章节正文
against the next season. It is so d-- uncomfortable,
living at an inn."
This was the last sentence by which he could weary
Catherine's attention, for he was just then borne off by the
resistless pressure of a long string of passing ladies.
Her partner now drew near, and said, "That gentleman would
have put me out of patience, had he stayed with you half
a minute longer. He has no business to withdraw the attention
of my partner from me. We have entered into a contract
of mutualagreeableness for the space of an evening,
and all our agreeableness belongs solely to each other
for that time. Nobody can fasten themselves on the notice
of one, without injuring the rights of the other.
I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage.
Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties of both;
and those men who do not choose to dance or marry themselves,
have no business with the partners or wives of their neighbours."
"But they are such very different things!"
"--That you think they cannot be compared together."
"To be sure not. People that marry can never part,
but must go and keep house together. People that dance
only stand opposite each other in a long room for half
an hour."
"And such is your definition of matrimony and dancing.
Taken in that light certainly, their resemblance is
not striking; but I think I could place them in such a view.
You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage
of choice, woman only the power of refusal; that in both,
it is an engagement between man and woman, formed for
the advantage of each; and that when once entered into,
they belong exclusively to each other till the moment
of its dissolution; that it is their duty, each to
endeavour to give the other no cause for wishing that he
or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere, and their best
interest to keep their own imaginations from wandering
towards the perfections of their neighbours, or fancying
that they should have been better off with anyone else.
You will allow all this?"
"Yes, to be sure, as you state it, all this sounds
very well; but still they are so very different.
I cannot look upon them at all in the same light,
nor think the same duties belong to them."
"In one respect, there certainly is a difference.
In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support
of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable to the man;
he is to purvey, and she is to smile. But in dancing,
their duties are exactly changed; the agreeableness,
the compliance are expected from him, while she furnishes
the fan and the lavender water. That, I suppose, was the
difference of duties which struck you, as rendering the
conditions incapable of comparison."
"No, indeed, I never thought of that."
"Then I am quite at a loss. One thing, however, I must
observe. This disposition on your side is rather alarming.
You totally disallow any similarity in the obligations;
and may I not thence infer that your notions of the duties
of the dancing state are not so strict as your partner
might wish? Have I not reason to fear that if the gentleman
who spoke to you just now were to return, or if any other
gentleman were to address you, there would be nothing
to restrain you from conversing with him as long as you chose?"
"Mr. Thorpe is such a very particular friend of my
brother's, that if he talks to me, I must talk to him again;
but there are hardly three young men in the room besides
him that I have any acquaintance with."
"And is that to be my only security? Alas, alas!"
"Nay, I am sure you cannot have a better; for if I
do not know anybody, it is impossible for me to talk
to them; and, besides, I do not want to talk to anybody."
"Now you have given me a security worth having; and I
shall proceed with courage. Do you find Bath as agreeable
as when I had the honour of making the inquiry before?"
"Yes, quite--more so, indeed."
"More so! Take care, or you will forget to be
tired of it at the proper time. You ought to be tired
at the end of six weeks."
"I do not think I should be tired, if I were to stay
here six months."
"Bath, compared with London, has little variety,
and so everybody finds out every year. 'For six weeks,
I allow Bath is pleasant enough; but beyond that, it is
the most tiresome place in the world.' You would be told
so by people of all descriptions, who come regularly
every winter, lengthen their six weeks into ten or twelve,
and go away at last because they can afford to stay
no longer."
"Well, other people must judge for themselves,
and those who go to London may think nothing of Bath.
But I, who live in a small retired village in the country,
can never find greater sameness in such a place as this
than in my own home; for here are a variety of amusements,
a variety of things to be seen and done all day long, which I
can know nothing of there."
"You are not fond of the country."
"Yes, I am. I have always lived there, and always
been very happy. But certainly there is much more
sameness in a country life than in a Bath life.
One day in the country is exactly like another."
"But then you spend your time so much more rationally
in the country."
"Do I?"
"Do you not?"
"I do not believe there is much difference."
"Here you are in pursuit only of amusement all day long."
"And so I am at home--only I do not find so much of it.
I walk about here, and so I do there; but here I see
a variety of people in every street, and there I can
only go and call on Mrs. Allen."
Mr. Tilney was very much amused.
"Only go and call on Mrs. Allen!" he repeated.
"What a picture of intellectual poverty! However, when you
sink into this abyss again, you will have more to say.
