Something was wrong at the White House. Dickie had slept peacefully throughout the night, and with the extraordinary recuperation of children, had demanded bread and milk on awaking. It was perfectly2 natural to suppose that an air of jubilation3 should prevail. Yet Lady Anne was pale, silent, aloof4; Millicent Sheldon slightly cold and frigid5. What in the name of wonder did it signify? Vaguely6 Miss Haldane connected the extraordinary atmosphere with the Piper. It was true that he had been accountable, under Providence7, for Dickie’s marvellous recovery, yet Miss Haldane distinctly regarded him as a bird of ill-omen, and in her heart bitterly regretted that necessity had called him to the house.
Throughout the day she fidgeted and fluttered interiorly, keeping sharp and anxious watch on Anne’s pale and almost stern face, without, however, in the least appearing to do so. At tea-time she found herself alone in the drawing-room with Millicent, Anne being in Dickie’s room.
Then Miss Haldane could contain her anxiety no longer. She disliked Millicent Sheldon, but it was a case of any port in a storm. Having poured out tea and handed Millicent a cup, she prefaced her first remark by a slight and nervous cough.
“Anne looks very pale,” she said tentatively. “I hoped to see her looking better now our anxiety is practically at an end.”
This was unsatisfactory. Miss Haldane returned to the charge more openly.
“I hope,” she said, “that nothing has worried her?”
Millicent put down her teacup. “It is distinctly unfortunate,” she said, “that that man who called himself Peter the Piper should have come into this neighbourhood.” She made the remark with a calm majesty9 of manner.
“Oh?” queried10 Miss Haldane, pricking11 up her ears and looking for all the world like a terrier on the scent12 of a rat; “do you know anything about him?”
“Only that he has spent three years in prison for forgery,” said Millicent gravely. “Anne has got unaccountably familiar with him in some way, and is naturally vexed13 to find her friendship misplaced.” She puckered14 her smooth white brow with an air of grave, gracious anxiety, but there was a hard expression in her eyes.
“Lady Anne,” she said with dignity, “is certainly not familiar with him. You must have been misinformed.”
“Really!” Millicent lifted her eyebrows16 coolly. “From Anne’s own showing yesterday, she knew considerably17 more about him than probably you or I had the smallest idea of. She has not seen fit to confide18 in me, but it was entirely19 apparent.”
Miss Haldane sat very upright. “If Anne did know more of him than we imagine,” she remarked firmly, “it shows that he was a more desirable person to know than I had supposed.”
Millicent controlled her temper admirably. Of course, it was entirely absurd, but the old thing was, unquestionably, trying to snub her.
“A man who has been in prison!” she remarked, with an air of quiet finality and an exasperating20 little laugh.
Miss Haldane’s usually dim old eyes blazed. “Under God we owe Dickie’s recovery to him,” she said with quiet dignity. “Might not that make us a little charitable towards him?”
And Millicent, for her outward imperturbability21 of manner, was annoyedly conscious that Miss Haldane had scored.
And then Anne walked in.
“Am I interrupting confidences?” she asked, with an attempt at her usual lightness of manner. “Dickie is a fraud; he is demanding bread and jam, or at least toast and honey. I consider he has basely deceived us all.”
And then she saw that the atmosphere was really strained, tense. She pretended blindness, however, and, sitting down, asked for some tea. While drinking it she made a few airy remarks, to which Miss Haldane responded absent-mindedly, and Millicent with a pained and almost holy silence.
Then Millicent got up. “I am going to see Dickie,” she said.
As the door closed behind her, Miss Haldane gave a sigh of relief.
“How I dislike that woman!” she said.
“I saw she had ruffled you,” said Anne soothingly22.
“She was impertinent,” remarked Miss Haldane with dignity.
“Millicent! Impertinent!” Anne’s eyes were big with amazement23. “My dear Matty!” She might be many things, but impertinent seemed the last word to connect with the large statuesque Millicent.
“Impertinent,” said Miss Haldane firmly. “It is only her size that makes it not usually apparent. If she were a small woman, it would be obvious to the meanest intelligence. And she is distinctly ungrateful. Whatever that man has done, whatever he is, we owe him a debt of gratitude24.”
“Oh!” said Anne, her eyes clouding; “she was talking about him?”
“Yes. My dear, have you considered that even if he did wrong in the past he may have repented25? And he did help Dickie.”
“Yes,” said Anne slowly; “he helped Dickie.”
“Even if,” continued Miss Haldane earnestly, “he has once been in prison, he cannot be altogether bad at heart, or a child—” she stopped. To her own surprise, the contradictory26 old thing was defending the Piper.
“Oh, prison!” said Anne vaguely.
“Yes; didn’t you know? Was not that why you were vexed—angry?”
Anne gave an odd little laugh. “No, Matty, dear. To be candid27, it was not that at all. Somehow—it’s queer, isn’t it?—I never thought of that.”
“Oh, it’s a complicated situation,” said Anne dryly; “but—well, every atom of pride I ever possessed29 has been dragged in the mud, humbled30, abased31. Now you have the truth; and for Heaven’s sake don’t ask me any more!” Again the hard look crept into her face. She got up and moved to the window.
Miss Haldane watched her. Had there been any truth in Millicent’s words? Had she seen more of this man than Miss Haldane had supposed? Clandestine32 meetings, secret letters, fluttered rapidly before Miss Haldane’s mind. Then she looked at Anne again. It was impossible. Whatever had happened, it was certain that it was nothing of which Anne need really be ashamed.
And Anne, silent at the window, had bitterness in her heart; she felt her pride, as she had said, humbled, dragged in the dust. This man to whom she had written had amused himself at her expense. As one person he had received her intimate letters, as another he had been the recipient33 of gracious favours on which he had doubtless put a totally wrong construction. Posing as two men, yet in reality one, he could compare the favours she had accorded both. The rose, the green sock—her face burnt at the thought of them. The one man, Robin34 Adair, smiling at her gracious letters, and smiling still more at her gracious treatment of the vagabond Piper.
It was monstrous35, preposterous36! How he must have laughed in his sleeve when she told him of her inclination37 to confound the two men. Anger and indignation were in Anne’s heart at the thought, yet deeper still was an odd little ache, and the fact that it existed, and she was conscious of it, curiously38 enough increased her indignation against Peter.
The door opened softly, and the footman entered with a letter on a tray. He crossed to the window where Anne was standing39. As she saw the letter lying there, a hot flush mounted in her face. She took it, holding it irresolutely40 in her hand. When the door had closed again, she broke the seal.
There was a long silence. At last Miss Haldane looked round. Anne’s face was quivering.
“What is it?” asked Miss Haldane, her voice full of perplexed anxiety.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
perturbed
|
|
| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
jubilation
|
|
| n.欢庆，喜悦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
aloof
|
|
| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
frigid
|
|
| adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
providence
|
|
| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
sip
|
|
| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
queried
|
|
| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
pricking
|
|
| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
vexed
|
|
| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
puckered
|
|
| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
ruffled
|
|
| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
confide
|
|
| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
exasperating
|
|
| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
imperturbability
|
|
| n.冷静；沉着 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
soothingly
|
|
| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
repented
|
|
| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
contradictory
|
|
| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
candid
|
|
| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
perplexed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
humbled
|
|
| adj. 卑下的，谦逊的，粗陋的 vt. 使 ... 卑下，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
abased
|
|
| 使谦卑( abase的过去式和过去分词 )； 使感到羞耻； 使降低（地位、身份等）； 降下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
clandestine
|
|
| adj.秘密的，暗中从事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
recipient
|
|
| a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
robin
|
|
| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
preposterous
|
|
| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
inclination
|
|
| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
irresolutely
|
|
| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
sob
|
|
| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |