This is my friend Bob Hely, performing the Cavalier seul in a quadrille. Remark the good-humored pleasure depicted1 in his countenance2. Has he any secret grief? Has he a pain anywhere? No, dear Miss Jones, he is dancing like a true Briton, and with all the charming gayety and abandon of our race.
When Canaillard performs that Cavalier seul operation, does HE flinch3? No: he puts on his most vainqueur look, he sticks his thumbs into the armholes of his waistcoat, and advances, retreats, pirouettes, and otherwise gambadoes, as though to say, “Regarde moi, O monde! Venez, O femmes, venez voir danser Canaillard!”
When De Bobwitz executes the same measure, he does it with smiling agility4, and graceful5 ease.
But poor Hely, if he were advancing to a dentist, his face would not be more cheerful. All the eyes of the room are upon him, he thinks; and he thinks he looks like a fool.
Upon my word, if you press the point with me, dear Miss Jones, I think he is not very far from right. I think that while Frenchmen and Germans may dance, as it is their nature to do, there is a natural dignity about us Britons, which debars us from that enjoyment6. I am rather of the Turkish opinion, that this should be done for us. I think . . .
“Good-by, you envious7 old fox-and-the-grapes,” says Miss Jones, and the next moment I see her whirling by in a polka with Tom Tozer, at a pace which makes me shrink back with terror into the little boudoir.
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1
depicted
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描绘,描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 ); 描述 | |
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2
countenance
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n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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3
flinch
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v.畏缩,退缩 | |
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4
agility
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n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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5
graceful
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adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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6
enjoyment
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n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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7
envious
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adj.嫉妒的,羡慕的 | |
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