You will be able to talk of Bath, and of all that you
did here."
"Oh! Yes. I shall never be in want of something
to talk of again to Mrs. Allen, or anybody else.
I really believe I shall always be talking of Bath,
when I am at home again--I do like it so very much.
If I could but have Papa and Mamma, and the rest of
them here, I suppose I should be too happy! James's coming
(my eldest brother) is quite delightful--and especially
as it turns out that the very family we are just got
so intimate with are his intimate friends already.
Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?"
"Not those who bring such fresh feelings of every
sort to it as you do. But papas and mammas, and brothers,
and intimate friends are a good deal gone by, to most of
the frequenters of Bath--and the honest relish of balls
and plays, and everyday sights, is past with them."
Here their conversation closed, the demands of the dance
becoming now too importunate for a divided attention.
Soon after their reaching the bottom of the set,
Catherine perceived herself to be earnestly regarded by a
gentleman who stood among the lookers-on, immediately behind
her partner. He was a very handsome man, of a commanding
aspect, past the bloom, but not past the vigour of life;
and with his eye still directed towards her, she saw him
presently address Mr. Tilney in a familiar whisper.
Confused by his notice, and blushing from the fear of
its being excited by something wrong in her appearance,
she turned away her head. But while she did so,
the gentleman retreated, and her partner, coming nearer,
said, "I see that you guess what I have just been asked.
That gentleman knows your name, and you have a right
to know his. It is General Tilney, my father."
Catherine's answer was only "Oh!"--but it was an "Oh!"
expressing everything needful: attention to his words,
and perfect reliance on their truth. With real interest
and strong admiration did her eye now follow the general,
as he moved through the crowd, and "How handsome a family
they are!" was her secret remark.
In chatting with Miss Tilney before the evening concluded,
a new source of felicity arose to her. She had never taken
a country walk since her arrival in Bath. Miss Tilney,
to whom all the commonly frequented environs were familiar,
spoke of them in terms which made her all eagerness
to know them too; and on her openly fearing that she
might find nobody to go with her, it was proposed by
the brother and sister that they should join in a walk,
some morning or other. "I shall like it," she cried,
"beyond anything in the world; and do not let us put it
off--let us go tomorrow." This was readily agreed to,
with only a proviso of Miss Tilney's, that it did not rain,
which Catherine was sure it would not. At twelve
o'clock, they were to call for her in Pulteney Street;
and "Remember--twelve o'clock," was her parting speech
to her new friend. Of her other, her older, her more
established friend, Isabella, of whose fidelity and worth
she had enjoyed a fortnight's experience, she scarcely
saw anything during the evening. Yet, though longing
to make her acquainted with her happiness, she cheerfully
submitted to the wish of Mr. Allen, which took them
rather early away, and her spirits danced within her,
as she danced in her chair all the way home.
CHAPTER 11
The morrow brought a very sober-looking morning,
the sun making only a few efforts to appear, and Catherine
augured from it everything most favourable to her wishes.
A bright morning so early in the year, she allowed,
would generally turn to rain, but a cloudy one foretold
improvement as the day advanced. She applied to
Mr. Allen for confirmation of her hopes, but Mr. Allen,
not having his own skies and barometer about him,
declined giving any absolute promise of sunshine.
She applied to Mrs. Allen, and Mrs. Allen's opinion was
more positive. "She had no doubt in the world of its
being a very fine day, if the clouds would only go off,
and the sun keep out."
At about eleven o'clock, however, a few specks of small
rain upon the windows caught Catherine's watchful eye,
and "Oh! dear, I do believe it will be wet," broke from
her in a most desponding tone.
"I thought how it would be," said Mrs. Allen.
"No walk for me today," sighed Catherine; "but perhaps
it may come to nothing, or it may hold up before twelve."
"Perhaps it may, but then, my dear, it will be so dirty."
"Oh! That will not signify; I never mind dirt."
"No," replied her friend very placidly, "I know you
never mind dirt."
After a short pause, "It comes on faster and faster!"
said Catherine, as she stood watching at a window.
living at an inn."
This was the last sentence by which he could weary
Catherine's attention, for he was just then borne off by the
resistless pressure of a long string of passing ladies.
Her partner now drew near, and said, "That gentleman would
have put me out of patience, had he stayed with you half
a minute longer. He has no business to withdraw the attention
of my partner from me. We have entered into a contract
of mutualagreeableness for the space of an evening,
and all our agreeableness belongs solely to each other
for that time. Nobody can fasten themselves on the notice
of one, without injuring the rights of the other.
