登陆注册
5380000000029

第29章

He admired her, and indeed there was something admirable in her combination of beauty and talent, of isolation and tranquil self-support.He used sometimes to go into the little, high-niched, ordinary room which served her as a studio, and find her working at a panel six inches square, at an open casement, profiled against the deep blue Roman sky.She received him with a meek-eyed dignity that made her seem like a painted saint on a church window, receiving the daylight in all her being.

The breath of reproach passed her by with folded wings.

And yet Rowland wondered why he did not like her better.

If he failed, the reason was not far to seek.There was another woman whom he liked better, an image in his heart which refused to yield precedence.

On that evening to which allusion has been made, when Rowland was left alone between the starlight and the waves with the sudden knowledge that Mary Garland was to become another man's wife, he had made, after a while, the simple resolution to forget her.

And every day since, like a famous philosopher who wished to abbreviate his mourning for a faithful servant, he had said to himself in substance--"Remember to forget Mary Garland."Sometimes it seemed as if he were succeeding; then, suddenly, when he was least expecting it, he would find her name, inaudibly, on his lips, and seem to see her eyes meeting his eyes.All this made him uncomfortable, and seemed to portend a possible discord.

Discord was not to his taste; he shrank from imperious passions, and the idea of finding himself jealous of an unsuspecting friend was absolutely repulsive.More than ever, then, the path of duty was to forget Mary Garland, and he cultivated oblivion, as we may say, in the person of Miss Blanchard.

Her fine temper, he said to himself, was a trifle cold and conscious, her purity prudish, perhaps, her culture pedantic.

But since he was obliged to give up hopes of Mary Garland, Providence owed him a compensation, and he had fits of angry sadness in which it seemed to him that to attest his right to sentimental satisfaction he would be capable of falling in love with a woman he absolutely detested, if she were the best that came in his way.

And what was the use, after all, of bothering about a possible which was only, perhaps, a dream? Even if Mary Garland had been free, what right had he to assume that he would have pleased her?

The actual was good enough.Miss Blanchard had beautiful hair, and if she was a trifle old-maidish, there is nothing like matrimony for curing old-maidishness.

Madame Grandoni, who had formed with the companion of Rowland's rides an alliance which might have been called defensive on the part of the former and attractive on that of Miss Blanchard, was an excessively ugly old lady, highly esteemed in Roman society for her homely benevolence and her shrewd and humorous good sense.

She had been the widow of a German archaeologist, who had come to Rome in the early ages as an attache of the Prussian legation on the Capitoline.

Her good sense had been wanting on but a single occasion, that of her second marriage.This occasion was certainly a momentous one, but these, by common consent, are not test cases.

A couple of years after her first husband's death, she had accepted the hand and the name of a Neapolitan music-master, ten years younger than herself, and with no fortune but his fiddle-bow.The marriage was most unhappy, and the Maestro Grandoni was suspected of using the fiddle-bow as an instrument of conjugal correction.

He had finally run off with a prima donna assoluta, who, it was to be hoped, had given him a taste of the quality implied in her title.

He was believed to be living still, but he had shrunk to a small black spot in Madame Grandoni's life, and for ten years she had not mentioned his name.She wore a light flaxen wig, which was never very artfully adjusted, but this mattered little, as she made no secret of it.

She used to say, "I was not always so ugly as this; as a young girl I had beautiful golden hair, very much the color of my wig."She had worn from time immemorial an old blue satin dress, and a white crape shawl embroidered in colors; her appearance was ridiculous, but she had an interminable Teutonic pedigree, and her manners, in every presence, were easy and jovial, as became a lady whose ancestor had been cup-bearer to Frederick Barbarossa.

Thirty years' observation of Roman society had sharpened her wits and given her an inexhaustible store of anecdotes, but she had beneath her crumpled bodice a deep-welling fund of Teutonic sentiment, which she communicated only to the objects of her particular favor.

Rowland had a great regard for her, and she repaid it by wishing him to get married.She never saw him without whispering to him that Augusta Blanchard was just the girl.

It seemed to Rowland a sort of foreshadowing of matrimony to see Miss Blanchard standing gracefully on his hearth-rug and blooming behind the central bouquet at his circular dinner-table.The dinner was very prosperous and Roderick amply filled his position as hero of the feast.

He had always an air of buoyant enjoyment in his work, but on this occasion he manifested a good deal of harmless pleasure in his glory.

He drank freely and talked bravely; he leaned back in his chair with his hands in his pockets, and flung open the gates of his eloquence.

Singleton sat gazing and listening open-mouthed, as if Apollo in person were talking.Gloriani showed a twinkle in his eye and an evident disposition to draw Roderick out.Rowland was rather regretful, for he knew that theory was not his friend's strong point, and that it was never fair to take his measure from his talk.

"As you have begun with Adam and Eve," said Gloriani, "I suppose you are going straight through the Bible."He was one of the persons who thought Roderick delightfully fresh.

