登陆注册
5201800000013

第13章

"Ah, how your grandfather Archer loved a good dinner, my dear Newland!" he said, his eyes on the portrait of a plump full-chested young man in a stock and a blue coat, with a view of a white-columned country-house behind him."Well--well--well...Iwonder what he would have said to all these foreign marriages!"Mrs.Archer ignored the allusion to the ancestral cuisine and Mr.Jackson continued with deliberation:

"No, she was NOT at the ball."

"Ah--" Mrs.Archer murmured, in a tone that implied: "She had that decency.""Perhaps the Beauforts don't know her," Janey suggested, with her artless malice.

Mr.Jackson gave a faint sip, as if he had been tasting invisible Madeira."Mrs.Beaufort may not--but Beaufort certainly does, for she was seen walking up Fifth Avenue this afternoon with him by the whole of New York.""Mercy--" moaned Mrs.Archer, evidently perceiving the uselessness of trying to ascribe the actions of foreigners to a sense of delicacy.

"I wonder if she wears a round hat or a bonnet in the afternoon," Janey speculated."At the Opera I know she had on dark blue velvet, perfectly plain and flat--like a night-gown."

"Janey!" said her mother; and Miss Archer blushed and tried to look audacious.

"It was, at any rate, in better taste not to go to the ball," Mrs.Archer continued.

A spirit of perversity moved her son to rejoin: "Idon't think it was a question of taste with her.May said she meant to go, and then decided that the dress in question wasn't smart enough."Mrs.Archer smiled at this confirmation of her inference."Poor Ellen," she simply remarked; adding compassionately: "We must always bear in mind what an eccentric bringing-up Medora Manson gave her.What can you expect of a girl who was allowed to wear black satin at her coming-out ball?""Ah--don't I remember her in it!" said Mr.Jackson;adding: "Poor girl!" in the tone of one who, while enjoying the memory, had fully understood at the time what the sight portended.

"It's odd," Janey remarked, "that she should have kept such an ugly name as Ellen.I should have changed it to Elaine." She glanced about the table to see the effect of this.

Her brother laughed."Why Elaine?"

"I don't know; it sounds more--more Polish," said Janey, blushing.

"It sounds more conspicuous; and that can hardly be what she wishes," said Mrs.Archer distantly.

"Why not?" broke in her son, growing suddenly argumentative."Why shouldn't she be conspicuous if she chooses? Why should she slink about as if it were she who had disgraced herself? She's `poor Ellen'

certainly, because she had the bad luck to make a wretched marriage; but I don't see that that's a reason for hiding her head as if she were the culprit.""That, I suppose," said Mr.Jackson, speculatively, "is the line the Mingotts mean to take."The young man reddened."I didn't have to wait for their cue, if that's what you mean, sir.Madame Olenska has had an unhappy life: that doesn't make her an outcast.""There are rumours," began Mr.Jackson, glancing at Janey.

"Oh, I know: the secretary," the young man took him up."Nonsense, mother; Janey's grown-up.They say, don't they," he went on, "that the secretary helped her to get away from her brute of a husband, who kept her practically a prisoner? Well, what if he did? I hope there isn't a man among us who wouldn't have done the same in such a case."Mr.Jackson glanced over his shoulder to say to the sad butler: "Perhaps...that sauce...just a little, after all--"; then, having helped himself, he remarked:

"I'm told she's looking for a house.She means to live here.""I hear she means to get a divorce," said Janey boldly.

"I hope she will!" Archer exclaimed.

The word had fallen like a bombshell in the pure and tranquil atmosphere of the Archer dining-room.Mrs.

Archer raised her delicate eye-brows in the particular curve that signified: "The butler--" and the young man, himself mindful of the bad taste of discussing such intimate matters in public, hastily branched off into an account of his visit to old Mrs.Mingott.

After dinner, according to immemorial custom, Mrs.

Archer and Janey trailed their long silk draperies up to the drawing-room, where, while the gentlemen smoked below stairs, they sat beside a Carcel lamp with an engraved globe, facing each other across a rosewood work-table with a green silk bag under it, and stitched at the two ends of a tapestry band of field-flowers destined to adorn an "occasional" chair in the drawing-room of young Mrs.Newland Archer.

While this rite was in progress in the drawing-room, Archer settled Mr.Jackson in an armchair near the fire in the Gothic library and handed him a cigar.Mr.

Jackson sank into the armchair with satisfaction, lit his cigar with perfect confidence (it was Newland who bought them), and stretching his thin old ankles to the coals, said: "You say the secretary merely helped her to get away, my dear fellow? Well, he was still helping her a year later, then; for somebody met 'em living at Lausanne together."Newland reddened."Living together? Well, why not?

Who had the right to make her life over if she hadn't?

I'm sick of the hypocrisy that would bury alive a woman of her age if her husband prefers to live with harlots."He stopped and turned away angrily to light his cigar."Women ought to be free--as free as we are," he declared, making a discovery of which he was too irritated to measure the terrific consequences.

Mr.Sillerton Jackson stretched his ankles nearer the coals and emitted a sardonic whistle.

"Well," he said after a pause, "apparently Count Olenski takes your view; for I never heard of his having lifted a finger to get his wife back."

同类推荐
  • 杨勇悫公奏议

    杨勇悫公奏议

    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。
  • 苇碧轩诗集

    苇碧轩诗集

    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。
  • 红铅入黑铅诀

    红铅入黑铅诀

    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。
  • 佛说摩利支天陀罗尼咒经

    佛说摩利支天陀罗尼咒经

    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。
  • 闽川闺秀诗话

    闽川闺秀诗话

    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
  • 异世狂女之仙途慢慢

    异世狂女之仙途慢慢

    一个手镯,一段旅程,命运之轮轰然开启。和她比丹药?姐多得当糖豆吃!和她比符箓?对战轰得你成渣!和她比灵宠?九阶以下的不要出来丢人现眼!别问我为什么不把丹药、符箓、灵宠,气运逆天就是这么任性!千江月的穿越莫名其妙,这是命运的不可抗拒。且看她是如何挽救这外表繁华,内里风波四起的玄界!且看她是如何一次又一次的绝处逢生,站在巅峰之,睥睨天下!
  • 末世女王:血灵召唤师

    末世女王:血灵召唤师

    末世来临,月白衣被来来自神秘宇宙中的神秘石头打中,待她醒来之后,脑中出现一个妖孽系统,然而同时她发现自己的身体异于常人,并且脑中的那个系统还是个妖孽智能,一次又一次的刷新她的世界观。直到登上顶端,她才愕然回首,竟然发现,原来这货是一直从头将她坑到尾!且看一个平凡女是如何被妖孽系统坑成丧尸女王的故事!
  • 嗜血傻王太难缠

    嗜血傻王太难缠

    一朝穿越,她成了替嫁的倒霉郡主。传言他是人人可欺的傻王。智商犹若七岁孩童。新婚夜,他急不可耐想要把她扑倒,她连哄带骗欲盖弥彰。婚后,他处处受人排挤,各种被人欺负,她一次次挺身而出,“谁敢动我夫君!”事后,他依偎在她怀中,“爱妃最好了……”终有一日她被千军万马包围,危难关头,轮到他挺身而出,“谁也动本王爱妃!杀无赦!”
  • 湛少,你老婆有毒

    湛少,你老婆有毒

    《夫人在拯救世界》新书已发~她借用了双胞胎妹妹的身份起死回生,从此舒家的废物小姐摇身变成了碾压一切的女神。正当她虐渣报仇爽歪歪的时候,却被皇甫家族那个最神秘的男人纠缠上了。在舒娆看来,皇甫湛就是个无赖、戏精、臭流氓!然而,在皇甫湛那里,自己这位蔫坏的小未婚妻却是他一生都不想离开的解药。
  • 欧洲战史

    欧洲战史

    军事历史是我们了解人类发展的主要窗口。军事与政治向来是相伴相随的,军事历史是政治历史的演绎,也是政治历史发展的高潮。任何一个朝代或者一个国家的开始与终极,都是伴随着军事战争的开始或终极。军事历史使政治历史更加集中清晰,更加丰富与生动。我们要了解历史发展的概貌,首先就要了解军事历史发展的脉络。
  • 西征石城记

    西征石城记

    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。
  • 明末皇帝分身

    明末皇帝分身

    肖图白穿越明末,崇祯皇帝成为其分身。遥控分身,手掌大权。种田,练兵,排队枪毙……
  • 金枝宫婢

    金枝宫婢

    国破家亡,金枝玉叶沦为宫婢!宫斗纷纷置身事外,复国大业退避三舍,红尘俗事别惹咱!什么?这样温顺乖巧的一个小宫女,竟是天下纷争的源头?拜托拜托,你们自去争你们的天下,不要扯上人家好不好?你问人家在忙什么?当然是耗死皇帝踹跑太子甩开王妃,拐个王爷逍遥天下啦!
  • 罗布泊之咒

    罗布泊之咒

    周德东首次创作超长篇小说,最新悬疑巨著《罗布泊之咒》,本书集青春、爱情、悬疑、探险、魔幻于一体,类型前所未有,共1001次高潮。邀读者一起开启惊心动魄的“罗布泊之旅”。
  • 愁容骑士

    愁容骑士

    一群患了性饥渴的健康男儿。一群被性压抑深深煎熬的剽悍汉子。在亘古的漠漠荒原上,他们像公骆驼发情那样追逐异域女子,嘴里发出“咻咻”的可怕叫声。他们阴郁,忧愁,他们渴望女人,他们想过正常人的生活,但却不可能,因为他们是特殊的人类一群。他们是浪漫派最后的骑士。