“What do you think that man Creci will do?”
“Prefer charges against me, I suppose,” returned Ravenel, “but if he does, I think he will get the worst of it. No one could believe that you, Sophie, could give any encouragement to a man like that. Your life here has been too prudent5. No other woman, I believe, could have lived with the beauty and natural gaiety that you possess, effacing6 herself so completely, and all for me. What an evil hour for you, dearest, that ever we met!”
“Do not say that,” cried Sophie. “If I had it all to live over again, I would do as I have done except—except—”
She buried her face in her hands. Ravenel, too, looked ashamed. To both of them the iron entered into their souls at the recollection of the first three weeks after Sophie left her husband. Then Sophie, raising her head, presently said:
“But it was an evil hour for you. I might have endured my fate, while but for me you would have married happily, and be to-day where you ought to be—in a good position, with your talents recognized and—”
The two poor souls often talked together in this way, speaking frankly7 to each other, and each taking the blame. They spoke1 a while longer, each fearing and dreading8 the morrow, and then Sophie went to see that Lucie was asleep in her little bed, while Ravenel went to his work of addressing envelopes.
Lucie was not asleep, as she should have been, but wide-awake and very talkative.
“Oh, Sophie,” she said, when Sophie sat down by the bed in Lucie’s little room, “how glad I am that you are married to Captain Ravenel! I like him so much better than Count Delorme. Sophie, I hated Count Delorme!”
“So did I,” replied Sophie, her pale face flushing, and her tongue for once committing an indiscretion. But the child was quite unconscious of it. She hated Count Delorme herself, and saw every reason why Sophie and every one else should hate him.
“And Edouard,” continued Lucie, “that hateful, hateful boy! Oh, I think it is ever so much nicer as it is, and if only I could live with you, and make omelettes every day, and have a little garden and dig in it when Captain Ravenel is digging in the big garden, how much I should like it, and then I could go and visit grandmama at the château.”
Sophie laid her head down on the pillow by Lucie, and kissed the child’s soft red lips. After all, how happy she could be but for that terrible moral law which, because they had transgressed9 it, kept thundering in her ears its maledictions.
But no shame and no sorrow can wholly take away the joy of loving and being loved as Sophie loved and was loved.
Next morning, about seven o’clock, as Ravenel was walking through the park to the post-office with his parcel of circulars, he came face to face with Colonel Duquesne. The colonel, instead of passing him with a stiff nod, halted before him, and said:
“Good morning, Captain Ravenel.”
“Good morning, sir.”
“There is, I am afraid, some trouble ahead of you with regard to Lieutenant11 Creci,” said the colonel, speaking very deliberately12. “I wish to say now, from long knowledge of the lady in the case, that I can not believe she committed the smallest impropriety, nor do I think that Creci’s word that she did so would carry the slightest conviction to any person in Bienville; and whatever comes of it, the lady’s name must be kept out of the affair absolutely.”
Ravenel could have fallen upon his knees with gratitude13 when Colonel Duquesne said this. The idea that Sophie’s name should be dragged into a public scandal was heart-breaking to him. The tears came into his eyes, and he was about to extend his hand impulsively14 to Colonel Duquesne, but changed his mind, and crossed his arms.
He bowed, however, profoundly, and said:
“I can not express to you, sir, how much I thank you for what you have said. It is well-deserved by that lady, who is the most modest, the most retiring, the purest-minded—”
Ravenel stopped with a lump in his throat. The tears by that time had dropped upon his dark, sunburned face. He brushed them away, but Colonel Duquesne thought no less of him for those tears.
“I am quite of your mind,” he said quietly, “concerning that lady. The circumstances are most unfortunate. I can express to you, privately15, a degree of sympathy which I can not do publicly, but believe me, no man could be more anxious than I am to save that lady’s feelings in this affair. Captain Merrilat will wait on you this morning. I think if you will agree to make him a very slight apology, everything can be arranged, and, for my part, I pledge you my word, as Lieutenant Creci’s commanding officer, to use all the power I possess to induce him to accept anything in the shape of an apology which you may offer.”
“But I can not apologize,” blurted16 out poor Ravenel. “The lady in question was sitting quietly on the bench, and did not even see Creci, and he came up and spoke to her insultingly, and the lady became embarrassed and alarmed, and then he sat down by her most impudently17 and improperly18, and attempted to throw his arm around her, and then I caught him and thrashed him—and am I to apologize for that?”
The colonel paused. The story which he had overheard that naughty little boy of Madame Marcel’s telling the night before in the garden corresponded exactly with what Ravenel had said,—not that Ravenel’s word alone needed any corroboration19 with Colonel Duquesne.
“Yes,” he said, “you must say something which may be construed20 into an apology. Not a man in the regiment21 sustains Creci’s course, but for reasons which you understand, the chief of which is the lady in the case, it must be hushed up. I have arranged for you to meet Creci this morning at my house and the affair shall be settled before me.”
Ravenel, with his soul in his eyes, looked at the colonel, who was a man with a heart in his breast, even though he was a colonel; and then the colonel held out his hand. Ravenel gripped it for a moment and then hurried away through the park that he might not miss the morning mail, for he was as careful and prompt in the performance of his duty with regard to these circulars, which he addressed at next to nothing a thousand, as if it had been the best-paid and most important work in the world.
But his heart was more joyful22 than it had been for many a day. He had something pleasant to take back to Sophie. When he returned, and they had their eleven o’clock breakfast together in the little garden, he looked so cheerful that Sophie felt almost gay. They sat with Lucie at the little round table with a white cloth on it, under a big acacia tree. Close by them were a dozen tall oleanders in tubs, for Captain Ravenel, turning his unusual skill in flowers to account, supplied most of the cafés in town with their ornamental23 plants. Their breakfast was simple, but very good, and Lucie triumphed in the production of the omelette which was the work of her own hands. She was already lamenting24 that in one week more she would have to go back to the Château Bernard, and Madame Bernard’s chef.
