The scene was the corner of Mary Street in Budmouth-Regis, near the King’s statue, at which point the white angle of the last house in the row cut perpendicularly3 an embayed and nearly motionless expanse of salt water projected from the outer ocean — today lit in bright tones of green and opal. Dick and Smart had just emerged from the street, and there on the right, against the brilliant sheet of liquid colour, stood Fancy Day; and she turned and recognized him.
Dick suspended his thoughts of the letter and wonder at how she came there by driving close to the chains of the Esplanade — incontinently displacing two chairmen, who had just come to life for the summer in new clean shirts and revivified clothes, and being almost displaced in turn by a rigid4 boy rattling5 along with a baker’s cart, and looking neither to the right nor the left. He asked if she were going to Mellstock that night.
“Yes, I’m waiting for the carrier,” she replied, seeming, too, to suspend thoughts of the letter.
“Now I can drive you home nicely, and you save half an hour. Will ye come with me?”
As Fancy’s power to will anything seemed to have departed in some mysterious manner at that moment, Dick settled the matter by getting out and assisting her into the vehicle without another word.
The temporary flush upon her cheek changed to a lesser6 hue7, which was permanent, and at length their eyes met; there was present between them a certain feeling of embarrassment8, which arises at such moments when all the instinctive9 acts dictated10 by the position have been performed. Dick, being engaged with the reins11, thought less of this awkwardness than did Fancy, who had nothing to do but to feel his presence, and to be more and more conscious of the fact, that by accepting a seat beside him in this way she succumbed12 to the tone of his note. Smart jogged along, and Dick jogged, and the helpless Fancy necessarily jogged, too; and she felt that she was in a measure captured and made a prisoner.
“I am so much obliged to you for your company, Miss Day,” he observed, as they drove past the two semicircular bays of the Old Royal Hotel, where His Majesty13 King George the Third had many a time attended the balls of the burgesses.
To Miss Day, crediting him with the same consciousness of mastery — a consciousness of which he was perfectly14 innocent — this remark sounded like a magnanimous intention to soothe15 her, the captive.
“I didn’t come for the pleasure of obliging you with my company,” she said.
The answer had an unexpected manner of incivility in it that must have been rather surprising to young Dewy. At the same time it may be observed, that when a young woman returns a rude answer to a young man’s civil remark, her heart is in a state which argues rather hopefully for his case than otherwise.
There was silence between them till they had left the sea-front and passed about twenty of the trees that ornamented16 the road leading up out of the town towards Casterbridge and Mellstock.
“Though I didn’t come for that purpose either, I would have done it,” said Dick at the twenty-first tree.
“Now, Mr. Dewy, no flirtation17, because it’s wrong, and I don’t wish it.”
Dick seated himself afresh just as he had been sitting before, arranged his looks very emphatically, and cleared his throat.
“Really, anybody would think you had met me on business and were just going to commence,” said the lady intractably.
“Yes, they would.”
“Why, you never have, to be sure!”
This was a shaky beginning. He chopped round, and said cheerily, as a man who had resolved never to spoil his jollity by loving one of womankind —
“Well, how are you getting on, Miss Day, at the present time? Gaily19, I don’t doubt for a moment.”
“I am not gay, Dick; you know that.”
“Gaily doesn’t mean decked in gay dresses.”
“I didn’t suppose gaily was gaily dressed. Mighty20 me, what a scholar you’ve grown!”
“Lots of things have happened to you this spring, I see.”
“What have you seen?”
“O, nothing; I’ve heard, I mean!”
“What have you heard?”
“The name of a pretty man, with brass21 studs and a copper22 ring and a tin watch-chain, a little mixed up with your own. That’s all.”
“That’s a very unkind picture of Mr. Shiner, for that’s who you mean! The studs are gold, as you know, and it’s a real silver chain; the ring I can’t conscientiously23 defend, and he only wore it once.”
“He might have worn it a hundred times without showing it half so much.”
“Well, he’s nothing to me,” she serenely24 observed.
“Not any more than I am?”
“Now, Mr. Dewy,” said Fancy severely25, “certainly he isn’t any more to me than you are!”
“Not so much?”
