Except when tempest sweeps, furious and black, across the world, whipping the sea into a churning fury and tearing through the close fabric7 of the jungle like an offended offspring of Cerberus, the island sleeps and broods under a sky tenderly blue and lofty; while restless along the comb of the inner reefs is ever a rustling8 fringe of white, “a necklace with conscience of lead....” There is foam9 on the lap of the yellow beach. A place—yes, a place not unhaunted, and bringing sometimes, by the sheer charm of its drowsy10 hush11, a little throb12 to the throat. And silence—so white and enthralling13, whether at noon or lighted by luminous14 spheres of southern midnight: a silence such as one may encounter in some little lonely church among the hills of Italy....
But all suddenly, within a house cleverly constructed of palm trunks, the silence was broken; a woman stood tacking[102] something against the wall. A man in riding breeches, pongee coat, and white shirt open at the throat, was just in the act of draining a little glass of amber15 coloured liquor in an adjoining room. He sang out to her:
“Stella! What are you up to? You sound like a whole army of carpenters!”
She laughed with an effect of coyness and stepped back. “You’d never guess, Ferd!”
“What is it?”
“No, you’ll have to come in and see.”
He came, his handsome face a little more flushed than usual, perhaps, and his eyes supremely16 blue and round.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” laughed the girl, “till I came across it at the very bottom of the trunk. I certainly would never have thought of bringing a calendar! Maud must have slipped it in—she was always raving18 about that picture—isn’t it beautiful?” Stella laughed derisively19, though without bitterness, for the past was all behind her. “It used to hang in the dining room,” she explained. “I guess Maud thought it might look cheerful to us a long way from home. It gives you a sort of feeling of being still in touch with the world, doesn’t it?”
“It does,” he agreed, and, with a faint smile, beheld20 a large mercantile calendar, a bright-coloured print filling the upper half. The picture showed a sailor just returned to his little home nest after hazardous21 voyages. All the colours were too gaudy22, and the sailor’s dog was absurdly foreshortened; but it was a joyous23 tableau24, within its frame of coiled and knotted ropes; and across the hearthrug, in energetic gold, one read:
Oaks, Ferguson & Whitley,
Ships’ Chandlers
The soft, scented25 breath of the jungle outside crooned a little through the rustle26 of palm and fern fronds27, just now and[103] then audible; and it stirred the mats at the windows and sometimes made the doors creak hauntingly on their jungle-vine hinges.
“What’s today?” asked King, lighting28 a cigarette. And he added, with a faint note of restlessness behind the laugh: “Already it’s beginning not to matter much!”
Stella glanced at the calendar gayly. “Today is Thursday—the fourteenth.” Then, clasping her hands with some excitement, she exclaimed: “Why, isn’t that St. Valentine’s Day?”
“By Jove, you’re right, Stella.”
She seemed quite delighted over the discovery, though it was with a trace of seriousness she mused29: “Doesn’t it seem strange to think of Valentine’s Day with nobody but ourselves within hundreds of miles who ever heard of St. Valentine?”
She glanced around her at the primitive30 surroundings. A great, lustrous31 butterfly with heavy wings alighted on one of the sills and drooped32 there, poised33.
King looked at his wife with half quizzical amusement. “Can’t we celebrate some way, even so?”
“Oh, yes—let’s!” she cried, eager to make the most of an unexpected fête day.
“Please do!” she laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find orchids in abundance just now—and so cheap! Really yours for the picking!”
“You must admit,” he reminded her, “that living in a jungle possesses some advantages.”
“Yes, even if not quite all the comforts of home!”
She liked these little flashes of “repartee,” for they always carried her back to the wonderful night at the ball; yet in the midst of it, oddly enough, she remembered the frilled paper-lace valentine Jerome had sent her a year ago. She had found it, thick with cupids, tied to the doorknob; and it had proved really the beginning of their dull little courtship. “Poor Jerome,” she thought, “would have to do the conventional thing. Such magnificence as orchids....”
King held out his arms romantically, and she ran to him. His look was at once dazzling and tender.
“Give me a kiss, little girl!”
She raised her face happily.
“Now another.”
“Oh, Ferd—I never dreamed of being so happy!”
“Let me steal one on the tip of your nose,” he requested. “There!”
She laughed softly, and he asked: “How much do you love me, lady-bird?”
Could any one doubt he had fallen in love with her as he might fall in love with Irmengarde?
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
suspense
|
|
| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
intensity
|
|
| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
saturated
|
|
| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
murmurs
|
|
| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
everlasting
|
|
| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
fabric
|
|
| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
rustling
|
|
| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
foam
|
|
| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
drowsy
|
|
| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hush
|
|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
throb
|
|
| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
enthralling
|
|
| 迷人的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
luminous
|
|
| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
amber
|
|
| n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
supremely
|
|
| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
raving
|
|
| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
derisively
|
|
| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
beheld
|
|
| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
hazardous
|
|
| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
gaudy
|
|
| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
joyous
|
|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
tableau
|
|
| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
rustle
|
|
| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
fronds
|
|
| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
mused
|
|
| 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： |
|
|
|
|
30
primitive
|
|
| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
lustrous
|
|
| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
drooped
|
|
| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
poised
|
|
| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
orchids
|
|
| n.兰花( orchid的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |