“The match was a good one,” Grant conceded, “but no Prime Minister has a right to hole out like your father. Lady Susan. Affairs of state and all that sort of thing ought to interfere4 and make him raise his head.”
“That putt at the sixteenth was sheer robbery,” she agreed.
“An excellent match,” Lord Yeovil declared. “Placing you at scratch, Grant, and Susan at twelve, men’s handicap, the fact that I was able to halve5 the match against you would seem to indicate my having played somewhere about six. Six is above my form.”
“I think, with the exception of the drive which you sliced from the eighth tee, Dad, and which landed in Italy,” Susan observed, “you were playing better than six.”
“The game has restored my faith in my powers of concentration,” her father announced. “I said to myself, every nation in the world may be at one another’s throats to-morrow, my resignation may be demanded before I return to England, I may march out of Downing Street, bag and baggage, the day of my return, but I will not take my eye off the ball this morning, and I didn’t.”
“Plumb in the centre, every time,” Grant agreed. “Hurray! Here come the hors d’oeuvres!’
“It is not my custom to drink wine in the middle of the day,” Lord Yeovil said, “but I think we must supplement the vin ordinaire a little—Montrachet, perhaps, or Chateau6 Yquem?”
“This is a terrible start to a strenuous7 day,” Grant remarked, “To-night I dine with Delilah.”
Susan looked across the table at him a little curiously8.
“I am glad that you admit the attraction.”
“I never found any one who knew her and was willing to deny it,” Grant rejoined.
“Quite right,” his host assented9. “Thank heavens that I am no longer a young man. I fancy that I should find the Princess irresistible10.”
“When I knew her first,” Grant continued reminiscently, “she was a simple American girl, living upon a farm, riding three hours every day, playing a little tennis, doing a little housekeeping. Then she had a season in Washington. After that she became somehow the vogue11. A town aunt took her up. It was about that time that Von Diss fell so desperately12 in love with her.”
“She was a fool to marry him,” Lord Yeovil declared. “Even now, after all these years, a German or an Austrian woman finds it difficult to hold her own. In Berlin the aristocracy, especially, at any rate until about ten years ago, have had a hideous13 time.”
“There’s a reaction going on now,” Grant reminded him.
“As we well know,” the older man assented. “Chiefly owing, I honestly believe, to that fascinating youth. Prince Frederick. A most charming lad. I only hope that Lutrecht and our dear friend’s husband. Von Diss, and the others of that regime don’t get hold of him and spoil him. By the bye, I am breaking my rule by speaking of such affairs in a public place, and Arthur isn’t here to correct me. I wonder why you are not English, Grant. You would have made a wonderful secretary for me.”
“I’d rather have been an Englishman than belong to any other race, if I hadn’t been an American, sir,” Grant answered. “As it is, I am naturally content.”
“Au revoir to conversation,” his host remarked, watching the approach of their first course. “I now become a glutton14. Appetite is, after all, a most entrancing thing.”
“During this regrettable silence of my father’s,” Susan observed, as she helped herself from one of the dishes, “you and I had better exchange a few ideas, Grant. You don’t seem to have had much time for me lately.”
“Dear Lady Susan,” he bemoaned15, “the amenities16 of life have seemed to lie outside the orbit of my jurisdiction17 the last few days.”
“You always pose as being so busy,” she scoffed18. “What do you do with yourself?”
“Solve bridge problems, inspect my crew on the Grey Lady, lose my mille or two, eat, drink, and sleep. It is a most enthralling19 existence.”
“You seem to have left out a few little things,” she remarked. “There’s the Princess, for instance. I thought that it was rather the object of your life just now to entertain her.”
“Others have shared that task with me,” he replied. “To-night I dine with her. We shall probably be very sentimental20. I shall ask her whether she is entirely21 happy with the man she preferred to me. She will sigh and tears will stand in my eyes as I look through the wall. Then we shall part with a little gulp22. I may kiss her fingers and she will go and powder her nose, put on a becoming peignoir and listen for the train. I foresee a sentimental evening.”
“Something has happened to you,” Susan declared. “You used not to be so sentimental, or so cynical23.”
“A great deal has happened to me,” he agreed. “In three days’ time, Lady Susan, if you will trust me so far, I will tell you a most entrancing story.”
“And, in the meantime,” she reminded him, a little coldly, “the tears will stand in your eyes, and you will look through the wall, whilst thinking of the woman you have loved.”
“Those things have to be,” he apologised.
