The next morning Mrs. Forsyth was paying for her Sunday tea with a Monday headache, and more things must be got out for the country. Charlotte had again no choice but to go alone to the storage, and yet again no choice but to be [Pg 30]pleasant to Peter when she found him next door listing the contents of his mother's trunks and tagging them as before. He dropped his work and wanted to help her. Suddenly they seemed strangely well acquainted, and he pretended to be asked which pieces she should put aside as goods selected, and chose them for her. She hinted that he was shirking his own work; he said it was an all-summer's job, but he knew her mother was in a hurry. He found the little old trunk of her playthings, and got it down and opened it and took out some toys as goods selected. She made him put them back, but first he catalogued everything in it and synopsized the list on a tag and tagged the trunk. He begged for a broken doll which he had not listed, and Charlotte had so much of her original childish difficulty in parting with that instead of something else that she refused it.
It came lunch-time, and he invited her to go out to lunch with him; and when she declined with dignity he argued that if they went to the Woman's Exchange she would be properly chaperoned by the genius of the place; besides, it was the only place in town where you got real strawberry shortcake. She was ashamed of liking5 it all; he besought6 her to let him carry her hand-bag for her, and, as he already had it, she could not prevent him; she did not know, really, how [Pg 31]far she might successfully forbid him in anything. At the street door of the apartment-house they found her mother getting out of a cab, and she asked Peter in to lunch; so that Charlotte might as well have lunched with him at the Woman's Exchange.
At all storage warehouses8 there is a season in autumn when the corridors are heaped with the incoming furniture of people who have decided9 that they cannot pass another winter in New York and are breaking up housekeeping to go abroad indefinitely. But in the spring, when the Constitutional Safe-Deposit offered ample space for thoughtful research, the meetings of Charlotte and Peter could recur without more consciousness of the advance they were making toward the fated issue than in so many encounters at tea or luncheon10 or dinner. Mrs. Forsyth was insisting on rather a drastic overhauling11 of her storage that year. Some of the things, by her command, were shifted to and fro between the more modern rooms and the old ancestral room, and Charlotte had to verify the removals. In deciding upon goods selected for the country she had the help of Peter, and she helped him by interposing some useful hesitations12 in the case of things he had put aside from his mother's possessions to be sold for her by the warehouse7 people.
[Pg 32]One day he came late and told Charlotte that his mother had suddenly taken her passage for England, and they were sailing the next morning. He said, as if it logically followed, that he had been in love with her from that earliest time when she would not give him the least of her possessions, and now he asked her if she would not promise him the greatest. She did not like what she felt "rehearsed" in his proposal; it was not her idea of a proposal, which ought to be spontaneous and unpremeditated in terms; at the same time, she resented his precipitation, which she could not deny was inevitable13.
She perceived that they were sitting side by side on two of those white-and-gold thrones, and she summoned an indignation with the absurdity14 in refusing him. She rose and said that she must go; that she must be going; that it was quite time for her to go; and she would not let him follow her to the elevator, as he made some offer of doing, but left him standing15 among his palatial16 furniture like a prince in exile.
By the time she reached home she had been able to decide that she must tell her mother at once. Her mother received the fact of Peter's proposal with such transport that she did not realize the fact of Charlotte's refusal. When this was connoted to her she could scarcely keep her [Pg 33]temper within the bounds of maternal17 tenderness. She said she would have nothing more to do with such a girl; that there was but one such pearl as Peter in the universe, and for Charlotte to throw him away like that! Was it because she could not decide? Well, it appeared that she could decide wrong quickly enough when it came to the point. Would she leave it now to her mother?
That Charlotte would not do, but what she did do was to write a letter to Peter taking him back as much as rested with her; but delaying so long in posting it, when it was written, that it reached him among the letters sent on board and supplementarily18 delivered by his room steward19 after all the others when the ship had sailed. The best Peter could do in response was a jubilant Marconigram of unequaled cost and comprehensiveness.
His mother had meant to return in the fall, after her custom, to find out whether she wished to spend the winter in New York or not. Before the date for her sailing she fell sick, and Peter came sadly home alone in the spring. Mrs. Bream's death brought Mrs. Forsyth a vain regret; she was sorry now that she had seen so little of Mrs. Bream; Peter's affection for her was beautiful and spoke20 worlds for both of them; and they, the Forsyths, must do what they could to comfort him.
[Pg 34]Charlotte felt the pathos21 of his case peculiarly when she went to make provision for goods selected for the summer from the old ancestral room, and found him forlorn among his white-and-gold furniture next door. He complained that he had no association with it except the touching22 fact of his mother's helplessness with it, which he had now inherited. The contents of the trunks were even less intimately of his experience; he had performed a filial duty in listing their contents, which long antedated23 him, and consisted mostly of palatial bric-à-brac and the varied24 spoils of travel.
He cheered up, however, in proposing to her that they should buy a Castle in Spain and put them into it. The fancy pleased her, but visibly she shrank from a step which it involved, so that he was, as it were, forced to say, half jokingly, half ruefully, "I can imagine your not caring for this rubbish or what became of it, Charlotte, but what about the owner?"
"The owner?" she asked, as it were somnambulantly.
"Yes. Marrying him, say, sometime soon."
"Oh, Peter, I couldn't."
"Couldn't? You know that's not playing the game exactly."
"Yes; but not—not right away?"
[Pg 35]"Well, I don't know much about it in my own case, but isn't it usual to fix some approximate date? When should you think?"
"Oh, Peter, I can't think."
"Will you let me fix it? I must go West and sell out and pull up, you know, preparatory to never going again. We can fix the day now or we can fix it when I come back."
"Charlotte, let me ask you one thing. Were you ever sorry you wrote me that taking-back letter?"
"Why, Peter, you know how I am. When I have decided something I have undecided it. That's all."
From gay he turned to grave. "I ought to have thought. I haven't been fair; I haven't played the game. I ought to have given you another chance; and I haven't, have I?"
"Why, I suppose a girl can always change," Charlotte said, suggestively.
"Yes, but you won't always be a girl. I've never asked you if you wanted to change. I ask you now. Do you?"
"How can I tell? Hadn't we better let it go as it is? Only not hurry about—about—marrying?"
[Pg 36]"Certainly not hurry about marrying. I've wondered that a girl could make up her mind to marry any given man. Haven't you ever wished that you had not made up your mind about me?"
"Hundreds of times. But I don't know that I meant anything by it."
He took her hand from where it lay in her lap as again she sat on one of the white-and-gold thrones beside him and gently pressed it. "Well, then, let's play we have never been engaged. I'm going West to-night to settle things up for good, and I won't be back for three or four months, and when I come back we'll start new. I'll ask you, and you shall say yes or no just as if you had never said either before."
"Peter, when you talk like that!" She saw his brown, round face dimly through her wet eyes, and she wanted to hug him for pity of him and pride in him, but she could not decide to do it. They went out to lunch at the Woman's Exchange, and the only regret Peter had was that it was so long past the season of strawberry shortcake, and that Charlotte seemed neither to talk nor to listen; she ought to have done one or the other.
They had left the Vaneckens busy with their summer trunks at the far end of the northward26 corridor, where their wireless27 station had been re-established for Charlotte's advantage, though [Pg 37]she had not thought of it the whole short morning long. When she came back from lunch the Vaneckens were just brushing away the crumbs28 of theirs, which the son and brother seemed to have brought in for them in a paper box; at any rate, he was now there, making believe to help them.
Mrs. Forsyth had promised to come, but she came so late in the afternoon that she owned she had been grudgingly29 admitted at the office, and she was rather indignant about it. By this time, without having been West for three months, Peter had asked a question which had apparently30 never been asked before, and Charlotte had as newly answered it. "And now, mother," she said, while Mrs. Forsyth passed from indignant to exultant31, "I want to be married right away, before Peter changes his mind about taking me West with him. Let us go home at once. You always said I should have a home wedding."
"What a ridiculous idea!" Mrs. Forsyth said, more to gain time than anything else. She added, "Everything is at sixes and sevens in the flat. There wouldn't be standing-room." A sudden thought flashed upon her, which, because it was sudden and in keeping with her character, she put into tentative words. "You're more at home here than anywhere else. You were almost born [Pg 38]here. You've played about here ever since you were a child. You first met Peter here. He proposed to you here, and you rejected him here. He's proposed here again, and you've accepted him, you say—"
"Mother!" Charlotte broke in terribly upon her. "Are you suggesting that I should be married in a storage warehouse? Well, I haven't fallen quite so low as that yet. If I can't have a home wedding, I will have a church wedding, and I will wait till doomsday for it if necessary."
"I don't know about doomsday," Mrs. Forsyth said, "but as far as to-day is concerned, it's too late for a church wedding. Peter, isn't there something about canonical32 hours? And isn't it past them?"
"That's in the Episcopal Church," Peter said, and then he asked, very politely, "Will you excuse me for a moment?" and walked away as if he had an idea. It was apparently to join the Vaneckens, who stood in a group at the end of their corridor, watching the restoration of the trunks which they had been working over the whole day. He came back with Mr. Vanecken and Mr. Vanecken's mother. He was smiling radiantly, and they amusedly.
"It's all right," he explained. "Mr. Vanecken is a Presbyterian minister, and he will marry us now."
[Pg 39]"But not here!" Charlotte cried, feeling herself weaken.
"No, certainly not," the dominie reassured33 her. "I know a church in the next block that I can borrow for the occasion. But what about the license34?"
It was in the day before the parties must both make application in person, and Peter took a paper from his breast pocket. "I thought it might be needed, sometime, and I got it on the way up, this morning."
"Oh, how thoughtful of you, Peter!" Mrs. Forsyth moaned in admiration35 otherwise inexpressible, and the rest laughed, even Charlotte, who laughed hysterically36. At the end of the corridor they met the Misses Vanecken waiting for them, unobtrusively expectant, and they all went down in the elevator together. Just as they were leaving the building, which had the air of hurrying them out, Mrs. Forsyth had an inspiration. "Good heavens!" she exclaimed, and then, in deference37 to Mr. Vanecken, said, "Good gracious, I mean. My husband! Peter, go right into the office and telephone Mr. Forsyth."
"Perhaps," Mr. Vanecken said, "I had better go and see about having my friend's church opened, in the meanwhile, and—"
"By all means!" Mrs. Forsyth said from her mood of universal approbation38.
[Pg 40]But Mr. Vanecken came back looking rather queer and crestfallen39. "I find my friend has gone into the country for a few days; and I don't quite like to get the sexton to open the church without his authority, and— But New York is full of churches, and we can easily find another, with a little delay, if—"
He looked at Peter, who looked at Charlotte, who burst out with unprecedented40 determination. "No, we can't wait. I shall never marry Peter if we do. Mother, you are right. But must it be in the old ancestral five-dollar room?"
They all laughed except Charlotte, who was more like crying.
"Certainly not," Mr. Vanecken said. "I've no doubt the manager—"
He never seemed to end his sentences, and he now left this one broken off while he penetrated41 the railing which fenced in the manager alone among a group of vacated desks, frowning impatient. At some murmured words from the dominie, he shouted, "What!" and then came out radiantly smiling, and saying, "Why, certainly." He knew all the group as old storers in the Constitutional, and called them each by name as he shook them each by the hand. "Everything else has happened here, and I don't see why this shouldn't. Come right into the reception-room."
[Pg 41]With some paintings of biblical subjects, unclaimed from the storage, on the walls, the place had a religious effect, and the manager significantly looked out of it a lingering stenographer42, who was standing before a glass with two hatpins crossed in her mouth preparatory to thrusting them through the straw. She withdrew, visibly curious and reluctant, and then the manager offered to withdraw himself.
"No," Charlotte said, surprisingly initiative in these junctures43, "I don't know how it is in Mr. Vanecken's church, but, if father doesn't come, perhaps you'll have to give me away. At any rate, you're an old friend of the family, and I should be hurt if you didn't stay."
She laid her hand on the manager's arm, and just as he had protestingly and politely consented, her father arrived in a taxicab, rather grumbling44 from having been obliged to cut short a sitting. When it was all over, and the Vaneckens were eliminated, when, in fact, the Breams had joined the Forsyths at a wedding dinner which the bride's father had given them at Delmonico's and had precipitated45 themselves into a train for Niagara ("So banal," Mrs. Forsyth said, "but I suppose they had to go somewhere, and we went to Niagara, come to think of it, and it's on their way West"), the bride's mother remained up late talking it [Pg 42]all over. She took credit to herself for the whole affair, and gave herself a great deal of just praise. But when she said, "I do believe, if it hadn't been for me, at the last, Charlotte would never have made up her mind," Forsyth demurred46.
"I should say Peter had a good deal to do with making up her mind for her."
"Yes, you might say that."
"And for once in her life Charlotte seems to have had her mind ready for making up."
"Yes, you might say that, too. I believe she is going to turn out a decided character, after all. I never saw anybody so determined47 not to be married in a storage warehouse."
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1
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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qualified
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| adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的 | |
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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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recur
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| vi.复发，重现，再发生 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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6
besought
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| v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的过去式和过去分词 )；(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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warehouses
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| 仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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overhauling
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| n.大修；拆修；卸修；翻修v.彻底检查( overhaul的现在分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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12
hesitations
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| n.犹豫( hesitation的名词复数 )；踌躇；犹豫（之事或行为）；口吃 | |
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13
inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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14
absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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supplementarily
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| 增补地（supplementary的副词形式） | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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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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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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antedated
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| v.（在历史上）比…为早( antedate的过去式和过去分词 )；先于；早于；（在信、支票等上）填写比实际日期早的日期 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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entreated
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| 恳求，乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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27
wireless
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| adj.无线的；n.无线电 | |
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crumbs
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| int. (表示惊讶)哎呀 n. 碎屑 名词crumb的复数形式 | |
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grudgingly
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30
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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canonical
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| n.权威的；典型的 | |
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33
reassured
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| 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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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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35
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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hysterically
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| ad. 歇斯底里地 | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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approbation
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| n.称赞；认可 | |
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crestfallen
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| adj. 挫败的，失望的，沮丧的 | |
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40
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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41
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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42
stenographer
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| n.速记员 | |
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junctures
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| n.时刻，关键时刻( juncture的名词复数 )；接合点 | |
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grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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45
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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46
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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