By and by Elias looked at his watch. It was getting along toward seven o’clock. Just then somebody rapped upon his studio door. Elias’s nerves must indeed have been in a bad way. He started, paled, trembled, recovered himself, and called out, “Come in.”
It was the rabbi.
“Good morning, Elias,” the rabbi said.
“Good morning,” responded Elias, with a none too hospitable10 inflection.
“So, you haven’t been abed? You’ve been sitting up all night?” the rabbi questioned.
“How do you know that?” was Elias’s counter-question.
“I looked for you in your bedroom, and saw that your bed had not been slept in.”
“Oh.”
After a pause, “What have you been doing, up alone all night?” the rabbi asked.
“Lots of things. A man on the eve of his marriage has plenty to do.”
The rabbi stood still for a little while, glancing around the room. Then he sat down. At which, Elias rose.
“If you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I’ll go down stairs. I haven’t taken my bath yet.”
“Have you said your prayers yet?” inquired the rabbi.
But Elias was already beyond ear-shot in the hall.
When, perhaps a quarter hour later, Elias, emerging from his bath, entered his bedroom, he discovered the rabbi established there at the window.
Wheeling about, and facing his nephew, “You didn’t answer my question,” the rabbi said.
“What question?”
“I asked whether you had said your prayers this morning.”
“Oh.”
“Well, have you?”
“No.”
“Perhaps lately you have got out of the habit of saying your prayers—yes?”
Elias made no reply. He appeared not to have heard. He was busy fastening the buttons into a shirt-bosom.
“I’ll wait till you’ve finished dressing,” said the rabbi.
He went to the window, and stood looking out.
The rabbi’s presence troubled Elias exceedingly. But, he thought, considering every thing, the least he could do would be to put up with it as graciously as possible and not grumble11. “What do you want with me, any how?” it was his impulse to demand. But he held his tongue, and proceeded with his toilet.
When at last he had tied his cravat12 and buttoned his coat, “Are you ready now to come down stairs with me?” the rabbi began.
“What for?”
“Several things. Are you ready? Will you come?”
“Oh, I suppose so,” Elias answered, and followed the old man from the room.
To himself: “I don’t care what he does or says. It may be annoying, but it can’t do any serious harm. To-day is the last day; and I’ll let him him have his own way in every thing, no matter how absurd and exasperating13 it may be. I’ll keep my temper and treat him respectfully, no matter how hard he may try me.”
They had reached the front hall of the house. The rabbi put his hand upon the knob of the front parlor14 door.
“Oh,” Elias exclaimed, drawing back, “are you going in there?”
“Yes.”
Calling to mind his resolution, Elias gulped15 down his unwillingness16, and said, “Oh, well; all right.” But it cost him an effort to do so.
Even during his mother’s life-time, the front parlor had been but very seldom used. Since her death, it had not been used at all. Indeed, since the day of her funeral, now nearly three years gone by, Elias had not crossed its threshold. The blinds and windows were kept permanently17 closed, save when, once a week, the servants entered to sweep and dust.
Now the rabbi pushed open the door, and, stepping aside, signalled Elias to pass in. Elias obeyed. The rabbi followed.
It was dark inside. Only a few pallid18 rays of daylight leaked through at the edges of the curtains. The air was cold and at the same time oppressive—laden with that stuffy19, musty odor, which always pervades20 an uninhabited, shut-up room. At first, Elias could scarcely see an arm’s-length before his face; but, as his eyesight gradually accustomed itself to the obscurity, he was able to make out the forms of the furniture, and to discern upon the walls sundry21 large black patches which he knew to be pictures.
The rabbi struck a match.
“Take it,” he said to Elias, “and light the gas; I’m not tall enough.”
Elias did as he was bidden.
The gas-burner, from disuse, had got clogged22 with dust. It shot a long, slim tongue of flame up into the air, and gave off a shrill23, continuous whistle. Every now and then the flame had a convulsion, the whistle dropped a note or two; then both returned to their original conditions.
