Never, perhaps, at any rate, had Mrs. Beever been more conscious of her advantages, or at least more surrounded with her conveniences, than on a beautiful afternoon of June on which we are again concerned with her. These blessings10 were partly embodied11 in the paraphernalia12 of tea, which had cropped up, with promptness and profusion13, in a sheltered corner of the lawn and in the midst of which, waiting for custom, she might have been in charge of a refreshment-stall at a fair. Everything at the other house struck her as later and later, and she only regretted that, as the protest of her own tradition, she couldn’t move in the opposite direction without also moving from the hour. She waited for it now, at any rate, in the presence of a large red rug and. a large white tablecloth14, as well as of sundry15 basket-chairs and of a hammock that swayed in the soft west wind; and she had meanwhile been occupied with a collection of parcels and paste board boxes that were heaped together on a bench. Of one of these parcels, enveloped16 in several layers of tissue-paper, she had just possessed17 herself, and, seated near her tea-table, was on the point of uncovering it. She became aware, at this instant, of being approached from behind; on which, looking over her shoulder and seeing Doctor Ramage, she straightway stayed her hands. These friends, in a long acquaintance, had dropped by the way so many preliminaries that absence, in their intercourse18, was a mere parenthesis19 and conversation in general scarce began with a capital. But on this occasion the Doctor was floated to a seat not, as usual, on the bosom20 of the immediately previous.
“Guess whom I’ve just overtaken on your door step. The young man you befriended four years ago Mr. Vidal, Miss Armiger’s flame! ”
Mrs. Beever fell back in her surprise; it was rare for Mrs. Beever to fall back. “ He has turned up again?” Her eyes had already asked more than her friend could tell. “ For what in the world? ”
“For the pleasure of seeing you. He has evidently retained a very grateful sense of what you did for him.”
“I did nothing, my dear man I had to let it alone.”
“Tony’s condition of course I remember again required you. But you gave him a shelter,” said the Doctor, “ that wretched day and that night, and he felt (it was evidently much to him) that, in his rupture21 with his young woman, you had the right instinct of the matter and were somehow on his side.”
“I put him up for a few hours I saved him, in time, the embarrassment22 of finding himself in a house of death. But he took himself off. the next morning early bidding me good-bye only in a quiet little note.”
“A quiet little note which I remember you after wards23 showed me and which was a model of discretion24 and good taste. It seems to me,” the Doctor went on, “ that he doesn’t violate those virtues25 in considering that you’ve given him the right to reappear.”
“At the very time, and the only time, in so long a period that his young woman, as you call her, happens also to be again in the field! ”
“That’s a coincidence,” the Doctor replied, “ far too singular for Mr. Vidal to have had any forecast of it.”
“You didn’t then tell him? ”
“I told him nothing save that you were probably just where I find you, and that, as Manning is busy with her tea-things, I would come straight out for him and announce that he’s there.”
Mrs. Beever’s sense of complications evidently grew as she thought. “ By ‘ there ’ do you mean on the doorstep? ”
“Far from it. In the safest place in the world at least when you’re not in it.”
“In my own room?” Mrs. Beever asked.
“In that austere26 monument to Domestic Method which you’re sometimes pleased to call your boudoir. I took upon myself to show him into it and to close the door on him there. I reflected that you’d perhaps like to see him before any one else.”
Mrs. Beever looked at her visitor with apprecia tion. “ You dear, sharp thing! ”
“Unless, indeed,” the Doctor added, “ they have, in so many years, already met.”
“She told me only yesterday they haven’t.”
“I see. However, as I believe you consider that she never speaks the truth, that doesn’t particularly count.”
“I hold, on the contrary, that a lie counts double,” Mrs. Beever replied with decision.
Doctor Ramage laughed. “ Then why have you never in your life told one? I haven’t even yet quite made out,” he pursued, “ why especially with Miss Jean here you asked Miss Armiger down.”
“I asked her for Tony.”
“Because he suggested it? Yes, I know that.”
“I mean it,” said Mrs. Beever, “ in a sense I think you don’t know.” She looked at him a moment; but either her profundity27 or his caution were too great, and he waited for her to commit herself further. That was a thing she could always do rapidly without doing it recklessly. “ I asked her exactly on account of Jean.”
The Doctor meditated28, but this seemed to deepen her depth. “ I give it up. You’ve mostly struck me as so afraid of every other girl Paul looks at.”
Mrs. Beever ’s face was grave. “ Yes, I’ve always been; but I’m not so afraid of them as of those at whom Tony looks.”
Her interlocutor started. “ He’s looking at Jean? ”
Mrs. Beever was silent a little. “ Not for the first time! ”
Her visitor also hesitated. “And do you think, Miss Armiger? ”
Mrs. Beever took him up. “ Miss Armiger’s better for him since he must have somebody! ”
“You consider she’d marry him? ”
“She’s insanely in love with him.” The Doctor tilted29 up his chin; he uttered an expressive30 “ Euh! She is indeed, poor thing!” he said. “ Since you frankly31 mention it, I as frankly agree with you, that I’ve never seen anything like it. And there’s monstrous32 little I’ve not seen. But if
Tony isn’t crazy too? ”
“It’s a kind of craze that’s catching33. He must think of that sort of thing.”
“I don’t know what you mean by ‘ thinking! ’ Do you imply that the dear man, on what we know?” The Doctor couldn’t phrase it.
His friend had greater courage. “ Would break his vow34 and marry again?” She turned it over, but at last she brought out: “ Never in the world.”
“Then how does the chance of his thinking of Rose help her? ”
“I don’t say it helps her. I simply say it helps poor me.”
Doctor Ramage was still mystified. “ But if they can’t marry? ”
“I don’t care whether they marry or not! ” She faced him with the bravery of this, and he broke into a happy laugh. “ I don’t know whether most to admire your imagination or your morality.”
“I protect my girl,” she serenely35 declared. Doctor Ramage made his choice. “ Oh, your morality! ”
“In doing so,” she went on, “ I also protect my boy. That’s the highest morality I know. I’ll see Mr. Vidal out here,” she added.
“So as to get rid of him easier? ”
“My getting rid of him will depend on what he wants. He must take, after all,” Mrs. Beever con1 tinued, “ his chance of meeting any embarrassment. If he plumps in without feeling his way ”
“It’s his own affair I see,” the Doctor said. What he saw was that his friend’s diplomacy36 had suffered a slight disturbance37. Mr. Vidal was a new element in her reckoning; for if, of old, she had liked and pitied him, he had since dropped out of her problem. Her companion, who timed his pleasures to the minute, indulged in one of his frequent glances at his watch. “ I’ll put it then to the young man more gracefully38 than you do that you’ll receive him in this place.”
“I shall be much obliged to you.”
“But before I go,” Doctor Ramage inquired, “where are all our friends? ”
“I haven’t the least idea. The only ones I count on are Effie and Jean.”
The Doctor made a motion of remembrance. “ To be sure it’s their birthday: that fellow put it out of my head. The child’s to come over to you to tea, and just what I stopped for ”
“Was to see if I had got your doll?” Mrs. Beever interrupted him by holding up the muffled39 parcel in her lap. She pulled away the papers. “Allow me to introduce the young lady.”
The young lady was sumptuous40 and ample; he took her in his hands with reverence41. “ She’s splendid she’s positively42 human! I feel like a Turkish pasha investing in a beautiful Circassian. I feel too,” the Doctor went on, “ how right I was to depend, in the absence of Mrs. Ramage, on your infallible taste.” Then restoring the effigy43: “Kindly mention how much I owe you.”
“Pay at the shop,” said Mrs. Beever. “They ‘ trusted ’ me.”
“With the same sense of security that I had! ” The Doctor got up. “ Please then present the object and accompany it with nyy love and a kiss.”
“You can’t come back to give them yourself? ”
“What do I ever give ‘myself,’ dear lady, but medicine? ”
“Very good,” said Mrs. Beever; “ the presenta tion shall be formal. But I ought to warn you that your beautiful Circassian will have been no less than the fourth.” She glanced at the parcels on the bench. “I mean the fourth doll the child’s to receive today.”
The Doctor followed the direction of her eyes. “It’s a regular slave-market a perfect harem! ”
“We’ve each of us given her one. Each, that is, except Rose.”
“And what has Rose given her? ”
“Nothing at all.”
The Doctor thought a moment. “ Doesn’t she like her? ”
“She seems to wish it to be marked that she has nothing to do with her.”
Again Doctor Ramage reflected. “ I see that’s very clever.”
Mrs. Beever, from her chair, looked up at him. “What do you mean by ‘ clever ’? ”
“I’ll tell you some other time.” He still stood before the bench. “ There are no gifts for poor Jean? ”
“Oh, Jean has had most of hers.”
“But nothing from me.” The Doctor had but just thought of her; he turned sadly away. “I’m quite ashamed! ”
“You needn’t be,” said Mrs. Beever. “She has also had nothing from Tony.”
He seemed struck’. “ Indeed? On Miss Armi-ger’s system?” His friend remained silent, and he went on: “ That of wishing it to be marked that he has nothing to do with her? ”
Mrs. Beever, for a minute, continued not to reply; but at last she exclaimed: “ He doesn’t calculate! ”
“That’s bad for a banker!” Doctor Ramage laughed. “ What then has she had from Paul? ”
“Nothing either as yet. That’s to come this evening.”
“And what’s it to be? ”
Mrs. Beever hesitated. “ I haven’t an idea.”
“Ah, you can fib!” joked her visitor, taking leave.
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1
con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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2
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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6
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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7
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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8
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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10
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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11
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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paraphernalia
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| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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tablecloth
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| n.桌布，台布 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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18
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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19
parenthesis
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| n.圆括号，插入语，插曲，间歇，停歇 | |
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20
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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23
wards
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| 区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态 | |
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24
discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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26
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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profundity
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| n.渊博；深奥，深刻 | |
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28
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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29
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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31
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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32
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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33
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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34
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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35
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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36
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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37
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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38
gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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39
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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40
sumptuous
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| adj.豪华的，奢侈的，华丽的 | |
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41
reverence
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| 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 | |
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42
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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43
effigy
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| n.肖像 | |
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