Nature has not designed everyone for dancing, though sometimes those she has denied are the last to discover her niggardliness1. But the round young man was at least vigorous enough—too much so, when his knees collided with Alice's—and he was too sturdy to be thrown off his feet, himself, or to allow his partner to fall when he tripped her. He held her up valiantly2, and continued to beat a path through the crowd of other dancers by main force.
He paid no attention to anything suggested by the efforts of the musicians, and appeared to be unaware3 that there should have been some connection between what they were doing and what he was doing; but he may have listened to other music of his own, for his expression was of high content; he seemed to feel no doubt whatever that he was dancing. Alice kept as far away from him as under the circumstances she could; and when they stopped she glanced down, and found the execution of unseen manoeuvres, within the protection of her skirt, helpful to one of her insteps and to the toes of both of her slippers4.
Her cheery partner was paddling his rosy5 brows with a fine handkerchief. “That was great!” he said. “Let's go out and sit in the corridor; they've got some comfortable chairs out there.”
“Well—let's not,” she returned. “I believe I'd rather stay in here and look at the crowd.”
“No; that isn't it,” he said, chiding6 her with a waggish7 forefinger8. “You think if you go out there you'll miss a chance of someone else asking you for the next dance, and so you'll have to give it to me.”
“How absurd!” Then, after a look about her that revealed nothing encouraging, she added graciously, “You can have the next if you want it.”
“Great!” he exclaimed, mechanically. “Now let's get out of here—out of THIS room, anyhow.”
“Why? What's the matter with——”
“My mother,” Mr. Dowling explained. “But don't look at her. She keeps motioning me to come and see after Ella, and I'm simply NOT going to do it, you see!”
Alice laughed. “I don't believe it's so much that,” she said, and consented to walk with him to a point in the next room from which Mrs. Dowling's continuous signalling could not be seen. “Your mother hates me.”
“Oh, no; I wouldn't say that. No, she don't,” he protested, innocently. “She don't know you more than just to speak to, you see. So how could she?”
“Well, she does. I can tell.”
A frown appeared upon his rounded brow. “No; I'll tell you the way she feels. It's like this: Ella isn't TOO popular, you know—it's hard to see why, because she's a right nice girl, in her way—and mother thinks I ought to look after her, you see. She thinks I ought to dance a whole lot with her myself, and stir up other fellows to dance with her—it's simply impossible to make mother understand you CAN'T do that, you see. And then about me, you see, if she had her way I wouldn't get to dance with anybody at all except girls like Mildred Palmer and Henrietta Lamb. Mother wants to run my whole programme for me, you understand, but the trouble of it is—about girls like that, you see well, I couldn't do what she wants, even if I wanted to myself, because you take those girls, and by the time I get Ella off my hands for a minute, why, their dances are always every last one taken, and where do I come in?”
Alice nodded, her amiability9 undamaged. “I see. So that's why you dance with me.”
“No, I like to,” he protested. “I rather dance with you than I do with those girls.” And he added with a retrospective determination which showed that he had been through quite an experience with Mrs. Dowling in this matter. “I TOLD mother I would, too!”
“Did it take all your courage, Frank?”
He looked at her shrewdly. “Now you're trying to tease me,” he said. “I don't care; I WOULD rather dance with you! In the first place, you're a perfectly10 beautiful dancer, you see, and in the second, a man feels a lot more comfortable with you than he does with them. Of course I know almost all the other fellows get along with those girls all right; but I don't waste any time on 'em I don't have to. I like people that are always cordial to everybody, you see—the way you are.”
“Thank you,” she said, thoughtfully.
“Oh, I MEAN it,” he insisted. “There goes the band again. Shall we?”
“Suppose we sit it out?” she suggested. “I believe I'd like to go out in the corridor, after all—it's pretty warm in here.”
Assenting11 cheerfully, Dowling conducted her to a pair of easy-chairs within a secluding12 grove13 of box-trees, and when they came to this retreat they found Mildred Palmer just departing, under escort of a well-favoured gentleman about thirty. As these two walked slowly away, in the direction of the dancing-floor, they left it not to be doubted that they were on excellent terms with each other; Mildred was evidently willing to make their progress even slower, for she halted momentarily, once or twice; and her upward glances to her tall companion's face were of a gentle, almost blushing deference14. Never before had Alice seen anything like this in her friend's manner.
“How queer!” she murmured.
“What's queer?” Dowling inquired as they sat down.
“Who was that man?”
“Haven't you met him?”
“I never saw him before. Who is he?”
“Why, it's this Arthur Russell.”
“What Arthur Russell? I never heard of him.” Mr. Dowling was puzzled. “Why, THAT'S funny! Only the last time I saw you, you were telling me how awfully15 well you knew Mildred Palmer.”
“Why, certainly I do,” Alice informed him. “She's my most intimate friend.”
“That's what makes it seem so funny you haven't heard anything about this Russell, because everybody says even if she isn't engaged to him right now, she most likely will be before very long. I must say it looks a good deal that way to me, myself.”
“What nonsense!” Alice exclaimed. “She's never even mentioned him to me.”
The young man glanced at her dubiously16 and passed a finger over the tiny prong that dashingly composed the whole substance of his moustache.
“Well, you see, Mildred IS pretty reserved,” he remarked. “This Russell is some kind of cousin of the Palmer family, I understand.”
“He is?”
“Yes—second or third or something, the girls say. You see, my sister Ella hasn't got much to do at home, and don't read anything, or sew, or play solitaire, you see; and she hears about pretty much everything that goes on, you see. Well, Ella says a lot of the girls have been talking about Mildred and this Arthur Russell for quite a while back, you see. They were all wondering what he was going to look like, you see; because he only got here yesterday; and that proves she must have been talking to some of 'em, or else how——”
Alice laughed airily, but the pretty sound ended abruptly17 with an audible intake18 of breath. “Of course, while Mildred IS my most intimate friend,” she said, “I don't mean she tells me everything—and naturally she has other friends besides. What else did your sister say she told them about this Mr. Russell?”
“Well, it seems he's VERY well off; at least Henrietta Lamb told Ella he was. Ella says——”
Alice interrupted again, with an increased irritability19. “Oh, never mind what Ella says! Let's find something better to talk about than Mr. Russell!”
But this liberal offer found her unresponsive; she sat leaning back, silent, her arms along the arms of her chair, and her eyes, moist and bright, fixed21 upon a wide doorway22 where the dancers fluctuated. She was disquieted23 by more than Mildred's reserve, though reserve so marked had certainly the significance of a warning that Alice's definition, “my most intimate friend,” lacked sanction. Indirect notice to this effect could not well have been more emphatic24, but the sting of it was left for a later moment. Something else preoccupied25 Alice: she had just been surprised by an odd experience. At first sight of this Mr. Arthur Russell, she had said to herself instantly, in words as definite as if she spoke26 them aloud, though they seemed more like words spoken to her by some unknown person within her: “There! That's exactly the kind of looking man I'd like to marry!”
In the eyes of the restless and the longing27, Providence28 often appears to be worse than inscrutable: an unreliable Omnipotence29 given to haphazard30 whimsies31 in dealing32 with its own creatures, choosing at random33 some among them to be rent with tragic34 deprivations35 and others to be petted with blessing36 upon blessing.
In Alice's eyes, Mildred had been blessed enough; something ought to be left over, by this time, for another girl. The final touch to the heaping perfection of Christmas-in-everything for Mildred was that this Mr. Arthur Russell, good-looking, kind-looking, graceful37, the perfect fiance, should be also “VERY well off.” Of course! These rich always married one another. And while the Mildreds danced with their Arthur Russells the best an outsider could do for herself was to sit with Frank Dowling—the one last course left her that was better than dancing with him.
“Well, what DO you want to talk about?” he inquired.
“Nothing,” she said. “Suppose we just sit, Frank.” But a moment later she remembered something, and, with a sudden animation38, began to prattle39. She pointed40 to the musicians down the corridor. “Oh, look at them! Look at the leader! Aren't they FUNNY? Someone told me they're called 'Jazz Louie and his half-breed bunch.' Isn't that just crazy? Don't you love it? Do watch them, Frank.”
She continued to chatter41, and, while thus keeping his glance away from herself, she detached the forlorn bouquet42 of dead violets from her dress and laid it gently beside the one she had carried.
Then she was abruptly silent.
“You certainly are a funny girl,” Dowling remarked. “You say you don't want to talk about anything at all, and all of a sudden you break out and talk a blue streak44; and just about the time I begin to get interested in what you're saying you shut off! What's the matter with girls, anyhow, when they do things like that?”
“I don't know; we're just queer, I guess.”
“I say so! Well, what'll we do NOW? Talk, or just sit?”
“Suppose we just sit some more.”
“Anything to oblige,” he assented. “I'm willing to sit as long as you like.”
But even as he made his amiability clear in this matter, the peace was threatened—his mother came down the corridor like a rolling, ominous45 cloud. She was looking about her on all sides, in a fidget of annoyance46, searching for him, and to his dismay she saw him. She immediately made a horrible face at his companion, beckoned47 to him imperiously with a dumpy arm, and shook her head reprovingly. The unfortunate young man tried to repulse48 her with an icy stare, but this effort having obtained little to encourage his feeble hope of driving her away, he shifted his chair so that his back was toward her discomfiting49 pantomime. He should have known better, the instant result was Mrs. Dowling in motion at an impetuous waddle50.
She entered the box-tree seclusion51 with the lower rotundities of her face hastily modelled into the resemblance of an over-benevolent smile a contortion52 which neglected to spread its intended geniality53 upward to the exasperated54 eyes and anxious forehead.
Mrs. Dowling nodded to her. “Good evening, Miss Adams,” she said. “I just thought as you and Frank weren't dancing you wouldn't mind my disturbing you——”
“Not at all,” Alice murmured.
Mr. Dowling seemed of a different mind. “Well, what DO you want?” he inquired, whereupon his mother struck him roguishly with her fan.
“Bad fellow!” She turned to Alice. “I'm sure you won't mind excusing him to let him do something for his old mother, Miss Adams.”
“What DO you want?” the son repeated.
“Two very nice things,” Mrs. Dowling informed him. “Everybody is so anxious for Henrietta Lamb to have a pleasant evening, because it's the very first time she's been anywhere since her father's death, and of course her dear grandfather's an old friend of ours, and——”
“Well, well!” her son interrupted. “Miss Adams isn't interested in all this, mother.”
“But Henrietta came to speak to Ella and me, and I told her you were so anxious to dance with her——”
“Here!” he cried. “Look here! I'd rather do my own——”
“Yes; that's just it,” Mrs. Dowling explained. “I just thought it was such a good opportunity; and Henrietta said she had most of her dances taken, but she'd give you one if you asked her before they were all gone. So I thought you'd better see her as soon as possible.”
Dowling's face had become rosy. “I refuse to do anything of the kind.”
“Bad fellow!” said his mother, gaily56. “I thought this would be the best time for you to see Henrietta, because it won't be long till all her dances are gone, and you've promised on your WORD to dance the next with Ella, and you mightn't have a chance to do it then. I'm sure Miss Adams won't mind if you——”
“Not at all,” Alice said.
“Well, I mind!” he said. “I wish you COULD understand that when I want to dance with any girl I don't need my mother to ask her for me. I really AM more than six years old!”
He spoke with too much vehemence57, and Mrs. Dowling at once saw how to have her way. As with husbands and wives, so with many fathers and daughters, and so with some sons and mothers: the man will himself be cross in public and think nothing of it, nor will he greatly mind a little crossness on the part of the woman; but let her show agitation58 before any spectator, he is instantly reduced to a coward's slavery. Women understand that ancient weakness, of course; for it is one of their most important means of defense59, but can be used ignobly60.
