So the Lady cast herself down on the green grass anigh the water, while Walter blew the hounds in and coupled them up; then he turned round to her, and lo! she was weeping for despite that they had lost the quarry; and again did Walter wonder that so little a matter should raise a passion of tears in her. He durst not ask what ailed9 her, or proffer10 her solace11, but was not ill apaid by beholding12 her loveliness as she lay.
Presently she raised up her head and turned to Walter, and spake to him angrily and said: “Squire13, why dost thou stand staring at me like a fool?”
“Yea, Lady,” he said; “but the sight of thee maketh me foolish to do aught else but to look on thee.”
She said, in a peevish14 voice: “Tush, Squire, the day is too far spent for soft and courtly speeches; what was good there is nought15 so good here. Withal, I know more of thine heart than thou deemest.”
Walter hung down his head and reddened, and she looked on him, and her face changed, and she smiled and said, kindly16 this time: “Look ye, Squire, I am hot and weary, and ill-content; but presently it will be better with me; for my knees have been telling my shoulders that the cold water of this little lake will be sweet and pleasant this summer noonday, and that I shall forget my foil when I have taken my pleasure therein. Wherefore, go thou with thine hounds without the thicket and there abide17 my coming. And I bid thee look not aback as thou goest, for therein were peril18 to thee: I shall not keep thee tarrying long alone.”
He bowed his head to her, and turned and went his ways. And now, when he was a little space away from her, he deemed her indeed a marvel19 of women, and wellnigh forgat all his doubts and fears concerning her, whether she were a fair image fashioned out of lies and guile20, or it might be but an evil thing in the shape of a goodly woman. Forsooth, when he saw her caressing21 the dear and friendly Maid, his heart all turned against her, despite what his eyes and his ears told his mind, and she seemed like as it were a serpent enfolding the simplicity22 of the body which he loved.
But now it was all changed, and he lay on the grass and longed for her coming; which was delayed for somewhat more than an hour. Then she came back to him, smiling and fresh and cheerful, her green gown let down to her heels.
He sprang up to meet her, and she came close to him, and spake from a laughing face: “Squire, hast thou no meat in thy wallet? For, meseemeth, I fed thee when thou wert hungry the other day; do thou now the same by me.”
He smiled, and louted to her, and took his wallet and brought out thence bread and flesh and wine, and spread them all out before her on the green grass, and then stood by humbly23 before her. But she said: “Nay24, my Squire, sit down by me and eat with me, for to-day are we both hunters together.”
So he sat down by her trembling, but neither for awe25 of her greatness, nor for fear and horror of her guile and sorcery.
A while they sat there together after they had done their meat, and the Lady fell a-talking with Walter concerning the parts of the earth, and the manners of men, and of his journeyings to and fro.
At last she said: “Thou hast told me much and answered all my questions wisely, and as my good Squire should, and that pleaseth me. But now tell me of the city wherein thou wert born and bred; a city whereof thou hast hitherto told me nought.”
“Lady,” he said, “it is a fair and a great city, and to many it seemeth lovely. But I have left it, and now it is nothing to me.”
“Hast thou not kindred there?” said she.
“Yea,” said he, “and foemen withal; and a false woman waylayeth my life there.”
“And what was she?” said the Lady.
Said Walter: “She was but my wife.”
“Was she fair?” said the Lady.
Walter looked on her a while, and then said: “I was going to say that she was wellnigh as fair as thou; but that may scarce be. Yet was she very fair. But now, kind and gracious Lady, I will say this word to thee: I marvel that thou askest so many things concerning the city of Langton on Holm, where I was born, and where are my kindred yet; for meseemeth that thou knowest it thyself.”
“I know it, I?” said the Lady.
“What, then! thou knowest it not?” said Walter.
Spake the Lady, and some of her old disdain26 was in her words: “Dost thou deem that I wander about the world and its cheaping-steads like one of the chap-men? Nay, I dwell in the Wood beyond the World, and nowhere else. What hath put this word into thy mouth?”
He said: “Pardon me, Lady, if I have misdone; but thus it was: Mine own eyes beheld27 thee going down the quays28 of our city, and thence a ship-board, and the ship sailed out of the haven29. And first of all went a strange dwarf30, whom I have seen here, and then thy Maid; and then went thy gracious and lovely body.”
The Lady’s face changed as he spoke31, and she turned red and then pale, and set her teeth; but she refrained her, and said: “Squire, I see of thee that thou art no liar32, nor light of wit, therefore I suppose that thou hast verily seen some appearance of me; but never have I been in Langton, nor thought thereof, nor known that such a stead there was until thou namedst it e’en now. Wherefore, I deem that an enemy hath cast the shadow of me on the air of that land.”
“Yea, my Lady,” said Walter; “and what enemy mightest thou have to have done this?”
She was slow of answer, but spake at last from a quivering mouth of anger: “Knowest thou not the saw, that a man’s foes33 are they of his own house? If I find out for a truth who hath done this, the said enemy shall have an evil hour with me.”
Again she was silent, and she clenched34 her hands and strained her limbs in the heat of her anger; so that Walter was afraid of her, and all his misgivings35 came back to his heart again, and he repented36 that he had told her so much. But in a little while all that trouble and wrath37 seemed to flow off her, and again was she of good cheer, and kind and sweet to him and she said: “But in sooth, however it may be, I thank thee, my Squire and friend, for telling me hereof. And surely no wyte do I lay on thee. And, moreover, is it not this vision which hath brought thee hither?”
“So it is, Lady,” said he.
“Then have we to thank it,” said the Lady, “and thou art welcome to our land.”
And therewith she held out her hand to him, and he took it on his knees and kissed it: and then it was as if a red-hot iron had run through his heart, and he felt faint, and bowed down his head. But he held her hand yet, and kissed it many times, and the wrist and the arm, and knew not where he was.
But she drew a little away from him, and arose and said: “Now is the day wearing, and if we are to bear back any venison we must buckle38 to the work. So arise, Squire, and take the hounds and come with me; for not far off is a little thicket which mostly harbours foison of deer, great and small. Let us come our ways.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
beset
|
|
| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
thickets
|
|
| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
thicket
|
|
| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
heeding
|
|
| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
twigs
|
|
| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
quarry
|
|
| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
tangle
|
|
| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
undone
|
|
| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
ailed
|
|
| v.生病( ail的过去式和过去分词 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
proffer
|
|
| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
solace
|
|
| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
beholding
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
squire
|
|
| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
peevish
|
|
| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
nought
|
|
| n.／adj.无，零 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
abide
|
|
| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
guile
|
|
| n.诈术 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
caressing
|
|
| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
simplicity
|
|
| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
humbly
|
|
| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
nay
|
|
| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
awe
|
|
| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
disdain
|
|
| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
quays
|
|
| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
haven
|
|
| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
dwarf
|
|
| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
liar
|
|
| n.说谎的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
foes
|
|
| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
misgivings
|
|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
repented
|
|
| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
buckle
|
|
| n.扣子，带扣；v.把...扣住，由于压力而弯曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |