登陆注册
15462100000071

第71章 V(1)

IT is this part of the story that makes me saddest of all. For I ask myself unceasingly, my mind going round and round in a weary, baffled space of pain--what should these people have done? What, in the name of God, should they have done?

The end was perfectly plain to each of them--it was perfectly manifest at this stage that, if the girl did not, in Leonora's phrase, "belong to Edward," Edward must die, the girl must lose her reason because Edward died--and, that after a time, Leonora, who was the coldest and the strongest of the three, would console herself by marrying Rodney Bayham and have a quiet, comfortable, good time. That end, on that night, whilst Leonora sat in the girl's bedroom and Edward telephoned down below--that end was plainly manifest. The girl, plainly, was half-mad already;Edward was half dead; only Leonora, active, persistent, instinct with her cold passion of energy, was "doing things". What then, should they have done? worked out in the extinction of two very splendid personalities--for Edward and the girl were splendid personalities, in order that a third personality, more normal, should have, after a long period of trouble, a quiet, comfortable, good time.

I am writing this, now, I should say, a full eighteen months after the words that end my last chapter. Since writing the words "until my arrival", which I see end that paragraph, I have seen again for a glimpse, from a swift train, Beaucaire with the beautiful white tower, Tarascon with the square castle, the great Rhone, the immense stretches of the Crau. I have rushed through all Provence--and all Provence no longer matters. It is no longer in the olive hills that I shall find my Heaven; because there is only Hell. . . .

Edward is dead; the girl is gone--oh, utterly gone; Leonora is having a good time with Rodney Bayham, and I sit alone in Branshaw Teleragh. I have been through Provence; I have seen Africa; I have visited Asia to see, in Ceylon, in a darkened room, my poor girl, sitting motionless, with her wonderful hair about her, looking at me with eyes that did not see me, and saying distinctly: "Credo in unum Deum omnipotentem. . . . Credo in unum Deum omnipotentem." Those are the only reasonable words she uttered; those are the only words, it appears, that she ever will utter. I suppose that they are reasonable words; it must be extraordinarily reasonable for her, if she can say that she believes in an Omnipotent Deity. Well, there it is. I am very tired of it. all.

. . .

For, I daresay, all this may sound romantic, but it is tiring, tiring, tiring to have been in the midst of it; to have taken the tickets; to have caught the trains; to have chosen the cabins; to have consulted the purser and the stewards as to diet for the quiescent patient who did nothing but announce her belief in an Omnipotent Deity. That may sound romantic--but it is just a record of fatigue.

I don't know why I should always be selected to be serviceable. Idon't resent it--but I have never been the least good. Florence selected me for her own purposes, and I was no good to her;Edward called me to come and have a chat with him, and Icouldn't stop him cutting his throat.

And then, one day eighteen months ago, I was quietly writing in my room at Branshaw when Leonora came to me with a letter. It was a very pathetic letter from Colonel Rufford about Nancy.

Colonel Rufford had left the army and had taken up an appointment at a tea-planting estate in Ceylon. His letter was pathetic because it was so brief, so inarticulate, and so business-like. He had gone down to the boat to meet his daughter, and had found his daughter quite mad. It appears that at Aden Nancy had seen in a local paper the news of Edward's suicide. In the Red Sea she had gone mad. She had remarked to Mrs Colonel Luton, who was chaperoning her, that she believed in an Omnipotent Deity. She hadn't made any fuss; her eyes were quite dry and glassy. Even when she was mad Nancy could behave herself.

Colonel Rufford said the doctor did not anticipate that there was any chance of his child's recovery. It was, nevertheless, possible that if she could see someone from Branshaw it might soothe her and it might have a good effect. And he just simply wrote to Leonora: "Please come and see if you can do it."I seem to have lost all sense of the pathetic; but still, that simple, enormous request of the old colonel strikes me as pathetic. He was cursed by his atrocious temper; he had been cursed by a half-mad wife, who drank and went on the streets. His daughter was totally mad--and yet he believed in the goodness of human nature. He believed that Leonora would take the trouble to go all the way to Ceylon in order to soothe his daughter. Leonora wouldn't. Leonora didn't ever want to see Nancy again. I daresay that that, in the circumstances, was natural enough. At the same time she agreed, as it were, on public grounds, that someone soothing ought to go from Branshaw to Ceylon. She sent me and her old nurse, who had looked after Nancy from the time when the girl, a child of thirteen, had first come to Branshaw. So off I go, rushing through Provence, to catch the steamer at Marseilles. And I wasn't the least good when I got to Ceylon; and the nurse wasn't the least good. Nothing has been the least good. The doctors said, at Kandy, that if Nancy could be brought to England, the sea air, the change of climate, the voyage, and all the usual sort of things, might restore her reason. Of course, they haven't restored her reason. She is, I am aware, sitting in the hall, forty paces from where I am now writing. I don't want to be in the least romantic about it. She is very well dressed; she is quite quiet; she is very beautiful. The old nurse looks after her very efficiently.

同类推荐
  • 题秦州城

    题秦州城

    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。
  • 曹文贞公诗集

    曹文贞公诗集

    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。
  • 雪峰慧空禅师语录

    雪峰慧空禅师语录

    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。
  • 明伦汇编交谊典前辈部

    明伦汇编交谊典前辈部

    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。
  • 道典论

    道典论

    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
  • 特种兵之猎豹

    特种兵之猎豹

    在学校人家泡妞他被妞泡,新兵连揍班长,特战队中成为真正的兵王。一张通缉令,改变他的一生,一句忠于祖国,让他成为优秀侦察兵,一个信仰,让他成为特种部队中的猎豹,忠于祖国忠于人民,勇敢顽强不怕牺牲,任何不法分子进我中国领地,杀杀杀~...
  • 异世界的开启

    异世界的开启

    夜色拉展帷幕,模糊了天地界限。混沌蝴蝶扇翅翩翩,驻足人耳旁轻语无限遐想……少女独爱雨夜苍穹。嗅那清爽雨丝,蕴藏芳草甘香,静聆风语沙沙,遥望零星点点,似乎伸手就能摘取宇宙奥秘……望那夜漫苍穹,似乎在无形之中与一双智慧却无言的眼睛对视。少女久久凝视夜空中的那双眼睛,心里的那片海泛起涟漪。少女发问了。对着那双智慧的眼睛。
  • 吴明真新韵诗词集

    吴明真新韵诗词集

    《吴明真新韵诗词集》是吴明真在新韵文坛创作的作品,吴明真工诗善词,笔锋豪放磅礴,婉约秀气,被许多人赞赏喜爱。吴明真的作品题材非常广泛,吴明真创作诗词有三不写,无物境不写无情境不写无意境不写。文学佳作是一颗璀璨的明珠。吴明真,字光正,号观微子,祖籍河南商城,现籍为江西鄱阳人,出身于江西鄱阳,是河南商城吴氏分支之一,延陵世家。吴明真是新韵诗词派的写作人物之一。
  • 青鸟记

    青鸟记

    青丘有奇鸟,自言独见尔。上古时期,一场屠仙之战沉落了蓬莱古山,从此仙境难寻,蓬莱无路。多少年后,一位神秘少年踏出祖地,追随青鸟只为寻找那虚无缥缈的真相。回首凡尘,一忘梦千年。一曲离殇,叹繁华落尽,浮生终究被造物弄了人。雾里寻青鸟,这是梦开始的地方,也是梦结束的地方。这是一本全新的玄幻小说,一段热血沸腾的逆天传奇,望支持!
  • 妖妃倾城:王,今晚约不

    妖妃倾城:王,今晚约不

    当天才少女成为废材小姐,将会引起怎样的风波?当千面女神遇上超级大腹黑又会发生什么连锁反应?落千夏扶额,谁说妖王殿下冷酷嗜血的?这货分明是一完全没长大的小破孩好吗?“夏夏,不要想跑,你跑不掉的。”“是吗?那我偏偏跑给你看!”一场追逐与被追逐的好戏。最后,谁先虏获了谁的心?又是谁为了谁甘愿与天下人为敌?
  • EXO之人鱼传说

    EXO之人鱼传说

    【花绪】【宁念玖栀】纯美的校园爱情,记忆里的人儿,还在水岸上,唱着歌,我送你的人鱼传说。
  • 穿越之倾世大小姐

    穿越之倾世大小姐

    你,听说过彼岸花的故事吗?她,是21世纪最顶尖的杀手;她,是冥月国最落魄的大小姐。身世不同,身份不同。时空穿越,当她变成她,看她如何上打无耻皇帝,下踹薄情渣爹,左揍南北绿茶婊,右虐东西白莲花。待她“功成身退”,他却缠上了她,不肯放手。若她与他注定不能在一起,她便逆天而行!
  • 金色闪光

    金色闪光

    没事瞎写,写多了想让更多的人分享。愿意看的朋友谢谢你们,本人教师,没办法日更,请谅解。
  • 王爷通缉令:王妃哪里逃

    王爷通缉令:王妃哪里逃

    身处一片鲜艳妖红之中,素洁衣裳上亦是狼籍骇人的血迹,她神情苍白茫然,宛若迷途孩子。“恩人…”她摇头,退后,却被禁锢了整个娇小身子。这个救了她性命的男人,在对她做什么?他双眸自始至终都定在她身上,似玩味、似欣赏。“我要你,记住今夜发生的一切。”*轩辕睿,当朝王爷,清隽温和,她要嫁的男人,但她忘不了,他袖手旁观,面无表情,看着她死。南烈羲,当今韩王,俊美邪妄,她要攀附的男人,他靠近她,嗓音是危险的平静。“今晚,你到我房里来伺侯我。”她迷惘,她不懂,他的笑意却变得阴沉。“无妨,人来就明白了,本王会好好给你上课的,将你教到完全懂。”*她穿梭在爱与恨的难关上,尝尽世间冷淡凉薄,褪去天真,坚强周旋,却忘了,到底把爱,遗落在何处。一开始,谁抛弃了她?到最后,谁紧抱着她?娇美的花儿,过早的绽放。光阴,腐化了最初的单纯。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
  • 逆的奇妙冒险

    逆的奇妙冒险

    逆在JoJo里面的奇妙冒险(从二代后期到六代结尾大概( ̄? ̄)