She looked aside to consider the precise compass of that question. “That I can’t exactly answer,” she replied with soft archness.
As they were going rather slowly, another spring-cart, containing a farmer, farmer’s wife, and farmer’s man, jogged past them; and the farmer’s wife and farmer’s man eyed the couple very curiously26. The farmer never looked up from the horse’s tail.
“Why can’t you exactly answer?” said Dick, quickening Smart a little, and jogging on just behind the farmer and farmer’s wife and man.
As no answer came, and as their eyes had nothing else to do, they both contemplated27 the picture presented in front, and noticed how the farmer’s wife sat flattened28 between the two men, who bulged29 over each end of the seat to give her room, till they almost sat upon their respective wheels; and they looked too at the farmer’s wife’s silk mantle30, inflating31 itself between her shoulders like a balloon and sinking flat again, at each jog of the horse. The farmer’s wife, feeling their eyes sticking into her back, looked over her shoulder. Dick dropped ten yards further behind.
“Fancy, why can’t you answer?” he repeated.
“Because how much you are to me depends upon how much I am to you,” said she in low tones.
“Everything,” said Dick, putting his hand towards hers, and casting emphatic18 eyes upon the upper curve of her cheek.
“Now, Richard Dewy, no touching32 me! I didn’t say in what way your thinking of me affected33 the question — perhaps inversely34, don’t you see? No touching, sir! Look; goodness me, don’t, Dick!”
The cause of her sudden start was the unpleasant appearance over Dick’s right shoulder of an empty timber-wagon35 and four journeymen-carpenters reclining in lazy postures36 inside it, their eyes directed upwards37 at various oblique38 angles into the surrounding world, the chief object of their existence being apparently39 to criticize to the very backbone40 and marrow41 every animate42 object that came within the compass of their vision. This difficulty of Dick’s was overcome by trotting43 on till the wagon and carpenters were beginning to look rather misty44 by reason of a film of dust that accompanied their wagon-wheels, and rose around their heads like a fog.
“Say you love me, Fancy.”
“No, Dick, certainly not; ‘tisn’t time to do that yet.”
“Why, Fancy?”
“‘Miss Day’ is better at present — don’t mind my saying so; and I ought not to have called you Dick.”
“Nonsense! when you know that I would do anything on earth for your love. Why, you make any one think that loving is a thing that can be done and undone45, and put on and put off at a mere46 whim47.”
“No, no, I don’t,” she said gently; “but there are things which tell me I ought not to give way to much thinking about you, even if —”
“But you want to, don’t you? Yes, say you do; it is best to be truthful48. Whatever they may say about a woman’s right to conceal49 where her love lies, and pretend it doesn’t exist, and things like that, it is not best; I do know it, Fancy. And an honest woman in that, as well as in all her daily concerns, shines most brightly, and is thought most of in the long-run.”
“Well then, perhaps, Dick, I do love you a little,” she whispered tenderly; “but I wish you wouldn’t say any more now.”
“I won’t say any more now, then, if you don’t like it, dear. But you do love me a little, don’t you?”
“Now you ought not to want me to keep saying things twice; I can’t say any more now, and you must be content with what you have.”
“I may at any rate call you Fancy? There’s no harm in that.”
“Yes, you may.”
“And you’ll not call me Mr. Dewy any more?”
“Very well.”
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1
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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wavy
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| adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的 | |
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perpendicularly
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| adv. 垂直地, 笔直地, 纵向地 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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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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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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11
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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12
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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13
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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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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soothe
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| v.安慰；使平静；使减轻；缓和；奉承 | |
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ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
flirtation
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| n.调情，调戏，挑逗 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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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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24
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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25
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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26
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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27
contemplated
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| adj. 预期的 动词contemplate的过去分词形式 | |
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flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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29
bulged
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| 凸出( bulge的过去式和过去分词 )； 充满； 塞满（某物） | |
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30
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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31
inflating
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| v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的现在分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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32
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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inversely
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| adj.相反的 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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36
postures
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| 姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场 | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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39
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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40
backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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41
marrow
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| n.骨髓；精华；活力 | |
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42
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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43
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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44
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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45
undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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46
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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47
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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48
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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49
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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