登陆注册
14727400000063

第63章

he observed, 'to keep the air good.' Then he opened the door.

A magnificent kavass in blue and silver stood outside. He saluted and proffered a card on which was written in pencil, 'Hilda von Einem'.

I would have begged for time to change my clothes, but the lady was behind him. I saw the black mantilla and the rich sable furs.

Peter vanished through my bedroom and I was left to receive my guest in a room littered with broken glass and a senseless man in the cupboard.

There are some situations so crazily extravagant that they key up the spirit to meet them. I was almost laughing when that stately lady stepped over my threshold.

'Madam,' I said, with a bow that shamed my old dressing-gown and strident pyjamas. 'You find me at a disadvantage. I came home soaking from my ride, and was in the act of changing. My servant has just upset a tray of crockery, and I fear this room's no fit place for a lady. Allow me three minutes to make myself presentable.'

She inclined her head gravely and took a seat by the fire. I went into my bedroom, and as I expected found Peter lurking by the other door. In a hectic sentence I bade him get Rasta's orderly out of the place on any pretext, and tell him his master would return later. Then I hurried into decent garments, and came out to find my visitor in a brown study.

At the sound of my entrance she started from her dream and stood up on the hearthrug, slipping the long robe of fur from her slim body.

'We are alone?' she said. 'We will not be disturbed?'

Then an inspiration came to me. I remembered that Frau von Einem, according to Blenkiron, did not see eye to eye with the Young Turks; and I had a queer instinct that Rasta could not be to her liking. So I spoke the truth.

'I must tell you that there's another guest here tonight. I reckon he's feeling pretty uncomfortable. At present he's trussed up on a shelf in that cupboard.'

She did not trouble to look round.

'Is he dead?' she asked calmly.

'By no means,' I said, 'but he's fixed so he can't speak, and Iguess he can't hear much.'

'He was the man who brought you this?' she asked, pointing to the envelope on the table which bore the big blue stamp of the Ministry of War.

'The same,' I said. 'I'm not perfectly sure of his name, but Ithink they call him Rasta.'

Not a flicker of a smile crossed her face, but I had a feeling that the news pleased her.

'Did he thwart you?' she asked.

'Why, yes. He thwarted me some. His head is a bit swelled, and an hour or two on the shelf will do him good.'

'He is a powerful man,' she said, 'a jackal of Enver's. You have made a dangerous enemy.'

'I don't value him at two cents,' said I, though I thought grimly that as far as I could see the value of him was likely to be about the price of my neck.

'Perhaps you are right,' she said with serious eyes. 'In these days no enemy is dangerous to a bold man. I have come tonight, Mr Hanau, to talk business with you, as they say in your country. Ihave heard well of you, and today I have seen you. I may have need of you, and you assuredly will have need of me. ...'

She broke off, and again her strange potent eyes fell on my face.

They were like a burning searchlight which showed up every cranny and crack of the soul. I felt it was going to be horribly difficult to act a part under that compelling gaze. She could not mesmerize me, but she could strip me of my fancy dress and set me naked in the masquerade.

'What came you forth to seek?' she asked. 'You are not like the stout American Blenkiron, a lover of shoddy power and a devotee of a feeble science. There is something more than that in your face.

You are on our side, but you are not of the Germans with their hankerings for a rococo Empire. You come from America, the land of pious follies, where men worship gold and words. I ask, what came you forth to seek?'

As she spoke I seemed to get a vision of a figure, like one of the old gods looking down on human nature from a great height, a figure disdainful and passionless, but with its own magnificence. It kindled my imagination, and I answered with the stuff I had often cogitated when I had tried to explain to myself just how a case could be made out against the Allied cause.

'I will tell you, Madam,' I said. 'I am a man who has followed a science, but I have followed it in wild places, and I have gone through it and come out at the other side. The world, as I see it, had become too easy and cushioned. Men had forgotten their manhood in soft speech, and imagined that the rules of their smug civilization were the laws of the universe. But that is not the teaching of science, and it is not the teaching of life. We have forgotten the greater virtues, and we were becoming emasculated humbugs whose gods were our own weaknesses. Then came war, and the air was cleared. Germany, in spite of her blunders and her grossness, stood forth as the scourge of cant. She had the courage to cut through the bonds of humbug and to laugh at the fetishes of the herd. Therefore I am on Germany's side. But I came here for another reason. I know nothing of the East, but as I read history it is from the desert that the purification comes. When mankind is smothered with shams and phrases and painted idols a wind blows out of the wild to cleanse and simplify life. The world needs space and fresh air. The civilization we have boasted of is a toy-shop and a blind alley, and I hanker for the open country.'

This confounded nonsense was well received. Her pale eyes had the cold light of the fanatic. With her bright hair and the long exquisite oval of her face she looked like some destroying fury of a Norse legend. At that moment I think I first really feared her;before I had half-hated and half-admired. Thank Heaven, in her absorption she did not notice that I had forgotten the speech of Cleveland, Ohio.

