登陆注册
26135100000012

第12章

Hadn't he noticed, she asked, that cooking always expressed the national character, and that French food was clever and amusing just because the people were? And in private houses, everywhere, how the dishes always resembled the talk--how the very same platitudes seemed to go into people's mouths and come out of them? Couldn't he see just what kind of menu it would make, if a fairy waved a wand and suddenly turned the conversation at a London dinner into joints and puddings? She always thought it a good sign when people liked Irish stew; it meant that they enjoyed changes and surprises, and taking life as it came; and such a beautiful Parisian version of the dish as the navarin that was just being set before them was like the very best kind of talk--the kind when one could never tell before-hand just what was going to be said!

Darrow, as he watched her enjoyment of their innocent feast, wondered if her vividness and vivacity were signs of her calling.She was the kind of girl in whom certain people would instantly have recognized the histrionic gift.But experience had led him to think that, except at the creative moment, the divine flame burns low in its possessors.The one or two really intelligent actresses he had known had struck him, in conversation, as either bovine or primitively "jolly".He had a notion that, save in the mind of genius, the creative process absorbs too much of the whole stuff of being to leave much surplus for personal expression; and the girl before him, with her changing face and flexible fancies, seemed destined to work in life itself rather than in any of its counterfeits.

The coffee and liqueurs were already on the table when her mind suddenly sprang back to the Farlows.She jumped up with one of her subversive movements and declared that she must telegraph at once.Darrow called for writing materials and room was made at her elbow for the parched ink-bottle and saturated blotter of the Parisian restaurant; but the mere sight of these jaded implements seemed to paralyze Miss Viner's faculties.She hung over the telegraph-form with anxiously-drawn brow, the tip of the pen-handle pressed against her lip; and at length she raised her troubled eyes to Darrow's.

"I simply can't think how to say it."

"What--that you're staying over to see Cerdine?""But AM I--am I, really?" The joy of it flamed over her face.

Darrow looked at his watch."You could hardly get an answer to your telegram in time to take a train to Joigny this afternoon, even if you found your friends could have you."She mused for a moment, tapping her lip with the pen."But Imust let them know I'm here.I must find out as soon as possible if they CAN, have me." She laid the pen down despairingly."I never COULD write a telegram!" she sighed.

"Try a letter, then and tell them you'll arrive tomorrow."This suggestion produced immediate relief, and she gave an energetic dab at the ink-bottle; but after another interval of uncertain scratching she paused again."Oh, it's fearful!

I don't know what on earth to say.I wouldn't for the world have them know how beastly Mrs.Murrett's been."Darrow did not think it necessary to answer.It was no business of his, after all.He lit a cigar and leaned back in his seat, letting his eyes take their fill of indolent pleasure.In the throes of invention she had pushed back her hat, loosening the stray lock which had invited his touch the night before.After looking at it for a while he stood up and wandered to the window.

Behind him he heard her pen scrape on.

"I don't want to worry them--I'm so certain they've got bothers of their own." The faltering scratches ceased again.

"I wish I weren't such an idiot about writing: all the words get frightened and scurry away when I try to catch them."He glanced back at her with a smile as she bent above her task like a school-girl struggling with a "composition." Her flushed cheek and frowning brow showed that her difficulty was genuine and not an artless device to draw him to her side.She was really powerless to put her thoughts in writing, and the inability seemed characteristic of her quick impressionable mind, and of the incessant come-and-go of her sensations.He thought of Anna Leath's letters, or rather of the few he had received, years ago, from the girl who had been Anna Summers.He saw the slender firm strokes of the pen, recalled the clear structure of the phrases, and, by an abrupt association of ideas, remembered that, at that very hour, just such a document might be awaiting him at the hotel.

What if it were there, indeed, and had brought him a complete explanation of her telegram? The revulsion of feeling produced by this thought made him look at the girl with sudden impatience.She struck him as positively stupid, and he wondered how he could have wasted half his day with her, when all the while Mrs.Leath's letter might be lying on his table.At that moment, if he could have chosen, he would have left his companion on the spot; but he had her on his hands, and must accept the consequences.

Some odd intuition seemed to make her conscious of his change of mood, for she sprang from her seat, crumpling the letter in her hand.

"I'm too stupid; but I won't keep you any longer.I'll go back to the hotel and write there."Her colour deepened, and for the first time, as their eyes met, he noticed a faint embarrassment in hers.Could it be that his nearness was, after all, the cause of her confusion? The thought turned his vague impatience with her into a definite resentment toward himself.There was really no excuse for his having blundered into such an adventure.

Why had he not shipped the girl off to Joigny by the evening train, instead of urging her to delay, and using Cerdine as a pretext? Paris was full of people he knew, and his annoyance was increased by the thought that some friend of Mrs.Leath's might see him at the play, and report his presence there with a suspiciously good-looking companion.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 至尊复仇者

    至尊复仇者

    他是神社最强杀手,却因为与师妹相恋,被放逐异种横行的死亡之岛,他将拿起屠刀,为青春复仇……
  • 国民首席宠妻上瘾

    国民首席宠妻上瘾

    无限好书尽在阅文。
  • 真我纪

    真我纪

    这世上没有未完的故事,只有未死的心,不断的追寻,为的到底是什么?不死的心是真我吗?少年景文因同村邀请而进入军营,又因亲人死亡而万里追凶踏入到了一个只能一直走下去的世界,面对人仙妖魔,奇幻危险的世界他又该如何自处,多年以后当他看到十亿星球阵的时候才发现之前所经历的虽然已超出想象,但在这一刻也都不算什么(真我纪)书友交流群群号141354591,喜欢的书友可以添加后互相交流提提建议
  • 兽武魂

    兽武魂

    武魂,烽火大陆炎族的第八魄,凡是武者,以武魂为根,武魂为源!千年之后,又一王级武魂重现世间!是腥风血雨,还是天下之福!热血澎湃,激烈战斗,生死边缘中挣扎新书,读者兄弟们,如果喜欢请支持一下,只需轻轻点击几下鼠标!收藏!推荐!谢谢大家支持大家的收藏与推荐其实是对我的一种鼓励
  • 素月怅空

    素月怅空

    “爱情是一颗透明的水晶,越是透明就越能让我看清楚你的卑劣,越是透明就越能让我看明白我的忍让是徒劳无功的。都到这个时候了,你还在选择欺骗我。”唐一清从来对没有哭过,这还是她十年来留下的第一滴眼泪。面对这些,方辰萧惨笑道:“原来一直以来,在我枕边的是梁玉姑娘的幻象,既然这样我除了只能对你说对不起,其它我什么也做不了,因为梁玉已经怀了我的孩子。”……
  • 封名恶神

    封名恶神

    这就是一冰山男很爷们的复仇史!ps:简介很简单,大家多多收藏支持。
  • 生活中来的600个细节全集

    生活中来的600个细节全集

    生活是充满了细节的。这些细节使得生活血肉丰满,栩栩如生。一个家光有了房子,有了一些家具,有人赚钱回来,只能算是有了一个家的框架。而这些生活中来的细节让我们的住所成为一个真正的家。否则,生活一定是一片空白。细节虽小,却构成了生活的全部,关注细节就是关注生活,讲究细节就是讲究生活的质量和品位。
  • 边伯贤之拐个千金当媳妇

    边伯贤之拐个千金当媳妇

    其实也没有什么好介绍的,如果喜欢就多看看,不喜欢请绕道。
  • 降妖英雄记

    降妖英雄记

    我叫吴良,从小修道,但是我并不相信世上有鬼怪,可是当我离家后,许多的灵异事件在我身边发生了。
  • 带口铁锅闯末世

    带口铁锅闯末世

    某翔技校高材生毕业考试,抡锅炒菜之际在同学、老师的惊诧声中,在雷电的火花中突然消失!醒来后,他魂穿末世,突然发现来到了丧尸横行的废土末世!陪伴他穿越而来的还有那口大铁锅!一个屌丝大厨面对喋血丧尸、自相残杀的同类能够存活下去吗?绝望下,谁料到他的铁锅大进化,居然开启了末世打丧尸、吃烙饼,美女闻香而来,队友闻风而聚的崛起奇迹!谁说厨师不能称霸?且看我抡起铁锅闯末世!