登陆注册
14727400000061

第61章

She led me through a long corridor to a room where two pillars held lamps in the shape of torches. The place was dark but for their glow, and it was as warm as a hothouse from invisible stoves. I felt soft carpets underfoot, and on the walls hung some tapestry or rug of an amazingly intricate geometrical pattern, but with every strand as rich as jewels. There, between the pillars, she turned and faced me. Her furs were thrown back, and the black mantilla had slipped down to her shoulders.

'I have heard of you,' she said. 'You are called Richard Hanau, the American. Why have you come to this land?'

'To have a share in the campaign,' I said. 'I'm an engineer, and Ithought I could help out with some business like Mesopotamia.'

'You are on Germany's side?' she asked.

'Why, yes,' I replied. 'We Americans are supposed to be nootrals, and that means we're free to choose any side we fancy. I'm for the Kaiser.'

Her cool eyes searched me, but not in suspicion. I could see she wasn't troubling with the question whether I was speaking the truth. She was sizing me up as a man. I cannot describe that calm appraising look. There was no sex in it, nothing even of that implicit sympathy with which one human being explores the existence of another. I was a chattel, a thing infinitely removed from intimacy. Even so I have myself looked at a horse which I thought of buying, scanning his shoulders and hocks and paces. Even so must the old lords of Constantinople have looked at the slaves which the chances of war brought to their markets, assessing their usefulness for some task or other with no thought of a humanity common to purchased and purchaser. And yet - not quite. This woman's eyes were weighing me, not for any special duty, but for my essential qualities. I felt that I was under the scrutiny of one who was a connoisseur in human nature.

I see I have written that I knew nothing about women. But every man has in his bones a consciousness of sex. I was shy and perturbed, but horribly fascinated. This slim woman, poised exquisitely like some statue between the pillared lights, with her fair cloud of hair, her long delicate face, and her pale bright eyes, had the glamour of a wild dream. I hated her instinctively, hated her intensely, but I longed to arouse her interest. To be valued coldly by those eyes was an offence to my manhood, and I felt antagonism rising within me. I am a strong fellow, well set up, and rather above the average height, and my irritation stiffened me from heel to crown. I flung my head back and gave her cool glance for cool glance, pride against pride.

Once, I remember, a doctor on board ship who dabbled in hypnotism told me that I was the most unsympathetic person he had ever struck. He said I was about as good a mesmeric subject as Table Mountain. Suddenly I began to realize that this woman was trying to cast some spell over me. The eyes grew large and luminous, and I was conscious for just an instant of some will battling to subject mine. I was aware, too, in the same moment of a strange scent which recalled that wild hour in Kuprasso's garden-house. It passed quickly, and for a second her eyes drooped. I seemed to read in them failure, and yet a kind of satisfaction, too, as if they had found more in me than they expected.

'What life have you led?' the soft voice was saying.

I was able to answer quite naturally, rather to my surprise. 'Ihave been a mining engineer up and down the world.'

'You have faced danger many times?'

'I have faced danger.'

'You have fought with men in battles?'

'I have fought in battles.'

Her bosom rose and fell in a kind of sigh. A smile - a very beautiful thing - flitted over her face. She gave me her hand.

'The horses are at the door now,' she said, 'and your servant is with them. One of my people will guide you to the city.'

She turned away and passed out of the circle of light into the darkness beyond ...

Peter and I jogged home in the rain with one of Sandy's skin-clad Companions loping at our side. We did not speak a word, for my thoughts were running like hounds on the track of the past hours. I had seen the mysterious Hilda von Einem, I had spoken to her, I had held her hand. She had insulted me with the subtlest of insults and yet I was not angry. Suddenly the game I was playing became invested with a tremendous solemnity. My old antagonists, Stumm and Rasta and the whole German Empire, seemed to shrink into the background, leaving only the slim woman with her inscrutable smile and devouring eyes. 'Mad and bad,' Blenkiron had called her, 'but principally bad.' I did not think they were the proper terms, for they belonged to the narrow world of our common experience. This was something beyond and above it, as a cyclone or an earthquake is outside the decent routine of nature. Mad and bad she might be, but she was also great.

Before we arrived our guide had plucked my knee and spoken some words which he had obviously got by heart. 'The Master says,' ran the message, 'expect him at midnight.'

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 儿童好奇心大百科

    儿童好奇心大百科

    《儿童好奇心大百科》这本书内容丰富,分四个部分,涵盖了动物、人体、自然、生活等多方面的科普知识。这些知识恰恰是少年儿童在日常生活中问及频率最高、最渴望获得的。这本书绘制了大量的图画来展示和解答科学知识,摆脱了以往此类书籍“板着脸说教”的窠臼,可谓形象直观、别出心裁,充分照顾了少年儿童的接受能力和认知水平,既能帮助少年儿童增长知识、开阔视野,又有助于提高他们的科学素养。
  • 蜜恋无限:恶魔,碗里来

    蜜恋无限:恶魔,碗里来

    【新手上路,欢迎入坑*^_^*】安伊九自认为自己不是沉鱼落雁,起码也闭月羞花;不是相貌堂堂,起码也一表人才;不是琴棋书画样样全,起码也能文能武会撩妹。竟被人称为“受”,纳尼!?不可以,“我要当攻!”“你说什么?”恶魔欺身而上。安伊九吞口唾沫,“我说......我要...”当攻。“好,给你。”
  • 御龙行

    御龙行

    御龙之术,炼灵之法,东方传人,一代奇才。行走九州,游历六界,广结豪侠,谱写情仇。
  • 骰子安红豆

    骰子安红豆

    这场百合之恋,这场缠绵悱恻的爱情故事也许你也曾经经历。这是她们的青春是她们的离别也许还是是挥手不再见的一生。池巷在秦至离开以后逐渐走出回忆的拉扯,却遇见了那个愿意用十七岁的炽热注视她的顾天戈。措不及防的怀抱是否能融化她沉寂的心?如果心里住着一个人是否还会有别人再走进心间?重新伸出的手池巷会不会抓住?那个一直都在的易子番,最后何去何从?这场感情的漩涡最终会归向何处?
  • 煮酒论仙

    煮酒论仙

    英雄,是一种为了所谓荣耀,谄媚猩血的,白痴生物。地狱,是一块为了所谓审判,沉溺虐杀的,极乐净土。传说,是一段为了所谓颂唱,放肆宣扬的,荒诞故事。青梅煮酒,谈尸论仙,为了这场吞食的盛宴,我已烹饪好了糜烂的公主,你,来么?
  • 追梦情话

    追梦情话

    你就是我的唯一,mygirlmysunshine,at宋BB,要写给你的情书,有很多,这只是其中的一些,写的不好希望你不要建议,真情实感,希望你能够喜欢!——永远爱你的王TT
  • 阳谋至圣

    阳谋至圣

    没错,这是一个金手指。现实生活中,比尔盖茨靠着它成为世界首富,奥巴马靠着它踏上总统宝座,世界五百强公司高层全部时时刻刻注重着它,地球上无数精英为着它趋之若鹜……而本书的主角,赵易,将它作为自己最大的倚仗纵横异界!它是什么?聪明的你们从书中一定可以发现到。本书独创一格,如果你是想要看到千篇一律的套路文,也许书库里千千万万本的换汤不换药的书会更适合你。但是如果你是想要在繁忙的生活空隙,能读到一本深入你心扉的书,让你笑得开心,爽得想流泪,和主角共同成长,畅游异界,那么本书绝对是你最佳的选择,没有任何一本可以代替
  • 背叛:离婚女人

    背叛:离婚女人

    这是一部沾满女人血和泪的小说:离婚后,我终于从“家”里滚了出来,滚得有些落魄。不过许多年之后,我真感谢老公罗峻给了我一次滚的机会,如果那天我没有从“家”里滚了出来没有同他离婚,那么我可能永远不会明白什么叫真正的故事什么又叫真正的生活真正的爱。我从家里滚了出来,重新滚进了社会滚进了人群滚进了一波又一波的热浪一股又一股的寒流。为了生活,我努力我拼搏我挣扎我感受。我有了一个全新的世界,这个世界里有爱有恨有真有假有快乐也有无奈有欢笑也有泪水。不过,当所有的所有最终得以沉淀的时候,我感觉它们都很美,因为是这真切的生活成就了我让我得以升华。
  • 君满梨花天下后

    君满梨花天下后

    红衣出嫁,白衣归。因梨花而结,因梨花而分。
  • 中国人自画像

    中国人自画像

    本书介绍了关于中国之家庭、宗教与哲学、婚姻、离婚、妇女、书面语言等方面的中国传统文化。