登陆注册
5302400000046

第46章 Which treats of the obsequies of my Lord of Dunsta

It was not doubt of her,but of himself,and fear that his great passion made him blind;for he was the one man chivalrous enough to remember how young she was,and to see the cruelty of the Fate which had given her unmothered childhood into the hands of a coarse rioter and debauchee,making her his plaything and his whim.And if in her first hours of bloom she had been thrown with youthful manhood and beauty,what more in the course of nature than that she should have learned to love;and being separated from her young lover by their mutual youthful faults of pride and passionateness of temper,what more natural than,being free again,and he suing with all his soul,that her heart should return to him,even though through a struggle with pride.In her lord's lifetime he had not seen Oxon near her;and in those days when he had so struggled with his own surging love,and striven to bear himself nobly,he had kept away from her,knowing that his passion was too great and strong for any man to always hold at bay and make no sign,because at brief instants he trembled before the thought that in her eyes he had seen that which would have sprung to answer the same self in him if she had been a free woman.But now when,despite her coldness,which never melted to John Oxon,she still turned pale and seemed to fall under a restraint on his coming,a man of sufficient high dignity to be splendidly modest where his own merit was concerned,might well feel that for this there must be a reason,and it might be a grave one.

So though he would not give up his suit until he was sure that 'twas either useless or unfair,he did not press it as he would have done,but saw his lady when he could,and watched with all the tenderness of passion her lovely face and eyes.But one short town season passed before he won his prize;but to poor Anne it seemed that in its passing she lived years.

Poor woman,as she had grown thin and large-eyed in those days gone by,she grew so again.Time in passing had taught her so much that others did not know;and as she served her sister,and waited on her wishes,she saw that of which no other dreamed,and saw without daring to speak,or show by any sign,her knowledge.

The day when Lady Dunstanwolde had turned from standing among her daffodils,and had found herself confronting the open door of her saloon,and John Oxon passing through it,Mistress Anne had seen that in her face and his which had given to her a shock of terror.

In John Oxon's blue eyes there had been a set fierce look,and in Clorinda's a blaze which had been like a declaration of war;and these same looks she had seen since that day,again and again.

Gradually it had become her sister's habit to take Anne with her into the world as she had not done before her widowhood,and Anne knew whence this custom came.There were times when,by use of her presence,she could avoid those she wished to thrust aside,and Anne noted,with a cold sinking of the spirit,that the one she would plan to elude most frequently was Sir John Oxon;and this was not done easily.The young man's gay lightness of demeanour had changed.The few years that had passed since he had come to pay his courts to the young beauty in male attire,had brought experiences to him which had been bitter enough.He had squandered his fortune,and failed to reinstate himself by marriage;his dissipations had told upon him,and he had lost his spirit and good-humour;his mocking wit had gained a bitterness;his gallantry had no longer the gaiety of youth.And the woman he had loved for an hour with youthful passion,and had dared to dream of casting aside in boyish insolence,had risen like a phoenix,and soared high and triumphant to the very sun itself."He was ever base,"Clorinda had said."As he was at first he is now,"and in the saying there was truth.If she had been helpless and heartbroken,and had pined for him,he would have treated her as a victim,and disdained her humiliation and grief;magnificent,powerful,rich,in fullest beauty,and disdaining himself,she filled him with a mad passion of love which was strangely mixed with hatred and cruelty.To see her surrounded by her worshippers,courted by the Court itself,all eyes drawn towards her as she moved,all hearts laid at her feet,was torture to him.In such cases as his and hers,it was the woman who should sue for love's return,and watch the averted face,longing for the moment when it would deign to turn and she could catch the cold eye and plead piteously with her own.This he had seen;this,men like himself,but older,had taught him with vicious art;but here was a woman who had scorned him at the hour which should have been the moment of his greatest powerfulness,who had mocked at and lashed him in the face with the high derision of a creature above law,and who never for one instant had bent her neck to the yoke which women must bear.She had laughed it to scorn--and him--and all things--and gone on her way,crowned with her scarlet roses,to wealth,and rank,and power,and adulation;while he--the man,whose right it was to be transgressor--had fallen upon hard fortune,and was losing step by step all she had won.In his way he loved her madly--as he had loved her before,and as he would have loved any woman who embodied triumph and beauty;and burning with desire for both,and with jealous rage of all,he swore he would not be outdone,befooled,cast aside,and trampled on.

