I went to Oxford as one goes into exile; she to London. I would post to her so that the letters reached Landor House before lunch time when the sun of Lady Ladislaw came over the horizon, but indeed as yet no one was watching her letters. Afterwards as she moved about she gave me other instructions, and for the most part I wrote to her in envelopes addressed for her by one of the Fawney girls, who was under her spell and made no enquiry for what purpose these envelopes were needed.
To me of course Mary wrote without restraint. All her letters to me were destroyed after our crisis, but some of mine to her she kept for many years; at last they came back to me so that I have them now. And for all their occasional cheapness and crudity8, I do not find anything in them to be ashamed of. They reflect, they are chiefly concerned with that search for a career of fine service which was then the chief preoccupation of my mind, the bias10 is all to a large imperialism11, but it is manifest that already the first ripples12 of a rising tide of criticism against the imperialist movement had reached and were exercising me. In one letter I am explaining that imperialism is not a mere13 aggressiveness, but the establishment of peace and order throughout half the world. "We may never withdraw," I wrote with all the confidence of a Foreign Secretary, "from all these great territories of ours, but we shall stay only to raise their peoples ultimately to an equal citizenship14 with ourselves." And then in the same letter: "and if I do not devote myself to the Empire what else is there that gives anything like the same opportunity of a purpose in life." I find myself in another tolerantly disposed to "accept socialism," but manifestly hostile to "the narrow mental habits of the socialists15." The large note of youth! And in another I am clearly very proud and excited and a little mock-modest over the success of my first two speeches in the union.
On the whole I like the rather boyish, tremendously serious young man of those letters. An egotist, of course, but what youth was ever anything else? I may write that much freely now, for by this time he is almost as much outside my personality as you or my father. He is the young Stratton, one of a line. I like his gravity; if youth is not grave with all the great spectacle of life opening at its feet, then surely no age need be grave. I love and envy his simplicity16 and honesty. His sham9 modesty17 and so forth18 are so translucent19 as scarcely to matter. It is clear I was opening my heart to myself as I opened it to Mary. I wasn't acting20 to her. I meant what I said. And as I remember her answers she took much the same high tone with me, though her style of writing was far lighter21 than mine, more easy and witty22 and less continuous. She flashed and flickered23. As for confessed love-making there is very little,—I find at the end of one of my notes after the signature, "I love you, I love you." And she was even more restrained. Such little phrases as "Dear Stevenage"—that was one of her odd names for me—"I wish you were here," or "Dear, dear Stevenage," were epistolary events, and I would re-read the blessed wonderful outbreak a hundred times....
Our separation lengthened24. There was a queer detached unexpected meeting in London in December, for some afternoon gathering25. I was shy and the more disconcerted because she was in winter town clothes that made her seem strange and changed. Then came the devastating26 intimation that all through the next summer the Ladislaws were to be in Scotland.
I did my boyish utmost to get to Scotland. They were at Lankart near Invermoriston, and the nearest thing I could contrive27 was to join a reading party in Skye, a reading party of older men who manifestly had no great desire for me. For more than a year we never met at all, and all sorts of new things happened to us both. I perceived they happened to me, but I did not think they happened to her. Of course we changed. Of course in a measure and relatively28 we forgot. Of course there were weeks when we never thought of each other at all. Then would come phases of hunger. I remember a little note of hers. "Oh Stevenage," it was scrawled29, "perhaps next Easter!" Next Easter was an aching desolation. The blinds of Burnmore House remained drawn30; the place was empty except for three old servants on board-wages. The Christians31 went instead to the Canary Isles32, following some occult impulse of Lady Ladislaw's. Lord Ladislaw spent the winter in Italy.
What an empty useless beauty the great Park possessed33 during those seasons of intermission! There were a score of places in it we had made our own....
Her letters to Oxford would cease for weeks, and suddenly revive and become frequent. Now and then would come a love-letter that seemed to shine like stars as I read it; for the most part they were low-pitched, friendly or humorous letters in a roundish girlish writing that was maturing into a squarely characteristic hand. My letters to her too I suppose varied34 as greatly. We began to be used to living so apart. There were weeks of silence....
Yet always when I thought of my life as a whole, Mary ruled it. With her alone I had talked of my possible work and purpose; to her alone had I confessed to ambitions beyond such modest worthiness35 as a public school drills us to affect....
Then the whole sky of my life lit up again with a strange light of excitement and hope. I had a note, glad and serenely36 friendly, to say they were to spend all the summer at Burnmore.
I remember how I handled and scrutinized37 that letter, seeking for some intimation that our former intimacy38 was still alive. We were to meet. How should we meet? How would she look at me? What would she think of me?
点击收听单词发音
1 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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2 Oxford | |
n.牛津(英国城市) | |
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3 albeit | |
conj.即使;纵使;虽然 | |
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4 vows | |
誓言( vow的名词复数 ); 郑重宣布,许愿 | |
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5 restriction | |
n.限制,约束 | |
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6 furtiveness | |
偷偷摸摸,鬼鬼祟祟 | |
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7 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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8 crudity | |
n.粗糙,生硬;adj.粗略的 | |
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9 sham | |
n./adj.假冒(的),虚伪(的) | |
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10 bias | |
n.偏见,偏心,偏袒;vt.使有偏见 | |
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11 imperialism | |
n.帝国主义,帝国主义政策 | |
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12 ripples | |
逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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13 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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14 citizenship | |
n.市民权,公民权,国民的义务(身份) | |
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15 socialists | |
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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16 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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17 modesty | |
n.谦逊,虚心,端庄,稳重,羞怯,朴素 | |
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18 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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19 translucent | |
adj.半透明的;透明的 | |
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20 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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21 lighter | |
n.打火机,点火器;驳船;v.用驳船运送;light的比较级 | |
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22 witty | |
adj.机智的,风趣的 | |
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23 flickered | |
(通常指灯光)闪烁,摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 lengthened | |
(时间或空间)延长,伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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26 devastating | |
adj.毁灭性的,令人震惊的,强有力的 | |
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27 contrive | |
vt.谋划,策划;设法做到;设计,想出 | |
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28 relatively | |
adv.比较...地,相对地 | |
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29 scrawled | |
乱涂,潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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31 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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32 isles | |
岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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33 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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34 varied | |
adj.多样的,多变化的 | |
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35 worthiness | |
价值,值得 | |
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36 serenely | |
adv.安详地,宁静地,平静地 | |
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37 scrutinized | |
v.仔细检查,详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38 intimacy | |
n.熟悉,亲密,密切关系,亲昵的言行 | |
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