登陆注册
19901600000162

第162章

`Shouldn't think so!' she teased.`Why the poor girl is lying at this moment overwhelmed, dying with love for you.She thinks you're wonderful -- oh marvellous, beyond what man has ever been.Really, isn't it funny?'

`Why funny, what is funny?' he asked.

`Why to see you working it on her,' she said, with a half reproach that confused the male conceit in him.`Really Gerald, the poor girl --!'

`I did nothing to her,' he said.

`Oh, it was too shameful, the way you simply swept her off her feet.'

`That was Schuhplatteln,' he replied, with a bright grin.

`Ha -- ha -- ha!' laughed Gudrun.

Her mockery quivered through his muscles with curious re-echoes.When he slept he seemed to crouch down in the bed, lapped up in his own strength, that yet was hollow.

And Gudrun slept strongly, a victorious sleep.Suddenly, she was almost fiercely awake.The small timber room glowed with the dawn, that came upwards from the low window.She could see down the valley when she lifted her head: the snow with a pinkish, half-revealed magic, the fringe of pine-trees at the bottom of the slope.And one tiny figure moved over the vaguely-illuminated space.

She glanced at his watch; it was seven o'clock.He was still completely asleep.And she was so hard awake, it was almost frightening -- a hard, metallic wakefulness.She lay looking at him.

He slept in the subjection of his own health and defeat.She was overcome by a sincere regard for him.Till now, she was afraid before him.She lay and thought about him, what he was, what he represented in the world.Afine, independent will, he had.She thought of the revolution he had worked in the mines, in so short a time.She knew that, if he were confronted with any problem, any hard actual difficulty, he would overcome it.If he laid hold of any idea, he would carry it through.He had the faculty of making order out of confusion.Only let him grip hold of a situation, and he would bring to pass an inevitable conclusion.

For a few moments she was borne away on the wild wings of ambition.

Gerald, with his force of will and his power for comprehending the actual world, should be set to solve the problems of the day, the problem of industrialism in the modern world.She knew he would, in the course of time, effect the changes he desired, he could re-organise the industrial system.She knew he could do it.As an instrument, in these things, he was marvellous, she had never seen any man with his potentiality.He was unaware of it, but she knew.

He only needed to be hitched on, he needed that his hand should be set to the task, because he was so unconscious.And this she could do.She would marry him, he would go into Parliament in the Conservative interest, he would clear up the great muddle of labour and industry.He was so superbly fearless, masterful, he knew that every problem could be worked out, in life as in geometry.And he would care neither about himself nor about anything but the pure working out of the problem.He was very pure, really.

Her heart beat fast, she flew away on wings of elation, imagining a future.He would be a Napoleon of peace, or a Bismarck -- and she the woman behind him.She had read Bismarck's letters, and had been deeply moved by them.And Gerald would be freer, more dauntless than Bismarck.

But even as she lay in fictitious transport, bathed in the strange, false sunshine of hope in life, something seemed to snap in her, and a terrible cynicism began to gain upon her, blowing in like a wind.Everything turned to irony with her: the last flavour of everything was ironical.

When she felt her pang of undeniable reality, this was when she knew the hard irony of hopes and ideas.

She lay and looked at him, as he slept.He was sheerly beautiful, he was a perfect instrument.To her mind, he was a pure, inhuman, almost superhuman instrument.His instrumentality appealed so strongly to her, she wished she were God, to use him as a tool.

And at the same instant, came the ironical question: `What for?' She thought of the colliers' wives, with their linoleum and their lace curtains and their little girls in high-laced boots.She thought of the wives and daughters of the pit-managers, their tennis-parties, and their terrible struggles to be superior each to the other, in the social scale.There was Shortlands with its meaningless distinction, the meaningless crowd of the Criches.There was London, the House of Commons, the extant social world.My God!

Young as she was, Gudrun had touched the whole pulse of social England.

She had no ideas of rising in the world.She knew, with the perfect cynicism of cruel youth, that to rise in the world meant to have one outside show instead of another, the advance was like having a spurious half-crown instead of a spurious penny.The whole coinage of valuation was spurious.Yet of course, her cynicism knew well enough that, in a world where spurious coin was current, a bad sovereign was better than a bad farthing.But rich and poor, she despised both alike.

