CHAPTER XXXII PER ASPERA AD ASTRA

 “And so,” quoth Peter, “when the two met again, he had a story to tell her.”

 

“Oh!” queried¹ Anne, toying with her fan, the flimsy thing of mother-of-pearl and cobwebby old lace. “A long story?”

 

“That,” ventured Peter with temerity², “depended largely—I might say altogether—on his listener.”

 

They were sitting, these two, in a wide window-seat at the end of a passage. They had the full length of it before them. It was a post of vantage. With what generalship Peter had marked it out, with what fine diplomacy³ he had found Lady Anne and escorted her hither, is no doubt better imagined than recorded. It suffices to chronicle that here they were, in an alcove⁴ of soft draperies and shaded lights, listening—if they chose—to the strains of music, watching—if they chose—the brilliant kaleidoscopic⁵ effect of colour through the open door of the great ballroom⁶.

 

“My story,” continued Peter, “is of a Wanderer, one whom Fate in one of her freakish moods had wedded⁷ to the roads, the highways and hedges, the fields and woods.”

 

“Had he,” queried Anne, “nothing to solace⁸ him in his wanderings—no thoughts, no memories?”

 

“None,” said Peter steadily⁹. “Once long ago Cupid had touched him with his wing—the merest flick¹¹ of a feather. The man—poor fool!—fancied himself wounded, thought to bear a scar. Later, when he looked for it, he found there was none. It had been the most entire illusion on his part. And so he wandered the roads, regretting perhaps that he was scathless. But that is beside the mark.” He paused, glancing at the hands which held the flimsy cobwebby fan.

 

“One day,” continued Peter, “into his lonely wanderings came a letter, a mere¹⁰ scrap¹² of bluish paper with tracings thereon of black ink. A flimsy fragile thing you might say, but to him it meant—well, everything. I fancy he had never realized his entire loneliness till that delicate herald¹³ of joy appeared. And—here was the wonder of it—it was written by a woman.”

 

“Oh!” said Lady Anne, the little pulses fluttering in her throat.

 

“It was,” went on Peter, “a gracious letter, a charming letter, written by one who had guessed at his loneliness of spirit, and thought to cheer that loneliness, to heal the wound she fancied him to bear. To him it came as a draught¹⁴ of water to one in a waterless desert. It brought him help, refreshment¹⁵. He began to dream a dream of the writer, to imagine her near him. He spent hours in the company of his Dream Lady. He was no longer lonely, no longer desolate¹⁶. In spirit—in fancy, if you will—she was ever with him. Oh, he knew well enough that he could never meet her in the flesh, that was part of the compact. But disembodied though she was, she meant more to him than all the material friendships in creation.” Again he stopped, his heart was beating fast.

 

“And then?” questioned Lady Anne.

 

He drew a deep breath. “And then Fate played a trick—a curious, almost incredible trick, Fate threw the woman in his path. Their meeting was strange, picturesque—I might almost call it unique. At the moment reason did not tell him the woman was the writer of the letters, but his soul, I believe, guessed. And presently he knew without a doubt his soul was right.”

 

“Ah!” breathed Lady Anne. “He knew the writer of the letters to him, but she did not know who answered them.”

 

“She did not,” echoed Peter.

 

There was a little pause.

 

“Then,” she asked, her eyes still upon her fan, “I suppose he told her what he knew?”

 

“No,” said Peter in a low voice, “he did not. There is no excuse for him. I myself make none. But—he feared to lose her letters. There’s the whole matter in a nutshell. He did not tell her, and he continued to write.”

 

“Oh!” said Lady Anne. Again there was a pause.

 

“Of course,” continued Peter, “it was inexcusable of him. But Fate had his punishment in store.”

 

“Yes?” she queried.

 

“Fate disclosed his trickery to the woman. He read his punishment in the contempt in her [Pg 310]eyes. He deserved it, every bit of it. But it hurt none the less.”

 

“And—and then what happened?” she asked, trembling.

 

“He went away,” said Peter. “First he made a sacrifice—a small funeral pyre on which he burnt her letters, and I fancy his heart.”

 

“Did he do nothing else?” she demanded.

 

“Oh, yes,” confessed Peter. “He wrote to her. It was the least he could do. He prayed her forgiveness.”

 

“And—?” she queried.

 

Again Peter drew a deep breath. “After that there were months of a greater loneliness. I fancy he tried to be brave, to be worthy¹⁷ of her memory. She was, you see, his star.”

 

“Did—did he not condemn¹⁸ her for her harshness?” asked Lady Anne.

