登陆注册
5362400000067

第67章 XX "THE COLONEL$$$$$S OWN"(5)

"But he was restless, very restless, and possibly to allay a great mental uneasiness, he began having some changes made in the house; changes which occupied much of his time and with which he never seemed satisfied. Men working one day were dismissed the next and others called in until this work and everything else was interrupted by the return of his late unwelcome guest, who kept his appointment to a day.

"At this point in her narrative Mistress Callista's voice fell and the flame which had thrown a partial light on her countenance died down until I could but faintly discern the secretly inquiring look with which she watched me as she went on to say "'Reuben and I,' - Reuben was her brother, - 'were posted in the dark corner under the stairs when my father met the general at the door. We had expected to hear high words, or some explosion of bitter feeling between them, and hardly knew whether to be glad or sorry when our father welcomed his guest with the same elaborate bow we once saw him make to the president in the grounds of the White House. Nor could we understand what followed. We were summoned in to supper. Our mother was there - a great event in those days - and toasts were drunk and our father proposed one to the general's health. This Reuben thought was an open signal of peace, and turned upon me his great round eyes in surprise; but I, who was old enough to notice that this toast was not responded to and that the general did not even touch his lips to the glass he had lifted in compliment to our mother, who had lifted hers, felt that there was something terrifying rather than reassuring in this attempt at good fellowship.

Though unable to reason over it at the time, I have often done so since, and my father's attitude and look as he faced this strange guest has dwelt so persistently in my memory that scarcely a year passes without the scene coming up in my dreams with its accompanying emotions of fear and perplexity. For - perhaps you know the story - that hour was the general's last. He died before leaving the house; died in that same dark library concerning which you have asked so many questions.

"'I remember the circumstances well, how well down to each and every detail. Our mother had gone back to her room, and the general and my father, who did not linger over their wine - why should they, when the general would not drink? - had withdrawn to the library at the suggestion of the general, whose last words are yet lingering in my ears.

"'The time has come for our little talk,' said he. 'Your reception augurs -'

"'You do not look well,' my father here broke in, in what seemed an unnaturally loud voice. 'Come and sit down -'

"'Here the door closed.

"'We had hung about this door, curious children that we were, in hopes of catching a glimpse of the queer new settle which had been put into place that day. But we scampered away at this, and were playing in and out of the halls when the library door agin opened and my father came out.

"'Where's Samba?' he cried. 'Tell him to carry a glass of wine in to the general. 1 do not like his looks. I am going upstairs for some medicine.' This he whispered in choked tones as he set foot on the stairs. Why I remember it I do not know, for Reuben, who was standing where he could look into the library when our father came out and saw the settle and the general sitting at one end of it, was chattering about it in my ear at the very moment our father was giving his orders.

"'Reuben is a man now, and I have asked him more than once since then how the general looked at that critical instant. It is important to me, very, very important, and to him, too, now that he has come to know a man's passions and temptations. But he will never tell me, never relieve my mind, and I can only hope that there were real signs of illness on the general's brow; for then I could feel that all had been right and that his death was the natural result of the great distress he felt at opposing my father in the one desire of his heart. That glimpse which Reuben had of him before he fell has always struck me with strange pathos. A little child looking in upon a man, who, for all his apparent health, will in another moment be in eternity - I do not wonder he does not like to talk of it, and yet - "'It was Samba who came upon the general first. Our father had not yet descended. When he did, it was with loud cries and piteous ejaculations. Word had gone upstairs and surprised him in the room with my mother. I recollect wondering in all childish simplicity why he wrung his hands so over the death of a man he so hated and feared. Nor was it till years had passed and our mother had been laid in the grave and the house had settled into a gloom too heavy and somber for Reuben to endure, that I recognized in my father the signs of a settled remorse. These I endeavored to account for by the fact that he had been saved from what he looked upon as political death by the sudden but opportune decease of his best friend. This caused a shock to his feelings which had unnerved him for life.

Don't you think this the true explanation of his invariably moody brow and the great distaste he always showed for this same library?

Though he would live in no other house, he would not enter that room nor look at the gloomy settle from which the general had fallen to his death. The place was virtually tabooed, and though, as the necessity arose, it was opened from time to time for great festivities, the shadow it had acquired never left it and my father hated its very door until he died. Is it not natural that his daughter should share this feeling?'

同类推荐
  • 戏鸥居词话

    戏鸥居词话

    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。
  • 儿女英雄传

    儿女英雄传

    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。
  • 未刻本叶氏医案

    未刻本叶氏医案

    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。
  • 诗经稗疏

    诗经稗疏

    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。
  • 佛说是法非法经

    佛说是法非法经

    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
  • 滋养心灵

    滋养心灵

    感动千万人的88个真爱故事。一个个温馨感人的故事,让你荡气回肠;一个个真实平凡的人物,让你唏嘘不已……在这里,你可以慢慢地、细细地读,像品尝美酒一样,一次尝一点。每次啜饮都会给你一点温暖的亮光,每个故事都以不同的方式滋养你的心灵。蕴藏丰富的情感,传递人生的智慧!
  • 介存斋论词杂著

    介存斋论词杂著

    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。
  • 海狼

    海狼

    公元2035年,纽约贫民窟。一栋废弃多年的工厂正在熊熊燃烧。烈焰照亮夜空,连远处灯火通明的繁华不夜城都为之失色。数不清的救护车、消防车和警车将着火的建筑团团包围,各式各样的警笛交织在一起,如同一首令人心惊胆战的大合唱。忙碌之中,一辆黑色的挂警用牌照的车却静悄悄地停在了外围。车门打开,一名身着黑色长风衣的男子走了出来。扑面而来的热浪让他不由地扶了扶鼻梁上的护目镜,接着不疾不徐地走向燃烧建筑。他的冷静与周遭的忙乱格格不入,然而他的行动却犹如最飘忽的幽灵,根本无人注意到他的到来。
  • 蓝鸟与玫瑰

    蓝鸟与玫瑰

    莉莉从小生活在美国纽约,长相甜美,性格清高,被誉为纽约最后的淑女。她家境富裕,但从小受到的严格管教也使她非常敏感和孤僻。大学毕业前夕,她进行了一次中国之旅,深深地爱上这个国度,其间偶遇医学青年玉真,由此开始了一段生死之恋……
  • 贴心营养菜

    贴心营养菜

    常言道:“药补不如食补”。如果您通过“食疗”,祛除了身体的不适和潜在的疾患,这不正是您和编者共同的愿望吗?本书根据科学的平衡膳食原则,选用常见的材料,采用了简单易行且最大限度实现营养价值的烹调技法,精心选择了数百款既美味又营养的菜肴,让你成为自己的家庭营养师!还有“厨房小常识”告诉你健康饮食生活的小窍门,贴心又实用!
  • 大妖怪狐狸夫君很不乖

    大妖怪狐狸夫君很不乖

    哼,本来穿越成为妖怪已经很不爽了,还要成为侍女伺候人?不干不干……场景一美艳绝伦的妖孽狐狸王,朱唇微抿:“水樱,给孤端杯水。”正在练习妖术的某女,小手一甩:“没看见我正忙着了么?自己倒。”王,怒:“你敢忤逆孤!”某女,挑眉威胁:“清缡,你丫的皮痒了?”然后伟大的狐狸王,讪讪笑着。某女,高高在上:“端杯茶!”绝代风华的王屁颠屁颠的拿着茶献了上去。“娘子,请用。”场景二伟大的王在巡视自己的领地,各地的狐媚女子借机围了上去。王的猎艳心里在作怪,大手刚要揽上动人的身资。后面某女面无表情的咳嗽一声,王的眉毛一扬,慌忙转身:“娘子,累不累啊!”看更多小女翻身当家做主敬请期待………………
  • 封清英烈传

    封清英烈传

    千古奇耻剃发辱,泱泱华夏民族恨。可叹世人多健忘,亡国犹唱后庭花。屠戮千万同胞仇,篡改历史太欺人。奸淫掳掠无不做,富贵荣华却逍遥。试问天理何处在,公道真理何处寻。愿梦手提九龙剑,诛灭满妖驱鞑虏。千古奇耻凭空悼!这是一场尊严之战动乱的时刻,屠戮千万炎黄子孙,践踏民族尊严,篡改历史,罪恶罄竹难书。这是一场尊严之战!
  • 京华烟云(全集)(纪念典藏版)

    京华烟云(全集)(纪念典藏版)

    赵薇、潘粤明、陈宝国、潘虹、 王刚主演电视剧《京华烟云》原著小说。本书是林语堂久负盛名的作品,文中体现了作者强烈的爱国情怀、对传统中国的文化和生活细节的真挚热爱,以及一种极富生命力的老庄哲学境界,是一部百科全书式的皇皇巨著。全书借姚、曾、牛三大家族的兴衰浮沉,刻画出从清末义和团运动到民国抗战初期长达四十年的社会面貌,从侧面反映出近代中国社会历史的风云变幻,其中安插了袁世凯篡国、张勋复辟、直奉大战、五四运动、“三一八”惨案、“语丝派”与“现代评论派”笔战、北伐战争、二战爆发等历史事件,人物繁多,场面宏阔,全景式展现了近现代中国社会发生的急剧而深刻的变化,被誉为现代版的《红楼梦》。
  • 桂香街

    桂香街

    她被突发危机抛出外企,她悄悄收拾起“金领”,也悄悄藏下一个中年女人全副的爱与忧愁,将“小我”深埋心底;她是被“主任”的居委会救火干部,她一肩负重,扛下千头万绪、一地鸡毛的社区工作,她为“大家”点一盏灯,用包容照亮众生的灵魂。能力出众的外企高管林又红阴差阳错地被当成居委会“蒋主任”,与“蒋主任”这个称谓同时加到林又红身上的,是桂香街上普通百姓的生活重负。在个人情感与社会责任的冲突较量中,于琐碎与怪诞中,林又红追寻日渐稀薄却又永恒存在者,完成了人生中一次又一次重大的选择……
  • 酒店营销一本通

    酒店营销一本通

    《酒店营销一本通》不仅介绍了阐述了酒店营销工作的岗位职责、岗位要求、管理技能,还通过25个经典案例,34个经验提醒,32个核心问题,19个工具表单,分享了作者多年来总结的实操技巧,让读者拥有酒店营销的真本领,从而实现酒店利润倍增。