CHAPTER II

 The square was overlooked from its remoter corner by the house of which the young girl had spoken, a dignified² residence of considerable size, having several windows on each floor.  Inside one of these, on the first floor, the apartment being a large drawing-room, sat a lady, in appearance from twenty-eight to thirty years of age.  The blinds were still undrawn, and the lady was absently surveying the weird³ scene without, her cheek resting on her hand.  The room was unlit from within, but enough of the glare from the market-place entered it to reveal the lady’s face.  She was what is called an interesting creature rather than a handsome woman; dark-eyed, thoughtful, and with sensitive lips.

 

A man sauntered into the room from behind and came forward.

 

‘O, Edith, I didn’t see you,’ he said.  ‘Why are you sitting here in the dark?’

 

‘I am looking at the fair,’ replied the lady in a languid voice.

 

‘Oh?  Horrid⁴ nuisance every year!  I wish it could be put a stop to’

 

‘I like it.’

 

‘H’m.  There’s no accounting⁵ for taste.’

 

For a moment he gazed from the window with her, for politeness sake, and then went out again.

 

In a few minutes she rang.

 

‘Hasn’t Anna come in?’ asked Mrs. Harnham.

 

‘No m’m.’

 

‘She ought to be in by this time.  I meant her to go for ten minutes only.’

 

‘Shall I go and look for her, m’m?’ said the house-maid alertly.

 

‘No.  It is not necessary: she is a good girl and will come soon.’

 

However, when the servant had gone Mrs. Harnham arose, went up to her room, cloaked and bonneted⁶ herself, and proceeded downstairs, where she found her husband.

 

‘I want to see the fair,’ she said; ‘and I am going to look for Anna.  I have made myself responsible for her, and must see she comes to no harm.  She ought to be indoors.  Will you come with me?’

 

‘Oh, she’s all right.  I saw her on one of those whirligig things, talking to her young man as I came in.  But I’ll go if you wish, though I’d rather go a hundred miles the other way.’

 

‘Then please do so.  I shall come to no harm alone.’

 

She left the house and entered the crowd which thronged⁷ the market-place, where she soon discovered Anna, seated on the revolving⁸ horse.  As soon as it stopped Mrs. Harnham advanced and said severely⁹, ‘Anna, how can you be such a wild girl?  You were only to be out for ten minutes.’

 

Anna looked blank, and the young man, who had dropped into the background, came to her assistance.

 

‘Please don’t blame her,’ he said politely.  ‘It is my fault that she has stayed.  She looked so graceful¹⁰ on the horse that I induced her to go round again.  I assure you that she has been quite safe.’

 

‘In that case I’ll leave her in your hands,’ said Mrs. Harnham, turning to retrace¹¹ her steps.

 

But this for the moment it was not so easy to do.  Something had attracted the crowd to a spot in their rear, and the wine-merchant’s wife, caught by its sway, found herself pressed against Anna’s acquaintance without power to move away.  Their faces were within a few inches of each other, his breath fanned her cheek as well as Anna’s.  They could do no other than smile at the accident; but neither spoke¹, and each waited passively.  Mrs. Harnham then felt a man’s hand clasping her fingers, and from the look of consciousness on the young fellow’s face she knew the hand to be his: she also knew that from the position of the girl he had no other thought than that the imprisoned¹² hand was Anna’s.  What prompted her to refrain from undeceiving him she could hardly tell.  Not content with holding the hand, he playfully slipped two of his fingers inside her glove, against her palm.  Thus matters continued till the pressure lessened¹³; but several minutes passed before the crowd thinned sufficiently¹⁴ to allow Mrs. Harnham to withdraw.

 

‘How did they get to know each other, I wonder?’ she mused¹⁵ as she retreated.  ‘Anna is really very forward—and he very wicked and nice.’

 

She was so gently stirred with the stranger’s manner and voice, with the tenderness of his idle touch, that instead of re-entering the house she turned back again and observed the pair from a screened nook.  Really she argued (being little less impulsive¹⁶ than Anna herself) it was very excusable in Anna to encourage him, however she might have contrived¹⁷ to make his acquaintance; he was so gentlemanly, so fascinating, had such beautiful eyes.  The thought that he was several years her junior produced a reasonless sigh.

 

At length the couple turned from the roundabout towards the door of Mrs. Harnham’s house, and the young man could be heard saying that he would accompany her home.  Anna, then, had found a lover, apparently¹⁸ a very devoted¹⁹ one.  Mrs. Harnham was quite interested in him.  When they drew near the door of the wine-merchant’s house, a comparatively deserted²⁰ spot by this time, they stood invisible for a little while in the shadow of a wall, where they separated, Anna going on to the entrance, and her acquaintance returning across the square.

 

‘Anna,’ said Mrs. Harnham, coming up.  ‘I’ve been looking at you!  That young man kissed you at parting I am almost sure.’

 

‘Well,’ stammered²¹ Anna; ‘he said, if I didn’t mind—it would do me no harm, and, and, him a great deal of good!’

 

‘Ah, I thought so!  And he was a stranger till to-night?’

 

‘Yes ma’am.’

 

‘Yet I warrant you told him your name and every thing about yourself?’

 

‘He asked me.’

 

‘But he didn’t tell you his?’

 

‘Yes ma’am, he did!’ cried Anna victoriously²².  ‘It is Charles Bradford, of London.’

