登陆注册
5391500000009

第9章

Hit's jest as well ye didn't hit him,"said the old woman.'Hit air five dollars fine to kill a buzzard around hyeh.I'd never thought that little thing could shoot.""It shoots several times,"said Clayton."Hit does whut?"Like a pistol,"he explained,and,rising,he directed several shots in quick succession at a dead tree in the ploughed field.At each shot a puff of dust came almost from the same spot.

When he turned,Easter had risen to her feet in astonishment,and the mother was laughing long and loudly.

"Don't ye wish ye had a gun like that,Easter?"she cried.

Clayton turned quickly to the girl,and began explaining the mechanism of the gun to her,without appearing to notice her embarrassment,for she shrank perceptibly when he spoke to her.

"Won't you let me see your gun?"he asked.

She brought out the old flint-lock,and handed it to him almost timidly.

This is very interesting,"he said."I never saw one like it before.""Thar hain't but one more jest like that in the mountains,"said the old woman,"'n'Easter's got that.My dad made 'em both.""How would you like to trade one for mine,if you have two?"said Clayton to the girl."I'll give you all my cartridges to boot."The girl looked at her mother with hesitation.Clayton saw that both wondered what he could want with the gun,and he added:

"I'd like to have it to take home with me.It would be a great curiosity.""Well,"said the mother,"you kin hev one ef ye want hit,and think the trade's fa'r."Clayton insisted,and the trade was made.The old woman resumed spinning.The girl took her seat in the low chair,holding her new treasure in her lap,with her eyes fixed on it,and occasionally running one brown hand down its shining barrel.Clayton watched her.She had given no sign whatever that she had ever seen him before,and yet a curious change had come over her.Her imperious manner had yielded to a singular reserve and timidity.The peculiar beauty of the girl struck him now with unusual force.Her profile was remarkably regular and delicate;her mouth small,resolute,and sensitive;heavy,dark lashes shaded her downcast eyes;and her brow suggested a mentality that he felt a strong desire to test.Her feet were small,and so were her quick,nervous hands,which were still finely shaped,in spite of the hard usage that had left them brown and callous.He wondered if she was really as lovely as she seemed;if his standard might not have been affected by his long stay in the mountains;if her picturesque environment might not have influenced his judgment.He tried to imagine her daintily slippered,clad in white,with her loose hair gathered in a Psyche knot;or in evening dress,with arms and throat bare;but the pictures were difficult to make.He liked her best as she was,in perfect physical sympathy with the natural phases about her;as much a part of them as tree,plant,or flower,embodying the freedom,grace,and beauty of nature as well and as unconsciously as they.He questioned whether she hardly felt herself to be apart from them;and,of course,she as little knew her kinship to them.

She had lifted her eyes now,and had fixed them with tender thoughtfulness on the mountains.What did she see in the scene before her,he wondered:the deep valley,brilliant with early sunshine;the magnificent sweep of wooded slopes;Pine Mountain and the peak-like Narrows,where through it the river had worn its patient way;and the Cumberland Range,lying like a cloud against the horizon,and bluer and softer than the sky above it.He longed to know what her thoughts were;if in them there might be a hint of what he hoped to find.Probably she could not tell them,should he ask her,so unconscious was she of her mental life,whatever that might be.Indeed,she seemed scarcely to know of her own existence;there was about her a simplicity to which he had felt himself rise only in the presence of the spirit about some lonely mountain-top or in the heart of deep woods.Her gaze was not vacant,not listless,but the pensive look of a sensitive child,and Clayton let himself fancy that there was in it an unconscious love of the beauty before her,and of its spiritual suggestiveness a slumbering sense,perhaps easily awakened.Perhaps he might awaken it.

The drowsy hum of the spinning-wheel ceased suddenly,and his dream was shattered.He wondered how long they had sat there saying nothing,and how long the silence might continue.Easter,he believed,would never address him.Even the temporary intimacy that the barter of the gun had brought about was gone.

The girl seemed lost in unconsciousness.The mother had gone to her loom,and was humming softly to herself as she passed the shuttle to and fro.

Clayton turned for an instant to watch her,and the rude background,which he had forgotten,thrust every unwelcome detail upon his attention:

the old cabin,built of hewn logs,held together by wooden pin and augur-hole,and shingled with rough boards;the dark,windowless room;the unplastered walls;the beds with old-fashioned high posts,mattresses of straw,and cords instead of slats;the home-made chairs with straight backs,tipped with carved knobs;the mantel filled with utensils and overhung with bunches of drying herbs;a ladder with half a dozen smooth-worn steps leading to the loft;and a wide,deep fireplace-the only suggestion of cheer and comfort in the gloomy interior.

An open porch connected the single room with the kitchen.

Here,too,were suggestions of daily duties.The mother's face told a tale of hardship and toil,and there was the plough in the furrow,and the girl's calloused hands folded in her lap.With a thrill of compassion Clayton turned to her.What a pity!what a pity!

Just now her face had the peace of a child's;but when aroused,an electric fire burned from her calm eyes and showed the ardent temperament that really lay beneath.If she were quick and sympathetic-and she must be,he who could tell how rich the development possible for her?

