She saw Erik Valborg coming, in an ancient highwater suit, tramping sullenly1 and alone, striking at the rails with a stick. For a second she unreasoningly wanted to avoid him, but she kept on, and she serenely2 talked about God, whose voice, Hugh asserted, made the humming in the telegraph wires. Erik stared, straightened. They greeted each other with “Hello.”
“Hugh, say how-do-you-do to Mr. Valborg.”
“Oh, dear me, he’s got a button unbuttoned,” worried Erik, kneeling. Carol frowned, then noted4 the strength with which he swung the baby in the air.
“May I walk along a piece with you?”
“I’m tired. Let’s rest on those ties. Then I must be trotting5 back.”
They sat on a heap of discarded railroad ties, oak logs spotted6 with cinnamon-colored dry-rot and marked with metallic7 brown streaks8 where iron plates had rested. Hugh learned that the pile was the hiding-place of Injuns; he went gunning for them while the elders talked of uninteresting things.
The telegraph wires thrummed, thrummed, thrummed above them; the rails were glaring hard lines; the goldenrod smelled dusty. Across the track was a pasture of dwarf9 clover and sparse10 lawn cut by earthy cow-paths; beyond its placid11 narrow green, the rough immensity of new stubble, jagged with wheat- stacks like huge pineapples.
Erik talked of books; flamed like a recent convert to any faith. He exhibited as many titles and authors as possible, halting only to appeal, “Have you read his last book? Don’t you think he’s a terribly strong writer?”
She was dizzy. But when he insisted, “You’ve been a librarian; tell me; do I read too much fiction?” she advised him loftily, rather discursively12. He had, she indicated, never studied. He had skipped from one emotion to another. Especially — she hesitated, then flung it at him — he must not guess at pronunciations; he must endure the nuisance of stopping to reach for the dictionary.
“I’m talking like a cranky teacher,” she sighed.
“No! And I will study! Read the damned dictionary right through.” He crossed his legs and bent13 over, clutching his ankle with both hands. “I know what you mean. I’ve been rushing from picture to picture, like a kid let loose in an art gallery for the first time. You see, it’s so awful recent that I’ve found there was a world — well, a world where beautiful things counted. I was on the farm till I was nineteen. Dad is a good farmer, but nothing else. Do you know why he first sent me off to learn tailoring? I wanted to study drawing, and he had a cousin that’d made a lot of money tailoring out in Dakota, and he said tailoring was a lot like drawing, so he sent me down to a punk hole called Curlew, to work in a tailor shop. Up to that time I’d only had three months’ schooling14 a year — walked to school two miles, through snow up to my knees — and Dad never would stand for my having a single book except schoolbooks.
“I never read a novel till I got ‘Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall’ out of the library at Curlew. I thought it was the loveliest thing in the world! Next I read ‘Barriers Burned Away’ and then Pope’s translation of Homer. Some combination, all right! When I went to Minneapolis, just two years ago, I guess I’d read pretty much everything in that Curlew library, but I’d never heard of Rossetti or John Sargent or Balzac or Brahms. But —— Yump, I’ll study. Look here! Shall I get out of this tailoring, this pressing and repairing?”
“I don’t see why a surgeon should spend very much time cobbling shoes.”
“But what if I find I can’t really draw and design? After fussing around in New York or Chicago, I’d feel like a fool if I had to go back to work in a gents’ furnishings store!”
“Please say ‘haberdashery.’ ”
“Haberdashery? All right. I’ll remember.” He shrugged16 and spread his fingers wide.
She was humbled17 by his humility18; she put away in her mind, to take out and worry over later, a speculation19 as to whether it was not she who was naive20. She urged, “What if you do have to go back? Most of us do! We can’t all be artists — myself, for instance. We have to darn socks, and yet we’re not content to think of nothing but socks and darning- cotton. I’d demand all I could get — whether I finally settled down to designing frocks or building temples or pressing pants. What if you do drop back? You’ll have had the adventure. Don’t be too meek21 toward life! Go! You’re young, you’re unmarried. Try everything! Don’t listen to Nat Hicks and Sam Clark and be a ‘steady young man’— in order to help them make money. You’re still a blessed innocent. Go and play till the Good People capture you!”
