I had been out shopping the next morning and I arrived back at the hotelrather later than I had meant. I found Ellie sitting in the central loungeand opposite her was a tall blonde young woman. In fact Greta. Both ofthem were talking nineteen to the dozen.
I’m never any hand at describing people but I’ll have a shot at describ-ing Greta. To begin with one couldn’t deny that she was, as Ellie had said,very beautiful and also, as Mr. Lippincott had reluctantly admitted, veryhandsome. The two things are not exactly the same. If you say a woman ishandsome it does not mean that actually you yourself admire her. Mr. Lip-pincott, I gathered, had not admired Greta. All the same when Gretawalked across the lounge into a hotel or in a restaurant, men’s headsturned to look at her. She was a Nordic type of blonde with pure gold-corn-coloured hair. She wore it piled high on her head in the fashion ofthe time, not falling straight down on each side of her face in the Chelseatradition. She looked what she was, Swedish or north German. In fact, pinon a pair of wings and she could have gone to a fancy dress ball as aValkyrie. Her eyes were a bright clear blue and her contours were admir-able. Let’s admit it. She was something!
I came along to where they were sitting and joined them, greeting themboth in what I hope was a natural, friendly manner, though I couldn’t helpfeeling a bit awkward. I’m not always very good at acting1 a part. Ellie saidimmediately:
“At last, Mike, this is Greta.”
I said I guessed it might be, in a rather facetious2, not very happy man-ner. I said:
“I’m very glad to meet you at last, Greta.”
Ellie said:
“As you know very well, if it hadn’t been for Greta we would never havebeen able to get married.”
“All the same we’d have managed it somehow,” I said.
“Not if the family had come down on us like a ton of coals. They’d havebroken it up somehow. Tell me, Greta, have they been very awful?” Ellieasked. “You haven’t written or said anything to me about that.”
“I know better,” said Greta, “than to write to a happy couple whenthey’re on their honeymoon3.”
“But were they very angry with you?”
“Of course! What do you imagine? But I was prepared for that, I can as-sure you.”
“What have they said or done?”
“Everything they could,” said Greta cheerfully. “Starting with the sacknaturally.”
“Yes, I suppose that was inevitable4. But—but what have you done? Afterall they can’t refuse to give you references.”
“Of course they can. And after all, from their point of view I was placedin a position of trust and abused it shamefully5.” She added, “Enjoyed abus-ing it too.”
“But what are you going to do now?”
“Oh I’ve got a job ready to walk into.”
“In New York?”
“No. Here in London. Secretarial.”
“But are you all right?”
“Darling Ellie,” said Greta, “how can I not be all right with that lovelycheque you sent me in anticipation6 of what was going to happen when theballoon went up?”
Her English was very good with hardly any trace of accent though sheused a lot of colloquial7 terms which sometimes didn’t run quite right.
“I’ve seen a bit of the world, fixed8 myself up in London and bought agood many things as well.”
“Mike and I have bought a lot of things too,” said Ellie, smiling at the re-collection.
It was true. We’d done ourselves pretty well with our continental9 shop-ping. It was really wonderful that we had dollars to spend, no nigglingTreasury restrictions10. Brocades and fabrics11 in Italy for the house. Andwe’d bought pictures too, both in Italy and in Paris, paying what seemedfabulous sums for them. A whole world had opened up to me that I’dnever dreamt would have come my way.
“You both look remarkably12 happy,” said Greta.
“You haven’t seen our house yet,” said Ellie. “It’s going to be wonderful.
It’s going to be just like we dreamed it would be, isn’t it, Mike?”
“I have seen it,” said Greta. “The first day I got back to England I hired acar and drove down there.”
“Well?” said Ellie.
I said Well? too.
“Well,” said Greta consideringly. She shifted her head from side to side.
Ellie looked grief-stricken, horribly taken aback. But I wasn’t taken in. Isaw at once that Greta was having a bit of fun with us. If the thought offun wasn’t very kind, it hardly had time to take root. Greta burst outlaughing, a high musical laugh that made people turn their heads and lookat us.
“You should have seen your faces,” she said, “especially yours, Ellie. Ihave to tease you just a little. It’s a wonderful house, lovely. That man’s agenius.”
“Yes,” I said, “he’s something out of the ordinary. Wait till you meethim.”
“I have met him,” said Greta. “He was down there the day I went. Yes,he’s an extraordinary person. Rather frightening, don’t you think?”
“Frightening?” I said, surprised. “In what way?”
“Oh I don’t know. It’s as though he looks through you and—well, seesright through to the other side. That’s always disconcerting.” Then she ad-ded, “He looks rather ill.”
“He is ill. Very ill,” I said.
“What a shame. What’s the matter with him, tuberculosis13, somethinglike that?”
“No,” I said, “I don’t think it’s tuberculosis. I think it’s something to dowith—oh with blood.”
“Oh I see. Doctors can do almost anything nowadays, can’t they, unlessthey kill you first while they’re trying to cure you. But don’t let’s think ofthat. Let’s think of the house. When will it be finished?”
“Quite soon, I should think, by the look of it. I’d never imagined a housecould go up so quickly,” I said.
“Oh,” said Greta carelessly, “that’s money. Double shifts and bonuses—all the rest of it. You don’t really know yourself, Ellie, how wonderful it isto have all the money you have.”
But I did know. I had been learning, learning a great deal in the last fewweeks. I’d stepped as a result of marriage into an entirely14 different worldand it wasn’t the sort of world I’d imagined it to be from the outside. So farin my life, a lucky double had been my highest knowledge of affluence15. Awhack of money coming in, and spending it as fast as I could on thebiggest blowout I could find. Crude, of course. The crudeness of my class.
But Ellie’s world was a different world. It wasn’t what I should havethought it to be. Just more and more super luxury. It wasn’t bigger bath-rooms and larger houses and more electric light fittings and bigger mealsand faster cars. It wasn’t just spending for spending’s sake and showingoff to everyone in sight. Instead, it was curiously16 simple. The sort of sim-plicity that comes when you get beyond the point of splashing for splash-ing’s sake. You don’t want three yachts or four cars and you can’t eat morethan three meals a day and if you buy a really top-price picture you don’twant more than perhaps one of them in a room. It’s as simple as that.
Whatever you have is just the best of its kind, not so much because it is thebest, but because there is no reason if you like or want any particularthing, why you shouldn’t have it. There is no moment when you say, “I’mafraid I can’t afford that one.” So in a strange way it makes sometimes forsuch a curious simplicity17 that I couldn’t understand it. We were consider-ing a French Impressionist picture, a Cézanne, I think it was. I had to learnthat name carefully. I always mixed it up with a tzigane which I gather is agipsy orchestra. And then as we walked along the streets of Venice, Elliestopped to look at some pavement artists. On the whole they were doingsome terrible pictures for tourists which all looked the same. Portraitswith great rows of shining teeth and usually blonde hair falling downtheir necks.
And then she bought quite a tiny picture, just a picture of a little glimpsethrough to a canal. The man who had painted it appraised18 the look of usand she bought it for ?6 by English exchange. The funny thing was that Iknew quite well that Ellie had just the same longing19 for that ?6 picturethat she had for the Cézanne.
It was the same way one day in Paris. She’d said to me suddenly:
“What fun it would be—let’s get a really nice crisp French loaf of breadand have that with butter and one of those cheeses wrapped up in leaves.”
So we did and Ellie I think enjoyed it more than the meal we’d had thenight before which had come to about ?20 English. At first I couldn’t un-derstand it, then I began to see. The awkward thing was that I could seenow that being married to Ellie wasn’t just fun and games. You have to doyour homework, you have to learn how to go into a restaurant and thesort of things to order and the right tips, and when for some reason yougave more than usual. You have to memorize what you drink with certainfoods. I had to do most of it by observation. I couldn’t ask Ellie becausethat was one of the things she wouldn’t have understood. She’d have said“But, darling Mike, you can have anything you like. What does it matter ifwaiters think you ought to have one particular wine with one particularthing?” It wouldn’t have mattered to her because she was born to it but itmattered to me because I couldn’t do just as I liked. I wasn’t simpleenough. Clothes too. Ellie was more helpful there, for she could under-stand better. She just guided me to the right places and told me to let themhave their head.
Of course I didn’t look right and sound right yet. But that didn’t mattermuch. I’d got the hang of it, enough so that I could pass muster20 withpeople like old Lippincott, and shortly, presumably, when Ellie’s step-mother and uncles were around, but actually it wasn’t going to matter inthe future at all. When the house was finished and when we’d moved in,we were going to be far away from everybody. It could be our kingdom. Ilooked at Greta sitting opposite me. I wondered what she’d really thoughtof our house. Anyway, it was what I wanted. It satisfied me utterly21. Iwanted to drive down and go through a private path through the treeswhich led down to a small cove22 which would be our own beach whichnobody could come to on the land side. It would be a thousand times bet-ter, I thought, plunging23 into the sea there. A thousand times better than alido spread along a beach with hundreds of bodies lying there. I didn’twant all the senseless rich things. I wanted—there were the words again,my own particular words—I want, I want…I could feel all the feeling sur-ging up in me. I wanted a wonderful woman and a wonderful house likenobody else’s house and I wanted my wonderful house to be full of won-derful things. Things that belonged to me. Everything would belong to me.
“He’s thinking of our house,” said Ellie.
It seemed that she had twice suggested to me that we should go now intothe dining room. I looked at her affectionately.
Later in the day—it was that evening—when we were dressing24 to go outto dinner, Ellie said a little tentatively:
“Mike, you do—you do like Greta, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” I said.
“I couldn’t bear it if you didn’t like her.”
“But I do,” I protested. “What makes you think I don’t?”
“I’m not quite sure. I think it’s the way you hardly look at her evenwhen you’re talking to her.”
“Well, I suppose that’s because—well, because I feel nervous.”
“Nervous of Greta?”
“Yes, she’s a bit awe-inspiring, you know.”
And I told Ellie how I thought Greta looked rather like a Valkyrie.
“Not as stout25 as an operatic one,” said Ellie and laughed. We bothlaughed. I said:
“It’s all very well for you because you’ve known her for years. But she isjust a bit—well, I mean she’s very efficient and practical and sophistic-ated.” I struggled with a lot of words which didn’t seem to be quite theright ones. I said suddenly, “I feel—I feel at a disadvantage with her.”
“Oh Mike!” Ellie was conscience- stricken. “I know we’ve got a lot ofthings to talk about. Old jokes and old things that happened and all that. Isuppose—yes, I suppose it might make you feel rather shy. But you’ll soonget to be friends. She likes you. She likes you very much. She told me so.”
“Listen, Ellie, she’d probably tell you that anyway.”
“Oh no she wouldn’t. Greta’s very outspoken26. You heard her. Some ofthe things she said today.”
It was true that Greta had not minced27 her words during luncheon28. Shehad said, addressing me rather than Ellie:
“You must have thought it queer sometimes, the way I was backing Ellieup when I’d not even seen you. But I got so mad—so mad with the life thatthey were making her lead. All tied up in a cocoon29 with their money, theirtraditional ideas. She never had a chance to enjoy herself, go anywherereally by herself and do what she wanted. She wanted to rebel but shedidn’t know how. And so—yes, all right, I urged her on. I suggested sheshould look at properties in England. Then I said when she was twenty-one she could buy one of her own and say good-bye to all that New Yorklot.”
“Greta always has wonderful ideas,” said Ellie. “She thinks of things I’dprobably never have thought of myself.”
What were those words Mr. Lippincott had said to me? “She has toomuch influence over Ellie.” I wondered if it was true. Queerly enough Ididn’t really think so. I felt that there was a core somewhere in Ellie thatGreta, for all that she knew her so well, had never quite appreciated. Ellie,I was sure, would always accept any ideas that matched with the ideas shewanted to have herself. Greta had preached rebellion to Ellie but Ellie her-self wanted to rebel, only she was not sure how to do so. But I felt that El-lie, now that I was coming to know her better, was one of those verysimple people who have unexpected reserves. I thought Ellie would bequite capable of taking a stand of her own if she wished to. The point wasthat she wouldn’t very often wish to and I thought then how difficulteveryone was to understand. Even Ellie. Even Greta. Even perhaps myown mother…The way she looked at me with fear in her eyes.
I wondered about Mr. Lippincott. I said, as we were peeling some out-size peaches:
“Mr. Lippincott seems to have taken our marriage very well really. I wassurprised.”
“Mr. Lippincott,” said Greta, “is an old fox.”
“You always say so, Greta,” said Ellie, “but I think he’s rather a dear.
Very strict and proper and all that.”
“Well, go on thinking so if you like,” said Greta. “Myself, I wouldn’t trusthim an inch.”
“Not trust him!” said Ellie.
Greta shook her head. “I know. He’s a pillar of respectability and trust-worthiness. He’s everything a trustee and a lawyer should be.”
Ellie laughed and said, “Do you mean he’s embezzled30 my fortune? Don’tbe silly, Greta. There are thousands of auditors32 and banks and check-upsand all that sort of thing.”
“Oh, I expect he’s all right really,” said Greta. “All the same, those are thepeople that do embezzle31. The trustworthy ones. And then everyone saysafterwards, ‘I’d never have believed it of Mr. A. or Mr. B. The last man inthe world.’ Yes, that’s what they say. ‘The last man in the world.’”
Ellie said thoughtfully that her Uncle Frank, she thought, was muchmore likely to go in for dishonest practices. She did not seem unduly33 wor-ried or surprised by the idea.
“Oh well he looks like a crook34,” said Greta. “That handicaps him to startwith. All that geniality35 and bonhomie. But he’ll never be in a position to bea crook in a big way.”
“Is he your mother’s brother?” I asked. I always got confused over Ellie’srelations.
“He’s my father’s sister’s husband,” said Ellie. “She left him and marriedsomeone else and died about six or seven years ago. Uncle Frank has moreor less stuck on with the family.”
“There are three of them,” said Greta kindly36 and helpfully. “Threeleeches hanging round, as you might say. Ellie’s actual uncles were killed,one in Korea and one in a car accident, so what she’s got is a much-dam-aged stepmother, an Uncle Frank, an amiable37 hanger- on in the familyhome, and her cousin Reuben whom she calls Uncle but he’s only a cousinand Andrew Lippincott, and Stanford Lloyd.”
“Who is Stanford Lloyd?” I asked, bewildered.
“Oh another sort of trustee, isn’t he, Ellie? At any rate he manages yourinvestments and things like that. Which can’t really be very difficult be-cause when you’ve got as much money as Ellie has, it sort of makes moremoney all the time without anyone having to do much about it. Those arethe main surrounding group,” Greta added, “and I have no doubt that youwill be meeting them fairly soon. They’ll be over here to have a look atyou.”
I groaned38, and looked at Ellie. Ellie said very gently and sweetly:
“Never mind, Mike, they’ll go away again.”
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收听单词发音
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1
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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facetious
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| adj.轻浮的，好开玩笑的 | |
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honeymoon
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| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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shamefully
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| 可耻地； 丢脸地； 不体面地； 羞耻地 | |
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anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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colloquial
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| adj.口语的，会话的 | |
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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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continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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restrictions
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| 约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则） | |
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11
fabrics
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| 织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地 | |
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12
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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tuberculosis
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| n.结核病，肺结核 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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affluence
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| n.充裕，富足 | |
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16
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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appraised
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| v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 )；估计；估量；评价 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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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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outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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minced
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| v.切碎( mince的过去式和过去分词 )；剁碎；绞碎；用绞肉机绞（食物，尤指肉） | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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cocoon
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| n.茧 | |
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embezzled
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| v.贪污，盗用（公款）( embezzle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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embezzle
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| vt.贪污，盗用；挪用(公款；公物等) | |
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auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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33
unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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crook
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| v.使弯曲；n.小偷，骗子，贼；弯曲(处) | |
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35
geniality
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| n.和蔼，诚恳；愉快 | |
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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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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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