"Don't go to extremes," she answered.
"No, I won't." He thought of the valetry in the cellars, and the impossible humiliation3 of joining them; and added: "I merely state." Then, after a moment of silence: "By the way, was it only her idea that I should come along, or did the command come from both of you?" The suspicion of some dark, feminine conspiracy4 revisited him.
"It was Queen's idea."
"Oh! Well, I don't quite understand the psychology5 of it."
"Surely that's plain."
"It isn't in the least plain."
Concepcion loosed and dropped her cloak, and, not even glancing at G.J., went to the fire and teased it with the poker6. Bending down, with one hand on the graphic7 and didactic mantelpiece, and staring into the fire, she said:
"Queen's in love with you, of course."
The words were a genuine shock to his sarcastic8 and rather embittered9 and bullying10 mood. Was he to believe them? The vibrant11, uttering voice was convincing enough. Was he to show the conventional incredulity proper to such an occasion? Or was he to be natural, brutally12 natural? He was drawn13 first to one course and then to the other, and finally spoke14 at random15, by instinct:
"What have I been doing to deserve this?"
Concepcion replied, still looking into the fire: "As far as I can gather it must be your masterful ways at the Hospital Committee that have impressed her, and especially your unheard-of tyrannical methods with her august mother."
"I see.... Thanks!"
It had not occurred to him that he had treated the Marchioness tyrannically; he treated her like anybody else; he now perceived that this was to treat her tyrannically. His imagination leapt forward as he gazed round the weird16 and exciting room which Queen had brought into existence for the illustration of herself, and as he pictured the slim, pale figure outside clinging in the night to the vast chimney, and as he listened to the faint intermittent17 thud of far-off guns. He had a spasm18 of delicious temptation. He was tempted19 by Queen's connections and her prospective20 wealth. If anybody was to possess millions after the war, Queen would one day possess millions. Her family and her innumerable powerful relatives would be compelled to accept him without the slightest reserve, for Queen issued edicts; and through all those big people he would acquire immense prestige and influence, which he could use greatly. Ambition flared21 up in him—ambition to impress himself on his era. And he reflected with satisfaction on the strangeness of the fact that such an opportunity should have come to him, the son of a lawyer, solely22 by virtue23 of his own individuality. He thought of Christine, and poor little Christine was shrunk to nothing at all; she was scarcely even an object of compassion24; she was a prostitute.
But far more than by Queen's connections and prospective wealth he was tempted by her youth and beauty; he saw her beautiful and girlish, and he was sexually tempted. Most of all he was tempted by the desire to master her. He saw again the foolish, elegant, brilliant thing on the chimney pretending to defy him and mock at him. And he heard himself commanding sharply: "Come down. Come down and acknowledge your ruler. Come down and be whipped." (For had he not been told that she would like nothing better?) And he heard the West End of London and all the country-houses saying, "She obeys him like a slave." He conceived a new and dazzling environment for himself; and it was undeniable that he needed something of the kind, for he was growing lonely; before the war he had lived intensely in his younger friends, but the war had taken nearly all of them away from him, many of them for ever.
Then he said in a voice almost resentfully satiric25, and wondered why such a tone should come from his lips:
"Another of her caprices, no doubt."
"What do you mean—another of her caprices?" said Concepcion, straightening herself and leaning against the mantelpiece.
He had noticed, only a moment earlier, on the mantelpiece, a large photograph of the handsome Molder, with some writing under it.
"Well, what about that, for example?"
He pointed26. Concepcion glanced at him for the first time, and her eyes followed the direction of his finger.
"That! I don't know anything about it."
"Do you mean to say that while you were gossiping till five o'clock this morning, you two, she didn't mention it?"
"She didn't."
G.J. went right on, murmuring:
"Wants to do something unusual. Wants to astonish the town."
"No! No!"
"I haven't the slightest doubt of it."
"Did she say so?"
There was a sound outside the door. They both started like plotters in danger, and tried to look as if they had been discussing the weather or the war. But no interruption occurred.
"Well, she did. I know I shall be thought mischievous27. If she had the faintest notion I'd breathed the least hint to you, she'd quarrel with me eternally—of course. I couldn't bear another quarrel. If it had been anybody else but you I wouldn't have said a word. But you're different from anybody else. And I couldn't help it. You don't know what Queen is. Queen's a white woman."
"So you said this afternoon."
"And so she is. She has the most curious and interesting brain, and she's as straight as a man."
"I've never noticed it."
"And so on and so on. And I expect the scheme is that I am to make love to her and be worried out of my life, and then propose to her and she'll accept me." The word "scheme" brought up again his suspicion of a conspiracy. Evidently there was no conspiracy, but there was a plot—of one.... A nervous breakdown29? Was Concepcion merely under an illusion that she had had a nervous breakdown, or had she in truth had one, and was this singular interview a result of it?
Concepcion continued with surprising calm magnanimity:
"I know her mind is strange, but it's lovely. No one but me has ever seen into it. She's following her instinct, unconsciously—as we all do, you know. And her instinct's right, in spite of everything. Her instinct's telling her just now that she needs a master. And that's exactly what she does need. We must remember she's very young—"
"Yes," G.J. interrupted, bursting out with a kind of savagery30 that he could not explain. "Yes. She's young, and she finds even my age spicy31. There'd be something quite amusingly piquant32 for her in marrying a man nearly thirty years her senior."
Concepcion advanced towards him. There she stood in front of him, quite close to his chair, gazing down at him in her tight black jersey33 and short white skirt; she was wearing black stockings now. Her serious face was perfectly34 unruffled. And in her worn face was all her experience; all the nights and days on the Clyde were in her face; the scalping of the young Glasgow girl was in her face, and the failure to endure either in work or in love. There was complete silence within and without—not the echo of an echo of a gun. G.J. felt as though he were at bay.
She said:
"People like you and Queen don't want to bother about age. Neither of you has any age. And I'm not imploring35 you to have her. I'm only telling you that she's there for you if you want her. But doesn't she attract you? Isn't she positively36 irresistible37?" She added with poignancy38: "I know if I were a man I should find her irresistible."
"Just so."
A look of sacrifice came into Concepcion's eyes as she finished:
"I'd do anything, anything, to make Queen happy."
"Yes, you would," retorted G.J. icily, carried away by a ruthless and inexorable impulse. "You'd do anything to make her happy even for three months. Yes, to make her happy for three weeks you'd be ready to ruin my whole life. I know you and Queen." And the mild image of Christine formed in his mind, soothingly39, infinitely40 desirable. What balm, after the nerve-racking contact of these incalculable creatures!
"You're terrible, G.J.," she said wistfully. "Queen wouldn't be thrown away on you, but you'd be thrown away on her. I admit it. I didn't think you had it in you. I never saw a man develop as you have. Marriage isn't for you. You ought to roam in the primeval forest, and take and kill."
"Not a bit," said G.J., appeased42 once more. "Not a bit.... But the new relations of the sexes aren't in my line."
"New? My poor boy, are you so ingenuous43 after all? There's nothing very new in the relations of the sexes that I know of. They're much what they were in the Garden of Eden."
"What do you know of the Garden of Eden?"
"I get my information from Milton," she replied cheerfully, as though much relieved.
"Have you read Paradise Lost, then, Con?"
"I read it all through in my lodgings44. And it's really rather good. In fact, the remarks of Raphael to Adam in the eighth book—I think it is—are still just about the last word on the relations of the sexes:
"Oft-times nothing profits more
Than self-esteem, grounded on just and right
Well-managed; of that skill the more thou
know'st,
The more she will acknowledge thee her head
And to realities yield all her shows."
G.J., marvelling45, exclaimed with sudden enthusiasm:
"By Jove! You're an astounding46 woman, Con. You do me good!"
There was a fresh noise beyond the door, and the door opened and Robin47 rushed in, blanched48 and hysterical49, and with her seemed to rush in terror.
"Oh! Madame!" she cried. "As there was no more firing I went on to the roof, and her ladyship—" She covered her face and sobbed50.
G.J. jumped up.
"Go and see," said Concepcion in a blank voice, not moving. "I can't.... It's the message straight from Potsdam that's arrived."
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收听单词发音
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1
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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3
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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4
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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5
psychology
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| n.心理，心理学，心理状态 | |
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poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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7
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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8
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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9
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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11
vibrant
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| adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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12
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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13
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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14
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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15
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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16
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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17
intermittent
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| adj.间歇的，断断续续的 | |
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18
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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19
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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20
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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21
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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23
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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24
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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25
satiric
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| adj.讽刺的，挖苦的 | |
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26
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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27
mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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28
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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29
breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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30
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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31
spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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32
piquant
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| adj.辛辣的，开胃的，令人兴奋的 | |
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33
jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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34
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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35
imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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36
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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37
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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38
poignancy
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| n.辛酸事，尖锐 | |
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39
soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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40
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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41
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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42
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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43
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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44
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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45
marvelling
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的现在分词 ) | |
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46
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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47
robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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48
blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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49
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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50
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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