友情提示:如果本网页打开太慢或显示不完整,请尝试鼠标右键“刷新”本网页!
the professor at the breakfast table-第40部分
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部! 如果本书没有阅读完,想下次继续接着阅读,可使用上方 "收藏到我的浏览器" 功能 和 "加入书签" 功能!
fact; I never saw but one; and sheor he; or ithad a mob of boys
after her; or whatever you call the creature; as if she had been
a…
The Little Gentleman stopped short;flushed somewhat; and looked
round with that involuntary; suspicious glance which the subjects of
any bodily misfortune are very apt to cast round them。 His eye
wandered over the company; none of whom; excepting myself and one
other; had; probably; noticed the movement。 They fell at last on
Iris;his next neighbor; you remember。
We know in a moment; on looking suddenly at a person; if that
person's eyes have been fixed on us。
Sometimes we are conscious of it before we turn so as to see the
person。 Strange secrets of curiosity; of impertinence; of malice;
of love; leak out in this way。 There is no need of Mrs。 Felix
Lorraine's reflection in the mirror; to tell us that she is plotting
evil for us behind our backs。 We know it; as we know by the ominous
stillness of a child that some mischief or other is going…on。 A
young girl betrays; in a moment; that her eyes have been feeding on。
the face where you find them fixed; and not merely brushing over it
with their pencils of blue or brown light。
A certain involuntary adjustment assimilates us; you may also
observe; to that upon which we look。 Roses redden the cheeks of her
who stoops to gather them; and buttercups turn little people's chins
yellow。 When we look at a vast landscape; our chests expand as if
we would enlarge to fill it。 When we examine a minute object; we
naturally contract; not only our foreheads; but all our dimensions。
If I see two men wrestling; I wrestle too; with my limbs and
features。 When a country…fellow comes upon the stage; you will see
twenty faces in the boxes putting on the bumpkin expression。 There
is no need of multiplying instances to reach this generalization;
every person and thing we look upon puts its special mark upon us。
If this is repeated often enough; we get a permanent resemblance to
it; or; at least; a fixed aspect which we took from it。 Husband and
wife come to look alike at last; as has often been noticed。 It is a
common saying of a jockey; that he is 〃all horse〃; and I have often
fancied that milkmen get a stiff; upright carriage; and an angular
movement of the arm; that remind one of a pump and the working of
its handle。
All this came in by accident; just because I happened to mention
that the Little Gentleman found that Iris had been looking at him
with her soul in her eyes; when his glance rested on her after
wandering round the company。 What he thought; it is hard to say;
but the shadow of suspicion faded off from his face; and he looked
calmly into the amber eyes; resting his cheek upon the hand that
wore the red jewel。
If it were a possible thing;women are such strange creatures!
Is there any trick that love and their own fancies do not play them?
Just see how they marry! A woman that gets hold of a bit of manhood
is like one of those Chinese wood…carvers who work on any odd;
fantastic root that comes to hand; and; if it is only bulbous above
and bifurcated below; will always contrive to make a mansuch as he
isout of it。 I should like to see any kind of a man;
distinguishable from a Gorilla; that some good and even pretty woman
could not shape a husband out of。
A child;yes; if you choose to call her so; but such a child! Do
you know how Art brings all ages together? There is no age to the
angels and ideal human forms among which the artist lives; and he
shares their youth until his hand trembles and his eye grows dim。
The youthful painter talks of white…bearded Leonardo as if he were a
brother; and the veteran forgets that Raphael died at an age to
which his own is of patriarchal antiquity。
But why this lover of the beautiful should be so drawn to one whom
Nature has wronged so deeply seems hard to explain。 Pity; I
suppose。 They say that leads to love。
I thought this matter over until I became excited and curious; and
determined to set myself more seriously at work to find out what was
going on in these wild hearts and where their passionate lives were
drifting。 I say wild hearts and passionate lives; because I think I
can look through this seeming calmness of youth and this apparent
feebleness of organization; and see that Nature; whom it is very
hard to cheat; is only waiting as the sapper waits in his mine;
knowing that all is in readiness and the slow…match burning quietly
down to the powder。 He will leave it by…and…by; and then it will
take care of itself。
One need not wait to see the smoke coming through the roof of a
house and the flames breaking out of the windows to know that the
building is on fire。 Hark! There is a quiet; steady; unobtrusive;
crisp; not loud; but very knowing little creeping crackle that is
tolerably intelligible。 There is a whiff of something floating
about; suggestive of toasting shingles。 Also a sharp pyroligneous…
acid pungency in the air that stings one's eyes。 Let us get up and
see what is going on。 Oh;oh;oh! do you know what has got hold
of you? It is the great red dragon that is born of the little red
eggs we call sparks; with his hundred blowing red manes; and his
thousand lashing red tails; and his multitudinous red eyes glaring
at every crack and key…hole; and his countless red tongues lapping
the beams he is going to crunch presently; and his hot breath
warping the panels and cracking the glass and making old timber
sweat that had forgotten it was ever alive with sap。 Run for your
life! leap! or you will be a cinder in five minutes; that nothing
but a coroner would take for the wreck of a human being!
If any gentleman will have the kindness to stop this run…away
comparison; I shall be much obliged to him。 All I intended to say
was; that we need not wait for hearts to break out in flames to know
that they are full of combustibles and that a spark has got among
them。 I don't pretend to say or know what it is that brings these
two persons together;and when I say together; I only mean that
there is an evident affinity of some kind or other which makes their
commonest intercourse strangely significant; as that each seems to
understand a look or a word of the other。 When the young girl laid
her hand on the Little Gentleman's arm;which so greatly shocked
the Model; you may remember;I saw that she had learned the lion…
tamer's secret。 She masters him; and yet I can see she has a kind
of awe of him; as the man who goes into the cage has of the monster
that he makes a baby of。
One of two things must happen。 The first is love; downright love;
on the part of this young girl; for the poor little misshapen man。
You may laugh; if you like。 But women are apt to love the men who
they think have the largest capacity of loving;and who can love
like one that has thirsted all his life long for the smile of youth
and beauty; and seen it fly his pre
快捷操作: 按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页 按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页 按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
温馨提示: 温看小说的同时发表评论,说出自己的看法和其它小伙伴们分享也不错哦!发表书评还可以获得积分和经验奖励,认真写原创书评 被采纳为精评可以获得大量金币、积分和经验奖励哦!