"Preposterous1!" said Lady Tressilian. She drew herself up on her pillow and glared fiercely round the room.
"Absolutely preposterous! Nevile must be mad." "It does seem rather odd," said Mary Aldin.
Lady Tressilian had a striking-looking profile with a slender bridged nose, down which, when so inclined, she could look with telling effect. Though now over seventy and in frail2 health, her native vigour3 of mind was in no way impaired4. She had, it is true, long periods of retreat from life and its emotions when she would lie with half-closed eyes, but from these semi-comas she would emerge with all her faculties5 sharpened to the uttermost, and with an incisive6 tongue. Propped7 up by pillows in a large bed set across one corner of her room, she held her court like some French Queen. Mary Aldin, a distant cousin, lived with her and looked after her. The two women got on together excellently. Mary was thirty-six, but had one of those smooth ageless faces that change little with passing years. She might have been thirty or forty-five. She had a good figure, an air of breeding, and dark hair to which one lock of white across the front gave a touch of individuality. It was at one time a fashion, but Mary's white lock of hair was natural and she had had it since her girlhood.
She looked down now reflectively at Nevile Strange's letter, which Lady Tressilian had handed to her.
"Yes," she said. "It does seem rather odd.""You can't tell me," said Lady Tressilian, "that this is Nevile's own idea! Somebody put it into his head. Probably that new wife of his.""Kay. You think it was Kay's idea?"
"It would be quite like her. New and vulgar. If husbands and wives have to advertise their difficulties in public and have recourse to divorce, then they might at least part decently. The new wife and the old wife making friends is quite disgusting, to my mind. Nobody has any standards nowadays!""I suppose it is just the modern way," said Mary.
"It won't happen in my house," said Lady Tressilian. "I consider I've done all that could be asked of me having that scarlet-toed creature here at all.""She is Nevile's wife."
"Exactly. Therefore I felt that Matthew would have wished it. He was devoted8 to the boy and always wanted him to look on this as his home. Since to refuse to receive his wife would have made an open breach10, I gave way and asked her here. I do not like her - she's quite the wrong wife for Nevile - no background, no roots!""She's quite well born," said Mary placatingly11.
"Bad stock!" said Lady Tressilian. "Her father, as I've told you, had to resign from all his clubs after that card business. Luckily he died shortly after. And her mother was notorious on the Riviera. What a bringing-up for the girl! Nothing but hotel life - and that mother! Then she meets Nevile on the tennis courts, makes a dead set at him and never rests until she gets him to leave his wife - of whom he was extremely fond - and go off with her! I blame her entirely12 for the whole thing!"Mary smiled faintly. Lady Tressilian had the old-fashioned characteristic of always blaming the woman and being indulgent towards the man in the case.
"I suppose, strictly13 speaking, Nevile was equally to blame," she suggested.
"Nevile was very much to blame," agreed Lady Tressilian. "He had a charming wife who had always been devoted - perhaps too devoted - to him. Nevertheless, if it hadn't been for that girl's persistence14, I am convinced he would have come to his senses. But she was determined15 to marry him! Yes, my sympathies are entirely with Audrey. I am very fond of Audrey."Mary sighed. "It has all been very difficult," she said.
"Yes, indeed. One is at a loss to know how to act in such difficult circumstances. Matthew was fond of Audrey, and so am I, and one cannot deny that she was a very good wife to Nevile, though perhaps it is a pity that she could not have shared his amusements more. She was never an athletic16 girl. The whole business was very distressing17. When I was a girl, these things simply did not happen. Men had their affairs, naturally, but they were not allowed to break up married life.""Well, they happen now," said Mary bluntly.
"Exactly. You have so much common sense, dear. It is of no use recalling bygone days. These things happen, and girls like Kay Mortimer steal other women's husbands and nobody thinks the worse of them!""Except people like you, Camilla!"
"I don't count. That Kay creature doesn't worry whether I approve of her or not. She's too busy having a good time. Nevile can bring her here when he comes and I'm even willing to receive her friends - though I do not much care for that very theatrical-looking young man who is always hanging round her - what is his name?""Ted9 Latimer?"
"That is it. A friend of her Riviera days - and I should very much like to know how he manages to live as he does.""By his wits," suggested Mary.
"One might pardon that. I rather fancy he lives by his looks. Not a pleasant friend for Nevile's wife! I disliked the way he came down last summer and stayed at the Easterhead Bay Hotel while they were here."Mary looked out of the open window. Lady Tressilian's house was situated18 on a steep cliff overlooking the river Tern. On the other side of the river was the newly created summer resort of Easterhead Bay, consisting of a big sandy bathing beach, a cluster of modern bungalows19 and a large hotel on the headland looking out to sea. Saltcreek itself was a straggling, picturesque20 fishing village set on the side of a hill. It was old-fashioned, conservative and deeply contemptuous of Easterhead Bay and its summer visitors.
The Easterhead Bay Hotel was nearly exactly opposite Lady Tressilian's house, and Mary looked across the narrow strip of water at it now where it stood in its blatant21 newness.
"I am glad," said Lady Tressilian, closing her eyes, "that Matthew never saw that vulgar building. The coastline was quite unspoilt in his time."Sir Matthew and Lady Tressilian had come to Gull's Point thirty years ago. It was nine years since Sir Matthew, an enthusiastic sailing man, had capsized his dinghy and been drowned almost in front of his wife's eyes.
Everybody had expected her to sell Gull's Point and leave Saltcreek, but Lady Tressilian had not done so. She had lived on in the house, and her only visible reaction had been to dispose of all the boats and do away with the boat-house. There were no boats available for guests at Gull's Point. They had to walk along to the ferry and hire a boat from one of the rival boatmen there.
Mary said, hesitating a little: "Shall I write, then, to Nevile, and tell him that what he proposes does not fit in with our plans?""I certainly shall not dream of interfering22 with Audrey's visit. She has always come to us in September and I shall not ask her to change her plans."Mary said, looking down at the letter: "You did see that Nevile says Audrey - er -approves of the idea - that she is quite willing to meet Kay?""I simply don't believe it," said Lady Tressilian. "Nevile, like all men, believes what he wants to believe!"Mary persisted: "He says he has actually spoken to her about it.""What a very odd thing to do! No - perhaps, after all, it isn't."Mary looked at her inquiringly.
"Like Henry the Eighth," said Lady Tressilian.
Mary looked puzzled.
Lady Tressilian elaborated her last remark.
"Conscience, you know! Henry was always trying to get Catherine to agree that the divorce was the right thing. Nevile knows that he has behaved badly - he wants to feel comfortable about it all. So he has been trying to bully23 Audrey into saying everything is all right and that she'll come and meet Kay and that she doesn't mind at all.""I wonder," said Mary slowly.
Lady Tressilian looked at her sharply.
"What's in your mind, my dear?"
"I was wondering -" She stopped, then went on: "It - it seems so unlike Nevile -this letter! You don't think that, for some reason, Audrey wants this - this meeting?""Why should she?" said Lady Tressilian sharply. "After Nevile left her she went to her aunt, Mrs. Royde, at the Rectory, and had a complete breakdown24. She was absolutely like a ghost of her former self. Obviously it hit her terribly hard. She's one of those quiet self-contained people who feel things intensely."Mary moved uneasily.
"Yes, she is intense. A queer girl in many ways ...""She suffered a lot ... Then the divorce went through and Nevile married the girl, and little by little Audrey began to get over it. Now she's almost back to her old self. You can't tell me she wants to rake up old memories again."Mary said with gentle obstinacy25: "Nevile says she does." The old lady looked at her curiously26.
"You're extraordinarily27 obstinate28 about this, Mary. Why? Do you want to have them here together?"Mary Aldin flushed. "No, of course not."
Lady Tressilian said sharply: "It's not you who have been suggesting all this to Nevile?""How can you be so absurd?"
"Well, I don't believe for a minute it's really his idea. It's not like Nevile." She paused a minute, then her face cleared. "It's the 1st of May tomorrow, isn't it? Well, on the 3rd Audrey is coming to stay with the Darlingtons at Esbank. It's only twenty miles away. Write and ask her to come over and lunch here."
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1
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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ted
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| vt.翻晒，撒，撒开 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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placatingly
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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14
persistence
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| n.坚持，持续，存留 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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bungalows
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| n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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blatant
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| adj.厚颜无耻的；显眼的；炫耀的 | |
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interfering
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| adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词 | |
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bully
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| n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮 | |
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breakdown
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| n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌 | |
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obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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extraordinarily
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| adv.格外地；极端地 | |
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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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