XV VENUS AND MARS

Since those days men have made "fire-proof" buildings. You know them; let certain aggravations combine--they burn like straw. We had barely started when I began to be threatened with a conflagration¹ against which I should have called it an insult to have been warned. The adroit² beauty at my side set in to explain more fully³ her presence. From her window she had seen those two trim fellows hurrying along in a fair way to blunder into the Federal pickets⁴ within an hour, had cautioned them, and had finally asked leave to come with them, they under her guidance, she under their protection.

"You were so anxious to get the General's letter?" I asked.

"I was so anxious about you," she replied, with feeling, and then broke into a quizzical laugh.

I had not the faintest doubt she was lying. What was I to her? The times were fearfully out of joint⁵; women as well as men were taking war's licenses⁶, and with a boy's unmerciful directness I sprang to the conclusion that here was an adventuress. Yet I had some better thoughts too. While I felt a moral tipsiness going into all my veins⁷, I asked myself if it was not mainly due to my own inability to rise in full manliness⁸ to a most exceptional situation. Her jaunty⁹ method of confronting it, was I not failing to regard that with due magnanimity? Was this the truth, or after all ought I really to see that at every turn of her speech, by coy bendings of the head, by the dark seductions of dim half-captive locks about her oval temples, and by many an indescribable swaying of the form and of the voice, I was being--to speak it brutally--challenged? Even in the poetic¹⁰ obscurity of the night I lost all steadiness of eye as I pertly said--

"And so here you are in this awful fix."

"I'm enjoying one advantage," she replied, "which you do not."

"What is that?"

"Why, I can read my safety in your face. You can't read anything in mine; you're afraid to look."

All I got by looking then was a mellow¹¹ laugh from behind her relowered veil; but we were going at a swift trot¹², nearing a roadside fire of fence-rails left by some belated foraging¹³ team, and as she came into the glare of it I turned my eyes a second time. She was revealed in a garb¹⁴ of brown enriched by the red beams of the fire, and was on the gray mare¹⁵ I had seen that morning under Lieutenant¹⁶ Edgard Ferry-Durand.

"You recognize her?" the rider asked, delightedly. "She's not stolen, she's only served her country a little better than usual to-day; haven't you, Cousin Sallie?" (Cousin Sallie was short for Confederate States.)

The note of patriotism¹⁷ righted me and I looked a third time. The one art of dress worth knowing in '63 was to slight its fashions without offending them, and this pretty gift I had marked all day in the Harpers. But never have I seen it half so successful as in the veiled horsewoman illumined by the side-lights of those burning fence-rails. The white apparition¹⁸ at the veranda's edge gleamed in my mind, yet swiftly faded out, and a new fascination¹⁹, more sudden than worthy²⁰ heaved at my heart. Then the fire was behind us and we were in the deep night.

On the crest²¹ of a ridge²² we slackened speed and my fellow-traveller lifted her veil and asked exultantly²³ what those two splendid stars were that overhung yonder fringe of woods so low and so close to each other. The less brilliant one, I said, the red one, was Mars.

"And the one following, almost at his side?"

"Don't you know?" I asked.

Her eyes flashed round upon me like stars themselves. "Not--Venus?" she whispered, snatched in her breath, bit her lip, and half averting²⁴ her face, shot me through with both "twinklers" at once. Then she took a long look at the planets and suddenly exclaimed with a scandalized air--

"They're going down into the woods together!"

"Yes," I responded, "and without even waiting for Diana."

She dropped the rein²⁵ and lifted both arms toward them. "Oh, blessings²⁶ on your glorious old heathen hearts, what do you want of Diana, or of any one in heaven or earth except each other!"

Foolish, idle cry, and meant for no more, by a heart on fire with temptations of which I knew nothing. But then and there my poor adolescent soul found out that the preceptive²⁷ stuff of which it had built its treasure-house and citadel²⁸ was not fire-proof.

1 conflagration   

n.建筑物或森林大火

参考例句：

• A conflagration in 1947 reduced 90 percent of the houses to ashes.1947年的一场大火，使90%的房屋化为灰烬。
• The light of that conflagration will fade away.这熊熊烈火会渐渐熄灭。

2 adroit   

adj.熟练的，灵巧的

参考例句：

• Jamie was adroit at flattering others.杰米很会拍马屁。
• His adroit replies to hecklers won him many followers.他对质问者的机敏应答使他赢得了很多追随者。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 pickets   

罢工纠察员( picket的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Five pickets were arrested by police. 五名纠察队员被警方逮捕。
• We could hear the chanting of the pickets. 我们可以听到罢工纠察员有节奏的喊叫声。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 licenses   

n.执照( license的名词复数 )v.批准，许可，颁发执照( license的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Drivers have ten days' grace to renew their licenses. 驾驶员更换执照有10天的宽限期。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Jewish firms couldn't get import or export licenses or raw materials. 犹太人的企业得不到进出口许可证或原料。 来自辞典例句

7 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 manliness   

刚毅

参考例句：

• She was really fond of his strength, his wholesome looks, his manliness. 她真喜欢他的坚强，他那健康的容貌，他的男子气概。
• His confidence, his manliness and bravery, turn his wit into wisdom. 他的自信、男子气概和勇敢将他的风趣变为智慧。

9 jaunty   

adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意

参考例句：

• She cocked her hat at a jaunty angle.她把帽子歪戴成俏皮的样子。
• The happy boy walked with jaunty steps.这个快乐的孩子以轻快活泼的步子走着。

10 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

11 mellow   

adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟

参考例句：

• These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节，苹果就熟透了。
• The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时，色彩变得柔和了。

12 trot   

n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧

参考例句：

• They passed me at a trot.他们从我身边快步走过。
• The horse broke into a brisk trot.马突然快步小跑起来。

13 foraging   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句

14 garb   

n.服装，装束

参考例句：

• He wore the garb of a general.他身着将军的制服。
• Certain political,social,and legal forms reappear in seemingly different garb.一些政治、社会和法律的形式在表面不同的外衣下重复出现。

15 mare   

n.母马，母驴

参考例句：

• The mare has just thrown a foal in the stable.那匹母马刚刚在马厩里产下了一只小马驹。
• The mare foundered under the heavy load and collapsed in the road.那母马因负载过重而倒在路上。

16 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

17 patriotism   

n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• They obtained money under the false pretenses of patriotism.他们以虚伪的爱国主义为借口获得金钱。

18 apparition   

n.幽灵，神奇的现象

参考例句：

• He saw the apparition of his dead wife.他看见了他亡妻的幽灵。
• But the terror of this new apparition brought me to a stand.这新出现的幽灵吓得我站在那里一动也不敢动。

19 fascination   

n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋

参考例句：

• He had a deep fascination with all forms of transport.他对所有的运输工具都很着迷。
• His letters have been a source of fascination to a wide audience.广大观众一直迷恋于他的来信。

20 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

21 crest   

n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖

参考例句：

• The rooster bristled his crest.公鸡竖起了鸡冠。
• He reached the crest of the hill before dawn.他于黎明前到达山顶。

22 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

23 exultantly   

adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地

参考例句：

• They listened exultantly to the sounds from outside. 她们欢欣鼓舞地倾听着外面的声音。 来自辞典例句
• He rose exultantly from their profane surprise. 他得意非凡地站起身来，也不管众人怎样惊奇诅咒。 来自辞典例句

24 averting   

防止，避免( avert的现在分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• The margin of time for averting crisis was melting away. 可以用来消弥这一危机的些许时光正在逝去。
• These results underscore the value of rescue medications in averting psychotic relapse. 这些结果显示了救护性治疗对避免精神病复发的价值。

25 rein   

n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治

参考例句：

• The horse answered to the slightest pull on the rein.只要缰绳轻轻一拉,马就作出反应。
• He never drew rein for a moment till he reached the river.他一刻不停地一直跑到河边。

26 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

27 preceptive   

adj.教训性的，好教训人的

参考例句：

28 citadel   

n.城堡；堡垒；避难所

参考例句：

• The citadel was solid.城堡是坚固的。
• This citadel is built on high ground for protecting the city.这座城堡建于高处是为保护城市。