“For what purpose?” she demanded. “Where is the necessity? Have you anything to gain, for instance, by flirting24 with the Princess? Or do you do it to indulge in a sort of sentimental debauch—to go through it and then analyse your feelings? Because—”
She was suddenly silent. She felt that, in a sense, she had betrayed herself. Her father glanced at her across the table. Grant saved the situation.
“You read me like a book. Lady Susan,” he acknowledged. “You always do. As a matter of fact, a passion for diluted25 psychology26 of an analytical27 type stopped my taking honours at Harvard, and will, without a doubt, interfere with my complete success in life. I am hideously28 curious about little things. Still, I offer no apologies. The Princess has stirred colder hearts than mine.”
“If I were your age,” Lord Yeovil declared, helping29 himself to omelette unselfishly, and yet with discretion30, “there is nothing in this world which would prevent my being in love with the Princess.”
“I am glad that you recognise my difficulties,” Grant said gratefully.
“Experience has such a charm for the very young,” Susan observed, a little sarcastically31.
“After all, it’s rather a relief,” Grant observed, looking round the room, “to be free for an hour or two from this little host of intriguers. Here we are with a crowd of strangers, amongst whom I only recognise our very excellent friend Baron33 Funderstrom, the Scandinavian. None of the others are here. I fancy that this atmosphere is a little too bracing34 for them. We are in a different world. Intrigue32 up here is unknown—except the intrigue of cutting in.”
“Dashed annoying intrigue, too, when it comes off,” Lord Yeovil grumbled35. “Are you two young people going to play again? Because, I tell you frankly36 that I am not. I’ll send the car back for you with pleasure. A nap in my study for the next hour or two is the thing which appeals to me most.”
“Just as Lady Susan wishes,” Grant said, looking towards her.
“I should like another round, unless it bores you,” she decided37.
Their final round was played in the brilliant declining sunlight of a perfect Riviera afternoon. The wind had dropped and brought no longer icy reminiscences from the snow-clad Alps. The air, though keen, was sweet and laden38 with the fragrance39 of the trees in blossom, which fringed the slopes of the hills. More than once they paused to look downwards40. Susan was, for her, a little listless.
“I don’t think you’re really enjoying the Riviera this year,” he remarked.
“I’m not sure that I am,” she admitted. “Somehow or other, from the moment we arrived, we seem to have lived in an unfamiliar41 atmosphere. I can’t explain it. Baron Naga’s death seemed to be part of it. Dad bluffs42 most beautifully but he is all the time nervous and on edge. You—although I don’t know what you have to do with it all—seem to be living half in this world and half in some other you won’t talk about. Arthur has the air of a man about to commit suicide. The Lancasters are the only normal people, and perhaps that is because they are brainless. What’s it all about, Grant? Have you really lost your head about this old sweetheart of yours? And is there really any cause for Dad to worry? All these politicians who come to call are so delightfully44 amiable45 and polite that one can’t realise that they may not be absolutely sincere.”
“I’m not going to try and bluff43 to you, Lady Susan,” Grant said seriously. “I’m afraid there may be trouble afoot. We can’t quite get to grips with it, but it’s there. We have indications of it, and warnings from all sorts of unsuspected quarters. Personally, I think your father is in a very awkward position. You see the great difficulty is that, however hard he tries, he can’t find out exactly how things really do stand. When the Pact46 was inaugurated, all the nations started trusting one another. They dropped secret treaties and secret understandings and swept the whole of their Secret Service departments into the four corners of the world,—that is to say, the honest ones did. Consequently, now there’s trouble about, we don’t know where to turn.”
“But you?” she protested. “You’re out of it all. You’re not even English. Why are you so disturbed?”
He smiled as he watched his ball go travelling over a bunker.
“Let it alone, Lady Susan,” he begged. “You’re the one person outside it all. Stop outside for a time. If the trouble comes you will know of it fast enough.”
She was not altogether satisfied.
“Is it my fancy,” she asked, “or am I being treated like some one just emerged from the nursery?”
“My dear Lady Susan,” he pointed47 out, “it wouldn’t do you a bit of good to be let into your father’s worries or mine. And they very likely don’t amount to anything, after all.”
She shrugged48 her shoulders.
“Do you talk like this to the Princess?” she queried49.
He smiled.
“I should certainly not tell the Princess the things you are asking me,” he assured her.
“I suppose I am a cat,” Susan reflected, “but I don’t like the Princess.”
“You’ll like her when you know her better,” he ventured.
“I don’t want to know her any better,” she declared. “She seems to me the sort of woman who makes use of people. That’s what I can’t help thinking about you, and her, and Arthur.”
“What use can she make of us?” he asked.
