登陆注册
5242100000034

第34章 CHAPTER VI(7)

The intensity, the vitality of the force shut up in a human being almost angered her at this moment as she looked at the empty chair and realised all that it had suddenly set at work. There was something insolent in humanity as well as something divine, and just then she felt the insolence more than the divinity. Terrifically greater, more overpowering than man, the desert was yet also somehow less than man, feebler, vaguer. Or else how could she have been grasped, moved, turned to curiosity, surmise, almost to a sort of dread--all at the desert's expense--by the distant moving figure seen through the glasses?

Yes, as she looked at the little white table and thought of all this, Domini began to feel angry. But she was capable of effort, whether mental or physical, and now she resolutely switched her mind off from the antagonistic stranger and devoted her thoughts to the priest, whose narrow back she saw down the room in the distance. As she ate her fish--a mystery of the seas of Robertville--she imagined his quiet existence in this remote place, sunny day succeeding sunny day, each one surely so like its brother that life must become a sort of dream, through which the voice of the church bell called melodiously and the incense rising before the altar shed a drowsy perfume. How strange it must be really to live in Beni-Mora, to have your house, your work here, your friendships here, your duties here, perhaps here too the tiny section of earth which would hold at the last your body. It must be strange and monotonous, and yet surely rather sweet, rather safe.

The officers lifted their heads from their plates, the fat man stared, the priest looked quietly up over his napkin, and the Arab waiter slipped forward with attentive haste. For the swing door of the /salle-a-manger/ at this moment was pushed open, and the traveller--so Domini called him in her thoughts--entered and stood looking with hesitation from one table to another.

Domini did not glance up. She knew who it was and kept her eyes resolutely on her plate. She heard the Arab speak, a loud noise of stout boots tramping over the wooden floor, and the creak of a chair receiving a surely tired body. The traveller sat down heavily. She went on slowly eating the large Robertville fish, which was like something between a trout and a herring. When she had finished it she gazed straight before her at the cloth, and strove to resume her thoughts of the priest's life in Beni-Mora. But she could not. It seemed to her as if she were back again in Count Anteoni's garden. She looked once more through the glasses, and heard the four cries of the Mueddin, and saw the pacing figure in the burning heat, the Arab bent in prayer, the one who watched him, the flight. And she was indignant with herself for her strange inability to govern her mind. It seemed to her a pitiful thing of which she should be ashamed.

She heard the waiter set down a plate upon the traveller's table, and then the noise of a liquid being poured into a glass. She could not keep her eyes down any more. Besides, why should she? Beni-Mora was breeding in her a self-consciousness--or a too acute consciousness of others--that was unnatural in her. She had never been sensitive like this in her former life, but the fierce African sun seemed now to have thawed the ice of her indifference. She felt everything with almost unpleasant acuteness. All her senses seemed to her sharpened. She saw, she heard, as she had never seen and heard till now. Suddenly she remembered her almost violent prayer--"Let me be alive! Let me feel!" and she was aware that such a prayer might have an answer that would be terrible.

Looking up thus with a kind of severe determination, she saw the man again. He was eating and was not looking towards her, and she fancied that his eyes were downcast with as much conscious resolution as hers had been a moment before. He wore the same suit as he had worn in the train, but now it was flecked with desert dust. She could not "place" him at all. He was not of the small, fat man's order. They would have nothing in common. With the French officers? She could not imagine how he would be with them. The only other man in the room--the servant had gone out for the moment--was the priest. He and the priest--they would surely be antagonists. Had he not turned aside to avoid the priest in the tunnel? Probably he was one of those many men who actively hate the priesthood, to whom the soutane is anathema. Could he find pleasant companionship with such a man as Count Anteoni, an original man, no doubt, but also a cultivated and easy man of the world? She smiled internally at the mere thought. Whatever this stranger might be she felt that he was as far from being a man of the world as she was from being a Cockney sempstress or a veiled favourite in a harem. She could not, she found, imagine him easily at home with any type of human being with which she was acquainted. Yet no doubt, like all men, he had somewhere friends, relations, possibly even a wife, children.

No doubt--then why could she not believe it?

The man had finished his fish. He rested his broad, burnt hands on the table on each side of his plate and looked at them steadily. Then he turned his head and glanced sideways at the priest, who was behind him to the right. Then he looked again at his hands. And Domini knew that all the time he was thinking about her, as she was thinking about him.

