He was about to begin, taking the risks of premature12 discovery, when he heard a noise above. It was Mr. Haim at last descending13 the stairs to the ground floor. George started. He had been alone in the lower parts of the house for a period which seemed long. (Mr. Prince had gone to the studio, promising14 to return later.) The bedroom containing Mr. and Mrs. Haim had become for him the abode15 of mystery. The entity16 of the enchanted17 house had laid hold of his imagination. He had thought of Marguerite as she used to pervade18 the house, and of his approaching interview with her at the Manresa Road studio. He had thought very benevolently19 of Marguerite and also of, Mr. and Mrs. Haim. He had involved them all three, in his mind, in a net of peace and goodwill20. He saw the family quarrel as something inevitable21, touching22, absurd—the work of a maleficent destiny which he might somehow undo23 and exorcise by the magic act of washing-up, to be followed by other acts of a more diplomatic and ingenious nature. And now the dull, distant symptoms of Mr. Haim on the stairs suddenly halted him at the very outset of his benignant machinations. He listened. If the peace of the world had depended upon his washing-up he could not have permitted himself to be actually seen in the rôle of kitchen-girl by Mr. Haim—so extreme was his lack of logic24 and right reason. There was a silence, a protracted25 silence, and then Mr. Haim unmistakably came down the basement stairs, and George thanked God that he had not allowed his impulse to wash-up run away with his discretion26, to the ruin of his dignity.
Mr. Haim, hesitating in the kitchen doorway27, peered in front of him as if at a loss. George had shifted the kitchen lamp from its accustomed place.
"I'm here," said George, moving slightly in the dim light. "I thought I might as well make myself useful and clear the table for you. How is she going on?" He spoke28 cheerfully, even gaily29, and he expected Mr. Haim to be courteously30 appreciative—perhaps enthusiastic in gratitude31.
"Mrs. Haim is quite recovered, thank you. It was only a passing indisposition," said Mr. Haim, using one of his ridiculously stilted32 phrases. His tone was strange; it was very strange.
He thought:
"The old chump evidently doesn't like me interfering34. Silly old pompous35 ass8!" Nevertheless his attitude towards the huffy landlord, if scornful, was good-humoured and indulgent.
Then he noticed that Mr. Haim held in his hand a half-sheet of note-paper which disturbingly seemed familiar. " What is the meaning of this, Mr. Cannon?" Mr. Haim demanded, advancing towards the brightness of the lamp and extending the paper. He was excessively excited. Excitement always intensified36 his age.
The offered document was the letter which George had that morning received from Marguerite. The missive was short, a mere37 note, but its terms could leave no doubt as to the relations between the writer and the recipient38. Moreover, it ended with a hieroglyphic39 sign, several times repeated, whose significance is notorious throughout the civilized40 world.
"Where did you get that?" muttered George, with a defensive41 menace half formed in his voice. He faltered42. His mood had not yet become definitive43.
Mr. Haim answered:
"I have just picked it up in the hall, sir. The wind must have blown it off the table in your room, and the door was left open. I presume that I have the right to read papers I find lying about in my own house."
George was dashed. On returning home from Mrs. John's lunch he had changed his suit for another one almost equally smart, but of Angora and therefore more comfortable. He liked to change. He had taken the letter out of a side-pocket of the jacket and put it with his watch, money, and other kit2 on the table while he changed, and he had placed everything back into the proper pockets, everything except the letter. Carelessness! A moment of negligence44 had brought about the irremediable. The lovely secret was violated. The whole of his future life and of Marguerite's future life seemed to have been undermined and contaminated by that single act of omission45. Marguerite wrote seldom to him because of the risks. But precautions had been arranged for the occasions when she had need to write, and she possessed46 a small stock of envelopes addressed by himself, so that Mr. Haim might never by chance, picking up an envelope from the hall floor, see George's name in his daughter's hand. And now Mr. Haim had picked up an actual letter from the hall floor. And the fault for the disaster was George's own.
"May I ask, sir, are you engaged to my daughter?" demanded Mr. Haim, getting every instant still more excited.
George had once before seen him agitated47 about Marguerite, but by no means to the same degree. He trembled. He shook. His dignity had a touch of the grotesque48; yet it remained dignity, and it enforced respect. For George, destiny seemed to dominate the kitchen and the scullery like a presence. He and the old man were alone together in that presence, and he was abashed49. He was conscious of awe50. The old man's mien51 accused him of an odious52 crime, of something base and shameful53. Useless to argue with himself that he was entirely54 guiltless, that he had the right to be the betrothed56 of either Mr. Haim's daughter or any other girl, and to publish or conceal57 the betrothal58 as he chose and as she chose. Yes, useless! He felt, inexplicably59, a criminal. He felt that he had committed an enormity. It was not a matter of argument; it was a matter of instinct. The old man's frightful60 and irrational61 resentment62 was his condemnation63. He could not face the old man.
He thought grievously: "I am up against this man. All politeness and conventions have vanished. It's the real, inmost me, and the real, inmost him." Nobody else could take a part in the encounter. And he was sad, because he could not blame the old man. Could he blame the old man for marrying a charwoman? Why, he could only admire him for marrying the charwoman. In marrying the charwoman the old man had done a most marvellous thing. Could he blame Marguerite? Impossible. Marguerite's behaviour was perfectly64 comprehensible. He understood Marguerite and he understood her father; he sympathized with both of them. But Marguerite could not understand her father, and her father could not understand either his daughter or George. Never could they understand! He alone understood. And his understanding gave him a melancholy65, hopeless feeling of superiority, without at all lessening66 the strange conviction of guilt55. He had got himself gripped by destiny. Destiny had captured all three of them. But not the fourth. The charwoman possessed the mysterious power to defy destiny. Perhaps the power lay in her simplicity.... Fool! An accursed negligence had eternally botched his high plans for peace and goodwill.
