When he buttoned his coat he felt something hard press against his heart. It was the ring. He sat down on his bed and drew it from his pocket. To his surprise he found coiled inside it and tied by a tiny ribbon a ringlet of her hair. She had taken off the ring in her mother’s presence and promised her to register and mail it in Atlanta. She had bound this little piece of herself with it. He kissed it tenderly.
“My God, it is hard!” he groaned2. And all the unshed tears that his eager interest in her presence and his kindling3 anger the night before had kept back now blinded him.
He did not notice his door softly open, nor know his mother was near until she placed her hand gently on his shoulder. He looked up at her face full of tender sympathy, and poured out to her his trouble in a torrent4 of hot rebellious5 words.
“What have I done to be treated like a dog in this way?” he ended with a voice trembling with protest.
“Perhaps you have offended the General in some way?”
“Impossible. I’ve been the soul of deference6 to him.”
“He’s a very proud man when his vanity is touched, are you sure of it?”
“As sure as that I live. No, some scoundrel has interfered7 between us and in some unaccountable way covered me with infamy8 in the General’s eyes.”
“But who could have done it?”
“I used my utmost power of persuasion9 to get it from her. But she would not tell me. I have been stabbed in the dark.”
“Whom do you suspect? She has a dozen suitors.”
“There’s only one man among them who is capable of it, Allan McLeod.”
“Nonsense, child. He is not one of her suitors,” she protested warmly.
“Then why does he hang around the house with such dogged persistence10?”
“He has always had the run of the house. His father committed him to the General when he died on the battle field.”
Her face clouded, and then a great pity for his sorrow filled her heart. She stooped and kissed him.
“Come, Charlie, you must cheer up. If she loves you, it’s everything. You will win her.”
“But what rankles11 in my soul is that I have been treated like a dog. If he objected to my poverty that was as evident the first day he welcomed me to his house as the day he dictated12 to her his brutal13 message, refusing me a word. He welcomed me to his house, and gave Miss Sallie his approval of our love while I was there. There could be no mistake, for she told me so.”
“I can’t understand it,” she interrupted.
“Now he suddenly shows me the door and refuses to allow me to even ask an explanation. If he thinks he can settle my life for me in that simple manner, I’ll show him that I ’ll at least help in the settlement.”
“Good. I like to see your eyes flash that fire. Don’t forget your resolution. Your enemies are your best friends.” She said this with a ring of her old aristocratic pride. “Come,” she continued, “I’ve a nice warm breakfast saved for you. You don’t know how much good you have done me in my lonely life.”
“Dear Mother!” he whispered pressing her hand. After breakfast he went to his office and read over slowly the letters he had received from Sallie, kissed them one by one, tied them up and sent them to her mother. He took the ring out of his pocket and locked it in one of his drawers.
“I can’t work to-day. It’s no use trying!” he muttered looking out of his window. He locked his office and started down town with no purpose except in the walk to try to fight his pain. Instinctively14 he found his way to Tom Camp’s cottage.
“Tom, old boy, I’m in deep water. You’ve been there. I just want to feel your hand.”
Tom was clearing up his kitchen with one hand and holding the other tight over the wound near his spinal15 column. He had suffered untold16 agonies through the night past and was suffering yet, but he never mentioned it.
“You’ve just got your blues17 again!” Tom laughed.
“No, a devil has stabbed me in the back in the dark.” And he told Tom of his love and his inexplicable18 trouble.
“So, so!” Tom mused19 with dancing eyes, “The General’s gal20 Miss Sallie! My! my! but ain’t she a beauty! Next to my own little gal there she’s the purtiest thing in No’th Caliny. And you’re her sweetheart, and she told you she loved you?”
“Yes.”
“Then what ails21 you? Man, to hear that from such lips as she’s got’s music enough for a year. You want the whole regimental band to be playin’ all the time. If she loves you, that’s enough now to give you nerve to fight all earth and hell combined.” Tom urged this with an enthusiasm that admitted no reply.
Flora22 had climbed in his lap, and was going through his pockets to find some candy.
“You didn’t bring me a bit this time!” she cried reproachfully.
“Honey, I forgot it,” he apologised.
“I don’t believe you love me any more, Charlie,” she declared placing her hands on his cheeks and looking steadily23 into his eyes. “Am I your sweetheart yet?” she asked.
“Of course, dearie, and about the only one I can depend on!”
“La, Charlie, your eyes are red!” she cried in surprise. “Do you cry?”
“Sometimes, when my heart gets too full.”
“Then, I ’ll kiss the red away!” she said as she softly kissed his eyes.
“That’s good, Flora. It will make them better.’
“Now, Pappy,” she said triumphantly24, “you say I’m getting too big to cry, and I ain’t but eleven years old, and Charlie’s big as you and he cries.”
Tom took her in his arms and smoothed his hand over her fair hair with a tenderness that had in its trembling touch all the mystery of both mother and father love in which his brooding soul had wrapped her.
Gaston returned home with lighter25 step. He met, as he crossed the square, the Preacher who was waiting for him.
“Come here and sit down a minute. I’ve heard of your trouble. You have my sympathy. But you ’ll come out all right. The oak that’s bent26 by the storm makes a fibre fit for a ship’s rib1. You can’t make steel without white heat. God’s just trying your temper, boy, to see if there’s anything in you. When he has tried you in the fire, and the pure gold shines, he will call you to higher things.”
Gaston nodded his assent27 to this saying, “And yet, Doctor, none of us like the touch of fire or the smell of the smoke of our clothes.”
“You are right. But it’s good for the soul. You are learning now that we must face things that we don’t like in this world. I am older than you. I will tell you something that you can’t really know until you have lived through this. Love seems to you at this time the only thing in the world. But it is not. My deepest sympathy is with Sallie. She’s already pure gold. To such a woman love is the centre of gravity of all life. This is not true of a strong normal man. The centre of gravity of a strong man’s life as a whole is not in love and the emotions, but in justice and intellect and their expression in the wider social relations.”
“And that means that I must brace28 up for this political fight?”
“Exactly so. And it’s the best thing you can do for your love. Become a power and you can coerce29 even a man of the General’s character.”
“You are right, Doctor. I had my mind about fixed30 on that course.”
“You will find the County Committee in session in the Clerk’s office there now. They want to see you. I tell you to fight this coalition31 of McLeod and the farmers every inch up to the last hour it is formed, and if McLeod wins them, and the alliance is made, then fight to break it every day and every hour and every minute till the votes are counted out.”
Gaston went at once into the consultation32 with the Democratic county committee.
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收听单词发音
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1
rib
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| n.肋骨，肋状物 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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3
kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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8
infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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persuasion
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| n.劝说；说服；持有某种信仰的宗派 | |
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persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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rankles
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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12
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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13
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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14
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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16
untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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17
blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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18
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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19
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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20
gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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21
ails
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| v.生病( ail的第三人称单数 )；感到不舒服；处境困难；境况不佳 | |
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22
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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23
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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25
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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26
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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28
brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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29
coerce
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| v.强迫，压制 | |
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30
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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31
coalition
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| n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合 | |
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32
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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