Gaiety consists in rising in the morning so tired that it takes three hours of earnest work with a maid, a masseuse, a physical directress, a hairdresser, and a bonnetiere, before one can produce a spontaneous silvery laugh, which is never required, expected or considered good form before two P.M. Gail Sargent went in for gaiety, and, moreover, she enjoyed it. She rode, she drove, she went calling and received, she attended teas and gave them, she dined out and entertained, in the name of her eager Aunt Grace, she went to theatres, the opera, concerts, and the lively midnight cafés, which had all gone nervously2 insane with freak dancing, she attended balls, house parties, and all the in-between diversions which her novelty-seeking friends could discover or invent, and she flirted3 outrageously4! She used her eyes, and the pretty pout5 of her red lips, and the toss of her head, and all the wiles6 of coquetry, to turn men into asses7, and she enjoyed that, too! It was a part of her feminine birthright to enter with zest8 into this diversion, and it was only envy which criticised her. Aunt Helen Davies, who knew her world by chapter and verse, stood behind the scenes of all this active vaudeville9, and applauded. It was at the opera that Aunt Helen could no longer conceal10 her marvel11.
“My dear,” she said, under cover of the throbbing12 241music of Thais, “I have never seen anything like you!”
“I don’t quite know whether to take that as a compliment or not,” laughed Gail, who had even, in her new stage of existence, learned to pay no attention to music.
“The remark was not only intended to be complimentary14, but positively15 gushing,” replied Aunt Helen, returning with a smile the glance of their hostess, the stiff Miss Van Ploon. “After two weeks of the gayest season I have ever witnessed, you are as fresh and vivacious16 as when you started.”
“It’s a return to first principles,” stated Gail, considering the matter seriously. “I’ve discovered the secret of success in New York, either commercial or social. It is to have an unbreakable constitution.”
The dapper little marquis, who was laying a very well conducted siege for the heart and hand of Miss Van Ploon, leaned over Gail’s velvet17 shoulder and whispered something in her ear. Gail leaned back a trifle to answer him, her deep brown eyes flashing up at him, her red lips adorably curved, that delicate colour wavering in her cheeks; and Mrs. Davies, disregarding entirely18 the practised luring19 of the dapper little marquis, who was as harmless as a canary bird, viewed Gail with admiration20.
Houston Van Ploon, surveying Gail with pride, made up his mind about a problem which he had been seriously considering. Gail Sargent, taken point by point, appearance, charm, manner, disposition21 and health, had the highest percentage of perfection of any young woman he had ever met, an opinion in which his father and sister had agreed, after several solemn family discussions.
Nicholas Van Ploon leaned over to his daughter.
“She has dimples,” he catalogued, nodding his round 242head in satisfaction and clasping his hands comfortably over his broad white evening waistcoat.
Dick Rodley irrupted into the box with Lucile and Arly, just as Thais started for the convent, and they were only the forerunners22 of a constant stream which, during the intermission, came over to laugh with Gail, and to look into her sparkling eyes, and exchange repartee23 with her, and enjoy that beauty which was like a fragrance24.
Who was the most delighted person in the Van Ploon box? Aunt Helen Davies! She checked off the eligibles25, counting them, estimating them, judging the exact degree in which Gail had interested them, and the exact further degree Gail might interest them if she chose.
Gail, standing27, was a revelation to-night, not alone to Nicholas Van Ploon, who nearly dislocated his neck in turning to feast his gaze on her in numb28 wonder, but to Aunt Helen herself. Gail wore an Egyptian costume, an absurdly straight thing fashioned like a cylinder29, but which, in some mysterious and alluring30 way, suggested the long, slender, gracefully31 curving lines which it concealed32. The foundation colour was tarnished33 gold, on which were beaded panels in dark blue stones, touched here and there with dull red. Encircling her small head was an Egyptian tiara, studded in the front with lapis lazuli and deep red corals, with one great fire opal glowing in the centre; and her shining brown hair was waved well below the ears, and smoothly34 caught under around the back of her perfect neck. On her cheeks and on her lips were the beautiful natural tints35 which were the envy and despair of every pair of lorgnette shielded eyes, but on her eyelashes, as part of her costume, Gail had daringly lined 243a touch of that intense black which is ground in the harems of the old Nile.