同类推荐
  • 寒山帚谈

    寒山帚谈

    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。
  • 道咸同光四朝奏议选辑

    道咸同光四朝奏议选辑

    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。
  • Childhood

    Childhood

    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。
  • 大乘修行菩萨行门诸经要集

    大乘修行菩萨行门诸经要集

    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。
  • God The Invisible King

    God The Invisible King

    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
  • 凡尔纳密码:地心游记

    凡尔纳密码:地心游记

    小说讲述的是德国矿物学教授黎登布洛克带领侄子阿克赛、向导汉恩斯进行的一次惊心动魄的地心探险旅行。他们从冰岛的斯奈弗陷口开始,经历了缺水、迷路、巨兽、暴风雨、高温等种种常人难以想象的困难,经历了千难万险,就在他们将要到达地心时,火山爆发了!在炙热的岩浆推滚下,他们经由意大利西西里岛的火山口回到了地面。全书情节波澜起伏,文章幽默流畅,不仅详细地描绘了探险的起因、种种周密的准备,探险过程中惊险的遭遇,还用浪漫主义的想象手法为我们展示了冰岛风光和地底下的奇特景观,把读者带进了一个超越时空的幻想世界。
  • 你若不勇敢,谁替你坚强

    你若不勇敢,谁替你坚强

    《你若不勇敢,谁替你坚强》一书告诉我们一个道理:在痛苦的折磨下,有的人会沮丧沉沦,会陷入悲伤之中不能自拔,一步步走向绝望。有的人就算心痛却不肯低头,终于在苦难中学会挺立自己坚强的灵魂。挺过去,就意味着一切。挺过去,一切苦难都会变成生命中的一道彩虹。
  • 最强武帝

    最强武帝

    星落夜,星门第一继承人,拥有千年起来最废的妖孽之称。时光荏苒,十六岁那年终究还是被剥夺了身份、地位、甚至母亲生前留给他的名字。暴雨之下,满脸鲜血的他环视众人:“这些年,星门欠我的东西,日后我会一件一件的拿回来。”
  • 空间之丑颜药女

    空间之丑颜药女

    穿越到一个天生貌丑的小姑娘身上,天赋空间开启,种田制药,济世救人,升级空间,改变容貌……情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 红狼毒

    红狼毒

    上世纪初,内蒙古西部出现了一位显赫的传奇人物“红狼台吉”。他出生于一个贫寒的破落贵族家庭,艰辛的生活把他锻造成一个“混世魔王”。他与王府的女佣奥肯结为夫妻,却与清廷定郡王的格格、有名的福晋十三奶奶堕入爱河。他在十三奶奶的帮助下走向官场,从此平步青云,巧妙地施展政治手腕,用血腥暴力除掉了一个个政敌,渐渐把控了他所在的红格尔和硕旗的政治实力。为了得到至高无上的权力,红狼台吉开始了他轰轰烈烈的冒险人生。
  • 我在末世有家餐厅

    我在末世有家餐厅

    在末世的深处,有这样一个传言,那里有一家餐厅,出售着能让人获得异能,不断变强的美食……为了在末世生存,苟活出一丝希望,剩余的幸存者们出发了。新书已开《从白蛇开始崛起》,希望大家多多支持~书友群:130950486,欢迎大家进来批斗!
  • 不朽圣皇

    不朽圣皇

    何谓永恒?不死不灭!万劫不磨!天地崩而独存!宇宙灭而独生!便谓之永恒!!!圣尊李长生,在跨出修行路的最后一步时,渡劫失败,机缘之下,重回少年时代,再活一世!这一世,他重踏修行路,定要畅意纵横,喝最烈的酒,拥最美的女人,斩最可恨的敌人,一路踏歌而上,重临至高巅峰,只手攫永恒!!!
  • 末世之葭偶天成

    末世之葭偶天成

    一朝末世,分隔两地重生女,心机敌人,丧尸满地,都比不过携手共进
  • 老婆一直在重生

    老婆一直在重生

    前男友的订婚宴上,喝得酩酊大醉的她却闯进了他的浴室,上下其手不说,临到走了还拽住一东西非说是她的!他瞅着她,仔细想了一下,同意了……于是从那天起,她莫名其妙就被前男友的哥哥给盯上了。“总裁,四小姐又去泡吧了。”“抓回来,关屋里罚做十张试卷!”“总裁,四小姐说她想谈恋爱了,还带了她们学校的男神回家见老爷。”“。。。。。”什么也没说了,这男人蹭的一下就从办公椅里站了起来。助理不解:“总裁,你干什么去?”“去履行做她男人的义务!”!!!
  • 没有回应的爱

    没有回应的爱

    后妈生下的姐姐跟男友合谋,将她送给陌生的男人。本以为人生灰暗无光时,暗恋多年的男人以商业联姻为名义娶了她。她以为是上天的眷顾,可哪知,婚后,却是无尽的羞辱跟惩罚。意外怀孕,她不知道孩子的父亲是谁,就被他按在手术台上,冷冷命令,“打掉!”一次次的心伤,一次次的折磨,直到生命垂危时,她才恍然明白,原来他娶她的目的竟然是……