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CHAPTER X THE CASA DI CORLEONE
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 CHRISTOPHER, darling,” said the Duchessa di Corleone in honeyed accents, “I want you to find an artist for me.”
 
“By all means,” replied Christopher. “Where did you lose him?”
 
“My dear Christopher,” said the Duchessa, “he is not lost, because he has never been found. You are to find him—a pleasant, clever, interesting artist.”
 
She was sitting in the drawing-room of her house on the Embankment. The windows looked on to the river which she loved. The room was full of flowers which she also loved. She arranged them herself in a room off the dining-room, and carried them upstairs in her arms like children. Every one who loves and arranges flowers knows that in their transit1 from one place to another the whole carefully-careless effect of their arrangement may be spoiled. Therefore from the moment of entering the strings2 that tied the great bundles fresh from Covent Garden, to the moment of placing the vases in the drawing-room, no hand but the Duchessa’s touched the flowers. And there was no flower in existence whose colour could jar in the room which was a harmony in pale lavender. To have to exclude a flower on account of its colour would have been to Sara di Corleone like shutting the door on a child because its face was ugly. And being the very essence of womanhood she could have done neither.
 
“And when the artist is found,” queried3 Christopher, “may I ask what are your intentions towards him? I have a conscience, Sara, though you may not realize the fact, and if you wish to inmesh the young man in your silken toils4 merely for the pleasure of seeing him wriggle5, then I fear duty will oblige me to refrain from helping6 you in your search.”
 
Sara smiled. “I want him,” she said, “to paint my portrait.”
 
“It sounds dangerous—for the artist,” said Christopher. “May I further ask to whom the portrait is to be presented?”
 
“To the Casa di Corleone on the banks of Lake Como,” said Sara quietly.
 
Christopher looked enquiring7.
 
“You have never seen the place,” said Sara, “but I have told you about it.”
 
“You have,” said Christopher.
 
“One day,” pursued Sara, “you must come with me to see it. Then I think you will understand. I want you to see the courtyard with its orange trees and fountains, the little naked marble fauns and the nymphs who stand among them glistening8 in the sunlight. I want you to see the rooms full of shadows and great patches of sunshine; and the gallery with its pictured men and women of the house of Corleone, the dark-eyed haughty9 women—beauties every one of them—the gay young men and the courtly old ones. I want my portrait to be among them.”
 
“Yes,” said Christopher.
 
“It isn’t conceit,” said Sara. “At least I don’t think it is. I love that place, Christopher. It seems as if it belongs to me—had always belonged to me; I mean, long before I knew Giuseppe. I want to think that in the years to come my picture will be hanging there, looking down into the old hall, and that when the door is open I shall catch a glimpse of the courtyard bathed in sunlight, see the gleam of golden oranges and white marble figures, and hear the plashing of the fountain. It’s just a fancy.”
 
“A fancy,” said Christopher, with a little gesture, “as charming as yourself.”
 
Sara laughed. “Christopher, I love you. And you ought to have lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth, or, better still, at the Court of France.”
 
“I appreciate your affection,” said Christopher. “One day when we are both in a mad mood we will run away together, and pick oranges from the trees in the courtyard of Casa di Corleone. [Pg 96]And we will play at ball with them across the fountain—golden balls tossed through a shower of silver. The idea appeals to me.”
 
“I am glad Casa di Corleone is mine,” said Sara, “though mine with reservations.”
 
“There was no entail10 on the estate?” asked Christopher.
 
“No; I don’t understand the ins and outs of the matter, but it was my husband’s to do with as he pleased.”
 
“It was thoughtful of the Duca to leave it to you,” said Christopher. “He might have turned it into a home for stray dogs. There are a good many in Italy, aren’t there?”
 
Sara had scarcely heard him.
 
“I liked Giuseppe,” she said pensively11. “But,” she added, “better when he was alive. I feel slightly irritable12 now when I think of him. I dislike feeling irritable. It is a prickly sensation and doesn’t suit me.”
 
“The will?” asked Christopher.
 
“Exactly. The will.”
 
“But,” asked Christopher, “you are not thinking of again entering the holy bonds of matrimony?”
 
“Nothing,” Sara assured him, “is further from my thoughts. But—if I wanted to!—Think of it, Christopher! I lose every centesimo—every single centesimo and Casa di Corleone. Fancy parting with it! Besides, there is that ridiculous letter.”
 
She looked at him, mock-tragedy in her eyes.
 
“I never heard of any letter,” said Christopher.
 
“Didn’t you?” she asked. “It was almost the most provoking thing Giuseppe did. It roused my curiosity—I am curious. Christopher—with one hand, and took away every possibility of my satisfying it with the other. I can quote the last phrases of the will verbatim.”
 
She leant back in her chair, her eyes half-closed, and spoke13 slowly.
 
“And I further decree that if my wife Sara Mary di Corleone, née de Courcy, shall again enter the married state, that she shall immediately forfeit14 all the money and estates herein willed to her, and shall have no further claim upon them whatsoever15. And that they shall, in the case of her marriage, pass into the possession of my nephew, Antonio di Corleone. And I leave in the hands of my executors—before herein named—a letter, sealed and addressed to my wife the above Sara Mary di Corleone, née de Courcy, which letter, in the event of her marriage, shall be given into her hands one hour precisely16 after the ceremony has taken place. In the event of her demise17 without re-marriage, the said letter shall be destroyed unopened by and in the presence of the executors above-named. Written by me this fourteenth day of January,” etc., etc.
 
Sara opened her eyes and sat up again.
 
“It was all signed and witnessed just a year before he died. It’s all horribly correct. Fixed18 up as firmly as yards of red tape can tie it. And if I marry I lose every centesimo and my beloved Casa di Corleone, and if I don’t marry I shall never see the inside of that letter. Did you ever know such a trying situation for a luxury-loving and curious woman in your life?”
 
“I fancy,” said Christopher, “that the curiosity does not trouble you greatly.”
 
“It does not,” she confessed. “But the will! You must allow that is annoying. It puts my mind and my affections in a kind of mental strait-jacket. Every time I see a charming man——”
 
“Me, for instance,” said Christopher.
 
“No, mercifully not you,” said Sara. “We are one of the few exceptions that prove the generally accepted rule of the non-existence of platonic19 friendship between men and women. You are the most delightful20 combination of friend and father-confessor that ever existed, without—Heaven be praised—a trace of the lover. Where was I before you interrupted?”
 
“Looking at a charming man,” said Christopher.
 
“Oh, yes. Whenever I see a charming man I have to tell myself to be careful, to run no risk of my heart getting in the smallest degree involved. I call up mental pictures of coffers upon coffers—thousands of them—crammed with centesimi. I shut my eyes and see the courtyard, the oranges, and the marble fauns, then I open them and look at the charming man and feel more secure. But I daren’t run the tiniest risk for fear of the consequences. I can’t—” she almost wailed21 the words, “I can’t even flirt22.”
 
“As your father-confessor,” said Christopher, “I am glad to hear it.”
 
“But think,” she protested, “what I lose.”
 
“I think,” said Christopher, “what the man would lose, and have a fellow-feeling for him.”
 
“You’re very unsympathetic,” said Sara.
 
“On the contrary, I am very sympathetic—towards the man, who, but for the late Duca’s will, might be wriggling23, as I said before, in your silken toils.”
 
There was a silence.
 
“Christopher,” said Sara, suddenly and quite seriously, “do you think I shall ever marry again?”
 
“I most certainly hope you will,” replied Christopher.
 
“And lose Casa di Corleone and the coffers of centesimi!” she exclaimed. Then again she was back to the serious mood. “Why do you hope so, Christopher?”
 
For a moment Christopher was silent. Then he spoke.
 
“Because, my dear, I know you and your capabilities24. One day you will realize the gift you have in your possession, and in giving it away you will be one of the happiest women on God’s earth.”
 
She looked at the fire.
 
“I wonder,” she mused25. “I didn’t give very much to Giuseppe.”
 
“You liked him,” smiled Christopher.
 
“He was a dear,” said Sara. “He was extraordinarily26 considerate, and we were always beautifully polite to each other. But——”
 
“Exactly,” said Christopher. “But—— One day a force will take you prisoner. Gifts will be showered on you, and you will shower gifts, and that little word of three letters, which stands for so much, will have no place in your vocabulary.”
 
“And I shall give up everything?” she queried below her breath.
 
“You will give up everything, because you will have gained everything,” he said.
 
“How do you know all this?” she asked.
 
Christopher lifted his shoulders the tiniest fraction.
 
“There is some knowledge,” he said, “which is born in one, and of which one need no experience in this incarnation. Probably I brought mine with me from the experience of ages long ago.”
 
Again there was a silence.
 
Outside there was a clack of horses’ hoofs27, the roll of carriages, the hoot28 of taxis, all the sounds of London to which one grows so accustomed that one hears them even less than one hears the humming of insects in a sunny garden. And away below the window was the river, gliding29 grey and noiseless to the sea.
 
It was a November day with a hint of fog in the atmosphere. A fire was burning in the room in which the two were sitting, and great yellow chrysanthemums30 like patches of sunlight were in bowls set on the tables.
 
And in the silence the woman was looking almost for the first time into her heart with a kind of wonder for what she might find hidden there. And the man, whose nature was one of queer self-analysis, was marvelling31 that his feeling towards the woman near him held nothing but strong affection and a curious interest in her vivid and unusual personality. Perhaps the cause lay in the fact that he had known her from childhood, and seen her gradual development. She had never flashed unexpected and meteor-like across his path.
 
Suddenly she looked up at him with one of her individual smiles—a smile that lit up her eyes before it found its way to her lips.
 
 
“We have wandered a long way from my request,” she said.
 
“To find an artist for you?” said Christopher. “Oh, I know a man.”
 
“Yes?” she asked, all interest. “What is he like?”
 
“Clever,” said Christopher, “pleasant, and—yes, I think you’ll find him interesting. I think those were your three requirements.”
 
“What is his name?”
 
“His name,” said Christopher, “is Paul Treherne, and he lives at a studio about ten minutes’ walk from here.”
 
“Paul Treherne,” she said slowly, dwelling32 on the words. “I like that name. Is he as nice as his name?”
 
“I shall leave you to judge,” replied Christopher.
 
“You had better bring him to see me,” she said. “To-morrow at tea-time will do. You can ring me up in the morning and tell me if he is coming.”
 
“Very well.” He glanced towards the clock on the mantelpiece, a beautiful little French clock. The hands pointed33 to half-past three.
 
“I must go,” he said. “I’ve an appointment at my club. I’ll go round to the studio first.” He got up from his chair.
 
“Then you can telephone from the club,” said Sara. “I am not going out again till this evening.”
 
“Very well.” He held out his hand.
 
“I hope he will be able to come,” said Sara. “I like his name.”
 
“You are not to fall in love with him,” said Christopher warningly, “or let him fall in love with you.”
 
“I wonder,” said Sara.
 
“Remember Casa di Corleone and the golden oranges.”
 
Sara smiled.
 
“I thought,” she said, “that one day I was to forget them.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 transit MglzVT     
n.经过,运输;vt.穿越,旋转;vi.越过
参考例句:
  • His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
  • The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。
2 strings nh0zBe     
n.弦
参考例句:
  • He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上,随意地拨着吉他的弦。
  • She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
3 queried 5c2c5662d89da782d75e74125d6f6932     
v.质疑,对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 );询问
参考例句:
  • She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事?”琴向觉民问道,她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
4 toils b316b6135d914eee9a4423309c5057e6     
参考例句:
  • It did not declare him to be still in Mrs. Dorset's toils. 这并不表明他仍陷于多赛特夫人的情网。
  • The thief was caught in the toils of law. 这个贼陷入了法网。
5 wriggle wf4yr     
v./n.蠕动,扭动;蜿蜒
参考例句:
  • I've got an appointment I can't wriggle out of.我有个推脱不掉的约会。
  • Children wriggle themselves when they are bored.小孩子感到厌烦时就会扭动他们的身体。
6 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
7 enquiring 605565cef5dc23091500c2da0cf3eb71     
a.爱打听的,显得好奇的
参考例句:
  • a child with an enquiring mind 有好奇心的孩子
  • Paul darted at her sharp enquiring glances. 她的目光敏锐好奇,保罗飞快地朝她瞥了一眼。
8 glistening glistening     
adj.闪耀的,反光的v.湿物闪耀,闪亮( glisten的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼里闪着晶莹的泪花。
  • Her eyes were glistening with tears. 她眼睛中的泪水闪着柔和的光。 来自《用法词典》
9 haughty 4dKzq     
adj.傲慢的,高傲的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a haughty look and walked away.他向我摆出傲慢的表情后走开。
  • They were displeased with her haughty airs.他们讨厌她高傲的派头。
10 entail ujdzO     
vt.使承担,使成为必要,需要
参考例句:
  • Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
  • This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。
11 pensively 0f673d10521fb04c1a2f12fdf08f9f8c     
adv.沉思地,焦虑地
参考例句:
  • Garton pensively stirred the hotchpotch of his hair. 加顿沉思着搅动自己的乱发。 来自辞典例句
  • "Oh, me,'said Carrie, pensively. "I wish I could live in such a place." “唉,真的,"嘉莉幽幽地说,"我真想住在那种房子里。” 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
12 irritable LRuzn     
adj.急躁的;过敏的;易怒的
参考例句:
  • He gets irritable when he's got toothache.他牙一疼就很容易发脾气。
  • Our teacher is an irritable old lady.She gets angry easily.我们的老师是位脾气急躁的老太太。她很容易生气。
13 spoke XryyC     
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:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
14 forfeit YzCyA     
vt.丧失;n.罚金,罚款,没收物
参考例句:
  • If you continue to tell lies,you will forfeit the good opinion of everyone.你如果继续撒谎,就会失掉大家对你的好感。
  • Please pay for the forfeit before you borrow book.在你借书之前请先付清罚款。
15 whatsoever Beqz8i     
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么
参考例句:
  • There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
  • All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
16 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
17 demise Cmazg     
n.死亡;v.让渡,遗赠,转让
参考例句:
  • He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标,但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
  • The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。
18 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
19 platonic 5OMxt     
adj.精神的;柏拉图(哲学)的
参考例句:
  • Their friendship is based on platonic love.他们的友情是基于柏拉图式的爱情。
  • Can Platonic love really exist in real life?柏拉图式的爱情,在现实世界里到底可能吗?
20 delightful 6xzxT     
adj.令人高兴的,使人快乐的
参考例句:
  • We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
  • Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。
21 wailed e27902fd534535a9f82ffa06a5b6937a     
v.哭叫,哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • She wailed over her father's remains. 她对着父亲的遗体嚎啕大哭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The women of the town wailed over the war victims. 城里的妇女为战争的死难者们痛哭。 来自辞典例句
22 flirt zgwzA     
v.调情,挑逗,调戏;n.调情者,卖俏者
参考例句:
  • He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
  • He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情,他都要抓狂了。
23 wriggling d9a36b6d679a4708e0599fd231eb9e20     
v.扭动,蠕动,蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 );(使身体某一部位)扭动;耍滑不做,逃避(应做的事等);蠕蠕
参考例句:
  • The baby was wriggling around on my lap. 婴儿在我大腿上扭来扭去。
  • Something that looks like a gray snake is wriggling out. 有一种看来象是灰蛇的东西蠕动着出来了。 来自辞典例句
24 capabilities f7b11037f2050959293aafb493b7653c     
n.能力( capability的名词复数 );可能;容量;[复数]潜在能力
参考例句:
  • He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大,自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
  • Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为,标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
25 mused 0affe9d5c3a243690cca6d4248d41a85     
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事)
参考例句:
  • \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们,”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道:‘我们这是在干什么?” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
26 extraordinarily Vlwxw     
adv.格外地;极端地
参考例句:
  • She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
  • The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨,大海出奇地宁静。
27 hoofs ffcc3c14b1369cfeb4617ce36882c891     
n.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.(兽的)蹄,马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The stamp of the horse's hoofs on the wooden floor was loud. 马蹄踏在木头地板上的声音很响。 来自辞典例句
  • The noise of hoofs called him back to the other window. 马蹄声把他又唤回那扇窗子口。 来自辞典例句
28 hoot HdzzK     
n.鸟叫声,汽车的喇叭声; v.使汽车鸣喇叭
参考例句:
  • The sudden hoot of a whistle broke into my thoughts.突然响起的汽笛声打断了我的思路。
  • In a string of shrill hoot of the horn sound,he quickly ran to her.在一串尖声鸣叫的喇叭声中,他快速地跑向她。
29 gliding gliding     
v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的
参考例句:
  • Swans went gliding past. 天鹅滑行而过。
  • The weather forecast has put a question mark against the chance of doing any gliding tomorrow. 天气预报对明天是否能举行滑翔表示怀疑。
30 chrysanthemums 1ded1ec345ac322f70619ba28233b570     
n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The cold weather had most deleterious consequences among the chrysanthemums. 寒冷的天气对菊花产生了极有害的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The chrysanthemums are in bloom; some are red and some yellow. 菊花开了, 有红的,有黄的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
31 marvelling 160899abf9cc48b1dc923a29d59d28b1     
v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • \"Yes,'said the clerk, marvelling at such ignorance of a common fact. “是的,\"那人说,很奇怪她竟会不知道这么一件普通的事情。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • Chueh-hui watched, marvelling at how easy it was for people to forget. 觉慧默默地旁观着这一切,他也忍不住笑了。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
32 dwelling auzzQk     
n.住宅,住所,寓所
参考例句:
  • Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
  • He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。
33 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。


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