She felt the violence of his thought like the violence of a hand striking her.

The Arab waiter brought her some ragout of mutton and peas, and she looked down again at her plate.

As she left the room after /dejeuner/ the priest again got up and bowed. She stopped for a moment to speak to him. All the French officers surveyed her tall, upright figure and broad, athletic shoulders with intent admiration. Domini knew it and was indifferent.

同类推荐
  • 隋天台智者大师别传

    隋天台智者大师别传

    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。
  • The Country Doctor

    The Country Doctor

    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。
  • 历代兴衰演义

    历代兴衰演义

    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。
  • 骆驼经

    骆驼经

    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。
  • 佛说弥勒下生成佛经-义净

    佛说弥勒下生成佛经-义净

    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
  • 恶魔的独宠,青梅竹马对对碰

    恶魔的独宠,青梅竹马对对碰

    年少契约,她成了他的小跟班。他是校里完美的高冷男神,实则是一个低情商的家伙,当小跟班要翻身跟班把歌唱的时候……啥?她去告白的时候,当众吻她?她去相亲,将相亲对象一阵暴揍?某女终于忍无可忍,怒吼:“韩陆,你干嘛。”“十年没到,你必须离所有男生远点。小男孩也要远点。”======某女曰返天返地返韩陆;某男曰怼天怼地宠柒冉;横批这是一个翻身跟班把歌唱的故事(宠文,1v1。(=^▽^=))
  • 余生只为与你相遇

    余生只为与你相遇

    新书《在他怀中撒个娇》,甜宠短篇~~直到楚梦影化为灰烬,他才醒悟过来。原来他爱她已入骨髓。年少时的爱慕,几年痴恋,为了乔隽翰,楚梦影倾尽一切,到头来不过是赔上家族企业,至亲离去。楚梦影累了,倦了,不想纠缠下去,想要离婚,却遭到拒绝。等她真正离开后,乔隽翰却疯了。
  • 重生之锦绣农女

    重生之锦绣农女

    人生无处不悲催!奋斗了二十八年,好不容易养大了弟弟,在城里买了房,却不想,一场意外的车祸,让她魂穿异世。不止连累好姐妹送了命,还被老天爷一朝打回解放前,变成了一个被亲爷在猪圈里活活打死的地道村姑!果然,没有最悲催,只有更悲催!爹憨厚,娘懦弱,托儿带口不说,还有一家子极品亲戚虎视眈眈,成天野种贱野的谩骂,没日没夜的算计着要把她给卖了。靠,老虎不发威,真当老娘是病猫!肖遥怒了,一条毒蛇,巧计化解危机,不仅让极品爷奶算计落空,也彻底绝了他们的念想。她的穿越很悲催,穿越后也很悲催,唯一不悲催的便是,老天爷赐了她一个随身空间。有逆天空间在手,又有前世积累的经验,她就不信,她不能在这落后的古代打造出一个属于她的盛世王国。一路顺风顺水,可是谁能告诉她,为什么救个小乞丐,却是被赖上了,靠,还赖我一辈子!你丫的,病秧子变牛皮糖,怎么踹都踹不走!操,他不是乞丐吗?怎么会摇身一变变成了高高在上的皇子!而且,他居然还是…生意做大了,有钱了,啥人都跑出来了!不止小乞丐,连大叔也找上了门!啥,你是我爹!啊呸,俺爹还在俺娘的被窝里呢,你呀的死老头哪儿冒出来的,居然想冒充她爹!一朝富贵,所有人都转着她打转,费尽心力的讨好,真真假假,假假真真,她一双明眸看得分明。生活很乏味,日子很无聊,既然他们想演,她也不介意欣赏他们的丑态。本文一对一,男主腹黑,女主彪悍,空间种田,将相王候,宫斗宅斗兼而有之。保证完本,喜欢的亲们,可放心跳坑。
  • 称霸兽世路漫漫

    称霸兽世路漫漫

    夜梧桐在执行任务时,穿越到兽世,得到系统等金手指,系统给她派发的任务竟然是称霸兽世,为了得到青春永驻的奖励,只好接受完成称霸兽世的任务,称霸兽世哪有那么的容易……各色美男围绕在她的身边,真的很烦……
  • 创新生态密码:硅谷进化史

