Anna Leath, from the terrace, watched the return of the little group.
She looked down on them, as they advanced across the garden,from the serene1 height of her unassailable happiness. Therethey were, coming toward her in the mild morning light, herchild, her step-son, her promised husband: the three beingswho filled her life. She smiled a little at the happypicture they presented, Effie's gambols2 encircling it in amoving frame within which the two men came slowly forward inthe silence of friendly understanding. It seemed part ofthe deep intimacy3 of the scene that they should not betalking to each other, and it did not till afterward4 strikeher as odd that neither of them apparently5 felt it necessaryto address a word to Sophy Viner.
Anna herself, at the moment, was floating in the mid-currentof felicity, on a tide so bright and buoyant that she seemedto be one with its warm waves. The first rush of bliss6 hadstunned and dazzled her; but now that, each morning, shewoke to the calm certainty of its recurrence7, she wasgrowing used to the sense of security it gave.
"I feel as if I could trust my happiness to carry me; as ifit had grown out of me like wings." So she phrased it toDarrow, as, later in the morning, they paced the garden-paths together. His answering look gave her the sameassurance of safety. The evening before he had seemedpreoccupied, and the shadow of his mood had faintlyencroached on the great golden orb8 of their blessedness; butnow it was uneclipsed again, and hung above them high andbright as the sun at noon.
Upstairs in her sitting-room9, that afternoon, she wasthinking of these things. The morning mists had turned torain, compelling the postponement10 of an excursion in whichthe whole party were to have joined. Effie, with hergoverness, had been despatched in the motor to do someshopping at Francheuil; and Anna had promised Darrow to joinhim, later in the afternoon, for a quick walk in the rain.
He had gone to his room after luncheon11 to get some belatedletters off his conscience; and when he had left her she hadcontinued to sit in the same place, her hands crossed on herknees, her head slightly bent12, in an attitude of broodingretrospection. As she looked back at her past life, itseemed to her to have consisted of one ceaseless effort topack into each hour enough to fill out its slack folds; butnow each moment was like a miser's bag stretched to burstingwith pure gold.
She was roused by the sound of Owen's step in the galleryoutside her room. It paused at her door and in answer tohis knock she called out "Come in!"As the door closed behind him she was struck by his look ofpale excitement, and an impulse of compunction made her say:
"You've come to ask me why I haven't spoken to yourgrandmother!"He sent about him a glance vaguely14 reminding her of thestrange look with which Sophy Viner had swept the room thenight before; then his brilliant eyes came back to her.
"I've spoken to her myself," he said.
Anna started up, incredulous.
"You've spoken to her? When?""Just now. I left her to come here."Anna's first feeling was one of annoyance15. There was reallysomething comically incongruous in this boyish surrender toimpulse on the part of a young man so eager to assume theresponsibilities of life. She looked at him with a faintlyveiled amusement.
"You asked me to help you and I promised you I would. It washardly worth while to work out such an elaborate plan ofaction if you intended to take the matter out of my handswithout telling me.""Oh, don't take that tone with me!" he broke out, almostangrily.
"That tone? What tone?" She stared at his quivering face.
"I might," she pursued, still half-laughing, "more properlymake that request of YOU!"Owen reddened and his vehemence16 suddenly subsided18.
"I meant that I HAD to speak--that's all. You don'tgive me a chance to explain..."She looked at him gently, wondering a little at her ownimpatience.
"Owen! Don't I always want to give you every chance? It'sbecause I DO that I wanted to talk to your grandmotherfirst--that I was waiting and watching for the rightmoment...""The right moment? So was I. That's why I've spoken." Hisvoice rose again and took the sharp edge it had in momentsof high pressure.
His step-mother turned away and seated herself in her sofa-corner. "Oh, my dear, it's not a privilege to quarrel over!
You've taken a load off my shoulders. Sit down and tell meall about it."He stood before her, irresolute20. "I can't sit down," hesaid.
"Walk about, then. Only tell me: I'm impatient."His immediate21 response was to throw himself into thearmchair at her side, where he lounged for a moment withoutspeaking, his legs stretched out, his arms locked behind histhrown-back head. Anna, her eyes on his face, waitedquietly for him to speak.
"Well--of course it was just what one expected.""She takes it so badly, you mean?""All the heavy batteries were brought up: my father, Givre,Monsieur de Chantelle, the throne and the altar. Even mypoor mother was dragged out of oblivion and armed withimaginary protests."Anna sighed out her sympathy. "Well--you were prepared forall that?""I thought I was, till I began to hear her say it. Then itsounded so incredibly silly that I told her so.""Oh, Owen--Owen!""Yes: I know. I was a fool; but I couldn't help it.""And you've mortally offended her, I suppose? That's exactlywhat I wanted to prevent." She laid a hand on his shoulder.
"You tiresome22 boy, not to wait and let me speak for you!"He moved slightly away, so that her hand slipped from itsplace. "You don't understand," he said, frowning.
"I don't see how I can, till you explain. If you thoughtthe time had come to tell your grandmother, why not haveasked me to do it? I had my reasons for waiting; but ifyou'd told me to speak I should have done so, naturally."He evaded23 her appeal by a sudden turn. "What WERE yourreasons for waiting?"Anna did not immediately answer. Her step-son's eyes wereon her face, and under his gaze she felt a faintdisquietude.
"I was feeling my way...I wanted to be absolutely sure...""Absolutely sure of what?"She delayed again for a just perceptible instant. "Why,simply of OUR side of the case.""But you told me you were, the other day, when we talked itover before they came back from Ouchy.""Oh, my dear--if you think that, in such a complicatedmatter, every day, every hour, doesn't more or less modifyone's surest sureness!""That's just what I'm driving at. I want to know what hasmodified yours."She made a slight gesture of impatience19. "What does itmatter, now the thing's done? I don't know that I could giveany clear reason..."He got to his feet and stood looking down on her with atormented brow. "But it's absolutely necessary that youshould."At his tone her impatience flared24 up. "It's not necessarythat I should give you any explanation whatever, sinceyou've taken the matter out of my hands. All I can say isthat I was trying to help you: that no other thought everentered my mind." She paused a moment and then added: "Ifyou doubted it, you were right to do what you've done.""Oh, I never doubted YOU!" he retorted, with a fugitivestress on the pronoun. His face had cleared to its old lookof trust. "Don't be offended if I've seemed to," he wenton. "I can't quite explain myself, either...it's all a kindof tangle25, isn't it? That's why I thought I'd better speakat once; or rather why I didn't think at all, but justsuddenly blurted26 the thing out----"Anna gave him back his look of conciliation27. "Well, the howand why don't much matter now. The point is how to dealwith your grandmother. You've not told me what she means todo.""Oh, she means to send for Adelaide Painter."The name drew a faint note of mirth from him and relaxedboth their faces to a smile.
"Perhaps," Anna added, "it's really the best thing for usall."Owen shrugged28 his shoulders. "It's too preposterous29 andhumiliating. Dragging that woman into our secrets----!""This could hardly be a secret much longer."He had moved to the hearth30, where he stood pushing about thesmall ornaments31 on the mantel-shelf; but at her answer heturned back to her.
"You haven't, of course, spoken of it to any one?""No; but I intend to now."She paused for his reply, and as it did not come shecontinued: "If Adelaide Painter's to be told there's nopossible reason why I shouldn't tell Mr. Darrow."Owen abruptly32 set down the little statuette between hisfingers. "None whatever: I want every one to know."She smiled a little at his over-emphasis, and was about tomeet it with a word of banter33 when he continued, facing her:
"You haven't, as yet, said a word to him?""I've told him nothing, except what the discussion of ourown plans--his and mine--obliged me to: that you werethinking of marrying, and that I wasn't willing to leaveFrance till I'd done what I could to see you through."At her first words the colour had rushed to his forehead;but as she continued she saw his face compose itself and hisblood subside17.
"You're a brick, my dear!" he exclaimed.
"You had my word, you know.""Yes; yes--I know." His face had clouded again. "And that'sall--positively34 all--you've ever said to him?""Positively all. But why do you ask?"He had a moment's embarrassed hesitation35. "It wasunderstood, wasn't it, that my grandmother was to be thefirst to know?""Well--and so she has been, hasn't she, since you've toldher?"He turned back to his restless shifting of the knick-knacks.
"And you're sure that nothing you've said to Darrow couldpossibly have given him a hint----?""Nothing I've said to him--certainly."He swung about on her. "Why do you put it in that way?""In what way?""Why--as if you thought some one else might have spoken...""Some one else? Who else?" She rose to her feet. "What onearth, my dear boy, can you be driving at?""I'm trying to find out whether you think he knows anythingdefinite.""Why should I think so? Do YOU?""I don't know. I want to find out."She laughed at his obstinate36 insistence37. "To test myveracity, I suppose?" At the sound of a step in the galleryshe added: "Here he is--you can ask him yourself."She met Darrow's knock with an invitation to enter, and hecame into the room and paused between herself and Owen. Shewas struck, as he stood there, by the contrast between hishappy careless good-looks and her step-son's frowningagitation.
Darrow met her eyes with a smile. "Am I too soon? Or is ourwalk given up?""No; I was just going to get ready." She continued to lingerbetween the two, looking slowly from one to the other. "Butthere's something we want to tell you first: Owen is engagedto Miss Viner."The sense of an indefinable interrogation in Owen's mindmade her, as she spoke13, fix her eyes steadily38 on Darrow.
He had paused just opposite the window, so that, even in therainy afternoon light, his face was clearly open to herscrutiny. For a second, immense surprise was alone visibleon it: so visible that she half turned to her step-son, witha faint smile for his refuted suspicions. Why, shewondered, should Owen have thought that Darrow had alreadyguessed his secret, and what, after all, could be sodisturbing to him in this not improbable contingency39? At anyrate, his doubt must have been dispelled40: there was nothingfeigned about Darrow's astonishment41. When her eyes turnedback to him he was already crossing to Owen withoutstretched hand, and she had, through an unaccountablefaint flutter of misgiving42, a mere43 confused sense of theirexchanging the customary phrases. Her next perception wasof Owen's tranquillized look, and of his smiling return ofDarrow's congratulatory grasp. She had the eerie44 feeling ofhaving been overswept by a shadow which there had been nocloud to cast...
A moment later Owen had left the room and she and Darrowwere alone. He had turned away to the window and stoodstaring out into the down-pour.
"You're surprised at Owen's news?" she asked.
"Yes: I am surprised," he answered.
"You hadn't thought of its being Miss Viner?""Why should I have thought of Miss Viner?""You see now why I wanted so much to find out what you knewabout her." He made no comment, and she pursued: "Now thatyou DO know it's she, if there's anything----"He moved back into the room and went up to her. His facewas serious, with a slight shade of annoyance. "What onearth should there be? As I told you, I've never in my lifeheard any one say two words about Miss Viner."Anna made no answer and they continued to face each otherwithout moving. For the moment she had ceased to thinkabout Sophy Viner and Owen: the only thought in her mind wasthat Darrow was alone with her, close to her, and that, forthe first time, their hands and lips had not met.
He glanced back doubtfully at the window. "It's pouring.
Perhaps you'd rather not go out?"She hesitated, as if waiting for him to urge her. "Isuppose I'd better not. I ought to go at once to my mother-in-law--Owen's just been telling her," she said.
"Ah." Darrow hazarded a smile. "That accounts for myhaving, on my way up, heard some one telephoning for MissPainter!"At the allusion45 they laughed together, vaguely, and Annamoved toward the door. He held it open for her and followedher out.
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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gambols
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| v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的第三人称单数 ) | |
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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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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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orb
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| n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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postponement
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| n.推迟 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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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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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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subside
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| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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blurted
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| v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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conciliation
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| n.调解，调停 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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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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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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insistence
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| n.坚持；强调；坚决主张 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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contingency
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| n.意外事件，可能性 | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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misgiving
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| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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