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CHAPTER XXVII MICHAEL MAKES MUSIC
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 DURING August Miss Mason took Pippa down to a little seaside place in Devonshire. She chose it because its name—Hope—appealed to her.
 
Pippa adored it. She loved the quaint1 cottages, and the beach with the tarred nets spread out to dry, and the kindly2 fishermen who took her out in their boats, and who talked to her in a dialect she could hardly understand. But she understood their kindness, and they understood her smiles, so they got on very well together.
 
Barnabas came down for a fortnight, and Pippa met him at the station, a thin slip of a child, her face bronzed with the sun and sea air, and her eyes holding the hint of mystery he had seen in the eyes of Kostolitz.
 
They bathed together, they caught prawns3 in seaweedy pools in the rocks, they sat in the shadow of the cliffs and watched the sea-gulls and the white-sailed boats on the blue water.
 
And during these days Barnabas found in Pippa something that he had not found before—not even during the June days when they had wandered through the lanes with Pegasus. He found in her Woman and Companion. She ceased to be merely Child. He saw the spirit of Kostolitz in her mysterious eyes. She showed it to him in a hundred ways—in her clear joyous5 love of Nature, in her fanciful imaginings and delicate thoughts, in her quick insight into everything that was beautiful. And with it all she was a child, too, with a child-like simple faith and trust that was to be her heritage throughout her life. And because there was this trait also in Barnabas they found in each other the most perfect companionship.
 
Miss Mason watched them together, helped them prawn4, and was radiantly happy. She cared not at all for the occasional smiles her quaint figure and costume provoked from other visitors to the place. And because Pippa was enjoying herself enormously she remained at Hope throughout September as well.
 
The Duchessa di Corleone too had left London during August. She wandered from place to place trying to find forgetfulness and not succeeding.
 
In September she returned to town. She never went near the studios now, but Michael came often to see her, and used to make music for her. In it she found some consolation6. And Michael loved to come to her house, though the sight of her always gave him pain.
 
One day after he had been playing to her, and they were having tea together, he suddenly looked up at a picture of St. Michael that hung in her drawing-room.
 
“Queer,” he said, with a little twisted smile, “that my people should have chosen to name me after the warrior7 angel.” And he glanced from the strength of the pictured figure at his own shrunken limbs. His voice was so bitter that Sara could find no reply.
 
“Just a moment’s carelessness on the part of a nursemaid,” went on Michael. “She dropped me when I was a baby. You see the result. It makes it difficult to believe in an over-ruling Providence8, doesn’t it? My guardian9 angel must have been peculiarly inattentive at the moment.”
 
“I think,” said Sara slowly, “that there are times in the life of every one when it is very difficult to have faith. Yet, if one loses it one loses all happiness.”
 
“I lost both long ago,” said Michael. “It’s an irony10 of fate to be born with an acute sense of the beautiful, and to see one’s own repulsiveness11.”
 
Sara looked up quickly.
 
“But you are not repulsive,” she said.
 
“Bah!” said Michael. “Look at me! Women are only kind to me out of pity.”
 
Sara looked straight at him. “There you are quite wrong,” she said decisively. “I don’t feel the smallest pity for you in the sense you mean. Your face is quite beautiful, and your music——” she stopped.
 
“But my body,” he said.
 
“Yes,” said Sara calmly, “I grant you that it is extremely trying for you to be lame12, and you must often wish to be strong and big. But you need not think it makes the smallest difference in our affection for you.” She again looked steadily13 at him as she spoke14.
 
Michael looked away from her. “But no woman could love me—they would shrink from me,” he said. And his face flushed hotly.
 
“Not at all,” said Sara. “There again you are quite wrong. I grant that there is a certain type of woman who is entirely15 attracted by sinews and muscles in a man. But most assuredly there are others.”
 
There was a silence. Then Michael spoke again. His voice was very low.
 
“You—you could never care?” he said.
 
Sara’s eyes filled with quick tears. “Not in the way you mean,” she said gently; “but not because of the morbid16 reason you have suggested. I—I love some one else.”
 
“Paul?” he asked.
 
Sara bowed her head.
 
Michael was silent. “But if you did not,” he asked suddenly, “would you have thought it horrible of me to tell you that I love you—not quietly and calmly, but—but as a man loves a woman?”
 
