WHEN Nona told her mother that she wanted to go to town the next day to see Mrs. Bruss and Maisie, Mrs. Manford said: "It's only what I expected of you, darling," and added after a moment: "Do you think I ought—?"
"No, of course not. It would simply worry Maisie."
Nona knew it was the answer that her mother awaited. She knew that nothing frightened and disorganized Pauline as much as direct contact with physical or moral suffering—especially physical. Her whole life (if one chose to look at it from a certain angle) had been a long uninterrupted struggle against the encroachment1 of every form of pain. The first step, always, was to conjure2 it, bribe3 it away, by every possible expenditure—except of one's self. Cheques, surgeons, nurses, private rooms in hospitals, X-rays, radium, whatever was most costly4 and up-to-date in the dreadful art of healing—that was her first and strongest line of protection; behind it came such lesser5 works as rest-cures, change of air, a seaside holiday, a whole new set of teeth, pink silk bed-spreads, lace cushions, stacks of picture papers, and hot-house grapes and long-stemmed roses from Cedarledge. Behind these again were the final, the verbal defenses, made of such phrases as: "If I thought I could do the least good"—"If I didn't feel it might simply upset her"—"Some doctors still consider it contagious"—with the inevitable6 summing-up: "The fewer people she sees the better..."
Nona knew that this attitude was not caused by lack of physical courage. Had Pauline been a pioneer's wife, and seen her family stricken down by disease in the wilderness7, she would have nursed them fearlessly; but all her life she had been used to buying off suffering with money, or denying its existence with words, and her moral muscles had become so atrophied8 that only some great shock would restore their natural strength...
"Great shock! People like mother never have great shocks," Nona mused9, looking at the dauntless profile, the crisply waving hair, reflected in the toilet-mirror. "Unless I were to give her one ..." she added with an inward smile.
Mrs. Manford restored her powder-puff to its crystal box. "Do you know, darling, I believe I'll go to town with you tomorrow. It was very brave of Maisie to make the effort of coming here the other day, but of course, I didn't like to burden her with too many details at such a time (when's the operation—tomorrow?), and there are things I could perfectly10 well attend to myself, without bothering her; without her even knowing. Yes; I'll motor up with you early."
"She'll always delegate her anxieties," Nona mused, not unenviously, as Cécile slipped Mrs. Manford's spangled teagown over her firm white shoulders. Pauline turned a tender smile on her daughter. "It's so like you, Nona, to want to be with Maisie for the operation—so fine, dear."
Voice and smile were full of praise; yet behind the praise (Nona also knew) lurked11 the unformulated apprehension12: "All this running after sick people and unhappy people—is it going to turn into a vocation13?" Nothing could have been more distasteful to Mrs. Manford than the idea that her only daughter should be not only good, but merely good: like poor Aggie14 Heuston, say... Nona could hear her mother murmuring: "I can't imagine where on earth she got it from," as if alluding15 to some physical defect unaccountable in the offspring of two superbly sound progenitors16.
They started early, for forty-eight hours of accumulated leisure had reinforced Pauline's natural activity. Amalasuntha, mysteriously smiling and head-shaking over the incommunicable figures of Klawhammer's offer, had bustled17 back to town early on Monday, leaving the family to themselves—and a certain feeling of flatness had ensued. Dexter, his wife thought, seemed secretly irritated, but determined18 to conceal19 his irritation20 from her. It was about Michelangelo, no doubt. Lita was silent and sleepy. No one seemed to have anything particular to do. Even in town Mondays were always insipid21. But in the afternoon Manford "took Lita off their hands," as his wife put it, by carrying her away for the long-deferred spin in the Buick; and Pauline plunged22 back restfully into visiting-lists and other domestic preoccupations. She certainly had nothing to worry about, and much to rejoice in, yet she felt languid and vaguely23 apprehensive24. She began to wonder if Alvah Loft's treatment were of the lasting25 sort, or if it lost its efficacy, like an uncorked drug. Perhaps the Scientific Initiate26 she had been told about would have a new panacea27 for the mind as well as for the epiderm. She would telephone and make an appointment; it always stimulated28 her to look forward to seeing a new healer. As Mrs. Swoffer said, one ought never to neglect a spiritual opportunity; and one never knew on whom the Spirit might have alighted. Mrs. Swoffer's conversation was always soothing29 and yet invigorating, and Pauline determined to see her too. And there was Arthur—poor Exhibit A!—on Jim's account it would be kind to look him up if there were time; unless Nona could manage that too, in the intervals30 of solacing31 Maisie. It was so depressing—and so useless—to sit in a hospital parlour, looking at old numbers of picture papers, while those awful white-sleeved rites32 went on in the secret sanctuary33 of tiles and nickel-plating. It would do Nona good to have an excuse for slipping away.
Pauline's list of things-to-be-done had risen like a spring tide as soon as she decided34 to go to town for the day. There was hair-waving, manicuring, dressmaking—her dress for the Cardinal's reception. How was she ever to get through half the engagements on her list? And of course she must call at the hospital with a big basket of grapes and flowers...
On the steps of the hospital Nona paused and looked about her. The operation was over—everything had "gone beautifully," as beautifully as it almost always does on these occasions. Maisie had been immensely grateful for her coming, and as surprised as if an angel from the seventh heaven had alighted to help her through. The two girls had sat together, making jerky attempts at talk, till the nurse came and said: "All right—she's back in bed again"; and then Maisie, after a burst of relieving tears, had tiptoed off to sit in a corner of her mother's darkened room and await the first sign of returning consciousness. There was nothing more for Nona to do, and she went out into the April freshness with the sense of relief that the healthy feel when they escape back to life after a glimpse of death.
On the hospital steps she ran into Arthur Wyant.
"Exhibit, dear! What are you doing here?"
"Coming to inquire for poor Mrs. Bruss. I heard from Amalasuntha..."
"That's kind of you. Maisie'll be so pleased."
She gave him the surgeon's report, saw that his card was entrusted36 to the right hands, and turned back into the street with him. He looked better than when he had left for the south; his leg was less stiff, and he carried his tall carefully dressed figure with a rigid37 jauntiness38. But his face seemed sharper yet higher in colour. Fever or cocktails39? She wondered. It was lucky that their meeting would save her going to the other end of the town to see him.
"Just like you, Exhibit, to remember poor Maisie..."
He raised ironic40 eyebrows41. "Is inquiring about ill people obsolete42? I see you still keep up the tradition."
"Oh, I've been seeing it through with Maisie. Some one had to."
"Splendidly. She always does."
He frowned, and stood hesitating, and tapping his long boot-tip with his stick. "I rather want to have a talk with your mother."
"With mother?" Nona was on the point of saying: "She's in town today—" then, remembering Pauline's crowded list, she checked the impulse.
"No, my dear, you won't—as a proxy. But I'll carry you off to lunch."
The choice of a restaurant would have been laborious—for Wyant, when taken out of his rut, became a mass of manias45, prejudices and inhibitions—but Nona luckily remembered a new Bachelor Girls' Club ("The Singleton") which she had lately joined, and packed him into a taxi still protesting.
They found a quiet corner in a sociable46 low-studded dining-room, and she leaned back, listening to his disconnected monologue47 and smoking one cigarette after another in the nervous inability to eat.
The ten days on the island? Oh, glorious, of course—hot sunshine—a good baking for his old joints48. Awfully49 kind of her father to invite him ... he'd appreciated it immensely ... was going to write a line of thanks... Jim, too, had appreciated his father's being included... Only, no, really; he couldn't stay; in the circumstances he couldn't...
"What circumstances, Exhibit? Getting the morning papers twenty-four hours late?"
Wyant frowned, looked at her sharply, and then laughed an uneasy wrinkled laugh. "Impertinent chit!"
"Own up, now; you were bored stiff. Communion with Nature was too much for you. You couldn't stick it. Few can."
"I don't say I'm as passive as Jim."
"Jim's just loving it down there, isn't he? I'm so glad you persuaded him to stay."
Wyant frowned again, and stared past her at some invisible antagonist50. "It was about the only thing I could persuade him to do."
"What else? Why to act, damn it ... take a line ... face things ... face the music." He stopped in a splutter of metaphors52, and dipped his bristling53 moustache toward his coffee.
"What things?"
"Why: is he going to keep his wife, or isn't he?"
"He thinks that's for Lita to decide."
"For Lita to decide! A pretext54 for his damned sentimental55 inertness56. A man—my son! God, what's happened to the young men? Sit by and see ... see... Nona, couldn't I manage to have a talk with your mother?"
"You're having one with me. Isn't that enough for the moment?"
He gave another vague laugh, and took a light from her extended cigarette. She knew that, though he found her mother's visits oppressive, he kept a careful record of their number, and dimly resented any appearance of being "crowded out" by Pauline's other engagements. "I suppose she comes up to town sometimes, doesn't she?"
"Sometimes—but in such a rush! And we'll be back soon now. She's got to get ready for the Cardinal's reception."
"Great doings, I hear. Amalasuntha dropped in on me yesterday. She says Lita's all agog57 again since that rotten Michelangelo's got a film contract, and your father's in an awful state about it. Is he?"
"The family are not used yet to figuring on the posters. Of course it's only a question of time."
"I don't mean in a state about Michelangelo, but about Lita."
"Father's been a perfect brick about Lita."
"Oh, he has, has he? Very magnanimous.—Thanks; no—no cigar... Of course, if anybody's got to be a brick about Lita, I don't see why it's not her husband's job; but then I suppose you'll tell me..."
"Yes; I shall; please consider yourself told, won't you? Because I've got to get back to the hospital."
"The modern husband's job is a purely58 passive one, eh? That's your idea too? If you go to him and say: 'How about that damned scoundrel and your wife'—"
"What damned scoundrel?"
"Oh, I don't say ... anybody in particular ... and he answers: 'Well, what am I going to do about it?' and you say: 'Well, and your honour, man; what about your honour?' and he says: 'What's my honour got to do with it if my wife's sick of me?' and you say: 'God! But the other man ... aren't you going to break his bones for him?' and he sits and looks at you and says: 'Get up a prize-fight for her?'... God! I give it up. My own son! We don't speak the same language, that's all."
He leaned back, his long legs stretched under the table, his tall shambling body disjointed with the effort at a military tautness59, a kind of muscular demonstration60 of what his son's moral attitude ought to be.
"Damn it—there was a good deal to be said for duelling."
"And to whom do you want Jim to send his seconds? Michelangelo or Klawhammer?"
He stared, and echoed her laugh. "Ha! Ha! That's good. Klawhammer! Dirty Jew ... the kind we used to horsewhip... Well, I don't understand the new code."
"Why do you want to, Exhibit? Come along. You've got me to look after in the meantime. If you want to be chivalrous61, tuck me under your arm and see me back to the hospital."
"A prize-fight—get up a prize-fight for her! God—I should understand even that better than lying on the beach smoking a pipe and saying: 'What can a fellow do about it?' Do!"
Act—act—act! How funny it was, Nona reflected, as she remounted the hospital steps: the people who talked most of acting62 seldom did more than talk. Her father, for instance, so resolute63 and purposeful, never discoursed64 about action, but quietly went about what had to be done. Whereas poor Exhibit, perpetually inconsequent and hesitating, was never tired of formulating65 the most truculent66 plans of action for others. "Poor Exhibit indeed—incorrigible amateur!" she thought, understanding how such wordy dilettantism67 must have bewildered and irritated the young and energetic Pauline, fresh from the buzzing motor works at Exploit.
Nona felt a sudden exasperation68 against Wyant for trying to poison Jim's holiday by absurd insinuations and silly swagger. It was lucky that he had got bored and come back, leaving the poor boy to bask35 on the sands with his pipe and his philosophy. After all, it was to be supposed that Jim knew what he wanted, and how to take care of it, now he had it.
"At all events," Nona concluded, "I'm glad he didn't get hold of mother and bother her with his foolish talk." She shot up in the lift to the white carbolic-breathing passage where, with a heavy whiff of ether, Mrs. Bruss's door opened to receive her.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
encroachment
|
|
| n.侵入，蚕食 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
conjure
|
|
| v.恳求，祈求；变魔术，变戏法 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
bribe
|
|
| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
costly
|
|
| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
lesser
|
|
| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
wilderness
|
|
| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
atrophied
|
|
| adj.萎缩的，衰退的v.（使）萎缩，（使）虚脱，（使）衰退( atrophy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
mused
|
|
| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
lurked
|
|
| vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
apprehension
|
|
| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
vocation
|
|
| n.职业，行业 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
aggie
|
|
| n.农校，农科大学生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
alluding
|
|
| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
progenitors
|
|
| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bustled
|
|
| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
irritation
|
|
| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
insipid
|
|
| adj.无味的，枯燥乏味的，单调的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
plunged
|
|
| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
apprehensive
|
|
| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
lasting
|
|
| adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
initiate
|
|
| vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
panacea
|
|
| n.万灵药；治百病的灵药 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
stimulated
|
|
| a.刺激的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
soothing
|
|
| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
intervals
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
solacing
|
|
| v.安慰，慰藉( solace的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
32
rites
|
|
| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
sanctuary
|
|
| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
bask
|
|
| vt.取暖，晒太阳，沐浴于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
entrusted
|
|
| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
jauntiness
|
|
| n.心满意足；洋洋得意；高兴；活泼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
39
cocktails
|
|
| n.鸡尾酒( cocktail的名词复数 )；餐前开胃菜；混合物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
ironic
|
|
| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
obsolete
|
|
| adj.已废弃的，过时的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
aloof
|
|
| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
proxy
|
|
| n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
manias
|
|
| n.（mania的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
sociable
|
|
| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
monologue
|
|
| n.长篇大论，（戏剧等中的）独白 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
joints
|
|
| 接头( joint的名词复数 )； 关节； 公共场所（尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所） （非正式）； 一块烤肉 （英式英语） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
antagonist
|
|
| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
metaphors
|
|
| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
bristling
|
|
| a.竖立的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
pretext
|
|
| n.借口，托词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
sentimental
|
|
| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
inertness
|
|
| n.不活泼，没有生气；惰性；惯量 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
agog
|
|
| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
tautness
|
|
| 拉紧，紧固度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
demonstration
|
|
| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
chivalrous
|
|
| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
resolute
|
|
| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
discoursed
|
|
| 演说（discourse的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
formulating
|
|
| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
truculent
|
|
| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
dilettantism
|
|
| n.业余的艺术爱好，浅涉文艺，浅薄涉猎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
exasperation
|
|
| n.愤慨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |