Ordham had never felt so young. Having cared little for girls and greatly for women of the world, he had been, and in spite of his precocity7 and cleverness, under an unconscious strain for several years past. He had always been “playing up,” as Hélène Wass once expressed it, when she may have felt—who knows?—a moment’s pity for him. Now, he had the sensation that Life, having long cheated him, was making sudden and wondrous8 restitution9. It was that perfect flower of youth in Mabel that called to him as potently10 as her beauty and her high-bred grace and charm. He no longer cared what she read; she declared herself too happy to think of books, and he replied that they were writing a great romance of their own; time enough for other men’s unlifelike vapourings later. He did not see her often alone, and these sweet brief interviews gave a romantic intensity11 to their engagement which London might not have offered to a pair less severely12 chaperoned; although, to be sure, that exotic mansion13, with its imported atmosphere of vanished Bourbons and their reckless nobles, exorcised the memory of grimy London, and was a poem in itself. Even in imagination he always saw her drifting about the lovely bright rooms with her eyes full of dreams. She treated him to a bewildering variety of moods, sometimes even chattering14 for a few moments quite like the old Mabel, only to melt insensibly into the dignified15 and stately girl he longed to exhibit to every court in Europe. Not only was he fully16 roused from the long lethargy of his youth and alive as he had fancied he might be at thirty, but the romantic cravings born during his extraordinary experience with Margarethe Styr were eager, hungry, almost satisfied. Only that wondrous period prosaically17 known as the honeymoon18 could perfect this poem of the prince and princess of fairy lore19.
It never occurred to him to wonder if he could have loved Mabel Cutting had she been a poor girl and he forced to give up his diplomatic ambitions and support her, or if he had met her only in commonplace hotel sitting-rooms. The exquisite20 creature’s very wealth was a part of her romantic fascination21. It furnished the halo. It created, as with a magic wand, the poetic22 setting for her aristocratic beauty and grace. It moved her aloof23 from those common mortals whose gilded24 cages were stuffed with unpaid25 bills. That his life with her was to be free of those vulgar cares which his temperament26 held in particular abhorrence27, added to the ecstasy28, to the belief that they two were of the elect, chosen to dwell upon a rarefied plane, to experience a superior and perennial29 happiness.
It was quite ten days before he remembered Margarethe Styr. Then he sat down at once to write to her of his engagement, that she might not hear of it first through the public channels; it was to be announced as soon as the invitations were engraved30. He found this letter the most difficult he had ever attempted to write. Even as he took up his pen that something he still did not wish to define stirred in the deeps of his mind, whispered that he had committed an act of infidelity. Never until that moment had he realized how close and deep his intimacy31 with Styr had been. It was, as she herself had called it, a mental marriage. There was no doubt that in a sense he had given himself to her, that he had intended to keep her always and first in his life, that he had vaguely32 looked forward to some ultimate union with her. The possibility of falling in love with the girl possessing the requisite33 millions had never occurred to him. But Margarethe Styr had gone out of his life. There was no possible doubt on that point. He no longer felt the slightest need of her. Henceforth he should be absorbed in his young wife and in his career. Mabel would become one of the cleverest women in Europe and give him all the inspiration he needed in that future of which she even now talked with such enthusiasm and intelligence. Friendships with other women would be superfluous34 and imprudent. Styr belonged to the past, and while he should cherish her memory, she must be content to reign35 in memory alone.
He spent the entire morning groaning36 at his desk, but finally concocted37 a letter that he dared to send to Munich. Far too astute38 to indulge in rhapsodies, and at the same time too much in love to be dishonest, he hedged between an avowal39 and a denial of his affection for the great heiress whom he shortly was to have the honour of leading to the altar. But although it was a very creditable performance, that letter, he was all youth and love and fire when he wrote it, and his pen conducted more than one flash from his electrified40 being. A woman far less keen than Styr would hardly have been persuaded that he was reluctantly steering41 into matrimony through the golden gate, barely conscious of his partner in the sordid42 transaction.

点击
收听单词发音

1
descended
![]() |
|
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2
fatuous
![]() |
|
adj.愚昧的;昏庸的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3
supremely
![]() |
|
adv.无上地,崇高地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4
frigid
![]() |
|
adj.寒冷的,凛冽的;冷淡的;拘禁的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5
dressing
![]() |
|
n.(食物)调料;包扎伤口的用品,敷料 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6
miseries
![]() |
|
n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 );痛苦的事;穷困;常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7
precocity
![]() |
|
n.早熟,早成 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8
wondrous
![]() |
|
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9
restitution
![]() |
|
n.赔偿;恢复原状 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10
potently
![]() |
|
参考例句: |
|
|
11
intensity
![]() |
|
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12
severely
![]() |
|
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13
mansion
![]() |
|
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14
chattering
![]() |
|
n. (机器振动发出的)咔嗒声,(鸟等)鸣,啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的,啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15
dignified
![]() |
|
a.可敬的,高贵的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16
fully
![]() |
|
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17
prosaically
![]() |
|
adv.无聊地;乏味地;散文式地;平凡地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18
honeymoon
![]() |
|
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19
lore
![]() |
|
n.传说;学问,经验,知识 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20
exquisite
![]() |
|
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21
fascination
![]() |
|
n.令人着迷的事物,魅力,迷恋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22
poetic
![]() |
|
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23
aloof
![]() |
|
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24
gilded
![]() |
|
a.镀金的,富有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25
unpaid
![]() |
|
adj.未付款的,无报酬的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26
temperament
![]() |
|
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27
abhorrence
![]() |
|
n.憎恶;可憎恶的事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28
ecstasy
![]() |
|
n.狂喜,心醉神怡,入迷 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29
perennial
![]() |
|
adj.终年的;长久的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30
engraved
![]() |
|
v.在(硬物)上雕刻(字,画等)( engrave的过去式和过去分词 );将某事物深深印在(记忆或头脑中) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31
intimacy
![]() |
|
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32
vaguely
![]() |
|
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33
requisite
![]() |
|
adj.需要的,必不可少的;n.必需品 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34
superfluous
![]() |
|
adj.过多的,过剩的,多余的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35
reign
![]() |
|
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36
groaning
![]() |
|
adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37
concocted
![]() |
|
v.将(尤指通常不相配合的)成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 );调制;编造;捏造 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38
astute
![]() |
|
adj.机敏的,精明的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39
avowal
![]() |
|
n.公开宣称,坦白承认 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40
electrified
![]() |
|
v.使电气化( electrify的过去式和过去分词 );使兴奋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41
steering
![]() |
|
n.操舵装置 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42
sordid
![]() |
|
adj.肮脏的,不干净的,卑鄙的,暗淡的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |