登陆注册
15293100000009

第9章

Art was their great subject, and I am afraid they found me pretty heavy going. It was their fashion never to admire anything that was obviously beautiful, like a sunset or a pretty woman, but to find surprising loveliness in things which I thought hideous.

Also they talked a language that was beyond me. This kind of conversation used to happen. - miss WEEKES: 'Don't you admire Ursula jimson?' SELF: 'Rather!' miss w.: 'She is so John-esque in her lines.' SELF: 'Exactly!' miss w.: 'And Tancred, too - he is so full of nuances.' SELF: 'Rather!' miss w.: 'He suggests one of Degousse's countrymen.' SELF: 'Exactly!'

They hadn't much use for books, except some Russian ones, and I acquired merit in their eyes for having read Leprous Souls. If you talked to them about that divine countryside, you found they didn't give a rap for it and had never been a mile beyond the village.

But they admired greatly the sombre effect of a train going into Marylebone station on a rainy day.

But it was the men who interested me most. Aronson, the novelist, proved on acquaintance the worst kind of blighter. He considered himself a genius whom it was the duty of the country to support, and he sponged on his wretched relatives and anyone who would lend him money. He was always babbling about his sins, and pretty squalid they were. I should like to have flung him among a few good old-fashioned full-blooded sinners of my acquaintance;they would have scared him considerably. He told me that he sought 'reality' and 'life' and 'truth', but it was hard to see how he could know much about them, for he spent half the day in bed smoking cheap cigarettes, and the rest sunning himself in the admiration of half-witted girls. The creature was tuberculous in mind and body, and the only novel of his I read, pretty well turned my stomach. Mr Aronson's strong point was jokes about the war. If he heard of any acquaintance who had joined up or was even doing war work his merriment knew no bounds. My fingers used to itch to box the little wretch's ears.

Letchford was a different pair of shoes. He was some kind of a man, to begin with, and had an excellent brain and the worst manners conceivable. He contradicted everything you said, and looked out for an argument as other people look for their dinner.

He was a double-engined, high-speed pacificist, because he was the kind of cantankerous fellow who must always be in a minority. if Britain had stood out of the war he would have been a raving militarist, but since she was in it he had got to find reasons why she was wrong. And jolly good reasons they were, too. I couldn't have met his arguments if I had wanted to, so I sat docilely at his feet.

The world was all crooked for Letchford, and God had created him with two left hands. But the fellow had merits. He had a couple of jolly children whom he adored, and he would walk miles with me on a Sunday, and spout poetry about the beauty and greatness of England. He was forty-five; if he had been thirty and in my battalion I could have made a soldier out of him.

There were dozens more whose names I have forgotten, but they had one common characteristic. They were puffed up with spiritual pride, and I used to amuse myself with finding their originals in the _Pilgrim's _Progress. When I tried to judge them by the standard of old Peter, they fell woefully short. They shut out the war from their lives, some out of funk, some out of pure levity of mind, and some because they were really convinced that the thing was all wrong. I think I grew rather popular in my role of the seeker after truth, the honest colonial who was against the war by instinct and was looking for instruction in the matter. They regarded me as a convert from an alien world of action which they secretly dreaded, though they affected to despise it. Anyhow they talked to me very freely, and before long I had all the pacifist arguments by heart. Imade out that there were three schools. One objected to war altogether, and this had few adherents except Aronson and Weekes, C.O., now languishing in Dartmoor. The second thought that the Allies' cause was tainted, and that Britain had contributed as much as Germany to the catastrophe. This included all the adherents of the L.D.A. - or League of Democrats against Aggression - a very proud body. The third and much the largest, which embraced everybody else, held that we had fought long enough and that the business could now be settled by negotiation, since Germany had learned her lesson. I was myself a modest member of the last school, but I was gradually working my way up to the second, and I hoped with luck to qualify for the first. My acquaintances approved my progress. Letchford said I had a core of fanaticism in my slow nature, and that I would end by waving the red flag.

同类推荐
  • 李氏家谱字派

    李氏家谱字派

    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。
  • 佛说四人出现世间经

    佛说四人出现世间经

    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。
  • 深雪偶谈

    深雪偶谈

    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。
  • STALKY & CO.

    STALKY & CO.

    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。
  • 救命书

    救命书

    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。
热门推荐
  • 青龙大煞

    青龙大煞

    生死之间,善恶一念。群魔乱舞中,心之所向的,是正是邪?是道是魔?天地无常,人情冷暖。炎凉世态下,不屈挣扎着,个人与命运的抗争!
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 气炼九方

    气炼九方

    农村少年一步一脚印,走上逆天之路!挡我者!死!一剑在手笑看浮沉。“我说过,他不是我父亲,我不会认,管他是大帝,还是天帝,我只知道他抛弃了我娘就不再是我爹”“奚落啊,我在奈何桥等你,我不愿轮回,此生只想嫁给你”
  • 《竹之物语》

    《竹之物语》

    他是一棵草,随波逐流,随风摇曳,任人踩踏,却绝不低头,狂风知劲草,即便漫雪封山,万物沉寂。当春风吹来时,依旧熠绿盎然,辉映九天。他是一根竹,狂风呼啸,密雨顷降,弯腰匍匐,却绝不折断,春夏交替,青黄相接,孤独凋零,绝不消逝,终有一朝,参天万丈,直破九霄。
  • 魔君追妻:我来收拾你

    魔君追妻:我来收拾你

    乔离歌作为一个上得了厅堂下得了厨房的超能力者收人委托穿越到了异世界,为了完成委托人所指定的任务,乔离歌踏上了苦寻魔君抢走帝君的世珍玉杯之行。谁知在这个异世界里面,在每个人都修炼的路上,独乔离歌一人突兀,没有任何修炼等级,被人看扁被人坑被人鄙视甚至被人欺负。但是真人不露相,她真正的实力哪是那样容易就展露。看魔君,妖王,神王管你三七二十一,接招吧。
  • 青少年应该知道的礼仪文化(阅读中华国粹)

    青少年应该知道的礼仪文化(阅读中华国粹)

    阅读中华国粹系列是一部记录中华国粹经典、普及中华文明的读物,又是一部兼具严肃性和权威性的中华文化典藏之作,可以说是学术性与普及性结合。丛书囊括古今,泛揽百科,不仅有相当的学术资料含量,而且有吸引入的艺术创作风味,是中华传统文化的经典之作。本书分为礼仪文化概述;人生礼仪;日常礼仪;学校礼仪;社交礼仪五章,主要内容包括:礼仪文化的起源与发展、礼仪文化的类别与性能等。
  • 凤栖凰鸣录

    凤栖凰鸣录

    重温经典武侠系列作品。凤与凰的邂逅,只等一次涅槃,换来一世盛放。
  • 前世今生之续情终有日

    前世今生之续情终有日

    前世,我是蛇灵的杀手,你是朝中的将军,你是我生命中唯一的阳光。因为国仇,我们无法携手,最后共入续情崖。今世,我是单纯任性的大家小姐,你是睿智潇洒的江湖侠士,因为家恨,你我再次分离!没有你的日子里,我发誓要拼命长大,终有一日我会蜕化成蝶,那时,我俩能否再续前缘,共同携手江湖?本文虽借用了电视剧《神探狄仁杰》和《武林外史》里的人物与关系,但它不是单纯的同人文,它是一个全新的故事,与原剧有关联,但又关系不大,希望大家能把它当一个全新的故事来看,欢迎大家一起讨论剧情,谢谢大家!
  • 诛情神魔

    诛情神魔

    在娑根山呆了万儿八千年顶顶闲着没事干的羲和媂君被拐着骗着推下了凡,莫名其妙的做了凡间修仙院天道府的法术师父,从此缓缓挑起了那根名曰宿命的弦……一根深系魂魄的红线印劫,一场隐而未发的夙世情缘,一段神族与魔族之间打了万儿八千年不死不休的战争史……我抚过他的眉眼,自私的想,若是就此抽掉他的记忆,是否就能在他的臂弯里幸福一辈子……
  • 离年之笙

    离年之笙

    那年的他们,满脸纯真的站在雪地上,迎着雪花,笑着打闹。可终究抵不过时间的流逝,从他把她独自留在雪地里承受着那冰冷的温度时,那颗爱楚司年心早已随着雪花飘走。再次见面,她对他如同陌生人,伤害折磨着对方,乔笙离依旧记得楚司年沙哑着嗓子问我“我们..真的回不去了吗?”她哽咽着,不想楚司年再看到这样脆弱的她,她听见自己冷冽的回答“始于雪,终于雪,乔笙离不再喜欢雪了,正如我不再喜欢你了”他们的纠缠开始了,结局是喜是悲?