章节正文
"Oh, you mean by the heat?" replied Percy Beaumont.
"We were rather knocked up, but we feel wonderfully better.
We had such a jolly--a-- voyage down here. It's so very good
of you to mind."
"Yes, it's so very kind of you," murmured Lord Lambeth.
Mrs. Westgate stood smiling; she was extremely pretty. "Well, I did mind,"
she said; "and I thought of sending for you this morning to the Ocean House.
I am very glad you are better, and I am charmed you have arrived.
You must come round to the other side of the piazza." And she led the way,
with a light, smooth step, looking back at the young men and smiling.
The other side of the piazza was, as Lord Lambeth presently remarked,
a very jolly place. It was of the most liberal proportions,
and with its awnings, its fanciful chairs, its cushions and rugs,
its view of the ocean, close at hand, tumbling along the base of the low
cliffs whose level tops intervened in lawnlike smoothness, it formed
a charming complement to the drawing room. As such it was in course
of use at the present moment; it was occupied by a social circle.
There were several ladies and two or three gentlemen, to whom
Mrs. Westgate proceeded to introduce the distinguished strangers.
She mentioned a great many names very freely and distinctly;
the young Englishmen, shuffling about and bowing, were rather bewildered.
But at last they were provided with chairs--low, wicker chairs,
gilded, and tied with a great many ribbons--and one of the ladies
(a very young person, with a little snub nose and several dimples)
offered Percy Beaumont a fan. The fan was also adorned with pink
love knots; but Percy Beaumont declined it, although he was very hot.
Presently, however, it became cooler; the breeze from the sea
was delicious, the view was charming, and the people sitting there
looked exceedingly fresh and comfortable. Several of the ladies
seemed to be young girls, and the gentlemen were slim, fair youths,
such as our friends had seen the day before in New York.
The ladies were working upon bands of tapestry, and one of the young
men had an open book in his lap. Beaumont afterward learned
from one of the ladies that this young man had been reading aloud,
that he was from Boston and was very fond of reading aloud.
Beaumont said it was a great pity that they had interrupted him;
he should like so much (from all he had heard) to hear a Bostonian read.
Couldn't the young man be induced to go on?
"Oh no," said his informant very freely; "he wouldn't be able
to get the young ladies to attend to him now."
There was something very friendly, Beaumont perceived,
in the attitude of the company; they looked at the young Englishmen
with an air of animatedsympathy and interest; they smiled,
brightly and unanimously, at everything either of the visitors said.
Lord Lambeth and his companion felt that they were being made
very welcome. Mrs. Westgate seated herself between them, and,
talking a great deal to each, they had occasion to observe
that she was as pretty as their friend Littledale had promised.
She was thirty years old, with the eyes and the smile of a girl
of seventeen, and she was extremely light and graceful,
elegant, exquisite. Mrs. Westgate was extremely spontaneous.
She was very frank and demonstrative and appeared always--
while she looked at you delightedly with her beautiful
young eyes--to be making sudden confessions and concessions,
after momentary hesitations.
"We shall expect to see a great deal of you," she said to Lord
Lambeth with a kind of joyousearnestness. "We are very fond
of Englishmen here; that is, there are a great many we have been
fond of. After a day or two you must come and stay with us;
we hope you will stay a long time. Newport's a very nice place
when you come really to know it, when you know plenty of people.
Of course you and Mr. Beaumont will have no difficulty about that.
Englishmen are very well received here; there are almost always
two or three of them about. I think they always like it,
and I must say I should think they would. They receive ever
so much attention. I must say I think they sometimes get spoiled;
but I am sure you and Mr. Beaumont are proof against that.
My husband tells me you are a friend of Captain Littledale;
he was such a charming man. He made himself most agreeable here,
and I am sure I wonder he didn't stay. It couldn't have been
pleasanter for him in his own country, though, I suppose,
it is very pleasant in England, for English people.
I don't know myself; I have been there very little.
I have been a great deal abroad, but I am always on the Continent.
I must say I'm extremely fond of Paris; you know we Americans
always are; we go there when we die. Did you ever hear that before?
