Every Saturday the distinguished1 physician from Angelica City came to Manzanita on the afternoon train, spent two or three hours at Camilla Van Arsdale's camp, and returned in time to catch Number Seven back. No imaginable fee would have induced him to abstract one whole day from his enormous practice for any other patient. But he was himself an ardent2 vocal3 amateur, and to keep Royce Melvin alive and able to give forth4 her songs to the world was a special satisfaction to his soul. Moreover, he knew enough of Banneker's story to take pride in being partner in his plan of deception5 and self-sacrifice. He pretended that it was a needed holiday for him: his bills hardly defrayed the traveling expense.
Now, riding back with Banneker, he meditated6 a final opinion, and out of that opinion came speech.
"Mr. Banneker, they ought to give you and me a special niche7 in the Hall of Fame," he said.
A rather wan8 smile touched briefly9 Banneker's lips. "I believe that my ambitions once reached even that far," he said.
The other reflected upon the implied tragedy of a life, so young, for which ambition was already in the past tense, as he added:
"In the musical section. We've got our share in the nearest thing to great music that has been produced in the America of our time. You and I. Principally you."
Banneker made a quick gesture of denial.
"I don't know what you owe to Camilla Van Arsdale, but you've paid the debt. There won't be much more to pay, Banneker."
Banneker looked up sharply.
"No." The visitor shook his graying head. "We've performed as near a miracle as it is given to poor human power to perform. It can't last much longer."
"How long?"
"A matter of weeks. Not more. Banneker, do you believe in a personal immortality11?"
"I don't know. Do you?"
"I don't know, either. I was thinking.... If it were so; when she gets across, what she will feel when she finds her man waiting for her. God!" He lifted his face to the great trees that moved and murmured overhead. "How that heart of hers has sung to him all these years!"
He lifted his voice and sent it rolling through the cathedral aisles13 of the forest, in the superb finale of the last hymn14.
"For even the purest delight may pall10,
And power must fail, and the pride must fall
And the love of the dearest friends grow small--
But the glory of the Lord is all in all."
The great voice was lost in the sighing of the winds. They rode on, thoughtful and speechless. When the physician turned to his companion again, it was with a brisk change of manner.
"And now we'll consider you."
"Nothing to consider," declared Banneker.
"Is your professional judgment15 better than mine?" retorted the other. "How much weight have you lost since you've been out here?"
"I don't know."
"Find out. Don't sleep very well, do you?"
"What do you do at night when you can't sleep? Work?"
"No."
"Well?"
"Think."
The doctor uttered a non-professional monosyllable. "What will you do," he propounded17, waving his arm back along the trail toward the Van Arsdale camp, "when this little game of yours is played out?"
"God knows!" said Banneker. It suddenly struck him that life would be blank, empty of interest or purpose, when Camilla Van Arsdale died, when there was no longer the absorbing necessity to preserve, intact and impregnable, the fortress18 of love and lies wherewith he had surrounded her.
"When this chapter is finished," said the other, "you come down to Angelica City with me. Perhaps we'll go on a little camping trip together. I want to talk to you."
The train carried him away. Oppressed and thoughtful, Banneker walked slowly across the blazing, cactus-set open toward his shack19. There was still the simple housekeeping work to be done, for he had left early that morning. He felt suddenly spiritless, flaccid, too inert20 even for the little tasks before him. The physician's pronouncement had taken the strength from him. Of course he had known that it couldn't be very long--but only a few weeks!
He was almost at the shack when he noticed that the door stood half ajar.
But here, where everything had been disorder21, was now order. The bed was made, the few utensils22 washed, polished, and hung up; on the table a handful of the alamo's bright leaves in a vase gave a touch of color.
In the long chair (7 T 4031 of the Sears-Roebuck catalogue) sat Io. A book lay on her lap, the book of "The Undying Voices." Her eyes were closed. Banneker reached out a hand to the door lintel for support.
A light tremor23 ran through Io's body. She opened her eyes, and fixed24 them on Banneker. She rose slowly. The book fell to the floor and lay open between them. Io stood, her arms hanging straitly at her side, her whole face a lovely and loving plea.
"Please, Ban!" she said, in a voice so little that it hardly came to his ears.
Speech and motion were denied him, in the great, the incredible surprise of her presence.
"Please, Ban, forgive me." She was like a child, beseeching25. Her firm little chin quivered. Two great, soft, lustrous26 tears welled up from the shadowy depths of the eyes and hung, gleaming, above the lashes27. "Oh, aren't you going to speak to me!" she cried.
At that the bonds of his languor28 were rent. He leapt to her, heard the broken music of her sob29, felt her arms close about him, her lips seek his and cling, loath30 to relinquish31 them even for the passionate32 murmurs33 of her love and longing34 for him.
"Hold me close, Ban! Don't ever let me go again! Don't ever let me doubt again!"
When, at length, she gently released herself, her foot brushed the fallen book. She picked it up tenderly, and caressed35 its leaves as she adjusted them.
"Didn't the Voices tell you that I'd come back, Ban?" she asked.
He shook his head. "If they did, I couldn't hear them."
"But they sang to you," she insisted gently. "They never stopped singing, did they?"
"No. No. They never stopped singing."
"Ah; then you ought to have known, Ban. And I ought to have known that you couldn't have done what I believed you had. Are you sure you forgive me, Ban?"
She told him of what she had discovered, of the talk with Russell Edmonds ("I've a letter from him for you, dearest one; he loves you, too. But not as I do. Nobody could!" interjected Io jealously), of the clue of the telegram. And he told her of Camilla Van Arsdale and the long deception; and at that, for the first time since he knew her, she broke down and gave herself up utterly36 to tears, as much for him as for the friend whom he had so loyally loved and served. When it was over and she had regained37 command of herself, she said:
"Now you must take me to her."
So once more they rode together into the murmurous38 peace of the forest. Io leaned in her saddle as they drew near the cabin, to lay a hand on her lover's shoulder.
"Once, a thousand years ago, Ban," she said, "when love came to me, I was a wicked little infidel and would not believe. Not in the Enchanted39 Canyon40, nor in the Mountains of Fulfillment, nor in the Fadeless Gardens where the Undying Voices sing. Do you remember?"
"Do I not!" whispered Ban, turning to kiss the fingers that tightened41 on his shoulder.
"And--and I blasphemed and said there was always a serpent in every Paradise, and that Experience was a horrid42 hag, with a bony finger pointing to the snake.... This is my recantation, Ban. I know now that you were the true Prophet; that Experience has shining wings and eyes that can lock to the future as well as the past, and immortal12 Hope for a lover. And that only they two can guide to the Mountains of Fulfillment. Is it enough, Ban?"
"It is enough," he answered with grave happiness.
"Listen!" exclaimed Io.
The sound of song, tender and passionate and triumphant43, came pulsing through the silence to meet them as they rode on.
收听单词发音 |
1
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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aisles
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| n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
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hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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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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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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shack
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| adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚 | |
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inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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23
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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25
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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26
lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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27
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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28
languor
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| n.无精力，倦怠 | |
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29
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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30
loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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31
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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32
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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33
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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34
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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35
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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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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38
murmurous
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| adj.低声的 | |
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39
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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40
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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41
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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42
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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43
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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