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Lady Baltimore-Part10_Owen Wister(1860-1938)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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But not, I trust, through bar sinister.



Chorus:

Gules! Gules! and a cuckoo peccant!



Such was the frivolousopening of my poem, which, as it progressed, grew

even less edifying; I have quoted this fragment merely to show you how



little reverence for the Selected Salic Scions was by this time left in

my spirit, and not because the verses themselves are in the least



meritorious; they should serve as a model for no serious-minded singer,

and they afford a strikinginstance of that volatile mood, not to say



that inclination to ribaldry, which will at seasons crop out in me, do

what I will. It is my hope that age may help me to subdue this, although



I have observed it in some very old men.

I did not send my poem to Aunt Carola, but I wrote her a letter, even



there and then, couched in terms which I believe were altogether

respectful. I deplored my lack of success in discovering the link that



was missing between me and king's blood; I intimated my conviction that

further effort on my part would still be met with failure; and I



renounced with fitting expressions of disappointment my candidateship for

the Scions thanking Aunt Carola for her generosity, by which I must now



no longer profit. I added that I should remain in Kings Port for the

present, as I was finding the climate of decided benefit to my health,



and the courtesy of the people an education in itself.

Whatever pain at missing the glory of becoming a Scion may have lingered



with me after this was much assuaged in a few days by my reading an

article in a New York paper, which gave an account of a meeting of my



Aunt's Society, held in that city. My attention was attracted to this

article by the prominent heading given to it: THEY WORE THEIR CROWNS.



This in very conspicuous Roman capitals, caused me to sit up. There must

have been truth in some of it, because the food eaten by the Scions was



mentioned as consisting of sandwiches, sherry and croquettes; yet I think

that the statement that the members present addressed each other



according to the royal families from which they severally traced descent,

as, for example, Brother Guelph and Sister Plantagenet, can scarce have



beers aught but an exaggeration; nevertheless, the article brought me

undeniable consolation for my disappointment.



After finishing my letter to Aunt Carola I should have hastened out to

post it and escape from Cowpens, had I not remembered that John Mayrant



had more or less promised to meet me here. Now, there was but a slender

chance that he boy would speak to me on the subject of his late



encounter; this I must learn from other sources; but he might speak to me

about something that would open a way for my hostile preparations against



Miss Rieppe. So far he had not touched upon his impending marriage in any

way, but this reserve concerning a fact generally known among the people



whom I was seeing could hardly go on long without becoming ridiculous. If

he should shun mention of it to-day, I would take this as a plain sign



that he did not look forward to it with the enthusiasm which a lover

ought to feel for his approaching bliss; and on such silence from him I



would begin, if I could, to undermine his intention of keeping an

engagement of the heart when the heart no longer entered into it.



While my thoughts continued to be busied over this lover and his

concerns, I noticed the works of William Shakespeare close beside me upon



a shelf; and although it was with no special purpose in mind that I took

out one of the volumes and sat down with it to wait for John Mayrant, in



a little while an inspiration came to me from its pages, so that I was

more anxious than ever the boy should not fail to meet me here in the



Library.

Was it the bruise on his forehead that had perturbed his manner just now



when he entered the Exchange? No, this was not likely to be the reason,

since he had been full as much embarrassed that first day of my seeing



him there, when he had given his order for Lady Baltimore so lamely that

the girl behind the counter had come to his aid. And what could it have



been that he had begun to tell her to-day as I was leaving the place? Was

the making of that cake again to be postponed on account of the General's



precarious health? And what had been the nature of the insult which young

John Mayrant had punished and was now commanded to shake hands over?



Could it in truth be the owner of the Hermana whom he had thrashed so




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