登陆注册
4712900000020

第20章

Vernor condoles with me handsomely, and lets me know that the young lady's attitude has been a great shock to his nerves. He adds that he will not aggravate such regret as I may do him the honour to entertain, by any allusions to his daughter's charms and to the magnitude of my loss, and he concludes with the hope that, for the comfort of all concerned, I may already have amused my fancy with other 'views.' He reminds me in a postscript that, in spite of this painful occurrence, the son of his most valued friend will always be a welcome visitor at his house. I am free, he observes; I have my life before me; he recommends an extensive course of travel. Should my wanderings lead me to the East, he hopes that no false embarrassment will deter me from presenting myself at Smyrna. He can promise me at least a friendly reception. It's a very polite letter."Polite as the letter was, Pickering seemed to find no great exhilaration in having this famous burden so handsomely lifted from his spirit. He began to brood over his liberation in a manner which you might have deemed proper to a renewed sense of bondage. "Bad news," he had called his letter originally; and yet, now that its contents proved to be in flat contradiction to his foreboding, there was no impulsive voice to reverse the formula and declare the news was good. The wings of impulse in the poor fellow had of late been terribly clipped. It was an obvious reflection, of course, that if he had not been so stiffly certain of the matter a month before, and had gone through the form of breaking Mr. Vernor's seal, he might have escaped the purgatory of Madame Blumenthal's sub-acid blandishments. But I left him to moralise in private; I had no desire, as the phrase is, to rub it in. My thoughts, moreover, were following another train; I was saying to myself that if to those gentle graces of which her young visage had offered to my fancy the blooming promise, Miss Vernor added in this striking measure the capacity for magnanimous action, the amendment to my friend's career had been less happy than the rough draught. Presently, turning about, I saw him looking at the young lady's photograph. "Of course, now," he said, "I have no right to keep it!" And before I could ask for another glimpse of it, he had thrust it into the fire.

"I am sorry to be saying it just now," I observed after a while, "but I shouldn't wonder if Miss Vernor were a charming creature.""Go and find out," he answered, gloomily. "The coast is clear. My part is to forget her," he presently added. "It ought not to be hard. But don't you think," he went on suddenly, "that for a poor fellow who asked nothing of fortune but leave to sit down in a quiet corner, it has been rather a cruel pushing about?"Cruel indeed, I declared, and he certainly had the right to demand a clean page on the book of fate and a fresh start. Mr. Vernor's advice was sound; he should amuse himself with a long journey. If it would be any comfort to him, I would go with him on his way.

Pickering assented without enthusiasm; he had the embarrassed look of a man who, having gone to some cost to make a good appearance in a drawing-room, should find the door suddenly slammed in his face. We started on our journey, however, and little by little his enthusiasm returned. He was too capable of enjoying fine things to remain permanently irresponsive, and after a fortnight spent among pictures and monuments and antiquities, I felt that I was seeing him for the first time in his best and healthiest mood. He had had a fever, and then he had had a chill; the pendulum had swung right and left in a manner rather trying to the machine; but now, at last, it was working back to an even, natural beat. He recovered in a measure the generous eloquence with which he had fanned his flame at Homburg, and talked about things with something of the same passionate freshness.

One day when I was laid up at the inn at Bruges with a lame foot, he came home and treated me to a rhapsody about a certain meek-faced virgin of Hans Memling, which seemed to me sounder sense than his compliments to Madame Blumenthal. He had his dull days and his sombre moods--hours of irresistible retrospect; but I let them come and go without remonstrance, because I fancied they always left him a trifle more alert and resolute. One evening, however, he sat hanging his head in so doleful a fashion that I took the bull by the horns and told him he had by this time surely paid his debt to penitence, and that he owed it to himself to banish that woman for ever from his thoughts.

He looked up, staring; and then with a deep blush--"That woman?" he said. "I was not thinking of Madame Blumenthal!"After this I gave another construction to his melancholy. Taking him with his hopes and fears, at the end of six weeks of active observation and keen sensation, Pickering was as fine a fellow as need be. We made our way down to Italy and spent a fortnight at Venice. There something happened which I had been confidently expecting; I had said to myself that it was merely a question of time. We had passed the day at Torcello, and came floating back in the glow of the sunset, with measured oar-strokes. "I am well on the way," Pickering said; "I think I will go!"We had not spoken for an hour, and I naturally asked him, Where? His answer was delayed by our getting into the Piazzetta. I stepped ashore first and then turned to help him. As he took my hand he met my eyes, consciously, and it came. "To Smyrna!"A couple of days later he started. I had risked the conjecture that Miss Vernor was a charming creature, and six months afterwards he wrote me that I was right.

同类推荐
  • Roads of Destiny

    Roads of Destiny

    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。
  • 金刚顶瑜伽念珠经

    金刚顶瑜伽念珠经

    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。
  • 大乘宝要义论卷

    大乘宝要义论卷

    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。
  • 傲轩吟稿

    傲轩吟稿

    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。
  • 晏子春秋集释

    晏子春秋集释

    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
  • 碑传选集

    碑传选集

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 中国历史上的非凡女人

    中国历史上的非凡女人

    人物:中国历史上的非凡女人 情节:始于上古之传说,经前秦、唐、宋、元、明、清,直至民国止,历经中国上下五千年之悠远,集历史相关之典籍,寻名家相关之著作,终得历史有载之数百非凡女子。 其中女子形色各异,不乏美貌贤良者,如:夏朝后缗、商朝妇好,唐朝长孙,清朝孝庄…… 不乏祸国殃民者,如:夏桀末喜,殷纣妲己、周幽褎姒、晋献骊姬、鲁庄哀姜、陈女夏姬…… 不乏权利熏心者,如:汉代吕后,唐代武则天,清代慈禧……之流; 亦不乏貌丑而贤者,如:黄帝(次妃)嫫母、梁鸿之妻孟光、齐宣之后钟离春……之辈; 此部作品以时间之序为“筋”;引众多古籍,名家著作为“骨”;以数百女子之故事为“肉”,打造了一部规模宏大的现代版《列女传》。
  • 鲁彦作品集(2)(中国现代文学名家作品集)

    鲁彦作品集(2)(中国现代文学名家作品集)

    《鲁彦作品集》讲述了美丽的雪花飞舞起来了。我已经有三年不曾见着它。
  • 空心岁月

    空心岁月

    李东文, 70后。1999年开始学习写作,以小说及情感专栏为主,曾在《天涯》《长城》《十月》《西湖》《长江文艺》等杂志发表小说,作品多次被《小说选刊》《中篇小说选刊》《读者》等转载。
  • 大唐故大德赠司空大辨正广智不空三藏行状

    大唐故大德赠司空大辨正广智不空三藏行状

    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。
  • 废材逆袭绝宠女王

    废材逆袭绝宠女王

    异世大陆,王者归来一夜之间,废材摇身一变成为天才少女。呵,谁说她是废材,丹药用盆装,神兽有一群,不服,不服你打我啊,我群殴你哦。皇子?哦,人家不稀罕,人家尊上都来倒贴。“女王大人,咱回家吧,我饿了?”某尊可怜兮兮的,“饿了就吃,找我干嘛?”
  • 书科尔沁忠亲王大沽之败

    书科尔沁忠亲王大沽之败

    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。
  • 让孩子成为“富一代”的教子圣经

    让孩子成为“富一代”的教子圣经

    要想让孩子成为富有的人,并不需要给他留下一大笔财产,而是应把他培养成一个可以创造财富的人!本书汇聚了多位成功父母的经验,讲述了如何让孩子拥有比金钱更重要的学习能力,如何与命运抗争。用乐观向上的心态面对世界,以诚实的态度与人交往,如何对孩子的财商进行开发。有了这些,让孩子成为“富一代”将不再是梦想!
  • 舒新城谈教育(名家谈教育)

    舒新城谈教育(名家谈教育)

    本书选取舒新城先生谈教育的文章22篇,其中有专论初、中等教育的文章,也有对社会现实与教育实际间关系之论述,见解之深刻,对于当世之教育亦有借鉴意义。或许有读者会想,民国时所谈的教育于今有什么意义。读罢本丛书这10位真正教育家的文章,你会发现,中国今天所有的教育问题在那时都已经存在,他们的思考即使放在今天依然是超前的。对于思想,有时跟你所处的时代关系不大,跟思考的人有关。
  • 灵动仙锋

    灵动仙锋

    本书灵感源于《山海经》中精卫填海的故事。当带有精卫灵力及记忆封印的沐灵月降生于世,原本安宁的生活便逐步走进一个惊天密局之中。且看沐灵月如何从一个手无寸铁之力的佛系少女,踏上寻亲之路,一步步修炼成仙;当封印被解除,看她又如何逃脱魔爪,接纳往世所憎恨的东海继承人,今世所爱。一抹月光一片静,一段情缘一片天!新手上路,请多指教!内容多为虚构,仅供消遣!