空幻之屋34
时间：2024-12-31 10:11:23
（单词翻译:单击）
Twenty-four
nerving himself to enter the establishment which bore the gold-lettered sign: “Madame Alfrege.”
Some obscure instinct had prevented him from merely ringing up and asking Midge to come out
and lunch. That fragment of telephone conversation at The Hollow had disturbed him—more, had
his feelings.
was all wrong—the whole thing was wrong! And then, when he had shown his concern, she had
met him point-blank with the unpalatable truth that one had to keep one’s job, that jobs weren’t
performing of a stipulated9 task.
nowadays. If he had thought about it at all, he had thought that on the whole they had jobs because
they liked jobs—that it flattered their sense of independence and gave them an interest of their
own in life.
The fact that a working day of nine to six, with an hour off for lunch, cut a girl off from most of
the pleasures and relaxations11 of a leisured class had simply not occurred to Edward. That Midge,
unless she sacrificed her lunch hour, could not drop into a picture gallery, that she could not go to
afternoons and Sundays, and to snatch her lunch in a crowded Lyons or a snack bar, was a new
and unwelcome discovery. He was very fond of Midge. Little Midge—that was how he thought of
her. Arriving shy and wide-eyed at Ainswick for the holidays, tongue-tied at first, then opening up
into enthusiasm and affection.
something yet untested, had delayed his recognition of Midge as a wage-earning adult.
It was on that evening at The Hollow when he had come in cold and shivering from that strange,
upsetting clash with Henrietta, and when Midge had knelt to build up the fire, that he had been first
aware of a Midge who was not an affectionate child but a woman. It had been an upsetting vision
—he had felt for a moment that he had lost something—something that was a precious part of
Ainswick. And he had said impulsively15, speaking out of that suddenly aroused feeling, “I wish I
saw more of you, little Midge….”
familiar Henrietta he had loved for so long—he had known sudden panic. And he had come in to a
further disturbance17 of the set pattern which was his life. Little Midge was also a part of Ainswick
—and this was no longer little Midge, but a courageous18 and sad-eyed adult whom he did not
know.
Ever since then he had been troubled in his mind, and had indulged in a good deal of self-
reproach for the unthinking way in which he had never bothered about Midge’s happiness or
comfort. The idea of her uncongenial job at Madame Alfrege’s had worried him more and more,
and he had determined19 at last to see for himself just what this dress shop of hers was like.
Edward peered suspiciously into the show window at a little black dress with a narrow gold
belt, some rakish-looking, skimpy jumper suits, and an evening gown of rather tawdry coloured
lace.
Edward knew nothing about women’s clothes except by instinct, but had a shrewd idea that all
these exhibits were somehow of a meretricious20 order. No, he thought, this place was not worthy21 of
her. Someone—Lady Angkatell, perhaps—must do something about it.
Overcoming his shyness with an effort, Edward straightened his slightly stooping shoulders and
walked in.
voices were examining dresses in a showcase, with a dark saleswoman in attendance. At the back
of the shop a small woman with a thick nose, henna red hair and a disagreeable voice was arguing
“Frightful—perfectly frightful—can’t you bring me anything decent to try?”
“This wine model is really very smart. And I think it would suit you. If you’d just slip it on—”
“I’m not going to waste my time trying on things that I can see are no good. Do take a little
trouble. I’ve told you I don’t want reds. If you’d listen to what you are told—”
woman’s face. Instead she murmured:
“I’ll have another look. You wouldn’t care for green I suppose, Madam? Or this peach?”
“Dreadful—perfectly dreadful! No, I won’t see anything more. Sheer waste of time—”
But now Madame Alfrege, detaching herself from the stout customer, had come down to
Edward and was looking at him inquiringly.
He pulled himself together.
“Is—could I speak—is Miss Hardcastle here?”
and she produced a smile whose graciousness was rather more unpleasant than her bad temper
would have been.
From inside the cubicle the fretful voice rose sharply.
“Do be careful! How clumsy you are. You’ve torn my hairnet.”
And Midge, her voice unsteady:
“I’m very sorry, Madam.”
“Miss Hardcastle will be free in a minute,” said Madame Alfrege. Her smile was now a leer.
A sandy- haired, bad- tempered- looking woman emerged from the cubicle carrying several
parcels and went out into the street. Midge, in a severe black dress, opened the door for her. She
looked pale and unhappy.
“I don’t get off until quarter past one,” she began.
It was ten past one.
Madame Alfrege said graciously:
“You can go off now if you like, Miss Hardcastle, as your friend has called for you.”
Midge murmured: “Oh thank you, Madame Alfrege,” and to Edward: “I’ll be ready in a
minute,” and disappeared into the back of the shop.
stood helplessly waiting.
Madame Alfrege was just about to enter into arch conversation with him when the door opened
and an opulent-looking woman with a Pekinese came in, and Madame Alfrege’s business instincts
took her forward to the newcomer.
shop into the street.
“My God,” he said, “is that the sort of thing you have to put up with? I heard that damned
woman talking to you behind the curtain. How can you stick it, Midge? Why didn’t you throw the
damned frocks at her head?”
“I’d soon lose my job if I did things like that.”
“But don’t you want to fling things at a woman of that kind?”
Midge drew a deep breath.
“Of course I do. And there are times, especially at the end of a hot week during the summer
sales, when I am afraid that one day I shall let go and just tell everyone exactly where they get off
—instead of ‘Yes, Madam,’ ‘No, Madam’—‘I’ll see if we have anything else, Madam.’”
“Midge, dear little Midge, you can’t put up with all this!”
Midge laughed a little shakily.
“Don’t be upset, Edward. Why on earth did you have to come here? Why not ring up?”
“I wanted to see for myself. I’ve been worried.” He paused and then broke out, “Why, Lucy
wouldn’t talk to a scullery maid the way that woman talked to you. It’s all wrong that you should
have to put up with insolence and rudeness. Good God, Midge, I’d like to take you right out of it
all down to Ainswick. I’d like to hail a taxi, bundle you into it, and take you down to Ainswick
now by the 2:15.”
Midge stopped. Her assumed nonchalance38 fell from her. She had had a long tiring morning with
“Well, then, why don’t you? There are plenty of taxis!”
He stared at her, taken aback by her sudden fury. She went on, her anger flaming up:
“Why do you have to come along and say these things? You don’t mean them. Do you think it
makes it any easier after I’ve had the hell of a morning to be reminded that there are places like
you’d like to take me out of it all? All very sweet and insincere. You don’t really mean a word of
it. Don’t you know that I’d sell my soul to catch the 2:15 to Ainswick and get away from
everything? I can’t bear even to think of Ainswick, do you understand? You mean well, Edward,
but you’re cruel! Saying things—just saying things….”
They faced each other, seriously incommoding the lunchtime crowd in Shaftesbury Avenue.
Yet they were conscious of nothing but each other. Edward was staring at her like a man suddenly
aroused from sleep.
He said: “All right then, damn it. You’re coming to Ainswick by the 2:15!”
He raised his stick and hailed a passing taxi. It drew into the kerb. Edward opened the door, and
Midge, slightly dazed, got in. Edward said: “Paddington Station” to the driver and followed her in.
stared straight ahead of him.
Edward said shortly:
“It wasn’t bluff.”
The taxi started forward again with a jerk.
It was not until the taxi turned left in Edgware Road into Cambridge Terrace that Edward
He said: “We can’t catch the 2:15,” and tapping on the glass he said to the driver: “Go to the
Berkeley.”
Midge said coldly: “Why can’t we catch the 2:15? It’s only twenty-five past one now.”
Edward smiled at her.
“You haven’t got any luggage, little Midge. No nightgowns or toothbrushes or country shoes.
There’s a 4:15, you know. We’ll have some lunch now and talk things over.”
Midge sighed.
“That’s so like you, Edward. To remember the practical side. Impulse doesn’t carry you very
far, does it? Oh, well, it was a nice dream while it lasted.”
She slipped her hand into his and gave him her old smile.
“I’m sorry I stood on the pavement and abused you like a fish-wife,” she said. “But you know,
Edward, you were irritating.”
“Yes,” he said. “I must have been.”
They went into the Berkeley happily side by side. They got a table by the window and Edward
ordered an excellent lunch.
As they finished their chicken, Midge sighed and said: “I ought to hurry back to the shop. My
time’s up.”
“You’re going to take decent time over your lunch today, even if I have to go back and buy half
the clothes in the shop!”
“Dear Edward, you are really rather sweet.”
They ate Crêpes Suzette, and then the waiter brought them coffee. Edward stirred his sugar in
with his spoon.
He said gently:
“You really do love Ainswick, don’t you?”
there isn’t any question of the 4:15—but don’t rub it in.”
Edward smiled. “No, I’m not proposing that we catch the 4:15. But I am suggesting that you
come to Ainswick, Midge. I’m suggesting that you come there for good—that is, if you can put up
with me.”
keep steady.
“What do you really mean, Edward?”
“I’m suggesting that you should marry me, Midge. I don’t suppose that I’m a very romantic
proposition. I’m a dull dog, I know that, and not much good at anything. I just read books and
potter around. But although I’m not a very exciting person, we’ve known each other a long time
and I think that Ainswick itself would—well, would compensate50. I think you’d be happy at
Ainswick, Midge. Will you come?”
Midge swallowed once or twice, then she said:
“But I thought—Henrietta—” and stopped.
Edward said, his voice level and unemotional:
“Yes, I’ve asked Henrietta to marry me three times. Each time she has refused. Henrietta knows
what she doesn’t want.”
There was a silence, and then Edward said:
“Well, Midge dear, what about it?”
Midge looked up at him. There was a catch in her voice. She said:
“It seems so extraordinary—to be offered heaven on a plate as it were, at the Berkeley!”
His face lighted up. He laid his hand over hers for a brief moment.
“Heaven on a plate,” he said. “So you feel like that about Ainswick. Oh, Midge, I’m glad.”
They sat there happily. Edward paid the bill and added an enormous tip. The people in the
restaurant were thinning out. Midge said with an effort:
“We’ll have to go. I suppose I’d better go back to Madame Alfrege. After all, she’s counting on
me. I can’t just walk out.”
“No, I suppose you’ll have to go back and resign or hand in your notice or whatever you call it.
You’re not to go on working there, though. I won’t have it. But first I thought we’d better go to
one of those shops in Bond Street where they sell rings.”
“Rings?”
“It’s usual, isn’t it?”
Midge laughed.
Edward said, pushing away a velvet-covered tray:
“Not emeralds.”
Henrietta in green tweeds—Henrietta in an evening dress like Chinese jade….
No, not emeralds.
Midge pushed away the tiny stabbing pain at her heart.
“Choose for me,” she said to Edward.
He bent over the tray before them. He picked out a ring with a single diamond. Not a very large
stone, but a stone of beautiful colour and fire.
“I’d like this.”
Midge nodded. She loved this display of Edward’s unerring and fastidious taste. She slipped it
on her finger as Edward and the shopman drew aside.
Edward wrote out a cheque for three hundred and forty-two pounds and came back to Midge
smiling.
He said: “Let’s go and be rude to Madame Alfrege.”
点击
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收听单词发音 |
1
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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2
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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3
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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4
subservience
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| n.有利，有益；从属（地位），附属性；屈从，恭顺；媚态 | |
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5
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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6
outspoken
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| adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的 | |
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7
insolence
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| n.傲慢；无礼；厚颜；傲慢的态度 | |
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8
entailed
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| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
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9
stipulated
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| vt.& vi.规定；约定adj.[法]合同规定的 | |
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10
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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11
relaxations
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| n.消遣( relaxation的名词复数 )；松懈；松弛；放松 | |
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12
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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13
relegate
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| v.使降级，流放，移交，委任 | |
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14
dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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15
impulsively
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| adv.冲动地 | |
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16
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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17
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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18
courageous
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| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
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19
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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20
meretricious
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| adj.华而不实的，俗艳的 | |
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21
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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22
embarrassment
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| n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫 | |
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23
platinum
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| n.白金 | |
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24
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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25
stout
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| adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的 | |
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26
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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27
cubicle
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| n.大房间中隔出的小室 | |
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28
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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29
deferential
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| adj. 敬意的，恭敬的 | |
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30
persuasive
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| adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的 | |
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31
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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32
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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33
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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34
preamble
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| n.前言；序文 | |
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35
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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36
winced
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| 赶紧避开，畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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38
nonchalance
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| n.冷淡，漠不关心 | |
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39
bullying
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| v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈 | |
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40
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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41
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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42
babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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43
defiant
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| adj.无礼的，挑战的 | |
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44
mutinous
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| adj.叛变的，反抗的；adv.反抗地，叛变地；n.反抗，叛变 | |
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45
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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46
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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47
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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48
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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49
rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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50
compensate
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| vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消 | |
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51
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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52
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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53
discreet
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| adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的 | |
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