“I should have been honoured to hear it from you,” said Sara.
 
Michael looked across at her with a strange smile.
 
“Thank you,” he said. “I shall not tell you how—though you know it. Nor shall I ever tell any other woman what I have told you. You will still let me come and see you?”
 
“You must come,” said Sara quickly. “I should miss you dreadfully if you didn’t. During these last weeks your visits have been my greatest pleasure. When I hear the front door bell ring I listen. And when I hear the pad of your crutch17 on the stairs I am happy, and I say to myself, ‘It is Michael.’”
 
It was the first time she had used his name. For a few moments Michael did not trust himself to speak. When he did his voice was light.
 
“I shall hate my crutch no longer,” he said, “since its sound has given you happiness. Do you know you have quite suddenly brought back faith to me. I thought it was dead. Now I will play for you again.”

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 quaint 7tqy2     
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的
参考例句:
  • There were many small lanes in the quaint village.在这古香古色的村庄里,有很多小巷。
  • They still keep some quaint old customs.他们仍然保留着一些稀奇古怪的旧风俗。
2 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
3 prawns d7f00321a6a1efe17e10d298c2afd4b0     
n.对虾,明虾( prawn的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Mine was a picture of four translucent prawns, with two small fish swimming above them. 给我画的是四只虾,半透明的,上画有两条小鱼。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
  • Shall we get some shrimp and prawns? 我们要不要买些小虾和对虾? 来自无师自通 校园英语会话
4 prawn WuGyU     
n.对虾,明虾
参考例句:
  • I'm not very keen on fish, but prawn.我不是特别爱吃鱼,但爱吃对虾。
  • Yesterday we ate prawn dish for lunch.昨天午餐我们吃了一盘对虾。
5 joyous d3sxB     
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的
参考例句:
  • The lively dance heightened the joyous atmosphere of the scene.轻快的舞蹈给这场戏渲染了欢乐气氛。
  • They conveyed the joyous news to us soon.他们把这一佳音很快地传递给我们。
6 consolation WpbzC     
n.安慰,慰问
参考例句:
  • The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
  • This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。
7 warrior YgPww     
n.勇士,武士,斗士
参考例句:
  • The young man is a bold warrior.这个年轻人是个很英勇的武士。
  • A true warrior values glory and honor above life.一个真正的勇士珍视荣誉胜过生命。
8 providence 8tdyh     
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝
参考例句:
  • It is tempting Providence to go in that old boat.乘那艘旧船前往是冒大险。
  • To act as you have done is to fly in the face of Providence.照你的所作所为那样去行事,是违背上帝的意志的。
9 guardian 8ekxv     
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者
参考例句:
  • The form must be signed by the child's parents or guardian. 这张表格须由孩子的家长或监护人签字。
  • The press is a guardian of the public weal. 报刊是公共福利的卫护者。
10 irony P4WyZ     
n.反语,冷嘲;具有讽刺意味的事,嘲弄
参考例句:
  • She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
  • In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。
11 repulsiveness 0243ed283ddf6d3c3813870431a105cb     
参考例句:
  • In proportion therefore, as the repulsiveness of the work increases, the wage decreases. 因此,劳动越使人感到厌恶,工资也就越减少。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言
12 lame r9gzj     
adj.跛的,(辩解、论据等)无说服力的
参考例句:
  • The lame man needs a stick when he walks.那跛脚男子走路时需借助拐棍。
  • I don't believe his story.It'sounds a bit lame.我不信他讲的那一套。他的话听起来有些靠不住。
13 steadily Qukw6     
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地
参考例句:
  • The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
  • Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。
14 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。
15 entirely entirely     
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
  • His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。
16 morbid u6qz3     
adj.病的;致病的;病态的;可怕的
参考例句:
  • Some people have a morbid fascination with crime.一些人对犯罪有一种病态的痴迷。
  • It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like.不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。
17 crutch Lnvzt     
n.T字形拐杖;支持,依靠,精神支柱
参考例句:
  • Her religion was a crutch to her when John died.约翰死后,她在精神上依靠宗教信仰支撑住自己。
  • He uses his wife as a kind of crutch because of his lack of confidence.他缺乏自信心,总把妻子当作主心骨。


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