The next day — the important Tuesday of the lecture on Matter; the delightful1 Tuesday of Teresa’s arrival — brought with it special demands on Carmina’s pen.
Her first letter was addressed to Frances. It was frankly2 and earnestly written; entreating3 Miss Minerva to appoint a place at which they might meet, and assuring her, in the most affectionate terms, that she was still loved, trusted, and admired by her faithful friend. Helped by her steadier flow of spirits, Carmina could now see all that was worthiest4 of sympathy and admiration5, all that claimed loving submission6 and allowance from herself, in the sacrifice to which Miss Minerva had submitted. How bravely the poor governess had controlled the jealous misery7 that tortured her! How nobly she had pronounced Carmina’s friendship for Carmina’s sake!
Later in the day, Marceline took the letter to the flower shop, and placed it herself under the cord of one of the boxes still waiting to be claimed.
The second letter filled many pages, and occupied the remainder of the morning.
With the utmost delicacy8, but with perfect truthfulness9 at the same time, Carmina revealed to her betrothed10 husband the serious reasons which had forced her to withdraw herself from his mother’s care. Bound to speak at last in her own defence, she felt that concealments and compromises would be alike unworthy of Ovid and of herself. What she had already written to Teresa, she now wrote again — with but one modification13. She expressed herself forbearingly towards Ovid’s mother. The closing words of the letter were worthy12 of Carmina’s gentle, just, and generous nature.
“You will perhaps say, Why do I only hear now of all that you have suffered? My love, I have longed to tell you of it! I have even taken up my pen to begin. But I thought of you, and put it down again. How selfish, how cruel, to hinder your recovery by causing you sorrow and suspense14 to bring you back perhaps to England before your health was restored! I don’t regret the effort that it has cost me to keep silence. My only sorrow in writing to you is, that I must speak of your mother in terms which may lower her in her son’s estimation.”
Joseph brought the luncheon15 up to Carmina’s room.
The mistress was still at her studies; the master had gone to his club. As for the girls, their only teacher for the present was the teacher of music. When the ordeal16 of the lecture and the discussion had been passed, Mrs. Gallilee threatened to take Miss Minerva’s place herself, until a new governess could be found. For once, Maria and Zo showed a sisterly similarity in their feelings. It was hard to say which of the two looked forward to her learned mother’s instruction with the greatest terror.
Carmina heard the pupils at the piano, while she was eating her luncheon. The profanation17 of music ceased, when she went into the bedroom to get ready for her daily drive.
She took her letter, duly closed and stamped, downstairs with her — to be sent to the post with the other letters of the day, placed in the hall-basket. In the weakened state of her nerves, the effort that she had made in writing to Ovid had shaken her. Her heart beat uneasily; her knees trembled, as she descended18 the stairs.
Arrived in sight of the hall, she discovered a man walking slowly to and fro. He turned towards her as she advanced, and disclosed the detestable face of Mr. Le Frank.
The music-master’s last reserves of patience had come to an end. Watch for them as he might, no opportunities had presented themselves of renewing his investigation19 in Carmina’s room. In the interval20 that had passed, his hungry suspicion of her had been left to feed on itself. The motives21 for that incomprehensible attempt to make a friend of him remained hidden in as thick a darkness as ever. Victim of adverse22 circumstances, he had determined23 (with the greatest reluctance) to take the straightforward24 course. Instead of secretly getting his information from Carmina’s journals and letters, he was now reduced to openly applying for enlightenment to Carmina herself.
Occupying, for the time being, the position of an honourable25 man, he presented himself at cruel disadvantage. He was not master of his own glorious voice; he was without the self-possession indispensable to the perfect performance of his magnificent bow. “I have waited to have a word with you,” he began abruptly26, “before you go out for your drive.”
Already unnerved, even before she had seen him — painfully conscious that she had committed a serious error, on the last occasion when they had met, in speaking at all — Carmina neither answered him nor looked at him. She bent27 her head confusedly, and advanced a little nearer to the house door.
He at once moved so as to place himself in her way.
“I must request you to call to mind what passed between us,” he resumed, “when we met by accident some little time since.”
He had speculated on frightening her. His insolence28 stirred her spirit into asserting itself. “Let me by, if you please,” she said; “the carriage is waiting for me.”
“The carriage can wait a little longer,” he answered coarsely. “On the occasion to which I have referred, you were so good as to make advances, to which I cannot consider myself as having any claim. Perhaps you will favour me by stating your motives?”
“I don’t understand you, sir.”
“Oh, yes — you do!”
She stepped back, and laid her hand on the bell which rang below stairs, in the pantry. “Must I ring?” she said.
It was plain that she would do it, if he moved a step nearer to her. He drew aside — with a look which made her tremble. On passing the hall table, she placed her letter in the post-basket. His eye followed it, as it left her hand: he became suddenly penitent29 and polite. “I am sorry if I have alarmed you,” he said, and opened the house-door for her — without showing himself to Marceline and the coachman outside.
The carriage having been driven away, he softly closed the door again, and returned to the hall-table. He looked into the post-basket.
Was there any danger of discovery by the servants? The footman was absent, attending his mistress on her way to the lecture. None of the female servants were on the stairs. He took up Carmina’s letter, and looked at the address: To Ovid Vere, Esq.
His eyes twinkled furtively30; his excellent memory for injuries reminded him that Ovid Vere had formerly31 endeavoured (without even caring to conceal11 it) to prevent Mrs. Gallilee from engaging him as her music-master. By subtle links of its own forging, his vindictive32 nature now connected his hatred33 of the person to whom the letter was addressed, with his interest in stealing the letter itself for the possible discovery of Carmina’s secrets. The clock told him that there was plenty of time to open the envelope, and (if the contents proved to be of no importance) to close it again, and take it himself to the post. After a last look round, he withdrew undiscovered, with the letter in his pocket.
On its way back to the house, the carriage was passed by a cab, with a man in it, driven at such a furious rate that there was a narrow escape of collision. The maid screamed; Carmina turned pale; the coachman wondered why the man in the cab was in such a hurry. The man was Mr. Mool’s head clerk, charged with news for Doctor Benjulia.
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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entreating
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的现在分词 ) | |
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worthiest
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| 应得某事物( worthy的最高级 )； 值得做某事； 可尊敬的； 有（某人或事物）的典型特征 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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truthfulness
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| n. 符合实际 | |
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betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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modification
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| n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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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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profanation
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| n.亵渎 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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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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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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straightforward
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| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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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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insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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