“It mus’ be all fill’ up with weeds,” muttered M’sieur Michel to himself as he went. “Ah, Bon Dieu! with trees, Michel, with trees—in twenty-five years, man.”
He had not taken the road to the village, but was pursuing a different one in which his feet had not walked for many days. It led him along the river bank for a distance. The narrow stream, stirred by the restless breeze, gleamed in the moonlight that was flooding the land.
As he went on and on, the scent7 of the new-plowed9 earth that had been from the first keenly perceptible, began to intoxicate10 him. He wanted to kneel and bury his face in it. He wanted to dig into it; turn it over. He wanted to scatter11 the seed again as he had done long ago, and watch the new, green life spring up as if at his bidding.
When he turned away from the river and had walked a piece down the lane that divided Joe Duplan’s plantation12 from that bit of land 121that had once been his, he wiped his eyes to drive away the mist that was making him see things as they surely could not be.
He had wanted to plant a hedge that time before he went away, but he had not done so. Yet there was the hedge before him, just as he had meant it to be, and filling the night with fragrance13. A broad, low gate divided its length, and over this he leaned and looked before him in amazement14. There were no weeds as he had fancied; no trees except the scattered15 live oaks that he remembered.
Could that row of hardy16 fig17 trees, old, squat18 and gnarled, be the twigs19 that he himself had set one day into the ground? One raw December day when there was a fine, cold mist falling. The chill of it breathed again upon him; the memory was so real. The land did not look as if it ever had been plowed for a field. It was a smooth, green meadow, with cattle huddled20 upon the cool sward, or moving with slow, stately tread as they nibbled21 the tender shoots.
There was the house unchanged, gleaming white in the moon, seeming to invite him beneath its calm shelter. He wondered who 122dwelt within it now. Whoever it was he would not have them find him, like a prowler, there at the gate. But he would come again and again like this at nighttime, to gaze and refresh his spirit.
A hand had been laid upon M’sieur Michel’s shoulder and some one called his name. Startled, he turned to see who accosted22 him.
“Duplan!”
The two men who had not exchanged speech for so many years stood facing each other for a long moment in silence.
“I knew you would come back some day, Michel. It was a long time to wait, but you have come home at last.”
M’sieur Michel cowered23 instinctively24 and lifted his hands with expressive25 deprecatory gesture. “No, no; it’s no place for me, Joe; no place!”
“Isn’t a man’s home a place for him, Michel?” It seemed less a question than an assertion, charged with gentle authority.
“Twenty-five years, Duplan; twenty-five years! It’s no use; it’s too late.”
“You see, I have used it,” went on the planter, quietly, ignoring M’sieur Michel’s protestations. 123“Those are my cattle grazing off there. The house has served me many a time to lodge26 guests or workmen, for whom I had no room at Les Chêniers. I have not exhausted27 the soil with any crops. I had not the right to do that. Yet am I in your debt, Michel, and ready to settle en bon ami.”
The planter had opened the gate and entered the inclosure, leading M’sieur Michel with him. Together they walked toward the house.
Language did not come readily to either—one so unaccustomed to hold intercourse28 with men; both so stirred with memories that would have rendered any speech painful. When they had stayed long in a silence which was eloquent29 of tenderness, Joe Duplan spoke30:
“You know how I tried to see you, Michel, to speak with you, and you never would.”
M’sieur Michel answered with but a gesture that seemed a supplication31.
“Let the past all go, Michel. Begin your new life as if the twenty-five years that are gone had been a long night, from which you have only awakened5. Come to me in the morning,” he added with quick resolution, “for 124a horse and a plow8.” He had taken the key of the house from his pocket and placed it in M’sieur Michel’s hand.
“A horse?” M’sieur Michel repeated uncertainly; “a plow! Oh, it’s too late, Duplan; too late.”
“It isn’t too late. The land has rested all these years, man; it’s fresh, I tell you; and rich as gold. Your crop will be the finest in the land.” He held out his hand and M’sieur Michel pressed it without a word in reply, save a muttered “Mon ami.”
Then he stood there watching the planter disappear behind the high, clipped hedge.
He held out his arms. He could not have told if it was toward the retreating figure, or in welcome to an infinite peace that seemed to descend32 upon him and envelop33 him.
All the land was radiant except the hill far off that was in black shadow against the sky.
点击收听单词发音
1 efface | |
v.擦掉,抹去 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 appeased | |
安抚,抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 ); 绥靖(满足另一国的要求以避免战争) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 slant | |
v.倾斜,倾向性地编写或报道;n.斜面,倾向 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 scent | |
n.气味,香味,香水,线索,嗅觉;v.嗅,发觉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 plow | |
n.犁,耕地,犁过的地;v.犁,费力地前进[英]plough | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 plowed | |
v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 );犁耕;费力穿过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 intoxicate | |
vt.使喝醉,使陶醉,使欣喜若狂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 scatter | |
vt.撒,驱散,散开;散布/播;vi.分散,消散 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 plantation | |
n.种植园,大农场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 hardy | |
adj.勇敢的,果断的,吃苦的;耐寒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 fig | |
n.无花果(树) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 squat | |
v.蹲坐,蹲下;n.蹲下;adj.矮胖的,粗矮的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 twigs | |
细枝,嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 huddled | |
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 nibbled | |
v.啃,一点一点地咬(吃)( nibble的过去式和过去分词 );啃出(洞),一点一点咬出(洞);慢慢减少;小口咬 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 accosted | |
v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 );跟…搭讪;(乞丐等)上前向…乞讨;(妓女等)勾搭 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 cowered | |
v.畏缩,抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 intercourse | |
n.性交;交流,交往,交际 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 eloquent | |
adj.雄辩的,口才流利的;明白显示出的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 spoke | |
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 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 supplication | |
n.恳求,祈愿,哀求 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 envelop | |
vt.包,封,遮盖;包围 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |