登陆注册
5243300000037

第37章 CHAPTER VIII(4)

It was 'Mr. Thorpe' here and 'Mr. Thorpe' there, all over the place. Ladies of title, mind you--all to myself at breakfast two days running. And such ladies--finer than silk. Oh, it's clear as daylight--I was intended for a fashionable career."She smiled in a faint, passive way. "Well--they say 'better late than never,' you know." "And after all, IS it so very late?" he said, adopting her phrase as an expression of his thought. "I'm just turned forty, and Ifeel like a boy. I was looking at that 'Peerage' there, the other day--and do you know, I'm sixteen years younger than the first Lord Plowden was when they made him a peer?

Why he didn't even get into the House of Commons until he was seven-and-forty.""You seem to have the Plowden family on the brain,"she commented.

"I might have worse things. You've no idea, Lou, how nice it all is. The mother, Lady Plowden--why she made me feel as if I was at the very least a nephew of hers.

And so simple and natural! She smiled at me, and listened to me, and said friendly things to me--why, just as anybody might have done. You'll just love her, when you know her."Louisa laughed in his face. "Don't be a fool, Joel,"she adjured him, with a flash of scornful mirth.

He mingled a certain frowning impatience with the buoyancy of his smile. "Why, of course, you'll know her,"he protested. "What nonsense you're thinking of! Do you suppose I'm going to allow you to mess about here with second-hand almanacs, and a sign in your window of 'threepence in the shilling discount for cash,' while I'm a millionaire? It's too foolish, Lou. You annoy me by supposing such a thing!""There's no good talking about it at all," she observed, after a little pause. "It hasn't come off yet, for one thing. And as I said the other night, if you want to do things for the children, that's another matter.

They're of an age when they can learn whatever anybody chooses to teach them.""Where are they now?" he asked. Upon the instant another plan began to unfold itself in the background of his mind.

"They're both at Cheltenham, though they're at different places, of course. I was recommended to send Julia there--one of our old customers is a Governor, or whatever it's called--and he got special terms for her.

She was rather old, you know, to go to school, but he arranged it very nicely for her--and there is such a good boys' college there, it seemed the wisest thing to send Alfred too.

Julia is to finish at Christmas-time--and what I'm going to do with her afterward is more than I know.""Is she pretty?" the uncle of Julia enquired.

"She's very nice," the mother answered, with vague extenuation in her tone. "I don't know about her looks--she varies so much. Sometimes I think she's pretty--and then again I can't think it. She's got good features, and she holds herself well, and she's very much the lady--rather too much, I think, sometimes--but it all depends upon what you call pretty. She's not tall, you know. She takes after her father's family. The Dabneys are all little people."Thorpe seemed not to care about the Dabneys. "And what's Alfred like?" he asked.

"He wants to be an artist!" There was a perceptible note of apprehension in the mother's confession.

"Well--why shouldn't he--if he's got a bent that way?"demanded Thorpe, with reproof in his tone. "Did you want him to be a shop-keeper?""I should like to see him a doctor," she replied with dignity.

"It was always my idea for him."

"Well, it's no good--even as an idea," he told her.

"Doctors are like parsons--they can't keep up with the times.

The age is outgrowing them. Only the fakirs in either profession get anything out of it, nowadays. It's all mystery and sleight-of-hand and the confidence trick--medicine is--and if you haven't got just the right twist of the wrist, you're not in it. But an artist stands on his merits.

There is his work--done by his own hands. It speaks for itself. There's no deception--it's easy enough to tell whether it's good or bad. If the pictures are good, people buy them. If they're bad, people don't buy them.

Of course, it won't matter to Alfred, financially speaking, whether his pictures sell well or not. But probably he'd give it up, if he didn't make a hit of it.

同类推荐
  • THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS

    THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS

    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。
  • 灵宝炼度五仙安灵镇神黄缯章法

    灵宝炼度五仙安灵镇神黄缯章法

    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。
  • 幽梦影

    幽梦影

    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。
  • 白云稿

    白云稿

    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。
  • 四讳篇

    四讳篇

    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
  • 索法号义辩讽诵文

    索法号义辩讽诵文

    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。
  • 学会感恩,拒绝抱怨

    学会感恩,拒绝抱怨

    没有人喜欢喋喋不休的抱怨者,宽容感恩的人才受欢迎。不抱怨的人是最快乐的人,没有抱怨的世界是最美好的世界。不批评,不责备,不抱怨;常宽容,常分享,常知足。让这本影响世界优秀人士的心灵励志读物,席卷全球600万人的人生哲思宝典,带你逃离抱怨轮回,踏上幸福快车。
  • 傲王盛宠:乖乖王妃请出招

    傲王盛宠:乖乖王妃请出招

    她本是重金难求的风水玄学女大师,怎知意外坠崖,穿越到同名同姓的相府庶女身上。地位低下、任人宰割就是她的真实写照,这怎么可以,她要庶女翻身把歌唱。本想借太后寿宴打一把翻身仗,无奈一时财迷心窍,为了一万两银子竟不知不觉把自己卖了。赐婚?剧本不对啊,说好演戏的,怎么就成真了?【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 不死龙尊

    不死龙尊

    龙族使命,命运天定?天若顺我,风调雨顺。天若逆我,要你何用?脚踏苍穹之上,剑指白云之东。你我一起,征战天地苍穹。
  • Bruised
  • 张恨水经典作品系列:斯人记

    张恨水经典作品系列:斯人记

    《斯人记》以文人梁寒山与女诗人张梅仙由诗互倾,由诗相识的故事,根据“冠盖满京华,斯人独憔悴”之意,描写北洋政府时期,所谓首善之区北京的“士”阶,“捧戏子,逛窑子,酒肉征逐”,“弄弄风月文艺”的颓废生活,一面是正直清,一面是荒淫奢侈,形成鲜明的对照。
  • 我用所有报答爱

    我用所有报答爱

    我是在什么时候让你闯入我的世界为所欲为直到已无路可退。大学毕业的何碧玺没能如愿把心爱的男友拐回家,于是她命中的恶魔出现了。她愿赌服输,带着自己简易的行李搬进他的大房子,成了他名义上的情人,开始骈居的生活。恶魔不是外人,正是她姐夫的同胞大哥。当年,十六岁的何碧玺被远嫁海外的姐姐托付给这个男人监护。她傻乎乎地献上一颗芳心,却被他恶意拒绝,想退回去维持监护与被监护的关系,他又不许。她想他是不爱她的,但是她怎么都不明白,既然不要她,为什么又要逼她签订那份荒唐的同居协议?这个男人简直不可理喻,他到底想干什么?是本性如此,还是另有隐情?
  • 曾巩集

    曾巩集

    《曾巩集(套装上下册)》以《元丰类稿》为主,收录了现存曾巩的全部诗文,计诗410首,文752篇,是目前收录曾巩诗文最为完备的本子。《曾巩集(套装上下册)》是“中国古典文学基本丛书”之一种。曾巩,唐宋八大家之一,他的主要成就表现在散文创作上,他的散文以“古雅”、“平正”见称,讲究章法的严谨和布局的分明,叙事、议论委曲周详,节奏舒缓平和,用词朴素有分量,思致清晰,独具风格。《曾巩集(套装上下册)》据清代顾松龄刻本为底本,以元代丁思敬刻本为主要校本,较为全面详尽。
  • 农女为皇:妻主,夫君为你暖心

    农女为皇:妻主,夫君为你暖心

    (一女VS多夫,有点玄幻女强)前世的她上得厅堂,下得厨房,可为何没有人爱?一次背叛后,她为何惨死于闺蜜之手?她绝望了,本想就这样死去,永不再爱。可上天不愿让她如愿,一次借尸还魂点燃了她生存下去的火。她放弃了爱情,转向事业,可为何处处惹桃花?他们的情深是否会感动这位“无心少女”?「女主小抱怨:从王爷到农女?要不要那么戏剧化,哼,农女也逆天,桃花一边去。男主小抱怨一号(一脸嫌弃):是前世的孽吗?穿越还能双?二号(哭唧唧):妻主,生个小猴呗?别占着茅坑不拉屎!三号(抱着猴子):……」
  • 环溪诗话

    环溪诗话

    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。