dancing with amusement at the incongruous picture, seemed to take a warmer glow of love and pleading.
"Oh, hang it! that's different," and he stooped and gave her an awkward kiss.
"I'm glad you know it's different," she said, with a laugh that had not a trace of mockery in it; "and since you do, you'd better go along and do your charity, and I'll stay at home, and try to be--different when you come back."
And Jack went; with a little feeling of sheepishness that he would not have acknowledged at the time, and he found himself in a company where he was entirely34 at his ease. He admired the dancing of the blithe35, graceful36 girl, he applauded her as the rest did with hand-clapping and bravas, and said it was ravishing. It all suited him perfectly37. And somehow, in the midst of it all, in the sensuous38 abandon of this electric-light eccentricity39 at mid-day, he had a fleeting40 vision of something very different, of a womanhood of another sort, and a flush came to his face for a moment as he imagined Edith in a skirt dance under the gaze of this sensation-loving society. But this was only for a moment. When he congratulated Miss Tavish his admiration41 was entirely sincere; and the girl, excited with her physical triumph, seemed to him as one emancipated42 out of acquired prudishness into the Greek enjoyment of life. Miss Tavish, who would not for the world have violated one of the social conventions of her set, longed, as many women do, for the sort of freedom and the sort of applause which belongs to women who succeed upon the stage. Not that she would have forfeited43 her position by dancing at a theatre for money; but; within limits, she craved44 the excitement, the abandon, the admiration, that her grace and passion could win. This was not at all the ambition which led the Egyptian queen Hatshepsu to assume the dress of a man, but rather that more famous aspiration45 which led the daughter of Herodias, in a pleasure-loving court, to imitate and excel the professional dancing-girls. If in this inclination46 of the women of the day, which is not new, but has characterized all societies to which wealth has brought idleness, there was a note of demoralization, it did not seem so to Jack, who found the world day by day more pleasing and more complaisant47.
As the months went by, everything prospered48 with him on his drifting voyage. Of all voyages, that is the easiest to make which has no port in view, that depends upon the varying winds, if the winds happen to be soft and the chance harbors agreeable. Jack was envied, thanks to Henderson. He was lucky in whatever he touched. Without any change in his idle habits, and with no more attention to business than formerly49, money came to him so freely that he not only had a complacent50 notion that he was a favorite of fortune, but the idea of his own importance in the financial world increased enormously, much to the amusement of Mavick, when he was occasionally in the city, to whom he talked somewhat largely of his operations, and who knew that he had no more comprehension of the sweep of Henderson's schemes than a baby has of the stock exchange when he claps his hands with delight at the click of the ticker.
His prosperity was visible. It showed in the increase of his accounts at the Union, in his indifference51 to limits in the game of poker52, in a handsome pair of horses which he insisted on Edith's accepting for her own use, in an increased scale of living at home, in the hundred ways that a man of fashion can squander53 money in a luxurious54 city. If he did not haunt the second-hand55 book-shops or the stalls of dealers56 in engravings, or bring home as much bric-a-brac as he once had done, it was because his mind was otherwise engaged; his tailor's bills were longer, and there were more expensive lunches at the clubs, at which there was a great deal of sage57 talk about stocks and combinations, and much wisdom exhibited in regard to wines; and then there were the little suppers at Wherry's after the theatres, which a bird could have eaten and a fish have drunken, and only a spendthrift have paid for.
"It is absurd," Edith had said one night after their return. "It makes us ridiculous in the eyes of anybody but fools." And Jack had flared58 up about it, and declared that he knew what he could afford, and she had retorted that as for her she would not countenance59 it. And Jack had attempted to pass it off lightly, at last, by saying, "Very well then, dear, if you won't back me, I shall have to rely upon my bankers." At any rate, neither Carmen nor Miss Tavish took him to task. They complimented him on his taste, and Carmen made him feel that she appreciated his independence and his courage in living the life that suited him. She knew, indeed, how much he made in his speculations60, how much he lost at cards; she knew through him the gossip of the clubs, and venturing herself not too far at sea, liked to watch the undertow of fashionable life. And she liked Jack, and was not incapable61 of throwing him a rope when the hour came that he was likely to be swept away by that undertow.
It was remarked at the Union, and by the men in the Street who knew him, that Jack was getting rapid. But no one thought the less of him for his pace--that is, no one appeared to, for this sort of estimate of a man is only tested by his misfortunes, when the day comes that he must seek financial backing. In these days he was generally in an expansive mood, and his free hand and good-humor increased his popularity. There were those who said that there were millions of family money back of Jack, and that he had recently come in for something handsome.
