登陆注册
5243000000090

第90章 CHAPTER XVI(5)

"David, build us a house exactly similar to this over there on the hill, and let us live out here also. I'd love it. Would you, Clara?"

"I don't know. I never lived in the country. One thing is sure: If I tried it, I'd prefer this to any other place I ever saw. David, won't you take me far enough up the hill that I can look from the top to the lake?"

"Certainly," said the Harvester. "Excuse us a little while, Ruth!"

As soon as they were gone the Girl turned to the doctor.

"Doctor Carey, David says you are great. Won't you exercise your art on me. I am not at all well, and oh! I'd so love to be strong and sound."

"Will you tell me," asked the doctor, "just enough to show me what caused the trouble?"

"Bad air and water, poor light and food at irregular times, overwork and deep sorrow; every wrong condition of life you could imagine, with not a ray of hope in the distance, until now. For the sake of the Harvester, Iwould be well again. Please, please try to cure me!"

So they talked until the doctor thought he knew all he desired, and then they went to see the gold flower garden.

"I call this simply superb," said he, taking a seat beneath the tree roof of her porch. "Young woman, Idon't know what I'll do to you if you don't speedily grow strong here. This is the prettiest place I ever saw, and listen to the music of that bubbling, gurgling little creek!"

"Isn't he wonderful?" asked the Girl, looking up the hill, where the tall form of the Harvester could be seen moving around. "Just to see him, you would think him the essence of manly strength and force. And he is!

So strong! Into the lake at all hours, at the dry-house, on the hill, grubbing roots, lifting big pillars to support a bridge roof, and with it all a fancy as delicate as any dreaming girl. Doctor, the fairies paint the flowers, colour the fruit, and frost the windows for him; and the winds carry pollen to tell him when his growing things are ready for the dry-house. I don't suppose I can tell you anything new about him; but isn't he a perpetual surprise? Never like any one else! And no matter how he startles me in the beginning, he always ends by convincing me, at least, that he is right."

"I never loved any other man as I do him," said the doctor. "I ushered him into the world when I was a young man just beginning to practise, and I've known him ever since. I know few men so scrupulously clean.

Try to get well and make him happy, Mrs. Langston.

He so deserves it."

"You may be sure I will," answered the Girl.

After the visitors had gone, the Harvester told her to place the old blue dishes as she would like to arrange them on her table, so he could get a correct idea of the size, and he left to put a few finishing strokes on the bridge cover. She went into the dining-room and opened the china closet. She knew from her peep in the work-room that there would be more pieces than she had seen before; but she did not think or hope that a full half dozen tea set and plates, bowl, platter, and pitcher would be waiting for her.

"Why Ruth, what made you tire yourself to come down? I intended to return in a few minutes."

"Oh Man!" cried the laughing Girl, as she clung pantingly to a bridge pillar for support, "I just had to come to tell you. There are fairies! Really truly ones!

They have found the remainder of the willow dishes for me, and now there are so many it isn't going to be a table at all. It must be a little cupboard especially for them, in that space between the mantel and the bookcase.

There should be a shining brass tea canister, and a wafer box like the arts people make, and I'll pour tea and tend the chafing dish and you can toast the bread with a long fork over the coals, and we will have suppers on the living-room table, and it will be such fun."

"Be seated!" cried the Harvester. "Ruth, that's the longest speech I ever heard you make, and it sounded, praise the Lord, like a girl. Did Doc say he would fix something for you?"

"Yes, such a lot of things! I am going to shut my eyes and open my mouth and swallow all of them. I'm going to be born again and forget all I ever knew before I came here, and soon I will be tagging you everywhere, begging you to suggest designs for my pencil, and I'll simply force life to come right for you."

The Harvester smiled.

"Sounds good!" he said. "But, Ruth, I'm a little dubious about force work. Life won't come right for me unless you learn to love me, and love is a stubborn, contrary bulldog element of our nature that won't be driven an inch. It wanders as the wind, and strikes us as it will. You'll arrive at what I hope for much sooner if you forget it and amuse yourself and be as happy as you can. Then, perhaps all unknown to you, a little spark of tenderness for me will light in your breast;and if it ever does we will buy a fanning mill and put it in operation, and we'll raise a flame or know why."

"And there won't be any force in that?"

"What you can't compel is the start. It's all right to push any growth after you have something to work on."

"That reminds me," said the Girl, "there is a question I want to ask you."

