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The Coxon Fund-Part8_HENRY JAMES(1843-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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protested at least against her being at Wimbledon, where in the



innocence of his heart he had originally brought her himself; he

called on her to put an end to their engagement in the only proper,



the only happy manner.

"And why in the world doesn't she do do?" I asked.



Adelaide had a pause. "She says you know."

Then on my also hesitating she added: "A condition he makes."



"The Coxon Fund?" I panted.

"He has mentioned to her his having told you about it."



"Ah but so little! Do you mean she has accepted the trust?"

"In the most splendid spirit--as a duty about which there can be no



two opinions." To which my friend added: "Of course she's

thinking of Mr. Saltram."



I gave a quick cry at this, which, in its violence, made my visitor

turn pale. "How very awful!"



"Awful?"

"Why, to have anything to do with such an idea one's self."



"I'm sure YOU needn't!" and Mrs. Mulville tossed her head.

"He isn't good enough!" I went on; to which she opposed a sound



almost as contentious as my own had been. This made me, with

genuine immediate horror, exclaim: "You haven't influenced her, I



hope!" and my emphasis brought back the blood with a rush to poor

Adelaide's face. She declared while she blushed--for I had



frightened her again--that she had never influenced anybody and

that the girl had only seen and heard and judged for herself. HE



had influenced her, if I would, as he did every one who had a soul:

that word, as we knew, even expressed feebly the power of the



things he said to haunt the mind. How could she, Adelaide, help it

if Miss Anvoy's mind was haunted? I demanded with a groan what



right a pretty girl engaged to a rising M.P. had to HAVE a mind;

but the only explanation my bewildered friend could give me was



that she was so clever. She regarded Mr. Saltram naturally as a

tremendous force for good. She was intelligent enough to



understand him and generous enough to admire.

"She's many things enough, but is she, among them, rich enough?" I



demanded. "Rich enough, I mean, to sacrifice such a lot of good

money?"



"That's for herself to judge. Besides, it's not her own money; she

doesn't in the least consider it so."



"And Gravener does, if not HIS own; and that's the whole

difficulty?"



"The difficulty that brought her back, yes: she had absolutely to

see her poor aunt's solicitor. It's clear that by Lady Coxon's



will she may have the money, but it's still clearer to her

conscience that the original condition, definite, intensely implied



on her uncle's part, is attached to the use of it. She can only

take one view of it. It's for the Endowment or it's for nothing."



"The Endowment," I permitted myself to observe, "is a conception

superficially sublime, but fundamentally ridiculous."



"Are you repeating Mr. Gravener's words?" Adelaide asked.

"Possibly, though I've not seen him for months. It's simply the



way it strikes me too. It's an old wife's tale. Gravener made

some reference to the legal aspect, but such an absurdly loose



arrangement has NO legal aspect."

"Ruth doesn't insist on that," said Mrs. Mulville; "and it's, for



her, exactly this technicalweakness that constitutes the force of

the moral obligation."



"Are you repeating her words?" I enquired. I forget what else

Adelaide said, but she said she was magnificent. I thought of



George Gravener confronted with such magnificence as that, and I

asked what could have made two such persons ever suppose they



understood each other. Mrs. Mulville assured me the girl loved him

as such a woman could love and that she suffered as such a woman



could suffer. Nevertheless she wanted to see ME. At this I sprang

up with a groan. "Oh I'm so sorry!--when?" Small though her sense



of humour, I think Adelaide laughed at my sequence. We discussed

the day, the nearest it would be convenient I should come out; but



before she went I asked my visitor how long she had been acquainted

with these prodigies.



"For several weeks, but I was pledged to secrecy."

"And that's why you didn't write?"



"I couldn't very well tell you she was with me without telling you




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