“But I don’t just want to play. I want to make something beautiful. God! And I don’t know enough. Do you get it? Do you understand? Nobody else ever has! Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“And so —— But here’s what bothers me: I like fabrics22; dinky things like that; little drawings and elegant words. But look over there at those fields. Big! New! Don’t it seem kind of a shame to leave this and go back to the East and Europe, and do what all those people have been doing so long? Being careful about words, when there’s millions of bushels off wheat here! Reading this fellow Pater, when I’ve helped Dad to clear fields!”
“It’s good to clear fields. But it’s not for you. It’s one of our favorite American myths that broad plains necessarily make broad minds, and high mountains make high purpose. I thought that myself, when I first came to the prairie. ‘Big — new.’ Oh, I don’t want to deny the prairie future. It will be magnificent. But equally I’m hanged if I want to be bullied23 by it, go to war on behalf of Main Street, be bullied and BULLIED by the faith that the future is already here in the present, and that all of us must stay and worship wheat-stacks and insist that this is ‘God’s Country’— and never, of course, do anything original or gay-colored that would help to make that future! Anyway, you don’t belong here. Sam Clark and Nat Hicks, that’s what our big newness has produced. Go! Before it’s too late, as it has been for — for some of us. Young man, go East and grow up with the revolution! Then perhaps you may come back and tell Sam and Nat and me what to do with the land we’ve been clearing — if we’ll listen — if we don’t lynch you first!”
He looked at her reverently24. She could hear him saying,
“I’ve always wanted to know a woman who would talk to me like that.”
Her hearing was faulty. He was saying nothing of the sort. He was saying:
“Why aren’t you happy with your husband?”
“I— you ——”
“He doesn’t care for the ‘blessed innocent’ part of you, does he!”
“Erik, you mustn’t ——”
“First you tell me to go and be free, and then you say that I ‘mustn’t’!”
“I know. But you mustn’t —— You must be more impersonal25!”
He glowered26 at her like a downy young owl27. She wasn’t sure but she thought that he muttered, “I’m damned if I will.” She considered with wholesome28 fear the perils29 of meddling30 with other people’s destinies, and she said timidly, “Hadn’t we better start back now?”
He mused31, “You’re younger than I am. Your lips are for songs about rivers in the morning and lakes at twilight32. I don’t see how anybody could ever hurt you. . . . Yes. We better go.”
He trudged33 beside her, his eyes averted34. Hugh experimentally took his thumb. He looked down at the baby seriously. He burst out, “All right. I’ll do it. I’ll stay here one year. Save. Not spend so much money on clothes. And then I’ll go East, to art-school. Work on the side-tailor shop, dressmaker’s. I’ll learn what I’m good for: designing clothes, stage-settings, illustrating35, or selling collars to fat men. All settled.” He peered at her, unsmiling.
“Can you stand it here in town for a year?”
“With you to look at?”
“Please! I mean: Don’t the people here think you’re an odd bird? (They do me, I assure you!)”
“I don’t know. I never notice much. Oh, they do kid me about not being in the army — especially the old warhorses, the old men that aren’t going themselves. And this Bogart boy. And Mr. Hicks’s son — he’s a horrible brat36. But probably he’s licensed37 to say what he thinks about his father’s hired man!”
“He’s beastly!”
They were in town. They passed Aunt Bessie’s house. Aunt Bessie and Mrs. Bogart were at the window, and Carol saw that they were staring so intently that they answered her wave only with the stiffly raised hands of automatons38. In the next block Mrs. Dr. Westlake was gaping39 from her porch. Carol said with an embarrassed quaver:
“I want to run in and see Mrs. Westlake. I’ll say good-by here.”
She avoided his eyes.
Mrs. Westlake was affable. Carol felt that she was expected to explain; and while she was mentally asserting that she’d be hanged if she’d explain, she was explaining:
“Hugh captured that Valborg boy up the track. They became such good friends. And I talked to him for a while. I’d heard he was eccentric, but really, I found him quite intelligent. Crude, but he reads — reads almost the way Dr. Westlake does.”
“That’s fine. Why does he stick here in town? What’s this I hear about his being interested in Myrtle Cass?”
“I don’t know. Is he? I’m sure he isn’t! He said he was quite lonely! Besides, Myrtle is a babe in arms!”
“Twenty-one if she’s a day!”
“Well —— Is the doctor going to do any hunting this fall?”
II
The need of explaining Erik dragged her back into doubting. For all his ardent40 reading, and his ardent life, was he anything but a small-town youth bred on an illiberal41 farm and in cheap tailor shops? He had rough hands. She had been attracted only by hands that were fine and suave42, like those of her father. Delicate hands and resolute43 purpose. But this boy — powerful seamed hands and flabby will.
“It’s not appealing weakness like his, but sane44 strength that win animate45 the Gopher Prairies. Only —— Does that mean anything? Or am I echoing Vida? The world has always let ‘strong’ statesmen and soldiers — the men with strong voices — take control, and what have the thundering boobies done? What is ‘strength’?
“This classifying of people! I suppose tailors differ as much as burglars or kings.
“Erik frightened me when he turned on me. Of course he didn’t mean anything, but I mustn’t let him be so personal.
“Amazing impertinence!
“But he didn’t mean to be.
“His hands are FIRM. I wonder if sculptors46 don’t have thick hands, too?
“Of course if there really is anything I can do to HELP the boy ——
“Though I despise these people who interfere47. He must be independent.”
III
She wasn’t altogether pleased, the week after, when Erik was independent and, without asking for her inspiration, planned the tennis tournament. It proved that he had learned to play in Minneapolis; that, next to Juanita Haydock, he had the best serve in town. Tennis was well spoken of in Gopher Prairie and almost never played. There were three courts: one belonging to Harry49 Haydock, one to the cottages at the lake, and one, a rough field on the outskirts50, laid out by a defunct51 tennis association.
Erik had been seen in flannels52 and an imitation panama hat, playing on the abandoned court with Willis Woodford, the clerk in Stowbody’s bank. Suddenly he was going about proposing the reorganization of the tennis association, and writing names in a fifteen-cent note-book bought for the purpose at Dyer’s. When he came to Carol he was so excited over being an organizer that he did not stop to talk of himself and Aubrey Beardsley for more than ten minutes. He begged, “Will you get some of the folks to come in?” and she nodded agreeably.
He proposed an informal exhibition match to advertise the association; he suggested that Carol and himself, the Haydocks, the Woodfords, and the Dillons play doubles, and that the association be formed from the gathered enthusiasts54. He had asked Harry Haydock to be tentative president. Harry, he reported, had promised, “All right. You bet. But you go ahead and arrange things, and I’ll O.K. ’em.” Erik planned that the match should be held Saturday afternoon, on the old public court at the edge of town. He was happy in being, for the first time, part of Gopher Prairie.
Through the week Carol heard how select an attendance there was to be.
Kennicott growled55 that he didn’t care to go.
Had he any objections to her playing with Erik?
No; sure not; she needed the exercise. Carol went to the match early. The court was in a meadow out on the New Antonia road. Only Erik was there. He was dashing about with a rake, trying to make the court somewhat less like a plowed56 field. He admitted that he had stage fright at the thought of the coming horde57. Willis and Mrs. Woodford arrived, Willis in home-made knickers and black sneakers through at the toe; then Dr. and Mrs. Harvey Dillon, people as harmless and grateful as the Woodfords.
Carol was embarrassed and excessively agreeable, like the bishop’s lady trying not to feel out of place at a Baptist bazaar58.
They waited.
The match was scheduled for three. As spectators there assembled one youthful grocery clerk, stopping his Ford53 delivery wagon59 to stare from the seat, and one solemn small boy, tugging60 a smaller sister who had a careless nose.
“I wonder where the Haydocks are? They ought to show up, at least,” said Erik.
Carol smiled confidently at him, and peered down the empty road toward town. Only heat-waves and dust and dusty weeds.
At half-past three no one had come, and the grocery boy reluctantly got out, cranked his Ford, glared at them in a disillusioned61 manner, and rattled62 away. The small boy and his sister ate grass and sighed.
The players pretended to be exhilarated by practising service, but they startled at each dust-cloud from a motor car. None of the cars turned into the meadow-none till a quarter to four, when Kennicott drove in.
Carol’s heart swelled63. “How loyal he is! Depend on him! He’d come, if nobody else did. Even though he doesn’t care for the game. The old darling!”
Kennicott did not alight. He called out, “Carrie! Harry Haydock ‘phoned me that they’ve decided64 to hold the tennis matches, or whatever you call ’em, down at the cottages at the lake, instead of here. The bunch are down there now: Haydocks and Dyers and Clarks and everybody. Harry wanted to know if I’d bring you down. I guess I can take the time — come right back after supper.”
Before Carol could sum it all up, Erik stammered65, “Why, Haydock didn’t say anything to me about the change. Of course he’s the president, but ——”
Kennicott looked at him heavily, and grunted66, “I don’t know a thing about it. . . . Coming, Carrie?”
“I am not! The match was to be here, and it will be here! You can tell Harry Haydock that he’s beastly rude!” She rallied the five who had been left out, who would always be left out. “Come on! We’ll toss to see which four of us play the Only and Original First Annual Tennis Tournament of Forest Hills, Del Monte, and Gopher Prairie!”
“Don’t know as I blame you,” said Kennicott. “Well have supper at home then?” He drove off.
She hated him for his composure. He had ruined her defiance67. She felt much less like Susan B. Anthony as she turned to her huddled68 followers69.
Mrs. Dillon and Willis Woodford lost the toss. The others played out the game, slowly, painfully, stumbling on the rough earth, muffing the easiest shots, watched only by the small boy and his sniveling sister. Beyond the court stretched the eternal stubble-fields. The four marionettes, awkwardly going through exercises, insignificant70 in the hot sweep of contemptuous land, were not heroic; their voices did not ring out in the score, but sounded apologetic; and when the game was over they glanced about as though they were waiting to be laughed at.
They walked home. Carol took Erik’s arm. Through her thin linen71 sleeve she could feel the crumply72 warmth of his familiar brown jersey73 coat. She observed that there were purple and red gold threads interwoven with the brown. She remembered the first time she had seen it.
Their talk was nothing but improvisations on the theme: “I never did like this Haydock. He just considers his own convenience.” Ahead of them, the Dillons and Woodfords spoke48 of the weather and B. J. Gougerling’s new bungalow74. No one referred to their tennis tournament. At her gate Carol shook hands firmly with Erik and smiled at him.
Next morning, Sunday morning, when Carol was on the porch, the Haydocks drove up.
“We didn’t mean to be rude to you, dearie!” implored75 Juanita. “I wouldn’t have you think that for anything. We planned that Will and you should come down and have supper at our cottage.”
“No. I’m sure you didn’t mean to be.” Carol was super- neighborly. “But I do think you ought to apologize to poor Erik Valborg. He was terribly hurt.”
“Oh. Valborg. I don’t care so much what he thinks,” objected Harry. “He’s nothing but a conceited76 buttinsky. Juanita and I kind of figured he was trying to run this tennis thing too darn much anyway.”
“But you asked him to make arrangements.”
“I know, but I don’t like him. Good Lord, you couldn’t hurt his feelings! He dresses up like a chorus man — and, by golly, he looks like one! — but he’s nothing but a Swede farm boy, and these foreigners, they all got hides like a covey of rhinoceroses77 .”
“But he IS hurt!”
“Well —— I don’t suppose I ought to have gone off half- cocked, and not jollied him along. I’ll give him a cigar. He’ll ——”
Juanita had been licking her lips and staring at Carol. She interrupted her husband, “Yes, I do think Harry ought to fix it up with him. You LIKE him, DON’T you, Carol??”
Over and through Carol ran a frightened cautiousness. “Like him? I haven’t an I— dea. He seems to be a very decent young man. I just felt that when he’d worked so hard on the plans for the match, it was a shame not to be nice to him.”
“Maybe there’s something to that,” mumbled78 Harry; then, at sight of Kennicott coming round the corner tugging the red garden hose by its brass79 nozzle, he roared in relief, “What d’ you think you’re trying to do, doc?”
While Kennicott explained in detail all that he thought he was trying to do, while he rubbed his chin and gravely stated, “Struck me the grass was looking kind of brown in patches — didn’t know but what I’d give it a sprinkling,” and while Harry agreed that this was an excellent idea, Juanita made friendly noises and, behind the gilt80 screen of an affectionate smile, watched Carol’s face.
IV
She wanted to see Erik. She wanted some one to play with! There wasn’t even so dignified81 and sound an excuse as having Kennicott’s trousers pressed; when she inspected them, all three pairs looked discouragingly neat. She probably would not have ventured on it had she not spied Nat Hicks in the pool-parlor82, being witty83 over bottle-pool. Erik was alone! She fluttered toward the tailor shop, dashed into its slovenly84 heat with the comic fastidiousness of a humming bird dipping into a dry tiger-lily. It was after she had entered that she found an excuse.
Erik was in the back room, cross-legged on a long table, sewing a vest. But he looked as though he were doing this eccentric thing to amuse himself.
“Hello. I wonder if you couldn’t plan a sports-suit for me?” she said breathlessly.
He stared at her; he protested, “No, I won’t! God! I’m not going to be a tailor with you!”
“Why, Erik!” she said, like a mildly shocked mother.
It occurred to her that she did not need a suit, and that the order might have been hard to explain to Kennicott.
He swung down from the table. “I want to show you something.” He rummaged85 in the roll-top desk on which Nat Hicks kept bills, buttons, calendars, buckles86, thread-channeled wax, shotgun shells, samples of brocade for “fancy vests,” fishing-reels, pornographic post-cards, shreds87 of buckram lining88. He pulled out a blurred89 sheet of Bristol board and anxiously gave it to her. It was a sketch90 for a frock. It was not well drawn91; it was too finicking; the pillars in the background were grotesquely92 squat93. But the frock had an original back, very low, with a central triangular94 section from the waist to a string of jet beads95 at the neck.
“It’s stunning96. But how it would shock Mrs. Clark!”
“Yes, wouldn’t it!”
“You must let yourself go more when you’re drawing.”
“Don’t know if I can. I’ve started kind of late. But listen! What do you think I’ve done this two weeks? I’ve read almost clear through a Latin grammar, and about twenty pages of Caesar.”
“Splendid! You are lucky. You haven’t a teacher to make you artificial.”
“You’re my teacher!”
There was a dangerous edge of personality to his voice. She was offended and agitated97. She turned her shoulder on him, stared through the back window, studying this typical center of a typical Main Street block, a vista98 hidden from casual strollers. The backs of the chief establishments in town surrounded a quadrangle neglected, dirty, and incomparably dismal99. From the front, Howland & Gould’s grocery was smug enough, but attached to the rear was a lean-to of storm streaked100 pine lumber101 with a sanded tar3 roof — a staggering doubtful shed behind which was a heap of ashes, splintered packing-boxes, shreds of excelsior, crumpled102 straw-board, broken olive-bottles, rotten fruit, and utterly103 disintegrated104 vegetables: orange carrots turning black, and potatoes with ulcers105. The rear of the Bon Ton Store was grim with blistered106 black-painted iron shutters107, under them a pile of once glossy108 red shirt-boxes, now a pulp109 from recent rain.
As seen from Main Street, Oleson & McGuire’s Meat Market had a sanitary110 and virtuous111 expression with its new tile counter, fresh sawdust on the floor, and a hanging veal112 cut in rosettes. But she now viewed a back room with a homemade refrigerator of yellow smeared113 with black grease. A man in an apron114 spotted with dry blood was hoisting115 out a hard slab116 of meat.
Behind Billy’s Lunch, the cook, in an apron which must long ago have been white, smoked a pipe and spat117 at the pest of sticky flies. In the center of the block, by itself, was the stable for the three horses of the drayman, and beside it a pile of manure118.
The rear of Ezra Stowbody’s bank was whitewashed119, and back of it was a concrete walk and a three-foot square of grass, but the window was barred, and behind the bars she saw Willis Woodford cramped120 over figures in pompous121 books. He raised his head, jerkily rubbed his eyes, and went back to the eternity122 of figures.
The backs of the other shops were an impressionistic picture of dirty grays, drained browns, writhing123 heaps of refuse.
“Mine is a back-yard romance — with a journeyman tailor!”
She was saved from self-pity as she began to think through Erik’s mind. She turned to him with an indignant, “It’s disgusting that this is all you have to look at.”
He considered it. “Outside there? I don’t notice much. I’m learning to look inside. Not awful easy!”
“Yes. . . . I must be hurrying.”
As she walked home — without hurrying — she remembered her father saying to a serious ten-year-old Carol, “Lady, only a fool thinks he’s superior to beautiful bindings, but only a double-distilled fool reads nothing but bindings.”
She was startled by the return of her father, startled by a sudden conviction that in this flaxen boy she had found the gray reticent124 judge who was divine love, perfect under- standing125. She debated it, furiously denied it, reaffirmed it, ridiculed126 it. Of one thing she was unhappily certain: there was nothing of the beloved father image in Will Kennicott.
V
She wondered why she sang so often, and why she found so many pleasant things — lamplight seen though trees on a cool evening, sunshine on brown wood, morning sparrows, black sloping roofs turned to plates of silver by moonlight. Pleasant things, small friendly things, and pleasant places — a field of goldenrod, a pasture by the creek127 — and suddenly a wealth of pleasant people. Vida was lenient128 to Carol at the surgical-dressing class; Mrs. Dave Dyer flattered her with questions about her health, baby, cook, and opinions on the war.
Mrs. Dyer seemed not to share the town’s prejudice against Erik. “He’s a nice-looking fellow; we must have him go on one of our picnics some time.” Unexpectedly, Dave Dyer also liked him. The tight-fisted little farceur had a confused reverence129 for anything that seemed to him refined or clever. He answered Harry Haydock’s sneers130, “That’s all right now! Elizabeth may doll himself up too much, but he’s smart, and don’t you forget it! I was asking round trying to find out where this Ukraine is, and darn if he didn’t tell me. What’s the matter with his talking so polite? Hell’s bells, Harry, no harm in being polite. There’s some regular he- men that are just as polite as women, prett’ near.”
Carol found herself going about rejoicing, “How neighborly the town is!” She drew up with a dismayed “Am I falling in love with this boy? That’s ridiculous! I’m merely interested in him. I like to think of helping131 him to succeed.”
But as she dusted the living-room, mended a collar-band, bathed Hugh, she was picturing herself and a young artistan Apollo nameless and evasive — building a house in the Berkshires or in Virginia; exuberantly132 buying a chair with his first check; reading poetry together, and frequently being earnest over valuable statistics about labor133; tumbling out of bed early for a Sunday walk, and chattering134 (where Kennicott would have yawned) over bread and butter by a lake. Hugh was in her pictures, and he adored the young artist, who made castles of chairs and rugs for him. Beyond these playtimes she saw the “things I could do for Erik”— and she admitted that Erik did partly make up the image of her altogether perfect artist.
In panic she insisted on being attentive135 to Kennicott, when he wanted to be left alone to read the newspaper.
VI
She needed new clothes. Kennicott had promised, “We’ll have a good trip down to the Cities in the fall, and take plenty of time for it, and you can get your new glad-rags then.” But as she examined her wardrobe she flung her ancient black velvet136 frock on the floor and raged, “They’re disgraceful. Everything I have is falling to pieces.”
There was a new dressmaker and milliner, a Mrs. Swiftwaite. It was said that she was not altogether an elevating influence in the way she glanced at men; that she would as soon take away a legally appropriated husband as not; that if there WAS any Mr. Swiftwaite, “it certainly was strange that nobody seemed to know anything about him!” But she had made for Rita Gould an organdy frock and hat to match universally admitted to be “too cunning for words,” and the matrons went cautiously, with darting138 eyes and excessive politeness, to the rooms which Mrs. Swiftwaite had taken in the old Luke Dawson house, on Floral Avenue.
With none of the spiritual preparation which normally precedes the buying of new clothes in Gopher Prairie, Carol marched into Mrs. Swiftwaite’s, and demanded, “I want to see a hat, and possibly a blouse.”
In the dingy139 old front parlor which she had tried to make smart with a pier140 glass, covers from fashion magazines, anemic French prints, Mrs. Swiftwaite moved smoothly141 among the dress-dummies and hat-rests, spoke smoothly as she took up a small black and red turban. “I am sure the lady will find this extremely attractive.”
“It’s dreadfully tabby and small-towny,” thought Carol, while she soothed142, “I don’t believe it quite goes with me.”
“It’s the choicest thing I have, and I’m sure you’ll find it suits you beautifully. It has a great deal of chic15. Please try it on,” said Mrs. Swiftwaite, more smoothly than ever.
Carol studied the woman. She was as imitative as a glass diamond. She was the more rustic143 in her effort to appear urban. She wore a severe high-collared blouse with a row of small black buttons, which was becoming to her low-breasted slim neatness, but her skirt was hysterically144 checkered145, her cheeks were too highly rouged146, her lips too sharply penciled. She was magnificently a specimen148 of the illiterate149 divorcee of forty made up to look thirty, clever, and alluring150.
While she was trying on the hat Carol felt very condescending151. She took it off, shook her head, explained with the kind smile for inferiors, “I’m afraid it won’t do, though it’s unusually nice for so small a town as this.”
“But it’s really absolutely New–Yorkish.”
“Well, it ——”
“You see, I know my New York styles. I lived in New York for years, besides almost a year in Akron!”
“You did?” Carol was polite, and edged away, and went home unhappily. She was wondering whether her own airs were as laughable as Mrs. Swiftwaite’s. She put on the eye- glasses which Kennicott had recently given to her for reading, and looked over a grocery bill. She went hastily up to her room, to her mirror. She was in a mood of self-depreciation. Accurately152 or not, this was the picture she saw in the mirror:
Neat rimless153 eye-glasses. Black hair clumsily tucked under a mauve straw hat which would have suited a spinster. Cheeks clear, bloodless. Thin nose. Gentle mouth and chin. A modest voile blouse with an edging of lace at the neck. A virginal sweetness and timorousness154 — no flare155 of gaiety, no suggestion of cities, music, quick laughter.
“I have become a small-town woman. Absolute. Typical. Modest and moral and safe. Protected from life. GENTEEL! The Village Virus — the village virtuousness156. My hair — just scrambled157 together. What can Erik see in that wedded158 spinster there? He does like me! Because I’m the only woman who’s decent to him! How long before he’ll wake up to me? . . . I’ve waked up to myself. . . . Am I as old as — as old as I am?
“Not really old. Become careless. Let myself look tabby.
“I want to chuck every stitch I own. Black hair and pale cheeks — they’d go with a Spanish dancer’s costume — rose behind my ear, scarlet159 mantilla over one shoulder, the other bare.”
She seized the rouge147 sponge, daubed her cheeks, scratched at her lips with the vermilion pencil until they stung, tore open her collar. She posed with her thin arms in the attitude of the fandango. She dropped them sharply. She shook her head. “My heart doesn’t dance,” she said. She flushed as she fastened her blouse.
“At least I’m much more graceful137 than Fern Mullins.
