登陆注册
37279600000060

第60章

Edouard called the next day: he wore a gloomy air.Rose met this with a particularly cheerful one; on this, Edouard's face cleared up, and he was himself again; agreeable as this was, Rose felt a little disappointed."I am afraid he is not very jealous after all," thought she.

Josephine left her room this day and mingled once more with the family.The bare sight of her was enough for Camille at first, but after awhile he wanted more.He wanted to be often alone with her;but several causes co-operated to make her shy of giving him many such opportunities: first, her natural delicacy, coupled with her habit of self-denial; then her fear of shocking her mother, and lastly her fear of her own heart, and of Camille, whose power over her she knew.For Camille, when he did get a sweet word alone with her, seemed to forget everything except that she was his betrothed, and that he had come back alive to marry her.He spoke to her of his love with an ardor and an urgency that made her thrill with happiness, but at the same time shrink with a certain fear and self-reproach.Possessed with a feeling no stronger than hers, but single, he did not comprehend the tumult, the trouble, the daily contest in her heart.The wind seemed to him to be always changing, and hot and cold the same hour.Since he did not even see that she was acting in hourly fear of her mother's eye, he was little likely to penetrate her more hidden sentiments; and then he had not touched her key-note,--self-denial.

Women are self-denying and uncandid.Men are self-indulgent and outspoken.

And this is the key to a thousand double misunderstandings; for believe me, good women are just as stupid in misunderstanding men as honest men are in misunderstanding women.

To Camille, Josephine's fluctuations, joys, tremors, love, terror, modesty, seemed one grand total, caprice.The component parts of it he saw not; and her caprice tortured him almost to madness.Too penitent to give way again to violent passion, he gently fretted.

His health retrograded and his temper began to sour.The eye of timid love that watched him with maternal anxiety from under its long lashes saw this with dismay, and Rose, who looked into her sister's bosom, devoted herself once more to soothe him without compromising Josephine's delicacy.Matters were not so bad but what a fine sprightly girl like Rose could cheer up a dejected but manly colonel; and Rose was generally successful.

But then, unfortunately, this led to a fresh mystification.

Riviere's natural jealousy revived, and found constant food in the attention Rose paid Camille, a brilliant colonel living in the house while he, poor wretch, lived in lodgings.The false position of all the parties brought about some singular turns.I give from their number one that forms a link, though a small one, in my narrative.

One day Edouard came to tell Rose she was ****** him unhappy; he had her alone in the Pleasaunce; she received him with a radiant smile, and they had a charming talk,--a talk all about HIM: what the family owed him, etc.

On this, his late jealousy and sense of injury seemed a thing of three years ago, and never to return.So hard it is for the loving heart to resist its sun.

Jacintha came with a message from the colonel: "Would it be agreeable to Mademoiselle Rose to walk with him at the usual hour?""Certainly," said Rose.

As Jacintha was retiring Edouard called to her to stop a minute.

Then, turning to Rose, he begged her very ceremoniously to reconsider that determination.

"What determination?"

"To sacrifice me to this Colonel Dujardin." Still politely, only a little grimly.

Rose opened her eyes."Are you mad?" inquired she with quiet hauteur.

"Neither mad nor a fool," was the reply."I love you too well to share your regard with any one, upon any terms; least of all upon these, that there is to be a man in the world at whose beck and call you are to be, and at whose orders you are to break off an interview with me.Perdition!""Dear Edouard, what folly! Can you suspect me of discourtesy, as well as of--I know not what.Colonel Dujardin will join us, that is all, and we shall take a little walk with him.""Not I.I decline the intrusion; you are engaged with me, and Ihave things to say to you that are not fit for that puppy to hear.

So choose between me and him, and choose forever."Rose colored."I should be very sorry to choose either of you forever; but for this afternoon I choose you.""Oh, thank you--my whole life shall prove my gratitude for this preference."Rose beckoned Jacintha, and sent her with an excuse to Colonel Dujardin.She then turned with an air of mock submission to Edouard."I am at monsieur's ORDERS."Then this unhappy novice, being naturally good-natured, thanked her again and again for her condescension in setting his heart at rest.

