Once among our visitors came Prince Menschikoff himself, Valerie advised my non-appearance, much to my relief; but I heard the din1 of voices, the laughter, and the sound of music in the salon14 or great dining-room where a déje?ner was served for him and his staff, while the band of the Grand Duchess Olga's Hussars were stationed in the marble vestibule, and played the grand national anthem15 of Russia and Luloff's famous composition, Borshoe zara brangie--God save the Emperor. After the Prince's departure we had the huge mansion16 entirely to ourselves again, and any longings17 I might have to rejoin the Welsh Fusileers and share the dangers they underwent, together with my natural anxiety to hear of my friends in their ranks, I was compelled to stifle18 and seek to forget, when tidings came that a great body of Tchernimorski Cossacks had formed a temporary camp between Yalta and the head of the long Baidar Valley, thus, while they remained, completely cutting off all my chances of reaching either Balaclava or the Allied19 camp; so there was nothing for me now but to resign myself to a protracted20 residence in the same luxurious21 mansion with the brilliant Valerie (and her watchful22 chaperone), with the somewhat certain chance of losing my heart in the charms, of her society. Madame Tolstoff assuredly kept guard over us with Argus eyes; but a few of the devices in the heart that laugheth at locksmiths enabled me to elude23 her at times; while, fortunately for me, the language we spoke24 was perfectly25 unknown to her; yet "the Tolstoff," as I used to call her, seemed, I knew not why, to exercise considerable control over Valerie. In her youth she had been carried off by Schamyl's mountaineers from a Russian outpost, and was a detained for three years in the Caucasian chief's seraglio, where, with all my heart, I wished her still. But while enjoying all the good things of this life at Yalta--grapes, melons, and pineapples from Woronzow's hothouses at Alupka, oysters26 from Hamburg, pickled salmon27 from Ladoga, sterlit from the Volga, sturgeon from the Caspian Sea, reindeer's tongue from Archangel, Crimean wines that nearly equalled champagne28, imitation Sillery from the Don, Cliquot, Burgundy, and Bordeaux,--I thought often with compunction of the wretched rations29 and hard fare of our poor fellows who were starving in the winter camp. Volhonski was wealthy, and thus his sister and her attendants were able to command every luxury. His rank was high, for he claimed, as usual with all the Russian nobles of the first tchinn or class, to be descended30 from Ruric the Norman--Ruric of Kiev and Vladimir--who, more than a thousand years ago, founded the dynasty by which Muscovy was governed prior to the accession of the Romanoffs. All the best families in the land boast of a descent from Gedemine the Lithuanian, or from this Ruric and his followers31; a weakness common also to the English aristocracy, whose genealogical craze is a real or supposed descent from those who were too probably the offscourings of Normandy. Beauty belongs peculiarly to neither race nor nation; yet somehow Valerie seemed to me, in her bearing and style, the embodiment of all that was noble and lovely; and though always graceful32, her air and sometimes the carriage of her head seemed haughty--even defiant12.
In the many opportunities afforded by propinquity and close residence together in the same house, and by our speaking a language which we alone understood, I know not all I said to her then, nor need I seek to remember it now; suffice it, that softly and imperceptibly the sentiments of those who love are communicated and adopted; and so it was with me. She was catching33 my heart at the rebound--at the ricochet, as we might say in the trenches. I was beginning to learn that there were other women who might love me--others whom I might love, and who were not worshippers of Mammon, like--ah, well--Estelle Cressingham. If Pottersleigh died or broke his old neck in the hunting-field, where he sometimes rashly ventured, would Estelle--I thrust her image aside, and turned all my thoughts to Valerie; yet my second choice seemed, by the peculiarity34 of our circumstances, a more ambitious one and more hopeless of attainment35 than the first. Daily, however, I strove to win her heart and to inspire her with that pure passion which, as a casuist affirms, can only be felt by the pure in spirit, as all virtues36 are closely connected with each other, and the tenderness of the heart is one of them. Was the devil at my elbow, or my evil angel, if such things be, whispering in my ear? Or how was it, that whenever I grew tender with Valerie, the image of Estelle came revengefully, yet sadly, to memory, as of an idol37 shattered, but certainly not by me? Oddly enough I still wore her ring on my finger--the single pearl set in blue and gold enamel--a gift I had as yet no means of restoring, and could not give away. "Have you ever looked at a portrait till it haunted you?" asks a writer. "Have you ever seen the painted face of one, it may be, who was an utter stranger to you, yet that seemed to fill your mind with a sort of recognition that sent you out over the sea of speculation38, wondering where you had seen it before, or when you would see it again? The eyes talk to you and the lips tell you a dreamy story."