“Oh, it is so nice to be with you here!” she cried, and then said, as she had done two or three times before: “It is so much nicer than at Châlons—and I hated Count Delorme!”
As she spoke the name, Ravenel looked away, while poor Sophie blushed and trembled, but Lucie, meaning to please her hosts, kept on:
“When I am grown up, and get my money, I intend to come and live with you, Sophie and Captain Ravenel. Harper says that when I am eighteen I shall have a whole lot of money in America that grandmama can not keep me out of, and that I can spend it as I like, and I will come and live in Bienville and have a carriage and everything I want, but I think I would like to stay in this house—it is small, but so very pleasant.”
“Harper should not tell you such things, Lucie,” said Sophie. She looked at Captain Ravenel. It is impossible to keep nursery governesses and upper servants from gossiping,—how much had she told Lucie in the past, and how much might she tell her in the future?
Presently Lucie was sent away to practise on the piano, for it was a part of Sophie’s plan that, when Lucie returned to her grandmother after these brief and forced visits, the child should show some improvement.
Then Ravenel told Sophie that as soon as he finished breakfast, he was to go to Colonel Duquesne’s house, and have the meeting with Creci, and he repeated the colonel’s chivalrous25 words to her. Sophie’s pale face flamed up. It was something in the arid26 waste of life to have known two such men as the one before her and Colonel Duquesne, who would not strike a woman when she was helpless before him, and who pitied the weaknesses of the human heart.
“But when it comes to apologizing,” said Ravenel, grinding his teeth, “what am I to say?—to say that I am sorry for having kicked him, when I wished to kill him?”
“Dearest,” replied Sophie, “do what the colonel advises. He would not counsel you to do anything against your honor.”
At twelve o’clock precisely27, Ravenel presented himself at the colonel’s house. He was in his uniform, for, although retired28, he was still an officer. The soldiers saluted29 him respectfully, and the aides spoke to him politely. Everybody felt sorry for Ravenel, and most honest and brave men in his place would have done as he had. He was ushered30 into the colonel’s room, and there sat Colonel Duquesne and Creci, with his two friends, the officers who had dragged Ravenel and himself apart in the park. The colonel and others present bowed gravely to Ravenel, who returned the bow and seated himself at the colonel’s invitation, and then after a little silence the colonel stated the case briefly31, but said at the end, with emphasis:
“I think in every case of this sort, without impugning32 Lieutenant Creci’s word, the presumption33 is that a mistake has been made. Whatever Lieutenant Creci thought about the lady in question, whose name must, by no means, be mentioned, I feel sure that she was unconscious of any attempt to attract his attention. We will proceed upon that supposition, if you please.”
Creci’s handsome, stupid face grew scarlet34, Ravenel’s dark skin turned a shade darker, the other two officers looked impassive. Then the colonel went on to say that he would recommend Captain Ravenel to make an apology to Lieutenant Creci, and he would strongly urge Lieutenant Creci to accept it. At that there was a long silence. Ravenel really knew not how to apologize for having done what his honor and his conscience and his inclination35 had told him was right to do. He blamed himself for not having stamped his foot in Creci’s face, and so marked him for life. The pause became awkward while Ravenel was turning these things over in his mind. At last, with the colonel’s eye fixed36 upon him commandingly, he mumbled37 something about regretting that the occasion had arisen—the rest of it was lost in his mustache, for the colonel, as soon as he heard the word regret, turned promptly38 to Creci. There was a menace in Colonel Duquesne’s eye—a look which commanded obedience39. Creci, inwardly raging, sullenly40 bowed, and Captain Merrilat said quickly:
“I think Lieutenant Creci accepts the apology, and we may consider the affair as ended.”
Everybody present knew what Colonel Duquesne meant. He had known Sophie when she was fresh from her convent school, had known her as the young wife of an unfeeling and vicious man—he had known her at the moment when her courage failed her, and she had left the hard and stony41 path she had been traveling with Delorme to go on a path still hard and stony with Ravenel. Colonel Duquesne was tender-hearted where women were concerned, and felt in his soul that he could not have stood Delorme as long as Sophie had stood him. All these things were working in his mind when Ravenel and Creci and the two officers were rising and making their formal adieus.
Ravenel went home to Sophie and the two were almost gay over the result of the affair which had been so baneful42 to them in the beginning. It almost seemed to the two poor souls as if they had some friends left. That very afternoon, when taking their one solitary43 indulgence—their walk in the park—they passed the colonel, who bowed to Sophie quite in the old way, although he did not speak. The colonel was a widower44 with no daughters and, therefore, was quite safe in doing this, not having a domestic court of inquiry45 ahead of him.
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1
spoke
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| 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 | |
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2
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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4
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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5
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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effacing
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| 谦逊的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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8
dreading
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| v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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9
transgressed
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| v.超越( transgress的过去式和过去分词 )；越过；违反；违背 | |
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10
saluting
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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11
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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12
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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13
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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15
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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16
blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
impudently
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18
improperly
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| 不正确地，不适当地 | |
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corroboration
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| n.进一步的证实，进一步的证据 | |
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20
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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21
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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22
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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24
lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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25
chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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27
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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28
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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29
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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30
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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32
impugning
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| v.非难，指谪( impugn的现在分词 )；对…有怀疑 | |
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33
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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34
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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35
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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36
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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37
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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38
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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39
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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40
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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41
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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42
baneful
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| adj.有害的 | |
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43
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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44
widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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45
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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