The first week of her visit passed in a whirl. She had her promised toboggan-ride at the back of an automobile1 through a chill January twilight2. Swathed in furs she put in a morning tobogganing on the country-club hill; even tried skiing, to sail through the air for a glorious moment and then land in a tangled3 laughing bundle on a soft snow-drift. She liked all the winter sports, except an afternoon spent snow-shoeing over a glaring plain under pale yellow sunshine, but she soon realized that these things were for children — that she was being humored and that the enjoyment4 round her was only a reflection of her own.
At first the Bellamy family puzzled her. The men were reliable and she liked them; to Mr. Bellamy especially, with his iron-gray hair and energetic dignity, she took an immediate5 fancy, once she found that he was born in Kentucky; this made of him a link between the old life and the new. But toward the women she felt a definite hostility6. Myra, her future sister-in-law, seemed the essence of spiritless conversationality. Her conversation was so utterly7 devoid8 of personality that Sally Carrol, who came from a country where a certain amount of charm and assurance could be taken for granted in the women, was inclined to despise her.
“If those women aren’t beautiful,” she thought, “they’re nothing. They just fade out when you look at them. They’re glorified9 domestics. Men are the centre of every mixed group.”
Lastly there was Mrs. Bellamy, whom Sally Carrol detested10. The first day’s impression of an egg had been confirmed — an egg with a cracked, veiny11 voice and such an ungracious dumpiness of carriage that Sally Carrol felt that if she once fell she would surely scramble12. In addition, Mrs. Bellamy seemed to typify the town in being innately13 hostile to strangers. She called Sally Carrol “Sally,” and could not be persuaded that the double name was anything more than a tedious ridiculous nickname. To Sally Carrol this shortening of her name was presenting her to the public half clothed. She loved “Sally Carrol”; she loathed14 “Sally.” She knew also that Harry15’s mother disapproved16 of her bobbed hair; and she had never dared smoke down-stairs after that first day when Mrs. Bellamy had come into the library sniffing17 violently.
Of all the men she met she preferred Roger Patton, who was a frequent visitor at the house. He never again alluded18 to the Ibsenesque tendency of the populace, but when he came in one day and found her curled upon the sofa bent19 over “Peer Gynt” he laughed and told her to forget what he’d said — that it was all rot.
They had been walking homeward between mounds20 of high-piled snow and under a sun which Sally Carrol scarcely recognized. They passed a little girl done up in gray wool until she resembled a small Teddy bear, and Sally Carrol could not resist a gasp21 of maternal22 appreciation23.
“Look! Harry!”
“What?”
“That little girl — did you see her face?”
“Yes, why?”
“It was red as a little strawberry. Oh, she was cute!”
“Why, your own face is almost as red as that already! Everybody’s healthy here. We’re out in the cold as soon as we’re old enough to walk. Wonderful climate!”
She looked at him and had to agree. He was mighty24 healthy-looking; so was his brother. And she had noticed the new red in her own cheeks that very morning.
Suddenly their glances were caught and held, and they stared for a moment at the street-corner ahead of them. A man was standing25 there, his knees bent, his eyes gazing upward with a tense expression as though he were about to make a leap toward the chilly26 sky. And then they both exploded into a shout of laughter, for coming closer they discovered it had been a ludicrous momentary27 illusion produced by the extreme bagginess28 of the man’s trousers.
“Reckon that’s one on us,” she laughed.
“He must be Southerner, judging by those trousers,” suggested Harry mischievously29.
“Why, Harry!”
Her surprised look must have irritated him.
“Those damn Southerners!”
Sally Carrol’s eyes flashed.
“Don’t call ’em that.”
“I’m sorry, dear,” said Harry, malignantly30 apologetic, “but you know what I think of them. They’re sort of — sort of degenerates31 — not at all like the old Southerners. They’ve lived so long down there with all the colored people that they’ve gotten lazy and shiftless.”
“Hush your mouth, Harry!” she cried angrily. “They’re not! They may be lazy — anybody would be in that climate — but they’re my best friends, an’ I don’t want to hear ’em criticised in any such sweepin’ way. Some of ’em are the finest men in the world.”
“Oh, I know. They’re all right when they come North to college, but of all the hangdog, ill-dressed, slovenly32 lot I ever saw, a bunch of small-town Southerners are the worst!”
Sally Carrol was clinching33 her gloved hands and biting her lip furiously.
“Why,” continued Harry, if there was one in my class at New Haven34, and we all thought that at last we’d found the true type of Southern aristocrat35, but it turned out that he wasn’t an aristocrat at all — just the son of a Northern carpetbagger, who owned about all the cotton round Mobile.”
“A Southerner wouldn’t talk the way you’re talking now,” she said evenly.
“They haven’t the energy!”
“Or the somethin’ else.”
“I’m sorry Sally Carrol, but I’ve heard you say yourself that you’d never marry ——”
“That’s quite different. I told you I wouldn’t want to tie my life to any of the boys that are round Tarleton now, but I never made any sweepin’ generalities.”
They walked along in silence.
“I probably spread it on a bit thick Sally Carrol. I’m sorry.”
She nodded but made no answer. Five minutes later as they stood in the hallway she suddenly threw her arms round him.
“Oh, Harry,” she cried, her eyes brimming with tears; “let’s get married next week. I’m afraid of having fusses like that. I’m afraid, Harry. It wouldn’t be that way if we were married.”
But Harry, being in the wrong, was still irritated.
“That’d be idiotic36. We decided37 on March.”
The tears in Sally Carrol’s eyes faded; her expression hardened slightly.
“Very well — I suppose I shouldn’t have said that.”
Harry melted.
“Dear little nut!” he cried. “Come and kiss me and let’s forget.” That very night at the end of a vaudeville38 performance the orchestra played “Dixie” and Sally Carrol felt something stronger and more enduring than her tears and smiles of the day brim up inside her. She leaned forward gripping the arms of her chair until her face grew crimson39.
“Sort of get you dear?” whispered Harry.
But she did not hear him. To the limited throb40 of the violins and the inspiring beat of the kettle-drums her own old ghosts were marching by and on into the darkness, and as fifes whistled and sighed in the low encore they seemed so nearly out of sight that she could have waved good-by.
“Away, Away,
Away down South in Dixie!
Away, away,
Away down South in Dixie!”
收听单词发音 |
1
automobile
|
|
| n.汽车，机动车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
tangled
|
|
| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
hostility
|
|
| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
devoid
|
|
| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
glorified
|
|
| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
detested
|
|
| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
veiny
|
|
| adj.纹理状的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
12
scramble
|
|
| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
innately
|
|
| adv.天赋地；内在地，固有地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
loathed
|
|
| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
disapproved
|
|
| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
sniffing
|
|
| n.探查法v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的现在分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
alluded
|
|
| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
mounds
|
|
| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
gasp
|
|
| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
maternal
|
|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
appreciation
|
|
| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
chilly
|
|
| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
bagginess
|
|
| n.多臭虫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
29
mischievously
|
|
| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
malignantly
|
|
| 怀恶意地； 恶毒地； 有害地； 恶性地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
degenerates
|
|
| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
slovenly
|
|
| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
clinching
|
|
| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
haven
|
|
| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
aristocrat
|
|
| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
idiotic
|
|
| adj.白痴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
vaudeville
|
|
| n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
throb
|
|
| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |