Pauline's Passion and Punishment - Chapter 1

To and fro, like a wild creature in its cage, paced that handsome woman, with bent ¹ head, locked hands, and restless steps. Some mental storm, swift and sudden as a tempest of the tropics, had swept over her and left its marks behind. As if in anger at the beauty now proved powerless, all ornaments ³ had been flung away, yet still it shone undimmed, and filled her with a passionate ⁴ regret. A jewel glittered at her feet, leaving the lace rent to shreds ⁵ on the indignant bosom ⁶ that had worn it; the wreaths of hair that had crowned her with a woman's most womanly adornment ⁷ fell disordered upon shoulders that gleamed the fairer for the scarlet ⁸ of the pomegranate flowers clinging to the bright meshes ⁹ that had imprisoned ¹⁰ them an hour ago; and over the face, once so affluent ¹¹ in youthful bloom, a stern pallor had fallen like a blight ¹², for pride was slowly conquering passion, and despair had murdered hope., ,Pausing in her troubled march, she swept away the curtain swaying in the wind and looked out, as if imploring ¹³ help from Nature, the great mother of us all. A summer moon rode high in a cloudless heaven, and far as eye could reach stretched the green wilderness ¹⁴ of a Cuban cafetal. No forest, but a tropical orchard ¹⁵, rich in lime, banana, plantain, palm, and orange trees, under whose protective shade grew the evergreen ¹⁶ coffee plant, whose dark-red berries are the fortune of their possessor, and the luxury of one-half the world. Wide avenues diverging ¹⁷ from the mansion ¹⁸, with its belt of brilliant shrubs ¹⁹ and flowers, formed shadowy vistas ²⁰, along which, on the wings of the wind, came a breath of far-off music, like a wooing voice; for the magic of night and distance lulled ²¹ the cadence ²² of a Spanish contradanza to a trance of sound, soft, subdued ²³, and infinitely ²⁴ sweet. It was a southern scene, but not a southern face that looked out upon it with such unerring glance; there was no southern languor ²⁵ in the figure, stately and erect ²⁶; no southern swarthiness on fairest cheek and arm; no southern darkness in the shadowy gold of the neglected hair; the light frost of northern snows lurked ²⁷ in the features, delicately cut, yet vividly ²⁸ alive, betraying a temperament ²⁹ ardent ³⁰, dominant ³¹, and subtle. For passion burned in the deep eyes, changing their violet to black. Pride sat on the forehead, with its dark brows; all a woman's sweetest spells touched the lips, whose shape was a smile; and in the spirited carriage of the head appeared the freedom of an intellect ripened ³² under colder skies, the energy of a nature that could wring ³³ strength from suffering, and dare to act where feebler souls would only dare desire., ,Standing ³⁴ thus, conscious only of the wound that bled in that high heart of hers, and the longing ³⁵ that gradually took shape and deepened to a purpose, an alien presence changed the tragic ³⁶ atmosphere of that still room and woke her from her dangerous mood. A wonderfully winning guise ³⁷ this apparition ³⁸ wore, for youth, hope, and love endowed it with the charm that gives beauty to the plainest, while their reign ⁴⁰ endures. A boy in any other climate, in this his nineteen years had given him the stature ⁴¹ of a man; and Spain, the land of romance, seemed embodied ⁴² in this figure, full of the lithe ⁴³ slenderness of the whispering palms overhead, the warm coloring of the deep-toned flowers sleeping in the room, the native grace of the tame antelope ⁴⁴ lifting its human eyes to his as he lingered on the threshold in an attitude eager yet timid, watching that other figure as it looked into the night and found no solace ⁴⁵ there., , ,She turned as if her thought had taken voice and answered her, regarded him a moment, as if hesitating to receive the granted wish, then beckoned ⁴⁶ with the one word., ,"Come!", ,We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。,It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴 。