第 6 节
作者:花旗      更新:2021-02-18 23:51      字数:9322
  in the country back of it; and she came with her husband for the shooting
  in the autumn。  By a natural transition she spoke of her children; for
  whom she had an English governess; she said she had never been in
  England; but had learnt the language from a governess in her own
  childhood; and through it all Mrs。 March perceived that she was trying to
  impress them with her consequence。  To humor her pose; she said they had
  been looking up the scene of Kaspar Hauser's death at Ansbach; and at
  this the stranger launched into such intimate particulars concerning him;
  and was so familiar at first hands with the facts of his life; that Mrs。
  March let her run on; too much amused with her pretensions to betray any
  doubt of her。  She wondered if March were enjoying it all as much; and
  from time to time she tried to catch his eye; while the lady talked
  constantly and rather loudly; helping herself out with words from them
  both when her English failed her。  In the safety of her perfect
  understanding of the case; Mrs。 March now submitted farther; and even
  suffered some patronage from her; which in another mood she would have
  met with a decided snub。
  As they drew in among the broad vine…webbed slopes of the Wurzburg;
  hills; the stranger said she was going to change there; and take a train
  on to Berlin。  Mrs。 March wondered whether she would be able to keep up
  the comedy to the last; and she had to own that she carried it off very
  easily when the friends whom she was expecting did not meet her on the
  arrival of their train。  She refused March's offers of help; and remained
  quietly seated while he got out their wraps and bags。  She returned with
  a hardy smile the cold leave Mrs。 March took of her; and when a porter
  came to the door; and forced his way by the Marches; to ask with anxious
  servility if she; were the Baroness von…; she bade the man get them。
  a 'traeger'; and then come back for her。  She waved them a complacent
  adieu before they mixed with the crowd and lost sight of her。
  〃Well; my dear;〃 said March; addressing the snobbishness in his wife
  which he knew to be so wholly impersonal; 〃you've mingled with one
  highhote; anyway。  I must say she didn't look it; any more than the Duke
  and Duchess of Orleans; and yet she's only a baroness。  Think of our
  being three hours in the same compartment; and she doing all she could to
  impress us and our getting no good of it!  I hoped you were feeling her
  quality; so that we should have it in the family; anyway; and always know
  what it was like。  But so far; the highhotes have all been terribly
  disappointing。〃
  He teased on as they followed the traeger with their baggage out of the
  station; and in the omnibus on the way to their hotel; he recurred to the
  loss they had suffered in the baroness's failure to dramatize her
  nobility effectually。  〃After all; perhaps she was as much disappointed
  in us。  I don't suppose we looked any more like democrats than she looked
  like an aristocrat。〃
  〃But there's a great difference;〃 Mrs。 March returned at last。  〃It isn't
  at all a parallel case。  We were not real democrats; and she was a real
  aristocrat。〃
  〃To be sure。  There is that way of looking at it。  That's rather novel; I
  wish I had thought of that myself。  She was certainly more to blame than
  we were。〃
  LII。
  The square in front of the station was planted with flag…poles wreathed
  in evergreens; a triumphal arch was nearly finished; and a colossal
  allegory in imitation bronze was well on the way to completion; in honor
  of the majesties who were coming for the manoeuvres。  The streets which
  the omnibus passed through to the Swan Inn were draped with the imperial
  German and the royal Bavarian colors; and the standards of the visiting
  nationalities decked the fronts of the houses where their military
  attaches were lodged; but the Marches failed to see our own banner; and
  were spared for the moment the ignominy of finding it over an apothecary
  shop in a retired avenue。  The sun had come out; the sky overhead was of
  a smiling blue; and they felt the gala…day glow and thrill in the depths
  of their inextinguishable youth。
  The Swan Inn sits on one of the long quays bordering the Main; and its
  windows look down upon the bridges and shipping of the river; but the
  traveller reaches it by a door in the rear; through an archway into a
  back street; where an odor dating back to the foundation of the city is
  waiting to welcome him。
  The landlord was there; too; and he greeted the Marches so cordially that
  they fully partook his grief in being able to offer them rooms on the
  front of the house for two nights only。  They reconciled themselves to
  the necessity of then turning out for the staff of the King of Saxony;
  the more readily because they knew that there was no hope of better
  things at any other hotel。
  The rooms which they could have for the time were charming; and they came
  down to supper in a glazed gallery looking out on the river picturesque
  with craft of all fashions: with row…boats; sail…boats; and little
  steamers; but mainly with long black barges built up into houses in the
  middle; and defended each by a little nervous German dog。  Long rafts of
  logs weltered in the sunset red which painted the swift current; and
  mantled the immeasurable vineyards of the hills around like the color of
  their ripening grapes。  Directly in face rose a castled steep; which kept
  the ranging walls and the bastions and battlements of the time when such
  a stronghold could have defended the city from foes without or from
  tumult within。  The arches of a stately bridge spanned the river
  sunsetward; and lifted a succession of colossal figures against the
  crimson sky。
  〃I guess we have been wasting our time; my dear;〃 said March; as they;
  turned from this beauty to the question of supper。  〃I wish we had always
  been here!〃
  Their waiter had put them at a table in a division of the gallery beyond
  that which they entered; where some groups of officers were noisily
  supping。  There was no one in their room but a man whose face was
  indistinguishable against the light; and two young girls who glanced at
  them with looks at once quelled and defiant; and then after a stare at
  the officers in the gallery beyond; whispered together with suppressed
  giggling。  The man fed on without noticing them; except now and then to
  utter a growl that silenced the whispering and giggling for a moment。
  The Marches; from no positive evidence of any sense; decided that they
  were Americans。
  〃I don't know that I feel responsible for them as their fellow…
  countryman; I should; once;〃 he said。
  〃It isn't that。  It's the worry of trying to make out why they are just
  what they are;〃 his wife returned。
  The girls drew the man's attention to them and he looked at them for the
  first time; then after a sort of hesitation he went on with his supper。
  They had only begun theirs when he rose with the two girls; whom Mrs。
  March now saw to be of the same size and dressed alike; and came heavily
  toward them。
  〃I thought you was in Carlsbad;〃 he said bluntly to March; with a nod at
  Mrs。 March。  He added; with a twist of his head toward the two girls;
  〃My daughters;〃 and then left them to her; while he talked on with her
  husband。  〃Come to see this foolery; I suppose。  I'm on my way to the
  woods for my after…cure; but I thought I might as well stop and give the
  girls a chance; they got a week's vacation; anyway。〃  Stoller glanced at
  them with a sort of troubled tenderness in his strong dull face。
  〃Oh; yes。  I understood they were at school here;〃 said March; and he
  heard one of them saying; in a sweet; high pipe to his wife:
  〃Ain't it just splendid?  I ha'n't seen anything equal to it since the
  Worrld's Fairr。〃  She spoke with a strong contortion of the Western r;
  and her sister hastened to put in:
  〃I don't think it's to be compared with the Worrld's Fairr。  But these
  German girls; here; just think it's great。  It just does me good to laff
  at 'em; about it。  I like to tell 'em about the electric fountain and the
  Courrt of Iionorr when they get to talkin' about the illuminations
  they're goun' to have。  You goun' out to the parade?  You better engage
  your carriage right away if you arre。  The carrs'll be a perfect jam。
  Father's engaged ourrs; he had to pay sixty marrks forr it。〃
  They chattered on without shyness and on as easy terms with a woman of
  three times their years as if she had been a girl of their own age; they
  willingly took the whole talk to themselves; and had left her quite
  outside of it before Stoller turned to her。
  〃I been telling Mr。 March here that you better both come to the parade
  with us。  I guess my twospanner will hold five; or if it won't; we'll
  make it。  I don't believe there's a carriage left in Wurzburg; and if you
  go in the cars; you'll have to walk three or four miles before you get to
  the parade…ground。  You think it over;〃 he said to March。  〃Nobody else
  is going to have the places; anyway; and you can say yes at the last
  minute just as well as now。〃
  He moved off with his girls; who looked over their shoulders at the
  officers as they passed on through the adjoining room。
  〃My dear!〃  cried Mrs。 M