CHAPTER 3

 It was clear to me that after that I must as people say "have things out" with Rachel. But before I could do anything of the sort the Fürstin pounced¹ upon me. She made me sit up that night after her other guests had gone to their rooms, in the cosy² little turret³ apartment she called her study and devoted⁴ to the reading of whatever was most notorious in contemporary British fiction. "Sit down," said she, "by the fire in that chair there and tell me all about it. It's no good your pretending you don't know what I mean. What are you up to with her, and why don't you go straight to your manifest destiny as a decent man should?"

 

"Because manifestly it isn't my destiny," I said.

 

"Stuff," said the Fürstin.

 

"You know perfectly⁵ well why I am out of England."

 

"Everybody knows—except of course quite young persons who are being carefully brought up."

 

"Does she know?"

 

"She doesn't seem to."

 

"Well, that's what I want to know."

 

"Need she know?"

 

"Well, it does seem rather essential——"

 

"I suppose if you think so——"

 

"Will you tell her?"

 

"Tell her yourself, if she must be told. Down there in Surrey, she must have seen things and heard things. But I don't see that she wants a lot of ancient history."

 

"If it is ancient history!"

 

"Oh! two years and a half,—it's an Era."

 

I made no answer to that, but sat staring into the fire while my cousin watched my face. At length I made my confession⁶. "I don't think it is ancient history at all," I said. "I think if I met Mary again now——"

 

"You mean Lady Mary Justin?"

 

"Of course."

 

"It would be good for your mind if you remembered to call her by her proper name.... You think if you met her again you two would begin to carry on. But you see,—you aren't going to meet her. Everybody will see that doesn't happen."

 

"I mean that I—— Well——"

 

"You'd better not say it. Besides, it's nonsense. I doubt if you've given her a thought for weeks and weeks."

 

"Until I came here perhaps that was almost nearly true. But you've stirred me up, sweet cousin, and old things, old memories and habits have come to the surface again. Mary wrote herself over my life—in all sorts of places.... I can't tell you. I've never talked of her to anyone. I'm not able, very well, to talk about my feelings.... Perhaps a man of my sort—doesn't love twice over."

 

I disregarded a note of dissent⁷ from my cousin. "That was all so magic, all my youth, all my hope, all the splendid adventure of it. Why should one pretend?... I'm giving none of that to Rachel. It isn't there any more to give...."

 

"One would think," remarked the Fürstin, "there was no gift of healing."

 

She waited for me to speak, and then irritated by my silence struck at me sharply with that wicked little tongue of hers.

 

"Do you think that Lady Mary Justin thinks of you—as you think of her? Do you think she hasn't settled down?"

 

I looked up at her quickly.

 

"She's just going to have a second child," the Fürstin flung out.

 

 

Yes, that did astonish me. I suppose my face showed it.

 

"That girl," said the Fürstin, "that clean girl would have sooner died—ten thousand deaths.... And she's never—never been anything to you."

 

I think that for an instant she had been frightened at her own words. She was now quite angry and short of breath. She had contrived⁸ a rapid indignation against Mary and myself.

 

"I didn't know Mary had had any child at all," I said.

 

"This makes two," said the Fürstin, and held up a brace⁹ of fingers, "with scarcely a year and a half between them. Not much more anyhow.... It was natural, I suppose. A natural female indecency. I don't blame her. When a woman gives in she ought to do it thoroughly¹⁰. But I don't see that it leaves you much scope for philandering¹¹, Stephen, does it?... And there you are, and here is Rachel. And why don't you make a clean job of your life?..."

 

"I didn't understand."

 

"I wonder what you imagined."

 

I reflected. "I wonder what I did. I suppose I thought of Mary—just as I had left her—always."

 

I remained with my mind filled with confused images of Mary, memories, astonishment¹²....

 

I perceived the Fürstin was talking.

 

"Maundering about," she was saying, "like a huntsman without a horse.... You've got work to do—blood in your veins¹³. I'm not one of your ignorant women, Stephen. You ought to have a wife...."

 

"Rachel's too good," I said, at the end of a pause and

perceiving I had to say something, "to be that sort of wife."

 

"No woman's too good for a man," said the Fürstin von Letzlingen with conviction. "It's what God made her for."

1 pounced   

v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击）

参考例句：

• As soon as I opened my mouth, the teacher pounced on me. 我一张嘴就被老师抓住呵斥了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The police pounced upon the thief. 警察向小偷扑了过去。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 cosy   

adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的

参考例句：

• We spent a cosy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。
• It was so warm and cosy in bed that Simon didn't want to get out.床上温暖而又舒适，西蒙简直不想下床了。

3 turret   

n.塔楼，角塔

参考例句：

• This ancient turret has attracted many visitors.这座古老的塔楼吸引了很多游客。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔楼攀登上了要塞的城墙。

4 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

5 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

6 confession   

n.自白，供认，承认

参考例句：

• Her confession was simply tantamount to a casual explanation.她的自白简直等于一篇即席说明。
• The police used torture to extort a confession from him.警察对他用刑逼供。

7 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

8 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

9 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

10 thoroughly   

adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地

参考例句：

• The soil must be thoroughly turned over before planting.一定要先把土地深翻一遍再下种。
• The soldiers have been thoroughly instructed in the care of their weapons.士兵们都系统地接受过保护武器的训练。

11 philandering   

v.调戏，玩弄女性( philander的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• And all because of a bit of minor philandering. 何况这只是区区一桩风流韵事所引起的呢。 来自飘（部分）
• My after-school job means tailing philandering spouses or investigating false injury claims. 我的课余工作差不多就是跟踪外遇者或调查诈骗保险金。 来自电影对白

12 astonishment   

n.惊奇，惊异

参考例句：

• They heard him give a loud shout of astonishment.他们听见他惊奇地大叫一声。
• I was filled with astonishment at her strange action.我对她的奇怪举动不胜惊异。

13 veins   

n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理

参考例句：

• The blood flows from the capillaries back into the veins. 血从毛细血管流回静脉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I felt a pleasant glow in all my veins from the wine. 喝过酒后我浑身的血都热烘烘的，感到很舒服。 来自《简明英汉词典》