"Yes," he said. "I am."
"And how long have you been engaged, sir?"
"Oh! Since before Marguerite left here." He tried to talk naturally and calmly.
"Then you've been living here all this time like a spy—a dirty spy. My daughter behaves to us in an infamous67 manner. She makes an open scandal. And all the time you're——"
George suddenly became very angry. And his anger relieved and delighted him. With intense pleasure he felt his anger surging within him. He frowned savagely68. His eyes blazed. But he did not move.
"Excuse me," he interrupted, with cold and dangerous fury. "She didn't do anything of the kind."
"And all the time, I say, you stay on here, deceiving us, spying on us. Going every night to that wicked, cruel, shameful girl and tittle-tattling. Do you suppose that if we'd had the slightest idea——"
George walked up to him.
"I'm not going to stand here and listen to you talking about Marguerite like that."
Their faces were rather close together. George forced himself away by a terrific effort and left the kitchen.
"Jackanapes!"
George swung round, very pale. Then with a hard laugh he departed. He stood in the hall, and thought of Mrs. Haim upstairs. The next moment he had got his hat and overcoat and was in the street. A figure appeared in the gloom. It was Mr. Prince.
"Hallo! Going out? How are things?"
"Oh! Fine!" He could scarcely articulate. A ghastly sob71 impeded72 the words. Tears gushed73 into his eyes. The dimly glowing oblongs in the dark façades of the Grove74 seemed unbearably75 tragic76.
点击收听单词发音
1 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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2 kit | |
n.用具包,成套工具;随身携带物 | |
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3 attired | |
adj.穿着整齐的v.使穿上衣服,使穿上盛装( attire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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4 miraculous | |
adj.像奇迹一样的,不可思议的 | |
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5 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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6 conjugal | |
adj.婚姻的,婚姻性的 | |
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7 incapable | |
adj.无能力的,不能做某事的 | |
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8 ass | |
n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人 | |
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9 disappearance | |
n.消失,消散,失踪 | |
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10 cannon | |
n.大炮,火炮;飞机上的机关炮 | |
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11 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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12 premature | |
adj.比预期时间早的;不成熟的,仓促的 | |
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13 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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14 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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15 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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16 entity | |
n.实体,独立存在体,实际存在物 | |
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17 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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18 pervade | |
v.弥漫,遍及,充满,渗透,漫延 | |
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19 benevolently | |
adv.仁慈地,行善地 | |
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20 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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21 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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22 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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23 undo | |
vt.解开,松开;取消,撤销 | |
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24 logic | |
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 | |
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25 protracted | |
adj.拖延的;延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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26 discretion | |
n.谨慎;随意处理 | |
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27 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
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28 spoke | |
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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29 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
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30 courteously | |
adv.有礼貌地,亲切地 | |
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31 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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32 stilted | |
adj.虚饰的;夸张的 | |
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33 bravado | |
n.虚张声势,故作勇敢,逞能 | |
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34 interfering | |
adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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35 pompous | |
adj.傲慢的,自大的;夸大的;豪华的 | |
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36 intensified | |
v.(使)增强, (使)加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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38 recipient | |
a.接受的,感受性强的 n.接受者,感受者,容器 | |
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39 hieroglyphic | |
n.象形文字 | |
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40 civilized | |
a.有教养的,文雅的 | |
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41 defensive | |
adj.防御的;防卫的;防守的 | |
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42 faltered | |
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃 | |
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43 definitive | |
adj.确切的,权威性的;最后的,决定性的 | |
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44 negligence | |
n.疏忽,玩忽,粗心大意 | |
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45 omission | |
n.省略,删节;遗漏或省略的事物,冗长 | |
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46 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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47 agitated | |
adj.被鼓动的,不安的 | |
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48 grotesque | |
adj.怪诞的,丑陋的;n.怪诞的图案,怪人(物) | |
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49 abashed | |
adj.窘迫的,尴尬的v.使羞愧,使局促,使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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50 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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51 mien | |
n.风采;态度 | |
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52 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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53 shameful | |
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
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54 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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55 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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56 betrothed | |
n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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57 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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58 betrothal | |
n. 婚约, 订婚 | |
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59 inexplicably | |
adv.无法说明地,难以理解地,令人难以理解的是 | |
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60 frightful | |
adj.可怕的;讨厌的 | |
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61 irrational | |
adj.无理性的,失去理性的 | |
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62 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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63 condemnation | |
n.谴责; 定罪 | |
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64 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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65 melancholy | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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66 lessening | |
减轻,减少,变小 | |
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67 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
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68 savagely | |
adv. 野蛮地,残酷地 | |
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69 intimidated | |
v.恐吓;威胁adj.害怕的;受到威胁的 | |
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70 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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71 sob | |
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣 | |
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72 impeded | |
阻碍,妨碍,阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73 gushed | |
v.喷,涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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74 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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75 unbearably | |
adv.不能忍受地,无法容忍地;慌 | |
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76 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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