登陆注册
5228200000007

第7章 CHAPTER III--A FAMILY POLYGON(3)

'"In my Father's house are many mansions,"' stammered Mr. Grubb, who had never before administered spiritual consolation.

She shook her head. 'If I can only get rid of this world, it's all I ask,' she said; 'if the other one isn't any better, why, it can't be any worse! Feel under the mattress and you'll find money enough to last three or four years. It's all she'll ever get, for she hasn't a soul now to look to for help. That's the way we human beings arrange things,--we, or the Lord, or the Evil One, or whoever it is; we bring a puzzle into the world, and then leave it for other people to work out--if they can! Who'll work out this one? Who'll work out this one? Perhaps she'll die before the money's gone; let's hope for the best.'

'Don't take on like that!' said Mr. Grubb despairingly,--'don't!

Pray for resignation, can't you?'

'Pray!' she exclaimed scornfully. 'Thank goodness, I've got enough self-respect left not to pray!--Yes, I must pray, I MUST . . . Oh, God! I do not ask forgiveness for him or for myself; I only beg that, in some way I cannot see, we may be punished, and she spared!'

And when the stricken soul had fled from her frail body, they who came to prepare her for the grave looked at her face and found it shining with hope.

It was thus that poor little Alisa Bennett assumed maternal responsibilities at the age of ten, and gained her sobriquet of 'Marm Lisa.' She grew more human, more tractable, under Mr. Grubb's fostering care; but that blessed martyr had now been dead two years, and she began to wear her former vacuous look, and to slip back into the past that was still more dreadful than the present.

It seemed to Mrs. Grubb more than strange that she, with her desire for freedom, should be held to earth by three children not flesh of her flesh--and such children. The father of the twins had been a professional pugilist, but even that fact could never sufficiently account for Pacific Simonson. She had apparently inherited instincts from tribes of warlike ancestors who skulked behind trees with battle-axes, and no one except her superior in size and courage was safe from her violent hand. She had little, wicked, dark eyes and crimson, swollen cheeks, while Atlantic had flaxen hair, a low forehead, and a square jaw. He had not Pacific's ingenuity in conceiving evil; but when it was once conceived, he had a dogged persistency in carrying it out that made him worthy of his twin.

Yet with all these crosses Mrs. Grubb was moderately cheerful, for her troubles were as nebulous as everything else to her mind. She intended to invent some feasible plan for her deliverance sooner or later, but she was much more intent upon development than deliverance, and she never seemed to have the leisure to break her shackles. Nothing really mattered much. Her body might be occasionally in Eden Place, but her soul was always in a hired hall.

She delighted in joining the New Order of Something,--anything, so long as it was an Order and a new one,--and then going with a selected committee to secure a lodge-room or a hall for meetings.

She liked to walk up the dim aisle with the janitor following after her, and imagine brilliant lights (paid for by collection), a neat table and lamp and pitcher of iced water, and herself in the chair as president or vice-president, secretary or humble trustee. There was that about her that precluded the possibility of simple membership.

She always rose into office the week after she had joined any society. If there was no office vacant, then some bold spirit (generally male) would create one, that Mrs. Grubb might not wither in the privacy of the ranks. Before the charter members had fully learned the alphabet of their order and had gained a thorough understanding of the social revolution it was destined to work, Mrs.

Grubb had mastered the whole scheme and was unfolding it before large classes for the study of the higher theory. The instant she had a tale to tell she presumed the 'listening earth' to be ready to hear it. The new Order became an old one in course of time, and, like the nautilus. Mrs. Grubb outgrew her shell and built herself a more stately chamber. Another clue to the universe was soon forthcoming, for all this happened in a city where it is necessary only for a man to open his lips and say, 'I am a prophet', and followers flock unto him as many in number as the stars. She was never disturbed that the last clue had brought her nowhere; she followed the new one as passionately as the old, and told her breathless pupils that their feet must not be weary, for they were treading the path of progress; that these apparently fruitless excursions into the domain of knowledge all served as so many milestones in their glorious ascent of the mountain of truth.

同类推荐
  • 儿科要略

    儿科要略

    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。
  • 密咒圆因往生

    密咒圆因往生

    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。
  • 肿胀门

    肿胀门

    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。
  • 天元五歌

    天元五歌

    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。
  • 金有陀罗尼经

    金有陀罗尼经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 我相信,幸福是会重生的

    我相信,幸福是会重生的

    原则上,青春是条单行线,曾经擦肩而过的那些人和事情再也不会重新来过。事实上,命运的微妙让人无话可说。24岁的任金笙是个胖妞,学业不顺利工作不如意,感情完完全全是空白,本以为这一生就这样过去了,只恨人生多舛,命运难测。然而,机缘巧合让她骤然穿越回自己的13岁时,仰天作如上感慨。她发誓,要翻转乾坤,改变自己不幸的一生。瘦身、美容!从娃娃抓起;炒房、炒股!她料敌先机。考入名牌大学、扶植家族企业,她在自己的人生中嘻嘻哈哈步步为营。除了爱情。13岁时的她偷偷爱过一个人,那小孩有着细长的眉眼,冷淡容颜。她曾经历了长长的10年才把他从心里抹去。而这一次的命运里,他对她说:你不要放手。
  • 红妆令

    红妆令

    十里红妆女儿梦,女儿红妆亦战袍。若是还能生活在熟悉的世界里,温馨平淡也是福,可惜婉柔穿越了。若是有疼爱自己的父母,有家族庇佑,作个不谙世事的闺中淑女,她是情愿的。可惜父母早逝,亲人凉薄,婉柔只能步步算计。一纸赐婚一场阴谋,两个陌生人的命运紧紧相连。如花容颜惹人醉,若是太平盛世,盼纵马逍遥携手终老,怎料山河潇潇。你待我情深义重,我愿与子同袍,誓守山河多娇。
  • 他身上有条龙

    他身上有条龙

    谁说纹身的都是流氓?且看因为爱人背叛而投身军旅,三年后从神秘部队退役,拥有真龙纹身的最强王牌回归都市,叱咤风云,无敌天下!
  • 玖月花雨

    玖月花雨

    【2018王者荣耀文学大赛·征文参赛作品】九月,人生有几个。留在身边的,会是谁。小时候,不懂九月,长大了却害怕九月。害怕孤独,耐不住寂寞,很迷茫,迷茫中的人生太过无常。经历过痛苦,脸上已然没有了眼泪,再也不会哭泣。世界在变化,我却不知怎样去面对。玖月是个女孩儿,不是白富美,却是个胆小的女孩子,喜欢做梦,梦境固然可怕,回到现实之中,却发现原来梦境中的人和那虚幻世界可以反复多次的重复,不好可以闭上眼,好却也抓不住,喊着不要醒来却发现又是梦中之梦。后来呀!西游记中的孙悟空变成了猴三棒,三国志中的英雄也变成了游戏人,游戏可以重来,人生却只能有一次。普天之下,没有善良与邪恶。人之初,本性为善。物极必反,你知,我知,天地或许却不知。
  • 卡耐基经典励志大全集

    卡耐基经典励志大全集

    《卡耐基励志经典大全集(套装上下册)》收录了代表卡耐基成功学精华的8本经典著作,上卷包括《人性的优点》、《人性的弱点》、《美好的人生》、《快乐的人生》,下卷包括《写给女孩儿的信》(卡耐基和夫人陶乐丝合著)、《语言的突破》、《伟大的人物》、《林肯外传》。《卡耐基励志经典大全集》不但力求为读者还原了卡耐基成功学体系的全貌,并且竭力保持了每一本卡耐基成功学经典著作的相对完整性。读者可以根据自己的需要有选择地进行阅读,在短时间迅速领略到卡耐基励志经典的精髓。也可以把《卡耐基励志经典大全集(套装上下册)》当做可爱的枕边书,每晚阅读一篇,用卡耐基的思想和方法指导自己的人生,积累自己的经验,逐步走向成功。
  • 乾坤星云决

    乾坤星云决

    要解心头恨,亲手杀仇人。三尺青峰剑,如风伴我身。青叶镇中走出来的少年,一路历经劫难,想要找到能让自己越来越强大的路,斩剑仙、灭魔影、屠浑蛟,这一路不曾停歇,也不能停歇,在这个位面需要变的多强?才能无敌于世间?感谢一路有你们陪伴,让我知道这仙道之路其实并不寂寞。。。
  • 庶女归来:权王请上榻

