登陆注册
5227100000095

第95章 CHAPTER II NIGHT IN THE PARK(2)

Forsytes and tramps, children and lovers, rested and wandered day after day, night after night, seeking one and all some freedom from labour, from the reek and turmoil of the streets.

The leaves browned slowly, lingering with the sun and summer-like warmth of the nights.

On Saturday, October 5, the sky that had been blue all day deepened after sunset to the bloom of purple grapes. There was no moon, and a clear dark, like some velvety garment, was wrapped around the trees, whose thinned branches, resembling plumes, stirred not in the still, warm air. All London had poured into the Park, draining the cup of summer to its dregs.

Couple after couple, from every gate, they streamed along the paths and over the burnt grass, and one after another, silently out of the lighted spaces, stole into the shelter of the feathery trees, where, blotted against some trunk, or under the shadow of shrubs, they were lost to all but themselves in the heart of the soft darkness.

To fresh-comers along the paths, these forerunners formed but part of that passionate dusk, whence only a strange murmur, like the confused beating of hearts, came forth. But when that murmur reached each couple in the lamp-light their voices wavered, and ceased; their arms enlaced, their eyes began seeking, searching, probing the blackness. Suddenly, as though drawn by invisible hands, they, too, stepped over the railing, and, silent as shadows, were gone from the light.

The stillness, enclosed in the far, inexorable roar of the town, was alive with the myriad passions, hopes, and loves of multitudes of struggling human atoms; for in spite of the disapproval of that great body of Forsytes, the Municipal Council--to whom Love had long been considered, next to the Sewage Question, the gravest danger to the community--a process was going on that night in the Park, and in a hundred other parks, without which the thousand factories, churches, shops, taxes, and drains, of which they were custodians, were as arteries without blood, a man without a heart.

The instincts of self-forgetfulness, of passion, and of love, hiding under the trees, away from the trustees of their remorseless enemy, the 'sense of property,' were holding a stealthy revel, and Soames, returning from Bayswater for he had been alone to dine at Timothy's walking home along the water, with his mind upon that coming lawsuit, had the blood driven from his heart by a low laugh and the sound of kisses. He thought of writing to the Times the next morning, to draw the attention of the Editor to the condition of our parks. He did not, however, for he had a horror of seeing his name in print.

But starved as he was, the whispered sounds in the stillness, the half-seen forms in the dark, acted on him like some morbid stimulant. He left the path along the water and stole under the trees, along the deep shadow of little plantations, where the boughs of chestnut trees hung their great leaves low, and there was blacker refuge, shaping his course in circles which had for their object a stealthy inspection of chairs side by side, against tree-trunks, of enlaced lovers, who stirred at his approach.

Now he stood still on the rise overlooking the Serpentine, where, in full lamp-light, black against the silver water, sat a couple who never moved, the woman's face buried on the man's neck--a single form, like a carved emblem of passion, silent and unashamed.

And, stung by the sight, Soames hurried on deeper into the shadow of the trees.

In this search, who knows what he thought and what he sought?

Bread for hunger--light in darkness? Who knows what he expected to find--impersonal knowledge of the human heart--the end of his private subterranean tragedy--for, again, who knew, but that each dark couple, unnamed, unnameable, might not be he and she?

But it could not be such knowledge as this that he was seeking-- the wife of Soames Forsyte sitting in the Park like a common wench! Such thoughts were inconceivable; and from tree to tree, with his noiseless step, he passed.

Once he was sworn at; once the whisper, "If only it could always be like this!" sent the blood flying again from his heart, and he waited there, patient and dogged, for the two to move. But it was only a poor thin slip of a shop-girl in her draggled blouse who passed him, clinging to her lover's arm.

A hundred other lovers too whispered that hope in the stillness of the trees, a hundred other lovers clung to each other.

But shaking himself with sudden disgust, Soames returned to the path, and left that seeking for he knew not what.

同类推荐
  • 第十二夜

    第十二夜

    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。
  • 大周新译大方广佛华严经序

    大周新译大方广佛华严经序

    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。
  • 泾皋藏稿

    泾皋藏稿

    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。
  • 竹涧集

    竹涧集

    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。
  • 词说

    词说

    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
  • 虚皇天尊初真十戒文

    虚皇天尊初真十戒文

    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。
  • 忽然天好蓝

    忽然天好蓝

    扎西是在一个冬天的晚上拦住了王左的车。王左是一个在川藏线跑了近二十年的货车司机。那时,王左刚从拉萨出发一天。王左出发时,高原上已经下了整整一周的大雪,所有路面都积满了雪,有的甚至有好几尺厚。好多司机都不敢跑川藏线了,整个线路上显得非常的冷清。一路过来,除了自己的车,王左几乎没看到有其它车辆通过。王左之所以这样,是因为有一批货,必须马上送到成都。他不得不和另一个司机陈锋一起开车上路。晚上快到一个小镇时,王左突然看到前方路中央竖立着一根白色的杆子。
  • 城市狩猎

    城市狩猎

    《圣经》上说人有七宗罪,骄傲、嫉妒、愤怒、怠慢、贪婪、饕餮、淫欲。当这些罪恶被这座浮躁的城市掩盖之后,人们活在浮躁和罪恶之中。一群生活在城市之中的鲜为人知的罪兽,就像是地狱使者一般出现了。它们再不是神话,再不是鬼魅,而就活生生地生活在我们的身边。荒废的老屋、破旧的楼房、潮湿的下水道、阴暗的地铁隧道,这些都是他们的栖息地。
  • 王陵美人

    王陵美人

    一个混世的城主卡卡因为拍死一只身残志坚的小强而被剥削城主身份打入水牢,惨啊!一个绝代的杀手风凌,美啊!一个火爆的公主雨霖,靓啊!一个不死的老妖莫妮卡,天啊!一男三女之间错综复杂的感情夹杂在狼人、吸血鬼、亡灵集团等各种神秘的邪恶力量之中,最后竟然引发了黑暗之门的开启……
  • 且以情深共路瑶

    且以情深共路瑶

    段焰宸,H国尊贵而神秘的男人!很少人知道这个世界有一个古老而神秘的家族,他们掌握了这个世界1/3的财富!而他就是这个家族的王!前世路瑶撞死了这个男人,这一世却被他缠上了!怎么甩也甩不掉!“喂,你总是缠着我干嘛?”“因为我饿了,想吃你。”路瑶怒目圆瞪!在某人的淫威下,男人硬生生的违背良心的改口:“想吃你做的饭。”唉!味觉嗅觉尽失的男人只有吃她做的食物才能尝到味道,他也很委屈的!传说中冷酷无情,杀伐果断,不近女色的男人,自从遇上某人后,令一众手下惨遭虐狗!他们的“王”怎么就成了妻管严了,将那女人宠得无法无天了!而且日日上演着从此君王不早朝的码戏!
  • 百科知识开心问答大全集(超值金版)

    百科知识开心问答大全集(超值金版)

    本书是一本能让读者在轻松愉悦的氛围中获得各类知识的书。《百科知识开心问答大全集》中搜罗了生活常识、科普知识、经济常识、法律常识、历史文化、语言文字、文学艺术、自然科学、生理常识、环保常识、经典国学等诸多内容,在浩如烟海的文化宝库中,汇集了各类学科中与生活息息相关的问答题,将娱乐与学习巧妙结合,为渴求充电的人们搭起了一座简便、快捷地积累、获取知识的桥梁。
  • 海贼之疾风剑豪

    海贼之疾风剑豪

    夏诺这辈子最讨厌的就是匹配时秒选亚索的憨批,甚至当基友说出那句“开黑吗,我玩亚索,你玩石头人”时,直接一拳打飞了这货的医保卡。然而他却从未想过,自己会有继承亚索传承系统的一天,并莫名穿越到了海贼世界。从此,疾风剑豪之名,开始响彻这波澜壮阔的大海贼时代!【书友群:634887847】
  • 品牌的力量

    品牌的力量

    品牌的力量,是企业核心竞争力的最重要体现。纵观太重60年的发展历程,每一次的重大的品牌建设和产品创新,都会带来企业的大发展。
  • 那么孤单·那么彷徨

    那么孤单·那么彷徨

    《那么孤单那么彷徨》为新锐作家赵瑜近年创作散文作品的结集,也是在小说与主题、专题随笔领域著作颇丰的赵瑜自认的“第一本真正的散文集”。书名取自本书中转载率极高、影响较大,且被百花文艺社拟改编为微电影作品的同名篇章。
  • 盛世倾城:逆天小郡主

    盛世倾城:逆天小郡主

    (本书完)莫名书本穿,本是炮灰一枚。强行要改写命不行么?葬身火海,不是该死了么?等等,她好像涅槃重生了,还莫名其妙成了某帝的小鲜妻……这位高冷的男神,司命书上安排你这么跳戏的么?【推荐新书:爆红小仙:上神,求大腿,读者群:451472380,】