 

‘Well, if he’s respectable, of course I’ve nothing to say against your knowing him,’ remarked her mistress, prepossessed, in spite of general principles, in the young man’s favour.  ‘But I must reconsider all that, if he attempts to renew your acquaintance.  A country-bred girl like you, who has never lived in Melchester till this month, who had hardly ever seen a black-coated man till you came here, to be so sharp as to capture a young Londoner like him!’

 

‘I didn’t capture him.  I didn’t do anything,’ said Anna, in confusion.

 

When she was indoors and alone Mrs. Harnham thought what a well-bred and chivalrous²³ young man Anna’s companion had seemed.  There had been a magic in his wooing touch of her hand; and she wondered how he had come to be attracted by the girl.

 

The next morning the emotional Edith Harnham went to the usual week-day service in Melchester cathedral.  In crossing the Close through the fog she again perceived him who had interested her the previous evening, gazing up thoughtfully at the high-piled architecture of the nave²⁴: and as soon as she had taken her seat he entered and sat down in a stall opposite hers.

 

He did not particularly heed²⁵ her; but Mrs. Harnham was continually occupying her eyes with him, and wondered more than ever what had attracted him in her unfledged maid-servant.  The mistress was almost as unaccustomed as the maiden²⁶ herself to the end-of-the-age young man, or she might have wondered less.  Raye, having looked about him awhile, left abruptly²⁷, without regard to the service that was proceeding²⁸; and Mrs. Harnham—lonely, impressionable creature that she was—took no further interest in praising the Lord.  She wished she had married a London man who knew the subtleties²⁹ of love-making as they were evidently known to him who had mistakenly caressed³⁰ her hand.

1 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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

3 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

4 horrid   

adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的

参考例句：

• I'm not going to the horrid dinner party.我不打算去参加这次讨厌的宴会。
• The medicine is horrid and she couldn't get it down.这种药很难吃，她咽不下去。

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 bonneted   

发动机前置的

参考例句：

7 thronged   

v.成群，挤满( throng的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mourners thronged to the funeral. 吊唁者蜂拥着前来参加葬礼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The department store was thronged with people. 百货商店挤满了人。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 revolving   

adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想

参考例句：

• The theatre has a revolving stage. 剧院有一个旋转舞台。
• The company became a revolving-door workplace. 这家公司成了工作的中转站。

9 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

10 graceful   

adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的

参考例句：

• His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
• The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。

11 retrace   

v.折回；追溯，探源

参考例句：

• He retraced his steps to the spot where he'd left the case.他折回到他丢下箱子的地方。
• You must retrace your steps.你必须折回原来走过的路。

12 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

13 lessened   

减少的，减弱的

参考例句：

• Listening to the speech through an interpreter lessened its impact somewhat. 演讲辞通过翻译的嘴说出来，多少削弱了演讲的力量。
• The flight to suburbia lessened the number of middle-class families living within the city. 随着迁往郊外的风行，住在城内的中产家庭减少了。

14 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

15 mused   

v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事）

参考例句：

• \"I wonder if I shall ever see them again, \"he mused. “我不知道是否还可以再见到他们，”他沉思自问。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• \"Where are we going from here?\" mused one of Rutherford's guests. 卢瑟福的一位客人忍不住说道：‘我们这是在干什么？” 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

16 impulsive   

adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的

参考例句：

• She is impulsive in her actions.她的行为常出于冲动。
• He was neither an impulsive nor an emotional man,but a very honest and sincere one.他不是个一冲动就鲁莽行事的人，也不多愁善感.他为人十分正直、诚恳。

17 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

18 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

19 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

20 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

21 stammered   

v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He stammered most when he was nervous. 他一紧张往往口吃。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Barsad leaned back in his chair, and stammered, \"What do you mean?\" 巴萨往椅背上一靠，结结巴巴地说，“你是什么意思？” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

22 victoriously   

adv.获胜地，胜利地

参考例句：

• Our technical revolution is blazing its way forward through all the difficulties and advancing victoriously. 我们的技术革命正在披荆斩棘，胜利前进。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Ignace victoriously ascended the stairs and knocked on Kessler's door. 伊格内斯踌躇满志地登上楼梯，敲响了凯斯勒的房门。 来自辞典例句

23 chivalrous   

adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的

参考例句：

• Men are so little chivalrous now.现在的男人几乎没有什么骑士风度了。
• Toward women he was nobly restrained and chivalrous.对于妇女，他表现得高尚拘谨，尊敬三分。

24 nave   

n.教堂的中部；本堂

参考例句：

• People gathered in the nave of the house.人们聚拢在房子的中间。
• The family on the other side of the nave had a certain look about them,too.在中殿另一边的那一家人，也有着自己特有的相貌。

25 heed   

v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心

参考例句：

• You must take heed of what he has told.你要注意他所告诉的事。
• For the first time he had to pay heed to his appearance.这是他第一次非得注意自己的外表不可了。

26 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

27 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

28 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

29 subtleties   

细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等

参考例句：

• I think the translator missed some of the subtleties of the original. 我认为译者漏掉了原著中一些微妙之处。
• They are uneducated in the financial subtleties of credit transfer. 他们缺乏有关信用转让在金融方面微妙作用的知识。

30 caressed   

爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His fingers caressed the back of her neck. 他的手指抚摩着她的后颈。
• He caressed his wife lovingly. 他怜爱万分地抚摸着妻子。