登陆注册
5262100000043

第43章 THE CALIPH, CUPID AND THE CLOCK(1)

Prince Michael, of the Electorate of Valleluna, sat on his favourite bench in the park. The coolness of the September night quickened the life in him like a rare, tonic wine. The benches were not filled; for park loungers, with their stagnant blood, are prompt to detect and fly home from the crispness of early autumn. The moon was just clearing the roofs of the range of dwellings that bounded the quadrangle on the east. Children laughed and played about the fine-sprayed fountain. In the shadowed spots fauns and hamadryads wooed, unconscious of the gaze of mortal eyes. A hand organ--Philomel by the grace of our stage carpenter, Fancy--fluted and droned in a side street. Around the enchanted boundaries of the little park street cars spat and mewed and the stilted trains roared like tigers and lions prowling for a place to enter. And above the trees shone the great, round, shining face of an illuminated clock in the tower of an antique public building.

Prince Michael's shoes were wrecked far beyond the skill of the carefullest cobbler. The ragman would have declined any negotiations concerning his clothes. The two weeks' stubble on his face was grey and brown and red and greenish yellow--as if it had been made up from individual contributions from the chorus of a musical comedy. No man existed who had money enough to wear so bad a hat as his.

Prince Michael sat on his favourite bench and smiled. It was a diverting thought to him that he was wealthy enough to buy every one of those close-ranged, bulky, window-lit mansions that faced him, if he chose. He could have matched gold, equipages, jewels, art treasures, estates and acres with any Croesus in this proud city of Manhattan, and scarcely have entered upon the bulk of his holdings.

He could have sat at table with reigning sovereigns. The social world, the world of art, the fellowship of the elect, adulation, imitation, the homage of the fairest, honours from the highest, praise from the wisest, flattery, esteem, credit, pleasure, fame--all the honey of life was waiting in the comb in the hive of the world for Prince Michael, of the Electorate of Valleluna, whenever he might choose to take it. But his choice was to sit in rags and dinginess on a bench in a park. For he had tasted of the fruit of the tree of life, and, finding it bitter in his mouth, had stepped out of Eden for a time to seek distraction close to the unarmoured, beating heart of the world.

These thoughts strayed dreamily through the mind of Prince Michael, as he smiled under the stubble of his polychromatic beard. Lounging thus, clad as the poorest of mendicants in the parks, he loved to study humanity. He found in altruism more pleasure than his riches, his station and all the grosser sweets of life had given him. It was his chief solace and satisfaction to alleviate individual distress, to confer favours upon worthy ones who had need of succour, to dazzle unfortunates by unexpected and bewildering gifts of truly royal magnificence, bestowed, however, with wisdom and judiciousness.

And as Prince Michael's eye rested upon the glowing face of the great clock in the tower, his smile, altruistic as it was, became slightly tinged with contempt. Big thoughts were the Prince's; and it was always with a shake of his head that he considered the subjugation of the world to the arbitrary measures of Time. The comings and goings of people in hurry and dread, controlled by the little metal moving hands of a clock, always made him sad.

By and by came a young man in evening clothes and sat upon the third bench from the Prince. For half an hour he smoked cigars with nervous haste, and then he fell to watching the face of the illuminated clock above the trees. His perturbation was evident, and the Prince noted, in sorrow, that its cause was connected, in some manner, with the slowly moving hands of the timepiece.

His Highness arose and went to the young man's bench.

"I beg your pardon for addressing you," he said, "but I perceive that you are disturbed in mind. If it may serve to mitigate the liberty I have taken I will add that I am Prince Michael, heir to the throne of the Electorate of Valleluna. I appear incognito, of course, as you may gather from my appearance. It is a fancy of mine to render aid to others whom I think worthy of it. Perhaps the matter that seems to distress you is one that would more readily yield to our mutual efforts."

The young man looked up brightly at the Prince. Brightly, but the perpendicular line of perplexity between his brows was not smoothed away. He laughed, and even then it did not. But he accepted the momentary diversion.

"Glad to meet you, Prince," he said, good humouredly. "Yes, I'd say you were incog. all right. Thanks for your offer of assistance--but I don't see where your butting-in would help things any. It's a kind of private affair, you know--but thanks all the same."

Prince Michael sat at the young man's side. He was often rebuffed but never offensively. His courteous manner and words forbade that.

"Clocks," said the Prince, "are shackles on the feet of mankind. I have observed you looking persistently at that clock. Its face is that of a tyrant, its numbers are false as those on a lottery ticket; its hands are those of a bunco steerer, who makes an appointment with you to your ruin. Let me entreat you to throw off its humiliating bonds and to cease to order your affairs by that insensate monitor of brass and steel."

"I don't usually," said the young man. "I carry a watch except when I've got my radiant rags on."

