登陆注册
26135100000033

第33章

In her bedroom she shut the door and stood still, looking about her in a fit of dreamy wonder.Her feelings were unlike any she had ever known: richer, deeper, more complete.For the first time everything in her, from head to foot, seemed to be feeding the same full current of sensation.

She took off her hat and went to the dressing-table to smooth her hair.The pressure of the hat had flattened the dark strands on her forehead; her face was paler than usual, with shadows about the eyes.She felt a pang of regret for the wasted years."If I look like this today," she said to herself, "what will he think of me when I'm ill or worried?"She began to run her fingers through her hair, rejoicing in its thickness; then she desisted and sat still, resting her chin on her hands.

"I want him to see me as I am," she thought.

Deeper than the deepest fibre of her vanity was the triumphant sense that AS SHE WAS, with her flattened hair, her tired pallor, her thin sleeves a little tumbled by the weight of her jacket, he would like her even better, feel her nearer, dearer, more desirable, than in all the splendours she might put on for him.In the light of this discovery she studied her face with a new intentness, seeing its defects as she had never seen them, yet seeing them through a kind of radiance, as though love were a luminous medium into which she had been bodily plunged.

She was glad now that she had confessed her doubts and her jealousy.She divined that a man in love may be flattered by such involuntary betrayals, that there are moments when respect for his liberty appeals to him less than the inability to respect it: moments so propitious that a woman's very mistakes and indiscretions may help to establish her dominion.The sense of power she had been aware of in talking to Darrow came back with ten-fold force.

She felt like testing him by the most fantastic exactions, and at the same moment she longed to humble herself before him, to make herself the shadow and echo of his mood.She wanted to linger with him in a world of fancy and yet to walk at his side in the world of fact.She wanted him to feel her power and yet to love her for her ignorance and humility.She felt like a slave, and a goddess, and a girl in her teens...

XIII

Darrow, late that evening, threw himself into an armchair before his fire and mused.

The room was propitious to meditation.The red-veiled lamp, the corners of shadow, the splashes of firelight on the curves of old full-bodied wardrobes and cabinets, gave it an air of intimacy increased by its faded hangings, its slightly frayed and threadbare rugs.Everything in it was harmoniously shabby, with a subtle sought-for shabbiness in which Darrow fancied he discerned the touch of Fraser Leath.

But Fraser Leath had grown so unimportant a factor in the scheme of things that these marks of his presence caused the young man no emotion beyond that of a faint retrospective amusement.

The afternoon and evening had been perfect.

After a moment of concern over her step-son's departure, Anna had surrendered herself to her happiness with an impetuosity that Darrow had never suspected in her.Early in the afternoon they had gone out in the motor, traversing miles of sober-tinted landscape in which, here and there, a scarlet vineyard flamed, clattering through the streets of stony villages, coming out on low slopes above the river, or winding through the pale gold of narrow wood-roads with the blue of clear-cut hills at their end.Over everything lay a faint sunshine that seemed dissolved in the still air, and the smell of wet roots and decaying leaves was merged in the pungent scent of burning underbrush.Once, at the turn of a wall, they stopped the motor before a ruined gateway and, stumbling along a road full of ruts, stood before a little old deserted house, fantastically carved and chimneyed, which lay in a moat under the shade of ancient trees.They paced the paths between the trees, found a mouldy Temple of Love on an islet among reeds and plantains, and, sitting on a bench in the stable-yard, watched the pigeons circling against the sunset over their cot of patterned brick.Then the motor flew on into the dusk...

When they came in they sat beside the fire in the oak drawing-room, and Darrow noticed how delicately her head stood out against the sombre panelling, and mused on the enjoyment there would always be in the mere fact of watching her hands as they moved about among the tea-things...

They dined late, and facing her across the table, with its low lights and flowers, he felt an extraordinary pleasure in seeing her again in evening dress, and in letting his eyes dwell on the proud shy set of her head, the way her dark hair clasped it, and the girlish thinness of her neck above the slight swell of the breast.His imagination was struck by the quality of reticence in her beauty.She suggested a fine portrait kept down to a few tones, or a Greek vase on which the play of light is the only pattern.

After dinner they went out on the terrace for a look at the moon-misted park.Through the crepuscular whiteness the trees hung in blotted masses.Below the terrace, the garden drew its dark diagrams between statues that stood like muffled conspirators on the edge of the shadow.Farther off, the meadows unrolled a silver-shot tissue to the mantling of mist above the river; and the autumn stars trembled overhead like their own reflections seen in dim water.

He lit his cigar, and they walked slowly up and down the flags in the languid air, till he put an arm about her, saying: "You mustn't stay till you're chilled"; then they went back into the room and drew up their chairs to the fire.

It seemed only a moment later that she said: "It must be after eleven," and stood up and looked down on him, smiling faintly.He sat still, absorbing the look, and thinking:

"There'll be evenings and evenings"--till she came nearer, bent over him, and with a hand on his shoulder said: "Good night."He got to his feet and put his arms about her.

同类推荐
  • 周慎斋遗书

    周慎斋遗书

    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。
  • 十剂表

    十剂表

    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。
  • 四明洞天丹山图咏集

    四明洞天丹山图咏集

    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。
  • 集古今佛道论

    集古今佛道论

    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。
  • 往生礼赞偈

    往生礼赞偈

    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。
热门推荐
  • 清清相钰

    清清相钰

    轻轻相遇,每个人都相遇见,却又有谁能留下谁?穆青清承受着是孤儿的痛苦,不过很幸运的事她身边还有她的哥哥。直到遇到梁钰,认定是一辈子良人,良人并非如此。“穆青清,再给我一次机会。这次说什么我都不会放开你的手。”“没关系,我放开你的手就行。”“你要我怎么做,你告诉我,我应该怎么做?”“一,离我远点,二,离我远点,三离我远点!”
  • 飞天娇妻总裁大人抓不到

    飞天娇妻总裁大人抓不到

    總裁有個病,沾到酒後抓個女人就喊娘。〝娘親,要喝奶""我勒個滴滴"一天總裁被壞人叔叔抓走,某女開直升機趕來救援"兒子不怕,娘來救你啦"眾強匪集體爆笑,多大了還找娘親呢,很快的他們就後悔了,娘親的木蘭飛彈橫掃整個地面哪個道士快來降妖啊!!!*霸道總裁,安心入坑*
  • 异世古武破天

    异世古武破天

    天代表的是掌控,代表的的是道,代表的是自然法则,修道者欲掌握法则大道,借助道之力量来作为衡量自己的实力。武代表的是己身,代表的是逆天而行,练武者淬炼最强己身,武破万法。本文就是讲述武与道的碰撞,没有唯一,没有最强,只有更强!
  • 编外特勤011

    编外特勤011

    十一不全她,小名十一,目前是三山市某大型旅行社导游,性格活泼开朗,爱好冒险,而最擅长的就是推理.她的家庭背景可不一般,曾祖父在民国时期就是三山市有名的神探,后来去了台湾,音信全无.爷爷呢,在上世纪60年代是三山市警长,但后来因为她曾祖父的原因,在那个动荡的年代被批为“黑五类”.一时悲愤一口气没上来,就这么走了,在1979年得到平反.现在她的父亲是国内有名的痕检专家,专门为公安系统破获大案要案.传说她的父亲可以不用任何仪器,只要看一眼地上脚印就会立马判断出这人的身高,体重,以及是男是女.
  • 韶华倾负终离殇

    韶华倾负终离殇

    那一年,悠悠夏日,她坐在树荫下戴着耳机,惬意地听音乐,他凑了过去,神秘一笑,“我手机里有一首歌很好听,要不要试试?”她说好。他笨拙地第一次为别人塞上耳机。“清尘,我想我是喜欢上你了…我知道你心里有人,但是我想,人生那么长,等你几年又何妨。”那一年,寥寥夜空,他和她说了再见,他说,清尘,你要照顾好自己,我走之后,你要记得上课不要睡懒觉,记得不要因为赶时间就不吃早饭……那一年,辗转几年,她褪去了青春的懵懂,已成为国内知名律师,而他,是最具有商业敏感性的总裁,一次官司,他与她,多年以后意外碰面。那一年,蒙蒙细雨,他轻抚着石碑,不思量,自难忘,十年生死两茫茫。你走了,又何苦让我一人浑浑噩噩地留下。
  • 马云说:生意就该这么干

    马云说:生意就该这么干

    马云的成功,拥有必然性,源自其对生意深刻而独到的把握,是其对社会和人性透彻而敏锐洞察的结果。《马云说:生意就该这么干》展示了马云从业数十年“把握”和“洞察”的成果,解析了马云的思维方式,处事的诀窍,以及吸纳人才、管理人才的高招。把握了马云的生意经,或许你就能成为下一个马云。
  • 噬妖劫之龙颜怒..more

    噬妖劫之龙颜怒..more

    人妖二界,自古而来就有诸多纷争,延续至今似乎已是一种习惯。然而,人间却出现了一个降妖者,他说过,只要能够除去妖道,任何的代价都是值得的,哪怕是自己的生命!家仇,族恨,这是一场阴谋的暗战,更是一场仁德的较量,谁能在这殊死的搏斗中傲世世间?期待吧!总会有一个赢家!一袭黑色的长衣,仿佛笼罩着黑夜中最可怕的力量,身背着一把青铜古剑,剑柄上一抹血色的鲜红,仿佛是死亡的警告。他将剑抵在女妖的胸前,眼神
  • 未来战士在异界

    未来战士在异界

    超级战士王虎在一次空间跳跃时时空扭曲穿越到异界,面对最原始的冷兵器战争王虎开始牛逼了……“项羽,你服是不服?”“不服,卑鄙下三滥的手段根本不配做个战士!”“靠,不就是一枪射断你大腿嘛,什么卑鄙下三滥啊!”“赵云,你服是不服?”“不服,阴险小人可敢与我明刀明枪打一场?”“你妹啊,就是再来一百场你也是个输,哥用的是电剑,碰一下你就得躺下。”“小西西,你服不?”王虎望着跪在地上绝代佳人的西施,心中一阵悸动。“贱妾服,贱妾服,从今往后我就是你的人了……”“哎,红颜祸水啊,拖出斩了,呃,,,先拖到我房间,晚上亲手斩了她!”在这异界就是神仙,老子也一炮轰死他,谁敢不服?(英雄乱入,谁猛踩谁,不喜勿入!)
  • 重生之影帝牵回家

    重生之影帝牵回家

    炮灰专用户的莫悠意外与演艺系统契约,在系统的帮助下,重新踏入娱乐圈,因缘巧合之下,与神秘影帝相识,经历了一系列的爆笑故事后,终于成功捧得影后奖杯,与影帝大大夫妻双双把家回。
  • 青葱岁月的那个女孩

    青葱岁月的那个女孩

    不是专业,只是业余。文笔不好不要喷。也没有什么。没空更。偶尔。