登陆注册
15459000000144

第144章 Chapter 3(5)

Touch by touch she thus dropped into her husband's silence the truth about his good nature and his good manners; and it was this demonstration of his virtue precisely that added to the strangeness, even for herself, of her failing as yet to yield to him. It would be a question but of the most trivial act of surrender, the vibration of a nerve, the mere movement of a muscle; but the (60) act grew important between them just through her doing perceptibly nothing, nothing but talk in the very tone that would naturally have swept her into tenderness. She knew more and more--every lapsing minute taught her--how he might by a single rightness make her cease to watch him; that rightness, a million miles removed from the queer actual, falling so short, which would consist of his breaking out to her diviningly, indulgently, with the last happy inconsequence. "Come away with me somewhere, you--and then we need n't think, we need n't even talk, of anything, of any one else ": five words like that would answer her, would break her utterly down. But they were the only ones that would so serve. She waited for them, and there was a supreme instant when by the testimony of all the rest of him she seemed to feel them in his heart and on his lips; only they did n't sound, and as that made her wait again so it made her more intensely watch. This in turn showed her that he too watched and waited, and how much he had expected something that he now felt would n't come. Yes, it would n't come if he did n't answer her, if he but said the wrong things instead of the right. If he could say the right everything would come--it hung by a hair that everything might crystallise for their recovered happiness at his touch. This possibility glowed at her however for fifty seconds only then to turn cold, and as it fell away from her she felt the chill of reality and knew again, all but pressed to his heart and with his breath upon her cheek, the slim rigour of her attitude, a rigour beyond that of her natural being. They at last had silences that were almost (61) crudities of mutual resistance--silences that persisted through his felt effort to treat her recurrence to the part he had lately played, to interpret all the sweetness of her so talking to him, as a manner of making love to him. Ah it was no such manner, heaven knew, for Maggie; she could make love, if this had been in question, better than that! On top of which it came to her presently to say, keeping in with what she had already spoken: "Except of course that, for the question of going off somewhere, he'd go readily, quite delightedly, with you. I verily believe he'd like to have you for a while to himself."

"Do you mean he thinks of proposing it?" the Prince after a moment sounded.

"Oh no--he does n't ask, as you must so often have seen. But I believe he'd go 'like a shot,' as you say, if you were to suggest it."

It had the air, she knew, of a kind of condition made, and she had asked herself while she spoke if it would n't cause his arm to let her go. The fact that it did n't suggested to her that she had made him of a sudden still more intensely think, think with such concentration that he could do but one thing at once. And it was precisely as if the concentration had the next moment been proved in him. He took a turn inconsistent with the superficial impression--a jump that made light of their approach to gravity and represented for her the need in him to gain time. This she made out was his drawback--that the warning from her had come to him and had come to Charlotte after all too suddenly. That they were in face of it rearranging, that they HAD to rearrange, was all before her (62) again; yet to do as they would like they must enjoy a snatch, longer or shorter, of recovered independence. Amerigo was for the instant but doing as he DID N'T like, and it was as if she were watching his effort without disguise.

"What's your father's idea this year then about Fawns? Will he go at Whitsuntide and will he then stay on?"

Maggie went through the form of thought. "He'll really do, I imagine, as he has in so many ways so often done before; do whatever may seem most agreeable to yourself. And there's of course always Charlotte to be considered.

Only their going early to Fawns, if they do go," she said, "need n't in the least entail your and my going."

"Ah," Amerigo echoed, "it need n't in the least entail your and my going?"

"We can do as we like. What they may do need n't trouble us, since they're by good fortune perfectly happy together."

"Oh," the Prince returned, "your father's never so happy as with you near him to enjoy his being so."

"Well, I may enjoy it," said Maggie, "but I'm not the cause of it."

"You're the cause," her husband declared, "of the greater part of everything that's good among us." But she received this tribute in silence, and the next moment he pursued: "If Mrs. Verver has arrears of time with you to make up, as you say, she'll scarcely do it--or you scarcely will--by our cutting, your and my cutting, too loose."

"I see what you mean," Maggie mused.

He let her for a little give her attention to it; after (63) which, "Shall I just quite of a sudden," he asked, "propose him a journey?"

Maggie cast about her, but she brought forth the fruit of reflexion.

"It would have the merit that Charlotte then WOULD be with me--with me I mean so much more. Also that I should n't, by choosing such a time for going away, seem unconscious and ungrateful, seem not to respond, seem in fact rather to wish to shake her off. I should respond on the contrary most markedly--by being here alone with her for a month."

