Darrow, late that evening, threw himself into an armchairbefore his fire and mused1.
The room was propitious2 to meditation3. The red-veiled lamp,the corners of shadow, the splashes of firelight on thecurves of old full-bodied wardrobes and cabinets, gave it anair of intimacy4 increased by its faded hangings, itsslightly frayed5 and threadbare rugs. Everything in it washarmoniously shabby, with a subtle sought-for shabbiness inwhich Darrow fancied he discerned the touch of Fraser Leath.
But Fraser Leath had grown so unimportant a factor in thescheme of things that these marks of his presence caused theyoung man no emotion beyond that of a faint retrospectiveamusement.
The afternoon and evening had been perfect.
After a moment of concern over her step-son's departure,Anna had surrendered herself to her happiness with animpetuosity that Darrow had never suspected in her. Earlyin the afternoon they had gone out in the motor, traversingmiles of sober-tinted landscape in which, here and there, ascarlet vineyard flamed, clattering6 through the streets ofstony villages, coming out on low slopes above the river, orwinding through the pale gold of narrow wood-roads with theblue of clear-cut hills at their end. Over everything lay afaint sunshine that seemed dissolved in the still air, andthe smell of wet roots and decaying leaves was merged7 in thepungent scent8 of burning underbrush. Once, at the turn of awall, they stopped the motor before a ruined gateway9 and,stumbling along a road full of ruts, stood before a littleold deserted10 house, fantastically carved and chimneyed,which lay in a moat under the shade of ancient trees. Theypaced the paths between the trees, found a mouldy Temple ofLove on an islet among reeds and plantains, and, sitting ona bench in the stable-yard, watched the pigeons circlingagainst the sunset over their cot of patterned brick. Thenthe motor flew on into the dusk...
When they came in they sat beside the fire in the oakdrawing-room, and Darrow noticed how delicately her headstood out against the sombre panelling, and mused on theenjoyment there would always be in the mere11 fact of watchingher hands as they moved about among the tea-things...
They dined late, and facing her across the table, with itslow lights and flowers, he felt an extraordinary pleasure inseeing her again in evening dress, and in letting his eyesdwell on the proud shy set of her head, the way her darkhair clasped it, and the girlish thinness of her neck abovethe slight swell12 of the breast. His imagination was struckby the quality of reticence13 in her beauty. She suggested afine portrait kept down to a few tones, or a Greek vase onwhich the play of light is the only pattern.
After dinner they went out on the terrace for a look at themoon-misted park. Through the crepuscular14 whiteness thetrees hung in blotted15 masses. Below the terrace, the gardendrew its dark diagrams between statues that stood likemuffled conspirators16 on the edge of the shadow. Fartheroff, the meadows unrolled a silver-shot tissue to themantling of mist above the river; and the autumn starstrembled overhead like their own reflections seen in dimwater.
He lit his cigar, and they walked slowly up and down theflags in the languid air, till he put an arm about her,saying: "You mustn't stay till you're chilled"; then theywent back into the room and drew up their chairs to thefire.
It seemed only a moment later that she said: "It must beafter eleven," and stood up and looked down on him, smilingfaintly. He sat still, absorbing the look, and thinking:
"There'll be evenings and evenings"--till she came nearer,bent over him, and with a hand on his shoulder said: "Goodnight."He got to his feet and put his arms about her.
"Good night," he answered, and held her fast; and they gaveeach other a long kiss of promise and communion.
The memory of it glowed in him still as he sat over hiscrumbling fire; but beneath his physical exultation17 he felta certain gravity of mood. His happiness was in some sortthe rallying-point of many scattered18 purposes. He summed itup vaguely19 by saying to himself that to be loved by a womanlike that made "all the difference"...He was a little tiredof experimenting on life; he wanted to "take a line", tofollow things up, to centralize and concentrate, and produceresults. Two or three more years of diplomacy--with herbeside him!--and then their real life would begin: study,travel and book-making for him, and for her--well, the joy,at any rate, of getting out of an atmosphere of bric-a-bracand card-leaving into the open air of competing activities.
The desire for change had for some time been latent in him,and his meeting with Mrs. Leath the previous spring hadgiven it a definite direction. With such a comrade to focusand stimulate20 his energies he felt modestly but agreeablysure of "doing something". And under this assurance was thelurking sense that he was somehow worthy21 of his opportunity.
His life, on the whole, had been a creditable affair. Outof modest chances and middling talents he had built himselfa fairly marked personality, known some exceptional people,done a number of interesting and a few rather difficultthings, and found himself, at thirty-seven, possessed22 of anintellectual ambition sufficient to occupy the passage to arobust and energetic old age. As for the private andpersonal side of his life, it had come up to the currentstandards, and if it had dropped, now and then, below a moreideal measure, even these declines had been brief,parenthetic, incidental. In the recognized essentials hehad always remained strictly23 within the limit of hisscruples.
From this reassuring24 survey of his case he came back to thecontemplation of its crowning felicity. His mind turnedagain to his first meeting with Anna Summers and took up oneby one the threads of their faintly sketched25 romance. Hedwelt with pardonable pride on the fact that fate had soearly marked him for the high privilege of possessing her:
it seemed to mean that they had really, in the truest senseof the ill-used phrase, been made for each other.
Deeper still than all these satisfactions was the mereelemental sense of well-being26 in her presence. That, afterall, was what proved her to be the woman for him: thepleasure he took in the set of her head, the way her hairgrew on her forehead and at the nape, her steady gaze whenhe spoke27, the grave freedom of her gait and gestures. Herecalled every detail of her face, the fine veinings of thetemples, the bluish-brown shadows in her upper lids, and theway the reflections of two stars seemed to form and break upin her eyes when he held her close to him...
If he had had any doubt as to the nature of her feeling forhim those dissolving stars would have allayed28 it. She wasreserved, she was shy even, was what the shallow andeffusive would call "cold". She was like a picture so hungthat it can be seen only at a certain angle: an angle knownto no one but its possessor. The thought flattered hissense of possessorship...He felt that the smile on his lipswould have been fatuous29 had it had a witness. He wasthinking of her look when she had questioned him about hismeeting with Owen at the theatre: less of her words than ofher look, and of the effort the question cost her: thereddening of her cheek, the deepening of the strained linebetween her brows, the way her eyes sought shelter and thenturned and drew on him. Pride and passion were in theconflict--magnificent qualities in a wife! The sight almostmade up for his momentary30 embarrassment31 at the rousing of amemory which had no place in his present picture of himself.
Yes! It was worth a good deal to watch that fight betweenher instinct and her intelligence, and know one's self theobject of the struggle...
Mingled with these sensations were considerations of anotherorder. He reflected with satisfaction that she was the kindof woman with whom one would like to be seen in public. Itwould be distinctly agreeable to follow her into drawing-rooms, to walk after her down the aisle32 of a theatre, to getin and out of trains with her, to say "my wife" of her toall sorts of people. He draped these details in thehandsome phrase "She's a woman to be proud of", and feltthat this fact somehow justified33 and ennobled hisinstinctive boyish satisfaction in loving her.
He stood up, rambled34 across the room and leaned out for awhile into the starry35 night. Then he dropped again into hisarmchair with a sigh of deep content.
"Oh, hang it," he suddenly exclaimed, "it's the best thingthat's ever happened to me, anyhow!"The next day was even better. He felt, and knew she felt,that they had reached a clearer understanding of each other.
It was as if, after a swim through bright opposing waves,with a dazzle of sun in their eyes, they had gained an inletin the shades of a cliff, where they could float on thestill surface and gaze far down into the depths.
Now and then, as they walked and talked, he felt a thrill ofyouthful wonder at the coincidence of their views and theirexperiences, at the way their minds leapt to the same pointin the same instant.
"The old delusion36, I suppose," he smiled to himself. "WillNature never tire of the trick?"But he knew it was more than that. There were moments intheir talk when he felt, distinctly and unmistakably, thesolid ground of friendship underneath37 the whirling dance ofhis sensations. "How I should like her if I didn't loveher!" he summed it up, wondering at the miracle of such aunion.
In the course of the morning a telegram had come from OwenLeath, announcing that he, his grandmother and Effie wouldarrive from Dijon that afternoon at four. The station of themain line was eight or ten miles from Givre, and Anna, soonafter three, left in the motor to meet the travellers.
When she had gone Darrow started for a walk, planning to getback late, in order that the reunited family might have theend of the afternoon to themselves. He roamed the country-side till long after dark, and the stable-clock of Givre wasstriking seven as he walked up the avenue to the court.
In the hall, coming down the stairs, he encountered Anna.
Her face was serene38, and his first glance showed him thatOwen had kept his word and that none of her forebodings hadbeen fulfilled.
She had just come down from the school-room, where Effie andthe governess were having supper; the little girl, she toldhim, looked immensely better for her Swiss holiday, but wasdropping with sleep after the journey, and too tired to makeher habitual39 appearance in the drawing-room before being putto bed. Madame de Chantelle was resting, but would be downfor dinner; and as for Owen, Anna supposed he was offsomewhere in the park--he had a passion for prowling aboutthe park at nightfall...
Darrow followed her into the brown room, where the tea-tablehad been left for him. He declined her offer of tea, butshe lingered a moment to tell him that Owen had in fact kepthis word, and that Madame de Chantelle had come back in thebest of humours, and unsuspicious of the blow about to fall.
"She has enjoyed her month at Ouchy, and it has given her alot to talk about--her symptoms, and the rival doctors, andthe people at the hotel. It seems she met your Ambassadressthere, and Lady Wantley, and some other London friends ofyours, and she's heard what she calls 'delightful40 things'
about you: she told me to tell you so. She attaches greatimportance to the fact that your grandmother was an Everardof Albany. She's prepared to open her arms to you. I don'tknow whether it won't make it harder for poor Owen...thecontrast, I mean...There are no Ambassadresses or Everardsto vouch41 for HIS choice! But you'll help me, won't you?
You'll help me to help him? To-morrow I'll tell you therest. Now I must rush up and tuck in Effie...""Oh, you'll see, we'll pull it off for him!" he assured her;"together, we can't fail to pull it off."He stood and watched her with a smile as she fled down thehalf-lit vista42 to the hall.
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mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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frayed
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| adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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clattering
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| 发出咔哒声（clatter的现在分词形式） | |
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merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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reticence
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| n.沉默，含蓄 | |
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crepuscular
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| adj.晨曦的；黄昏的；昏暗的 | |
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blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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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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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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allayed
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| v.减轻，缓和( allay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fatuous
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| adj.愚昧的；昏庸的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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aisle
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| n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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rambled
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的过去式和过去分词 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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35
starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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36
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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37
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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38
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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39
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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40
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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41
vouch
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| v.担保；断定；n.被担保者 | |
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42
vista
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| n.远景，深景，展望，回想 | |
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