‘Oh, mamma! Sybert came to tea, an’ I made it; an’ he said it was lots better van Marcia’s tea, an’ he dwank seven cups, an’ I dwank four.’
A chorus of laughter greeted this revelation, and a lazy voice called from the depths of an easy chair, ‘Oh, I say, Gerald, you mustn’t tell such shocking tales, or your mother will never leave me alone with the tea-things again.’ And the owner of the voice pulled himself together and walked across the room ta shake hands with the new-comers.
Laurence Sybert, as he advanced toward his hostess, threw a long thin shadow against the wall. He had a spare, dark, clean-shaven face with deep-set, sullen7 eyes; he was a delightfully8 perfected type of the cosmopolitan9; it would have taken a second, or very possibly a third, glance to determine his nationality. But if the expression of his face were Italian, Oriental, anything you please, his 20 build was undoubtedly10 Anglo-Saxon. Further, a certain wiriness beneath his movements proclaimed him, to any one familiar with the loose-hung riders of the plains, unmistakably American.
‘Your son slanders11 me, Mrs. Copley,’ he said as he held out his hand; ‘I didn’t drink but six, upon my honour.’
‘Hello, Sybert! Anything happened in Rome to-day? What’s the news on the Rialto?’ was Mr. Copley’s greeting.
Marcia regarded him with a laugh as she drew off her gloves and lighted the spirit-lamp.
‘We’ve been away since nine this morning, and here’s Uncle Howard thirsting for news already! What he will do when we really get out of the city, I can’t imagine.’
‘Oh, and so you’ve taken the villa, have you?’
Marcia nodded.
‘And you should see it! It looks like a papal palace. This is the first time that Prince Vivalanti has ever consented to rent it to strangers; it’s his official seat.’
‘Very condescending12 of him,’ the young man laughed; ‘and do you accept his responsibilities along with the place?’
‘From the fattore’s account I should say that his responsibilities rest but lightly on the Prince of Vivalanti.’
‘Ah—that’s true enough.’
‘Do you know him?’
‘Only by hearsay13. I know the village; and a more desperate little place it would be hard to find in all the Sabine hills. The people’s love for their prince is tempered by the need of a number of improvements which he doesn’t supply.’
‘I dare say they are pretty poor,’ she conceded; ‘but they are unbelievably picturesque14! Every person there looks as if he had just walked out of a water-colour sketch15. Even Uncle Howard was pleased, and he has lived here so long that he is losing his enthusiasms.’
‘It is a pretty decent sort of a place,’ Copley agreed, ‘though I have a sneaking16 suspicion that we may find it rather far. But the rest of the family liked it, and my aim in life——’
‘Nonsense, Uncle Howard! you know you were crazy over it yourself. You signed the lease without a protest. Didn’t he, Aunt Katherine?’
21 ‘I signed the lease, my dear Marcia, at the point of the pistol.’
‘The point of the pistol?’
‘You threatened, if we got a mile—an inch, I believe you said—nearer Rome, you would give a party every day; and if that isn’t the point of a pistol to a poor, worn-out man like me, I don’t know what is.’
‘It would certainly seem like it,’ Sybert agreed. And turning to Marcia, he added, ‘I am afraid that you rule with a very despotic hand, Miss Marcia.’
Marcia’s eyebrows17 went up a barely perceptible trifle, but she laughed and returned: ‘No, indeed, Mr. Sybert; you are mistaken there. It is not I, but Gerald, who plays the part of despot in the Copley household.’
At this point, Granton, Mrs. Copley’s English maid, appeared in the doorway18. ‘Marietta is waiting to give Master Gerald his supper,’ she announced.
Gerald fled to his mother and raised a cry of protest.
‘Mamma, please let me stay up to dinner wif you to-night.’
For a moment Mrs. Copley looked as if she might consent, but catching19 sight of Granton’s relentless20 face, she returned: ‘No, my dear, you have had enough festivity for one evening. You must have your tea and go to bed like a good little boy.’
Gerald abandoned his mother and entrenched21 himself behind Sybert. ‘‘Cause Sybert’s here, an’ I like Sybert,’ he wailed22 desperately23.
But Granton stormed even this fortress24. ‘Come, Master Gerald; your supper’s getting cold,’ and she laid a firm hand on his shoulder and marched him away.
‘There’s the real despot,’ laughed Copley. ‘I tremble before Granton myself.’
Pietro appeared with a plate of toasted muffins and the evening mail. Mr. Copley settled himself in a wicker chair, with a pile of letters on the arm at his right; and, as he ran his eyes over them one by one, he tore them in pieces and formed a new pile at his left. They were begging letters for the most part. He received a great many, and this was his usual method of answering them: not that he was an ungenerous man; it was merely a matter of principle with him not to be generous in this particular way.
22 As he sat disposing of envelope after envelope with vigorous hands, Copley’s appearance suggested a series of somewhat puzzling contrasts: seriousness and humour; sensitiveness and force—an active impulse to forge ahead and accomplish things, a counter-impulse to shrug25 his shoulders and wonder why. He was a puzzle to most of his friends; at times even one to his wife; but she had accepted his eccentricities26 along with his millions, and though she did not always understand either his motives27 of his actions, she made no complaint. To most men a fortune is a blessing28. To Copley it was rather in the nature of a curse. He might have amounted to almost anything had he had to work for it; but for the one field of activity which a fortune in America seems to entail29 upon its owner—that of entering the arena30 and doubling and tripling it—he was singularly unfitted both by temperament31 and inclination32. In this he differed from his elder brother. And there was one other point in which the two were at variance33. Though their father had been in the eyes of the law a just and upright man, still, in the battle of competition, many had fallen that he might stand, and the younger son had grown up with the knowledge that from a humanitarian34 standpoint the money was not irreproachable35. He had the feeling—which his brother characterized as absurd—that with his share of the fortune he would like, in a measure, to make it up to mankind.
Howard Copley’s first move in the game of benefiting humanity had been, not very originally, an attempt at solving the negro problem; but the negroes were ever a leisurely36 race, and Copley was a man impatient for results. He finally abandoned them to the course of evolution, and engaged in a spasmodic orgy of East Side politics. Becoming disgusted, and failing of an election, he looked aimlessly about for a further object in life. It was at this point that Mrs. Copley breathlessly suggested a year in Paris for the sake of Gerald’s French; the child was only four, but one could not, as she justly pointed37 out, begin the study of the languages too early. Her husband apathetically38 consenting, they embarked39 for Paris by the roundabout route of the Mediterranean40, landed in Naples, and there they stayed. He had found a fascinating occupation ready to his hand—that of helping41 on the work of good 23 government in this still turbulent portion of United Italy. After a year the family drifted to Rome, and settled themselves in the piano nobile of the Palazzo Rosicorelli with something of an air of permanence. Copley was at last thoroughly42 contented43; he had no racial prejudices, and Rome was as fair a field of reform as New York—and infinitely44 more diverting. If the Italians did not always understand his motives, still they accepted his services with a fair show of gratitude45.
As for Mrs. Copley, she had by no means intended their sojourn46 to be an emigration, but she reflected that her husband had to be amused in some way, and that reforming Italian posterity47 was perhaps an harmless a way as he could have devised. She settled herself very contentedly48 to the enjoyment49 of the somewhat shifting foreign society of the capital, with only an occasional plaintive50 reference to her friends in New York and to Gerald’s French.
Marcia, leaning back in her chair, watched her uncle dispose of his correspondence with a visible air of amusement. He had a thin nervous face traced with fine lines, a sharply cut jaw51, and a mouth which twitched52 easily into a smile. To-night, however, as he ripped open envelope after envelope, he frowned oftener than he smiled; and presently, as he unfolded one letter, he suppressed a quick exclamation53 of anger.
‘Read that,’ he said shortly, tossing it to the other man.
Sybert perused54 it with no visible change of expression, and leaning over, he dropped it into the open grate.
‘That is what you must expect if you will hound those poor old beggars to death.’
The two men shot each other a look of rather grim amusement. The letter in question had nothing to do with beggars, but Mr. Copley had no intention of discussing its contents with his niece.
‘I find that the usual reward of virtue57 in this world is an anonymous letter,’ he remarked, shrugging the matter from his mind and settling himself comfortably to his tea.
