Martin Valliant began the morning with a queer flush of excitement, even of trepidation2. The woman with the dark hair and the wild woodland eyes would mount her horse and ride away out of his life. And somehow he did not want her to go, nor was he ashamed of the desire. He found himself in awe3 of her, but he did not fear her as he had feared poor Kate Succory. She was a mystery, a vision, a strange new world that made him stand wide-eyed with wonder. Her lips made him think of the holy wine, pure drink, red as blood, and undefiled.
His restlessness began with the dawn. He rang the chapel4 bell, went through the services, with his thoughts wandering out and waiting expectantly outside the rest-house door. For the very first time the spirit of dissimulation5 entered Brother Martin’s life, prompting him to walk up and down the grassy6 space outside his cell, hands folded, head bent7, as though in meditation8.
He saw her door open. She came out, her black hair hanging loose, wished him a calm “good morning,” and went down toward the spring. She had gone to wash herself there, to dabble9 her hands in the water. Martin paced up and down.
She returned, disappeared into the rest-house, and there was silence—suspense. Martin Valliant kept passing the open doorway10, but he had not the courage to look in.
“Father Martin——”
He faced around with a guileless air, as though she had been very distant from his thoughts.
“Did you speak to me, Mistress——”
“And I have not told you my name! I am called Catharine Lovel. I wish to tarry here for some days, if St. Florence does not forbid it.”
Martin looked grave.
“I never heard that St. Florence had set a boundary to his charity,” he said.
“Then I am the more his debtor11 in the spirit. This is so sweet and calm a place. I come from a forest country, Father Martin.”
“It is a very wonderful country,” he agreed.
Again Martin agreed with her. She stood at gaze, her hands clasped in front of her.
“One cannot lose oneself with this moor13 as a guide post. I shall ride out, Father Martin, and go down into the woods.”
“Sometimes, Father Martin, trees are nobler than men.”
He pondered those words of hers all day.
Dusk was falling before she returned. The brown horse’s ears hung limp, as though she had ridden him many miles, and his coat was stained with sweat. Martin Valliant had been standing15 in the doorway of his cell. He went forward to hold her horse.
“I so managed it that I lost myself,” she said.
Her face looked white in the dusk, and her eyes tired.
“I reached a river, a fine stream.”
“The Rondel. It runs a league away, and the woods are great and very thick.”
“That lured16 me on—perhaps. I found a ford17, and pushed my horse over, there are wild grasslands18 beyond all full of flowers.”
“I have never been so far,” he confessed.
“It is a great country, even wilder than my own. I saw as splendid a hart as ever swam a stream come down and cross the river. And now I am as hungry as though I had followed the hounds.”
He saw that she was weary.
“I will look to the horse.”
“The poor beast has had to suffer for my whims20, father. He will bless you, no doubt. And so good-night to you; I shall be asleep almost before I have supped.”
Martin Valliant led the horse to the stable, took off the saddle and bridle21, and rubbed the beast down with a handful of hay. He found the animal muddied above the knees, and there were other matters to set Martin thinking. The fords of the Roding were floored with sand, for the Roding was a clean river and ran at a good pace. Of course, the mud might have come from some piece of bog22 or a forest stream. He was the more astonished that she should have reached the river, and having reached it, found her way back again through one of the wildest and most savage23 parts of the Forest. The ways were few and treacherous24, and known only to the forest folk, and yet what reason was there for her to lie?
The second day resembled the first in its happenings, save that Martin Valliant betrayed a more flagrant interest in this mysterious woman’s pilgrimage. She rode out early, and he hid himself behind a thorn bush on the moor and watched her progress. She chose neither the path that led to the beech woods, nor the road going west, but turned aside along the track that made for Oakshot Bottom. Martin watched her till she was out of sight, hidden by the belt of birches that bounded the northern rim25 of the moor.
She returned earlier that day, and in a strange and sullen27 temper. She let Martin take the horse, but her eyes avoided his, and she had little to say to him.
“I struck a fool’s country—all sand.”
“That would be the White Plain.”
“ ‘White’ they call it! A good jest!”
“Because of the birch trees.”
“Ah, the birch trees! I remember.”
He looked at her curiously28, but she went straight to the rest-house and shut herself in. Something seemed to have gone very amiss with her that day, and Martin was honestly perplexed29. Were women made of such wayward stuff that some dust, a wood of birch trees, and perhaps a few flies, could stir such spirited discontent?
He took her horse to the stable, fed and groomed30 him as though he were my lady’s servant. And again he examined the beast’s feet, only to discover something that was singular. One of the hind26 hoofs31 had red clay balled in it, and Martin Valliant knew that red clay was not to be found in that part of the Forest.
He picked the stuff out and stared at it, holding it in one palm.
“Oakshot is yellow, Bracknell is black,
Troy is as white as a miller’s sack,
The Paradise fields are as brown as wood,
“Bloody Rood? That is the Blount’s lordship. Young Nigel holds the fee.”
He frowned and tossed the clay into the stall.
Martin saw no more of Mellis that evening; she remained shut up in the rest-house, nor did he leave the limits of his cell. A new emotion had been born in Martin Valliant’s heart—an emotion that was so utterly34 human that the saint was fast losing himself in the man. Mellis was growing more mysterious, more elusive35, and Martin Valliant’s imagination had carried him away at a gallop36 in pursuit of her.
Why had she ridden all the way to Bloody Rood? Chance could not have carried her there, and what reason had she for hiding the truth? The adventure had not gone smoothly37, to judge by the temper of her return. And what sort of adventure could befall a woman in the Forest?
From the moment of that thought an utterly new look came into Martin Valliant’s eyes. His nostrils38 dilated39, he stared fixedly40 at some imaginary scene, his hands clenched41 themselves. Dame42 Nature had flicked43 him with her scourge44 of jealousy45, set him thinking about a certain young Nigel Blount of Bloody Rood.
Martin Valliant discovered his own manhood that night. He had ceased to be an onlooker46, a creature in petticoats, an impersonal47, passionless saint. He was going to take a part in the adventure: to see for himself how life stood.
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1
pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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dissimulation
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| n.掩饰，虚伪，装糊涂 | |
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grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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9
dabble
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| v.涉足，浅赏 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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debtor
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| n.借方，债务人 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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beech
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| n.山毛榉；adj.山毛榉的 | |
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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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lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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grasslands
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| n.草原，牧场( grassland的名词复数 ) | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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bridle
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| n.笼头，束缚；vt.抑制，约束；动怒 | |
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bog
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| n.沼泽；室...陷入泥淖 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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groomed
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| v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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31
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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33
jingle
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| n.叮当声，韵律简单的诗句；v.使叮当作响，叮当响，押韵 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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38
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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39
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40
fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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41
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
dame
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| n.女士 | |
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43
flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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44
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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45
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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46
onlooker
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| n.旁观者，观众 | |
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47
impersonal
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| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
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