登陆注册
5289300000043

第43章 CHAPTER VIII(3)

He sees no reason--I'm talking now about young Bute,--if you approve his plans, why work should not be commenced immediately. Shall I write old Slee to meet you at the house on Friday? From all accounts I don't think you'll do better. He is on the spot, and they say he is most reasonable. But you have to get estimates, don't you? He suggests--Mr. Bute, I mean--throwing what used to be the dairy into the passage, which will make a hall big enough for anything. We might even give a dance in it, he thinks. But all this you will be able to discuss with him on Friday. He has evidently taken a great deal of pains, and some of his suggestions sound sensible. But of course he must fully understand that it is what we want, not what he thinks, that is important. I told him you said I could have my room exactly as I liked it myself; and I have explained to him my ideas.

He seemed at first to be under the impression that I didn't know what I was talking about, so I made it quite clear to him that I did, with the result that he has consented to carry out my instructions, on condition that I put them down in black and white--which I think just as well, as then there can be no excuse afterwards for argument. I like him better than I did the first time. About everything else he can be fairly amiable. It is when he talks about 'frontal elevations' and 'ground plans' that he irritates me. Tell Little Mother that I'll write her to-morrow. Couldn't she come down with you on Friday? Everything will be ship-shape by then; and--"

The remainder was of a nature more private. She concluded with a postscript, which also I did not read to Ethelbertha.

"Thought I had finished telling you everything, when quite a stylish rat-tat sounded on the door. I placed an old straw hat of Dick's in a prominent position, called loudly to an imaginary 'John' not to go without the letters, and then opened it. He turned out to be the local reporter. I need not have been alarmed. He was much the more nervous of the two, and was so full of excuses that had I not come to his rescue I believe he would have gone away forgetting what he'd come for. Nothing save an overwhelming sense of duty to the Public (with a capital P) could have induced him to inflict himself upon me.

Could I give him a few details which would enable him to set rumour right? I immediately saw visions of headlines: 'Domestic Tragedy!'

'Eminent Author blown up by his own Daughter!' 'Once Happy Home now a Mere Wreck!' It seemed to me our only plan was to enlist this amiable young man upon our side; I hope I did not overdo it. My idea was to convey the impression that one glance at him had convinced me he was the best and noblest of mankind; that I felt I could rely upon his wit and courage to save us from a notoriety that, so far as I was concerned, would sadden my whole life; and that if he did so eternal gratitude and admiration would be the least I could lay at his feet.

I can be nice when I try. People have said so. We parted with only a pressure of the hand, and I hope he won't get into trouble, but I see The Berkshire Courier is going to be deprived of its prey. Dick has just come in. He promises to talk when he has finished eating."

Dick's letter, for which Ethelbertha seemed to be strangely impatient, reached us on Wednesday morning.

"If ever you want to find out, Dad, what hard work really means, you try farming," wrote Dick; "and yet I believe you would like it.

Hasn't some old Johnny somewhere described it as the poetry of the ploughshare? Why did we ever take to bothering about anything else--shutting ourselves up in stuffy offices, worrying ourselves to death about a lot of rubbish that isn't any good to anybody? I wish I could put it properly, Dad; you would see just what I mean. Why don't we live in simply-built houses and get most everything we want out of the land: which we easily could? You take a dozen poor devils away from walking behind the plough and put them down into coal-mines, and set them running about half-naked among a lot of roaring furnaces, and between them they turn out a machine that does the ploughing for them. What is the sense of it? Of course some things are useful. I would like a motor-car, and railways and steamboats are all right; but it seems to me that half the fiddle-faddles we fancy we want we'd be just as well, if not better, without, and there would be all that time and energy to spare for the sort of things that everybody ought to have. It's everywhere just like it was at school. They kept us so hard at it, studying Greek roots, we hadn't time to learn English grammar. Look at young Dennis Yewbury. He's got two thousand acres up in Scotland. He could lead a jolly life turning the place into some real use. Instead of which he lets it all run to waste for nothing but to breed a few hundred birds that wouldn't keep a single family alive; while he works from morning till night at humbugging people in a beastly hole in the City, just to fill his house with a host of silly gim-cracks and dress up himself and his women-folk like peacocks. Of course we would always want clever chaps like you to tell us stories; and doctors we couldn't do without, though I guess if we were leading sensible lives we'd be able to get along with about half of them. It seems to me that what we want is a comfortable home, enough to eat and drink, and a few fal-lal sort of things to make the girls look pretty; and that all the rest is rot. We would all of us have time then to think and play a bit, and if we were all working fairly at something really useful and were contented with our own share, there'd be enough for everybody.

同类推荐
  • 雪压轩词

    雪压轩词

    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。
  • 东南纪事

    东南纪事

    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。
  • Chronicles of the Canongate

    Chronicles of the Canongate

    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。
  • 续湘山野录

    续湘山野录

    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。
  • 重修台湾县志

    重修台湾县志

    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
  • 霸汉第三卷

    霸汉第三卷

    无赖少年林涉出身神秘,从小混迹于市井之中,一身痞气却满腹经纶,至情至性,智深若海。偶涉武道以天纵之资无师而成绝世高手,凭就超凡的智慧和胆识自乱世之中脱颖而出。在万般劫难之后,恰逢赤眉绿林之乱,乃聚小城之兵,以奇迹般的速度在乱世中崛起。
  • 龙武战神

    龙武战神

    神武大陆,强者为尊,弱者受欺。张子凡,一个地球人穿越到废物少主身上,受尽他人屈辱,偶然之间却发现,身怀着上古龙魂,龙魂等级越高,修炼则越快,实力则越强,从此废材除名,修龙魂,历千劫,破万钧,神武大陆任由穿梭。
  • 爱尔兰之约

    爱尔兰之约

    28岁的她和他偶然的邂逅,第一是偶然,第二次意外,第三次他被她深深地吸引,他们相爱了,痛苦、挣扎、纠结,被爱情伸出的刺一次又一次的刺痛后,她选择了离开......
  • 菘蓝

    菘蓝

    毁掉一个男孩子很容易,先给他极致的爱,然后等他完全陷入进去,再离开。许秋因为孟佳接近程凯,计划还没开始,陆鹏出现了,那个美得像日本漫画里走出来的少年让许秋改变了原本的计划。
  • 佛说大威灯光仙人问疑经

    佛说大威灯光仙人问疑经

    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。
  • 气色何来

    气色何来

    化妆品拯救不了你!只有会吃的女人,才能娇美如花!独家揭露众明星食疗保养秘笈,下一个拥有完美容颜的明星就是你。本书精选了近300例具有润肤养颜、祛皱抗衰、乌发美发等功效的营养食谱。保证营养合理、膳食平衡,同时,力求变换花样,调剂口味,既能享受到佳肴的美味,又能获得如花容颜的妙方。
  • 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。
  • 天枢界

    天枢界

    异域魔物纵横,谁主沉浮?还天下一个朗朗乾坤!拨乱反正,看我逍遥今朝!
  • 平宋录

    平宋录

    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。
  • 初上烟雨楼

    初上烟雨楼

    初上烟雨楼,一醉何时休。当她问起你从何时爱上我的,他说我想是你第一次带我看烟雨楼设计的时候吧,所以就像是喝醉了一般爱上你无法自拔。听说烟雨楼楼主夜烟雨一身黑衣,黑色面纱遮面,是个不折不扣的女魔头,但只有那个世人口中的废物王爷知道她到底有多好,女魔头的背后其实只是一个需要保护的小女孩罢了。他是世人眼里的废物王爷,当她说自己所爱之人是那个废物王爷时,所有人都为之震惊,只有她知道那个所谓的废物其实是江湖人人都怕的魅影阁主影魅,只有她知道他对自己来说究竟有多重要........