CHAPTER 14
NOVEMBER DAYS
The splendor1 of color which had glowed for weeks along the shores of Four Winds Harbor had faded out into the soft gray-blue of late autumnal hills. There came many days when fields and shores were dim with misty2 rain, or shivering before the breath of a melancholy3 sea-wind—nights, too, of storm and tempest, when Anne sometimes wakened to pray that no ship might be beating up the grim north shore, for if it were so not even the great, faithful light whirling through the darkness unafraid, could avail to guide it into safe haven5.
“In November I sometimes feel as if spring could never come again,” she sighed, grieving over the hopeless unsightliness of her frosted and bedraggled flower-plots. The gay little garden of the schoolmaster’s bride was rather a forlorn place now, and the Lombardies and birches were under bare poles, as Captain Jim said. But the fir-wood behind the little house was forever green and staunch; and even in November and December there came gracious days of sunshine and purple hazes6, when the harbor danced and sparkled as blithely7 as in midsummer, and the gulf8 was so softly blue and tender that the storm and the wild wind seemed only things of a long-past dream.
Anne and Gilbert spent many an autumn evening at the lighthouse. It was always a cheery place. Even when the east wind sang in minor9 and the sea was dead and gray, hints of sunshine seemed to be lurking10 all about it. Perhaps this was because the First Mate always paraded it in panoply11 of gold. He was so large and effulgent12 that one hardly missed the sun, and his resounding13 purrs formed a pleasant accompaniment to the laughter and conversation which went on around Captain Jim’s fireplace. Captain Jim and Gilbert had many long discussions and high converse14 on matters beyond the ken4 of cat or king.
“I like to ponder on all kinds of problems, though I can’t solve ’em,” said Captain Jim. “My father held that we should never talk of things we couldn’t understand, but if we didn’t, doctor, the subjects for conversation would be mighty15 few. I reckon the gods laugh many a time to hear us, but what matters so long as we remember that we’re only men and don’t take to fancying that we’re gods ourselves, really, knowing good and evil. I reckon our pow-wows won’t do us or anyone much harm, so let’s have another whack16 at the whence, why and whither this evening, doctor.”
While they “whacked,” Anne listened or dreamed. Sometimes Leslie went to the lighthouse with them, and she and Anne wandered along the shore in the eerie17 twilight18, or sat on the rocks below the lighthouse until the darkness drove them back to the cheer of the driftwood fire. Then Captain Jim would brew19 them tea and tell them
“tales of land and sea
And whatsoever20 might betide
The great forgotten world outside.”
Leslie seemed always to enjoy those lighthouse carousals very much, and bloomed out for the time being into ready wit and beautiful laughter, or glowing-eyed silence. There was a certain tang and savor21 in the conversation when Leslie was present which they missed when she was absent. Even when she did not talk she seemed to inspire others to brilliancy. Captain Jim told his stories better, Gilbert was quicker in argument and repartee22, Anne felt little gushes23 and trickles24 of fancy and imagination bubbling to her lips under the influence of Leslie’s personality.
“That girl was born to be a leader in social and intellectual circles, far away from Four Winds,” she said to Gilbert as they walked home one night. “She’s just wasted here—wasted.”
“Weren’t you listening to Captain Jim and yours truly the other night when we discussed that subject generally? We came to the comforting conclusion that the Creator probably knew how to run His universe quite as well as we do, and that, after all, there are no such things as 'wasted’ lives, saving and except when an individual wilfully25 squanders26 and wastes his own life—which Leslie Moore certainly hasn’t done. And some people might think that a Redmond B.A., whom editors were beginning to honor, was 'wasted’ as the wife of a struggling country doctor in the rural community of Four Winds.”
“Gilbert!”
“If you had married Roy Gardner, now,” continued Gilbert mercilessly, “YOU could have been 'a leader in social and intellectual circles far away from Four Winds.’”
“Gilbert BLYTHE!”
“You KNOW you were in love with him at one time, Anne.”
“Gilbert, that’s mean—'pisen mean, just like all the men,’ as Miss Cornelia says. I NEVER was in love with him. I only imagined I was. YOU know that. You KNOW I’d rather be your wife in our house of dreams and fulfillment than a queen in a palace.”
Gilbert’s answer was not in words; but I am afraid that both of them forgot poor Leslie speeding her lonely way across the fields to a house that was neither a palace nor the fulfillment of a dream.
