She found the establishment at Putney ready for her. Sir Isaac had not consulted her about it, it had been his secret, he had prepared it for her with meticulous1 care as a surprise. They returned from a honeymoon2 in Skye in which the attentions of Sir Isaac and the comforts of a first-class hotel had obscured a marvellous background of sombre mountain and wide stretches of shining sea. Sir Isaac had been very fond and insistent3 and inseparable, and she was doing her best to conceal4 a strange distressful5 jangling of her nerves which she now feared might presently dispose her to scream. Sir Isaac had been goodness itself, but how she craved6 now for solitude7! She was under the impression now that they were going to his mother's house in Highbury. Then she thought he would have to go away to business for part of the day at any rate, and she could creep into some corner and begin to think of all that had happened to her in these short summer months.
They were met at Euston by his motor-car. "Home," said Sir Isaac, with a little gleam of excitement, when the more immediate8 luggage was aboard.
As they hummed through the West-End afternoon Ellen became aware that he was whistling through his teeth. It was his invariable indication of mental activity, and her attention came drifting back from her idle contemplation of the shoppers and strollers of Piccadilly to link this already alarming symptom with the perplexing fact that they were manifestly travelling west.
"But this," she said presently, "is Knightsbridge."
"Goes to Kensington," he replied with attempted indifference9.
"But your mother doesn't live this way."
"We do," said Sir Isaac, shining at every point of his face.
"But," she halted. "Isaac!—where are we going?"
"Home," he said.
"You've not taken a house?"
"Bought it."
"But,—it won't be ready!"
"I've seen to that."
"Servants!" she cried in dismay.
"That's all right." His face broke into an excited smile. His little eyes danced and shone. "Everything," he said.
"But the servants!" she said.
"You'll see," he said. "There's a butler—and everything."
"A butler!" He could now no longer restrain himself. "I was weeks," he said, "getting it ready. Weeks and weeks.... It's a house.... I'd had my eye on it before ever I met you. It's a real good house, Elly...."
The fortunate girl-wife went on through Brompton to Walham Green with a stunned10 feeling. So women have felt in tumbrils. A nightmare of butlers, a galaxy11 of possible butlers, filled her soul.
No one was quite so big and formidable as Snagsby, towering up to receive her, upon the steps of the home her husband was so amazingly giving her.
The reader has already been privileged to see something of this house in the company of Lady Beach-Mandarin. At the top of the steps stood Mrs. Crumble12, the new and highly recommended cook-housekeeper in her best black silk flounced and expanded, and behind her peeped several neat maids in caps and aprons13. A little valet-like under-butler appeared and tried to balance Snagsby by hovering14 two steps above him on the opposite side of the Victorian mediæval porch.
Assisted officiously by Snagsby and amidst the deferential15 unhelpful gestures of the under-butler, Sir Isaac handed his wife out of the car. "Everything all right, Snagsby?" he asked brusquely if a little breathless.
"Everything in order, Sir Isaac."
"And here;—this is her ladyship."
"I 'ope her ladyship 'ad a pleasent journey to 'er new 'ome. I'm sure if I may presume, Sir Isaac, we shall all be very glad to serve her ladyship."
(Like all well-trained English servants, Snagsby always dropped as many h's as he could when conversing16 with his superiors. He did this as a mark of respect and to prevent social confusion, just as he was always careful to wear a slightly misfitting dress coat and fold his trousers so that they creased17 at the sides and had a wide flat effect in front.)
Lady Harman bowed a little shyly to his good wishes and was then led up to Mrs. Crumble, in a stiff black silk, who curtseyed with a submissive amiability18 to her new mistress. "I'm sure, me lady," she said. "I'm sure——"
There was a little pause. "Here they are, you see, right and ready," said Sir Isaac, and then with an inspiration, "Got any tea for us, Snagsby?"
Snagsby addressing his mistress inquired if he should serve tea in the garden or the drawing-room, and Sir Isaac decided19 for the garden.
"There's another hall beyond this," he said, and took his wife's arm, leaving Mrs. Crumble still bowing amiably20 before the hall table. And every time she bowed she rustled21 richly....
"It's quite a big garden," said Sir Isaac.
2
And so the woman who had been a girl three weeks ago, this tall, dark-eyed, slightly perplexed22 and very young-looking lady, was introduced to the home that had been made for her. She went about it with an alarmed sense of strange responsibilities, not in the least feeling that anything was being given to her. And Sir Isaac led her from point to point full of the pride and joy of new possession—for it was his first own house as well as hers—rejoicing over it and exacting23 gratitude24.
"It's all right, isn't it?" he asked looking up at her.
"It's wonderful. I'd no idea."
"See," he said, indicating a great brass25 bowl of perennial26 sunflowers on the landing, "your favourite flower!"
"My favourite flower?"
"You said it was—in that book. Perennial sunflower."
She was perplexed and then remembered.
She understood now why he had said downstairs, when she had glanced at a big photographic enlargement of a portrait of Doctor Barnardo, "your favourite hero in real life."
He had brought her at Hythe one day a popular Victorian device, a confession27 album, in which she had had to write down on a neat rose-tinted page, her favourite author, her favourite flower, her favourite colour, her favourite hero in real life, her "pet aversion," and quite a number of such particulars of her subjective28 existence. She had filled this page in a haphazard29 manner late one night, and she was disconcerted to find how thoroughly30 her careless replies had come home to roost. She had put down "pink" as her favourite colour because the page she was writing upon suggested it, and the paper of the room was pale pink, the curtains strong pink with a pattern of paler pink and tied with large pink bows, and the lamp shades, the bedspread, the pillow-cases, the carpet, the chairs, the very crockery—everything but the omnipresent perennial sunflowers—was pink. Confronted with this realization31, she understood that pink was the least agreeable of all possible hues32 for a bedroom. She perceived she had to live now in a chromatic33 range between rather underdone mutton and salmon34. She had said that her favourite musical composers were Bach and Beethoven; she really meant it, and a bust35 of Beethoven materialized that statement, but she had made Doctor Barnardo her favourite hero in real life because his name also began with a B and she had heard someone say somewhere that he was a very good man. The predominance of George Eliot's pensive36 rather than delightful37 countenance38 in her bedroom and the array of all that lady's works in a lusciously39 tooled pink leather, was due to her equally reckless choice of a favourite author. She had said too that Nelson was her favourite historical character, but Sir Isaac with a delicate jealousy40 had preferred to have this heroic but regrettably immoral41 personality represented in his home only by an engraving42 of the Battle of Copenhagen....
She stood surveying this room, and her husband watched her eagerly. She was, he felt, impressed at last!...
Certainly she had never seen such a bedroom in her life. By comparison even with the largest of the hotel apartments they had occupied it was vast; it had writing-tables and a dainty bookcase and a blushing sofa, and dressing-tables and a bureau and a rose-red screen and three large windows. Her thoughts went back to the narrow little bedroom at Penge with which she had hitherto been so entirely43 content. Her own few little books, a photograph or so,—they'd never dare to come here, even if she dared to bring them.
"Here," said Sir Isaac, flinging open a white door, "is your dressing-room."
She was chiefly aware of a huge white bath standing44 on a marble slab45 under a window of crinkled pink-stained glass, and of a wide space of tiled floor with white fur rugs.
"And here," he said, opening a panel that was covered by wall paper, "is my door."
"Yes," he said to the question in her eyes, "that's my room. You got this one—for your own. It's how people do now. People of our position.... There's no lock."
He shut the door slowly again and surveyed the splendours he had made with infinite satisfaction.
"All right?" he said, "isn't it?"... He turned to the pearl for which the casket was made, and slipped an arm about her waist. His arm tightened46.
"Got a kiss for me, Elly?" he whispered.
At this moment, a gong almost worthy47 of Snagsby summoned them to tea. It came booming in to them with a vast officious arrogance48 that brooked49 no denial. It made one understand the imperatives50 of the Last Trump51, albeit52 with a greater dignity.... There was a little awkward pause.
"I'm so dirty and trainy," she said, disengaging herself from his arm. "And we ought to go to tea."
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1
meticulous
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| adj.极其仔细的，一丝不苟的 | |
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honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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distressful
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| adj.苦难重重的，不幸的，使苦恼的 | |
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craved
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| 渴望，热望( crave的过去式 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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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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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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deferential
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| adj. 敬意的，恭敬的 | |
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conversing
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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amiably
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| adv.和蔼可亲地，亲切地 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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perennial
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| adj.终年的；长久的 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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haphazard
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| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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32
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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chromatic
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| adj.色彩的，颜色的 | |
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salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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lusciously
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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42
engraving
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| n.版画；雕刻（作品）；雕刻艺术；镌版术v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的现在分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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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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slab
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| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
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46
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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47
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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48
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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49
brooked
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| 容忍，忍受（brook的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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50
imperatives
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| n.必要的事( imperative的名词复数 )；祈使语气；必须履行的责任 | |
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51
trump
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| n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭 | |
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52
albeit
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| conj.即使；纵使；虽然 | |
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