Already she mocked at herself for her dreams.They could be fulfilled easily enough.But she recognised too well, in her spirit, the mockery of her own impulses.What did she care, that Gerald had created a richly-paying industry out of an old worn-out concern? What did she care? The worn-out concern and the rapid, splendidly organised industry, they were bad money.

Yet of course, she cared a great deal, outwardly -- and outwardly was all that mattered, for inwardly was a bad joke.

Everything was intrinsically a piece of irony to her.She leaned over Gerald and said in her heart, with compassion:

`Oh, my dear, my dear, the game isn't worth even you.You are a fine thing really -- why should you be used on such a poor show!'

Her heart was breaking with pity and grief for him.And at the same moment, a grimace came over her mouth, of mocking irony at her own unspoken tirade.Ah, what a farce it was! She thought of Parnell and Katherine O'Shea.

Parnell! After all, who can take the nationalisation of Ireland seriously?

同类推荐
  • 奏定学堂章程学务纲要

    奏定学堂章程学务纲要

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 言兵事疏

    言兵事疏

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 七域修真证品图

    七域修真证品图

    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。
  • 冬官考工记

    冬官考工记

    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。
  • 纳兰性德词集

    纳兰性德词集

    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。
热门推荐
  • 神与英雄

    神与英雄

    上古世纪前传一十二位年轻人的探寻,众神的奥秘,原大陆的危机……尽在神与英雄
  • 一个50后的鲁迅观

    一个50后的鲁迅观

    《一个50后的鲁迅观》选进作者自20世纪80年代中期至90年代末期鲁迅研究的论文,绝大多数都公开发表过,分为人格篇、作品篇、比较篇、文化篇、研究之研究篇。作者怀着对一个永生的民族魂的敬意,以自己独到的视角,表达了一个50后不同凡响的鲁迅观。  这是一本热爱鲁迅的人必读的书,也是不同时代读者阅读鲁迅应该参考的一本书。
  • 君子剑道

    君子剑道

    在仙魔乱舞的大地上,提起手中剑,立下平天下之志,可是志在眼前,路在脚下,要如何走呢?看君子剑道,以君子之剑平定天下立三界规矩
  • 总统爹地:妈咪要离婚

    总统爹地:妈咪要离婚

    那晚,未婚夫携手表姐进入礼堂,而她与陌生人共度良宵。五年后,带着双胞胎高调回归,那晚神秘陌生人再次闯入她的生活。老天,他是我孩子的粑粑?他可是一国总统啊!他,一国总统,集天下男人所有的优点,她情不自禁地爱上他,却发现,那晚的邂逅,只因她身上有着让各界想要争夺的绝密武器的秘密,而无关爱情。梦已碎,一纸离婚协议甩给他时,他却又霸道的不肯放手!晴子的QQ1186935566
  • 四叶草永相随

    四叶草永相随

    本小说讲的是tfboys与三位四叶草的恋情,不喜勿喷,喜欢加我Q1193412989,谢谢
  • 你好或再见

    你好或再见

    韩文中,有一个单词,既可以表示你好,同样也可以表示再见。老天爷偏偏如此无情,这个单词非敬语,只能对亲密的人说。
  • 真剑傲世

    真剑傲世

    万物生灭,无尽轮回。世间至强无数,开天辟地,星空无敌!然,神通终不敌天数!天命如狱,谁能永恒?叶歌没有仙根本无缘仙途,却无意中获得神秘血珠,吞灵噬仙,脱凡炼真,浴血万劫,一步步踏上真道之路……
  • 有些女人不能碰

    有些女人不能碰

    夜场,酒吧,不但是个消遣的地方而且还是一些人找“机会”的地方,在那里不难认识一位陌生的异性。你或者只说一句搭讪的话就可以跟他(她)交上“朋友”。如果有谁意乱情迷,把持不住了,就有可能就在一夜之间完全了解他(她),之后在日出时,阳光会把这些像鬼魅一样的记忆化为灰烬。
  • 驸马有毒

    驸马有毒

    陆素问上辈子死得凄惨,归根结底,因为心善过了头。这辈子,她励志要把那些混蛋挫骨扬灰、只不过么……这身份,似乎有点微妙。
  • 友情记忆录:苦涩与甜蜜

    友情记忆录:苦涩与甜蜜

    友情,很多人都有,只是,何妨没有试过苦涩?甜蜜是好的,但是,有时候,苦涩又会是好的,彼此会互相理解,可是,如果不互相理解,就没有任何友情会摩擦。。。。。。。。。。