When George knocked on the door of No. 6, the entire studio, and No. 5 also, vibrated. As a rule Agg, the female Cerberus of the shanty10, answered any summons from outside; but George hoped that to-night she would be absent; he knew by experience that on Sunday nights she usually paid a visit to her obstreperous11 family in Alexandra Grove12.
The door was opened by a young man in a rich but torn and soiled eighteenth-century costume, and he looked, in the half-light of the entrance, as though he was just recovering from a sustained debauch13. The young man stared haughtily14 in silence. Only after an appreciable15 hesitation16 did George see through the disguise and recover himself sufficiently17 to remark with the proper nonchalance18:
"Hallo, Agg! What's the meaning of this?"
"You're before your time," said she, shutting the door.
While he took off his overcoat Agg walked up the studio. She made an astonishingly life-like young man. George and Agg were now not unfriendly; but each constantly criticized the other in silence, and both were aware of the existence of this vast body of unspoken criticism. Agg criticized more than George, who had begun to take the attitude that Agg ought to be philosophically20 accepted as incomprehensible rather than criticized. He had not hitherto seen her in male costume, but he would not exhibit any surprise.
"Where's Marguerite?" he inquired, advancing to the Stove and rubbing his hands above it.
"Restrain your ardour," said Agg lightly. "She'll appear in due season. I've told you—you're before your time."
George offered no retort. Despite his sharp walk, he was still terribly agitated21 and preoccupied22, and the phenomena23 of the lamplit studio had not yet fully24 impressed his mind. He saw them, including Agg, as hallucinations gradually turning to realities. He could not be worried with Agg. His sole desire was to be alone with Marguerite immediately, and he regarded the fancy costume chiefly as an obstacle to the fulfilment of that desire, because Agg could not depart until she had changed it for something else.
Then his gaze fell upon a life-size oil-sketch25 of Agg in the eighteenth-century male dress. The light was bad, but it disclosed the sketch sufficiently to enable some judgment26 on it to be formed. The sketch was exceedingly clever, painted in the broad, synthetic27 manner which Steer28 and Sickert had introduced into England as a natural reaction from the finicking, false exactitudes of the previous age. It showed Agg, glass in hand, as a leering, tottering29 young drunkard in frills and velvet30. The face was odious31, but it did strongly resemble Agg's face. The hair was replaced by a bag wig32.
"Who did that?"
"The dickens you did!" George murmured, struck. But now that he knew the sketch to be the work of a woman he at once became more critical, perceiving in it imitative instead of original qualities. "What is it? I mean, what's the idea at the back of it, if it isn't a rude question, Agg?"
"Title: 'Bonnie Prince Charlie,'" said Agg, without a smile. She was walking about, in a convincingly masculine style. Unfortunately she could not put her hands in her pockets, as the costume was without pockets.
"Is that your notion of the gent?"
"Didn't you know I'm supposed to be very like him?" cried Agg, vain. The stern creature had frailties34. Then she smiled grimly. "Look at my cold blue eyes, my sharp chin, my curly-curly lips, my broad forehead, my clear complexion35. And I hope I'm thin enough. Look!" She picked up the bag wig, which was lying on a chair, and put it on, and posed. The pose was effective.
"You seem to know a lot about this Charlie."
"But what's the idea? What's the scheme? Why is he drunk?"
"He always was drunk. He was a confirmed drunkard at thirty. Both his fair ladies had to leave him because he was just a violent brute37. And so on and so on. I thought it was about time Charlie was shown up in his true colours. And I'm doing it!... After all the sugar-stick Academy pictures of him, my picture will administer a much-needed tonic38 to our dear public. I expect I can get it into next year's New English Art Club, and if I do it will be the sensation of the show.... I haven't done with it yet. In fact I only [pg 86] started yesterday. There's going to be a lot more realism in it. All those silly Jacobite societies will furiously rage together.... And it's a bit of pretty good painting, you know."
"It is," George agreed. "But it's a wild scheme."
"Not so wild as you think, my minstrel boy. It's very, much needed. It's symbolic39, that picture is. It's a symbolic antidote40. Shall I tell you what put me on to it? Look here."
She led him to Marguerite's special work-table, under the curtained window. There, on a sheet of paper stretched upon a drawing-board, was the finished design which Marguerite had been labouring at for two days. It was a design for a bookbinding, and the title of the book was, The Womanly Woman, and the author of the book was Sir Amurath Onway, M.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., a famous specialist in pathology. Marguerite, under instruction from the bookbinders, had drawn42 a sweet picture, in quiet colours, of a womanly woman in a tea-gown, sitting in a cosy43 corner of a boudoir. The volume was destined44 to open the spring season of a publishing firm of immense and historic respectability.
"Look at it! Look at it!" Agg insisted. "I've read the book myself. Poor Marguerite had to go through the proofs, so that she could be sure of getting the spirit of the binding41 right. Do you know why he wrote it? He hates his wife—that's why. His wife isn't a womanly woman, and he's put all his hatred45 of her into this immortal46 rubbish. Read this great work, and you will be made to see what fine, noble creatures we men are"—she strode to and fro—"and how a woman's first duty is to recognize her inferiority to us, and be womanly.... Damme!... As soon as I saw what poor Marguerite had to do I told her I should either have to go out and kill some one, or produce an antidote. And then it occurred to me to tell the truth about one of the leading popular heroes of history." She bowed in the direction of the canvas. "I began to feel better at once. I got the costume from a friend of the learned Sam's, and I've ruined it.... I'm feeling quite bright to-night."
She gazed at George with her cold blue eyes, arraigning47 in his person the whole sex which she thought she despised but which her deepest instinct it was to counterfeit48. George, while admiring, was a little dismayed. She was sarcastic49. She had brains and knowledge and ideas. There was an intellectual foundation to her picture. And she could paint—like a witch! Oh! She was ruthlessly clever! Well, he did not like her. What he wanted, though he would not admit it, was old Onway's womanly woman. And especially in that hour he wanted the womanly woman.
"What's Marguerite up to?" he asked quietly.
"After the heat and the toil50 of the day she's beautifying herself for your august approval," said Agg icily. "I expect she's hurrying all she can. But naturally you expect her to be in a permanent state of waiting for you—fresh out of the cotton-wool."
The next instant Marguerite appeared from the cubicle51 or dressing-room which had been contrived52 in a corner of the studio to the left of the door. She was in her plain, everyday attire53, but she had obviously just washed, and her smooth hair shone from the brush.
"Well, George."
"Well, Marguerite."
Both spoke19 casually54. Celia Agg was the only person in the world privy55 to their engagement; but they permitted themselves no freedoms in front of her. As Marguerite came near to George, she delicately touched his arm—nothing more. She was smiling happily, but as soon as she looked close at his face under the lamp, her face changed completely. He thought: "She understands there's something up."
She said, not without embarrassment56:
"George, I really must have some fresh air. I haven't had a breath all day. Is it raining?"
"No. Would you like to go for a walk?"
"Oh! I should!"
He was very grateful, and also impressed by the accuracy of her intuitions and her quick resourcefulness. She had comprehended at a glance that he had a profound and urgent need to be alone with her. She was marvellously comforting, precious beyond price. All his susceptibilities, wounded by the scene at Alexandra Grove, and further irritated by Agg, were instantaneously salved and soothed57. Her tones, her scarcely perceptible gesture of succour, produced the assuaging58 miracle. She fulfilled her role to perfection. She was a talented and competent designer, but as the helpmeet of a man she had genius. His mind dwelt on her with rapture59.
"You'll be going out as soon as you've changed, dear?" she said affectionately to Agg.
"Yes," answered Agg, who at the mirror was wiping from her face the painted signs of alcoholism. She had thrown off the bag wig. "You'd better take the key with you. You'll be back before I am." She sat down on one of the draped settees which were beds in disguise, and Marguerite got a hat, cloak, and gloves.
While George was resuming his overcoat, which Marguerite held for him, Agg suddenly sprang up and rushed towards them.
"Good night, Flora60 Macdonald," she murmured in her deep voice in Marguerite's ear, put masculine arms round her, and kissed her. It was a truly remarkable61 bit of male impersonating, as George had to admit, though he resented it.
Then she gave a short, harsh laugh.
"Good night, old Agg," said Marguerite, with sweet responsiveness, and smiled ingenuously62 at George.
George, impatient, opened the door, and the damp wind swept anew into the studio.
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1
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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shanties
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| n.简陋的小木屋( shanty的名词复数 )；铁皮棚屋；船工号子；船歌 | |
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3
waterproof
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| n.防水材料；adj.防水的；v.使...能防水 | |
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4
adaptable
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| adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的 | |
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corrugated
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| adj.波纹的；缩成皱纹的；波纹面的；波纹状的v.（使某物）起皱褶(corrugate的过去式和过去分词) | |
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pretension
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| n.要求；自命，自称；自负 | |
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comeliness
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| n. 清秀, 美丽, 合宜 | |
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decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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9
esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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obstreperous
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| adj.喧闹的，不守秩序的 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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debauch
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| v.使堕落，放纵 | |
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haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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15
appreciable
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| adj.明显的，可见的，可估量的，可觉察的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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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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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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21
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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23
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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synthetic
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| adj.合成的，人工的；综合的；n.人工制品 | |
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steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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29
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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30
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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34
frailties
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| n.脆弱( frailty的名词复数 )；虚弱；（性格或行为上的）弱点；缺点 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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monograph
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| n.专题文章，专题著作 | |
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brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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38
tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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39
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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40
antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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41
binding
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| 有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的 | |
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42
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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43
cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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44
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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45
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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46
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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47
arraigning
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| v.告发( arraign的现在分词 )；控告；传讯；指责 | |
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48
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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49
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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50
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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51
cubicle
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| n.大房间中隔出的小室 | |
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52
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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53
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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54
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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55
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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56
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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57
soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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58
assuaging
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| v.减轻( assuage的现在分词 )；缓和；平息；使安静 | |
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59
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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60
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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61
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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62
ingenuously
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| adv.率直地，正直地 | |
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