登陆注册
15453300000082

第82章 XXXIV.(3)

Clementina never doubted the good faith or constancy of her lover; but her heart misgave her as to his well-being when it sank at each failure of the vice-consul to bring her a letter from him. Something must have happened to him, and it must have been something very serious to keep him from writing; or there was some mistake of the post-office. The vice-consul indulged himself in personal inquiries to make sure that the mistake was not in the Venetian post-office; but he saw that he brought her greater distress in ascertaining the fact. He got to dreading a look of resolute cheerfulness that came into her face, when he shook his head in sign that there were no letters, and he suffered from the covert eagerness with which she glanced at the superscriptions of those he brought and failed to find the hoped-for letter among them. Ordeal for ordeal, he was beginning to regret his trials under Mrs. Lander. In them he could at least demand Clementina's sympathy, but against herself this was impossible. Once she noted his mute distress at hers, and broke into a little laugh that he found very harrowing.

"I guess you hate it almost as much as I do, Mr. Bennam."

"I guess I do. I've half a mind to write the letter you want, myself."

"I've half a mind to let you--or the letter I'd like to write."

It had come to her thinking she would write again to Hinkle; but she could not bring herself to do it. She often imagined doing it; she had every word of such a letter in her mind; and she dramatized every fact concerning it from the time she should put pen to paper, to the time when she should get back the answer that cleared the mystery of his silence away. The fond reveries helped her to bear her suspense; they helped to make the days go by, to ease the doubt with which she lay down at night, and the heartsick hope with which she rose up in the morning.

One day, at the hour of his wonted visit, she say the vice-consul from her balcony coming, as it seemed to her, with another figure in his gondola, and a thousand conjectures whirled through her mind, and then centred upon one idea. After the first glance she kept her eyes down, and would not look again while she told herself incessantly that it could not be, and that she was a fool and a goose and a perfect coot, to think of such a thing for a single moment. When she allowed herself, or forced herself, to look a second time; as the boat drew near, she had to cling to the balcony parapet for support, in her disappointment.

The person whom the vice-consul helped out of the gondola was an elderly man like himself, and she took a last refuge in the chance that he might be Hinkle's father, sent to bring her to him because he could not come to her; or to soften some terrible news to her. Then her fancy fluttered and fell, and she waited patiently for the fact to reveal itself. There was something countrified in the figure of the man, and something clerical in his face, though there was nothing in his uncouth best clothes that confirmed this impression. In both face and figure there was a vague resemblance to some one she had seen before, when the vice-consul said:

"Miss Claxon, I want to introduce the Rev. Mr. James B. Orson, of Michigan." Mr. Orson took Clementina's hand into a dry, rough grasp, while he peered into her face with small, shy eyes. The vice-consul added with a kind of official formality, "Mr. Orson is the half-nephew of Mr. Lander," and then Clementina now knew whom it was that he resembled.

"He has come to Venice," continued the vice-consul, "at the request of Mrs. Lander; and he did not know of her death until I informed him of the fact. I should have said that Mr. Orson is the son of Mr. Lander's half-sister. He can tell you the balance himself." The vice-consul pronounced the concluding word with a certain distaste, and the effect of gladly retiring into the background.

"Won't you sit down?" said Clementina, and she added with one of the remnants of her Middlemount breeding, "Won't you let me take your hat?"

Mr. Orson in trying to comply with both her invitations, knocked his well worn silk hat from the hand that held it, and sent it rolling across the room, where Clementina pursued it and put it on the table.