24 ‘I haven’t the courage,’ he declared, ‘after Gerald’s revelations.’
‘By the way, Sybert,’ said Copley, ‘I have been hearing some bad stories about you to-day. My niece doesn’t like to have me associate with you.’
Marcia looked at her uncle helplessly; when he once commenced teasing there was no telling where he would stop.
Both men laughed, and Marcia flushed slightly.
‘Please, Miss Marcia,’ Sybert begged, ‘give me time to get out of the country before you expose me to the police.’
‘There’s no cause for fear,’ she returned. ‘I didn’t believe the story when I heard it, for I knew that you haven’t energy enough to run away from a bomb, much less throw one. That’s why it surprised me that other people should believe it.’
‘But most people have a better opinion of me than you have,’ he expostulated.
‘No, indeed, Mr. Sybert; I have a better opinion of you than most people. I really consider you harmless.’
The young man laughed and bowed his thanks, while he turned his attention to Mrs. Copley.
‘I hope that Villa Vivalanti will prove more successful than the one in Naples.’
Mrs. Copley looked at him reproachfully. ‘That horrible man! I never think of him without wishing we were safely back in America.’
‘Then please don’t think of him,’ her husband returned. ‘He is where he won’t trouble you any more.’
‘The tattooed man! What are you talking about?’
‘It has a somewhat theatrical63 ring,’ Mr. Copley admitted.
‘It is nothing to make light of,’ said his wife. ‘It’s a wonder to me that we escaped with our lives. Three years ago, while we were in Naples,’ she added to her niece, ‘your uncle, with his usual recklessness, got mixed up with one of the secret societies. Our villa was out toward Posilipo, 25 and one afternoon I was driving home at about dusk—I had been shopping in the city—and just as we reached a lonely place in the road, between two high walls——’
Mr. Copley broke in: ‘A masked man armed to the teeth sprang up in the path, with a horrible oath.’
‘Not really!’ Marcia cried, leaning forward delightedly. ‘Aunt Katherine, did a masked man——’
‘He wasn’t masked, but I wish he had been; he would have looked less ferocious64. He came straight to the side of the carriage, and taking off his hat with a very polite bow, he said that unless we left Naples in three days your uncle’s life would no longer be safe. His shirt was open at the throat, and there was a crucifix tattooed upside down on his breast. You can imagine what a desperate character he must have been—here in Italy of all places, where the people are so religious.’
‘What did you do?’ Marcia asked.
‘I was too shocked to speak, and Gerald, poor child, screamed all the way home.’
‘And did you leave the city?’
‘As it happened, we were leaving anyway,’ her uncle put in; ‘but we postponed66 our departure long enough for me to hunt the fellow down and put him in jail.’
‘It’s like a dime68 novel!’ Marcia sighed. ‘To be mixed up with murders and warnings and tattooed men and secret societies——Why didn’t you send for me, Uncle Howard?’
‘Well, you see, I didn’t know that you had grown up into such a charming person—though I am not sure that it would have made any difference. I had all that I could do to take care of one woman.’
‘That’s the way,’ she complained. ‘Just because one’s a girl one is always shut up in the house while there’s anything exciting going on.’
‘If you are so fond of bloodshed,’ Sybert suggested, ‘you may possibly have a chance of seeing some this spring.’
‘This spring? Is the Camorra making trouble again?’
‘Oh, no; not the Camorra. But unless all signs fail, there is a prospect69 of some fairly exciting riots.’
‘Really? Here in Rome?’
‘Well, no; probably not in Rome—there are too many soldiers. More likely in the Neapolitan provinces. I am sorry,’ he added, ‘since you seem to find them so entertaining, that we can’t promise you a riot on your own door-step; but I dare say, when it comes to the point, you’ll find Naples near enough.’
‘I give you fair warning, Uncle Howard,’ she said, ‘if there are any riots in Naples, I’m going down to see them. What is the trouble? What are they rioting about?’
‘If there are any riots,’ said her uncle, ‘you, my dear young lady, will amuse yourself at Villa Vivalanti until they are over,’ and he abruptly70 changed the subject.
