"That's it! The very thing—the old and ever young demand which man slaps into the face of the universe." The colonel searched among the scraps1 in his note-book. "See," holding up a soiled slip of typed paper, "I copied this out years ago. Listen. 'What a monstrous2 spectre is this man, this disease of the agglutinated dust, lifting alternate feet or lying drugged with slumber3; killing4, feeding, growing, bringing forth5 small copies of himself; grown up with hair like grass, fitted with eyes that glitter in his face; a thing to set children screaming. Poor soul, here for so little, cast among so many hardships, filled with desires so incommensurate and so inconsistent; savagely6 surrounded, savagely descended7, irremediably condemned8 to prey9 upon his fellow-lives. Infinitely10 childish, often admirably valiant11, often touchingly12 kind; sitting down to debate of right or wrong and the attributes of the deity13; rising up to battle for an egg or die for an idea!'
"And all to what end?" he demanded, hotly, throwing down the paper, "this disease of the agglutinated dust?"
"Here am I, Colonel Trethaway, modestly along in years, fairly well preserved, a place in the community, a comfortable bank account, no need to ever exert myself again, yet enduring life bleakly15 and working ridiculously with a zest16 worthy17 of a man half my years. And to what end? I can only eat so much, smoke so much, sleep so much, and this tail-dump of earth men call Alaska is the worst of all possible places in the matter of grub, tobacco, and blankets."
"But it is the living strenuously18 which holds you," Corliss interjected.
"And my philosophy, and yours."
"And of the agglutinated dust—"
"Which is quickened with a passion you do not take into account,—the passion of duty, of race, of God!"
"And the compensation?" Trethaway demanded.
"Each breath you draw. The Mayfly lives an hour."
"I don't see it."
"Blood and sweat! Blood and sweat! You cried that after the rough and tumble in the Opera House, and every word of it was receipt in full."
"Frona's philosophy."
"And yours and mine."
The colonel threw up his shoulders, and after a pause confessed. "You see, try as I will, I can't make a pessimist20 out of myself. We are all compensated21, and I more fully22 than most men. What end? I asked, and the answer forthcame: Since the ultimate end is beyond us, then the immediate23. More compensation, here and now!"
"Quite hedonistic."
"And rational. I shall look to it at once. I can buy grub and blankets for a score; I can eat and sleep for only one; ergo, why not for two?"
Corliss took his feet down and sat up. "In other words?"
"I shall get married, and—give the community a shock. Communities like shocks. That's one of their compensations for being agglutinative."
"I can't think of but one woman," Corliss essayed tentatively, putting out his hand.
Trethaway shook it slowly. "It is she."
"Is your problem, not mine."
"Then Lucile—?"
"Certainly not. She played a quixotic little game of her own and botched it beautifully."
"I—I do not understand." Corliss brushed his brows in a dazed sort of way.
Trethaway parted his lips in a superior smile. "It is not necessary that you should. The question is, Will you stand up with me?"
"Surely. But what a confoundedly long way around you took. It is not your usual method."
"Nor was it with her," the colonel declared, twisting his moustache proudly.
A captain of the North-West Mounted Police, by virtue25 of his magisterial26 office, may perform marriages in time of stress as well as execute exemplary justice. So Captain Alexander received a call from Colonel Trethaway, and after he left jotted27 down an engagement for the next morning. Then the impending28 groom29 went to see Frona. Lucile did not make the request, he hastened to explain, but—well, the fact was she did not know any women, and, furthermore, he (the colonel) knew whom Lucile would like to ask, did she dare. So he did it upon his own responsibility. And coming as a surprise, he knew it would be a great joy to her.
Frona was taken aback by the suddenness of it. Only the other day, it was, that Lucile had made a plea to her for St. Vincent, and now it was Colonel Trethaway! True, there had been a false quantity somewhere, but now it seemed doubly false. Could it be, after all, that Lucile was mercenary? These thoughts crowded upon her swiftly, with the colonel anxiously watching her face the while. She knew she must answer quickly, yet was distracted by an involuntary admiration30 for his bravery. So she followed, perforce, the lead of her heart, and consented.
Yet the whole thing was rather strained when the four of them came together, next day, in Captain Alexander's private office. There was a gloomy chill about it. Lucile seemed ready to cry, and showed a repressed perturbation quite unexpected of her; while, try as she would, Frona could not call upon her usual sympathy to drive away the coldness which obtruded31 intangibly between them. This, in turn, had a consequent effect on Vance, and gave a certain distance to his manner which forced him out of touch even with the colonel.
Colonel Trethaway seemed to have thrown twenty years off his erect32 shoulders, and the discrepancy33 in the match which Frona had felt vanished as she looked at him. "He has lived the years well," she thought, and prompted mysteriously, almost with vague apprehension34 she turned her eyes to Corliss. But if the groom had thrown off twenty years, Vance was not a whit35 behind. Since their last meeting he had sacrificed his brown moustache to the frost, and his smooth face, smitten36 with health and vigor37, looked uncommonly38 boyish; and yet, withal, the naked upper lip advertised a stiffness and resolution hitherto concealed39. Furthermore, his features portrayed40 a growth, and his eyes, which had been softly firm, were now firm with the added harshness or hardness which is bred of coping with things and coping quickly,—the stamp of executiveness which is pressed upon men who do, and upon all men who do, whether they drive dogs, buck41 the sea, or dictate42 the policies of empires.
When the simple ceremony was over, Frona kissed Lucile; but Lucile felt that there was a subtle something wanting, and her eyes filled with unshed tears. Trethaway, who had felt the aloofness43 from the start, caught an opportunity with Frona while Captain Alexander and Corliss were being pleasant to Mrs. Trethaway.
"What's the matter, Frona?" the colonel demanded, bluntly. "I hope you did not come under protest. I am sorry, not for you, because lack of frankness deserves nothing, but for Lucile. It is not fair to her."
"There has been a lack of frankness throughout." Her voice trembled. "I tried my best,—I thought I could do better,—but I cannot feign44 what I do not feel. I am sorry, but I . . . I am disappointed. No, I cannot explain, and to you least of all."
"Let's be above-board, Frona. St. Vincent's concerned?"
She nodded.
"And I can put my hand right on the spot. First place," he looked to the side and saw Lucile stealing an anxious glance to him,—"first place, only the other day she gave you a song about St. Vincent. Second place, and therefore, you think her heart's not in this present proposition; that she doesn't care a rap for me; in short, that she's marrying me for reinstatement and spoils. Isn't that it?"
"And isn't it enough? Oh, I am disappointed, Colonel Trethaway, grievously, in her, in you, in myself."
"Don't be a fool! I like you too well to see you make yourself one. The play's been too quick, that is all. Your eye lost it. Listen. We've kept it quiet, but she's in with the elect on French Hill. Her claim's prospected45 the richest of the outfit46. Present indication half a million at least. In her own name, no strings47 attached. Couldn't she take that and go anywhere in the world and reinstate herself? And for that matter, you might presume that I am marrying her for spoils. Frona, she cares for me, and in your ear, she's too good for me. My hope is that the future will make up. But never mind that—haven't got the time now.
"You consider her affection sudden, eh? Let me tell you we've been growing into each other from the time I came into the country, and with our eyes open. St. Vincent? Pshaw! I knew it all the time. She got it into her head that the whole of him wasn't worth a little finger of you, and she tried to break things up. You'll never know how she worked with him. I told her she didn't know the Welse, and she said so, too, after. So there it is; take it or leave it."
"But what do you think about St. Vincent?"
"What I think is neither here nor there; but I'll tell you honestly that I back her judgment48. But that's not the point. What are you going to do about it? about her? now?"
She did not answer, but went back to the waiting group. Lucile saw her coming and watched her face.
"He's been telling you—?"
"That I am a fool," Frona answered. "And I think I am." And with a smile, "I take it on faith that I am, anyway. I—I can't reason it out just now, but. . ."
Captain Alexander discovered a prenuptial joke just about then, and led the way over to the stove to crack it upon the colonel, and Vance went along to see fair play.
"It's the first time," Lucile was saying, "and it means more to me, so much more, than to . . . most women. I am afraid. It is a terrible thing for me to do. But I do love him, I do!" And when the joke had been duly digested and they came back, she was sobbing49, "Dear, dear Frona."
It was just the moment, better than he could have chosen; and capped and mittened50, without knocking, Jacob Welse came in.
"The uninvited guest," was his greeting. "Is it all over? So?" And he swallowed Lucile up in his huge bearskin. "Colonel, your hand, and your pardon for my intruding51, and your regrets for not giving me the word. Come, out with them! Hello, Corliss! Captain Alexander, a good day."
"What have I done?" Frona wailed52, received the bear-hug, and managed to press his hand till it almost hurt.
"Had to back the game," he whispered; and this time his hand did hurt.
"Now, colonel, I don't know what your plans are, and I don't care. Call them off. I've got a little spread down to the house, and the only honest case of champagne53 this side of Circle. Of course, you're coming, Corliss, and—" His eye roved past Captain Alexander with hardly a pause.
