Some two months later than the date of young Marvell's midnight vigil, Mrs. Heeny, seated on a low chair at Undine's knee, gave the girl's left hand an approving pat as she laid aside her lapful of polishers.
"There! I guess you can put your ring on again," she said with a laugh of jovial1 significance; and Undine, echoing the laugh in a murmur2 of complacency, slipped on the fourth finger of her recovered hand a band of sapphires3 in an intricate setting.
Mrs. Heeny took up the hand again. "Them's old stones, Undine--they've got a different look," she said, examining the ring while she rubbed her cushioned palm over the girl's brilliant finger-tips. "And the setting's quaint--I wouldn't wonder but what it was one of old Gran'ma Dagonet's."
Mrs. Spragg, hovering4 near in fond beatitude, looked up quickly.
"Why, don't you s'pose he BOUGHT it for her, Mrs. Heeny? It came in a Tiff'ny box."
The manicure laughed again. "Of course he's had Tiff'ny rub it up. Ain't you ever heard of ancestral jewels, Mrs. Spragg? In the Eu-ropean aristocracy they never go out and BUY engagement-rings; and Undine's marrying into our aristocracy."
Mrs. Spragg looked relieved. "Oh, I thought maybe they were trying to scrimp on the ring--"
Mrs. Heeny, shrugging away this explanation, rose from her seat and rolled back her shiny black sleeves.
"Look at here, Undine, if you really want me to do your hair it's time we got to work."
The girl swung about in her seat so that she faced the mirror on the dressing-table. Her shoulders shone through transparencies of lace and muslin which slipped back as she lifted her arms to draw the tortoise-shell pins from her hair.
"Of course you've got to do it--I want to look perfectly5 lovely!"
"Well--I dunno's my hand's in nowadays," said Mrs. Heeny in a tone that belied6 the doubt she cast on her own ability.
"Oh, you're an ARTIST, Mrs. Heeny--and I just couldn't have had that French maid 'round to-night," sighed Mrs. Spragg, sinking into a chair near the dressing-table.
Undine, with a backward toss of her head, scattered7 her loose locks about her. As they spread and sparkled under Mrs. Heeny's touch, Mrs. Spragg leaned back, drinking in through half-closed lids her daughter's loveliness. Some new quality seemed added to Undine's beauty: it had a milder bloom, a kind of melting grace, which might have been lent to it by the moisture in her mother's eyes.
"So you're to see the old gentleman for the first time at this dinner?" Mrs. Heeny pursued, sweeping8 the live strands9 up into a loosely woven crown.
"Yes. I'm frightened to death!" Undine, laughing confidently, took up a hand-glass and scrutinized10 the small brown mole11 above the curve of her upper lip.
"I guess she'll know how to talk to him," Mrs. Spragg averred12 with a kind of quavering triumph.
"She'll know how to LOOK at him, anyhow," said Mrs. Heeny; and Undine smiled at her own image.
"I hope he won't think I'm too awful!"
Mrs. Heeny laughed. "Did you read the description of yourself in the Radiator13 this morning? I wish't I'd 'a had time to cut it out. I guess I'll have to start a separate bag for YOUR clippings soon."
Undine stretched her arms luxuriously14 above her head and gazed through lowered lids at the foreshortened reflection of her face.
"Mercy! Don't jerk about like that. Am I to put in this rose?--There--you ARE lovely!" Mrs. Heeny sighed, as the pink petals15 sank into the hair above the girl's forehead. Undine pushed her chair back, and sat supporting her chin on her clasped hands while she studied the result of Mrs. Heeny's manipulations.
"Yes--that's the way Mrs. Peter Van Degen's flower was put in the other night; only hers was a camellia.--Do you think I'd look better with a camellia?"
"I guess if Mrs. Van Degen looked like a rose she'd 'a worn a rose," Mrs. Heeny rejoined poetically16. "Sit still a minute longer," she added. "Your hair's so heavy I'd feel easier if I was to put in another pin."
Undine remained motionless, and the manicure, suddenly laying both hands on the girl's shoulders, and bending over to peer at her reflection, said playfully: "Ever been engaged before, Undine?"
A blush rose to the face in the mirror, spreading from chin to brow, and running rosily17 over the white shoulders from which their covering had slipped down.
"My! If he could see you now!" Mrs. Heeny jested.
Mrs. Spragg, rising noiselessly, glided18 across the room and became lost in a minute examination of the dress laid out on the bed.
With a supple19 twist Undine slipped from Mrs. Heeny's hold.
"Engaged? Mercy, yes! Didn't you know? To the Prince of Wales. I broke it off because I wouldn't live in the Tower."
Mrs. Spragg, lifting the dress cautiously over her arm, advanced with a reassured20 smile.
"I s'pose Undie'll go to Europe now," she said to Mrs. Heeny.
"I guess Undie WILL!" the young lady herself declared. "We're going to sail right afterward21.--Here, mother, do be careful of my hair!" She ducked gracefully22 to slip into the lacy fabric23 which her mother held above her head. As she rose Venus-like above its folds there was a tap on the door, immediately followed by its tentative opening.
"Mabel!" Undine muttered, her brows lowering like her father's; and Mrs. Spragg, wheeling about to screen her daughter, addressed herself protestingly to the half-open door.
"Who's there? Oh, that YOU, Mrs. Lipscomb? Well, I don't know as you CAN--Undie isn't half dressed yet--"
"Just like her--always pushing in!" Undine murmured as she slipped her arms into their transparent24 sleeves.
"Oh, that don't matter--I'll help dress her!" Mrs. Lipscomb's large blond person surged across the threshold. "Seems to me I ought to lend a hand to-night, considering I was the one that introduced them!"
Undine forced a smile, but Mrs. Spragg, her soft wrinkles deepening with resentment25, muttered to Mrs. Heeny, as she bent26 down to shake out the girl's train: "I guess my daughter's only got to show herself--"
The first meeting with old Mr. Dagonet was less formidable than Undine had expected. She had been once before to the house in Washington Square, when, with her mother, she had returned Mrs. Marvell's ceremonial visit; but on that occasion Ralph's grandfather had not been present. All the rites27 connected with her engagement were new and mysterious to Undine, and none more so than the unaccountable necessity of "dragging"--as she phrased it--Mrs. Spragg into the affair. It was an accepted article of the Apex28 creed29 that parental30 detachment should be completest at the moment when the filial fate was decided31; and to find that New York reversed this rule was as puzzling to Undine as to her mother. Mrs. Spragg was so unprepared for the part she was to play that on the occasion of her visit to Mrs. Marvell her helplessness had infected Undine, and their half-hour in the sober faded drawing-room remained among the girl's most unsatisfactory memories.
She re-entered it alone with more assurance. Her confidence in her beauty had hitherto carried her through every ordeal32; and it was fortified33 now by the feeling of power that came with the sense of being loved. If they would only leave her mother out she was sure, in her own phrase, of being able to "run the thing"; and Mrs. Spragg had providentially been left out of the Dagonet dinner.
It was to consist, it appeared, only of the small family group Undine had already met; and, seated at old Mr. Dagonet's right, in the high dark dining-room with mahogany doors and dim portraits of "Signers" and their females, she felt a conscious joy in her ascendancy34. Old Mr. Dagonet--small, frail35 and softly sardonic--appeared to fall at once under her spell. If she felt, beneath his amenity36, a kind of delicate dangerousness, like that of some fine surgical37 instrument, she ignored it as unimportant; for she had as yet no clear perception of forces that did not directly affect her.
Mrs. Marvell, low-voiced, faded, yet impressive, was less responsive to her arts, and Undine divined in her the head of the opposition38 to Ralph's marriage. Mrs. Heeny had reported that Mrs. Marvell had other views for her son; and this was confirmed by such echoes of the short sharp struggle as reached the throbbing39 listeners at the Stentorian40. But the conflict over, the air had immediately cleared, showing the enemy in the act of unconditional41 surrender. It surprised Undine that there had been no reprisals42, no return on the points conceded. That was not her idea of warfare43, and she could ascribe the completeness of the victory only to the effect of her charms.
Mrs. Marvell's manner did not express entire subjugation44; yet she seemed anxious to dispel45 any doubts of her good faith, and if she left the burden of the talk to her lively daughter it might have been because she felt more capable of showing indulgence by her silence than in her speech.
