With Captain Rodney and Sir Nicholas she makes way at once, though she is a little nervous and depressed2, and not altogether like her usual gay insouciant3 self. She is thrown back upon herself, and, like a timid snail4, recoils5 sadly into her shell.
Yet Nature, sooner or later, must assert itself; and after a day or two a ringing laugh breaks from her, or a merry jest, that does Geoffrey's heart good, and brings an answering laugh and jest to the lips of her new brothers.
Of Violet Mansergh—who is still at the Towers, her father being abroad and Lady Rodney very desirous of having her with her—she knows little. Violet is cold, but quite civil, as Englishwomen will be until they know you. She is, besides, somewhat prejudiced against Mona, because—being honest herself—she has believed all the false tales told her of the Irish girl. These silly tales, in spite of her belief in her own independence of thought, weigh upon her; and so she draws back from Mona, and speaks little to her, and then of only ordinary topics, while the poor child is pining for some woman to whom she can open her mind and whom she may count as an honest friend "For talking with a friend," says Addison, "is nothing else but thinking aloud."
Of Lady Rodney's studied dislike Mona's sensitive nature could not long remain in ignorance; yet, having a clear conscience, and not knowing in what she has offended,—save in cleaving6 to the man she loves, even to the extent of marrying him,—she keeps a calm countenance7, and bravely waits what time may bring.
To quarrel with Geoffrey's people will be to cause Geoffrey silent but acute regret, and so for his sake, to save him pain, she quietly bears many things, and waits for better days. What is a month or two of misery8, she tells herself, but a sigh amidst the pleasures of one's life? Yet I think it is the indomitable pluck and endurance of her race that carries her successfully through all her troubles.
Still, she grows a little pale and dispirited after a while, for
"Dare, when it once is entered in the breast,
Will have the whole possession ere it rest."
One day, speaking of Sir Nicholas to Lady Rodney, she had—as was most natural—called him "Nicholas." But she had been cast back upon herself and humiliated9 to the earth by his mother's look of cold disapproval10 and the emphasis she had laid upon the "Sir" Nicholas when next speaking of him.
This had widened the breach11 more than all the rest, though Nicholas himself, being quite fascinated by her, tries earnestly to make her happy and at home with him.
About a week after her arrival—she having expressed her admiration12 of ferns the night before—he draws her hand through his arm and takes her to his own special sanctum,—off which a fernery has been thrown, he being an enthusiastic grower of that lovely weed.
Mona is enchanted13 with the many varieties she sees that are unknown to her, and, being very much not of the world, is not ashamed to express her delight. Looking carefully through all, she yet notices that a tiny one, dear to her, because common to her sweet Killarney, is not among his collection.
She tells him of it, and he is deeply interested; and when she proposes to write and get him one from her native soil, he is glad as a schoolboy promised a new bat, and her conquest of Sir Nicholas is complete.
And indeed the thought of this distant fern is as dear to Mona as to him. For to her comes a rush of tender joy, as she tells herself she may soon be growing in this alien earth a green plant torn from her fatherland.
"But I hope you will not be disappointed when you see it," she says, gently. "You have the real Killarney fern, Sir Nicholas, I can see; the other, I speak of, though to me almost as lovely, is not a bit like it."
She is very careful to give him his title ever since that encounter with his mother.
"I shall not be disappointed. I have read all about it," returns he, enthusiastically. Then, as though the thought has just struck him, he says,—
"Why don't you call me Nicholas, as Geoffrey does?"
Mona hesitates, then says, shyly, with downcast eyes,—
"Perhaps Lady Rodney would not like it."
Her face betrays more than she knows.
"It doesn't matter in the least what any one thinks on this subject," says Nicholas, with a slight frown, "I shall esteem14 it a very great honor if you will call me by my Christian15 name. And besides, Mona, I want you to try to care for me,—to love me, as I am your brother."
The ready tears spring into Mona's eyes. She is more deeply, passionately16 grateful to him for this small speech than he will ever know.
"Now, that is very kind of you," she says, lifting her eyes, humid with tears, to his. "And I think it will take only a very little time to make me love you!"
After this, she and Sir Nicholas are even better friends than they have been before,—a silent bond of sympathy seeming to exist between them. With Captain Rodney, though he is always kind to her, she makes less way, he being devoted17 to the society of Violet, and being besides of such a careless disposition18 as prevents his noticing the wants of those around,—which is perhaps another name for selfishness.
Yet selfish is hardly the word to apply to Jack19 Rodney, because at heart he is kindly20 and affectionate, and, if a little heedless and indifferent, is still good au fond. He is light hearted and agreeable, and singularly hopeful:—
"A man he seems of cheerful yesterdays
And confident to morrow."
During the past month he has grown singularly domestic, and fond of home and its associations. Perhaps Violet has something to do with this, with her little calm thoroughbred face, and gentle manners, and voice low and trainante. Yet it would be hard to be sure of this, Captain Rodney being one of those who have "sighed to many," without even the saving clause of having "loved but one." Yet with regard to Mona there is no mistake about Jack Rodney's sentiments. He likes her well (could she but know it) in all sincerity21.
Of course everybody that is anybody has called on the new Mrs. Rodney. The Duchess of Lauderdale who is an old friend of Lady Rodney's, and who is spending the winter at her country house to please her son the young duke, who is entertaining a houseful of friends, is almost the first to come. And Lady Lillias Eaton, the serious and earnest-minded young æsthetic,—than whom nothing can be more coldly and artistically22 correct according to her own school,—is perhaps the second: but to both, unfortunately, Mona is "not at home."
And very honestly, too, because at the time of their visits, when Lady Rodney was entertaining them in the big drawing-room and uttering platitudes23 and pretty lies by the score, she was deep in the recesses24 of the bare brown wood, roaming hither and thither25 in search of such few flowers as braved the wintry blasts.
For all this Lady Rodney is devoutly26 thankful. She is glad of the girl's absence. She has no desire to exhibit her, prejudice making Mona's few defects to look monstrous27 in her eyes. Yet these same defects might perhaps be counted on the fingers of one hand.
There is, for example, her unavoidable touch of brogue, her little gesture of intense excitement, and irrepressible exclamation28 when anything is said that affects or interests her, and her laugh, which, if too loud for ordinary drawing-room use, is yet so sweet and catching29 that involuntarily it brings an answering laugh to the lips of those who hear it.
All these faults, and others of even less weight, are an abomination in the eyes of Lady Rodney, who has fallen into a prim30 mould, out of which it would now be difficult to extricate31 her.
"There is a set of people whom I cannot bear," says Chalmers, "the pinks of fashionable propriety32, whose every word is precise, and whose every movement is unexceptionable, but who, though versed33 in all the categories of polite behavior, have not a particle of soul or cordiality about them."
Such folk Chalmers hated; and I agree with Chalmers. And of this class is Lady Rodney, without charity or leniency34 for the shortcomings of those around her. Like many religious people,—who are no doubt good in their own way,—she fails to see any grace in those who differ from her in thought and opinion.
And by degrees, beneath her influence, Mona grows pale and distrait35 and in many respects unlike her old joyous36 self. Each cold, reproving glance and sneering37 word,—however carefully concealed—falls like a touch of ice upon her heart, chilling and withering38 her glad youth. Up to this she has led a bird's life, gay, insouciant, free and careless. Now her song seems checked, her sweetest notes are dying fast away through lack of sympathy. She is "cribbed, cabined, and confined," through no fault of her own, and grows listless and dispirited in her captivity39.
And Geoffrey, who is blind to nothing that concerns her notices all this, and secretly determines on taking her away from all this foolish persecution40, to London or elsewhere, until such time as their own home shall be ready to receive them.
But at this break in my history, almost as he forms this resolution, an event occurs that brings friends to Mona, and changes in toto the aspect of affairs.
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1
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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depressed
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| adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的 | |
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insouciant
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| adj.不在意的 | |
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snail
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| n.蜗牛 | |
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recoils
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| n.（尤指枪炮的）反冲，后坐力( recoil的名词复数 )v.畏缩( recoil的第三人称单数 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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cleaving
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| v.劈开，剁开，割开( cleave的现在分词 ) | |
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7
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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8
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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9
humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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disapproval
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| n.反对，不赞成 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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12
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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14
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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15
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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17
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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18
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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20
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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21
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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22
artistically
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| adv.艺术性地 | |
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platitudes
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| n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子 | |
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24
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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25
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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devoutly
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| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
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27
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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28
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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29
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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30
prim
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| adj.拘泥形式的，一本正经的；n.循规蹈矩，整洁；adv.循规蹈矩地，整洁地 | |
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31
extricate
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| v.拯救，救出；解脱 | |
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32
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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33
versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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leniency
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| n.宽大（不严厉） | |
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distrait
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| adj.心不在焉的 | |
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36
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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37
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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38
withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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39
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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40
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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