Now it happened that on the very same day, the fashion of Dr. Walsingham’s and of Aunt Rebecca’s countenances1 were one and both changed towards Mr. Mervyn, much to his chagrin2 and puzzle. The doctor, who met him near his own house on the bridge, was something distant in manner, and looked him in the face with very grave eyes, and seemed sad, and as if he had something on his mind, and laid his hand upon the young man’s arm, and addressed himself to speak; but glancing round his shoulder, and seeing people astir, and that they were under observation, he reserved himself.
That both the ladies of Belmont looked as if they had heard some strange story, each in her own way. Aunt Rebecca received the young man without a smile, and was unaccountably upon her high horse, and said some dry and sharp things, and looked as if she could say more, and coloured menacingly, and, in short, was odd, and very nearly impertinent. And Gertrude, though very gentle and kind, seemed also much graver, and looked pale, and her eyes larger and more excited, and altogether like a brave young lady who had fought a battle without crying. And Mervyn saw all this and pondered on it, and went away soon; the iron entered into his soul.
Aunt Rebecca was so occupied with her dogs, squirrels, parrots, old women, and convicts, that her eyes being off the cards, she saw little of the game; and when a friendly whisper turned her thoughts that way, and it flashed upon her that tricks and honours were pretty far gone, she never remembered that she had herself to blame for the matter, but turned upon her poor niece with ‘Sly creature!’ and so forth3. And while owing to this inattention, Gertrude had lost the benefit of her sage4 Aunt Rebecca’s counsels altogether, her venerable but frisky5 old grandmother — Madam Nature — it was to be feared, might have profited by the occasion to giggle6 and whistle her own advice in her ear, and been indifferently well obeyed. I really don’t pretend to say — maybe there was nothing, or next to nothing in it; or if there was, Miss Gertrude herself might not quite know. And if she did suspect she liked him, ever so little, she had no one but Lilias Walsingham to tell; and I don’t know that young ladies are always quite candid7 upon these points. Some, at least, I believe, don’t make confidences until their secrets become insupportable. However, Aunt Rebecca was now wide awake, and had trumpeted8 a pretty shrill9 reveiller. And Gertrude had started up, her elbow on the pillow, and her large eyes open; and the dream, I suppose, was shivered and flown, and something rather ghastly at her side.
Coming out of church, Dr. Walsingham asked Mervyn to take a turn with him in the park — and so they did — and the doctor talked with him seriously and kindly10 on that broad plateau. The young man walked darkly beside him, and they often stopped outright11. When, on their return, they came near the Chapelizod gate, and Parson’s lodge12, and the duck-pond, the doctor was telling him that marriage is an affair of the heart — also a spiritual union — and, moreover, a mercantile partnership13 — and he insisted much upon this latter view — and told him what and how strict was the practice of the ancient Jews, the people of God, upon this particular point. Dr. Walsingham had made a love-match, was the most imprudent and open-handed of men, and always preaching to others against his own besetting14 sin. To hear him talk, indeed, you would have supposed he was a usurer. Then Mr. Mervyn, who looked a little pale and excited, turned the doctor about, and they made another little circuit, while he entered somewhat into his affairs and prospects15, and told him something about an appointment in connexion with the Embassy at Paris, and said he would ask him to read some letters about it; and the doctor seemed a little shaken; and so they parted in a very friendly but grave way.
When Mervyn had turned his back upon Belmont, on the occasion of the unpleasant little visit I mentioned just now, the ladies had some words in the drawing-room.
‘I have not coquetted, Madam,’ said Miss Gertrude, haughtily16.
‘Then I’m to presume you’ve been serious; and I take the liberty to ask how far this affair has proceeded?’ said Aunt Rebecca, firmly, and laying her gloved hand and folded fan calmly on the table.
‘I really forget,’ said the young lady, coldly.
‘Has he made a declaration of love?’ demanded the aunt, the two red spots on her cheeks coming out steadily17, and helping18 the flash of her eyes.
‘Certainly not,’ answered the young lady, with a stare of haughty19 surprise that was quite unaffected.
At the pleasant luncheon20 and dance on the grass that the officers gave, in that pretty field by the river, half-a-dozen of the young people had got beside the little brook21 that runs simpering and romping22 into the river just there. Women are often good-natured in love matters where rivalry23 does not mix, and Miss Gertrude, all on a sudden, found herself alone with Mervyn. Aunt Becky, from under the ash trees at the other end of the field, with great distinctness, for she was not a bit near-sighted, and considerable uneasiness, saw their tête-à-tête. It was out of the question getting up in time to prevent the young people speaking their minds if so disposed, and she thought she perceived that in the young man’s bearing, which looked like a pleading and eagerness, and ‘Gertrude’s put out a good deal — I see by her plucking at those flowers — but my head to a China orange — the girl won’t think of him. She’s not a young woman to rush into a horrible folly24, hand-over-head,’ thought Aunt Becky; and then she began to think they were talking very much at length indeed, and to regret that she had not started at once from her post for the place of meeting; and one, and two, and three minutes passed, and perhaps some more, and Aunt Becky began to grow wroth, and was on the point of marching upon them, when they began slowly to walk towards the group who were plucking bunches of woodbine from the hedge across the little stream, at the risk of tumbling in, and distributing the flowers among the ladies, amidst a great deal of laughing and gabble. Then Miss Gertrude made Mr. Mervyn rather a haughty and slight salutation, her aunt thought, and so dismissed him; he, too, made a bow, but a very low one, and walked straight off to the first lady he saw.
This happened to be mild little Mrs. Sturk, and he talked a good deal to her, but restlessly, and, as it seemed, with a wandering mind; and afterwards he conversed25, with an affectation of interest — it was only that — Aunt Becky, who observed him with some curiosity, thought — for a few minutes with Lilias Walsingham; and afterwards he talked with an effort, and so much animation26 and such good acceptance [though it was plain, Aunt Becky said, that he did not listen to one word she said,] to the fair Magnolia, that O’Flaherty had serious thoughts of horse-whipping him when the festivities were over — for, as he purposed informing him, his ‘ungentlemanlike intherfarence.’
‘He has got his quietus,’ thought Aunt Becky, with triumph; ‘this brisk, laughing carriage, and heightened colour, a woman of experience can see through at a glance.’
Yes, all this frisking and skipping is but the hypocrisy27 of bleeding vanity — h?ret lateri — they are just the flush, wriggle28, and hysterics of suppressed torture.
Then came her niece, cold and stately, with steady eye and a slight flush, and altogether the air of the conscientious29 young matron who has returned from the nursery, having there administered the discipline; and so she sat down beside her aunt, serene30 and silent, and, the little glow passed away, pale and still.
‘Well, he has spoken?’ said her aunt to her, in a sharp aside.
‘Yes,’ answered the young lady, icily.
‘And has had his answer?’
‘Yes — and I beg, Aunt Rebecca, the subject may be allowed to drop.’ The young lady’s eyes encountered her aunt’s so directly and were so fully31 charged with the genuine Chattesworth lightning, that Miss Rebecca, unused to such demonstrations32, averted33 hers, and with a slight sarcastic34 inclination35, and, ‘Oh! your servant, young lady,’ beckoning36 with her fan grandly to little Puddock, who was hovering37 with other designs in the vicinity, and taking his arm, though he was not forgiven, but only employed — a distinction often made by good Queen Elizabeth — marched to the marquee, where, it was soon evident, the plump lieutenant38 was busy in commending, according to their merits, the best bits of the best plats on the table.
‘So dear Aunt Becky has forgiven Puddock,’ said Devereux, who was sauntering up to the tent between O’Flaherty and Cluffe, and little suspecting that he was descanting upon the intended Mrs. Cluffe —‘and they are celebrating the reconciliation39 over a jelly and a pupton. I love Aunt Rebecca, I tell you — I don’t know what we should do without her. She’s impertinent, and often nearly insupportable; but isn’t she the most placable creature on earth? I venture to say I might kill you, Lieutenant O’Flaherty — of course, with your permission, Sir — and she’d forgive me tomorrow morning! And she really does princely things — doesn’t she? She set up that ugly widow — what’s her name?— twice in a shop in Dame40 Street, and gave two hundred pounds to poor Scamper’s orphan41, and actually pensions that old miscreant42, Wagget, who ought to be hanged — and never looks for thanks or compliments, or upbraids43 her ingrates with past kindnesses. She’s noble — Aunt Becky’s every inch a gentleman!’
By this time they had reached the tent, and the hearty44 voice of the general challenged them from the shade, as he filliped a little chime merrily on his empty glass.
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1
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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frisky
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| adj.活泼的，欢闹的；n.活泼，闹着玩；adv.活泼地，闹着玩地 | |
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giggle
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| n.痴笑，咯咯地笑；v.咯咯地笑着说 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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trumpeted
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| 大声说出或宣告（trumpet的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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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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outright
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| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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partnership
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| n.合作关系，伙伴关系 | |
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besetting
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| adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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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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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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romping
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| adj.嬉戏喧闹的，乱蹦乱闹的v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的现在分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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wriggle
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| v./n.蠕动，扭动；蜿蜒 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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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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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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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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38
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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dame
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| n.女士 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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42
miscreant
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| n.恶棍 | |
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upbraids
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| v.责备，申斥，谴责( upbraid的第三人称单数 ) | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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