"I may as well say at once," he began in a flat irresonant voice, "that I am the representative of Mrs. Lander's heirs, and that I have a letter from her enclosing her last will and testament, which I have shown to the consul here"--"Vice-consul," the dignitary interrupted with an effect of rejecting any part in the affair.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 三世情缘不负卿

    三世情缘不负卿

    那夜,月色静好。他笑说,美人,我等你好久了。磁性的嗓音在这样的夜色下是这样的美好,可是接下来发生的一切她才恍然明白这根本是个魔鬼,亲手将自己送进地狱。在无尽的黑暗中,她承受了变态的虐待。再次见到阳光的那一日,她想,是不是一切都过去了。会过去吗?
  • 绝宠太子妃:夫人,别逗

    绝宠太子妃:夫人,别逗

    她从天而降,没成想误惹上前未婚夫——当朝太子。因垂涎他的美色,误签了卖身契,进太子府夜夜伺候他但是这被奴役的日子实在是叔可忍婶不可忍“君寒风,你敢娶别的女人当太子妃试试,看我不让你绝子绝孙!”某男一派悠然,笑意渐生,吹了灯,魅惑的声音在耳边响起“挽挽,这是你的子孙,你绝个试试!”一本正经的书,一本正经的作者。欢迎入坑,入了就是爷的人了。
  • 极品狂少祸害神话

    极品狂少祸害神话

    【2016火爆仙侠,演绎另类神话】乱入神话世界,亲身“拯救”女鬼,女妖,女神,女仙!重生到梁祝世界,却成为被唾骂千古的炮灰,马文才表示压力很大。最麻烦的,这还是一个乱入的神话世界,有封神,有西游,还有聊斋!这必须得逆天改命,不光要改自己的命运,还有神话人物的命运。织女、邓婵玉、白素贞、聂小倩、苏妲己、还有各种美丽可人的女妖精,我来拯救你们啦!
  • 比翼劫

    比翼劫

    你我相遇得比他早不知多少光年,却生生的不知错过了多少光年。若是你我不曾错过,那么现在会不会有个不一样的结局。你我忘记了不知多少光年的记忆,到最后······也只是无可奈何。
  • 公主殿下:很腹黑

    公主殿下:很腹黑

    废材哑女、?废材痴女、?废材聋女、?天才?应该不能形容此刻的唐晓乐了,逆天才对!全系重生那一刻瞬间暴走!!!呵!看我怎么把这个愚钝的世界耍的团团转!美男、珍宝统统手到擒来!王牌亲哥在此!谁大胆敢侵犯第一唐家帝国公主殿下?!挑事的站左边,调戏的站右边,联姻的站后边!!统统给本殿下滚出一条路!虽然废材了一些、傻了一些、聋了一些、哑了一些、痴了一些……胆敢说出禁忌词语,“你试试看~嗯?”
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 重生之弃妇桃花开

    重生之弃妇桃花开

    不分日夜辛苦赚钱供养到大学毕业的丈夫背信弃义的另娶富家千金,一朝变成弃妇的苏袖被害得失去了七个月大的孩子,葬送了自己的命!带着尚未开启的金手指重生,苏袖咬紧牙关拼了命的往上爬,只为报复那些曾经伤害过她的人。复仇路上,所有阻挠她的障碍全都必须清除!
  • 逆天狂修

    逆天狂修

    这逆境磨灭不了我的灵魂,这苍天阻止不了我的脚步!用生命铸就最终的辉煌,用力量,逆这不公的老天!看似平庸的少年能否在这四面皆敌的世界里一步步走上巅峰?颠覆传统的境界划分,集修真玄幻于一体!叶风,带你走进不一样精彩的世界!
  • 龙朝遗传

    龙朝遗传

    看龙朝小厨师如何玩转他传奇的一生,在正邪之间游走,阴谋的背后又有怎样的隐情。一切的一切为何开始,又为什么结束?一个朝代的兴衰里又饱含了怎样九曲回肠的故事呢?一切尽在龙朝遗传。
  • 逆天魔妃:天才大小姐

    逆天魔妃:天才大小姐

    她,曾经是凤麟国最受宠公主,却被最信任的人所害,一夕之间,家破人亡,自己的灵力也被消去;如今,她踏血归来,发誓要将欺侮过她的人碎尸万段,一个都不放过!