I consider a country-dance as an emblem of marriage.
Fidelity and complaisance are the principal duties of both;
and those men who do not choose to dance or marry themselves,
have no business with the partners or wives of their neighbours."
"But they are such very different things!"
"--That you think they cannot be compared together."
"To be sure not. People that marry can never part,
but must go and keep house together. People that dance
only stand opposite each other in a long room for half
an hour."
"And such is your definition of matrimony and dancing.
Taken in that light certainly, their resemblance is
not striking; but I think I could place them in such a view.
You will allow, that in both, man has the advantage
of choice, woman only the power of refusal; that in both,
it is an engagement between man and woman, formed for
the advantage of each; and that when once entered into,
they belong exclusively to each other till the moment
of its dissolution; that it is their duty, each to
endeavour to give the other no cause for wishing that he
or she had bestowed themselves elsewhere, and their best
interest to keep their own imaginations from wandering
towards the perfections of their neighbours, or fancying
that they should have been better off with anyone else.
You will allow all this?"
"Yes, to be sure, as you state it, all this sounds
very well; but still they are so very different.
I cannot look upon them at all in the same light,
nor think the same duties belong to them."
"In one respect, there certainly is a difference.
In marriage, the man is supposed to provide for the support
of the woman, the woman to make the home agreeable to the man;
he is to purvey, and she is to smile. But in dancing,
their duties are exactly changed; the agreeableness,
the compliance are expected from him, while she furnishes
the fan and the lavender water. That, I suppose, was the
difference of duties which struck you, as rendering the
conditions incapable of comparison."
"No, indeed, I never thought of that."
"Then I am quite at a loss. One thing, however, I must
observe. This disposition on your side is rather alarming.
You totally disallow any similarity in the obligations;
and may I not thence infer that your notions of the duties
of the dancing state are not so strict as your partner
might wish? Have I not reason to fear that if the gentleman
who spoke to you just now were to return, or if any other
gentleman were to address you, there would be nothing
to restrain you from conversing with him as long as you chose?"
"Mr. Thorpe is such a very particular friend of my
brother's, that if he talks to me, I must talk to him again;
but there are hardly three young men in the room besides
him that I have any acquaintance with."
"And is that to be my only security? Alas, alas!"
"Nay, I am sure you cannot have a better; for if I
do not know anybody, it is impossible for me to talk
to them; and, besides, I do not want to talk to anybody."
"Now you have given me a security worth having; and I
shall proceed with courage. Do you find Bath as agreeable
as when I had the honour of making the inquiry before?"
"Yes, quite--more so, indeed."
"More so! Take care, or you will forget to be
tired of it at the proper time. You ought to be tired
at the end of six weeks."
"I do not think I should be tired, if I were to stay
here six months."
"Bath, compared with London, has little variety,
and so everybody finds out every year. 'For six weeks,
I allow Bath is pleasant enough; but beyond that, it is
the most tiresome place in the world.' You would be told
so by people of all descriptions, who come regularly
every winter, lengthen their six weeks into ten or twelve,
and go away at last because they can afford to stay
no longer."
"Well, other people must judge for themselves,
and those who go to London may think nothing of Bath.
But I, who live in a small retired village in the country,
can never find greater sameness in such a place as this
than in my own home; for here are a variety of amusements,
a variety of things to be seen and done all day long, which I
can know nothing of there."
"You are not fond of the country."
"Yes, I am. I have always lived there, and always
been very happy. But certainly there is much more
sameness in a country life than in a Bath life.
One day in the country is exactly like another."
"But then you spend your time so much more rationally
in the country."
"Do I?"
"Do you not?"
"I do not believe there is much difference."
"Here you are in pursuit only of amusement all day long."
"And so I am at home--only I do not find so much of it.
I walk about here, and so I do there; but here I see
a variety of people in every street, and there I can
only go and call on Mrs. Allen."
Mr. Tilney was very much amused.
"Only go and call on Mrs. Allen!" he repeated.
"What a picture of intellectual poverty! However, when you
sink into this abyss again, you will have more to say.
You will be able to talk of Bath, and of all that you
did here."
"Oh! Yes. I shall never be in want of something
to talk of again to Mrs. Allen, or anybody else.
I really believe I shall always be talking of Bath,
when I am at home again--I do like it so very much.
