A wide country road stretched out in the moonlight before John and Tilly. They walked slowly. Tilly still held his arm and he was transported with sheer ecstasy1 by that close contact with her. Once or twice he started to speak, but found himself unable to think of anything appropriate, and this both angered and alarmed him, for, he asked himself, how was it that Eperson was always so ready with his tongue when in Tilly's presence? But Tilly seemed to understand John's way and not to care much whether he talked or was silent. As he dared to glance down on her pretty head just below his left shoulder he remembered the bride and the bridegroom on the train, and the contractor's words came back to him like breeze music from the waving tops of celestial2 trees: "It is ahead of you, my boy."
Ahead of him? Marriage? A home for Tilly and himself alone? She, his wife?—actually his wife? Absurd! Impossible! The bare thought, checked though it was, set fire to his brain and he was thrilled in all his nerves and members. He caught her upward glance and she smiled almost as if she had glimpsed his vision and was thus responding to it.
"Well, what if I don't?" he answered, with querulous sharpness.
"Well, you shouldn't dislike him," the little minx[Pg 82] continued, designedly. "He hasn't done you any harm. How could he? You have known each other such a short time."
Had John been other than the crude working-boy that he was, he might have made a more adroit5 answer, but, even as it was, it was not unpleasing to his sly tormentor6.
"What is he hanging around you so much for?" John demanded. "I've heard that your father doesn't like him. What does he mean by coming, at the slightest excuse, like to-night, for instance?"
"Joel and I have been friends ever since we were tiny tots," Tilly answered, as casually7 as a school-girl chewing gum. "And even if—if he really does love me and—and wants me to be his wife, should he be blamed for that?"
The very suggestion of her marriage to any one, and that man in particular, drove John wild. He bit his lip; he swore under his breath, and his oaths had never been guarded before meeting Tilly; his eyes flashed from the fires behind them. He clenched8 his fists.
"You are mine, mine, mine!" he said to himself with the grinding teeth of a cave-man, and he was all but unaware9 that his words were not audible. She was smiling up at him, so sweetly, so placidly10. What a nimbus of transcendental charm hovered11 over the wonderful face in the moonlight. Suddenly he checked his onward12 stride, caught her, and drew her around facing him. What he might have said or done he never knew, but Tilly gravely started on again, gently extracting her hand from his fierce clasp and restoring it to his arm.
"We must not stop," she said. "I hear a horse behind us. It is somebody going to the party, perhaps."
He said nothing as her fingers left his, and they walked[Pg 83] on again. It was a horse and a buggy containing a couple from the village. Tilly spoke13 merrily to them and they answered back as they dashed on.
"It is Marietta Slocum and Fred Murray," Tilly explained. "They are engaged."
"Engaged?" The word seemed to fill the entire consciousness of the crude social anomaly. He told himself that an engagement must naturally precede marriage, and how was that to come about with that helpless tongue in his mouth? Besides, how did he know but that Tilly might refuse him? How did he know but that there might even now be some understanding between her and Eperson? The sheer thought chilled him like a blast from a cavern14 of ice. She seemed to feel the limpness of the arm she held or in some way to sense the despair that was on him so quickly following the mood she had interrupted only a moment before.
"You are so strange!" she sighed, taking a better grasp on his arm, and even bearing down on it slightly as she lowered her head thoughtfully. "You are a mystery to me. I can't make you out."
He could not explain. He was not sure that he cared to explain the terrible internal quakings which to him seemed so unmanly, so unlike any feelings that had ever come to him. He wondered if Eperson had actually spoken open words of love to her, and, if so, how had the fellow, with all his suave15 ability, managed it?
Another buggy passed. Tilly explained who the occupants of it were after she had greeted them. They were George Whitton and Ella Bell Roberts. Then she added, with a touch of seriousness:
"You ought to have lifted your hat just now."
"Lifted my hat? Why, I don't know her— I've never[Pg 84] seen her before!" he retorted, with the irritation16 of a great mind descending17 to a triviality.
"Because he lifted his to me and you are with me," Tilly persisted in her mild rebuke18. "It is the custom here, but it may not be at Ridgeville."
John was chagrined19, but determined20 to hide it. "I have never heard of a man bowing to a man or a woman he never saw before," he fumed21. "I don't care what you all do; it is foolishness out and out."
"Well, when you are in Rome," Tilly quoted in quite a grave tone, "you ought to do as the Romans do."
The thing rankled22 within him. The blood had mounted to his brow and stayed there. Even Tilly was telling him how to deport23 himself. He adored her, but he was angry enough to have sworn in her gentle, uplifted eyes. She observed his moody24 mien25 and playfully shook his arm.
"Don't be mad," she urged, sweetly. "I meant no harm, but I do want them all to like you, and I'm afraid they won't if you fail in little things like that just now. They won't understand—they will think you are stuck up, and I know you are not a bit vain. I am sure of that—as sure as I'm alive. If you were I'd not like you."
She had intimated that she liked him, and that ought to have been sufficient to quell26 the storm within him, but it did not quite. Her rebuke hurt far more than any which had ever come to him. She adroitly27 changed the subject. She spoke of the work on the court-house and praised his part of it, but what did that matter? He knew what his work was and he was just learning profound and relentless28 things about the difference between himself and her—between her puzzling environment and his, which was all too distinctly plain for his present comfort. As they neared Teasdale's and saw the lights streaming[Pg 85] from the open doors and windows across the lush greensward and noted29 the considerable collection of horses and vehicles under the shade-trees and along the fences, he became conscious of an overwhelming timidity with which he felt unable to cope. Had Tilly been like himself and feared the entry into the light and easy gaiety of the chattering30 throng31, he would not have felt so isolated32. But her very unconsciousness of the thing as any sort of ordeal33 to be dreaded34 depressed35 him as emphasizing the fateful demarcation between her walk of life and his.
They reached the steps of the large, rather rambling36 one-story farm-house. There was a long veranda37 in front, both ends of which were filled with merrymakers. There was a wide hallway, and it, too, was filled with jolly, loud-talking couples, as well as the big parlor38 on the right.
"Oh, here they are!" Sally Teasdale cried, coming forward and taking Tilly into her slim, pretentious39 arms. "I heard of you two poking40 along like snails41 on the big road. As if you couldn't see enough of Mr. Trott at home! I am going to introduce myself to him, to pay you back. I'm Sally Teasdale"—holding out her hand to John—"and I am glad you came to my party."
John did not know what he said, if he said anything audible. It was the damnable glibness42 of speech of others which he had to contend with and which seemed to be as silly as unattainable.
"Now, dear, run back to my room and take off your wrap," Miss Teasdale said to Tilly. "I'll show Mr. Trott the men's room."
"He has nothing but his hat," Tilly lingered to say, "and he can leave that anywhere."
"Yes, if you like," his hostess said, leading him to a spot on the veranda where many men's hats were hanging[Pg 86] on nails driven into the weather-boarding. He hung up his and immediately felt Sally clutch his arm.
"Tilly says you don't dance," she ran on. "What a pity! It is great fun, and a good way to get acquainted. I suppose you are a member of the church. Which one?"
"How funny that you don't dance, then?" she went on, leaving an opening for him which he did not enter. He did not like her. She was too tall and angular, too harsh of voice and fluent of talk and irritating suggestion. He had the sense of being managed when he wanted above all to be unmolested. Besides, she had sent Tilly away, and without Tilly he felt lost.
"I must introduce you to my father," Sally said. "He is old-fashioned and wants his way about everything. He would scold me if I didn't introduce you at once. He is inside. Come on. My stepmother is busy in the kitchen fixing refreshments44."
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1
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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prod
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| vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励 | |
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tardy
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| adj.缓慢的，迟缓的 | |
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adroit
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| adj.熟练的，灵巧的 | |
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tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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7
casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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8
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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9
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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11
hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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12
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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13
spoke
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| 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 | |
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14
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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15
suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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16
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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18
rebuke
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| v.指责，非难，斥责 [反]praise | |
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chagrined
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| adj.懊恼的，苦恼的v.使懊恼，使懊丧，使悔恨( chagrin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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fumed
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| 愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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rankled
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| v.（使）痛苦不已，（使）怨恨不已( rankle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deport
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| vt.驱逐出境 | |
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moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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quell
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| v.压制，平息，减轻 | |
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adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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28
relentless
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| adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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30
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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31
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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34
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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35
depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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39
pretentious
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| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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40
poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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41
snails
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| n.蜗牛；迟钝的人；蜗牛( snail的名词复数 ) | |
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42
glibness
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| n.花言巧语；口若悬河 | |
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43
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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44
refreshments
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| n.点心,便餐;(会议后的)简单茶点招 待 | |
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