登陆注册
15426300000033

第33章 High Walk and the Ladies(2)

What private matter of his own had I ever learned from him?It was other people,invariably,who told me of his troubles.There had been that single,quickly controlled outbreak about his position in the Custom House,and also he had let fall that touching word concerning his faith and his liking to say his prayers in the place where his mother had said them;beyond this,there had never yet been anything of all that must at the present moment be intimately stirring in his heart.

Should I "like to take orders from a negro?"Put personally,it came to me now as a new idea came as something which had never entered my mind before,not even as an abstract hypothesis I didn't have to think before reaching the answer though;something within me,which you ma call what you please--convention,prejudice,instinct--something answered most prompt and emphatically in the negative.I revolved in my mind as I tried to pack into a box a number of objects that I had bought in one or to "antique"shops.They wouldn't go in,the objects;they were of defeating and recalcitrant shapes,and of hostile materials--glass and brass--and Imust have a larger box made,and in that case I would buy this afternoon the other kettle-supporter (I forget its right name)and have the whole lot decently packed.Take orders from a colored man?Have him give you directions,dictate you letters,discipline you if you were unpunctual?No,indeed!And if such were my feeling,how must this young Southerner feel?

With this in my mind,I made sure that the part in my back hair was right,and after that precaution soon found myself on my way,in a way somewhat roundabout,to the kettle-supporter sauntering northward along High Walk,and stopping often;the town,and the water,and the distant shores all were so lovely,so belonged to one another,so melted into one gentle impression of wistfulness and tenderness!I leaned upon the stone parapet and enjoyed the quiet which every surrounding detail brought to my senses.How could John Mayrant endure such a situation?I continued to wonder;and I also continued to assure myself it was absurd to suppose that the engagement was broken.

The shutting of a front door across the street almost directly behind me attracted my attention because of its being the first sound that had hap-pened in noiseless,empty High Walk since I had been strolling there;and I turned from the parapet to see that I was no longer the solitary person in the street.Two ladies,one tall and one diminutive,both in black and with long black veils which they had put back from their faces,were evidently coming from a visit.As the tall one bowed to me I recognized Mrs.Gregory St.Michael,and took off my hat.It was not until they had crossed the street and come up the stone steps near where I stood on High Walk that the little lady also bowed to me;she was Mrs.Weguelin St.

Michael,and from something in her prim yet charming manner I gathered that she held it to be not perfectly well-bred in a lady to greet a gentleman across the width of a public highway,and that she could have wished that her tall companion had not thus greeted me,a stranger likely to comment upon Kings Port manners.In her eyes,such free deportment evidently went with her tall companion's method of speech:hadn't the little lady informed me during our first brief meeting that Kings Port at times thought Mrs.Gregory St.Michael's tongue "too downright"?

The two ladies having graciously granted me permission to join them while they took the air,Mrs.Gregory must surely have shocked Mrs.Weguelin by saying to me,"I haven't a penny for your thoughts,but I'll exchange.""Would you thus bargain in the dark,madam?"

"Oh,I'll risk that;and,to say truth,even your back,as we came out of that house,was a back of thought.""Well,I confess to some thinking.Shall I begin?"It was Mrs.Weguelin who quickly replied,smiling:"Ladies first,you know.At least we still keep it so in Kings Port.""Would we did everywhere!"I exclaimed devoutly;and I was quite aware that beneath the little lady's gentle smile a setting down had lurked,a setting down of the most delicate nature,administered to me not in the least because I had deserved one,but because she did not like Mrs.

Gregory's "downright"tongue,and could not stop her.

Mrs.Gregory now took the prerogative of ladies,and began."I was thinking of what we had all just been saying during our visit across the way--and with which you are not going to agree--that our young people would do much better to let us old people arrange their marriages for them,as it Is done in Europe.""O dear!"

"I said that you would not agree;but that is because you are so young.""I don't know that twenty-eight is so young.""You will know it when you are seventy-three."This observation again came from Mrs.Weguelin St.Michael,and again with a gentle and attractive smile.It was only the second time that she had spoken;and throughout the talk into which we now fell as we slowly walked up and down High Walk,she never took the lead;she left that to the "downright"tongue--but I noticed,however,that she chose her moments to follow the lead very aptly.I also perceived plainly that what we were really going to discuss was not at all the European principle of marriage-making,but just simply young John and his Hortense;they were the true kernel of the nut with whose concealing shell Mrs.Gregory was presenting me,and in proposing an exchange of thoughts she would get back only more thoughts upon the same subject.It was pretty evident how much Kings Port was buzzing over all this!They fondly believed they did not like it;but what would they have done without it?What,indeed,were they going to do when it was all over and done with,one way or another?As a matter of fact,they ought to be grateful to Hortense for contributing illustriously to the excitement of their lives.

同类推荐
  • Beyond

    Beyond

    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。
  • 外科十法

    外科十法

    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。
  • 黄庭内景经

    黄庭内景经

    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。
  • 佛说差摩婆帝授记经

    佛说差摩婆帝授记经

    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。
  • THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA

    THE CRISIS IN RUSSIA

    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
  • 主掌轮回

    主掌轮回

    轮回,修无上真身,筑九幽黄泉,享功德之圣,风流于狐石之中。
  • 一生的资本

    一生的资本

    成功学大师拿破仑·希尔最为推崇的励志奇书;《纽约时报》世界百年十大财富经典之一;改变了世界千百万贫苦人民命运的成功绝学。成功可以借鉴,传奇可以复制。只要决心成功,失败就不会让我们永远贫穷。改变命运从掌握人生的资本开始!
  • 亲爱的左先森

    亲爱的左先森

    刘晓失恋了,路上居然捡了个稀罕玩意,居然摇身一变成了个男子,他和刘晓究竟有怎样的故事呢?(本作品纯属虚构,如有雷同,纯属巧合)
  • 伤感情说

    伤感情说

    感人爱情故事,以此故事来告诉大家一定要好好珍惜眼前之人!相信爱情的就看看吧!什么叫执着,什么叫爱!!!!
  • 凌霄君主

    凌霄君主

    一柄剑,一个人,剑中帝君屠万雄,剑出谁与争锋,吾欲征战神霄苍穹,谁能阻我!!!
  • 神级宝箱

    神级宝箱

    上厕所没有纸了怎么办?不用着急,随机宝箱帮你忙,给你来一节风油精厕纸,保管你用完爽到飞起。性格软弱,整天受欺负怎么办?不用着急,定点宝箱帮你忙,只要你能找的到,超能力,基因药水,武功秘籍,随你挑选。啊喂?!葵花宝典是什么鬼……
  • 双姝宁

    双姝宁

    诗书传家的佟家被抄,世家大族施家也难逃厄运,前世不过是人不信命,今生呢,佟玖又该如何面对?
  • 穿越之驭兽王者

    穿越之驭兽王者

    一场浩劫让少年莫名其妙的来到了蒂法星球,这个星球与地球不同,魔法与魔兽才是主色调。但那又如何?降服魔兽我喜欢,绝色美女我更爱!跨上龙王的脊背当坐骑,手执上古的法杖为身份,让我拉着你的手,带你去看看,这一片本王的天下!
  • 黄帝内经

    黄帝内经

    《黄帝内经》是一本综合性的医书,在黄老道家理论上建立了中医学上的“阴阳五行学说”、“脉象学说”、“藏象学说”、“经络学说”、“病因学说”“病机学说”、“病症”、“诊法”、“论治”及“养生学”、“运气学”等学说,从整体观上来论述医学,呈现了自然、生物、心理、社会“整体医学模式”。 其基本素材来源于中国古人对生命现象的长期观察、大量的临床实践以及简单的解剖学知识。它奠定了人体生理、病理、诊断以及治疗的认识基础,是中国影响极大的一部医学著作,被称为医之始祖。
  • 据说首席结婚了

    据说首席结婚了

    她从小不及姐姐们聪明,却出奇的幸运。幸运到在二十三岁的时候,能够嫁给她这辈子最喜欢的人。偷偷领证、住进他家。可是他不碰她、也不喜欢她。她本来就是个傻瓜,到最后才明白他心里一直住着一个人,那个人不是她。