Sheltered beneath the powerful pen of Banneker, his idyll, fulfilled, lengthened1 out over radiant months. Io was to him all that dreams had ever promised or portrayed2. Their association, flowering to the full amidst the rush and turmoil3 of the city, was the antithesis4 to its budding in the desert peace. To see the more of his mistress, Banneker became an active participant in that class of social functions which get themselves chronicled in the papers. Wise in her day and her protective instinct of love, Io pointed5 out that the more he was identified with her set, the less occasion would there be for comment upon their being seen together. And they were seen together much.
She lunched with him at his downtown club, dined with him at Sherry's, met him at The Retreat and was driven back home in his car, sometimes with Archie Densmore for a third, not infrequently alone. Considerate hostesses seated them next each other at dinners: it was deemed an evidence of being "in the know" thus to accommodate them. The openness of their intimacy6 went far to rob calumny7 of its sting. And Banneker's ingrained circumspection8 of the man trained in the open, applied9 to _les convenances_, was a protection in itself. Moreover, there was in his devotion, conspicuous10 though it was, an air of chivalry11, a breath of fragrance12 from a world of higher romance, which rendered women in particular charitable of judgment13 toward the pair.
Sometimes in the late afternoon Banneker's private numbered telephone rang, and an impersonal14 voice delivered a formal message. And that evening Banneker (called out of town, no matter how pressing an engagement he might have had) sat in The House With Three Eyes, now darkened of vision, thrilling and longing15 for her step in the dim side passage. There was risk of disaster. But Io willed to take it; was proud to take it for her lover.
Immersed in a happiness and a hope which vivified every motion of his life, Banneker was nevertheless under a continuous strain of watchfulness16; the _qui vive_ of the knight17 who guards his lady with leveled lance from a never-ceasing threat. At the point of his weapon cowered18 and crouched19 the dragon of The Searchlight, with envenomed fangs20 of scandal.
As the months rounded out to a year, he grew, not less careful, indeed, but more confident. Eyre had quietly dropped out of the world. Hunting big game in some wild corner of Nowhere, said rumor21.
Io had revealed to Banneker the truth; her husband was in a sanitarium not far from Philadelphia. As she told him, her eyes were dim. Swift, with the apprehension22 of the lover to read the loved one's face, she saw a smothered23 jealousy24 in his.
"Ah, but you must pity him, too! He has been so game."
"Has been?"
"Yes. This is nearly the end. I shall go down there to be near him."
"It's a long way, Philadelphia," he said moodily25.
"What a child! Two hours in your car from The Retreat."
"Then I may come down?"
"May? You must!"
He was still unappeased. "But you'll be very far away from me most of the time."
She gleamed on him, her face all joyous26 for his incessant27 want of her. "Stupid! We shall see almost as much of each other as before. I'll be coming over to New York two or three times a week."
Wherewith, and a promised daily telephone call, he must be content.
Not at that meeting did he broach28 the subject nearest his heart. He felt that he must give Io time to adjust herself to the new-developed status of her husband, as of one already passed out of the world. A fortnight later he spoke29 out. He had gone down to The Retreat for the week-end and she had come up from Philadelphia to meet him, for dinner. He found her in a secluded30 alcove31 off the main dining-porch, alone. She rose and came to him, after that one swift, sweet, precautionary glance about her with which a woman in love assures herself of safety before she gives her lips; tender and passionate32 to the yearning33 need of her that sprang in his face.
"Ban, I've been undergoing a solemn preachment."
"From whom?"
"Archie."
"Is Densmore here?"
"No; he came over to Philadelphia to deliver it."
"About us?"
She nodded. "Don't take it so gloomily. It was to be expected."
He frowned. "It's on my mind all the time; the danger to you."
"Would you end it?" she said softly.
"Yes."
Too confident to misconstrue his reply, she let her hand fall on his, waiting.
"Io, how long will it be, with Eyre? Before--"
"Oh; that!" The brilliance34 faded from her eager loveliness. "I don't know. Perhaps a year. He suffers abominably35, poor fellow."
"And after--after _that_, how long before you can marry me?"
She twinkled at him mischievously36. "So, after all these years, my lover makes me an offer of marriage. Why didn't you ask me at Manzanita?"
"Good God! Would it possibly--"
"No; no! I shouldn't have said it. I was teasing."
"You know that there's never been a moment when the one thing worth living and fighting and striving for wasn't you."
"And success?" she taunted37, but with tenderness.
"Another name for you. I wanted it only as the reflex of your wish for me."
"Even when I'd left you?"
"Even when you'd left me."
"Poor Ban!" she breathed, and for a moment her fingers fluttered at his cheek. "Have I made it up to you?"
He bent38 over the long, low chair in which she half reclined. "A thousand times! Every day that I see you; every day that I think of you; with the lightest touch of your hand; the sound of your voice; the turn of your face toward me. I'm jealous of it and fearful of it. Can you wonder that I live in a torment39 of dread40 lest something happen to bring it all to ruin?"
