登陆注册
5228200000005

第5章 CHAPTER III--A FAMILY POLYGON(1)

Mrs. Grubb's family circle was really not a circle at all; it was rather a polygon--a curious assemblage of distinct personages.

There was no unity in it, no membership one of another. It was four ones, not one four. If some gatherer of statistics had visited the household, he might have described it thus:-

Mrs. S. Cora Grubb, widow, aged forty years.

'Alisa Bennett, feeble-minded, aged ten or twelve years.

'Atlantic and Pacific Simonson, twins, aged four years.'

The man of statistics might seek in vain for some principle of attraction or cohesion between these independent elements; but no one who knew Mrs. Grubb would have been astonished at the sort of family that had gathered itself about her. Queer as it undoubtedly was at this period, it had, at various times, been infinitely queerer.

There was a certain memorable month, shortly after her husband's decease, when Mrs. Grubb allowed herself to be considered as a compensated hostess, though the terms 'landlady' and 'boarder' were never uttered in her hearing. She hired a Chinese cook, who slept at home; cleared out, for the use of Lisa and the twins, a small storeroom in which she commonly kept Eldorado face-powder; and herself occupied a sofa in the apartment of a friend of humanity in the next street. These arrangements enabled her to admit an experimenter on hypnotism, a mental healer who had been much abused by the orthodox members of her cult, and was evolving a method of her own, an ostensible delegate to an Occidental Conference of Religions, and a lady agent for a flexible celluloid undershirt. For a few days Mrs. Grubb found the society of these persons very stimulating and agreeable; but before long the hypnotist proved to be an unscrupulous gentleman, who hypnotised the mental healer so that she could not heal, and the Chinese cook so that he could not cook. When, therefore, the delegate departed suddenly in company with the celluloid-underwear lady, explaining by a hurried postal card that they would 'remit' from Chicago, she evicted the other two boarders, and retired again to private life.

This episode was only one of Mrs. Grubb's many divagations, for she had been a person of advanced ideas from a comparatively early age.

It would seem that she must have inherited a certain number of 'views,' because no human being could have amassed, in a quarter of a century, as many as she held at the age of twenty-five. She had then stood up with Mr. Charles Grubb, before a large assembly, in the presence of which they promised to assume and continue the relation of husband and wife so long as it was mutually agreeable. As a matter of fact it had not been mutually agreeable to Mr. Grubb more than six months, but such was the nobility of his character that he never disclosed his disappointment nor claimed any immunity from the responsibilities of the marriage state. Mr. Grubb was a timid, conventional soul, who would have given all the testimony of all the witnesses of his wedding ceremony for the mere presence of a single parson; but he imagined himself in love with Cora Wilkins, and she could neither be wooed nor won by any of the beaten paths that led to other women. He foolishly thought that the number of her convictions would grow less after she became a wife, little suspecting the fertility of her mind, which put forth a new explanation of the universe every day, like a strawberry plant that devotes itself so exclusively to 'runners' that it has little vigour left for producing fruit.

The town in New York where they lived proving to be too small, narrow, and bigoted to hold a developing soul like Mrs. Grubb's, she persuaded her husband to take passage for California, where the climate might be supposed more favourable to the growth of saving ideas. Mr. Grubb would, of course, be obliged to relinquish his business, but people could buy and sell anywhere, she thought, and as for her, she wanted nothing but unlimited space in which to expand.

There was money enough for an economical journey and a month or two of idleness afterwards; and as Mrs. Grubb believed everything in the universe was hers, if she only chose to claim it, the question of finances never greatly troubled her. They sailed for the golden West, then, this ill-assorted couple, accompanied by Mrs. Grubb's only sister, who had been a wife, was now a widow, and would shortly become a mother. The interesting event occurred much sooner than had been anticipated. The ship became the birthplace of the twins, who had been most unwelcome when they were thought about as one, and entirely offensive when found to be two. The mother did not long survive the shock of her surprise and displeasure, and after naming the babies Atlantic and Pacific, and confiding them distinctly to the care of Mr., not Mrs., Grubb, she died, and was buried at sea, not far from Cape Horn. Mrs. Cora enjoyed at first the dramatic possibilities of her position on the ship, where the baby orphans found more than one kindly, sentimental woman ready to care for them; but there was no permanent place in her philosophy for a pair of twins who entered existence with a concerted shriek, and continued it for ever afterwards, as if their only purpose in life was to keep the lungs well inflated. Her supreme wish was to be freed from the carking cares of the flesh, and thus for ever ready to wing her free spirit in the pure ether of speculation.

You would hardly suppose that the obscure spouse of Mrs. Grubb could wash and dress the twins, prepare their breakfast, go to his work, come home and put them to bed, four or five days out of every seven in the week; but that is what he did, accepting it as one phase of the mysterious human comedy (or was it tragedy?) in which he played his humble part.

同类推荐
  • 荡之什

    荡之什

    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。
  • 成唯识论演秘

    成唯识论演秘

    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。
  • 流类手鉴

    流类手鉴

    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。
  • 草堂耨云实禅师语录

    草堂耨云实禅师语录

    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。
  • 小八义上

    小八义上

    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
  • 双规

    双规

    贾臻文的长篇小说《双规》通过一个“山寨纪委”的昙花一现别开生面地揭开了当下官场的腐败现象,为已经非常热闹的“官场小说热”增添了新的看点。——樊星(武汉大学教授、博士导师、著名文学评论家)作者对于当代中国社会结构有深入的了解,对于当今形形色色的官场生活有丰富的体验,所以小说具有深厚的生活基础与很强的纪实性。小说里几个主要人物形象犹如一面镜子照见人性的卑劣,也如一把锋利的玻璃片剖开那一颗颗贪腐的灵魂。眼界开阔、故事生动、情节曲折、语言通俗,具有一定的可读性与美学价值。
  • Chants for Socialists

    Chants for Socialists

    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。
  • 感悟故乡:那山那水那人和我

    感悟故乡:那山那水那人和我

    故乡的一轮明月正在异乡的土地上冉冉升起,我像童年时那样想问那月亮:你不是从头到尾都看见了、听见了吗?每当我想起故乡,浮现在我眼前的总是故乡的一轮明月,和月光下我母亲的身影。
  • 阎连科作品集(全11本)

    阎连科作品集(全11本)

    本书由《受活》《日光流年》《风雅颂》《生死晶黄》《最后一名女知青》《东京九流人物系列》以及《阎连科短篇小说精选》《阎连科散文》《阎连科文论》等构成。
  • 美文小品篇(名人佳作)

    美文小品篇(名人佳作)

    本书收入散文近百篇,分甜美的体验、寂寞的感觉、秋天的况味、快乐的真谛、我要笑遍世界五辑。
  • 酷酷总裁迷糊蛋

    酷酷总裁迷糊蛋

    一个是豪门贵公子,一个是普通俏女孩,一场宴会上的相遇,让原本毫无交集的两人不但成为了邻居还最终成了恋人,迷糊可爱又有点聪慧的上官霓和又酷又帅又多金的宫希瑞演绎一场轻松、活泼的爱情故事。
  • 战国秦汉治国思想新考

    战国秦汉治国思想新考

    杨生民所著的《战国秦汉治国思想新考》是系统研究战国秦汉治国思想的专著,对战国、秦、两汉用学派的思想文化治国的成败得失进行了考察。从历史上看,西周用礼制治国。春秋末年,学派思想、学派文化产生,见于记载的有道家、儒家、兵家三家。战国时,有的国家开始用学派思想指导治国,如魏国、秦国的“以法治国”。西汉初年,统治阶级以道家黄老无为思想治国,但其中是包括了法家思想的。其后,汉朝杂用法、道、儒思想指导治国。除法、道、儒三家外,阴阳家思想、董仲舒天人感应说和谶纬思想也对战国秦汉的社会历史起过这样或那样的作用,《战国秦汉治国思想新考》对这方面的影响也进行了探讨,并对董仲舒的评价提出新的见解。
  • 败军之战

    败军之战

    小说用很多笔墨叙写了抗战时期发生在广西钦州的一场中日之间的激战。场面惊心动魂,惨烈无比。作者再现一段历史的原貌,本意不是渲染战争的残酷,而是想要后人记住历史、记住英雄,珍惜当今来之不易的祥和安康的环境。作品时间、空间跨度极大,后半部分极力描述美好惬意的生活,并巧妙地插入艺术构思的日记和碑文,很好地体现了作者的这个意图。值得欣慰的是,现在国家以法律形式将9月30日定为烈士纪念日,以告慰英烈、警醒后人。
  • 渔樵闲话录

    渔樵闲话录

    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。
  • 当代异闻录

    当代异闻录

    当代异闻录(1949-至今):从40年代末的“朱秀华借尸还魂”,到60年代的“罗布泊双鱼玉佩”,直到最近的“重庆红衣男孩”,中华大地上,总有光怪陆离的异闻在民间流传,而我,因为身处一个特殊部门,所以有幸窥得秘闻真相的冰山一角。经历了无数次三观颠覆,我始终记得带我入行的文雀,经常说的一句话:脱离厄运最有效的办法,就是自己人救自己人,最好是自己救自己。