登陆注册
5382100000117

第117章 CHAPTER XXIV(4)

I have not forgotten the tender nurse who soothed me in my delirium. When I am feverish, I dream that I am again at Llan-dhu, in the little old bedchamber, and you, in white--which you always wore then, you know--flitting about me." The tears dropped, large and round from Ruth's eyes--she could not help it--how could she? "We were happy then," continued he, gaining confidence from the sight of her melted mood, and recurring once more to the admission which he considered so much in his favour. "Can such happiness never return?" Thus he went on, quickly, anxious to lay before her all he had to offer, before she should fully understand his meaning. "If you would consent, Leonard should be always with you--educated where and how you liked--money to any amount you might choose to name should be secured to you and him--if only, Ruth--if only those happy days might return." Ruth spoke-- "I said that I was happy, because I had asked God to protect and help me--and I dared not tell a lie. I was happy. Oh! what is happiness or misery that we should talk about them now?" Mr. Donne looked at her, as she uttered these words, to see if she was wandering in her mind, they seemed to him so utterly strange and incoherent. "I dare not think of happiness--I must not look forward to sorrow. God did not put me here to consider either of these things." "My dear Ruth, compose yourself! There is no hurry in answering the question I asked." "What was it?" said Ruth. "I love you so, I cannot live without you. I offer you my heart, my life--Ioffer to place Leonard wherever you would have him placed. I have the power and the means to advance him in any path of life you choose. All who have shown kindness to you shall be rewarded by me, with a gratitude even surpassing your own. If there is anything else I can do that you can suggest, I will do it." "Listen to me!" said Ruth, now that the idea of what he proposed had entered her mind. "When I said that I was happy with you long ago, I was choked with shame as I said it. And yet it may be a vain, false excuse that Imake for myself. I was very young; I did not know how such a life was against God's pure and holy will--at least, not as I know it now; and I tell you the truth--all the days of my years since I have gone about with a stain on my hidden soul--a stain which made me loathe myself, and envy those who stood spotless and undefiled; which made me shrink from my child--from Mr. Benson, from his sister, from the innocent girls whom I teach--nay, even I have cowered away from God Himself; and what I did wrong then, Idid blindly to what I should do now if I listened to you." She was so strongly agitated that she put her hands over her face, and sobbed without restraint. Then, taking them away, she looked at him with a glowing face, and beautiful, honest, wet eyes, and tried to speak calmly, as she asked if she needed to stay longer (she would have gone away at once but that she thought of Leonard, and wished to hear all that his father might have to say). He was so struck anew by her beauty, and understood her so little, that he believed that she only required a little more urging to consent to what he wished; for in all she had said there was no trace of the anger and resentment for his desertion of her, which he had expected would be a prominent feature--the greatest obstacle he had to encounter.

The deep sense of penitence she expressed he mistook for earthly shame;which he imagined he could soon soothe away. "Yes, I have much more to say. I have not said half. I cannot tell you how fondly I will--how fondly I do love you--how my life shall be spent in ministering to your wishes. Money, I see--I know, you despise----" "Mr. Bellingham! I will not stay to hear you speak to me so' again. I have been sinful, but it is not you who should----" She could not speak, she was so choking with passionate sorrow. He wanted to calm her, as he saw her shaken with repressed sobs. He put his hand on her arm. She shook it off impatiently, and moved away in an instant. "Ruth!" said he, nettled by her action of repugnance, "I begin to think you never loved me." "I!--I never loved you! Do you dare to say so?" Her eyes flamed on him as she spoke. Her red, round lip curled into beautiful contempt. "Why do you shrink so from me?" said he, in his turn getting impatient. "I did not come here to be spoken to in this way," said she. "I came, if by any chance I could do Leonard good. I would submit to many humiliations for his sake--but to no more from you." "Are not you afraid to brave me so?" said he. "Don't you know how much you are in my power?" She was silent. She longed to go away, but dreaded lest he should follow her, where she might be less subject to interruption than she was here--near the fisherman's nets, which the receding tide was leaving every moment barer and more bare, and the posts they were fastened to more blackly uprising above the waters. Mr. Donne put his hands on her arms as they hung down before her--her hands tightly clasped together. "Ask me to let you go," said he. "I will, if you will ask me. He looked very fierce and passionate and determined. The vehemence of his action took Ruth by surprise, and the painful tightness of the grasp almost made her exclaim. But she was quite still and mute. "Ask me," said he, giving her a little shake. She did not speak. Her eyes, fixed on the distant shore, were slowly filling with tears. Suddenly a light came through the mist that obscured them, and the shut lips parted.

She saw some distant object that gave her hope. "It is Stephen Bromley," said she. "He is coming to his nets. They say he is a very desperate, violent man, but he will protect me." "You obstinate, wilful creature!" said Mr. Donne, releasing his grasp.

同类推荐
  • 建炎进退志

    建炎进退志

    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。
  • 医学三字经

    医学三字经

    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。
  • The Pool in the Desert

    The Pool in the Desert

    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。
  • 古今译经图纪续

    古今译经图纪续

    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。
  • 佛说碱水喻经

    佛说碱水喻经

    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
  • 僧袍下的皇太子

    僧袍下的皇太子

    唐天复四年。长安,中书令府。现在已经是春天了,春风挥舞着柔若无骨的手轻柔地抚摸着大地,所有尘封已久的事物,都在春风缠绵拘呼唤中复苏过来。中书令府大院中,借着重中外泄的灯光,可以清晰的看见许多花都已含苞欲放,有几枝已羞答答的露出五颜六色的脸庞来。这显然是一个充满着勃勃生机的春夜。但屋中那位仍立于深夜的灯光中的人,仍双眉紧皱,似乎去冬的寒意还紧紧的锁于他的面目间。这人年约六十,身材略瘦,但显出一副精干的样子。
  • 农家小医仙:捡个王爷来砍柴

    农家小医仙:捡个王爷来砍柴

    一朝穿越之后好不容易摆脱了傻子的身份,结果在养家糊口的路上又捡到一个傻子!家徒四壁,负债累累也就够了,这傻子还给家里添乱?不过不要紧,治病医人,发家致富,没有刘瑶摆平不了的事,调教傻子当然也不在话下,况且他人傻,长得却赏心悦目……只是很久之后她才发现,原来傻子不傻,还是个……王、王爷!?【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 诸天仙河

    诸天仙河

    九泉,孕育天地的生命源泉,一切事物的本源。黄泉,酆泉,阴泉,衙泉,幽泉,寒泉,下泉,溟泉,苦泉各司其职。其中黄泉为尊,掌生死,控阴阳!一日黄泉崩塌,九泉絮乱,纷争始尹,黄泉至宝流散人间。少年得黄泉至宝,炼九幽,化黄泉,踏上重整九泉的宿命渊源。
  • 鹤顶红之李师师(节选)

    鹤顶红之李师师(节选)

    马小盐,女,七十年代生人。文化批评家、小说家、专栏作者。大学本科生物工程,毕业后从事文学创作。2002年开始在各大杂志发表短篇小说二十余篇,2006年出版《鹤顶红》系列长篇小说。后转型文化批评,先后为凤凰网文化频道、FT中文网、搜狐文化频道、《现代快报》等网络报刊撰写专栏。谁没有过好日子?她也有过。只不过那好,是海上的花,花上的露,露上的亮色,当事人还没来得及细细地品,那好就完了。
  • 安徒生童话(下)

    安徒生童话(下)

    我的朋友告诉我:你最好跟读者们谈谈你童话的创作情况,例如你为什么会写到这个故事,这个故事在你脑子里是怎样形成的。也就是谈谈你的创作感受。这样的话,读者可能会更喜欢。 《旅途的伙伴》的创作过程本来就是一个故事。在我的诗集里,当然,我这本诗集是我最早出版的一本书。它的出版日期是在1829年冬天,准确一点是圣诞节前后,我第一个童话《妖魔》就收集在这本诗集当中。这个故事我从小就想讲给别人听,但一直没有讲好,差一点让别人把它忘记了。在前几年吧,我又把它在稿纸上复述了一遍,才稍感满意,于是改《妖魔》为《旅途的伙伴》。
  • 高拱诗选

    高拱诗选

    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。
  • 穿越到阿拉德大陆

    穿越到阿拉德大陆

    少年不知为何穿越到DNF里的阿拉德大陆上,苦恼的少年只有接受现实,努力跟随赫顿玛尔的骑士团训练,誓要成为守卫阿拉德大陆的穿越者,加入贝尔玛尔公国的第二骑士团,跟随骑士团前往赫顿马尔的西部森林“格兰之森”阻止虚祖国的武士抢夺史诗武器“天脊骨狱息”,由于没有战斗过的经验,恐惧蔓延到图毕全身,被卡赞诅咒。
  • 花儿为什么这样红:经典散文中的万物生灵

    花儿为什么这样红:经典散文中的万物生灵

    银杏、白杨礼赞、秃的梧桐、两株树、爱竹、梧桐树、杨柳、那树、说树、仙人掌、榕树的美髯……郭沫若、矛盾、周作人、丰子恺、汪曾祺、巴金、瓦·沙拉莫夫、约翰·缪尔……《花儿为什么这样红》中,古今中外的众多文学大师为你呈现大千世界中的万物生灵。《花儿为什么这样红》收录了萤、爱竹、天鹅、巨人树、冬之兽等精彩散文篇章。
  • 罗素哲学概论

    罗素哲学概论

    罗素哲学的丰富性,几乎触及人类生活的一切问题;其体系之完备涵盖了真理观、认识论、逻辑思想、伦理学、社会科学、文化教育等等。本书以凝练的语言介绍了影响人类思想进程的伟大哲学家伯特兰·罗素的哲学思想与充满激情的生命实践。全书共分六章,依次介绍了罗素哲学思想的形成与发展,逻辑原子论和实在论,罗素的道德哲学、社会哲学、文化哲学以及罗素哲学对整个人类文明的影响。本书论述了罗素哲学思想的形成、发展、理论核心及影响,行文间更彰显其“哲学应该为正义事业服务”的实践精神,对罗素哲学的各个观点做了精辟的分析研究。
  • 太初元气接要保生之论

    太初元气接要保生之论

    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。