§ 13

It seemed ever so late in the night when Philip came upstairs. He made a scarcely perceptible noise, but she was alert. “Phil dear!” she cried. “Are you there? Phil!”

He came softly out of the shadows, stood aloof¹ for a moment, black, mysterious and silent against the blue night, and then was at the bedside. “I hoped you were asleep,” he said.

She clicked on her shaded light and the two regarded each other in a sorrowful scrutiny², perplexed³ with themselves and life.

“Cynthia,” he whispered. “Cynthia my darling; can you forgive?”

“Perhaps,” she panted and paused. “Perhaps there is nothing to forgive.”

“But ——?”

“Nothing that matters.”

“She’s cleared out.”

“It doesn’t matter. Don’t trouble about her. . . . You I think of.”

“I’ve been such a beast.”

“No. It happened. It had to happen. Something had to happen. You couldn’t help yourself. You’ve nothing to do here. You’ve been a prisoner here, waiting on me.”

“Oh! don’t say that. I meant to be so dear to you — my dear. But there’s something rotten in me.”

“No, no. Rotten! Dear, Phil dear, you’re not even ripe. But I’ve let you stay here. . . . ” She put out her hand and he sat himself on the bed beside her. He kissed her. “My dear,” he said. “Dear! Dear!”

“Listen,” she said and kept her hand upon him. She whispered. Both spoke⁴ in whispers. “Go to England, dear one. Things are happening there. Trouble and muddle⁵. Men — men ought to work. You — you ought to find out. You ought to understand. You so rich and — responsible. Things have to be done. I can stay here. . . . ”

“You banish⁶ me?”

“No. This is banishment⁷. Here. Here I can’t help you — to grow into the man you have to be. Not now. I’ve got to be three parts vegetable for a bit now — and then a sort of cow. No fit companion for a growing man. I don’t mind, dear. It’s worth it. It’s what I’m for. It had to be. But you —you go home to England now. You can’t stand idleness. You can’t stand these long empty days.”

He released her and sat thinking it out.

After a long pause he said, “I think you are right. I ought to go.”

“Yes —go.”

“We’ve got all the Red Valley property. All that Yorkshire stretch. The Vale of Edensoke. A third perhaps of the Rylands millions is in coal. I ought to know about it. I’ve let the older men, Uncle Robert and the others, do what they pleased.”

Now that was a man!

“Go for that,” she said. “Go for the sake of that.”

He turned his eyes to her. She did her best to look at him with a grave, quiet, convincing face and her strength was not enough. Suddenly the calm of her countenance⁸ broke under her distress⁹ and she wept like a struck child.

“Oh my dear!” he cried in an agony of helplessness; “that I should hurt you now! What have I done to you?” and threw his arms about her and drew her up close to him, very close to him, and kissed the salt tears.

“Poor Phil!” she clung to him weeping, smoothing his hair with one hand. “Dear Phil!”

End of Book One

1 aloof   

adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的

参考例句：

• Never stand aloof from the masses.千万不可脱离群众。
• On the evening the girl kept herself timidly aloof from the crowd.这小女孩在晚会上一直胆怯地远离人群。

2 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

3 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

4 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：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 muddle   

n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱

参考例句：

• Everything in the room was in a muddle.房间里每一件东西都是乱七八糟的。
• Don't work in a rush and get into a muddle.克服忙乱现象。

6 banish   

vt.放逐，驱逐；消除，排除

参考例句：

• The doctor advised her to banish fear and anxiety.医生劝她消除恐惧和忧虑。
• He tried to banish gloom from his thought.他试图驱除心中的忧愁。

7 banishment   

n.放逐，驱逐

参考例句：

• Qu Yuan suffered banishment as the victim of a court intrigue. 屈原成为朝廷中钩心斗角的牺牲品，因而遭到放逐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was sent into banishment. 他被流放。 来自辞典例句

8 countenance   

n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同

参考例句：

• At the sight of this photograph he changed his countenance.他一看见这张照片脸色就变了。
• I made a fierce countenance as if I would eat him alive.我脸色恶狠狠地，仿佛要把他活生生地吞下去。

9 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。