That was said by a great wit, I mean the good Americans;
but we are all good; you'll see that for yourself.
All I know of England is London, and all I know of London is
that place on that little corner, you know, where you buy jackets--
jackets with that coarse braid and those big buttons.
They make very good jackets in London, I will do you
the justice to say that. And some people like the hats;
but about the hats I was always a heretic; I always got
my hats in Paris. You can't wear an English hat--at least
I never could--unless you dress your hair a l'Anglaise;
and I must say that is a talent I have never possessed.
In Paris they will make things to suit your peculiarities;
but in England I think you like much more to have--how shall I
say it?--one thing for everybody. I mean as regards dress.
I don't know about other things; but I have always
supposed that in other things everything was different.
I mean according to the people--according to the classes,
and all that. I am afraid you will think that I don't take
a very favorable view; but you know you can't take a very
favorable view in Dover Street in the month of November.
That has always been my fate. Do you know Jones's Hotel
in Dover Street? That's all I know of England. Of course
everyone admits that the English hotels are your weak point.
There was always the most frightful fog; I couldn't see to try
my things on. When I got over to America--into the light--
I usually found they were twice too big. The next time I
mean to go in the season; I think I shall go next year.
I want very much to take my sister; she has never been to England.
I don't know whether you know what I mean by saying
that the Englishmen who come here sometimes get spoiled.
I mean that they take things as a matter of course--
things that are done for them. Now, naturally, they are
only a matter of course when the Englishmen are very nice.
But, of course, they are almost always very nice.
Of course this isn't nearly such an interesting country as England;
there are not nearly so many things to see, and we haven't your
country life. I have never seen anything of your country life;
when I am in Europe I am always on the Continent. But I have
heard a great deal about it; I know that when you are among
yourselves in the country you have the most beautiful time.
Of course we have nothing of that sort, we have nothing on
that scale. I don't apologize, Lord Lambeth; some Americans
are always apologizing; you must have noticed that.
We have the reputation of always boasting and bragging and
waving the American flag; but I must say that what strikes me
is that we are perpetually making excuses and trying to smooth
things over. The American flag has quite gone out of fashion;
it's very carefully folded up, like an old tablecloth.
Why should we apologize? The English never apologize--
do they? No; I must say I never apologize. You must take
us as we come--with all our imperfections on our heads.
Of course we haven't your country life, and your old ruins,
and your great estates, and your leisure class, and all that.
But if we haven't, I should think you might find it a pleasant change--
I think any country is pleasant where they have pleasant manners.
Captain Littledale told me he had never seen such pleasant manners
as at Newport, and he had been a great deal in European society.
Hadn't he been in the diplomatic service? He told me
the dream of his life was to get appointed to a diplomatic
post in Washington. But he doesn't seem to have succeeded.
I suppose that in England promotion--and all that sort of thing--
is fearfully slow. With us, you know, it's a great deal too fast.
You see, I admit our drawbacks. But I must confess I think Newport
is an ideal place. I don't know anything like it anywhere.
Captain Littledale told me he didn't know anything like it anywhere.
It's entirely different from most watering places;
it's a most charming life. I must say I think that when one
goes to a foreign country one ought to enjoy the differences.
Of course there are differences, otherwise what did one come
abroad for? Look for your pleasure in the differences,
Lord Lambeth; that's the way to do it; and then I am sure
you will find American society--at least Newport society--
most charming and most interesting. I wish very much my
husband were here; but he's dreadfully confined to New York.
I suppose you think that is very strange--for a gentleman.
But you see we haven't any leisure class."
Mrs. Westgate's discourse, delivered in a soft, sweet voice,
flowed on like a miniaturetorrent, and was interrupted by a
hundred little smiles, glances, and gestures, which might have
figured the irregularities and obstructions of such a stream.
Lord Lambeth listened to her with, it must be confessed,
a rather ineffectual attention, although he indulged in a good
many little murmurs and ejaculations of assent and deprecation.
He had no great faculty for apprehending generalizations.
