that evening captain wybrow, returning from a long ride with miss assher, went up to his dressing-room, and seated himself with an air of considerable lassitude before his mirror. the reflection there presented of his exquisite self was certainly paler and more worn than usual, and might excuse the anxiety with which he first felt his pulse, and then laid his hand on his heart.
‘it’s a devil of a position this for a man to be in,’ was the train of his thought, as he kept his eyes fixed on the glass, while he leaned back in his chair, and crossed his hands behind his head; ‘between two jealous women, and both of them as ready to take fire as tinder. and in my state of health, too! i should be glad enough to run away from the whole affair, and go off to some lotos-eating place or other where there are no women, or only women who are too sleepy to be jealous. here am i, doing nothing to please myself, trying to do the best thing for everybody else, and all the comfort i get is to have fire shot at me from women’s eyes, and venom spirted at me from women’s tongues. if beatrice takes another jealous fit into her head—and it’s likely enough, tina is so unmanageable—i don’t know what storm she may raise. and any hitch in this marriage, especially of that sort, might be a fatal business for the old gentleman. i wouldn’t have such a blow fall upon him for a great deal. besides, a man must be married some time in his life, and i could hardly do better than marry beatrice. she’s an uncommonly fine woman, and i’m really very fond of her; and as i shall let her have her own way, her temper won’t signify much. i wish the wedding was over and done with, for this fuss doesn’t suit me at all. i haven’t been half so well lately. that scene about tina this morning quite upset me. poor little tina! what a little simpleton it was, to set her heart on me in that way! but she ought to see how impossible it is that things should be different. if she would but understand how kindly i feel towards her, and make up her mind to look on me as a friend;—but that is what one never can get a woman to do. beatrice is very good-natured; i’m sure she would be kind to the little thing. it would be a great comfort if tina would take to gilfil, if it were only in anger against me. he’d make her a capital husband, and i should like to see the little grass-hopper happy. if i had been in a different position, i would certainly have married her myself: hut that was out of the question with my responsibilities to sir christopher. i think a little persuasion from my uncle would bring her to accept gilfil; i know she would never be able to oppose my uncle’s wishes. and if they were once married, she’s such a loving little thing, she would soon be billing and cooing with him as if she had never known me. it would certainly be the best thing for her happiness if that marriage were hastened. heigho! those are lucky fellows that have no women falling in love with them. it’s a confounded responsibility.’
at this point in his meditations he turned his head a little, so as to get a three-quarter view of his face. clearly it was the ‘dono infelice della bellezza’ that laid these onerous duties upon him—an idea which naturally suggested that he should ring for his valet.
for the next few days, however, there was such a cessation of threatening symptoms as to allay the anxiety both of captain wybrow and mr. gilfil. all earthly things have their lull: even on nights when the most unappeasable wind is raging, there will be a moment of stillness before it crashes among the boughs again, and storms against the windows, and howls like a thousand lost demons through the keyholes.
miss assher appeared to be in the highest good-humour; captain wybrow was more assiduous than usual, and was very circumspect in his behaviour to caterina, on whom miss assher bestowed unwonted attentions. the weather was brilliant; there were riding excursions in the mornings and dinner-parties in the evenings. consultations in the library between sir christopher and lady assher seemed to be leading to a satisfactory result; and it was understood that this visit at cheverel manor would terminate in another fortnight, when the preparations for the wedding would be carried forward with all despatch at farleigh. the baronet seemed every day more radiant. accustomed to view people who entered into his plans by the pleasant light which his own strong will and bright hopefulness were always casting on the future, he saw nothing hut personal charms and promising domestic qualities in miss assher, whose quickness of eye and taste in externals formed a real ground of sympathy between her and sir christopher. lady cheverel’s enthusiasm never rose above the temperate mark of calm satisfaction, and, having quite her share of the critical acumen which characterizes the mutual estimates of the fair sex, she had a more moderate opinion of miss assher’s qualities. she suspected that the fair beatrice had a sharp and imperious temper; and being herself, on principle and by habitual self-command, the most deferential of wives, she noticed with disapproval miss assher’s occasional air of authority towards captain wybrow. a proud woman who has learned to submit, carries all her pride to the reinforcement of her submission, and looks down with severe superiority on all feminine assumption as ‘unbecoming’. lady cheverel, however, confined her criticisms to the privacy of her own thoughts, and, with a reticence which i fear may seem incredible, did not use them as a means of disturbing her husband’s complacency.
and caterina? how did she pass these sunny autumn days, in which the skies seemed to be smiling on the family gladness? to her the change in miss assher’s manner was unaccountable. those compassionate attentions, those smiling condescensions, were torture to caterina, who was constantly tempted to repulse them with anger. she thought, ‘perhaps anthony has told her to be kind to poor tina.’ this was an insult. he ought to have known that the mere presence of miss assher was painful to her, that miss assher’s smiles scorched her, that miss assher’s kind words were like poison stings inflaming her to madness. and he—anthony—he was evidently repenting of the tenderness he had been betrayed into that morning in the drawing-room. he was cold and distant and civil to her, to ward off beatrice’s suspicions, and beatrice could be so gracious now, because she was sure of anthony’s entire devotion. well! and so it ought to be—and she ought not to wish it otherwise. and yet—oh, he was cruel to her. she could never have behaved so to him. to make her love him so—to speak such tender words—to give her such caresses, and then to behave as if such things had never been. he had given her the poison that seemed so sweet while she was drinking it, and now it was in her blood, and she was helpless.
with this tempest pent up in her bosom, the poor child went up to her room every night, and there it all burst forth. there, with loud whispers and sobs, restlessly pacing up and down, lying on the hard floor, courting cold and weariness, she told to the pitiful listening night the anguish which she could pour into no mortal ear. but always sleep came at last, and always in the morning the reactive calm that enabled her to live through the day.
it is amazing how long a young frame will go on battling with this sort of secret wretchedness, and yet show no traces of the conflict for any but sympathetic eyes. the very delicacy of caterina’s usual appearance, her natural paleness and habitually quiet mouse-like ways, made any symptoms of fatigue and suffering less noticeable. and her singing—the one thing in which she ceased to be passive, and became prominent—lost none of its energy. she herself sometimes wondered how it was that, whether she felt sad or angry, crushed with the sense of anthony’s indifference, or burning with impatience under miss assher’s attentions, it was always a relief to her to sing. those full deep notes she sent forth seemed to be lifting the pain from her heart—seemed to be carrying away the madness from her brain.
thus lady cheverel noticed no change in caterina, and it was only mr. gilfil who discerned with anxiety the feverish spot that sometimes rose on her cheek, the deepening violet tint under her eyes, and the strange absent glance, the unhealthy glitter of the beautiful eyes themselves. but those agitated nights were producing a more fatal effect than was represented by these slight outward changes.
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