On the eventful day of the "Social" the closing bell rang at 3.35 instead of at four o'clock, and forty-two delighted girls promptly5 put away their books, closed their desks, and trooped into the [49]gymnasium. The monitresses, aided and abetted6 by Miss Janet, had spent a busy but successful time in preparation, and the room looked quite festive7. Flags decorated the platforms, and Chinese lanterns were suspended from the beams of the roof. Round the wooden walls hung a show of sketches9, drawings, maps, illuminations and photographs, fastened up with tacks10 and drawing pins, and on the tables was spread forth11 quite a goodly display of moths12, butterflies, beetles13, shells, sea-weeds, pressed wild flowers, fretwork, pokerwork, and needlework. All specimens were labelled with their owners' names, so it was excitement to walk round and compare notes. Lorraine, listening critically, judged the mental barometer14 of the school from the juniors' remarks, which, if slangy, were certainly complimentary15.
"Peggie! You paragon16! What a perfectly17 chubby18 little bag! I couldn't have made it if I'd tried till Doomsday!"
"I should cock-a-doodle, Jill, if I'd done that illumination!"
"Wonders will never cease! Here's old Florrie made a collection of shells."
"Absolutely topping!"
"Keep out of my way, you blue-bottle! I can't see!"
"All right, old thing! Don't get raggy!"
When the exhibits had been duly admired and [50]notes compared as to their respective merits, a few of the best musical stars performed on the piano, then some round games were played, and the proceedings20 closed by the whole school forming a wide circle and singing "Auld21 Lang Syne22" in the orthodox fashion with crossed hands.
The girls went unwillingly23, and would have stayed for another half-hour if Miss Janet had not insisted upon their departure. Lorraine, putting on her boots in the cloak-room, decided24 that her first effort had been an unqualified success. It had certainly seemed to draw the school together in a bond of union, so far as she could judge. She could not resist a purr of satisfaction to Dorothy, whose coat hung next to hers. Dorothy's congratulations were, however, half-hearted.
"I suppose they enjoyed it," she admitted grudgingly25, "though I dare say some of them felt it a bore to be obliged to stay after four o'clock. Vivien said you'd got the whole thing up to show off your own specimens."
The hot colour flamed to Lorraine's cheeks.
"Oh, what a shame! I didn't! I hardly showed any specimens myself, only a few ferns and photos, and one drawing. You know it wasn't for my own glorification26!"
Dorothy straightened her collar outside her coat as if its arrangement were the main object in life.
"Oh, I'm not saying so!" she remarked carelessly. "I'm only telling you what I heard Vivien say. Effie Swan wondered you [51]never asked her to play when you asked Theresa Dawson."
"I couldn't ask them all—it wasn't a concert."
"She's very offended, though. I don't think she's going to come to the next social."
Dorothy consulted her watch.
"It's frightfully late!" she sighed. "I shan't have time to do my practising. We're going out to a concert to-night."
For Lorraine, all the satisfaction of the afternoon had faded. Nothing hurts so much as the confidences of a so-called friend who tells you the disagreeable things that other people say about you. It is a particularly mean form of sincerity32, for the remarks were probably never intended to be repeated. The mischief33 it often causes is incalculable. Lorraine walked home, feeling that there was a barrier between herself and her cousin.
"I knew Vivien would be annoyed at my being head girl, but I didn't think she'd be so spiteful as that!" she ruminated34. "Well, I don't care! I shall go on with the 'socials' all the same, and with any other schemes that crop up. But it is horrid35 of her, because she might have been such a help to me!"
As the term went on, Lorraine began to see only too clearly that her two great obstacles in the school were Dorothy and Vivien. They did not openly [52]thwart her, but there was a continual undercurrent of opposition36, not marked enough for comment, but sufficiently37 galling38. No matter what she proposed, they had always some objection to offer, and, though in the end they might hold up their hands with the rest, it was with an air of concession39 more than of whole-hearted agreement. They were the cleverest girls in the form, so it was hard to have to count them as opponents, rather than as allies, in her work. The other members of the Sixth, who had passed up the school with her, she knew from experience would give scant40 help. Patsie was a good-natured rattle-trap, Audrey an amiable41 little goose; Nellie and Claire were very stodgy42, ordinary girls, without an original idea between them, and not much notion of the responsibilities of monitresses.