There were some three or four indeed which, in the play
of his own intelligence, he had originated, and which had
seemed convenient at the moment; but at the present time
he could hardly have been said to follow Mrs. Westgate
as she darted gracefully about in the sea of speculation.
Fortunately she asked for no especial rejoinder,
for she looked about at the rest of the company as well,
and smiled at Percy Beaumont, on the other side of her,
as if he too much understand her and agree with her.
He was rather more successful than his companion;
for besides being, as we know, cleverer, his attention was
not vaguely distracted by close vicinity to a remarkably
interesting young girl, with dark hair and blue eyes.
This was the case with Lord Lambeth, to whom it occurred
after a while that the young girl with blue eyes and dark
hair was the pretty sister of whom Mrs. Westgate had spoken.
She presently turned to him with a remark which established
her identity.
"It's a great pity you couldn't have brought my brother-in-law with you.
It's a great shame he should be in New York in these days."
"Oh, yes; it's so very hot," said Lord Lambeth.
"It must be dreadful," said the young girl.
"I daresay he is very busy," Lord Lambeth observed.
"The gentlemen in America work too much," the young girl went on.
"Oh, do they? I daresay they like it," said her interlocutor.
"I don't like it. One never sees them."
"Don't you, really?" asked Lord Lambeth. "I shouldn't have fancied that."
"Have you come to study American manners?" asked the young girl.
"Oh, I don't know. I just came over for a lark. I haven't got long."
Here there was a pause, and Lord Lambeth began again. "But Mr. Westgate
will come down here, will not he?"
"I certainly hope he will. He must help to entertain you and Mr. Beaumont."
Lord Lambeth looked at her a little with his handsome brown eyes.
"Do you suppose he would have come down with us if we had urged him?"
Mr. Westgate's sister-in-law was silent a moment, and then,
"I daresay he would," she answered.
"Really!" said the young Englishman. "He was immensely civil
to Beaumont and me," he added.
"He is a dear good fellow," the young lady rejoined,
"and he is a perfect husband. But all Americans are that,"
she continued, smiling.
"We were rather knocked up, but we feel wonderfully better.
We had such a jolly--a-- voyage down here. It's so very good
of you to mind."
"Yes, it's so very kind of you," murmured Lord Lambeth.
Mrs. Westgate stood smiling; she was extremely pretty. "Well, I did mind,"
she said; "and I thought of sending for you this morning to the Ocean House.
I am very glad you are better, and I am charmed you have arrived.
You must come round to the other side of the piazza." And she led the way,
with a light, smooth step, looking back at the young men and smiling.
The other side of the piazza was, as Lord Lambeth presently remarked,
a very jolly place. It was of the most liberal proportions,
and with its awnings, its fanciful chairs, its cushions and rugs,
its view of the ocean, close at hand, tumbling along the base of the low
cliffs whose level tops intervened in lawnlike smoothness, it formed
a charming complement to the drawing room. As such it was in course
of use at the present moment; it was occupied by a social circle.
There were several ladies and two or three gentlemen, to whom
Mrs. Westgate proceeded to introduce the distinguished strangers.
She mentioned a great many names very freely and distinctly;
the young Englishmen, shuffling about and bowing, were rather bewildered.
But at last they were provided with chairs--low, wicker chairs,
gilded, and tied with a great many ribbons--and one of the ladies
(a very young person, with a little snub nose and several dimples)
offered Percy Beaumont a fan. The fan was also adorned with pink
love knots; but Percy Beaumont declined it, although he was very hot.
Presently, however, it became cooler; the breeze from the sea
was delicious, the view was charming, and the people sitting there
looked exceedingly fresh and comfortable. Several of the ladies
seemed to be young girls, and the gentlemen were slim, fair youths,
such as our friends had seen the day before in New York.
The ladies were working upon bands of tapestry, and one of the young
men had an open book in his lap. Beaumont afterward learned
from one of the ladies that this young man had been reading aloud,
that he was from Boston and was very fond of reading aloud.
Beaumont said it was a great pity that they had interrupted him;
he should like so much (from all he had heard) to hear a Bostonian read.
