登陆注册
15451900000017

第17章 X(1)

Mr. Hoopdriver was (in the days of this story) a poet, though he had never written a line of verse. Or perhaps romancer will describe him better. Like I know not how many of those who do the fetching and carrying of life,--a great number of them certainly,--his real life was absolutely uninteresting, and if he had faced it as realistically as such people do in Mr. Gissing's novels, he would probably have come by way of drink to suicide in the course of a year. But that was just what he had the natural wisdom not to do. On the contrary, he was always decorating his existence with imaginative tags, hopes, and poses, deliberate and yet quite effectual self-deceptions; his experiences were mere material for a romantic superstructure. If some power had given Hoopdriver the 'giftie' Burns invoked, 'to see oursels as ithers see us,' he would probably have given it away to some one else at the very earliest opportunity. His entire life, you must understand, was not a continuous romance, but a series of short stories linked only by the general resemblance of their hero, a brown-haired young fellow commonly, with blue eyes and a fair moustache, graceful rather than strong, sharp and resolute rather than clever (cp., as the scientific books say, p. 2). Invariably this person possessed an iron will. The stories fluctuated indefinitely. The smoking of a cigarette converted Hoopdriver's hero into something entirely worldly, subtly rakish, with a humorous twinkle in the eye and some gallant sinning in the background. You should have seen Mr. Hoopdriver promenading the brilliant gardens at Earl's Court on an early-closing night. His meaning glances! (I dare not give the meaning.) Such an influence as the eloquence of a revivalist preacher would suffice to divert the story into absolutely different channels, make him a white-soured hero, a man still pure, walking untainted and brave and helpful through miry ways. The appearance of some daintily gloved frockcoated gentleman with buttonhole and eyeglass complete, gallantly attendant in the rear of customers, served again to start visions of a simplicity essentially Cromwell-like, of sturdy plainness, of a strong, silent man going righteously through the world. This day there had predominated a fine leisurely person immaculately clothed, and riding on an unexceptional machine, a mysterious person--quite unostentatious, but with accidental self-revelation of something over the common, even a "bloomin' Dook," it might be incognito, on the tour of the South Coast.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 天才宝贝腹黑爹

    天才宝贝腹黑爹

    她不过是占了某五星酒店一点儿便宜,竟被某冰块男在她的肚子里留下东西,还变出个娃娃来。老爸腹黑高冷也就算了,宝贝也那么腹黑天才,人小鬼大,一不小心就被他们联合算计了进去。
  • 超骑士剑魂

    超骑士剑魂

    讲述了废柴少年许凉今,因为参加暗恋女生的生日派对,希望给她带来惊喜而穿上了定制的夜光服,却被在地球上空巡逻搜集机密的圣疆星间谍——星云联盟术士当做“自己人”,阴差阳错来到了神秘星球圣疆星。从此,改写了他全部的人生。
  • 逆天二维码

    逆天二维码

    某天,闲得没事的赵炎莫名其妙地扫了个二维码,然后就碉堡了。从此以后,赵炎的生活变得异常精彩。
  • 长生无间

    长生无间

    长生即无间。无间又称阿鼻,乃是地狱十八层。长生为无间地狱第一大劫,永无解脱之望。多一日不死多一日罪,多一年不死恶业加身,长生不死罪业无穷。不老荒村,山海奇观,烈火冰原.......我一个拥有神魔不许之命的人,踏上这些恐怖的不可知之地,去灭那世人渴望不可及的长生。
  • 虚空之影

    虚空之影

    这个世界叫做凌落,星辰与空间的结合开辟了一个新的时代,五大帝国林立于五个大陆之上。几万年风云变幻,凌落世界已经暗潮涌动。双月同现,守护者出,又一个星辰时代的来临,终将缔造一个新的传说!
  • 冷王的野蛮王妃

    冷王的野蛮王妃

    凤兮凤兮非无凰,山重水阔不可量。梧桐结阴在朝阳,濯羽弱水鸣高翔。凤兮凤兮归故乡,遨游
  • 重生修仙高手

    重生修仙高手

    仙界,一个神秘的少年,在一个神秘的山脉中独自生活。某天,山脉里突然出现一个绝美的仙子,两个人就这样相遇了。谁料,仙子乃是神界的公主,神王突降,打伤了少年,少年重生到了地球。为了追寻神界公主,少年在这繁华的都市里开始了修炼之旅......
  • 梦魂天尊

    梦魂天尊

    他的穿越是最平淡的——睡着就穿越,醒了就归来。他的穿越是最坑爹的——第一天就被人识破穿越者身份。他却不知,穿越本身,才是最深的坑。这里是没有肉体,只有魂灵的世界……梦魂界。
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 已然未然

    已然未然

    【他说,答案是她已然知道的,却又未然能做到的。她说,那么他,必然会去等待。】已然知道,但无从改变,未然想到,却悄然而至。是坚持,还是放弃,那未然的结果是否会幸福。是接受,还是拒绝,那已然的道理是否是正确。挥霍最后的青春,在已然未然中追寻真理,寻求答案,求解幸福的方向。——这是一个围绕“普通”和“天才”,“旁观者”和“孤高者”的碰撞爱情。它让你明白:“两个人,一个世界,刚刚好。”是为何意。