原文
"We had just a stupid, silly, commonplace quarrel. So commonplace that,
if you'll believe me, I don't even remember just how it began. I hardly
know who was the more to blame for it. Stephen did really begin it, but
I suppose I provoked him by some foolishness of mine. He had a rival or
two, you see. I was vain and coquettish and liked to tease him a little.
He was a very high-strung, sensitive fellow. Well, we parted in a temper
on both sides. But I thought it would all come right; and it would have
if Stephen hadn't come back too soon. Anne, my dear, I'm sorry to say"
. . . Miss Lavendar dropped her voice as if she were about to confess a
predilection for murdering people, "that I am a dreadfully sulky person.
Oh, you needn't smile, . . . it's only too true. I DO sulk; and Stephen
came back before I had finished sulking. I wouldn't listen to him and I
wouldn't forgive him; and so he went away for good. He was too proud to
come again. And then I sulked because he didn't come. I might have sent
for him perhaps, but I couldn't humble myself to do that. I was just
as proud as he was . . . pride and sulkiness make a very bad combination,
Anne. But I could never care for anybody else and I didn't want to.
I knew I would rather be an old maid for a thousand years than marry
anybody who wasn't Stephen Irving. Well, it all seems like a dream now,
of course. How sympathetic you look, Anne . . . as sympathetic as only
seventeen can look. But don't overdo it. I'm really a very happy,
contented little person in spite of my broken heart. My heart did break,
if ever a heart did, when I realized that Stephen Irving was not coming
back. But, Anne, a broken heart in real life isn't half as dreadful as
it is in books. It's a good deal like a bad tooth . . . though you won't
think THAT a very romantic simile. It takes spells of aching and gives
you a sleepless night now and then, but between times it lets you enjoy
life and dreams and echoes and peanut candy as if there were nothing the
matter with it. And now you're looking disappointed. You don't think
I'm half as interesting a person as you did five minutes ago when you
believed I was always the prey of a tragic memory bravely hidden beneath
external smiles. That's the worst . . . or the best . . . of real life,
Anne. It WON'T let you be miserable. It keeps on trying to make you
comfortable . . . and succeeding...even when you're determined to be
unhappy and romantic. Isn't this candy scrumptious? I've eaten far more
than is good for me already but I'm going to keep recklessly on."
語彙など
- stupid:愚かな
- silly:ばかげた
- commonplace:つまらない
- quarrel:けんか
- hardly:ほとんど〜ない
- blame:とがめる
- provoke:挑発する
- foolishness:愚かさ
- rival:競争相手
- vain:うぬぼれの強い
- coquettish:ちょっと色っぽくて可愛らしい
- tease:からかう
- high-strung:ひどく神経質な
- sensitive:傷つきやすい
- part:別れる
- in a temper:短気を起こして
- come right:うまくいく
- confess:告白する
- predilection:偏愛,ひいき
- murder:殺す
- dreadfully:すごく
- sulky:すねた,陰鬱な
- forgive:許す
- for good:永遠に
- humble:卑しめる
- pride:うぬぼれ
- combination:組み合わせ
- care for:〜を愛している
- sympathetic:思いやりのある,共感する
- overdo it:やり過ぎる
- content:〜を満足させる
- in spite of:〜にもかかわらず
- broken heart:失意,失恋
- dreadful:無惨な
- good deal:かなり
- bad tooth:虫歯
- simile:直喩
- spell:ひと続きの期間,ひとしきりの発作
- ache:痛む
- now and then:時々
- echo:こだま
- prey:被害者
- tragic:悲劇の
- external:外側の
- miserable:みじめな
- scrumptious:すてきな
- recklessly:無謀にも