登陆注册
15445900000082

第82章 Chapter XXXIV. Mrs. Presty.(1)

Belonging to the generation which has lived to see the Age of Hurry, and has no sympathy with it, Mrs. Presty entered the sitting-room at the hotel, two hours before the time that had been fixed for leaving Sandyseal, with her mind at ease on the subject of her luggage. "My boxes are locked, strapped and labeled; I hate being hurried. What's that you're reading?" she asked, discovering a book on her daughter's lap,; and a hasty action on her daughter's part, which looked like trying to hide it.

Mrs. Norman made the most common, and--where the object is to baffle curiosity--the most useless of prevaricating replies. When her mother asked her what she was reading she answered:

"Nothing."

"Nothing!" Mrs. Presty repeated with an ironical assumption of interest. "The work of all others, Catherine, that I most want to read." She snatched up the book; opened it at the first page, and discovered an inscription in faded ink which roused her indignation. "To dear Catherine, from Herbert, on the anniversary of our marriage." What unintended mockery in those words, read by the later light of the Divorce! "Well, this is mean," said Mrs.

Presty. "Keeping that wretch's present, after the public exposure which he has forced on you. Oh, Catherine!"

Catherine was not quite so patient with her mother as usual.

"Keeping my best remembrance of the happy time of my life," she answered.

"Misplaced sentiment," Mrs. Presty declared; "I shall put the book out of the way. Your brain is softening, my dear, under the influence of this stupefying place."

Catherine asserted her own opinion against her mother's opinion, for the second time. "I have recovered my health at Sandyseal," she said. "I like the place, and I am sorry to leave it."

"Give me the shop windows, the streets, the life, the racket, and the smoke of London," cried Mrs. Presty. "Thank Heaven, these rooms are let over our heads, and out we must go, whether we like it or not."

This expression of gratitude was followed by a knock at the door, and by a voice outside asking leave to come in, which was, beyond all doubt, the voice of Randal Linley. With Catherine's book still in her possession, Mrs. Presty opened the table-drawer, threw it in, and closed the drawer with a bang. Discovering the two ladies, Randal stopped in the doorway, and stared at them in astonishment.

"Didn't you expect to see us?" Mrs. Presty inquired.

"I heard you were here, from our friend Sarrazin," Randal said;

"but I expected to see Captain Bennydeck. Have I mistaken the number? Surely these are his rooms?"

Catherine attempted to explain. "They _were_ Captain Bennydeck's rooms," she began; "but he was so kind, although we are perfect strangers to him--"

Mrs. Presty interposed. "My dear Catherine, you have not had my advantages; you have not been taught to make a complicated statement in few words. Permit me to seize the points (in the late Mr. Presty's style) and to put them in the strongest light.

This place, Randal, is always full; and we didn't write long enough beforehand to secure rooms. Captain Bennydeck happened to be downstairs when he heard that we were obliged to go away, and that one of us was a lady in delicate health. This sweetest of men sent us word that we were welcome to take his rooms, and that he would sleep on board his yacht. Conduct worthy of Sir Charles Grandison himself. When I went downstairs to thank him, he was gone--and here we have been for nearly three weeks; sometimes seeing the Captain's yacht, but, to our great surprise, never seeing the Captain himself."

"There's nothing to be surprised at, Mrs. Presty. Captain Bennydeck likes doing kind things, and hates being thanked for it. I expected him to meet me here to-day."

Catherine went to the window. "He is coming to meet you," she said. "There is his yacht in the bay."

"And in a dead calm," Randal added, joining her. "The vessel will not get here, before I am obliged to go away again."

Catherine looked at him timidly. "Do I drive you away?" she asked, in tones that faltered a little.

Randal wondered what she could possibly be thinking of and acknowledged it in so many words.

"She is thinking of the Divorce," Mrs. Presty explained. "You have heard of it, of course; and perhaps you take your brother's part?"

"I do nothing of the sort, ma'am. My brother has been in the wrong from first to last." He turned to Catherine. "I will stay with you as long as I can, with the greatest pleasure," he said earnestly and kindly. "The truth is, I am on my way to visit some friends; and if Captain Bennydeck had got here in time to see me, I must have gone away to the junction to catch the next train westward, just as I am going now. I had only two words to say to the Captain about a person in whom he is interested--and I can say them in this way." He wrote in pencil on one of his visiting cards, and laid it on the table. "I shall be back in London, in a week," he resumed, "and you will tell me at what address I can find you. In the meanwhile, I miss Kitty. Where is she?"

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 作为魔剑主人的我竟然向往光明

    作为魔剑主人的我竟然向往光明

    某一天,身为普通人的我拿到了魔剑.......可是你告诉我里面为什么会住着一只万年萝莉!!!而且她还让我光复魔界!!!向往光明的我被强行拉到了魔界
  • 无限微光

    无限微光

    科技?玄幻?修真?无限流?各种流派有机结合,结果会擦出怎样的火花?公元1977年,M国向外太空发射了一艘记载了人类文明以及太阳系各个行星图片的无人太空探测器,在一千年以后的公元2969年,这艘太空探测器被一个极其具有侵略性的五级文明外星种族发现,身为准四级文明的地球人类将会如何面临这场灾难?待看主角如何完虐成长道路上的绊脚石,如何在异世界称雄,如何解决这场危机!一切尽在本书当中,敬请期待!
  • 大雪围城

    大雪围城

    东北是走向沉沦,还是蓄势崛起?顺城作为全国棚户区改造的策源地,历时三年时间创造性地完成了30万户棚户区改造任务,为全国棚改提供了可以借鉴的经验。作品通过一座城市35年的变迁,讲述了商人陈靖西、失业工人小阁、基层干部姜示范、乔亚丽等人物形象,反映了东北经济转型期,各种人等的心理变化和思想撞击,语言幽默、故事鲜活,情感复杂,全方位地展示了东北老工业基地的历史变迁和社会生活生态。
  • 痴情女爱上绝情男

    痴情女爱上绝情男

    一个描写90的真实故事,一个机缘巧合的邂逅,让他们在这段爱恨纠结的孽缘中,造就了俩种不同的爱情观。一个是愿意为了爱付出所有一切的痴情等待,一个是花心暴力狠心无情的绝情男。这俩个人的爱,终究是一个错,错的?是天意?还是造化弄人?还是......
  • 依云仙侣录

    依云仙侣录

    他是玄清境中的一滴冰水而化,而她则是上清境的仙脉所承,一切早已自有定数,而他和她却走向了不同的命运。他只为寻得佳人,而她却为守护心爱之人,忘心忘情,狠心离别……纵然前尘坎坷,但情缘未了。身负绝世之决,不同成长,不同历练,羁绊牵扯着他与她,再续前缘。天涯地角有穷时,只有——相思无尽处……
  • 不朽龙庭

    不朽龙庭

    诸天万界有最强种族,他们为万物源头,为万物归宿,他们永恒不朽。远古时期,有黄金神龙种族,妄图晋级不朽种族,失败,龙族灭绝。龙庭得黄金神龙血脉,铸就“龙庭”,踏上不朽之路。修炼境界:武者,真人,仙人,圣人,神人,道人,掌控者,造化者,不朽者。欢迎加入,不朽龙庭小说群:174809808,验证:不朽龙庭。
  • 破尘的死亡

    破尘的死亡

    一个有着神的世界,人类把它称为世界中心,人类无限崇仰世界中心。世界中心一直保持着神秘,从未向人类展示它真面目。世界中心是一个系统由生物来掌控。在几百年前才由一个人来掌控。近现代的未来世界,人类社会已经拥挤不堪,神的一厢情愿希望通过有规则的人类死亡来缓解人口问题,被幸存者称为“破尘的死亡”。这一举动激起了人类的不满,有一部分人则揭竿而起,希望找到世界中心复活所有人。男主角楠风的目的更为激烈,他踏上了杀神之路。
  • tfboys的十年和十年

    tfboys的十年和十年

    十年,改变了太多人,太多事,谁和谁又在意角落里的人,我们活得好累,却又害怕再也赶不上时间。
  • 梨花雨落

    梨花雨落

    不知从哪一天起,你已不在是当初的自己,望见天路的你,不再拥有花一般的年纪,也许你学会了平缓的呼吸,案头那边有海风的气息,即使吹乱了发髻,我多么盼望,待到某日,会遇见不平凡的你。
  • 凌魔天丹

    凌魔天丹

    盘古开天辟地,女娲用黄泥造人,日月星辰各司其职,子民安居乐业,四海歌舞升平。共工与颛顼争帝位,不胜而头触不周之山,导致天柱折,地维绝,四极废,九州裂,天倾西北,地陷东南,洪水泛滥,大火蔓延,人民流离失所。女娲看到她的子民们陷入巨大灾难之中,决心炼石以补苍天。于是,女娲在天台山顶堆巨石为炉,取五色土为料,又借来太阳神火,历时九天九夜,炼就了五色巨石36501块……凌天,凌驾于青天。因为一件奇怪的事。得罪了三神族之血族。而以至于被灭族。“什么!你要去挑战三神族之血族?他们的族长已经达到女娲,盘古的这个实力地步了。手下还有三十六名神将。膝下还有无数神兵。你怎么可能打败他们。”“我知道。哪怕,受尽挫折、遍体鳞伤。我……”“也要完成梦想。”凌天。走向了不归的复仇之路。