A few days after her decisive conversation with Raymond de Chelles, Undine, emerging from the doors of the Nouveau Luxe, where she had been to call on the newly-arrived Mrs. Homer Branney, once more found herself face to face with Elmer Moffatt.
This time there was no mistaking his eagerness to be recognized. He stopped short as they met, and she read such pleasure in his eyes that she too stopped, holding out her hand.
"I'm glad you're going to speak to me," she said, and Moffatt reddened at the allusion1.
"Well, I very nearly didn't. I didn't know you. You look about as old as you did when I first landed at Apex--remember?"
He turned back and began to walk at her side in the direction of the Champs Elysees.
"Say--this is all right!" he exclaimed; and she saw that his glance had left her and was ranging across the wide silvery square ahead of them to the congregated2 domes3 and spires4 beyond the river.
"Do you like Paris?" she asked, wondering what theatres he had been to.
"It beats everything." He seemed to be breathing in deeply the impression of fountains, sculpture, leafy' avenues and long-drawn architectural distances fading into the afternoon haze5.
"I suppose you've been to that old church over there?" he went on, his gold-topped stick pointing toward the towers of Notre Dame6.
"Oh, of course; when I used to sightsee. Have you never been to Paris before?"
"No, this is my first look-round. I came across in March."
"In March?" she echoed inattentively. It never occurred to her that other people's lives went on when they were out of her range of vision, and she tried in vain to remember what she had last heard of Moffatt. "Wasn't that a bad time to leave Wall Street?"
"Well, so-so. Fact is, I was played out: needed a change." Nothing in his robust8 mien9 confirmed the statement, and he did not seem inclined to develop it. "I presume you're settled here now?" he went on. "I saw by the papers--"
"Yes," she interrupted; adding, after a moment: "It was all a mistake from the first."
"Well, I never thought he was your form," said Moffatt.
His eyes had come back to her, and the look in them struck her as something she might use to her advantage; but the next moment he had glanced away with a furrowed10 brow, and she felt she had not wholly fixed11 his attention.
"I live at the other end of Paris. Why not come back and have tea with me?" she suggested, half moved by a desire to know more of his affairs, and half by the thought that a talk with him might help to shed some light on hers.
In the open taxi-cab he seemed to recover his sense of well-being12, and leaned back, his hands on the knob of his stick, with the air of a man pleasantly aware of his privileges. "This Paris is a thundering good place," he repeated once or twice as they rolled on through the crush and glitter of the afternoon; and when they had descended13 at Undine's door, and he stood in her drawing-room, and looked out on the horse-chestnut trees rounding their green domes under the balcony, his satisfaction culminated14 in the comment: "I guess this lays out West End Avenue!"
His eyes met Undine's with their old twinkle, and their expression encouraged her to murmur15: "Of course there are times when I'm very lonely."
She sat down behind the tea-table, and he stood at a little distance, watching her pull off her gloves with a queer comic twitch16 of his elastic17 mouth. "Well, I guess it's only when you want to be," he said, grasping a lyre-backed chair by its gilt18 cords, and sitting down astride of it, his light grey trousers stretching too tightly over his plump thighs19. Undine was perfectly20 aware that he was a vulgar over-dressed man, with a red crease21 of fat above his collar and an impudent22 swaggering eye; yet she liked to see him there, and was conscious that he stirred the fibres of a self she had forgotten but had not ceased to understand.
She had fancied her avowal23 of loneliness might call forth24 some sentimental25 phrase; but though Moffatt was clearly pleased to be with her she saw that she was not the centre of his thoughts, and the discovery irritated her.
"I don't suppose YOU'VE known what it is to be lonely since you've been in Europe?" she continued as she held out his tea-cup.
"Oh," he said jocosely26, "I don't always go round with a guide"; and she rejoined on the same note: "Then perhaps I shall see something of you."
"Why, there's nothing would suit me better; but the fact is, I'm probably sailing next week."
"Oh, are you? I'm sorry." There was nothing feigned27 in her regret.
"Anything I can do for you across the pond?"
She hesitated. "There's something you can do for me right off."
He looked at her more attentively7, as if his practised eve had passed through the surface of her beauty to what might be going on behind it. "Do you want my blessing28 again?" he asked with sudden irony29.
Undine opened her eyes with a trustful look. "Yes--I do."
"Well--I'll be damned!" said Moffatt gaily30.
"You've always been so awfully31 nice," she began; and he leaned back, grasping both sides of the chair-back, and shaking it a little with his laugh.
He kept the same attitude while she proceeded to unfold her case, listening to her with the air of sober concentration that his frivolous32 face took on at any serious demand on his attention. When she had ended he kept the same look during an interval33 of silent pondering. "Is it the fellow who was over at Nice with you that day?"
She looked at him with surprise. "How did you know?"
"Why, I liked his looks," said Moffatt simply. He got up and strolled toward the window. On the way he stopped before a table covered with showy trifles, and after looking at them for a moment singled out a dim old brown and golden book which Chelles had given her. He examined it lingeringly, as though it touched the spring of some choked-up sensibility for which he had no language. "Say--" he began: it was the usual prelude34 to his enthusiasms; but he laid the book down and turned back.
"Then you think if you had the cash you could fix it up all right with the Pope?"
