登陆注册
15465600000011

第11章 CHAPTER IV THE PLAY(1)

Shelton walked away; he had been indulging in a nightmare. "That old actor was drunk," thought he, "and no doubt he was an Irishman;still, there may be truth in what he said. I am a Pharisee, like all the rest who are n't in the pit. My respectability is only luck.

What should I have become if I'd been born into his kind of life?"and he stared at a stream of people coming from the Stares, trying to pierce the mask of their serious, complacent faces. If these ladies and gentlemen were put into that pit into which he had been looking, would a single one of them emerge again? But the effort of picturing them there was too much for him; it was too far--too ridiculously far.

One particular couple, a large; fine man and wife, who, in the midst of all the dirt and rumbling hurry, the gloomy, ludicrous, and desperately jovial streets, walked side by side in well-bred silence, had evidently bought some article which pleased them. There was nothing offensive in their manner; they seemed quite unconcerned at the passing of the other people. The man had that fine solidity of shoulder and of waist, the glossy self-possession that belongs to those with horses, guns, and dressing-bags. The wife, her chin comfortably settled in her fur, kept her grey eyes on the ground, and, when she spoke, her even and unruffled voice reached Shelton's ears above all the whirring of the traffic. It was leisurely precise, as if it had never hurried, had never been exhausted, or passionate, or afraid. Their talk, like that of many dozens of fine couples invading London from their country places, was of where to dine, what theatre they should go to, whom they had seen, what they should buy. And Shelton knew that from day's end to end, and even in their bed, these would be the subjects of their conversation. They were the best-bred people of the sort he met in country houses and accepted as of course, with a vague discomfort at the bottom of his soul. Antonia's home, for instance, had been full of them. They were the best-bred people of the sort who supported charities, knew everybody, had clear, calm judgment, and intolerance of all such conduct as seemed to them "impossible," all breaches of morality, such as mistakes of etiquette, such as dishonesty, passion, sympathy (except with a canonised class of objects--the legitimate sufferings, for instance, of their own families and class). How healthy they were! The memory of the doss-house worked in Shelton's mind like poison. He was conscious that in his own groomed figure, in the undemonstrative assurance of his walk, he bore resemblance to the couple he apostrophised. "Ah!" he thought, "how vulgar our refinement is!" But he hardly believed in his own outburst. These people were so well mannered, so well conducted, and so healthy, he could not really understand what irritated him. What was the matter with them? They fulfilled their duties, had good appetites, clear consciences, all the furniture of perfect citizens; they merely lacked-feelers, a loss that, he had read, was suffered by plants and animals which no longer had a need for using them. Some rare national faculty of seeing only the obvious and materially useful had destroyed their power of catching gleams or scents to right or left.

The lady looked up at her husband. The light of quiet, proprietary affection shone in her calm grey eyes, decorously illumining her features slightly reddened by the wind. And the husband looked back at her, calm, practical, protecting. They were very much alike. So doubtless he looked when he presented himself in snowy shirt-sleeves for her to straighten the bow of his white tie; so nightly she would look, standing before the full-length mirror, fixing his gifts upon her bosom. Calm, proprietary, kind! He passed them and walked behind a second less distinguished couple, who manifested a mutual dislike as matter-of-fact and free from nonsense as the unruffled satisfaction of the first; this dislike was just as healthy, and produced in Shelton about the same sensation. It was like knocking at a never-opened door, looking at a circle--couple after couple all the same. No heads, toes, angles of their souls stuck out anywhere.

In the sea of their environments they were drowned; no leg braved the air, no arm emerged wet and naked waving at the skies; shop-persons, aristocrats, workmen, officials, they were all respectable. And he himself as respectable as any.

He returned, thus moody, to his rooms and, with the impetuosity which distinguished him when about to do an unwise thing, he seized a pen and poured out before Antonia some of his impressions:

. . . . Mean is the word, darling; we are mean, that's what 's the matter with us, dukes and dustmen, the whole human species--as mean as caterpillars. To secure our own property and our own comfort, to dole out our sympathy according to rule just so that it won't really hurt us, is what we're all after. There's something about human nature that is awfully repulsive, and the healthier people are, the more repulsive they seem to me to be . . . .

He paused, biting his pen. Had he one acquaintance who would not counsel him to see a doctor for writing in that style? How would the world go round, how could Society exist, without common-sense, practical ability, and the lack of sympathy?

He looked out of the open window. Down in the street a footman was settling the rug over the knees of a lady in a carriage, and the decorous immovability of both their faces, which were clearly visible to him, was like a portion of some well-oiled engine.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 沙弥罗经

    沙弥罗经

    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。
  • 三界的劫难

    三界的劫难

    逆乱的三界,堕落的法则。光与暗,生与死,谁能化茧成蝶。爱与恨,情与仇,何人读通天道。而在这纷纷扰扰的世间之中,又会有谁来拯救这篇支离破碎的大陆。
  • 废铁世纪

    废铁世纪

    河里流淌着发臭的液体,天空被黑沉沉的烟雾遮盖,干净的水源和柔软的面包,都成了最奢侈的享受。整个地球,除了锈迹斑斑的机器以及它们的轰鸣,剩下的不过是用机械将身体改造成各种形状的人们,行尸走肉般的挣扎求存。在这样的钢铁废墟里,仍然有着一个目光坚定的少年,为去到传说中的天堂之城而努力。而梦想被无情踏碎之时,少年拾起曾经放弃的神秘身躯,化身凶暴的战争机器。将胆敢阻挡在自己面前的敌人,将这个残破不堪的废铁世纪……摧毁殆尽!
  • 重生之逆袭系统

    重生之逆袭系统

    天下无能第一,古今不孝无双。陈锋家产被人吞并,父母含冤死去之后,受尽嘲讽和屈辱,带着万分不甘和怨气离开人世,却意外的带着最强打脸系统重生十八岁,系统在手,美女我有,功法我有,权势我有!这一世,我发誓,杀尽一切负我之人!打脸一切装逼之人!
  • 请不要对我说sorry

    请不要对我说sorry

    张东和周莲本是互不相干的两条线,过着各自的生活,然而,一次偶然的相遇,让他们相识,相知,相恋,相离……从最初的排斥到最后的互相欣赏,从内心的波澜起伏,到后来的逐渐归于平静。也许相濡以沫,不如相忘于江湖……
  • 莎士比亚 普希金

    莎士比亚 普希金

    本书主要是对普希金和莎士比亚两位名人的家世、家教、兴趣爱好以及对其一生有影响的人和事等做了详细介绍,尤其探究了中外名人之所以成功的主客观因素。而且此书对名人成功前的鲜为人知的事件也有详细的介绍。
  • 贱侠顷缘

    贱侠顷缘

    一个钱庄的老板,为保护钱庄安全,为省钱请保镖,送自己的儿子学武功。儿子长大后,学成一身超凡武功,钱庄安全没保护成,却踏入一场接一场的江湖争霸和武林争斗……看一代贱侠如何闯江湖!
  • 冷枪傲寒

    冷枪傲寒

    凡事皆为善所引,人、魔、仙、兽有其道,万物此皆有因果,这一情缘此生寻...新书写的不好求大家尽量指出,也求大家多多支持,投下您们的推荐票,打开您们的书架收藏,谢谢!O(∩_∩)O~
  • 恶魔总裁:小娇妻逃了

    恶魔总裁:小娇妻逃了

    现在给你两个选择,一是选择我,和我过上不愁的日子嫁入豪门,而是你可以不选择我,选择这个穷小子,不过,你可想好了,你要为你生病的母亲,还有天生有疾病的妹妹考虑
  • 仙魔禁恋

    仙魔禁恋

    他是魔界老幺,魔界备受欺凌,原因无他,只为魔界主人心里平时多关心他这个没用的魔子。他只是按照母亲的话,在魔界低调行事,却被无知人欺凌。被打成重伤,为骄傲公主所救,他们注定要擦出爱情的火花,魔与仙能否相恋,他该何去何从?她是天庭傲娇女,平时锦衣玉食的她,却为一个见过几次面的人与自己老弟吵架。为他鞍前马后,只得来一句:你走吧,我们~~~~注定没有结果。她忿怒,变身罗刹,杀进他家,剑指英眉,道:为什么。只为一句话,毁掉大好前程。她能否找到一个好的归宿?前世今生,命已注定。