登陆注册
5201800000091

第91章

"Call it what you like: you look at things as they are.""Ah--I've had to.I've had to look at the Gorgon.""Well--it hasn't blinded you! You've seen that she's just an old bogey like all the others.""She doesn't blind one; but she dries up one's tears."The answer checked the pleading on Archer's lips: it seemed to come from depths of experience beyond his reach.The slow advance of the ferry-boat had ceased, and her bows bumped against the piles of the slip with a violence that made the brougham stagger, and flung Archer and Madame Olenska against each other.The young man, trembling, felt the pressure of her shoulder, and passed his arm about her.

"If you're not blind, then, you must see that this can't last.""What can't?"

"Our being together--and not together."

"No.You ought not to have come today," she said in an altered voice; and suddenly she turned, flung her arms about him and pressed her lips to his.At the same moment the carriage began to move, and a gas-lamp at the head of the slip flashed its light into the window.

She drew away, and they sat silent and motionless while the brougham struggled through the congestion of carriages about the ferry-landing.As they gained the street Archer began to speak hurriedly.

"Don't be afraid of me: you needn't squeeze yourself back into your corner like that.A stolen kiss isn't what I want.Look: I'm not even trying to touch the sleeve of your jacket.Don't suppose that I don't understand your reasons for not wanting to let this feeling between us dwindle into an ordinary hole-and-corner love-affair.

I couldn't have spoken like this yesterday, because when we've been apart, and I'm looking forward to seeing you, every thought is burnt up in a great flame.But then you come; and you're so much more than Iremembered, and what I want of you is so much more than an hour or two every now and then, with wastes of thirsty waiting between, that I can sit perfectly still beside you, like this, with that other vision in my mind, just quietly trusting to it to come true."For a moment she made no reply; then she asked, hardly above a whisper: "What do you mean by trusting to it to come true?""Why--you know it will, don't you?"

"Your vision of you and me together?" She burst into a sudden hard laugh."You choose your place well to put it to me!""Do you mean because we're in my wife's brougham?

Shall we get out and walk, then? I don't suppose you mind a little snow?"She laughed again, more gently."No; I shan't get out and walk, because my business is to get to Granny's as quickly as I can.And you'll sit beside me, and we'll look, not at visions, but at realities.""I don't know what you mean by realities.The only reality to me is this."She met the words with a long silence, during which the carriage rolled down an obscure side-street and then turned into the searching illumination of Fifth Avenue.

"Is it your idea, then, that I should live with you as your mistress--since I can't be your wife?" she asked.

同类推荐
  • 佛说无畏陀罗尼经

    佛说无畏陀罗尼经

    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。
  • 白云稿

    白云稿

    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。
  • 二酉委谭摘录

    二酉委谭摘录

    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。
  • 明伦汇编皇极典纪元部

    明伦汇编皇极典纪元部

    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。
  • 华严原人论发微录

    华严原人论发微录

    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。
热门推荐
  • 生如夏花:泰戈尔经典诗选Ⅲ(白金纪念版)

    生如夏花:泰戈尔经典诗选Ⅲ(白金纪念版)

    本书收录了泰戈尔四部美丽的爱情诗集:《采果集》、《爱者之贻》、《渡口》、《诗选》。著名文学家冰心和东方文学翻译家石真以韵味幽雅、哲理深妙的译笔还原了一个洋溢着温暖、分享与爱的光明世界,传唱爱情纯真,颂扬无暇童心,赞颂生命,思索人生本质。随处可见乐观的情绪和生机盎然的气息,既有对理想追求的豁达和坚定的信心,也有生命的真实感动。微风徐徐的午后,一杯清茶,一本美好的诗集,跟随着泰戈尔拾起昼间之花那片片怡人的花瓣,看着它成熟成记忆的金果,带领我们品尝人间甘美。
  • 妃常霸道:傻女翻身把王上

    妃常霸道:傻女翻身把王上

    一朝穿越成了不受宠的皇后,没想到这皇帝也是个不靠谱的,既然如此那就别怪她无情!情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 你想企业长寿吗?

    你想企业长寿吗?

    《你想企业长寿吗(从世界五百强的兴衰轨迹看百年不老企业打造规律)》是一本提供给企业家一点启发、格调新颖、打开财富之门的钥匙。书中从企业的决策、执行、责任、考核、人才、管理、机制、资金、文化、品牌、员工等11个方面进行了较为系统的研究和总结,揭示了企业长盛不衰的一般性和普遍性的规律。本书由刘战主编。
  • 创界之我的弼戒党

    创界之我的弼戒党

    黑暗无处不在,你们真不应该希望发生在我的身上!他们以为我会有恐惧,但事实上他们充满了对我的恐惧!还有,爱情什么的不应该只是性和力吗!的确应该就是这样的吧!
  • 小发明

    小发明

    文章讲述了方便垃圾桶、蛇皮袋撑扶器、多功能反转晾鞋架、深孔伸缩取物器、能取出自来水管内接断裂物的扳手等内容。
  • 名人传记丛书:李世民

    名人传记丛书:李世民

    名人传记丛书——李世民——最十项全能的皇帝:“立足课本,超越课堂”,以提高中小学生的综合素质为目的,让中小学生从课内受益到课外,是一生的良师益友。
  • Early Kings of Norway

    Early Kings of Norway

    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。
  • 代号红皇后

    代号红皇后

    “现在,在这个世界里,你必须不断地保持奔跑,才能够停在原地。”危机重重地世界中,一个普通士兵和一个异国少女在国家和政治中奋力寻找人类后裔的进化方向的故事。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 杀手重生废柴小姐倾天下

    杀手重生废柴小姐倾天下

    她,是一个无父无母,被神秘组织收养的少女,也是被神秘组织训练成的冷血杀手,一把嗜血匕首,屠了多少人,染了多少血。一昭身死魂穿,强者为尊的异世大陆。看她如何掀起风波。。
  • 鬼妻有点萌

    鬼妻有点萌

    91年我为哥哥换婚去结冥婚,岳父明面上是大木材商,其实是鲁班书第三道传人。冥婚三九回“娘家”,一个月后村里六个新娘集体怀孕。岳丈干女儿装神弄鬼要置我于死地,老婆显灵后突然转变态度倒贴?离奇恐怖的事件相继发生,谁在搞鬼?最恐怖的是媳妇棺材悬在半空,死后一年,尸体还没腐烂,破棺而出爬到了我床上。鬼和僵尸是否存在?如果存在,哪个是我媳妇?