【荆棘鸟】第七章 02(在线收听

She had got very fat of late, which didn't improve matters. But Paddy seemed to see nothing amiss; he strode forward to take his sister's hands, beaming. What a dear fellow he was, thought Father Ralph as he watched the little scene, half amused, half detached.
"Well, Mary! How fine you look! Like a young girl!" In truth she looked almost exactly like that famous photograph of Queen Victoria taken not long before she died. The two heavy lines were there on either side of the masterful nose, the mulish mouth was set indomitably, the slightly protruding and glacial eyes fixed without blinking on Meggie. Father Ralph's own beautiful eyes passed from niece to aunt, and back to niece again.
Mary Carson smiled at Paddy, and put her hand on his arm. "You may take me in to dinner, Padraic. Father de Bricassart will escort Fiona, and the boys must make do with Meghann between them." Over her shoulder she looked back at Meggie. "Do you dance tonight, Meghann?"
"She's too young, Mary, she's not yet seventeen," said Paddy quickly, remembering another parental shortcoming; none of his children had been taught to dance.
"What a pity," said Mary Carson.
It was a splendid, sumptuous, brilliant, glorious party; at least, they were the adjectives most bandied about. Royal O'Mara was there from Inishmurray, two hundred miles away; he came the farthest with his wife, sons and lone daughter, though not by much. Gilly people thought little of traveling two hundred miles to a cricket match, let alone a party. Duncan Gordon, from Each-Uisge; no one had ever persuaded him to explain why he had called his station so far from the ocean the Scots Gaelic for a sea horse. Martin King, his wife, his son Anthony and Mrs. Anthony; he was Gilly's senior squatter, since Mary Carson could not be so called, being a woman. Evan Pugh, from Braich y Pwll, which the district pronounced Brakeypull.
 
她老年发福,这对她是大为不利的。
  可是,帕迪好象没发现有任何不当之处;他走上前去挽起他姐姐的手,满面笑容。尽管拉尔夫神父半觉有趣,半觉超然地看着这不小的场面,但依然觉得帕迪真是不可爱的人。
  "哦,玛丽!你显得多好看哪!就象个年轻姑娘!"
  确实,她那副模样简直和维多利亚女王死前不久摄下的那幅照片上的神态差不多。专横的鼻子两侧各有一道深深的纹路,执拗的嘴显得不屈不挠;那双略有些凸出的、冷冰冰的眼睛一眨不眨地盯着梅吉。拉尔夫神父那双缥亮的眼睛从侄女的身上转到了姑妈的身上,又从姑妈的身上转到侄女身上。
  玛丽·卡森向帕迪微笑着,用手挽住了他的胳臂。"你陪我吃晚饭吧,帕德里克,德·布里克萨特神父将陪着菲奥娜,男孩子们必须让梅格安坐在他们中间。"她转过头来望着梅吉。"你今晚跳舞吗,梅格安?"
  "她太小了,玛丽,还不到17岁呢。帕达连忙说道。他记起了自己身为父母的又一条缺陷,他的孩子们全没学过跳舞。
  "太可惜了,"玛丽·卡森说道。
  这是一个壮观、豪华、侈糜、煊赫一时、欢天喜地的宴会;至少,四处都是这样纷纷传说的。罗亚尔·奥马拉偕妻子、儿子们和他的独生女从200英里以外的因尼斯莫瑞倾家而来。尽管这不是什么了不起的事,但基里的人是很少想到跑100英里去看一场板球赛,更不用说是一次宴会了。还有从伊奇-乌伊斯奇来的邓肯·戈登,谁也不能说服他解释一下,他为什么把他自己那个远离海洋的牧场称之为"猎海马的苏格兰盖尔人农场、与他同来的有马丁·金、他儿子安东尼和安东尼太太;他是一位上了年纪的牧场主,由于玛丽·卡森是个女人,所以他无法常常登门造访。还有从被人们念成布雷基普尔的布雷恩·Y·普尔地区来的伊万·帕;
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