"Go ahead!" said the Harvester, glancing at her as he hewed a joist.

She turned away her face and sat looking across the lake for a long time.

"Is it a difficult question, Ruth?" inquired the Harvester to help her.

"Yes," said the Girl. "I don't know how to make you see."

"Take any kind of a plunge. I'm not usually dense."

"It is really quite simple after all. It's about a girl----a girl I knew very well in Chicago. She had a problem----and it worried her dreadfully, and I just wondered what you would think of it."

The Harvester shifted his position so that he could watch the side of the averted face.

"You'll have to tell me, before I can tell you," he suggested.

同类推荐
  • 佛说奈女祇域因缘经

    佛说奈女祇域因缘经

    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。
  • 玉栖述雅

    玉栖述雅

    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。
  • 大八义

    大八义

    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。
  • CRANFORD

    CRANFORD

    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。
  • 少室山房集

    少室山房集

    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
  • 醉入冰河恋上你

    醉入冰河恋上你

    言若舟在一次意外中完美穿越。狐妖你靠点谱OK?王爷你收起你的爪子好嘛?情敌?祝你活到明天。
  • 农家子的发家致富科举路

    农家子的发家致富科举路

    末世女顾诚玉穿越到了古代架空王朝,成为家中最受宠爱的农家子。既然穿成了男娃,那就带领全家赚钱发家吧!谁知老娘却非要做诰命夫人,这事儿咋整?本文有强大的金手指。
  • 追文游戏中

    追文游戏中

    【醒目:入坑谨慎,文笔白菜】牧笙很郁悴……她喜欢的作者南大居然扔下一堆读者跑去玩游戏了,作为盟主的她进游戏求更新。“卖萌加100字,打滚加200字,叫一声夫君加一章。”南风离不要脸地打出这句话。牧笙:……你到底想做什么?南风离:你不知道我喜欢你吗?牧笙:……(高亮,所有群号作废)
  • 生了一窝恶魔宝贝

    生了一窝恶魔宝贝

    女人怀里抱着一个女孩,手上拉着一个男孩站在传说集团的楼下望着这陌生有熟悉的大厦。男孩满怀欣喜:“妈咪,爹地就在这上面吗?”怀里的女孩一听到爹地就哭起来:“小物要爹地,呜呜….”女人闭上眼呼了一口气:“想要救小望和小礼回来,我们只能这么做了。”【计划一:认爹】她带着一双儿女以“间谍”身份回归,只为了“窃取”传说集团的年终计划,谁让自己的另一双儿女落在高家人手里。“小希,你一会儿带着妹妹在这里等,一会儿从这个门出来的最帅的男人就是你们的爹地,计划你们应该知道吧!”小希行了一个军礼:“保证完成任务。”小物看看哥哥再看看妈咪小嘴巴撅了起来:“小物要爹地,呜呜….”汗…【计划二:归宗】小物坐在他的怀里接受到了哥哥的眼神的指令点点头。“叔叔和哥哥长得好像,不如我们玩滴血认亲好不好?”凭借着嗲死人不偿命的撒娇语气和无辜可怜的大眼珠里的朦胧泪水谁能拒绝。小希顺手掏出怀里的小刀,还有桌子上现有的清水杯….小物露出惊讶的神色不敢相信:“血融合了…”内心欢喜:真的是爹地。【计划三:任务】小希和小物“擅自”改变计划,偷情报成了撮合爹地妈咪,因为他们想要一个家。小望和小礼也凭借机灵的头脑正准备脱离“魔掌”与妈咪团聚。【正文简介】白天她只是传说集团秘书部的一个小秘书,也要应付难缠上司和美女同事,平平淡淡活泼中加点小野蛮。晚上她回归城堡变身豪门少奶奶,其实就是一个魔鬼的玩偶,侥幸活着的玩偶。掌控她的魔鬼就是她的老公,传说集团的神秘总裁。传说,他患有家族绝症和严重虐人和被虐症。传说,他娶过六位太太都未撑过新婚之夜,不是疯了就是残了。传说,他有一个古怪的奶奶四处为他寻找猎物,只为了他开心。传说,他就是一个妖孽,有让你生或死的权利。【魔鬼天使一起沉沦的游戏是什么?】男(期待):“我们生个孩子好吗?人家说夫妻之间有孩子的牵绊才是完整的家”女(无视):“我们之间有爱吗?”背对,起身,穿衣ING女人回头看着他的背影(冰冷):干吗去?男(气愤加火大):你不和我生。我找别人去行不?女人一把将男的拖上床翻身压倒他,自顾自接他的衣扣:生吧,爱生几个生几个,爱生多久生多久…οΟ推荐οΟ一女侍三夫:灵异宠文,NP无限:嗜血女和狠辣男强对强XXOO以及OOXX的一对一的大宠小虐故事:丑女戏邪君:魅世青莲:绝色爹爹不好惹:
  • 神医

    神医

    作品描绘了北京京西的历史、风情、传奇,是京味文学的最新收获。小说风格独具,人的欲望和土地上的生态浑然交融,既描摹世相、又届时人性,耐人寻味、撼人心魄,与果戈理描写乌克兰风情的经典小说《狄康卡近乡夜话》有相同品质。虽是地域的,却是民族的,是解读当下中国农村、农民,对国民性进行反思的形象读本。
  • 萧瑟流光

    萧瑟流光

    小说由女主角耕烟和男朋友陆茗骏山洞探险开始,因为触动了奇异的芙蓉石而被卷入不同的时空。耕烟一心找寻失散的恋人,结识了宽厚善良的少年白矜云,于是卷入了一场武林的腥风血雨。当终于重逢昔日的恋人,却发觉各自的心中已有所爱。
  • 妃比寻常

    妃比寻常

    摊上穿越这事她认了,可也别倒霉没下限啊!什么妖孽王爷,变态庄主,腹黑太子;把姐当人渣吸铁石啦?还有还有,她居然是个异类小妖女?不管了,她要活出自己的精彩:谁敢挡路,信不信姐拿平底锅拍死你!新书《医妃冲天:妖孽王爷你别拽》新鲜出炉,欢迎阅读。
  • 魔王校草拯救计划

    魔王校草拯救计划

    新生开学典礼,她在台上致辞,他在台下打了同学,一个眼神,他从此记恨上她。好心挽救打架的他,她却被误会成他的女朋友。自此,各种麻烦纷至沓来,青梅厌恶,竹马误解,她的身边什么时候竟全是和他有关系的人?完美天使路西法,过于高贵,过于自信,却在某一天堕入了地狱.....韩筱萝最大的愿望,就是将堕落成魔王的应修寒从地狱里拯救出来......他负手而立,凝视着面前一脸希冀的女生,冷言:宁在地狱称王,不在天堂为奴。情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 划天为界

    划天为界

    仙人拥有的是不灭的身体仙人有漫长的生命可是他们同时拥有的是无边无际的寂寞永恒的孤独这一世,她幸运的遇到了海,平凡的人生从此有了不同人都有七情六欲,怎样从一个凡人修成正果,她真的可以成功吗?成仙,还是成魔,皆在一念之间......片段一:”吼!“一只狂暴、头上长着一支金色独角的棕熊从天而降,月光下,一张血盆大口大张,黑色的漩涡出现形成一股恐怖的力量,正在吸食灵气的一群鬼魂惊叫着被吸进了漩涡之内,根本没有反抗的余地。”成功了!“一道惊喜的声音突兀的响起。就在熊呆呆将这群鬼魂吸进口中时,旺盛的灵气骤然一齐向那只红色鬼魂疯涌,轰!红色的鬼魂身体发了一阵强烈的光芒......一瞬间消失不见了。片段二:白衣人径自走向床上的少女,只见她全身像煮熟的虾子般,红彤彤的发亮,一头长长的青丝凌乱地披散在床单上,双眼迷茫已是失去了神智。白衣人撩起她面上的青比唤道:“依依、依依——”少女抬起头来,对着她媚笑着,身体如蛇般迎上来。白衣人皱了皱眉,一双如海般浩瀚的眸子放射出刺目的金光,直直地射向少女双眸。少女一呆,宛如失去了灵魂般顿时静止在那里。神奇的一幕出现了,少女的身体里走出一个银色的小人来,与白衣人身体里走出的金色小人纠缠在了一起,片刻少女的身体痉挛起来,身体里流出一股暖流来。渐渐地少女身体恢复了瓷白,呼吸也变得正常,却仍然双眸紧闭,没有醒来
  • 飞鸟掠

    飞鸟掠

    一九九二年春季某日,凌晨一时许,S省云海市城郊某处的山脚下,一小队人影在夜色中静悄悄地向一座孤零零的平房小院隐蔽靠近。