"In which case," said Priscilla, "I suppose you would get out of calling on Mrs. Millard altogether."
"Exactly," said Patty.
Mrs. Millard—more familiarly referred to as Mrs. Prexy—annually invited the seniors to dinner in parties of ten. Patty, whose turn had come a short time before, owing to an untoward2 misfortune, had been in the infirmary at the time; but, though she had missed the fun, she now found it necessary to pay the call.
"Of course," she resumed, "I can see why you should be expected to call if you attend the function and partake of the food; but what I can't understand is why a peaceable citizen who desires only to gang his ain gait should, upon the reception of an entirely3 unsolicited invitation, suddenly find it incumbent4 upon him to put on his best dress and his best hat and gloves in order to call upon people he barely knows."
"Your genders," said Priscilla, "are a trifle mixed."
"That," said Patty, "is the fault of the language. The logic5, I think, you will find correct. You can see what would happen," she pursued, "if you carry it out to its logical conclusion. Suppose, for instance, that every woman I have ever met in this town should suddenly take it into her head to invite me to a dinner. Here I—perfectly6 unsuspicious and innocent of any evil, because of a purely7 arbitrary law which I did not help to make—would not only have to sit down and write a hundred regrets, but would have to pay a hundred calls within the next two weeks. It makes me shudder8 to think of it!"
"I don't believe you need worry about it, Patty; of course we know you're popular, but you're not as popular as that."
"No," said Patty; "I didn't mean that I thought I really should get that many invitations. It's only that one is open to the constant danger."
During the progress of this conversation Georgie Merriles had been lounging on the couch by the window, reading the "Merchant of Venice" in a critically unimpassioned way that the instructor9 in Dramatic Theory could not have praised too much. The room finally having become too dark for reading, she threw down the book with something like a yawn. "It would have been a joke on Portia," she remarked, "if Bassanio had chosen the wrong casket"; and she turned her attention to the campus outside. Groups of girls were coming along the path from the lake, and the sound of their voices, mingled10 with laughter and the jingling11 of skates, floated up through the gathering12 dusk. Across the stretches of snow and bare trees lights were beginning to twinkle in the other dormitories, while nearer at hand, and more clearly visible, rose the irregular outline of the president's house.
"Patty," said Georgie, with her nose against the pane13, "if you really want to get that call out of the way, now's your chance. Mrs. Millard has just gone out."
Patty dashed into her bedroom and began jerking out bureau drawers. "Priscilla," she called in an agonized14 tone, "do you remember where I keep my cards?"
"It's ten minutes of six, Patty; you can't go now."
"Yes, I can. It doesn't matter what time it is, so long as she's out. I'll go just as I am."
"Not in a golf-cape!"
Patty hesitated an instant. "Well," she admitted, "I suppose the butler might tell her. I'll put on a hat"—this with the air of one who is making a really great concession15. Some more banging of bureau drawers, and she appeared in a black velvet16 hat trimmed with lace, with the brown jacket of her suit over her red blouse, and a blue golf-skirt and very muddy boots showing below.
"Patty, you're a disgrace to the room!" cried Priscilla. "Do you mean to tell me that you are going to Mrs. Millard's in a short skirt and those awful skating-shoes?"
"The butler won't look at my feet; I'm so beautiful above"; and Patty banged the door behind her.
"And there's Patty. My, but she looks funny!"
"Call her back," cried Priscilla, wildly trying to open the window.
"Let her alone," laughed Georgie; "it will be such fun to gloat over her."
Patty turned and waved her hand airily. "Can't stop now—will be back in a moment"; and she sped on around the corner.
The two stood watching the house for several minutes, vaguely20 expecting an explosion of some sort to occur. But nothing happened. Patty was swallowed as if by the grave, and the house gave no sign. They accordingly shrugged21 their shoulders and dressed for dinner with the philosophy which a life fraught22 with alarms and surprises gives.
Dinner was half over, and the table had finished discussing Patty's demise23, when that young lady trailed placidly24 in, smiled on the expectant faces, and inquired what kind of soup they had had.
"Bean soup; it wasn't any good," said Georgie, impatiently. "What happened? Did you have a nice call?"
"No, Maggie, I don't care for any soup to-night. Just bring me some steak, please."
"Patty!" in a pleading chorus, "what happened?"
"Oh, I beg your pardon," said Patty, sweetly. "Yes, thank you, I had a very pleasant call. May I trouble you for the bread, Lucille?"
"Patty, I think you're obnoxious," said Georgie. "Tell us what happened."
"Well," began Patty, in a leisurely25 manner, "I said to the butler, 'Is Mrs. Millard in?' and he said to me (without even a smile), 'I am not sure, miss; will you please step into the drawing-room and I'll see.' I was going to tell him that he needn't bother, as I knew she was out; but I thought that perhaps it would look a little better if I waited and let him find out for himself. So I walked in and sat down in a pink-and-white embroidered26 Louis-Quatorze chair. There was a big mirror in front of me, and I had plenty of time to study the effect, which, I will acknowledge, was a trifle mixed."
"I was beginning," pursued Patty, "to feel nervous for fear some of the family might drop in, when the man came back and said, 'Mrs. Millard will be down in a minute.'
"If I had seen you at that moment, Georgie Merriles, there would have been battle, murder, and sudden death. My first thought was of flight; but the man was guarding the door, and Mrs. Prexy had my card. While I was frenziedly trying to think of a valid28 excuse for my costume the lady came in, and I rose and greeted her graciously, one might almost say gushingly29. I talked very fast and tried to hypnotize her, so that she would keep her eyes on my face; but it was no use: I saw them traveling downward, and pretty soon I knew by the amused expression that they had arrived at my shoes.
"Concealment30 was no longer possible," pursued Patty, warming to her subject. "I threw myself upon her mercy and confessed the whole damning truth. What kind of ice-cream is that?" she demanded, leaning forward and gazing anxiously after a passing maid. "Don't tell me they're giving us raspberry again!"
"Well, where was I?"
"You'd just told her the truth."
"Oh, yes. She said she'd always wanted to meet the college girls informally and know them just as they are, and she was very glad of this opportunity. And there I sat, looking like a kaleidoscope and feeling like a fool, and she taking it for granted that I was being perfectly natural. Complimentary32, wasn't it? At this point dinner was announced, and she invited me to stay—quite insisted, in fact, to make up, she said, for the one I had missed when I was ill in the infirmary." Patty looked around the table with a reminiscent smile.
"What did you say? Did you refuse?" asked Lucille.
"No; I accepted, and am over there at present, eating pâté de foie gras."
"No, really, Patty; what did you say?"
"Well," said Patty, "I told her that this was ice-cream night at the college, and that I sort of hated to miss it; but that to-morrow would be mutton night, which I didn't mind missing in the least; so if she would just as leave transfer her invitation, I would accept for to-morrow with pleasure."
"Just a little local color, Lucille," laughed Priscilla.
"But," objected Lucille, "we'd promised not to play local color any more."
"Have you not learned," said Priscilla, "that Patty can no more live without local color than she can live without food? It's ingrained in her nature."
"Never mind," said Patty, good-naturedly; "you may not believe me now, but to-morrow night, when I'm all dressed up in beautiful clothes, swapping34 stories with Prexy and eating lobster35 salad, while you are over here having mutton, then maybe you'll be sorry."
该作者的其它作品
《DADDY-LONG-LEGS 长腿叔叔》
《The Wheat Princess小麦公主》
该作者的其它作品
《DADDY-LONG-LEGS 长腿叔叔》
《The Wheat Princess小麦公主》
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1 payable | |
adj.可付的,应付的,有利益的 | |
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2 untoward | |
adj.不利的,不幸的,困难重重的 | |
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3 entirely | |
ad.全部地,完整地;完全地,彻底地 | |
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4 incumbent | |
adj.成为责任的,有义务的;现任的,在职的 | |
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5 logic | |
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性 | |
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6 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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7 purely | |
adv.纯粹地,完全地 | |
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8 shudder | |
v.战粟,震动,剧烈地摇晃;n.战粟,抖动 | |
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9 instructor | |
n.指导者,教员,教练 | |
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10 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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11 jingling | |
叮当声 | |
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12 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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13 pane | |
n.窗格玻璃,长方块 | |
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14 agonized | |
v.使(极度)痛苦,折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 );苦斗;苦苦思索;感到极度痛苦 | |
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15 concession | |
n.让步,妥协;特许(权) | |
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16 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
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17 flattened | |
[医](水)平扁的,弄平的 | |
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18 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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19 shrieked | |
v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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20 vaguely | |
adv.含糊地,暖昧地 | |
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21 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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22 fraught | |
adj.充满…的,伴有(危险等)的;忧虑的 | |
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23 demise | |
n.死亡;v.让渡,遗赠,转让 | |
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24 placidly | |
adv.平稳地,平静地 | |
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25 leisurely | |
adj.悠闲的;从容的,慢慢的 | |
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26 embroidered | |
adj.绣花的 | |
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27 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 valid | |
adj.有确实根据的;有效的;正当的,合法的 | |
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29 gushingly | |
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30 concealment | |
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒 | |
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31 vanilla | |
n.香子兰,香草 | |
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32 complimentary | |
adj.赠送的,免费的,赞美的,恭维的 | |
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33 horrified | |
a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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34 swapping | |
交换,交换技术 | |
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35 lobster | |
n.龙虾,龙虾肉 | |
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