登陆注册
5242100000101

第101章 CHAPTER XIV(6)

The sound of his voice made Domini suddenly know what she had not been sure of before--that she wished to be alone with Androvsky.

"Go, Batouch!" she said. "I tell you to go."

Batouch turned his horse without a word, and disappeared into the darkness of the distant palms.

When they were alone together Domini and Androvsky sat silent on their horses for some minutes. Their faces were turned towards the desert, which was now luminous beneath the moon. Its loneliness was overpowering in the night, and made speech at first an impossibility, and even thought difficult. At last Androvsky said:

"Madame, why did you look at me like that just now, as if you--as if you hesitated to remain alone with me?"

Suddenly she resolved to tell him of her oppression of the night. She felt as if to do so would relieve her of something that was like a pain at her heart.

"Has it never occurred to you that we are strangers to each other?" she said. "That we know nothing of each other's lives? What do you know of me or I of you?"

He shifted in his saddle and moved the reins from one hand to the other, but said nothing.

"Would it seem strange to you if I did hesitate--if even now--"

"Yes," he interrupted violently, "it would seem strange to me."

"Why?"

"You would rely on an Arab and not rely upon me," he said with intense bitterness.

"I did not say so."

"Yet at first you wished to keep Batouch."

"Yes."

"Then----"

"Batouch is my attendant."

"And I? Perhaps I am nothing but a man whom you distrust; whom--whom others tell you to think ill of."

"I judge for myself."

"But if others speak ill of me?"

"It would not influence me----for long."

She added the last words after a pause. She wished to be strictly truthful, and to-night she was not sure that the words of the priest had made no impression upon her.

"For long!" he repeated. Then he said abruptly, "The priest hates me."

"No."

"And Count Anteoni?"

"You interested Count Anteoni greatly."

"Interested him!"

His voice sounded intensely suspicious in the night.

"Don't you wish to interest anyone? It seems to me that to be uninteresting is to live eternally alone in a sunless desert."

"I wish--I should like to think that I--" He stopped, then said, with a sort of ashamed determination: "Could I ever interest you, Madame?"

"Yes," she answered quietly.

"But you would rather be protected by an Arab than by me. The priest has--"

"To-night I do not seem to be myself," she said, interrupting him.

"Perhaps there is some physical reason. I got up very early, and-- don't you ever feel oppressed, suspicious, doubtful of life, people, yourself, everything, without apparent reason? Don't you know what it is to have nightmare without sleeping?"

"I! But you are different."

"To-night I have felt--I do feel as if there were tragedy near me, perhaps coming towards me," she said simply, "and I am oppressed, I am almost afraid."

When she had said it she felt happier, as if a burden she carried were suddenly lighter. As he did not speak she glanced at him. The moon rays lit up his face. It looked ghastly, drawn and old, so changed that she scarcely recognised it and felt, for a moment, as if she were with a stranger. She looked away quickly, wondering if what she had seen was merely some strange effect of the moon, or whether Androvsky was really altered for a moment by the action of some terrible grief, one of those sudden sorrows that rush upon a man from the hidden depths of his nature and tear his soul, till his whole being is lacerated and he feels as if his soul were flesh and were streaming with the blood from mortal wounds. The silence between them was long.

In it she presently heard a reiterated noise that sounded like struggle and pain made audible. It was Androvsky's breathing. In the soft and exquisite air of the desert he was gasping like a man shut up in a cellar. She looked again towards him, startled. As she did so he turned his horse sideways and rode away a few paces. Then he pulled up his horse. He was now merely a black shape upon the moonlight, motionless and inaudible. She could not take her eyes from this shape.

Its blackness suggested to her the blackness of a gulf. Her memory still heard that sound of deep-drawn breathing or gasping, heard it and quivered beneath it as a tender-hearted person quivers seeing a helpless creature being ill-used. She hesitated for a moment, and then, carried away by an irresistible impulse to try to soothe this extremity of pain which she was unable to understand, she rode up to Androvsky. When she reached him she did not know what she had meant to say or do. She felt suddenly impotent and intrusive, and even horribly shy. But before she had time for speech or action he turned to her and said, lifting up his hands with the reins in them and then dropping them down heavily upon his horse's neck:

"Madame, I wanted to tell you that to-morrow I----" He stopped.

"Yes?" she said.

He turned his head away from her till she could not see his face.

"To-morrow I am leaving Beni-Mora."

"To-morrow!" she said.

同类推荐
  • 宝晋英光集

    宝晋英光集

    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。
  • 县笥琐探摘抄

    县笥琐探摘抄

    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。
  • Eric Brighteyes

    Eric Brighteyes

    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。
  • A Bundle of Ballads

    A Bundle of Ballads

    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。
  • 劝读十则

    劝读十则

    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
  • 萌妃有毒:王爷别想逃!

    萌妃有毒:王爷别想逃!

    “嗯啊~好痛!我说,你就不能轻点吗?”深吸一口气,梓歆眉头紧蹙看着面前手拿药瓶给她涂药的男人。“现在知道痛了?刚才在外面不是挺能逞强的吗?”男人脸色阴郁,富有磁性的声音里带着微微的怒火,但更多的是心疼的责备。“我,我那不是担心你们出事吗?”梓歆无语,要不是担心他会出事她会不顾自身安全跑来救他,没一句好话不说,还挨了一顿批评,真是好心当成驴肝肺!“你做什……”被她郁闷的表情逗笑了,男人心神一动,在她还没来得及反应的时候倾身吻上了她。“把那个们去掉,你担心我一个人就够了。”PS:欢迎加入。萌妃有毒:王爷别想逃,群号码:617583459
  • 诗法家数

    诗法家数

    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。
  • 如临大敌

    如临大敌

    为应对反恐怖行动和局部战争的严峻考验,加强狙击手专业训练,狼牙特种部队组建了“刺客”狙击手集训大队。在西部边疆的反恐行动中,在歼灭地方黑恶势力的战斗中,在公海领域营救人质的行动中,他们经受着血与火的淬炼,承受着生与死的考验。一次次与死亡擦肩而过,一次次深入敌后孤军奋战,年轻的士兵们用自己的实际行动诠释着忠诚、勇敢、顽强。
  • 超级小镇长

    超级小镇长

    老爸惭愧地叹气:“一切,都是为了你重病的外婆!”被禁武多年的大学校草曾明亮顿时狂点头:“我懂,我是讲道理的人!”美女们,来吧!情敌们,放马过来吧!嘿嘿……想打我脸?不好意思,把你们身上的现金和值钱宝贝全交出来!钱,是我的,美女,也是我的!谁敢抢,打扁他!
  • 营销人员每日必修课

    营销人员每日必修课

    本书凭借着一个个隽永的,充满哲思的故事以及评述铺叙出一个缤纷的世界。它按照十二月份编排了不同的主题,分为劝学、竞争、智慧、谋略等篇章,每个主题又统领了近三十个哲理故事,并由专业人士予以恰切的评论。内容全面,通俗易懂,非常适合营销人员阅读。
  • 诸天邪尊

    诸天邪尊

    在圣皇的指引下,贵为九界至尊的萧野正傲然挺立,为了一个找到自己心爱的妻子,他不得不舍弃金身,前往另一个完全陌生的世界。
  • 我真是个废柴鬼

    我真是个废柴鬼

    快饿死的吸血鬼好不容易狩猎成功,‘叮’您的板砖英雄已上线。池遥遥:“(╯°Д°)╯︵┴┴我不要!还我口粮!”吃个宵夜险被绑架,‘叮’您的初恋已上线。池遥遥:“(╯°Д°)╯︵┴┴我不要!还我口粮!”逛个公园被请喝茶,“叮”您的黑月光已上线。池遥遥:“(╯°Д°)╯︵┴┴我不要!还我口粮!”逃个婚被拖入异世界,“叮”您的儿子们已上线。池遥遥:“(╯°Д°)╯︵┴┴我不要!还我……等等……给老子滚啊!这踏马是你的!你的!不是我的!”
  • 北京绿卡(连载2)

    北京绿卡(连载2)

    仰仗苏强的光芒,蒋森顺利出来了,一点没有遭受磨难。回到北京没两天,尼可还静悄悄地安排了一桌酒席给他压惊。陪在蒋森身边的只有尼可一个人,这件事到此为止,知道的人越少越好,苏强当然没有出席。人在江湖,险象环生,他比尼可更小心。蒋森还是愁眉苦脸的样子,尼可说:“都过去了,人这一辈子哪不摔跟头,你这次还走运,一根头发也没掉就出来了,爬起来朝前走,明天肯定会更美好。”
  • 何以梦

    何以梦

    每个女子都会遇见一个人,一个让她相信这个世界的美好,美好的世界有繁花似锦,心怀希望。清瞿俊逸、满腹才华、品质高贵,他是文字所凝炼,是诗词的化身,是梦的造就,是这世间所有美好的幻化。在平凡的世界里,一个不平凡的人。遇见他,是命中注定,无问结局……
  • 盛世宠妃之撞上邪魅王爷

    盛世宠妃之撞上邪魅王爷

    一次意外,她穿越到古代成了有名的小姐;他是名满天下的王爷;一次意外的相遇,他们居然要紧紧的绑在一起。