登陆注册
15514600000005

第5章 CHAPTER TWO(2)

"Yes--about thirty. A strong, keen face, rather tanned. He's between fair and dark----"

Hedrick raised himself to the attitude of the "Dying Gaul."

"And with `hair slightly silvered at the temples!' AIN'T his hair slightly silvered at the temples?" he cried imploringly.

"Oh, sister, in pity's name let his hair be slightly silvered at the temples? Only three grains of corn, your Grace; my children are starving!"

He collapsed again, laid his face upon his extended arms, and writhed.

"He has rather wonderful eyes," said Cora. "They seem to look right through you."

"Slush, slush, luv-a-ly slush," came in muffled tones from the floor.

"And he wears his clothes so well--so differently! You feel at once that he's not a person, but a personage."

Hedrick sat up, his eyes closed, his features contorted as with agony, and chanted, impromptu:

"Slush, slush, luv-a-ly, slush!

Le'ss all go a-swimmin' in a dollar's worth o' mush.

Slush in the morning, slush at night, If I don't get my slush I'm bound to get tight!"

"Hedrick!" said his mother.

"Altogether I should say that Mr. Valentine Corliss looks as if he lived up to his name," Cora went on tranquilly. "Valentine Corliss of Corliss Street--I think I rather like the sound of that name." She let her beautiful voice linger upon it, caressingly. "Valentine Corliss."

Hedrick opened his eyes, allowed his countenance to resume its ordinary proportions, and spoke another name slowly and with honeyed thoughtfulness:

"Ray Vilas."

This was the shot that told. Cora sprang down from the table with an exclamation.

Hedrick, subduing elation, added gently, in a mournful whisper:

"POOR old Dick Lindley!"

His efforts to sting his sister were completely successful at last: Cora was visibly agitated, and appealed hotly to her mother. "Am I to bear this kind of thing all my life? Aren't you EVER going to punish his insolence?"

"Hedrick, Hedrick!" said Mrs. Madison sadly.

Cora turned to the girl by the window with a pathetic gesture. "Laura----" she said, and hesitated.

Laura Madison looked up into her sister's troubled eyes.

"I feel so morbid," said Cora, flushing a little and glancing away. "I wish----" She stopped.

The silent Laura set aside her work, rose and went out of the room. Her cheeks, too, had reddened faintly, a circumstance sharply noted by the terrible boy. He sat where he was, asprawl, propped by his arms behind him, watching with acute concentration the injured departure of Cora, following her sister. At the door, Cora, without pausing, threw him a look over her shoulder: a full-eyed shot of frankest hatred.

A few moments later, magnificent chords sounded through the house. The piano was old, but tuned to the middle of the note, and the keys were swept by a master hand. The wires were not hammered; they were touched knowingly as by the player's own fingers, and so they sang--and from out among the chords there stole an errant melody. This was not "piano-playing" and not a pianist's triumphant nimbleness--it was music. Art is the language of a heart that knows how to speak, and a heart that knew how was speaking here. What it told was something immeasurably wistful, something that might have welled up in the breast of a young girl standing at twilight in an April orchard.

It was the inexpressible made into sound, an improvisation by a master player.

"You hear what she's up to?" said Hedrick, turning his head at last. But his mother had departed.

He again extended himself flat upon the floor, face downward, this time as a necessary preliminary to rising after a manner of his own invention. Mysteriously he became higher in the middle, his body slowly forming first a round and then a pointed arch, with forehead, knees, and elbows touching the floor. A brilliantly executed manoeuvre closed his Gothic period, set him upright and upon his feet; then, without ostentation, he pro-ceeded to the kitchen, where he found his mother polishing a sugar-bowl.

He challenged her with a damnatory gesture in the direction of the music. "You hear what Cora's up to? "

Mrs. Madison's expression was disturbed; she gave her son a look almost of appeal, and said, gently:

"I believe there's nothing precisely criminal in her getting Laura to play for her. Laura's playing always soothes her when she feels out of sorts--and--you weren't very considerate of her, Hedrick. You upset her."

"Mentioning Ray Vilas, you mean?" he demanded.

"You weren't kind."

"She deserves it. Look at her! YOU know why she's got Laura at the piano now."

"It's--it's because you worried her," his mother faltered evasively. "Besides, it is very hot, and Cora isn't as strong as she looks. She said she felt morbid and----"

"Morbid? Blah!" interrupted the direct boy. "She's started after this Corliss man just like she did for Vilas. If I was Dick Lindley I wouldn't stand for Cora's----"

"Hedrick!" His mother checked his outburst pleadingly.

"Cora has so much harder time than the other girls; they're all so much better off. They seem to get everything they want, just by asking: nice clothes and jewellery--and automobiles. That seems to make a great difference nowadays; they all seem to have automobiles. We're so dreadfully poor, and Cora has to struggle so for what good times she----"

"Her?" the boy jibed bitterly. "I don't see her doing any particular struggling." He waved his hand in a wide gesture.

"She takes it ALL!"

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 美女身边有高手

    美女身边有高手

    一位自两年前就从世间消声灭迹的人;一道好似能发出寒气的刀疤。高手重返都市。方浩默是一个打工仔,为了赚钱,不得不去给林氏集团的千金当保镖。在这里,安静的校园生活、烦乱的现代社会。……千金小姐以身相许,而方浩默的人生巅峰才刚刚开始…………演绎了一段美女与高手的故事。……美女身边有高手。……
  • 你好学长:我傲娇你养我

    你好学长:我傲娇你养我

    “内个,暖宝宝同学今天晚上点什么外卖啊?”“学长大大想吃什么呢?”“偷偷告诉你哦,学长大大我想吃你。”
  • 观我生(布谷鸟原创小说系列)

    观我生(布谷鸟原创小说系列)

    鲍贝编著的《观我生》是一部描写孤独、轮回和自我救赎的小说。“我”摆脱不了一只反复出现的梦境,为了寻找失去的那一段记忆,踏上一段自我寻找与自我发现的旅途。“我”从杭州出发,途经拉萨、 尼泊尔,最终到达不丹。在途中,邂逅藏传佛教徒,他和他的几个朋友到底犯下了什么不可饶恕之罪,要 历尽千辛万苦跑到不丹去圆寂和自尽?《观我生》围绕这个线索展开。
  • 神奇的新材料(海洋与科技探索之旅)

    神奇的新材料(海洋与科技探索之旅)

    随着科学技术发展,人们在传统材料的基础上,根据现代科技的研究成果,开发出新材料。然而对于新材料,大多数人都觉得他们离我们很远,更甚者认为其很神秘,其实他们就在我们生活的每个角落里。《神奇的新材料》带你走进新材料的世界,给你一场别让的旅行,让你在感受新材料给我们生活带来不可思议的特效外,同时也可带你进入另一个世界,感受一份新的体悟。
  • 般若波罗蜜多心经-智慧轮

    般若波罗蜜多心经-智慧轮

    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。
  • 前秦猛士

    前秦猛士

    关中良相唯王猛,天下苍生望谢安。时人相称已如此,而今几人能记得!
  • 为妃做歹:宠妃倾天下

    为妃做歹:宠妃倾天下

    乔衾衣有两愿,一愿天下不负她,二愿君侯拜她裙下。后宫三千,休有人想让她跪伏一生。为妃不得宠,何必多活几载丢人现眼!
  • 神偷无眠:断念绝爱斩情丝

    神偷无眠:断念绝爱斩情丝

    既身为神偷,便注定日夜无眠,生来只属于黑暗和冰冷。桀骜不驯如他,从未被人驯服过——直到遇见她。她的温柔可人、纯洁美好,点点滴滴融化他冰封已久的心,使他泥足深陷于爱情之中不能自拔。可一朝变故,全世界都迫使他挥剑斩断情丝,他却无论如何也不能做到,因为他知道,如斯爱恋,此生绝不会有第二回……
  • 官方秀恩爱:枭爷,求不撩

    官方秀恩爱:枭爷,求不撩

    一个是天才医生,一个是商业大亨,一个背负了过去,一个希望着将来,官方独播,枭爷又在秀恩爱
  • 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!)