The red ingrain carpet was indeed very warm, beautiful, and comforting to the eye, and the sisters were suitably grateful to Providence5, and devoutly6 thankful to themselves, that they had been enabled to buy, sew, and lay so many yards of it. But as they stood looking at their completed task, it was cruelly true that there was much left to do.
The aisles7 had been painted dark brown on each side of the red strips leading from the doors to the pulpit, but the rest of the church floor was “a thing of shreds8 and patches.” Each member of the carpet committee had paid (as a matter of pride, however ill she could afford it) three dollars and sixty-seven cents for sufficient carpet to lay in her own pew; but these brilliant spots of conscientious9 effort only made the stretches of bare, unpainted floor more evident. And that was not all. Traces of former spasmodic and individual efforts desecrated10 the present ideals. The doctor's pew had a pink-and-blue Brussels on it; the lawyer's, striped stair-carpeting; the Browns from Deerwander sported straw matting and were not abashed11; while the Greens, the Whites, the Blacks, and the Grays displayed floor coverings as dissimilar as their names.
“I never noticed it before!” exclaimed Maria Sharp, “but it ain't Christian12, that floor! it's heathenish and ungodly!”
“For mercy's sake, don't swear, Maria,” said Mrs. Miller13 nervously14. “We've done our best, and let's hope that folks will look up and not down. It is n't as if they were going to set in the chandelier; they'll have something else to think about when Nancy gets her hemlock15 branches and white carnations16 in the pulpit vases. This morning my Abner picked off two pinks from a plant I've been nursing in my dining-room for weeks, trying to make it bloom for Christmas. I slapped his hands good, and it's been haunting me ever since to think I had to correct him the day before Christmas.—Come, Lobelia, we must be hurrying!”
“One thing comforts me,” exclaimed the Widow Buzzell, as she took her hammer and tacks preparatory to leaving; “and that is that the Methodist meetin'-house ain't got any carpet at all.”
“Mrs. Buzzell, Mrs. Buzzell!” interrupted the minister's wife, with a smile that took the sting from her speech. “It will be like punishing little Abner Miller; if we think those thoughts on Christmas Eve, we shall surely be haunted afterward17.”
“And anyway,” interjected Maria Sharp, who always saved the situation, “you just wait and see if the Methodists don't say they'd rather have no carpet at all than have one that don't go all over the floor. I know 'em!” and she put on her hood18 and blanket-shawl as she gave one last fond look at the improvements.
“I'm going home to get my supper, and come back afterward to lay the carpet in my pew; my beans and brown bread will be just right by now, and perhaps it will rest me a little; besides, I must feed 'Zekiel.”
As Nancy Wentworth spoke19, she sat in a corner of her own modest rear seat, looking a little pale and tired. Her waving dark hair had loosened and fallen over her cheeks, and her eyes gleamed from under it wistfully. Nowadays Nancy's eyes never had the sparkle of gazing into the future, but always the liquid softness that comes from looking backward.
“The church will be real cold by then, Nancy,” objected Mrs. Burbank.—“Good-night, Mrs. Baxter.”
“Oh, no! I shall be back by half-past six, and I shall not work long. Do you know what I believe I'll do, Mrs. Burbank, just through the holidays? Christmas and New Year's both coming on Sunday this year, there'll be a great many out to church, not counting the strangers that'll come to the special service tomorrow. Instead of putting down my own pew carpet that'll never be noticed here in the back, I'll lay it in the old Peabody pew, for the red aisle-strip leads straight up to it; the ministers always go up that side, and it does look forlorn.”
“That's so! And all the more because my pew, that's exactly opposite in the left wing, is new carpeted and cushioned,” replied the president. “I think it's real generous of you, Nancy, because the Riverboro folks, knowing that you're a member of the carpet committee, will be sure to notice, and think it's queer you have n't made an effort to carpet your own pew.”
“Never mind!” smiled Nancy wearily. “Riverboro folks never go to bed on Saturday nights without wondering what Edgewood is thinking about them!”
The minister's wife stood at her window watching Nancy as she passed the parsonage.
“How wasted! How wasted!” she sighed. “Going home to eat her lonely supper and feed 'Zekiel.... I can bear it for the others, but not for Nancy.... Now she has lighted her lamp,... now she has put fresh pine on the fire, for new smoke comes from the chimney. Why should I sit down and serve my dear husband, and Nancy feed 'Zekiel?”