The moon was rising over the sad, dark sea behind them and transfiguring it. Her light had not yet reached the harbor, the further side of which was shadowy and suggestive, with dim coves27 and rich glooms and jewelling lights.
“How the home lights shine out tonight through the dark!” said Anne. “That string of them over the harbor looks like a necklace. And what a coruscation28 there is up at the Glen! Oh, look, Gilbert; there is ours. I’m so glad we left it burning. I hate to come home to a dark house. OUR homelight, Gilbert! Isn’t it lovely to see?”
“Just one of earth’s many millions of homes, Anne—girl—but ours—OURS—our beacon29 in 'a naughty world.’ When a fellow has a home and a dear, little, red-haired wife in it what more need he ask of life?”
“Well, he might ask ONE thing more,” whispered Anne happily. “Oh, Gilbert, it seems as if I just COULDN’T wait for the spring.”
1 splendor ['splendə] 第10级 | |
n.光彩;壮丽,华丽;显赫,辉煌 | |
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2 misty [ˈmɪsti] 第9级 | |
adj.雾蒙蒙的,有雾的 | |
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3 melancholy [ˈmelənkəli] 第8级 | |
n.忧郁,愁思;adj.令人感伤(沮丧)的,忧郁的 | |
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4 ken [ken] 第8级 | |
n.视野,知识领域 | |
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5 haven [ˈheɪvn] 第8级 | |
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所 | |
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6 hazes [heiziz] 第9级 | |
n.(烟尘等的)雾霭( haze的名词复数 );迷蒙;迷糊;(尤指热天引起的)薄雾v.(使)笼罩在薄雾中( haze的第三人称单数 );戏弄,欺凌(新生等,有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件) | |
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7 blithely ['blaɪðlɪ] 第10级 | |
adv.欢乐地,快活地,无挂虑地 | |
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8 gulf [gʌlf] 第7级 | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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9 minor [ˈmaɪnə(r)] 第7级 | |
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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10 lurking [] 第8级 | |
潜在 | |
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11 panoply [ˈpænəpli] 第11级 | |
n.全副甲胄,礼服 | |
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12 effulgent [ɪˈfʌldʒənt] 第10级 | |
adj.光辉的;灿烂的 | |
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13 resounding [ri'zaundiŋ] 第12级 | |
adj. 响亮的 | |
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14 converse [kənˈvɜ:s] 第7级 | |
vi.谈话,谈天,闲聊;adv.相反的,相反 | |
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15 mighty [ˈmaɪti] 第7级 | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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16 whack [wæk] 第11级 | |
vt.敲击,重打,瓜分;vi.重击;n.重击,重打,尝试,一份 | |
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17 eerie [ˈɪəri] 第9级 | |
adj.怪诞的;奇异的;可怕的;胆怯的 | |
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18 twilight [ˈtwaɪlaɪt] 第7级 | |
n.暮光,黄昏;暮年,晚期,衰落时期 | |
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19 brew [bru:] 第8级 | |
vt. 酿造;酝酿 vi. 酿酒;被冲泡;即将发生 n. 啤酒;质地 | |
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20 whatsoever [ˌwɒtsəʊ'evə] 第8级 | |
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 | |
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21 savor ['seɪvə] 第9级 | |
vt.品尝,欣赏;n.味道,风味;情趣,趣味 | |
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22 repartee [ˌrepɑ:ˈti:] 第11级 | |
n.机敏的应答 | |
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23 gushes [ɡʌʃiz] 第7级 | |
n.涌出,迸发( gush的名词复数 )v.喷,涌( gush的第三人称单数 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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24 trickles [ˈtriklz] 第8级 | |
n.细流( trickle的名词复数 );稀稀疏疏缓慢来往的东西v.滴( trickle的第三人称单数 );淌;使)慢慢走;缓慢移动 | |
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25 wilfully ['wɪlfəlɪ] 第12级 | |
adv.任性固执地;蓄意地 | |
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26 squanders [ˈskwɔndəz] 第9级 | |
v.(指钱,财产等)浪费,乱花( squander的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27 coves [kəʊvz] 第11级 | |
n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 );家伙 | |
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28 coruscation [ˌkɒrəs'keɪʃən] 第12级 | |
n.闪光,焕发 | |
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