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
  • 雪关和尚语录

    雪关和尚语录

    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。
  • 玉钥匙门法

    玉钥匙门法

    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。
  • 玄圃山灵秘录

    玄圃山灵秘录

    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。
  • Modern Spiritualism

    Modern Spiritualism

    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。
  • 云卧纪谭

    云卧纪谭

    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
  • 帝国枭宠,契约萌妻宠上瘾

    帝国枭宠,契约萌妻宠上瘾

    一场精心策划的阴谋,她和他在酒店套房相遇…日撩夜撩,腹黑大BOSS漫天布地撒渔网,最终将某个小女人成功收之麾下。看着眼前慢条斯理整理衣服的男人,莫安雅惊恐表示,这个男人是属狼的吗?情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 逆天斗圣

    逆天斗圣

    叶归,传说中的废材学徒,无意间被云水宗长老步玄空看中,得到了上古奇功玄空遁,从此,一切都开始不一样了。收小弟、抱美眉、战强敌,这一切已经够令人激动了。然而,这只是开始。他的最终目标竟然是……已宣示加入网络文学文明写作行列,自愿接受文明写作行列中各成员进行监督。
  • 苏学长的迷糊女友

    苏学长的迷糊女友

    叶酥落的一个不留神跌进校草怀中,从此步入了校草的温柔中……有一天,苏航安静的听着她为读着喜欢的故事。
  • 三国演义中的三十六计

    三国演义中的三十六计

    三十六计在《三国演义》中运用最精彩的当属赤壁之战,假使操作谋略得当,精心筹划,以百万之师去克不足十万之师,真的有可能大功告成。如果真是如此,那么曹操就可能统一天下。不料,东吴年轻的都督周瑜,谋略得当,筹划精密,再加上诸葛亮的帮助,一举打败了曹操,使曹操统一天下的希望化成泡影。再如彝陵之战,陆逊谋略得当,战术正确,用以逸待劳之法大败蜀军,几乎活捉刘备,不但挽救了东吴,也奠定了自己在东吴的位置,一举成名。另外,三国演义中出了几位超级谋略大师。诸葛亮是中国老百姓心目中智慧的化身,曹操是不折不扣的谋略大师,周瑜和陆逊是三国里的美男子,也是英雄少年,一个打败了不可一世的曹操,一个战败了世之枭雄刘备。
  • 在那遥远的地方

    在那遥远的地方

    《在那遥远的地方:边疆万里行日志》内容简介:他去到那遥远的地方,是回家,而不是我们通常意义上的旅行 在他的笔下和镜头中,展现的是一座座亲身攀登过的山,二条条涉过水甚至救过人的河,一所所亲手摸过宿舍里棉被厚薄的小学,以及一位又一位与他做朋友几年、十几年、甚至几十年的身在边疆的当地人。
  • 终极小飞侠

    终极小飞侠

    《灌篮奇才》续集书,故事讲依木花凭借着惊人的实力在高中篮球界、大学篮球界、cba、nba闯出自己的天地。ps:已经有完本小说《灌篮奇才》、《音乐篮球手》,人品有保证,欢迎各位收藏。
  • 题云际寺上方

    题云际寺上方

    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。
  • 穿越大封神

    穿越大封神

    这是一个变异的封神世界!文武自强,仙佛争锋,开诸天封神,定万载气运!一场突如其来的宇宙灾难席卷而至,一名人族青年接受启明之光的指引,一幅波澜壮阔的画面就此缓缓展开。诸葛八阵图对决文王八卦!飞将吕布决战战神杨戬!鬼才郭嘉比拼太公子牙!闭月貂蝉争艳祸国妲己!......这是一场中华英灵参与封神大劫!群:4-5-0-5-9-6-2-9-4(欢迎各位书友大大加入)
  • 一个梦一个家

    一个梦一个家

    本文以沈阳市和平区为例,通过家的故事、社区里的“家味道”、色彩纷呈的家文化、弃管小区又逢春……来弘扬家教家风,树立家国情怀。
  • 现代相公俏佳人

    现代相公俏佳人

    她大明朝杭州凌水山庄大小姐,一个天生的痴儿。原本只有五六岁儿童的智商,连基本语言表达都有障碍,却因缘际会穿越时空,来到了二十一世纪的台湾,遇见了一个男人,改变了她的命运。只是,当她治好病后,她竟然已经忘记了他。三年了,等了三年,努力控制自己不去找她,现在她终于要归来,“大哥”!该死的,谁来告诉他这到底是怎么一回事?他怎么会成为她的“亲大哥”?这叫他如何面对?这还不算,她竟然还喜欢上了别人他最好的兄