登陆注册
5242200000040

第40章 Chapter 6(2)

Of decent old gold, old silver, old bronze, of old chased and jewelled artistry, were the objects that, successively produced, had ended by numerously dotting the counter where the shopman's slim light (107) fingers, with neat nails, touched them at moments, briefly, nervously, tenderly, as those of a chess-player rest, a few seconds, over the board, on a figure he thinks he may move and then may not: small florid ancientries, ornaments, pendants, lockets, brooches, buckles, pretexts for dim brilliants, bloodless rubies, pearls either too large or too opaque for value; miniatures mounted with diamonds that had ceased to dazzle; snuff-boxes presented to--or by--the too questionable great; cups, trays, taper-stands, suggestive of pawn-tickets, archaic and brown, that would themselves, if preserved, have been prized curiosities. A few commemorative medals of neat outline but dull reference; a classic monument or two, things of the first years of the century; things consular, Napoleonic, temples, obelisks, arches, tinily re-embodied, completed the discreet cluster; in which, however, even after tentative re-enforcement from several quaint rings, intaglios, amethysts, carbuncles, each of which had found a home in the ancient sallow satin of some weakly-snapping little box, there was, in spite of the due proportion of faint poetry, no great force of persuasion. They looked, the visitors, they touched, they vaguely pretended to consider, but with scepticism, so far as courtesy permitted, in the quality of their attention. It was impossible they should n't, after a little, tacitly agree as to the absurdity of carrying to Maggie a token from such a stock. It would be--that was the difficulty--pretentious without being "good"; too usual, as a treasure, to have been an inspiration of the giver, and yet too primitive to be taken as tribute welcome on any terms. They had been out more than (108) two hours and evidently had found nothing. It forced from Charlotte a rueful admission.

"It ought, really, if it should be a thing of this sort, to take its little value from having belonged to one's self."

"Ecco!" said the Prince--just triumphantly enough. "There you are."

Behind the dealer were sundry small cupboards in the wall. Two or three of these Charlotte had seen him open, so that her eyes found themselves resting on those he had n't visited. But she granted the whole mistake.

"There's nothing here she could wear."

It was only after a moment that her companion rejoined: "Is there anything--do you think--that you could?"

It made her just start. She did n't at all events look at the objects; she but looked for an instant very directly at him. "No."

"Ah!" the Prince quietly exclaimed.

"Would it be," Charlotte asked, "your idea to offer me something?"

"Well, why not--as a small ricordo?"

"But a ricordo of what?"

"Why of 'this'--as you yourself say. Of this little hunt."

"Oh I say it--but has n't my whole point been that I don't ask you to.

Therefore," she demanded--but smiling at him now--"where's the logic?"

"Oh the logic--!" he laughed.

"But logic's everything. That at least is how I feel it. A ricordo from you--from you to me--is a ricordo of nothing. It has no reference."

(109) "Ah my dear!" he vaguely protested. Their entertainer meanwhile stood there with his eyes on them, and the girl, though at this minute more interested in her passage with her friend than in anything else, again met his gaze. It was a comfort to her that their foreign tongue covered what they said--and they might have appeared of course, as the Prince now had one of the snuff-boxes in his hand, to be discussing a purchase.

"You don't refer," she went on to her companion. "I refer."

He had lifted the lid of his little box and he looked into it hard.

"Do you mean by that then that you would be free--?"

"'Free'--?"

"To offer me something?"

This gave her a longer pause, and when she spoke again she might have seemed, oddly, to be addressing the dealer. "Would you allow me--?"

"No," said the Prince into his little box.

"You would n't accept it from me?"

"No," he repeated in the same way.

She exhaled a long breath that was like a guarded sigh. "But you've touched an idea that HAS been mine. It's what I've wanted." Then she added:

"It was what I hoped."

He put down his box--this had drawn his eyes. He made nothing, clearly, of the little man's attention. "It's what you brought me out for?"

"Well, that's at any rate," she returned, "my own affair. But it won't do?"

"It won't do, cara mia."

(110) "It's impossible?"

"It's impossible." And he took up one of the brooches.

She had another pause, while the shopman only waited. "If I were to accept from you one of these charming little ornaments as you suggest, what should I do with it?"

He was perhaps at last a little irritated; he even--as if HE might understand--looked vaguely across at their host. "Wear it, per Bacco!"

"Where then, please? Under my clothes?"

"Wherever you like. But it is n't then, if you will," he added, "worth talking about."

"It's only worth talking about, mio caro," she smiled, "from your having begun it. My question is only reasonable--so that your idea may stand or fall by your answer to it. If I should pin one of these things on for you would it be, to your mind, that I might go home and show it to Maggie as your present?"

They had had between them often in talk the refrain, jocosely, descriptively applied, of "old Roman." It had been, as a pleasantry, in the other time, his explanation to her of everything; but nothing truly had even seemed so old-Roman as the shrug in which he now indulged. "Why in the world not?"

"Because--on our basis--it would be impossible to give her an account of the pretext."

"The pretext--?" He wondered.

"The occasion. This ramble that we shall have had together and that we're not to speak of."

(111) "Oh yes," he said after a moment--"I remember we're not to speak of it."

"That of course you're pledged to. And the one thing, you see, goes with the other. So you don't insist."

同类推荐
  • 局方发挥

    局方发挥

    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。
  • 上清五常变通万化郁冥经

    上清五常变通万化郁冥经

    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。
  • 华严经海印道场忏仪

    华严经海印道场忏仪

    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。
  • 玉泉子

    玉泉子

    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。
  • 寿世传真

    寿世传真

    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
  • 最是好运遇见你

    最是好运遇见你

    “别开玩笑了,除非你撞了大运,否则怎么可能会是易学长的女朋友?”易暮沉,Q大的顶级男神,是所有校友眼里可望而不可即。沐果儿听了这话,笑着起身,一步步迈下篮球馆内的台阶,站到易暮沉面前:“可以牵个手吗?男朋友。”……一次幸运抽奖,一生心动相恋。“最是好运遇见你,不负时光不负你。”
  • 突围集

    突围集

    当下经济下行,未来的改革着力点在哪里,哪些领域有可能闯出新的改革路径?层出不穷的新事物,对当下的改革和未来的经济有何影响?从改革史上标志性的莫干山会议开始,周其仁教授就密切参与中国改革的每一步。他善于从现实世界出发,在《改革的逻辑2》一书中,用扎实的经济学功底和风趣、直白的文字,将当下的改革和经济发展做了逻辑清晰的梳理,让读者更加了解中国改革的逻辑和当下的问题所在,同时对未来提出了自己的独特看法。
  • 我有一具大帝身

    我有一具大帝身

    “极度无聊作品,毒点可能有点多,勿怪”慎入,小心修为不够。别硬撑,随心作品。这一切,要从一个大世之争讲起...
  • 让客户回头:超乎想象的客户服务6大宝典

    让客户回头:超乎想象的客户服务6大宝典

    影响时空管理丛书由影响力训练集团组织十几位专家、几十位学者、上百位培训界精英历经三年时间精心创作,内容注重实战,以解决企业管理实际问题为导向;论述深入浅出,通俗易懂;工具多、方法多、案例多,且经过多轮培训课程使用并经过多次修订,受到各层次管理者的欢迎和好评。本书提出了完善企业客户服务的6大宝典:客户服务的3重境界,打造高效服务团队的5大步骤,卓越客户服务人员的5项修炼,卓越客服人员的5大任务,客户服务的6大创新模式,应对客户抱怨和投诉的4个方面。
  • 山海之间的台州女人

    山海之间的台州女人

    妖娆婀娜是你,巾帼不让须眉也是你;温婉美丽是你,豪放刚烈、真诚率性也是你。台州女人进而善攻,退而善守,从不低眉顺眼。台州女人有着江南女人的玲珑剔透、聪慧能干,又兼具北地胭脂的豪放刚烈,有着自己独有的风姿。
  • 穿越之古墓逃妃

