登陆注册
15324300000004

第4章

It was doubtless not singular that the ladies from Merrimac Avenue shouldn't feel they were importunate: what was striking was that Mrs.Nettlepoint didn't appear to suspect it.However, she would in any case have thought it inhuman to show this--though I could see that under the surface she was amused at everything the more expressive of the pilgrims from the South End took for granted.Iscarce know whether the attitude of the younger visitor added or not to the merit of her good nature.Mr.Porterfield's intended took no part in the demonstration, scarcely spoke, sat looking at the Back Bay and the lights on the long bridge.She declined the lemonade and the other mixtures which, at Mrs.Nettlepoint's request, I offered her, while her mother partook freely of everything and I reflected--for I as freely drained a glass or two in which the ice tinkled--that Mr.Jasper had better hurry back if he wished to enjoy these luxuries.

Was the effect of the young woman's reserve meanwhile ungracious, or was it only natural that in her particular situation she shouldn't have a flow of compliment at her command? I noticed that Mrs.

Nettlepoint looked at her often, and certainly though she was undemonstrative Miss Mavis was interesting.The candlelight enabled me to see that though not in the very first flower of her youth she was still fresh and handsome.Her eyes and hair were dark, her face was pale, and she held up her head as if, with its thick braids and everything else involved in it, it were an appurtenance she wasn't ashamed of.If her mother was excellent and common she was not common--not at least flagrantly so--and perhaps also not excellent.

At all events she wouldn't be, in appearance at least, a dreary appendage; which in the case of a person "hooking on" was always something gained.Was it because something of a romantic or pathetic interest usually attaches to a good creature who has been the victim of a "long engagement" that this young lady made an impression on me from the first--favoured as I had been so quickly with this glimpse of her history? I could charge her certainly with no positive appeal; she only held her tongue and smiled, and her smile corrected whatever suggestion might have forced itself upon me that the spirit within her was dead--the spirit of that promise of which she found herself doomed to carry out the letter.

What corrected it less, I must add, was an odd recollection which gathered vividness as I listened to it--a mental association evoked by the name of Mr.Porterfield.Surely I had a personal impression, over-smeared and confused, of the gentleman who was waiting at Liverpool, or who presently would be, for Mrs.Nettlepoint's protegee.I had met him, known him, some time, somewhere, somehow, on the other side.Wasn't he studying something, very hard, somewhere--probably in Paris--ten years before, and didn't he make extraordinarily neat drawings, linear and architectural? Didn't he go to a table d'hote, at two francs twenty-five, in the Rue Bonaparte, which I then frequented, and didn't he wear spectacles and a Scotch plaid arranged in a manner which seemed to say "I've trustworthy information that that's the way they do it in the Highlands"? Wasn't he exemplary to positive irritation, and very poor, poor to positive oppression, so that I supposed he had no overcoat and his tartan would be what he slept under at night?

Wasn't he working very hard still, and wouldn't he be, in the natural course, not yet satisfied that he had found his feet or knew enough to launch out? He would be a man of long preparations--Miss Mavis's white face seemed to speak to one of that.It struck me that if Ihad been in love with her I shouldn't have needed to lay such a train for the closer approach.Architecture was his line and he was a pupil of the Ecole des Beaux Arts.This reminiscence grew so much more vivid with me that at the end of ten minutes I had an odd sense of knowing--by implication--a good deal about the young lady.

Even after it was settled that Mrs.Nettlepoint would do everything possible for her the other visitor sat sipping our iced liquid and telling how "low" Mr.Mavis had been.At this period the girl's silence struck me as still more conscious, partly perhaps because she deprecated her mother's free flow--she was enough of an "improvement"to measure that--and partly because she was too distressed by the idea of leaving her infirm, her perhaps dying father.It wasn't indistinguishable that they were poor and that she would take out a very small purse for her trousseau.For Mr.Porterfield to make up the sum his own case would have had moreover greatly to change.If he had enriched himself by the successful practice of his profession I had encountered no edifice he had reared--his reputation hadn't come to my ears.