“She wants to get to know things, for the sake of that husband of hers, I suppose. It’s all very well for you, but I do think Arthur ought to be more careful. Father never says much but I fancy he’s thinking a good deal.”
They finished the round almost in silence, and their conversation over tea was negligible. On the way down. Grant was conscious of a sudden fear. Susan, after all, was a creature of impulse. These purgatorial50 days through which he and the others were passing, meant nothing to her. She might fail to make allowance for them. She was always surrounded by young men, and, for the moment at any rate, she was seriously annoyed with him.
“Lady Susan,” he began.
“Mr. Slattery.”
“I thought it was generally ‘Grant’,” he remonstrated51.
“I have heard myself called ‘Susan’,” she reminded him.
“Look here, then, Susan,” he recommenced. “We seem to have got wrong somehow. I don’t like it. I want to be friends.”
“My dear man,” she protested, “have I shown any signs of quarrelling with you?”
“You’re annoyed, and I don’t want you to be.”
“Does it really make any difference?” she asked a little bitterly.
“Of course it does.”
“Do something to please me then, will you?”
“Anything,” he declared, with foolish optimism.
“Don’t dine with that Von Diss woman to-night.”
He was distressed52.
“My dear Susan!” he expostulated. “I can’t get out of it.”
“Had you asked her to dine with you or did she invent that on the yacht?”
“She invented it on the yacht,” he admitted. “At the same time I accepted it, and, to tell you the truth, Susan, for certain reasons, I really am anxious to dine with her.”
“The certain reasons being, I suppose, that she may go on making love to you in the flagrant way she did on the yacht.”
“Do you mind whether she does or not?”
“Not in the least,” she declared untruthfully.
“Then it wouldn’t be any use my asking you—”
She turned suddenly towards him with a touch of her old manner.
“You can ask me anything you like, Grant, if only you’ll promise not to dine with her to-night.”
He was half embarrassed, half irritated. She was, after all, such a child.
“Susan,” he begged, “be reasonable.”
“What a horrible suggestion!” she scoffed. “I’ll be reasonable when I’m middle-aged,—when nothing matters. I’m a very foolish person, of course, but it does happen to matter a good deal to me that you insist upon dining with that woman to-night. To prove how unreasonable53 I am—voila!”
The car had been crawling round the corner of the Square, and Susan jumped lightly onto the footpath54. She waved her hand to Grant.
“Thanks so much for the game,” she said. “I’m going to talk to Bobby and Rose.”
She waved her hand once more and started off to join her friends. Grant stopped his car by the pavement.
“Look here, you can’t leave me like that,” he protested. “Your father left you in my care.”
“Can’t help it,” she replied. “You were beginning to bore me, so I had to escape.”
“But how are you getting out to the Villa55?” he asked.
“Bobby will take me. Won’t you, Bobby?”
“Rather!” that young man promised. “Push off Grant! You’ve had a pretty good innings, old chap. We haven’t seen anything of Susan all day. Come along! We’ll have mixed vermouths over at the Café de Paris, gamble for half an hour, then we’ll get rid of Rose, and I’ll take you home in a petite voiture.”
“It’s a desperate enterprise, but I accept,” she declared. “Good-by. Grant! Hope you enjoy your dinner.”
“I shall do my best,” he answered, with a little unnecessary emphasis.
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收听单词发音
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1
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aperitifs
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| n.（饭前饮用的）开胃酒( aperitif的名词复数 ) | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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halve
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| vt.分成两半，平分；减少到一半 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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glutton
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| n.贪食者，好食者 | |
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bemoaned
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| v.为（某人或某事）抱怨( bemoan的过去式和过去分词 )；悲悼；为…恸哭；哀叹 | |
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amenities
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| n.令人愉快的事物；礼仪；礼节；便利设施；礼仪( amenity的名词复数 )；便利设施；（环境等的）舒适；（性情等的）愉快 | |
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jurisdiction
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| n.司法权，审判权，管辖权，控制权 | |
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scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enthralling
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| 迷人的 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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gulp
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| vt.吞咽，大口地吸（气）；vi.哽住；n.吞咽 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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flirting
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的现在分词 ) | |
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diluted
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| 无力的，冲淡的 | |
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psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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analytical
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| adj.分析的；用分析法的 | |
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hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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bracing
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| adj.令人振奋的 | |
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grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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42
bluffs
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| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
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43
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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pact
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| n.合同，条约，公约，协定 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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48
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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49
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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50
purgatorial
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| adj.炼狱的，涤罪的 | |
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51
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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52
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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53
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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54
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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55
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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