The talk drifted back to the villa again. Mrs. Copley afforded their guest a more detailed71 description.
‘Nineteen bedrooms aside from the servants’ quarters, and room in the stable for thirty horses!’ she finished.
‘The princes of Vivalanti must have kept up an establishment in their pre-Riviera days.’
‘Mustn’t they?’ agreed Marcia cordially. The new villa was proving an unexpectedly soothing72 topic. ‘We’ll keep up an establishment too,’ she added. ‘We’re going to give a house-party when the Roystons come down from Paris, and—I know what we’ll do! We’ll give a ball for my birthday—won’t we, Uncle Howard? And have everybody out from Rome, and the ilex grove73 all lighted with coloured lamps!’
‘Not if I have anything to say about it,’ said Mr. Copley.
‘But you won’t have,’ said Marcia.
‘The only reason that I consented to take this villa was that I thought it was far enough away to escape parties for a time. You said——’
‘I said if you got nearer Rome we’d give a party every day, while as it is I’m only planning one party for all the three months.’
‘Perhaps you and Mr. Sybert won’t be invited.’
‘I don’t know where you’d find two such charming men,’ said Mrs. Copley.
‘Rome’s full of them,’ returned Marcia imperturbably75.
‘Who are the Roystons, Miss Marcia?’ Sybert inquired.
‘They are the friends I came over with last fall. You know Mr. Dessart?’
‘The artist? Yes, I know him.’
‘Well, Mrs. Royston is his aunt, and she has two daughters who——’
‘Are his cousins,’ suggested Mr. Copley.
‘Yes; to be sure, and very charming girls. They spend a great deal of time over here—at least Mrs. Royston and Eleanor do. Margaret has been in college.’
‘And Mr. Royston,’ asked Copley, ‘stays in America and attends to his business?’
‘Yes; Mrs. Royston and Eleanor go over quite often to keep him from getting lonely.’
‘Very generous of them,’ Sybert laughed.
‘They’ve spent winters in Cairo and Vienna and Paris and a lot of different places,’ pursued Marcia. ‘Eleanor,’ she added ruminatingly, ‘has been out nine seasons, and she has had a good deal of—experience.’
‘Dear, dear!’ said her uncle; ‘and you are proposing to expose all Rome——’
‘She’s very attractive,’ said Marcia, and then she glanced at Sybert and laughed. ‘If she should happen to take a fancy to you, Mr. Sybert——’
The young man rose to his feet and looked about for his hat. ‘Goodness!’ he murmured, ‘what would she do?’
‘There’s no telling.’ Marcia regarded him with a speculative76 light in her eyes.
‘A young woman who has been practising for nine seasons certainly ought to have her hand in,’ Copley agreed. ‘Perhaps, after all, Sybert, it is best we should not meet her.’
Sybert found his hat and paused for a moment.
‘You can’t frighten me that way, Miss Marcia,’ he said, with a shake of his head. ‘I have been out thirteen seasons myself.’
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收听单词发音
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1
rumbled
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| 发出隆隆声，发出辘辘声( rumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 轰鸣着缓慢行进； 发现…的真相； 看穿（阴谋） | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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salon
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| n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室 | |
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wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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8
delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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slanders
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| 诽谤，诋毁( slander的名词复数 ) | |
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12
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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13
hearsay
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| n.谣传，风闻 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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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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sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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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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relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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entail
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| vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要 | |
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arena
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| n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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humanitarian
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| n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者 | |
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irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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apathetically
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| adv.不露感情地；无动于衷地；不感兴趣地；冷淡地 | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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41
helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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42
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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43
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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44
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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46
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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47
posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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48
contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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49
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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50
plaintive
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| adj.可怜的，伤心的 | |
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51
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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52
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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53
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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54
perused
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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55
outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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56
anonymous
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| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
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57
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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58
proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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60
anarchist
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| n.无政府主义者 | |
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61
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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62
tattooed
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| v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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64
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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65
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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66
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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67
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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68
dime
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| n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角 | |
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69
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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70
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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71
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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72
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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73
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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74
grumbled
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| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
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75
imperturbably
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| adv.泰然地，镇静地，平静地 | |
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76
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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