It was a very poor case, indeed, that Brewster made out, despite a formidable array of specifications6. As it progressed, the situation took on a certain ludicrousness. The tale of woe8 was so very trivial; it seemed hardly worth the trouble of convening9 twelve officers from the four corners of the Department to hear it. And there was about Brewster, as he progressed, a suggestion of dragging one foot after the other, leaving out a word here, overlooking an occurrence there, [Pg 155]cutting off a mile in one place, and tacking10 on an hour in another.
Landor's wrath11 was mighty12, but he smiled as he sat balancing a ruler on his fingers and hearing how the citizens of San Tomaso, eager to avenge13 their wrongs, had met him at early morning, had gone bravely forward, keen on the scent14, had implored15 him to hasten, while he halted on worthless pretexts16, and had, towards evening, reluctantly left a hot trail, going from it at right angles, "and camping," said Brewster, regretfully, "as far away as it was possible to get, considering the halts."
At one moment it appeared that Landor had given his command into the hands of the citizens, at another that he had flatly refused to follow them into danger, that he had threatened and hung back by turns, and had, in short, made himself the laughing-stock of civilians17 and enlisted18 men, by what Brewster called "his timid subterfuges19."
Yet somehow "timid subterfuges" seemed hardly the words to fit with the hard, unswerving eye and the deep-lined face of the accused. It struck the court so. There were other things that struck the court, notably20 that Brewster had criticised his captain to civilians and to enlisted men. The Judge Advocate frowned. The frown settled to a permanency when Brewster sought out that honorable personage to complain, unofficially, that his case was being neglected. It was about upon a par1 with an accusation21 of bribery22 against a supreme23 judge in civil life, and naturally did not do the [Pg 156]plaintiff much good when the Judge Advocate rose, terrible in his indignation, to repeat the complaint officially to the assembled court at the next sitting. The court was resentful. It listened and weighed for six days, and then it acquitted24 Landor on every charge and specification7 "most honorably," to make it more strong, and afterward25 went over, in a body, to his quarters, to congratulate him. The rest of the post followed.
Landor was in the dining room, and Felipa stood in the sitting room receiving the praises of her husband with much tact26. If he were the hero of the hour, she was the heroine. The officers from far posts carried their admiration27 to extravagance, bewitched by the sphinx-riddle written somehow on her fair face, and which is the most potent28 and bewildering charm a woman can possess. When they went away, they sent her boxes of fresh tomatoes and celery and lemons, from points along the railroad, which was a highly acceptable and altogether delicate attention in the day and place.
The garrison29 gave a hop30 in her honor and Landor's. It was quite an affair, as many as five and thirty souls being present, and it was written up in the Army and Navy afterward. The correspondent went into many adjectives over Mrs. Landor, and her fame spread through the land.
Brewster stood in his own window, quite alone, and watched them all crowding down to Landor's quarters. The beauty of the Triumph of Virtue31 did not appeal to[Pg 157] him. He was very uneasy. Countercharges were looming32 on his view. To be sure, he had not lied, not absolutely and in so many words, but his citizen witnesses had not been so adroit33 or so careful. It would not have taken much to make out a very fair case of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Practical working texts, anent looking before leaping, and being sure you are right ere going ahead, occurred to him with new force. His morality at the moment was worthy34 the law and the prophets. He was Experience in person, and as such would have been an invaluable35 teacher, if there had been any seeking instruction. But there was none. They were all with Landor, drinking his wine and helping36 success succeed, than which one may find less pleasant occupations.
Yet there came a rap at his door directly. It was the McLane's striker, bearing a note from Miss McLane. Brewster knew what was in it before he opened it. But he went back to the window and read it by the fading light. When he looked up it was to see Miss McLane and Ellton going up the walk together, returning from Landor's house.
And at another window Felipa also stood looking out into the dusk. There had been a shower in the afternoon, and the clouds it had left behind were like a soft moss37 of fire floating in the sky. A bright golden light struck slantwise from the sunset. They had all gone away to dine and to dress for the hop; Landor had walked down to the post trader's for the mail, and she was left alone.
[Pg 158]
She watched the figure of a man coming down the line. Because of the dazzling, low light behind him, the outline was blurred38 in a shimmer39. At first she thought without any interest in it, one way or another, that he was a soldier, then she could see that he was in citizen's clothes and wore a sombrero and top boots. Even with that, until he was almost in front of the house, she did not realize that it was Cairness, though she knew well enough that he was in the post, and had been one of Landor's most valuable witnesses. He had remained to hear the findings, but she had kept close to the house and had not seen him before. He was a government scout40, a cow-boy, a prospector41, reputed a squaw-man, anything vagrant42 and unsettled, and so the most he might do was to turn his head as he passed by, and looking up at the windows, bow gravely to the woman standing43 dark against the firelight within.
The blaze of glory had gone suddenly from the clouds, leaving them lifeless gray, when she turned her eyes back to them; and the outlook across the parade ground was very bare. She went and stood by the fire, leaning her arm on the mantel-shelf and setting her determined44 lips.
Three weeks later she left the post and the West. Landor's health was broken from the effects of the poisonweed and the manifold troubles of the months past. In lieu of sick leave, he was given a desirable detail, and sent on to Washington, and for a year and a half he saw his wife fitted into a woman's seemly sphere. She was heralded45 as a beauty, and made much[Pg 159] of as such, and the little vanities that had rarely shown before came to the surface now. He was proud of her. Sought after and admired, clothed in purple and scarlet46 and fine linen47, within the limits of a captain's pay, a creature of ultra-civilization, tamed, she was a very charming woman indeed. There seemed to be no hint of the Apache left. He all but forgot it himself. There was but one relapse in all the time, and it chanced that he had no knowledge of that.
Yet, in the midst of her little triumph, Felipa fell ill, failing without apparent cause, and then the uneasiness that had only slept in Landor for eighteen months came awake again. He did not believe when the doctors told him that it was the lassitude of the moist, warm springtime which was making the gray circles about her eyes, the listlessness of her movements.
When she lay, one day, with her face, too white and sharp, looking out from the tangle48 of hair upon the pillow, he asked her almost abruptly49 if she had rather go back to the West. He could not bring himself to ask if she were longing50 to be near Cairness. He shrank too much from her frank, unhesitating assent51.
The face on the pillow lighted quickly, and she put out her hand to him impulsively52. "Could we go back, Jack53, even before the detail is up?" she said. And yet her life of late had surely been one that women would have thought enviable—most women.
He himself had never dreamed how it irked her until now. It was many years since he had been in the East, not, indeed, since Felipa had been a small child.[Pg 160] Keeping his promise to Cabot, as he understood it, had left him little for such pleasures as that. But he had done his duty then; he would do it again, and reap once more what seemed to him the inevitable54 reward, the reward which had been his all through his life,—sheer disappointment, in all he prized most, ashes and dust.
"I can throw up the detail," he said indifferently, "I dare say I might as well. There is only half a year more of it. Some one will be glad enough to take that."
"But you," said Felipa, wistfully, "you do not want to go back?"
For a moment he stood looking straight into her eyes, yet neither read the other's thoughts. Then he turned away with a baffled half laugh. "Why should it matter to me?" he asked.
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1
par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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stigma
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| n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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specifications
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| n.规格；载明；详述；（产品等的）说明书；说明书( specification的名词复数 )；详细的计划书；载明；详述 | |
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specification
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| n.详述；[常pl.]规格，说明书，规范 | |
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woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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9
convening
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| 召开( convene的现在分词 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合 | |
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tacking
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| （帆船）抢风行驶，定位焊[铆]紧钉 | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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pretexts
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| n.借口，托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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subterfuges
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| n.（用说谎或欺骗以逃脱责备、困难等的）花招，遁词( subterfuge的名词复数 ) | |
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notably
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| adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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bribery
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| n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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27
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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30
hop
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| n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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looming
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| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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37
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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38
blurred
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| v.（使）变模糊( blur的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）难以区分；模模糊糊；迷离 | |
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39
shimmer
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| v./n.发微光，发闪光；微光 | |
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40
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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prospector
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| n.探矿者 | |
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42
vagrant
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| n.流浪者，游民；adj.流浪的，漂泊不定的 | |
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43
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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44
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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45
heralded
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| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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46
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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47
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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48
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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49
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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50
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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51
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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52
impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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53
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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54
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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