“Stella,” he said, in his grave way, “are you sure—that’s the point—dead sure, girlie?”
And Stella was thinking excitedly: “If father really makes a fuss, we’ll elope!” It was just the tang of fire which completed the romance of this whole unbelievable circumstance.
Captain Utterbourne, as a matter of fact, was inclined, in his faintly quizzical and even petulant5 way, to dissuasion6, when he learned the length to which affairs had run. He tried delicately to ease his mind. Meade was so simple.
“King’s all right, of course—h’m? Though perhaps romantic....” It was as near as he could come to uttering platitudes7 like Iago. “The trouble with King is, he’s too irresistible8. How he’s managed to escape all these years is beyond my comprehension! I must say,” the Captain complained, “it’s something of a calamity9 he should have chosen this particular time—h’m? But the man, it seems, refuses to listen to reason, just as the woman refuses. However,” he added, in a thin, hand-washing tone, “from your point of view I can see how it may appear something of a catch—h’m?” And he left, humming To a Wild Rose.
But at length the creases10 were quite ironed out. Mr. Meade called King into the back parlour and told him it was all right—though his voice broke just a little as he added: “I only want my girl to be happy.”
They were definitely to be married, and Stella naturally didn’t have time for anything any more. Even sleep was an indulgence almost crowded out. How life tore along!
One day she unexpectedly met Jerome downtown. The contrast[59] between them was really startling. It seemed unbelievable a man so hopelessly obscure and a girl so conspicuously11 important could have been engaged to each other only a few short weeks ago. What a pace she had gone! But Jerome, with the clip on his tie and his jaunty12 little pipe between his lips, looked more than ever irrevocably fixed13 in a certain niche14. He tried still to flatter his ego15 into believing that, despite appearances, Stella would be the heavier loser; but such flattery was obviously growing harder every day.
When they met, Stella was bound for a tea engagement with Elsa. Indeed, just as they were speaking, Elsa herself came along.
“Oh, am I late, Elsa?”
“No. But even if you were, a bride-to-be is always forgiven anything.” She gave Jerome a glancing look.
“I’d like you to meet my friend Miss Utterbourne,” said Stella, turning to Jerome, and feeling that the situation might possibly develop embarrassments17.
The two nodded formally, Elsa’s eyes merely drooping a little more. Then Jerome felt so profoundly unhappy that he just mumbled18 something, raised his hat, and left them. But as he walked he unconsciously straightened his shoulders a little, and held his head surprisingly high.
“Isn’t that the young man you threw over, Stella?”
“Yes, we were engaged for awhile,” Stella replied with a tone of attempted lightness.
Elsa gazed after him. “Something tells me you’ll never see him again.”
Her friend appeared rather startled. “What do you mean, Elsa?”
“I don’t know,” the other shrugged19. “The way his back looked, I guess. Things come to me like that, and I always speak them out.”
[60]
Then Elsa laughed. “No, little one, you miss my meaning. What I meant was he’d never give you another chance.” She chuckled21 cryptically22.
“I suppose, in a way, it does look like rushing into matrimony,” observed Stella happily, sipping23 her tea and trying to be convincingly sophisticated.
Elsa stared in her blank way. “Everybody admits he’s wonderful,” she etched. “Still, to be perfectly24 frank, it does seem somewhat pell-mell, even assuming the man to be wealthy and—well, a kind of prince.” Her eyes were whimsical. But since Mr. King had to dash away to parts unknown in the Star of Troy, without giving any one a chance to catch one’s breath, was there anything to be done about it, after all? “Parts unknown,” mused25 Elsa. Yes, rather a complete mystery, all round.
“I can’t tell you any more about it, Elsa, because I don’t know any more. Hasn’t your father even mentioned it?”
Elsa smiled with not a little of the parental26 cynicism, though it flickered27 more warmly upon her kindlier mouth and in her cow-brown eyes. “I haven’t a bit of pull, dear child. The Captain, though he’s a sort of an old dear, is just about as communicative as a clam28, even with me.”
“Whenever I say anything about it all,” admitted Stella, but with shining eyes, “Ferdinand tells me to remember what happened in the case of Lohengrin. What did happen, do you remember?” she smiled.
Still, though she had coaxed29 very prettily30 at times, especially toward the last, she had also come, perhaps even a bit consciously, as the closer intimacy31 developed, to live up to that doll-like ideal King seemed rather to nurse in his high-sailing heart. “Leave everything to me, little lady,” he had urged, in his magnetic, irresistible fashion. “Never you worry that dear little head of yours about business. It doesn’t belong in a woman’s sphere. Does it, peaches? You just leave things to me, and if we’re successful in this deal, I’ll take you to Paris and buy you all the hats in the rue2 de la Paix!”
[61]
Elsa warned her young friend against “letting any man make a ninny” of her. “You seem to be quite hypnotized, Stella. It’s all very well,” she observed, her eyes drooping so much that it looked as though she were pulling the corners down with her fingers, “to let a man think he can run his business without you to begin with. They always lead off like that. But unless you mean to be a traitor32 to your sex, you can’t begin too soon letting it be known (I don’t care if he is a prince!) that the old lord-and-master idea has been converted into a sieve33.” She paused, then smilingly dropped in an extra lump. “It’s because I refuse to be a traitor that I’m no longer wearing my engagement ring.”
“What!” cried Stella in real dismay.
“But—”
“I’d rather not go into it now, if you don’t mind,” she half yawned. “It’s rather a boring business, and I’m trying to forget I was ever such a fool as to be taken in.”
“Oh, but Elsa—after starting off so splendidly—the dance....”
“Well, isn’t it better to wake up now than too late? Besides, it’s merely an episode. Love is only an episode, little one. Don’t you hang on so hard to your dangerous ideals!”
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收听单词发音
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1
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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rue
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| n.懊悔，芸香，后悔；v.后悔，悲伤，懊悔 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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petulant
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| adj.性急的，暴躁的 | |
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dissuasion
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| n.劝止；谏言 | |
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platitudes
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| n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子 | |
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8
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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10
creases
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹 | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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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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niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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16
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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embarrassments
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| n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cryptically
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sipping
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clam
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| n.蛤，蛤肉 | |
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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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31
intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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33
sieve
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| n.筛，滤器，漏勺 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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