XX THE CHAPDELAINES

 "A yellow primrose¹ was to him----"

 

Yonder in the parlor² with the Ducatels, ignorant of the poet's lines as they, the two aunts--those two consciously irremovable, unadjustable, incarnated³ interdictions to their niece's marriage--saw the primrose, the "business," as the pair in the bower⁴ thought they saw it themselves. Were not Aline and Chester immersed in that tale of servile insurrection so destitute⁵ of angels, guiding stars, and lovers? And was not Hector with them? And are not three as truly a crowd in French as in American?

 

"Well, to begin," Chester urged, "your grandfather, Théophile Chapdelaine, was born in this old quarter, in such a street. Royal?"

 

"Yes. Nearly opposite the ladies' entrance of that Hotel St. Louis now perishing."

 

"Except its dome⁶. I hear there's a movement----

 

"Yes, to save that. I hope 'twill succeed. To me that old dome is a monument of those two men."

 

"But if it comes down the home remains⁷, opposite, where both were born, were they not?"

 

"Yes. Yet I'd rather the dome. We Creoles, you know, are called very conservative."

 

"Yet no race is more radical⁸ than the French."

 

"True. And we Chapdelaines have always been radical. Grandpère was, though a slaveholder."

 

"Oh, none of my ancestors justified⁹ slavery, yet as planters they had to own negroes."

 

"But the Chapdelaines were not planters. They were agents of ships. Fifty times on one page in the old Picayune, or in L'Abeille--'For freight or passage apply to the master on board or to T. Chapdelaine & Son, agents.' Even then there were two Théophiles, and grandpapa was the son. They were wholesale¹⁰ agents also for French exporters of artistic¹¹ china, porcelain¹², glass, bronze. Twice they furnished the hotel with everything of that kind; when it first opened, and when it changed hands. That's how they came to hold stock in it. Grandpapa, outdoor man of the firm, was every day in the rotunda¹³, under that dome."

 

"Yes," Chester said, "it was a kind of Rialto, I know. They called it the 'Exchange,' as earlier they had called Maspero's."

 

"You love our small antiquities¹⁴. So do I. Well, grandpapa did much business there, both of French goods and of ships; and because the hotel was the favorite of the sugar-planters its rotunda was one of the principal places for slave auctions¹⁶."

 

"Yes, they were, I know, almost daily. The old slave-block is shown there yet, if genuine."

 

"Ah, genuine or not, what difference? From one that was there grandpère bought many slaves. He and his father speculated in them."

 

"Why! How strange! The son? your grandfather? the radical, who married--'Maud'?"

 

"Yes, the last slave he bought was for her."

 

"Why, why, why! He couldn't have met her be'--well--before the year of Lincoln's election."

 

"No, let me tell you. You remember 'Sidney'?"

 

"'Maud's' black maid? my uncle's Euonymus? Yes."

 

"Well, when she came to Maud, at Maud's home, in the North, she was still in agony about Mingo, who'd been recaptured. So Maud wrote South, to her aunt, who wrote back: 'Yes, he had been brought home, and at creditor's auction¹⁵ had been sold to a slave-trader to be resold here in New Orleans.' So then Sidney begged Maud, who by luck was coming here, to bring her here to find him."

 

"Brave Sidney. Brave Euonymus."

 

"Yes--although--her Southern mistress--I know not how legally--had sent to her her free-paper. That made it safer, I suppose, eh?"

 

"Yes. But--who told you all this so exactly--your grand'mère herself, or your grandpère?"

 

"Ah--she, no. I never saw her. And grandpère--no, he was killed before I was born."

 

"What?"

 

"Yes, all that I'll come to. This I'm telling now is from my own papa. He had it from grandpère. Grand'mère and Sidney came with friends, a gentleman and his wife, by ship from New York."

 

"And all put up at Hotel St. Louis?"

 

"Yes. From there Maud and Sidney began their search. But now, first, about that speculating in slaves: those two Théophiles, first the father, then both, hated slavery. 'Twas by nature and in everything that they were radical. Their friends knew that, even when they only said, 'Oh, you are extreme!' or 'Those Chapdelaines are extremist.' In those years from about eighteen-forty to 'sixty----"

 

"When the slavery question was about to blaze----"

 

"Yes--they voted Whig. That was the most antislavery they could vote and stay here. But under the rose they said: 'All right! extremist, yet Whig; we'll be extreme Whig of a new kind. We'll trade in slaves.'"

 

Chester laughed. "I begin to see," he said, and by a sidelong glance bade Aline note the rapt attention of Cupid. Her answering smile was so confidential¹⁷ that his heart leaped.

 

"I'll tell you by and by about that also," she murmured, and then resumed: "While grandpère was yet a boy his father had begun that, that slave-buying. On that auction-block he would often see a slave about to be sold much below value, or whose value might easily be increased by training to some trade. You see?--blacksmith, lady's maid, cook, hair-dresser, engine-driver, butler?"

 

Chester darkened. "So he made the thing pay?"

 

"Seem to pay. Looking so simple, so ordinary, 'twas but a mask for something else."

 

"But in a thing looking so ordinary had he no competitors, to make profits difficult?"

 

"Ah, of a kind, yes; but the men who could do that best would not do it at all. They would not have been respected."

 

"But T. Chapdelaine & Son were respected."

 

"Yes, in spite of that. Their friends said: 'Let the extremists be extreme that way.'"

 

"The public mind was not yet quite in flames."

 

"No. But--guess who helped grandpère do that."

 

"Why, do I know him? Castanado."

 

The girl shook her head.

 

"Who? Beloiseau?"

 

"Ah, you! You can guess better."

 

"Ovide Lan'--no, Ovide was still a slave."

 

"Yet more free than most free negroes. 'Twas he. He was janitor¹⁸ to offices in the hotel, and always making acquaintance with the slaves of the slave-mart. And when he found one who was quite of the right kind--and Ovide he's a wise judge of men, you know--he would show him to grandpère, and at the auction, if the bidding was low, grandpère would buy him--or her."

 

"What was one of 'quite the right kind'? One willing to buy his own freedom?"

 

"Ah, also to do something more; you see?"

 

"Yes, I see," Chester laughed; "to help others run away, wasn't it?"

 

"Not precisely¹⁹ to run, but----"

 

"To stow away, on those ships, h'm?" There was rapture²⁰ in crossing that h'm line of intimacy²¹. "I see it all! Ha-ha, I see it all! Well! that brings us back to 'Maud,' doesn't it--h'm?"

 

"Yes. They met, she and grandpère, at a ball, in the hotel. But"--Aline smiled--"that was not their first. Their first was two or three mornings before, when he, passing in Royal Street, and she--with Sidney--looking at old buildings in Conti Street----"

 

"Mademoiselle! That happened to them?--there?"

 

"Yes, to them, there." With level gaze narrator and listener regarded each other. Then they glanced at Cupid. His eyes were shining on them.

 

"Who is our young friend, anyhow?" asked Chester.

 

"Ah, I suppose you have guessed. He is the grandson of Sidney."

 

1 primrose   

n.樱草，最佳部分，

参考例句：

• She is in the primrose of her life.她正处在她一生的最盛期。
• The primrose is set off by its nest of green.一窝绿叶衬托着一朵樱草花。

2 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

3 incarnated   

v.赋予（思想、精神等）以人的形体( incarnate的过去式和过去分词 )；使人格化；体现；使具体化

参考例句：

• Dickens incarnated hypocrisy in his Uriah Heep. 狄更斯把虚伪体现在他塑造的人物赖亚·赫普身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His ideals were incarnated in his music. 他的理想具体地体现在他的音乐中。 来自辞典例句

4 bower   

n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽

参考例句：

• They sat under the leafy bower at the end of the garden and watched the sun set.他们坐在花园尽头由叶子搭成的凉棚下观看落日。
• Mrs. Quilp was pining in her bower.奎尔普太太正在她的闺房里度着愁苦的岁月。

5 destitute   

adj.缺乏的；穷困的

参考例句：

• They were destitute of necessaries of life.他们缺少生活必需品。
• They are destitute of common sense.他们缺乏常识。

6 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。

10 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

11 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

12 porcelain   

n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的

参考例句：

• These porcelain plates have rather original designs on them.这些瓷盘的花纹很别致。
• The porcelain vase is enveloped in cotton.瓷花瓶用棉花裹着。

13 rotunda   

n.圆形建筑物；圆厅

参考例句：

• The Capitol at Washington has a large rotunda.华盛顿的国会大厦有一圆形大厅。
• The rotunda was almost deserted today,dotted with just a few tourists.圆形大厅今天几乎没有多少人，只零星散布着几个游客。

14 antiquities   

n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯

参考例句：

• There is rest and healing in the contemplation of antiquities. 欣赏古物有休息和疗养之功。 来自辞典例句
• Bertha developed a fine enthusiasm for the antiquities of London. 伯沙对伦敦的古迹产生了很大的热情。 来自辞典例句

15 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

16 auctions   

n.拍卖，拍卖方式( auction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
• Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句

17 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

18 janitor   

n.看门人，管门人

参考例句：

• The janitor wiped on the windows with his rags.看门人用褴褛的衣服擦着窗户。
• The janitor swept the floors and locked up the building every night.那个看门人每天晚上负责打扫大楼的地板和锁门。

19 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

20 rapture   

n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜

参考例句：

• His speech was received with rapture by his supporters.他的演说受到支持者们的热烈欢迎。
• In the midst of his rapture,he was interrupted by his father.他正欢天喜地，被他父亲打断了。

21 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。