"I want somebody to back me up, and act as lieutenant," thought Lorraine.
She had, so far, taken very little notice of the newcomer, except by vaguely44 appreciating the fact of her extreme prettiness. Claudia had not pushed herself, and the intimacy45 which now sprang up between the two girls came of a mere46 chance. Miss Kingsley had asked the school to collect fruit-stones and nuts, to be sent to headquarters for use in the manufacture of gas-masks for the army. It was a point of patriotism47 for everyone to bring as many as possible.
Lorraine, strolling out one Saturday on this [53]errand, did not find it an easy matter to fill her basket. The appeal was a universal one in the town, and the Council School children had been on the common before her, picking up the beech-mast and acorns48. As for hazel-nuts, there seemed not a solitary49 one left in the hedges. She was wandering disconsolately50 along, foraging51 with small success, when she happened to meet Claudia. Lorraine held out her quarter-filled basket for sympathy.
"That's all I've been able to find, and if there are any more to be had, I'm sure I don't know where they are!"
"There are heaps of horse-chestnuts52 in the fields above our house," replied Claudia. "I'm going home now, and, if you care to come with me, I'll help you to get some."
Lorraine jumped at the offer, and the girls set off together up the road, chatting briskly.
The Castletons had only come lately to Porthkeverne. Mr. Castleton was an artist, and, attracted by the quaint53 streets, picturesque54 harbour, and the glorious cliffs and sea in the neighbourhood, he had taken Windy Howe, an empty farmhouse55 on a hill some way above the town, converting a big barn into a studio, and establishing himself there with easels, paint-boxes, and a huge pile of immense canvases.
A critic had once described Mr. Castleton as a genius who had just missed fire, and the simile56 was an apt one. His large pictures were good, but not always good enough to hit the public [54]taste. He was constantly changing his style, and one year would astonish the exhibitions by misty57 impressionism, and the next would return to pre-Raphaelite methods. He had dabbled58 in sculpture, illustration, frescoes59, and miniature painting, and had published two volumes of minor60 poems, which, unfortunately, had never commanded a good sale. He was a handsome, interesting man, utterly61 unpractical and irrational62, delightful63 to talk to, but exasperating64 in the extreme to those with whom he had business. The quaint, old-fashioned homestead on the hill, with its low-ceiled bedrooms, panelled parlours, black-beamed kitchen, ivied porch, thick hedge of fuchsias, and view over a stretch of heath and the dancing waters of the bay, satisfied his artistic65 temperament66, and provided a suitable background for the new ideas which he was constantly evolving. Moreover—though this was quite a secondary consideration—it afforded sufficient accommodation for his family.
Lorraine's first impression of the Castletons was that they went in for both quality and quantity. They numbered nine, and all had the same nicely-shaped noses, Cupid mouths, irreproachable67 complexions68, neat teeth, dark-fringed blue eyes, and shining sunlit hair. They were a veritable gold-mine to artists, and their portraits had been painted constantly by their father and his friends. Pictures of them in various costumes and poses had appeared as coloured supplements to annuals or as frontispieces in magazines; they had figured in the Academy, and had been bought for permanent [55]collections in local art galleries. The features of Morland, Claudia, Landry, Beata, Romola, and Madox had for years been familiar to frequenters of provincial69 exhibitions, sometimes singly, sometimes in groups, and sometimes with the lovely mother, whose profile was considered a near approach to that of the classic statue of Ceres.
