登陆注册
5242100000197

第197章 CHAPTER XXXI

In the garden of Count Anteoni, which has now passed into other hands, a little boy may often be seen playing. He is gay, as children are, and sometimes he is naughty and, as if out of sheer wantonness, he destroys the pyramids of sand erected by the Arab gardeners upon the narrow paths between the hills, or tears off the petals of the geraniums and scatters them to the breezes that whisper among the trees. But when Larbi's flute calls to him he runs to hear. He sits at the feet of that persistent lover, and watches the big fingers fluttering at the holes of the reed, and his small face becomes earnest and dreamy, as if it looked on far-off things, or watched the pale pageant of the mirages rising mysteriously out of the sunlit spaces of the sands to fade again, leaving no trace behind.

Only one other song he loves more than the twittering tune of Larbi.

Sometimes, when twilight is falling over the Sahara, his mother calls him to her, to the white wall where she is sitting beneath a jamelon tree.

"Listen, Boris!" she whispers.

The little boy climbs up on her knee, leans his face against her breast and obeys. An Arab is passing below on the desert track, singing to himself as he goes towards his home in the oasis:

"No one but God and I

Knows what is in my heart."

He is singing the song of the freed negroes. When his voice has died away the mother puts the little boy down. It is bed time, and Smain is there to lead him to the white villa, where he will sleep dreamlessly till morning.

But the mother stays alone by the wall till the night falls and the desert is hidden.

"No one but God and I

Knows what is in my heart."

She whispers the words to herself. The cool wind of the night blows over the vast spaces of the Sahara and touches her cheek, reminding her of the wind that, at Arba, carried fire towards her as she sat before the tent, reminding her of her glorious days of liberty, of the passion that came to her soul like fire in the desert.

But she does not rebel.

For always, when night falls, she sees the form of a man praying who once fled from prayer in the desert; she sees a wanderer who at last has reached his home.

同类推荐
  • 革除逸史

    革除逸史

    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。
  • 四川青羊宫碑铭

    四川青羊宫碑铭

    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。
  • 咸淳玉峰续志

    咸淳玉峰续志

    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。
  • 佛说毗沙门天王经

    佛说毗沙门天王经

    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。
  • 秋灯琐忆

    秋灯琐忆

    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
  • 重生校园之女王耀世归来

    重生校园之女王耀世归来

    [重生,校园,爽文]说好的高冷男神呢!那么这位动不动就醋意大发的家伙是谁!白琳琅无奈抬头望天,天晓得了!好不容易出一次任务,偏偏还被某个正牌军长给逮了个正着,看着身后那些憋红了脸的兄弟,她到底是露脸呢!露脸呢!还是露脸呢!。。
  • 醒名花

    醒名花

    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。
  • 宗主真坏

    宗主真坏

    天地突变,妖魔横行,新元开启,隐世宗门纷纷重现,张天阳随手创建的宗门横空出世……
  • 绝版剑神

    绝版剑神

    当一款崭新的虚拟网游来袭……一个不知名的网瘾少年却将其玩到了登峰造极之境。至于他到底是怎么玩的?又在这游戏里干了些什么?没有人知道。不过,当他退出网游界之后,有一句话却赋予了他至高无上的荣耀。林瑾走后,再无剑神……喜欢此书的可以加扣群:182976628,大家可以在群里随意交流,谢谢!
  • Naondel

    Naondel

    Booklist called Maresi "utterly satisfying and completely different from standard YA fantasy." Now, Naondel goes back to establish the world of the trilogy and tells the story of the First Sisters —the founders of the female utopia the Red Abbey. Imprisoned in a harem by a dangerous man with a dark magic that grants him power over life and death, the First Sisters must overcome their mistrust of one another in order to escape. But they can only do so at a great cost, both for those who leave and for those left behind. Told in alternating points of view, this novel is a vivid, riveting look at a world of oppression and exploitation, the mirror opposite of the idyllic Red Abbey.
  • 我要做门阀

    我要做门阀

    西汉中期,民生聊困,国势日衰。无数士大夫名士,纷纷高呼:张生不出,奈天下何!?于是,谚曰:张与刘,共天下。本书扣扣群:73927047
  • 最强修仙实验系统

    最强修仙实验系统

    大学生叶空做实验时发生事故穿越到了修仙界,随他而去的还有一个神奇的修真实验室。第一次做实验就不小心把一只人参变得成精了……
  • 道陵尸经

    道陵尸经

    一桩离奇案件,牵出一个已经失踪半年之人一朱慈烨:当荷心看见朱慈烨时,他已是半人半尸,极难治愈:为了帮其清除体内的“七阴尸毒”,荷心与沈珂雪等人勇闯将军墓,决命燹嘏滩,险渡澜沧江,巧离普陀岛,最后到得西湖之下的水晶龙宫,与“鬼影黑藤”、恶蛟、尸人等凶残之物展开殊死搏斗:然而主谋之人术法高强,荷心一行佛、道、术、蛊联手皆不是其对手:正当众人步步后退,性命堪忧之际,神秘莫测的水晶龙宫,突然来了位极其神秘的人物:此人是敌是友?众人能否化险为夷?这一连串险恶用心的背后,究竟藏着怎样的阴谋?面对灭族之恨和复国大业,南明后人朱慈烨又将何去何从?
  • 御情何舒

    御情何舒

    富有典雅气息的双开大门被推开,映入眼帘的是极其气派的洛家宴客大厅。明亮的灯光与光洁的地板相映,名酒的醇香与脂粉的浓香交缠,西装革履的绅士与淡妆浓抹的名媛相谈甚欢。灯光璀璨,这是星光镜也无法拍摄出来的富丽堂皇。何舒穿着一袭白色的拖地长裙,简约而又素雅,缓缓走进这个大厅。在从容优雅的笑容的掩盖之下,她的心在疯狂地跳动。她仿佛无法呼吸了。鼎食膏粱,美酒如水流淌。男来女往,多少记在心上……
  • 蟾蜍怒放

    蟾蜍怒放

    本文包含作者的八篇短篇小说,作者笔锋细腻,并没有阐述太多的思想,而是将他所见所闻所想平实的呈现出来,其中内里的情感与批判,都需要读者慢慢体会。