If I could but have Papa and Mamma, and the rest of
them here, I suppose I should be too happy! James's coming
(my eldest brother) is quite delightful--and especially
as it turns out that the very family we are just got
so intimate with are his intimate friends already.
Oh! Who can ever be tired of Bath?"
"Not those who bring such fresh feelings of every
sort to it as you do. But papas and mammas, and brothers,
and intimate friends are a good deal gone by, to most of
the frequenters of Bath--and the honest relish of balls
and plays, and everyday sights, is past with them."
Here their conversation closed, the demands of the dance
becoming now too importunate for a divided attention.
Soon after their reaching the bottom of the set,
Catherine perceived herself to be earnestly regarded by a
gentleman who stood among the lookers-on, immediately behind
her partner. He was a very handsome man, of a commanding
aspect, past the bloom, but not past the vigour of life;
and with his eye still directed towards her, she saw him
presently address Mr. Tilney in a familiar whisper.
Confused by his notice, and blushing from the fear of
its being excited by something wrong in her appearance,
she turned away her head. But while she did so,
the gentleman retreated, and her partner, coming nearer,
said, "I see that you guess what I have just been asked.
That gentleman knows your name, and you have a right
to know his. It is General Tilney, my father."
Catherine's answer was only "Oh!"--but it was an "Oh!"
expressing everything needful: attention to his words,
and perfect reliance on their truth. With real interest
and strong admiration did her eye now follow the general,
as he moved through the crowd, and "How handsome a family
they are!" was her secret remark.
In chatting with Miss Tilney before the evening concluded,
a new source of felicity arose to her. She had never taken
a country walk since her arrival in Bath. Miss Tilney,
to whom all the commonly frequented environs were familiar,
spoke of them in terms which made her all eagerness
to know them too; and on her openly fearing that she
might find nobody to go with her, it was proposed by
the brother and sister that they should join in a walk,
some morning or other. "I shall like it," she cried,
"beyond anything in the world; and do not let us put it
off--let us go tomorrow." This was readily agreed to,
with only a proviso of Miss Tilney's, that it did not rain,
which Catherine was sure it would not. At twelve
o'clock, they were to call for her in Pulteney Street;
and "Remember--twelve o'clock," was her parting speech
to her new friend. Of her other, her older, her more
established friend, Isabella, of whose fidelity and worth
she had enjoyed a fortnight's experience, she scarcely
saw anything during the evening. Yet, though longing
to make her acquainted with her happiness, she cheerfully
submitted to the wish of Mr. Allen, which took them
rather early away, and her spirits danced within her,
as she danced in her chair all the way home.
CHAPTER 11
The morrow brought a very sober-looking morning,
the sun making only a few efforts to appear, and Catherine
augured from it everything most favourable to her wishes.
A bright morning so early in the year, she allowed,
would generally turn to rain, but a cloudy one foretold
improvement as the day advanced. She applied to
Mr. Allen for confirmation of her hopes, but Mr. Allen,
not having his own skies and barometer about him,
declined giving any absolute promise of sunshine.
She applied to Mrs. Allen, and Mrs. Allen's opinion was
more positive. "She had no doubt in the world of its
being a very fine day, if the clouds would only go off,
and the sun keep out."
At about eleven o'clock, however, a few specks of small
rain upon the windows caught Catherine's watchful eye,
and "Oh! dear, I do believe it will be wet," broke from
her in a most desponding tone.
"I thought how it would be," said Mrs. Allen.
"No walk for me today," sighed Catherine; "but perhaps
it may come to nothing, or it may hold up before twelve."
"Perhaps it may, but then, my dear, it will be so dirty."
"Oh! That will not signify; I never mind dirt."
"No," replied her friend very placidly, "I know you
never mind dirt."
After a short pause, "It comes on faster and faster!"
said Catherine, as she stood watching at a window.
