The interior was gloomy with the winter forenoon; the broad Renaissance7 arches showed themselves only faintly above; on every side there were little archipelagos of light made by groups of candles in front of great pale images. The church was comparatively empty, and most of the people present were kneeling in the chapels8; for Christine had purposely come, as she always did, at the slack hour between the seventh and last of the early morning Low Masses and the High Mass at eleven.
She went up the right aisle10 and stopped before the Miraculous11 Infant Jesus of Prague, a charming and naive12 little figure about eighteen inches high in a stiff embroidered13 cloak and a huge symbol upon his curly head. She had put herself under the protection of the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague. She liked him; he was a change from the Virgin14; and he stood in the darkest corner of the whole interior, behind the black statue of St. Peter with protruding15 toe, and within the deep shadow made by the organ-loft overhead. Also he had a motto in French: "Plus vous m'honorerez plus je vous favoriserai."
Christine hesitated, and then left the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague without even a transient genuflexion. She was afraid to devote herself to him that morning.
Of course she had been brought up strictly16 in the Roman Catholic faith. And in her own esteem17 she was still an honest Catholic. For years she had not confessed and therefore had not communicated. For years she had had a desire to cast herself down at a confessional-box, but she had not done so because of one of the questions in the Petit Paroissien which she used: "Avez-vous péché, par4 pensée, parole, ou action, contre la pureté ou la modestie?" And because also of the preliminary injunction: "Maintenant essayez de vous rappeler vos péchés, et combien de fois vous les avez commis." She could not bring herself to do that. Once she had confessed a great deal to a priest at Sens, but he had treated her too lightly; his lightness with her had indeed been shameful18. Since then she had never confessed. Further, she knew herself to be in a state of mortal sin by reason of her frequent wilful19 neglect of the holy offices; and occasionally, at the most inconvenient20 moments, the conviction that if she died she was damned would triumph over her complacency. But on the whole she had hopes for the future; though she had sinned, her sin was mysteriously not like other people's sin of exactly the same kind.
And finally there was the Virgin Mary, the sweet and dependable goddess. She had been neglecting the very clement21 Virgin Mary in favour of the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague. A whim22, a thoughtless caprice, which she had paid for! The Virgin Mary had withdrawn23 her defending shield. At least that was the interpretation24 which Christine was bound to put upon the terrible incident of the previous night in the Promenade25. She had quite innocently been involved in a drunken row in the lounge. Two military officers, one of whom, unnoticed by Christine, was intoxicated26, and two women—Madame Larivaudière and Christine! The Belgian had been growing more and more jealous of Christine.... The row had flamed up in the tenth of a second like an explosion. The two officers—then the two women. The bright silvery sound of glass shattered on marble! High voices, deep voices! Half the Promenade had rushed vulgarly into the lounge, panting with a gross appetite to witness a vulgar scene. And as the Belgian was jealous of the French girl, so were the English girls horribly jealous of all the foreign girls, and scornful too. Nothing but the overwhelming desire of the management to maintain the perfect respectability of its Promenade had prevented a rough-and-tumble between the officers. As for Madame Larivaudière, she had been ejected and told never to return. Christine had fled to the cloakroom, where she had remained for half an hour, and thence had vanished away, solitary27, by the side entrance. It was precisely28 such an episode as Christine's mother would have deprecated in horror, and as Christine herself intensely loathed29. And she could never assuage30 the moral wound of it by confiding31 the affair to Gilbert. She was mad about Gilbert; she thrilled to be his slave; she had what seemed an immeasurable confidence in him; and yet never, never could she mention another individual man to him, much less tell him of the public shame that had fallen upon her in the exercise of her profession. Why had fate been thus hard on her? The answer was surely to be found in the displeasure of the Virgin. And so she did not dare to stay with the Miraculous Infant Jesus of Prague, nor even to murmur5 the prayer beginning: "Adorable Jésus, divin modèle de la perfection ..."
She glanced round the great church, considering what were to her the major and minor32 gods and goddesses on their ornate thrones: St. Antony, St. Joseph, St. Sebastian, St. Philip, the Sacred Heart, St. Cecilia, St. Peter, St. Wilfrid, St. Mary Magdelene (Ah! Not at that altar could she be seen!), St. Patrick, St. Veronica, St. Francis, St. John Baptist, St. Teresa, Our Lady, Our Lady of Good Counsel. No! There was only one goddess possible for her—Our Lady of VII Dolours. She crossed the wide nave33 to the severe black and white marble chapel9 of the VII Dolours. The aspect of the shrine34 suited her. On one side she read the English words: "Of your charity pray for the soul of Flora35 Duchess of Norfolk who put up this altar to the Mother of Sorrows that they who mourn may be comforted." And the very words were romantic to her, and she thought of Flora Duchess of Norfolk as a figure inexpressibly more romantic than the illustrious female figures of French history. The Virgin of the VII Dolours was enigmatically gazing at her, waiting no doubt to be placated36. The Virgin was painted, gigantic, in oil on canvas, but on her breast stood out a heart made in three dimensions of real silver and pierced by the swords of the seven dolours, three to the left and four to the right; and in front was a tiny gold figure of Jesus crucified on a gold cross.
Christine cast herself down and prayed to the painted image and the hammered heart. She prayed to the goddess whom the Middle Ages had perfected and who in the minds of the simple and the savage37 has survived the Renaissance and still triumphantly38 flourishes; the Queen of heaven, the Tyrant39 of heaven, the Woman in heaven; who was so venerated40 that even her sweat is exhibited as a relic41; who was softer than Christ as Christ was softer than the Father; who in becoming a goddess had increased her humanity; who put living roses for a sign into the mouths of fornicators when they died, if only they had been faithful to her; who told the amorous42 sacristan to kiss her face and not her feet; who questioned lovers about their mistresses: "Is she as pretty as I?"; who fell like a pestilence43 on the nuptial44 chambers45 of young men who, professing46 love for her, had taken another bride; who enjoyed being amused; who admitted a weakness for artists, tumblers, soldiers and the common herd47; who had visibly led both opponents on every battlefield for centuries; who impersonated absent disreputable nuns48 and did their work for them until they returned, repentant49, to be forgiven by her; who acted always on her instinct and never on her reason; who cared nothing for legal principles; who openly used her feminine influence with the Trinity; who filled heaven with riff-raff; and who had never on any pretext50 driven a soul out of heaven. Christine made peace with this jealous and divine creature. She felt unmistakably that she was forgiven for her infidelity due to the Infant in the darkness beyond the opposite aisle. The face of the Lady of VII Dolours miraculously51 smiled at her; the silver heart miraculously shed its tarnish52 and glittered beneficent lightnings. Doubtless she knew somewhere in her mind that no physical change had occurred in the picture or the heart; but her mind was a complex, and like nearly all minds could disbelieve and believe simultaneously53.
Just as High Mass was beginning she rose and in grave solace54 left the Oratory; she would not endanger her new peace with the Virgin Mary by any devotion to other gods. She was solemn but happy. The conductor who took her penny in the motor-bus never suspected that on the pane55 before her, where some Agency had caused to be printed in colour the words "Seek ye the Lord" she saw, in addition to the amazing oddness of the Anglo-Saxon race, a dangerous incitement56 to unfaith. She kept her thoughts passionately57 on the Virgin; and by the time the bus had reached Hyde Park Corner she was utterly58 sure that the horrible adventure of the Promenade was purged59 of its evil potentialities.
In the house in Cork60 Street she took out her latch-key, placidly61 opened the door, and entered, smiling at the solitude62. Marthe, who also had a soul in need of succour, would, in the ordinary course, have gone forth63 to a smaller church and a late mass. But on this particular morning fat Marthe, in déshabille, came running to her from the little kitchen.
"Oh! Madame!... There is someone! He is drunk."
Her voice was outraged64. She pointed65 fearfully to the bedroom. Christine, courageous66, walked straight in. An officer in khaki was lying on the bed; his muddy, spurred boots had soiled the white lace coverlet. He was asleep and snoring. She looked at him, and, recognising her acquaintance of the previous night, wondered what the very clement Virgin could be about.
点击收听单词发音
1 oratory | |
n.演讲术;词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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2 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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3 crumpled | |
adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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4 par | |
n.标准,票面价值,平均数量;adj.票面的,平常的,标准的 | |
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5 murmur | |
n.低语,低声的怨言;v.低语,低声而言 | |
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6 arcade | |
n.拱廊;(一侧或两侧有商店的)通道 | |
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7 renaissance | |
n.复活,复兴,文艺复兴 | |
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8 chapels | |
n.小教堂, (医院、监狱等的)附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 );(在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的)礼拜仪式 | |
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9 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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10 aisle | |
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道 | |
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11 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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12 naive | |
adj.幼稚的,轻信的;天真的 | |
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13 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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14 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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15 protruding | |
v.(使某物)伸出,(使某物)突出( protrude的现在分词 );凸 | |
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16 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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17 esteem | |
n.尊敬,尊重;vt.尊重,敬重;把…看作 | |
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18 shameful | |
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
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19 wilful | |
adj.任性的,故意的 | |
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20 inconvenient | |
adj.不方便的,令人感到麻烦的 | |
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21 clement | |
adj.仁慈的;温和的 | |
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22 whim | |
n.一时的兴致,突然的念头;奇想,幻想 | |
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23 withdrawn | |
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出 | |
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24 interpretation | |
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理 | |
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25 promenade | |
n./v.散步 | |
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26 intoxicated | |
喝醉的,极其兴奋的 | |
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27 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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28 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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29 loathed | |
v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 );极不喜欢 | |
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30 assuage | |
v.缓和,减轻,镇定 | |
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31 confiding | |
adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等) | |
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32 minor | |
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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33 nave | |
n.教堂的中部;本堂 | |
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34 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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35 flora | |
n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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36 placated | |
v.安抚,抚慰,使平静( placate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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38 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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39 tyrant | |
n.暴君,专制的君主,残暴的人 | |
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40 venerated | |
敬重(某人或某事物),崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41 relic | |
n.神圣的遗物,遗迹,纪念物 | |
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42 amorous | |
adj.多情的;有关爱情的 | |
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43 pestilence | |
n.瘟疫 | |
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44 nuptial | |
adj.婚姻的,婚礼的 | |
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45 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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46 professing | |
声称( profess的现在分词 ); 宣称; 公开表明; 信奉 | |
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47 herd | |
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起 | |
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48 nuns | |
n.(通常指基督教的)修女, (佛教的)尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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49 repentant | |
adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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50 pretext | |
n.借口,托词 | |
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51 miraculously | |
ad.奇迹般地 | |
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52 tarnish | |
n.晦暗,污点;vt.使失去光泽;玷污 | |
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53 simultaneously | |
adv.同时发生地,同时进行地 | |
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54 solace | |
n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和 | |
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55 pane | |
n.窗格玻璃,长方块 | |
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56 incitement | |
激励; 刺激; 煽动; 激励物 | |
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57 passionately | |
ad.热烈地,激烈地 | |
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58 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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59 purged | |
清除(政敌等)( purge的过去式和过去分词 ); 涤除(罪恶等); 净化(心灵、风气等); 消除(错事等)的不良影响 | |
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60 cork | |
n.软木,软木塞 | |
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61 placidly | |
adv.平稳地,平静地 | |
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62 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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63 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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64 outraged | |
a.震惊的,义愤填膺的 | |
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65 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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66 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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