As for Mrs. Fairford, she had never seemed more brilliantly bent on fusing the various elements under her hand. Undine had already discovered that she adored her brother, and had guessed that this would make her either a strong ally or a determined46 enemy. The latter alternative, however, did not alarm the girl. She thought Mrs. Fairford "bright," and wanted to be liked by her; and she was in the state of dizzy self-assurance when it seemed easy to win any sympathy she chose to seek.
For the only other guests--Mrs. Fairford's husband, and the elderly Charles Bowen who seemed to be her special friend--Undine had no attention to spare: they remained on a plane with the dim pictures hanging at her back. She had expected a larger party; but she was relieved, on the whole, that it was small enough to permit of her dominating it. Not that she wished to do so by any loudness of assertion. Her quickness in noting external differences had already taught her to modulate47 and lower her voice, and to replace "The I-dea!" and "I wouldn't wonder" by more polished locutions; and she had not been ten minutes at table before she found that to seem very much in love, and a little confused and subdued48 by the newness and intensity49 of the sentiment, was, to the Dagonet mind, the becoming attitude for a young lady in her situation. The part was not hard to play, for she WAS in love, of course. It was pleasant, when she looked across the table, to meet Ralph's grey eyes, with that new look in them, and to feel that she had kindled50 it; but I it was only part of her larger pleasure in the general homage51 to her beauty, in the sensations of interest and curiosity excited by everything about her, from the family portraits overhead to the old Dagonet silver on the table--which were to be hers too, after all!
The talk, as at Mrs. Fairford's, confused her by its lack of the personal allusion52, its tendency to turn to books, pictures and politics. "Politics," to Undine, had always been like a kind of back-kitchen to business--the place where the refuse was thrown and the doubtful messes were brewed53. As a drawing-room topic, and one to provoke disinterested54 sentiments, it had the hollowness of Fourth of July orations55, and her mind wandered in spite of the desire to appear informed and competent.
Old Mr. Dagonet, with his reedy staccato voice, that gave polish and relief to every syllable56, tried to come to her aid by questioning her affably about her family and the friends she had made in New York. But the caryatid-parent, who exists simply as a filial prop57, is not a fruitful theme, and Undine, called on for the first time to view her own progenitors58 as a subject of conversation, was struck by their lack of points. She had never paused to consider what her father and mother were "interested" in, and, challenged to specify59, could have named--with sincerity--only herself. On the subject of her New York friends it was not much easier to enlarge; for so far her circle had grown less rapidly than she expected. She had fancied Ralph's wooing would at once admit her to all his social privileges; but he had shown a puzzling reluctance60 to introduce her to the Van Degen set, where he came and went with such familiarity; and the persons he seemed anxious to have her know--a few frumpy "clever women" of his sister's age, and one or two brisk old ladies in shabby houses with mahogany furniture and Stuart portraits--did not offer the opportunities she sought.
"Oh, I don't know many people yet--I tell Ralph he's got to hurry up and take me round," she said to Mr. Dagonet, with a side-sparkle for Ralph, whose gaze, between the flowers and lights, she was aware of perpetually drawing.
"My daughter will take you--you must know his mother's friends," the old gentleman rejoined while Mrs. Marvell smiled noncommittally.
"But you have a great friend of your own--the lady who takes you into society," Mr. Dagonet pursued; and Undine had the sense that the irrepressible Mabel was again "pushing in."
"Oh, yes--Mabel Lipscomb. We were school-mates," she said indifferently.
"Lipscomb? Lipscomb? What is Mr. Lipscomb's occupation?"
"He's a broker61," said Undine, glad to be able to place her friend's husband in so handsome a light. The subtleties62 of a professional classification unknown to Apex had already taught her that in New York it is more distinguished63 to be a broker than a dentist; and she was surprised at Mr. Dagonet's lack of enthusiasm.
"Ah? A broker?" He said it almost as Popple might have said "A DENTIST?" and Undine found herself astray in a new labyrinth64 of social distinctions. She felt a sudden contempt for Harry65 Lipscomb, who had already struck her as too loud, and irrelevantly66 comic. "I guess Mabel'll get a divorce pretty soon," she added, desiring, for personal reasons, to present Mrs. Lipscomb as favourably67 as possible.