- sentence [´sentəns]
n.判决 vt.宣判；处刑 (初中英语单词) - pressure [´preʃə] n.压榨 vt.对...施压力 (初中英语单词)
- partner [´pɑ:tnə] n.伙伴 v.同....合作 (初中英语单词)
- patience [´peiʃəns] n.忍耐(力)；耐心；坚韧 (初中英语单词)
- withdraw [wið´drɔ:] v.收回；撤销；撤退 (初中英语单词)
- fasten [´fɑ:sən] v.扎牢；闩住；钉牢 (初中英语单词)
- principal [´prinsəpəl] a.主要的 n.负责人 (初中英语单词)
- striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)
- engagement [in´geidʒmənt] n.婚约；雇用；受聘 (初中英语单词)
- advantage [əd´vɑ:ntidʒ] n.优势；利益 (初中英语单词)
- elsewhere [,elsweə] ad.在别处；向别处 (初中英语单词)
- supposed [sə´pəuzd] a.想象的；假定的 (初中英语单词)
- agreeable [ə´gri:əbəl] a.适合的；符合的 (初中英语单词)
- disposition [,dispə´ziʃən] n.安排；性情；倾向 (初中英语单词)
- thence [ðens] ad.从那里；因此 (初中英语单词)
- acquaintance [ə´kweintəns] n.相识；熟人，相识的人 (初中英语单词)
- security [si´kjuəriti] n.安全；证券；抵押品 (初中英语单词)
- inquiry [in´kwaiəri] n.询问；质询；调查 (初中英语单词)
- variety [və´raiəti] n.变化；多样(性)；种类 (初中英语单词)
- pursuit [pə´sju:t] n.追踪；追击；事务 (初中英语单词)
- amusement [ə´mju:zmənt] n.娱乐；文娱设施 (初中英语单词)
- intimate [´intimit] a.亲密的 n.知己 (初中英语单词)
- admiration [,ædmə´reiʃən] n.赞赏，钦佩 (初中英语单词)
- arrival [ə´raivəl] n.到达；到达的人(物) (初中英语单词)
- readily [´redili] ad.乐意地；容易地 (初中英语单词)
- advanced [əd´vɑ:nst] a.先进的；高级的 (初中英语单词)
- absolute [´æbsəlu:t] a.绝对的 n.绝对 (初中英语单词)
- mutual [´mju:tʃuəl] a.相互的；共同的 (高中英语单词)
- solely [´səulli] ad.唯一；单独；完全 (高中英语单词)
- resemblance [ri´zembləns] n.类似；肖像；外表 (高中英语单词)
- refusal [ri´fju:zəl] n.拒绝；优先取舍权 (高中英语单词)
- lavender [´lævində] n.熏衣草；淡紫色 (高中英语单词)
- strict [strikt] a.严厉的；精确的 (高中英语单词)
- restrain [ri´strein] vt.抑制；管束；限制 (高中英语单词)
- intellectual [,inti´lektʃuəl] n.知识分子 (高中英语单词)
- eldest [´eldist] a.最年长的 (高中英语单词)
- relish [´reliʃ] n.滋味；风味 v.品尝 (高中英语单词)
- everyday [´evridei] a.每日的，日常的 (高中英语单词)
- earnestly [´ə:nistli] ad.认真地；急切地 (高中英语单词)
- vigour [´vigə] (=vigor) n.活力；精力 (高中英语单词)
- commonly [´kɔmənli] ad.一般地；通常 (高中英语单词)
- openly [´əupənli] ad.公开地；直率地 (高中英语单词)
- positive [´pɔzətiv] a.确定的 (高中英语单词)
- signify [´signifai] vt.表示 vi.有重要性 (高中英语单词)
- definition [,defi´niʃən] n.限定；定义；明确 (英语四级单词)
- exclusively [ik´sklu:sivli] ad.独有地；排外地 (英语四级单词)
- dissolution [,disə´lu:ʃən] n.溶解；取消；解除 (英语四级单词)
- incapable [in´keipəbəl] a.无能力的；不能的 (英语四级单词)
- totally [´təutəli] ad.统统，完全 (英语四级单词)
- tiresome [´taiəsəm] a.令人厌倦的；讨厌的 (英语四级单词)
- lengthen [´leŋθən] v.(使)变长，延伸 (英语四级单词)
- parting [´pɑ:tiŋ] a.&n.分离(的) (英语四级单词)
- fidelity [fi´deliti] n.忠实；精确；保真度 (英语四级单词)
- morrow [´mɔrəu] n.翌日 (英语四级单词)
- confirmation [,kɔnfə´meiʃən] n.证实；证据；确认 (英语四级单词)
- watchful [´wɔtʃfəl] a.注意的；戒备的 (英语四级单词)
- emblem [´embləm] n.象征；标志；徽章 (英语六级单词)
- retired [ri´taiəd] a.退休的；通职的 (英语六级单词)
- felicity [fi´lisiti] n.幸福；(措词)适当 (英语六级单词)
- applied [ə´plaid] a.实用的，应用的 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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