Mrs. Dowling permitted a tremulousness to become audible in her voice. “It isn't very—very pleasant—to be talked to like that by your own son—before strangers!”
“Oh, my! Look here!” the stricken Dowling protested. “I didn't say anything, mother. I was just joking about how you never get over thinking I'm a little boy. I only——”
Mrs. Dowling continued: “I just thought I was doing you a little favour. I didn't think it would make you so angry.”
“Mother, for goodness' sake! Miss Adams'll think——”
“I suppose,” Mrs. Dowling interrupted, piteously, “I suppose it doesn't matter what I think!”
“Oh, gracious!”
Alice interfered61; she perceived that the ruthless Mrs. Dowling meant to have her way. “I think you'd better go, Frank. Really.”
“There!” his mother cried. “Miss Adams says so, herself! What more do you want?”
“Oh, gracious!” he lamented62 again, and, with a sick look over his shoulder at Alice, permitted his mother to take his arm and propel him away. Mrs. Dowling's spirits had strikingly recovered even before the pair passed from the corridor: she moved almost bouncingly beside her embittered63 son, and her eyes and all the convolutions of her abundant face were blithe64.
Alice went in search of Walter, but without much hope of finding him. What he did with himself at frozen-face dances was one of his most successful mysteries, and her present excursion gave her no clue leading to its solution. When the musicians again lowered their instruments for an interval65 she had returned, alone, to her former seat within the partial shelter of the box-trees.
She had now to practice an art that affords but a limited variety of methods, even to the expert: the art of seeming to have an escort or partner when there is none. The practitioner66 must imply, merely by expression and attitude, that the supposed companion has left her for only a few moments, that she herself has sent him upon an errand; and, if possible, the minds of observers must be directed toward a conclusion that this errand of her devising is an amusing one; at all events, she is alone temporarily and of choice, not deserted67. She awaits a devoted68 man who may return at any instant.
Other people desired to sit in Alice's nook, but discovered her in occupancy. She had moved the vacant chair closer to her own, and she sat with her arm extended so that her hand, holding her lace kerchief, rested upon the back of this second chair, claiming it. Such a preemption, like that of a traveller's bag in the rack, was unquestionable; and, for additional evidence, sitting with her knees crossed, she kept one foot continuously moving a little, in cadence69 with the other, which tapped the floor. Moreover, she added a fine detail: her half-smile, with the under lip caught, seemed to struggle against repression70, as if she found the service engaging her absent companion even more amusing than she would let him see when he returned: there was jovial71 intrigue72 of some sort afoot, evidently. Her eyes, beaming with secret fun, were averted73 from intruders, but sometimes, when couples approached, seeking possession of the nook, her thoughts about the absentee appeared to threaten her with outright74 laughter; and though one or two girls looked at her skeptically, as they turned away, their escorts felt no such doubts, and merely wondered what importantly funny affair Alice Adams was engaged in. She had learned to do it perfectly.
She had learned it during the last two years; she was twenty when for the first time she had the shock of finding herself without an applicant75 for one of her dances. When she was sixteen “all the nice boys in town,” as her mother said, crowded the Adamses' small veranda76 and steps, or sat near by, cross-legged on the lawn, on summer evenings; and at eighteen she had replaced the boys with “the older men.” By this time most of “the other girls,” her contemporaries, were away at school or college, and when they came home to stay, they “came out”—that feeble revival77 of an ancient custom offering the maiden78 to the ceremonial inspection79 of the tribe. Alice neither went away nor “came out,” and, in contrast with those who did, she may have seemed to lack freshness of lustre—jewels are richest when revealed all new in a white velvet80 box. And Alice may have been too eager to secure new retainers, too kind in her efforts to keep the old ones. She had been a belle81 too soon.
点击收听单词发音
1 niggardliness | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 valiantly | |
adv.勇敢地,英勇地;雄赳赳 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 unaware | |
a.不知道的,未意识到的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 slippers | |
n. 拖鞋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 chiding | |
v.责骂,责备( chide的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 waggish | |
adj.诙谐的,滑稽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 forefinger | |
n.食指 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 amiability | |
n.和蔼可亲的,亲切的,友善的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 assenting | |
同意,赞成( assent的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 secluding | |
v.使隔开,使隔绝,使隐退( seclude的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 deference | |
n.尊重,顺从;敬意 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 awfully | |
adv.可怕地,非常地,极端地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 dubiously | |
adv.可疑地,怀疑地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 intake | |
n.吸入,纳入;进气口,入口 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 irritability | |
n.易怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 assented | |
同意,赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 doorway | |
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 disquieted | |
v.使不安,使忧虑,使烦恼( disquiet的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 emphatic | |
adj.强调的,着重的;无可置疑的,明显的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 preoccupied | |
adj.全神贯注的,入神的;被抢先占有的;心事重重的v.占据(某人)思想,使对…全神贯注,使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 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: |
|
|
27 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 omnipotence | |
n.全能,万能,无限威力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 haphazard | |
adj.无计划的,随意的,杂乱无章的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 whimsies | |
n.怪念头( whimsy的名词复数 );异想天开;怪脾气;与众不同的幽默感 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 dealing | |
n.经商方法,待人态度 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 random | |
adj.随机的;任意的;n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 deprivations | |
剥夺( deprivation的名词复数 ); 被夺去; 缺乏; 匮乏 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 blessing | |
n.祈神赐福;祷告;祝福,祝愿 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 animation | |
n.活泼,兴奋,卡通片/动画片的制作 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 prattle | |
n.闲谈;v.(小孩般)天真无邪地说话;发出连续而无意义的声音 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 chatter | |
vi./n.喋喋不休;短促尖叫;(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 bouquet | |
n.花束,酒香 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 reposed | |
v.将(手臂等)靠在某人(某物)上( repose的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 streak | |
n.条理,斑纹,倾向,少许,痕迹;v.加条纹,变成条纹,奔驰,快速移动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 ominous | |
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 annoyance | |
n.恼怒,生气,烦恼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 beckoned | |
v.(用头或手的动作)示意,召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 repulse | |
n.击退,拒绝;vt.逐退,击退,拒绝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 discomfiting | |
v.使为难( discomfit的现在分词 );使狼狈;使挫折;挫败 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 waddle | |
vi.摇摆地走;n.摇摆的走路(样子) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 seclusion | |
n.隐遁,隔离 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 contortion | |
n.扭弯,扭歪,曲解 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 geniality | |
n.和蔼,诚恳;愉快 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 exasperated | |
adj.恼怒的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 advent | |
n.(重要事件等的)到来,来临 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 gaily | |
adv.欢乐地,高兴地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 vehemence | |
n.热切;激烈;愤怒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 ignobly | |
卑贱地,下流地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 interfered | |
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 lamented | |
adj.被哀悼的,令人遗憾的v.(为…)哀悼,痛哭,悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 embittered | |
v.使怨恨,激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 blithe | |
adj.快乐的,无忧无虑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 practitioner | |
n.实践者,从事者;(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 cadence | |
n.(说话声调的)抑扬顿挫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 repression | |
n.镇压,抑制,抑压 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 jovial | |
adj.快乐的,好交际的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 intrigue | |
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 averted | |
防止,避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 ); 转移 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 outright | |
adv.坦率地;彻底地;立即;adj.无疑的;彻底的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 applicant | |
n.申请人,求职者,请求者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 veranda | |
n.走廊;阳台 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 revival | |
n.复兴,复苏,(精力、活力等的)重振 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 inspection | |
n.检查,审查,检阅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 velvet | |
n.丝绒,天鹅绒;adj.丝绒制的,柔软的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 belle | |
n.靓女 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |