Queen of Night
Eustacia Vye was the raw material of a divinity. On Olympus she would have done well with a little preparation. She had the passions and instincts which make a model goddess, that is, those which make not quite a model woman. Had it been possible for the earth and mankind to be entirely1 in her grasp for a while, she had handled the distaff, the spindle, and the shears2 at her own free will, few in the world would have noticed the change of government. There would have been the same inequality of lot, the same heaping up of favours here, of contumely there, the same generosity3 before justice, the same perpetual dilemmas4, the same captious5 alteration6 of caresses7 and blows that we endure now.
She was in person full-limbed and somewhat heavy; without ruddiness, as without pallor; and soft to the touch as a cloud. To see her hair was to fancy that a whole winter did not contain darkness enough to form its shadow--it closed over her forehead like nightfall extinguishing the western glow.
Her nerves extended into those tresses, and her temper could always be softened8 by stroking them down. When her hair was brushed she would instantly sink into stillness and look like the Sphinx. If, in passing under one of the Egdon banks, any of its thick skeins were caught, as they sometimes were, by a prickly tuft of the large Ulex Europoeus--which will act as a sort of hairbrush--she would go back a few steps, and pass against it a second time.
She had pagan eyes, full of nocturnal mysteries, and their light, as it came and went, and came again, was partially9 hampered10 by their oppressive lids and lashes11; and of these the under lid was much fuller than it usually is with English women. This enabled her to indulge in reverie without seeming to do so--she might have been believed capable of sleeping without closing them up. Assuming that the souls of men and women were visible essences, you could fancy the colour of Eustacia's soul to be flamelike. The sparks from it that rose into her dark pupils gave the same impression.
The mouth seemed formed less to speak than to quiver, less to quiver than to kiss. Some might have added, less to kiss than to curl. Viewed sideways, the closing-line of her lips formed, with almost geometric precision, the curve so well known in the arts of design as the cima-recta, or ogee. The sight of such a flexible bend as that on grim Egdon was quite an apparition12. It was felt at once that the mouth did not come over from Sleswig with a band of Saxon pirates whose lips met like the two halves of a muffin. One had fancied that such lip-curves were mostly lurking13 underground in the South as fragments of forgotten marbles. So fine were the lines of her lips that, though full, each corner of her mouth was as clearly cut as the point of a spear. This keenness of corner was only blunted when she was given over to sudden fits of gloom, one of the phases of the night-side of sentiment which she knew too well for her years.
Her presence brought memories of such things as Bourbon roses, rubies14, and tropical midnight; her moods recalled lotus-eaters and the march in Athalie; her motions, the ebb15 and flow of the sea; her voice, the viola. In a dim light, and with a slight rearrangement of her hair, her general figure might have stood for that of either of the higher female deities16. The new moon behind her head, an old helmet upon it, a diadem17 of accidental dewdrops round her brow, would have been adjuncts sufficient to strike the note of Artemis, Athena, or Hera respectively, with as close an approximation to the antique as that which passes muster18 on many respected canvases.
But celestial19 imperiousness, love, wrath20, and fervour had proved to be somewhat thrown away on netherward Egdon. Her power was limited, and the consciousness of this limitation had biassed21 her development. Egdon was her Hades, and since coming there she had imbibed22 much of what was dark in its tone, though inwardly and eternally unreconciled thereto. Her appearance accorded well with this smouldering rebelliousness24, and the shady splendour of her beauty was the real surface of the sad and stifled25 warmth within her. A true Tartarean dignity sat upon her brow, and not factitiously or with marks of constraint26, for it had grown in her with years.
Across the upper part of her head she wore a thin fillet of black velvet27, restraining the luxuriance of her shady hair, in a way which added much to this class of majesty28 by irregularly clouding her forehead. "Nothing can embellish29 a beautiful face more than a narrow band drawn30 over the brow," says Richter. Some of the neighbouring girls wore coloured ribbon for the same purpose, and sported metallic31 ornaments32 elsewhere; but if anyone suggested coloured ribbon and metallic ornaments to Eustacia Vye she laughed and went on.
Why did a woman of this sort live on Egdon Heath? Budmouth was her native place, a fashionable seaside resort at that date. She was the daughter of the bandmaster of a regiment33 which had been quartered there--a Corfiote by birth, and a fine musician--who met his future wife during her trip thither34 with her father the captain, a man of good family. The marriage was scarcely in accord with the old man's wishes, for the bandmaster's pockets were as light as his occupation. But the musician did his best; adopted his wife's name, made England permanently35 his home, took great trouble with his child's education, the expenses of which were defrayed by the grandfather, and throve as the chief local musician till her mother's death, when he left off thriving, drank, and died also. The girl was left to the care of her grandfather, who, since three of his ribs36 became broken in a shipwreck37, had lived in this airy perch38 on Egdon, a spot which had taken his fancy because the house was to be had for next to nothing, and because a remote blue tinge39 on the horizon between the hills, visible from the cottage door, was traditionally believed to be the English Channel. She hated the change; she felt like one banished40; but here she was forced to abide41.
Thus it happened that in Eustacia's brain were juxtaposed the strangest assortment42 of ideas, from old time and from new. There was no middle distance in her perspective--romantic recollections of sunny afternoons on an esplanade, with military bands, officers, and gallants around, stood like gilded43 letters upon the dark tablet of surrounding Egdon. Every bizarre effect that could result from the random44 intertwining of watering-place glitter with the grand solemnity of a heath, was to be found in her. Seeing nothing of human life now, she imagined all the more of what she had seen.
Where did her dignity come from? By a latent vein45 from Alcinous' line, her father hailing from Phaeacia's isle46?--or from Fitzalan and De Vere, her maternal47 grandfather having had a cousin in the peerage? Perhaps it was the gift of Heaven--a happy convergence of natural laws. Among other things opportunity had of late years been denied her of learning to be undignified, for she lived lonely. Isolation48 on a heath renders vulgarity well-nigh impossible. It would have been as easy for the heath-ponies, bats, and snakes to be vulgar as for her. A narrow life in Budmouth might have completely demeaned her.
The only way to look queenly without realms or hearts to queen it over is to look as if you had lost them; and Eustacia did that to a triumph. In the captain's cottage she could suggest mansions50 she had never seen. Perhaps that was because she frequented a vaster mansion49 than any of them, the open hills. Like the summer condition of the place around her, she was an embodiment of the phrase "a populous51 solitude"--apparently so listless, void, and quiet, she was really busy and full.
To be loved to madness--such was her great desire. Love was to her the one cordial which could drive away the eating loneliness of her days. And she seemed to long for the abstraction called passionate52 love more than for any particular lover.
She could show a most reproachful look at times, but it was directed less against human beings than against certain creatures of her mind, the chief of these being Destiny, through whose interference she dimly fancied it arose that love alighted only on gliding53 youth--that any love she might win would sink simultaneously54 with the sand in the glass. She thought of it with an ever-growing consciousness of cruelty, which tended to breed actions of reckless unconventionality, framed to snatch a year's, a week's, even an hour's passion from anywhere while it could be won. Through want of it she had sung without being merry, possessed55 without enjoying, outshone without triumphing. Her loneliness deepened her desire. On Egdon, coldest and meanest kisses were at famine prices, and where was a mouth matching hers to be found?
Fidelity56 in love for fidelity's sake had less attraction for her than for most women; fidelity because of love's grip had much. A blaze of love, and extinction57, was better than a lantern glimmer58 of the same which should last long years. On this head she knew by prevision what most women learn only by experience--she had mentally walked round love, told the towers thereof, considered its palaces, and concluded that love was but a doleful joy. Yet she desired it, as one in a desert would be thankful for brackish59 water.
She often repeated her prayers; not at particular times, but, like the unaffectedly devout60, when she desired to pray. Her prayer was always spontaneous, and often ran thus, "O deliver my heart from this fearful gloom and loneliness; send me great love from somewhere, else I shall die."
Her high gods were William the Conqueror61, Strafford, and Napoleon Buonaparte, as they had appeared in the Lady's History used at the establishment in which she was educated. Had she been a mother she would have christened her boys such names as Saul or Sisera in preference to Jacob or David, neither of whom she admired. At school she had used to side with the Philistines62 in several battles, and had wondered if Pontius Pilate were as handsome as he was frank and fair.
Thus she was a girl of some forwardness of mind, indeed, weighed in relation to her situation among the very rearward of thinkers, very original. Her instincts towards social non-comformity were at the root of this. In the matter of holidays, her mood was that of horses who, when turned out to grass, enjoy looking upon their kind at work on the highway. She only valued rest to herself when it came in the midst of other people's labour. Hence she hated Sundays when all was at rest, and often said they would be the death of her. To see the heathmen in their Sunday condition, that is, with their hands in their pockets, their boots newly oiled, and not laced up (a particularly Sunday sign), walking leisurely63 among the turves and furze-faggots they had cut during the week, and kicking them critically as if their use were unknown, was a fearful heaviness to her. To relieve the tedium64 of this untimely day she would overhaul65 the cupboards containing her grandfather's old charts and other rubbish, humming Saturday-night ballads66 of the country people the while. But on Saturday nights she would frequently sing a psalm67, and it was always on a weekday that she read the Bible, that she might be unoppressed with a sense of doing her duty.
Such views of life were to some extent the natural begettings of her situation upon her nature. To dwell on a heath without studying its meanings was like wedding a foreigner without learning his tongue. The subtle beauties of the heath were lost to Eustacia; she only caught its vapours. An environment which would have made a contented68 woman a poet, a suffering woman a devotee, a pious69 woman a psalmist, even a giddy woman thoughtful, made a rebellious23 woman saturnine70.
Eustacia had got beyond the vision of some marriage of inexpressible glory; yet, though her emotions were in full vigour71, she cared for no meaner union. Thus we see her in a strange state of isolation. To have lost the godlike conceit72 that we may do what we will, and not to have acquired a homely73 zest74 for doing what we can, shows a grandeur75 of temper which cannot be objected to in the abstract, for it denotes a mind that, though disappointed, forswears compromise. But, if congenial to philosophy, it is apt to be dangerous to the commonwealth76. In a world where doing means marrying, and the commonwealth is one of hearts and hands, the same peril77 attends the condition.
And so we see our Eustacia--for at times she was not altogether unlovable--arriving at that stage of enlightenment which feels that nothing is worth while, and filling up the spare hours of her existence by idealizing Wildeve for want of a better object. This was the sole reason of his ascendency: she knew it herself. At moments her pride rebelled against her passion for him, and she even had longed to be free. But there was only one circumstance which could dislodge him, and that was the advent78 of a greater man.
For the rest, she suffered much from depression of spirits, and took slow walks to recover them, in which she carried her grandfather's telescope and her grandmother's hourglass--the latter because of a peculiar79 pleasure she derived80 from watching a material representation of time's gradual glide81 away. She seldom schemed, but when she did scheme, her plans showed rather the comprehensive strategy of a general than the small arts called womanish, though she could utter oracles82 of Delphian ambiguity83 when she did not choose to be direct. In heaven she will probably sit between the Heloises and the Cleopatras.
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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shears
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| n.大剪刀 | |
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generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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dilemmas
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| n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境 | |
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captious
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| adj.难讨好的，吹毛求疵的 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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hampered
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| 妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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rubies
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| 红宝石( ruby的名词复数 )； 红宝石色，深红色 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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biassed
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| （统计试验中）结果偏倚的，有偏的 | |
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imbibed
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| v.吸收( imbibe的过去式和过去分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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rebelliousness
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| n. 造反，难以控制 | |
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stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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embellish
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| v.装饰，布置；给…添加细节，润饰 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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tinge
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| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
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banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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assortment
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| n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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populous
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| adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的 | |
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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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gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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brackish
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| adj.混有盐的；咸的 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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philistines
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| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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tedium
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| n.单调；烦闷 | |
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overhaul
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| v./n.大修，仔细检查 | |
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ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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saturnine
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| adj.忧郁的，沉默寡言的，阴沉的，感染铅毒的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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80
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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81
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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82
oracles
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| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
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83
ambiguity
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| n.模棱两可；意义不明确 | |
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