“I knew Miss Armiger had come back here, and I thought I should find her,” he presently ex plained.
“She was here a few minutes ago she has just left me,” Jean said.
“To go in again?” Paul appeared to wonder he had not met her on his way out.
“To go over to Bounds.”
He continued to wonder. “ With Mr. Bream? ”
“No with his little girl.”
Paul’s surprise increased. “She has taken her up?”
Jean hesitated; she uneasily laughed. “ Up up up: away up in her arms! ”
Her companion was more literal. “A young woman of Effie’s age must be a weight! ”
“I know what weight I’ve carried her. Miss Armiger did it precisely7 to prevent that.”
“To prevent your carrying her? ”
“To prevent my touching8 or, if possible, looking at her. She snatched her up and fled with her to get her away from me.”
“Why should she wish to do that?” Paul inquired.
“I think you had better ask her directly.” Then
Jean added: “ As you say, she has taken her up. She’s her occupation, from this time.”
“Why, suddenly, from this time? ”
“Because of what has happened.”
“Between you and me? ”
“Yes that’s one of her reasons.”
“One of them?” laughed Paul. “ She has so many? ”
“She tells me she has two.”
“Two? She speaks of it?”
Jean saw, visibly, that she mystified him; but she as visibly tried to let him see that this was partly because she spared him. “ She speaks of it with perfect frankness.”
“Then what’s her second reason? ”
“That if I’m not engaged” Jean hung fire, but she brought it out “ at least she herself is.”
“She herself? instead of you? ”
Paul’s blandness9 was so utter that his com panion’s sense of the comic was this time, and in spite of the cruelty involved in a correction, really touched. “To you? No, not to you, my dear Paul. To a gentleman I found with her here. To that Mr. Vidal,” said Jean.
Paul gasped10. “ You found that Mr. Vidal with her? ” He looked bewilderedly about. “ Where then is he? ”
“He went over to Bounds.”
“And she went with him? ”
“No, she went after.”
Still Paul stood staring. “Where the dickens did he drop from? ”
“I haven’t the least idea.”
The young man had a sudden light. “Why, I saw him with mamma! He was here when I came off the river he borrowed the boat.”
“But you didn’t know it was he? ”
“I never dreamed and mamma never told me.”
Jean thought a moment. “ She was afraid. You see I’m not.”
Paul Beever more pitifully wondered; he re peated again the word she had left ringing in his ears. “She’s ‘engaged’?”
“So she informed me.”
His little eyes rested on her with a stupefaction so candid11 as almost to amount to a challenge; then they moved away, far away, and he stood lost in what he felt. She came, tenderly, nearer to him, and they turned back to her: on which he saw they were filled with the tears that another failure she knew of had no power to draw to them. “ It’s awfully12 odd!” he said.
“I’ve had to hurt you,” she replied. “ I’m very sorry for you.”
“Oh, don’t mind it!” Paul smiled.
“These are things for you to hear of straight.”
“From her? Ah, I don’t want to do that! You see, of course, I shan’t say anything.” And he covered, for an instant, working it clumsily, one of his little eyes with the base of one of his big thumbs.
Jean held out her hand to him. “ Do you love her?”
He took it, embarrassed, without meeting her look; then, suddenly, something of importance seemed to occur to him and he replied with simple alertness: “ I never mentioned it! ”
Dimly, but ever so kindly13, Jean smiled. “ Because you hadn’t had your talk with me?” She kept hold of his hand. “ Dear Paul, I must say it again you’re beautiful! ”
He stared, not as yet taking this approval home; then with the same prompt veracity14, “ But she knows it, you know, all the same!” he exclaimed.
Jean laughed as she released him; but it kept no gravity out of the tone in which she presently repeated: “ I’m sorry for you.”
“Oh, it’s all right! May I light a cigarette?” he asked.
“As many as you like. But I must leave you.”
He had struck a match, and at this he paused. “Because I’m smoking? ”
“Dear, no. Because I must go over to see Effie.” Facing wistfully to her little friend’s quarter, Jean thought aloud. “ I always bid her ‘ Good-night,’ I don’t see why on her birthday, of all evenings I should omit it.”
“Well, then, bid her ‘ Good-night ’ for me too.” She was halfway15 down the slope; Paul went in the same direction, puffing16 his cigarette hard. Then, stopping short, “ Tony puts him up?” he abruptly17 asked.
“Mr. Vidal? So it appears.”
He gazed a little, blowing his smoke, at this appearance. “ And she has gone over to see him? ”
“That may be a part of her errand.”
He hesitated again. “ They can’t have lost much time! ”
“Very little indeed.”
Jean went on again; but again he checked her with a question. “What has he, what has the matter you speak of, to do with her cutting in? ”
He paused as if in the presence of things painfully obscure.
“To the interest others take in the child? Ah,” said Jean, “if you feel as you do” she hesitated “don’t ask me. Ask her I”
She went her way, and, standing5 there in thought, he waited for her to come, after an interval18, into sight on the curve of the bridge. Then as the minutes elapsed without her doing so, he lounged, heavy and blank, up again to where he had found her. Manning, while his back was turned, had arrived with one of her aids to carry off the tea-things; and from a distance, planted on the lawn, he bent on these evolutions an attention unnaturally19 fixed20. The women marched and countermarched, dismantling21 the table; he broodingly and vacantly watched them; then, as he lighted a fresh cigarette, he saw his mother come out of the house to give an eye to their work. She reached the spot and dropped a command or two; after which, joining him, she took in that her little company had dispersed22.
“What has become of every one? ”
Paul’s replies were slow; but he gave her one now that was distinct. “ After the talk on which I
lately left you I should think you would know pretty well what had become of me”
She gave him a keen look; her face softened23. “What on earth’s the matter with you? ”
He placidly24 smoked. “I’ve had my head punched.”
“Nonsense for all you mind me!” She scanned him again. “ Are you ill, Paul? ”
“I’m all right,” he answered philosophically25.
“Then kiss your old mammy.” Solemnly, silently he obeyed her; but after he had done so she still held him before her eyes. She gave him a sharp pat. “ You’re worth them all! ”
Paul made no acknowledgment of this tribute save to remark after an instant rather awkwardly: “I don’t know where Tony is.”
“I can do without Tony,” said his mother. “But where’s Tony’s child? ”
“Miss Armiger has taken her home.”
“The clever thing!” Mrs. Beever fairly applauded the feat26. “ She was here when you came out? ”
“No, but Jean told me.”
“Jean was here? ”
“Yes; but she went over.”
“Over to Bounds after what has happened? ” Mrs. Beever looked at first incredulous; then she looked stern again. “ What in the name of good ness possesses her? ”
“The wish to bid Effie good-night.” Mrs. Beever was silent a moment. “ I wish to heaven she’d leave Effie alone! ”
“Aren’t there different ways of looking at that? ” Paul indulgently asked.
“Plenty, no doubt and only one decent one.” The grossness of the girl’s error seemed to loom27 larger. “I’m ashamed of her!” she declared.
“Well, I’m not!” Paul quietly returned.
“Oh, you of course you excuse her!” In the agitation28 that he had produced Mrs. Beever bounced across an interval that brought her into view of an object from which, as she stopped short at the sight of it, her emotion drew fresh sustenance29. “ Why, there’s the boat! ”
“Mr. Vidal has brought it back,” said Paul.
She faced round in surprise. “You’ve seen him? ”
“No, but Jean told me.”
The lady of Eastmead stared. “She has seen him? Then where on earth is he? ”
“He’s staying at Bounds,” said Paul.
His mother’s wonderment deepened. “He has got there already? ”
Paul smoked a little: then he explained. “ It’s not very soon for Mr. Vidal he puts things through. He’s already engaged to her.”
Mystified, at sea, Mrs. Beever dropped upon a bench. “ Engaged to Jean? ”
“Engaged to Miss Armiger.”
She tossed her head with impatience30. “What news is that? He was engaged to her five years ago!”
“Well, then he is still. They’ve patched it up.”
Mrs. Beever was on her feet. “ She has seen him? ”
Tony Bream at this moment came rapidly down the lawn and had the effect of staying Paul’s answer. The young man gave a jerk to the stump31 of his cigarette and turned away with marked nervousness.
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1
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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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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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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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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6
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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8
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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blandness
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| n.温柔，爽快 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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11
candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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13
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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14
veracity
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| n.诚实 | |
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15
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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16
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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17
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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18
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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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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21
dismantling
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| （枪支）分解 | |
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22
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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23
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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24
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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26
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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27
loom
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| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
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28
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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sustenance
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| n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计 | |
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30
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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31
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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