登陆注册
15296300000019

第19章 THE CACTUS(1)

The most notable thing about Time is that it is so purely relative.A large amount of reminiscence is, by common consent, conceded to the drowning man; and it is not past belief that one may review an entire courtship while removing one's gloves.

That is what Trysdale was doing, standing by a table in his bachelor apartments.On the table stood a singular-looking green plant in a red earthen jar.The plant was one of the species of cacti, and was provided with long, tentacular leaves that perpetually swayed with the slightest breeze with a peculiar beckoning motion.

Trysdale's friend, the brother of the bride, stood at a sideboard complaining at being allowed to drink alone.Both men were in evening dress.White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment.

As he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale's mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours.It seemed that in his nostrils was still the scent of the flowers that had been banked in odorous masses about the church, and in his ears the lowpitched hum of a thousand well-bred voices, the rustle of crisp garments, and, most insistently recurring, the drawling words of the minister irrevocably binding her to another.

>From this last hopeless point of view he still strove, as if it had become a habit of his mind, to reach some conjecture as to why and how he had lost her.Shaken rudely by the uncompromising fact, he had suddenly found himself confronted by a thing he had never before faced --his own innermost, unmitigated, arid unbedecked self.He saw all the garbs of pretence and egoism that he had worn now turn to rags of folly.He shuddered at the thought that to others, before now, the garments of his soul must have appeared sorry and threadbare.

Vanity and conceit? These were the joints in his armor.And how free from either she had always been--But why--As she had slowly moved up the aisle toward the altar he had felt an unworthy, sullen exultation that had served to support him.He had told himself that her paleness was from thoughts of another than the man to whom she was about to give herself.But even that poor consolation had been wrenched from him.For, when he saw that swift, limpid, upward look that she gave the man when he took her hand, he knew himself to be forgotten.Once that same look had been raised to him, and he had gauged its meaning.Indeed, his conceit had crumbled; its last prop was gone.Why had it ended thus? There had been no quarrel between them, nothing--For the thousandth time he remarshalled in his mind the events of those last few days before the tide had so suddenly turned.

She had always insisted upon placing him upon a pedestal, and he had accepted her homage with royal grandeur.It had been a very sweet incense that she had burned before him; so modest (he told himself);so childlike and worshipful, and (he would once have sworn) so sincere.She had invested him with an almost supernatural number of high attributes and excellencies and talents, and he had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain that can coax from it no promise of blossom or fruit.

同类推荐
  • 天界觉浪盛禅师嘉禾语录

    天界觉浪盛禅师嘉禾语录

    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。
  • 定川遗书

    定川遗书

    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。
  • 净土圣贤录

    净土圣贤录

    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。
  • 三洞赞颂灵章

    三洞赞颂灵章

    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。
  • Jeanne d'Arc

    Jeanne d'Arc

    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
  • 爱情是命是混混的年纪

    爱情是命是混混的年纪

    她说“我身体里就是流着这种血液,你有种换了我全身上下的血啊...”他说“好,我特么就给你全换了”
  • 网游之一挽蘅芜

    网游之一挽蘅芜

    这是一部以古风网游为题材的言情小说,讲述的是几个素不相识的年轻人以不同的现实生活状态和文化背景,从相遇到相知,从相知到相爱的故事。谁说虚拟世界里就没有真爱?这里就有。
  • 不争小三也被虐

    不争小三也被虐

    不争、不抢、不生,还被虐?小三难道就没有真爱了吗?
  • 神医驾到请俯首

    神医驾到请俯首

    我一届神医竟沦落到穿越的地步?说好的强大灵魂呢?说好的富可敌国呢?说好的魔武双修呢?哼~你耀武扬威够了,该我了!
  • 夺吻99次:校草大人,太腹黑!

    夺吻99次:校草大人,太腹黑!

    (新文《青梅有点甜:傲娇竹马别太宠》已发)为了逃婚,她女扮男装混进了男校,却不小心招惹了一个恶魔!某天,她发现了一件很可怕的事情:原来那个恶魔,就是她的未婚夫!可是她已经成了他的女朋友,还能逃到哪里去?
  • 医手遮天:傲娇冷王少吃醋

    医手遮天:傲娇冷王少吃醋

    云国一年一度的樱花祭上,她以仙人之姿强势回归,并以大陆第一神医的身份夺回属于她的嫡女之位。惩庶妹,治恶奴,揍皇子……她只有一句至理名言:姐姐一向以德服人,不服打到你服为止!……“拜托!你不要再叫我娘了!”某女抓狂道。“可你就是我娘啊,娘,娘…”某魔尊死死抱住她。某男咬牙切齿,”放开她!她是我的人!”“我不!她是我娘!“”她是我的人!”……“啊啊啊!把魔尊一石头拍成小孩,怎么破!!!”某女仰天长啸…
  • 凤魂重生:帝宠丑颜妃

    凤魂重生:帝宠丑颜妃

    她,21世纪王牌特工,一朝穿越便背负着丑女和废材的名号。他,北国国师,清冷腹黑,却执意要收她为徒。他与她强强联手,杀退众敌。斗长姐,收萌宠,习斗气,她转弱成强。“谁笑当初我太弱,今朝我便行逆天下。”手执长剑,她站在高峰上,发舞飘扬,嘴角淡笑。时隔三年,她与他相逢陌路。“师父,为何你不记得我。”拦住他的去路,她苦苦逼问。“你是谁?”随口的三字,却让她心口猛的撞击着。拔剑相向,他不在是她所熟悉的人——
  • 卡姆与桔华

    卡姆与桔华

    吉卡姆一个将退役的"奇迹老人"。但退役典礼上,本应该以英雄姿态出现的他,却不见了踪影……
  • 未来末日世界

    未来末日世界

    这是2050年。末日之前,叶尘是个宅男,窝在家里沉迷射击游戏。末日之后,叶尘是个幸存下来的末世人。末日降临,可怕的不只是各种活尸,更有人心。
  • 健身营养指南(40岁不惑篇)

    健身营养指南(40岁不惑篇)

    本书为40多岁人士的健身和营养需要,提供针对增强腹部肌肉、减轻腰部疼痛、降低血压以及减肥的有效锻炼方法。