At first it did not seem very serious. One understood vaguely1 that the wine-growers were in revolt. The Paris buyers had been adulterating the vintages—making one cask into a dozen—so that they came to a year when there was such a glut2 of this adulterated wine on the market, that the wine-growers of the South were left with wine to spill in the gutters3, and wine to give to the pigs—but without bread to give to their children.
Then there arose one of those men who flame into history for a few vivid moments. A leader of men, whose words were sparks dropped among straw; who had but to say "Kill," and they would kill, until he bade them stop.
For a time, in a way essentially4 peculiar5 to France, the ludicrous prevailed. Municipalities resigned, mayors and all, and there was no giving nor taking in marriage, no registration6 of births or deaths. Odd stories of the despair of love—sick peasantry at postponed7 weddings—filled the papers; the Assiette au Beurre published a special number satirizing8 the situation. It was a good joke in Paris—but at Perpignan and Montpellier twenty thousand vignerons were talking of bloody9 revolution, and marching with blue and silver banners, and calling on the Government to put a tax on sugar, so as to make adulteration so costly10 that it should be profitless....
And Humphrey in the Paris office distilled11 a column a day from the forty columns that the French Special Correspondents sent to their papers, while Dagneau, up[333] at the Ministry12 of the Interior, garnered13 facts and official communiqués.
Work was his salvation14 and his solace15. Everything of the past was wiped away from his mind when Humphrey worked. The personal things affecting his own private life became trivial beside the urgent importance of keeping The Day well-informed. And thus habit had fortified16 his power of resistance to external matters that might have disturbed a mind less trained to make itself subservient17 to the larger issue of duty. In a week—a brief week—he had gone through every phase of sorrow, anger, self-pity at his rejection18. He thought of writing—indeed, he went so far one night as to compose a letter imploring19 Elizabeth for forgiveness, promising20 everything she wished ... but, when it was written, he tore it into little pieces. A mood of futile21 oaths followed. He felt that he had been balked22 of her by trickery. It led to violent hatred23 of her cold austerity, her icy splendour. He put away the thought of her from him. After all, what did it matter? They would never have been happy together. Always she was above him, distant and unattainable ... yet those fine moments, when she had stooped down and lifted him up, when gold and brilliance24 took the place of the dross25 in his mind! How she filled him with dreams of overwhelming possibilities, of ennobling achievements.... Below the crust of the selfishness and vanity of his life, there was a rich vein26 of good and strong desire ready to be worked, if she had only known. There were moments when his whole soul ached with an intense longing27 to be exalted28 and free from the impoverished29 squalor of its surroundings. He knew it, and the thought of it made him unjust to Elizabeth. She had not known of those constant conflicts which endured over years that seemed everlasting,—a guerrilla warfare30 with conscience.
[334]
They had not mattered. She had given his soul back to him, to do as he liked with it; she had forsaken31 him before he was strong enough to stand alone....
The telephone bell rang. He adjusted the metal band over his head. "Londres," said the voice of the operator. His ears heard nothing but the voice of The Day calling to him; his eyes saw nothing but the sheets of writing at his side, and everything else faded from his mind but the news of the night....
He put the receiver down, and almost immediately the telephone bell rang, and he heard a voice telling him that it was Charnac.... "Where have you been?" asked Charnac. "One has missed you." Humphrey explained his absence.
"Can you come to supper to-night," Charnac called. "Your little Desirée will be there." His voice came out of the depths of space, calling Humphrey to the gaiety of life. "Your little Desirée...." It brought to him, vividly32, her thin, supple33 figure; those strange blue eyes that looked widely from beneath the pale eyebrows34; and the lips of cherry-red. The song that she had sung that night had been lilting ever since in his mind:
"... Je perds la tête
'Suis comme une bête."
He saw her in all her alluring35 languor36, secret, and mysterious. And it was the eternal mystery in her that attracted him. For a few moments he hesitated, indeterminately, at the telephone. "Eh bien, mon vieux," called Charnac's voice. "Will you come? 11.30 at the Chariot d'Or."
"I'll come," said Humphrey.
It was ten-thirty. Ripples37 of unrest stirred his mind; he felt deeply agitated38. He knew that he was on the brink39 of a new and complex development in[335] his life; and the future stretched before him, vague and impenetrable, full of a promise of mournful and fierce delights, of happiness inconceivable, and sorrow inexperienced. No scruples40 retarded41 him now, and the voice of conscience was stilled, but despite all this, an indefinable mist of melancholy42 clouded his soul.
Dagneau came briskly into the office. Humphrey ceased brooding, and swung round in his chair.
"Lamb," he said, "I'm going out to supper to-night."
"Oh! la! la!" Dagneau laughed. "Who's the lucky lady?"
"Not for the likes of little lambs that have to stay in the office and keep the fort."
Dagneau made a grimace43. "I suppose it isn't safe for both of us to leave," he said.
"No fear," Humphrey replied. "There's no knowing what these fellows mayn't be up to in the South. Anyhow, if anything urgent happens, come along to me. I shall be in the Chariot d'Or until one o'clock."
Dagneau was a good fellow, thought Humphrey, as his cab climbed the hill to Montmartre. It was jolly decent of him not to mind. He forgot the office now, and thought only of the night's adventuring. There was fully44 a half-hour to spare, so he idled it away on the terrace of a café sipping45 at a liqueur. Every variety of street hawker came to persuade sous from him: they had plaster figures for sale, or wanted to cut his silhouette46 in black paper, or draw a portrait of him in pastels, or sell him ballads47 and questionable48 books, bound in pink, pictorial49 covers. The toy of the moment, frankly50 indecent, yet offered with a childlike innocence51 that made it impossible for one to be disgusted with the vendors52, was thrust before him fifty times. They showed him how it worked, and when he refused, they brought from inner pockets picture-postcards which[336] they tried to show him covertly53, until he drove them away with the argot54 he had learned from Dagneau.
At the time appointed a cab climbed the steep Rue56 Pigalle, and drew up before the Chariot d'Or. Charnac sat in the middle comfortably squeezed in between Margot and Desirée. They waved a cheery greeting as they saw Humphrey, and he helped them down. Without any question he linked his arm in Desirée's, and led her up the brilliant scarlet57 staircase to the supper-room. Her meek58 acceptance of him, and the touch of her, gave him a strong sense of possession. This woman acknowledged his right of mastery over her, without a word being spoken, without any pleading, or the bitter pain of uncertainty60. From that moment he felt she was his completely and unquestionably. There was no need to woo her and win her; she was to be taken, and she would yield herself up, as women were taken and women yielded themselves up in the earliest days of the earth.
They went to their table. He had no eyes for anyone but Desirée. She threw off her wrap, with a gesture of her shoulders, and as it tumbled from them, they shone white and shapely, and a rose was crushed to her bosom61, making a splash of scarlet on her white bodice. She laughed and looked at him frankly, as if there were to be no secrets between them, and once, while the supper was being ordered, her thin hand rested in his, and he was stirred to wild, delicious emotion. Yes, she was all as he had imagined her; she had not changed at all, and her yellow hair and pale eyebrows and thin face culminating in her pointed55 chin, reminded him of an Aubrey Beardsley picture—those slanting62 eyes, and red lips eternally shaped for a kiss, and the slender throat that rippled63 below the white surface of its skin when she spoke59, the thin bare arms, and her hands, balanced on delicate wrists—those hands[337] with their long dainty fingers and exquisite64 finger-tips. The sight of her inflamed65 him.
Their conversation was commonplace. Why, she wanted to know, did he run away the last time they met. He lied to her, and pleaded a headache.
"And you won't run off this time?" she asked, with a childish note of appeal in her voice.
