原文
"They grew in beauty side by side until they were sixteen. Then Bertram
DeVere came to their native village and fell in love with the fair
Geraldine. He saved her life when her horse ran away with her in a
carriage, and she fainted in his arms and he carried her home three
miles; because, you understand, the carriage was all smashed up. I found
it rather hard to imagine the proposal because I had no experience to
go by. I asked Ruby Gillis if she knew anything about how men proposed
because I thought she'd likely be an authority on the subject, having so
many sisters married. Ruby told me she was hid in the hall pantry when
Malcolm Andres proposed to her sister Susan. She said Malcolm told Susan
that his dad had given him the farm in his own name and then said, 'What
do you say, darling pet, if we get hitched this fall?' And Susan said,
'Yes--no--I don't know--let me see'--and there they were, engaged as
quick as that. But I didn't think that sort of a proposal was a very
romantic one, so in the end I had to imagine it out as well as I could.
I made it very flowery and poetical and Bertram went on his knees,
although Ruby Gillis says it isn't done nowadays. Geraldine accepted
him in a speech a page long. I can tell you I took a lot of trouble
with that speech. I rewrote it five times and I look upon it as my
masterpiece. Bertram gave her a diamond ring and a ruby necklace
and told her they would go to Europe for a wedding tour, for he was
immensely wealthy. But then, alas, shadows began to darken over their
path. Cordelia was secretly in love with Bertram herself and when
Geraldine told her about the engagement she was simply furious,
especially when she saw the necklace and the diamond ring. All her
affection for Geraldine turned to bitter hate and she vowed that she
should never marry Bertram. But she pretended to be Geraldine's friend
the same as ever. One evening they were standing on the bridge over a
rushing turbulent stream and Cordelia, thinking they were alone, pushed
Geraldine over the brink with a wild, mocking, 'Ha, ha, ha.' But Bertram
saw it all and he at once plunged into the current, exclaiming, 'I
will save thee, my peerless Geraldine.' But alas, he had forgotten he
couldn't swim, and they were both drowned, clasped in each other's arms.
Their bodies were washed ashore soon afterwards. They were buried in the
one grave and their funeral was most imposing, Diana. It's so much
more romantic to end a story up with a funeral than a wedding. As for
Cordelia, she went insane with remorse and was shut up in a lunatic
asylum. I thought that was a poetical retribution for her crime."
語彙など
- side by side:一緒に
- fall in love with:恋に落ちる
- fair:美しい,色白の
- run away:暴走する
- carriage:4輪馬車
- faint:気絶する
- smash up:大破する
- proposal:結婚の申し込み
- go by:〜に頼る
- authority on:〜に詳しい人
- pantry:食料品室,食器室
- get hitched:結婚する
- engage:婚約させる
- in the end:最後には
- flowery:華やかな
- go on one's knees:ひざまずく
- nowadays:近ごろ
- look upon A as:Aを〜と見なす
- masterpiece:傑作
- immensely:非常に
- engagement:婚約
- furious:激怒した
- affection:愛情
- bitter hate:ひどい憎しみ
- vow:誓う
- pretend to:〜のふりをする
- rush:殺到する
- turbulent stream:激しく逆巻く流れ
- brink:縁,水際
- mocking:あざけるような
- plunge into:〜に飛び込む
- thee:youの古語
- peerless:二つとない,無比の
- alas:悲しいかな
- drowned:おぼれ死んだ
- clasp:抱きしめる
- bodies:遺骸
- ashore:岸へ
- afterwards:その後
- bury:埋葬する
- grave:墓
- funeral:葬式
- imposing:堂々とした
- as for:〜については
- go insane:気が狂う
- remorse:後悔
- lunatic asylum:精神病院
- retribution for:〜への仕返し
- crime:罪