Heavens! When I came here from the Cities, girls imitated me. Now I’m trying to imitate a city girl.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
sullenly
|
|
| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
serenely
|
|
| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
tar
|
|
| n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
trotting
|
|
| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
spotted
|
|
| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
metallic
|
|
| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
streaks
|
|
| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
dwarf
|
|
| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sparse
|
|
| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
placid
|
|
| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
discursively
|
|
| adv.东拉西扯地，推论地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
schooling
|
|
| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
chic
|
|
| n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
humbled
|
|
| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
humility
|
|
| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
speculation
|
|
| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
naive
|
|
| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
meek
|
|
| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
fabrics
|
|
| 织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bullied
|
|
| adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
reverently
|
|
| adv.虔诚地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
impersonal
|
|
| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
glowered
|
|
| v.怒视( glower的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
owl
|
|
| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
wholesome
|
|
| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
perils
|
|
| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
meddling
|
|
| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
mused
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
trudged
|
|
| vt.& vi.跋涉，吃力地走（trudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
averted
|
|
| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
illustrating
|
|
| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
brat
|
|
| n.孩子；顽童 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
licensed
|
|
| adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
automatons
|
|
| n.自动机，机器人( automaton的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
gaping
|
|
| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
ardent
|
|
| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
illiberal
|
|
| adj.气量狭小的，吝啬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
suave
|
|
| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
resolute
|
|
| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
sane
|
|
| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
animate
|
|
| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
sculptors
|
|
| 雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
harry
|
|
| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
defunct
|
|
| adj.死亡的；已倒闭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
flannels
|
|
| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
Ford
|
|
| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
enthusiasts
|
|
| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
growled
|
|
| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
plowed
|
|
| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
horde
|
|
| n.群众，一大群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
bazaar
|
|
| n.集市，商店集中区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
wagon
|
|
| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
tugging
|
|
| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
disillusioned
|
|
| a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
swelled
|
|
| 增强( swell的过去式和过去分词 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
stammered
|
|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
grunted
|
|
| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
huddled
|
|
| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
followers
|
|
| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
linen
|
|
| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
crumply
|
|
| 易皱的，满是皱纹的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
73
jersey
|
|
| n.运动衫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
bungalow
|
|
| n.平房，周围有阳台的木造小平房 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
implored
|
|
| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
conceited
|
|
| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
rhinoceroses
|
|
| n.钱，钞票( rhino的名词复数 )；犀牛(=rhinoceros)；犀牛( rhinoceros的名词复数 )；脸皮和犀牛皮一样厚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
mumbled
|
|
| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
brass
|
|
| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
dignified
|
|
| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
parlor
|
|
| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
witty
|
|
| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
slovenly
|
|
| adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
rummaged
|
|
| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的过去式和过去分词 )； 已经海关检查 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
buckles
|
|
| 搭扣，扣环( buckle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
shreds
|
|
| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
lining
|
|
| n.衬里，衬料 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
blurred
|
|
| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
sketch
|
|
| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
grotesquely
|
|
| adv. 奇异地,荒诞地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
squat
|
|
| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
triangular
|
|
| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
beads
|
|
| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
stunning
|
|
| adj.极好的；使人晕倒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
vista
|
|
| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
dismal
|
|
| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
streaked
|
|
| adj.有条斑纹的，不安的v.快速移动( streak的过去式和过去分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
lumber
|
|
| n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
crumpled
|
|
| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
disintegrated
|
|
| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
ulcers
|
|
| n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
blistered
|
|
| adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
shutters
|
|
| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
glossy
|
|
| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
pulp
|
|
| n.果肉，纸浆；v.化成纸浆，除去...果肉，制成纸浆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
sanitary
|
|
| adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
virtuous
|
|
| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
veal
|
|
| n.小牛肉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
smeared
|
|
| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
hoisting
|
|
| 起重，提升 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
slab
|
|
| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
spat
|
|
| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
manure
|
|
| n.粪，肥，肥粒；vt.施肥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
whitewashed
|
|
| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
cramped
|
|
| a.狭窄的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
pompous
|
|
| adj.傲慢的，自大的；夸大的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
eternity
|
|
| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
writhing
|
|
| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
reticent
|
|
| adj.沉默寡言的；言不如意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
ridiculed
|
|
| v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
creek
|
|
| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
lenient
|
|
| adj.宽大的，仁慈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
reverence
|
|
| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
sneers
|
|
| 讥笑的表情（言语）( sneer的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
exuberantly
|
|
| adv.兴高采烈地，活跃地，愉快地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
attentive
|
|
| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
velvet
|
|
| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
darting
|
|
| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
dingy
|
|
| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
smoothly
|
|
| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
soothed
|
|
| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
hysterically
|
|
| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
checkered
|
|
| adj.有方格图案的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
rouged
|
|
| 胭脂，口红( rouge的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
rouge
|
|
| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
specimen
|
|
| n.样本，标本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
illiterate
|
|
| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
alluring
|
|
| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
condescending
|
|
| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
accurately
|
|
| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
rimless
|
|
| adj.无边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
timorousness
|
|
| n.羞怯，胆怯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
155
flare
|
|
| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
virtuousness
|
|
| 贞德，高洁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
157
scrambled
|
|
| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
wedded
|
|
| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |