"They? Who is they?"
"No matter. Whoever it was they will gain nothing by it, and you will lose nothing. Ah, Griffith, I am so ashamed of myself—and so proud of you."
"They?" repeated Griffith, suspiciously. "Who is this they?"
"What does that matter, so long as it was not Me? Are you going to be jealous again? Let us talk of you and me, and never mind who them is. You have rejected my proposal with just scorn; so now let me hear yours; for we must agree on something this very night. Tell me, now, what can I say or do to make you happy?"
Griffith was sore puzzled. "Alas2! sweet Kate," said he, "I don't know what you can do for me now, except stay single for my sake."
"I should like nothing better," replied Kate, warmly; "but unfortunately they won't let me do that. Father Francis will be at me to-morrow, and insist on my marrying Mr. Neville."
"But you will refuse."
"I would, if I could but find a good excuse."
"Excuse? why, say you don't love him."
"Oh, they won't allow that for a reason."
"No, no, you are not; if I could be brought to pretend I love somebody else. And really, if I don't quite love you, I like you too well to let you be unhappy. Besides, I cannot bear to rob you of these unlucky farms: I think there is nothing I would not do rather than that. I think—I would rather—do—something very silly indeed. But I suppose you don't want me to do that now? Why don't you answer me? Why don't you say something? Are you drunk, sir, as they pretend? or are you asleep? Oh, I can't speak any plainer: this is intolerable. Mr. Gaunt, I'm going to shut the window."
Griffith got alarmed, and it sharpened his wits. "Kate, Kate!" he cried, "what do you mean? am I in a dream? would you marry poor me after all?"
"How on earth can I tell, till I am asked?" inquired Kate, with an air of childlike innocence4, and inspecting the stars attentively5.
"Kate, will you marry me?" said Griffith, all in a flutter.
"Of course I will—if you will let me," replied Kate, coolly, but rather tenderly, too.
Griffith burst into raptures6; Kate listened to them with a complacent8 smile; then delivered herself after this fashion:—"You have very little to thank me for, dear Griffith. I don't exactly downright love you; but I could not rob you of those unlucky farms, and you refuse to take them back, any way but this; so what can I do? And then, for all I don't love you, I find I am always unhappy if you are unhappy, and happy when you are happy; so it comes pretty much to the same thing. I declare I am sick of giving you pain, and a little sick of crying in consequence. There, I have cried more in the last fortnight than in all my life before, and you know nothing spoils one's beauty like crying: and then you are so good, and kind, and true, and brave; and everybody is so unjust, and so unkind to you; papa and all. You were quite in the right about the duel9, dear; he is an impudent10 puppy; and I threw dust in your eyes, and made you own you were in the wrong; and it was a great shame of me; but it was because I liked you best. I could take liberties with you, dear. And you are wounded for me; and now I have disinherited you; oh, I can't bear it, and I won't. My heart yearns11 for you; bleeds for you. I would rather die than you should be unhappy; I would rather follow you in rags round the world than marry a prince and make you wretched. Yes, dear, I am yours. Make me your wife; and then some day I daresay I shall love you as I ought."
She had never showed her heart to him like this before; and now it overpowered him. So, being also a little under vinous influence, he stammered12 out something, and then fairly blubbered with joy. Then what does Kate do, but cry for company.
"Oh, take care! take care!" she cried. "You'll break your neck."
The turret was ornamented15 from top to bottom with short ledges17 consisting of half bricks. This ledge16, shallow as it was, gave a slight foothold, insufficient18 in itself, but he grasped the strong branches of the ivy19 with a powerful hand; and so between the two contrived20 to get up and hang himself out close to her.
"Sweet mistress," said he, "put out your hand to me; for I can't take it against your will this time; I have got but one arm."
But this she declined. "No, no," said she; "you do nothing but torment21 and terrify me,—there." And so, gave it him; and he mumbled22 it.
This last feat23 won her quite. She thought no other man could have got to her there, with two arms, and Griffith had done it with one. She said to herself, "How he loves me! more than his own neck." And then she thought. "I shall be wife to a strong man; that is one comfort."
"If that friend is you, ay.'
"Then," said she, "I'll do a downright brazen26 thing, now my hand is in. I declare I'll tell you how to secure me. You make me plight27 my troth with you this minute, and exchange rings with you, whether I like or not; engage my honor in this foolish business, and, if you do that, I really do think you will have me in spite of them all. But there—la!—am I worth all this trouble?"
Griffith did not share this chilling doubt. He poured forth28 his gratitude29, and then told her he had got his mother's ring on his finger; "I meant to ask you to wear it," said he.
"And why didn't you?"
"Because you became an heiress all of a sudden."
"That is true," said Griffith, approving his own sentiment, but not recognizing his own words. "Here's my mother's ring, on my little finger, sweet mistress. But I must ask you to draw it off, for I have but one hand."
She drew off his ring, and put it on her finger. Then she gave him her largest ring, and had to put it on his little finger for him.
He kissed her hand while she was doing it.
"Don't you be so silly," said she; "and, you horrid34 creature, how you smell of wine! The bullet, please."
"The bullet!" exclaimed Griffith. "What bullet?"
"The bullet. The one you were wounded with for my sake. I am told you put it in your pocket; and I see something bulge35 in your waistcoat; that bullet belongs to me now."
"I think you are a witch," said he. "I do carry it about next my heart. Take it out of my waistcoat, if you will be so good."
She blushed, and declined, and with the refusal on her very lips, fished it out with her taper36 fingers. She eyed it with a sort of tender horror. The sight of it made her feel faint a moment. She told him so: and that she would keep it to her dying day. Presently her delicate finger found something was written on it; she did not ask him what it was, but withdrew, and examined it by her candle. Griffith had engraved37 it with these words:
"I LOVE KATE."
He looked through the window, and saw her examine it by the candle. As she read the inscription38, her face, glorified39 by the light, assumed a celestial40 tenderness he had never seen it wear before.
She came back and leaned eloquently41 out as if she would fly to him.
"Ah, Griffith! Griffith!" she murmured; and, somehow or other, their lips met in spite of all the difficulties, and grew together in a long and tender embrace.
It was the first time she had ever given him more than her hand to kiss; and the rapture7 repaid him for all.
But, as soon as she had made this great advance, virginal instinct suggested a proportionate retreat.
He remonstrated43: she insisted. He held out: she smiled sweetly in his face, and shut the window in it pretty sharply, and disappeared. He went disconsolately44 down his ivy ladder. As soon as he was at the bottom, she opened the window again, and asked him, demurely, if he would do something to oblige her.
He replied like a lover; he was ready to be cut in pieces, drawn45 asunder46 with wild horses, and so on.
"Oh, I know you would do anything stupid for me," said she; "but will you do something clever for a poor girl that is in a fright at what she is going to do for you?"
"Give your orders, mistress," said Griffith; "and don't talk of me obliging you. I feel quite ashamed to hear you talk so: to-night especially."
"Well, then," said Kate, "first and foremost, I want you to throw yourself on Father Francis's neck."
"No; nor half. Once upon his neck you must say something. There—I had better settle the very words, or perhaps you will make a mess of it. Say after me now: Oh, Father Francis, 'tis to you I owe her."
"Oh, Father Francis, 'tis to you I owe her."
"You and I are friends for life."
"You and I are friends for life."
"And mind, there is always a bed in our home for you, and a plate at our table, and a right welcome, come when you will."
Griffith repeated this last correctly; but, when requested to say the whole, broke down. Kate had to repeat the oration48 a dozen times; and he said it after her, like a Sunday-school scholar, till he had it pat.
The task achieved, he inquired of her what Father Francis was to say in reply.
At this question Kate showed considerable alarm.
"Gracious Heavens!" she cried; "you must not stop talking to him; he will turn you inside out, and I shall be undone. Nay, you must gabble those words out, and then run away as hard as you can gallop49."
"But is it true?" asked Griffith: "is he so much my friend?"
"Hum!" said Kate; "it is quite true; and he is not at all your friend. There, don't you puzzle yourself, and pester50 me; but do as you are bid, or we are both undone."
Quelled51 by a menace so mysterious, Griffith promised blind obedience52; and Kate thanked him and bade him good-night; and ordered him peremptorily53 to bed.
He went.
He came.
She leaned out, and inquired, in a soft delicious whisper, as follows: "Are you happy, dearest?"
"Ay, Kate, the happiest of the happy."
"Then so am I," she murmured.
And now she slowly closed the window, and gradually retired55 from the eyes of her enraptured56 lover.
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1
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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undone
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| a.未做完的，未完成的 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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raptures
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| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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yearns
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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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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turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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21
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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24
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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brazen
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| adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的 | |
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plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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28
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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32
pouting
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| v.撅（嘴）( pout的现在分词 ) | |
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33
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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34
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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bulge
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| n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀 | |
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taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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39
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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40
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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41
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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austerely
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| adv.严格地，朴质地 | |
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43
remonstrated
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| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
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44
disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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45
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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48
oration
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| n.演说，致辞，叙述法 | |
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49
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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50
pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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51
quelled
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| v.（用武力）制止，结束，镇压( quell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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54
beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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56
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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