同类推荐
  • 普贤金刚萨埵瑜伽念诵仪

    普贤金刚萨埵瑜伽念诵仪

    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。
  • Eben Holden

    Eben Holden

    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。
  • 御定佩文斋书画谱

    御定佩文斋书画谱

    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。
  • 广东新语

    广东新语

    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。
  • 空轩诗话

    空轩诗话

    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
  • 火澜

    火澜

    当一个现代杀手之王穿越到这个世界。是隐匿,还是崛起。一场血雨腥风的传奇被她改写。一条无上的强者之路被她踏破。修斗气,炼元丹,收兽宠,化神器,大闹皇宫,炸毁学院,打死院长,秒杀狗男女,震惊大陆。无止尽的契约能力,上古神兽,千年魔兽,纷纷前来抱大腿,惊傻世人。她说:在我眼里没有好坏之分,只有强弱之分,只要你能打败我,这世间所有都是你的,打不败我,就从这世间永远消失。她狂,她傲,她的目标只有一个,就是凌驾这世间一切之上。三国皇帝,魔界妖王,冥界之主,仙界至尊。到底谁才是陪着她走到最后的那个?他说:上天入地,我会陪着你,你活着,有我,你死,也一定有我。本文一对一,男强女强,强强联手,不喜勿入。
  • 兰蒂斯

    兰蒂斯

    位于另一个世界的兰蒂斯面临着生存危机。蓝凌何在?人间的蓝韵玲是否能重回兰蒂斯,化身为蓝凌女神,拯救危在旦夕的兰蒂斯?美丽的蓝凌神花是否能与五神花玉莲,火莲,金龙,碧莲进化?进化后的蓝玉凌霜,圣缘玉莲,凤凰火莲,金龙凌霄,苏木碧莲能否战胜紫蔷薇的化身妖惑西番莲?五花八门中的八大门派雪莲,罂粟,素心兰,百子莲,三色堇,雪梅,牡丹,玛格烈菊。进化后的他们又会如何选择?
  • 月芽之恋

    月芽之恋

    她本是一个丫鬟,去武林的路上,遇见了盗贼。然后阴差阳错的碰见了满脸胡渣的男人,就在感情猛涨时,她却知道了自己的身世之谜,这段爱恋究竟该何去何从……
  • 王源之遇上他

    王源之遇上他

    她因为叛逆自己来到了重庆,遇上了他。让她感受到了从没有过的爱。
  • 霸道王爷追妻:妃爱不可

    霸道王爷追妻:妃爱不可

    一道圣旨,她被迫嫁到凌王府。她为了家人委曲求全,受尽折磨。最终在一场战乱中,她失去所有,伤心欲绝。直到她伤心离去,他才恍然发现自己早已爱上了那个绝美女人。当别人同她谈起他时,她冷笑一声:“身边有人又怎样,你闭上眼睛心里想的谁,睁开眼睛身边又是谁?他凌王从来不缺女人,我怎么知道我是第几个?”可她早已不在。他发了疯一样的寻她,却闻之她逝去的消息。命运的齿轮究竟如何转动,有情人是否能终成眷属。
  • 饶命啊,腐女大人

    饶命啊,腐女大人

    我叫沈青,是一个腐女,一个十分努力的初三党,父母离异,可我只是想安安静静地考上希文中学而已,万万没想到,我那不争气的老爸(妈),又给我找了一个妈(爸)。。。阿西吧!!我怎么能同意!!薛琪你别拦着我!!。。。我叫沈青,是一个腐女,万万没想到我最终还是被我妈(爸)给打败了。。。。以上内容纯属沈青的OS,跟简介一点关系都没有!一点关系都没有!一点关系都没有!
  • 独占告白:小丫头别想逃

    独占告白:小丫头别想逃

    “走走走,为夫带你去耍,我们看尽一夜繁华。”陌辰耍贱,卖萌可还行。腹黑如他,一步步把夏冰璃拆穿入腹。有一天,夏冰璃看到了陌辰的电脑,正在荣耀联盟的页面上,还有夏冰璃和苏朗的聊天记录。“陌辰,你给我过来!”“到!老婆大人请息怒!”
  • 吾谓

    吾谓

    大道无形,生育天地。大道无情,运行日月。大道无名,长养万物。吾不知其名,谓不知其事。吾谓之清静,而清静为天下正!!!
  • Hi我的冰山殿下

    Hi我的冰山殿下

    她的妈妈在2年前因为车祸去世,从此只和温柔的哥哥和爸爸在一起生活..她,超喜欢小栗旬,因为她喜欢温柔的男生。她,身体很弱,从来都不能做剧烈运动,因为那会晕倒..她以为,她喜欢的一直都是温柔的男生,可是却因为日夜相处后,她却逐渐对冰山动了心,她,最后到底会和谁在一起呢...
  • 儿子是黑帮老大

    儿子是黑帮老大

    真的,我发誓,我真的不是故意的。是他先惹我的,而我只是推了他一下,谁知道他就变成白痴了!而我从此就多了一个身高198公分,长相英俊。但智商却只有三岁半的儿子。天哪!怎么会这样?我到底做错了什么?