When the two girls had gone in to breakfast it was for Fleda to see at a glance that there had been a further passage, of some high color, between Owen and his mother; and she had turned pale in guessing to what extremity13, at her expense, Mrs. Gereth had found occasion to proceed. Hadn't she, after her clumsy flight, been pressed upon Owen in still clearer terms? Mrs. Gereth would practically have said to him: "If you'll take her, I'll move away without a sound. But if you take any one else, any one I'm not sure of, as I am of her—heaven help me, I'll fight to the death!" Breakfast, this morning, at Poynton, had been a meal singularly silent, in spite of the vague little cries with which Mrs. Brigstock turned up the underside of plates and the knowing but alarming raps administered by her big knuckles14 to porcelain15 cups. Some one had to respond to her, and the duty assigned itself to Fleda, who, while pretending to meet her on the ground of explanation, wondered what Owen thought of a girl still indelicately anxious, after she had been grossly hurled16 at him, to prove by exhibitions of her fine taste that she was really what his mother pretended. This time, at any rate, their fate was sealed: Owen, as soon as he should get out of the house, would describe to Mona that lady's extraordinary conduct, and if anything more had been wanted to "fetch" Mona, as he would call it, the deficiency was now made up. Mrs. Gereth in fact took care of that—took care of it by the way, at the last, on the threshold, she said to the younger of her departing guests, with an irony17 of which the sting was wholly in the sense, not at all in the sound: "We haven't had the talk we might have had, have we? You'll feel that I've neglected you, and you'll treasure it up against me. Don't, because really, you know, it has been quite an accident, and I've all sorts of information at your disposal. If you should come down again (only you won't, ever,—I feel that!) I should give you plenty of time to worry it out of me. Indeed there are some things I should quite insist on your learning; not permit you at all, in any settled way, not to learn. Yes indeed, you'd put me through, and I should put you, my dear! We should have each other to reckon with, and you would see me as I really am. I'm not a bit the vague, mooning, easy creature I dare say you think. However, if you won't come, you won't; n'en parlons plus. It is stupid here after what you're accustomed to. We can only, all round, do what we can, eh? For heaven's sake, don't let your mother forget her precious publication, the female magazine, with the what-do-you-call-'em?—the grease-catchers. There!"
Mrs. Gereth, delivering herself from the doorstep, had tossed the periodical higher in air than was absolutely needful—tossed it toward the carriage the retreating party was about to enter. Mona, from the force of habit, the reflex action of the custom of sport, had popped out, with a little spring, a long arm and intercepted18 the missile as easily as she would have caused a tennis-ball to rebound19 from a racket. "Good catch!" Owen had cried, so genuinely pleased that practically no notice was taken of his mother's impressive remarks. It was to the accompaniment of romping20 laughter, as Mrs. Gereth afterwards said, that the carriage had rolled away; but it was while that laughter was still in the air that Fleda Vetch, white and terrible, had turned upon her hostess with her scorching21 "How could you? Great God, how could you?" This lady's perfect blankness was from the first a sign of her serene22 conscience, and the fact that till indoctrinated she didn't even know what Fleda meant by resenting her late offense23 to every susceptibility gave our young woman a sore, scared perception that her own value in the house was just the value, as one might say, of a good agent. Mrs. Gereth was generously sorry, but she was still more surprised—surprised at Fleda's not having liked to be shown off to Owen as the right sort of wife for him. Why not, in the name of wonder, if she absolutely was the right sort? She had admitted on explanation that she could see what her young friend meant by having been laid, as Fleda called it, at his feet; but it struck the girl that the admission was only made to please her, and that Mrs. Gereth was secretly surprised at her not being as happy to be sacrificed to the supremacy24 of a high standard as she was happy to sacrifice her. She had taken a tremendous fancy to her, but that was on account of the fancy—to Poynton of course—Fleda herself had taken. Wasn't this latter fancy then so great after all? Fleda felt that she could declare it to be great indeed when really for the sake of it she could forgive what she had suffered and, after reproaches and tears, asseverations and kisses, after learning that she was cared for only as a priestess of the altar and a view of her bruised25 dignity which left no alternative to flight, could accept the shame with the balm, consent not to depart, take refuge in the thin comfort of at least knowing the truth. The truth was simply that all Mrs. Gereth's scruples26 were on one side and that her ruling passion had in a manner despoiled27 her of her humanity. On the second day, after the tide of emotion had somewhat ebbed28, she said soothingly29 to her companion: "But you would, after all, marry him, you know, darling, wouldn't you, if that girl were not there? I mean of course if he were to ask you," Mrs. Gereth had thoughtfully added.
"Marry him if he were to ask me? Most distinctly not!"
The question had not come up with this definiteness before, and Mrs. Gereth was clearly more surprised than ever. She marveled a moment. "Not even to have Poynton?"
"Not even to have Poynton."
Fleda colored; she hesitated. "Because he's too stupid!" Save on one other occasion, at which we shall in time arrive, little as the reader may believe it, she never came nearer to betraying to Mrs. Gereth that she was in love with Owen. She found a dim amusement in reflecting that if Mona had not been there and he had not been too stupid and he verily had asked her, she might, should she have wished to keep her secret, have found it possible to pass off the motive31 of her action as a mere32 passion for Poynton.
Mrs. Gereth evidently thought in these days of little but things hymeneal; for she broke out with sudden rapture33, in the middle of the week: "I know what they'll do: they will marry, but they'll go and live at Waterbath!" There was positive joy in that form of the idea, which she embroidered34 and developed: it seemed so much the safest thing that could happen. "Yes, I'll have you, but I won't go there!" Mona would have said with a vicious nod at the southern horizon: "we'll leave your horrid35 mother alone there for life." It would be an ideal solution, this ingress the lively pair, with their spiritual need of a warmer medium, would playfully punch in the ribs36 of her ancestral home; for it would not only prevent recurring37 panic at Poynton—it would offer them, as in one of their gimcrack baskets or other vessels38 of ugliness, a definite daily felicity that Poynton could never give. Owen might manage his estate just as he managed it now, and Mrs. Gereth would manage everything else. When, in the hall, on the unforgettable day of his return, she had heard his voice ring out like a call to a terrier, she had still, as Fleda afterwards learned, clutched frantically39 at the conceit40 that he had come, at the worst, to announce some compromise; to tell her she would have to put up with the girl, yes, but that some way would be arrived at of leaving her in personal possession. Fleda Vetch, whom from the first hour no illusion had brushed with its wing, now held her breath, went on tiptoe, wandered in outlying parts of the house and through delicate, muffled41 rooms, while the mother and son faced each other below. From time to time she stopped to listen; but all was so quiet she was almost frightened: she had vaguely42 expected a sound of contention43. It lasted longer than she would have supposed, whatever it was they were doing; and when finally, from a window, she saw Owen stroll out of the house, stop and light a cigarette and then pensively44 lose himself in the plantations45, she found other matter for trepidation46 in the fact that Mrs. Gereth didn't immediately come rushing up into her arms. She wondered whether she oughtn't to go down to her, and measured the gravity of what had occurred by the circumstance, which she presently ascertained47, that the poor lady had retired48 to her room and wished not to be disturbed. This admonition had been for her maid, with whom Fleda conferred as at the door of a death-chamber49; but the girl, without either fatuity50 or resentment51, judged that, since it could render Mrs. Gereth indifferent even to the ministrations of disinterested52 attachment53, the scene had been tremendous.
She was absent from luncheon54, where indeed Fleda had enough to do to look Owen in the face; there would be so much to make that hateful in their common memory of the passage in which his last visit had terminated. This had been her apprehension55 at least; but as soon as he stood there she was constrained56 to wonder at the practical simplicity57 of the ordeal—a simplicity which was really just his own simplicity, the particular thing that, for Fleda Vetch, some other things of course aiding, made almost any direct relation with him pleasant. He had neither wit, nor tact58, nor inspiration: all she could say was that when they were together the alienation59 these charms were usually depended on to allay60 didn't occur. On this occasion, for instance, he did so much better than "carry off" an awkward remembrance: he simply didn't have it. He had clean forgotten that she was the girl his mother would have fobbed off on him; he was conscious only that she was there in a manner for service—conscious of the dumb instinct that from the first had made him regard her not as complicating61 his intercourse62 with that personage, but as simplifying it. Fleda found beautiful that this theory should have survived the incident of the other day; found exquisite63 that whereas she was conscious, through faint reverberations, that for her kind little circle at large, whom it didn't concern, her tendency had begun to define itself as parasitical64, this strong young man, who had a right to judge and even a reason to loathe65 her, didn't judge and didn't loathe, let her down gently, treated her as if she pleased him, and in fact evidently liked her to be just where she was. She asked herself what he did when Mona denounced her, and the only answer to the question was that perhaps Mona didn't denounce her. If Mona was inarticulate he wasn't such a fool, then, to marry her. That he was glad Fleda was there was at any rate sufficiently66 shown by the domestic familiarity with which he said to her: "I must tell you I've been having an awful row with my mother. I'm engaged to be married to Miss Brigstock."
"Ah, really?" cried Fleda, achieving a radiance of which she was secretly proud. "How very exciting!"
"Too exciting for poor Mummy. She won't hear of it. She has been slating67 her fearfully. She says she's a 'barbarian68.'"
"Why, she's lovely!" Fleda exclaimed.
"Oh, she's all right. Mother must come round."
"Only give her time," said Fleda. She had advanced to the threshold of the door thus thrown open to her and, without exactly crossing it, she threw in an appreciative69 glance. She asked Owen when his marriage would take place, and in the light of his reply read that Mrs. Gereth's wretched attitude would have no influence at all on the event, absolutely fixed when he came down, and distant by only three months. He liked Fleda's seeming to be on his side, though that was a secondary matter, for what really most concerned him now was the line his mother took about Poynton, her declared unwillingness70 to give it up.
"Naturally I want my own house, you know," he said, "and my father made every arrangement for me to have it. But she may make it devilish awkward. What in the world's a fellow to do?" This it was that Owen wanted to know, and there could be no better proof of his friendliness71 than his air of depending on Fleda Vetch to tell him. She questioned him, they spent an hour together, and, as he gave her the scale of the concussion72 from which he had rebounded73, she found herself saddened and frightened by the material he seemed to offer her to deal with. It was devilish awkward, and it was so in part because Owen had no imagination. It had lodged74 itself in that empty chamber that his mother hated the surrender because she hated Mona. He didn't of course understand why she hated Mona, but this belonged to an order of mysteries that never troubled him: there were lots of things, especially in people's minds, that a fellow didn't understand. Poor Owen went through life with a frank dread1 of people's minds: there were explanations he would have been almost as shy of receiving as of giving. There was therefore nothing that accounted for anything, though in its way it was vivid enough, in his picture to Fleda of his mother's virtual refusal to move. That was simply what it was; for didn't she refuse to move when she as good as declared that she would move only with the furniture? It was the furniture she wouldn't give up; and what was the good of Poynton without the furniture? Besides, the furniture happened to be his, just as everything else happened to be. The furniture—the word, on his lips, had somehow, for Fleda, the sound of washing-stands and copious75 bedding, and she could well imagine the note it might have struck for Mrs. Gereth. The girl, in this interview with him, spoke76 of the contents of the house only as "the works of art." It didn't, however, in the least matter to Owen what they were called; what did matter, she easily guessed, was that it had been laid upon him by Mona, been made in effect a condition of her consent, that he should hold his mother to the strictest accountability for them. Mona had already entered upon the enjoyment77 of her rights. She had made him feel that Mrs. Gereth had been liberally provided for, and had asked him cogently78 what room there would be at Ricks for the innumerable treasures of the big house. Ricks, the sweet little place offered to the mistress of Poynton as the refuge of her declining years, had been left to the late Mr. Gereth, a considerable time before his death, by an old maternal79 aunt, a good lady who had spent most of her life there. The house had in recent times been let, but it was amply furnished, it contained all the defunct80 aunt's possessions. Owen had lately inspected it, and he communicated to Fleda that he had quietly taken Mona to see it. It wasn't a place like Poynton—what dower-house ever was?—but it was an awfully81 jolly little place, and Mona had taken a tremendous fancy to it. If there were a few things at Poynton that were Mrs. Gereth's peculiar82 property, of course she must take them away with her; but one of the matters that became clear to Fleda was that this transfer would be immediately subject to Miss Brigstock's approval. The special business that she herself now became aware of being charged with was that of seeing Mrs. Gereth safely and singly off the premises83.
Her heart failed her, after Owen had returned to London, with the ugliness of this duty—with the ugliness, indeed, of the whole close conflict. She saw nothing of Mrs. Gereth that day; she spent it in roaming with sick sighs, in feeling, as she passed from room to room, that what was expected of her companion was really dreadful. It would have been better never to have had such a place than to have had it and lose it. It was odious to her to have to look for solutions: what a strange relation between mother and son when there was no fundamental tenderness out of which a solution would irrepressibly spring! Was it Owen who was mainly responsible for that poverty? Fleda couldn't think so when she remembered that, so far as he was concerned, Mrs. Gereth would still have been welcome to have her seat by the Poynton fire. The fact that from the moment one accepted his marrying one saw no very different course for Owen to take made her all the rest of that aching day find her best relief in the mercy of not having yet to face her hostess. She dodged84 and dreamed and romanced away the time; instead of inventing a remedy or a compromise, instead of preparing a plan by which a scandal might be averted85, she gave herself, in her sentient86 solitude87, up to a mere fairy tale, up to the very taste of the beautiful peace with which she would have filled the air if only something might have been that could never have been.
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1
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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3
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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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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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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6
perversely
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| adv. 倔强地 | |
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glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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8
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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9
conservatory
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| n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的 | |
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bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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12
celebrities
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| n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉 | |
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13
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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14
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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15
porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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16
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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17
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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18
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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19
rebound
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| v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回 | |
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20
romping
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| adj.嬉戏喧闹的，乱蹦乱闹的v.嬉笑玩闹( romp的现在分词 )；（尤指在赛跑或竞选等中）轻易获胜 | |
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21
scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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25
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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scruples
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| n.良心上的不安( scruple的名词复数 )；顾虑，顾忌v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27
despoiled
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| v.掠夺，抢劫( despoil的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
ebbed
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的过去式和过去分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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soothingly
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| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
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30
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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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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37
recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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38
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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39
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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40
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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41
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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42
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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43
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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pensively
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| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
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45
plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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46
trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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47
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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48
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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49
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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50
fatuity
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| n.愚蠢，愚昧 | |
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51
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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52
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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53
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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54
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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55
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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alienation
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| n.疏远；离间；异化 | |
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60
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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61
complicating
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| 使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 ) | |
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62
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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63
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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parasitical
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| adj. 寄生的(符加的) | |
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loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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slating
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| 批评 | |
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barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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appreciative
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| adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的 | |
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unwillingness
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| n. 不愿意，不情愿 | |
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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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rebounded
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| 弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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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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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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cogently
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| adv.痛切地，中肯地 | |
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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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defunct
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| adj.死亡的；已倒闭的 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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sentient
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| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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