登陆注册
15426300000021

第21章 The Girl Behind the Counter--II(1)

"Which of them is idealizing?"This was the question that I asked myself,next morning,in my boarding-house,as I dressed for breakfast;the next morning is--at least I have always found it so--an excellent time for searching questions;and to-day I had waked up no longer beneath the strong,gentle spell of the churchyard.A bright sun was shining over the eastern waters of the town,I could see from my upper veranda the thousand flashes of the waves;the steam yacht rode placidly and competently among them,while a coastwise steamer was sailing by her,out to sea,to Savannah,or New York;the general world was going on,and--which of them was idealizing?It mightn't be so bad,after all.Hadn't I,perhaps,over-sentimentalized to myself the case of John Mayrant?Hadn't I imagined for him ever so much more anxiety than the boy actually felt?

For people can idealize down just as readily as they can idealize up.Of Miss Hortense Rieppe I had now two partial portraits--one by the displeased aunts,the other by their chivalric nephew;in both she held between her experienced lips,a cigarette;there the similarity ceased.

And then,there was the toboggan fire-escape.Well,I must meet the living original before I could decide whether (for me,at any rate)she was the "brute"as seen by the eyes of Mrs.Gregory St.Michael,or the "really nice girl"who was going to marry John Mayrant on Wednesday week.

Just at this point my thoughts brought up hard again at the cake.No;Icouldn't swallow that any better this morning than yesterday afternoon!

Allow the gentleman to pay for the feast!Better to have omitted all feast;nothing simpler,and it would have been at least dignified,even if arid.But then,there was the lady (a cousin or an aunt--I couldn't remember which this morning)who had told me she wasn't solicitous.What did she mean by that?And she had looked quite queer when she spoke about the phosphates.Oh,yes,to be sure,she was his intimate aunt!Where,by the way,was Miss Rieppe?

By the time I had eaten my breakfast and walked up Worship Street to the post-office I was full of it all again;my searching thoughts hadn't simplified a single point.I always called for my mail at the post-office,because I got it sooner;it didn't come to the boarding-house before I had departed on my quest for royal blood,whereas,this way,I simply got my letters at the corner of Court and Worship streets and walked diagonally across and down Court a few steps to my researches,which I could vary and alleviate by reading and answering news from home.

It was from Aunt Carola that I heard to-day.Only a little of what she said will interest you.There had been a delightful meeting of the Selected Salic Scions.The Baltimore Chapter had paid her Chapter a visit.Three ladies and one very highly connected young gentleman had come--an encouragingly full and enthusiastic meeting.They had lunched upon cocoa,sherry,and croquettes,after which all had been more than glad to listen to a paper read by a descendant of Edward the Third and the young gentleman,a descendant of Catherne of Aragon,had recited a beautiful original poem,entitled "My Queen Grandmother."Aunt Carola regretted that I could not have had the pleasure and the benefit of this meeting,the young gentleman had turned out to be,also,a refined and tasteful musician,playing,upon the piano a favorite gavotte of Louis the Thirteenth "And while you are in Kings Port,"my aunt said;"I expect you to profit by associating with the survivors of our good American society--people such as one could once meet everywhere when I was young,but who have been destroyed by the invasion of the proletariat.You are in the last citadel of good-breeding.By the way,find out,if you can,if any of the Bombo connection are extant;as through them I should like,if possible,to establish a chapter of the Scions in South Carolina.Have you,met a Miss Rieppe,a decidedly striking young woman,who says she is from Kings Port,and who recently passed through here with a very common man dancing attendance on her?He owns the Hermana,and she is said to be engaged to him."This wasn't as good as meeting Miss Rieppe myself;but the new angle at which I got her from my Aunt was distinctly a contribution toward the young woman's likeness;I felt that I should know her at sight,if ever she came within seeing distance.And it would be entertaining to find that she was a Bombo;but that could wait;what couldn't wait was the Hermana.I postponed the Fannings,hurried by the door where they waited for me,and,coming to the end of Court Street,turned to the right and sought among the wharves the nearest vista that could give me a view of the harbor.Between the silent walls of commerce desolated,and by the empty windows from which Prosperity once looked out,I threaded my way to a point upon the town's eastern edge.Yes,that was the steam yacht's name:the Hermana.I didn't make it out myself,she lay a trifle too far from shore;but I could read from a little fluttering pennant that her owner was not on board;and from the second loafer whom I questioned Ilearned,besides her name,that she had come from New York here to meet her owner,whose name he did not know and whose arrival was still indefinite.This was not very much to find out;but it was so much more than I had found out about the Fannings that,although I now faithfully returned to my researches,and sat over open books until noon,I couldn't tell you a word of what I read.Where was Miss Rieppe,and where was the owner of the Hermana?Also,precisely how ill was the hero of Chattanooga,her poor dear father?