Her heart began to beat. She remembered that he had once put a job in Ralph's way, and had let her understand that he had done it partly for her sake.
"Well," he continued, relapsing into hyperbole, "I wish I could send the old gentleman my cheque to-morrow morning: but the fact is I'm high and dry." He looked at her with a sudden odd intensity35. "If I WASN'T, I dunno but what--" The phrase was lost in his familiar whistle. "That's an awfully fetching way you do your hair," he said. It was a disappointment to Undine to hear that his affairs were not prospering36, for she knew that in his world "pull" and solvency37 were closely related, and that such support as she had hoped he might give her would be contingent38 on his own situation. But she had again a fleeting39 sense of his mysterious power of accomplishing things in the teeth of adversity; and she answered: "What I want is your advice."
He turned away and wandered across the room, his hands in his pockets. On her ornate writing desk he saw a photograph of Paul, bright-curled and sturdy-legged, in a manly40 reefer, and bent41 over it with a murmur of approval. "Say--what a fellow! Got him with you?"
Undine coloured. "No--" she began; and seeing his look of surprise, she embarked42 on her usual explanation. "I can't tell you how I miss him," she ended, with a ring of truth that carried conviction to her own ears if not to Moffatt's.
"Why don't you get him back, then?"
"Why, I--"
Moffatt had picked up the frame and was looking at the photograph more closely. "Pants!" he chuckled43. "I declare!"
He turned back to Undine. "Who DOES he belong to, anyhow?"
"Belong to?"
"Who got him when you were divorced? Did you?"
"Oh, I got everything," she said, her instinct of self-defense on the alert.
"So I thought." He stood before her, stoutly44 planted on his short legs, and speaking with an aggressive energy. "Well, I know what I'd do if he was mine."
"If he was yours?"
"And you tried to get him away from me. Fight you to a finish! If it cost me down to my last dollar I would."
The conversation seemed to be wandering from the point, and she answered, with a touch of impatience45: "It wouldn't cost you anything like that. I haven't got a dollar to fight back with."
"Well, you ain't got to fight. Your decree gave him to you, didn't it? Why don't you send right over and get him? That's what I'd do if I was you."
Undine looked up. "But I'm awfully poor; I can't afford to have him here."
"You couldn't, up to now; but now you're going to get married. You're going to be able to give him a home and a father's care--and the foreign languages. That's what I'd say if I was you...His father takes considerable stock in him, don't he?"
She coloured, a denial on her lips; but she could not shape it. "We're both awfully fond of him, of course... His father'd never give him up!"
"Just so." Moffatt's face had grown as sharp as glass. "You've got the Marvells running. All you've got to do's to sit tight and wait for their cheque." He dropped back to his equestrian46 seat on the lyre-backed chair.
Undine stood up and moved uneasily toward the window. She seemed to see her little boy as though he were in the room with her; she did not understand how she could have lived so long without him...She stood for a long time without speaking, feeling behind her the concentrated irony of Moffatt's gaze.
"You couldn't lend me the money--manage to borrow it for me, I mean?" she finally turned back to ask. He laughed. "If I could manage to borrow any money at this particular minute--well, I'd have to lend every dollar of it to Elmer Moffatt, Esquire. I'm stone-broke, if you want to know. And wanted for an Investigation47 too. That's why I'm over here improving my mind."
"Why, I thought you were going home next week?"
He grinned. "I am, because I've found out there's a party wants me to stay away worse than the courts want me back. Making the trip just for my private satisfaction--there won't be any money in it, I'm afraid."
Leaden disappointment descended on Undine. She had felt almost sure of Moffatt's helping48 her, and for an instant she wondered if some long-smouldering jealousy49 had flamed up under its cold cinders50. But another look at his face denied her this solace51; and his evident indifference52 was the last blow to her pride. The twinge it gave her prompted her to ask: "Don't you ever mean to get married?"
Moffatt gave her a quick look. "Why, I shouldn't wonder--one of these days. Millionaires always collect something; but I've got to collect my millions first."
He spoke53 coolly and half-humorously, and before he had ended she had lost all interest in his reply. He seemed aware of the fact, for he stood up and held out his hand. "Well, so long, Mrs. Marvell. It's been uncommonly54 pleasant to see you; and you'd better think over what I've said."
She laid her hand sadly in his. "You've never had a child," she replied.
收听单词发音 |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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domes
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| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
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spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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mien
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| n.风采；态度 | |
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furrowed
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| v.犁田，开沟( furrow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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culminated
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| v.达到极点( culminate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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twitch
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| v.急拉，抽动，痉挛，抽搐；n.扯，阵痛，痉挛 | |
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elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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thighs
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| n.股，大腿( thigh的名词复数 )；食用的鸡（等的）腿 | |
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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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crease
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| n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱 | |
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impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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avowal
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| n.公开宣称，坦白承认 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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jocosely
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| adv.说玩笑地，诙谐地 | |
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feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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prelude
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| n.序言，前兆，序曲 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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prospering
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的现在分词 ) | |
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solvency
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| n.偿付能力，溶解力 | |
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contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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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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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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equestrian
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| adj.骑马的；n.马术 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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50
cinders
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| n.煤渣( cinder的名词复数 )；炭渣；煤渣路；煤渣跑道 | |
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51
solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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53
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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54
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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