章节正文
Underneath that violet bank of cloud the sun was forging his beams
of light. The pole-star paled. The breath of the new morrow stole
up out of the rosy grey. The wings of the morning stirred and
trembled; and in the darkness and chill and mysterious awakening
eyes looked into other eyes, hand sought hand, and cheeks touched
each other in mute caress.
Chapter XXVII. Three magpies and a marriage.
`Sun, gallop down the westlin skies,
Gang soon to bed, an' quickly rise;
O lash your steeds, post time away,
And haste about our bridal day!'
The Gentle Shepherd.
Every noon, during this last week, as we have wended our way up the
loaning to the Pettybaw inn for our luncheon, we have passed three
magpies sitting together on the topmost rail of the fence. I am not
prepared to state that they were always the same magpies; I only
know there were always three of them. We have just discovered what
they were about, and great is the excitement in our little circle.
I am to be married to-morrow, and married in Pettybaw, and Miss
Grieve says that in Scotland the number of magpies one sees is of
infinite significance: that one means sorrow; two, mirth; three, a
marriage; four, a birth, and we now recall as corroborative detail
that we saw one magpie, our first, on the afternoon of her arrival.
Mr. Beresford has been cabled for, and must return to America at
once on important business. He persuaded me that the Atlantic is an
ower large body of water to roll between two lovers, and I agreed
with all my heart.
A wedding was arranged, mostly by telegraph, in six hours. The
Reverend Ronald and the Friar are to perform the ceremony; a dear
old painter friend of mine, a London R.A., will come to give me
away; Francesca will be my maid of honour; Elizabeth Ardmore and
Jean Dalziel, my bridemaidens; Robin Anstruther, the best man; while
Jamie and Ralph will be kilted pages-in-waiting, and Lady Ardmore
will give the breakfast at the Castle.
Never was there such generosity, such hospitality, such wealth of
friendship! True, I have no wedding finery; but as I am perforce a
Scottish bride, I can be married in the white gown with the silver
thistles in which I went to Holyrood.
Mr. Anstruther took a night train to and from London to choose the
bouquets and bridal souvenirs. Lady Baird has sent the veil, and a
wonderful diamond thistle to pin it on,--a jewel fit for a princess!
With the dear Dominie's note promising to be an usher came an
antique silver casket filled with white heather. And as for the
bride-cake, it is one of Salemina's gifts, chosen as much in a
spirit of fun as affection. It is surely appropriate for this
American wedding transplanted to Scottish soil, and what should it
be but a model, in fairy icing, of Sir Walter's beautiful monument
in Princes Street! Of course Francesca is full of nonsensical quips
about it, and says that the Edinburgh jail would have been just as
fine architecturally (it is, in truth, a building beautiful enough
to tempt an aesthete to crime), and a much more fittingsymbol for a
wedding-cake, unless, indeed, she adds, Salemina intends her gift to
be a monument to my folly.
Pettybaw kirk is trimmed with yellow broom from these dear Scottish
banks and braes; and waving their green fans and plumes up and down
the aisle where I shall walk a bride, are tall ferns and bracken
from Crummylowe Glen, where we played ballads.
As I look back upon it, the life here has been all a ballad from
first to last. Like the elfin Tam Lin,
`The queen o' fairies she caught me
In this green hill to dwell,'
and these hasty nuptials are a fittingly romanticending to the
summer's poetry. I am in a mood, were it necessary, to be `ta'en by
the milk-white hand,' lifted to a pillion on a coal-black charger,
and spirited `o'er the border an' awa'' by my dear Jock o'
Hazeldean. Unhappily, all is quite regular and aboveboard; no `lord
o' Langley dale' contests the prize with the bridegroom, but the
marriage is at least unique and unconventional; no one can rob me of
that sweet consolation.
So `gallop down the westlin skies,' dear Sun, but, prythee, gallop
back to-morrow! `Gang soon to bed,' an you will, but rise again
betimes! Give me Queen's weather, dear Sun, and shine a benison
upon my wedding-morn!
[Exit Penelope into the ballad-land of maiden dreams.]
End
of light. The pole-star paled. The breath of the new morrow stole
up out of the rosy grey. The wings of the morning stirred and
trembled; and in the darkness and chill and mysterious awakening
eyes looked into other eyes, hand sought hand, and cheeks touched
each other in mute caress.
Chapter XXVII. Three magpies and a marriage.
`Sun, gallop down the westlin skies,
Gang soon to bed, an' quickly rise;
O lash your steeds, post time away,
And haste about our bridal day!'
The Gentle Shepherd.
Every noon, during this last week, as we have wended our way up the
loaning to the Pettybaw inn for our luncheon, we have passed three
magpies sitting together on the topmost rail of the fence. I am not
prepared to state that they were always the same magpies; I only
know there were always three of them. We have just discovered what
they were about, and great is the excitement in our little circle.
I am to be married to-morrow, and married in Pettybaw, and Miss
Grieve says that in Scotland the number of magpies one sees is of
infinite significance: that one means sorrow; two, mirth; three, a
marriage; four, a birth, and we now recall as corroborative detail
that we saw one magpie, our first, on the afternoon of her arrival.
Mr. Beresford has been cabled for, and must return to America at
once on important business. He persuaded me that the Atlantic is an
ower large body of water to roll between two lovers, and I agreed
with all my heart.
