"And then the living, mamma," said Kaela.
"Yes, indeed," she replied, "no such a thing as a respectable meat soup- their cookery is miserable stuff."
The journey had also tired Kaela; but she was always fatigued, that was the worst of it. So they sent for Sophy, and she was taken into the house to reside with them, and her presence there was a great advantage. Mamma-in-law acknowledged that Sophy was not only a clever housewife, but well-informed and accomplished, though that could hardly be expected in a person of her limited means. She was also a generous-hearted, faithful girl; she showed that thoroughly while Kaela lay sick, fading away. When the casket is everything, the casket should be strong, or else all is over. And all was over with the casket, for Kaela died.
"She was beautiful," said her mother; "she was quite different from the beauties they call 'antiques,' for they are so damaged. A beauty ought to be perfect, and Kaela was a perfect beauty."
Alfred wept, and mamma wept, and they both wore mourning. The black dress suited mamma very well, and she wore mourning the longest. She had also to experience another grief in seeing Alfred marry again, marry Sophy, who was nothing at all to look at. "He's gone to the very extreme," said mamma-in-law; "he has gone from the most beautiful to the ugliest, and he has forgotten his first wife. Men have no constancy. My husband was a very different man,- but then he died before me."
"'Pygmalion loved his Galatea,' was in the song they sung at my first wedding," said Alfred; "I once fell in love with a beautiful statue, which awoke to life in my arms; but the kindred soul, which is a gift from heaven, the angel who can feel and sympathize with and elevate us, I have not found and won till now. You came, Sophy, not in the glory of outward beauty, though you are even fairer than is necessary. The chief thing still remains. You came to teach the sculptor thathis work is but dust and clay only, an outward form made of a material that decays, and that what we should seek to obtain is the ethereal essence of mind and spirit. Poor Kaela! our life was but as a meeting by the way-side; in yonder world, where we shall know each other from a union of mind, we shall be but mere acquaintances."
"That was not a loving speech," said Sophy, "nor spoken like a Christian. In a future state, where there is neithermarrying nor giving in marriage, but where, as you say, souls are attracted to each other by sympathy; there everything beautiful develops itself, and is raised to a higher state of existence: her soul will acquire such completeness that it may harmonize with yours, even more than mine, and you will then once more utter your first rapturous exclamation of your love, 'Beautiful, most beautiful!'"
“美” Page 2
“而且那里的饮食才糟呢!”珈拉说。
“连一碗真正的肉汤都没有!”妈妈说。“他们做菜的手艺也真够糟!”
珈拉对于旅行感到厌倦了。她老是感到疲倦——这是最糟糕的事儿。苏菲来和他们住在一起;这对他们说来是一件愉快的事情。
丈母娘说：“你得承认，苏菲既精于管家，也懂得艺术。就她的家世来说，这是很不容易的。此外，她非常正派，绝对可靠。这一点，当珈拉躺在病床上，一天不如一天的时候，苏菲表现得特别明显。”
如果箱子真正是一只好箱子的话，那么它就应该很结实，否则它就应该完事。这箱子现在真的算完事了——珈拉死了。