Keith got home about daylight to find Nan, terribly anxious, waiting up for him. He brushed away her anxiety with the usual masculine impatience1 at being made a fuss over, gave a brief account of the fire--omitting mention of his narrow escape--and insisted that she go to bed. After a few moments she obeyed, and immediately fell asleep. Keith bathed himself and changed, made a cup of coffee, and wandered about rather impatiently waiting for time to go downtown. Wing Sam appeared, the morning paper came. The sun gained strength, and finally tempted2 him outside.
For some time he prowled around, examining Nan's efforts at gardening. There was not much to show as yet, but Keith had already the eye of faith so essential to the Californian, and saw plainly trees, shrubs3, and flowers where now only spears of green were visible. The Morrells' garden next door was already well grown, and he cast on it an appraising4 eye. No sign of life showed about the place except a thread of smoke from the kitchen chimney. It was still early.
Nevertheless, five minutes later Mrs. Morrell opened the side door and stepped forth5. She had on a wide leghorn hat, and carried a basket and scissors as though to gather flowers. Immediately she caught sight of Keith and waved him a gay greeting. He vaulted6 the fence and joined her.
"Aren't these early morning hours perfect? Isn't this glorious sunshine?" she greeted him.
As a matter of fact Mrs. Morrell seldom rose before noon, and detested7 early morning hours and glorious sunshine. She was inclined to consider the usual remarks in their praise as sheer affectation. But she adored fires, and often went to them when they promised well enough. Sometimes she attended in company with certain of her men friends; and sometimes alone, cloaked as a man. She liked the destruction and stimulation8 of them. She had been to the fire just extinguished, and seeing Keith in the garden, had put on her fluffiest9 and gone out to him. It was time this most attractive young man next door paid her more attention.
"How does the hero of the fire survive?" she asked him archly.
"Hero?"
"Don't pretend ignorance. Charles told me all about it. He heard your tale at the Monumental."
"It's hardly heroism10 to get out of a scrape the best way possible."
"It's heroic to save lives, I think; but especially heroic to keep your head in an emergency."
"Mr. Morrell all right?" asked Keith, to change the subject.
"He is sleeping off the fire--and the after effects. You men need watching every minute--even when we think you must be in danger of your lives."
She laughed and clipped a few flowers at random11.
"Have you been moving furniture all these days? We've seen nothing of you. I thought we were going to have some music. I do my little five-finger exercises all by myself and nobody knows but I am playing Beethoven. You ought in Christian12 charity to help me out--whether you want to or not. What do you think of our garden? Don't you adore flowers?"
"No, I don't believe I do," replied Keith bluntly. "I like to see a pretty woman amongst 'em," he went on gallantly13, "they set her off. It's like dresses. No good to show me pretty frocks--unless they're filled."
"La! You are so clever; at times I'm really afraid of you," said she.
She went on tossing a few blooms into her basket. Under the stimulus14 of the fire she had acted on impulse in going out into the garden. She realized it as perhaps a mistake. Keith's early morning freshness and fitness made her feel less sure of herself than usual. She had an uneasy impression that she was not at her best, and this reacted on her ability to exercise her usual magnetism15. In fact, Keith, the least observant of men in such things, could not avoid noticing her rather second-hand16 looking skin, and that her features were more pronounced than he had thought.
"Do come over this evening for some music," she begged. "You can take a nap this afternoon, and you can go home early."
Keith had been just a little uneasy over this second interview with Mrs. Morrell. His straightforward17 nature was inclined to look back on the impression she had made on him at the supper party with a half-guilty sense of some sort of vague disloyalty he could not formulate18. Now he felt much satisfied with himself, and quite relieved. Therefore, he accepted.
"I shall be very glad to," said he.
At breakfast, which was rather late, he told Nan of the meeting and the invitation. Nan's clear lines, fresh creamy skin, bright young eyes, looked more than usually attractive to him.
"Perhaps she _can_ play," he said. "Let's go find out. And you must wear your prettiest gown; I'm proud of my wife, and I want her to look her very best."
A little later he remarked:
"I wonder if she isn't considerably19 older than Morrell."
收听单词发音 |
1
impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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2
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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3
shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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4
appraising
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| v.估价( appraise的现在分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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5
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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7
detested
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| v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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9
fluffiest
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| adj.似绒毛的( fluffy的最高级 )；有绒毛的；蓬松的；轻软状的 | |
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10
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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11
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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13
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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14
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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15
magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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16
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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17
straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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18
formulate
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| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
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19
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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