The dinner was, per se, a success. The table was elegant with glass, silver, and flowers; the viands14 were the creation of one of those round, greasy15 Africanesses, who are born to the gridiron not less indubitably than a poet to the lyre; and white-haired old Sancho waited with a blending of obsequiousness16 and pomposity17, wonderful to behold18. There were neither culinary failures to harrow the soul of the hostess, nor glass-fractures or sauce-spillings to disconcert her guests.
The conversation was bright, easy, and desultory19, as well as interlocutory and general by turns, as dinner-table talk should be. Only once, and that quite at the last, did it take a graver turn than was well suited to the occasion, or seem to stir any ill-feeling. In a pause of the more general conversation, Doctor Remy was heard saying to Carice, who sat next him;—
"You are fortunate in being able to believe so implicitly20, without ampler proof."
"Do you think the proof insufficient21, then?" asked Carice, with a little look of wonder in her blue eyes.
"To some minds," answered Doctor Remy, evasively.
"Perhaps," interposed Mr. Islay, whose ears had been open for some moments toward this conversation,—"perhaps such minds find the proof insufficient only because they have not yet been able to look at it in the right light."
"What light do you mean?" asked Doctor Remy, a little doubtfully.
"The light of a renewed heart and an obedient life. No man apprehends22 the truths of Christianity clearly, nor believes them with a belief that is worth anything, until he feels his own personal need of them. When that time comes, he catches hold of them, without proof, as it were,—or, at least, without other proof than their felt adaptation to that intense need,—-just as a man who is hungry and thirsty accepts convenient food without troubling himself about its chemical analysis. Then, holding them fast, and feeling how perfectly23 they meet his wants, what strength and satisfaction they give to his mind, and what symmetry and dignity they impart to his life, he begins to look back over the long line of prophecy and testimony24 for proof, and finds it ample. Men are prone25 to forget, Dr. Remy, that the natural order—as we see in children—is through the heart to the intellect, not through the intellect to the heart."
"But," objected Doctor Remy, "if a man is not sensible of any such personal need, how is he to be made to feel it?"
"Who can tell?" responded Mr. Islay, solemnly. "If the eye sees no comeliness26 in Christ, to desire Him, if the heart feels no void which craves27 His fulness, no pang28 which needs His healing, who can tell when the one will be opened, the other emptied or smitten29? 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' But I can tell you, Doctor Remy, how a man can postpone30 the time of conviction to the last moment, perhaps to the very end."
"Indeed," answered Doctor Remy, lifting his eyebrows31. "May I ask for the formula?"
"Simply by leading a life of deliberate, habitual32 sin and selfishness. There is nothing like sin for blinding the eyes, and misleading the judgment33, in regard to spiritual things. Indeed, if I desired to shake my own faith in Christ to the very centre, I know no way in which I could do it so surely as by committing some dreadful crime—murder, for instance. All my views of life and death, earth and heaven, would at once become distorted and confused, just as all my thoughts and aims would immediately take a new direction."
Mr. Islay being on the same side of the table as his interlocutor, could not observe the latter's sudden change of countenance35; but Bergan, sitting opposite, was surprised to see the doctor's face darken with some powerful emotion, while he shot a furtive36, suspicious glance at the speaker. Yet his voice, when he spoke37, was studiously low and even, so much so that its latent venom38 was unnoticed by the majority of the party.
"Inasmuch," said he, "as Mr. Islay is able to speak so intelligently of religious faith, because of his thorough acquaintance therewith, so, doubtless, his remarks upon crime and its effects are the outcome of his own personal experience."
Bergan colored with indignation, and was about to say something in sharp rebuke39 of the covert40 insult; but Mr. Islay stopped him by a look, and a slight, yet decided41 gesture.
"You are thinking, doubtless," said he, mildly, turning to Dr. Remy, "of the deep truth that he who would teach successfully, must know something of his subject by experience as well as theory. A clergyman certainly does find in his own heart both the suggestion and the proof of the truths which he seeks to enforce upon others. Herein lies his fitness for his office. Out of seeming weakness comes real strength. Feeling, or having felt, in his own person, the power both of sin and of redeeming42 love, he can the better set forth43 the hatefulness of the one, and the efficacy of the other."
There was a slight pause; then, Mrs. Bergan made haste to break the silence, and to do it in such a manner as to induce a speedy change of subject. And Dr. Remy, after a brief moodiness44, which seemed to indicate some lingering effect of the preceding discussion, suddenly unbent his brow, and threw himself into the new theme with animation46, to the immediate34 enlivenment of the party, and the gradual extinction47 of his hostess's resentment48. She acknowledged to herself that he could be exceedingly agreeable, when it pleased him. If he would but spice his conversation a little less freely with sarcasm49!
And then she gave the signal for the ladies to leave the table.
As has been already hinted, the more immediate and visible result of the dinner-party at Oakstead, was a swift budding and blossoming of friendship between Carice and Astra. Despite the playful disclaimer of the latter, when the probability of such a consummation had been mentioned by her mother, no sooner did the two girls meet face to face, the gray eyes and the blue ones looking straight into each other's depths, than there was an instant, unlooked-for revival50 of their childish affection and confidence; quickly informed by a deeper sympathy and fuller comprehension. It was much like sisters—unavoidably separated for years, but in whom the instinct of kinship cannot be lost—that they sat talking together, in a twilight51 corner of the parlor52, until the gentlemen came from the dining-room. Not only were there pleasant childhood memories to recall, but the life-story of each was to be brought fairly up to the present time, for the enlightenment of the other. Astra's was the more eventful; it embraced all her art-education and life, with its toils53, pleasures, difficulties, ambitions, and disappointments. Carice's was more like that of a flower; she had lived and grown in the home-precinct, she had fed on sunshine and dew, sweet and right thoughts had been as natural to her as perfume to a rose, she had made a little space very delightsome with her beauty and her sweetness; and that was all. Each felt a very genuine admiration54 for the other;—Carice bent45 loyally before Astra's crown of genius; Astra held her breath, half in awe55, half in tenderness, before the aureola that she saw encircling the fair head of Carice. As for the "chill" of which she had spoken to Bergan, she had ceased to think of it. Carice's affections were warm enough, she saw, when they were reached. Yet there was something about her too, which she would still have been forced to call chill, for want of a better word,—-that indefinable quality which is inseparable from anything at once white and pure,—a pearl, a star, or the white wing of a dove.
As a natural consequence of this friendship, Carice came often to Astra's studio. Not infrequently she met Bergan there. Remembering Miss Ferrar's statement, and giving it more credit than she was really aware of, she wondered, sometimes, that she could detect no sign of a secret, or tacit, understanding between him and Astra. Their manner to each other was most frank and kind, but it seemed totally devoid56 of any lover-like quality. She finally settled it in her mind that no engagement existed as yet; but she also decided that, inasmuch as they were admirably fitted for each other, it was sure to come, in good time. Nothing better, she thought, in her innocent heart, could well be devised for either.
Astra, meanwhile was watching Bergan and Carice with as warm an interest, and a far more penetrating57 glance; and often she smiled to herself over the discoveries that she made. To her, they appeared to be drifting as surely, if unconsciously, down the smooth, gliding58 current of love, as could be desired. She was glad to have it so. She believed them to be true counterparts, needing each to be completed by the other. Bergan had strength, nobleness, enthusiasm; Carice had sweetness, purity, repose59; how beautiful and fit the union, how symmetrical the result! There was a genuine artistic60 joy in the thought.
And then, all at once, she forgot to watch them. Suddenly, or gradually, she knew not which, a magical change had been wrought61 in her surroundings; old things had vanished, all things had become new. A new sky, a new earth,—stars and cloud-shapes of bewitching vagueness and softness,—scenery of wondrous62 coloring and surpassing loveliness,—lights that were tenderer than any shadows, and shadows that were only subdued63 lights;—of what were these things the signs? Had she also been drifting, and whither?
点击收听单词发音
1 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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2 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 | |
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3 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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4 undone | |
a.未做完的,未完成的 | |
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5 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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6 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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7 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 | |
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8 deferred | |
adj.延期的,缓召的v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 );服从某人的意愿,遵从 | |
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9 spun | |
v.纺,杜撰,急转身 | |
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10 prop | |
vt.支撑;n.支柱,支撑物;支持者,靠山 | |
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11 maternal | |
adj.母亲的,母亲般的,母系的,母方的 | |
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12 foresight | |
n.先见之明,深谋远虑 | |
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13 forestalling | |
v.先发制人,预先阻止( forestall的现在分词 ) | |
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14 viands | |
n.食品,食物 | |
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15 greasy | |
adj. 多脂的,油脂的 | |
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16 obsequiousness | |
媚骨 | |
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17 pomposity | |
n.浮华;虚夸;炫耀;自负 | |
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18 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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19 desultory | |
adj.散漫的,无方法的 | |
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20 implicitly | |
adv. 含蓄地, 暗中地, 毫不保留地 | |
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21 insufficient | |
adj.(for,of)不足的,不够的 | |
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22 apprehends | |
逮捕,拘押( apprehend的第三人称单数 ); 理解 | |
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23 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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24 testimony | |
n.证词;见证,证明 | |
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25 prone | |
adj.(to)易于…的,很可能…的;俯卧的 | |
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26 comeliness | |
n. 清秀, 美丽, 合宜 | |
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27 craves | |
渴望,热望( crave的第三人称单数 ); 恳求,请求 | |
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28 pang | |
n.剧痛,悲痛,苦闷 | |
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29 smitten | |
猛打,重击,打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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30 postpone | |
v.延期,推迟 | |
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31 eyebrows | |
眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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32 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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33 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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34 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
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35 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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36 furtive | |
adj.鬼鬼崇崇的,偷偷摸摸的 | |
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37 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 | |
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38 venom | |
n.毒液,恶毒,痛恨 | |
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39 rebuke | |
v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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40 covert | |
adj.隐藏的;暗地里的 | |
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41 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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42 redeeming | |
补偿的,弥补的 | |
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43 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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44 moodiness | |
n.喜怒无常;喜怒无常,闷闷不乐;情绪 | |
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45 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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46 animation | |
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作 | |
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47 extinction | |
n.熄灭,消亡,消灭,灭绝,绝种 | |
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48 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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49 sarcasm | |
n.讥讽,讽刺,嘲弄,反话 (adj.sarcastic) | |
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50 revival | |
n.复兴,复苏,(精力、活力等的)重振 | |
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51 twilight | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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52 parlor | |
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅 | |
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53 toils | |
网 | |
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54 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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55 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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56 devoid | |
adj.全无的,缺乏的 | |
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57 penetrating | |
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的 | |
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58 gliding | |
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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59 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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60 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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61 wrought | |
v.引起;以…原料制作;运转;adj.制造的 | |
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62 wondrous | |
adj.令人惊奇的,奇妙的;adv.惊人地;异乎寻常地;令人惊叹地 | |
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63 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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