Couldn't the young man be induced to go on?
"Oh no," said his informant very freely; "he wouldn't be able
to get the young ladies to attend to him now."
There was something very friendly, Beaumont perceived,
in the attitude of the company; they looked at the young Englishmen
with an air of animatedsympathy and interest; they smiled,
brightly and unanimously, at everything either of the visitors said.
Lord Lambeth and his companion felt that they were being made
very welcome. Mrs. Westgate seated herself between them, and,
talking a great deal to each, they had occasion to observe
that she was as pretty as their friend Littledale had promised.
She was thirty years old, with the eyes and the smile of a girl
of seventeen, and she was extremely light and graceful,
elegant, exquisite. Mrs. Westgate was extremely spontaneous.
She was very frank and demonstrative and appeared always--
while she looked at you delightedly with her beautiful
young eyes--to be making sudden confessions and concessions,
after momentary hesitations.
"We shall expect to see a great deal of you," she said to Lord
Lambeth with a kind of joyousearnestness. "We are very fond
of Englishmen here; that is, there are a great many we have been
fond of. After a day or two you must come and stay with us;
we hope you will stay a long time. Newport's a very nice place
when you come really to know it, when you know plenty of people.
Of course you and Mr. Beaumont will have no difficulty about that.
Englishmen are very well received here; there are almost always
two or three of them about. I think they always like it,
and I must say I should think they would. They receive ever
so much attention. I must say I think they sometimes get spoiled;
but I am sure you and Mr. Beaumont are proof against that.
My husband tells me you are a friend of Captain Littledale;
he was such a charming man. He made himself most agreeable here,
and I am sure I wonder he didn't stay. It couldn't have been
pleasanter for him in his own country, though, I suppose,
it is very pleasant in England, for English people.
I don't know myself; I have been there very little.
I have been a great deal abroad, but I am always on the Continent.
I must say I'm extremely fond of Paris; you know we Americans
always are; we go there when we die. Did you ever hear that before?
That was said by a great wit, I mean the good Americans;
but we are all good; you'll see that for yourself.
All I know of England is London, and all I know of London is
that place on that little corner, you know, where you buy jackets--
jackets with that coarse braid and those big buttons.
They make very good jackets in London, I will do you
the justice to say that. And some people like the hats;
but about the hats I was always a heretic; I always got
my hats in Paris. You can't wear an English hat--at least
I never could--unless you dress your hair a l'Anglaise;
and I must say that is a talent I have never possessed.
In Paris they will make things to suit your peculiarities;
but in England I think you like much more to have--how shall I
say it?--one thing for everybody. I mean as regards dress.
I don't know about other things; but I have always
supposed that in other things everything was different.
I mean according to the people--according to the classes,
and all that. I am afraid you will think that I don't take
a very favorable view; but you know you can't take a very
favorable view in Dover Street in the month of November.
That has always been my fate. Do you know Jones's Hotel
in Dover Street? That's all I know of England. Of course
everyone admits that the English hotels are your weak point.
There was always the most frightful fog; I couldn't see to try
my things on. When I got over to America--into the light--
I usually found they were twice too big. The next time I
mean to go in the season; I think I shall go next year.
I want very much to take my sister; she has never been to England.
I don't know whether you know what I mean by saying
that the Englishmen who come here sometimes get spoiled.
I mean that they take things as a matter of course--
things that are done for them. Now, naturally, they are
only a matter of course when the Englishmen are very nice.
But, of course, they are almost always very nice.
Of course this isn't nearly such an interesting country as England;
there are not nearly so many things to see, and we haven't your
country life. I have never seen anything of your country life;
when I am in Europe I am always on the Continent. But I have
heard a great deal about it; I know that when you are among
yourselves in the country you have the most beautiful time.
Of course we have nothing of that sort, we have nothing on
that scale. I don't apologize, Lord Lambeth; some Americans
are always apologizing; you must have noticed that.
We have the reputation of always boasting and bragging and
waving the American flag; but I must say that what strikes me
is that we are perpetually making excuses and trying to smooth
things over. The American flag has quite gone out of fashion;
it's very carefully folded up, like an old tablecloth.
Why should we apologize? The English never apologize--
do they? No; I must say I never apologize. You must take
us as we come--with all our imperfections on our heads.
Of course we haven't your country life, and your old ruins,
and your great estates, and your leisure class, and all that.
But if we haven't, I should think you might find it a pleasant change--
I think any country is pleasant where they have pleasant manners.
Captain Littledale told me he had never seen such pleasant manners
as at Newport, and he had been a great deal in European society.
Hadn't he been in the diplomatic service? He told me
the dream of his life was to get appointed to a diplomatic
post in Washington. But he doesn't seem to have succeeded.
I suppose that in England promotion--and all that sort of thing--
is fearfully slow. With us, you know, it's a great deal too fast.
You see, I admit our drawbacks. But I must confess I think Newport
is an ideal place. I don't know anything like it anywhere.
Captain Littledale told me he didn't know anything like it anywhere.
It's entirely different from most watering places;
it's a most charming life. I must say I think that when one
goes to a foreign country one ought to enjoy the differences.
Of course there are differences, otherwise what did one come
abroad for? Look for your pleasure in the differences,
Lord Lambeth; that's the way to do it; and then I am sure
you will find American society--at least Newport society--
most charming and most interesting. I wish very much my
husband were here; but he's dreadfully confined to New York.
I suppose you think that is very strange--for a gentleman.
But you see we haven't any leisure class."
Mrs. Westgate's discourse, delivered in a soft, sweet voice,
flowed on like a miniaturetorrent, and was interrupted by a
hundred little smiles, glances, and gestures, which might have
figured the irregularities and obstructions of such a stream.
Lord Lambeth listened to her with, it must be confessed,
a rather ineffectual attention, although he indulged in a good
many little murmurs and ejaculations of assent and deprecation.
He had no great faculty for apprehending generalizations.
There were some three or four indeed which, in the play
of his own intelligence, he had originated, and which had
seemed convenient at the moment; but at the present time
he could hardly have been said to follow Mrs. Westgate
as she darted gracefully about in the sea of speculation.
Fortunately she asked for no especial rejoinder,
for she looked about at the rest of the company as well,
and smiled at Percy Beaumont, on the other side of her,
as if he too much understand her and agree with her.
He was rather more successful than his companion;
for besides being, as we know, cleverer, his attention was
not vaguely distracted by close vicinity to a remarkably
interesting young girl, with dark hair and blue eyes.
This was the case with Lord Lambeth, to whom it occurred
after a while that the young girl with blue eyes and dark
hair was the pretty sister of whom Mrs. Westgate had spoken.
She presently turned to him with a remark which established
her identity.
"It's a great pity you couldn't have brought my brother-in-law with you.
It's a great shame he should be in New York in these days."
"Oh, yes; it's so very hot," said Lord Lambeth.
"It must be dreadful," said the young girl.
"I daresay he is very busy," Lord Lambeth observed.
"The gentlemen in America work too much," the young girl went on.
"Oh, do they? I daresay they like it," said her interlocutor.
"I don't like it. One never sees them."
"Don't you, really?" asked Lord Lambeth. "I shouldn't have fancied that."
"Have you come to study American manners?" asked the young girl.
"Oh, I don't know. I just came over for a lark. I haven't got long."
Here there was a pause, and Lord Lambeth began again. "But Mr. Westgate
will come down here, will not he?"
"I certainly hope he will. He must help to entertain you and Mr. Beaumont."
Lord Lambeth looked at her a little with his handsome brown eyes.
"Do you suppose he would have come down with us if we had urged him?"
Mr. Westgate's sister-in-law was silent a moment, and then,
"I daresay he would," she answered.
"Really!" said the young Englishman. "He was immensely civil
to Beaumont and me," he added.
"He is a dear good fellow," the young lady rejoined,
"and he is a perfect husband. But all Americans are that,"
she continued, smiling.
- voyage [´vɔi-idʒ]
n.&vi.航海；航程；旅行 (初中英语单词) - extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地；非常地 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久；目前 (初中英语单词)
- liberal [´libərəl] a.大方的 n.开明的人 (初中英语单词)
- charming [´tʃɑ:miŋ] a.可爱的；极好的 (初中英语单词)
- freely [´fri:li] ad.自由地；慷慨地 (初中英语单词)
- breeze [bri:z] n.微风；不费力的事 (初中英语单词)
- delicious [di´liʃəs] a.美味的，可口的 (初中英语单词)
- working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
- reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
- sympathy [´simpəθi] n.同情，怜悯 (初中英语单词)
- companion [kəm´pæniən] n.同伴；同事；伴侣 (初中英语单词)
- welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
- agreeable [ə´gri:əbəl] a.适合的；符合的 (初中英语单词)
- abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
- coarse [kɔ:s] a.粗(糙)的；粗鲁的 (初中英语单词)
- talent [´tælənt] n.天才；才干；天资 (初中英语单词)
- favorable [´feivərəbəl] a.赞成的；顺利的 (初中英语单词)
- continent [´kɔntinənt] n.大陆，陆地 (初中英语单词)
- european [juərə´pi:ən] a.欧洲的 n.欧洲人 (初中英语单词)
- confess [kən´fes] vt.供认；坦白；承认 (初中英语单词)
- otherwise [´ʌðəwaiz] ad.另外 conj.否则 (初中英语单词)
- dreadfully [dredfuli] ad.可怕地；糟透地 (初中英语单词)
- faculty [´fækəlti] n.才干；天赋；院，系 (初中英语单词)
- intelligence [in´telidʒəns] n.智力；消息 (初中英语单词)
- convenient [kən´vi:niənt] a.方便的 (初中英语单词)
- entertain [,entə´tein] vt.招待；娱乐；使高兴 (初中英语单词)
- distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的，著名的 (高中英语单词)
- exceedingly [ik´si:diŋli] ad.非常地，极度地 (高中英语单词)
- exquisite [ik´skwizit] a.精巧的；敏锐的 (高中英语单词)
- joyous [´dʒɔiəs] a.充满快乐的 (高中英语单词)
- frightful [´fraitfəl] a.可怕的；不愉快的 (高中英语单词)
- leisure [´leʒə] n.空闲；悠闲；安定 (高中英语单词)
- discourse [´diskɔ:s] n.论文；演说；说教 (高中英语单词)
- miniature [´miniətʃə] n.缩样 a.雏型的 (高中英语单词)
- torrent [´tɔrənt] n.奔流，激流，洪流；迸发 (高中英语单词)
- assent [ə´sent] vi.&n.同意，赞成 (高中英语单词)
- wonderfully [´wʌndəfuli] ad.令人惊讶地；奇妙地 (英语四级单词)
- drawing [´drɔ:iŋ] n.画图；制图；图样 (英语四级单词)
- tapestry [´tæpistri] n.挂毯 (英语四级单词)
- momentary [´məuməntəri] a.瞬息间的 (英语四级单词)
- heretic [´heritik] n.异教徒 (英语四级单词)
- reputation [repju´teiʃən] n.名誉；名声；信誉 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的；费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- diplomatic [,diplə´mætik] a.外交的 (英语四级单词)
- gracefully [´greisfuli] ad.优美地，斯文地 (英语四级单词)
- vaguely [´veigli] ad.含糊地，暖昧地 (英语四级单词)
- vicinity [vi´siniti] n.邻近，附近，接近 (英语四级单词)
- immensely [i´mensli] ad.极大地，无限地 (英语四级单词)
- piazza [pi´ætsə] n.广场；市场 (英语六级单词)
- animated [´ænimeitid] a.栩栩如生的；活跃的 (英语六级单词)
- unanimously [ju:´næniməsli] ad.一致同意的 (英语六级单词)
- earnestness [´ə:nistnis] n.认真，急切；坚定 (英语六级单词)
- especial [i´speʃəl] a.特别的，特殊的 (英语六级单词)
- brother-in-law [´brʌðəinlɔ:] n.姐夫；妹夫；内弟 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
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