But this story did not deceive Major Fairfax, whose business it was to know to a dot the standing of everybody in society, in which he was a sort of oracle62 and privileged favorite. No one could tell exactly how the Major lived; no one knew the rigid63 economy that he practiced; no one had ever seen his small dingy64 chamber65 in a cheap lodging-house. The name of Fairfax was as good as a letter of introduction in the metropolis66, and the Major had lived on it for years, on that and a carefully nursed little income--an habitue of the club, and a methodical cultivator of the art of dining out. A most agreeable man, and perhaps the wisest man in his generation in those things about which it would be as well not to know anything.
Seated one afternoon in his favorite corner for street observation, by the open window, with the evening paper in his hand, in the attitude of one expecting the usual five o'clock cocktail67, he hailed Jack, who was just coming down-stairs from a protracted68 lunch.
"I say, Delancy, what's this I hear?"
"About what?" said Jack, sauntering along to a seat opposite the Major, and touching69 a bell on the little table as he sat down. Jack's face was flushed, but he talked with unusual slowness and distinctness. "What have you heard, Major?"
"That you have bought Benham's yacht."
"No, I haven't; but I was turning the thing over in my mind," Jack replied, with the air of a man declining an appointment in the Cabinet. "He offers it cheap."
"My dear boy, there is no such thing as a cheap yacht, any more than there is a cheap elephant."
"It's better to buy than build," Jack insisted. "A man's got to have some recreation."
"Recreation! Why don't you charter a Fifth Avenue stage and take your friends on a voyage to the Battery? That'll make 'em sick enough." It was a misery70 of the Major's life that, in order to keep in with necessary friends, he had to accept invitations for cruises on yachts, and pretend he liked it. Though he had the gout, he vowed71 he would rather walk to Newport than go round Point Judith in one of those tipping tubs. He had tried it, and, as he said afterwards, "The devil of it was that Mrs. Henderson and Miss Tavish sympathized with me. Gad72! it takes away a person's manhood, that sort of thing."
The Major sipped73 his bitters, and then added: "Or I'll tell you what; if you must do something, start a newspaper--the drama, society, and letters, that sort of thing, with pictures. I heard Miss Tavish say she wished she had a newspaper."
"But," said Jack, with gravity, "I'm not buying a yacht for Miss Tavish."
"I didn't suppose you were. Devilish fine girl, though. I don't care who you buy it for if you don't buy it for yourself. Why don't you buy it for Henderson? He can afford it."
"I'd like to know what you mean, Major Fairfax!" cried Jack. "What business--"
"There!" exclaimed the Major, sinking back in his chair, with a softened74 expression in his society beaten face. "It's no use of nonsense, Jack. I'm an average old sinner, and I'm not old enough yet to like a milksop. But I've known you since you were so high, and I knew your father; he used to stay weeks on my plantation75 when we were both younger. And your mother--that was a woman!--did me a kindness once when I was in a d---d tight place, and I never forgot it. See here, Jack, if I had money enough I'd buy a yacht and put Carmen and Miss Tavish on it, and send them off on the longest voyage there is."
"Who's been talking?" exclaimed Jack, touched a little, but very much offended.
"The town, Jack. Don't mind the talk. People always talk. I suppose people talk about me: At your age I should have been angry too at a hint even from an old friend. But I've learned. It doesn't pay. I don't get angry any more. Now there's Henderson--"
"What have you got against Henderson?"
"Nothing. He is a very good fellow, for that sort of man. But, Lord! Henderson is a big machine. You might as well try to stand in with a combination of gang-saws, or to make friends with the Department of the Interior. Look at the men who have gone in with Henderson from time to time. The ground is strewn with them. He's got no more feeling in business than a reaper-and-binder."
"I don't know what Henderson's got to do with my having a yacht."
"I beg your pardon, Jack; it's none of my business. Only I do not put my investments"--Jack smiled faintly, as if the conversation were taking a humorous turn--"at the mercy of Henderson's schemes. If I did, I wouldn't try to run a yacht at the same time. I should be afraid that some day when I got to sea I should find myself out of coal. You know, my boy, that the good book says you cannot serve two masters."
"Nobody ever accused you of that, Major," retorted Jack, with a laugh. "But what two have you in mind?"
"Oh, I don't mean anything personal. I just use names as typical. Say Henderson and Carmen." And the Major leaned back and tapped his fingers together, as if he were putting a general proposition.
Jack flushed, and then thought a moment--it would be ridiculous to get angry with old Fairfax--and then said: "Major, if I were you, I wouldn't have anything to do with either of them. You'll spoil your digestion76."
"Umph!" the Major grunted77, as he rose from his chair. "This is an age of impudence78. There's no more respect for gray hair than if it were dyed. I cannot waste any more time on you. I've got an early dinner. Devilish uphill work trying to encourage people who dine at seven. But, my boy, think on these things, as the saint says."
And the old fellow limped away. There was one good thing about the Major. He stood up in church every Sunday and read his prayers, like a faithful old sinner as he was.
