CHAPTER II

 Left alone, Captain Utterbourne, humming gently, gazed across in a quizzical way at the man their talk had just concerned. He watched him with eyes a little narrowed; and underneath¹ his lazy quiet there seemed to lurk² something keen and purposeful. It was as though some subtle preparation were afoot.

 

Presently he got up, strolled over to where King was lounging watching the dancers, and nodded with a smile flickering³ icily on his lips.

 

“King,” he began abruptly⁴, yet in the dreamy, drawling tone which characterized most of his speech, “did you ever sit down before a map of the world and just let your mind go? H’m? It’s a gorgeous piece of adventure!” There was a tiny thrill of fire, and he seemed to be pulling the sentences up from some profound abyss. “A map of the world—h’m? What it has cost in toil⁵ and ingenuity—the long sifting⁶ of facts—the grim wrestle⁷ with legend—h’m?”

 

What could it mean? What was this new mystery of approach? There were forces busy here.

 

“Think,” embroidered⁸ the Captain,“—think of the slough⁹ of the Middle Ages, when what bothered the map-makers most was the pressure of the Church, holding up before them those obscuring metaphysical allusions¹⁰ to ‘the four corners of the earth’—when the best they could do was to conceive of a rectangular world—h’m?—surrounded by—by the unknown! Just think of it, King!”

 

A waltz swayed the dancers all about them. Yes, there were forces busy here.

 

Elsa dashed up. “Oh, here you are!” She laughed easily and not very mirthfully. “Yes, I know—I’m coming,” she soothingly¹¹ interpolated over her shoulder to a youth with mussed hair who had wildly pursued her waving a program[30] with its flying cord and pencil. “I wanted Mr. King to meet Miss Meade.” She grasped his arm and informally hurried him off, with a slight nod toward her father, which somehow fulfilled every demand of etiquette¹².

 

Not far away sat Stella, looking quite as delightful¹³ for the occasion as she felt over her thrilling share in it. She was wearing a dress Elsa had insisted upon lending her—“since you seem to be so tired of your own clothes”; it was her way of being tactful. There had been some demur¹⁴, but Elsa, as usual, had her own way—said, indeed, she would positively¹⁵ have the invitation withdrawn¹⁶ unless Stella agreed to take the dress too. There was a good deal of whimsy¹⁷ about Elsa.

 

Mr. King saluted¹⁸ Stella with one of his most fascinating smiles. He bowed, too, in a courtly way, which made her catch her breath a little. “I’m delighted,” he murmured.

 

And Stella, her eyes strangely full of light, paused just short of exclaiming: “There’s something about you—something I seem to remember....”

 

Elsa prepared to dance off with her impatient partner, but turned to her father, who had strolled up, and warned him with dry playfulness: “Please keep an eye on them, and don’t let them get so interested in each other that they forget about supper, because Stella has that dance taken—haven’t you, Stella?” She had been unflagging and a little brazen¹⁹ in her friend’s behalf.

 

“I believe so,” fluttered Stella, excitedly glancing at her card, though in truth, her face all alight with momentarily realized dreams, she wasn’t much concerned over the possibility of any mere²⁰ individual’s being able to subtract her attention from the glittering whole. Nevertheless, that is exactly what did happen. She fell right into the trap Elsa had mockingly cautioned against; and this is how it all came about.

1 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

2 lurk   

n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏

参考例句：

• Dangers lurk in the path of wilderness.在这条荒野的小路上隐伏着危险。
• He thought he saw someone lurking above the chamber during the address.他觉得自己看见有人在演讲时潜藏在会议厅顶上。

3 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

4 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

5 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

6 sifting   

n.筛，过滤v.筛( sift的现在分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审

参考例句：

• He lay on the beach, sifting the sand through his fingers. 他躺在沙滩上用手筛砂子玩。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was sifting the cinders when she came in. 她进来时，我正在筛煤渣。 来自辞典例句

7 wrestle   

vi.摔跤，角力；搏斗；全力对付

参考例句：

• He taught his little brother how to wrestle.他教他小弟弟如何摔跤。
• We have to wrestle with difficulties.我们必须同困难作斗争。

8 embroidered   

adj．绣花的

参考例句：

• She embroidered flowers on the cushion covers. 她在这些靠垫套上绣了花。
• She embroidered flowers on the front of the dress. 她在连衣裙的正面绣花。

9 slough   

v.蜕皮，脱落，抛弃

参考例句：

• He was not able to slough off the memories of the past.他无法忘记过去。
• A cicada throws its slough.蝉是要蜕皮的。

10 allusions   

暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We should not use proverbs and allusions indiscriminately. 不要滥用成语典故。
• The background lent itself to allusions to European scenes. 眼前的情景容易使人联想到欧洲风光。

11 soothingly   

adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地

参考例句：

• The mother talked soothingly to her child. 母亲对自己的孩子安慰地说。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He continued to talk quietly and soothingly to the girl until her frightened grip on his arm was relaxed. 他继续柔声安慰那姑娘，她那因恐惧而紧抓住他的手终于放松了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 etiquette   

n.礼仪，礼节；规矩

参考例句：

• The rules of etiquette are not so strict nowadays.如今的礼仪规则已不那么严格了。
• According to etiquette,you should stand up to meet a guest.按照礼节你应该站起来接待客人。

13 delightful   

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。

14 demur   

v．表示异议，反对

参考例句：

• Without demur, they joined the party in my rooms. 他们没有推辞就到我的屋里一起聚餐了。
• He accepted the criticism without demur. 他毫无异议地接受了批评。

15 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

16 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

17 whimsy   

n.古怪，异想天开

参考例句：

• They are like oracular messages,but witty-jaunty at times-and sometimes trembling on the edge of whimsy.它们都像神谕，但很机智，有时极其轻快，有时又濒于怪诞。
• He had a whimsy about flying to the moon.他有个想飞上月球的怪念头。

18 saluted   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
• He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

20 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。