第 36 节
作者:冬恋      更新:2021-04-30 17:00      字数:9320
  reproachfullyshe had come in while they were talking。                 〃You meet with
  a piece of good luck; and you're afraid of it; lest it might have come from
  us。〃
  〃Now;   Miss   Rena;   you   oughtn't   ter   say  dat;〃   expostulated   Frank;   his
  reluctance   yielding   immediately。        〃I'll   keep   de   mule   an'   de   kyart   an'   de
  harnessfac'; I'll have ter keep 'em; 'cause I ain't got no others。              But dey
  're   gwine   ter   be   yo'n   ez   much   ez   mine。 W'enever   you   wants   anything
  hauled; er wants yo' lot ploughed; er anything dat's yo' mule; an' I'm yo'
  man an' yo' mammy's。〃
  So Frank went back to the stable; where he feasted his eyes on his new
  possessions; fed and watered the mule; and curried and brushed his coat
  until it shone like a looking…glass。
  〃Now dat;〃 remarked Peter; at the breakfast… table; when informed of
  the transaction; 〃is somethin' lack rale w'ite folks。〃
  No real white person had ever given Peter a mule or a cart。                   He had
  rendered one of them unpaid service for half a lifetime; and had paid for
  the   other   half;   and   some   of   them   owed   him   substantial   sums   for   work
  performed。       But 〃to him that hath shall be given〃Warwick paid for the
  mule; and the real white folks got most of the credit。
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  XX
  DIGGING UP ROOTS
  When   the   first   great   shock   of   his   discovery   wore   off;   the   fact   of
  Rena's   origin   lost   to   Tryon   some   of   its   initial   repugnanceindeed;   the
  repugnance   was   not   to   the   woman   at   all;   as   their   past   relations   were
  evidence; but merely to the thought of her as a wife。               It could hardly have
  failed   to   occur   to   so   reasonable   a   man   as   Tryon   that   Rena's   case   could
  scarcely be unique。        Surely in the past centuries of free manners and easy
  morals   that   had   prevailed   in   remote   parts of   the   South;   there   must   have
  been     many     white    persons    whose     origin   would     not   have    borne    too
  microscopic   an   investigation。       Family   trees   not   seldom   have   a   crooked
  branch; or; to use a more apposite figure; many a flock has its black sheep。
  Being a man of lively imagination; Tryon soon found himself putting all
  sorts    of  hypothetical     questions    about    a  matter    which    he   had   already
  definitely determined。         If he had married Rena in ignorance of her secret;
  and had learned it afterwards; would he have put her aside?                   If; knowing
  her   history;   he   had   nevertheless   married   her;   and   she   had   subsequently
  displayed some trait of character that would suggest the negro; could he
  have forgotten or forgiven the taint?           Could he still have held her in love
  and   honor?      If   not;   could   he   have   given   her   the   outward   seeming   of
  affection; or could he have been more than coldly tolerant?                  He was glad
  that   he   had   been   spared   this   ordeal。   With   an   effort   he   put   the   whole
  matter definitely and conclusively aside; as he had done a hundred times
  already。
  Returning   to   his   home;   after   an   absence   of   several   months   in   South
  Carolina; it was quite apparent to his mother's watchful eye that he was in
  serious trouble。      He was absent…minded; monosyllabic; sighed deeply and
  often; and could not always conceal the traces of secret tears。                 For Tryon
  was   young;   and   possessed   of   a   sensitive   soula   source   of   happiness   or
  misery; as the Fates decree。         To those thus dowered; the heights of rapture
  are   accessible;   the   abysses   of   despair   yawn   threateningly;   only   the   dull
  monotony of contentment is denied。
  Mrs。 Tryon vainly sought by every gentle art a woman knows to win
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  her son's confidence。       〃What is the matter; George; dear?〃 she would ask;
  stroking his hot brow with her small; cool hand as he sat moodily nursing
  his grief。    〃Tell your mother; George。           Who else could comfort you so
  well as she?〃
  〃Oh;    it's  nothing;  mother;nothing      at  all;〃  he  would    reply;  with   a
  forced attempt at lightness。        〃It's only your fond imagination; you best of
  mothers。〃
  It was Mrs。 Tryon's turn to sigh and shed a clandestine tear。             Until her
  son had gone away on this trip to South Carolina; he had kept no secrets
  from her: his heart had been an open book; of which she knew every page;
  now; some painful story was inscribed therein which he meant she should
  not   read。   If   she   could   have   abdicated   her   empire   to   Blanche   Leary   or
  have    shared    it  with  her;  she  would    have   yielded    gracefully;   but  very
  palpably   some   other   influence   than   Blanche's   had   driven   joy   from   her
  son's countenance and lightness from his heart。
  Miss Blanche Leary; whom Tryon found in the house upon his return;
  was a demure; pretty little blonde; with an amiable disposition; a talent for
  society; and a pronounced fondness for George Tryon。                 A poor girl; of an
  excellent family impoverished by the war; she was distantly related to Mrs。
  Tryon; had for a long time enjoyed that lady's favor; and was her choice
  for George's wife when he should be old enough to marry。                 A woman less
  interested than Miss Leary would have perceived that there was something
  wrong with Tryon。         Miss Leary had no doubt that there was a woman at
  the bottom of it;for about what else should youth worry but love? or if
  one's love affairs run smoothly; why should one worry about anything at
  all?   Miss Leary; in the nineteen years of her mundane existence; had not
  been without mild experiences of the heart; and had hovered for some time
  on    the  verge    of  disappointment       with   respect   to  Tryon    himself。     A
  sensitive pride would have driven more than one woman away at the sight
  of the man of her preference sighing like a furnace for some absent fair
  one。    But Mrs。 Tryon was so cordial; and insisted so strenuously upon her
  remaining;   that   Blanche's   love;   which   was   strong;   conquered   her   pride;
  which was no more than a reasonable young woman ought to have who
  sets success above mere sentiment。           She remained in the house and bided
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  her opportunity。      If George practically ignored her for a time; she did not
  throw herself at all in his way。        She went on a visit to some girls in the
  neighborhood       and   remained    away    a  week;   hoping    that  she   might   be
  missed。     Tryon   expressed   no   regret   at   her   departure   and   no   particular
  satisfaction upon her return。        If the house was duller in her absence; he
  was but dimly conscious of the difference。            He was still fighting a battle
  in which a susceptible heart and a reasonable mind had locked horns in a
  well…nigh     hopeless    conflict。    Reason;     common…sense;       the   instinctive
  ready…made judgments of his training and environment; the deep…seated
  prejudices of race and caste;commanded him to dismiss Rena from his
  thoughts。     His stubborn heart simply would not let go。
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  XXI
  A GILDED OPPORTUNITY
  Although the   whole   fabric   of   Rena's new   life   toppled   and   fell   with
  her lover's defection; her sympathies; broadened by culture and still more
  by her recent emotional experience; did not shrink; as would have been the
  case with a more selfish soul; to the mere limits of her personal sorrow;
  great as this seemed at the moment。             She had learned to love; and when
  the   love   of  one   man    failed  her;  she   turned   to  humanity;     as  a  stream
  obstructed      in  its  course   overflows     the   adjacent    country。    Her     early
  training had not directed her thoughts to the darker people with whose fate
  her own was bound up so closely; but rather away from them。                      She had