Mrs. Grubb's family circle was really not a circle at all; it was rather a polygon--a curious assemblage of distinct personages.
There was no unity1 in it, no membership one of another. It was four ones, not one four. If some gatherer of statistics had visited the household, he might have described it thus:-
Mrs. S. Cora Grubb, widow, aged2 forty years.
'Alisa Bennett, feeble-minded, aged ten or twelve years.
'Atlantic and Pacific Simonson, twins, aged four years.'
The man of statistics might seek in vain for some principle of attraction or cohesion3 between these independent elements; but no one who knew Mrs. Grubb would have been astonished at the sort of family that had gathered itself about her. Queer as it undoubtedly4 was at this period, it had, at various times, been infinitely5 queerer. There was a certain memorable6 month, shortly after her husband's decease, when Mrs. Grubb allowed herself to be considered as a compensated7 hostess, though the terms 'landlady8' and 'boarder' were never uttered in her hearing. She hired a Chinese cook, who slept at home; cleared out, for the use of Lisa and the twins, a small storeroom in which she commonly kept Eldorado face-powder; and herself occupied a sofa in the apartment of a friend of humanity in the next street. These arrangements enabled her to admit an experimenter on hypnotism, a mental healer who had been much abused by the orthodox members of her cult9, and was evolving a method of her own, an ostensible10 delegate to an Occidental Conference of Religions, and a lady agent for a flexible celluloid undershirt. For a few days Mrs. Grubb found the society of these persons very stimulating11 and agreeable; but before long the hypnotist proved to be an unscrupulous gentleman, who hypnotised the mental healer so that she could not heal, and the Chinese cook so that he could not cook. When, therefore, the delegate departed suddenly in company with the celluloid-underwear lady, explaining by a hurried postal12 card that they would 'remit13' from Chicago, she evicted14 the other two boarders, and retired15 again to private life.
This episode was only one of Mrs. Grubb's many divagations, for she had been a person of advanced ideas from a comparatively early age. It would seem that she must have inherited a certain number of 'views,' because no human being could have amassed16, in a quarter of a century, as many as she held at the age of twenty-five. She had then stood up with Mr. Charles Grubb, before a large assembly, in the presence of which they promised to assume and continue the relation of husband and wife so long as it was mutually agreeable. As a matter of fact it had not been mutually agreeable to Mr. Grubb more than six months, but such was the nobility of his character that he never disclosed his disappointment nor claimed any immunity17 from the responsibilities of the marriage state. Mr. Grubb was a timid, conventional soul, who would have given all the testimony18 of all the witnesses of his wedding ceremony for the mere19 presence of a single parson; but he imagined himself in love with Cora Wilkins, and she could neither be wooed nor won by any of the beaten paths that led to other women. He foolishly thought that the number of her convictions would grow less after she became a wife, little suspecting the fertility of her mind, which put forth20 a new explanation of the universe every day, like a strawberry plant that devotes itself so exclusively to 'runners' that it has little vigour21 left for producing fruit.
The town in New York where they lived proving to be too small, narrow, and bigoted22 to hold a developing soul like Mrs. Grubb's, she persuaded her husband to take passage for California, where the climate might be supposed more favourable23 to the growth of saving ideas. Mr. Grubb would, of course, be obliged to relinquish24 his business, but people could buy and sell anywhere, she thought, and as for her, she wanted nothing but unlimited25 space in which to expand.
There was money enough for an economical journey and a month or two of idleness afterwards; and as Mrs. Grubb believed everything in the universe was hers, if she only chose to claim it, the question of finances never greatly troubled her. They sailed for the golden West, then, this ill-assorted couple, accompanied by Mrs. Grubb's only sister, who had been a wife, was now a widow, and would shortly become a mother. The interesting event occurred much sooner than had been anticipated. The ship became the birthplace of the twins, who had been most unwelcome when they were thought about as one, and entirely26 offensive when found to be two. The mother did not long survive the shock of her surprise and displeasure, and after naming the babies Atlantic and Pacific, and confiding27 them distinctly to the care of Mr., not Mrs., Grubb, she died, and was buried at sea, not far from Cape28 Horn. Mrs. Cora enjoyed at first the dramatic possibilities of her position on the ship, where the baby orphans29 found more than one kindly30, sentimental31 woman ready to care for them; but there was no permanent place in her philosophy for a pair of twins who entered existence with a concerted shriek32, and continued it for ever afterwards, as if their only purpose in life was to keep the lungs well inflated33. Her supreme34 wish was to be freed from the carking cares of the flesh, and thus for ever ready to wing her free spirit in the pure ether of speculation35.
You would hardly suppose that the obscure spouse36 of Mrs. Grubb could wash and dress the twins, prepare their breakfast, go to his work, come home and put them to bed, four or five days out of every seven in the week; but that is what he did, accepting it as one phase of the mysterious human comedy (or was it tragedy?) in which he played his humble37 part.