He proposed a walk, since his interference had lost her one.She yielded a cold assent.This vexed him, but he took it for granted it would wear off before the end of the walk.Edouard's heart bounded, but he loved her too sincerely to be happy unless he could see her happy too; the malicious thing saw this, or perhaps knew it by instinct, and by means of this good feeling of his she revenged herself for his tyranny.She tortured him as only a woman can torture, and as even she can torture only a worthy man, and one who loves her.In the course of that short walk this inexperienced girl, strong in the instincts and inborn arts of her ***, drove pins and needles, needles and pins, of all sorts and sizes, through her lover's heart.

同类推荐
  • 送苗七求职

    送苗七求职

    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。
  • Five Tales

    Five Tales

    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。
  • 十一面神咒心经

    十一面神咒心经

    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。
  • 邯郸遗稿

    邯郸遗稿

    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。
  • Miss Billie Married

    Miss Billie Married

    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
  • 宝贝201哭过之后要坚强

    宝贝201哭过之后要坚强

    八月的雨季,我们在不同的学校,上着同样的课,在不同的地方,撑着伞,闻着同样的花香、、、、、
  • 天行

    天行

    号称“北辰骑神”的天才玩家以自创的“牧马冲锋流”战术击败了国服第一弓手北冥雪,被誉为天纵战榜第一骑士的他,却受到小人排挤,最终离开了效力已久的银狐俱乐部。是沉沦,还是再次崛起?恰逢其时,月恒集团第四款游戏“天行”正式上线,虚拟世界再起风云!
  • 小小仙王在都市

    小小仙王在都市

    陈逸本是仙界巅峰仙王,令他没想到的是他最好的兄弟居然跟自己最爱的女人联合来害自己。只为自己身上的一件神秘的超神器,陈逸于他们同归于尽,在陈逸只剩一缕残魂时,居然被神秘珠子相救并穿越到一颗蔚蓝星球,看陈逸如果笑看都市重回巅峰!
  • 喜欢满目星辰的你

    喜欢满目星辰的你

    一中小霸王每天一问:今天傅司凛喜欢上我了吗?姜暮暮:今天傅司凛喜欢上我了吗?傅司凛:没有。姜暮暮:那就再等等吧。——姜暮暮:你怎么会是我喜欢的战队的打野男神?傅司凛:我看着不像吗?姜暮暮气哼哼的丢下一句话:渣男!姜暮暮发现,她做的最对的事情是把傅司凛勾到手了!
  • 人生这道难题:培根随笔

    人生这道难题:培根随笔

    《人生这道难题:培根随笔》收录了培根的随笔散文,内容包括生活的方方面面,如“论真理”、“论死亡”、“论宗教”、“论勇敢”等,这些随笔作品充分展现了作者的价值观念,既真实又诚恳,为读者呈现出了一个立体而完整的培根,使读者可以一览这位科学全才的思想世界。
  • 旧孤星

    旧孤星

    他是突然闯入她生活的弟弟,她是他永远无法触及的情怀。
  • 在校园成长

    在校园成长

    在学校受够欺辱的西门宇,在一次偶然机遇下获得异能修炼,在那几个奇怪的老头师傅各种折磨下终究修炼成功,下山归来,热血爆发。面对那些家族,他必定要报复;面对喜爱的女孩,他必定要追求,让我们看看男主角的实力吧!
  • 世界最具智慧性的哲理故事(一)

    世界最具智慧性的哲理故事(一)

    我的课外第一本书——震撼心灵阅读之旅经典文库,《阅读文库》编委会编。通过各种形式的故事和语言,讲述我们在成长中需要的知识。
  • 过妻不候:豪门通缉一百天

    过妻不候:豪门通缉一百天

    她被迫与他结婚。婚后,她做好本分。没在媒体前露面,没在公共场合提起他,没打算怀上他的孩子。然而,终于有一天,她看着检查报告书,瞬间风中凌乱了。她愤怒的找上他,把报告书甩到他脸上,“这是怎么回事?”他瞅了一眼,勾起唇,慢悠悠的回答:“可能你被坑了。”
  • 无赖小男人窃心

    无赖小男人窃心

    故事讲述了生活在大都市里的小男人,当他们一无所有又一无所成的时候,却遭遇到已经在白领阶层中确立成功地位的女强人,也许是冥冥中的安排将这两个不同世界的人凑到了一起,产生了一系列的化学反应,让原本平淡的生活变得火花四溅。