登陆注册
5393100000116

第116章

The red-haired man, to whom Deleglise had introduced me on the day of my first meeting with the Lady of the train, was another of his most constant visitors. It flattered my vanity that the red-haired man, whose name was famous throughout Europe and America, should condescend to confide to me--as he did and at some length--the deepest secrets of his bosom. Awed--at all events at first--I would sit and listen while by the hour he would talk to me in corners, telling me of the women he had loved. They formed a somewhat large collection. Julias, Marias, Janets, even Janes--he had madly worshipped, deliriously adored so many it grew bewildering. With a far-away look in his eyes, pain trembling through each note of his musical, soft voice, he would with bitter jest, with passionate outburst, recount how he had sobbed beneath the stars for love of Isabel, bitten his own flesh in frenzied yearning for Lenore. He appeared from his own account--if in connection with a theme so poetical I may be allowed a commonplace expression--to have had no luck with any of them. Of the remainder, an appreciable percentage had been mere passing visions, seen at a distance in the dawn, at twilight--generally speaking, when the light must have been uncertain. Never again, though he had wandered in the neighbourhood for months, had he succeeded in meeting them. It would occur to me that enquiries among the neighbours, applications to the local police, might possibly have been efficacious; but to have broken in upon his exalted mood with such suggestions would have demanded more nerve than at the time I possessed. In consequence, my thoughts I kept to myself.

"My God, boy!" he would conclude, "may you never love as I loved that woman Miriam"--or Henrietta, or Irene, as the case might be.

For my sympathetic attitude towards the red-haired man I received one evening commendation from old Deleglise.

"Good boy," said old Deleglise, laying his hand on my shoulder. We were standing in the passage. We had just shaken hands with the red-haired man, who, as usual, had been the last to leave. "None of the others will listen to him. He used to stop and confide it all to me after everybody else had gone. Sometimes I have dropped asleep, to wake an hour later and find him still talking. He gets it over early now. Good boy!"

Soon I learnt it was characteristic of the artist to be willing--nay, anxious, to confide his private affairs to any one and every one who would only listen. Another characteristic appeared to be determination not to listen to anybody else's. As attentive recipient of other people's troubles and emotions I was subjected to practically no competition whatever. One gentleman, a leading actor of that day, I remember, immediately took me aside on my being introduced to him, and consulted me as to his best course of procedure under the extremely painful conditions that had lately arisen between himself and his wife. We discussed the unfortunate position at some length, and I did my best to counsel fairly and impartially.

"I wish you would lunch with me at White's to-morrow," he said. "We can talk it over quietly. Say half-past one. By the bye, I didn't catch your name."

I spelt it to him: he wrote the appointment down on his shirt-cuff.

I went to White's the next day and waited an hour, but he did not turn up. I met him three weeks later at a garden-party with his wife. But he appeared to have forgotten me.

Observing old Deleglise's guests, comparing them with their names, it surprised me the disconnection between the worker and the work.

Writers of noble sentiment, of elevated ideality, I found contained in men of commonplace appearance, of gross appetites, of conventional ideas. It seemed doubtful whether they fully comprehended their own work; certainly it had no effect upon their own lives. On the other hand, an innocent, boyish young man, who lived the most correct of lives with a girlish-looking wife in an ivy-covered cottage near Barnes Common, I discovered to be the writer of decadent stories at which the Empress Theodora might have blushed. The men whose names were widest known were not the men who shone the brightest in Deleglise's kitchen; more often they appeared the dull dogs, listening enviously, or failing pathetically when they tried to compete with others who to the public were comparatively unknown. After a time I ceased to confound the artist with the man, thought no more of judging the one by the other than of evolving a tenant from the house to which circumstances or carelessness might have directed him. Clearly they were two creations originally independent of each other, settling down into a working partnership for purposes merely of mutual accommodation; the spirit evidently indifferent as to the particular body into which he crept, anxious only for a place to work in, easily contented.

Varied were these guests that gathered round old Deleglise's oak.

Cabinet Ministers reported to be in Homburg; Russian Nihilists escaped from Siberia; Italian revolutionaries; high church dignitaries disguised in grey suitings; ex-errand boys, who had discovered that with six strokes of the pen they could set half London laughing at whom they would; raw laddies with the burr yet clinging to their tongues, but who we knew would one day have the people dancing to the music of their words. Neither wealth, nor birth, nor age, nor position counted. Was a man interesting, amusing; had he ideas and thoughts of his own? Then he was welcome. Men who had come, men who were coming, met there on equal footing. Among them, as years ago among my schoolmates, I found my place--somewhat to my dissatisfaction. I amused. Much rather would I have shocked them by the originality of my views, impressed them with the depth of my judgments. They declined to be startled, refused to be impressed; instead, they laughed. Nor from these men could I obtain sympathy in my disappointment.

同类推荐
  • 见闻录

    见闻录

    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。
  • 法华三昧行事运想补助仪

    法华三昧行事运想补助仪

    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。
  • 摄大乘论二译

    摄大乘论二译

    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。
  • LAWS

    LAWS

    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。
  • 淮海原肇禅师语录

    淮海原肇禅师语录

    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
  • 武绝天下

    武绝天下

    无尽大陆,全民皆武,武武相争,强者为尊。他,却要凭一己之力,打碎天穹,挣脱枷锁,修得武道通天,成强中最强,做人上人!大丈夫存于世,自当喝那最醇的美酒,拥那最美的女人!
  • 械异世界流浪记

    械异世界流浪记

    陆平本是一个普通的大学毕业生,失恋后的一场醉酒让他来到了一个新的世界:异能和机械的争斗世界。在这样的世界中,作为一个不属于这个世界的人,受着无形的命运推动,他能否挣脱枷锁?
  • 时光好又暖

    时光好又暖

    传统静慢京剧名伶遇上活力四射热血美少女,被追被护被偷吻,终于奉献出人生中一次恋爱!“那谈恋爱呢?在该谈情说爱的年纪里,你知道怎么喜欢一个人吗?”她趴在案头问。顾西辞愣了一下,再度停笔,抬眼望着她摇了摇头。乔遇心中一乐,像是奸计得逞一样顺着她那奇异的思路笑呵呵的说:“不然我教你好了。”顾西辞还没回答,或许是那一瞬间的凝望太过玄幻,以至于她踮起脚尖对准他因惊讶而微微张开的嘴唇不加犹豫的就亲了上去。温润柔软的触感火光电石般直击她的大脑,打得她浑身酥麻。有风从院围刮进来,她那乱麻一样的脑瞬间清晰,赶紧后退一步,转身就朝院门狂奔。顾家院中亭下的人,心中如有春风刮进。
  • 10天打造强大内心

    10天打造强大内心

    一个人的内心像一个气球,内心强大的人伸缩的范围就大,内心弱小的人伸缩的范围就小。对于同样的坎坷,内心强大者比内心弱小者更能从容淡定地去面对和处理。《10天打造强大内心》从对人内心的分析、内心强大与弱小的不同表现、内心强大的训练等方面进行了全方位的解读,指导读者塑造强大的内心。具备强大内心的人,脚下即使不是坦途,步子也一样坚定!
  • 魔王独宠呆萌妃

    魔王独宠呆萌妃

    一朝穿越,原本在现世里无依无靠的孤儿变成了王爷的庶女,本来以为能够过上好日子,却没有想到遭人计算被逐出王府,在跨出王府的那一刻,宫小暖就暗暗发誓,再见之时定是你们的忌日。他是人人都敬畏的魔王,却只独宠她一人,只倾心她一人。他深情:“即使知道是利用,我也心甘情愿。”她不屑:“我也只是个替身而已。”他说:“以后,我只为你终守一生。”她不言。历经磨难,历经风雨,她一直被伤害的内心是否可以渐渐愈合?
  • 龙阴剑

    龙阴剑

    沐阳,立志成为一个天下闻名的大混混。只做混混,不做大侠。所以后来,遇上龙阴,他成了少侠。(短篇,有生之年一定写完系列)(不定时更新)推荐自己的《天岐除妖师》,点击左下角作者名即可看到,搜不到。
  • 六迹之星河创世

    六迹之星河创世

    神石碎片用以科研,人类科技突飞猛进。神石爆炸时遗失的心核被找寻,带回地球之时遭遇争抢。世界污染,环境变革,整个世界已经大不相同。大地已变为污染的地狱。当权者身居九霄之上,平民如猪狗活在不见天日的都市中。我本一心在此肮脏的世界中求存,奈何他们,夺走了我的心脏!没关系!从墓地中重生,从乱世中崛起,你玩阴的?我有史上最强统计师大脑!你玩蛮的?半神之体,我就是王!六迹系列六迹裙.号:497662407星河创世裙.号:807300047六迹书友群,欢迎大家。
  • 我的学姐超可爱

    我的学姐超可爱

    系统不要钱,全靠打……“滴,杀死系统宿主,掉落神豪系统一个,请拾取。”“滴,杀死系统宿主,掉落修仙系统一个,请拾取。”企鹅群:我的学姐超短裙:794036695
  • 鸣镝风云录

    鸣镝风云录

    本书讲述南宋时韩佩瑛、奚玉瑾等少年英雄抗击外族和各自的感情故事。南宋末年,金国声势甚微,蒙古帝国军威大振,计划着吞金灭宋大计,激起了北五省和江南各路英雄豪杰的奋起抵抗。洛阳大侠韩大维托震远镖局总镖头孟庭护送女儿韩佩瑛到扬州谷府与自幼指腹为婚的谷啸风成婚。不料谷啸风早与好友奚玉瑾成为情投意合的恋人。奚玉瑾为阻止该宗婚事,劫了韩佩瑛至百花谷,为其疗伤,迫使其感恩而自动退出情场。事后,谷啸风亲往洛阳向世伯韩大维负荆请罪,并请求解除婚约;奚玉瑾和其兄奚玉帆也为韩佩瑛的落落大方所折服,带上可治修罗阴煞掌毒的百花药酒到韩府请罪,同时也有为奚玉帆求得韩佩瑛之意。
  • 徘徊:逃不掉的爱

    徘徊:逃不掉的爱

    她木清影一个只有美貌学习倒数的学生,拥有表哥于飞的守护,本应平静的生活,因她骑车撞了同班级的混世魔王任星辰而改变,一吻便注定了她们之间的爱情要擦起了火花,那冰冷的眼神为什么会让她心动,可是他是别人的王子,面对白马王子尚落尘的抛弃,面对哥哥于飞的不离不弃,小魔头任星辰的爱情告白,他们的徘徊到底换来的是相濡以沫,还是相忘于江湖……