Edna’s father was in the city, and had been with them several days. She was not very warmly or deeply attached to him, but they had certain tastes in common, and when together they were companionable. His coming was in the nature of a welcome disturbance1; it seemed to furnish a new direction for her emotions.
He had come to purchase a wedding gift for his daughter, Janet, and an outfit2 for himself in which he might make a creditable appearance at her marriage. Mr. Pontellier had selected the bridal gift, as every one immediately connected with him always deferred3 to his taste in such matters. And his suggestions on the question of dress-which too often assumes the nature of a problem-were of inestimable value to his father-in-law. But for the past few days the old gentleman had been upon Edna’s hands, and in his society she was becoming acquainted with a new set of sensations. He had been a colonel in the Confederate army, and still maintained, with the title, the military bearing which had always accompanied it. His hair and mustache were white and silky, emphasizing the rugged4 bronze of his face. He was tall and thin, and wore his coats padded, which gave a fictitious5 breadth and depth to his shoulders and chest. Edna and her father looked very distinguished6 together, and excited a good deal of notice during their perambulations. Upon his arrival she began by introducing him to her atelier and making a sketch7 of him. He took the whole matter very seriously. If her talent had been ten-fold greater than it was, it would not have surprised him, convinced as he was that he had bequeathed to all of his daughters the germs of a masterful capability8, which only depended upon their own efforts to be directed toward successful achievement.
Before her pencil he sat rigid9 and unflinching, as he had faced the cannon’s mouth in days gone by. He resented the intrusion of the children, who gaped10 with wondering eyes at him, sitting so stiff up there in their mother’s bright atelier. When they drew near he motioned them away with an expressive11 action of the foot, loath12 to disturb the fixed13 lines of his countenance14, his arms, or his rigid shoulders.
Edna, anxious to entertain him, invited Mademoiselle Reisz to meet him, having promised him a treat in her piano playing; but Mademoiselle declined the invitation. So together they attended a soiree musicale at the Ratignolles’. Monsieur and Madame Ratignolle made much of the Colonel, installing him as the guest of honor and engaging him at once to dine with them the following Sunday, or any day which he might select. Madame coquetted with him in the most captivating and naive15 manner, with eyes, gestures, and a profusion16 of compliments, till the Colonel’s old head felt thirty years younger on his padded shoulders. Edna marveled, not comprehending. She herself was almost devoid17 of coquetry.
There were one or two men whom she observed at the soiree musicale; but she would never have felt moved to any kittenish display to attract their notice-to any feline18 or feminine wiles19 to express herself toward them. Their personality attracted her in an agreeable way. Her fancy selected them, and she was glad when a lull20 in the music gave them an opportunity to meet her and talk with her. Often on the street the glance of strange eyes had lingered in her memory, and sometimes had disturbed her.
Mr. Pontellier did not attend these soirees musicales. He considered them bourgeois21, and found more diversion at the club. To Madame Ratignolle he said the music dispensed22 at her soirees was too “heavy,” too far beyond his untrained comprehension. His excuse flattered her. But she disapproved23 of Mr. Pontellier’s club, and she was frank enough to tell Edna so.
“It’s a pity Mr. Pontellier doesn’t stay home more in the evenings. I think you would be more-well, if you don’t mind my saying it-more united, if he did.”
“Oh! dear no!” said Edna, with a blank look in her eyes. “What should I do if he stayed home? We wouldn’t have anything to say to each other.”
She had not much of anything to say to her father, for that matter; but he did not antagonize her. She discovered that he interested her, though she realized that he might not interest her long; and for the first time in her life she felt as if she were thoroughly24 acquainted with him. He kept her busy serving him and ministering to his wants. It amused her to do so. She would not permit a servant or one of the children to do anything for him which she might do herself. Her husband noticed, and thought it was the expression of a deep filial attachment25 which he had never suspected.
The Colonel drank numerous “toddies” during the course of the day, which left him, however, imperturbed. He was an expert at concocting26 strong drinks. He had even invented some, to which he had given fantastic names, and for whose manufacture he required diverse ingredients that it devolved upon Edna to procure27 for him.
When Doctor Mandelet dined with the Pontelliers on Thursday he could discern in Mrs. Pontellier no trace of that morbid28 condition which her husband had reported to him. She was excited and in a manner radiant. She and her father had been to the race course, and their thoughts when they seated themselves at table were still occupied with the events of the afternoon, and their talk was still of the track. The Doctor had not kept pace with turf affairs. He had certain recollections of racing29 in what he called “the good old times” when the Lecompte stables flourished, and he drew upon this fund of memories so that he might not be left out and seem wholly devoid of the modern spirit. But he failed to impose upon the Colonel, and was even far from impressing him with this trumped-up knowledge of bygone days. Edna had staked her father on his last venture, with the most gratifying results to both of them. Besides, they had met some very charming people, according to the Colonel’s impressions. Mrs. Mortimer Merriman and Mrs. James Highcamp, who were there with Alcee Arobin, had joined them and had enlivened the hours in a fashion that warmed him to think of.
Mr. Pontellier himself had no particular leaning toward horseracing, and was even rather inclined to discourage it as a pastime, especially when he considered the fate of that blue-grass farm in Kentucky. He endeavored, in a general way, to express a particular disapproval30, and only succeeded in arousing the ire and opposition31 of his father-in-law. A pretty dispute followed, in which Edna warmly espoused32 her father’s cause and the Doctor remained neutral.
He observed his hostess attentively33 from under his shaggy brows, and noted34 a subtle change which had transformed her from the listless woman he had known into a being who, for the moment, seemed palpitant with the forces of life. Her speech was warm and energetic. There was no repression35 in her glance or gesture. She reminded him of some beautiful, sleek36 animal waking up in the sun.
The dinner was excellent. The claret was warm and the champagne37 was cold, and under their beneficent influence the threatened unpleasantness melted and vanished with the fumes38 of the wine.
Mr. Pontellier warmed up and grew reminiscent. He told some amusing plantation39 experiences, recollections of old Iberville and his youth, when he hunted ‘possum in company with some friendly darky; thrashed the pecan trees, shot the grosbec, and roamed the woods and fields in mischievous40 idleness.
The Colonel, with little sense of humor and of the fitness of things, related a somber41 episode of those dark and bitter days, in which he had acted a conspicuous42 part and always formed a central figure. Nor was the Doctor happier in his selection, when he told the old, ever new and curious story of the waning43 of a woman’s love, seeking strange, new channels, only to return to its legitimate44 source after days of fierce unrest. It was one of the many little human documents which had been unfolded to him during his long career as a physician. The story did not seem especially to impress Edna. She had one of her own to tell, of a woman who paddled away with her lover one night in a pirogue and never came back. They were lost amid the Baratarian Islands, and no one ever heard of them or found trace of them from that day to this. It was a pure invention. She said that Madame Antoine had related it to her. That, also, was an invention. Perhaps it was a dream she had had. But every glowing word seemed real to those who listened. They could feel the hot breath of the Southern night; they could hear the long sweep of the pirogue through the glistening45 moonlit water, the beating of birds’ wings, rising startled from among the reeds in the salt-water pools; they could see the faces of the lovers, pale, close together, rapt in oblivious46 forgetfulness, drifting into the unknown.
The champagne was cold, and its subtle fumes played fantastic tricks with Edna’s memory that night.
Outside, away from the glow of the fire and the soft lamplight, the night was chill and murky47. The Doctor doubled his old-fashioned cloak across his breast as he strode home through the darkness. He knew his fellow-creatures better than most men; knew that inner life which so seldom unfolds itself to unanointed eyes. He was sorry he had accepted Pontellier’s invitation. He was growing old, and beginning to need rest and an imperturbed spirit. He did not want the secrets of other lives thrust upon him.
“I hope it isn’t Arobin,” he muttered to himself as he walked. “I hope to heaven it isn’t Alcee Arobin.”
收听单词发音 |
1
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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capability
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| n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等 | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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gaped
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| v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的过去式和过去分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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loath
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| adj.不愿意的；勉强的 | |
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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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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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naive
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| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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concocting
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| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的现在分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
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procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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30
disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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31
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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32
espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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repression
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| n.镇压，抑制，抑压 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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38
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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mischievous
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| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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41
somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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42
conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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43
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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44
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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45
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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46
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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47
murky
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| adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗 | |
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