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 情人节0214

    情人节0214

    本小说为《火影之英雄日常》的番外由于本书设定的时间跨度只有情人节,其它时段的火影同人文都在《火影之英雄日常》里长载,期待再次相见~友情提示:不定期更新,更得慢
  • 青春逆道:高校问题生

    青春逆道:高校问题生

    她,抽烟,喝酒,打架,全门课程都排倒一的问题生。被逼无奈上男校。让她乖?抱歉,她只能让这所平凡的学校来点刺激。他,沉着淡漠的天才生。他,性格古怪的学生会会长。他,冷淡孤僻的帅校草。另外,再加上两个校草级别的美男,邪魅的于洛飞,率直大气的俞阳。这所学校因她的到来会有怎样的闹剧发生呢?不管前方是什么,这条青春的道路上,她将无畏惧的走下去。
  • 鬼妻撩人

    鬼妻撩人

    我是谢小宝,唉,只因我英俊潇洒,不仅在不经意间伤害了万千少女的心,甚至就连美艳女鬼也为我痴迷~PS:本书属于轻松型灵异型小说,欢迎点阅!看道教神职人员啪啪打脸的一生~
  • On Sleep and Sleeplessness

    On Sleep and Sleeplessness

    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。
  • 后出阿弥陀佛偈

    后出阿弥陀佛偈

    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。
  • 原来爱情这么伤

    原来爱情这么伤

    法语系学生唐瑜因家庭破裂,从小一个人在B市寄宿制学校长大,养成了孤僻、坚强的性格。大二的时候,她回N市办理断绝父女关系的手续时,意外发现最好的朋友苏娆有了新男友,为了要同男友在一起,苏娆甚至宁愿放弃学业。唐瑜只好一个人回到学校,却突然得知男友在N市遭遇飞来横祸,不得已,打算靠献身来挽救男朋友,但是却发现带她去的人居然是苏娆的男友孙文晋。
  • 姻缘错:黑道皇后

    姻缘错:黑道皇后

    皇帝,不嫁!这话从天凤朝柳丞相的女儿柳柳嘴里说出来。天凤朝最年轻英俊邪魅的皇上成了全天下人的笑柄。柳柳物语,虽然我长得丑,但是我也有选择的权利啊,何况我柳柳还是黑街七夜,在京城里要风得风,要雨得雨,犯得着嫁给一个皇帝吗?他,凤邪,天凤朝邪魅冷酷的皇帝,只因为那女人的一句话,让他成了天下人的笑柄,他让她丑颜为后,娶她,是为了羞辱她,她嫁他,是为了自由之身。他,凤冽,天凤朝的炎亲王,一直敬佩她,当明了自已的心意时,她已成了当朝的皇后,还是备受冷落的皇后,那么他要了她又何防?他,战云,天下正义的霸主,自从她像迷路的羔羊似的撞进他的怀里,便被牵住了一颗心,丑颜亦可倾城。
  • 竹马,你别跑!

    竹马,你别跑!

    青梅竹马的爱情是幸福的,但她们之间却隔着重重阻挠,为什么?他们最后能在一起吗?
  • 冥探

    冥探

    年纪轻轻,一身本领,闯幽冥,打城隍,斗判官,大闹阴曹;回阳世,游名山,访高友,降妖伏魔。二郎显圣真君的入室弟子如何游历阴阳两界……
  • 千卷妖书

    千卷妖书

    神仙无人得见,妖鬼处处可见。岂是神仙高冷,抑或妖鬼下贱?世间万物,皆为妖身。天地之灵,皆为鬼魂。妖鬼之事,流传极广,知者极多,受害极众。故而,不知何时,不知何地,莫名生出,千卷妖书。世间妖鬼,无不畏惧。奈何妖书,从来孤独。世人愚钝,不知其所起,更不知其所终。千百年间,世间流传一句话,得妖书者得天下。【一天五更,不容错过】【千卷妖书读者群427678299】