For a New York dwelling-house, it was a spacious24 room, this parlor; say, in width twenty feet, by forty in depth. The chairs and sofas, scrupulously25 wrapped in linen26, were ranged along the walls. Over the carpet, completely covering it, stretched a broad sheet of grayish crash. The piano wore a rubber jacket, and had its legs swathed in newspapers. The books in the bookcases—books of the decorative27, rather than of the readable order, for the most part—were locked up behind glass doors. The tall mirror, between the windows, shone through a veil of pink mosquito-netting. Supplies of the same material had been stretched across all the pictures.
In front of one of these pictures—that which hung above the mantel-piece—the rabbi now paused, and, raising his arm, pointed28 to it, in silence.
It was the portrait of a gentleman, full length, life-size, done in oils. The gentleman rested one hand upon a pile of ponderous29, calf-bound volumes—law-books, or medical works, they looked like—that towered aloft from the floor. In his other hand, he held an unrolled scroll30 of parchment, upon which big black Hebrew characters were inscribed31. Of artistic32 value the picture had little, or none at all; but it had another sort of value: it was a portrait of Elias’s father.
The rabbi pointed to it in silence. Elias thought the rabbi’s proceeding33 a little theatrical34; but he made no comment.
By and by the rabbi lowered his arm, and faced about. Having done which, he raised his other arm, and this time brought his index finger to bear upon a portrait of Elias’s mother.
Theatrical, certainly; disagreeably so, too; Elias thought.
At this point there befell an interruption which had somewhat the effect of an anti-climax. The breakfast-bell rang.
“Well,” said the rabbi, “let’s go to breakfast.”
Elias turned off the gas. They left the parlor, and went down stairs to the dining-room.
There, having taken their places at the table, the rabbi extracted a handkerchief from his pocket, and with it covered his head. Elias did likewise. Whereupon the rabbi chanted the usual grace before meat. At its conclusion, both he and Elias replaced their handkerchiefs in their pockets, and the maid-servant brought the coffee.
For a while neither nephew nor uncle spoke35.
At last, “What are you thinking about, Elias?” the rabbi asked.
“I was thinking, if you wish to know,” Elias answered, “of my great happiness—of the fact that to-day the lady whom I love is to become my wife.”
“Ah, so? It doesn’t seem to improve your appetite,” returned the rabbi. “You’re not eating especially well.”
He made Elias the object of a curious, meditative36 glance; then pursued: “Don’t misunderstand me, Elias. It isn’t at all my aim to dissuade37 you from this marriage. That, as I told you last night, would be a work of supererogation. But I should like to ask you just a single question. Suppose your mother were still alive, would you entertain for an instant the idea of marrying a Christian38?”
“I don’t know?”
“You don’t know?”
“Well, probably not.”
“Good. That is what I thought. And now, let me ask you one question more. Is it your opinion that, simply because your mother has died, you are absolved39 from all obligations toward her, and are at liberty to act in a way, which, if she were still with us, it would break her heart to have you act in? Is that your opinion?”
Elias did not reply. He colored up, however, and bit his lip.
The rabbi waited a moment, then queried40, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“You don’t answer.”
“I don’t mean to answer. It isn’t a fair question,” said Elias.
The rabbi gave a short, contemptuous laugh.
Again for a while neither of them spoke. Elias was uncomfortably conscious that the rabbi’s eyes were fixed41 upon his face. He stood it as long as he could. Then, abruptly42, he got up.
“Please excuse me,” he said, “I have something to do up-stairs.”
With which he left the room.
He went to his studio and locked the door behind him. He had told the rabbi that he had something to do. But the truth was that he had nothing to do, except to kill time as best he could until the hour should arrive for him to start for Sixty-third Street. He had arranged not to call upon Christine at all that day. He thought it would be more considerate to leave her alone with her father. Now, the day stretched out like an eternity43 before his imagination. Would it ever wear away?
It occurred to him that it might not be a bad plan to get some sleep, if he could; so he retired44 to his bedroom, and threw himself all dressed upon his bed.
Pretty soon he heard a rap upon the door.
“Who is it?” he demanded.
“I,” the rabbi’s voice responded. .
“He’ll end by driving me mad,” thought Elias. “What do you want?” he asked aloud.
“I want to see you.”
“Well, I’m busy.”
“I shan’t interfere45 with your business.”
“I’m going to sleep.”
“I shan’t prevent you from sleeping.”
Elias said nothing further. The rabbi came in. “I only wanted to sit with you. It is better that I should be on hand,” explained the rabbi, and sat down near the window.
Elias closed his eyes and tried hard to sleep. But he could not sleep. It is doubtful whether, in view of his approaching wedding, he could have slept, under the most soothing46 circumstances. Under the actual circumstances, it was like trying to sleep while some one is sticking pins into you. Elias strove to be philosophical47. “Why should I allow his mere48 presence to irritate me as it does?” he asked himself. Whatever the correct answer to this inquiry49 may have been, the fact remained that the rabbi’s mere presence did irritate him to an excessive degree. He bore it for a few minutes silently. At length, flinging his philosophy overboard, he jumped up from his bed, and announced vehemently50, “Well, I’m going out.”
“Ah,” said the rabbi, quietly, “I’ll go with you.”
“Thanks,” replied Elias, “but I prefer to go alone.”
“I’m sorry,” said the rabbi; “but it is my duty.”
“What’s your duty?”
“It is my duty not to let you leave my sight today.”
At this Elias lost his self-control.
“In heaven’s name,” he blurted51 out, “do—do you mean to say that you’re going to stick to me like this all day?”
“I should fail in my duty toward you, if I did not.”
“Well then, do you—do you know what you’ll do?” cried Elias, in a loud, infuriated voice.
“No; what?” questioned the rabbi, composedly.
“Good God! You—you’ll drive me out of my senses. You make me feel as though my head would split open. You—you—” His voice choked in his throat. His face had become burning red.
“Look out,” said the rabbi. “You’ll burst a blood-vessel, if you carry on like that.”
“Well, then, for mercy’s sake, leave me alone. Go down stairs about your business. Leave me here to attend to mine.”
The rabbi did not speak. He made no move to obey.
“Don’t you hear?” Elias cried.
“Yes.”
“Well, why don’t you go?”
“I have told you. It is my duty to stay.”
“God help me, if you weren’t an old man, and my uncle, I—I’d—” Elias faltered52. His clenched53 fists completed the sentence.
“Put me out? But I am an old man, and your uncle; and so you won’t, eh?” rejoined the rabbi, with maddening coolness.
“You must forgive me,” said Elias, recovering a little his self-possession. “I ought not to have threatened you. I didn’t mean to. But you don’t know how you make me suffer. You don’t know what torture it is.”
“Oh, that’s all right. You needn’t apologize,” the rabbi said.
“But what I ask,” Elias went on, “I ask as a kindness, please leave me alone.”
“That,” returned the rabbi, “is a request which I am compelled to deny.”
Elias stood still for an instant, as if undetermined what to do. He felt the blood rush angrily to his brain, and then sink away, leaving a violent ache behind it. “Well, I suppose I’ll have to grin and bear it, then,” he said by and by, and dropped upon a chair.
After an interval54 of silence Elias began, with sufficient coolness, “Would you mind telling me why you consider it your duty to remain with me all day?”
“It is my duty to be on hand, to be at your side, when the moment of your need shall arrive. It may be any moment now.”
“Of my need? I don’t understand.”
“When the Lord manifests Himself,” the rabbi explained.
“Oh,” said Elias, and relapsed into silence. He added presently, “I’m going down stairs, to get a glass of water,” and rose.
“You’ll come back?” questioned the rabbi, “Yes, I suppose so.”
But when he had reached the foot of the staircase, and saw his hat hanging from the rack near the vestibule door, a temptation presented itself which was too strong for flesh and blood to resist. He caught his hat up, and put it upon his head, and dashed out into the street. It was raining. He had no umbrella. But he did not mind. He walked rapidly, without an objective point, without even noticing what direction he followed.
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1
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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7
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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10
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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cravat
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| n.领巾，领结；v.使穿有领结的服装，使结领结 | |
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exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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gulped
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| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的过去式和过去分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
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unwillingness
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| n. 不愿意，不情愿 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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pervades
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的第三人称单数 ) | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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clogged
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| （使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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decorative
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| adj.装饰的，可作装饰的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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scroll
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| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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32
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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35
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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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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dissuade
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| v.劝阻，阻止 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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absolved
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| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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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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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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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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45
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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47
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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49
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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51
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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53
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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