登陆注册
5242100000035

第35章 CHAPTER VI(8)

If a hundred French soldiers had been staring at her critically she would not have cared at all. She was not a shy woman and was in nowise uncomfortable when many eyes were fixed upon her. So she stood and talked a little to the priest about Count Anteoni and her pleasure in his garden. And as she did so, feeling her present calm self- possession, she wondered secretly at the wholly unnatural turmoil--she called it that, exaggerating her feeling because it was unusual--in which she had been a few minutes before as she sat at her table.

The priest spoke well of Count Anteoni.

"He is very generous," he said.

Then he paused, twisting his napkin, and added:

"But I never have any real intercourse with him, Madame. I believe he comes here in search of solitude. He spends days and even weeks alone shut up in his garden."

"Thinking," she said.

The priest looked slightly surprised.

"It would be difficult not to think, Madame, would it not?"

"Oh, yes. But Count Anteoni thinks rather as a Bashi-Bazouk fights, I fancy."

She heard a chair creak in the distance and glanced over her shoulder.

The traveller had turned sideways. At once she bade the priest good- bye and walked away and out through the swing door.

All the afternoon she rested. The silence was profound. Beni-Mora was enjoying a siesta in the heat. Domini revelled in the stillness. The fatigue of travel had quite gone from her now and she began to feel strangely at home. Suzanne had arranged photographs, books, flowers in the little salon, had put cushions here and there, and thrown pretty coverings over the sofa and the two low chairs. The room had an air of cosiness, of occupation. It was a room one could sit in without restlessness, and Domini liked its simplicity, its bare wooden floor and white walls. The sun made everything right here. Without the sun-- but she could not think of Beni-Mora without the sun.

She read on the verandah and dreamed, and the hours slipped quickly away. No one came to disturb her. She heard no footsteps, no movements of humanity in the house. Now and then the sound of voices floated up to her from the gardens, mingling with the peculiar dry noise of palm leaves stirring in a breeze. Or she heard the distant gallop of horses' feet. The church bell chimed the hours and made her recall the previous evening. Already it seemed far off in the past. She could scarcely believe that she had not yet spent twenty-four hours in Beni-Mora. A conviction came to her that she would be there for a long while, that she would strike roots into this sunny place of peace.

When she heard the church bell now she thought of the interior of the church and of the priest with an odd sort of familiar pleasure, as people in England often think of the village church in which they have always been accustomed to worship, and of the clergyman who ministers in it Sunday after Sunday. Yet at moments she remembered her inward cry in Count Anteoni's garden, "Oh, what is going to happen to me here?" And then she was dimly conscious that Beni-Mora was the home of many things besides peace. It held warring influences. At one moment it lulled her and she was like an infant rocked in a cradle. At another moment it stirred her, and she was a woman on the edge of mysterious possibilities. There must be many individualities among the desert spirits of whom Count Anteoni had spoken. Now one was with her and whispered to her, now another. She fancied the light touch of their hands on hers, pulling gently at her, as a child pulls you to take you to see a treasure. And their treasure was surely far away, hidden in the distance of the desert sands.

As soon as the sun began to decline towards the west she put on her hat, thrust the card Count Anteoni had given her into her glove and set out towards the big hotel alone. She met Hadj as she walked down the arcade. He wished to accompany her, and was evidently filled with treacherous ideas of supplanting his friend Batouch, but she gave him a franc and sent him away. The franc soothed him slightly, yet she could see that his childish vanity was injured. There was a malicious gleam in his long, narrow eyes as he looked after her. Yet there was genuine admiration too. The Arab bows down instinctively before any dominating spirit, and such a spirit in a foreign woman flashes in his eyes like a bright flame. Physical strength, too, appeals to him with peculiar force. Hadj tossed his head upwards, tucked in his chin, and muttered some words in his brown throat as he noted the elastic grace with which the rejecting foreign woman moved till she was out of his sight. And she never looked back at him. That was a keen arrow in her quiver. He fell into a deep reverie under the arcade and his face became suddenly like the face of a sphinx.

Meanwhile Domini had forgotten him. She had turned to the left down a small street in which some Indians and superior Arabs had bazaars. One of the latter came out from the shadow of his hanging rugs and embroideries as she passed, and, addressing her in a strange mixture of incorrect French and English, begged her to come in and examine his wares.

She shook her head, but could not help looking at him with interest.

He was the thinnest man she had ever seen, and moved and stood almost as if he were boneless. The line of his delicate and yet arbitrary features was fierce. His face was pitted with small-pox and marked by an old wound, evidently made by a knife, which stretched from his left cheek to his forehead, ending just over the left eyebrow. The expression of his eyes was almost disgustingly intelligent. While they were fixed upon her Domini felt as if her body were a glass box in which all her thoughts, feelings, and desires were ranged for his inspection. In his demeanour there was much that pleaded, but also something that commanded. His fingers were unnaturally long and held a small bag, and he planted himself right before her in the road.

"Madame, come in, venez avec moi. Venez--venez! I have much--I will show--j'ai des choses extraordinaires! Tenez! Look!"

同类推荐
  • 理智与情感

    理智与情感

    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。
  • 岛噫诗

    岛噫诗

    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。
  • 表无表章栖玩记

    表无表章栖玩记

    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 Social Contract

    The Social Contract

    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。
  • 现果随录

    现果随录

    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。
热门推荐
  • 天之命源

    天之命源

    长安桥上胡文婧,断魂桥下今何在。奈何桥前对酒歌,但感佳人不复回。
  • 名人传记丛书:爱因斯坦

    名人传记丛书:爱因斯坦

    名人传记丛书——爱因斯坦——不掷骰子的上帝:“立足课本,超越课堂”,以提高中小学生的综合素质为目的,让中小学生从课内受益到课外,是一生的良师益友。
  • 斗魔唯尊

    斗魔唯尊

    当现代除魔世家的腹黑天才意外穿越到软弱无能的贵族遗弃的大小姐身上!当她再次眼睁睁看着自己的母亲死在面前却没任何能力阻止!强者为尊,实力即是尊严,这是这个世界的铁则!“没有强大的力量,不管再怎么抱怨,痛恨也是没有用的,只要我强大了,才能挽回我母亲和我的尊严!母亲的死不会白死,我也不会善罢甘休的。”她倔强地丢下这句话,在众人不屑的目光中,昂首而去。涅磐重生,她一展不世天赋,突入高手品阶,傲视群雄画地为城,她一揽绝顶高手,占据雄城要塞,称王称霸被称为魔法和斗气修炼的极品废物大小姐,在众人的怜惜和不屑的眼神下,昂首挺胸的走了出去,没有人知道,这一副皮囊下,已经换了一副灵魂。遭到了全家族的耻笑——废物,终究是废物?还是说凤凰涅槃,从此不再平凡?终于,她在巧合的机缘下大露风采,不断的有各地的势力邀请,就连自己原本的家族也不例外。强者独尊,是这个世界不变的真理。而她的蜕变又会使叶家世家的人有什么样的表情?!★★★★★精彩片段1【“我亲爱的姐姐,好久不见!”叶凌大笑了起来。“谁是你姐姐?我可没有你这样的妹妹,当年你是一个废物,现在也只能是一个废物,就让我来清理门户。”叶兰兰怒气冲天的看着叶凌。“废物吗?呵呵,竟然把一个天才当成废物看待,你说这个叶家家主脑袋是不是烧坏了?”评委都在议论,她们两个的对话都听的一清二楚,观众只能见到评委的表情越来越精彩了。】精彩片段2【“这里的城池不错,不过名字应该叫叶城才对。”叶家的二长老,摸了摸胡子看着眼前这座城池,皱着眉头。“反正都是我们的城,叫什么应该由我们决定,走,我们进去。”大长老说完就带着所有人来到城门驻扎,大声的喊到,“叶凌,还不速速出来迎接?”没一会一个穿着红色妖艳的服饰的女子,站在城顶,“迎接?你们来做什么?家族一半以上的人都来了。”“你先让我们进去!”大长老打大声呼道。“给你们进来?哈哈,你们是不是打算一进来就躲我城池?”长老们都露出破窘的表情,被人拒绝于门外的感觉很不好,而且又被对方猜到自己的想法。】水珞凌】温柔善解人意、腹黑。他的皮肤很白,很细腻,一双明亮清澈、有着淡淡蓝色的眼睛,射出柔和温暖的光芒,鼻梁挺直,带着好看的弧度,栗色的头发又柔又亮,闪烁着熠熠光泽。魅璃】霸道、冷酷
  • 红粉女贼

    红粉女贼

    悬疑之父,大师之中的大师,只可模仿,不可超越的巅峰,直逼理性与疯狂、压制与抗争的心理极限,你永远都猜不到故事的结局,你也无法预想故事情节的发展!精品、经典、精装、超值价蕾遇生与死、罪与罚的灵魂拷问。
  • 地府恋

    地府恋

    她莫名死去,莫名掉进地府,莫名遇上一群牛鬼蛇神。一会儿是冷酷阎王,一会儿是妖媚蛇妖,还有牛头马面……这到底是怎么回事啊!歪,这位阎王大人,你能不能不要靠我这么近!--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 小说月报·原创版(2016年02期)

    小说月报·原创版(2016年02期)

    《小说月报·原创版》创刊于2003年初,凭借强大的发行网络和发行数量,多年来一直居全国原创类文学期刊之首,并曾多次荣获省市级、国家级优秀期刊奖项。其影响已不仅仅在文学界,更延伸到更广阔的领域之中。许多作品一经发表,即被各大报刊转载,更有近半数作品被改编为影视剧,并产生巨大影响。本刊以贴近现实、关注人生的中长篇小说为主要内容,并力求在秉持沉稳、厚重的风格的同时,依然留有一片充满激情、活力的年轻声音。
  • 狙击生死线

    狙击生死线

    韩光和蔡晓春都是狼牙特种大队的顶尖狙击手,他们是生死战友,同时也是竞争对手,两人更是同时爱上了一个女军医赵百合。后来,蔡晓春因违反军纪离开了部队,他带着赵百合出国做了雇佣兵。而韩光转业到了滨海特警,成为功勋狙击手。滨海即将迎来世界经济论坛,滨海公安局严阵以待。不料,韩光的狙击步枪被神秘盗窃,回国的赵百合更被这支狙击枪枪杀……韩光则成为被追缉的杀人疑犯。蔡晓春离奇出现在滨海市,被幕后黑手何世荣雇用,准备刺杀海外财团老总何世昌。韩光和蔡晓春之间展开了一场生死较量,警方和军队严密合作,韩光一举捣毁黑暗势力,韩光和蔡晓春的最后决斗,在一片废墟上展开……
  • 门外有怪人:牙医馆诡秘事件

    门外有怪人:牙医馆诡秘事件

    月黑风高聊斋夜,发生在现代都市喧嚣角落最离奇诡异的故事,血衣小镇、惊悚恐怖的牙医馆、阴森逼人的绝命巴士站、史上最令人心寒胆颤的动物园……现实生活的每上角落,到底隐藏着多少不为人知的秘密?发生着多少不为人知的怪事?  不断散发的寒意令人战栗!催命的黑猫再次出现了,地下三尺有请!也许你知道得太多了,也许你嗅一嗅死亡的真实气味,每晚一个离奇故事正在上演……别出声,看看这个世界的另一面,聆听那些另类的故事。
  • 问你可以不可以

    问你可以不可以

    傲慢又毒舌的死神大人终于找回了他的“小镰刀”。独一无二+非你不可=十分甜蜜。“你打算怎么赔偿我?”傅筠来抬眼似笑非笑看着她。辜冬暗暗吐槽,你莫名其妙用我割草,还问我怎么赔偿?还有没有天理?我不是威风凛凛的狩猎镰刀吗?傅筠来啧一声,苍白的唇角微微向上勾:“你本就是我的镰刀,我用你割草不行么?不是物尽其用吗?”辜冬呆愣愣地想:你知道我在想什么?傅筠来抬手敲了她一记,慢条斯理地说:“当然。”辜冬崩溃:到底什么时候才会彻底恢复过来,当一把不能说话不能动的镰刀好憋屈!!!!
  • 晋王吕布传

    晋王吕布传

    他武勇盖世,骑马中赤兔,拥美女貂蝉,却命丧白门楼,堪称三国第一悲催;百世轮回,穿越重生,熊熊大火中,吕布无声咆哮,誓要改变命运;乱世,如期来临;吕布骑赤兔马,持方天画戟,豪情万丈,欲与当世枭雄们,一较长短,布武天下……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………【已百万字完本,新书《贩卖地球》,敬请关注收藏,谢谢!】