登陆注册
5250900000016

第16章 III. THE MYSTERY OF THE WELL(4)

From the opening of the wood they could see Barbara Vane writing at the garden table, which was littered with correspondence, and the butler with his yellow face waiting behind her chair.

As the lengths of grass lessened between them, and the little group at the table grew larger and clearer in the sunlight, Paynter had a painful sense of being part of an embassy of doom.

It sharpened when the girl looked up from the table and smiled on seeing them.

"I should like to speak to you rather particularly if I may," said the lawyer, with a touch of authority in his respect; and when the butler was dismissed he laid open the whole matter before her, speaking sympathetically, but leaving out nothing, from the strange escape of the poet from the wood to the last detail of the dry bones out of the well. No fault could be found with any one of his tones or phrases, and yet Cyprian, tingling in every nerve with the fine delicacy of his nation about the other sex, felt as if she were faced with an inquisitor.

He stood about uneasily, watched the few colored clouds in the clear sky and the bright birds darting about the wood, and he heartily wished himself up the tree again.

Soon, however, the way the girl took it began to move him to perplexity rather than pity. It was like nothing he had expected, and yet he could not name the shade of difference.

The final identification of her father's skull, by the hole in the hat, turned her a little pale, but left her composed; this was, perhaps, explicable, since she had from the first taken the pessimistic view. But during the rest of the tale there rested on her broad brows under her copper coils of hair, a brooding spirit that was itself a mystery.

He could only tell himself that she was less merely receptive, either firmly or weakly, than he would have expected.

It was as if she revolved, not their problem, but her own.

She was silent a long time, and said at last:

"Thank you, Mr. Ashe, I am really very grateful for this. After all, it brings things to the point where they must have come sooner or later."

She looked dreamily at the wood and sea, and went on: "I've not only had myself to consider, you see; but if you're really thinking THAT, it's time I spoke out, without asking anybody. You say, as if it were something very dreadful, 'Mr. Treherne was in the wood that night.'

Well, it's not quite so dreadful to me, you see, because I know he was.

In fact, we were there together."

"Together!" repeated the lawyer.

"We were together," she said quietly, "because we had a right to be together."

"Do you mean," stammered Ashe, surprised out of himself, "that you were engaged?"

"No, no," she said. "We were married."

Then, amid a startled silence, she added, as a kind of afterthought:

"In fact, we are still."

Strong as was his composure, the lawyer sat back in his chair with a sort of solid stupefaction at which Paynter could not help smiling.

"You will ask me, of course," went on Barbara in the same measured manner, "why we should be married secretly, so that even my poor father did not know. Well, I answer you quite frankly to begin with; because, if he had known, he would certainly have cut me off with a shilling. He did not like my husband, and I rather fancy you do not like him either.

And when I tell you this, I know perfectly well what you will say-- the usual adventurer getting hold of the usual heiress.

It is quite reasonable, and, as it happens, it is quite wrong.

If I had deceived my father for the sake of the money, or even for the sake of a man, I should be a little ashamed to talk to you about it. And I think you can see that I am not ashamed."

"Yes," said the American, with a grave inclination, "yes, I can see that."

She looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, as if seeking words for an obscure matter, and then said:

"Do you remember, Mr. Paynter, that day you first lunched here and told us about the African trees? Well, it was my birthday;I mean my first birthday. I was born then, or woke up or something.

I had walked in this garden like a somnambulist in the sun.

I think there are many such somnambulists in our set and our society; stunned with health, drugged with good manners, fitting their surroundings too well to be alive. Well, I came alive somehow; and you know how deep in us are the things we first realize when we were babies and began to take notice. I began to take notice.

One of the first things I noticed was your own story, Mr. Paynter. I feel as if I heard of St. Securis as children hear of Santa Claus, and as if that big tree were a bogey I still believed in. For I do still believe in such things, or rather I believe in them more and more;I feel certain my poor father drove on the rocks by disbelieving, and you are all racing to ruin after him. That is why I do honestly want the estate, and that is why I am not ashamed of wanting it.

I am perfectly certain, Mr. Paynter, that nobody can save this perishing land and this perishing people but those who understand.

I mean who understand a thousand little signs and guides in the very soil and lie of the land, and traces that are almost trampled out.

My husband understands, and I have begun to understand; my father would never have understood. There are powers, there is the spirit of a place, there are presences that are not to be put by.

Oh, don't fancy I am sentimental and hanker after the good old days.