    创新生态密码:硅谷进化史

    在《创新生态密码:硅谷进化史:》一书里,巴里·M.卡茨教授充分地研究了硅谷设计的历史,他认为硅谷的成功是60年不可复制的独特历程所孕育的。经过原始调研及深入剖析硅谷的发展史,巴里·M.卡茨教授全面系统地剖析了在硅谷设计的变迁以及设计在硅谷“创新生态系统”形成中扮演的重要角色。
  • 穿越后从零开始的异世生活

    穿越后从零开始的异世生活

    “你觉得你之前做的每一步都做到最好了吗?”“你所做的一切,真的都是最正确的选择吗?”“你是否,遗漏掉了什么呢?”握住她的手进入自己的梦境当中。在这里黑十三寻找着遗失的回忆,在记忆的间隙中,为了真相而努力着。
  • 影响力:卡耐基最实用的说服术与社交技巧

    影响力:卡耐基最实用的说服术与社交技巧

    《影响力:卡耐基最实用的说服术与社交技巧》原名How to Win Friends & Influence People,从个人角度出发,共六个部分,从人际交往、语言和情感交流、为人处世等方面循序渐进,逐步教你提升个人气场,培养让人无法抗拒的个人魅力,提升自身影响力,赢得尊重,更好地吸引他人。《影响力:卡耐基最实用的说服术与社交技巧》中的理论可能听起来普通,例如自信乐观、换位思考等,但这些看似普通的理论却改变了许多人的人生,卡耐基在书中用许多活例子展现这些理论如何发挥出神奇的魔力。
  • 穿越火线之兵行天下

    穿越火线之兵行天下

    金丹新书《最强幸运主播》求收藏,求推荐,希望兄弟们多多支持!当李九苏醒,发现过往的一切,只不过是南柯一梦,而眼前才是真实的世界。这里战火漫天,人类分为了两个阵营,保卫者与潜伏者。潜伏者为了反抗超级智能“天神”的统治,与保卫者展开了一场全球战争……身为觉醒者的李九,带着从《穿越火线》游戏中磨练出的超强战术意识,踏上了兵行天下的征途……
  • 寻找快乐的毒药

    寻找快乐的毒药

    米克——憨厚老实的大乌龟,是马飞飞家养的超级宠物。米克和他的伙伴们可没少给马飞飞和他的同学们找麻烦。不过,在鹤乡发生的一系列惊心动魄的事情还多亏了米克、哈青和华丽鼠他们呢。你想知道马飞飞和他的哥们在鹤乡经历了怎样的惊心动魄的故事么?那就跟着米克去经历一段冒险之旅吧。兴许,你会在这里找到神秘的智慧宝典和香酥可口的心灵巧克力派……你准备好了吗?我们一起出发!
  • 三生三世莲理枝(全集)

    三生三世莲理枝(全集)

    他叫莲绛,红莲业火的莲,点绛唇的绛。她叫十五,花好月圆时的十五。她曾是名动大洲的第一王妃,可八年后,她从棺中爬出,双手满是泥土和鲜血,无心、无情地走上了复仇之路。他是南疆历史上身份最神秘的年轻祭司,是能将死人气活的毒舌男,却独独是她羞涩又傲娇的夫君。他性情冷漠,厌恶的人在面前求生不得、求死不能。他孤傲,天下在他眼里算什么?他深情,为了与她厮守,不惜成为冷血的魔鬼,他幼稚,在她面前,他就是个长不大的、要人哄的孩子;他善妒,他的夫人,哪怕别人多看一眼他都会吃醋。然而她要的是天下大乱,万劫不复。他要的却是三世情深,痴心一颗。桃花开,桃花落,桃花尽了笙歌没……此生执着什么,你若问我,终是笙歌落!他本妖娆无情,可却偏生念她成疯、思她成狂,哪怕她是鹤顶红,他也甘之如饴,最后为她,堕落成魔!“莲绛,你若敢死,我就敢忘!把你忘得一干二净,黄泉碧落,永生不见!"泪眼婆娑中,仿佛看到他唇角带笑,静静地看着她,“十五,你送我一场红梅落雪,那我便赠你三世情深,不负不弃。你送我一捧落花,我便赠你一颗痴心。”