In a garden attached to a cottage situated3 twenty miles from Springfield stands Nelly Marston, by the side of an old apple-tree loaded with fair fruit, and looking, with the white moss4 gathered about its limbs, like an ancient knight5 clothed in silver armour6. The cottage has many rooms of delightfully7 odd shapes, is tastefully furnished, and is built in the centre of an acre of land so prettily8 laid out and so bright with colour that few strangers see it without pausing a while to admire.
Nelly Marston is more beautiful than when we saw her last at Springfield, and to the poetical9 mind presents a fine contrast to the gnarled and ancient tree, which, could it speak, might honestly say, "Old I am, but am yet fair to the eye and can produce good things. Come, my girl, gather sweetness from me, and wisdom too, if you need it."
She gathers sweetness and that is enough for her. From where she stands, she has a broken view of the winding10 lane which, from distant wider spaces, leads to the front of the cottage. Often and again her eyes are directed towards this lane, with a look which denotes that her heart is in them. She is like fair Rosamond waiting for her prince. He comes! A horseman turns into the winding path and waves his hand to her. She replies with the gladdest of smiles and with a waving of her own pretty hand, and her heart beats joyfully11 to the music of the horse's hoof12. Her prince draws rein13 at the cottage-door, and she is there to meet him. A lad with face deeply pock-marked takes the horse to the stable, casting as many admiring glances towards Nelly as time will permit of.
"Now, Nelly," says the prince gaily14, as he throws his arms about her and kisses her again and again, "was ever lover more punctual than I?"
"How can I tell?" she answers, "I never had but one."
"Ah, Nelly, Nelly!" he exclaims, with uplifted finger and an arch smile; "do you forget the gardener's son?"
"No, I do not forget him; he was very good to me. But I do not mean in that way."
"In what way, then, puss?"
"You'll tease me till I tell you. I don't know how to say it."
"Say it you must, though, my queen."
"Of course I must. You have got what you call a strong will. Isn't that it?"
"That is it," he assents15, with a nod which is both careless and determined16.
"And are never to be turned from your purpose?"
"Never. That is the only way to get on in life, and I mean to get on."
"Nothing can prevent that. You are so clever that I am half inclined to be frightened of you. And I should be, if I were not sure you loved me."
He kisses her as he observes, "Put the strongest will into the crucible17 of love, and it melts like lead in a furnace. In such a test steel would become as pliant18 as running water. Love is the most intoxicating19 poison, my darling."
"I don't like the word," she says.
"The word 'darling'?" he inquires.
"No, the word 'poison.' Love is not a poison; it is an elixir20." She winds her arms round his neck, and murmurs21, "It has given me a new life. The world is more beautiful than it used to be I am sure."
He smiles at her sentiment. "I remember telling you once that you had a strong will of your own, Nelly."
"I haven't that much," she says, placing the nail of her thumb to the tip of her little finger. "Not that much!"
"But you are a cunning puss, for all that," he says, as he draws her face to his. They are in the cottage now, and she is sitting on his knee. "You want to fly away from the subject we were speaking of, so my strong will must bring you back to it. Well, I'll be content with a compromise. Who is this lover that so limits your knowledge?"
"I shall not tell you that, sir. You must guess it--if you can! As if you could! No, I'll not say! I can keep a secret. Oh, you may laugh, but I can!"
"Well, then, where is he?"
"Where? Why, thousands of miles away of course!"
"Let me not catch him!" he cries gaily. "Well, now, pet, to spite that person, who I hope will not suffer very much in consequence, I intend to stop with you a whole fortnight."
Her face lights up with joy.
"I have important business in London," he continues, with a sly laugh; "oh, most important! My presence is imperatively22 required in the great city. The interests of an influential23 client depend personally upon me, so Lady Temple has given me leave of absence. Confiding24 old soul!"
"Lady Temple is the same as ever?"
"The same as ever. No change. Fretful and peevish25, throwing out all sorts of dark innuendoes26 one minute, and smiling upon me the next. Now a lamb, now a tigress. I have the temper of an angel, Nell, or I could never stand it. But I humour her--for your sake, pet, as well as my own. Our future depends upon her.
"Does she speak of me?"
"She mentioned your name once last week, and not amiably27. But enough of her. Goodbye, my worthy28 aunt, for a happy fortnight. If she guessed how matters stood, Nell, between me and you, I should be----well, best not think of that. The prospect29 is not a pleasant one. Now tell me how you have passed the time, how many new laid-eggs you get a day, and how the chickens are, whether the new little pig has any idea of its ultimate fate, how the fruit is getting on, and how you like the new boy I sent to look after the stable. You did not want him you wrote to me; but thereby30 hangs a tale, which you shall hear presently. Upon my word, Nell, I suspect he is in love with you, like everybody else who sees you. I have a kind of belief that you are a love-witch. He never took his eyes off you, all the time he was waiting for my nag31. Now for the reason of his being here. Nelly, to-morrow morning, before you are up, there will arrive at this little cottage the prettiest basket-carriage and the prettiest pair of ponies32 in England. A present for you, pet, from your lover thousands of miles away. Ah, you kiss me for that, do you! Then I take it, you are pleased with this mysterious lover of yours!"
"I believe no woman in the world was ever half so happy as I. When you are with me, there is not a cloud on my life."
"That's a good hearing," he says, heartily33. "Why, Nelly, you are a living wonder! A satisfied woman! I shall scarcely be surprised to hear you say you have not a wish ungratified."
"Not quite that. I have one wish."
"To wit," he prompts.
She whispers it to him.
"That the next fortnight would last for ever, so that you would never have to leave me!"
"A woman's wish all over," he says. "But the old man with the scythe34 will not be denied, my pet. While lovers dream, time flies the faster, I can't imagine you with white hair, Nell; yet you would look lovely anyway."
" Your hair will be white, too, remember," she says, in a tone of tender jesting. "It will be strange to look back so many years, and think and talk of the past. But we shall be to each other then what we are now. Say that we shall."
"Say it! I swear it, my pet! Let Time do his worst, then. You shall not pluck another white hair out of my head. Nelly, I love you more and more every day of my life."
"And nothing shall ever part us!"
"Nothing, my darling!"
She is, indeed, supremely35 happy. The springtime of youth and love is hers, and no deeper heresy36 could have been whispered to her than the warning such a springtime resembles
"The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by-and-by a cloud takes all away."
The minutes fly all too quickly, and Love, with magic brush, paints the present and the time to come.
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1
sickle
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| n.镰刀 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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7
delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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9
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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assents
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| 同意，赞同( assent的名词复数 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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crucible
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| n.坩锅，严酷的考验 | |
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pliant
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| adj.顺从的；可弯曲的 | |
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intoxicating
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| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
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elixir
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| n.长生不老药，万能药 | |
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murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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imperatively
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| adv.命令式地 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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innuendoes
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| n.影射的话( innuendo的名词复数 )；讽刺的话；含沙射影；暗讽 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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nag
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| v.(对…)不停地唠叨；n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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34
scythe
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| n. 长柄的大镰刀，战车镰； v. 以大镰刀割 | |
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35
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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