It was broken on the third day by a telegram from Mrs. Gereth. "Shall be with you at 11.30—don't meet me at station." Fleda turned this over, but was sufficiently17 expert not to disobey the injunction. She had only an hour to take in its meaning, but that hour was longer than all the previous time. If Maggie had studied her convenience the day Owen came, Maggie was also at the present juncture18 a miracle of refinement19. Increasingly and resentfully mystified, in spite of all reassurance20, by the impression that Fleda suffered more than she gained from the grandeur21 of the Gereths, she had it at heart to exemplify the perhaps truer distinction of nature that characterized the house of Vetch. She was not, like poor Fleda, at every one's beck, and the visitor was to see no more of her than what the arrangement of luncheon22 might tantalizingly23 show. Maggie described herself to her sister as intending for a just provocation24 even the understanding she had had with her husband that he also should remain invisible. Fleda accordingly awaited alone the subject of so many manœuvres—a period that was slightly prolonged even after the drawing-room door, at 11.30, was thrown open. Mrs. Gereth stood there with a face that spoke25 plain, but no sound fell from her till the withdrawal26 of the maid, whose attention had immediately attached itself to the rearrangement of a window-blind and who seemed, while she bustled27 at it, to contribute to the pregnant silence; before the duration of which, however, she retreated with a sudden stare.
"He has done it," said Mrs. Gereth, turning her eyes avoidingly but not unperceivingly about her and in spite of herself dropping an opinion upon the few objects in the room. Fleda, on her side, in her silence, observed how characteristically she looked at Maggie's possessions before looking at Maggie's sister. The girl understood and at first had nothing to say; she was still dumb while Mrs. Gereth selected, with hesitation28, a seat less distasteful than the one that happened to be nearest. On the sofa near the window the poor woman finally showed what the two past days had done for the age of her face. Her eyes at last met Fleda's. "It's the end."
"They're married?"
"They're married."
Fleda came to the sofa in obedience29 to the impulse to sit down by her; then paused before her while Mrs. Gereth turned up a dead gray mask. A tired old woman sat there with empty hands in her lap. "I've heard nothing," said Fleda. "No answer came."
"That's the only answer. It's the answer to everything." So Fleda saw; for a minute she looked over her companion's head and far away. "He wasn't at Waterbath; Mrs. Brigstock must have read your telegram and kept it. But mine, the one to Poynton, brought something. 'We are here—what do you want?'" Mrs. Gereth stopped as if with a failure of voice; on which Fleda sank upon the sofa and made a movement to take her hand. It met no response; there could be no attenuation30. Fleda waited; they sat facing each other like strangers. "I wanted to go down," Mrs. Gereth presently continued. "Well, I went."
All the girl's effort tended for the time to a single aim—that of taking the thing with outward detachment, speaking of it as having happened to Owen and to his mother and not in any degree to herself. Something at least of this was in the encouraging way she said: "Yesterday morning?"
"Yesterday morning. I saw him."
Fleda hesitated. "Did you see her?"
"Thank God, no!"
Fleda laid on her arm a hand of vague comfort, of which Mrs. Gereth took no notice. "You've been capable, just to tell me, of this wretched journey, of this consideration that I don't deserve?"
"We're together, we're together," said Mrs. Gereth. She looked helpless as she sat there, her eyes, unseeingly enough, on a tall Dutch clock, old but rather poor, that Maggie had had as a wedding-gift and that eked31 out the bareness of the room.
To Fleda, in the face of the event, it appeared that this was exactly what they were not: the last inch of common ground, the ground of their past intercourse32, had fallen from under them. Yet what was still there was the grand style of her companion's treatment of her. Mrs. Gereth couldn't stand upon small questions, couldn't, in conduct, make small differences. "You're magnificent!" her young friend exclaimed. "There's a rare greatness in your generosity33."
"We're together, we're together," Mrs. Gereth lifelessly repeated. "That's all we are now; it's all we have." The words brought to Fleda a sudden vision of the empty little house at Ricks; such a vision might also have been what her companion found in the face of the stopped Dutch clock. Yet with this it was clear that she would now show no bitterness: she had done with that, had given the last drop to those horrible hours in London. No passion even was left to her, and her forbearance only added to the force with which she represented the final vanity of everything.
Fleda was so far from a wish to triumph that she was absolutely ashamed of having anything to say for herself; but there was one thing, all the same, that not to say was impossible. "That he has done it, that he couldn't not do it, shows how right I was." It settled forever her attitude, and she spoke as if for her own mind; then after a little she added very gently, for Mrs. Gereth's: "That's to say, it shows that he was bound to her by an obligation that, however much he may have wanted to, he couldn't in any sort of honor break."
Blanched34 and bleak35, Mrs. Gereth looked at her. "What sort of an obligation do you call that? No such obligation exists for an hour between any man and any woman who have hatred36 on one side. He had ended by hating her, and now he hates her more than ever."
"Did he tell you so?" Fleda asked.
"No. He told me nothing but the great gawk of a fact. I saw him but for three minutes." She was silent again, and Fleda, as before some lurid37 image of this interview, sat without speaking. "Do you wish to appear as if you don't care?" Mrs. Gereth presently demanded.
"I'm trying not to think of myself."
"Then if you're thinking of Owen, how can you bear to think?"
Sadly and submissively Fleda shook her head; the slow tears had come into her eyes. "I can't. I don't understand—I don't understand!" she broke out.
"I do, then." Mrs. Gereth looked hard at the floor. "There was no obligation at the time you saw him last—when you sent him, hating her as he did, back to her."
"If he went," Fleda asked, "doesn't that exactly prove that he recognized one?"
"He recognized rot! You know what I think of him." Fleda knew; she had no wish to challenge a fresh statement. Mrs. Gereth made one—it was her sole, faint flicker38 of passion—to the extent of declaring that he was too abjectly39 weak to deserve the name of a man. For all Fleda cared!—it was his weakness she loved in him. "He took strange ways of pleasing you!" her friend went on. "There was no obligation till suddenly, the other day, the situation changed."
Fleda wondered. "The other day?"
"It came to Mona's knowledge—I can't tell you how, but it came—that the things I was sending back had begun to arrive at Poynton. I had sent them for you, but it was her I touched." Mrs. Gereth paused; Fleda was too absorbed in her explanation to do anything but take blankly the full, cold breath of this. "They were there, and that determined40 her."
"Determined her to what?"
"To act, to take means."
"To take means?" Fleda repeated.
"I can't tell you what they were, but they were powerful. She knew how," said Mrs. Gereth.
Fleda received with the same stoicism the quiet immensity of this allusion41 to the person who had not known how. But it made her think a little, and the thought found utterance42, with unconscious irony43, in the simple interrogation: "Mona?"
"But if he knew that so well, what chance was there in it for her?"
"How can I tell you? How can I talk of such horrors? I can only give you, of the situation, what I see. He knew it, yes. But as she couldn't make him forget it, she tried to make him like it. She tried and she succeeded: that's what she did. She's after all so much less of a fool than he. And what else had he originally liked?" Mrs. Gereth shrugged45 her shoulders. "She did what you wouldn't!" Fleda's face had grown dark with her wonder, but her friend's empty hands offered no balm to the pain in it. "It was that if it was anything. Nothing else meets the misery46 of it. Then there was quick work. Before he could turn round he was married."
Fleda, as if she had been holding her breath, gave the sigh of a listening child. "At that place you spoke of in town?"
"At the Registrar's, like a pair of low atheists."
The girl hesitated. "What do people say of that? I mean the 'world.'"
"Nothing, because nobody knows. They're to be married on the 17th, at Waterbath church. If anything else comes out, everybody is a little prepared. It will pass for some stroke of diplomacy47, some move in the game, some outwitting of me. It's known there has been a row with me."
Fleda was mystified. "People surely knew at Poynton," she objected, "if, as you say, she's there."
"She was there, day before yesterday, only for a few hours. She met him in London and went down to see the things."
Fleda remembered that she had seen them only once. "Did you see them?" she then ventured to ask.
"Everything."
"Are they right?"
"Quite right. There's nothing like them," said Mrs. Gereth. At this her companion took up one of her hands again and kissed it as she had done in London. "Mona went back that night; she was not there yesterday. Owen stayed on," she added.
Fleda stared. "Then she's not to live there?"
"Rather! But not till after the public marriage." Mrs. Gereth seemed to muse48; then she brought out: "She'll live there alone."
"Alone?"
"She'll have it to herself."
"He won't live with her?"
"Never! But she's none the less his wife, and you're not," said Mrs. Gereth, getting up. "Our only chance is the chance she may die."
Fleda appeared to consider: she appreciated her visitor's magnanimous use of the plural49. "Mona won't die," she replied.
"Well, I shall, thank God! Till then"—and with this, for the first time, Mrs. Gereth put out her hand—"don't desert me."
Fleda took her hand, and her clasp of it was a reiteration50 of a promise already given. She said nothing, but her silence was an acceptance as responsible as the vow51 of a nun52. The next moment something occurred to her. "I mustn't put myself in your son's way."
Mrs. Gereth gave a dry, flat laugh. "You're prodigious53! But how shall you possibly be more out of it? Owen and I—" She didn't finish her sentence.
"That's your great feeling about him," Fleda said; "but how, after what has happened, can it be his about you?"
Mrs. Gereth hesitated. "How do you know what has happened? You don't know what I said to him."
"Yesterday?"
"Yesterday."
They looked at each other with a long, deep gaze. Then, as Mrs. Gereth seemed again about to speak, the girl, closing her eyes, made a gesture of strong prohibition54. "Don't tell me!"
"Merciful powers, how you worship him!" Mrs. Gereth wonderingly moaned. It was, for Fleda, the shake that made the cup overflow55. She had a pause, that of the child who takes time to know that he responds to an accident with pain; then, dropping again on the sofa, she broke into tears. They were beyond control, they came in long sobs56, which for a moment Mrs. Gereth, almost with an air of indifference, stood hearing and watching. At last Mrs. Gereth too sank down again. Mrs. Gereth soundlessly, wearily wept.
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收听单词发音
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1
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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equilibrium
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| n.平衡，均衡，相称，均势，平静 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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wagons
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| n.四轮的运货马车( wagon的名词复数 )；铁路货车；小手推车 | |
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8
condonation
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| n.容忍，宽恕，原谅 | |
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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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10
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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11
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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12
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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13
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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14
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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15
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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16
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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17
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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18
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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19
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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20
reassurance
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| n.使放心，使消除疑虑 | |
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21
grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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22
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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23
tantalizingly
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| adv.…得令人着急，…到令人着急的程度 | |
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24
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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25
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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26
withdrawal
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| n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销 | |
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27
bustled
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| 闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促 | |
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28
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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29
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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30
attenuation
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| n.变薄；弄细；稀薄化；减少 | |
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31
eked
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| v.（靠节省用量）使…的供应持久( eke的过去式和过去分词 )；节约使用；竭力维持生计；勉强度日 | |
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32
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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33
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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34
blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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35
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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lurid
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| adj.可怕的；血红的；苍白的 | |
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38
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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39
abjectly
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| 凄惨地； 绝望地； 糟透地； 悲惨地 | |
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40
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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41
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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42
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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43
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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44
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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45
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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46
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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47
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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48
muse
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| n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感 | |
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49
plural
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| n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的 | |
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50
reiteration
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| n. 重覆, 反覆, 重说 | |
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51
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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52
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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53
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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54
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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55
overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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56
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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