【英文读物】The Crux_ A Novel.docx

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1、【英文读物】The Crux_ A NovelPREFACEThis story is, first, for young women to read; second, for young men to read; after that, for anybody who wants to. Anyone who doubts its facts and figures is referred to Social Diseases and Marriage, by Dr. Prince Morrow, or to Hygiene and Morality, by Miss Lavinia Doc

2、k, a trained nurse of long experience. Some will hold that the painful facts disclosed are unfit for young girls to know. Young girls are precisely the ones who must know them, in order that they may protect themselves and their children to come. The time to know of danger is before it is too late t

3、o avoid it. If some say Innocence is the greatest charm of young girls, the answer is, What good does it do them?CHAPTER I THE BACK WAYAlong the same old garden path,Sweet with the same old flowers;Under the lilacs, darkly dense,The easy gate in the backyard fenceThose unforgotten hours!The Foote Gi

4、rls were bustling along Margate Street with an air of united purpose that was unusual with them. Miss Rebecca wore her black silk cloak, by which it might be seen that a call was toward. Miss Jessie, the thin sister, and Miss Sallie, the fat one, were more hastily attired. They were persons of less

5、impressiveness than Miss Rebecca, as was tacitly admitted by their more familiar nicknames, a concession never made by the older sister. Even Miss Rebecca was hurrying a little, for her, but the others were swifter and more impatient. Do come on, Rebecca. Anybodyd think you were eighty instead of fi

6、fty! said Miss Sallie. Theres Mrs. Williams going in! I wonder if shes heard already. Do hurry! urged Miss Josie. But Miss Rebecca, being concerned about her dignity, would not allow herself to be hustled, and the three proceeded in irregular order under the high-arched elms and fence-topping syring

7、as of the small New England town toward the austere home of Mr. Samuel Lane. It was a large, uncompromising, square, white house, planted starkly in the close-cut grass. It had no porch for summer lounging, no front gate for evening dalliance, no path-bordering beds of flowers from which to pluck a

8、hasty offering or more redundant tribute. The fragrance which surrounded it came from the back yard, or over the fences of neighbors; the trees which waved greenly about it were the trees of other people. Mr. Lane had but two trees, one on each side of the straight and narrow path, evenly placed bet

9、ween house and sidewalkevergreens. Mrs. Lane received them amiably; the11 ministers new wife, Mrs. Williams, was proving a little difficult to entertain. She was from Cambridge, Mass., and emanated a restrained consciousness of that fact. Mr. Lane rose stiffly and greeted them. He did not like the F

10、oote girls, not having the usual Americans share of the sense of humor. He had no enjoyment of the town joke, as old as they were, that the three of them made a full yard; and had frowned down as a profane impertinent the mana little sore under some effect of gossipwho had amended it with make an el

11、l, I say. Safely seated in their several rocking chairs, and severally rocking them, the Misses Foote burst forth, as was their custom, in simultaneous, though by no means identical remarks. I suppose youve heard about Morton Elder? What do you think Mort Elders been doing now? Weve got bad news for

12、 poor Miss Elder! Mrs. Lane was intensely interested. Even Mr. Lane showed signs of animation. Im not surprised, he said. Hes done it now, opined Miss Josie with conviction. I always said Rella Elder was spoiling that boy. Its too badafter all shes done for him! He always was a scamp! Thus Miss Sall

13、ie. Ive been afraid of it all along, Miss Rebecca was saying, her voice booming through the lighter tones of her sisters. I always said hed never get through college. But who is Morton Elder, and what has he done? asked Mrs. Williams as soon as she could be heard. This lady now proved a most valuabl

14、e asset. She was so new to the town, and had been so immersed in the suddenly widening range of her unsalaried duties as ministers wife, that she had never even heard of Morton Elder. A new resident always fans the languishing flame of local conversation. The whole shopworn stock takes on a fresh lu

15、stre, topics long trampled flat in much discussion lift their heads anew, opinions one scarce dared to repeat again become almost author13itative, old stories flourish freshly, acquiring new detail and more vivid color. Mrs. Lane, seizing her opportunity while the sisters gasped a momentary amazemen

16、t at anyones not knowing the town scapegrace, and taking advantage of her position as old friend and near neighbor of the family under discussion, swept into the field under such headway that even the Foote girls remained silent perforce; surcharged, however, and holding their breaths in readiness t