He sought her hand and held it in his own. She drew it away with a little grimace. "You're hurting me," she said.
Occasionally Margot cut into their conversation. She lacked the beauty of her sister, her figure was stouter66, and her face was not well made-up. She treated Charnac with good-natured tolerance67.
During the supper—again the famous mussels—Desirée asked Humphrey many questions about himself—they were not questions which penetrated68 deeply into his private life, indeed, she showed no desire to pry69 into his surroundings. She wanted to know his tastes, and his likes and dislikes, and when, sometimes, he said anything that showed that they had something in common, she laughed delightedly at the discovery.
Her eyes held a wonderful knowledge in them, but the boldness of their gaze did not suggest immodesty to him. Her eyes seemed to say: "There are certain things in life we never talk about. But I understand them all, and I know that you know I understand." It made him feel that there was nothing artificial about their friendship; in one bound they had attained70 perfect understanding, and it was miraculous71 to him.
It was miraculous to him to sit there, with the music surging in his veins72, and to look upon this delicately-wrought creature, beautiful, perfect in body, knowing that when he wished he could take her in his arms, and she would give herself to him without any hesitation73. She was utterly74 strange to him, and yet, by this miracle, their[338] lives were already commingled75 in swift intimacy76. He thought of the other two women who had influenced his life: though he had kissed them, and spent long hours with them, they seemed now irrevocably distant from him, and never had he penetrated to the stratum77 of full comprehension that lay below the surface of misunderstandings....
He looked back on the years that were past, and he could only see himself struggling and pleading and breaking his heart to win that which was won now without any contest at all. Was it love or passion that he wanted from them. Ah! if we would only be frank with ourselves, and admit that there is no love without passion, there is no passion without love: that by separating passion from love, it has become a degraded and hidden thing.
And Humphrey wanted love: the desire for love, love inseparable from passion, had made a turbulent underflow beneath the stream of his life. Twice he had tried to grasp love, twice it had eluded78 him. He had been despoiled79 by circumstance ... cheated by his own conscience.
It was miraculous to him now, that he should be able to wrest80 his prize from life with so little struggle after all. He looked at Desirée, and her eyes smiled—how incredibly near they seemed to one another, how the unattainable drew close to him and smiled....
He became aware of his name spoken aloud, and he looked up and saw a waiter looking round the room, with Dagneau at his side. Dagneau's face was strained and anxious. He seemed out of breath. Suddenly he caught sight of Humphrey, and hurried towards him. He raised his hat to the group. "Pardon, mad'm'selle," he said to Desirée, as he put a telegram before Humphrey.
[339]
The blue slips pasted on the paper danced before his eyes.
"Qu'est que c'est?" Margot asked, fussily81.
"Ferrol wants you to go to Narbonne," Dagneau said. "There's been shooting there.... I looked up the trains. You can catch the one o'clock from the Gare d'Orsay if you hurry."
Humphrey stared stupidly at the telegram, and Desirée touched him with her hand.
"C'est quelque chose de grave?" she asked.
He shrugged82 his shoulders. "Narbonne," he said to Charnac, laconically83.
"Oh! nom d'un nom—to-night?" asked Charnac. "C'est embêtant, ?a."
And, suddenly, Humphrey grew peaceful again, and all the turbulence84 of his thoughts calmed down and flowed towards the one desire that he had made paramount85 in his life—the desire of the journalist for news, the longing of the historian for history.
Fleet Street called to him from those blue strips with their printed message. "Go Narbonne immediately cover riots," and the signature that symbolized86 Fleet Street—"Ferrol"—held in it all the power that had made him a puppet of Fate.
But Narbonne.... From all parts of Europe the Special Correspondents would be converging87 on the town. There would be great doings to describe, new interests to make him forget rapidly.
Dagneau helped him on with his coat. "Send on my bag," he said, glancing at his watch. "I'm awfully88 sorry," he added to Charnac. "You'll understand. Explain to them, won't you? Dagneau, stop and finish my supper."
He forgot everything else ... what else mattered?
"Dis donc," Desirée said, "are you going again?" How surprisingly unimportant she seemed at this[340] moment. Her expression was half-suppliant, half-petulant. "If you go," she said distinctly, "I will never speak to you again—never."
As if she could hold him back when others had failed! But he was moved to show her tenderness. A momentary89 pang90 of regret shot across him because he had to leave her. "Don't be cross," he whispered. "I shall be back in three days."
She turned her head away impetuously. And he realized that there never had been, nor ever could be, anything in common between them.
Once, when he was dozing91 in the train speeding southwards to Bordeaux, he woke up and laughed as he remembered the ludicrous amazement92 on the face of Desirée as he left her suddenly and gladly to take up his work.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
glut
|
|
| n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
gutters
|
|
| （路边）排水沟( gutter的名词复数 )； 阴沟； （屋顶的）天沟； 贫贱的境地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
essentially
|
|
| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
registration
|
|
| n.登记，注册，挂号 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
postponed
|
|
| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
satirizing
|
|
| v.讽刺，讥讽( satirize的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
bloody
|
|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
costly
|
|
| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
distilled
|
|
| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
ministry
|
|
| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
garnered
|
|
| v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
salvation
|
|
| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
solace
|
|
| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
fortified
|
|
| adj. 加强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
subservient
|
|
| adj.卑屈的，阿谀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
rejection
|
|
| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
imploring
|
|
| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
promising
|
|
| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
futile
|
|
| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
balked
|
|
| v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )；（指马）不肯跑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
brilliance
|
|
| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
dross
|
|
| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
vein
|
|
| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
exalted
|
|
| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
impoverished
|
|
| adj.穷困的，无力的，用尽了的v.使（某人）贫穷( impoverish的过去式和过去分词 )；使（某物）贫瘠或恶化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
warfare
|
|
| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
Forsaken
|
|
| adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
vividly
|
|
| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
supple
|
|
| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
alluring
|
|
| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
languor
|
|
| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
ripples
|
|
| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
scruples
|
|
| 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 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
retarded
|
|
| a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
grimace
|
|
| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
sipping
|
|
| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
silhouette
|
|
| n.黑色半身侧面影，影子，轮廓；v.描绘成侧面影，照出影子来，仅仅显出轮廓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
ballads
|
|
| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
questionable
|
|
| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
pictorial
|
|
| adj.绘画的；图片的；n．画报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
vendors
|
|
| n.摊贩( vendor的名词复数 )；小贩；（房屋等的）卖主；卖方 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
covertly
|
|
| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
argot
|
|
| n.隐语，黑话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
rue
|
|
| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
scarlet
|
|
| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
meek
|
|
| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
uncertainty
|
|
| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
slanting
|
|
| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
rippled
|
|
| 使泛起涟漪（ripple的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
exquisite
|
|
| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
inflamed
|
|
| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
stouter
|
|
| 粗壮的( stout的比较级 )； 结实的； 坚固的； 坚定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
tolerance
|
|
| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
penetrated
|
|
| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
pry
|
|
| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
attained
|
|
| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
miraculous
|
|
| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
commingled
|
|
| v.混合，掺和，合并( commingle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
intimacy
|
|
| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
stratum
|
|
| n.地层，社会阶层 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
eluded
|
|
| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的过去式和过去分词 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
despoiled
|
|
| v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
wrest
|
|
| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
fussily
|
|
| adv.无事空扰地，大惊小怪地，小题大做地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
laconically
|
|
| adv.简短地，简洁地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
turbulence
|
|
| n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
paramount
|
|
| a.最重要的，最高权力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
symbolized
|
|
| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
converging
|
|
| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
pang
|
|
| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
dozing
|
|
| v.打瞌睡,假寐 n.瞌睡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |