She did not hurry herself, but walked slowly through the bracken and under the full shade of the trees, her eyes looking into the distance as though she were deep in thought. Once or twice she smiled, and pressed her hand over her heart. Her face had a soft white radiance, a mysterious glow beneath the skin.
The spring was the beginning of one of the forest streams, a brown pool that overflowed2 and trickled3 in a green and oozy4 dampness down the hillside. The clear water lay like a mirror, reflecting the branches and the fragments of blue sky overhead. Mellis knelt down and gazed at herself in the pool. She was very fair, with dark and desirous eyes, and she loved herself for Martin’s sake. Her hair came falling from under her hood5, and one strand6 touched the water, stirring a faint and transient ripple7.
Mellis filled her pitcher and went back to the glade8. The west was a glory of gold, the light smiting9 the trees and spreading a yellow glow upon the grass. The distant forest vistas10 were all purple, shading into a violet horizon. Somewhere a blackbird was singing to his mate.
She saw Martin Valliant sitting at the foot of a great oak, and staring at the sunset. The slanting11 light touched his face and made it shine with a strange yet somber12 fire. So absorbed was he that he did not see Mellis coming through the bracken. The two horses were cropping the grass; saddles, harness, and saddle-bags lay piled under Martin’s oak tree.
“Martin—Martin Valliant!”
Her voice was very soft and challenging. Martin turned, looked at her strangely, and stood up.
“Dreams!”
Her eyes were full of light.
“Yet men must live by bread.”
She set the pitcher on the grass, opened the saddle-bags, and spread their supper on the grass. Martin stood and watched her, mute, frowning, like a man breathless from a sudden pain at the heart.
“Mellis!”
“Dear lad?”
“I have been thinking.”
She went on calmly with her work, cutting the bread with a knife she had brought from Marvel’s cottage, and spreading honey upon the slices.
“What troubles you, Martin?”
He did not answer for a moment. She knelt, looking up at him; the obstinate14 anguish15 in his eyes betrayed to her all that was in his heart.
“Come, you are tired; you shall eat and sleep.”
She spread a cloak and made a rest of one of the saddles, talking the while as though no love-crisis threatened them.
“I know what it is to be weary, to feel that death might take you, and you would not care. Then one falls down under a haystack and sleeps, and in the morning the sun is shining, and the world seems young again. Wine and water, cooked meat, bread and honey and a spiced cake! Let us be thankful.”
He lay down some two paces from her, propping16 himself on one elbow and not using the saddle that she had fetched to serve as a rest. His eyes avoided hers. Mellis had spread the slices of meat on a great green dock leaf, and she held out the dish with both hands.
“Eat, and then you shall talk to me.”
It was a silent meal, but Mellis had her way. She did not trouble him with words, or by watching him with questioning eyes. He was like a restive17 horse, or a thing in pain, to be soothed18 and calmed and rescued from its own restlessness. Her mood seemed as calm and as tranquil19 as the brown dusk that was beginning to fill the woods while the western sky still blazed.
“The light is going. Come here to me, Martin.”
He looked at her almost with fear.
“What would you?”
“That wounded shoulder must be cared for. You will carry the mark of it, always, for my sake.”
He did not move, and she went to him on her knees, reaching for the pitcher and the wine. He raised a hand as though to repulse21 her, but she put it gently aside.
Yet all the while that she was busy with his shoulder he sat with bowed head, silent, brooding, not even wincing22 when she cleaned the raw wound, and poured in wine. His eyes stared at the grass; the only pain he felt was the mystical anguish that her soft hands caused him.
“There!”
“Now, you may speak to me, Martin Valliant. There can be no silence between us. Tell me all that is in your heart.”
His head seemed to sink lower.
“Are you afraid of me, Martin—you who would fear no man? What am I but a woman?”
“It is the woman I fear.”
“Oh! man—man!”
“I was on the way to sin against you. What am I but an outcast? What can I give you?”
“What do I ask of life?”
“It is I who must ask for you, think for you, face God for you.”
She caught his hands.
“Martin, look into my eyes.”
He obeyed her.
“Tell me, what do you see in them?”
His face shone with a strange light.
“I see—something—something that is too good and great for me, a sacred thing that I must not touch.”
She drew her breath deeply.
“Oh, my man, what has come to you? Will you not think of me as the woman, the woman to be saved from other men?”
“Mellis!”
He steadied himself.
“Sanctuary?”
She had begun to tremble a little.
“The nuns28 of Lilburn Minster are good women; you could take sanctuary there—till the times mended. No man could harm you.”
“Martin, you are offering me death!”
“Death?”
“Oh, man—man! Have we not suffered enough together? Are you turning to stone? Is it for my sake? I would rather die than do this thing! My heart will have none of it!”
He bowed his head over her hands.
“May I be strong—for your sake!”
“Strong—to wound me—to the death.”
She let go of his hands, drew aside, and knelt staring at the grass.
Presently she spoke, and her voice accused him.
“Are you but a child, Martin, soul blinded, the fool of visions? Life cannot go back. Things happen; it is like the dawn of the day, the birth of a flower. You cannot stay the sun from rising, or bid the sap not flow in the tree. And you have made me love you. I have spoken. Would you put the truth in me to shame?”
He rose up, leaving her kneeling there, and his face was a mist of pain.
“Mellis!”
“It is the truth. It is in your hands.”
He stood staring at the fading west.
“God, speak to me! Let me listen for a voice. Give me strength—strength.”
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收听单词发音
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1
pitcher
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| n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手 | |
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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8
glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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smiting
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的现在分词 ) | |
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10
vistas
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| 长条形景色( vista的名词复数 )； 回顾； 展望； （未来可能发生的）一系列情景 | |
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slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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13
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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soothed
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| 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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tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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21
repulse
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| n.击退，拒绝；vt.逐退，击退，拒绝 | |
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wincing
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的现在分词 ) | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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27
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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