同类推荐
  • 六十种曲双珠记

    六十种曲双珠记

    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。
  • 所欲致患经

    所欲致患经

    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。
  • 傲轩吟稿

    傲轩吟稿

    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。
  • 黄帝阴符经批注

    黄帝阴符经批注

    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。
  • 文渊阁书目

    文渊阁书目

    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
  • 幽梦家园

    幽梦家园

    源自于真实,回归于现实。故事讲述了作者一家四代,太爷,爷爷父亲到自己。从旧社会的太爷忍受挨饿去世到太奶为了养活孩子带领儿子女儿乞讨到爷爷被送人的成长历程、、、、 父亲下关外,回关里,由于家境贫困生活所迫,母亲乞讨,再到 母亲带领孩子打工历经磨难坎坷一步步走来的真实故事。 该故事刻画了社会和人性的诠变
  • 不生气 不抱怨 不折腾大全集(超值金版)

    不生气 不抱怨 不折腾大全集(超值金版)

    心若改变,你的态度跟着改变;态度改变,你的习惯跟着改变;习惯改变,你的性格跟着改变;性格改变,你的人生跟着改变。在顺境中感恩,在逆境中依旧心存喜乐。控制怒气,不再抱怨,停止折腾,认真、快乐地生活,怀大爱心,做小事情,就能达到理想的处世境界。本书立足于不生气、不抱怨、不折腾三个主题,用故事和哲理告诉读者:生气伤人伤己,抱怨天怒人厌,折腾耗时耗力。掌握了这“三不”处世智慧,你的人生就会变得很精彩!
  • 总裁强上小娇妻

    总裁强上小娇妻

    清晨,一个穿着粉红蓬蓬裙的小公主,孤独地坐在小区的长凳上发神。她的肌肤晶莹剔透如一个瓷娃娃一般。浓密卷曲的睫毛像扑闪着的小扇子。一个英俊的15岁左右的美少年经过这里,被这个可爱小妹妹吸引了。“小妹妹,你怎么了,有什么事哥哥可以帮到你吗?”小女孩抬起头看向小男孩:“哥哥,爸爸妈妈很忙,都没有时间陪小米,小米好无聊啊。”说着眉毛不禁皱了起来。小少年好心疼小女孩的忧郁,伸手抚平她紧皱的眉头:“哥哥陪你玩……
  • 改变你的性格弱点

    改变你的性格弱点

    性格决定一个人的成败得失、前途命运。不论顺境与逆境,优良性格都能使人坦然地面对困难,从而不懈努力,取得成功;不良性格会让人处处碰壁,受尽挫折,甚至在关键时刻成为成功的巨大阻力,造成悲剧性的结局。要想改变命运,一定要先改变性格。张易山编著的《改变你的性格弱点》以此为基点,用对比的方式阐述了宽容、谦逊、机敏、果断、沉稳、谨慎、坚韧、自信、大胆等性格对改变个人命运的益处。当阅读完本书后,相信您能够对自身的性格了解得更加清晰透彻,从而有目的地弥补性格缺陷,进而掌控自己的命运。
  • 四川当代作家研究:王火卷

    四川当代作家研究:王火卷

    王火老友的长篇巨著,三卷本,一百六十多万字的小说《战争和人》终于出齐了。当我拿到最后一卷《枫叶荻花秋瑟瑟》时,心中有些酸楚,喉头有些哽咽,我被他的顽强所感动,为他的得胜而欣慰,也为四川文坛有这样一位道德、文章都令人敬佩的作家而高兴。
  • 总裁的狐妖新娘

    总裁的狐妖新娘

    一场逃婚,一场谋杀,放出了囚禁百年的狐妖。而红鸢就刚好附身在这个席家二少未婚妻的身体里。天啊,她是来找百年前的老相好的。怎么被比她还禽兽的男人席霈楷逼着嫁给自己弟弟,而这男人还是席氏集团的总裁,手段毒辣的连她这个狐狸精都怕。那个阴狠的男人,等着吧,看我找到了我的夫君怎么替我做主。而自己千辛万苦找到的人,却另娶他人。还有比他还命苦的狐狸吗?对自己温柔至极的席家二少又让她这只狐狸又爱又恨。
  • 改变自己沟通上的弱点

    改变自己沟通上的弱点

    你是否意识到自己常常因为不善于沟通而使本应该做好的事情做砸?你是否意识到自己在沟通上存在弱点?如果存在这些意识,你不应该悲伤,而应该高兴,因为你已经认识到了自己在沟通上存在不足之处,所缺少的只是具体了解自己沟通上的弱点、相应的克服办法以及具体的行动。本书是为帮助读者改变自己沟通上的弱点而编写的。
  • 奇案之神探少女

    奇案之神探少女

    发生了一起骇人听闻的谋杀案。警方就此案进行讨论的时候,一个女学生,异常突兀的走进了会议室,推翻了孙策的案情分析,推测出凶手的杀人方式,而她,竟然是警队对队长唐宇堂,多年之前的好友,也是唐宇堂一直依赖的推理天才,贝柯漠。只是,当他们深入调查,人们才发现,这个案子,比他们一开始想的,都要复杂。而这个案子,对于贝柯漠来说,不过是重新发现,人类隐藏在,光芒之下的阴暗面的开始.................
  • 世界上最美的小说

    世界上最美的小说

    本书经过反复筛选,从世界最美小说里精选了最具有代表性的小说。以飨读者。那么,就让我们在风和日丽,或者斜风细雨的午后,捧一杯香茗,品味自然,品味生活,和心灵交流,与经典同行,感受最原始的欣喜与悸动吧!
  • 赵云现世录

    赵云现世录

    赵云,字子龙,常山真定人氏,三国时期着名的将领,平生经历了大大小小数百次战役,从未战败,被世人谓之为常胜不败,只是,在蜀汉刚刚立国三年,这位却突然的人间蒸发了,让世人再也没有见过其面,蜀汉皇帝刘备对此深表遗憾,曾令义弟关羽,张飞多次寻找,却毫无结果,最后无奈之下,选择了放弃,封其为顺平侯。那么,这位到底是去了何处呢?新书,一切从头来过,求推荐,求收藏,不会TJ,请放心。