一双蓝眼睛 英文版 A Pair of Blue Eyes
托马斯.哈代 Thomas Hardy
Chapter XII Page 2
'And you never said a word to me,' replied Elfride, notreproachfully either in tone or thought. Indeed, her feeling wasthe very reverse of reproachful. She felt relieved and eventhankful. Where confidence had not been given, how couldconfidence be expected?
Her father mistook her dispassionateness for a veil of politenessover a sense of ill-usage. 'I am not altogether to blame,' hesaid. 'There were two or three reasons for secrecy. One was therecent death of her relative the testator, though that did notapply to you. But remember, Elfride,' he continued in a stiffertone, 'you had mixed yourself up so foolishly with those lowpeople, the Smiths--and it was just, too, when Mrs. Troyton andmyself were beginning to understand each other--that I resolved tosay nothing even to you. How did I know how far you had gone withthem and their son? You might have made a point of taking tea withthem every day, for all that I knew.'
Elfride swallowed her feelings as she best could, and languidlythough flatly asked a question.
'Did you kiss Mrs. Troyton on the lawn about three weeks ago? Thatevening I came into the study and found you had just had candlesin?'
'Well, yes; I think I did,' he stammered; 'just to please her, youknow.' And then recovering himself he laughed heartily.
'And was this what your Horatian quotation referred to?'
'It was, Elfride.'
They stepped into the drawing-room from the verandah. At thatmoment Mrs. Swancourt came downstairs, and entered the same roomby the door.
'Here, Charlotte, is my little Elfride,' said Mr. Swancourt, withthe increased affection of tone often adopted towards relationswhen newly produced.
Poor Elfride, not knowing what to do, did nothing at all; butstood receptive of all that came to her by sight, hearing, andtouch.
Middle Ages.'and write a little.'commonplace.
Mrs. Swancourt moved forward, took her step-daughter's hand, thenkissed her.
'Ah, darling!' she exclaimed good-humouredly, 'you didn't thinkwhen you showed a strange old woman over the conservatory a monthor two ago, and explained the flowers to her so prettily, that shewould so soon be here in new colours. Nor did she, I am sure.'
The new mother had been truthfully enough described by Mr.Swancourt. She was not physically attractive. She was dark--verydark--in complexion, portly in figure, and with a plentifulresiduum of hair in the proportion of half a dozen white ones tohalf a dozen black ones, though the latter were black indeed. Nofurther observed, she was not a woman to like. But there was moreto see. To the most superficial critic it was apparent that shemade no attempt to disguise her age. She looked sixty at thefirst glance, and close acquaintanceship never proved her older.
Another and still more winning trait was one attaching to thecorners of her mouth. Before she made a remark these oftentwitched gently: not backwards and forwards, the index ofnervousness; not down upon the jaw, the sign of determination; butpalpably upwards, in precisely the curve adopted to representmirth in the broad caricatures of schoolboys. Only this elementin her face was expressive of anything within the woman, but itwas unmistakable. It expressed humour subjective as well asobjective--which could survey the peculiarities of self in aswhimsical a light as those of other people.
This is not all of Mrs. Swancourt. She had held out to Elfridehands whose fingers were literally stiff with rings, signisauroque rigentes, like Helen's robe. These rows of rings were notworn in vanity apparently. They were mostly antique and dull,though a few were the reverse.
RIGHT HAND.
1st. Plainly set oval onyx, representing a devil's head. 2nd.Green jasper intaglio, with red veins. 3rd. Entirely gold,bearing figure of a hideous griffin. 4th. A sea-green monsterdiamond, with small diamonds round it. 5th. Antique cornelianintaglio of dancing figure of a satyr. 6th. An angular bandchased with dragons' heads. 7th. A facetted carbuncle accompaniedby ten little twinkling emeralds; &c. &c.
LEFT HAND.
1st. A reddish-yellow toadstone. 2nd. A heavy ring enamelled incolours, and bearing a jacynth. 3rd. An amethystine sapphire.4th. A polished ruby, surrounded by diamonds. 5th. The engravedring of an abbess. 6th. A gloomy intaglio; &c. &c.
Beyond this rather quaint array of stone and metal Mrs. Swancourtwore no ornament whatever.
Elfride had been favourably impressed with Mrs. Troyton at theirmeeting about two months earlier; but to be pleased with a womanas a momentary acquaintance was different from being taken withher as a stepmother. However, the suspension of feeling was butfor a moment. Elfride decided to like her still.
Mrs. Swancourt was a woman of the world as to knowledge, thereverse as to action, as her marriage suggested. Elfride and thelady were soon inextricably involved in conversation, and Mr.Swancourt left them to themselves.
'And what do you find to do with yourself here?' Mrs. Swancourtsaid, after a few remarks about the wedding. 'You ride, I know.'
'Yes, I ride. But not much, because papa doesn't like my goingalone.'
'You must have somebody to look after you.'
'And I read, and write a little.'
'You should write a novel. The regular resource of people whodon't go enough into the world to live a novel is to write one.'
'I have done it,' said Elfride, looking dubiously at Mrs.Swancourt, as if in doubt whether she would meet with ridiculethere.
'That's right. Now, then, what is it about, dear?'
'About--well, it is a romance of the Middle Ages.'
'Knowing nothing of the present age, which everybody knows about,for safety you chose an age known neither to you nor other people.That's it, eh? No, no; I don't mean it, dear.'
'Well, I have had some opportunities of studying mediaeval art andmanners in the library and private museum at Endelstow House, andI thought I should like to try my hand upon a fiction. I know thetime for these tales is past; but I was interested in it, verymuch interested.'
'When is it to appear?'
'Oh, never, I suppose.'
'Nonsense, my dear girl. Publish it, by all means. All ladies dothat sort of thing now; not for profit, you know, but as aguarantee of mental respectability to their future husbands.'
'An excellent idea of us ladies.'
'Though I am afraid it rather resembles the melancholy ruse ofthrowing loaves over castle-walls at besiegers, and suggestsdesperation rather than plenty inside.'
'Did you ever try it?'
'No; I was too far gone even for that.'
'Papa says no publisher will take my book.'
'That remains to be proved. I'll give my word, my dear, that bythis time next year it shall be printed.'
'Will you, indeed?' said Elfride, partially brightening withpleasure, though she was sad enough in her depths. 'I thoughtbrains were the indispensable, even if the only, qualification foradmission to the republic of letters. A mere commonplace creaturelike me will soon be turned out again.'
'Oh no; once you are there you'll be like a drop of water in apiece of rock-crystal--your medium will dignify your commonness.'
'It will be a great satisfaction,' Elfride murmured, and thoughtof Stephen, and wished she could make a great fortune by writingromances, and marry him and live happily.
'And then we'll go to London, and then to Paris,' said Mrs.Swancourt. 'I have been talking to your father about it. But wehave first to move into the manor-house, and we think of stayingat Torquay whilst that is going on. Meanwhile, instead of goingon a honeymoon scamper by ourselves, we have come home to fetchyou, and go all together to Bath for two or three weeks.'
Elfride assented pleasantly, even gladly; but she saw that, bythis marriage, her father and herself had ceased for ever to bethe close relations they had been up to a few weeks ago. It wasimpossible now to tell him the tale of her wild elopement withStephen Smith.
He was still snugly housed in her heart. His absence had regainedfor him much of that aureola of saintship which had been nearlyabstracted during her reproachful mood on that miserable journeyfrom London. Rapture is often cooled by contact with its cause,especially if under awkward conditions. And that last experiencewith Stephen had done anything but make him shine in her eyes.His very kindness in letting her return was his offence. Elfridehad her sex's love of sheer force in a man, however ill-directed;and at that critical juncture in London Stephen's only chance ofretaining the ascendancy over her that his face and not his partshad acquired for him, would have been by doing what, for onething, he was too youthful to undertake--that was, dragging her bythe wrist to the rails of some altar, and peremptorily marryingher. Decisive action is seen by appreciative minds to befrequently objectless, and sometimes fatal; but decision, howeversuicidal, has more charm for a woman than the most unequivocalFabian success.
However, some of the unpleasant accessories of that occasion werenow out of sight again, and Stephen had resumed not a few of hisfancy colours.