A wedding was arranged, mostly by telegraph, in six hours. The
Reverend Ronald and the Friar are to perform the ceremony; a dear
old painter friend of mine, a London R.A., will come to give me
away; Francesca will be my maid of honour; Elizabeth Ardmore and
Jean Dalziel, my bridemaidens; Robin Anstruther, the best man; while
Jamie and Ralph will be kilted pages-in-waiting, and Lady Ardmore
will give the breakfast at the Castle.
Never was there such generosity, such hospitality, such wealth of
friendship! True, I have no wedding finery; but as I am perforce a
Scottish bride, I can be married in the white gown with the silver
thistles in which I went to Holyrood.
Mr. Anstruther took a night train to and from London to choose the
bouquets and bridal souvenirs. Lady Baird has sent the veil, and a
wonderful diamond thistle to pin it on,--a jewel fit for a princess!
With the dear Dominie's note promising to be an usher came an
antique silver casket filled with white heather. And as for the
bride-cake, it is one of Salemina's gifts, chosen as much in a
spirit of fun as affection. It is surely appropriate for this
American wedding transplanted to Scottish soil, and what should it
be but a model, in fairy icing, of Sir Walter's beautiful monument
in Princes Street! Of course Francesca is full of nonsensical quips
about it, and says that the Edinburgh jail would have been just as
fine architecturally (it is, in truth, a building beautiful enough
to tempt an aesthete to crime), and a much more fittingsymbol for a
wedding-cake, unless, indeed, she adds, Salemina intends her gift to
be a monument to my folly.
Pettybaw kirk is trimmed with yellow broom from these dear Scottish
banks and braes; and waving their green fans and plumes up and down
the aisle where I shall walk a bride, are tall ferns and bracken
from Crummylowe Glen, where we played ballads.
As I look back upon it, the life here has been all a ballad from
first to last. Like the elfin Tam Lin,
`The queen o' fairies she caught me
In this green hill to dwell,'
and these hasty nuptials are a fittingly romanticending to the
summer's poetry. I am in a mood, were it necessary, to be `ta'en by
the milk-white hand,' lifted to a pillion on a coal-black charger,
and spirited `o'er the border an' awa'' by my dear Jock o'
Hazeldean. Unhappily, all is quite regular and aboveboard; no `lord
o' Langley dale' contests the prize with the bridegroom, but the
marriage is at least unique and unconventional; no one can rob me of
that sweet consolation.
So `gallop down the westlin skies,' dear Sun, but, prythee, gallop
back to-morrow! `Gang soon to bed,' an you will, but rise again
betimes! Give me Queen's weather, dear Sun, and shine a benison
upon my wedding-morn!
[Exit Penelope into the ballad-land of maiden dreams.]
End
- underneath [,ʌndə´ni:θ]
ad.&prep.在底下 (初中英语单词) - violet [´vaiələt] n.&a.紫罗兰(的)；紫色 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- mysterious [mi´stiəriəs] a.神秘的；难以理解的 (初中英语单词)
- gallop [´gæləp] n.&v.奔驰；急速行进 (初中英语单词)
- luncheon [´lʌntʃ(ə)n] n.午餐，午宴 (初中英语单词)
- excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中英语单词)
- wedding [´wediŋ] n.婚礼，结婚 (初中英语单词)
- mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词)
- telegraph [´teligrɑ:f] n.&v.(打)电报；电告 (初中英语单词)
- ceremony [´seriməni] n.典礼；礼仪；客气 (初中英语单词)
- painter [´peintə] n.画家；(油)漆工 (初中英语单词)
- wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
- promising [´prɔmisiŋ] a.有希望的；有为的 (初中英语单词)
- affection [ə´fekʃən] n.友爱；慈爱 (初中英语单词)
- monument [´mɔnjumənt] n.纪念碑；古迹 (初中英语单词)
- romantic [rəu´mæntik] a.传奇(式)的；浪漫的 (初中英语单词)
- poetry [´pəuitri] n.诗；诗意 (初中英语单词)
- maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
- forging [´fɔ:dʒiŋ] n.锻件；锻造(法) (高中英语单词)
- significance [sig´nifikəns] n.意义；重要性 (高中英语单词)
- generosity [,dʒenə´rɔsiti] n.慷慨；慷慨的行为 (高中英语单词)
- hospitality [,hɔspi´tæliti] n.好客，殷勤 (高中英语单词)
- appropriate [ə´prəupri-it, ə´prəuprieit] a.适宜的 vt.私占；拨给 (高中英语单词)
- symbol [´simbəl] n.符号；象征 (高中英语单词)
- ballad [´bæləd] n.民歌，民谣 (高中英语单词)
- ending [´endiŋ] n.结尾，结局 (高中英语单词)
- unique [ju:´ni:k] a.唯一的 n.独一无二 (高中英语单词)
- morrow [´mɔrəu] n.翌日 (英语四级单词)
- bridal [´braidl] a.&n.婚礼(的) (英语四级单词)
- thistle [´θisəl] n.蓟 (英语四级单词)
- casket [´kɑ:skit] n.(精美)匣子；首饰盒 (英语四级单词)
- scottish [´skɔtiʃ, ´skɑtiʃ] a.&n.苏格兰人(的) (英语四级单词)
- edinburgh [´edinbərə] n.爱丁堡 (英语四级单词)
- bridegroom [´braidgru:m] n.新郎 (英语四级单词)
- heather [´heðə] n.石南属植物 (英语六级单词)
- fitting [´fitiŋ] a.适当的 n.试衣 (英语六级单词)
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章节正文
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