There was some truth in Mrs. Baxter's feeling. Mrs. Buzzell, for instance, had three sons; Maria Sharp was absorbed in her lame20 father and her Sunday-School work; and Lobelia Brewster would not have considered matrimony a blessing21, even under the most favorable conditions. But Nancy was framed and planned for other things, and 'Zekiel was an insufficient22 channel for her soft, womanly sympathy and her bright activity of mind and body.
'Zekiel had lost his tail in a mowing-machine; 'Zekiel had the asthma23, and the immersion24 of his nose in milk made him sneeze, so he was wont25 to slip his paw in and out of the dish and lick it patiently for five minutes together. Nancy often watched him pityingly, giving him kind and gentle words to sustain his fainting spirit, but tonight she paid no heed26 to him, although he sneezed violently to attract her attention.
She had put her supper on the lighted table by the kitchen window and was pouring out her cup of tea, when a boy rapped at the door. “Here's a paper and a letter, Miss Wentworth,” he said. “It's the second this week, and they think over to the store that that Berwick widower27 must be settin' up and takin' notice!”
She had indeed received a letter the day before, an unsigned communication, consisting only of the words,—
Second Epistle of John. Verse x2.
She had taken her Bible to look out the reference and found it to be:—
Having many tilings to write unto you, I would not write
with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak
face to face, that our joy may be full.
The envelope was postmarked New York, and she smiled, thinking that Mrs. Emerson, a charming lady who had spent the summer in Edgewood, and had sung with her in the village choir28, was coming back, as she had promised, to have a sleigh ride and see Edgewood in its winter dress. Nancy had almost forgotten the first letter in the excitements of her busy day, and now here was another, from Boston this time. She opened the envelope and found again only a simple sentence, printed, not written. (Lest she should guess the hand, she wondered?)
Second Epistle of John. Verse 5.—
unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one
another.
Was it Mrs. Emerson? Could it be—any one else? Was it? No, it might have been, years ago; but not now; not now!—And yet; he was always so different from other people; and once, in church, he had handed her the hymn-book with his finger pointing to a certain verse.
She always fancied that her secret fidelity30 of heart rose from the fact that Justin Peabody was “different.” From the hour of their first acquaintance, she was ever comparing him with his companions, and always to his advantage. So long as a woman finds all men very much alike (as Lobelia Brewster did, save that she allowed some to be worse!), she is in no danger. But the moment in which she perceives and discriminates31 subtle differences, marveling that there can be two opinions about a man's superiority, that moment the miracle has happened.
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment
unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one
another.
No, it could not be from Justin. She drank her tea, played with her beans abstractedly, and nibbled32 her slice of steaming brown bread.
Not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee.
No, not a new one; twelve, fifteen years old, that commandment!
That we love one another.
Who was speaking? Who had written these words? The first letter sounded just like Mrs. Emerson, who had said she was a very poor correspondent, but that she should just “drop down” on Nancy one of these days; but this second letter never came from Mrs. Emerson.—Well, there would be an explanation some time; a pleasant one; one to smile over, and tell 'Zekiel and repeat to the neighbors; but not an unexpected, sacred, beautiful explanation, such a one as the heart of a woman could imagine, if she were young enough and happy enough to hope. She washed her cup and plate; replaced the uneaten beans in the brown pot, and put them away with the round loaf, folded the cloth (Lobelia Brewster said Nancy always “set out her meals as if she was entertainin' company from Portland”), closed the stove dampers, carried the lighted lamp to a safe corner shelf, and lifted 'Zekiel to his cushion on the high-backed rocker, doing all with the nice precision of long habit. Then she wrapped herself warmly, and locking the lonely little house behind her, set out to finish her work in the church.
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1
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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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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reviled
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| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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devoutly
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| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
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aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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8
shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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9
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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desecrated
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| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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16
carnations
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| n.麝香石竹，康乃馨( carnation的名词复数 ) | |
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17
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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19
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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lame
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| adj.跛的，(辩解、论据等)无说服力的 | |
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21
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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asthma
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| n.气喘病，哮喘病 | |
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immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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26
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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27
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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28
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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29
beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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30
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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31
discriminates
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| 分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的第三人称单数 )； 歧视，有差别地对待 | |
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32
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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