'You are of the Household of Faith,' she said. 'You will presently learn many things, for the Faith marches to victory. Meantime Ihave one word for you. You and your companion travel eastward.'

'We go to Mesopotamia,' I said. 'I reckon these are our passports,'

and I pointed to the envelope.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • minecraft创世神

    minecraft创世神

    上天堂,下地狱,靠着右手撸天地。可建造,亦摧毁,拿起方块就是垒。垒天垒地垒自己,垒出一片新天地!MINECRAFT——我的世界创世神。
  • 看我大闹明川学园

    看我大闹明川学园

    《拽公主》翻版仇若雪出世拉!
  • 寒门战纪

    寒门战纪

    这是一个充满斗争的大陆,天下武学九极,任何一极都可翻手为云覆手为雨......相传天下九极武学,皆出自寒门......
  • 契诃夫

    契诃夫

    契诃夫戏剧创作的题材、倾向和风格与他的抒情心理小说基本相似。他不追求离奇曲折的情节,他描写平凡的日常生活和人物,从中揭示社会生活的某一重要问题。在契诃夫创作的剧作中,具有十分丰富的潜台词和浓郁的抒情味;他作品中所表现的现实主义,具有强大的鼓舞力量和深刻的象征意义。斯坦尼斯拉夫斯基、丹钦科以及莫斯科艺术剧院与契诃夫进行了创造性的合作,对舞台艺术作出了重大革新。一起来翻阅《契诃夫》吧!
  • 丧尸横行之动物园惊魂日2016

    丧尸横行之动物园惊魂日2016

    某个阳光灿烂、稀松平常的初秋周末。跟许多家庭一样,乔治一家也选择在这天来到动物园进行观光游玩。但当步入动物园不久,在他们玩地正起兴时。突然,伴随猴山方向传来的一声怪异而又刺耳的尖叫。紧随其后,一系列离奇事件和阴谋诡计。便就此在与此间其乐融融的乔治一家,相同兴高采烈的游人面前爆发上演。为他们带来了一场,对于他们的一生而言,最为不堪回首的恐怖灾难......
  • 一恋贪宠:甜甜丫头暖暖爱

    一恋贪宠:甜甜丫头暖暖爱

    新坑已挖——《将你遗忘在时光里》,准备充分,不轻易断更,坚持日更,欢迎新老读者光顾。她是他的小青梅,他是她的小竹马。“不要跟着我!”五岁的他皱眉,不耐烦道。“我不,我就跟着你,你能拿我怎么着?”三岁的她扬眉,一副你奈我何的样子。他终于不再说话,任由她像小尾巴似的跟着。十岁的她和家里闹翻,一气之下去了国外,再无音讯。十六岁的她,终于回归,却在听说和他的婚约后,落荒而逃。已然明白自己心意的他,怎能让她再次逃离自己的世界?于是,月黑风高夜,他潜入她的闺房,将她扑倒在床:“丫头,乖乖受吻吧,你,已经逃不掉了。”
  • 世界总有秘密

    世界总有秘密

    不要被书名骗了,我只是临着发布还想不出来好的书名而已。本书绝不是走的《探索发现》或者《国家地理》等高端的知识路线,只是吐槽逗乐的小白文。故事主要是讲述一个普通性格的但不是普通人的故事,一个大家熟识的但总有秘密的世界。尽我所能的用心写,坚决不烂尾。读写之缘,自有安排!
  • 我的极品数学老师

    我的极品数学老师

    这是我在小学所发生的事,我今年六年级就快毕业了,我想以这个做一个纪念,谢谢
  • 陪你爱到底

    陪你爱到底

    有人说这世界上最难画的是画其实最难画的是你的心我用所有青春炙热的光芒陪你走过青春里所有灿烂和荒芜的岁月这世上最好的爱,不过就是五个字陪你走到底
  • 向何而生

    向何而生

    世界真的只是我们眼中的样子吗?陆仁嘉是个只想闲散混日的青年,但他却不断经历着非日常事件。原本他一直抱着这一切不过是自己的幻想,或者这一切与自己无关的态度平凡度日。可这样视而不见的日子却突然被打破。一天,一个自称花叔的灵魂缠上了他,与此同时他又在新兼职中与咖啡店主的女儿秦望舒熟识起来。两人一魂,加上秦望舒养的会说话的猫六六共同经历了更多不可思议之事。在此过程中,原本待人冷淡的陆仁嘉渐渐发生了变化,看似刻薄的秦望舒展露她柔软的一面,而一直以来毫无用处的花叔偶尔也展现出可靠的一面。几个人或被遗忘或闭口不谈的过去,渐渐在相处中浮出水面。究竟我们是在向何而生,他们心中不禁这样想着。