    穿越之古墓逃妃

    世界顶级医学世家某女因一枚戒指离奇穿越在古墓中的故事。叛国将军之女,清王已故王妃,逃逃逃,她可逃得掉?【情景对话篇】门外的那人一身白衣静静地站着,漆黑的双眸正定定的锁着她的身影,如玉的容颜上写满了疲倦,略显粗重的喘息声出卖了他来时的匆忙。相望许久之后,他忽然绽开一抹笑,那抹笑,如夏花般灿烂,薄唇轻启,声音一如从前温润,他说,“璃儿,我回来了……”——————————————————————“章叔提醒得是,”云清附手站直了身体,他嗤笑一声,眼神中流淌着俾睨天下的魄力,“可是那又如何!有我在,谁敢动她?”——————————————————————“璃儿……”沙哑的声音在头顶上方响起。“嗯?”鼻子被挡住,某璃闷闷的发出一个字。“我们成亲吧。”笃定的声音不容拒绝的霸道。.某璃一个踉跄:“啥?”“我说,咱们成亲吧!就以……江山为聘可好?”“……”
  • 盛世嫡妃

    盛世嫡妃

    无论对与错,一段预言已受命于天,她就是那乱世中的红颜,聪慧和善却敌不过内心深处的冷酷与残忍,她必将颠覆三个皇朝!与他的青梅,与他的相依,风波历尽,点点暧昧片刻情愫尽数在阴谋中被利用。
  • 男人的资本大全集(超值金版)

    男人的资本大全集(超值金版)

    "世界成功学大师拿破仑·希尔有一句名言:“每个人的人生潜藏着伟大的机遇,我们每个人都应靠自己去发现并利用这种天赐良机,这是我们每个人学到的人生一课。”男人,要想实现心中的梦想,就要修炼出超群的品质,打造卓越的人生资本。《男人的资本大全集(超值金版)》从实用的角度出发,介绍男人一生中要具备的13大重要资本:心理资本、情商资本、形象资本、口才资本、处世资本、社交资本、人脉资本、智慧资本、爱情资本、婚姻资本、事业资本、财富资本、健康资本,告诉男人如何打造属于自己的成功资本,让每个男人在生活中不断完善自己,提升自己,彰显男性的魅力,掌握男人的命运,成就男人一生的幸福。
  • 金榜题名

    金榜题名

    小舅子收到贵阳学院录取通知书,把老岳父的脸烙了一火铲似的,焦。这大学,取也焦,不取,也焦。小舅子单名一个海字,一直在乡中学读,成绩一直靠前,高考下来成绩也还理想,就是心思去远了点儿,想往省外大学奔,志愿遂显得有些不着边际,眼看本科都快录取完了,还没收到录取音信,我家里就几乎每天接到老岳父电话,海又不干活了,海又不吃饭了,海又睁着眼翻来覆去到天亮了,还说海老在屋后走来走去,把坡上的草都踩成秃桩桩了。总之,海烦躁得要命。海的姐,我的妻,叫罡,每天到教育局去查录取名单,没有,每天都没有海的名字。
  • 拒嫁豪门:美颜娇妻101次逃跑

    拒嫁豪门:美颜娇妻101次逃跑

    她是M国颜值最高的美女少校,明明可以靠脸,却非要靠实力。一次机密任务,遇上了神秘莫测,唯我独尊,狂狷不羁的他。至此,一场纠缠不休的追逐战,拉开序幕…“东方未晞,这辈子,下辈子,永生永世,我都不要再遇上你。”他似笑非笑的看着站在自己面前怒火朝天的女人,绯红的薄唇无奈扬起,“那我只好委屈自己像上帝申请,让你这辈子,下辈子,永生永世都遇上我,爱上我,嫁给我。”她:“……”