登陆注册
5697600000011

第11章 ACT II(3)

KEEGAN.When I went to those great cities I saw wonders I had never seen in Ireland.But when I came back to Ireland I found all the wonders there waiting for me.You see they had been there all the time;but my eyes had never been opened to them.I did not know what my own house was like,because I had never been outside it.

NORA.D'ye think that's the same with everybody?

KEEGAN.With everybody who has eyes in his soul as well as in his head.

NORA.But really and truly now,weren't the people rather disappointing?I should think the girls must have seemed rather coarse and dowdy after the foreign princesses and people?But Isuppose a priest wouldn't notice that.

KEEGAN.It's a priest's business to notice everything.I won't tell you all I noticed about women;but I'll tell you this.The more a man knows,and the farther he travels,the more likely he is to marry a country girl afterwards.

NORA [blushing with delight].You're joking,Mr Keegan:I'm sure yar.

KEEGAN.My way of joking is to tell the truth.It's the funniest joke in the world.

NORA [incredulous].Galong with you!

KEEGAN [springing up actively].Shall we go down to the road and meet the car?[She gives him her hand and he helps her up].Patsy Farrell told me you were expecting young Doyle.

NORA [tossing her chin up at once].Oh,I'm not expecting him particularly.It's a wonder he's come back at all.After staying away eighteen years he can harly expect us to be very anxious to see him,can he now?

KEEGAN.Well,not anxious perhaps;but you will be curious to see how much he has changed in all these years.

NORA [with a sudden bitter flush].I suppose that's all that brings him back to look at us,just to see how much WE'VEchanged.Well,he can wait and see me be candlelight:I didn't come out to meet him:I'm going to walk to the Round Tower [going west across the hill].

KEEGAN.You couldn't do better this fine evening.[Gravely]I'll tell him where you've gone.[She turns as if to forbid him;but the deep understanding in his eyes makes that impossible;and she only looks at him earnestly and goes.He watches her disappear on the other side of the hill;then says]Aye,he's come to torment you;and you're driven already to torment him.[He shakes his head,and goes slowly away across the hill in the opposite direction,lost in thought].

By this time the car has arrived,and dropped three of its passengers on the high road at the foot of the hill.It is a monster jaunting car,black and dilapidated,one of the last survivors of the public vehicles known to earlier generations as Beeyankiny cars,the Irish having laid violent tongues on the name of their projector,one Bianconi,an enterprising Italian.

The three passengers are the parish priest,Father Dempsey;Cornelius Doyle,Larry's father;and Broadbent,all in overcoats and as stiff as only an Irish car could make them.

The priest,stout and fatherly,falls far short of that finest type of countryside pastor which represents the genius of priesthood;but he is equally far above the base type in which a strongminded and unscrupulous peasant uses the Church to extort money,power,and privilege.He is a priest neither by vocation nor ambition,but because the life suits him.He has boundless authority over his flock,and taxes them stiffly enough to be a rich man.The old Protestant ascendency is now too broken to gall him.On the whole,an easygoing,amiable,even modest man as long as his dues are paid and his authority and dignity fully admitted.

Cornelius Doyle is an elder of the small wiry type,with a hardskinned,rather worried face,clean shaven except for sandy whiskers blanching into a lustreless pale yellow and quite white at the roots.His dress is that of a country-town titan of business:that is,an oldish shooting suit,and elastic sided boots quite unconnected with shooting.Feeling shy with Broadbent,he is hasty,which is his way of trying to appear genial.

Broadbent,for reasons which will appear later,has no luggage except a field glass and a guide book.The other two have left theirs to the unfortunate Patsy Farrell,who struggles up the hill after them,loaded with a sack of potatoes,a hamper,a fat goose,a colossal salmon,and several paper parcels.

Cornelius leads the way up the hill,with Broadbent at his heels.

The priest follows;and Patsy lags laboriously behind.

CORNELIUS.This is a bit of a climb,Mr.Broadbent;but it's shorter than goin round be the road.

BROADBENT [stopping to examine the great stone].Just a moment,Mr Doyle:I want to look at this stone.It must be Finian's die-cast.

CORNELIUS [in blank bewilderment].Hwat?

BROADBENT.Murray describes it.One of your great national heroes--I can't pronounce the name--Finian Somebody,I think.

FATHER DEMPSEY [also perplexed,and rather scandalized].Is it Fin McCool you mean?

BROADBENT.I daresay it is.[Referring to the guide book].

Murray says that a huge stone,probably of Druidic origin,is still pointed out as the die cast by Fin in his celebrated match with the devil.

CORNELIUS [dubiously].Jeuce a word I ever heard of it!

FATHER DEMPSEY [very seriously indeed,and even a little severely].Don't believe any such nonsense,sir.There never was any such thing.When people talk to you about Fin McCool and the like,take no notice of them.It's all idle stories and superstition.

BROADBENT [somewhat indignantly;for to be rebuked by an Irish priest for superstition is more than he can stand].You don't suppose I believe it,do you?

FATHER DEMPSEY.Oh,I thought you did.D'ye see the top o the Roun Tower there?That's an antiquity worth lookin at.

BROADBENT [deeply interested].Have you any theory as to what the Round Towers were for?

FATHER DEMPSEY [a little offended].A theory?Me![Theories are connected in his mind with the late Professor Tyndall,and with scientific scepticism generally:also perhaps with the view that the Round Towers are phallic symbols].

同类推荐
  • 海角续编

    海角续编

    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。
  • 刘河间伤寒医鉴

    刘河间伤寒医鉴

    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。
  • 句曲外史集

    句曲外史集

    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。
  • 湘妃

    湘妃

    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。
  • 太上玄一真人说妙通转神入定经

    太上玄一真人说妙通转神入定经

    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
  • 行走在诸天科幻

    行走在诸天科幻

    以科技证道,走科幻之路,科技类型的异能一念天崩地裂,科技类型的基因工程,一剑斩裂星辰,科技类型的降维攻击,一击降维宇宙,怼上仙侠会怎样……,预知下回分解,敬请期待更新吧!
  • 一路童行:想带你去看看这世界

    一路童行:想带你去看看这世界

    这是一位职场遭遇挫折的父亲,送给妻子、女儿和自己的礼物——这一趟,意外的美洲之旅。三个月的旅途中,他们一路星光明月,一路高山坦途,走过巨杉、优胜美地、火山、黄石、红土世界,畅游洛杉矶与拉斯维加斯,并以此作为女儿阿朵三岁生日的礼物;然后,他们以更大的勇气,开始了在墨西哥的探索之旅,寻找失落文明,拥抱雨林,握手危地马拉……对于他们,这不仅仅只是一趟旅程。阿朵说:“明天,我们要去哪儿?”
  • 1分钟读懂人性的弱点

    1分钟读懂人性的弱点

    戴尔·卡耐基,美国著名成人教育家。他运用心理学知识,对人类共有的心理特点进行探索和分析,开创和发展了一种融演讲、推销、为人处世、智力开发为一体的独特的成人教育方式。《1分钟读懂人性的弱点(戴尔·卡耐基传世经典)》在《人性的弱点》每一章、每一节的开篇部分,增设了导读文字,希望能提供给读者一套实用而全面的励志读物,让戴尔·卡耐基的《1分钟读懂人性的弱点(戴尔·卡耐基传世经典)》继续作为励志经典,指引我们前进。
  • 红绳错:倾国公主

    红绳错:倾国公主

    第156和157是重复的,网页一时跳不开,点了两下,亲不要订阅了。向大家道歉……
  • 子午流注针经

    子午流注针经

    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。
  • 偏执老公,请离婚!

    偏执老公,请离婚!

