CHAPTER LV. AN INVITATION FOR THE LADIES OF PENELOPE MANSION.

"There are limits to all things," said Mrs. Mortlock; "there's a time, as the blessed Bible says, to sorrow, and a time to rejoice, and what I say too is, that there is a time when a woman's patience may be exhausted¹. Yes, Mrs. Dredge, you may look at me with as round eyes as you please—I know they are round though I can't see them, but I will say, if it's my last dying breath, that the moment for my 'continual reader' to return has arrived. Miss Slowcum, no doubt you'll corroborate² what I say, ma'am."

"It's hot weather for young bright flowers to shed their fragrance³ on the London streets," replied Miss Slowcum; "it's the kind of weather when flowers fade. I should imagine, Mrs. Mortlock, that your 'continual reader' was doing better for herself in the country."

Mrs. Mortlock's face became very red.

"Better for herself, is she?" she said, "and is that all the thanks I get for keeping my post vacant, and living through days the weariness of which none may know. If Miss Primrose⁴ Mainwaring is doing better for herself in the country she is welcome to stay there. The post is a good one, a light and an easy one, and I can get many another lass to fill it."

"I think, ma'am," said Mrs. Dredge, whose face had grown wonderfully smooth and pleasant of late, "that the dear girls will all be in town this week, and most likely Miss Primrose will come to pay you a visit. Oh, they are nice girls, pretty, elegant girls, just the kind of girls my good man would like to have been papa to. I can't help shivering, even now when I think of that wicked man Dove, and what a state he put dear little Daisy into."

"If praises of the Mainwarings is to begin," answered Mrs. Mortlock in her tartest⁶ voice, "what I say is, let me retire. It's all very well for them as has right to talk well of the absent, but when one of the absent ones is neglecting her duty the lady who has weak eyes feels it. Miss Slowcum, ma'am, have you any objection to moving with me into the drawing-room? I can lend you that pattern you admired so much for tatting if you read me the latest gossip from the evening papers, ma'am."

Mrs. Mortlock rose from her chair, and, accompanied by Miss Slowcum, left the room. Miss Slowcum took a ladylike interest in all kinds of needlework, and the desire to possess the tatting pattern overcame her great reluctance⁷ to read aloud to the very tart⁵ old lady.

Mrs. Mortlock placed herself in the most comfortable arm-chair the room afforded, and having secured her victim, began instantly to tyrannize over her.

"Now, Miss Slowcum, read up chirrupy and cheerful please. None of your drawling, by way of genteel voice, for me—I like my gossip crisp. I will say this of that dear girl Primrose Mainwaring, that she did her gossip crisp."

"You really are a very unaccountable person, Mrs. Mortlock," replied Miss Slowcum. "You begin by abusing Primrose Mainwaring, and then you praise her in the most absurd manner. I hope the refined reading of a cultivated lady is not to be compared to the immature⁸ utterances⁹ of a school-girl. If that is so, Mrs. Mortlock, even for the sake of the tatting pattern, I cannot consent to waste my words on you."

"Oh, my good creature," said Mrs. Mortlock, who by no means wished to be left to solitude¹⁰ and herself, "you read in a very pretty style of your own—obsolete it may be—h'm—I suppose we must expect that—mature it certainly is; yes, my dear, quite mature. If I praise Primrose Mainwaring, and a good girl she was when she was with me—yes, a good, painstaking¹¹ girl, thankful for her mercies—it's no disparagement¹² to you, Miss Slowcum. You're mellow¹³, my dear, and you can't help being mellow, and Primrose Mainwaring is crisp, and she can't help being crisp. Oh, goodness gracious me! what sound is that falls on my ear?"

"An old friend's voice, I hope, Mrs. Mortlock," said a pleasant girlish tone, and Primrose Mainwaring herself bent¹⁴ down over the old lady and kissed her.

Notwithstanding all her grumbling¹⁵ Mrs. Mortlock had taken an immense fancy to Primrose. She returned her embrace warmly, and even took her hand and squeezed it.

"I'd like to see you, dear," she said, "but I'm getting blinder and blinder. Have you come back to your continual reading, dear? I hope so, for you do the gossip in a very chirruping style."

While Mrs. Mortlock was speaking to Primrose Miss Slowcum had taken Daisy in her arms, and covered her sweet little face with kisses, for Miss Slowcum was not all sour and affected¹⁶, and she had shed some bitter tears in secret over the child's unaccountable disappearance¹⁷. Mrs. Dredge and Mrs. Flint had both surrounded Jasmine, who, in a white summer frock, was looking extremely pretty, and was entertaining them with some animated¹⁸ conversation.

"Yes," said Primrose to Mrs. Mortlock, "I will come to read to you as often as ever I can. I shall know my plans better after to-morrow. We three girls returned to London a couple of days ago, and we received a letter from our kind friend Mrs. Ellsworthy. You don't know her, perhaps, but she is a very kind friend of ours. She is making some plans for us, but we don't quite know what they are. She has written us a letter, however, and it is on account of that letter that we have all come to you to-night. She has invited us to come to her to-morrow, and she wants all the friends who were kind to us, and who helped us in every way during our year in London, to come in the evening to hear what the plans are. Even if you can't see, Mrs. Mortlock, it will amuse you to come, and I hope so much you will do so. I will try to stay close to you myself when you do come, so you need not feel lonely."

"My dear, you are very kind," said Mrs. Mortlock, and the other ladies also said the Mainwarings were kind, and they sent their dutiful respects to Mrs. Ellsworthy and were pleased to accept. Accordingly, Primrose gave them full directions with regard to the right address, and the hour at which they were to be present; and finally the girls left Mrs. Flint and her three lady boarders in a state of considerable excitement and so deeply interested in what was about to occur that they forgot to grumble¹⁹ at each other.

1 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

2 corroborate   

v.支持，证实，确定

参考例句：

• He looked at me anxiously,as if he hoped I'd corroborate this.他神色不安地看着我，仿佛他希望我证实地的话。
• It appeared that what he said went to corroborate my account.看来他所说的和我叙述的相符。

3 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

4 primrose   

n.樱草，最佳部分，

参考例句：

• She is in the primrose of her life.她正处在她一生的最盛期。
• The primrose is set off by its nest of green.一窝绿叶衬托着一朵樱草花。

5 tart   

adj.酸的；尖酸的，刻薄的；n.果馅饼；淫妇

参考例句：

• She was learning how to make a fruit tart in class.她正在课上学习如何制作水果馅饼。
• She replied in her usual tart and offhand way.她开口回答了，用她平常那种尖酸刻薄的声调随口说道。

6 tartest   

tart（酸的，辛辣的）的最高级形式

参考例句：

7 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

8 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

9 utterances   

n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论

参考例句：

• John Maynard Keynes used somewhat gnomic utterances in his General Theory. 约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯在其《通论》中用了许多精辟言辞。 来自辞典例句
• Elsewhere, particularly in his more public utterances, Hawthorne speaks very differently. 在别的地方，特别是在比较公开的谈话里，霍桑讲的话则完全不同。 来自辞典例句

10 solitude   

n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方

参考例句：

• People need a chance to reflect on spiritual matters in solitude. 人们需要独处的机会来反思精神上的事情。
• They searched for a place where they could live in solitude. 他们寻找一个可以过隐居生活的地方。

11 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

12 disparagement   

n.轻视，轻蔑

参考例句：

• He was humble and meek, filled with self-disparagement and abasement. 他谦卑、恭顺，满怀自我贬斥与压抑。 来自互联网
• Faint praise is disparagement. 敷衍勉强的恭维等于轻蔑。 来自互联网

13 mellow   

adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟

参考例句：

• These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节，苹果就熟透了。
• The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时，色彩变得柔和了。

14 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

15 grumbling   

adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的

参考例句：

• She's always grumbling to me about how badly she's treated at work. 她总是向我抱怨她在工作中如何受亏待。
• We didn't hear any grumbling about the food. 我们没听到过对食物的抱怨。

16 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

17 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

18 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

19 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。