17、o burst forth at the first opening. Hes the nepheworphan nephewof Miss Elderwho lives right back of usour yards touchweve always been friendswent to school together, Rellas never marriedshe teaches, you knowand her brotherhe owned the homeits all hers now, he died all of a sudden and left two childr

18、enMorton and Susie. Mort was about seven years old and Susie just a baby. Hes been an awful crossbut she just idolizes himshes spoiled him, I tell her. Mrs. Lane had to breathe, and even the briefest pause left her stranded to wait another chance. The three social benefac14tors proceeded to distribu

19、te their information in a clattering torrent. They sought to inform Mrs. Williams in especial, of numberless details of the early life and education of their subject, matters which would have been treated more appreciatively if they had not been blessed with the later news; and, at the same time, ea

20、ch was seeking for a more dramatic emphasis to give this last supply of incident with due effect. No regular record is possible where three persons pour forth statement and comment in a rapid, tumultuous stream, interrupted by cross currents of heated contradiction, and further varied by the exclama

21、tions and protests of three hearers, or at least, of two; for the one man present soon relapsed into disgusted silence. Mrs. Williams, turning a perplexed face from one to the other, inwardly condemning the darkening flood of talk, yet conscious of a sinful pleasure in it, and anxious as a guest, an

22、d a ministers wife, to be most amiable, felt like one watching three kinetescopes at once. She saw, in confused pictures of blurred and varying outline, Orella15 Elder, the young New England girl, only eighteen, already a school maam, suddenly left with two children to bring up, and doing it, as bes

23、t she could. She saw the boy, momentarily changing, in his shuttlecock flight from mouth to mouth, through pale shades of open mischief to the black and scarlet of hinted sin, the terror of the neighborhood, the darling of his aunt, clever, audacious, scandalizing the quiet town. Boys are apt to be

24、mischievous, arent they? she suggested when it was possible. Hes worse than mischievous, Mr. Lane assured her sourly. Theres a mean streak in that family. Thats on his mothers side, Mrs. Lane hastened to add. She was a queer girlcame from New York. The Foote girls began again, with rich profusion of

25、 detail, their voices rising shrill, one above the other, and playing together at their full height like emulous fountains. We ought not to judge, you know; urged Mrs. Williams. What do you say hes really done? Being sifted, it appeared that this last and most terrible performance was to go to the c

26、ity with a group of the worst boys of college, to get undeniably drunk, to do some piece of mischief. (Here was great licence in opinion, and in contradiction.) Anyway hes to be suspended! said Miss Rebecca with finality. Suspended! Miss Josies voice rose in scorn. Expelled! They said he was expelle

27、d. In disgrace! added Miss Sallie. Vivian Lane sat in the back room at the window, studying in the lingering light of the long June evening. At least, she appeared to be studying. Her tall figure was bent over her books, but the dark eyes blazed under their delicate level brows, and her face flushed

28、 and paled with changing feelings. She had heardwho, in the same house, could escape hearing the Misses Foote?and had followed the torrent of description, hearsay, surmise and allegation with an interest that was painful in its intensity. Its a shame! she whispered under her17 breath. A shame! And n

29、obody to stand up for him! She half rose to her feet as if to do it herself, but sank back irresolutely. A fresh wave of talk rolled forth. Itll half kill his aunt. Poor Miss Elder! I dont know what shell do! I dont know what hell do. He cant go back to college. Hell have to go to work. Id like to k

30、now wherenobodyd hire him in this town. The girl could bear it no longer. She came to the door, and there, as they paused to speak to her, her purpose ebbed again. My daughter, Vivian, Mrs. Williams, said her mother; and the other callers greeted her familiarly. Youd better finish your lessons, Vivi

31、an, Mr. Lane suggested. I have, father, said the girl, and took a chair by the ministers wife. She had a vague feeling that if she were there, they would not talk so about Morton Elder. Mrs. Williams hailed the interruption gratefully. She liked the slender girl with the thoughtful eyes and pretty,

32、rather pathetic mouth, and sought to draw her out. But her questions soon led to unfortunate results. You are going to college, I suppose? she presently inquired; and Vivian owned that it was the desire of her heart. Nonsense! said her father. Stuff and nonsense, Vivian! Youre not going to college.

33、The Foote girls now burst forth in voluble agreement with Mr. Lane. His wife was evidently of the same mind; and Mrs. Williams plainly regretted her question. But Vivian mustered courage enough to make a stand, strengthened perhaps by the depth of the feeling which had brought her into the room. I d

34、ont know why youre all so down on a girls going to college. Eve Marks has gone, and Mary Spring is goingand both the Austin girls. Everybody goes now. I know one girl that wont, was her fathers incisive comment, and her mother said quietly, A girls place is at hometill she marries. Suppose I dont wa

35、nt to marry? said Vivian. Dont talk nonsense, her father answered. Marriage is a womans duty. What do you want to do? asked Miss Josie in the interests of further combat. Do you want to be a doctor, like Jane Bellair? I should like to very much indeed, said the girl with quiet intensity. Id like to

36、be a doctor in a babies hospital. More nonsense, said Mr. Lane. Dont talk to me about that woman! You attend to your studies, and then to your home duties, my dear. The talk rose anew, the three sisters contriving all to agree with Mr. Lane in his opinions about college, marriage and Dr. Bellair, ye

37、t to disagree violently among themselves. Mrs. Williams rose to go, and in the lull that followed the liquid note of a whippoorwill met the girls quick ear. She quietly slipped out, unnoticed. The Lanes home stood near the outer edge of the town, with an outlook across wide meadows and soft wooded h

38、ills. Behind, their long garden backed on that of Miss Orella Elder, with a connecting gate in the gray board fence. Mrs. Lane had grown up here. The house belonged to her mother, Mrs. Servilla Pettigrew, though that able lady was seldom in it, preferring to make herself useful among two growing set

39、s of grandchildren. Miss Elder was Vivians favorite teacher. She was a careful and conscientious instructor, and the girl was a careful and conscientious scholar; so they got on admirably together; indeed, there was a real affection between them. And just as the young Laura Pettigrew had played with

40、 the younger Orella Elder, so Vivian had played with little Susie Elder, Miss Orellas orphan niece. Susie regarded the older girl with worshipful affection, which was not at all unpleasant to an emotional young creature with unemotional parents, and no brothers or sisters of her own. Moreover, Susie

41、 was Mortons sister. The whippoorwills cry sounded again through the soft June night. Vivian came quickly down the garden path between the bordering beds of sweet alyssum and mignonette. A dew-wet rose brushed against her hand. She broke it off, pricking her fingers, and hastily fastened it in the b

42、osom of her white frock. Large old lilac bushes hung over the dividing fence, a thick mass of honeysuckle climbed up by the gate and mingled with them, spreading over to a pear tree on the Lane side. In this fragrant, hidden corner was a rough seat, and from it a boys hand reached out and seized the

43、 girls, drawing her down beside him. She drew away from him as far as the seat allowed. Oh Morton! she said. What have you done? Morton was sulky. Now Vivian, are you down on me too? I thought I had one friend. You ought to tell me, she said more gently. How can I be your friend if I dont know the f

44、acts? They are saying perfectly awful things. Who are? Whythe Foote girlseverybody. Oh those old maids arent everybody, I assure you. You see, Vivian, you live right here in this old oyster of a townand you make mountains out of molehills like everybody else. A girl of your intelligence ought to kno

45、w better. She drew a great breath of relief. Then you haventdone it? Done what? Whats all this mysterious talk anyhow? The prisoner has a right to know what hes charged with before he commits himself. The girl was silent, finding it difficult to begin. Well, out with it. What do they say I did? He p

46、icked up a long dry twig and broke it, gradually, into tiny, half-inch bits. They say youwent to the citywith a lot of the worst boys in college Well? Many persons go to the city every day. Thats no crime, surely. As for the worst boys in college,he laughed scornfullyI suppose those old ladies think

47、 if a fellow smokes a cigarette or says darn hes a tough. Theyre mighty nice fellows, that bunchmost of em. Got some ginger in em, thats all. What else? They sayyou drank. O ho! Said I got drunk, I warrant! Wellwe did have a skate on that time, I admit! And he laughed as if this charge were but a familiar joke. Why Morton Elder! I think it is adisgrace! Pshaw, Vivian!You ought to have more sense. All the fellows get gay once in a while. A college isnt a young ladies seminary. He reached out and got hold of her hand again, b