“You’re the throb13 of the evening, sweetheart,” Dick Rodley laughed down at her, as they stood at the door of the box with the function passing in and out.
“Thank you, Dicky dear,” she responded, smiling up at him. Since her earnest gaieties had begun, Dick had been her most frequent companion. He was one of the component37 members of that zestful38 little set composed of Gail, Lucile and Arly, and the bubbling little Mrs. Babbitt, the cherub-cheeked Marion Kenneth, the entirely sophisticated Gwen Halstead, and whatever nice men happened to be available. Dick and Ted1 and Gerald were, of course, always available.
“I’m disappointed,” complained Dick. “You don’t blush any more when I am affectionate with you.”
“One loses the trick here,” she laughed. “The demands are too frequent.”
“I’m going to propose to you again to-night,” he told her.
“You’re so satisfactory,” she returned carelessly. “But really, Dicky, I don’t see how you’re going to manage it, unless you perform it right here, and that’s so conventional.”
“Play hooky,” he mischievously40 advised. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. You shoo Houston out of the house the minute you get in; then Lucile and Ted and Arly and Gerald and I will sail up and carry you off to supper, after which I’ll take you home and propose.”
Gail’s eyes snapped with the activity of that disloyal programme, and the little silvery laugh, for which she had been so noted41, welled up from her throat.
244“You have to wait around the corner until he goes away,” she insisted.
“I’ll bring a guitar if you like,” Dick promised, with so much avidity that she feared, for an instant, that he might do it.
“You’re monopolising me scandalously,” she protested. “Go away,” and she turned immediately to the dapper little marquis, who was enduring the most difficult evening of his life. Gail was so thoroughly42 adapted to a grand affair, one in which he could avow43 universes; and the Miss Van Ploon was so exacting44.
The study door was open when Houston Van Ploon sedately45 escorted Mrs. Davies and Gail into the library, one of those rooms which appoint themselves the instinctive46 lounging places of all family intimates. Gail turned up her big eyes in sparkling acknowledgment as the punctilious47 Van Ploon took her cloak, and, at that moment, as she stood gracefully poised48, she caught the gaze of the Reverend Smith Boyd fixed49 on her with such infinite longing50 that it distressed51 her. She did not want him to suffer.
Uncle Jim strode out with a hearty52 greeting, and, at the sound of the voices of no one but Gail and Mrs. Davies and Houston Van Ploon, old “Daddy” Manning appeared in the doorway53, followed by the rector.
“The sweetest flower that blows in any dale,” quoted “Daddy” Manning, patting Gail’s hand affectionately.
The rector stood by, waiting to greet her, after Manning had monopolised her a selfish moment, and the newly aroused eye of colour in him seized upon the gold and blue and red of her straight Egyptian costume, and recognised in them a part of her endless variety. The black on her lashes36. He was close enough 245to see that; and he marvelled54 at himself that he could not disapprove55.
Gail was most uncomfortably aware of him in this nearness; but she turned to him with a frank smile of friendship.
“This looks like a conspiracy,” she commented, glancing towards the study, which was thick with smoke.
“It’s an offensively innocent one,” returned Manning, giving the rector but small chance. “We’re discussing the plans for the new Vedder Court tenements57.”
“Oh!” observed Gail, and radiated a distinct chill, whereupon the Reverend Smith Boyd, divesting58 himself of some courteous59 compliment, exchanged inane60 adieus with Mrs. Davies and young Van Ploon, and took his committee back into the study.
Mrs. Davies remained but a moment or so. She even seemed eager to retire, and as she left the library, she cast a hopeful backward glance at the dancing-eyed Gail and the correct young Van Ploon, who, with his Dutch complexion61 and his blonde English moustache and his stalwart American body, to say nothing of his being a Van Ploon, represented to her the ideal of masculine perfection. He was an eligible26 who never did anything a second too early or a second too late, or deviated62 by one syllable63 from the exact things he should say.
If the anxious Aunt Helen had counted on any important results from this evening’s opportunities, she had not taken into her calculations the adroitness64 of Gail. In precisely65 five minutes Van Ploon was on the doorstep, with his Inverness on his shoulders and his silk hat in his hand, without even having approached the elaborate introduction to certain important remarks 246he had definitely decided66 to make. Gail might not have been able to rid herself of him so easily, for he was a person of considerable momentum67, but he had rather planned to make a more deliberate ceremony of the matter, impulsive68 opportunities not being in his line of thought.
A tall young man in an Inverness walked rapidly past the door while Van Ploon was saying the correctly clever things in the way of adieu; and shortly after she had closed the door on Van Ploon, a pebble69 struck the side window of the library. Gail opened the window and looked out. Dick Rodley stood just below, with his impossibly handsome face upturned to the light, his black eyes shining with glee, his Inverness tossed romantically back over one shoulder, and an imaginary guitar in his hands. Up into the library floated the familiar opening strains of Tosti’s Serenade, and the Reverend Smith Boyd glanced out through the study door at the enticing70 figure of Gail, and knitted his brows in a frown.
“You absurd thing,” laughed Gail to the serenader. “No, you daren’t come in,” and she vigorously closed the window. Laughing to herself, she bustled71 into her wraps.
“Here, where are you going?” called her Uncle Jim.
“Hush!” she admonished73 him, peering, for a glowing moment, in the study door, a vision of such disturbing loveliness that the Reverend Smith Boyd, for the balance of the evening, saw, staring up at him from the Vedder Court tenement56 sketches74, nothing but eyes and lips and waving brown hair, and delicately ovalled cheeks, their colour heightened by the rolling white fur collar. “None of you must say a word about this,” 247she gaily75 went on. “It’s an escapade!” and she was gone.
Uncle Jim, laughing, but nevertheless intent upon his responsibilities, grabbed her as she opened the front door, but on the step he saw Dick Rodley, and, in the machine drawing up at the curb76, Arly and Gerald and Lucile and Ted, so he kissed Gail good-night, and passed her over to the jovial77 Dick, and returned to the study to brag78 about her.
Gaiety reigned79 supreme80 once more! Lights and music and dancing, the hum of chatter81 and laughter, the bustle72 and confusion of the place, the hilarity82 which brings a new glow to the cheek and sparkle to the eye, and then home again in the crisp wintry air, and Dick following into the house with carefree assurance.
“Gracious, Dicky, you can’t come in!” protested Gail, with half frowning, half laughing remonstrance83. “It’s a fearful hour for calls.”
“I’m a friend of the family,” insisted Dick, calmly closing the door behind them and hanging his hat on the rack. He took Gail’s cloak and threw off his Inverness. “I guess you’ve forgotten the programme.”
“Oh, yes, the proposal,” remembered Gail. “Well, have it over with.”
“All right,” he agreed, and taking her arm and tucking her shoulder comfortably close to him, he walked easily with her back to the library. Arrived there, he seated her on her favourite chair, and drew up another one squarely in front of her.
“I’m going to shock you to death,” he told her. “I’m going to propose seriously to you.”
Some laughing retort was on her lips, but she caught a look in his eyes which suddenly stopped her.
“I am very much in earnest about it, Gail,” and his 248voice bore the stamp of deep sincerity84. “I love you. I want you to be my wife.”
“Dick,” protested Gail, and it was she who reached out and placed her hand in his. The action was too confidingly85 frank for him to mistake it.
“I was afraid you’d think that way about it,” he said, his voice full of a pain of which they neither one had believed him capable. “This is the first time I ever proposed, except in fun, and I want to make you take me seriously. Gail, I’ve said so many pretty things to you, that now, when I am in such desperate earnest, there’s nothing left but just to try to tell you how much I love you; how much I want you!” He stopped, and, holding her hand, patting it gently with unconscious tenderness, he gazed earnestly into her eyes. His own were entirely without that burning glow which he had, for so long, bestowed86 on all the young and beautiful. They were almost sombre now, and in their depth was an humble87 wistfulness which made Gail’s heart flow out to him.
“I can’t, Dick,” she told him, smiling affectionately at him. “You’re the dearest boy in the world, and I want you for my friend as long as we live; for my very dear friend!”
He studied her in silence for a moment, and then he put his hands on her cheeks, and drew her gently towards him. Still smiling into his eyes, she held up her lips, and he kissed her.
“I’d like to say something jolly before I go,” he said as he rose; “but I can’t seem to think of it.”
Gail laughed, but there was a trace of moisture in her eyes as she took his arm.
“I’d like to help you out, Dicky, but I can’t think of it either,” she returned.
249She was crying a little when she went up the stairs, and her mood was not even interrupted by the fact that Aunt Helen’s door was ajar, and that Aunt Helen stood just behind the crack.
“Why, child, that Egyptian black is running,” was Aunt Helen’s first observation.
Gail dabbed88 hastily at the two tiny rivulets89 which had hesitated at the curve of her pink cheeks, and then she put her head on Aunt Helen’s shoulder, and wept softly.
“Poor Dicky,” she explained, and then turning, disappeared into her own room.
Mrs. Helen Davies looked after her speculatively90 for a moment; but she decided not to follow.
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收听单词发音
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1
ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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flirted
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| v.调情，打情骂俏( flirt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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outrageously
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| 凶残地； 肆无忌惮地； 令人不能容忍地； 不寻常地 | |
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pout
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| v.撅嘴；绷脸；n.撅嘴；生气，不高兴 | |
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wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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asses
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| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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8
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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vaudeville
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| n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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marvel
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| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
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12
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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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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positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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luring
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式） | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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forerunners
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| n.先驱( forerunner的名词复数 )；开路人；先兆；前兆 | |
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repartee
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| n.机敏的应答 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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eligibles
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| 合格者（eligible的复数形式） | |
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eligible
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| adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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tarnished
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| （通常指金属）（使）失去光泽，（使）变灰暗( tarnish的过去式和过去分词 )； 玷污，败坏 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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zestful
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| adj.有滋味 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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42
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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43
avow
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| v.承认，公开宣称 | |
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exacting
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| adj.苛求的，要求严格的 | |
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45
sedately
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| adv.镇静地，安详地 | |
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46
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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47
punctilious
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| adj.谨慎的，谨小慎微的 | |
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48
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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49
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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50
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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51
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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52
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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53
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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54
marvelled
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
disapprove
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| v.不赞成，不同意，不批准 | |
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56
tenement
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| n.公寓；房屋 | |
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tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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58
divesting
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| v.剥夺( divest的现在分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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59
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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60
inane
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| adj.空虚的，愚蠢的，空洞的 | |
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61
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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62
deviated
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| v.偏离，越轨( deviate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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64
adroitness
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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66
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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69
pebble
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| n.卵石，小圆石 | |
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70
enticing
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| adj.迷人的；诱人的 | |
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71
bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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73
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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74
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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75
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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76
curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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77
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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78
brag
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| v./n.吹牛，自夸；adj.第一流的 | |
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79
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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80
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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81
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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82
hilarity
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| n.欢乐；热闹 | |
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83
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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84
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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85
confidingly
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| adv.信任地 | |
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86
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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88
dabbed
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| （用某物）轻触( dab的过去式和过去分词 )； 轻而快地擦掉（或抹掉）； 快速擦拭； （用某物）轻而快地涂上（或点上）… | |
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89
rivulets
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| n.小河，小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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90
speculatively
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| adv.思考地，思索地；投机地 | |
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