She shook her head. "Nothing could. Unless--No. I won't say it. I want you to want to marry me, Ban. But--I wonder."
As they talked, the little light of late afternoon had dwindled41, until in their nook they could see each other only as vague forms.
"Isn't there a table-lamp there?" she asked. "Turn it on."
He found and pulled the chain. The glow, softly shaded, irradiated Io's lineaments, showing her thoughtful, somber42, even a little apprehensive43. She lifted the shade and turned it to throw the direct rays upon Banneker. He blinked.
"Do you mind?" she asked softly. Even more softly, she added, "Do you remember?"
His mind veered44 back across the years, full of struggle, of triumph, of emptiness, of fulfillment, to a night in another world; a world of dreams, magic associations, high and peaceful ambitions, into which had broken a voice and an appeal from the darkness. He had turned the light upon himself then that she might see him for what he was and have no fear. So he held it now, lifting it above his forehead. Hypnotized by the compulsion of memory, she said, as she had said to the unknown helper in the desert shack45:
"I don't know you. Do I?"
"Io!"
"Ah! I didn't mean to say that. It came back to me, Ban. Perhaps it's true. _Do_ I know you?"
As in the long ago he answered her: "Are you afraid of me?"
"Of everything. Of the future. Of what I don't know in you."
"There's nothing of me that you don't know," he averred46.
"Isn't there?" She was infinitely47 wistful; avid48 of reassurance49. Before he could answer she continued: "That night in the rain when I first saw you, under the flash, as I see you now--Ban, dear, how little you've changed, how wonderfully little, to the eye!--the instant I saw you, I trusted you."
"Do you trust me now?" he asked for the delight of hearing her declare it.
Instead he heard, incredulously, the doubt in her tone. "Do I? I want to--so much! I did then. At first sight."
He set down the lamp. She could hear him breathing quick and stressfully. He did not speak.
"At first sight," she repeated. "And--I think--I loved you from that minute. Though of course I didn't know. Not for days. Then, when I'd gone, I found what I'd never dreamed of; how much I could love."
"And now?" he whispered.
"Ah, more than then!" The low cry leapt from her lips. "A thousand times more."
"But you don't trust me?"
"Why don't I, Ban?" she pleaded. "What have you done? How have you changed?"
He shook his head. "Yet you've given me your love. Do you trust yourself?"
"Yes," she answered with a startling quietude of certainty. "In that I do. Absolutely."
"Then I'll chance the rest. You're upset to-night, aren't you, Io? You've let your imagination run away with you."
"This isn't a new thing to me. It began--I don't know when it began. Yes; I do. Before I ever knew or thought of you. Oh, long before! When I was no more than a baby."
"Rede me your riddle50, love," he said lightly.
"It's so silly. You mustn't laugh; no, you wouldn't laugh. But you mustn't be angry with me for being a fool. Childhood impressions are terribly lasting51 things, Ban.... Yes, I'm going to tell you. It was a nurse I had when I was only four, I think; such a pretty, dainty Irish creature, the pink-and-black type. She used to cry over me and say--I don't suppose she thought I would ever understand or remember--'Beware the brown-eyed boys, darlin'. False an' foul52 they are, the brown ones. They take a girl's poor heart an' witch it away an' twitch53 it away, an' toss it back all crushed an' spoilt.' Then she would hug me and sob54. She left soon after; but the warning has haunted me like a superstition55.... Could you kiss it away, Ban? Tell me I'm a little fool!"
Approaching footsteps broke in upon them. The square bulk of Jim Maitland appeared in the doorway56.
"What ho! you two. Ban, you're scampin' your polo practice shamefully57. You'll be crabbin' the team if you don't look out. Dinin' here?"
"Yes," said Io. "Is Marie down?"
"Comin' presently. How about a couple of rubbers after dinner?"
To assent58 seemed the part of tact59. Io and Ban went to their corner table, reserved for three, the third, Archie Densmore, being a prudent60 fiction. People drifted over to them, chatted awhile, were carried on and away by uncharted but normal social currents. It was a tribute to the accepted status between them that no one settled into the third chair. The Retreat is the dwelling-place of tact. All the conversationalists having come and gone, Io reverted61 over the coffee to the talk of their hearts.
"I can't expect you to understand me, can I? Especially as I don't understand myself. Don't sulk, Ban, dearest. You're so un-pretty when you pout62."
He refused to accept the change to a lighter63 tone. "I understand this, Io; that you have begun unaccountably to mistrust me. That hurts."
"I don't want to hurt you. I'd rather hurt myself; a thousand times rather. Oh, I will marry you, of course, when the time comes! And yet--"
"Yet?"
"Isn't it strange, that deep-seated misgiving64! I suppose it's my woman's dread of any change. It's been so perfect between us, Ban." Her speech dropped to its lowest breath of pure music:
"'This test for love:--in every kiss, sealed fast To feel the first kiss and forebode the last'--
So it has been with us; hasn't it, my lover?"
"So it shall always be," he answered, low and deep.
Her eyes dreamed. "How could any man feel what he put in those lines?" she murmured.
"Some woman taught him," said Banneker.
She threw him a fairy kiss. "Why haven't we 'The Voices' here! You should read to me.... Do you ever wish we were back in the desert?"
"We shall be, some day."
She shuddered65 a little, involuntarily. "There's a sense of recall, isn't there! Do you still love it?"
"It's the beginning of the Road to Happiness," he said. "The place where I first saw you."
"You don't care for many things, though, Ban."
"Not many. Only two, vitally. You and the paper."
She made a curious reply pregnant of meanings which were to come back upon him afterward66. "I shan't be jealous of that. Not as long as you're true to it. But I don't think you care for The Patriot67, for itself."
"Oh, don't I!"
"If you do, it's only because it's part of you; your voice; your power. Because it belongs to you. I wonder if you love me mostly for the same reason."
"Say, the reverse reason. Because I belong so entirely68 to you that nothing outside really matters except as it contributes to you. Can't you realize and believe?"
"No; I shouldn't be jealous of the paper," she mused69, ignoring his appeal. Then, with a sudden transition: "I like your Russell Edmonds. Am I wrong or is there a kind of nobility of mind in him?"
"Of mind and soul. You would be the one to see it.
'.............the nobleness that lies
Sleeping but never dead in other men,
Will rise in majesty70 to meet thine own'"--
he quoted, smiling into her eyes.
"Do you ever talk over your editorials with him?"
"Often. He's my main and only reliance, politically."
"Only politically? Does he ever comment on other editorials? The one on Harvey Wheelwright, for instance?"
Banneker was faintly surprised. "No. Why should he? Did you discuss that with him?"
"Indeed not! I wouldn't discuss that particular editorial with any one but you."
He moved uneasily. "Aren't you attaching undue71 importance to a very trivial subject? You know that was half a joke, anyway."
"Was it?" she murmured. "Probably I take it too seriously. But--but Harvey Wheelwright came into one of our early talks, almost our first about real things. When I began to discover you; when 'The Voices' first sang to us. And he wasn't one of the Voices, exactly, was he?"
"He? He's a bray72! But neither was Sears-Roebuck one of the Voices. Yet you liked my editorial on that."
"I adored it! You believed what you were writing. So you made it beautiful."
"Nothing could make Harvey Wheelwright beautiful. But, at least, you'll admit I made him--well, appetizing." His face took on a shade. "Love's labor73 lost, too," he added. "We never did run the Wheelwright serial74, you know."
"Why?"
"Because the infernal idiot had to go and divorce a perfectly75 respectable, if plain and middle-aged76 wife, in order to marry a quite scandalous Chicago society flapper."
"What connection has that with the serial?"
"Don't you see? Wheelwright is the arch-deacon of the eternal proprieties77 and pieties78. Purity of morals. Hearth79 and home. Faithful unto death, and so on. Under that sign he conquers--a million pious80 and snuffy readers, per book. Well, when he gets himself spread in the Amalgamated81 Wire dispatches, by a quick divorce and a hair-trigger marriage, puff82 goes his piety--and his hold on his readers. We just quietly dropped him."
"But his serial was just as good or as bad as before, wasn't it?"
"Certainly not! Not for our purposes. He was a dead wolf with his sheep's wool all smeared83 and spotted84. You'll never quite understand the newspaper game, I'm afraid, lady of my heart."
"How brown your eyes are, Ban!" said Io.
收听单词发音 |
1
lengthened
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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portrayed
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| v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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turmoil
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| n.骚乱，混乱，动乱 | |
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antithesis
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| n.对立；相对 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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circumspection
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| n.细心，慎重 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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watchfulness
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| 警惕，留心； 警觉（性） | |
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knight
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| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
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cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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broach
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| v.开瓶，提出(题目) | |
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spoke
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| 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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30
secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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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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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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abominably
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| adv. 可恶地，可恨地，恶劣地 | |
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mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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41
dwindled
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| v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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44
veered
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| v.（尤指交通工具）改变方向或路线( veer的过去式和过去分词 )；（指谈话内容、人的行为或观点）突然改变；（指风） （在北半球按顺时针方向、在南半球按逆时针方向）逐渐转向；风向顺时针转 | |
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45
shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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46
averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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47
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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48
avid
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| adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的 | |
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49
reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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50
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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51
lasting
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| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
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52
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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53
twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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54
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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55
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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56
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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57
shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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58
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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59
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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60
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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61
reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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62
pout
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| v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴 | |
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63
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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64
misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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65
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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66
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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68
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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70
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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72
bray
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| n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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serial
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| n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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middle-aged
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| adj.中年的 | |
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proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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pieties
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| 虔诚，虔敬( piety的名词复数 ) | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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81
amalgamated
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| v.（使）（金属）汞齐化( amalgamate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）合并；联合；结合 | |
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82
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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83
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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