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Penelope's English Experiences-Part3_Kate Douglas Wiggin(1856-1923)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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of her nearness is irresistible; because, in fine, he cannot wait

until he finds a more secluded spot: nay, verily, he embraces her



because--tell me, infatuated fruiterers, poulterers, soldiers,

haberdashers (limited), what is your reason? For it does not appear



to the casual eye. Stormy weather does not vex the calm of the Park

Lover, for 'the rains of Marly do not wet' when one is in love. By



a clever manipulation of four arms and four hands they can manage an

umbrella and enfold each other at the same time, though a feminine



macintosh is well known to be ill adapted to the purpose, and a

continuous drizzle would dampen almost any other lover in the



universe.

The park embrace, as nearly as I can analyse it, seems to be one



part instinct, one part duty, one part custom, and one part reflex

action. I have purposely omitted pleasure (which, in the analysis



of the ordinary embrace, reduces all the other ingredients to an

almost invisible faction), because I fail to find it; but I am



willing to believe that in some rudimentary form it does exist,

because man attends to no purelyunpleasant matter with such



praiseworthy assiduity. Anything more fixedly stolid than the Park

Lover when he passes his arm round his chosen one and takes her



crimson hand in his, I have never seen; unless, indeed, it be the

fixed stolidity of the chosen one herself. I had not at first the



assurance even to glance at them as I passed by, blushing myself to

the roots of my hair, though the offenders themselves never changed



colour. Many a time have I walked out of my way or lowered my

parasol, for fear of invading their Sunday Eden; but a spirit of



inquiry awoke in me at last, and I began to make psychological

investigations, with a view to finding out at what point



embarrassment would appear in the Park Lover. I experimented (it

was a most arduous and unpleasant task) with upwards of two hundred



couples, and it is interesting to record that self-consciousness was

not apparent in a single instance. It was not merely that they



failed to resent my stopping in the path directly opposite them, or

my glaring most offensively at them, nor that they even allowed me



to sit upon their green bench and witness their chaste salutes, but

it was that they did fail to perceive me at all! There is a kind of



superb finish and completeness about their indifference to the

public gaze which removes it from ordinary immodesty, and gives it a



certain scientific value.

Chapter VII. A ducal tea-party.



Among all my English experiences, none occupies so important a place

as my forced meeting with the Duke of Cimicifugas. (There can be no



harm in my telling the incident, so long as I do not give the right

names, which are very well known to fame.) The Duchess of



Cimicifugas, who is charming, unaffected, and lovable, so report

says, has among her chosen friends an untitled woman whom we will



call Mrs. Apis Mellifica. I met her only daughter, Hilda, in

America, and we became quite intimate. It seems that Mrs. Apis



Mellifica, who has an income of 20,000 pounds a year, often

exchanges presents with the duchess, and at this time she had



brought with her from the Continent some rare old tapestries with

which to adorn a new morning-room at Cimicifugas House. These



tapestries were to be hung during the absence of the duchess in

Homburg, and were to greet her as a birthday surprise on her return.



Hilda Mellifica, who is one of the most talentedamateur artists in

London, and who has exquisite taste in all matters of decoration,



was to go down to the ducal residence to inspect the work, and she

obtained permission from Lady Veratrum (the confidentialcompanion






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