WHEN Nona came down the next morning it was raining—a cold blustery rain, lashing1 the branches about and driving the startled spring back into its secret recesses2.
It was the first rain since their arrival at Cedarledge, and it seemed to thrust them back also—back into the wintry world of town, of dripping streets, early lamplight and crowded places of amusement.
Mrs. Manford had already breakfasted and left the dining-room, but her husband's plate was still untouched. He came in as Nona was finishing, and after an absent-minded nod and smile dropped silently into his place. He sat opposite the tall rain-striped windows, and as he stared out into the grayness it seemed as if some of it, penetrating3 into the room in spite of the red sparkle of the fire, had tinged4 his face and hair. Lately Nona had been struck by his ruddiness, and the vigour5 of the dark waves crisping about his yellow-brown temples; but now he had turned sallow and autumnal. "What people call looking one's age, I suppose—as if we didn't have a dozen or a hundred ages, all of us!"
Her father had withdrawn6 his stare from the outer world and turned it toward the morning paper on the book-stand beside his plate. With lids lowered and fixed7 lips he looked strangely different again—rather like his own memorial bust8 in bronze. She shivered a little...
"Father! Your coffee's getting cold."
He pushed aside the paper, glanced at the letters piled by his plate, and lifted his eyes to Nona's. The twinkle she always woke seemed to struggle up to her from a long way off.
"I missed my early tramp and don't feel particularly enthusiastic about breakfast."
"It's not enthusiastic weather."
"No." He had grown absent-minded again. "Pity; when we've so few days left."
"It may clear, though."
What stupid things they were saying! Much either he or she cared about the weather, when they were in the country and had the prospect9 of a good tramp or a hard gallop10 together. Not that they had had many such lately; but then she had been busy with her mother, trying to make up for Maisie's absence; and there had been the interruption caused by the week-end party; and he had been helping11 to keep Lita amused—with success, apparently12.
"Yes... I shouldn't wonder if it cleared." He frowned out toward the sky again. "Round about midday." He paused, and added: "I thought of running Lita over to Greystock."
She nodded. They would no doubt stay and dine, and Lita would get her dance. Probably Mrs. Manford wouldn't mind, though she was beginning to show signs of wearying of tête-à-tête dinners with her daughter. But they could go over the reception list again; and Pauline could talk about her new Messiah.
Nona glanced down at her own letters. She often forgot to look at them till the day was nearly over, now that she knew the one writing her eyes thirsted for would not be on any of the envelopes. Stanley Heuston had made no sign since they had parted that night on the doorstep...
The door opened, and Lita came in. It was the first time since their arrival that she had appeared at breakfast. She faced Manford as she entered, and Nona saw her father's expression change. It was like those funny old portraits in the picture-restorers' windows, with a veil of age and dust removed from one half to show the real surface underneath13. Lita's entrance did not make him look either younger or happier; it simply removed from his face the soul-disguising veil which life interposes between a man's daily world and himself. He looked stripped—exposed ... exposed ... that was it. Nona glanced at Lita, not to surprise her off her guard, but simply to look away from her father.
Lita's face was what it always was: something so complete and accomplished14 that one could not imagine its being altered by any interior disturbance15. It was like a delicate porcelain16 vase, or a smooth heavy flower, that a shifting of light might affect, but nothing from within would alter. She smiled in her round-eyed unseeing way, as a little gold-and-ivory goddess might smile down on her worshippers, and said: "I got up early because there wasn't any need to."
The reason was one completely satisfying to herself, but its effect on her hearers was perhaps disappointing. Nona made no comment, and Manford merely laughed—a vague laugh addressed, one could see, less to her words, which he appeared not to have noticed, than to the mere17 luminous18 fact of her presence; the kind of laugh evoked19 by the sight of a dazzling fringed fish or flower suddenly offered to one's admiration20.
"I think the rain will hold off before lunch," he said, communicating the fact impartially21 to the room.
"Oh, what a pity—I wanted to get my hair thoroughly22 drenched23. It's beginning to uncurl with the long drought," Lita said, her hand wavering uncertainly between the dishes Powder had placed in front of her. "Grape-fruit, I think—though it's so awfully24 ocean-voyagy. Promise me, Nona—!" She turned to her sister-in-law.
"Promise you what?"
"Not to send me a basket of grape-fruit when I sail."
Manford looked up at her impenetrable porcelain face. His lips half parted on an unspoken word; then he pushed back his chair and got up.
"I'll order the car at eleven," he said, in a tone of aimless severity.
Lita was scooping25 a spoonful of juice out of the golden bowl of the grape-fruit. She seemed neither to heed26 nor to hear. Manford laid down his napkin and walked out of the room.
Lita threw back her head to let the liquid slip slowly down between her lips. Her gold-fringed lids fluttered a little, as if the fruit-juice were a kiss.
"When are you sailing?" Nona asked, reaching for the cigarette-lighter.
"Don't know. Next week, I shouldn't wonder."
"For any particular part of the globe?"
Lita's head descended27, and she turned her chestnut-coloured eyes softly on her sister-in-law. "Yes; but I can't remember what it's called."
Nona was looking at her in silence. It was simply that she was so beautiful. A vase? No—a lamp now: there was a glow from the interior. As if her red corpuscles had turned into millions of fairy lamps...
Her glance left Nona's and returned to her plate. "Letters. What a bore! Why on earth don't people telephone?"
She did not often receive letters, her congenital inability to answer them having gradually cooled the zeal28 of her correspondents; of all, that is, excepting her husband. Almost every day Nona saw one of Jim's gray-blue envelopes on the hall table. That particular colour had come to symbolize29 to her a state of patient expectancy30.
Lita was turning over some impersonal31 looking bills and advertisements. From beneath them the faithful gray-blue envelope emerged. Nona thought: "If only he wouldn't—!" and her eyes filled.
"Aren't you going to read your letter?"
She raised her brows. "Jim's? I did—yesterday. One just like it."
Lita's languid mouth rounded into a smile. "Not to you, darling. Do you want me to read it?" She slipped a polished finger-tip under the flap.
"Oh, no; no! Don't—not like that!" It made Nona wince34. "I wish she hated Jim—I wish she wanted to kill him! I could bear it better than this," the girl stormed inwardly. She got up and turned toward the door.
"Nona—wait! What's the matter? Don't you really want to hear what he says?" Lita stood up also, her eyes still on the open letter. "He—oh..." She turned toward her sister-in-law a face from which the inner glow had vanished.
"What is it? Is he ill? What's wrong?"
"He's coming home. He wants me to go back the day after tomorrow." She stood staring in front of her, her eyes fixed on something invisible to Nona, and beyond her.
"Does he say why?"
"He doesn't say anything but that."
"When did you expect him?"
"I don't know. Not for ages. I never can remember about dates. But I thought he liked it down there. And your father said he'd arranged—"
"Arranged what?" Nona interrupted.
Lita seemed to become aware of her again, and turned on her a smooth inaccessible35 face. "I don't know: arranged with the bank, I suppose."
"To keep him there?"
"To let him have a good long holiday. You all thought he needed it so awfully, didn't you?"
Nona stood motionless, staring out of the window. She saw her father drive up in the Buick. The rain had diminished to a silver drizzle36 shot with bursts of sun, and through the open window she heard him call: "It's going to clear after all. We'd better start."
"Lita!" Nona called out, moved by some impulse to arrest, to warn—she didn't know what. But the door had closed, and Lita was already out of hearing.
All through the day it kept on raining at uncomfortable intervals38. Uncomfortable, that is, for Pauline and Nona. Whenever they tried to get out for a walk a deluge39 descended; then, as soon as they had splashed back to the house with the dripping dogs, the clouds broke and mocked them with a blaze of sunshine. But by that time they were either revising the list again, or had settled down to Mah-jongg in the library.
"Really, I can't go up and change into my walking shoes again!" Pauline remonstrated40 to the weather; and a few minutes later the streaming window-panes had justified41 her.
"April showers," she remarked with a slightly rigid42 smile. She looked deprecatingly at her daughter. "It was selfish of me to keep you here, dear. You ought to have gone with your father and Lita."
"But there were all those notes to do, mother. And really I'm rather fed-up with Greystock."
Pauline executed a repetition of her smile. "Well, I fancy we shall have them back for tea. No golf this afternoon, I'm afraid," she said, glancing with a certain furtive43 satisfaction at the increasing downpour.
"No; but Lita may want to stay and dance."
Pauline made no comment, but once more addressed her disciplined attention to the game.
The fire, punctually replenished44, continued to crackle and drowse. The warmth drew out the strong scent45 of the carnations46 and rose-geraniums, and made the room as languid as a summer garden. Dusk fell from the cloud-laden skies, and in due course the hand which tended the fire drew the curtains on their noiseless rings and lit the lamps. Lastly Powder appeared, heading the processional entrance of the tea-table.
Pauline roused herself from a languishing47 Mah-jongg to take her expected part in the performance. She and Nona grouped themselves about the hearth48, and Pauline lifted the lids of the little covered dishes with a critical air.
"I ordered those muffins your father likes so much," she said, in a tone of unwonted wistfulness. "Perhaps we'd better send them out to be kept hot."
Nona agreed that it would be better; but as she had her hand on the bell the sound of an approaching motor checked her. The dogs woke with a happy growling49 and bustled50 out. "There they are after all!" Pauline said.
There was a minute or two of silence, unmarked by the usual yaps of welcome; then a sound like the depositing of wraps and an umbrella; then Powder on the threshold, for once embarrassed and at a loss.
"Mr. Wyant, madam."
"Mr. Wyant?"
"Mr. Arthur Wyant. He seemed to think you were probably expecting him," Powder continued, as if lengthening51 the communication in order to give her time.
Mrs. Manford, seizing it, rose to the occasion with one of her heroic wing-beats. "Yes—I was. Please show him in," she said, without risking a glance at her daughter.
Arthur Wyant came in, tall and stooping in his shabby well-cut clothes, a nervous flush on his cheekbones. He paused, and sent a half-bewildered stare about the room—a look which seemed to say that when he had made up his mind that he must see Pauline he had failed to allow for the familiarity of the setting in which he was to find her.
"You've hardly changed anything here," he said abruptly52, in the far-off tone of a man slowly coming back to consciousness.
"How are you, Arthur? I'm sorry you've had such a rainy day for your trip," Mrs. Manford responded, with an easy intonation53 intended to reach the retreating Powder.
Her former husband took no notice. His eyes continued to travel about the room in the same uncertain searching way.
"Hardly anything," he repeated, still seemingly unaware54 of any presence in the room but his own. "That Raeburn, though—yes. That used to be in the dining-room, didn't it?" He passed his hand over his forehead, as if to brush away some haze55 of oblivion, and walked up to the picture.
"Wait a bit. It's in the place where the Sargent of Jim as a youngster used to hang—Jim on his pony56. Just over my writing-table, so that I saw it whenever I looked up..." He turned to Pauline. "Jolly picture. What have you done with it? Why did you take it away?"
Pauline coloured, but a smile of conciliation57 rode gallantly58 over her blush. "I didn't. That is—Dexter wanted it. It's in his room; it's been there for years." She paused, and then added: "You know how devoted59 Dexter is to Jim."
Wyant had turned abruptly from the contemplation of the Raeburn. The colour in Pauline's cheek was faintly reflected in his own. "Stupid of me ... of course... Fact is, I was rather rattled60 when I came in, seeing everything so much the same... You must excuse my turning up in this way; I had to see you about something important... Hullo, Nona—"
"Of course I excuse you, Arthur. Do sit down—here by the fire. You must be cold after your wet journey ... so unseasonable, after the weather we've been having. Nona will ring for tea," Pauline said, with her accent of indomitable hospitality.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
lashing
|
|
| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
recesses
|
|
| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
penetrating
|
|
| adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
tinged
|
|
| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
vigour
|
|
| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
withdrawn
|
|
| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
bust
|
|
| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
gallop
|
|
| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
helping
|
|
| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
underneath
|
|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
disturbance
|
|
| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
porcelain
|
|
| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
luminous
|
|
| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
evoked
|
|
| [医]诱发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
impartially
|
|
| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
drenched
|
|
| adj.湿透的；充满的v.使湿透( drench的过去式和过去分词 )；在某人（某物）上大量使用（某液体） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
awfully
|
|
| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
scooping
|
|
| n.捞球v.抢先报道( scoop的现在分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
heed
|
|
| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
descended
|
|
| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
symbolize
|
|
| vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
expectancy
|
|
| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
impersonal
|
|
| adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
pensively
|
|
| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
wince
|
|
| n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
inaccessible
|
|
| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
drizzle
|
|
| v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
tune
|
|
| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
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： |
|
|
|
|
39
deluge
|
|
| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
remonstrated
|
|
| v.抗议( remonstrate的过去式和过去分词 )；告诫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
justified
|
|
| a.正当的，有理的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
furtive
|
|
| adj.鬼鬼崇崇的，偷偷摸摸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
replenished
|
|
| 补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 )； 重新装满 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
carnations
|
|
| n.麝香石竹，康乃馨( carnation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
languishing
|
|
| a. 衰弱下去的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
hearth
|
|
| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
growling
|
|
| n.吠声, 咆哮声 v.怒吠, 咆哮, 吼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
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： |
|
|
|
|
51
lengthening
|
|
| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
intonation
|
|
| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
unaware
|
|
| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
pony
|
|
| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
conciliation
|
|
| n.调解，调停 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
gallantly
|
|
| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
rattled
|
|
| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |