登陆注册
5170900000105

第105章

And for how long was she to be able to control these impulses? This time she had prevailed once more against that other impetuous self of hers.Would she prevail the next time? And in these struggles, was she growing stronger as she overcame, or weaker? She did not know.She tore the note into fragments, and making a heap of them in the pen tray, burned them carefully.

During the week following upon this, Laura found her trouble more than ever keen.She was burdened with a new distress.The incident of the note to Corthell, recalled at the last moment, had opened her eyes to possibilities of the situation hitherto unguessed.She saw now what she might be capable of doing in a moment of headstrong caprice, she saw depths in her nature she had not plumbed.Whether these hidden pitfalls were peculiarly hers, or whether they were common to all women placed as she now found herself, she did not pause to inquire.She thought only of results, and she was afraid.

But for the matter of that, Laura had long since passed the point of deliberate consideration or reasoned calculation.The reaction had been as powerful as the original purpose, and she was even yet struggling blindly, intuitively.

For what she was now about to do she could give no reason, and the motives for this final and supreme effort to conquer the league of circumstances which hemmed her in were obscure.She did not even ask what they were.She knew only that she was in trouble, and yet it was to the cause of her distress that she addressed herself.Blindly she turned to her husband;and all the woman in her roused itself, girded itself, called up its every resource in one last test, in one ultimate trial of strength between her and the terrible growing power of that blind, soulless force that roared and guttered and sucked, down there in the midst of the city.

She alone, one unaided woman, her only auxiliaries her beauty, her wit, and the frayed, strained bands of a sorely tried love, stood forth like a challenger, against Charybdis, joined battle with the Cloaca, held back with her slim, white hands against the power of the maelstrom that swung the Nations in its grip.

In the solitude of her room she took the resolve.Her troubles were multiplying; she, too, was in the current, the end of which was a pit--a pit black and without bottom.Once already its grip had seized her, once already she had yielded to the insidious drift.

Now suddenly aware of a danger, she fought back, and her hands beating the air for help, turned towards the greatest strength she knew.

"I want my husband," she cried, aloud, to the empty darkness of the night."I want my husband.I will have him; he is mine, he is mine.There shall nothing take me from him; there shall nothing take him from me."Her first opportunity came upon a Sunday soon afterward.Jadwin, wakeful all the Saturday night, slept a little in the forenoon, and after dinner Laura came to him in his smoking-room, as he lay on the leather lounge trying to read.His wife seated herself at a writing-table in a corner of the room, and by and by began turning the slips of a calendar that stood at her elbow.At last she tore off one of the slips and held it up.

"Curtis."

"Well, old girl?"

"Do you see that date?"

He looked over to her.

"Do you see that date? Do you know of anything that makes that day different--a little--from other days?

It's June thirteenth.Do you remember what June thirteenth is?"Puzzled, he shook his head.

"No--no."

Laura took up a pen and wrote a few words in the space above the printed figures reserved for memoranda.Then she handed the slip to her husband, who read aloud what she had written.

"'Laura Jadwin's birthday.' Why, upon my word," he declared, sitting upright."So it is, so it is.June thirteenth, of course.And I was beast enough not to realise it.Honey, I can't remember anything these days, it seems.""But you are going to remember this time?" she said.

同类推荐
  • 小儿嗽喘门

    小儿嗽喘门

    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。
  • 东阳夜怪录

    东阳夜怪录

    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。
  • 天则能禅师语录

    天则能禅师语录

    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。
  • 劝学篇

    劝学篇

    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。
  • 和乐天感鹤

    和乐天感鹤

    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
  • 木偶奇遇记(语文新课标课外必读第四辑)

    木偶奇遇记(语文新课标课外必读第四辑)

    国家教育部颁布了最新《语文课程标准》,统称新课标,对中、小学语文教学指定了阅读书目,对阅读的数量、内容、质量以及速度都提出了明确的要求,这对于提高学生的阅读能力,培养语文素养,陶冶情操,促进学生终身学习和终身可持续发展,对于提高广大人民的文学素养具有极大的意义。
  • 异能少女:邪尊,来战!

    异能少女:邪尊,来战!

