"Father is rather disagreeable this morning," she asserted in a sharp voice, when they were on the highway to Sorrento. "He repented3 his decision to let me go with you and almost forbade me. But I rebelled, and——" she paused; "I have found that when I assert myself I can usually win my way, for father is a coward at heart."
It pained Mary Louise to hear so unfilial a speech from the lips of a young girl. Colonel Hathaway's face showed that he, too, considered it unmannerly to criticise4 a parent in the presence of strangers. But both reflected that Alora's life and environments were unenviable and that she had lacked, in these later years at least, the careful training due one in her station in society. So they deftly5 changed the subject and led the girl to speak of Italy and its delightful6 scenery and romantic history. Alora knew little of the country outside of the Sorrento peninsula, but her appreciation7 of nature was artistic8 and innately9 true and she talked well and interestingly of the surrounding country and the quaint11 and amusing customs of its inhabitants.
"How long do you expect to remain here?" asked Mary Louise.
"I've no idea," was the reply. "Father seems entirely12 satisfied with our quarters, for he has no ambition in life beyond eating three simple meals a day, sleeping from nine at night until nine in the morning and reading all the romances he is able to procure13. He corresponds with no one save his banker in America and sees no one but the servants and me. But to me the monotony of our existence is fast becoming unbearable14 and I often wonder if I can stand it for three years longer—until I'm eighteen. Then I shall be my own mistress and entitled to handle my own money, and you may rest assured I shall make up for lost time."
They let that remark pass, also, but later in the afternoon, when luncheon15 was over and the two girls were wandering in the lovely gardens of the Hotel Vittoria, while the Colonel indulged in an afternoon siesta16, Mary Louise led Alora to speak freely of her past life.
"My grandfather says that your mother must have left you a good deal of money," she remarked.
"Yes; mamma told me it was a large fortune and that I must guard it wisely and use it generously to help others less favored," replied Alora thoughtfully.
"And she left it all in your father's keeping?"
"Not the principal. That is all invested, and thank goodness my father cannot touch it in any way. But the income is paid to him regularly, and he may do as he pleases with it. I am sure mamma expected I would have every reasonable wish gratified, and be taught every womanly accomplishment18; but I'm treated as a mere19 dependent. I'm almost destitute20 of proper clothing—really, Mary Louise, this is the best dress I possess!—and I've been obliged to educate myself, making a rather poor job of it, I fear. I read the best of father's books, when he is done with them, and note carefully the manner in which the characters express themselves and how they conduct themselves in society as well as in worldly contact. I do not wish to be wholly gauché when I come into my kingdom, you see, and the books are my only salvation21. I don't care much for the stories, but some of the good writers are safe guides to follow in the matter of dialogue and deportment. Fortunately, father's books are all in English. He doesn't understand much Italian, although I have learned to speak the language like a native—like our native servants, you know."
Mary Louise reflected on this confession22. "I'm afraid, Alora dear, that modern novels are not prone23 to teach morality, or to develop a girl's finer intuitions," she said gravely. "I think you express yourself very well—better than I do, indeed—but you need association with those who can convey to you the right principles of thought and thus encourage your mental development. Culture and refinement24 seem to come more from association than from books, although there is an innate10 tendency in all well-born people to acquire them spontaneously. But there! you'll accuse me of preaching and, after all, I think you've done just splendidly under rather trying circumstances."
"You don't know how trying they are," declared Alora, with a sigh. "Father and I are wholly uncongenial and we fight on the slightest provocation25. This morning our trouble was over money. I wanted a little to take with me, for my purse hasn't a lira in it; but, no! not a centisimo would he give up. He insisted that if I was to be your guest you would pay all my expenses."
"Of course," said Mary Louise. "But what does he do with all that big income? Is he saving it for you?"
"No, indeed! he's saving it for himself. Mamma told me, the last time I saw her before she died, that if father was good to me, and kind and loving, I could provide for him in some way after I came into my money. She said she would leave the manner of it to my judgment26. But he isn't kind, or loving, or good, and knows very well that when I'm of age he'll never see another cent of my money. So now he'd hoarding27 my income for future use."
"Yes, it does seem strange. I remember her saying that he loved luxury and all the comfort that money will buy, and so she wanted him to have this income to spend, because he was my father and because she felt she had ruined his career as an artist by surrounding him with luxuries during their early married life, and afterward28 had embittered29 him by depriving him of them. But the man doesn't know what luxury means, Mary Louise. His tastes are those of a peasant."
"Yet once your mother loved him, and believed in him."
"I—I think she believed in him; I'm quite sure she did."
"Then his nature must have changed. I can imagine, Alora, that when your mother first knew him he was hard-working and ambitious. He was talented, too, and that promised future fame. But when he married a wealthy woman he lost his ambition, success being no longer necessary. After a period of ease and comfort in the society of his lovely wife—for Gran'pa says your mother was very lovely—he lost both the wife and the luxuries he enjoyed. A big man, Alora, would have developed a new ambition, but it seems your father was not big. His return to poverty after your mother's desertion made him bitter and reckless; perhaps it dulled his brain, and that is why he is no longer able to do good work. He was utterly30 crushed, I imagine, and hadn't the stamina31 to recover his former poise32. He must have been ten years or so in this condition, despairing and disinterested33, when the wheel of fortune turned and he was again in the possession of wealth. He had now the means to live as he pleased. But those years had so changed him that he couldn't respond to the new conditions. Doubtless he was glad, in a way, but he was now content merely to exist. Doesn't that seem logical, Alora?"
Indeed, Mary Louise was delighted with her solution of the problem. It was in keeping with her talent for deducing the truth from meagre facts by logically putting them together and considering them as a whole. It was seldom she erred34 in these deductions35. But Alora seemed unimpressed and noting her glum36 look Mary Louise said again: "Doesn't all this seem logical, dear?"
"No," said Alora. "Father isn't the man to be crushed by anything. He's shrewd enough, in his bourgeois37 way. Once, long ago—back in New York—a woman made him give her money; it was money, you know; and I have often thought he ran away from America to escape her further demands."
"Who was the woman?"
"My mother's nurse."
"Oh. Was it her wages she demanded?"
"Perhaps so. I may have misjudged father in that case. But it seemed to me—I was a mere child then—that it must have been a larger sum than wages would have amounted to. Yet, perhaps not. Anyhow, he left America right afterward, and when we had wandered a year or so in various countries we settled down here."
"Won't he have to account for all the money he has spent and given away, when you come of age?" inquired Mary Louise.
"No. Mother distinctly told me I was to ask for no accounting38 whatever. Her will says he is to handle the income as he sees fit, just as if it were his own, so long as he provides properly for his daughter and treats her with fatherly consideration. That's the only reason he keeps me with him, guarding my person but neglecting the other injunctions. If he set me adrift, as I'm sure he'd like to do, I could appeal to the court and his income would cease and another guardian39 be appointed. I believe there is something of that sort in the will, and that is why he is so afraid of losing me. But he gives me no chance to appeal to anyone, although I sometimes think I shall run away and leave him in the lurch40. If I could get to Chicago and tell Judge Bernsted, my mother's lawyer, how I am treated, I believe he could make the court set aside my father's guardianship41. But I can't get ten miles away from here, for lack of money."
"How your dear mother would grieve, if she knew her plans for your happiness have failed!" exclaimed Mary Louise.
Alora frowned, and somehow that frown reminded Mary Louise of the girl's father.
"My mother ought to have known my father better," she declared sullenly42. "I must not criticize her judgment, for her memory is my most precious possession and I know she loved me devotedly43. But there is one thing in her history I can never understand."
"My mother was an educated woman, well-bred and refined."
"Yes; Gran'pa Jim told me that."
"Then how could she have married my father, who is not a gentleman and never could have impressed a lady with the notion he was one?"
Mary Louise hesitated, for to admit this would send her deductions, so carefully constructed, tumbling in ruins. But Alora ought to know the man.
"If that is true, dear," said she, "it is the strangest part of your story; and, of course, we can only guess the reason, for the only one who could have explained it properly was your mother."
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1
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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2
satchel
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| n.(皮或帆布的)书包 | |
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3
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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criticise
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| v.批评，评论；非难 | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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6
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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7
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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8
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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innately
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| adv.天赋地；内在地，固有地 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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unbearable
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| adj.不能容忍的；忍受不住的 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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16
siesta
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| n.午睡 | |
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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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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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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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27
hoarding
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| n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 ) | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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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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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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stamina
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| n.体力；精力；耐力 | |
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32
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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erred
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| 犯错误，做错事( err的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deductions
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| 扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演 | |
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glum
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| adj.闷闷不乐的，阴郁的 | |
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bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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lurch
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| n.突然向前或旁边倒；v.蹒跚而行 | |
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41
guardianship
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| n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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42
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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43
devotedly
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| 专心地； 恩爱地； 忠实地； 一心一意地 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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