登陆注册
4132700000048

第48章 SAMUEL(8)

And Margaret sat in the doorway where the monster, blinking at the sun, had so often wagged its head and brayed. We had been talking for an hour, she with that slow certitude of eternity that so befitted her; and, for the life of me, I could lay no finger on the motives that ran through the tangled warp and woof of her. Was she a martyr to Truth? Did she have it in her to worship at so abstract a shrine? Had she conceived Abstract Truth to be the one high goal of human endeavour on that day of long ago when she named her first-born Samuel? Or was hers the stubborn obstinacy of the ox? the fixity of purpose of the balky horse? the stolidity of the self-willed peasant-mind? Was it whim or fancy? - the one streak of lunacy in what was otherwise an eminently rational mind? Or, reverting, was hers the spirit of a Bruno? Was she convinced of the intellectual rightness of the stand she had taken? Was hers a steady, enlightened opposition to superstition? or - and a subtler thought - was she mastered by some vaster, profounder superstition, a fetish-worship of which the Alpha and the Omega was the cryptic SAMUEL?

"Wull ye be tellun' me," she said, "thot uf the second Samuel hod been named Larry thot he would no hov fell un the hot watter an' drownded? Atween you an' me, sir, an' ye are untellugent-lookun' tull the eye, would the name hov made ut onyways dufferent? Would the washun' no be done thot day uf he hod been Larry or Michael?

Would hot watter no be hot, an' would hot watter no burn uf he hod hod ony other name but Samuel?"

I acknowledged the justice of her contention, and she went on.

"Do a wee but of a name change the plans o' God? Do the world run by hut or muss, an' be God a weak, shully-shallyun' creature thot ud alter the fate an' destiny o' thungs because the worm Margaret Henan seen fut tull name her bairn Samuel? There be my son Jamie.

He wull no sign a Rooshan-Funn un hus crew because o' believun' thot Rooshan-Funns do be monajun' the wunds an' hov the makun' o' bod weather. Wull you be thunkun' so? Wull you be thunkun' thot God thot makes the wunds tull blow wull bend Hus head from on high tull lussen tull the word o' a greasy Rooshan-Funn un some dirty shup's fo'c'sle?"

I said no, certainly not; but she was not to be set aside from pressing home the point of her argument.

"Then wull you be thunkun' thot God thot directs the stars un their courses, an' tull whose mighty foot the world uz but a footstool, wull you be thunkun' thot He wull take a spite again' Margaret Henan an' send a bug wave off the Cape tull wash her son un tull eternity, all because she was for namun' hum Samuel?"

"But why Samuel?" I asked.

"An' thot I dinna know. I wantud ut so."

"But WHY did you want it so?"

"An' uz ut me thot would be answerun' a such-like question? Be there ony mon luvun' or dead thot can answer? Who can tell the WHY o' like? My Jamie was fair daft on buttermilk, he would drunk ut tull, oz he said humself, hus back teeth was awash. But my Tumothy could no abide buttermilk. I like tull lussen tull the thunder growlun' an' roarun', an' rampajun'. My Katie could no abide the noise of ut, but must scream an' flutter an' go runnun' for the mudmost o' a feather-bed. Never yet hov I heard the answer tull the WHY o' like, God alone hoz thot answer. You an' me be mortal an' we canna know. Enough for us tull know what we like an' what we duslike. I LIKE - thot uz the first word an' the last. An' behind thot like no men can go an' find the WHY o' ut. I LIKE Samuel, an' I like ut well. Ut uz a sweet name, an' there be a rollun' wonder un the sound o' ut thot passes onderstandun'."

The twilight deepened, and in the silence I gazed upon that splendid dome of a forehead which time could not mar, at the width between the eyes, and at the eyes themselves - clear, out-looking, and wide-seeing. She rose to her feet with an air of dismissing me, saying -"Ut wull be a dark walk home, an' there wull be more thon a sprunkle o' wet un the sky."

"Have you any regrets, Margaret Henan?" I asked, suddenly and without forethought.

She studied me a moment.

"Aye, thot I no ha' borne another son."

"And you would . . .?" I faltered.

"Aye, thot I would," she answered. "Ut would ha' been hus name."

I went down the dark road between the hawthorn hedges puzzling over the why of like, repeating SAMUEL to myself and aloud and listening to the rolling wonder in its sound that had charmed her soul and led her life in tragic places. SAMUEL! There was a rolling wonder in the sound. Aye, there was!