Mr. Dagonet's handsome eye-brows drew together. "A divorce? H'm--that's bad. Has he been misbehaving himself?"
Undine looked innocently surprised. "Oh, I guess not. They like each other well enough. But he's been a disappointment to her. He isn't in the right set, and I think Mabel realizes she'll never really get anywhere till she gets rid of him."
These words, uttered in the high fluting68 tone that she rose to when sure of her subject, fell on a pause which prolonged and deepened itself to receive them, while every face at the table, Ralph Marvell's excepted, reflected in varying degree Mr. Dagonet's pained astonishment69.
"But, my dear young lady--what would your friend's situation be if, as you put it, she 'got rid' of her husband on so trivial a pretext70?"
Undine, surprised at his dullness, tried to explain. "Oh that wouldn't be the reason GIVEN, of course. Any lawyer could fix it up for them. Don't they generally call it desertion?"
There was another, more palpitating, silence, broken by a laugh from Ralph.
"RALPH!" his mother breathed; then, turning to Undine, she said with a constrained71 smile: "I believe in certain parts of the country such--unfortunate arrangements--are beginning to be tolerated. But in New York, in spite of our growing indifference72, a divorced woman is still--thank heaven!--at a decided disadvantage."
Undine's eyes opened wide. Here at last was a topic that really interested her, and one that gave another amazing glimpse into the camera obscura of New York society. "Do you mean to say Mabel would be worse off, then? Couldn't she even go round as much as she does now?"
Mrs. Marvell met this gravely. "It would depend, I should say, on the kind of people she wished to see."
"Oh, the very best, of course! That would be her only object."
Ralph interposed with another laugh. "You see, Undine, you'd better think twice before you divorce me!"
"RALPH!" his mother again breathed; but the girl, flushed and sparkling, flung back: "Oh, it all depends on YOU! Out in Apex, if a girl marries a man who don't come up to what she expected, people consider it's to her credit to want to change. YOU'D better think twice of that!"
"If I were only sure of knowing what you expect!" he caught up her joke, tossing it back at her across the fascinated silence of their listeners.
"Why, EVERYTHING!" she announced--and Mr. Dagonet, turning, laid an intricately-veined old hand on, hers, and said, with a change of tone that relaxed the tension of the listeners: "My child, if you look like that you'll get it."
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jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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sapphires
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| n.蓝宝石，钢玉宝石( sapphire的名词复数 )；蔚蓝色 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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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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sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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strands
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| n.（线、绳、金属线、毛发等的）股( strand的名词复数 )；缕；海洋、湖或河的)岸；（观点、计划、故事等的）部份v.使滞留，使搁浅( strand的第三人称单数 ) | |
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scrutinized
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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mole
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| n.胎块；痣；克分子 | |
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averred
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| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
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radiator
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| n.暖气片，散热器 | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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petals
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| n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 ) | |
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poetically
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| adv.有诗意地，用韵文 | |
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rosily
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| adv.带玫瑰色地，乐观地 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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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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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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apex
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| n.顶点，最高点 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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parental
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| adj.父母的；父的；母的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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ascendancy
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| n.统治权，支配力量 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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amenity
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| n.pl.生活福利设施，文娱康乐场所；（不可数）愉快，适意 | |
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surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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stentorian
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| adj.大声的，响亮的 | |
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unconditional
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| adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的 | |
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reprisals
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| n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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subjugation
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| n.镇压，平息，征服 | |
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dispel
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| vt.驱走，驱散，消除 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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modulate
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| v.调整，调节(音的强弱)；变调 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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brewed
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| 调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡） | |
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disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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orations
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| n.（正式仪式中的）演说，演讲( oration的名词复数 ) | |
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syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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prop
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| vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山 | |
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progenitors
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| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
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specify
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| vt.指定，详细说明 | |
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reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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subtleties
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| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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64
labyrinth
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| n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路 | |
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65
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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66
irrelevantly
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| adv.不恰当地，不合适地；不相关地 | |
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67
favourably
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| adv. 善意地，赞成地 =favorably | |
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68
fluting
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| 有沟槽的衣料； 吹笛子； 笛声； 刻凹槽 | |
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69
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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70
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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71
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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72
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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