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CHAPTER X
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BUT if she wished him to know she gave no other sign.
 
She spent the money that he gave her, and when it was gone she asked him for more.
 
Only once she had said as she took it: “You are sure it is right for me to spend this?”
 
And he had replied: “When you ask for anything I cannot give you I will let you know.”
 
She had said nothing. She had not even glanced at him. But somehow he fancied that she understood him.
 
He grew to know, by intuition, the days when she would go to Merwin’s.
 
As he left the house he would say: “She will be there—” And when he dropped in, in the afternoon, he did not even need to glance at the alcove1 on the right. He would sit down quietly in his place across the aisle2, glad to be with her.
 
He never saw her come and go and he did not know whether any one was with her—behind her curtain. He tried not to know.... He was trying to understand Rosalind. What was it drew her? Was it music—or the quiet place? Or was there———?
 
He could easily have known.... Gordon Barstow’s detective would have made sure for him in a day.... But Eldridge did not want to know—anything that a detective could tell him. He did not want to be told by detectives or told things detectives could tell. He was studying Rosalind’s every wish—as if he were a boy.
 
He did not go to Merwin’s till he felt sure that she would be there in the alcove, and he left before she drew the little curtain and came out. He did not want to know.... He only wanted her to be there—and to sit with her a little while, quietly....
 
He would wait and understand.
 
A piano had come into the house and the boys were taking lessons. One day he discovered that Rosalind was learning, too.
 
He had come home early, wondering whether he would ask her to go for a walk with him. He had asked her once or twice and they had gone for a little while before supper, walking aimlessly through the suburban3 streets, saying very little; he had fancied that Rosalind liked it—but he could not be sure.
 
He opened the door with his latchkey and stepped in. Some one was playing softly, stopping to sing a little, and then playing again.... Rosalind was alone.
 
He stood very quiet in the dark hall; only a little light from above the door—shining on the stair rail and on a lamp that hung above it.... She was playing with the lightest touch—a few notes, as if feeling her way, and then the little singing voice answering it.... So she was like this—very still and happy—and he was shut out. His hand groped behind him for the latch4 and found it and opened the door, and he stepped outside and closed the door softly.
 
He stood a moment in the wind. Behind his door he heard the music playing to itself....
 
He walked for a long time that afternoon—along the dull streets, staring at brick houses and at children running past him on brick walks.... It was all brick walks and long rows of houses—and dulness; he could not reach Rosalind. He could buy clothes for her—more bricks... and there was the music—his mind halted—and went on.
 
Music made her happy—like that! He bought an evening paper and studied it awhile, standing5 by the newsstand, with the cars and taxis shooting past. Presently he folded the paper and took a car that was going toward town. There was something he could do for Rosalind—something that no one had thought of—something that she would like!
 
He was as eager and as ignorant as a boy, standing in front of the barred ticket window and looking in.
 
“Tickets for the Symphony?” The man glanced out at him. “House sold out.”
 
Eldridge stared back. “You mean—I cannot—get them!”
 
“Something may come in. You can leave your name.” The man pushed paper and pencil toward him.
 
Eldridge wrote his name slowly. “I want—good ones.”
 
“Can’t say—” said the man.
 
“There are six ahead of you—” He took up the paper and made a note.
 
Eldridge stepped outside. A man looked at him and moved up, falling into step beside him. “I have a couple of tickets—” he said softly.
 
He did not know that he was speaking to a man on a quest, a man who would have paid whatever he might ask for the slips of paper in his hand—They were not mere6 symphony tickets he sold. They were tickets to the fields of the sun. He asked five dollars for them; he might have got fifty.
 
Eldridge slipped them into his pocket. He stepped back into the hall. “I shall not need those tickets,” he said.
 
The man in the window glanced at him, indifferent, and crossed out a name.
 
All the way home Eldridge’s heart laughed. Would she like it?... She had played so softly... she would listen like that—and he would be with her.... He could not keep the tickets in his pocket. He took them out and looked at them—two plain blue slips with a few black marks on them.... And he had thought of it himself!—It was not Mr. El-dridge Walcott’s money that bought them for her.... Would she understand it was not money—?
 
She took them from him with half-pleased face—“For the Symphony?” she said.
 
“I thought you might—we—. might like it—”
 
She looked at them a minute. “I never went to a symphony—”
 
“Nor I—” He laughed a little. “I thought we might—try it.”
 
She was still regarding them thoughtfully. “I haven’t anything to wear—have I—?” She looked up with the wrinkled line between her eyes.
 
