登陆注册
5287900000010

第10章 CHAPTER III(2)

If he had married a wife like himself, there might probably enough have sprung from the alliance a family of moon-faced children, who would have dropped into their places like posts into their holes, asking no questions of life, contented, like so many other honest folks, with the part of supernumeraries in the drama of being, their wardrobe of flesh and bones being furnished them gratis, and nothing to do but to walk across the stage wearing it. But Major Gideon Withers, for some reason or other, married a slender, sensitive, nervous, romantic woman, which accounted for the fact that his son David, "King David," as he was called in his time, had a very different set of tastes from his father, showing a turn for literature and sentiment in his youth, reading Young's "Night Thoughts," and Thomson's "Seasons," and sometimes in those early days writing verses himself to Celia or to Chloe, which sounded just as fine to him as Effie and Minnie sound to young people now, as Musidora, as Saccharissa, as Lesbia, as Helena, as Adah and Zillah, have all sounded to young people in their time,--ashes of roses as they are to us now, and as our endearing Scotch diminutives will be to others by and by.

King David Withers, who got his royal prefix partly because he was rich, and partly because he wrote hymns occasionally, when he grew too old to write love-poems, married the famous beauty before mentioned, Miss Judith Pride, and the race came up again in vigor.

Their son, Jeremy, took for his first wife a delicate, melancholic girl, who matured into a sad-eyed woman, and bore him two children, Malachi and Silence.

When she died, he mourned for her bitterly almost a year, and then put on a ruffled shirt and went across the river to tell his grief to Miss Virginia Wild, there residing. This lady was said to have a few drops of genuine aboriginal blood in her veins; and it is certain that her cheek had a little of the russet tinge which a Seckel pear shows on its warmest cheek when it blushes. --Love shuts itself up in sympathy like a knife-blade in its handle, and opens as easily. All the rest followed in due order according to Nature's kindly programme.

Captain Charles Hazard, of the ship Orient Pearl, fell desperately in love with the daughter of this second wife, married her, and carried her to India, where their first and only child was born, and received the name of Myrtle, as fitting her cradle in the tropics. So her earliest impressions,--it would not be exact to call them recollections,--besides the smiles of her father and mother, were of dusky faces, of loose white raiment, of waving fans, of breezes perfumed with the sweet exhalations of sandal-wood, of gorgeous flowers and glowing fruit, of shady verandas, of gliding palanquins, and all the languid luxury of the South. The pestilence which has its natural home in India, but has journeyed so far from its birth place in these later years, took her father and mother away, suddenly, in the very freshness of their early maturity. A relation of Myrtle's father, wife of another captain, was returning to America on a visit, and the child was sent back, under her care, while still a mere infant, to her relatives at the old homestead. During the long voyage, the strange mystery of the ocean was wrought into her consciousness so deeply, that it seemed to have become a part of her being. The waves rocked her, as if the sea had been her mother; and, looking over the vessel's side from the arms that held her with tender care, she used to watch the play of the waters, until the rhythm of their movement became a part of her, almost as much as her own pulse and breath.

The instincts and qualities belonging to the ancestral traits which predominated in the conflict of mingled lives lay in this child in embryo, waiting to come to maturity. It was as when several grafts, bearing fruit that ripens at different times, are growing upon the same stock. Her earlier impulses may have been derived directly from her father and mother, but all the ancestors who have been mentioned, and more or less obscurely many others, came uppermost in their time, before the absolute and total result of their several forces had found its equilibrium in the character by which she was to be known as an individual. These inherited impulses were therefore many, conflicting, some of them dangerous. The World, the Flesh, and the Devil held mortgages on her life before its deed was put in her hands; but sweet and gracious influences were also born with her; and the battle of life was to be fought between them, God helping her in her need, and her own free choice siding with one or the other. The formal statement of this succession of ripening characteristics need not be repeated, but the fact must be borne in mind.

This was the child who was delivered into the hands of Miss Silence Withers, her mother's half--sister, keeping house with her brother Malachi, a bachelor, already called Old Malachi, though hardly entitled by his years to such a venerable prefix. Both these persons had inherited the predominant traits of their sad-eyed mother.

Malachi, the chief heir of the family property, was rich, but felt very poor. He owned this fine old estate of some hundreds of acres.

He had moneys in the bank, shares in various companies, wood-lots in the town; and a large tract of Western land, the subject of a lawsuit which seemed as if it would never be settled, and kept him always uneasy.

Some said he hoarded gold somewhere about the old house, but nobody knew this for a certainty. In spite of his abundant means, he talked much of poverty, and kept the household on the narrowest footing of economy. One Irishwoman, with a little aid from her husband now and then, did all their work; and the only company they saw was Miss Cynthia Badlam, who, as a relative, claimed a home with them whenever she was so disposed.

同类推荐
  • 阳春集

    阳春集

    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。
  • 资阳郡中咏怀

    资阳郡中咏怀

    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。
  • 观心诵经法记

    观心诵经法记

    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。
  • 博济方

    博济方

    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。
  • 台湾通志

    台湾通志

    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
  • 傻王的嗜血冷妃

    傻王的嗜血冷妃

    【最专情的黑玄童鞋由‘猫骨’亲领养】文:一点温馨+一点小虐+一点轻松+一点BT愿能给亲们带来十点快乐。女主腹黑强大,却冷眼看世,游戏人间,行事全凭一时喜好心情。过程美男多多。男主也是大都腹黑。谁输了心,谁又偷了心,谁又入戏太深,且看最终谁能脱戏而出,笑傲天下。希望亲们多多支持。多多收藏。*(文原名《教傻王爷洞房》)初始场景:“你知道怎么洞房么?”着大红新娘装的女子对面前形容俊美妖冶,表情却极纯真的新郎官说道。新郎官看着她,傻傻的摇摇头。“过来。”女子命令道。他走过去......*简介:她本是道中大名鼎鼎的杀手“噬”。向来以冷酷无情,杀人快、狠、准著名。一场变故,情殇,身逝。原来,杀手真的不能犯行内潜规则。一点点的情就足以毁灭一个顶级杀手。醒来已经是沧禹国丞相之女慕容流苏。并早已赐嫁其傻王爷黑玄。嫁就嫁呗。她到哪里都是谎妗?只是,为什么身为她亲哥哥的慕容风间要对她说“如果你不愿意就带你离开?”为什么那皇帝黑予总是找她麻烦,对自家傻王爷无限制的纵容?那个一直监视自己的神秘魅惑男人又是谁?她又从哪里招惹到了一个戴面具的死变态?!怎么又跳出来一个美男说是自己的青梅竹马?两小无猜?还有......而最后,她发现。傻王爷原来是这般样子......这桩联姻,其中又掺杂了多少人的利益和秘密?*【建议思想稍稍成熟点的亲看。请不要发表影响彼此心情的言论,谢谢。】初步设定一下孩子们的简介:【黑晨卷:】他指着星星发誓,一定不能找一个流苏那样腹黑没心没肺的女人他指着家里的雪虎小白发誓,一定不能做黑玄这样一个失败的男人,一辈子都没从自己女人口中听到过一句我爱你……他指着自己脑门心发誓,他黑晨将来的女人一定要把他伺候得像大爷。……那个小蘑菇的确很乖很听话,很温柔很传统。可,为何看到胆小善良的她居然冲去去要保护他时,吓得他心脏一阵紧缩?该死的,她就傻到往刀口上撞么。为何,在她偷偷给他做饭而伤了手时气得他一把火烧了玄王府的厨房?得,还是他把她伺候得像‘大爷’吧。发誓?他有说过那样的话么?没听见,他什么都不知道。*【黑辰卷:】路人一号:听说玄王府的二世子是个怪胎,就生下来的时候哭了一声。路人二号:听说他从小到大从来没说过一个字,没笑过一次。路人三号:听说任何人都不敢靠近他的身,纵然是亲生父母他也照杀不误
  • THE FORGED COUPON

    THE FORGED COUPON

    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。
  • 吹牛大王历险记

    吹牛大王历险记

    国家教育部颁布了最新《语文课程标准》,统称新课标,对中、小学语文教学指定了阅读书目,对阅读的数量、内容、质量以及速度都提出了明确的要求,这对于提高学生的阅读能力,培养语文素养,陶冶情操,促进学生终身学习和终身可持续发展,对于提高广大人民的文学素养具有极大的意义。
  • 符文法师

    符文法师

    一觉醒来发现自己穿越到魔法世界,这算什么情况?魔法师穿着合金装备跟人打架!等等……不应该是穿着法师长袍吗?还有,魔法世界居然还有人工智能、虚拟现实技术、增强现实技术,这都什么玩意!这到底是魔法世界,还是科幻世界……魔法和高科技凑合在一块,这是要搞事吗?(新书《英雄联盟疾风传》已发布!欢迎大家前来品读!)
  • 坏小子修真记

    坏小子修真记

    都说“穿越者牛B不解释”,可是许天穿越之后,不但不牛B,还是一个傻子。一个傻子也就罢了,至少有一个威吓四方的爹罩着吧,至少有爹好办事啊。可是他的爹竟然只是一个小村长的酒鬼,一个酒鬼也就罢了,至少也要有一个什么金手指之类的,可是他却忘记自己是一个穿越过的人,完全融入到这个社会。什么萝莉、御姐的,和自己通通都没有关系。好不容易将院长的宝贝给吸收了,结果还被发现,不但宝贝被封印,连他自身也被封印。这世上好像所有倒霉的事情都被他遇到,而这个傻子,却在某一天发生了变化……(新人新书需要大家的支持,求推荐、点击、收藏,在这里先谢过啦~)
  • 狂帝

    狂帝

    这是一个不问前尘,不求来世,只求轰轰烈烈,我命如妖的传奇故事!
  • 赌徒笔记(我的传奇人生)

    赌徒笔记(我的传奇人生)

    一个有理想的文艺青年九万,因不会打牌相亲被拒,从此走向赌博之路。从一无所知的新手,到身怀绝技、一夜豪赌千万的老千王,令各大地下赌场的大小赌徒、老千们闻风丧胆。大起大落的刺激人生,是一群群疯狂老千的众生相缩影:欺诈、争斗、圈套,输的不仅仅是金钱,还有岁月、亲情、人性……
  • 培养最优秀的男孩

    培养最优秀的男孩

    父母的威信是对孩子进行有效教育和孩子自觉接受父母教育的前提条件和重要保证。加强对自己的智力投资,注重提高自身素质,有助于维护并提高父母在子女心目中的威信,男孩尤需要父母对其世界进行扩充和引导。如果你在他面前老是一问三不知,尽管表面上孩子仍然怕你,而实际上你在孩子心目中的威信已经渐渐地丧失了。教子箴言:教育孩子如育花,精心浇水、施肥、呵护,方能成功。但事实上并不是所有人都能养好花,不懂得就要向别人请教,学习养花的经验与艺术。
  • 南柯一梦之梦回大唐

    南柯一梦之梦回大唐

    现代职场小职员,梦回大唐,郎君不爱,婆婆不疼,嫂子暗妒,看我如何在古代纵横驰骋,扛起女子半边天。
  • 深山中的修道者

    深山中的修道者

    【起点认证狗封,最骚狗作者】灵气复苏,大世将出。诸子百家、西方众神,消失在历史尘埃中的神话文明,正在回归!看主角江小白,山野问道,海外证道,一步步走上弑神之路!本书扣扣书友群已建:307292324