Ralph, as the days passed, felt that Clare was right: if Undine married again he would possess himself more completely, be more definitely rid of his past. And he did not doubt that she would gain her end: he knew her violent desires and her cold tenacity1. If she had failed to capture Van Degen it was probably because she lacked experience of that particular type of man, of his huge immediate2 wants and feeble vacillating purposes; most of all, because she had not yet measured the strength of the social considerations that restrained him. It was a mistake she was not likely to repeat, and her failure had probably been a useful preliminary to success. It was a long time since Ralph had allowed himself to think of her, and as he did so the overwhelming fact of her beauty became present to him again, no longer as an element of his being but as a power dispassionately estimated. He said to himself: "Any man who can feel at all will feel it as I did"; and the conviction grew in him that Raymond de Chelles, of whom he had formed an idea through Bowen's talk, was not the man to give her up, even if she failed to obtain the release his religion exacted.
Meanwhile Ralph was gradually beginning to feel himself freer and lighter4. Undine's act, by cutting the last link between them, seemed to have given him back to himself; and the mere5 fact that he could consider his case in all its bearings, impartially6 and ironically, showed him the distance he had travelled, the extent to which he had renewed himself. He had been moved, too, by Clare's cry of joy at his release. Though the nature of his feeling for her had not changed he was aware of a new quality in their friendship. When he went back to his book again his sense of power had lost its asperity8, and the spectacle of life seemed less like a witless dangling9 of limp dolls. He was well on in his second chapter now.
This lightness of mood was still on him when, returning one afternoon to Washington Square, full of projects for a long evening's work, he found his mother awaiting him with a strange face. He followed her into the drawing-room, and she explained that there had been a telephone message she didn't understand--something perfectly10 crazy about Paul--of course it was all a mistake...
Ralph's first thought was of an accident, and his heart contracted. "Did Laura telephone?"
"No, no; not Laura. It seemed to be a message from Mrs. Spragg: something about sending some one here to fetch him--a queer name like Heeny--to fetch him to a steamer on Saturday. I was to be sure to have his things packed...but of course it's a misunderstanding..." She gave an uncertain laugh, and looked up at Ralph as though entreating11 him to return the reassurance12 she had given him.
"Of course, of course," he echoed.
He made his mother repeat her statement; but the unforeseen always flurried her, and she was confused and inaccurate13. She didn't actually know who had telephoned: the voice hadn't sounded like Mrs. Spragg's... A woman's voice; yes--oh, not a lady's! And there was certainly something about a steamer...but he knew how the telephone bewildered her...and she was sure she was getting a little deaf. Hadn't he better call up the Malibran? Of course it was all a mistake--but... well, perhaps he HAD better go there himself...
As he reached the front door a letter clinked in the box, and he saw his name on an ordinary looking business envelope. He turned the door-handle, paused again, and stooped to take out the letter. It bore the address of the firm of lawyers who had represented Undine in the divorce proceedings14 and as he tore open the envelope Paul's name started out at him.
Mrs. Marvell had followed him into the hall, and her cry broke the silence. "Ralph--Ralph--is it anything she's done?"
"Nothing--it's nothing." He stared at her. "What's the day of the week?"
"Wednesday. Why, what--?" She suddenly seemed to understand. "She's not going to take him away from us?"
Ralph dropped into a chair, crumpling15 the letter in his hand. He had been in a dream, poor fool that he was--a dream about his child! He sat gazing at the type-written phrases that spun16 themselves out before him. "My client's circumstances now happily permitting... at last in a position to offer her son a home...long separation...a mother's feelings...every social and educational advantage"...and then, at the end, the poisoned dart17 that struck him speechless: "The courts having awarded her the sole custody18..."
The sole custody! But that meant that Paul was hers, hers only, hers for always: that his father had no more claim on him than any casual stranger in the street! And he, Ralph Marvell, a sane19 man, young, able-bodied, in full possession of his wits, had assisted at the perpetration of this abominable20 wrong, had passively forfeited21 his right to the flesh of his body, the blood of his being! But it couldn't be--of course it couldn't be. The preposterousness23 of it proved that it wasn't true. There was a mistake somewhere; a mistake his own lawyer would instantly rectify24. If a hammer hadn't been drumming in his head he could have recalled the terms of the decree--but for the moment all the details of the agonizing25 episode were lost in a blur26 of uncertainty27.
To escape his mother's silent anguish28 of interrogation he stood up and said: "I'll see Mr. Spragg--of course it's a mistake." But as he spoke29 he retravelled the hateful months during the divorce proceedings, remembering his incomprehensible lassitude, his acquiescence30 in his family's determination to ignore the whole episode, and his gradual lapse31 into the same state of apathy32. He recalled all the old family catchwords, the full and elaborate vocabulary of evasion33: "delicacy," "pride," "personal dignity," "preferring not to know about such things"; Mrs. Marvell's: "All I ask is that you won't mention the subject to your grandfather," Mr. Dagonet's: "Spare your mother, Ralph, whatever happens," and even Laura's terrified: "Of course, for Paul's sake, there must be no scandal."
For Paul's sake! And it was because, for Paul's sake, there must be no scandal, that he, Paul's father, had tamely abstained34 from defending his rights and contesting his wife's charges, and had thus handed the child over to her keeping!
As his cab whirled him up Fifth Avenue, Ralph's whole body throbbed36 with rage against the influences that had reduced him to such weakness. Then, gradually, he saw that the weakness was innate37 in him. He had been eloquent38 enough, in his free youth, against the conventions of his class; yet when the moment came to show his contempt for them they had mysteriously mastered him, deflecting39 his course like some hidden hereditary40 failing. As he looked back it seemed as though even his great disaster had been conventionalized and sentimentalized by this inherited attitude: that the thoughts he had thought about it were only those of generations of Dagonets, and that there had been nothing real and his own in his life but the foolish passion he had been trying so hard to think out of existence.
Halfway41 to the Malibran he changed his direction, and drove to the house of the lawyer he had consulted at the time of his divorce. The lawyer had not yet come up town, and Ralph had a half hour of bitter meditation42 before the sound of a latch-key brought him to his feet. The visit did not last long. His host, after an affable greeting, listened without surprise to what he had to say, and when he had ended reminded him with somewhat ironic7 precision that, at the time of the divorce, he had asked for neither advice nor information--had simply declared that he wanted to "turn his back on the whole business" (Ralph recognized the phrase as one of his grandfather's), and, on hearing that in that case he had only to abstain35 from action, and was in no need of legal services, had gone away without farther enquiries.
"You led me to infer you had your reasons--" the slighted counsellor concluded; and, in reply to Ralph's breathless question, he subjoined, "Why, you see, the case is closed, and I don't exactly know on what ground you can re-open it--unless, of course, you can bring evidence showing that the irregularity of the mother's life is such..."
"She's going to marry again," Ralph threw in.
"Indeed? Well, that in itself can hardly be described as irregular. In fact, in certain circumstances it might be construed43 as an advantage to the child."
"Then I'm powerless?"
"Why--unless there's an ulterior motive--through which pressure might be brought to bear."
"You mean that the first thing to do is to find out what she's up to?"
"Precisely44. Of course, if it should prove to be a genuine case of maternal45 feeling, I won't conceal46 from you that the outlook's bad. At most, you could probably arrange to see your boy at stated intervals47."
To see his boy at stated intervals! Ralph wondered how a sane man could sit there, looking responsible and efficient, and talk such rubbish...As he got up to go the lawyer detained him to add: "Of course there's no immediate cause for alarm. It will take time to enforce the provision of the Dakota decree in New York, and till it's done your son can't be taken from you. But there's sure to be a lot of nasty talk in the papers; and you're bound to lose in the end."
Ralph thanked him and left.
He sped northward48 to the Malibran, where he learned that Mr. and Mrs. Spragg were at dinner. He sent his name down to the subterranean49 restaurant, and Mr. Spragg presently appeared between the limp portieres of the "Adam" writing-room. He had grown older and heavier, as if illness instead of health had put more flesh on his bones, and there were greyish tints50 in the hollows of his face.
"What's this about Paul?" Ralph exclaimed. "My mother's had a message we can't make out."
Mr. Spragg sat down, with the effect of immersing his spinal51 column in the depths of the arm-chair he selected. He crossed his legs, and swung one foot to and fro in its high wrinkled boot with elastic52 sides.
"Didn't you get a letter?" he asked.
"From my--from Undine's lawyers? Yes." Ralph held it out. "It's queer reading. She hasn't hitherto been very keen to have Paul with her."
Mr. Spragg, adjusting his glasses, read the letter slowly, restored it to the envelope and gave it back. "My daughter has intimated that she wishes these gentlemen to act for her. I haven't received any additional instructions from her," he said, with none of the curtness53 of tone that his stiff legal vocabulary implied.
"But the first communication I received was from you--at least from Mrs. Spragg."
Mr. Spragg drew his beard through his hand. "The ladies are apt to be a trifle hasty. I believe Mrs. Spragg had a letter yesterday instructing her to select a reliable escort for Paul; and I suppose she thought--"
"Oh, this is all too preposterous22!" Ralph burst out, springing from his seat. "You don't for a moment imagine, do you--any of you--that I'm going to deliver up my son like a bale of goods in answer to any instructions in God's world?--Oh, yes, I know--I let him go--I abandoned my right to him...but I didn't know what I was doing...I was sick with grief and misery54. My people were awfully55 broken up over the whole business, and I wanted to spare them. I wanted, above all, to spare my boy when he grew up. If I'd contested the case you know what the result would have been. I let it go by default--I made no conditions all I wanted was to keep Paul, and never to let him hear a word against his mother!"
Mr. Spragg received this passionate3 appeal in a silence that implied not so much disdain56 or indifference57, as the total inability to deal verbally with emotional crises. At length, he said, a slight unsteadiness in his usually calm tones: "I presume at the time it was optional with you to demand Paul's custody."
"Oh, yes--it was optional," Ralph sneered58.
Mr. Spragg looked at him compassionately59. "I'm sorry you didn't do it," he said.
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1
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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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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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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impartially
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| adv.公平地，无私地 | |
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ironic
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| adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的 | |
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asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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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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entreating
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的现在分词 ) | |
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reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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inaccurate
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| adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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crumpling
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| 压皱，弄皱( crumple的现在分词 )； 变皱 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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preposterousness
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| n.preposterous（颠倒的，首末倒置的）的变形 | |
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rectify
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| v.订正，矫正，改正 | |
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agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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blur
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| n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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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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acquiescence
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| n.默许；顺从 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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apathy
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| n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡 | |
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evasion
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| n.逃避，偷漏(税) | |
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abstained
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| v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票） | |
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abstain
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| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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innate
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| adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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deflecting
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| （使）偏斜， （使）偏离， （使）转向( deflect的现在分词 ) | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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halfway
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| adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途 | |
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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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43
construed
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| v.解释（陈述、行为等）( construe的过去式和过去分词 )；翻译，作句法分析 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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47
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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subterranean
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| adj.地下的，地表下的 | |
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50
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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51
spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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52
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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53
curtness
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| n.简短；草率；简略 | |
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54
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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55
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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56
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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57
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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58
sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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compassionately
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| adv.表示怜悯地，有同情心地 | |
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