“Oh! How utterly6 perfect this is!” sighed Jean.
She was lying at full length on the springy turf, her chin cupped in her hands, her elbows denting7 little cosy8 hollows of darkness in the close mesh9 of green moss10.
Tormarin, equally prone11, was beside her, his eyes absorbing, not the open vista12 of rolling moor, hummocked with jagged tors of brown-grey stone, but the sun as it rioted through a glory of red-brown hair and touched changeful gleams of gold into topaz eyes.
There was a queer little throb13 in Jean’s voice, the low note of almost passionate14 delight which sheer beauty never failed to draw from her. It plucked at the chords of memory, and Tormarin’s thoughts leaped back suddenly to that day they had spent together in the mountains, when, as they emerged from the pinewood’s gloom to the revelation of the great white-pinacled Alps, she had turned to him with the rapt cry: “It’s so beautiful that it makes one’s heart ache!”
“Do you remember——” he began involuntarily, then checked himself.
“’M—m?” she queried15. The little interrogative murmur16 was tantalising in its soft note of intimacy17.
The Jean of the last few days—the days immediately following their quarrel—had temporarily vanished. The beauty of the Moor had taken hold of her, and all the mockery and bitter-sweetness which she had latterly reserved for Torin arm’s benefit was absent from her manner. She was just her natural sweet and wholesome18 self.
“’M—m? Do I remember—what?”
“I was thinking what a pagan little beauty-lover you are! You worshipped the Alps. How you are worshipping Dartmoor.”
She nodded.
“I don’t see why you should call it ‘pagan,’ though. I should say it was equally Christian19. I think we were meant to love beauty. Otherwise there wouldn’t have been such a lot of it about. God didn’t put it around just by accident.”
“Quite probably you’re right,” agreed Blaise. “In which case you must be”—he smiled—“an excellent Christian.”
“Positively I believe they’re talking theology!”
Claire’s voice, girlishly gay and free from the nervous restraint which normally dulled its cadence20 of youth, broke suddenly on their ears, as she and Nick, rounding the corner of a big granite21 boulder22, discovered the two recumbent forms.
“You disgustingly lazy people!” she pursued indignantly. “Everybody’s dashing wildly to and fro unpacking23 the lunch baskets, while you two are just lounging here in blissful idleness!”
“It’s chronic24 with me,” murmured Tormarin lazily. “And anyway, Claire, neither you nor Nick appear to be precisely25 overtaxing yourselves bearing nectar and ambrosia26.”
“I carried some of the drinks up this confounded hill,” submitted Nick. “And damned heavy they were, too! I can’t think”—plaintively—“why people should be so thirsty at a picnic. I’m sure Baines has shoved in enough liquid refreshment27 to float a ship.”
“Praise be!” interpolated Blaise piously28.
“Oh, we’ve done our share,” supplemented Claire. “And now we’re going to the gipsy who lives here to have our fortunes told.”
“Before lunch,” subjoined Nick, “so that in case they’re depressingly bad you can stay us with flagons afterwards.”
Jean sat up suddenly, her face alight with interest “Do you mean that there is a real gipsy who tells real fortunes?” she demanded.
“Yes—quite real. She’s supposed to be extraordinarily29 good,” replied Nick. “She is a lady of property, too, since she has acquired a few square yards of the Moor from the Duchy and built herself a little shanty30 there. She rejoices in the name of Keturah Stanley.”
“I should like to have my fortune told,” murmured Jean meditatively31.
“I’ll take you,” volunteered Blaise.
There was a suddenly alert look in his face, as though he, too, would like to hear Jean’s fortune told.
“We’ll all go, then,” said Claire. “You must let Keturah tell yours as well, Blaise.”
He shook his head.
“Thanks, no,” he answered briefly32. “I know my fortune quite as well as I have any wish to.”
Tormarin’s curt33 refusal somewhat quenched34 the gaiety of the moment, and rather soberly they all four made their way down the slope to where, in a little sheltered hollow at the foot of the tor, the sunlight glinted on the corrugated35 iron roofing of a tiny two-roomed hut, built of wood.
Outside, sitting on an inverted36 pail and composedly puffing37 away at a clay pipe, they discovered a small, shrivelled old woman, sunning herself, like a cat, in the midday warmth.
She lifted her head as they approached, revealing an immensely old, delicately-featured face, which might have been carved out of yellow ivory. It was a network of wrinkles, colourless save for the piercing black eyes that sparkled beneath arched black brows, while the fine-cut nostrils38 and beautifully moulded mouth spoke39 unmistakably of race—of the old untainted blood which in some gipsy families has run clear, unmixed and undiluted, through countless40 generations.
There was an odd dignity about the shrunken, still upright figure as she rose from her seat—the freedom of one whose neck has never bowed to the yoke41 of established custom, whose kingdom is the sun and sea and earth and air as God gave them to Adam—and when the visitors had explained their errand, and she proceeded to answer them in the soft, slurred42 accents of the Devon dialect, the illiterate43 speech seemed to convey a strange sense of unfitness.
Claire and Nick were the first to dare the oracle44. The old woman beckoned45 to them to follow her into the cottage, while Tormarin and Jean waited outside, and when they emerged once more, both were laughing, their faces eager and half excited like the faces of children promised some indefinite treat.
“She’s given you luck, then?” asked Jean, smiling in sympathy.
The gipsy interposed quickly.
“Tezn’t for me to give nor take away the luck. But I knaw that, back o’ they gert black clouds the young lady’s so mortal feared of, the zun’s shinin’ butivul. I tell ’ee, me dear”—nodding encouragingly to Claire, while her keen old eyes narrowed to mere46 pin-points of light—“you’ll zee it, yourself—and afore another year’s crep’ by. ’Ess, fay! You’ll knaw then as I tolled47 ’ee trew.”
Then, with a gesture that summoned Jean to follow her, she disappeared once more into the interior of the hut.
Jean hesitated nervously48 in the doorway49. For a moment she was conscious of an acute feeling of distaste for the impending50 interview—a dread51 of what this woman, whose eyes seemed the only live thing in her old, old face, might have to tell her.
“Come with me,” she appealed to Blaise. And he nodded and followed her across the threshold.
The scent52 of a peat fire came warm and fragrant53 to her nostrils as she stepped out of the sunlight into the comparative dusk of the little shanty, mingling54 curiously55 with an aroma56 of savoury stew57 which issued from a black pot hung above the fire, bubbling and chuckling58 as it simmered.
The gipsy, as though by force of habit, gave a stir to its contents and then, settling herself on a three-legged stool, she took dean’s hand in her wrinkled, daw-like fingers and peered at its palm in silence.
“Your way baint so plain tu zee as t’other young lady’s,” she muttered at last, in an odd, sing-song tone. “There’s life an’ death an’ fire an’ flame afore yu zee the sun shinin’ clear.... And if so be yu take the wrong turnin’, you’ll niver zee it. And there’ll be no postes to guide ’ee. Tez your awn sawl must tell ’ee how to walk through the darkness. For there’s darkness comin’... black darkness.”
She paused, and the liquid in the black pot over the fire seethed59 up suddenly and filled the silence with its chuckling and gurgling, so that to Jean it seemed like the sound of some hidden malevolence60 chortling defiance61 at her.
The old woman clutched her hand a little tighter, turning the palm so that the light from the tiny window fell more directly upon it.
“There’s a castle waitin’ for ’ee, me dear,” she resumed in the same sing-song voice as before. “I can zee it so plain as plain. But yu won’t never live there wi’ the one yu luve, though you’m hopin’ tu. I see ruin and devastation62 all around it, and the sky so red as blid above it.”
She released Jean’s hand slowly, and her curiously bright eyes fastened upon Tormarin.
“Shall I tell the gentleman’s hand?” she asked, stretching out her withered63 claw to take it.
But he drew it away hurriedly.
“No, no,” he said, attempting to speak lightly. “This lady’s fortune isn’t sufficiently64 encouraging for me to venture.”
The gipsy’s eyes never left his face. She nodded slowly.
“That’s as may be. For tez the zaim luck and zaim ill-lack will come to yu as comes to thikke maid. There’s no ring given or taken, but you’m bound together so fast and firm as weddin’-ring could bind65 ’ee.”
Jean felt her face flame scarlet66 in the dusk of the tiny room, and she turned and made her way hastily out into the sunshine once more, thankful for the eager queries67 of Nick and Claire, which served to bring back to normal the rather strained atmosphere induced by the gipsy’s final comment.
As they climbed the side of the tor once more, Jean relapsed into silence. More than once, more than twice, since she had come to England, she had been vaguely68 conscious of some hidden menace to her happiness, and now the gipsy had suddenly given words to’ her own indefinite premonition of evil.
“For there’s darkness comin’... black darkness.”
It was a relief to join the rest of the picnic party, who were clamouring loudly for their lunch, good-humouredly indignant with the wanderers for keeping them waiting.
“Another five minutes,” announced Burke, “and we should have begun without you. Not even Lady Anne could have kept us under restraint a moment longer.”
The party was quite a large one, augmented69 by a good many friends from round about the neighbourhood, and amid the riotous70 fun and ridiculous mishaps71 which almost invariably accompany an alfresco meal, Jean contrived73 to throw off the feeling of oppression generated by Keturah’s prophecy.
Burke, having heaped her plate with lobster74 mayonnaise, established himself beside her, and proceeded to catechise her about her recent experience.
“Did the lady—what’s her name, Keturah?—tell you when you were going to marry me?” he demanded in an undertone, his dare-devil eyes laughing down at her impudently75.
“No, she did not. She only foresees things that are really going to happen,” retorted Jean.
“Well, that is”—composedly. “She can’t be much good at her job if she missed seeing it.”
“Well,” Jean affected76 to consider—“the nearest she got to it was that she saw ‘darkness coming... black darkness.’”
Under cover of the general preoccupation in lunch and conversation, Burke’s hand closed suddenly over hers.
“You little devil!” he said, half amused, half sulky. “I’ll make you pay for that.”
But out here, in the wind-swept, open spaces of the Moor, Jean felt no fear of him.
“First catch your hare——” she retaliated77 defiantly78.
He regarded her tensely for a moment.
“I’ll take your advice,” he said briefly. Then he added: “Did you know that I’m driving you back in my cart this afternoon?”
Various cars and traps and saddle horses had brought the party together at the appointed rendezvous—a little village on the outskirts79 of the Moor, and Jean had driven up with Blaise in one of the Staple80 cars. She looked at Burke now, in astonishment81.
“You certainly are not,” she replied quickly. “I shall go back as I came—in the car.”
“Quite impossible. It’s broken down. They rashly brought on the lunch hampers82 in it, across that God-forsaken bit of moor road—with disastrous83 consequences to the car’s internals. So that you and Tormarin have got to be sorted into other conveyances84. And I’ve undertaken to get you home.”
Jean’s face fell a little. Throughout the drive up to the Moor Blaise had seemed less remote and more like his old self than at any time since their quarrel, and she could guess that this arrangement of Burke’s was hardly likely to conduce towards the continuance of the new peace.
“How will Blaise get home?” she asked.
“They can squeeze him into her car, Judy says. It’ll be a tight fit, but he can cling on by his eyelashes somehow.”
“I think it would be a better arrangement if you drove Blaise and I went back in the car with your sister,” suggested Jean.
“There’s certainly not room for two extra in the car. There isn’t really room for one.”
“There wouldn’t be two. You would drive Blaise.”
“Pardon me. I should do nothing of the sort.”
“Do you mean”—incredulously—“that you would refuse?”
“Oh, I should invent an armour-plated reason. A broken spring in the dog-cart or something. But I do mean that if I don’t drive you, I drive no one.”
Jean looked at him vexedly.
“Well,” she said uncertainly, “we can’t have a fuss at a picnic.”
“No,” agreed Burke. “So I’m afraid you’ll have to give in.”
Jean rather thought so, too. There didn’t seem any way out of it. She knew that Burke was perfectly85 capable, under cover of some supposed mishap72 to his trap, of throwing the whole party into confusion and difficulty, rather than relinquish86 his intention.
“Oh, very well,” she yielded at last, resignedly. “Have your own way, you obstinate87 man.”
“I intend to,” he replied coolly. “How—-and always.”
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收听单词发音
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1
shimmering
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| v.闪闪发光，发微光( shimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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denting
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| v.使产生凹痕( dent的现在分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
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cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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mesh
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| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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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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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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cadence
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| n.（说话声调的）抑扬顿挫 | |
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granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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unpacking
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| n.取出货物，拆包[箱]v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的现在分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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ambrosia
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| n.神的食物；蜂食 | |
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refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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meditatively
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| adv.冥想地 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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quenched
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| 解（渴）( quench的过去式和过去分词 )； 终止（某事物）； （用水）扑灭（火焰等）； 将（热物体）放入水中急速冷却 | |
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corrugated
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| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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inverted
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| adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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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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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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slurred
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| 含糊地说出( slur的过去式和过去分词 )； 含糊地发…的声； 侮辱； 连唱 | |
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illiterate
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| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
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oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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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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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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47
tolled
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| 鸣钟（toll的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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49
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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50
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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51
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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52
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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53
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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54
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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aroma
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| n.香气，芬芳，芳香 | |
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57
stew
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| n.炖汤，焖，烦恼；v.炖汤，焖，忧虑 | |
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58
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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59
seethed
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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60
malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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62
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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63
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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64
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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65
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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66
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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67
queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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69
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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70
riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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71
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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72
mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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73
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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75
impudently
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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retaliated
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| v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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defiantly
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| adv.挑战地，大胆对抗地 | |
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79
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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80
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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81
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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82
hampers
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的第三人称单数 ) | |
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83
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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84
conveyances
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| n.传送( conveyance的名词复数 )；运送；表达；运输工具 | |
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85
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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86
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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87
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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