CHAPTER XIII. GRACE DEARBORN AT HOME.

 Grace Dearborn sat before the fire in her aunt's handsome house, with a writing-desk in her lap. Before her was a sheet of note-paper on which she had commenced writing a list of names.

Her aunt sat near her, dictating¹ a list of persons who were to receive cards of invitation to a party which she proposed giving in honor of her niece's birthday.

Grace had been writing busily for some time.

"Any one else, Aunt Caroline?" she asked.

"I believe I have included every one. Let me think. Oh, I came near forgetting Major Ashton. How stupid of me!"

"Major Ashton," repeated Grace, as she wrote the name.

"It would have been singular if we had forgotten to include him," said the elder lady.

"I did not forget him," returned Grace.

"Then why did you not remind me?"

"I suppose because I was not very anxious to have him invited."

[Pg 104]"Yet he did you the honor of offering you his hand?"

"He may have considered it an honor; I didn't," said Grace, decidedly.

"At all events it was a compliment."

"Be it so! If he would accept his rejection² as final I should not mind, but on the two or three occasions since when we have met he has tried to introduce the subject again. He does not seem willing to take no for an answer."

"Why not reconsider the matter, Grace? He is rich——"

"As if I cared for that."

"Well, he is fashionable, and is met everywhere in society. He would give his wife a desirable position."

"Will that compensate³ for the lack of love, Aunt Caroline?"

"Perhaps not, but love would come in time."

"Love must come before marriage in my case, Aunt Caroline. With Major Ashton it would never come afterward⁴."

"You speak very decidedly, Grace."

"No more so than I feel. To be quite frank with you, I am more than indifferent to Major Ashton. I positively⁵ dislike him."

"Why? Can you assign any reason?"

[Pg 105]"None that will fully⁶ explain my feelings. The fact is, I cannot myself account for the antipathy⁷ with which he inspires me. It seems almost instinctive⁸. Without knowing anything against him I feel convinced that he is a bad and dangerous man."

"This is silly, Grace."

"It may be so, but I can't help it."

"You do not object to my inviting⁹ him to your party?"

"No. I have no right to do that, or rather I do not wish to; since it would be a gratuitous¹⁰ slight. He must come, of course, though I would rather he were away."

"That is all, then, unless any other name occurs to you."

"There is one other name, Aunt Caroline," said Grace, hesitatingly.

"Well?"

"Mr. Vernon."

"What Mr. Vernon?"

"Mr. Frederic Vernon, the artist."

"But, Grace, he is not in society. He does not belong to our circle."

"He is a gentleman, Aunt Caroline, and is worthy¹¹ of social recognition."

[Pg 106]"My dear child, he is very poor. I doubt whether he has a dress suit to appear in."

"That is his affair. He may not come, but it will be polite in us to invite him."

"You are rather quixotic, Grace."

"Why do you think so? I know Mr. Vernon to be well educated, and possessed¹² of culture and refinement¹³ in a higher degree than many of the gentlemen who will receive invitations. I feel like recognizing him as an equal. Do you seriously object?"

"Oh, no! Send him a card if you wish. I only wished to set before you the singularity of inviting a poor, obscure artist to a fashionable party. We may be criticised."

"We propose to please ourselves, not the critics, Aunt Caroline," answered Grace, with a curl of the lip. "Now, there is one on your list whom I think much more unfit than Mr. Vernon, who is qualified¹⁴ to appear anywhere among gentlemen and ladies."

"To whom do you refer, Grace?"

"To Miss Framley."

"Do you know anything against her? She was recently introduced to me at a party, and made herself very agreeable. I could not very well help sending her a card."

[Pg 107]"I know she is vulgar, and mean in money matters. Before I ever met her I got an insight into her character from a chance conversation which I overheard between herself and a friend in a street car."

"She visits at good houses."

"Oh, yes, I believe her father is rich, and I know they live in handsome style, but that doesn't save her from being vulgar and ill-bred."

"You are disposed to be too critical, Grace. It won't do to judge our fashionable acquaintances too rigidly¹⁵. We must take the world as we find it."

"Smiling on those who are prosperous, and frowning on those who are not wealthy. We must, in other words, apply the standard of gold to all."

"No; that is overstating it. But if we find persons in good society we may feel safe in associating with them; then, if we prove mistaken, we can throw the responsibility on society. To be deceived in good company is excusable."

"You judge such matters from a worldly stand-point, Aunt Caroline."

