登陆注册
5247400000031

第31章 BOOK I(31)

At the station she thought Gus Trenor seemed surprised, and not wholly unrelieved, to see her. She yielded up the reins of the light runabout in which she had driven over, and as he climbed heavily to her side, crushing her into a scant third of the seat, he said: "Halloo! It isn't often you honour me. You must have been uncommonly hard up for something to do."The afternoon was warm, and propinquity made her more than usually conscious that he was red and massive, and that beads of moisture had caused the dust of the train to adhere unpleasantly to the broad expanse of cheek and neck which he turned to her;but she was aware also, from the look in his small dull eyes, that the contact with her freshness and slenderness was as agreeable to him as the sight of a cooling beverage.

The perception of this fact helped her to answer gaily: "It's not often I have the chance. There are too many ladies to dispute the privilege with me.""The privilege of driving me home? Well, I'm glad you won the race, anyhow. But I know what really happened--my wife sent you. Now didn't she?"He had the dull man's unexpected flashes of astuteness, and Lily could not help joining in the laugh with which he had pounced on the truth.

"You see, Judy thinks I'm the safest person for you to be with;and she's quite right," she rejoined.

"Oh, is she, though? If she is, it's because you wouldn't waste your time on an old hulk like me. We married men have to put up with what we can get: all the prizes are for the clever chaps who've kept a free foot. Let me light a cigar, will you? I've had a beastly day of it."He drew up in the shade of the village street, and passed the reins to her while he held a match to his cigar. The little flame under his hand cast a deeper crimson on his puffing face, and Lily averted her eyes with a momentary feeling of repugnance. And yet some women thought him handsome!

As she handed back the reins, she said sympathetically: "Did you have such a lot of tiresome things to do?""I should say so--rather!" Trenor, who was seldom listened to, either by his wife or her friends, settled down into the rare enjoyment of a confidential talk. "You don't know how a fellow has to hustle to keep this kind of thing going." He waved his whip in the direction of the Bellomont acres, which lay outspread before them in opulent undulations. "Judy has no idea of what she spends--not that there isn't plenty to keep the thing going," he interrupted himself, "but a man has got to keep his eyes open and pick up all the tips he can. My father and mother used to live like fighting-cocks on their income, and put by a good bit of it too--luckily for me--but at the pace we go now, I don't know where I should be if it weren't for taking a flyer now and then.

The women all think--I mean Judy thinks--I've nothing to do but to go down town once a month and cut off coupons, but the truth is it takes a devilish lot of hard work to keep the machinery running. Not that I ought to complain to-day, though," he went on after a moment, "for I did a very neat stroke of business, thanks to Stepney's friend Rosedale: by the way, Miss Lily, I wish you'd try to persuade Judy to be decently civil to that chap. He's going to be rich enough to buy us all out one of these days, and if she'd only ask him to dine now and then I could get almost anything out of him. The man is mad to know the people who don't want to know him, and when a fellow's in that state there is nothing he won't do for the first woman who takes him up."Lily hesitated a moment. The first part of her companion's discourse had started an interesting train of thought, which was rudely interrupted by the mention of Mr. Rosedale's name. She uttered a faint protest.

"But you know Jack did try to take him about, and he was impossible.""Oh, hang it--because he's fat and shiny, and has a sloppy manner! Well, all I can say is that the people who are clever enough to be civil to him now will make a mighty good thing of it. A few years from now he'll be in it whether we want him or not, and then he won't be giving away a half-a-million tip for a dinner."Lily's mind had reverted from the intrusive personality of Mr.

Rosedale to the train of thought set in motion by Trenor's first words. This vast mysterious Wall Street world of "tips" and "deals"--might she not find in it the means of escape from her dreary predicament? She had often heard of women making money in this way through their friends: she had no more notion than most of her sex of the exact nature of the transaction, and its vagueness seemed to diminish its indelicacy. She could not, indeed, imagine herself, in any extremity, stooping to extract a "tip" from Mr. Rosedale; but at her side was a man in possession of that precious commodity, and who, as the husband of her dearest friend, stood to her in a relation of almost fraternal intimacy.

In her inmost heart Lily knew it was not by appealing to the fraternal instinct that she was likely to move Gus Trenor; but this way of explaining the situation helped to drape its crudity, and she was always scrupulous about keeping up appearances to herself. Her personal fastidiousness had a moral equivalent, and when she made a tour of inspection in her own mind there were certain closed doors she did not open.

As they reached the gates of Bellomont she turned to Trenor with a smile. "The afternoon is so perfect--don't you want to drive me a little farther? I've been rather out of spirits all day, and it's so restful to be away from people, with some one who won't mind if I'm a little dull."She looked so plaintively lovely as she proffered the request, so trustfully sure of his sympathy and understanding, that Trenor felt himself wishing that his wife could see how other women treated him--not battered wire-pullers like Mrs. Fisher, but a girl that most men would have given their boots to get such a look from.

"Out of spirits? Why on earth should you ever be out of spirits?

