登陆注册
14826000000020

第20章

Ignorant of the art of retouching every curl and studying every effect, Eugenie simply crossed her arms, sat down by the window, and looked at the court-yard, the narrow garden, and the high terraced walls that over-topped it: a dismal, hedged-in prospect, yet not wholly devoid of those mysterious beauties which belong to solitary or uncultivated nature. Near the kitchen was a well surrounded by a curb, with a pulley fastened to a bent iron rod clasped by a vine whose leaves were withered, reddened, and shrivelled by the season. From thence the tortuous shoots straggled to the wall, clutched it, and ran the whole length of the house, ending near the wood-pile, where the logs were ranged with as much precision as the books in a library. The pavement of the court-yard showed the black stains produced in time by lichens, herbage, and the absence of all movement or friction. The thick walls wore a coating of green moss streaked with waving brown lines, and the eight stone steps at the bottom of the court-yard which led up to the gate of the garden were disjointed and hidden beneath tall plants, like the tomb of a knight buried by his widow in the days of the Crusades. Above a foundation of moss-grown, crumbling stones was a trellis of rotten wood, half fallen from decay; over them clambered and intertwined at will a mass of clustering creepers. On each side of the latticed gate stretched the crooked arms of two stunted apple-trees. Three parallel walks, gravelled and separated from each other by square beds, where the earth was held in by box-borders, made the garden, which terminated, beneath a terrace of the old walls, in a group of lindens. At the farther end were raspberry-bushes; at the other, near the house, an immense walnut-tree drooped its branches almost into the window of the miser's sanctum.

A clear day and the beautiful autumnal sun common to the banks of the Loire was beginning to melt the hoar-frost which the night had laid on these picturesque objects, on the walls, and on the plants which swathed the court-yard. Eugenie found a novel charm in the aspect of things lately so insignificant to her. A thousand confused thoughts came to birth in her mind and grew there, as the sunbeams grew without along the wall. She felt that impulse of delight, vague, inexplicable, which wraps the moral being as a cloud wraps the physical body. Her thoughts were all in keeping with the details of this strange landscape, and the harmonies of her heart blended with the harmonies of nature. When the sun reached an angle of the wall where the "Venus-hair" of southern climes drooped its thick leaves, lit with the changing colors of a pigeon's breast, celestial rays of hope illumined the future to her eyes, and thenceforth she loved to gaze upon that piece of wall, on its pale flowers, its blue harebells, its wilting herbage, with which she mingled memories as tender as those of childhood. The noise made by each leaf as it fell from its twig in the void of that echoing court gave answer to the secret questionings of the young girl, who could have stayed there the livelong day without perceiving the flight of time. Then came tumultuous heavings of the soul. She rose often, went to her glass, and looked at herself, as an author in good faith looks at his work to criticise it and blame it in his own mind.

同类推荐
  • 黄帝阴符经注

    黄帝阴符经注

    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。
  • 赤松领禅师语录

    赤松领禅师语录

    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。
  • 赋得春风扇微和

    赋得春风扇微和

    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。
  • 劝忍百箴

    劝忍百箴

    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。
  • 贤愚因缘经

    贤愚因缘经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 学霸日常:男色撩人

    学霸日常:男色撩人

    对于学霸陆晏来说,学习是她的必需品,男色便是她的日常。有过不论过了多久都在心中占了一席之地的初恋对象也有历尽艰辛不离不弃的死党损友;有过一个月从网恋到奔现的经历也有多年后回忆起来都会咬牙切齿的记恨对象。有过写了情书却不到两星期就提分手的抱歉男生,也有过断断续续爱了三年半结果只能成为心底最深的伤口的深爱男友。直到,她又遇见了他,兜兜转转,你还在这里。这个故事很长,你准备好看它了吗?
  • 妖精公敌

    妖精公敌

    贫穷不是我的未来!我既为妖精那便由我来主导妖精的未来!一妖在身,天不可遮!地不可挡!妖精来袭,天翻地覆!
  • 甜恋,缘徕茹此

    甜恋,缘徕茹此

    他,大名鼎鼎的总裁boss,她,默默无闻的快餐店打工寒酸妹。所谓男追女隔座山,女追男隔层纱,本姑娘就不信追不上你!“帝少,珠宝设计师招聘会开始了。”终于,她追上了他,订婚当天,居然被爆出二次结婚!卧槽,又被甩了!本姑娘怎么会轻易放弃!只要本姑娘活着一天,不会停止追求一秒!她生下了他的孩子,却放弃了他,人间蒸发似的消失了三年!喂!女人!玩得最嗨那晚是谁说不管你爱不爱都无法阻止我的爱的?男人将她抵在阳台。“唔.....上官你个贱凌!!!”一夜缠绵....
  • 时光尚好

    时光尚好

    时光无悔。只是在错的时间遇上了对的人。就当全世界都在讨厌你,TA却在讨厌着保护你。(我写的都是一些特别简短的小说,感受一下,不会很久。
  • 林荫道上踏过的青春

    林荫道上踏过的青春

    哈哈哈,各位,凑合着看看吧!啦啦啦啦啦啦……(作者疯了,别管她!)
  • 穿越之寡妇丫鬟

    穿越之寡妇丫鬟

    毕业游黄山却意外穿越到大周朝,乖乖女蓝怡变身为带着包子少爷逃难的小丫鬟,她不气馁,挽发成了寡妇娘。躲过追杀,逃开内宅,奔波千里到小山村落户安居,不想好事成双,又收得可爱小包子一枚,自此三人相亲相爱,养养鸡鸭,开开荒田,种种牡丹,做个有钱有闲有书看的地主婆。那啥,隔壁的捕快大哥,村里的混混小弟,我真的只是想过好自己小日子,你们莫来凑热闹。新书《悠闲小军嫂》开坑,坑品有保障,欢迎大家跳一跳~
  • 神皇之界

    神皇之界

    一场天灾,少年不甘命运如此,凭着一颗不甘的心,逆天而行!!
  • 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!)
  • 八脉风暴

    八脉风暴

    热血与激情的碰撞,波澜壮阔的世界里充满着无数的神秘:七贤四能,不动龙王,战技转化,万屠玄女……重生的乔翊,疯狂的成长着,用一双铁拳,扞卫着自己,守护着家人……天外天,三十三,八脉纵横!
  • 火澜

    火澜

    当一个现代杀手之王穿越到这个世界。是隐匿,还是崛起。一场血雨腥风的传奇被她改写。一条无上的强者之路被她踏破。修斗气,炼元丹,收兽宠,化神器,大闹皇宫,炸毁学院,打死院长,秒杀狗男女,震惊大陆。无止尽的契约能力,上古神兽,千年魔兽,纷纷前来抱大腿,惊傻世人。她说:在我眼里没有好坏之分,只有强弱之分,只要你能打败我,这世间所有都是你的,打不败我,就从这世间永远消失。她狂,她傲,她的目标只有一个,就是凌驾这世间一切之上。三国皇帝,魔界妖王,冥界之主,仙界至尊。到底谁才是陪着她走到最后的那个?他说:上天入地,我会陪着你,你活着,有我,你死,也一定有我。本文一对一,男强女强,强强联手,不喜勿入。