Five years before this story opens, pretty, impetuous, blue-eyed Mrs. Castleton had suddenly resigned all the sad and glad things that make up the puzzle we call life, and passed on to sample the ways of a wider world. For the first six months her husband had mourned for her distractedly, and had written quite a little volume of poems in her memory; for the next eight months he was attractively pensive70, and then—all in a few weeks—he fell in love again and married his model, a girl of barely seventeen, with a beautiful Burne-Jones face and a Cockney accent. In the following few years three more carnation-cheeked, golden-haired little Castletons—Constable71, Lilith, and Perugia—had tumbled into this planet to form a second nursery, and were already learning to sit for their portraits in various attractive studio poses.
Claudia, running into the house to fetch an extra basket for the horse-chestnuts, introduced Lorraine to a few members of the family who happened to be straying about, showed her a row of pictures in the dining-room, and escorted her through the gap at the bottom of the garden into the fields at the back of the barn.
Sitting on the farther gate, whittling72 a stick, [56]was a boy of seventeen, with the unmistakable Castleton features and sunlit hair.
"Hallo, Morland!" cried Claudia. "We're going to get chestnuts. Do come and help; there's a sport! This is Lorraine Forrester."
Morland would no doubt have performed the orthodox ceremony of lifting his cap, but, being bareheaded, he grinned and shook hands instead.
"Don't advise you to eat them—they're beastly!" he vouchsafed73.
"We're not going to—they're for the soldiers!"
"Then I pity the poor beggars, that's all."
"They're not to be eaten, they're to be made into gas-masks. I told you all about it, Morland," declared Claudia.
"I've a shocking memory," he demurred74. "But whatever they're for I'll help you get some. Here, give me this to carry," and he took Lorraine's basket and hung it over his arm.
There were plenty of chestnuts lying on the ground under the trees, and more hanging on the branches which could be dislodged by a well-aimed stone. The young people spent a profitable half-hour, and filled their handkerchiefs as well as their baskets.
"I'd nothing else to do," said Morland.
"Wouldn't Violet let you practise?" asked Claudia quickly.
"No, she said it woke up Perugia!"
[57]"It's always the way!" she replied.
"Are you fond of music?" asked Lorraine.
"Love it! It's the only thing I do care about. I'd play all day and night if Violet didn't turn me out. She locks the piano sometimes."
"Is she your sister?"
Morland and Claudia both laughed and looked at each other, and the latter explained:
"No, she's our stepmother, but she's so young that all of us call her Violet. She's not such a bad sort on the whole, but we have squalls sometimes, don't we, Morland?"
"Rather!" nodded the boy.
"Constable and Lilith used to sleep through anything and everything," added Claudia, "but Perugia's a fidgety child, and she wakes up and yells when she hears the piano."
"I play the violin a little," admitted Lorraine modestly. "I wonder if you two would come down some day and try a few things over with me. I've nobody to play my accompaniments since Rosemary went away. I know Mother would be pleased to see you."
"We'd just love it! You bet we'll come!"
Lorraine, pouring out the account of her adventures when she reached home, sought confirmation79 from her mother for the invitation she had given to the young Castletons.
"They're the most fascinating family! I saw them all as Claudia was taking me back through the garden. I think each one's more perfectly beautiful than the others. They're absolutely [58]romantic. You will let me ask Morland and Claudia to tea, won't you, Muvvie?"
"I will in this case, because I know something of Mr. Castleton from the Lorrimers, but you mustn't go giving broadcast invitations again without consulting me first."
"I won't! I won't! You're a darling to let me have them. Muvvie, I'm so thankful you're not our stepmother!"
"So am I," returned Mrs. Forrester humorously. "I find my own family quite a sufficient handful, and what I should have done with another woman's in addition, I don't know. It would have been quite too big a burden."
"We can play the piano here," said Lorraine, "because there isn't any baby to wake up and cry."
"If there were, you'd have to reckon with me, for I shouldn't let it be disturbed when I'd successfully hushed it to sleep. I haven't forgotten my own struggles with you and Richard. You were the naughtiest babies of the whole tribe."
After this rather unconventional introduction, Lorraine's attraction to the Castletons ripened80 fast into intimate friendship. They were such an unusual family, so clever and interesting, yet with Bohemian ways that were different from those of any one she had yet known.
In the case of Morland and Claudia their father's artistic talent had cropped out in the form of music. Claudia cared nothing for painting, but was just beginning to discover that she had a voice. Morland, [59]hopeless as far as school work was concerned, had learned to play the piano almost by instinct. He was a handsome, careless, good-tempered boy, decidedly weak in character, who drifted aimlessly along without even an ambition in life. He was seventeen and a half, and for nearly a year had been lounging about at home, doing nothing in particular. Spasmodically his father would realize his existence and say: "I must really do something with Morland." Then he would get absorbed in a fresh picture, and his good intentions on his son's behalf would fade to vanishing point. In another six months the lad would be liable for military service, so until the war should be over it seemed scarcely worth while to start him in any special career. Doing nothing, however, is a bad training, and even Mr. Castleton's artistic friends—not prone81 as a rule to proffer82 good advice—tendered the occasional comment that Morland was "running to seed". Morland himself was perfectly happy if he was left alone and allowed to sit and improvise83 at the piano; he never troubled his head about his future career, and was as unconcerned as the ravens84 regarding the sources of food and raiment.
He played Lorraine's accompaniments easily at sight, with a delicacy85 of touch and an artistic rendering86 such as Rosemary had never put into them. It inspired Lorraine, and yet half humiliated87 her; she was a painstaking88 but not a very clever student of the violin; no touch of genius ever flowed from her fingers. To listen to Morland [60]was to gain a glimpse of a new musical world in which he flew on wings and she stumbled on crutches89. She sighed as she threw down her violin, for she had all the ambition that he unfortunately lacked.
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1
dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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abetted
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| v.教唆（犯罪）( abet的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；怂恿；支持 | |
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festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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tacks
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| 大头钉( tack的名词复数 )； 平头钉； 航向； 方法 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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moths
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| n.蛾( moth的名词复数 ) | |
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beetles
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| n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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barometer
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| n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标 | |
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complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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stunt
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| n.惊人表演，绝技，特技；vt.阻碍...发育，妨碍...生长 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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syne
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| adv.自彼时至此时，曾经 | |
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unwillingly
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| adv.不情愿地 | |
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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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grudgingly
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glorification
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| n.赞颂 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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shafts
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| n.轴( shaft的名词复数 )；（箭、高尔夫球棒等的）杆；通风井；一阵（疼痛、害怕等） | |
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rankle
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| v.（怨恨，失望等）难以释怀 | |
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sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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galling
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| adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的 | |
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concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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stodgy
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| adj.易饱的；笨重的；滞涩的；古板的 | |
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juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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disconsolately
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| adv.悲伤地，愁闷地；哭丧着脸 | |
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51
foraging
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| v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西） | |
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52
chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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53
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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simile
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| n.直喻，明喻 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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58
dabbled
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| v.涉猎( dabble的过去式和过去分词 )；涉足；浅尝；少量投资 | |
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59
frescoes
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| n.壁画( fresco的名词复数 )；温壁画技法，湿壁画 | |
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60
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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64
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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irreproachable
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| adj.不可指责的，无过失的 | |
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complexions
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| 肤色( complexion的名词复数 )； 面色； 局面； 性质 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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72
whittling
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| v.切，削（木头），使逐渐变小( whittle的现在分词 ) | |
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73
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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74
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
exulted
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| 狂喜，欢跃( exult的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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trumps
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| abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造 | |
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77
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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78
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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79
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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80
ripened
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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82
proffer
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| v.献出，赠送；n.提议，建议 | |
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83
improvise
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| v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成 | |
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84
ravens
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| n.低质煤；渡鸦( raven的名词复数 ) | |
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85
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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86
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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87
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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88
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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89
crutches
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| n.拐杖, 支柱 v.支撑 | |
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