Rose smiled with her best grace. “ That’s as I leave Paul to you. I’ve just been with him.”
Mrs. Beever testified not only to interest, but to approval. “ In the library? ”
“In the drawing-room.” Rose the next moment conscientiously5 showed by a further remark her appreciation6 of the attitude that, on the part of her hostess, she had succeeded in producing. “ Miss Martle’s in the library.”
“And Effie?” Mrs. Beever asked.
“Effie, of course, is where Miss Martle is. ”
Tony, during this brief colloquy7, had lounged away as restlessly as if, instead of beaming on the lady of Eastmead, Rose were watching the master of the other house. He promptly8 turned round. “I say, dear lady, you know be kind to her! ”
“To Effie?” Mrs. Beever demanded.
“To poor Jean.”
Mrs. Beever, after an instant’s reflection, took a humorous view of his request. “ I don’t know why you call her ‘ poor ’! She has declined an excellent settlement, but she’s not in misery9 yet.” Then she said to Rose: “ I’ll take Paul first.”
Rose had put down her parasol, pricking10 the point of it, as if with a certain shyness, into the close, firm lawn. “If you like, when you take Miss Martle ” She paused in deep contemplation of Tony.
“When I take Miss Martle?” There was a new encouragement in Mrs. Beever’s voice.
The apparent effect of this benignity12 was to make Miss Armiger’s eyes widen strangely at their com panion. “Why, I’ll come back and take the child.”
Mrs. Beever met this offer with an alertness not hitherto markedly characteristic of her intercourse13 with Rose. “ I’ll send her out to you.” Then by way of an obeisance14 to Tony, directing the words well at him: “ It won’t indeed be a scene for that poor lamb!” She marched off with her duty emblazoned on her square satin back.
Tony, struck by the massive characters in which it was written there, broke into an indulgent laugh, but even in his mirth he traced the satisfaction she took in letting him see that she measured with some complacency the embarrassment15 Rose might cause him. “ Does she propose to tear Miss Martle limb from limb?” he playfully inquired.
“Do you ask that,” said Rose, “ partly because you’re apprehensive16 that it’s what I propose to do to you? ”
“By no means, my dear Rose, after your just giving me so marked a sign of the pacific as your coming round ”
“On the question,” Rose broke in, “of one’s relation to that little image and echo of her adored mother? That isn’t peace, my dear Tony. You give me just the occasion to let you formally know that it’s war.”
Tony gave another laugh. “ War? ”
“Not on you I pity you too much.”
“Then on whom? ”
Rose hesitated. “ On any one, on every one, who may be likely to find that small child small as she is! inconvenient17. Oh, I know,” she went on, “you’ll say I come late in the day for this and you’ll remind me of how very short a time ago it was that I declined a request of yours to occupy myself with her at all. Only half an hour has elapsed, but what has happened in it has made all the difference.”
She spoke18 without discernible excitement, and Tony had already become aware that the face she actually showed him was not a thing to make him estimate directly the effect wrought19 in her by the incongruous result of the influence he had put forth20 under pressure of her ardour. He needed no great imagination to conceive that this consequence might, on the poor girl’s part, well be mainly lodged21 in such depths of her nature as not to find an easy or an immediate22 way to the surface. That he had her to reckon with he was reminded as soon as he caught across the lawn the sheen of her white dress; but what he most felt was a lively, unreasoning hope that for the hour at least, and until he should have time to turn round and see what his own situation exactly contained for him, her mere23 incontestable cleverness would achieve a revolution during which he might take breath. This was not a hope that in any way met his difficulties it was a hope that only avoided them; but he had lately had a vision of something in which it was still obscure to him whether the bitter or the sweet prevailed, and he was ready to make almost any terms to be allowed to surrender himself to these first quick throbs24 of response to what was at any rate an impression of perfect beauty. He was in bliss25 with a great chill and in despair with a great lift, and confused and assured and alarmed divided between the joy and the pain of knowing that what Jean Martle had done she had done for Tony Bream, and done full in the face of all he couldn’t do to repay her. That Tony Bream might never marry was a simple enough affair, but that this rare creature mightn’t suddenly figured to him as formidable and exquisite26. Therefore he found his nerves rather indebted to Rose for her being if that was the explanation too proud to be vulgarly vindictive27. She knew his secret, as even after seeing it so freely handled by Mrs. Beever he still rather artlessly called the motive28 of his vain appeal; knew it better than before, since she could now read it in the intenser light of the knowledge of it betrayed by another. If on this advantage he had no reason to look to her for generosity29, it was at least a comfort that he might look to her for good manners. Poor Tony had the full consciousness of needing to think out a line, but it weighed somewhat against that oppression to feel that Rose also would have it. He was only a little troubled by the idea that, ardent30 and subtle, she would probably think faster than he. He turned over a moment the revelation of these qualities conveyed in her announcement of a change, as he might call it, of policy.
“What you say is charming,” he good-naturedly replied, “ so far as it represents an accession to the ranks of my daughter’s friends. You will never without touching31 me remind me how nearly a sister you were to her mother; and I would rather express the pleasure I take in that than the bewilderment I feel at your allusion32 to any class of persons whose interest in her may not be sincere. The more friends she has, the better I welcome you all. The only thing I ask of you,” he went on, smiling, “ is not to quarrel about her among yourselves.”
Rose, as she listened, looked almost religiously calm, but as she answered there was a profane33 quaver in her voice that told him with what an effort she achieved that sacrifice to form for which he was so pusillanimously34 grateful. “ It’s very good of you to make the best of me; and it’s also very clever of you, let me add, my dear Tony and add with all deference35 to your goodness to succeed in implying that any other course is open to you. You may welcome me as a friend of the child or not. I’m present for her, at any rate, and present as I’ve never been before.”
Tony’s gratitude36, suddenly contracting, left a little edge for irritation37. “ You’re present, assuredly, my dear Rose, and your presence is to us all an advantage of which, happily, we never become uncon scious for an hour. But do I understand that the firm position among us that you allude38 to is one to which you see your way to attaching any possibility of permanence? ”
She waited as if scrupulously39 to detach from its stem the flower of irony40 that had sprouted41 in this speech, and while she inhaled42 it she gave her visible attention only to the little hole in the lawn that she continued to prick11 with the point of her parasol. “If that’s a graceful43 way of asking me,” she returned at last, “ whether the end of my visit here isn’t near at hand, perhaps the best satisfaction I can give you is to say that I shall probably stay on at least as long as Miss Martle. What I meant, however, just now,” she pursued, “ by saying that I’m more on the spot than heretofore, is simply that while I do stay
I stay to be vigilant44. That’s what I hurried out to let you definitely know, in case you should be going home without our meeting again. I told you before I went into the house that I trusted you I needn’t recall to you for what. Mr. Beever after a while came in and told me that Miss Martle had refused him. Then I felt that, after what had passed between us, it was only fair to say to you ”
“That you’ve ceased to trust me?” Tony inter4 jected.
“By no means. I don’t give and take back.” And though his companion’s handsome head, with its fixed45, pale face, rose high, it became appreciably46 handsomer and reached considerably47 higher, while she wore once more the air of looking at his mistake through the enlarging blur48 of tears. “ As I believe you did, in honour, what you could for Mr. Beever, I trust you perfectly49 still.”
Tony smiled as if he apologised, but as if also he couldn’t but wonder. “ Then it’s only fair to say to me? ”
“That I don’t trust Miss Martle.”
“Oh, my dear woman!” Tony precipitately50 laughed.
But Rose went on with all deliberation and dis tinctness. “ That’s what has made the difference that’s what has brought me, as you say, round to a sense of my possible use, or rather of my clear obligation. Half an hour ago I knew how much you loved her. Now I know how much she loves you.”
Tony’s laugh suddenly dropped; he showed the face of a man for whom a joke has sharply turned grave. “ And what is it that, in possession of this admirable knowledge, you see? ”
Rose faltered51; but she had not come so far simply to make a botch of it. “ Why, that it’s the obvious interest of the person we speak of not to have too stupid a patience with any obstacle to her marrying you.”
This speech had a quiet lucidity52 of which the odd action was for an instant to make him lose breath so violently that, in his quick gasp53, he felt sick. In the indignity54 of the sensation he struck out. “ Pray, why is it the person’s obvious interest any more than it’s yours? ”
“Seeing that I love you quite as much as she does? Because you don’t love me quite so much as you love her. That’s exactly ‘ why,’ dear Tony Bream!” said Rose Armiger.
She turned away from him sadly and nobly, as if she had done with him and with the subject, and he stood where she had left him, gazing at the foolish greenness at his feet and slowly passing his hand over his head. In a few seconds, however, he heard her utter a strange, short cry, and, looking round, saw her face to face across the interval55 of sloping lawn with a gentleman whom he had been suffi ciently prepared to recognise on the spot as Dennis Vidal.
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1
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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inter
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| v.埋葬 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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colloquy
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| n.谈话，自由讨论 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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prick
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| v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛 | |
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benignity
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| n.仁慈 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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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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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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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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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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throbs
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| 体内的跳动( throb的名词复数 ) | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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pusillanimously
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| adv.胆怯地，优柔寡断地 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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41
sprouted
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| v.发芽( sprout的过去式和过去分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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42
inhaled
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| v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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vigilant
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| adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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appreciably
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| adv.相当大地 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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48
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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50
precipitately
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| adv.猛进地 | |
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51
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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52
lucidity
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| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
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53
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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54
indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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55
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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