Such, then, was the haunting character of the face of Valerie. Her beauty and her graces of manner filled up all my thoughts, and her strange dark eyes seemed to say that if it was impossible we had known each other in the years that were past, we might be dear enough to each other in the future; and I hoped in my heart that ours should be one; thus yielding blindly to the influence, to the charm of her presence and the whole situation. Once she was at the piano, and sang to me with wonderful grace and brilliance39 "The Refusal," a Russian gipsy song, in which a young man makes many desperate professions and promises of love to a giddy young beauty, who laughs at them and rejects him, because she values nothing so much as her own liberty. When turning the leaves for her, the pearl ring of Estelle--a ring so evidently that of a lady--caught her attention, and I saw Valerie's colour heighten as she did so. I instantly drew it off; I felt no compunction in doing so then, and said, "You admire this ring, apparently40?"
"Nay--do not say so, please," said she, bending over the instrument; "when a lady admires thus, it seems only another fashion of coveting41."
"In this instance that were useless," said I, laughing, "as the ring is not mine to bestow42; otherwise I should glory in your accepting it."
"Is it your wife's?"
"My wife's!"
"Yes. Have you one in that wretched little island of yours?" she continued, sharply.
"No," I replied, delighted by this undisguised little ebullition of jealousy43.
"To whom does it belong, then?"
"The wife of another, to whom it shall be restored in England."
"This is very strange--it has, then, a history?" said she, bending her dark eyes on mine.
"Yes."
"And this history--what is it?"
"I cannot--dare not tell you."
"Indeed!" Her black lashes44 drooped45 for a moment, and she passed a white hand nervously46 over her golden braids. "And wherefore?"
"It would be to reveal the secrets of another."
"Another whom you love?" she asked, hurriedly, while her teeth seemed to glitter as well as her eyes, for her lips were parted.
"No, no; on my honour, no!" said I, laying my right hand on my breast, and feeling that then I spoke but the truth and without the equivocation47, to which her questions were forcing me. Then Valerie seemed to blush with pleasure, and my heart beat lightly with joy. I should certainly have done something rash; but the inevitable48 Madame Tolstoff was in the room, embroidering49 a smoking cap for her son the colonel, then in command of the 26th at Sebastopol; so I was compelled to content myself by simply touching50 the hand of Valerie, and by caressing51 it tenderly, while affecting to admire a beautiful opal ring she wore, and urging her to continue her music. The whole episode partook somewhat of the nature of a scene between us, and even the usually self-possessed Valerie seemed a little confused, as she once more laid her tapered52 fingers on the ivory keys.
"I am very far from perfect in my music, or anything else, perhaps," she said.
"Do not say so," I whispered; "yet had you been more perfect than you are, I think no other woman in this world would have had the chance of a lover."
"How--why?"
"All men would be loving you, and you only."
"This is more like the inflated53 flattery of a Frenchman than the speech of a sober Briton," said Valerie, a little disdainfully.
"Does it displease54 you?"
"Yes, certainly."
"Why?"
"People don't love when they flatter," was the pretty pointed55 and coquettish response, and preluded56 an air with a crash on the keys, thus interrupting something I was about to say--heaven only knows what--a formal declaration, I fear.
