登陆注册
25640800000008

第8章

I had been again with my mother, but except Mrs. Meldrum and the gleam of France had not found at Folkestone my old resources and pastimes. Mrs. Meldrum, much edified by my report of the performances, as she called them, in my studio, had told me that to her knowledge Flora would soon be on the straw: she had cut from her capital such fine fat slices that there was almost nothing more left to swallow. Perched on her breezy cliff the good lady dazzled me as usual by her universal light: she knew so much more about everything and everybody than I could ever squeeze out of my colour-tubes. She knew that Flora was acting on system and absolutely declined to be interfered with: her precious reasoning was that her money would last as long as she should need it, that a magnificent marriage would crown her charms before she should be really pinched. She had a sum put by for a liberal outfit;meanwhile the proper use of the rest was to decorate her for the approaches to the altar, keep her afloat in the society in which she would most naturally meet her match. Lord Iffield had been seen with her at Lucerne, at Cadenabbia; but it was Mrs. Meldrum's conviction that nothing was to be expected of him but the most futile flirtation. The girl had a certain hold of him, but with a great deal of swagger he hadn't the spirit of a sheep: he was in fear of his father and would never commit himself in Lord Considine's lifetime. The most Flora might achieve was that he wouldn't marry some one else. Geoffrey Dawling, to Mrs. Meldrum's knowledge (I had told her of the young man's visit) had attached himself on the way back from Italy to the Hammond Synge group. My informant was in a position to be definite about this dangler; she knew about his people; she had heard of him before. Hadn't he been a friend of one of her nephews at Oxford? Hadn't he spent the Christmas holidays precisely three years before at her brother-in-law's in Yorkshire, taking that occasion to get himself refused with derision by wilful Betty, the second daughter of the house?

Her sister, who liked the floundering youth, had written to her to complain of Betty, and that the young man should now turn up as an appendage of Flora's was one of those oft-cited proofs that the world is small and that there are not enough people to go round.

His father had been something or other in the Treasury; his grandfather on the mother's side had been something or other in the Church. He had come into the paternal estate, two or three thousand a year in Hampshire; but he had let the place advantageously and was generous to four plain sisters who lived at Bournemouth and adored him. The family was hideous all round, but the very salt of the earth. He was supposed to be unspeakably clever; he was fond of London, fond of books, of intellectual society and of the idea of a political career. That such a man should be at the same time fond of Flora Saunt attested, as the phrase in the first volume of Gibbon has it, the variety of his inclinations. I was soon to learn that he was fonder of her than of all the other things together. Betty, one of five and with views above her station, was at any rate felt at home to have dished herself by her perversity. Of course no one had looked at her since and no one would ever look at her again. It would be eminently desirable that Flora should learn the lesson of Betty's fate.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 幽灵无双:风洺天下

    幽灵无双:风洺天下

    她------隐世大家族庶出大小姐冷洺风,不但美貌无双,一手星术更是使的出神入化。冷傲倔强不服输是她的性格;貌美无双一身蓝衣是她的特征;没有更好,只有最好是她的座右铭。因为冷夕颜的介入,一代鬼才堕落了..她------凤熙王朝七王爷的宝贝女儿凤洺,那天之后,传说她整天以面具示人,只说是相貌丑陋;传说她未婚先孕;传说她星力近乎透明,世人嘲笑她。可,谁又知道,这代表什么呢?当一个又一个谜底,一环扣一环渐渐地浮出水面...结果,谁才是最愚蠢无知的那个?一朝穿越,当冷洺风变成凤洺,那------将会发生什么事呢?洺风是否会重新打开心扉接受别的人呢?这...是未知数..
  • 花开花落总是空

    花开花落总是空

    我用一朵花开的时间与你相遇,亦用一朵花谢的时间与你分离!
  • 前往另一个世界

    前往另一个世界

    我想讲述的是一个故事,有些诡异以及匪夷所思。或许是我经历过的、也或许是你经历过的、又或许...是出现在我梦里的。
  • 亡神绝爱之上离泉念

    亡神绝爱之上离泉念

    本以为鲛人已经灭绝,可神界容渊太子在从往生海捡到了六界最后一只鲛人,作为宠物将养着,有多宠?容渊太子天天以心头血来喂养?可即便如此三千前以后,还是被打的魂飞魄散而死。(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)
  • 邪帝绝宠,惑世小妖妃

    邪帝绝宠,惑世小妖妃

    上的了厅堂,下的了厨房,降的了神兽,斗的过小三,损的了渣男,修的了功法,赚的了钱财,逛的了青楼,养得起小倌……,只是,为毛这只大奇葩是个例外?“你就是一朵花,一朵奇葩!”某女愤恨的看着这个不请自来的某妖孽。“娘子,春宵一刻值千金”他长臂一伸,将她圈入怀中,“不如我们俩生几个小奇葩来玩玩?”
  • 琴师妖后

    琴师妖后

    一醒来,见到了阎王爷,提前勾了魂就算了,说好了美男环身有钱财无数的女王爷呢?一脚将人踹到了一个修行斗气的大陆也就算了,还敢要好评!!云妖颜抱着既来之则安之的人生态度,女扮男装,幸福的滚在了美男堆里,恩,阎王爷,本少爷原谅你了!
  • 纯爱年代

    纯爱年代

    刘佳乐的小说《纯爱年代》讲述:而立之年的姚大力在机场迎来了与他阔别四年之久的兄弟高耀祖,在同自己的好兄弟嘘寒问暖的过程中,勾起了姚大力对往事的追忆……学生时代的姚大力在学业的不同时间分别周旋在三个性格迥异的女孩子之间。姚大力和高耀祖是好兄弟,毕业后一同来到名声显赫的二中,并结实了温文尔雅的关燕。高耀祖对关燕情有独钟,可关燕却一直暗恋着姚大力,并将这份爱深深地埋在心里。一心只想着兄弟的姚大力为高耀祖制造了一次与关燕约会的机会,却没有想到,这反而让关燕对姚大力更加爱慕……
  • 测字秘牒

    测字秘牒

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 破碎面具之血色复仇

    破碎面具之血色复仇

    她们曾经拥有幸福美满的家庭,是什么让她们走上复仇这条艰险而又黑暗的道路?权势还是金钱?因为复仇,她们成为好友,成为一名杀手,为的就是有一天能够复仇······可是,当一切开始时,她们遇上了他们,他们的出现彻底打乱了她们的计划······但,老天似乎在捉弄她们,在拥有幸福之后再度失望,复仇之心愈演愈烈,她们又该何去何从
  • 赴你而来

    赴你而来

    不知是时光的雕刻的苍老痕迹,还是渐渐冷却对爱情的执着,她不再因为那个男人或轻或重的一句话,而激起心头半点涟漪,时间是检验一切伤口的良药,她情愿在义无反顾这一回。都说时间可以磨平任何感情的刻苦铭心,直到三年后再一次见到那个人你才终于明白,有些人出现在你生命里,你身边所有的人都会变成荒芜,那么他情愿等待。你爱的地方下雪了,沈南晞你还未归。