THE FACE AT THE WINDOW

He had gone down at Christmas, where our host

Had opened up his house on the Maine coast,

For the week's holidays, and we were all,

On Christmas night, sitting in the great hall,

About the corner fireplace, while we told

Stories like those that people, young and old,

Have told at Christmas firesides from the first,

Till one who crouched¹ upon the hearth², and nursed

His knees in his claspt arms, threw back his head,

And fixed³ our host with laughing eyes, and said,

"This is so good, here—with your hickory logs

Blazing like natural-gas ones on the dogs,

And sending out their flicker⁴ on the wall

And rafters of your mock-baronial hall,

All in fumed-oak, and on your polished floor,

And the steel-studded panels of your door—

I think you owe the general make-believe

Some sort of story that will somehow give

[Pg 108]A more ideal completeness to our case,

And make each several listener in his place—

Or hers—sit up, with a real goose-flesh creeping

All over him—or her—in proper keeping

With the locality and hour and mood.

Come!" And amid the cries of "Yes!" and "Good!"

Our host laughed back; then, with a serious air,

Looked around him on our hemicycle, where

He sat midway of it. "Why," he began,

But interrupted by the other man,

He paused for him to say: "Nothing remote,

But something with the actual Yankee note

Of here and now in it!" "I'll do my best,"

Our host replied, "to satisfy a guest.

What do you say to Barberry Cove⁵? And would

Five years be too long past?" "No, both are good.

Go on!" "You noticed that big house to-day

Close to the water, and the sloop⁶ that lay,

Stripped for the winter, there, beside the pier⁷?

Well, there she has lain just so, year after year;

And she will never leave her pier again;

But once, each spring she sailed in sun or rain,

For Bay Chaleur—or Bay Shaloor, as they

Like better to pronounce it down this way."

 

"I like Shaloor myself rather the best.

But go ahead," said the exacting⁸ guest.

[Pg 109]And with a glance around at us that said,

"Don't let me bore you!" our host went ahead.

 

"Captain Gilroy built the big house, and he

Still lives there with his aging family.

He built the sloop, and when he used to come

Back from the Banks he made her more his home,

With his two boys, than the big house. The two

Counted with him a good half of her crew,

Until it happened, on the Banks, one day

The oldest boy got in a steamer's way,

And went down in his dory. In the fall

The others came without him. That was all

That showed in either one of them except

That now the father and the brother slept

Ashore⁹, and not on board. When the spring came

They sailed for the old fishing-ground the same

As ever. Yet, not quite the same. The brother,

If you believed what folks say, kissed his mother

Good-by in going; and by general rumor¹⁰,

The father, so far yielding as to humor

His daughters' weakness, rubbed his stubbly cheek

Against their lips. Neither of them would speak,

But the dumb passion of their love and grief

In so much show at parting found relief.

 

[Pg 110]

 

"The weeks passed and the months. Sometimes they heard

At home, by letter, from the sloop, or word

Of hearsay¹¹ from the fleet. But by and by

Along about the middle of July,

A time in which they had no news began,

And holding unbrokenly through August, ran

Into September. Then, one afternoon,

While the world hung between the sun and moon,

And while the mother and her girls were sitting

Together with their sewing and their knitting,—

Before the early-coming evening's gloom

Had gathered round them in the living-room,

Helplessly wondering to each other when

They should hear something from their absent men,—

They saw, all three, against the window-pane,

A face that came and went, and came again,

Three times, as though for each of them, about

As high up from the porch's floor without

As a man's head would be that stooped to stare

Into the room on their own level there.

Its eyes dwelt on them wistfully as if

Longing¹² to speak with the dumb lips some grief

They could not speak. The women did not start

Or scream, though each one of them, in her heart,

[Pg 111]Knew she was looking on no living face,

But stared, as dumb as it did, in her place."

 

Here our host paused, and one sigh broke from all

Our circle whom his tale had held in thrall¹³.

But he who had required it of him spoke¹⁴

In what we others felt an ill-timed joke:

"Well, this is something like!" A girl said, "Don't!"

As if it hurt, and he said, "Well, I won't.

Go on!" And in a sort of muse¹⁵ our host

Said: "I suppose we all expect a ghost

Will sometimes come to us. But I doubt if we

Are moved by its coming as we thought to be.

At any rate, the women were not scared,

But, as I said, they simply sat and stared

Till the face vanished. Then the mother said,

'It was your father, girls, and he is dead.'

But both had known him; and now all went on

Much as before till three weeks more were gone,

When, one night sitting as they sat before,

Together with their mother, at the door

They heard a fumbling¹⁶ hand, and on the walk

Up from the pier, the tramp and muffled¹⁷ talk

Of different wind-blown voices that they knew

For the hoarse¹⁸ voices of their father's crew.

[Pg 112]Then the door opened, and their father stood

Before them, palpably in flesh and blood.

The mother spoke for all, her own misgiving¹⁹:

'Father, is this your ghost? Or are you living?'

'I am alive!' 'But in this very place

We saw your face look, like a spirit's face,

There through that window, just three weeks ago,

And now you are alive!' 'I did not know

That I had come; all I know is that then

I wanted to tell you folks here that our Ben

Was dying of typhoid fever. He raved²⁰ of you

So that I could not think what else to do.

He's there in Bay Shaloor!'

 

"Well, that's the end."

And rising up to mend the fire our friend

Seemed trying to shun²¹ comment; but in vain:

The exacting guest came at him once again;

"You must be going to fall down, I thought,

There at the climax²², when your story brought

The skipper home alive and well. But no,

You saved yourself with honor." The girl said, "Oh,"

Who spoke before, "it's wonderful! But you,

How could you think of anything so true,

So delicate, as the father's wistful face

Coming there at the window in the place

[Pg 113]Of the dead son's! And then, that quaintest²³ touch,

Of half-apology—that he felt so much,

He had to come! How perfectly²⁴ New England! Well,

I hope nobody will undertake to tell

A common or garden ghost-story to-night."

 

Our host had turned again, and at her light

And playful sympathy he said, "My dear,

I hope that no one will imagine here

I have been inventing in the tale that's done.

My little story's charm if it has one

Is from no skill of mine. One does not change

The course of fable²⁵ from its wonted range

To such effect as I have seemed to do:

Only the fact could make my story true."

1 crouched   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He crouched down beside her. 他在她的旁边蹲了下来。
• The lion crouched ready to pounce. 狮子蹲下身，准备猛扑。

2 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

3 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

4 flicker   

vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现

参考例句：

• There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
• At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时，光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现，几乎并不灿烂。

5 cove   

n.小海湾，小峡谷

参考例句：

• The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
• I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。

6 sloop   

n.单桅帆船

参考例句：

• They heeled the sloop well over,skimming it along to windward.他们使单桅小船倾斜适当，让它顶着风向前滑去。
• While a sloop always has two sails,a cat-rigged boat generally has only one.一艘单桅帆船总是有两面帆，但一艘单桅艇通常只有一面帆。

7 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

8 exacting   

adj.苛求的，要求严格的

参考例句：

• He must remember the letters and symbols with exacting precision.他必须以严格的精度记住每个字母和符号。
• The public has been more exacting in its demands as time has passed.随着时间的推移，公众的要求更趋严格。

9 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

10 rumor   

n.谣言，谣传，传说

参考例句：

• The rumor has been traced back to a bad man.那谣言经追查是个坏人造的。
• The rumor has taken air.谣言流传开了。

11 hearsay   

n.谣传，风闻

参考例句：

• They started to piece the story together from hearsay.他们开始根据传闻把事情的经过一点点拼湊起来。
• You are only supposing this on hearsay.You have no proof.你只是根据传闻想像而已，并没有证据。

12 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

13 thrall   

n.奴隶；奴隶制

参考例句：

• He treats his wife like a thrall.他把妻子当作奴隶看待。
• He is not in thrall to the media.他不受制于媒体。

14 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

15 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。

16 fumbling   

n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理

参考例句：

• If he actually managed to the ball instead of fumbling it with an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。
• If he actually managed to secure the ball instead of fumbling it awkwardly an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-50提议有时。他从off-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。

17 muffled   

adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己）

参考例句：

• muffled voices from the next room 从隔壁房间里传来的沉闷声音
• There was a muffled explosion somewhere on their right. 在他们的右面什么地方有一声沉闷的爆炸声。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

19 misgiving   

n.疑虑，担忧，害怕

参考例句：

• She had some misgivings about what she was about to do.她对自己即将要做的事情存有一些顾虑。
• The first words of the text filled us with misgiving.正文开头的文字让我们颇为担心。

20 raved   

v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 )；愤怒地说；咆哮；痴心地说

参考例句：

• Andrew raved all night in his fever. 安德鲁发烧时整夜地说胡话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They raved about her beauty. 他们过分称赞她的美。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 shun   

vt.避开，回避，避免

参考例句：

• Materialists face truth,whereas idealists shun it.唯物主义者面向真理，唯心主义者则逃避真理。
• This extremist organization has shunned conventional politics.这个极端主义组织有意避开了传统政治。

22 climax   

n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点

参考例句：

• The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
• His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。

23 quaintest   

adj.古色古香的( quaint的最高级 )；少见的，古怪的

参考例句：

• They were the quaintest and simplest and trustingest race. 世界上的哪个种族，也没有他们那么古里古怪，那么脑筋简单，那么容易相信别人。 来自辞典例句

24 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

25 fable   

n.寓言；童话；神话

参考例句：

• The fable is given on the next page. 这篇寓言登在下一页上。
• He had some motive in telling this fable. 他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。