Rose Red and Snow White（4）

IV

"So here we all are," said Mary Aldin.

Hurstall, the old butler, wiped his forehead. When he went into the kitchen, Mrs. Spicer, the cook, remarked upon his expression.

"I don't think I can be well, and that's the truth?," said Hurstall. "If I can so express myself, everything that's said and done in this house lately seems to me to mean something that's different from what it sounds like - if you know what I mean."

Mrs. Spicer did not seem to know what he meant, so Hurstall went on: "Miss Aldin, now, as they all sat down to dinner - she says 'So here we all are' - and just that gave me a turn! Made me think of a trainer who's got a lot of wild animals into a cage, and then the cage door shuts. I felt, all of a sudden, as though we were all caught in a trap."

"Lor', Mr. Hurstall," said Mrs. Spicer, "you must have eaten something that's disagreed."

"It's not my digestion¹. It's the way everyone's strung up. The front door banged just now and Mrs. Strange - our Mrs. Strange, Miss Audrey - she jumped as though she had been shot. And there's the silences, too. Very queer they are. It's as though, all of a sudden, everybody's afraid to speak. And then they all break out at once, just saying the things that first come into their heads."

"Enough to make anyone embarrassed," said Mrs. Spicer. "Two Mrs. Stranges in the house. What I feel is, it isn't decent."

In the dining-room one of those silences that Hurstall had described was proceeding².

It was with quite an effort that Mary Aldin turned to Kay and said: "I asked your friend, Mr. Latimer, to dine to-morrow night!"

"Oh, good," said Kay.

Nevile said: "Latimer? Is he down here?"

"He's staying at the Easterhead Bay Hotel," said Kay.

Nevile said: "We might go over and dine there one night. How late does the ferry go?"

"Until half-past one," said Mary. "I suppose they dance there in the evenings?" "Most of the people are about a hundred," said Kay. "Not very amusing for your friend," said Nevile to Kay.

Mary said quickly: "We might go over and bathe one day at Easterhead Bay. It's quite warm still and it's a lovely sandy beach."

Thomas Royde said in a low voice to Audrey: "I thought of going out sailing tomorrow. Will you come?"

"I'd like to."

"We might all go sailing," said Nevile.

"I thought you said you were going to play golf," said Kay.

"I did think of going over to the links. I was right off my wooden shots the other day."

"What a tragedy!" said Kay.

Nevile said good-humouredly: "Golf's a tragic³ game."

Mary asked Kay if she played.

"Yes - after a fashion."

Nevile said: "Kay would be very good if she took a little trouble. She's got a natural swing."

Kay said to Audrey: "You don't play any games, do you?"

‘‘Not really. I play tennis after a fashion - but I'm a complete rabbit."

"Do you still play the piano, Audrey?" asked Thomas.

She shook her head.

"Not nowadays."

"You used to play rather well," said Nevile.

"I thought you didn't like music, Nevile," said Kay.

"I don't know much about it," said Nevile vaguely⁴. "I always wondered how Audrey managed to stretch an octave, her hands are so small."

He was looking at them as she laid down her dessert knife and fork.

She flushed a little and said quickly: "I've got a very long little finger. I expect that helps."

"You must be selfish, then," said Kay. "If you're unselfish you have a short little finger."

"Is that true?" asked Mary Aldin. "Then I must be unselfish. Look, my little fingers are quite short."

"I think you are very unselfish," said Thomas Royde, eyeing her thoughtfully.

She went red - and continued, quickly: "Who's the most unselfish of us? Let's compare little fingers. Mine are shorter than yours, Kay. But Thomas, I think, beats me."

"I beat you both," said Nevile. "Look." He stretched out a hand.

"Only one hand, though," said Kay. "Your left-hand little finger is short, but your right-hand one is much finger. And your left hand is what you are born with and the right hand is what you make of your life. So that means that you were born unselfish and have become more selfish as time goes on."

"Can you tell fortunes, Kay?" asked Mary Aldin. She stretched out her hand, palm upward. "A fortune-teller told me I should have two husbands and three children. I shall have to hurry up!"

Kay said: "Those little crosses aren't children, they're journeys. That means you'll take three journeys across water."

"That seems unlikely, too," said Mary Aldin.

Thomas Royde asked her: "Have you travelled much?"

"No, hardly at all."

He heard an undercurrent of regret in her voice.

"You would like to?"

"Above everything."

He thought in his slow reflective way of her life. Always in attendance on an old woman. Calm, tactful, an excellent manager. He asked curiously⁵: "Have you lived with Lady Tressilian long?"

"For nearly fifteen years. I came to be with her after my father died. He had been a helpless invalid⁶ for some years before his death."

And then, answering the question she felt to be in his mind: "I'm thirty-six. That's what you wanted to know, wasn't it?"

"I did wonder," he admitted. "You might be - any age, you see."

"That's rather a two-edged remark!"

"I suppose it is. I didn't mean it that way."

That sombre, thoughtful gaze of his did not leave her face. She did not find it embarrassing. It was too free from self-consciousness for that - a genuine, thoughtful interest. Seeing his eyes on her hair, she put up her hand to the one white lock.

"I've had that," she said, "since I was very young." "I like it," said Thomas Royde simply.

He went on looking at her. She said at last, in a slightly amused tone of voice: "Well, what is the verdict?"

He reddened under his tan.

"Oh, I suppose it is rude of me to stare. I was wondering about you - what you are really like."

"Please," she said hurriedly and rose from the table. She said as she went into the drawing-room with her arm through Audrey's: "Old Mr. Treves is coming to dinner to-morrow, too."

"Who's he?" asked Nevile.

"He brought an introduction from the Rufus Lords. A delightful⁷ old gentleman. He's staying at the Balmoral Court. He's got a weak heart and looks very frail⁸, but his faculties⁹ are perfect and he has known a lot of interesting people. He was a solicitor¹⁰ or a barrister -I forget which."

"Everybody down here is terribly old," said Kay discontentedly.

She was standing¹¹ just under a tall lamp. Thomas was looking that way, and he gave her that same slow interested attention that he gave to anything that was immediately occupying his line of vision.

He was struck suddenly with her intense and passionate¹² beauty. A beauty of vivid colouring, of abundant and triumphant¹³ vitality¹⁴. He looked across from her to Audrey, pale and moth-like in a silvery grey dress.

He smiled to himself and murmured: "Rose Red and Snow White."

"What?" It was Mary Aldin at his elbow.

He repeated the words. "Like the old fairy story, you know -"

Mary Aldin said: "It's a very good description -"

1 digestion   

n.消化，吸收

参考例句：

• This kind of tea acts as an aid to digestion.这种茶可助消化。
• This food is easy of digestion.这食物容易消化。

2 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

3 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

4 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

5 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

6 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

7 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

8 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

9 faculties   

n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院

参考例句：

• Although he's ninety, his mental faculties remain unimpaired. 他虽年届九旬，但头脑仍然清晰。
• All your faculties have come into play in your work. 在你的工作中，你的全部才能已起到了作用。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 solicitor   

n.初级律师，事务律师

参考例句：

• The solicitor's advice gave me food for thought.律师的指点值得我深思。
• The solicitor moved for an adjournment of the case.律师请求将这个案件的诉讼延期。

11 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

12 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

13 triumphant   

adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的

参考例句：

• The army made a triumphant entry into the enemy's capital.部队胜利地进入了敌方首都。
• There was a positively triumphant note in her voice.她的声音里带有一种极为得意的语气。

14 vitality   

n.活力，生命力，效力

参考例句：

• He came back from his holiday bursting with vitality and good health.他度假归来之后，身强体壮，充满活力。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。