CHAPTER VI

 FROM MISS EVELYN VANE, IN PARIS, TO THE LADY AUGUSTA FLEMING, AT BRIGHTON.

 

Paris, September 30th.

 

Dear Lady Augusta—I am afraid I shall not be able to come to you on January 7th, as you kindly¹ proposed at Homburg.  I am so very, very sorry; it is a great disappointment to me.  But I have just heard that it has been settled that mamma and the children are coming abroad for a part of the winter, and mamma wishes me to go with them to Hyères, where Georgina has been ordered for her lungs.  She has not been at all well these three months, and now that the damp weather has begun she is very poorly indeed; so that last week papa decided² to have a consultation³, and he and mamma went with her up to town and saw some three or four doctors.  They all of them ordered the south of France, but they didn’t agree about the place; so that mamma herself decided for Hyères, because it is the most economical.  I believe it is very dull, but I hope it will do Georgina good.  I am afraid, however, that nothing will do her good until she consents to take more care of herself; I am afraid she is very wild and wilful⁴, and mamma tells me that all this month it has taken papa’s positive orders to make her stop in-doors.  She is very cross (mamma writes me) about coming abroad, and doesn’t seem at all to mind the expense that papa has been put to—talks very ill-naturedly about losing the hunting, etc.  She expected to begin to hunt in December, and wants to know whether anybody keeps hounds at Hyères.  Fancy a girl wanting to follow the hounds when her lungs are so bad!  But I daresay that when she gets there she will he glad enough to keep quiet, as they say that the heat is intense.  It may cure Georgina, but I am sure it will make the rest of us very ill.

 

Mamma, however, is only going to bring Mary and Gus and Fred and Adelaide abroad with her; the others will remain at Kingscote until February (about the 3d), when they will go to Eastbourne for a month with Miss Turnover⁵, the new governess, who has turned out such a very nice person.  She is going to take Miss Travers, who has been with us so long, but who is only qualified⁶ for the younger children, to Hyères, and I believe some of the Kingscote servants.  She has perfect confidence in Miss T.; it is only a pity she has such an odd name.  Mamma thought of asking her if she would mind taking another when she came; but papa thought she might object.  Lady Battledown makes all her governesses take the same name; she gives £5 more a year for the purpose.  I forget what it is she calls them; I think it’s Johnson (which to me always suggests a lady’s maid).  Governesses shouldn’t have too pretty a name; they shouldn’t have a nicer name than the family.

 

I suppose you heard from the Desmonds that I did not go back to England with them.  When it began to be talked about that Georgina should be taken abroad, mamma wrote to me that I had better stop in Paris for a month with Harold, so that she could pick me up on their way to Hyères.  It saves the expense of my journey to Kingscote and back, and gives me the opportunity to “finish” a little in French.

 

You know Harold came here six weeks ago, to get up his French for those dreadful examinations that he has to pass so soon.  He came to live with some French people that take in young men (and others) for this purpose; it’s a kind of coaching place, only kept by women.  Mamma had heard it was very nice; so she wrote to me that I was to come and stop here with Harold.  The Desmonds brought me and made the arrangement, or the bargain, or whatever you call it.  Poor Harold was naturally not at all pleased; but he has been very kind, and has treated me like an angel.  He is getting on beautifully with his French; for though I don’t think the place is so good as papa supposed, yet Harold is so immensely clever that he can scarcely help learning.  I am afraid I learn much less, but, fortunately, I have not to pass an examination—except if mamma takes it into her head to examine me.  But she will have so much to think of with Georgina that I hope this won’t occur to her.  If it does, I shall be, as Harold says, in a dreadful funk.

 

This is not such a nice place for a girl as for a young man, and the Desmonds thought it exceedingly odd that mamma should wish me to come here.  As Mrs. Desmond said, it is because she is so very unconventional.  But you know Paris is so very amusing, and if only Harold remains⁷ good-natured about it, I shall be content to wait for the caravan⁸ (that’s what he calls mamma and the children).  The person who keeps the establishment, or whatever they call it, is rather odd, and exceedingly foreign; but she is wonderfully civil, and is perpetually sending to my door to see if I want anything.  The servants are not at all like English servants, and come bursting in, the footman (they have only one) and the maids alike, at all sorts of hours, in the most sudden way.  Then when one rings, it is half an hour before they come.  All this is very uncomfortable, and I daresay it will be worse at Hyères.  There, however, fortunately, we shall have our own people.

 

There are some very odd Americans here, who keep throwing Harold into fits of laughter.  One is a dreadful little man who is always sitting over the fire, and talking about the colour of the sky.  I don’t believe he ever saw the sky except through the window—pane.  The other day he took hold of my frock (that green one you thought so nice at Homburg) and told me that it reminded him of the texture⁹ of the Devonshire turf.  And then he talked for half an hour about the Devonshire turf; which I thought such a very extraordinary subject.  Harold says he is mad.  It is very strange to be living in this way with people one doesn’t know.  I mean that one doesn’t know as one knows them in England.

 

The other Americans (beside the madman) are two girls, about my own age, one of whom is rather nice.  She has a mother; but the mother is always sitting in her bedroom, which seems so very odd.  I should like mamma to ask them to Kingscote, but I am afraid mamma wouldn’t like the mother, who is rather vulgar.  The other girl is rather vulgar too, and is travelling about quite alone.  I think she is a kind of schoolmistress; but the other girl (I mean the nicer one, with the mother) tells me she is more respectable than she seems.  She has, however, the most extraordinary opinions—wishes to do away with the aristocracy, thinks it wrong that Arthur should have Kingscote when papa dies, etc.  I don’t see what it signifies to her that poor Arthur should come into the property, which will be so delightful—except for papa dying.  But Harold says she is mad.  He chaffs her tremendously about her radicalism¹⁰, and he is so immensely clever that she can’t answer him, though she is rather clever too.

 

There is also a Frenchman, a nephew, or cousin, or something, of the person of the house, who is extremely nasty; and a German professor, or doctor, who eats with his knife and is a great bore.  I am so very sorry about giving up my visit.  I am afraid you will never ask me again.

1 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

4 wilful   

adj.任性的，故意的

参考例句：

• A wilful fault has no excuse and deserves no pardon.不能宽恕故意犯下的错误。
• He later accused reporters of wilful distortion and bias.他后来指责记者有意歪曲事实并带有偏见。

5 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

6 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

9 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

10 radicalism   

n. 急进主义, 根本的改革主义

参考例句：

• His radicalism and refusal to compromise isolated him. 他的激进主义与拒绝妥协使他受到孤立。
• Education produced intellectual ferment and the temptations of radicalism. 教育带来知识界的骚动，促使激进主义具有了吸引力。