"I know human nature as I do the trees and grass," said the Prince, with earnest dignity. "I am a master of philosophy, a graduate in art, and I hold the purse of a Fortunatus. There are few mortal misfortunes that I cannot alleviate or overcome. I have read your countenance, and found in it honesty and nobility as well as distress. I beg of you to accept my advice or aid. Do not belie the intelligence I see in your face by judging from my appearance of my ability to defeat your troubles."

同类推荐
  • 释迦如来行迹颂

    释迦如来行迹颂

    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。
  • 妇科百辩

    妇科百辩

    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。
  • 修真十书盘山语录

    修真十书盘山语录

    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。
  • 十尾龟

    十尾龟

    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。
  • 普贤菩萨行愿王经

    普贤菩萨行愿王经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 圣世凌宵

    圣世凌宵

    少年凌霄,身怀破碎丹田,灰暗经脉,这是好是坏?是上天注定,还是人力为之?他很平凡,他也会因为无聊的修炼而疲惫,但他有个梦想:他要站在世界之巅!倚剑笑看风云卷,天涯海角任我行!
  • 神医小王妃

    神医小王妃

    她是妙手回春的神医,兰质蕙心的神探;她生的天姿国色,明艳芳华,被人尊为“神女”。他是战功显赫的元帅,也是集流氓痞气于一身的九王爷;他是不败的神话,桀骜不驯,女人心中的神。冰雪聪明的“神女”遇上流氓王爷,强娶强嫁,又会擦出怎样激烈的火花?——☆★——★☆——【简介二】诸葛笑笑总会冷不丁的冒出一个问题:她的人生到底是透明的杯具,还是白瓷餐具,或者她整个就是垃圾成堆的厨房吧!一朝穿越,她由睿智的侦探变成天生体弱的婴孩,开始了二等残废的生活;一个节日,她莫名其妙的与人撞上“天婚”,把自己嫁了;一场天婚,她被人供上幸福宝座,实则招惹上的人是个流氓!从此之后,她被流氓绑上了他周游各国的战车——鹿海的人鱼传说、塔都的古墓迷影、神国的嗜血邪教、原居的出笼僵尸…诸葛笑笑的杯具而壮烈人生由此开始——简介无能,此文原名《天赐良缘》……此文故事性强,无事实依据!一对一,不虐,不后妈,无背叛,JQ在磨合中发展,结局HE。已完结文推荐:《皇女》《第一夫人》《bos太腹黑》(网游)《重生之玩转豪门》(伪豪门)好友文:《独占新宠》《一等刁妃》《重生——二小姐》在移动手机阅读平台上使用的名称为《强娶神医王妃》
  • 茄果类蔬菜病虫防治原色图谱

    茄果类蔬菜病虫防治原色图谱

    本书系以作者长期在教学、科研、生产实践中积累的有关蔬菜病虫害方面的彩色照片和第一手资料为基础,介绍了各种蔬菜常见重大病虫的田间症状及危害特点、发生规律,重点介绍了病虫治理技术,使读者能够参照生动形象的病理图谱,对病虫害作出正确诊断,及时制定科学合理的防治方案,提高病虫防治的技术水平,避免错、乱、盲目用药,生产优质蔬菜。
  • 旧典备征

    旧典备征

    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。
  • 佛说大孔雀王神咒经

    佛说大孔雀王神咒经

    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。
  • 神能武界

    神能武界

    天降奇石造就多个武术流派,传闻若能集齐所有奇石,将会统领全世界!凌霄鸣,武神的后人,先救了神秘的村外人,后又成大气,修大道显示出天才之资。气修者,能武者,多彩的修炼方式,可怕的蛮荒野兽,将会给外出历练的他带来怎样的机遇和危难?混沌五行,大道通天,且看他能否超越先祖的高度,俯视众生……
  • 炀帝迷楼记

    炀帝迷楼记

    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。
  • 学会识人、了解自己(学会做人学会生活系列)

    学会识人、了解自己(学会做人学会生活系列)

    先正确的评判自己,才有能力评断他人。你是否欺骗别人,或是自己?想清楚再回答。三思而后行的人,很少会做错事情。企图说服不用大脑的人,是徒劳无功。认为整个世界都错的人,极可能错在自己。观察走在你前面的人,看看他为何领先,学习他的做法。忙碌的人才能把事情做好,呆板的人只会投机取巧。优柔寡断的人,即使做了决定,也不能贯彻到底。
  • Untamed (Splintered Series Companion)
  • 甜心娇妻

    甜心娇妻

    她,温柔,善良,大方,聪明,个性洒脱。他,阳光,沉稳,睿智,做事果决。他们相遇在大学时期,却也分离在大学时期,因为误会,父母反对,这对有情人最终没有成为眷属。几年后,他们再次相遇,已物是人非,可是那段注定好的孽缘却又该何去何从。再次的相遇,他们还会重新在一起吗?以后的路上还会遇到什么样的人和事呢?