It was as though a story-book had been snatched from his hands when he was halfway3 through the adventure. There were so many things that he wanted to know. It seemed to him that he had lost sight of Vashti for ever.
Jane, his own servant, admitted them. She was greatly excited, but not by his advent4. Drawing Harriet into the hall, she at once began to make her her confidante.
“It wasn’t as though they ’adn’t been ’appy,” Jane was saying. “’Appy I They was that ’appy they got on my nerves. There was times when it was fair sick’ning to listen to ’em. Give me the pip, that’s wot it did. It was ’Dearie this’ and ’Jimmie Boy that,’ till it made a unmarried girl that angry she wanted to knock their ‘eads. Silly, I calls it, to be ’ave like that downstairs. Well, that’s ‘ow it was till the missus takes ill, and wot we’d expected didn’t ‘appen. Master Teddy goes ter stay with you; ‘is dear ma is safe in bed; and then she comes, this woman as says she wants to ’ave ‘er portrait painted. ’Er portrait painted!”
Jane beat her hands and sniffed5 derisively6. Catching7 Teddy’s eye, she lowered her voice and bent8 nearer to Harriet “’Er portrait painted! It was all me eye and Betty Martin. Direckly I saw ’er I knew that, and I says to myself, ’Yer portrait painted! A fat lot you wants of that, my fine lady.’ And so it’s turned out When I opened the door to ’er fust, I nearly closed it in ’er face, she looked that daingerous. And there’s the missus on ’er back upstairs as flat as a pancake. I can’t tell ’er a thing of wot I suspeck.”
“Men’s all alike,” sighed Harriet, as though speaking out of a bitter marriage experience. “H’it’s always the newest skirt that attracks.”
Jane looked up sharply. It seemed to her that Teddy had grown too attentive9. “‘Ere, Miss ’arriet, let’s go down to my kitching and talk this over. More private,” she added significantly. Then to Teddy, who was following, “No, you don’t, Master Theo. You stay ’ere till we comes back.”
High up in the darkness a door opened. Footsteps. They were descending10. Huddling11 himself into an angle of the wall, he waited. A strange woman in a blue starched12 dress was coming down. As she passed him, he stretched out his hand, “If you please——”
She jumped away, startled and angry. “What a fright you did give me, hiding and snatching at me like that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry! But who are you?”
“I’m Teddy. Where’s—where’s mother?”
The woman’s voice became quiet and professional. “She’s sleeping. When she wakes, I’ll send for you. She’s not been well. I must go now.”
He listened to her footsteps till they died out in the basement. He must find his father. Cautiously he set to work, opening doors, peeping into darkened rooms and whispering, “It’s only Teddy.”
Indoors he had searched everywhere; only one other place was left
The garden was a brooding sea of yellow mist, obscured and featureless. Trees stood up vaguely13 stark14, like cowled skeletons.
He groped his way down the path. Once he strayed on to the lawn and lost himself; it was only by feeling the gravel15 beneath his tread that he could be sure of his direction. A light loomed16 out of the darkness—the faintest blur17, far above his head. It strengthened as he drew nearer. Stretching out his hands, he touched ivy18. Following the wall, he came to a door, and raised the latch19.
Inside the stable he held his breath. Stacked against the stalls were canvases: some of them blank; some of them the failures of finished work; others big compositions which were set aside till the artist’s enthusiasm should again be kindled20. Leading out of the stable into the converted loft21 was a rickety stairway and a trap-door. Teddy could not see these things; through familiarity he was aware of their presence.
Voices! One low and grumbling22, the other fluty and high up. Then a snatch of laughter. Was there any truth in what Jane had said? The trap-door was heavy. Placing his hands beneath it, he pushed and flung it back. It fell with a clatter23. He stood white and trembling, dazzled by the glare, only his head showing.
“What on earth!”
Some one rose from a chair so hurriedly that it toppled over. Then the same voice exclaimed in a glad tone, “Why, it’s the shrimp24!”
His father’s arms were about him, lifting him up. Teddy buried his face against the velvet25 jacket. Though he had been deaf and blind, he would have recognized his father by the friendly smell of tobacco and varnish26. Because of that smell he felt that his father was unaltered.
“Turned you out, old chap, did they? I didn’t know you were coming. Perhaps Jane told me. I’ve been having one of my inspirations, Teddy—hard at it every moment while the light lasted. I’d be at it now, if this infernal fog hadn’t stopped me.” He tried to raise the boy’s face from his shoulder. “Want to see what I’ve been doing?”
Teddy felt himself a traitor27. His father had had an inspiration—that accounted for Jane’s suspicions and for anything awkward that had occurred. It was always when his father’s soul groped nearest heaven that his earthly manners were at their worst. Odd! Teddy couldn’t understand it; a person like Jane, who wasn’t even related, could understand it still less. But he had let himself sink to Jane’s level. If he had wanted to confess, he couldn’t have told precisely28 what it was that he had dreaded29. So in reply to all coaxing30 he hid his face deeper in the shoulder of the velvet jacket. Its smoky, varnishy, familiar smell gave him comfort: it seemed to forgive him without words.
“Frightened?” his father questioned. “You were always too sensitive, weren’t you? I oughtn’t to have forgotten you like that. But—I say, Teddy, look up, old man. I really had something to make me forget.”
“I think he’ll look up for me.”
At sound of that voice, before the sentence was ended, he had looked up.
“There!”
Her laughter rang through the raftered room like the shivering of silver bells.
Holding out his hands to her, Teddy struggled to free himself. When force failed, he leaned his cheek against his father’s, “Jimmie Boy, dear Jimmie Boy, let me down.”
“Hulloal What’s this?”
Combing his fingers through his curly black hair, his father looked on, humorously perplexed31 by this frantic32 reunion of his son and the strange lady. She bent tenderly, pressing his hands against her lips and holding him to her breast.
“I never, never thought I’d find you,” he was explaining, “never in the world. I searched everywhere. I was always hoping you’d come back. When you didn’t, I tried to ask Harriet, and I nearly asked Mrs. Sheerug.”
“Ah, she wouldn’t tell you,” the lady said.
“I know all about marriage now,” he whispered.
“You do?”
He clapped his hands. “Harriet told me.”
His father interrupted. “How did you and Teddy come to meet, Miss Jodrell?”
Vashti glanced up; her eyes slanted33 and flashed mischief34. It was quite true; any woman would have shared Jane’s opinion—Vashti’s look was “daingerous” when it dwelt on a man. It lured35, beckoned36 and caressed37. It hinted at unspoken tenderness. It seemed to say gladly, “At last we are together. I understand you as no other woman can.” It was especially dangerous now, when the bronze hair shone beneath the gray breast of a bird, the red lips were parted in kindness, and the white throat, like a swan floating proudly, swayed delicately above ermine furs. In the studio with its hint of the exotic, its canvases where pale figures raced through woodlands, its infinite yearning38 after beauty, its red fire burning, swinging lamps and gaping39 chairs, and against the window the muffled40 silence, Vashti looked like the materialization of a man’s desire. One arm was flung about the boy, her face leant against his shoulder, brooding out across the narrow distance at the man’s.
“How did we meet!” she echoed. “How does any one meet? In a fog, by accident, after loneliness. Sometimes it’s for better; sometimes it’s for worse. One never knows until the end.” She stood up and drew her wraps about her, snuggling her chin against her furs. “I ought to be going now; your wife must be needing you, Mr. Gurney—— Oh, well, if you want to see me out.”
She dropped to her knees beside Teddy. “Good-by, little champion. Some day you and I will go away together and you must tell me all that you learnt from Harriet about—about our secret.”
When they had vanished through the hole in the floor, Teddy tiptoed over to the trap-door and peered down. With a glance across his shoulder, his father signaled to him not to follow. He ran to the window to get one last glimpse of her, but the fog prevented; all he could see was the moving of two disappearing shadows. He heard the sound of their footsteps growing fainter, and less certain on the gravel.
Left to himself, he pulled from his knickerbockers’ pocket a knotted handkerchief. Undoing41 it, he counted its contents: Hal’s four shillings and Mrs. Sheerug’s half-a-crown. He smiled seriously. Sitting down on the floor, he spread out the coins to make sure that he hadn’t lost any of them. Six-and-sixpence! To grown people it might not seem wealth; to him it was the beginning of five pounds.
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1
orchid
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| n.兰花，淡紫色 | |
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2
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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3
halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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4
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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5
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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6
derisively
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| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
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7
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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8
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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9
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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10
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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11
huddling
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| n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事 | |
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12
starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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14
stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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15
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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16
loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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17
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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18
ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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19
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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20
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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21
loft
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| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
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22
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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23
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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24
shrimp
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| n.虾，小虾；矮小的人 | |
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25
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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26
varnish
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| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
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27
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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28
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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29
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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30
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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31
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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33
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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34
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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35
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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36
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38
yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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39
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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40
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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41
undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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