The old days were not all good; that is just the point, and we must understand enough to know the good from the evil.

We must understand enough to save the traces of a saint or a sacred tradition, or, where a wicked god has been worshiped, to destroy his altar and to cut down his grove."

"His grove," said Paynter automatically, and looked toward the little wood, where the sunbright birds were flying.

"Mrs. Treherne," said Ashe, with a formidable quietness, "I am not so unsympathetic with all this as you may perhaps suppose.

I will not even say it is all moonshine, for it is something better.

同类推荐
  • Lin McLean

    Lin McLean

    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。
  • 对酒示申屠学士

    对酒示申屠学士

    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。
  • Life's Little Ironies and a Few Crusted Charac

    Life's Little Ironies and a Few Crusted Charac

    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。
  • 佛说因缘僧护经

    佛说因缘僧护经

    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。
  • The Doctor

    The Doctor

    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
  • 良言写意(珍藏纪念版)

    良言写意(珍藏纪念版)

    她所拥有的能够伤害他的利器,居然就是他给予的爱。人气作家木浮生口碑成名作。读者公认深情温暖的言情经典。彼时,他是她的阿衍,她是他的写意。她像向日葵迎着暖阳一样,始终追随在他的身边。然而懵懂又无畏的初恋,一度输给无常的命运。十年的时间,回忆是发酵成美丽的果实,还是成为刻在心底的伤?或许都不重要。她只记得,在亿万人之中,他只会对她一个人这样笑,也只会对她一个人那样生气。如今,他还是她的阿衍。惟希望,她还是他的写意。
  • 历史的坏脾气

    历史的坏脾气

    本书讲述了晚清、民国时期的一些名人轶事,评述了一些社会现象,对读者了解中国近代史很有帮助。
  • 倾国公主

    倾国公主

    一场“穿越”将景蓝带到这个离奇的世界,作为一位血统高贵的亡国公主,景蓝将如何改变自己的命运。面对亲情和爱情,又该如何选择?最纯净的血统,同时也是一切罪恶之源……景蓝:之前我只是以一个局外人的身份来探索这个世界,却不知道自己一直都是局中人。情节虚构,切勿模仿
  • 拈八方珠玉集

    拈八方珠玉集

    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。
  • 楼观道源流考

    楼观道源流考

    《楼观道源流考》是一部见解独到、特色鲜明、风格别具的书,是一部有重要学术价位的书籍。新版不但增加厂不少新资料、新内容,而且它使初版的著述风格得到了进一步强化。我觉得,这种著述风格可以概括为一个字,就是“实”。本书内容包括:研究楼观道的史料依凭、楼观道的历史演变和道法承传、楼观道的宗派特征。
  • 婚在迷途情永殇

    婚在迷途情永殇

    易寒尧在年少的时候,就已经在邓欢的内心安居下来。结婚之后,她才明白,他娶自己,并不是因为喜欢,而是她可以成为他妹妹的移动血库!邓欢的心就这样被易寒尧割了一刀,再一刀。就连她那未成形的孩子,都被他执意流掉。她实在熬不住了了——“易寒尧,你会后悔的!”是啊,他终究如她的愿……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 老麦的秋天

    老麦的秋天

    早上九点多钟,变天了。先是太阳变黄了,光线薄薄的,再就是起风了,风从郊外过来,一路攻城掠地。马路两边的行道树,全往一个方向狂摆。树叶死鸟一般哗哗坠地,又和着地上的灰尘扬起来,一起直扑过来。老麦正上坎,因此他感受到了双重的压力。老麦的三轮车,堆得满满的。先是一张板,两张桌面那么大,横盖在车厢上。板下面码了一车厢的书报杂志。板上面压着两条钢筋焊的支架,担板用的。一张小马扎,一把靠背椅。另外还有一把硕大的“可口可乐”遮阳伞,颜色已经发白,撑开了能罩住一张床。除此而外,老麦的三轮车把上,还挂了另外两样物事:一把旧二胡,和一把崭新的,装在琴盒里的小提琴。
  • 萦火

    萦火

    一跤不慎跌入了一个懵逼的新世界,萦火怒了,请问这里人不是人兽不是兽的是要搞哪样啊?姐可是纯人类,不爱跟你们玩……
  • 帝掌万古

    帝掌万古

    万古乾坤我为尊,诸天万界我为主。无上大道融吾身,诸多大帝皆为臣!
  • John Bull on the Guadalquivir

    John Bull on the Guadalquivir

    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。