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Lady Baltimore-Part36_Owen Wister(1860-1938)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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"He's a man you'll always know just where to find," declared Kitty.

"Charley is safe. He'll never take you by surprise, never fly out, never



do what other people don't do, never make any one stare at him by the way

he looks, or the way he acts, or anything he says, or--or--why, how you



can hesitate between those two men after that ridiculous, childish,

conspicuous, unusual scene on the bridge--"



"Unusual. Yes," said Hortense.

Kitty's eloquence and voice mounted together. "I should think it was



unusual! Tearing people's money up, and making a rude, awkward fuss that

everybody had to smooth over as hard as they could! Why, even Mr. Rodgers



says that sort of thing isn't done, and you're always saying he knows."

"No," said Hortense. "It isn't done."



"Well, I've never seen anything approaching such behavior in our set. And

he was ready to go further. Nobody knows where it might have gone to, if



Charley's perfect coolness hadn't rebuked him and brought him to his

senses. There's where it is, that's what I mean, Hortense, by saying you



could always feel safe with Charley."

Hortense put in a languid word. "I think I should always feel safe with



Mr. Mayrant."

But Kitty was a simple soul. "Indeed you couldn't, Hortense! I assure you



that you're mistaken. There's where you get so wrong about men sometimes.

I have been studying that boy for your sake ever since we got here, and I



know him through and through. And I tell you, you cannot count upon him.

He has not been used to our ways, and I see no promise of his getting



used to them. He will stay capable of outbreaks like that horrid one on

the bridge. Wherever you take him, wherever you put him, no matter how



much you show him of us, and the way we don't allow conspicuous things

like that to occur, believe me, Hortense, he'll never learn, he'll never



smooth down. You may brush his hair flat and keep him appearing like

other people for a while, but a time will come, something will happen,



and that boy'll be conspicuous. Charley would never be conspicuous."

"No," assented Hortense.



Kitty urged her point. "Why, I never saw or beard of anything like that

on the bridge--that is, among--among--us!"



"No," assented Hortense, again, and her voice dropped lower with each

statement. "One always sees the same thing. Always hears the same thing.



Always the same thing." These last almost inaudible words sank away into

the silent pool of Hortense's meditation.



"Have another cigarette," said Kitty. "You've let yours fall into the

water."



I heard them moving a little, and then they must have resumed their

seats.



"You'll drop out of it," Kitty now pursued.

"Into what shall I drop?"



"Just being asked to the big things everybody goes to and nobody counts.

For even with the way Charley has arranged about the phosphates, it will



not be enough to keep you in our swim--just by itself. He'll weigh more

than his money, because he'll stay different--too different."



"He was not so different last summer."

"Because he was not there long enough, my dear. He learnedbridge



quickly, and of course he had seen champagne before, and nobody had time

to notice him. But he'll be married now and they will notice him, and



they won't want him. To think of your dropping out!" Kitty became very

earnest. "To think of not seeing you among us! You'll be in none of the



small things; you'll never be asked to stay at the smart houses--why, not

even your name will be in the paper! Not a foreigner you entertain, not a



dinner you give, not a thing you wear, will ever be described next

morning. And Charley's so set on you, and you're so just exactly made for



each other, and it would all be so splendid, and cosey, and jolly! And to

throw all this away for that crude boy!" Kitty's disdain was high at the



thought of John.

Hortense took a little time over it "Once," she then stated, "he told me



he could drown in my hair as joyfully as the Duke of Clarence did in his

butt of Malmsey wine!"



Kitty gave a little scream. "Did you let him?"

"One has to guard one's value at times."



Kitty's disdain for John increased. "How crude!"

Hortense did not make any answer.



"How crude!" Kitty, after some silence, repeated. She seemed to have

found the right word.



Steps sounded upon the bridge, and the voice of Gazza cried out that the




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