登陆注册
5242200000042

第42章 Chapter 6(4)

Charlotte, wondering but resisting, bent over the bowl again. "Then it's impossible. It's more than I can afford."

"Ah," the man returned, "one can sometimes afford for a present more than one can afford for one's self."

He said it so coaxingly that she found herself going on without, as might be said, putting him in his place. "Oh of course it would be only for a present--!"

"Then it would be a lovely one."

"Does one make a present," she asked, "of an object that contains to one's knowledge a flaw?"

"Well, if one knows of it one has only to mention it. The good faith," the man smiled, "is always there."

"And leave the person to whom one gives the thing, you mean, to discover it?"

"He would n't discover it--if you're speaking of a gentleman."

"I'm not speaking of any one in particular," Charlotte said.

(116) "Well, whoever it might be. He might know--and he might try. But he would n't find."

She kept her eyes on him as if, though unsatisfied, mystified, she yet had a fancy for the bowl. "Not even if the thing should come to pieces?"

And then as he was silent: "Not even if he should have to say to me 'The Golden Bowl is broken'?"

He was still silent; after which he had his strangest smile. "Ah if any one should WANT to smash it--!"

She laughed; she almost admired the little man's expression. "You mean one could smash it with a hammer?"

"Yes, if nothing else would do. Or perhaps even by dashing it with violence--say upon a marble floor."

"Oh marble floors--!" But she might have been thinking--for they were a connexion, marble floors; a connexion with many things: with her old Rome, and with HIS; with the palaces of his past and, a little, of hers; with the possibilities of his future, with the sumptuosities of his marriage, with the wealth of the Ververs. All the same, however, there were other things; and they all together held for a moment her fancy. "Does crystal then break--when it IS crystal? I thought its beauty was its hardness."

Her friend, in his way, discriminated. "Its beauty is its BEING crystal.

But its hardness is certainly its safety. It does n't break," he went on, "like vile glass. It splits--if there is a split."

"Ah!"--Charlotte breathed with interest. "If (117) there IS a split."

And she looked down again at the bowl. "There IS a split, eh? Crystal does split, eh?"

"On lines and by laws of its own."

"You mean if there's a weak place?"

For all answer, after an hesitation, he took the bowl up again, holding it aloft and tapping it with a key. It rang with the finest sweetest sound.

"Where's the weak place?"

She then did the question justice. "Well, for me only the price. I'm poor, you see--very poor. But I thank you and I'll think." The Prince, on the other side of the shop-window, had finally faced about and, as to see if she had n't done, was trying to reach with his eyes the comparatively dim interior. "I like it," she said--"I want it. But I must decide what I can do."

The man, not ungraciously, resigned himself. "Well, I'll keep it for you."

The small quarter of an hour had had its marked oddity--this she felt even by the time the open air and the Bloomsbury aspects had again, in their protest against the truth of her gathered impression, made her more or less their own. Yet the oddity might have been registered as small as compared to the other effect that, before they had gone much further, she had to take account of with her companion. This latter was simply the effect of their having, by some tacit logic, some queer inevitability, quite dropped the idea of a continued pursuit. They did n't say so, but it was on the line of giving up Maggie's present that they practically proceeded--the line of giving it up without more reference to it. (118) The Prince's first reference was in fact quite independently made. "I hope you satisfied yourself, before you had done, of what was the matter with that bowl."

"No indeed, I satisfied myself of nothing. Of nothing at least but that the more I looked at it the more I liked it, and that if you were n't so unaccommodating this would be just the occasion for your giving me the pleasure of accepting it."

He looked graver for her at this than he had looked all the morning.

同类推荐
  • Aaron Trow

    Aaron Trow

    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。
  • 三辅黄图

    三辅黄图

    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。
  • 佛说甚深大回向经

    佛说甚深大回向经

    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。
  • 何耶揭唎婆观世音菩萨受法坛

    何耶揭唎婆观世音菩萨受法坛

    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。
  • 续灯正统

    续灯正统

    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
  • 剑听血寒

    剑听血寒

    先有晋朝创立的三清派流于今世三脉真传后有黑白二老参悟天地万物所作天书地录三代人的恩怨情仇,五部秘籍的腥风血雨
  • 攻略小萌妻

    攻略小萌妻

    小的时候呆萌的她,一直指着他的下身,喊蛋蛋,蛋蛋,伸手要去抓,但是一直够不着。而他黑着脸拒绝。长大后,他不停地哄着她,宝宝你不能被别人摸你的手,亲你的嘴,不然会怀孕的。她问为什么你可以呢?他说长大你就知道了。结果他5年不见踪影,媳妇懒得理他,看他怎么追回媳妇。
  • 大云经祈雨坛法

    大云经祈雨坛法

    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。
  • 青铜甲

    青铜甲

    自周朝建立,武王分封天下。助商灭纣的有功之臣封土建国,共计八十一位。各诸侯国相互吞并导致烽火连天,至春秋战国时期出现了春秋五霸与战国七雄的传说。这部书发生的年代是在战国后期,也就是秦国正式开始统一天下之时。长达数百年的战争,致使生灵涂炭民不聊生。为结束这个黑暗时代,不再有无休止的杀戮。吕子领昭王命游走于各地,招贤纳士以充实秦国实力。为寻求和平之光,他带领我华夏好男儿用生命和热血谱写出华丽的乐章。可是当面临忠诚与信仰,和平还是战争的抉择之际,他又该何去何从?
  • 文化哲学方法与闽南文化思想政治教育研究

    文化哲学方法与闽南文化思想政治教育研究

    本书针对文化研究、教育和建构中存在的生活世界总体和工作世界本质意义的缺失问题,用文化哲学方法探究闽南文化思想政治教育的意义结构,阐明开漳圣王文化、海洋文化、妈祖文化、土楼文化、红色文化、闽南—台湾文化和诗文化等闽南文化思想政治教育的标志形态,尝试性开创闽南文化思想政治教育学理论体系。
  • 东周列国志上

    东周列国志上

    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。
  • 变革力:铸就IBM百年传奇

    变革力:铸就IBM百年传奇

    《变革力:铸就IBM的百年传奇》的作者通过对IBM 100年的历史回顾,首度剖析了企业如何在竞争如此激烈的环境下做强、做大、做久的八大核心变革。
  • 大乘起信论二译

    大乘起信论二译

    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。
  • 给心灵洗个澡(男人篇·女人篇)

    给心灵洗个澡(男人篇·女人篇)

    在任何社会,男人都被认为是坚强和勇敢的象征!在母亲眼里,儿子是最伟岸的男人;在妻子的眼里,丈夫是一座可以依靠的山;在子女们的眼里父亲是大海中的船,载着一家人驶向平安的港湾。女人天生认为自己是需要保护的对象,习惯于在男人的臂膀下小鸟依人般地生活着。正因为活在别人的世界里,女人常常容易受伤。女人可以不是强者,但必须要有自己的世界,因为唯有摆脱依赖的心态,才能豁达地面对一切,从而赋予生命本质的意义。
  • 看不懂的日本人

    看不懂的日本人

    “中国”这个题目,日本人不晓得放在解剖台上解剖了几百次,装在试管里化验了几千次。对于日本,我们中国人却只是一味的排斥反对,再不肯做研究工夫,几乎连日本字都不愿意看,日本话都不愿意听,日本人都不愿意见……今天,不论你喜欢日本也好,讨厌日本也好,你都应该了解她。因为中国和日本不可能不接触,只有更好的了解日本,了解日本人,才能在联系与合作,矛盾与斗争中取得主动。