"Of course," came the answer like a flash, though the Chief Magistrate54 of the Northwest had had time to canvass55 the possible results of such unofficial action. "Got a hack56?"
Jacob Welse laughed and held up a moccasined foot. "Walking be—chucked!" The captain started impulsively57 towards the door. "I'll have the sleds up before you're ready. Three of them, and bells galore!"
So Trethaway's forecast was correct, and Dawson vindicated58 its agglutinativeness by rubbing its eyes when three sleds, with three scarlet-tuniced policemen swinging the whips, tore down its main street; and it rubbed its eyes again when it saw the occupants thereof.
"We shall live quietly," Lucile told Frona. "The Klondike is not all the world, and the best is yet to come."
But Jacob Welse said otherwise. "We've got to make this thing go," he said to Captain Alexander, and Captain Alexander said that he was unaccustomed to backing out.
Mrs. Schoville emitted preliminary thunders, marshalled the other women, and became chronically59 seismic60 and unsafe.
Lucile went nowhere save to Frona's. But Jacob Welse, who rarely went anywhere, was often to be found by Colonel Trethaway's fireside, and not only was he to be found there, but he usually brought somebody along. "Anything on hand this evening?" he was wont61 to say on casual meeting. "No? Then come along with me." Sometimes he said it with lamb-like innocence62, sometimes with a challenge brooding under his bushy brows, and rarely did he fail to get his man. These men had wives, and thus were the germs of dissolution sown in the ranks of the opposition63.
Then, again, at Colonel Trethaway's there was something to be found besides weak tea and small talk; and the correspondents, engineers, and gentlemen rovers kept the trail well packed in that direction, though it was the Kings, to a man, who first broke the way. So the Trethaway cabin became the centre of things, and, backed commercially, financially, and officially, it could not fail to succeed socially.
The only bad effect of all this was to make the lives of Mrs. Schoville and divers64 others of her sex more monotonous65, and to cause them to lose faith in certain hoary66 and inconsequent maxims67. Furthermore, Captain Alexander, as highest official, was a power in the land, and Jacob Welse was the Company, and there was a superstition68 extant concerning the unwisdom of being on indifferent terms with the Company. And the time was not long till probably a bare half-dozen remained in outer cold, and they were considered a warped69 lot, anyway.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
scraps
|
|
| 油渣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
monstrous
|
|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
slumber
|
|
| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
savagely
|
|
| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
condemned
|
|
| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
infinitely
|
|
| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
valiant
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，英勇的；n.勇士，勇敢的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
touchingly
|
|
| adv.令人同情地，感人地，动人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
deity
|
|
| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
yearning
|
|
| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
bleakly
|
|
| 无望地，阴郁地，苍凉地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
zest
|
|
| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
strenuously
|
|
| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
sneered
|
|
| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
pessimist
|
|
| n.悲观者；悲观主义者；厌世 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
compensated
|
|
| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
immediate
|
|
| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
misgiving
|
|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
magisterial
|
|
| adj.威风的，有权威的；adv.威严地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
jotted
|
|
| v.匆忙记下( jot的过去式和过去分词 )；草草记下，匆匆记下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
impending
|
|
| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
groom
|
|
| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
obtruded
|
|
| v.强行向前，强行，强迫( obtrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
discrepancy
|
|
| n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
apprehension
|
|
| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
whit
|
|
| n.一点，丝毫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
smitten
|
|
| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
vigor
|
|
| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
uncommonly
|
|
| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
portrayed
|
|
| v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
buck
|
|
| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dictate
|
|
| v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
aloofness
|
|
| 超然态度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
feign
|
|
| vt.假装，佯作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
prospected
|
|
| vi.勘探（prospect的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
strings
|
|
| n.弦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
sobbing
|
|
| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
mittened
|
|
| v.（使）变得潮湿，变得湿润( moisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
intruding
|
|
| v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的现在分词)；把…强加于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
wailed
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
champagne
|
|
| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
magistrate
|
|
| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
canvass
|
|
| v.招徕顾客，兜售；游说；详细检查，讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
hack
|
|
| n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
impulsively
|
|
| adv.冲动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
vindicated
|
|
| v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
chronically
|
|
| ad.长期地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
seismic
|
|
| a.地震的，地震强度的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
divers
|
|
| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
monotonous
|
|
| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
hoary
|
|
| adj.古老的；鬓发斑白的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
maxims
|
|
| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
superstition
|
|
| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
warped
|
|
| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |