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Awakening & Selected Short Stories-Part15_Kate Chopin(1851-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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found trace of them from that day to this. It was a pure

invention. She said that Madame Antoine had related it to her.



That, also, was an invention. Perhaps it was a dream she had had.

But every glowing word seemed real to those who listened. They



could feel the hot breath of the Southern night; they could hear

the long sweep of the pirogue through the glistening moonlit water,



the beating of birds' wings, rising startled from among the reeds

in the salt-water pools; they could see the faces of the lovers,



pale, close together, rapt in oblivious forgetfulness, drifting

into the unknown.



The champagne was cold, and its subtle fumes played fantastic

tricks with Edna's memory that night.



Outside, away from the glow of the fire and the soft

lamplight, the night was chill and murky. The Doctor doubled his



old-fashioned cloak across his breast as he strode home through the

darkness. He knew his fellow-creatures better than most men; knew



that inner life which so seldom unfolds itself to unanointed* eyes.

He was sorry he had accepted Pontellier's invitation. He was



growing old, and beginning to need rest and an imperturbed spirit.

He did not want the secrets of other lives thrust upon him.



"I hope it isn't Arobin," he muttered to himself as he walked.

"I hope to heaven it isn't Alcee Arobin."



XXIV

Edna and her father had a warm, and almost violentdispute



upon the subject of her refusal to attend her sister's wedding.

Mr. Pontellier declined to interfere, to interpose either his



influence or his authority. He was following Doctor Mandelet's

advice, and letting her do as she liked. The Colonel reproached



his daughter for her lack of filial kindness and respect, her want

of sisterly affection and womanly consideration. His arguments



were labored and unconvincing. He doubted if Janet would accept

any excuse--forgetting that Edna had offered none. He doubted if



Janet would ever speak to her again, and he was sure Margaret would

not.



Edna was glad to be rid of her father when he finally took

himself off with his wedding garments and his bridal gifts, with



his padded shoulders, his Bible reading, his "toddies" and

ponderous oaths.



Mr. Pontellier followed him closely. He meant to stop at the

wedding on his way to New York and endeavor by every means which



money and love could devise to atone somewhat for Edna's

incomprehensible action.



"You are too lenient, too lenient by far, Leonce," asserted

the Colonel. "Authority, coercion are what is needed. Put your



foot down good and hard; the only way to manage a wife. Take my

word for it."



The Colonel was perhaps unaware that he had coerced his own

wife into her grave. Mr. Pontellier had a vague suspicion of it



which he thought it needless to mention at that late day.

Edna was not so consciously gratified at her husband's leaving



home as she had been over the departure of her father. As the day

approached when he was to leave her for a comparatively long stay,



she grew melting and affectionate, remembering his many acts of consideration

and his repeated expressions of an ardentattachment. She was solicitous



about his health and his welfare. She bustled around, looking after

his clothing, thinking about heavy underwear, quite as Madame Ratignolle



would have done under similar circumstances. She cried when he went away,

calling him her dear, good friend, and she was quite certain she would



grow lonely before very long and go to join him in New York.

But after all, a radiant peace settled upon her when she at



last found herself alone. Even the children were gone. Old Madame

Pontellier had come herself and carried them off to Iberville with



their quadroon. The old madame did not venture to say she was

afraid they would be neglected during Leonce's absence; she hardly



ventured to think so. She was hungry for them--even a little

fierce in her attachment. She did not want them to be wholly



"children of the pavement," she always said when begging to have

them for a space. She wished them to know the country, with its



streams, its fields, its woods, its freedom, so delicious to the

young. She wished them to taste something of the life their father






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