同类推荐
  • Work and Wealth

    Work and Wealth

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 说学斋稿

    说学斋稿

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 医宗金鉴

    医宗金鉴

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Adventure of the Red Circle

    The Adventure of the Red Circle

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太上洞玄灵宝智慧定志通微经

    太上洞玄灵宝智慧定志通微经

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 主宇宙传说

    主宇宙传说

    有力量真的可以为所欲为吗?有的时候你甚至连自己最亲近的人都保护不了。"我不是为了变强,我只是想保护她们而已。”这是天航成为最强后说的第一句话。
  • 信息革命

    信息革命

    随着经济社会的快速发展,电子产品走进了千家万户,与电子产品相伴的信息技术也已渗透到人们生产生活的方方面面。加强信息技术普及,已成为业内人士的共识。鉴于此,在有关部门的大力支持下,经过认真筹划,我们编辑出版了《信息革命》一书。该书以时间为经,在记述信息技术发展历程的同时,深入浅出地介绍了信息技术的相关知识,对人们更好地利用现代信息技术服务经济社会建设和个人生产生活必将产生积极作用。本书由李大东主编。
  • 猎乡的早晨

    猎乡的早晨

    上个世纪八十年代,大兴安岭深处某猎乡。“我跟你说,我可不在乎以前你和瓦罗基在学校里的事儿,可进了林子,到了我们猎乡,你可得规矩点儿,别再有那念想。不然,我格林娜可不是好惹的娘们儿。”格林娜停住脚,回头扫了迟宇一眼。迟宇气喘吁吁地跟在后面,格林娜这样和她说话,她很反感,也很难为情。她放慢了脚步:“格林娜,你这人真怪,干吗总这么认为?我说过了,我和瓦罗基真的很平常,什么事儿都没有。”迟宇摊开两手,她真有点哭笑不得。
  • 豪门千金奉旨穿越:四嫁酷王爷

    豪门千金奉旨穿越:四嫁酷王爷

    豪门千金乔云裳被后妈设计穿越到古代西寒国一罪女身上后,又遭邪恶法师暗算,她成为一根“刺”,一种用女子身子做成的销魂刺!奉旨再次穿越后遇到了冷擎宇,传闻里的冷酷王爷。于是,恩恩怨怨,曲曲折折,真情谁付出?假意谁识别?谁知道翻云覆雨后,究竟那销魂刺是谁的祸伤?幽声叹,真真是一曲情殇凄婉唱,万般缠绵最心伤!
  • 论人权(人文与社会译丛)

    论人权(人文与社会译丛)

    什么样的权利是人权?我们如何鉴定一项声称是人权的权利是否真的是人权?我们该如何确定特定人权的内容?我们又该如何解决人权之间的冲突?《论人权》对人权的理论基石进行了探索,考察了人权概念的中世纪起源,点明当今人权探讨的困境源自于其定义的不确定性,并对具有争议的福利权、隐私权、自由权进行了细致的讨论。本书是了解当代人权问题的必读之作。
  • 佛说十八臂陀罗尼经

    佛说十八臂陀罗尼经

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 给人生加点忍耐

    给人生加点忍耐

    忍耐是一种智慧,更是一种人生艺术和取胜之道,不忍则难成大谋;忍耐是一种审时度势,而非甘于平庸;忍耐是一种能屈能伸的宽容和冷静;是一种不鸣则已,一鸣惊人的蓄势待发;是一种耐得住寂寞,抵得住繁华的淡泊释然;是一种直面挫折永不言弃的坚忍不拔;是一种不畏艰险,奋勇向前的果敢……阿拉伯有句谚语:“为了玫瑰,也要给刺浇水。”可见,如果你想要让自己的人生开出美丽的花,就不得不去忍受那些扎在心头的芒刺,并在忍受中将其化为刺激自己前进的动力,如此,方能为自己博得幸福,博得成功。
  • 网游之无上灵武

    网游之无上灵武

    新书《网游之万界降临》已经上传! “当我拔出另外一把刀,没人能够站在我的面前。”在一次意外中获得超快反应的林羽,在全球最火爆网游《无上灵武》之中,开启了双刀流......书友群:301440906书友群:481906697
  • 三分管人 七分做人

    三分管人 七分做人

    管理的本质就是以人为本。领导者要想做好管理,在管人之前就要先学会做人,一切要先从自我的修炼与提高开始。
  • 蝶舞风云

    蝶舞风云

    【江湖+英雄+美女+虐恋+背叛+争霸+复仇】江湖血雨腥风,风云迭起!英雄多寂寥,策马风萧萧!剑不伤人情伤人,三代白发魔女,三段旷世奇恋。昆仑逍遥派掌门独孤无敌爱上魔教分支——巫月神宫的首席女弟子冷月,为中原武林所不齿,随即割发断情,逍遥派自此与巫月神宫势不两立。独孤无敌的两位嫡传弟子萧翎和江枫并作雪山双雄,痴恋冷月与独孤无敌的女儿凌歌。凌歌心系江枫,遭拒,后移情萧翎,情投意合,无奈又被自己的母亲棒打鸳鸯,不得善终,一夜白发,随入魔教,号称新月圣女。萧翎情殇之下一举消灭了巫月神宫,后隐居山林,不问世事。巫月神宫与逍遥派拉开较量的时代已经过去。而一枝独秀,势如破竹的风云堡自此崛起,与天音山的日月魔宫展开了殊死较量。雪山双雄的亲传弟子沐易航年幼时曾与朝廷兵部侍郎的女儿诸葛小蝶有过一面之缘,后诸葛家族遭灭门,小蝶失踪,沐易航苦恋诸葛小蝶,然而,到了大战前夕,两人方重逢。