Mrs. Gallilee was as complete a mistress of the practice of domestic virtue1 as of the theory of acoustics2 and fainting fits. At dressing3 with taste, and ordering dinners with invention; at heading her table gracefully4, and making her guests comfortable; at managing refractory5 servants and detecting dishonest tradespeople, she was the equal of the least intellectual woman that ever lived. Her preparations for the reception of her niece were finished in advance, without an oversight6 in the smallest detail. Carmina’s inviting7 bedroom, in blue, opened into Carmina’s irresistible8 sitting-room9, in brown. The ventilation was arranged, the light and shade were disposed, the flowers were attractively placed, under Mrs. Gallilee’s infallible superintendence. Before Carmina had recovered her senses she was provided with a second mother, who played the part to perfection.
The four persons, now assembled in the pretty sitting-room upstairs, were in a position of insupportable embarrassment10 towards each other.
Finding her son at a concert (after he had told her that he hated music) Mrs. Gallilee, had first discovered him hurrying to the assistance of a young lady in a swoon, with all the anxiety and alarm which he might have shown in the case of a near and dear friend. And yet, when this stranger was revealed as a relation, he had displayed an amazement11 equal to her own! What explanation could reconcile such contradictions as these?
As for Carmina, her conduct complicated the mystery.
What was she doing at a concert, when she ought to have been on her way to her aunt’s house? Why, if she must faint when the hot room had not overpowered anyone else, had she failed to recover in the usual way? There she lay on the sofa, alternately flushing and turning pale when she was spoken to; ill at ease in the most comfortable house in London; timid and confused under the care of her best friends. Making all allowance for a sensitive temperament13, could a long journey from Italy, and a childish fright at seeing a dog run over, account for such a state of things as this?
Annoyed and perplexed14 — but yet far too prudent15 to commit herself ignorantly to inquiries16 which might lead to future embarrassment — Mrs. Gallilee tried suggestive small talk as a means of enlightenment. The wrinkled duenna, sitting miserably17 on satin supported by frail18 gilt19 legs, seemed to take her tone of feeling from her young mistress, exactly as she took her orders. Mrs. Gallilee spoke12 to her in English, and spoke to her in Italian — and could make nothing of the experiment in either case. The wild old creature seemed to be afraid to look at her.
Ovid himself proved to be just as difficult to fathom20, in another way
He certainly answered when his mother spoke to him, but always briefly21, and in the same absent tone. He asked no questions, and offered no explanations. The sense of embarrassment, on his side, had produced unaccountable changes. He showed the needful attention to Carmina, with a silent gentleness which presented him in a new character. His customary manner with ailing22 persons, women as well as men, was rather abrupt23: his quick perception hurried him into taking the words out of their mouths (too pleasantly to give offence) when they were describing their symptoms. There he sat now, contemplating24 his pale little cousin, with a patient attention wonderful to see; listening to the commonplace words which dropped at intervals25 from her lips, as if — in his state of health, and with the doubtful prospect26 which it implied — there were no serious interests to occupy his mind.
Mrs. Gallilee could endure it no longer.
If she had not deliberately27 starved her imagination, and emptied her heart of any tenderness of feeling which it might once have possessed28, her son’s odd behaviour would have interested instead of perplexing her. As it was, her scientific education left her as completely in the dark, where questions of sentiment were concerned, as if her experience of humanity, in its relation to love, had been experience in the cannibal islands. She decided29 on leaving her niece to repose30, and on taking her son away with her.
“In your present state of health, Ovid,” she began, “Carmina must not accept your professional advice.”
Something in those words stung Ovid’s temper.
“My professional advice?” he repeated. “You talk as if she was seriously ill!”
Carmina’s sweet smile stopped him there.
“We don’t know what may happen,” she said, playfully.
“God forbid that should happen!” He spoke so fervently31 that the women all looked at him in surprise.
Mrs. Gallilee turned to her niece, and proceeded quietly with what she had to say.
“Ovid is so sadly overworked, my dear, that I actually rejoice in his giving up practice, and going away from us to-morrow. We will leave you for the present with your old friend. Pray ring, if you want anything.” She kissed her hand to Carmina, and, beckoning32 to her son, advanced towards the door.
Teresa looked at her, and suddenly looked away again. Mrs. Gallilee stopped on her way out, at a chiffonier, and altered the arrangement of some of the china on it. The duenna followed on tiptoe — folded her thumb and two middle fingers into the palm of her hand — and, stretching out the forefinger33 and the little finger, touched Mrs. Gallilee on the back, so softly that she was unaware34 of it. “The Evil Eye,” Teresa whispered to herself in Italian, as she stole back to her place.
Ovid lingered near his cousin: neither of them had seen what Teresa had done. He rose reluctantly to go. Feeling his little attentions gratefully, Carmina checked him with innocent familiarity as he left his chair. “I must thank you,” she said, simply; “it seems hard indeed that you, who cure others, should suffer from illness yourself.”
Teresa, watching them with interest, came a little nearer.
She could now examine Ovid’s face with close and jealous scrutiny35. Mrs. Gallilee reminded her son that she was waiting for him. He had some last words yet to say. The duenna drew back from the sofa, still looking at Ovid: she muttered to herself, “Holy Teresa, my patroness, show me that man’s soul in his face!” At last, Ovid took his leave. “I shall call and see how you are to-morrow,” he said, “before I go.” He nodded kindly36 to Teresa. Instead of being satisfied with that act of courtesy, she wanted something more. “May I shake hands?” she asked. Mrs. Gallilee was a Liberal in politics; never had her principles been tried, as they were tried when she heard those words. Teresa wrung37 Ovid’s hand with tremulous energy — still intent on reading his character in his face. He asked her, smiling, what she saw to interest her. “A good man, I hope,” she answered, sternly. Carmina and Ovid were amused. Teresa rebuked38 them, as if they had been children. “Laugh at some fitter time,” she said, “not now.”
Descending39 the stairs, Mrs. Gallilee and Ovid met the footman. “Mr. Mool is in the library, ma’am,” the man said.
“Have you anything to do, Ovid, for the next half-hour?” his mother asked.
“Do you wish me to see Mr. Mool? If it’s law-business, I am afraid I shall not be of much use.”
“The lawyer is here by appointment, with a copy of your late uncle’s Will,” Mrs. Gallilee answered. “You may have some interest in it. I think you ought to hear it read.”
Ovid showed no inclination40 to adopt this proposal. He asked an idle question. “I heard of their finding the Will — are there any romantic circumstances?”
Mrs. Gallilee surveyed her son with an expression of good-humoured contempt. “What a boy you are, in some things! Have you been reading a novel lately? My dear, when the people in Italy made up their minds, at last, to have the furniture in your uncle’s room taken to pieces, they found the Will. It had slipped behind a drawer, in a rotten old cabinet, full of useless papers. Nothing romantic (thank God!), and nothing (as Mr. Mool’s letter tells me) that can lead to misunderstandings or disputes.”
Ovid’s indifference41 was not to be conquered. He left it to his mother to send him word if he had a legacy42 “I am not as much interested in it as you are,” he explained. “Plenty of money left to you, of course?” He was evidently thinking all the time of something else.
Mrs. Gallilee stopped in the hall, with an air of downright alarm.
“Your mind is in a dreadful state,” she said.
“Have you really forgotten what I told you, only yesterday? The Will appoints me Carmina’s guardian43.”
He had plainly forgotten it — he started, when his mother recalled the circumstance. “Curious,” he said to himself, “that I was not reminded of it, when I saw Carmina’s rooms prepared for her.” His mother, anxiously looking at him, observed that his face brightened when he spoke of Carmina. He suddenly changed his mind.
“Make allowances for an overworked man,” he said. “You are quite right. I ought to hear the Will read — I am at your service.”
Even Mrs. Gallilee now drew the right inference at last. She made no remark. Something seemed to move feebly under her powder and paint. Soft emotion trying to find its way to the surface? Impossible!
As they entered the library together, Miss Minerva returned to the schoolroom. She had lingered on the upper landing, and had heard the conversation between mother and son.
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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acoustics
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| n.声学，(复)音响效果，音响装置 | |
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dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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gracefully
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| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
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refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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oversight
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| n.勘漏，失察，疏忽 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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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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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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miserably
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| adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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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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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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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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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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rebuked
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| 责难或指责( rebuke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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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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42
legacy
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| n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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