CHAPTER XXV JOHN MAKES A DISCOVERY

Yet, in spite of what might be called a good beginning, the dinner party was not a success. John was certain it hadn’t been a success. He reviewed it, walking home with Corin in the starlight; he continued to review it sitting in an armchair with a pipe, since he was in little mood for sleep.

 

And yet, wherein precisely¹ did its failure lie?

 

It did not lie with Lady Mary; nor with Rosamund; nor with Father Maloney; nor, he was certain, with himself. (Corin, as already mentioned, he left outside the category.) They had each and all of them been courteous², friendly, charming. They had kept the ball of conversation tossing lightly from one to the other; they had given David his full share of the game. Certainly the fault did not lie with any of the four. He could not, also, have said precisely [Pg 188]that there was any fault at all. Outwardly, at least, there was none. Yet there had been a subtle atmosphere, an indefinable hint of something lacking.

 

They had discussed books—standard authors—with which David was well acquainted. They had mentioned classical composers, with whom he was certainly less familiar. They had talked of flowers, birds, animals, sunsets, storms, and ships, and here he was in his element.

 

He had talked well. John had received a vivid impression of a land hot beneath the noonday sun, of wine-red sunsets, the atmosphere aglow³ with palpitating colour, the on-stealing of the darkly purple night, the stars big and luminous⁴ looking down with ever-watchful eyes upon the lonely veldt. He saw the vivid reds of the flame-coloured heaths and everlasting⁵ flowers, the brilliant blue of the lobelias, the waxen whiteness of the arum lilies. He heard the countless⁶ voices of the grasshoppers⁷, the low booming note of the frogs, the muffled⁸ beating of the buzzards’ wings. And above all he felt the vast illimitable spaces, the great loneliness of the veldt. David had talked of Muizenberg, and the white sands stretching for [Pg 189]forty miles towards the mountains,—mountains gold and orange in the sunshine, blue in the evening twilight⁹, the green sea bordering the sands, emerald set against pearl.

 

He had talked of Cape¹⁰ Town,—of the Malay men with their great baskets of flowers, of Table Mountain with its silver-leaved trees, with the rolling cloth of white cloud covering it. But here he touched civilization; his speech was less fluent than when he held them in the vast solemnity of the lonely veldt.

 

And here John made a discovery. He perceived all at once, not merely the loneliness of the veldt, but the lonely spirit of the man who had dwelt on it. It was that which had caused the subtle incongruity¹¹ in the atmosphere. He no more belonged to his surroundings than did a hermit¹² to a London Club; and, so thought John, carrying his discovery further, he—David—was, in a measure, aware of that fact himself. He had been a fish out of water, and however kindly¹³, however charmingly, landsmen may treat it, a fish on land is certainly in an element in which it cannot by any possibility be at ease. It is true that this particular fish had entered the element of its own free will; but, so [Pg 190]surmised John, it is equally true that he was not at home in it. And yet, so John perceived with a fine subtlety¹⁴ of perception, it was not the material surroundings alone which were at the root of the mischief¹⁵. It lay deeper; it was in the mental atmosphere that the uneasiness lay.

 

Now, he also perceived, or thought he perceived, that while David was aware of the incongruity of the situation, he had not fully¹⁶ recognized it to lie, as John saw it to lie, in this same mental atmosphere. This fact in itself increased the man’s loneliness. He was not only isolated¹⁷ in mind from those with whom he found himself, but he was isolated from himself, because he did not understand himself. It is the most bewildering kind of loneliness. It is almost useless to attempt to describe it in terms of speech. There are no precise words for it. I, at least, can find none, and John could not, though it is certain that he recognized it in a measure.

 

And then by one of those sudden flashes of inspiration which come to all men at times, or which come, at all events, to those given to a certain quality of mental analysis, John saw that the more material drama, of which he was at [Pg 191]present an audience, sank into insignificance¹⁸ before the mental drama he had perceived. The man had come, so he believed, into his material birthright, but, regarding his mental birthright, he was utterly¹⁹ ignorant. How, in what fashion would he find it? if, indeed, he ever found it at all.

 

I do not say that John said all this to himself in words, even in the somewhat clumsy manner in which I have tried to express it. He perceived it vaguely²⁰ that night. The actual articulation²¹ of his thoughts did not, I fancy, come till later.

 

1 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。

2 courteous   

adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的

参考例句：

• Although she often disagreed with me,she was always courteous.尽管她常常和我意见不一，但她总是很谦恭有礼。
• He was a kind and courteous man.他为人友善，而且彬彬有礼。

3 aglow   

adj.发亮的；发红的；adv.发亮地

参考例句：

• The garden is aglow with many flowers.园中百花盛开。
• The sky was aglow with the setting sun.天空因夕阳映照而发红光。

4 luminous   

adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的

参考例句：

• There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
• Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。

5 everlasting   

adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的

参考例句：

• These tyres are advertised as being everlasting.广告上说轮胎持久耐用。
• He believes in everlasting life after death.他相信死后有不朽的生命。

6 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

7 grasshoppers   

n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的

参考例句：

• Grasshoppers die in fall. 蚱蜢在秋天死去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There are usually a lot of grasshoppers in the rice fields. 稻田里通常有许多蚱蜢。 来自辞典例句

8 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》

9 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

10 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

11 incongruity   

n.不协调，不一致

参考例句：

• She smiled at the incongruity of the question.面对这样突兀的问题，她笑了。
• When the particular outstrips the general,we are faced with an incongruity.当特别是超过了总的来讲，我们正面临着一个不协调。

12 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

13 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

14 subtlety   

n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别

参考例句：

• He has shown enormous strength,great intelligence and great subtlety.他表现出充沛的精力、极大的智慧和高度的灵活性。
• The subtlety of his remarks was unnoticed by most of his audience.大多数听众都没有觉察到他讲话的微妙之处。

15 mischief   

n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹

参考例句：

• Nobody took notice of the mischief of the matter. 没有人注意到这件事情所带来的危害。
• He seems to intend mischief.看来他想捣蛋。

16 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

17 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

18 insignificance   

n.不重要；无价值；无意义

参考例句：

• Her insignificance in the presence of so much magnificence faintly affected her. "她想象着他所描绘的一切，心里不禁有些刺痛。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• It was above the common mass, above idleness, above want, above insignificance. 这里没有平凡，没有懒散，没有贫困，也没有低微。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

19 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

20 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

21 articulation   

n.（清楚的）发音；清晰度，咬合

参考例句：

• His articulation is poor.他发音不清楚。
• She spoke with a lazy articulation.她说话慢吞吞的。