 

“Never,” cried Peter hotly. “She was to him his goddess, his divinity.” He stopped.

 

“Is that all?” she asked.

 

“No,” said Peter. “Fate had another surprise in store. She brought him from his loneliness, set him again in the midst of his fellow-men. But that was not all—it was the least. He [Pg 311]found”—Peter’s heart beat to suffocation—“a letter—one that should have reached him long ago but for his own folly¹⁹. From it he dared to believe, to hope, that his Lady had condoned²⁰ his offence, had forgiven.”

 

Lady Anne did not reply. Peter looked at her.

 

“Had she forgiven?” he pleaded.

 

For a second—the merest fraction of a second—she raised her eyes to his.

 

“I—I think so,” she said. And a tiny adorable smile curved her mouth. “Is that all the story?” she questioned in a low voice after a little silence.

 

“Oh no,” said Peter.

 

“No?” she asked, surprised. “I fancied it was the end.”

 

“It is,” said Peter boldly, “only the beginning.”

 

“Oh!” she asked with delicately raised eyebrows²¹; “and—and is the rest of the story long?”

 

“It is,” said Peter, “as long as a lifetime, and longer. It stretches away into Eternity²². It is a story of his love for his Lady, his Queen. She is immeasurably more to him than all in earth and heaven. With every fibre of his being, with his body, his soul, his spirit, he loves, worships, and adores. It is a story that will take a lifetime in the telling. Dare he tell it? Is she, think you, willing to listen?”

 

Lady Anne again raised her eyes to his.

 

“You’re sure,” she queried, “that he wants her to listen?”

 

“Absolutely sure,” said Peter, his blue eyes holding hers.

 

“Then,” breathed Lady Anne softly, “tell her.”

1 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：

• She queried what he said. 她对他说的话表示怀疑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"What does he have to do?\" queried Chin dubiously. “他有什么心事？”琴向觉民问道，她的脸上现出疑惑不解的神情。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

2 temerity   

n.鲁莽，冒失

参考例句：

• He had the temerity to ask for higher wages after only a day's work.只工作了一天，他就蛮不讲理地要求增加工资。
• Tins took some temerity,but it was fruitless.这件事做得有点莽撞，但结果还是无用。

3 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

4 alcove   

n.凹室

参考例句：

• The bookcase fits neatly into the alcove.书架正好放得进壁凹。
• In the alcoves on either side of the fire were bookshelves.火炉两边的凹室里是书架。

5 kaleidoscopic   

adj.千变万化的

参考例句：

• London is a kaleidoscopic world.伦敦是个天花筒般的世界。
• The transfer of administrative personnel in that colony was so frequent as to create kaleidoscopic effect.在那个殖民地，官员调动频繁，就象走马灯似的。

6 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

7 wedded   

adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She's wedded to her job. 她专心致志于工作。
• I was invited over by the newly wedded couple for a meal. 我被那对新婚夫妇请去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 solace   

n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和

参考例句：

• They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难，就在宗教中寻求安慰。
• His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈，他便借酒浇愁。

9 steadily   

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。

10 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。

11 flick   

n.快速的轻打，轻打声，弹开；v.轻弹，轻轻拂去，忽然摇动

参考例句：

• He gave a flick of the whip.他轻抽一下鞭子。
• By a flick of his whip,he drove the fly from the horse's head.他用鞭子轻抽了一下，将马头上的苍蝇驱走。

12 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

13 herald   

vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎

参考例句：

• In England, the cuckoo is the herald of spring.在英国杜鹃鸟是报春的使者。
• Dawn is the herald of day.曙光是白昼的先驱。

14 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

15 refreshment   

n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点

参考例句：

• He needs to stop fairly often for refreshment.他须时不时地停下来喘口气。
• A hot bath is a great refreshment after a day's work.在一天工作之后洗个热水澡真是舒畅。

16 desolate   

adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂

参考例句：

• The city was burned into a desolate waste.那座城市被烧成一片废墟。
• We all felt absolutely desolate when she left.她走后，我们都觉得万分孤寂。

17 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

18 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

19 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

20 condoned   

v.容忍，宽恕，原谅( condone的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Terrorism can never be condoned. 决不能容忍恐怖主义。
• They condoned his sins because he repented. 由于他的悔悟，他们宽恕了他的罪。 来自辞典例句

21 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

22 eternity   

n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷

参考例句：

• The dull play seemed to last an eternity.这场乏味的剧似乎演个没完没了。
• Finally,Ying Tai and Shan Bo could be together for all of eternity.英台和山伯终能双宿双飞，永世相随。