'I am going your way,' he said. 'Can't I see you home?'
He was going her way: the idea of going her way had occurred to him suddenly as a beautiful idea.
Instead of replying, she looked at him. She looked at him sadly out of the white shawl which enveloped3 her head and her golden hair, and nodded.
There was a four-wheeler at the kerb, and they entered it and sat down side by side in that restricted compartment4, and the fat old driver, with his red face popping up out of a barrel consisting of scores of overcoats and aprons5, drove off. It was very foggy, but one could see the lamp-posts.
Geraldine coughed.
'These fogs are simply awful, aren't they?' he remarked.
She made no answer.
'It isn't often they begin as early as this,' he proceeded; 'I suppose it means a bad winter.'
But she made no answer.
And then a sort of throb6 communicated itself to him, and then another, and then he heard a smothered7 sound. This magnificent creature, this independent, experienced, strong-minded, superior, dazzling creature was crying—was, indeed, sobbing8. And cabs are so small, and she was so close. Pleasure may be so keen as to be agonizing9: Henry discovered this profound truth in that moment. In that moment he learnt more about women than he had learnt during the whole of his previous life. He knew that her sobbing had some connection with A Question of Cubits, but he could not exactly determine the connection.
'Why? What of?'
'I introduced her to you. It's my fault.'
'But what's your fault?'
'This horrible thing that happened.'
'You don't know how I feel,' she managed to tell him.
'I wish you'd forget it,' he urged her. 'He didn't mean to be rude.'
'It isn't so much his rudeness,' she wept. 'It's—anyone saying a thing—like that—about your book. You don't know how I feel.'
'It's yours,' she said, and began to cry gently, resignedly, femininely.
It had grown dark. The cab had plunged16 into an opaque17 sea of blackest fog. No sound could be heard save the footfalls of the horse, which was now walking very slowly. They were cut off absolutely from the rest of the universe. There was no such thing as society, the state, traditions, etiquette18; nothing existed, ever had existed, or ever would exist, except themselves, twain, in that lost four-wheeler.
Henry had a box of matches in his overcoat pocket. He struck one, illuminating19 their tiny chamber20, and he saw her face once more, as though after long years. And there were little black marks round her eyes, due to her tears and the fog and the fragment of lace. And those little black marks appeared to him to be the most delicious, enchanting21, and wonderful little black marks that the mind of man could possibly conceive. And there was an exquisite22, timid, confiding23, surrendering look in her eyes, which said: 'I'm only a weak, foolish, fanciful woman, and you are a big, strong, wise, great man; my one merit is that I know how great, how chivalrous24, you are!' And mixed up with the timidity in that look there was something else—something that made him almost shudder25. All this by the light of one match....
Good-bye world! Good-bye mother! Good-bye Aunt Annie! Good-bye the natural course of events! Good-bye correctness, prudence26, precedents27! Good-bye all! Good-bye everything! He dropped the match and kissed her.
And his knowledge of women was still further increased.
The next exterior30 phenomenon was a blinding flash through the window of what, after all, was a cab. The door opened.
'You'd better get out o' this,' said the cabman, surveying them by the ray of one of his own lamps.
'Why?' asked Henry.
'Why?' replied the cabman sourly. 'Look here, governor, do you know where we are?'
'No,' said Henry.
'No. And I'm jiggered if I do, either. You'd better take the other blessed lamp and ask. No, not me. I don't leave my horse. I ain't agoin' to lose my horse.'
So Henry got out of the cab, and took a lamp and moved forward into nothingness, and found a railing and some steps, and after climbing the steps saw a star, which proved ultimately to be a light over a swing-door. He pushed open the swing-door, and was confronted by a footman.
'Will you kindly tell me where I am? he asked the footman.
'This is Marlborough House,' said the footman.
'Oh, is it? Thanks,' said Henry.
'Well,' ejaculated the cabman when Henry had luckily regained31 the vehicle. 'I suppose that ain't good enough for you! Buckingham Palace is your doss, I suppose.'
The cabman said he would make an effort to reach Charing34 Cross, by leading his horse and sticking to the kerb; but not an inch further than Charing Cross would he undertake to go.
The passage over Trafalgar Square was so exciting that, when at length the aged14 cabman touched pavement—that is to say, when his horse had planted two forefeet firmly on the steps of the Golden Cross Hotel—he announced that that precise point would be the end of the voyage.
'You go in there and sleep it off,' he advised his passengers. 'Chenies Street won't see much of you to-night. And make it five bob, governor. I've done my best.'
'You must stop the night here,' said Henry in a low voice to Geraldine, before opening the doors of the hotel. 'And I,' he added quickly, 'will go to Morley's. It's round the corner, and so I can't lose my way.'
'Yes, dear,' she acquiesced35. 'I dare say that will be best.'
'Your eyes are a little black with the fog,' he told her.
'Are they?' she said, wiping them. 'Thanks for telling me.'
And they entered.
'Nasty night, sir,' the hall-porter greeted them.
'Very,' said Henry. 'This lady wants a room. Have you one?'
'Certainly, sir.'
At the foot of the staircase they shook hands, and kissed in imagination.
'Good-night,' he said, and she said the same.
But when she had climbed three or four stairs, she gave a little start and returned to him, smiling, appealing.
'I've only got a shilling or two,' she whispered. 'Can you lend me some money to pay the bill with?'
He produced a sovereign. Since the last kiss in the cab, nothing had afforded him one hundredth part of the joy which he experienced in parting with that sovereign. The transfer of the coin, so natural, so right, so proper, seemed to set a seal on what had occurred, to make it real and effective. He wished to shower gold upon her.
As, bathed in joy and bliss36, he watched her up the stairs, a little, obscure compartment of his brain was thinking: 'If anyone had told me two hours ago that before midnight I should be engaged to be married to the finest woman I ever saw, I should have said they were off their chumps. Curious, I've never mentioned her at home since she called! Rather awkward!'
He turned sharply and resolutely37 to go to Morley's, and collided with Mr. Dolbiac, who, strangely enough, was standing38 immediately behind him, and gazing up the stairs, too.
'Ah, my bold buccaneer!' said Mr. Dolbiac familiarly. 'Digested those marrons glacés? I've fairly caught you out this time, haven't I?'
'You don't remember me. You've forgotten me,' said Mr. Dolbiac.
'It isn't Cousin Tom?' Henry guessed.
'Oh, isn't it?' said Mr. Dolbiac. 'That's just what it is.'
Henry shook his hand generously. 'I'm awfully40 glad to see you,' he began, and then, feeling that he must be a man of the world: 'Come and have a drink. Are you stopping here?'
The episode of Mrs. Ashton Portway's was, then, simply one of Cousin Tom's jokes, and he accepted it as such without the least demur41 or ill-will.
'It was you who sent that funny telegram, wasn't it?' he asked Cousin Tom.
In the smoking-room Tom explained how he had grown a beard in obedience42 to the dictates43 of nature, and changed his name in obedience to the dictates of art. And Henry, for his part, explained sundry44 things about himself, and about Geraldine.
The next morning, when Henry arrived at Dawes Road, decidedly late, Tom was already there. And more, he had already told the ladies, evidently in a highly-decorated narrative45, of Henry's engagement! The situation for Henry was delicate in the extreme, but, anyhow, his mother and aunt had received the first shock. They knew the naked fact, and that was something. And of course Cousin Tom always made delicate situations: it was his privilege to do so. Cousin Tom's two aunts were delighted to see him again, and in a state so flourishing. He was asked no inconvenient46 questions, and he furnished no information. Bygones were bygones. Henry had never been told about the trifling47 incident of the ten pounds.
'She's coming down to-night,' Henry said, addressing his mother, after the mid-day meal.
'I'm very glad,' replied his mother.
'We shall be most pleased to welcome her,' Aunt Annie said. 'Well, Tom——'
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1
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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aprons
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| 围裙( apron的名词复数 )； 停机坪，台口（舞台幕前的部份） | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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7
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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13
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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opaque
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| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
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18
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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26
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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precedents
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| 引用单元； 范例( precedent的名词复数 )； 先前出现的事例； 前例； 先例 | |
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28
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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33
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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34
charing
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| n.炭化v.把…烧成炭，把…烧焦( char的现在分词 )；烧成炭，烧焦；做杂役女佣 | |
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acquiesced
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| v.默认，默许( acquiesce的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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40
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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41
demur
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| v．表示异议，反对 | |
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42
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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43
dictates
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| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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44
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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45
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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46
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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