This afternoon her excuse had been flimsier than usual: a new point to be noted10 against her. "One of the gentlemen left it on his desk. There's a picture in it that'll amuse you. Oh, you don't mind my bringing it in?" she gasped11.
Manford was just leaving; overcoat on, hat and stick in hand. He muttered: "Oh, thanks," and took the "Looker-on" in order to cut short her effusions. A picture that might amuse him! The simpleton... Probably some of those elaborate "artistic12" studies of the Cedarledge gardens. He remembered that his wife had allowed the "Looker-on" photographers to take them last summer. She thought it a duty: it might help to spread the love of gardening (another of her hobbies); and besides it was undemocratic to refuse to share one's private privileges with the multitude. He knew all her catch-words and had reached the point of wondering how much she would have valued her privileges had the multitude not been there to share them.
He thrust the magazine under his arm, and threw it down, half an hour later, in Lita Wyant's boudoir. It was so quiet and shadowy there that he was almost glad Lita was not in, though sometimes her unpunctuality annoyed him. This evening, after the rush and confusion of the day, he found it soothing13 to await her in this half-lit room, with its heaped-up cushions still showing where she had leaned, and the veiled light on two arums in a dark bowl. Wherever Lita was, there were some of those smooth sculptural arums.
When she came, the stillness would hardly be disturbed. She had a way of deepening it by her presence: noise and hurry died on her threshold. And this evening all the house was quiet. Manford, as usual, had tiptoed up to take a look at the baby, in the night nursery where there were such cool silver-coloured walls, and white hyacinths in pots of silvery lustre14. The baby slept, a round pink Hercules with defiant15 rosy16 curls, his pink hands clenched17 on the coverlet. Even the nurse by the lamp sat quiet and silver-coloured as a brooding pigeon.
A house without fixed18 hours, engagements, obligations ... where none of the clocks went, and nobody was late, because there was no particular time for anything to happen. Absurd, of course, maddeningly unpractical—but how restful after a crowded day! And what a miracle to have achieved, in the tight pattern of New York's tasks and pleasures—in the very place which seemed doomed19 to collapse20 and vanish if ever its clocks should stop!
These late visits had begun by Manford's dropping in on the way home for a look at the baby. He liked babies in their cribs, and especially this fat rascal21 of Jim's. Next to Nona, there was no one he cared for as much as Jim; and seeing Jim happily married, doing well at his bank, and with that funny little chap upstairs, stirred in the older man all his old regrets that he had no son.
Jim seldom got back early enough to assist at these visits; and Lita too, at first, was generally out. But in the last few months Manford had more often found her—or at least, having fallen into the habit of lingering over a cigarette in her boudoir, had managed to get a glimpse of her before going on to that other house where all the clocks struck simultaneously22, and the week's engagements, in Maisie Bruss's hand, jumped out at him as he entered his study.
This evening he felt more than usually tired—of his day, his work, his life, himself—oh, especially himself; so tired that, the deep armchair aiding, he slipped into a half-doze23 in which the quietness crept up round him like a tide.
He woke with a start, imagining that Lita had entered, and feeling the elderly man's discomfiture24 when beauty finds him napping... But the room was empty: a movement of his own had merely knocked Miss Vollard's magazine to the floor. He remembered having brought it in to show Lita the photographs of Cedarledge which he supposed it to contain. Would there be time? He consulted his watch—an anachronism in that house—lit another cigarette, and leaned back contentedly26. He knew that as soon as he got home Pauline, who had telephoned again that afternoon about the Mahatma, would contrive27 to corner him and reopen the tiresome28 question, together with another, which threatened to be almost equally tiresome, about paying that rotten Michelangelo's debts. "If we don't, we shall have him here on our hands: Amalasuntha is convinced you'll take him into the firm. You'd better come home in time to talk things over—." Always talking over, interfering29, adjusting! He had enough of that in his profession. Pity Pauline wasn't a lawyer: she might have worked off her steam in office hours. He would sit quietly where he was, taking care to reach his house only just in time to dress and join her in the motor. They were dining out, he couldn't remember where.
For a moment his wife's figure stood out before him in brilliant stony30 relief, like a photograph seen through a stereopticon; then it vanished in the mist of his well-being31, the indolence engendered32 by waiting there alone and undisturbed for Lita. Queer creature, Lita! His lips twitched33 into a reminiscent smile. One day she had come up noiselessly behind him and surprised him by a light kiss on his hair. He had thought it was Nona... Since then he had sometimes feigned34 to doze while he waited; but she had never kissed him again...
What sort of a life did she really lead, he wondered? And what did she make of Jim, now the novelty was over? He could think of no two people who seemed less made for each other. But you never could tell with a woman. Jim was young and adoring; and there was that red-headed boy...
Luckily Lita liked Nona, and the two were a good deal together. Nona was as safe as a bank—and as jolly as a cricket. Everything was sure to be right when she was there. But there were all the other hours, intervals35 that Manford had no way of accounting36 for; and Pauline always said the girl had had a queer bringing-up, as indeed any girl must have had at the hands of Mrs. Percy Landish. Pauline had objected to the marriage on that ground, though the modern mother's respect for the independence of her children had reduced her objection to mere25 shadowy hints of which Jim, in his transports, took no heed37.
Manford also disliked the girl at first, and deplored38 Jim's choice. He thought Lita positively39 ugly, with her high cheekbones, her too small head, her glaring clothes and conceited40 lackadaisical41 airs. Then, as time passed, and the marriage appeared after all to be turning out well, he tried to interest himself in her for Jim's sake, to see in her what Jim apparently42 did. But the change had not come till the boy's birth. Then, as she lay in her pillows, a new shadowiness under her golden lashes43, one petal44 of a hand hollowed under the little red head at her side, the vision struck to his heart. The enchantment45 did not last; he never recaptured it; there were days when what he called her "beauty airs" exasperated46 him, others when he was chilled by her triviality. But she never bored him, never ceased to excite in him a sort of irritated interest. He told himself that it was because one could never be sure what she was up to; speculating on what went on behind that smooth round forehead and those elusive47 eyes became his most absorbing occupation.
At first he used to be glad when Nona turned up, and when Jim came in from his bank, fagged but happy, and the three young people sat talking nonsense, and letting Manford smoke and listen. But gradually he had fallen into the way of avoiding Nona's days, and of coming earlier (extricating himself with difficulty from his professional engagements), so that he might find Lita alone before Jim arrived.
Lately she had seemed restless, vaguely48 impatient with things; and Manford was determined49 to win her confidence and get at the riddle50 behind that smooth round brow. He could not bear the idea that Jim's marriage might turn out to be a mere unsuccessful adventure, like so many others. Lita must be made to understand what a treasure she possessed51, and how easily she might lose it. Lita Cliffe—Mrs. Percy Landish's niece—to have had the luck to marry Jim Wyant, and to risk estranging52 him! What fools women were! If she could be got away from the pack of frauds and flatterers who surrounded her, Manford felt sure he could bring her to her senses. Sometimes, in her quiet moods, she seemed to depend on his judgment53, to defer54 rather touchingly55 to what he said...
The thing would be to coax56 her from jazz and night-clubs, and the pseudo-artistic rabble57 of house-decorators, cinema stars and theatrical58 riff-raff who had invaded her life, to get her back to country joys, golf and tennis and boating, all the healthy outdoor activities. She liked them well enough when there were no others available. She had owned to Manford that she was sick of the rush and needed a rest; had half promised to come to Cedarledge with the boy for Easter. Jim would be taking his father down to the island off the Georgia coast; and Jim's being away might be a good thing. These modern young women soon tired of what they were used to; Lita would appreciate her husband all the more after a separation.
Well, only a few weeks more, and perhaps it would come true. She had never seen the Cedarledge dogwood in bud, the woods trembling into green. Manford, smiling at the vision, stooped to pick up the "Looker-on" and refresh his memory.
But it wasn't the right number: there were no gardens in it. Why had Miss Vollard given it to him? As he fluttered the pages they dropped open at: "Oriental Sage8 in Native Garb"—. Oh, damn the Mahatma! "Dawnside Co-Eds"—oh, damn...
He stood up to thrust the paper under one of the heavily-shaded lamps. At home, where Pauline and reason ruled, the lighting59 was disposed in such a way that one could always read without moving from one's chair; but in this ridiculous house, where no one ever opened a book, the lamps were so perversely60 placed, and so deeply shrouded61, that one had to hold one's paper under the shade to make out anything.
He scrutinized62 the picture, shrugged63 away his disgusted recognition of Bee Lindon, looked again and straightened his eye-glasses on his nose to be doubly sure—the lawyer's instinct of accuracy prevailing64 over a furious inward tremor65.
He walked to the door, and then turned back and stood irresolute66. To study the picture he had lifted the border of the lampshade, and the light struck crudely on the statue above Lita's divan67; the statue of which Pauline (to her children's amusement) always said a little apprehensively68 that she supposed it must be Cubist. Manford had hardly noticed the figure before, except to wonder why the young people admired ugliness: half lost in the shadows of the niche69, it seemed a mere bundle of lumpy limbs. Now, in the glare—"Ah, you carrion70, you!" He clenched his fist at it. "That's what they want—that's their brutish idol71!" The words came stammering72 from him in a blur73 of rage. It was on Jim's account ... the shock, the degradation74... The paper slipped to the floor, and he dropped into his seat again.
Slowly his mind worked its way back through the disgust and confusion. Pauline had been right: what could one expect from a girl brought up in that Landish house? Very likely no one had ever thought of asking where she was, where she had been—Mrs. Landish, absorbed in her own silly affairs, would be the last person to know.
Well, what of that? The modern girl was always free, was expected to know how to use her freedom. Nona's independence had been as scrupulously75 respected as Jim's; she had had her full share of the perpetual modern agitations76. Yet Nona was firm as a rock: a man's heart could build on her. If a woman was naturally straight, jazz and night-clubs couldn't make her crooked77...
True, in Nona's case there had been Pauline's influence: Pauline who, whatever her faults, was always good-humoured and usually wise with her children. The proof was that, while they laughed at her, they adored her: he had to do her that justice. At the thought of Pauline a breath of freshness and honesty swept through him. He had been unfair to her lately, critical, irritable78. He had been absorbing a slow poison, the poison emanating79 from this dusky self-conscious room, with all its pernicious implications. His first impression of Lita, when he had thought her ugly and pretentious80, rushed back on him, dissipating the enchantment.
"Oh, I'm glad you waited—" She was there before him, her little heart-shaped face deep in its furs, like a bird on the nest. "I wanted to see you today; I willed you to wait." She stood there, her head slightly on one side, distilling81 her gaze through half-parted lids like some rare golden liquid.
Manford stared back. Her entrance had tangled82 up the words in his throat: he stood before her choked with denunciation and invective83. And then it occurred to him how much easier it was just to say nothing—and to go. Of course he meant to go. It was no business of his: Jim Wyant was not his son. Thank God he could wash his hands of the whole affair.
"Oh, but you must!" Her hand was on his arm, as light as a petal. "I want you." He could just see the twinkle of small round teeth as her upper lip lifted... "Can't ... can't." He tried to disengage his voice, as if that too were tangled up in her.
He moved away toward the door. The "Looker-on" lay on the floor between them. So much the better; she would find it when he was gone! She would understand then why he hadn't waited. And no fear of Jim's getting hold of the paper; trust her to make it disappear!
"Why, what's that?" She bent85 her supple86 height to pick it up and moved to the lamp, her face alight.
"You darling, you—did you bring me this? What luck! I've been all over the place hunting for a copy—the whole edition's sold out. I had the original photograph somewhere, but couldn't put my hand on it."
She had reached the fatal page; she was spreading it open. Her smile caressed87 it; her mouth looked like a pink pod bursting on a row of pearly seeds. She turned to Manford almost tenderly. "After you prevented my going to Ardwin's I had to swear to send this to Klawhammer, to show that I really can dance. Tommy telephoned at daylight that Klawhammer was off to Hollywood, and that when I chucked last night they all said it was because I knew I couldn't come up to the scratch." She held out the picture with an air of pride. "Doesn't look much like it, does it? ... Why, what are you staring at? Didn't you know I was going in for the movies? Immobility was never my strong point..." She threw the paper down, and began to undo5 her furs with a lazy smile, sketching88 a dance step as she did so. "Why do you look so shocked? If I don't do that I shall run away with Michelangelo. I suppose you know that Amalasuntha's importing him? I can't stick this sort of thing much longer... Besides, we've all got a right to self-expression, haven't we?"
Manford continued to look at her. He hardly heard what she was saying, in the sickness of realizing what she was. Those were the thoughts, the dreams, behind those temples on which the light laid such pearly circles!
He said slowly: "This picture—it's true, then? You've been there?"
"Dawnside? Bless you—where'd you suppose I learnt to dance? Aunt Kitty used to plant me out there whenever she wanted to go off on her own—which was pretty frequently." She had tossed of her hat, slipped out of her furs, and lowered the flounce of the lamp-shade; and there she stood before him in her scant89 slim dress, her arms, bare to the shoulder, lifted in an amphora-gesture to her little head.
"Oh, children—but I'm bored!" she yawned.
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1
exasperating
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| adj. 激怒的 动词exasperate的现在分词形式 | |
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lurked
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| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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ogled
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| v.（向…）抛媚眼，送秋波( ogle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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linguistic
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| adj.语言的，语言学的 | |
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intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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pretexts
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| n.借口，托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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lustre
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| n.光亮，光泽；荣誉 | |
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defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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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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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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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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rascal
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| n.流氓；不诚实的人 | |
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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doze
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| v.打瞌睡；n.打盹，假寐 | |
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24
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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32
engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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33
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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accounting
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| n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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deplored
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| v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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conceited
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| adj.自负的，骄傲自满的 | |
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41
lackadaisical
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| adj.无精打采的，无兴趣的；adv.无精打采地，不决断地 | |
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42
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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43
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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44
petal
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| n.花瓣 | |
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45
enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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46
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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47
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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48
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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49
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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50
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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51
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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52
estranging
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| v.使疏远（尤指家庭成员之间）( estrange的现在分词 ) | |
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53
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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54
defer
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| vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从 | |
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55
touchingly
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| adv.令人同情地，感人地，动人地 | |
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56
coax
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| v.哄诱，劝诱，用诱哄得到，诱取 | |
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57
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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58
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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59
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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60
perversely
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| adv. 倔强地 | |
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61
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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62
scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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64
prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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65
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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66
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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67
divan
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| n.长沙发；（波斯或其他东方诗人的）诗集 | |
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68
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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69
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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70
carrion
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| n.腐肉 | |
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71
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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72
stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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73
blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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74
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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agitations
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| （液体等的）摇动( agitation的名词复数 )； 鼓动； 激烈争论； （情绪等的）纷乱 | |
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77
crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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irritable
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| adj.急躁的；过敏的；易怒的 | |
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emanating
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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80
pretentious
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| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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81
distilling
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| n.蒸馏（作用）v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )( distilled的过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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82
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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invective
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| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
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84
mumbled
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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86
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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87
caressed
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| 爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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88
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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89
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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