"Really!" Lord Lambeth exclaimed again and wondered whether all American
ladies had such a
passion for generalizing as these two.
He sat there a good while: there was a great deal of talk;
it was all very friendly and
lively and jolly. Everyone present,
sooner or later, said something to him, and seemed to make
a particular point of addressing him by name. Two or three other
persons came in, and there was a shifting of seats and c
hangingof places; the gentlemen all entered into
intimate conversation
with the two Englishmen, made them
urgent offers of
hospitality,
and hoped they might frequently be of service to them.
They were afraid Lord Lambeth and Mr. Beaumont were not very
comfortable at their hotel; that it was not, as one of them said,
"so private as those dear little English inns of yours."
This last gentleman went on to say that unfortunately,
as yet, perhaps,
privacy was not quite so easily obtained
in America as might be desired; still, he continued,
you could generally get it by paying for it; in fact,
you could get everything in America nowadays by paying for it.
American life was certainly growing a great deal more private;
it was growing very much like England. Everything at Newport,
for
instance, was
thoroughly private; Lord Lambeth would
probably be struck with that. It was also represented to
the strangers that it mattered very little whether their hotel
was
agreeable, as
everyone would want them to make visits;
they would stay with other people, and, in any case,
they would be a great deal at Mrs. Westgate's. They would find
that very
charming; it was the pleasantest house in Newport.
It was a pity Mr. Westgate was always away; he was a man
of the highest ability--very acute, very acute. He worked like
a horse, and he left his wife--well, to do about as she liked.
He liked her to enjoy herself, and she seemed to know how.
She was
extremelybrilliant and a splendid talker.
Some people preferred her sister; but Miss Alden was very different;
she was in a different style
altogether. Some people even
thought her prettier, and, certainly, she was not so sharp.
She was more in the Boston style; she had lived a great deal
in Boston, and she was very highly educated. Boston girls,
it was propounded, were more like English young ladies.
Lord Lambeth had
presently a chance to test the truth of this proposition,
for on the company rising in compliance with a
suggestion from their
hostess that they should walk down to the rocks and look at the sea,
the young Englishman again found himself, as they strolled across the grass,
in proximity to Mrs. Westgate's sister. Though she was but a girl of twenty,
she appeared to feel the
obligation to exert an active
hospitality; and this
was, perhaps, the more to be noticed as she seemed by nature a reserved
and retiring person, and had little of her sister's fraternizing quality.
She was perhaps rather too thin, and she was a little pale; but as she moved
slowly over the grass, with her arms
hanging at her sides, looking gravely
for a moment at the sea and then
brightly, for all her
gravity, at him,
Lord Lambeth thought her at least as pretty as Mrs. Westgate, and reflected
that if this was the Boston style the Boston style was very
charming.
He thought she looked very clever; he could imagine that she was
highly educated; but at the same time she seemed gentle and graceful.
For all her cleverness, however, he felt that she had to think a little
what to say; she didn't say the first thing that came into her head;
he had come from a different part of the world and from a different society,
and she was
trying to adapt her conversation. The others were scattering
themselves near the rocks; Mrs. Westgate had
charge of Percy Beaumont.
"Very jolly place, isn't it?" said Lord Lambeth.
"It's a very jolly place to sit."
"Very
charming," said the young girl. "I often sit here;
there are all kinds of cozy corners--as if they had been
made on purpose."
"Ah! I suppose you have had some of them made," said the young man.
Miss Alden looked at him a moment. "Oh no, we have had nothing made.
It's pure nature."
"I should think you would have a few little benches--rustic seats
and that sort of thing. It might be so jolly to sit here, you know,"
Lord Lambeth went on.
"I am afraid we haven't so many of those things as you,"
said the young girl thoughtfully.
"I daresay you go in for pure nature, as you were
saying.
Nature over here must be so grand, you know." And Lord Lambeth
looked about him.
The little coast line hereabouts was very pretty, but it was not
at all grand, and Miss Alden appeared to rise to a perception
of this fact. "I am afraid it seems to you very rough," she said.
"It's not like the coast
scenery in Kingsley's novels."
"Ah, the novels always overdo it, you know," Lord Lambeth rejoined.
"You must not go by the novels."
They were wandering about a little on the rocks, and they stopped
and looked down into a narrow chasm where the rising tide made
a curious bellowing sound. It was loud enough to prevent their
hearing each other, and they stood there for some moments in silence.
The young girl looked at her
companion, observing him attentively,
but covertly, as women, even when very young, know how to do.
Lord Lambeth repaid
observation; tall, straight, and strong,
he was handsome as certain young Englishmen, and certain young
Englishmen almost alone, are handsome; with a perfect finish
of feature and a look of
intellectual" target="_blank" title="n.知识分子">
intellectualrepose and gentle good temper
which seemed somehow to be
consequent upon his well-cut nose and chin.
And to speak of Lord Lambeth's expression of
intellectual" target="_blank" title="n.知识分子">
intellectualreposeis not simply a civil way of
saying that he looked stupid.
He was
evidently not a young man of an
irritableimagination;
he was not, as he would himself have said,
tremendously" target="_blank" title="ad.可怕地;极大地">
tremendously clever;
but though there was a kind of appealing dullness in his eye,
he looked
thoroughlyreasonable and
competent, and his appearance
proclaimed that to be a
nobleman, an
athlete, and an excellent
fellow was a
sufficientlybrilliantcombination of qualities.
The young girl beside him, it may be attested without further delay,
thought him the handsomest young man she had ever seen;
and Bessie Alden's
imagination,
unlike that of her
companion,
was
irritable. He, however, was also making up his mind that she
was uncommonly pretty.
"I daresay it's very gay here, that you have lots of balls and parties,"
he said; for, if he was not
tremendously" target="_blank" title="ad.可怕地;极大地">
tremendously clever, he rather prided himself
on having, with women, a sufficiency of conversation.
"Oh, yes, there is a great deal going on," Bessie Alden replied.
"There are not so many balls, but there are a good many other things.
You will see for yourself; we live rather in the midst of it."
"It's very kind of you to say that. But I thought you Americans
were always dancing."
"I suppose we dance a good deal; but I have never seen much of it.
We don't do it much, at any rate, in summer. And I am sure,"
said Bessie Alden, "that we don't have so many balls as you
have in England."
"Really!" exclaimed Lord Lambeth. "Ah, in England it all depends, you know."
"You will not think much of our gaieties," said the young girl,
looking at him with a little
mixture of interrogation and decision
which was
peculiar to her. The interrogation seemed
earnest and
the decision seemed arch; but the
mixture, at any rate, was
charming.
"Those things, with us, are much less splendid than in England."
"I fancy you don't mean that," said Lord Lambeth, laughing.
"I assure you I mean everything I say," the young girl declared.
"Certainly, from what I have read about English society,
it is very different."
"Ah well, you know," said her
companion, "those things are
often described by fellows who know nothing about them.
You mustn't mind what you read."
"Oh, I SHALL mind what I read!" Bessie Alden rejoined.
"When I read Thackeray and George Eliot, how can I help minding them?"
"Ah well, Thackeray, and George Eliot," said the young
nobleman;
"I haven't read much of them."
"Don't you suppose they know about society?" asked Bessie Alden.
"Oh, I daresay they know; they were so very clever.
But these
fashionable novels," said Lord Lambeth, "they are
awful rot, you know."
His
companion looked at him a moment with her dark blue eyes, and then
she looked down in the chasm where the water was tumbling about.
"Do you mean Mrs. Gore, for
instance?" she said
presently,
raising her eyes.
"I am afraid I haven't read that, either," was the young
man's rejoinder, laughing a little and blushing.
"I am afraid you'll think I am not very
intellectual" target="_blank" title="n.知识分子">
intellectual."
"Reading Mrs. Gore is no proof of
intellect. But I like
reading everything about English life--even poor books.
I am so curious about it."
"Aren't ladies always curious?" asked the young man jestingly.
But Bessie Alden appeared to desire to answer his question seriously.
"I don't think so--I don't think we are enough so--that we care
about many things. So it's all the more of a
compliment," she added,
"that I should want to know so much about England."
The logic here seemed a little close; but Lord Lambeth, made conscious
of a
compliment, found his natural
modesty just at hand.
"I am sure you know a great deal more than I do."
"I really think I know a great deal--for a person who has never been there."
"Have you really never been there?" cried Lord Lambeth. "Fancy!"
"Never--except in
imagination," said the young girl.
"Fancy!"
repeated her
companion. "But I daresay you'll go soon, won't you?"
"It's the dream of my life!" declared Bessie Alden, smiling.
"But your sister seems to know a
tremendous lot about London,"
Lord Lambeth went on.
The young girl was silent a moment. "My sister and I are two
very different persons," she
presently said. "She has been
a great deal in Europe. She has been in England several times.
She has known a great many English people."
"But you must have known some, too," said Lord Lambeth.
"I don't think that I have ever
spoken to one before.
You are the first Englishman that--to my knowledge--
I have ever talked with."
Bessie Alden made this statement with a certain
gravity--
almost, as it seemed to Lord Lambeth, an impressiveness.
Attempts at impressiveness always made him feel awkward,
and he now began to laugh and swing his stick. "Ah, you
would have been sure to know!" he said. And then he added,
after an
instant, "I'm sorry I am not a better specimen."
The young girl looked away; but she smiled, laying aside her impressiveness.
"You must remember that you are only a beginning," she said.
Then she retraced her steps, leading the way back to the lawn, where they
saw Mrs. Westgate come toward them with Percy Beaumont still at her side.
"Perhaps I shall go to England next year," Miss Alden continued;
"I want to,
immensely. My sister is going to Europe, and she has
asked me to go with her. If we go, I shall make her stay as long
as possible in London."
"Ah, you must come in July," said Lord Lambeth.
"That's the time when there is most going on."
"I don't think I can wait till July," the young girl rejoined.
"By the first of May I shall be very impatient." They had gone further,
and Mrs. Westgate and her
companion were near them. "Kitty," said
Miss Alden, "I have given out that we are going to London next May.
So please to conduct yourself accordingly."
Percy Beaumont wore a somewhat animated--even a
slightly irritated--air.