“Wear your—” He checked it on his tongue. “Get something—There’s a week, you know. You can get something, can’t you?”
 
“Yes, if you think I ought—”
 
“Of course—get what you need.” She waited thoughtfully.... “I have—a dress that might do—with a little changing—” she said.
 
He saw with a flash, suddenly, the dark attic7 above them—and a man on his knees staring down at the grey and shimmering8 whiteness. “Better get something new, wouldn’t you?” said Eldridge.
 
“Perhaps—I will think—about it.”
 
He could not have told which he wished——-But when, the night of the concert, she came down to him wearing the grey dress and long grey gloves, with the lace falling softly back—he knew in the flash, as he looked at her, that he was glad....
 
She was buttoning one of the gloves and the long grey coat hung from her arm. She did not look up.
 
He took it from her and wrapped her in it.
 
They were going to another world—together. She was going—with him.
 
There was a little, quiet flush in her face as she sat in the car. Other people were going to the concert, and she looked at them as they came in and sat down.
 
And Eldridge looked at Rosalind. He did not speak to her.... They were going to a new world—and the car was taking them.... Bits of talk—color—drifting fragrance9 as the coats fell back.... The woman across the aisle had a bunch of violets....
 
Why had he not thought to get violets for Rosalind! Would she have liked flowers—? She seemed a strange Rosalind, sitting beside him in the car in her grey dress—her eyes like little stars.... They had three children... and a brick house....
 
The car jolted10 on. Eldridge would have wished that it might never stop.... There would not be another night like this. He could put out his hand and touch mystery.... Then he was helping11 her over the crowded street and they were in the hall—with flowers everywhere—and something close about you that touched you when you moved.
 
 
For years afterward12 he looked back to that Symphony with Rosalind. He had come blindly to a door—as blindly as, when a boy, he had walked in the moonlight—and they had gone in together. They were like children in its strangeness. And as children explore a new field, they went forward. It belonged to them—the lights and people, and vibrations13 everywhere.... They would go till they came to the end—but there would be no end—always hills stretching beyond, and a wood—something deep, mysterious in that wood.... They came to it softly, looking in, and turned back.... Once Rosalind had turned and looked at him.
 
He held that fast—through the weeks and months that went by, through the dull brick streets, he held it fast—for a moment the hidden Rosalind had come to her window and looked out at him and smiled—before she turned away.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 alcove EKMyU     
n.凹室
参考例句:
  • The bookcase fits neatly into the alcove.书架正好放得进壁凹。
  • In the alcoves on either side of the fire were bookshelves.火炉两边的凹室里是书架。
2 aisle qxPz3     
n.(教堂、教室、戏院等里的)过道,通道
参考例句:
  • The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
  • The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。
3 suburban Usywk     
adj.城郊的,在郊区的
参考例句:
  • Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
  • There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。
4 latch g2wxS     
n.门闩,窗闩;弹簧锁
参考例句:
  • She laid her hand on the latch of the door.她把手放在门闩上。
  • The repairman installed an iron latch on the door.修理工在门上安了铁门闩。
5 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
6 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
7 attic Hv4zZ     
n.顶楼,屋顶室
参考例句:
  • Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
  • What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理?
8 shimmering 0a3bf9e89a4f6639d4583ea76519339e     
v.闪闪发光,发微光( shimmer的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The sea was shimmering in the sunlight. 阳光下海水波光闪烁。
  • The colours are delicate and shimmering. 这些颜色柔和且闪烁微光。 来自辞典例句
9 fragrance 66ryn     
n.芬芳,香味,香气
参考例句:
  • The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
  • The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。
10 jolted 80f01236aafe424846e5be1e17f52ec9     
(使)摇动, (使)震惊( jolt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The truck jolted and rattled over the rough ground. 卡车嘎吱嘎吱地在凹凸不平的地面上颠簸而行。
  • She was jolted out of her reverie as the door opened. 门一开就把她从幻想中惊醒。
11 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
12 afterward fK6y3     
adv.后来;以后
参考例句:
  • Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏,然后吃饭。
  • Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来,这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。
13 vibrations d94a4ca3e6fa6302ae79121ffdf03b40     
n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动
参考例句:
  • We could feel the vibrations from the trucks passing outside. 我们可以感到外面卡车经过时的颤动。
  • I am drawn to that girl; I get good vibrations from her. 我被那女孩吸引住了,她使我产生良好的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》


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