同类推荐
  • 吕祖全书

    吕祖全书

    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。
  • The Garden Party

    The Garden Party

    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。
  • The Danish History

    The Danish History

    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。
  • 佛说诸德福田经

    佛说诸德福田经

    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。
  • Two Short Pieces

    Two Short Pieces

    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
  • 断言死亡

    断言死亡

    如果善良的意志或邪恶的意志能改变世界的话,它只能改变世界的界限,而不能改变事实:不能改变用语言表现出来的东西。——维特根斯坦的《逻辑哲学论》6.43这几个日本人死的时候,天色蒙蒙亮,草原上大雾弥漫,四周静悄悄。没有目击者。查干布拉克桥消失了。我们只知道,这座木桥是在清朝光绪年间重新维修过的,几十年来,它已习惯于牛车、马队、羊群和间或出现的汽车。多少个晨昏日月滴入桥下的伊敏河,大浪淘沙间,英雄和美人的故事飘入风烟里,似芦花飞扬的季节,飘渺而朦胧了起来。
  • 我家王爷很呆萌

    我家王爷很呆萌

    【新文《快穿女配:反派,狠狠撩》已发布,求支持(*^ω^*)】倾城女子红衫妖娆,斜倚门槛,妩媚多姿。 “爷,今天天气不错,咱们来洞房吧!”一双大眼眨呀眨,不遗余力的放电。 冰山王爷满是疑惑,很是呆萌:“王妃,你不冷吗?” 门外,一尺厚的雪努力找着存在感。 …… 豪华的浴室里雾气升腾,仙气漫漫,一朵清丽芙蓉出水来。 “爷,来洗鸳鸯浴吧!” 话音刚落,一道白光闪过,原来在浴池里的极品美男已经立于浴池边,捂的严严实实的。 美男眉头微皱,很是不赞同:“王妃,做女人,不可以这么色的!” ……总之,这就是俏皮王妃努力扑倒冰山王爷的艰难之旅,温馨有爱,欢迎来看
  • 别殇聚欢

    别殇聚欢

    有一天,你会无端想起这样一个人,他让你对明天有所期待,却从未出现在你的明天里。也有那么一天,你会与这样一个人携手今生,他装点了你油盐酱醋的平淡,却从未出现在你的青春里。每每想起那段高中时光,叶铭寒总会闯入夏熈儿的回忆,那时的他孤高清冷,而她骄傲倔强,明明彼此在乎,却无人承认。直到看过了身边的朋友在感情里挣扎,相爱,又分离,直到做够了旁观者,他们才在重逢之后彼此敞开胸怀。那么,再次重逢的他们又将面临怎杨的波折?
  • 中国未解之谜(下)

    中国未解之谜(下)

    本书精心遴选了众多中国最经典的未解之谜,内容涉及自然地理、科技发明、考古发现、思想文学、历史人物、书画建筑、民风民俗等诸多领域。用通俗流畅的语言、科学的视角,探索世人瞩目的、尚未破解的神秘现象与谜题。结合诸多文献资料、考古发现与最新的研究成果,生动剖析种种现象产生的原因,揭示谜题后隐藏的事实。
  • 荣荣

    荣荣

    身患残疾、求职无门的女孩荣荣,因冒昧给区委书记写了封信,收到了意想不到的结果,但在这背后却隐藏着官场上的是是非非及光怪陆离的世态。女人到底该凭什么立足社会?事情发生得很突然。在街边,弟弟和他约的人说了几句话,然后掏出一柄锋利的水果刀,无声无息的插进了那人的小腹。被捅的人进了医院,弟弟则被呼啸而来的警车无情地带走。当晚,荣荣家里乱了套。荣荣想,要说,豆蔻年华,为爱的权利抗争,本来是再“个我”不过的事情,可是,再怎么,也不该用刀捅人家的,伤的是别人,伤心的却是自家的亲人。
  • 天运鬼瞳之悍妻养成

    天运鬼瞳之悍妻养成

    亲人相残只为一枚玉佩,二十五岁的秦子璇重生回到十岁。重活一世,她发誓凭借一双鬼眼寻找父母考古失踪真相,有仇必报。古旧玉佩认主,身上的异能逐渐出现,红房子里的兽宠越来越多……她能自由行走于阴阳两界,专职捉鬼盗墓打僵尸,副业寻宝考古伏魔收妖。古董太多,她家萌货拿来垫桌底!名利扰人,她恨不得躲在古墓里不出来!拥有倾国财力的帝国首富、人人跪求一见的天运相师、带着神秘面纱的第一夫人,这些都是她。看运道、辩神魔、观天地之气,聚八方之财!古董堆里打滚,死人墓里睡觉,名动九州,声震华夏!※成长型女主,都市励志,女强异能爽文。美妞们别忘了点击【放入书架】,读者的收藏、留言、订阅是支持某蓝写作的最大动力。PS:本文纯属虚构,资料源于网络,涉及多方面知识,若遇行家请一笑置之。坑品保证,妞们放心跳吧。
  • 我以时光换你情深

    我以时光换你情深

    他是寄养在她家的小哥哥,她是高高在上的大小姐。七年前,一家人被一场意外夺去性命。七年后,她完好无损的出现在他面前。而他身边已经有了另外一个要娶的女人。他恨:“你知道那七年我是怎么熬过来的吗?我不会再爱你了,我爱上别人了。”她笑:“要么你让她走,要么我让她死。你这辈子只能是我一个人的。”她已经不再是大小姐,这样的嚣张跋扈还能赢得他的心吗?当他知道这个女人重新回到他身边的真正目的时,仅剩的一点爱恋也不复存在。夏时光,我要让你后悔!情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 竹林寺别友人

    竹林寺别友人

    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。
  • 原要论

    原要论

    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。
  • 错嫁

    错嫁

    “无论今生是贫是富,都要入赘王府。人在世,不背诺啊!”齐博看着一脸悲痛的母亲,想着大着肚子的落雪。他该怎么办?他能怎么办?新婚之夜,郡主。望着齐博好久,才轻轻而又认真地说:“如果她果真怀了你的孩子,那么她的孩子也是我的孩子!我不介意你这么快就纳妾……”“我没要纳妾!”