"Oh, well, I am a woman of the world, my dear," said Mrs. Sheldon, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, that completes our list, and we can prepare the cards at our leisure."

[Pg 108]The same evening, about eight o'clock, the servant entered Miss Dearborn's presence, and said:

"There is a young man at the door who wishes to see you."

"Who is it? Did he give you his card?"

"I don't believe he has any, Miss Grace," said the girl, laughing. "It's a boy about sixteen, and a little girl."

"Oh, it's my train boy!" exclaimed Grace, with animation¹⁶.

Soon Paul and his little sister entered the room.

Our hero's manner was modest, but self-possessed, while Grace clung to him bashfully.

"I am glad to see you, Paul," said the young lady, with a bright smile.

"Thank you, Miss Dearborn."

"So this is your little sister, and my little namesake. How do you do, my dear child?"

Grace answered, bashfully, that she was very well.

"You see, Miss Dearborn, Grace is wearing the cloak you were kind enough to give her."

"And very well it becomes her, too. Is your mother well, Paul?"

"Yes, Miss Dearborn, thank you."

"I suppose she keeps house with Grace while you are away during the day?"

[Pg 109]"Yes; but she also sews when she has an opportunity."

"I suppose she is not very well paid sometimes?"

"Very poorly at the best; but in some cases those who employ her are very mean. Now, there was Miss Framley——"

"Miss Framley!" repeated Grace, with interest. "Tell me the story."

Paul did tell the story already familiar to us.

"And this person is to be present at my party!" thought Grace, with an uncontrollable feeling of disgust. "I shall find it hard to be ordinarily polite to her."

"You must not think all ladies are as inconsiderate, Paul," she said. "Has your mother leisure to do some sewing for me?"

"She will be glad to do so, Miss Dearborn."

"Then, if you can call here to-morrow evening, I will have a bundle ready. I shall pay her double the price she charged Miss Framley."

"You are very kind, Miss Dearborn, and my mother will be overjoyed. I do not wish her to sew at all, but she is unwilling¹⁷ to give it up."

Paul and his sister remained an hour, Grace exerting herself far more to entertain them than she would have done had they been fashionable callers.

[Pg 110]"How did you like her, Gracie?" asked Paul, as they were walking homeward.

"She's awful nice, Paul," said the little girl.

"So I think," said Paul.

1 dictating   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的现在分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• The manager was dictating a letter to the secretary. 经理在向秘书口授信稿。 来自辞典例句
• Her face is impassive as she listens to Miller dictating the warrant for her arrest. 她毫无表情地在听米勒口述拘留她的证书。 来自辞典例句

2 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

3 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

4 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

5 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

6 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

7 antipathy   

n.憎恶；反感，引起反感的人或事物

参考例句：

• I feel an antipathy against their behaviour.我对他们的行为很反感。
• Some people have an antipathy to cats.有的人讨厌猫。

8 instinctive   

adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的

参考例句：

• He tried to conceal his instinctive revulsion at the idea.他试图饰盖自己对这一想法本能的厌恶。
• Animals have an instinctive fear of fire.动物本能地怕火。

9 inviting   

adj.诱人的，引人注目的

参考例句：

• An inviting smell of coffee wafted into the room.一股诱人的咖啡香味飘进了房间。
• The kitchen smelled warm and inviting and blessedly familiar.这间厨房的味道温暖诱人，使人感到亲切温馨。

10 gratuitous   

adj.无偿的，免费的；无缘无故的，不必要的

参考例句：

• His criticism is quite gratuitous.他的批评完全没有根据。
• There's too much crime and gratuitous violence on TV.电视里充斥着犯罪和无端的暴力。

11 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

12 possessed   

adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的

参考例句：

• He flew out of the room like a man possessed.他像着了魔似地猛然冲出房门。
• He behaved like someone possessed.他行为举止像是魔怔了。

13 refinement   

n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼

参考例句：

• Sally is a woman of great refinement and beauty. 莎莉是个温文尔雅又很漂亮的女士。
• Good manners and correct speech are marks of refinement.彬彬有礼和谈吐得体是文雅的标志。

14 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

15 rigidly   

adv.刻板地，僵化地

参考例句：

• Life today is rigidly compartmentalized into work and leisure. 当今的生活被严格划分为工作和休闲两部分。
• The curriculum is rigidly prescribed from an early age. 自儿童时起即已开始有严格的课程设置。

16 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

17 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。