登陆注册
5255300000012

第12章 NARRATIVE OF SHORTY.(3)

"I meant faculty," the doctor explained. "You remind me of the type."

"Sorry to hear you say so," Messner smiled back. "I'd prefer being taken for a prospector or a dog-musher."

"I don't think he looks any more like a professor than you do a doctor," the woman broke in.

"Thank you," said Messner. Then, turning to her companion, "By the way, Doctor, what is your name, if I may ask?"

"Haythorne, if you'll take my word for it. I gave up cards with civilization."

"And Mrs. Haythorne," Messner smiled and bowed.

She flashed a look at him that was more anger than appeal.

Haythorne was about to ask the other's name. His mouth had opened to form the question when Messner cut him off.

"Come to think of it, Doctor, you may possibly be able to satisfy my curiosity. There was a sort of scandal in faculty circles some two or three years ago. The wife of one of the English professors - er, if you will pardon me, Mrs. Haythorne - disappeared with some San Francisco doctor, I understood, though his name does not just now come to my lips. Do you remember the incident?"

Haythorne nodded his head. "Made quite a stir at the time. His name was Womble - Graham Womble. He had a magnificent practice. I knew him somewhat."

"Well, what I was trying to get at was what had become of them. I was wondering if you had heard. They left no trace, hide nor hair."

"He covered his tracks cunningly." Haythorne cleared his throat.

"There was rumor that they went to the South Seas - were lost on a trading schooner in a typhoon, or something like that."

"I never heard that," Messner said. "You remember the case, Mrs.

Haythorne?"

"Perfectly," she answered, in a voice the control of which was in amazing contrast to the anger that blazed in the face she turned aside so that Haythorne might not see.

The latter was again on the verge of asking his name, when Messner remarked:

"This Dr. Womble, I've heard he was very handsome, and - er - quite a success, so to say, with the ladies."

"Well, if he was, he finished himself off by that affair,"

Haythorne grumbled.

"And the woman was a termagant - at least so I've been told. It was generally accepted in Berkeley that she made life - er - not exactly paradise for her husband."

"I never heard that," Haythorne rejoined. "In San Francisco the talk was all the other way."

"Woman sort of a martyr, eh? - crucified on the cross of matrimony?"

The doctor nodded. Messner's gray eyes were mildly curious as he went on:

"That was to be expected - two sides to the shield. Living in Berkeley I only got the one side. She was a great deal in San Francisco, it seems."

"Some coffee, please," Haythorne said.

The woman refilled his mug, at the same time breaking into light laughter.

"You're gossiping like a pair of beldames," she chided them.

"It's so interesting," Messner smiled at her, then returned to the doctor. "The husband seems then to have had a not very savory reputation in San Francisco?"

"On the contrary, he was a moral prig," Haythorne blurted out, with apparently undue warmth. "He was a little scholastic shrimp without a drop of red blood in his body."

"Did you know him?"

"Never laid eyes on him. I never knocked about in university circles."

"One side of the shield again," Messner said, with an air of weighing the matter judicially. While he did not amount to much, it is true - that is, physically - I'd hardly say he was as bad as all that. He did take an active interest in student athletics.

And he had some talent. He once wrote a Nativity play that brought him quite a bit of local appreciation. I have heard, also, that he was slated for the head of the English department, only the affair happened and he resigned and went away. It quite broke his career, or so it seemed. At any rate, on our side the shield, it was considered a knock-out blow to him. It was thought he cared a great deal for his wife."

Haythorne, finishing his mug of coffee, grunted uninterestedly and lighted his pipe.

"It was fortunate they had no children," Messner continued.

But Haythorne, with a glance at the stove, pulled on his cap and mittens.

"I'm going out to get some wood," he said. "Then I can take off my moccasins and he comfortable."

The door slammed behind him. For a long minute there was silence.

The man continued in the same position on the bed. The woman sat on the grub-box, facing him.

"What are you going to do?" she asked abruptly.

Messner looked at her with lazy indecision. "What do you think I ought to do? Nothing scenic, I hope. You see I am stiff and trail-sore, and this bunk is so restful."

She gnawed her lower lip and fumed dumbly.

"But - " she began vehemently, then clenched her hands and stopped.

"I hope you don't want me to kill Mr. -er - Haythorne," he said gently, almost pleadingly. "It would be most distressing, and, I assure you, really it is unnecessary."

"But you must do something," she cried.

"On the contrary, it is quite conceivable that I do not have to do anything."

"You would stay here?"

He nodded.

She glanced desperately around the cabin and at the bed unrolled on the other bunk. "Night is coming on. You can't stop here. You can't! I tell you, you simply can't!"

"Of course I can. I might remind you that I found this cabin first and that you are my guests."

Again her eyes travelled around the room, and the terror in them leaped up at sight of the other bunk.

"Then we'll have to go," she announced decisively.

"Impossible. You have a dry, hacking cough - the sort Mr. - er -

Haythorne so aptly described. You've already slightly chilled your lungs. Besides, he is a physician and knows. He would never permit it."

"Then what are you going to do?" she demanded again, with a tense, quiet utterance that boded an outbreak.

Messner regarded her in a way that was almost paternal, what of the profundity of pity and patience with which he contrived to suffuse it.

"My dear Theresa, as I told you before, I don't know. I really haven't thought about it."

"Oh! You drive me mad!" She sprang to her feet, wringing her hands in impotent wrath. "You never used to be this way."

同类推荐
  • camellia girl

    camellia girl

    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。
  • 净土疑辩

    净土疑辩

    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。
  • 远山堂曲品

    远山堂曲品

    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。
  • 万柳溪边旧话

    万柳溪边旧话

    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。
  • 明伦汇编官常典漕使部

    明伦汇编官常典漕使部

    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
  • 宠妻之大婚难停

    宠妻之大婚难停

    七年后再踏进这个城市,她如何想的到会再与他重逢?那么巧合的利用,人群中他们一眼就认出彼此却还要淡定从容的共舞一支,之后……中午十一点半,一身稍微正式紫色连衣裙的靓丽女子挽着一位身着黑色西装的高个子男人从容的走出机场。女子的俏颜被那副白色边框的大墨镜遮住了大半,粉润的唇却依然那么夺目迷人。看着多年没再踏足的城市,她却只是嫣然一笑,然后一切云淡风轻。……
  • 乞尾赖犬(第二次世界大战史丛书)

    乞尾赖犬(第二次世界大战史丛书)

    本书综合国内外的最新研究成果和最新解密资料,在有关专家和部门的指导下,以第二次世界大战的历史进程为线索,贯穿了大战的主要历史时期、主要战场战役和主要军政人物,全景式展现了第二次世界大战的恢宏画卷。
  • 樱子

    樱子

    九寨沟之旅,导游青松爱上了日方领队樱子。旅行团团长松田先生欲玉成其事。樱子妈竭力阻止。青松赴东京看望樱子后,樱子前来浦东与青松私会,青松把樱子介绍给神山读友会,神山读友会拜托樱子盛邀松田先生率松田汉诗会成员来浦东与中国青年举行浦东世纪公园诗吟会。盛会举行前夕,樱子妈突然来到浦东,临时改变主意,决定亲自护送樱子前来与青松成亲。接机时刻,青松陡然发现樱子……
  • 鲤鱼双枕

    鲤鱼双枕

    制伞世家的二女儿一直很有名,被传为世间第一丑女。但尽管名声如此之大,却从来没有谁能具体描述出她究竟长什么样。她的名字在整个长安城都如雷贯耳:王灵韵。一个糊涂的雀仙,一座空无一人的玫瑰园,一对神奇的枕头,一场双方互不情愿的婚约。互相残杀、相互猜忌的未婚夫妇,那聪明的两个人,究竟什么时候才能分出个高低?然而,当活在旧梦里的初恋少年,再一次犹如天神一般,出现在她的面前时,一切都出乎了自己的预料。还有那个与死去的故人十分相似的女子……鲤鱼双枕,乃是绣工精致的一对枕头。古书上记载,此为妖邪所带来世间之物,其名又为:鸳鸯。但谁也不知道,这双对枕为何名叫鸳鸯。
  • 第二审判

    第二审判

    没有系统、不是贵族、不是天才……毫不突出的能力和天赋。在一个喽啰都能轻取自己性命的异世界里,他被丢到这世界最黑暗最可怖的角落,被迫开始了一场必须一命通关的炼狱级穿越体验。高傲的金狮、绝不低头的骑士、血腥残酷的狼头人领袖、如高岭之花般的少女……无名的少年拿着平平无奇的短剑,在一场场生死决斗中,捍卫自己的心中的正确。残酷的现实,教会我们会获取胜利的未必都是正义。在绝望的黑暗中,我们不该放弃最后的希望。尽管期待的奇迹,并未降临......《第二审判》qq书友群:338335286
  • 经济学经典名言的智慧(超值金版)

    经济学经典名言的智慧(超值金版)

    让我们生活得明明白白、清清楚楚,掌握每件事情背后隐藏的经济学知识,是所有人都能做到的事情。俗话说,人人都是经济学家。经济学名言是经济学家智慧的浓缩,虽然只有只言片语,但是饱含着深刻的哲理。由牧之和赵凡禹编著的《经济学经典名言的智慧》汇集最经典的经济学名言,《经济学经典名言的智慧》涵盖经济学的各个领域,能让你快速领略经济学的智慧。
  • 大乘入道次

    大乘入道次

    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。
  • 总裁小逃妻

    总裁小逃妻

    一场算计的复仇计划,他化身为狼,她是入了陷阱的倔强小绵羊。一场交易,一份卖身契,一出戏,她成为他身边的女人。她的倔强让自己一次次受伤,她的心在恶狼偶尔的温柔丢失。一场大火,最好的伙伴生死不明,最亲的父亲离去,她消失无影无踪。五年后,盛大的颁奖礼上,她接过他手中象征荣誉的奖颁,风情万种,“弈少,好久不见。”他倾身上前,将她纳入怀中,“你是谁?”“你猜。”她在他耳畔吐气吩兰,转而推开他,一个豪丽的转身,将他抛在身后。当狼不再只剩下野性,当羊不再温顺,一场爱的较量,精彩展开。
  • 保卫我们的钱包:通胀下的投资理财之道

    保卫我们的钱包:通胀下的投资理财之道

    本书以当下的通货膨胀可能中长期化、曲折化、反复化的经济形势为背景,指引读者借力通胀,打赢这场钱包保卫战。全书分投资和消费两大板块展开论述,内容涉及黄金、白银、收藏品、股票、房产、基金、债券、保险等投资工具,并新增负债理财内容,帮助深受通胀困扰的您扫除理财死角,啃下理财难点,实现资产增值的目标!
  • 天坑失足

    天坑失足

    重庆武隆仙女山风景区的华邦酒店档次很高,标称四星级。总台值班小姐姓刘,今天心情有些郁闷,她不是武隆本地人,家在距武隆不远的涪陵。昨天母亲过生日,刘小姐提前一个星期就向领班请假,当时领班也一口答应了,不料正逢武隆天坑申报世界遗产成功,仙女山风景区免费开放几天,游客蜂拥而至,领班又不让她走了。