"You admired my opal. Listen to the story of its origin; I doubt if the story of your ring is half so pretty," said she. And then she sang in English the following song, which she had been taught by her governess, a song the author of which I have never been able to discover; but then and there, situated57 as I was, the English words came deliciously home to my heart, and I quote them now from memory:--
"A dew-drop came, with a spark of flame
It had caught from the sun's last ray,
To a violet's breast, where it lay at rest,
Till the hours brought back the day.
With a blush and a frown a rose look'd down,
But smiled at once to view,
With its colouring warm, her own bright form
Reflected back by the dew!
Then a stolen look the stranger took
At the sky so soft and blue,
And a leaflet green, with its silvery sheen,
Was seen by the idler, too.
As he thus reclined, a cold north wind
Of a sudden blew around,
And a maiden58 fair, who was walking there,
Next morning an opal found!"
I ventured to pat her shoulder approvingly. I glanced furtively59 round; the Tolstoff had gone out of the room, and somehow my arm slipped round Valerie, who looked up at me, smiling archly, yet she said, firmly,
"Pray don't."
"How much longer am I to keep this silence?" I asked.
"How--what silence?"
"To be thus in suspense60, Valerie," I added, lowering my voice and bending my face towards her ear.
Her smile passed away, her white lids drooped, and perplexity and trouble stole over her eyes, as she drew her head back.
"I do not know what you mean, or whither your conversation tends," she said.
"You know that I love you!"
"No, I don't."
"You must have seen it--must have guessed it--since the happy hour in which I first saw you."
"Do not speak to me thus, I implore61 you," said she, colouring deeply, and covering her face with her beautiful hands.
"Why, Valerie, dearest, dearest Valerie?"
"I must not--dare not listen to you."
"Dare not?"
"I speak the truth," said she, and her breast heaved.
"Will you marry me, Valerie?"
"I cannot marry you."
"Why?"
"O heavens, don't ask me! But enough of this; and here comes Madame Tolstoff, to announce that the samovar--the tea-urn--is ready."
In my irritation62 I muttered something that she of the red sarafan, Madame Tolstoff, would not wish graved on her tombstone, and resumed my previous task of turning the leaves at the piano; but Valerie sang no more then, and for two entire days gave me no opportunity of learning why she had received my declaration in a manner so odd and unexpected. I could but sigh and conjecture63 the cause, and recall the words of her brother on the night he first met me at Yalta; and if it were the case that a convent proved the only barrier, I was not without hopes of smoothing all such scruples64 away.
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1
din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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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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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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6
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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torpedoes
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| 鱼雷( torpedo的名词复数 )； 油井爆破筒； 刺客； 掼炮 | |
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converged
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| v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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12
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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14
salon
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| n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室 | |
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15
anthem
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| n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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longings
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| 渴望，盼望( longing的名词复数 ) | |
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stifle
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| vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止 | |
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19
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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21
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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23
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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24
spoke
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| 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 | |
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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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26
oysters
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| 牡蛎( oyster的名词复数 ) | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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29
rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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30
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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31
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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32
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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34
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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35
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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36
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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39
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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40
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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41
coveting
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| v.贪求，觊觎( covet的现在分词 ) | |
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42
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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43
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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44
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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45
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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47
equivocation
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| n.模棱两可的话，含糊话 | |
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48
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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49
embroidering
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| v.（在织物上）绣花( embroider的现在分词 )；刺绣；对…加以渲染（或修饰）；给…添枝加叶 | |
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50
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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51
caressing
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| 爱抚的，表现爱情的，亲切的 | |
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52
tapered
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| adj. 锥形的，尖削的，楔形的，渐缩的，斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词 | |
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53
inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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54
displease
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| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
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55
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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56
preluded
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| v.为…作序，开头（prelude的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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57
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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59
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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60
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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61
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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62
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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63
conjecture
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| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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64
scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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