She went to sleep in misery1. All the glory of her new life had been eclipsed. But when she woke up, a few hours later, in the large, velvety2 stateliness of the bedroom for which Gerald was paying so fantastic a price per day, she was in a brighter mood, and very willing to reconsider her verdicts. Her pride induced her to put Gerald in the right and herself in the wrong, for she was too proud to admit that she had married a charming and irresponsible fool. And, indeed, ought she not to put herself in the wrong? Gerald had told her to wait, and she had not waited. He had said that he should return to the restaurant, and he had returned. Why had she not waited? She had not waited because she had behaved like a simpleton. She had been terrified about nothing. Had she not been frequenting restaurants now for a month past? Ought not a married woman to be capable of waiting an hour in a restaurant for her lawful3 husband without looking a ninny? And as for Gerald's behaviour, how could he have acted differently? The other Englishman was obviously a brute4 and had sought a quarrel. His contradiction of Gerald's statements was extremely offensive. On being invited by the brute to go outside, what could Gerald do but comply? Not to have complied might have meant a fight in the restaurant, as the brute was certainly drunk. Compared to the brute, Gerald was not at all drunk, merely a little gay and talkative. Then Gerald's fib about his chin was natural; he simply wished to minimize the fuss and to spare her feelings. It was, in fact, just like Gerald to keep perfect silence as to what had passed between himself and the brute. However, she was convinced that Gerald, so lithe5 and quick, had given that great brute with his supercilious6 ways as good as he received, if not better.
And if she were a man and had asked her wife to wait in a restaurant, and the wife had gone home under the escort of another man, she would most assuredly be much more angry than Gerald had been. She was very glad that she had controlled herself and exercised a meek7 diplomacy8. A quarrel had thus been avoided. Yes, the finish of the evening could not be called a quarrel; after her nursing of his chin, nothing but a slight coolness on his part had persisted.
She arose silently and began to dress, full of a determination to treat Gerald as a good wife ought to treat a husband. Gerald did not stir; he was an excellent sleeper9: one of those organisms that never want to go to bed and never want to get up. When her toilet was complete save for her bodice, there was a knock at the door. She started.
"Gerald!" She approached the bed, and leaned her nude10 bosom11 over her husband, and put her arms round his neck. This method of being brought back to consciousness did not displease12 him.
The knock was repeated. He gave a grunt13.
"Some one's knocking at the door," she whispered.
"Then why don't you open it?" he asked dreamily.
"I'm not dressed, darling."
He looked at her. "Stick something on your shoulders, girl!" said he. "What does it matter?"
There she was, being a simpleton again, despite her resolution!
She obeyed, and cautiously opened the door, standing14 behind it.
A middle-aged15 whiskered servant, in a long white apron16, announced matters in French which passed her understanding. But Gerald had heard from the bed, and he replied.
"Bien, monsieur!" The servant departed, with a bow, down the obscure corridor.
"It's Chirac," Gerald explained when she had shut the door. "I was forgetting I asked him to come and have lunch with us, early. He's waiting in the drawing-room. Just put your bodice on, and go and talk to him till I come."
He jumped out of bed, and then, standing in his night-garb, stretched himself and terrifically yawned.
"Me?" Sophia questioned.
"Who else?" said Gerald, with that curious satiric17 dryness which he would sometimes import into his tone.
"But I can't speak French!" she protested.
"I didn't suppose you could," said Gerald, with an increase of dryness; "but you know as well as I do that he can speak English."
"Oh, very well, then!" she murmured with agreeable alacrity18.
Evidently Gerald had not yet quite recovered from his legitimate19 displeasure of the night. He minutely examined his mouth in the glass of the Louis Philippe wardrobe. It showed scarcely a trace of battle.
"I say!" he stopped her, as, nervous at the prospect20 before her, she was leaving the room. "I was thinking of going to Auxerre to- day."
"Auxerre?" she repeated, wondering under what circumstances she had recently heard that name. Then she remembered: it was the place of execution of the murderer Rivain.
"Yes," he said. "Chirac has to go. He's on a newspaper now. He was an architect when I knew him. He's got to go and he thinks himself jolly lucky. So I thought I'd go with him."
The truth was that he had definitely arranged to go.
"Not to see the execution?" she stammered21.
"Why not? I've always wanted to see an execution, especially with the guillotine. And executions are public in France. It's quite the proper thing to go to them."
"But why do you want to see an execution?"
"It just happens that I do want to see an execution. It's a fancy of mine, that's all. I don't know that any reason is necessary," he said, pouring out water into the diminutive22 ewer23.
She was aghast. "And shall you leave me here alone?"
"Well," said he, "I don't see why my being married should prevent me from doing something that I've always wanted to do. Do you?"
"Oh NO!" she eagerly concurred24.
"That's all right," he said. "You can do exactly as you like. Either stay here, or come with me. If you go to Auxerre there's no need at all for you to see the execution. It's an interesting old town--cathedral and so on. But of course if you can't bear to be in the same town as a guillotine, I'll go alone. I shall come back to-morrow."
It was plain where his wish lay. She stopped the phrases that came to her lips, and did her best to dismiss the thoughts which prompted them.
"Of course I'll go," she said quietly. She hesitated, and then went up to the washstand and kissed a part of his cheek that was not soapy. That kiss, which comforted and somehow reassured25 her, was the expression of a surrender whose monstrousness26 she would not admit to herself.
In the rich and dusty drawing-room, Chirac and Chirac's exquisite27 formalities awaited her. Nobody else was there.
"My husband ..." she began, smiling and blushing. She liked Chirac.
It was the first time she had had the opportunity of using that word to other than a servant. It soothed28 her and gave her confidence. She perceived after a few moments that Chirac did genuinely admire her; more, that she inspired him with something that resembled awe29. Speaking very slowly and distinctly she said that she should travel with her husband to Auxerre; as he saw no objection to that course; implying that if he saw no objection she was perfectly30 satisfied. Chirac was concurrence31 itself. In five minutes it seemed to be the most natural and proper thing in the world that, on her honeymoon32, she should be going with her husband to a particular town because a notorious murderer was about to be decapitated there in public.
"My husband has always wanted to see an execution," she said, later. "It would be a pity to ..."
"As psychological experience," replied Chirac, pronouncing the p of the adjective, "it will be very interessant. ... To observe one's self, in such circumstances ..." He smiled enthusiastically.
She thought how strange even nice Frenchmen were. Imagine going to an execution in order to observe yourself!
1 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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2 velvety | |
adj. 像天鹅绒的, 轻软光滑的, 柔软的 | |
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3 lawful | |
adj.法律许可的,守法的,合法的 | |
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4 brute | |
n.野兽,兽性 | |
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5 lithe | |
adj.(指人、身体)柔软的,易弯的 | |
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6 supercilious | |
adj.目中无人的,高傲的;adv.高傲地;n.高傲 | |
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7 meek | |
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的 | |
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8 diplomacy | |
n.外交;外交手腕,交际手腕 | |
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9 sleeper | |
n.睡眠者,卧车,卧铺 | |
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10 nude | |
adj.裸体的;n.裸体者,裸体艺术品 | |
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11 bosom | |
n.胸,胸部;胸怀;内心;adj.亲密的 | |
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12 displease | |
vt.使不高兴,惹怒;n.不悦,不满,生气 | |
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13 grunt | |
v.嘟哝;作呼噜声;n.呼噜声,嘟哝 | |
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14 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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15 middle-aged | |
adj.中年的 | |
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16 apron | |
n.围裙;工作裙 | |
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17 satiric | |
adj.讽刺的,挖苦的 | |
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18 alacrity | |
n.敏捷,轻快,乐意 | |
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19 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
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20 prospect | |
n.前景,前途;景色,视野 | |
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21 stammered | |
v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22 diminutive | |
adj.小巧可爱的,小的 | |
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23 ewer | |
n.大口水罐 | |
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24 concurred | |
同意(concur的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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25 reassured | |
adj.使消除疑虑的;使放心的v.再保证,恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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26 monstrousness | |
怪异 | |
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27 exquisite | |
adj.精美的;敏锐的;剧烈的,感觉强烈的 | |
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28 soothed | |
v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 );抚慰;使舒服;减轻痛苦 | |
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29 awe | |
n.敬畏,惊惧;vt.使敬畏,使惊惧 | |
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30 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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31 concurrence | |
n.同意;并发 | |
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32 honeymoon | |
n.蜜月(假期);vi.度蜜月 | |
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