Mrs.Nettlepoint notified her new friends that she was a very inactive person at sea: she was prepared to suffer to the full with Miss Mavis, but not prepared to pace the deck with her, to struggle with her, to accompany her to meals.To this the girl replied that she would trouble her little, she was sure: she was convinced she should prove a wretched sailor and spend the voyage on her back.Her mother scoffed at this picture, prophesying perfect weather and a lovely time, and I interposed to the effect that if I might be trusted, as a tame bachelor fairly sea-seasoned, I should be delighted to give the new member of our party an arm or any other countenance whenever she should require it.Both the ladies thanked me for this--taking my professions with no sort of abatement--and the elder one declared that we were evidently going to be such a sociable group that it was too bad to have to stay at home.She asked Mrs.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 黄石斋先生大涤函书

    黄石斋先生大涤函书

    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。
  • 曾经这座城市的黄昏

    曾经这座城市的黄昏

    高中生活总是让人觉得美好,那时你可以身边有一群人可靠,生活多姿,有爱
  • 圣魔师重生

    圣魔师重生

    原本只是几个好友去海边散心,却在不经意间捡到一个盒子,不经意间打了开来,再不经意地集体穿越了,盒子里面装的是什么妖精!更可恶的是,这只妖精居然告诉他们,她的能力只可以把他们其中一个人回到自己原来的世界!大家把唯一的女生送回去之后,妖精却又告诉他们,无法把他们全部送回去的原因仅仅只是因为她的肚子饿了!三个倒霉的熊孩子面对着各种不熟悉的魔兽星兽神兽,各种华丽花哨的魔技和斗技,在被各种阴谋缠绕的友情中开始了异世界的生活……
  • 月伴乌云之师妹生猛

    月伴乌云之师妹生猛

    “我是为了钱,这点,我自己清楚。”“你是为了膈应你老婆,恶心你岳家还是别有龌龊,这点你自己明白”“除了钱,关于别的我们提都别再提,别亵渎爱情,别自欺欺人,说到底,我们两个啊,都是不要脸的人”。唐梅雨,温声暖语,纤长的手指一下一下有节奏的轻击桌面,仿佛在说的评价的都是别人的不堪。直直的盯着对面的男人,好看的杏眼古井无波,没有半点情绪。当年父亲病危,为了钱,她做错了事。如今,毕业在即,她必须切断孽缘。噩梦深埋,开始新人生。梅雨坚信,没有散不去的痛,没有醒不来的梦,没有到不了的明天。陈汉生背对梅雨,坐在茶座的角落。修长的手指,有一下没一下的搅拌着咖啡。听着唐梅雨轻声细语的言语,嘴角微微翘起。三年不见,师妹生猛依旧。
  • 混元之神

    混元之神

    他是白家的修仙天才,却在结丹之际遭人破坏,元力尽失,赶出家门。为了能重新修炼,回家复仇,他不得已转而修妖。大仇得报,与心爱的女子生离死别,他终于站到了世界巅峰。于是他才知道,这片世界竟是被被人遗弃的大陆……这片遗弃大陆隐藏着什么秘密?仙妖大战的背后又是怎么的阴谋?仙妖同修的他又将有怎样不凡的经历?
  • 邪帝天命

    邪帝天命

    墨荷塘上荡舟客,寒山寺巅敲钟人,百万兵甲胸间藏,一怒血溅十万殇!傲月阁前听旋拂,遁世荒地神剑铸,世俗超然何所惧,邪帝天命塑江湖。现代文明世界,他是令人闻风丧胆的绝世高手、世界第一杀手,邪帝何墨寒。未知的世界,他忍辱负重肩扛家族振兴使命;他胸藏百万雄兵,谈笑间指点江山,敌酋灰飞烟灭;他柔情似水,倾世红颜全力相助,逆天改命成就千古传奇,他是,邪帝何墨寒。
  • 都市之酒神系统

    都市之酒神系统

    崔大鹏是一个有语言障碍的毕业生,本想找个销售的工作来锻炼自己,可是却被领导抓去挡酒。突然有一天酒神系统的嫁接使他的生活全变了。啤酒提升语言能力…料酒提升体魄能力…………系统想要升级唯一的条件也是喝酒,但是随着系统级别的升高,所需要的酒就越贵,到了最后几乎是全世界只出厂过几瓶的绝世好酒。为了得到他们崔大鹏使尽浑身解数。音乐?艺术?历史?医术?武功?只要有酒,我全会。
  • 梦幻情缘之星际爱情

    梦幻情缘之星际爱情

    本书讲的是主人公夏洛重生到别的星球经历的一段爱情故事,主人公夏洛曾经说过:“我一见到你我就知道我喜欢你,但现实是残酷的而面对你的爱却是梦幻的,我真的好想拥有你!”之后夏洛能回她原来的星球吗?敬请期待吧!
  • 霸道总裁爱上倔强妻

    霸道总裁爱上倔强妻

    人海茫茫,能遇见是一种无法拒绝的缘分;布朗熊的爱恋,会有怎样的结局;悲观离合,会有怎样的未来;布朗熊的笑容,由谁来保护...
  • 打造虐恋

    打造虐恋

    一个身世迷离的女孩,与自己并不知道是自己的姐姐的姐姐同时爱上了TF队长:王俊凯,而本校排名第二和第三的校草也喜欢上了女主角,在他们之间,会产生怎样的奇遇呢?