Jack, sobered by the talk, walked home in a very irritated mood, blaming everybody except himself. For old Fairfax's opinion he didn't care, but evidently the old fellow represented a lot of gossip. He wished people would mind their own business. His irritation was a little appeased79 by Edith's gay and loving greeting; but she, who knew every shade of his face, saw it.
"Have you had a worrying day?"
"No; not specially80. I've had an hour of old Fairfax, who hasn't any business of his own to attend to."
"Oh, nobody minds the Major," Edith said, as she gave him a shake and another kiss; but a sharp pang81 went through her heart, for she guessed what had happened, since she had had a visit that afternoon from another plain-speaking person.
They were staying late in town. Edith, who did not care to travel far, was going presently to a little cottage by the sea, and Mrs. Schuyler Blunt had looked in for a moment to say good-by before she went up to her Lenox house.
"It's only an old farmhouse82 made over," Mrs. Blunt was saying; "hardly smart enough to ask anybody to, but we hope to have you and Jack there some time."
"That would be very nice. I hear Lenox is more beautiful than ever."
"Yes, it is, and about as difficult to get into as the kingdom of heaven. It's being spoiled for moderate people. The Hendersons and the Van Dams and that sort are in a race to see who shall build houses with the biggest rooms, and give the most expensive entertainments. It's all show. The old flavor has gone."
"But they cannot spoil the scenery.".
"My child, they are the scenery. You can't see anything else. It doesn't bother me, but some of my old neighbors are just ruining themselves trying to keep the pace. I do think the Americans are the biggest fools on earth."
"Father Damon says the trouble is we haven't any middle class for a balance."
"Yes, that's the English of it. But it's a pity that fashion has got hold of the country, and is turning our summers into a worry and a burden. I thought years ago when we went to Lenox that it was a good thing the country was getting to be the fashion; but now it's fashionable, and before we know it every desirable spot will be what they call syndicated. Miss Tavish says she is coming to visit the Hendersons there."
"I thought she went to Bar Harbor."
"But she is coming down for part of the season. These people don't stay anywhere. Just long enough in one place to upset everything with their extravagance. That's the reason I didn't ask you and Jack up this summer."
"Thank you, we couldn't go, you know," said Edith, simply, and then, with curiosity in her eyes, asked; "but I don't quite understand what's the reason."
"Well," said Mrs. Blunt, as if nerving herself up to say what must be said, "I thought perhaps you wouldn't like to be where they are."
"I don't know why I should or why I should not," Edith replied.
"Nor have Jack with them," continued Mrs. Blunt, stoutly83.
"What do you mean, Mrs. Blunt?" cried Edith, her brown eyes flaming.
"Don't turn on me, Edith dear. I oughtn't to have said anything. But I thought it was my duty. Of course it is only talk."
"Well?"
"That Jack is always with one or the other of those women."
"It is false!" cried Edith, starting up, with tears now in her eyes; "it's a cruel lie if it means anything wrong in Jack. So am I with those women; so are you. It's a shame. If you hear any one say such things, you can tell them for me that I despise them."
"I said it was a shame, all such talk. I said it was nonsense. But, dear, as a friend, oughtn't I to tell you?" And the kind-hearted gossip put her arm round Edith, and kept saying that she perfectly understood it, and that nobody really meant anything. But Edith was crying now, with a heart both hurt and indignant.
"It's a most hateful world, I know," Mrs. Blunt answered; "but it's the best we have, and it's no use to fret84 about it."
When the visitor had gone, Edith sat a long time in misery. It was the first real shock of her married life. And in her heart she prayed. For Jack? Oh no. The dear girl prayed for herself, that suspicions might not enter her heart. She could not endure that the world should talk thus of him. That was all. And when she had thought it all over and grown calm, she went to her desk and wrote a note to Carmen. It asked Mrs. Henderson, as they were so soon to leave town, to do her the favor to come round informally and lunch with her the next day, and afterwards perhaps a little drive in the Park.
收听单词发音 |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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omniscient
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| adj.无所不知的；博识的 | |
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adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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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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dignify
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| vt.使有尊严；使崇高；给增光 | |
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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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persevering
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| a.坚忍不拔的 | |
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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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instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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repels
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| v.击退( repel的第三人称单数 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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acquiesces
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的第三人称单数 ) | |
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dilemma
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| n.困境，进退两难的局面 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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abounding
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| adj.丰富的，大量的v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的现在分词 ) | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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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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guild
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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blithe
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| adj.快乐的，无忧无虑的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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emancipated
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| adj.被解放的，不受约束的v.解放某人（尤指摆脱政治、法律或社会的束缚）( emancipate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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complaisant
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| adj.顺从的，讨好的 | |
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prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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squander
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| v.浪费，挥霍 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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dealers
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| n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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59
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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67
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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82
farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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84
fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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