    14岁前,她是墨王府无心无情的病弱才女,14岁生死劫后,异能少女记忆苏醒!前世你舍我而去,今生我重得家人,发誓定要护他们一生!再不让人伤害他们,也不会再让人拿他们来要挟她!本以为这一生就只想好好守着家人,谁不知一次意外相见,两人命运从此交杂——两个同样变态的妖孽,与天斗,与地斗,与人斗,其乐无穷!一场又一场的交锋,谁会成为最先沦陷的那个?少女一笑,温暖沁人,又有谁能看出那温柔笑靥之下的黑暗绝望?“我愿意用我的心温暖妳的心,伴妳左右,护妳成长。”“我想研究你。”少女亮出一把有着精致雕刻的银色手术刀。某尊一脸出尘,懒懒地抬眸:“很巧,我对妳也充满兴趣。”(1V1宠文,男女主强大,无虐)
  • 海贼之大海公敌

    海贼之大海公敌

    (新书《真武之超级转职》跪求收藏!!!)穿越海贼王世界,身带火影忍者手游系统,各种忍术,秘术,水化之术、八门遁甲、尸骨脉、轮回眼……对了,还有圣诞奇缘、夏日泳装……当然氪金充值也是不能少的。为了提升实力,张轩走了上抢完海贼抢海军,上抢空岛下抢龙宫的大海公敌之路……
  • On the Decay of the Art of Lying

    On the Decay of the Art of Lying

    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。
  • 西汉传奇

    西汉传奇

    王莽篡汉,光武中兴,云台二十八将,绿林更始赤眉军。烽烟滚滚的西汉末年,有着很多有趣的历史和人物,比起战国七雄、三国鼎立、大唐初始、明末清初,这段时间的历史有着其独特的创作魅力。但可惜的是,这么有意思的题材,却迟迟等不到大师级别的作品。小子不才,愿为后人添砖加瓦。
  • 绿色尸体

    绿色尸体

    一九六五年九月中旬的一个夜里,号称我国“三大火炉”之一的武汉三镇,仍余热未消。站在雄伟壮观的武汉长江大桥上,扑面而来的江风清爽凉快,十分惬意。将近子夜,喧闹了一天的城市渐渐进入梦乡,天上的点点繁星与江上的点点灯火也慢慢被雾气笼罩。可有谁能想到,在这安详的夜晚,暗流正在涌动,危险正在逼近!本部文革手抄本小说原汁原味复原了当年文革时期人们的生活状态,人物的思维方式也深深打上了当年的烙印,其叙述方式和语言风格透着朴实和简单,然而其情节却像无数民间文学一样,本能地抓住了人性中美好和邪恶的一面。
  • 战御苍生

    战御苍生

    身怀龙脉,汇聚天道气运,斩天骄,灭妖孽,欲登九霄御天下,混沌归元遁空灵。敢问世间,谁人能与之匹敌。
  • 民国演义(现代白话版·下册)

    民国演义(现代白话版·下册)

    《民国演义》是《历朝通俗演义》的民国部分,由蔡东藩、许廑父编著。该书前一百二十章由蔡东藩原著,后四十章由许廑父续写,共一百六十章。《民国演义》内容翔实,深入浅出地讲述了中华民国的历史,问世后受到人们的广泛推崇!
  • Meno

    Meno

    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。
  • 快穿之男主又来要名分

    快穿之男主又来要名分

    颜如玉发现,自从她开始快穿后,除了越来越美越来越牛,好像还越来越忍不住要黑化?直到某人凑到了她眼前,不顾她的逃避和躲闪,将她强势搂入怀中——“你美着就好,其他的,我来。”当某人笑嘻嘻问:“为什么后来每回你都能一下子把我认出来?是因为我太帅?还是你对我太爱?”颜如玉面无表情推开这个粘人的家伙:“因为那么多人里面,就!你!最!浪!”1V1宠文,身心干净~~放心入坑~……新书【男主怎么老崩坏】延续多多的故事~完结坑【逆天小凤妃:上神,独家宠】【异能系统:男神,撩上瘾】欢迎移步~~书友裙半缘修道半缘君群号1,2,7,3,0,7,1,5,有缘千里来相会,么么哒~