    苏画如愿嫁给了陆离,至此却从天堂跌落无间地狱。苏画:既然不爱,那就请离婚!陆离:这辈子我不放手,你便休想逃离!世界上最遥远的距离是——我爱你,你却恨我。拼了命的报复和伤害,可到头来,陆离却恍然得知,原来从一开始,他便错了。眼睁睁的看着苏画笑靥如花的挽着另一个男人的手臂,眉眼里浸满了笑,他醋意横生,“苏画,你真当我陆离死了么?怀着我的孩子,却和别的男人卿卿我我!”苏画甩开他的手,不置可否,“不好意思,陆先生,我们已经离婚了!”情不知何所起,一往而情深。恨不知何所终,一笑而泯。一场婚姻,苏画懂了——爱过错过,都是经过。而陆离却后知后觉的发现——眼前人便是心上人。
  • 侠骨仙魂

    侠骨仙魂

    铮铮侠骨,悠悠仙魂;仙道求索谁与共,仗剑天涯风与尘。
  • 王妃是大厨

    王妃是大厨

    此文已加入五折特价书计划,全文看完不到三块钱哦!梧桐开新文啰,《太后要“出”墙》两小无猜却因差阳错成为第三者,心有不甘越过时空奔君而来虽是明媒正娶的王妃,却受尽冷落凭借高超厨艺拴住他的胃,得到他的心才发现,天意弄人,情敌竟然是故人进退两难爱情注定要有所伤害吗一定要有人牺牲吗不如归去,不如归去,决绝转身问苍天:哪一世才能修得正果爱情并没有先来后到,爱与不爱岂是用嘴说了就算善意的退让使爱成为双刃剑,受伤的岂只有她第一卷宿命预告“你不想娶我不想嫁,现在就给我休书吧,咱们两清。”新婚第三天,她就罢工。“早知道会这样,你干嘛非要嫁给我啊!害人害已。”他恼怒,任由小妾欺负她。以为一切都在掌控之中,却在接触中慢慢脱离了轨道时,她又说:原来都是故人。。。。。。你要好好待她,千万不要负了她啊。。。。。。于是狠心纳妾,却引狼入室,终成大错!悔不当初,却已没了她的影子第二卷美丽的南国预告本想逃离一切牵绊后,从此青灯古佛相伴,不想却成了战争的俘虏抚额哀叹:我怎么这么命苦啊!想不命苦?那要看你的表现啰!他邪邪地笑着,眼前这个小女人可比那个和亲公主有趣多了作为南国未来的皇帝,这是他该有的表现吗?刘嫣苦恼地看着他,他看起来比芮琨难对付多了或许还是留在沄国比较好!只是此生,大概没机会回去了“你必须嫁给他!如果不嫁,那就只好一辈子做的御用厨娘了!”“对不起,我不能……”刘嫣凄凉而又坚决。芮琨在她的身后重重地倒下,唇角轻扬,血迹洒在芳草地上,如同盛开的红花黎成看着视死如归的她,有一刹那的恍惚,喃喃道:“怪不得他对你如此倾心……”桐初次尝试,请大家多多支持啊,桐在此谢谢大家了!推荐全新现代总裁文《冷酷总裁契约妻》
  • 我的绝色总裁老婆

    我的绝色总裁老婆

    【本书又名《神起地球》】没有人知道他从哪里来,但是见过他真面目的对他只有一个评价,那就是和魔鬼签订过契约的人。外人都称呼他为魔王,可是他自己却知道,他内心多么渴望一份宁静。接受了契约婚礼,奈何老婆冷如冰山,看一个非洲战场上的王,如何在不和谐的家庭里面左右逢源……书友①群:6670230(接近满员)书友②群:4664808(大量空位)
  • 位面之穿梭系统

    位面之穿梭系统

    新书《诸天之剑豪》已上传,请大家移步点击收藏。“系统,这是福利任务!?我差点死了知道吗?”季末嘴角抽搐着。“如果宿主连这么简单的任务都完不成的话,只能证明你没潜力,那么,死了就死了,世界上那么多人,你死了,再重新找一个宿主就是。”好吧,系统果然很系统。“咦,这个任务很简单啊,系统你还是有点人性的嘛!”“等等,我收回我刚刚说的话!”看着系统颁布的任务,季末神情淡定的捡起刚刚夸系统的话,吞回到了肚子里……这是季末在各个电影,动漫位面穿梭,拥有别样人生的精彩故事!