同类推荐
  • 三国志评话

    三国志评话

    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。
  • 证契大乘经

    证契大乘经

    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。
  • 太上诸天灵书度命妙经

    太上诸天灵书度命妙经

    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。
  • 许黄门先生文集

    许黄门先生文集

    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。
  • 赵后遗事

    赵后遗事

    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。
热门推荐
  • 我的老婆是皇上

    我的老婆是皇上

    堂堂七尺男儿意外穿越到了大秦元年,成为了开国皇帝的妃子。这还不算什么?!最坏的就是竟然是现在要准备侍寝了?!马上要被摁在地上摩擦了!怎么办?!在线等!急!
  • 重生之医品嫡女

    重生之医品嫡女

    小妖重生最新力作《嫡女重生之药妃天下》,腹黑病娇身份神秘的大灰狼男主VS冷情冷性乖巧软萌的小白兔女主?嫡女重生,这一世,她不但要报仇雪恨,治病救人,还要医治这乱世天下。有所图谋救下的男人屡屡上门,“嫁给我,我能帮你造反!”【一句话简介】:这是个受尽屈辱磨难的少女死后意外重生,为了改变命运保护家人不受到伤害,学医从武名扬天下的复仇之旅,然后收获了美好爱情的故事。她是相府嫡女,更是定国公府视若珍宝的外孙女,身份尊贵。前世,她倾尽一切助他从一个名不见经传的皇子登上皇位,他却与家中养姐勾结。废她皇后之位,害她外公一家,五岁大的儿子丧命于野犬之口!冷宫中,她绝世容颜尽毁,养姐头戴凤冠巧笑嫣然,“我根本就不是父亲的故人之女,我就是他的女儿,相府的长女,苏心漓,是你占据了原本属于我的位置,我现在不过是把属于自己的东西拿回来而已。”再睁眼,苏心漓回到了十三岁。那一年,方姨娘没有被扶正,苏妙雪只是相府的养女,颜司明还是个不受重视无权无势的皇子。乱葬岗重生,这一世,宁可她负天下人,也不叫天下人负她。恶毒姨娘,两面三刀?一刀刀慢慢送你上西天!伪善渣姐,数次陷害?剥了你白莲花的美人皮!野心渣男,轮番示好?这辈子你再怎么算计也和皇位无缘了!到最后,渣男死缠烂打求垂怜,渣爹放下颜面求亲近,姨娘姐姐跪地求饶。。。饶恕?那是什么?她只知道,对敌人心慈手软,就是对自己残忍。嫡女重生,欠了我的给我还回来,害了我的给我死回来!她容颜清丽,绝世无双,心却如冬日最冷的寒冰。这一世,她以为自己会孤独老去,谁知那个高贵如月的男子却像跟狗屁膏药一般怎么都甩不掉,三不五时就借着黑夜闯进她的闺房。“你是蛇蝎女,我是伪君子。”他呵气如兰,眸若星辰,“我们是天生一对。”“漓儿,等我从战场回来,便十里红妆迎娶你,不抬平妻,不纳妾室,不收通房,今生今世只爱你一人。”【男强女也强,女主淡然狠辣,男主腹黑,爽文,宠文,一生一世一双人,小妖新文,坑品保障,求支持,求抚摸】
  • 邪龙破苍穹

    邪龙破苍穹

    龙与凤的结合,善良与邪恶之中挣扎。被视为异类的他,对这个世界充满绝望。在邪龙的指引下,化身为邪恶的他,会变成一个恶魔吗?邪龙传说,由此开始!
  • 修成佛

    修成佛

    明尊来问我,何为佛?何谓佛?我言,所谓佛,不过教化世人,心灵宁静,弃恶从善之道理,仅此而已。世人问我,如何修成佛?我言,既为人,何来成佛?
  • 重启汉末

    重启汉末

    重启汉末,一个完全不同的汉末故事!一个完全不同的三国,一次荡气回肠的爱恋,一份永不停息的热血,一场与众不同的奇梦。
  • Miss Billy

    Miss Billy

    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。
  • 极品女仙历劫手札

    极品女仙历劫手札

    请不要在作者的文下提到其他作者的书,以免引起不必要的纠纷,谢谢大家!求问:道侣不务正业,迷恋灵器法宝肿么破?高舒夜:护体天衣、流光盾、七星簪、双龙抹额。对了,师妹把这个衍天甲也带上!石璿:师兄,我有一剑在手,天下皆可去得!高舒夜:师妹,用这个噬天吞魔雷。保管一颗下去,叫他全家归西!石璿:……师兄,法宝灵器皆是外物,不可迷恋!还有,他全家就剩他一个了。L:我是撸主。谢谢大家的关心!八过,不用出主意了。突然发现,道侣还是很有担当哒!石璿:师兄要小心,此处十分凶险。高舒夜:那师妹跟在我后面,我来探路!石璿:师兄,我已……无力再战。高舒夜:别怕,我在!
  • 八十天环游地球(语文新课标课外必读第二辑)

    八十天环游地球(语文新课标课外必读第二辑)

    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。
  • 逃婚记

    逃婚记

    好不容易穿越了一把,结果却穿成了边陲小国的公主。爹不疼娘不爱就算了,还被一道圣旨打发去邻国和亲了。这是逃呢?还是逃呢?腹黑看上傻白甜,道路是曲折的,结局是欢喜的。【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 高中生的土豪系统

    高中生的土豪系统

    普普通通的自己,平平淡淡的人生,身为一个普通高中生的林北,以为自己的生活将会这么一直平淡下去,虽不甘却无能为力。直到一款莫名其妙出现的土豪系统让他的生活彻底改变!从都市中崛起!向前,向前,男人永不退缩!建造属于我——林北的帝国!