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which lies to the north of the town; on the way to Murano。

It appeared from these circumstances that the Misses Bordereau

were Catholics; a discovery I had never made; as the old woman

could not go to church and her niece; so far as I perceived;

either did not or went only to early mass in the parish;

before I was stirring。  Certainly even the priests respected

their seclusion; I had never caught the whisk of the curato's skirt。

That evening; an hour later; I sent my servant down with five

words written on a card; to ask Miss Tita if she would see me

for a few moments。  She was not in the house; where he had

sought her; he told me when he came back; but in the garden

walking about to refresh herself and gathering flowers。

He had found her there and she would be very happy to see me。



I went down and passed half an hour with poor Miss Tita。

She had always had a look of musty mourning (as if she

were wearing out old robes of sorrow that would not come

to an end); and in this respect there was no appreciable

change in her appearance。  But she evidently had been crying;

crying a great dealsimply; satisfyingly; refreshingly; with a

sort of primitive; retarded sense of loneliness and violence。

But she had none of the formalism or the self…consciousness

of grief; and I was almost surprised to see her standing

there in the first dusk with her hands full of flowers;

smiling at me with her reddened eyes。  Her white face;

in the frame of her mantilla; looked longer; leaner than usual。

I had had an idea that she would be a good deal disgusted

with mewould consider that I ought to have been on the spot

to advise her; to help her; and; though I was sure there

was no rancor in her composition and no great conviction

of the importance of her affairs; I had prepared myself

for a difference in her manner; for some little injured look;

half…familiar; half…estranged; which should say to my conscience;

〃Well; you are a nice person to have professed things!〃

But historic truth compels me to declare that Tita Bordereau's

countenance expressed unqualified pleasure in seeing her late

aunt's lodger。  That touched him extremely; and he thought

it simplified his situation until he found it did not。

I was as kind to her that evening as I knew how to be;

and I walked about the garden with her for half an hour。

There was no explanation of any sort between us; I did not ask

her why she had not answered my letter。  Still less did I repeat

what I had said to her in that communication; if she chose to let

me suppose that she had forgotten the position in which Miss

Bordereau surprised me that night and the effect of the discovery

on the old woman I was quite willing to take it that way:

I was grateful to her for not treating me as if I had

killed her aunt。



We strolled and strolled and really not much passed between us

save the recognition of her bereavement; conveyed in my manner

and in a visible air that she had of depending on me now;

since I let her see that I took an interest in her。

Miss Tita had none of the pride that makes a person wish

to preserve the look of independence; she did not in the least

pretend that she knew at present what would become of her。

I forebore to touch particularly on that; however; for I certainly

was not prepared to say that I would take charge of her。

I was cautious; not ignobly; I think; for I felt that her

knowledge of life was so small that in her unsophisticated

vision there would be no reason whysince I seemed to pity her

I should not look after her。  She told me how her aunt had died;

very peacefully at the last; and how everything had been done

afterward by the care of her good friends (fortunately; thanks

to me; she said; smiling; there was money in the house;

and she repeated that when once the Italians like you they

are your friends for life); and when we had gone into this

she asked me about my giro; my impressions; the places

I had seen。  I told her what I could; making it up partly;

I am afraid; as in my depression I had not seen much;

and after she had heard me she exclaimed; quite as if she

had forgotten her aunt and her sorrow; 〃Dear; dear; how much

I should like to do such thingsto take a little journey!〃

It came over me for the moment that I ought to propose some tour;

say I would take her anywhere she liked; and I remarked

at any rate that some excursionto give her a change

might be managed:  we would think of it; talk it over。

I said never a word to her about the Aspern documents; asked no

questions as to what she had ascertained or what had otherwise

happened with regard to them before Miss Bordereau's death。

It was not that I was not on pins and needles to know; but that I

thought it more decent not to betray my anxiety so soon after

the catastrophe。  I hoped she herself would say something; but she

never glanced that way; and I thought this natural at the time。

Later however; that night; it occurred to me that her silence

was somewhat strange; for if she had talked of my movements;

of anything so detached as the Giorgione at Castelfranco; she might

have alluded to what she could easily remember was in my mind。

It was not to be supposed that the emotion produced by her aunt's

death had blotted out the recollection that I was interested

in that lady's relics; and I fidgeted afterward as it came

to me that her reticence might very possibly mean simply

that nothing had been found。  We separated in the garden

(it was she who said she must go in); now that she was alone

in the rooms I felt that (judged; at any rate; by Venetian ideas)

I was on rather a different footing in regard to visiting her there。

As I shook hands with her for goodnight I asked her if she

had any general planhad thought over what she had better do。

〃Oh; yes; oh; yes; but I haven't settled anything yet;〃

she replied quite cheerfully。  Was her cheerfulness explained

by the impression that I would settle for her?



I was glad the next morning that we had neglected practical questions;

for this gave me a pretext for seeing her again immediately。

There was a very practical question to be touched upon。

I owed it to her to let her know formally that of course I did not expect

her to keep me on as a lodger; and also to show some interest in her

own tenure; what she might have on her hands in the way of a lease。

But I was not destined; as it happened; to converse with her for more

than an instant on either of these points。  I sent her no message;

I simply went down to the sala and walked to and fro there。

I knew she would come out; she would very soon discover I was there。

Somehow I preferred not to be shut up with her; gardens and big

halls seemed better places to talk。  It was a splendid morning;

with something in the air that told of the waning of the long

Venetian summer; a freshness from the sea which stirred the

flowers in the garden and made a pleasant draught in the house;

less shuttered and darkened now than when the old woman was alive。

It was the beginning of autumn; of the end of the golden months。

With this it was the end of my experimentor would be in the course

of half an hour; when I should really have learned that the papers

had been reduced to ashes。  After that there would be nothing left

for me but to go to the station; for seriously (and as it struck me

in the morning light) I could not linger there to act as guardian

to a piece of middle…aged female helplessness。  If she had not saved

the papers wherein should I be indebted to her?  I think I winced

a little as I asked myself how much; if she HAD saved them;

I should have to recognize and; as it were; to reward such a courtesy。

Might not that circumstance after all saddle me with a guardianship?

If this idea did not make me more uncomfortable as I walked up

and down it was because I was convinced I had nothing to look to。

If the old woman had not destroyed everything before she pounced

upon me in the parlor she had done so afterward。



It took Miss Tita rather longer than I had expected to guess that I was there;

but when at last she came out she looked at me without surprise。

I said to her that I had been waiting for her; and she asked why I had not let

her know。  I was glad the next day that I had checked myself before remarking

that I had wished to see if a friendly intuition would not tell her:

it became a satisfaction to me that I had not indulged in that rather

tender joke。  What I did say was virtually the truththat I was too nervous;

since I expected her now to settle my fate。



〃Your fate?〃 said Miss Tita; giving me a queer look;

and as she spoke I noticed a rare change in her。

She was different from what she had been the evening before

less natural; less quiet。  She had been crying the day before and

she was not crying now; and yet she struck me as less confident。

It was as if something had happened to her during the night;

or at least as i

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