He was by no means so handsome a man as his cousin, although in
his cousin's
absence he might have passed for a
striking specimen
of the tall,
muscular, fair-bearded, clear-eyed Englishman.
Just now Beaumont's clear eyes, which were small and of a pale
gray color, had a rather troubled light, and, after glancing at
Bessie Alden while she spoke, he rested them upon his kinsman.
Mrs. Westgate
meanwhile, with her superfluously pretty gaze,
looked at
everyone alike.
"You had better wait till the time comes," she said to her sister.
- passion [´pæʃən] n.激情;激怒;恋爱 (初中英语单词)
- lively [´laivli] a.活泼的;热烈的 (初中英语单词)
- everyone [´evriwʌn] pron.=everybody 每人 (初中英语单词)
- intimate [´intimit] a.亲密的 n.知己 (初中英语单词)
- instance [´instəns] n.例子,实例,例证 (初中英语单词)
- thoroughly [´θʌrəli] ad.完全地,彻底地 (初中英语单词)
- agreeable [ə´gri:əbəl] a.适合的;符合的 (初中英语单词)
- charming [´tʃɑ:miŋ] a.可爱的;极好的 (初中英语单词)
- extremely [ik´stri:mli] ad.极端地;非常地 (初中英语单词)
- brilliant [´briliənt] a.灿烂的;杰出的 (初中英语单词)
- altogether [,ɔ:ltə´geðə] ad.完全;总而言之 (初中英语单词)
- presently [´prezəntli] ad.不久;目前 (初中英语单词)
- suggestion [sə´dʒestʃən] n.建议,提议;暗示 (初中英语单词)
- obligation [,ɔbli´geiʃən] n.义务;职责;合约 (初中英语单词)
- charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费;冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
- companion [kəm´pæniən] n.同伴;同事;伴侣 (初中英语单词)
- observation [,ɔbzə´veiʃən] n.观测;注意;意义 (初中英语单词)
- evidently [´evidəntli] ad.明显地 (初中英语单词)
- reasonable [´rizənəbəl] a.合理的;有理智的 (初中英语单词)
- sufficiently [sə´fiʃəntli] ad.充分地,足够地 (初中英语单词)
- combination [,kɔmbi´neiʃən] n.结合;联合;团体 (初中英语单词)
- imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)
- unlike [,ʌn´laik] a.不同的 prep.不象... (初中英语单词)
- mixture [´mikstʃə] n.混合;混合比;混合物 (初中英语单词)
- peculiar [pi´kju:liə] a.特有的;奇异的 (初中英语单词)
- earnest [´ə:nist] a.认真的 n.认真;诚恳 (初中英语单词)
- tremendous [tri´mendəs] a.可怕的;巨大的 (初中英语单词)
- spoken [´spəukən] speak的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- instant [´instənt] a.立即的 n.紧迫;瞬间 (初中英语单词)
- slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地;细长的 (初中英语单词)
- absence [´æbsəns] n.不在,缺席;缺乏 (初中英语单词)
- striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的,明显的 (初中英语单词)
- meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间;同时 (初中英语单词)
- hospitality [,hɔspi´tæliti] n.好客,殷勤 (高中英语单词)
- hanging [´hæŋiŋ] n.绞刑 a.悬挂着的 (高中英语单词)
- brightly [´braitli] ad.明亮地;聪明地 (高中英语单词)
- gravity [´græviti] n.严肃;严重;重力 (高中英语单词)
- scenery [´si:nəri] n.舞台布景 (高中英语单词)
- intellectual [,inti´lektʃuəl] n.知识分子 (高中英语单词)
- repose [ri´pəuz] v.&n.(使)休息;安息 (高中英语单词)
- saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语;言论;格言 (高中英语单词)
- competent [´kɔmpitənt] a.能干的,有资格的 (高中英语单词)
- fashionable [´fæʃənəbəl] a.流行的,时髦的 (高中英语单词)
- compliment [´kɔmplimənt] n.敬意 vt.赞美;祝贺 (高中英语单词)
- repeated [ri´pi:tid] a.反复的;重复的 (高中英语单词)
- muscular [´mʌskjulə] a.肌肉的;强有力的 (高中英语单词)
- urgent [´ə:dʒənt] a.急迫的,紧急的 (英语四级单词)
- privacy [´praivəsi, -pri] n.隐退;独处;秘密 (英语四级单词)
- trying [´traiiŋ] a.难堪的;费劲的 (英语四级单词)
- consequent [´kɔnsikwənt] a.因...而起的 (英语四级单词)
- tremendously [tri´mendəsli] ad.可怕地;极大地 (英语四级单词)
- nobleman [´nəublmən] n.贵族 (英语四级单词)
- athlete [´æθlit, ´æθli:t] n.体育家;运动员 (英语四级单词)
- intellect [´intilekt] n.智力;有才智的人 (英语四级单词)
- modesty [´mɔdisti] n.谨慎;端庄;羞怯 (英语四级单词)
- immensely [i´mensli] ad.极大地,无限地 (英语四级单词)
- irritable [´iritəbəl] a.急躁的;过敏的 (英语六级单词)