More five-fingered ferns to be had for the reaching, more branches of redwood and laurel brushing his face as he rode, invited him to continue the manufacture of patterans, which he dropped as he fashioned them. An hour later, at the head of the canyon3, where he knew the trail over the divide was difficult and stiff, he debated his course and turned back.
Selim warned him by nickering. Came an answering nicker from close at hand. The trail was wide and easy, and Graham put his mount into a fox trot12, swung a wide bend, and overtook Paula on the Fawn13.
“Hello!” he called. “Hello! Hello!”
“I was just turning back,” she said. “Why did you turn back? I thought you were going over the divide to Little Grizzly16.”
“You knew I was ahead of you?” he asked, admiring the frank, boyish way of her eyes straight-gazing into his.
“Why shouldn’t I? I had no doubt at the second patteran.”
“Oh, I’d forgotten about them,” he laughed guiltily. “Why did you turn back?”
She waited until the Fawn and Selim had stepped over a fallen alder17 across the trail, so that she could look into Graham’s eyes when she answered:
“Because I did not care to follow your trail.—To follow anybody’s trail,” she quickly amended18. “I turned back at the second one.”
He failed of a ready answer, and an awkward silence was between them. Both were aware of this awkwardness, due to the known but unspoken things.
“Do you make a practice of dropping patterans?” Paula asked.
“The first I ever left,” he replied, with a shake of the head. “But there was such a generous supply of materials it seemed a pity, and, besides, the song was haunting me.”
“It was haunting me this morning when I woke up,” she said, this time her face straight ahead so that she might avoid a rope of wild grapevine that hung close to her side of the trail.
And Graham, gazing at her face in profile, at her crown of gold-brown hair, at her singing throat, felt the old ache at the heart, the hunger and the yearning19. The nearness of her was a provocation20. The sight of her, in her fawn-colored silk corduroy, tormented21 him with a rush of visions of that form of hers—swimming Mountain Lad, swan-diving through forty feet of air, moving down the long room in the dull-blue dress of medieval fashion with the maddening knee-lift of the clinging draperies.
“A penny for them,” she interrupted his visioning. His answer was prompt.
“Praise to the Lord for one thing: you haven’t once mentioned Dick.”
“Do you so dislike him?”
“Be fair,” he commanded, almost sternly. “It is because I like him. Otherwise...”
“I can’t understand why I remain. I should have been gone long ago.”
“Why?” she asked, her gaze still on the pricking ears.
“Be fair, be fair,” he warned. “You and I scarcely need speech for understanding.”
She turned full upon him, her cheeks warming with color, and, without speech, looked at him. Her whip-hand rose quickly, half way, as if to press her breast, and half way paused irresolutely24, then dropped down to her side. But her eyes, he saw, were glad and startled. There was no mistake. The startle lay in them, and also the gladness. And he, knowing as it is given some men to know, changed the bridle25 rein15 to his other hand, reined close to her, put his arm around her, drew her till the horses rocked, and, knee to knee and lips on lips, kissed his desire to hers. There was no mistake—pressure to pressure, warmth to warmth, and with an elate thrill he felt her breathe against him.
The next moment she had torn herself loose. The blood had left her face. Her eyes were blazing. Her riding-whip rose as if to strike him, then fell on the startled Fawn. Simultaneously26 she drove in both spurs with such suddenness and force as to fetch a groan27 and a leap from the mare28.
He listened to the soft thuds of hoofs29 die away along the forest path, himself dizzy in the saddle from the pounding of his blood. When the last hoof-beat had ceased, he half-slipped, half-sank from his saddle to the ground, and sat on a mossy boulder30. He was hard hit—harder than he had deemed possible until that one great moment when he had held her in his arms. Well, the die was cast.
He straightened up so abruptly31 as to alarm Selim, who sprang back the length of his bridle rein and snorted.
What had just occurred had been unpremeditated. It was one of those inevitable32 things. It had to happen. He had not planned it, although he knew, now, that had he not procrastinated33 his going, had he not drifted, he could have foreseen it. And now, going could not mend matters. The madness of it, the hell of it and the joy of it, was that no longer was there any doubt. Speech beyond speech, his lips still tingling34 with the memory of hers, she had told him. He dwelt over that kiss returned, his senses swimming deliciously in the sea of remembrance.
He laid his hand caressingly35 on the knee that had touched hers, and was grateful with the humility37 of the true lover. Wonderful it was that so wonderful a woman should love him. This was no girl. This was a woman, knowing her own will and wisdom. And she had breathed quickly in his arms, and her lips had been live to his. He had evoked38 what he had given, and he had not dreamed, after the years, that he had had so much to give.
He stood up, made as if to mount Selim, who nozzled his shoulder, then paused to debate.
It was no longer a question of going. That was definitely settled. Dick had certain rights, true. But Paula had her rights, and did he have the right to go, after what had happened, unless ... unless she went with him? To go now was to kiss and ride away. Surely, since the world of sex decreed that often the same men should love the one woman, and therefore that perfidy39 should immediately enter into such a triangle—surely, it was the lesser40 evil to be perfidious41 to the man than to the woman.
It was a real world, he pondered as he rode slowly along; and Paula, and Dick, and he were real persons in it, were themselves conscious realists who looked the facts of life squarely in the face. This was no affair of priest and code, of other wisdoms and decisions. Of themselves must it be settled. Some one would be hurt. But life was hurt. Success in living was the minimizing of pain. Dick believed that himself, thanks be. The three of them believed it. And it was nothing new under the sun. The countless42 triangles of the countless generations had all been somehow solved. This, then, would be solved. All human affairs reached some solution.
He shook sober thought from his brain and returned to the bliss43 of memory, reaching his hand to another caress36 of his knee, his lips breathing again to the breathing of hers against them. He even reined Selim to a halt in order to gaze at the hollow resting place of his bent44 arm which she had filled.
Not until dinner did Graham see Paula again, and he found her the very usual Paula. Not even his eye, keen with knowledge, could detect any sign of the day’s great happening, nor of the anger that had whitened her face and blazed in her eyes when she half-lifted her whip to strike him. In everything she was the same Little Lady of the Big House. Even when it chanced that her eyes met his, they were serene45, untroubled, with no hint of any secret in them. What made the situation easier was the presence of several new guests, women, friends of Dick and her, come for a couple of days.
Next morning, in the music room, he encountered them and Paula at the piano.
“Don’t you sing, Mr. Graham?” a Miss Hoffman asked.
She was the editor of a woman’s magazine published in San Francisco, Graham had learned.
“Oh, adorably,” he assured her. “Don’t I, Mrs. Forrest?” he appealed.
“It is quite true,” Paula smiled, “if for no other reason that he is kind enough not to drown me quite.”
“And nothing remains46 but to prove our words,” he volunteered. “There’s a duet we sang the other evening—” He glanced at Paula for a sign. “—Which is particularly good for my kind of singing.” Again he gave her a passing glance and received no cue to her will or wish. “The music is in the living room. I’ll go and get it.”
“It’s the ‘Gypsy Trail,’ a bright, catchy47 thing,” he heard her saying to the others as he passed out.
They did not sing it so recklessly as on that first occasion, and much of the thrill and some of the fire they kept out of their voices; but they sang it more richly, more as the composer had intended it and with less of their own particular interpretation48. But Graham was thinking as he sang, and he knew, too, that Paula was thinking, that in their hearts another duet was pulsing all unguessed by the several women who applauded the song’s close.
“You never sang it better, I’ll wager,” he told Paula.
For he had heard a new note in her voice. It had been fuller, rounder, with a generousness of volume that had vindicated49 that singing throat.
“And now, because I know you don’t know, I’ll tell you what a patteran is,” she was saying....
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收听单词发音
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1
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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canyons
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| n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 ) | |
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canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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bucolic
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| adj.乡村的；牧羊的 | |
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carving
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| n.雕刻品，雕花 | |
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8
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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9
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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11
trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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12
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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13
fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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14
reined
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| 勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理 | |
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15
rein
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| n.疆绳，统治，支配；vt.以僵绳控制，统治 | |
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16
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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alder
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| n.赤杨树 | |
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Amended
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| adj. 修正的 动词amend的过去式和过去分词 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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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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21
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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23
pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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irresolutely
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| adv.优柔寡断地 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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27
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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28
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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29
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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31
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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32
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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33
procrastinated
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| 拖延，耽搁( procrastinate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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35
caressingly
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| 爱抚地，亲切地 | |
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36
caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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37
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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38
evoked
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| [医]诱发的 | |
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perfidy
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| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
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40
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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41
perfidious
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| adj.不忠的，背信弃义的 | |
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42
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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43
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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44
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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45
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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46
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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47
catchy
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| adj.易记住的，诡诈的，易使人上当的 | |
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48
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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49
vindicated
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| v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护 | |
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