In answer to his ring a girl came to the door. She was rather short, thin, and dressed in black, with a clean white apron2. In the half light of the narrow lobby he made out a mahogany hat-rack of conventional shape, and on a wooden bracket a small lamp with a tarnished3 reflector.
"No," Richard heard in a quiet, tranquil4 voice, "Mr. Aked has just gone out for a walk. He didn't say what time he should be back. Can I give him any message?"
"He sent me a card to come down and see him this afternoon, and—I've come. He said about seven o'clock. It's a quarter past now. But perhaps he forgot all about it."
"Will you step inside? He may only be away for a minute or two."
"No, thanks. If you'll just tell him I've called—"
"I'm so sorry—" The girl raised her hand and rested it against the jamb of the doorway5; her eyes were set slantwise on the strip of garden, and she seemed to muse6 an instant.
"Yes," answered Richard.
"Uncle was telling me he had had dinner with you. I'm sure he'll be back soon. Won't you wait a little while?"
"Well—"
She stood aside, and Richard passed into the lobby.
The front room, into which he was ushered8, was full of dim shadows, attributable to the multiplicity of curtains which obscured the small bay window. Carteret Street and the half-dozen florid, tawny9, tree-lined avenues that run parallel to it contain hundreds of living rooms almost precisely10 similar. Its dimensions were thirteen feet by eleven, and the height of the ceiling appeared to bring the walls, which were papered in an undecipherable pattern of blue, even closer together than they really were. Linoleum11 with a few rugs served for a carpet. The fireplace was of painted stone, and a fancy screen of South African grasses hid the grate. Behind a clock and some vases on the mantelpiece rose a confection of walnut12 and silvered glass. A mahogany chiffonier filled the side of the room farthest from the window; it had a marble top and a large mirror framed in scroll13 work, and was littered with salt-cellars, fruit plates, and silver nicknacks. The table, a square one, was covered by a red cloth of flannel-like texture14 patterned in black. The chairs were of mahogany and horsehair, and matched the sofa, which stretched from the door nearly to the window. Several prints framed in gilt15 and oak depended by means of stout16 green cord from French nails with great earthenware17 heads. In the recess18 to the left of the hearth19 stood a piano, open, and a song on the music-stand. What distinguished20 the room from others of its type was a dwarf21 bookcase filled chiefly with French novels whose vivid yellow gratefully lightened a dark corner next the door.
"Uncle is very forgetful," the girl began. There was some sewing on the table, and she had already taken it up. Richard felt shy and ill at ease, but his companion showed no symptom of discomposure. He smiled vaguely22, not knowing what to reply.
"I suppose he walks a good deal," he said at length.
"Yes, he does." There was a second pause. The girl continued to sew quietly; she appeared to be indifferent whether they conversed23 or not.
"I see you are a musician."
"Oh, no!" She laughed, and looked at his eyes. "I sing a very little bit."
"Do you sing Schubert's songs?"
"Schubert's? No. Are they good?"
"Rather. They're the songs."
"Classical, I suppose." Her tone implied that classical songs were outside the region of the practical.
"Yes, of course."
"I don't think I care much for classical music."
"But you should."
"Should I? Why?" She laughed gaily24, like a child amused. "Hope Temple's songs are nice, and 'The River of Years,' I'm just learning that. Do you sing?"
"No—I don't really sing. I haven't got a piano at my place—now."
"What a pity! I suppose you know a great deal about music?"
"I wish I did!" said Richard, trying awkwardly not to seem flattered.
A third pause.
"Mr. Aked seems to have a fine lot of French novels. I wish I had as many."
"Yes. He's always bringing them in."
"And this is the latest, eh?" He picked up "L'Abbé Tigrane," which lay on the table by the sewing.
"Yes, I fancy uncle got that last night."
"You read French, of course?"
"I! No, indeed!" Again she laughed. "You mustn't imagine, Mr. Larch," she went on, and her small eyes twinkled, "that I am at all like uncle. I'm not. I've only kept house for him a little while, and we are really—quite different."
"How do you mean, 'like uncle'?"
"Well," the quiet voice was imperceptibly raised, "I'm not a great reader, and I know nothing of books. I'm not clever, you know. I can't bear poetry."
Richard looked indulgent.
"But you do read?"
"Yes, sometimes a novel. I'm reading 'East Lynne.' Uncle bought it for me the other day."
"And you like it?"
There was a timid tap at the door, and a short, stout servant with red hands and a red face entered; her rough, chubby25 forearms were bare, and she carried a market basket. "Please, 'm," she ejaculated meaningly and disappeared. Mr. Aked's niece excused herself, and when she returned Richard looked at his watch and rose.
"I'm very sorry about uncle—but it's just like him."
"Yes, isn't it?" Richard answered, and they exchanged a smile.
He walked down Carteret Street humming a tuneless air and twirling his stick. Mr. Aked's niece had proved rather disappointing. She was an ordinary girl, and evidently quite unsusceptible to the artistic26 influences which subtly emanated27 from Mr. Aked. But with the exception of his landlady28 and his landlady's daughter, she was the first woman whom Richard had met in London, and the interview had been somewhat of an ordeal29.
Yes, it was matter for regret. Suppose she had been clever, witty30, full of that "nameless charm" with which youths invest the ideal maidens31 of their dreams—with which, indeed, during the past week he had invested her! He might have married her. Then, guided by the experience of a sympathetic uncle-in-law, he would have realised all his ambitions. A vision of Mr. Richard Larch, the well-known editor, and his charming wife, giving a dinner-party to a carefully selected company of literary celebrities32, flitted before him. Alas33! The girl's "East Lynne," her drawing-room ballads34, the mean little serving-maid, the complacent35 vulgarity of the room, the house, the street, the neighbourhood, combined effectually to dispel36 it.
He felt sure that she had no aspirations37.
It was necessary to wait for a train at Parson's Green station. From the elevated platform grass was visible through a gently falling mist. The curving rails stole away mysteriously into a general greyness, and the twilight38, assuaging39 every crudity40 of the suburban41 landscape, gave an impression of vast spaces and perfect serenity42. Save for the porter leisurely43 lighting44 the station lamps, he was alone,—alone, as it seemed to him, in an upper world, above London, and especially above Fulham and the house where lived the girl who read "East Lynne." How commonplace must she be! Richard wondered that Mr. Aked could exist surrounded by all the banalities of Carteret Street. Even his own lodging45 was more attractive, for at least Raphael Street was within sound of the central hum and beat of the city.
A signal suddenly shone out in the distance; it might have been a lighthouse seen across unnumbered miles of calm ocean. Rain began to fall.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
resounding
|
|
| adj. 响亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
tarnished
|
|
| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
tranquil
|
|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
muse
|
|
| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
larch
|
|
| n.落叶松 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
ushered
|
|
| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
tawny
|
|
| adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
precisely
|
|
| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
linoleum
|
|
| n.油布，油毯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
walnut
|
|
| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
scroll
|
|
| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
texture
|
|
| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
gilt
|
|
| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
earthenware
|
|
| n.土器，陶器 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
recess
|
|
| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hearth
|
|
| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
dwarf
|
|
| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
conversed
|
|
| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
gaily
|
|
| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
chubby
|
|
| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
emanated
|
|
| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
landlady
|
|
| n.女房东，女地主 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
ordeal
|
|
| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
witty
|
|
| adj.机智的，风趣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
maidens
|
|
| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
celebrities
|
|
| n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
alas
|
|
| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
ballads
|
|
| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
complacent
|
|
| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
dispel
|
|
| vt.驱走，驱散，消除 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
aspirations
|
|
| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
assuaging
|
|
| v.减轻( assuage的现在分词 )；缓和；平息；使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
crudity
|
|
| n.粗糙，生硬；adj.粗略的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
suburban
|
|
| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
serenity
|
|
| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
leisurely
|
|
| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
lodging
|
|
| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |