"Ah, let me be glad for you, Flora2, let me be glad for you! Oh, think of it! You have him! have him at home, to look upon, to touch, to call by name! and to be looked upon by him and touched and called by name! Oh, God in heaven! God in heaven!"
Miranda's fond protests were too timorous3 to check her, and Flora's ceased in the delight of hearing that last wail4 confess the thought of Hilary. Constance strove with tender energy for place and voice: "Nan, dearie, Nan! But listen to Flora, Nan. See, Nan, I haven't opened Steve's letter yet. Wounded and what, Flora, something worse? Ah, if worse you couldn't have left him."
"I know," sighed Anna, relaxing her arms to a caress5 and turning her gaze to Flora. "I see. Your brother, our dear Charlie, has come back to life, but wounded and alone. Alone. Hilary is still missing. Isn't that it? That's all, isn't it?"
Constance, in a sudden thought of what her letters might tell, began to open one, though with her eyes at every alternate moment on Flora as eagerly as Miranda's or Anna's. Flora stood hiddenly revelling6 in that complexity7 of her own spirit which enabled her to pour upon her questioner a look, even a real sentiment, of ravishing pity, while nevertheless in the depths of her being she thrilled and burned and danced and sang with joy for the very misery8 she thus compassionated9. By a designed motion she showed her grandmother's reticule on her arm. But only Anna saw it; Constance, with her gaze in the letter, was drawing Miranda aside while both bent10 their heads over a clause in it which had got blurred11, and looked at each other aghast as they made it out to read, "'--from the burial squad12.'" The grandmother's silken bag saved them from Anna's notice.
"Oh, Flora!" said Anna again, "is there really something worse?" Abruptly13, she spread a hand under the bag and with her eyes still in the eyes of its possessor slid it gently from the yielding wrist. Dropping her fingers into it she brought forth14 a tobacco-pouch, of her own embroidering15, and from it, while the reticule fell unheeded to the floor, drew two or three small things which she laid on it in her doubled hands and regarded with a smile. Vacantly the smile increased as she raised it to Flora, then waned16 while she looked once more on the relics17, and grew again as she began to handle them. Her slow voice took the tone of a child alone at play.
"Why, that's my photograph," she said. "And this--this is his watch--watch and chain." She dangled18 them. A light frown came and went between her smiles.
With soft eagerness Flora called Constance, and the sister and Miranda stood dumb.
"See, Connie," the words went on, "see, 'Randa, this is my own photograph, and this is his own watch and chain. I must go and put them away--with my old gems19." Constance would have followed her as she moved but she waved a limp forbiddal, prattling20 on: "This doesn't mean he's dead, you know. Oh, not at all! It means just the contrary! Why, I saw him alive last night, in a dream, and I can't believe anything else, and I won't! No, no, not yet!" At that word she made a misstep and as she started sharply to recover it the things she carried fell breaking and jingling21 at her feet.
"Oh-h!" she sighed in childish surprise and feebly dropped to her knees. Flora, closest by, sprang crouching22 to the rescue, but recoiled23 as the kneeling girl leaned hoveringly over the mementos24 and with distended25 eyes and an arm thrust forward cried aloud, "No! No! No-o!"
At once, however, her voice was tender again. "Mustn't anybody touch them but me, ever any more," she said, regathering the stuff, regained26 her feet and moved on. Close after her wavering steps anxiously pressed the others, yet not close enough. At the open door, smiling back in rejection27 of their aid, she tripped, and before they could save her, tumbled headlong within. From up-stairs, from downstairs came servants running, and by the front door entered a stranger, a private soldier in swamp boots and bespattered with the mire28 of the river road from his spurs to his ragged29 hat.
"No, bring her out," he said to a slave woman who bore Anna in her arms, "out to the air!" But the burden slipped free and with a cleared mind stood facing him.
"Ladies," he exclaimed, his look wandering, his uncovered hair matted, "if a half-starved soldier can have a morsel30 of food just to take in his hands and ride on with--" and before he could finish servants had sprung to supply him.
"Are you from down the river?" asked Anna, quietly putting away her sister's pleading touch and Flora's offer of support.
"I am!" spouted31 the renegade, for renegade he was, "I'm from the very thick of the massacre32! from day turned into night, night into day, and heaven and earth into--into--"
"Hell," placidly33 prompted Flora.
"Yes! nothing short of it! Our defenses become death-traps and slaughter-pens--oh, how foully34, foully has Richmond betrayed her sister city!"
Flora felt a new tumult35 of joy. "That Yankee fleet--it has pazz' those fort'?" she cried.
"My dear young lady! By this time there ain't no forts for it to pass! When I left Fort St. Philip there wa'n't a spot over in Fort Jackson as wide as my blanket where a bumbshell hadn't buried itself and blown up, and every minute we were lookin' for the magazine to go! Those awful shells! they'd torn both levees, the forts were flooded, men who'd lost their grit36 were weeping like children--"
"Oh!" interrupted Constance, "why not leave the forts? We don't need them now; those old wooden ships can never withstand our terrible ironclads!"
"Well, they're mighty37 soon going to try it! Last night, right in the blaze of all our batteries, they cut the huge chain we had stretched across the river--"
"Ah, but when they see--oh, they'll never dare face even the Manassas--the 'little turtle,' ha-ha!--much less the great Louisiana!"
"Alas38! madam, the Louisiana ain't ready for 'em. There she lies tied to the levee, with engines that can't turn a wheel, a mere39 floating battery, while our gunboats--" Eagerly the speaker broke off to receive upon one hand and arm the bounty40 of the larder41 and with a pomp of gratitude42 to extend his other hand to Anna; but she sadly shook her head and showed on her palms Hilary's shattered tokens:
"These poor things belong to one, sir, who, like you, is among the missing. But, oh, thank God! he is missing at the front, in the front."
The abashed43 craven turned his hand to Flora, but with a gentle promptness Anna stepped between: "No, Flora dear, see; he hasn't a red scratch on him. Oh, sir, go--eat! If hunger stifles44 courage, eat! But eat as you ride, and ride like mad back to duty and honor! No! not under this roof--nor in sight of these things--can any man be a ladies' man, who is missing from the front, at the rear."
He wheeled and vanished. Anna turned: "Connie, what do your letters say?"
The sister's eyes told enough. The inquirer gazed a moment, then murmured to herself, "I--don't--believe it--yet," grew very white, swayed, and sank with a long sigh into out-thrown arms.
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1
pinioned
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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3
timorous
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| adj.胆怯的，胆小的 | |
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4
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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6
revelling
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| v.作乐( revel的现在分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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9
compassionated
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| v.同情（compassionate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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10
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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11
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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12
squad
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| n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组 | |
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13
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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14
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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embroidering
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| v.（在织物上）绣花( embroider的现在分词 )；刺绣；对…加以渲染（或修饰）；给…添枝加叶 | |
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16
waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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17
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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18
dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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19
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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20
prattling
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的现在分词 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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21
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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22
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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23
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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24
mementos
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| 纪念品，令人回忆的东西( memento的名词复数 ) | |
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25
distended
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| v.（使）膨胀，肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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26
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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28
mire
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| n.泥沼，泥泞；v.使...陷于泥泞，使...陷入困境 | |
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29
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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30
morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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31
spouted
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| adj.装有嘴的v.（指液体）喷出( spout的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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32
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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33
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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34
foully
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| ad.卑鄙地 | |
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35
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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36
grit
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| n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关 | |
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37
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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38
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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39
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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40
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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41
larder
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| n.食物贮藏室，食品橱 | |
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42
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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43
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
stifles
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的第三人称单数 )； 镇压，遏制 | |
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