“I’ve raided the rose garden to-day,” she said, smilingly indicating the mass of scented2 blossom that lay heaped up on the table. “I expect when Johns finds out he will proceed to meditate3 upon something for my benefit with boiling oil in it.”
Johns was one of the gardeners to whom Jean’s joyous4 and wholesale5 robbery of his first-fruits was a daily cross and affliction. Only chloroform would ever have reconciled him to the cutting off of a solitary6 bloom while still in its prime.
Blaise regarded the tangle7 of roses consideringly.
“I wonder you found time to gather so many. When I passed by the rose garden, you were—otherwise occupied.” The quietly uttered comment sent the blood rushing up into Jean’s face. When had he passed? What had he seen?
She kept her eyes lowered, seemingly intent upon the disposition8 of some exquisite9 La France roses in a black Wedge-wood bowl.
“What do you mean?” she asked negligently10.
Tormarin was silent a moment.
Had she looked at him she would have surprised a restless pain in the keen eyes he bent11 upon her.
“Jean”—he spoke12 very gently—“have I—to congratulate you?”
It was difficult to preserve her poise13 of indifference14 when the man she loved put this question to her, but she contrived15 it somehow. Women become adepts16 in the art of hiding their feelings. The conventions demand it of them.
Jean’s answer fluttered out with the airy lightness of a butterfly in the sunshine.
“I am sure I can’t say, unless you tell me upon what grounds?”
“You know of none, then”—swiftly.
“None.”
She nibbled17 the end of a stalk and surveyed the Wedge-wood bowl critically. Tormarin felt like shaking her.
“Then,” he said gruffly, “let me suggest you revise your methods. The women who plays with Geoffrey Burke might as safely play with an unexploded bomb.”
His voice betrayed him, revealing the personal element behind the proffered18 counsel.
Jean glanced at him between her lashes19. So that was it! He was jealous—jealous of Burke! At last something had happened to pierce the joints20 of his armour21 of assumed indifference! Her heart sang a little p忙an of thanksgiving, and all that was woman in her rose bubbling to meet the situation. In an instant she had recaptured her aplomb22.
“I think I rather enjoy playing with unexploded bombs,” she returned meditatively23. “There are always—possibilities—about them.”
“There are”—grimly. “And it is precisely24 against those possibilities that I am warning you.”
“Don’t you think it’s rather bad taste on your part to warn me against a man who is admittedly on terms of friendship with you all?”
“No, I don’t”—steadily. “Nor should I care if it were. When it’s a matter of you and your safety, the question of taste doesn’t enter into the thing at all.”
“My safety?” jeered25 Jean softly. (It was barely half an hour since Burke had inspired her with that sudden fear of him and of his compelling personality!)
“Well, if not your safety, at least your happiness,” amended26 Blaise.
“It’s very kind of you to interest yourself, but really my happiness has nothing whatever to do with Geoffrey Burke.”
“Is that true?”
He flashed the question at her, and there was that in his tone which set her pulses athrill, quenching27 the light-hearted spirit of banter28 that had led her to torment29 him. It was the note of restrained passion which she had heard before in his voice, and which had always power to move her to the depths of her being.
“Perfectly true.” She faltered30 a little. “But”—forcing herself to a defiance31 that was in reality a species of self-defence—“I fail to see that it concerns you, Blaise.”
“It concerns me in so far as Burke is not the sort of man that a woman can make a friend of. It’s all or nothing with him. And if you don’t intend to give him all, you’d better give him—nothing.”
His glance, grave and steady, met hers, and she knew then, of a certainty, that he had witnessed the scene which had taken place in the rose garden, when Burke had held her in his arms and the flood of his passion had risen and overwhelmed her. He had witnessed that—and had misunderstood it.
She was conscious of a fierce resentment32 against him. It mattered nothing to her that, in the light of her nonchalant answers to his questions, he was fully33 justified34 in the obvious conclusion he had drawn35. She did not stop to think whether her anger was reasonable or unreasonable36. She was simply furious with him for suspecting her of flirting—odious word!—with Geoffrey Burke. Well, if he chose to think thus of her, let him do so! She would not trouble to explain—to exculpate37 herself.
She regarded him with stormy eyes.
“Please understand, Blaise, that I want neither your advice nor your criticism. If I choose to make a friend of Geoffrey Burke—or of any other man—I shall do so without asking your permission or approval. What I do, or don’t do, is no business of yours.”
For a moment they faced each other, his eyes, stormy as her own, dark with anger. His hands clenched38 themselves.
“If I could,” he said hoarsely39, “I would make it my business.”
He wheeled round and left the room without another word. Jean stood staring dazedly40 at the blank panels of the door which had closed behind him. She wanted to laugh... or to cry. To laugh, because with every sullen41 word he revealed the thing he was so sedulously42 intent on keeping from her. To cry, because he had taken her pretended indifference at its face value, and so another film of misunderstanding had risen to thicken the veil between them—the veil which he would not, and she, being a woman, could not, draw aside.
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收听单词发音
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1
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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2
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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3
meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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7
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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8
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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10
negligently
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11
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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12
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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13
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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14
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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15
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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adepts
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| n.专家，能手( adept的名词复数 ) | |
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17
nibbled
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的过去式和过去分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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18
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
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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20
joints
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| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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aplomb
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| n.沉着，镇静 | |
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23
meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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24
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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25
jeered
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| v.嘲笑( jeer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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quenching
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| 淬火，熄 | |
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28
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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29
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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30
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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31
defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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32
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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33
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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34
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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35
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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36
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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37
exculpate
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| v.开脱，使无罪 | |
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38
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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39
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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40
dazedly
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| 头昏眼花地，眼花缭乱地，茫然地 | |
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41
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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42
sedulously
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| ad.孜孜不倦地 | |
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