Mrs. Grubb was no home spirit, no goddess of the hearth38. She graced her family board when no invitation to refresh herself elsewhere had been proffered39, and that she generally slept in her own bed is as strong a phrase as can be written on the subject. If she had been born in Paris, at the proper time, she would have been the leader of a salon41; separated from that brilliant destiny by years, by race, and by imperious circumstance, she wielded42 the same sort of sceptre in her own circumscribed43 but appreciative44 sphere. No social occasion in Eden Place was complete without Mrs. Grubb. With her (and some light refreshment), a party lacked nothing; without her, even if other conditions were favourable, it seemed a flat, stale, and unprofitable affair. Like Robin45 Adair,
'She made the ball so fine;
She made th' occasion shine.'
Mrs. Grubb hanging on her front gate, duster in hand (she never conversed46 quite as well without it, and never did anything else with it), might have been a humble American descendant of Madame de Stael talking on the terrace at Coppet, with the famous sprig of olive in her fingers. She moved among her subjects like a barouche among express wagons47, was heard after them as a song after sermons. That she did not fulfil the whole duty of woman did not occur to her fascinated constituents48. There was always some duller spirit who could slip in and 'do the dishes,' that Mrs. Grubb might grace a conversazione on the steps or at the gate. She was not one of those napkin people who hide their talents, or who immure49 their lights under superincumbent bushels. Whatever was hers was everybody's, for she dispensed50 her favours with a liberal hand. She would never have permitted a child to suffer for lack of food or bed, for she was not at heart an unkind woman. You could see that by looking at her vague, soft brown eyes,--eyes that never saw practical duties straight in front of them,--liquid, star-gazing, vision-seeing eyes, that could never be focussed on any near object, such as a twin or a cooking-stove. Individuals never interested her; she cared for nothing but humanity, and humanity writ40 very large at that, so that once the twins nearly died of scarlatina while Mrs. Grubb was collecting money for the children of the yellow-fever sufferers in the South.
But Providence51 had an eye for Mr. Grubb's perplexities. It does not and cannot always happen, in a world like this, that vice52 is assisted to shirk, and virtue53 aideth to do, its duty; but any man as marvellously afflicted54 as Mr. Grubb is likely to receive not only spiritual consolation55, but miraculous56 aid of some sort. The spectacle of the worthy57 creature as he gave the reluctant twins their occasional bath, and fed them on food regularly prescribed by Mrs. Grubb, and almost as regularly rejected by them, would have melted the stoniest58 heart. And who was the angel of deliverance? A little vacant-eyed, half-foolish, almost inarticulate child, whose feeble and sickly mother was dragging out a death-in-life existence in a street near by. The child saw Mr. Grubb wheeling the twins in a double perambulator: followed them home; came again, and then again, and then again; hung about the door, fell upon a dog that threatened to bite them, and drove it away howling; often stood over the perambulator with a sunshade for three hours at a time, without moving a muscle; and adored Mr. Grubb with a consuming passion. There was no special reason for this sentiment, but then Alisa Bennett was not quite a reasonable being. Mr. Grubb had never been adored before in his life; and to say the truth, his personality was not winning. He had a pink, bald head, pale blue eyes, with blond tufts for eyebrows59, and a pointed60 beard dripping from his chin, which tended to make him look rather like an invalid61 goat. But as animals are said to have an eye for spirits, children have an eye for souls, which is far rarer than an eye for beautiful surfaces.
Mr. Grubb began by loathing62 Alisa, then patiently suffered her, then pitied, then respected, then loved her. Mrs. Grubb seldom saw her, and objected to nothing by which she herself was relieved of care. So Lisa grew to be first a familiar figure in the household, and later an indispensable one.
Poor Mrs. Bennett finally came to the end of things temporal. 'Dying is the first piece of good luck I ever had,' she said to Mr. Grubb. 'If it turns out that I've brought a curse upon an innocent creature, I'd rather go and meet my punishment half-way than stay here and see it worked out to the end.'
'"In my Father's house are many mansions,"' stammered63 Mr. Grubb, who had never before administered spiritual consolation.
She shook her head. 'If I can only get rid of this world, it's all I ask,' she said; 'if the other one isn't any better, why, it can't be any worse! Feel under the mattress64 and you'll find money enough to last three or four years. It's all she'll ever get, for she hasn't a soul now to look to for help. That's the way we human beings arrange things,--we, or the Lord, or the Evil One, or whoever it is; we bring a puzzle into the world, and then leave it for other people to work out--if they can! Who'll work out this one? Who'll work out this one? Perhaps she'll die before the money's gone; let's hope for the best.'
'Don't take on like that!' said Mr. Grubb despairingly,--'don't! Pray for resignation, can't you?'
'Pray!' she exclaimed scornfully. 'Thank goodness, I've got enough self-respect left not to pray!--Yes, I must pray, I MUST . . . Oh, God! I do not ask forgiveness for him or for myself; I only beg that, in some way I cannot see, we may be punished, and she spared!'
And when the stricken soul had fled from her frail66 body, they who came to prepare her for the grave looked at her face and found it shining with hope.
It was thus that poor little Alisa Bennett assumed maternal67 responsibilities at the age of ten, and gained her sobriquet68 of 'Marm Lisa.' She grew more human, more tractable69, under Mr. Grubb's fostering care; but that blessed martyr70 had now been dead two years, and she began to wear her former vacuous71 look, and to slip back into the past that was still more dreadful than the present.
It seemed to Mrs. Grubb more than strange that she, with her desire for freedom, should be held to earth by three children not flesh of her flesh--and such children. The father of the twins had been a professional pugilist, but even that fact could never sufficiently72 account for Pacific Simonson. She had apparently73 inherited instincts from tribes of warlike ancestors who skulked74 behind trees with battle-axes, and no one except her superior in size and courage was safe from her violent hand. She had little, wicked, dark eyes and crimson75, swollen76 cheeks, while Atlantic had flaxen hair, a low forehead, and a square jaw77. He had not Pacific's ingenuity78 in conceiving evil; but when it was once conceived, he had a dogged persistency79 in carrying it out that made him worthy of his twin.
Yet with all these crosses Mrs. Grubb was moderately cheerful, for her troubles were as nebulous as everything else to her mind. She intended to invent some feasible plan for her deliverance sooner or later, but she was much more intent upon development than deliverance, and she never seemed to have the leisure to break her shackles80. Nothing really mattered much. Her body might be occasionally in Eden Place, but her soul was always in a hired hall. She delighted in joining the New Order of Something,--anything, so long as it was an Order and a new one,--and then going with a selected committee to secure a lodge-room or a hall for meetings. She liked to walk up the dim aisle81 with the janitor82 following after her, and imagine brilliant lights (paid for by collection), a neat table and lamp and pitcher83 of iced water, and herself in the chair as president or vice-president, secretary or humble trustee. There was that about her that precluded84 the possibility of simple membership. She always rose into office the week after she had joined any society. If there was no office vacant, then some bold spirit (generally male) would create one, that Mrs. Grubb might not wither85 in the privacy of the ranks. Before the charter members had fully65 learned the alphabet of their order and had gained a thorough understanding of the social revolution it was destined86 to work, Mrs. Grubb had mastered the whole scheme and was unfolding it before large classes for the study of the higher theory. The instant she had a tale to tell she presumed the 'listening earth' to be ready to hear it. The new Order became an old one in course of time, and, like the nautilus. Mrs. Grubb outgrew87 her shell and built herself a more stately chamber88. Another clue to the universe was soon forthcoming, for all this happened in a city where it is necessary only for a man to open his lips and say, 'I am a prophet', and followers89 flock unto him as many in number as the stars. She was never disturbed that the last clue had brought her nowhere; she followed the new one as passionately90 as the old, and told her breathless pupils that their feet must not be weary, for they were treading the path of progress; that these apparently fruitless excursions into the domain91 of knowledge all served as so many milestones92 in their glorious ascent93 of the mountain of truth.
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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cohesion
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| n.团结，凝结力 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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compensated
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| 补偿，报酬( compensate的过去式和过去分词 )； 给（某人）赔偿（或赔款） | |
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landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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cult
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| n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜 | |
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ostensible
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| adj.(指理由)表面的，假装的 | |
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stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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postal
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| adj.邮政的，邮局的 | |
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remit
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| v.汇款，汇寄；豁免（债务），免除（处罚等） | |
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evicted
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| v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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immunity
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| n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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bigoted
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| adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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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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confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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29
orphans
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| 孤儿( orphan的名词复数 ) | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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32
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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spouse
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| n.配偶(指夫或妻) | |
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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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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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writ
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| n.命令状，书面命令 | |
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salon
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| n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室 | |
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wielded
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| 手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的过去式和过去分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响） | |
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circumscribed
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| adj.[医]局限的：受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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constituents
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| n.选民( constituent的名词复数 )；成分；构成部分；要素 | |
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immure
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| v.囚禁，幽禁 | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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stoniest
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| 多石头的( stony的最高级 )； 冷酷的，无情的 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mattress
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| n.床垫，床褥 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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sobriquet
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| n.绰号 | |
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tractable
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| adj.易驾驭的；温顺的 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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vacuous
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| adj.空的，漫散的，无聊的，愚蠢的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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74
skulked
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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75
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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76
swollen
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| adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀 | |
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77
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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78
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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79
persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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80
shackles
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| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
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81
aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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82
janitor
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| n.看门人，管门人 | |
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83
pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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84
precluded
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| v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通 | |
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85
wither
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| vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡 | |
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86
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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87
outgrew
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去式 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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88
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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89
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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90
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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91
domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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92
milestones
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| n.重要事件( milestone的名词复数 )；重要阶段；转折点；里程碑 | |
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93
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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