    庶女归来:权王请上榻

    她一觉醒来成犯了错爹不疼没娘爱的重生庶女,奶娘吃里扒外,庶姐伪善虎视眈眈一不小心就会小命呜呼,为了生存,她斗奶娘,欺庶姐,撕渣男,更抱紧嫡母大腿成了别人口里的充满心机的庶女,可是咦,为什么本来不疼她的嫡母忽然丫鬟珠宝使劲赛,还有三个兄长,为什么忽然让她看不顺眼的人尽管欺,他们会给她作主,感觉好像有什么不对?
  • 凤戏东宫

    凤戏东宫

    【半价销售】※文案※龙敛辰非常郁闷,他是太子,太子该有很多很多女人?好吧,既然父皇如此热心的做媒,他也不忍心辜负他老人家的好心,就都收了吧。反正东宫多的是房子和银子,多养几个女人不成问题。可是,这一次居然嫁进来了一尊活菩萨!不仅在洞房之夜『逼』他进新房,而且霸占着床位,让他堂堂太子爷睡地板!更可恶的是,她竟然有母后的撑腰,他想见她一面都必须得到她的准许!怂恿那群素未谋面的侧妃去找她的麻烦,却被她不咸不淡不冷不热的态度弄的灰头土脸。东宫的宫女太监们也都『背叛』了他,投向『敌营』!很好!他倒要看看,到底是何方神圣竟如此了得。半夜爬墙,却被当成宵小给轰了出来。瞧她的丫鬟说的什么?“太子爷,太子妃说了,不要再有下次,否则,这事传了出去,谁的脸上都无光。”太子做到这份上,真够窝囊的!好吧,眼不见为净,就算她是天仙他也不稀罕!龙敛辰一气之下,抛下东宫那堆娇滴滴的美人,寻欢去也。…………瞧,这宫外的天地多美好。尤其是这俊美不凡的凤七少,要多完美有多完美!好像,有点不对。他怎么对一个男人产生了欲望?这…这…这可不行!…………什么?!『他』是女人?这就好办了。把她拐回宫再说。罗敷有夫?!晴天霹雳…难道,他堂堂太子爷要化身恶霸,巧取豪夺?…………且看淡若清风、坚强睿智的凤朝华如何与放荡不羁、桀骜不驯的龙敛辰斗智斗勇,展开一场爱情无间道…精彩极无限,尽在《凤戏东宫》★★★★★★★下面推荐自己和朋友的文★★★★★★★穿越:《财迷王妃》腹黑女VS腹黑男【5.5元】(现半价)架空:《鸾凤鸣》又名《忽悠公主》小魔女VS冷情男【正文+番外=4.5元+0.7元】(现半价)墨枫在女儿国的圈子——墨枫亭:http://m.wkkk.net/欢迎大家加入,交流!好友玲珑天心的文《蛮妻休夫》南乔妹妹的文《青丝引》█友情提醒:此文版权归作者本人所有,未经作者本人同意,请勿非法转载或盗用,违者必究其法律责任!望各位看官切勿以身犯险!
  • 把话说到点子上

    把话说到点子上

    本书列举了不同场合与不同的人交谈时,可以运用的各种的说话技巧,让你在最短的时问内,用最精练的语言,引起对方的兴趣,打动对方,说服对方,使你在面对领导、同事、朋友等各种各样的人时,都能应对自如,巧妙地把话说到点子上。
  • 当家主母很凶悍

    当家主母很凶悍

    据说,这个国家的男女比例是一比一百;据说,这个国家的女人们卯足劲生孩子,就是很难生出一个儿子;据说,这个国家的男人只要一出生,很快就被预订下了五十个妻妾;据说,由于男人的比例太少,女人们已习惯不惜一切代价地争个丈夫,哪怕只抢回个第五十房妾室的头衔。哦对了,据说…,这个国家有律例,男人的妻妾上限,是五十…面对自称是“母亲”的女人的循循善诱,她干笑——好吧,既然这是游戏规则,那么…她会使出浑身解数…抢一个夫君回来!传言,兵部侍郎家的御九小姐是出名的抢夫达人;但凡有男方发出“征妻帖”,抢夫现场总有她的身影…可是,却总是百战百败,百败…不怠!在男人备受宠爱的凤国,女人婚前要争,婚后还要争。婚前要争个可以嫁的男人,婚后要争个可以被宠幸的机会,继而一举得男…简而言之,这是一个女人嫁夫的艰难史,以及她打败众多妾室,一跃成为当家主母的…家斗史。文文非小白,女主扮猪吃老虎,阴险、腹黑、无操守!