"Already!" she exclaimed, as if amazed. "But there is not a clock that goes, and I had not the least idea of the hour. Besides, I was splitting my head to fill up this form."
Such was her notion of being exact! He had abandoned an important meeting of a committee which was doing untold3 mercies to her compatriots in order to keep his appointment with her; and she, whose professional business it was that evening to charm him and harmonise with him, had merely flouted4 the appointment. Nevertheless, her gestures and smile as she rose and came towards him were so utterly5 exquisite6 that immediately he also flouted the appointment. What, after all, could it matter whether they dined at eight, nine, or even ten o'clock?
No woman had ever put her chin up to his as she did, nor with a glance expressed so unreserved a surrender to his masculinity.
She went on, twining languishingly9 round him:
"I do not know whether I ought to go out. I am yet far from—It is perhaps imprudent."
"Absurd!" he protested—he could not bear the thought of her not dining with him. He knew too well the desolation of a solitary10 dinner. "Absurd! We go in a taxi. The restaurant is warm. We return in a taxi."
"To please thee, then."
"What is that form?"
"It is for the telephone. Thou understandest how it is necessary that I have the telephone—me! But I comprehend nothing of this form."
She passed him the form. She had written her name in the space allotted11. "Christine Dubois." A fair calligraphy12! But what a name! The French equivalent of "Smith". Nothing could be less distinguished13. Suddenly it occurred to him that Concepcion's name also was Smith.
"I will fill it up for you. It is quite simple."
"It is possible that it is simple when one is English. But English—that is as if to say Chinese. Everything contrary. Here is a pen."
"No. I have my fountain-pen." He hated a cheap pen, and still more a penny bottle of ink, but somehow this particular penny bottle of ink seemed touching14 in its simple ugliness. She was eminently15 teachable. He would teach her his own attitude towards penny bottles of ink.... Of course she would need the telephone—that could not be denied.
As Christine was signing the form Marthe entered with the chrysanthemums16, which he had handed over to her; she had arranged them in a horrible blue glass vase cheaply gilded17; and while Marthe was putting the vase on the small table there was a ring at the outer door. Marthe hurried off.
Christine said, kissing him again tenderly:
"Thou art a squanderer18! Fine for me to tell thee not to buy costly19 flowers! Thou has spent at least ten shillings for these. With ten shillings—"
"No, no!" he interrupted her. "Five." It was a fib. He had paid half a guinea for the few flowers, but he could not confess it.
They could hear a powerful voice indistinctly booming at the top of the stairs. "Two callers on one afternoon!" G.J. reflected. And yet she had told him she went out for the first time only the day before yesterday! He scarcely liked it, but his reason rescued him from the puerility20 of a grievance21 against her on this account. "And why not? She is bound to be a marked success."
Marthe returned to the drawing-room and shut the door.
"It is the police!"
G.J. had a shock. He knew many of the policemen who lurked25 in the dark doorways26 of Piccadilly at night, had little friendly talks with them, held them for excellent fellows. But a policeman [95] invading the flat of a courtesan, and himself in the flat, seemed a different being from the honest stalwarts who threw the beams of lanterns on the key-holes of jewellers' shops.
Christine steeled herself to meet the crisis with self-reliance. She pointedly27 did not appeal to the male.
"Well, what is it that he wants?"
"He talks of the chimney. It appears this morning there was a chimney on fire. But since we burn only anthracite and gas—He knows madame's name."
There was a pause. Christine asked sharply and mysteriously:
"How much do you think?"
Christine rushed into the bedroom and came back with a five-pound note.
"Here! Chuck that at him—politely. Tell him we are very sorry."
"Yes, madame."
"But he'll never take it. You can't treat the London police like that!" G.J. could not help expostulating as soon as Marthe had gone. He feared some trouble.
"My poor friend!" Christine replied patronisingly. "Thou art not up in these things. Marthe knows her affair—a woman very experienced in London. He will take it, thy policeman. And if I do not deceive myself no more chimneys will burn for about a year.... Ah! The police do not wipe their noses with broken bottles!" (She meant that the police knew their way about.) "I no more than they, I do not wipe my nose with broken bottles."
She was moved, indignant, stoutly29 defensive30. G.J. grew self-conscious. Moreover, her slang disturbed him. It was the first slang he had heard her use, and in using it her voice had roughened. But he remembered that Concepcion also used slang—and advanced slang—upon occasion.
The booming ceased; a door closed. Marthe returned once more.
"Well?"
"He is gone. He was very nice, madame. I told him about madame—that madame was very discreet31." Marthe finished in a murmur8.
"So much the better. Now, help me to dress. Quick, quick! Monsieur will be impatient."
G.J. was ashamed of the innocence32 he had displayed, and ashamed, too, of the whole Metropolitan33 Police Force, admirable though it was in stopping traffic for a perambulator to cross the road. Five pounds! These ladies were bled. Five pounds wanted earning.... It was a good sign, though, that she had not so far asked him to contribute. And he felt sure that she would not.
"Come in, then, poltroon34!" She cooed softly and encouragingly from the bedroom, where Marthe was busy with her.
The door between the bedroom and the drawing-room was open. G.J., humming, obeyed the invitation and sat down on the bed between two heaps of clothes. Christine was very gay; she was like a child. She had apparently35 quite forgotten her migraine and also the incident of the policeman. She snatched the cigarette from G.J.'s mouth, took a puff36, and put it back again. Then she sat in front of the large mirror and did her hair while Marthe buttoned her boots. Her corset fitted beautifully, and as she raised her arms above her head under the shaded lamp G.J. could study the marvellous articulation37 of the arms at the bare shoulders. The close atmosphere was drenched38 with femininity. The two women, one so stylish39 and the other by contrast piquantly40 a heavy slattern, hid nothing whatever from him, bestowing41 on him with perfect tranquillity42 the right to be there and to watch at his ease every mysterious transaction.... The most convincing proof that Christine was authentically43 young! And G.J. had the illusion again that he was in the Orient, and it was extraordinarily44 agreeable. The recollection of the scene of the Lechford Committee amused him like a pantomime witnessed afar off through a gauze curtain. It had no more reality than that. But he thought better of the committee now. He perceived the wonderful goodness of it and of its work. It really was running those real hospitals; it had a real interest in them. He meant to do his very best in the accounts department. After all, he had been a lawyer and knew the routine of an office and the minutest phenomena45 of a ledger46. He was eager to begin.
"How findest thou me?"
She stood for inspection47.
She was ready, except the gloves. The angle of her hat, the provocation48 of her veil—these things would have quickened the pulse of a Patagonian. Perfume pervaded49 the room.
"Tu es exquise."
She raised her veil just above her mouth....
In the drawing-room she hesitated, and then settled down on the piano-stool like a bird alighting and played a few bars from the Rosenkavalier waltz. He was thunderstruck, for she had got not only the air but some of the accompaniment right.
"Go on! Go on!" he urged her, marvelling51.
She turned, smiling, and shook her head.
"That is all that I can recall to myself."
"She is really musical!" he thought, and was convinced that while looking for a bit of coloured glass he had picked up an emerald. Marthe produced his overcoat, and when he was ready for the street Christine gazed at him and said:
"For the true chic, there are only Englishmen!"
In the taxi she proved to him by delicate effronteries54 the genuineness of her confessed "fancy" for him. And she poured out slang. He began to be afraid, for this excursion was an experiment such as he had never tried before in London; in Paris, of course, the code was otherwise. But as soon as the commissionaire of the restaurant at Victoria approached the door of the taxi her manner changed. She walked up the long interior with the demureness55 of a stockbroker's young wife out for the evening from Putney Hill. He thought, relieved, "She is the embodiment of common sense." At the end of the vista56 of white tables the restaurant opened out to the left. In a far corner they were comfortably secure from observation. They sat down. A waiter beamed his flatteries upon them. G.J. was serenely57 aware of his own skilled faculty58 for ordering a dinner. He looked over the menu card at Christine. Nobody could possibly tell that she was a professed59 enemy of society. "These French women are astounding60!" he thought. He intensely admired her. He was mad about her. His bliss61 was extreme. He could not keep it within bounds meet for the great world-catastrophe. He was happy as for quite ten years he had never hoped to be. Yes, he grieved for Concepcion; but somehow grief could not mingle62 with nor impair63 the happiness he felt. And was not Concepcion lying in the affectionate arms of Queenie Paulle?
"Truly, it is very romantic, thy London!"
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1
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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pucker
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| v.撅起，使起皱；n.（衣服上的）皱纹，褶子 | |
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untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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flouted
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| v.藐视，轻视( flout的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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languishingly
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| 渐渐变弱地，脉脉含情地 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
calligraphy
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| n.书法 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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chrysanthemums
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| n.菊花( chrysanthemum的名词复数 ) | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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squanderer
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| n.浪费者，放荡者 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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puerility
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| n.幼稚，愚蠢；幼稚、愚蠢的行为、想法等 | |
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grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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doorways
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| n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 ) | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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chic
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| n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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32
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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metropolitan
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| adj.大城市的，大都会的 | |
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poltroon
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| n.胆怯者；懦夫 | |
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35
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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articulation
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| n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合 | |
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38
drenched
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| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
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stylish
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| adj.流行的，时髦的；漂亮的，气派的 | |
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piquantly
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bestowing
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| 砖窑中砖堆上层已烧透的砖 | |
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42
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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43
authentically
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| ad.sincerely真诚地 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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46
ledger
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| n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿 | |
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47
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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48
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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49
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50
trite
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| adj.陈腐的 | |
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51
marvelling
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的现在分词 ) | |
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52
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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53
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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54
effronteries
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| n.厚颜无耻，无礼（的行为）( effrontery的名词复数 ) | |
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55
demureness
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| n.demure（拘谨的，端庄的）的变形 | |
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56
vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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57
serenely
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| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
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58
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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59
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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60
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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61
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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62
mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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63
impair
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| v.损害，损伤；削弱，减少 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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reverted
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| 恢复( revert的过去式和过去分词 )； 重提； 回到…上； 归还 | |
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