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天行醫尊
隱面佳人
家有盲夫太腹黑
美女的超強近衛
今夜星辰似你
我的高冷大小姐
專職高手
兵雄風雲
絕美夜色
乘龍快婿
新書榜單
傅少的心上佳人
逍遙狂兵都市遊
重生霸道嫡女
冷總鎖妻纏情
極兵強衛
歷少的限時婚寵
至尊狂兵都市遊
狼性老公太纏情
一等狂兵
我的傾城美人
原創榜單
我的高冷大小姐
初婚有刺
神級透視
賴上冷豔女總裁
終極教官在花都
恰似愛如潮
都市玄醫民工
戰龍在都
最強天王
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the confession a brief statement of the circumstances under which the Italian had become possessed of it. He then added these lines, addressed to Benjulia:—「You set the false report afloat. I leave it to your sense of duty, to decide whether you ought not to go at once to Mrs. Gallilee, and tell her that the slander which you repeated is now proved to be a lie. If you don’t agree with me, I must go to Mrs. Gallilee myself. In that case please return, by the bearer, the papers which are enclosed.」
The clerk instructed to deliver these documents, within the shortest possible space of time, found Mr. Mool waiting at the office, on his return. He answered his maste
w him, etched inmoonlight. You could see how stark and empty it was from up here; windowless keeps, crumblingwalls, courtyards choked with broken stone. Farther off, he could see the lights of Mole’s Town, thelittle village half a league south along the kingsroad, and here and there the bright glitter of moonlighton water where icy streams descended from the mountain heights to cut across the plains. The rest ofthe world was a bleak emptiness of windswept hills and rocky fields spotted with snow.
Finally a thick voice behind him said, 「Seven hells, it’s the dwarf,」 and the cage jerked to a suddenstop and hung there, swinging slowly back and forth, the ropes creaking.
「Bring him in, damn it.」 There was a grunt and a loud groaning of wood as the cage slid sidewaysand then the Wall was beneath him. Tyrion waited until the swinging had stopped before he pushedopen the cage door and hopped down onto the ice. A heavy figure in black was leaning on the winch,while a second held the cage with a gloved hand. Their faces were muffled in woolen scarves so onlytheir eyes showed, and they were plump with layers of wool and leather, black on black. 「And whatwill you be wanting, this time of night?」 the one by the winch asked.
「A last look.」
The men exchanged sour glances. 「Look all you want,」 the other one said. 「Just have a care youdon’t fall off, little man. The Old Bear would have our hides.」 A small wooden shack stood under thegreat crane, and Tyrion saw the dull glow of a brazier and felt a brief gust of warmth when the winchmen opened the door and went back inside. And then he was alone.
It was bitingly cold up here, and the wind pulled at his clothes like an insistent lover. The top of theWall was wider than the kingsroad often was, so Tyrion had no fear of falling, although the footingwas slicker than he would have liked. The brothers spread crushed stone across the walkways, but theweight of countless footsteps would melt the Wall beneath, so the ice would seem to grow around thegravel, swallowing it, until the path was bare again and it was time to crush more stone.
Still, it was nothing that Tyrion could not manage. He looked off to the east and west, at the Wallstretching before him, a vast white road with no beginning and no end and a dark abyss on either side.
West, he decided, for no special reason, and he began to walk that way, following the pathway nearestthe north edge, where the gravel looked freshest.
His bare cheeks were ruddy with the cold, and his legs complained more loudly with every step, butTyrion ignored them. The wind swirled around him, gravel crunched beneath his boots, while aheadthe white ribbon followed the lines of the hills, rising higher and higher, until it was lost beyond thewestern horizon. He passed a massive catapult, as tall as a city wall, its base sunk deep into the Wall.
The throwing arm had been taken off for repairs and then forgotten; it lay there like a broken toy,half-embedded in the ice.
On the far side of the catapult, a muffled voice called out a challenge. 「Who goes there? Halt!」
Tyrion stopped. 「If I halt too long I』ll freeze in place, Jon,」 he said as a shaggy pale shape slidtoward him silently and sniffed at his furs. 「Hello, Ghost.」
Jon Snow moved closer. He looked bigger and heavier in his layers of fur and leather, the hood ofhis cloak pulled down over his face. 「Lannister,」 he said, yanking loose the scarf to uncover hismouth. 「This is the last place I would have expected to see you.」 He carried a heavy spear tipped iniron, taller than he was, and a sword hung at his side in a leather sheath. Across his chest was agleaming black warhorn, banded with silver.
「This is the last place I would have expected to be seen,」 Tyrion admitted. 「I was captured by awhim. If I touch Ghost, will he chew my hand off?」
「Not with me here,」 Jon promised.
Tyrion scratched the white wolf behind the ears. The red eyes watched him impassively. The beastcame up as high as his chest now. Another year, and Tyrion had the gloomy feeling he』d be lookingup at him. 「What are you doing up here tonight?」 he asked. 「Besides freezing your manhood off …」
「I have drawn night guard,」 Jon said. 「Again. Ser Alliser has kindly arranged for the watchcommander to take a special interest in me. He seems to think that if they keep me awake half thenight, I』ll fall asleep during morning drill. So far I have disappointed him.」
Tyrion grinned. 「And has Ghost learned to juggle yet?」
「No,」 said Jon, smiling, 「but Grenn held his own against Halder this morning, and Pyp is nolonger dropping his sword quite so often as he did.」
「Pyp?」
— the question of himself, in the character of husband and father.
Accustomed through long years of conjugal association to look up to his wife as a superior creature, hthan to draw or carry burdens. Yet I am of opinion, this defect arises chiefly from a perverse, restive disposition; for they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful. They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly spirit, and, by cons
Then the mother began to sob, for this spoiled child had never shown such dependence on her before: and so they clung to each other.
CHAPTER 8.
「Be as cross with me as you like—only don’t treat me with indifference,」 said Rex, imploringly. 「All the happiness of my life depends on your loving me—if only a little—better than any one else.」
He tried to take her hand, but she hastily eluded his grasp and moved to the other end of the hearth, facing him.
「Pray don’t make love to me! I hate it!」 she looked at him fiercely.
Rex turned pale and was silent, but could not take his eyes off her, and the impetus was not yet exhausted that made hers dart death at him. Gwendolen herself could not have foreseen that she should feel in this way. It was all a sudden, new experience to her. The day before she had been quite aware that her cousin was in love with her; she did not mind how much, so that he said nothing about it; and if any one had asked her why she objected to love-making speeches, she would have said, laughingly, 「Oh I am tired of them all in the books.」 But now the life of passion had begun negatively in her. She felt passionately averse to this volunteered love.
ll as of mortification to myself. For now I could no longer deny that I was a real Yahoo in every limb and feature, since the females had a natural propensity to me, as one of their own species. Neither was the hair of this brute of a red colour (which might have been some excuse for an appetite a little irregular), but black as a sloe, and her countenance did not make an appearance altogether so hideous as the rest of her kind; for I think she could not be above eleven years old.
Having lived three years in this country, the reader, I suppose, will expect that I should, like other travellers, give him some account of the manners and customs of its inhabitants, which it was indeed my principal study to learn.
As these noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by nature with a general disposition to all virtues,
it,」 he repeated. 「And who knows what it is?」
She drew away her hand, and looked towards the heavenly tranquillity of the evening sky.
「Who knows what it is?」 he reiterated.
「God,」 she said.
Benjulia was silent.sed: her mind slowly recovered its balance. Her first thought was for herself.
「Has that woman disfigured me?」 she said to the maid.
Knowing nothing of what had happened, Marceline was at a loss to understand her. 「Bring me a glass,」 she said. The maid found a hand-glass in the bedroom, and presented it to her. She looked at herself — and drew a long breath of relief. That first anxiety at an end, she spoke to her husband.
「Where is Carmina?」
「Out of the house — thank God!」
The answer seemed to bewilder her: she appealed to Marceline.
「Did he say, thank God?」f the loss of Carmina’s reason really meant his dread of a commonplace termination to an exceptionally interesting case. He might also have acknowledged, that he was not yielding obedience to the rules of professional etiquette, in confiding the patient to her regular medical attendant, but following the selfish suggestions of his own critical judgment.
His experience, brief as it had been, had satisfied him that stupid Mr. Null’s course of action could be trusted to let the instructive progress of the malady proceed. Mr. Null would treat the symptoms in perfect good faith — without a suspicion of the nervous hysteria which, in such a constitution as Carmina’s, threatened to establish itself, in course of time, as the hidden cause. These motives — not only excused, but even ennobled, by their scientific connection with the interests of Medical Research — he might have avowed, under more favourable circumstances. While his grand discovery was still barely within reach, Doctor Benjulia stood committed to a system of diplomatic reserve, which even included simple Mr. Gallilee.
He took his hat and stick, and walked out into the hall. 「Can I be of further use?」 he asked carelessly. 「You will hear about the patient from Mr. Null.」
「You won’t desert Carmina?」 said Mr. Gallilee. 「You will see her yourself, from time to time — won’t you?」
「Don’t be afraid; I』ll look after her.」 He spoke sincerely in saying this. Carmina’s case had already suggested new ideas. Even the civilised savage of modern physiology (where his own interests are concerned) is not absolutely insensible to a feeling of gratitude.
Mr. Gallilee opened the door for him.
「By the-bye,」 he added, as he stepped out, 「what’s encouraging conclusion from this o
ool. 「I go back with your clerk; the cab will drop me at Mrs. Gallilee’s h
ourney to London. She has impatiently submitted to the legal ceremonies, rendered necessary by her husband having died without making a will. He hardly left anything in the way of money, after payment of his burial expenses, and his few little debts. What is of far greater importance — he lived, and died, a good Christian. I was with him in his last moments. Offer your prayers, my dear, for the repose of his soul.
「Teresa left me, declaring her purpose of travelling night and day, so as to reach you the sooner.
「In her headlong haste, she has not even waited to look over her husband’s papers; but has taken the case containing them to England — to be examined at leisure, in your beloved company. Strong as this good creature is, I believe she will be obliged to rest on the road for a night at least. Calculating on this, I assume that my letter will get to you first. I have something to say about your old nurse, which it is well that you should know.
「Do not for a moment suppose that I blame you for having told Terhe had rashly said? She tried to recall what had passed between Frances and herself. The effort wearied her. Her thoughts turned self-reproachfully to Ovid. If he had been speaking to a friend whose secret sorrow was known to him, would he have mentioned the name of the woman whom they both loved? She looked at his portrait, and reviled herself as a selfish insensible wretch. 「Will Ovid improve me?」 she wondered. 「Shall I be a little worthier of him, when I am his wife?」
Luncheon time came; and Mrs. Gallilee sent word that they were not to wait for her.
「She’s studying,」 said Mr. Gallilee, with awe-struck looks. 「She’s going to make a speech at the Discussion to-morrow. The man who gives the lecture is the man she’s going to pitch into. I don’t know him; but how do you feel about it yourself, Carmina?— I wouldn’t stand in his shoes for any sum of money you could offer me. Poor devil! I beg your pardon, my dear; let me give you a wing of the fowl. Boiled fowl — eh? and tongue — ha? Do you know the story of the foreigner? He dined out fifteen times with his English friends. And there was boiled fowl and tongue at every dinner. The fifteenth time, the foreigner couldn’t stand it any longer. He slapped his forehead, and he said, 『Ah, merciful Heaven, cock and bacon again!』 You won’t mention it, will you?— and perhaps you think as I do?— I’m sick of cock and bacon, myself.」
Mr. Null’s medical orders still prescribed fresh air. The carriage came to the door at the regular hour; and Mr. Gallilee, with equal regularity, withdrew to his club.
Carmina was too uneasy to leave the house, without seeing
「No other address?」
「None.」
The last faint hope of tracing Frances was at an end. Carmina turned wearily to leave the room. Z
Chapter 44
Mrs. Gallilee’s page (attending to the house-door, in the footman’s absence) had just shown Benjulia into the library, when there was another ring at the bell. The new visitor was Mr. Le Frank. He appeared to be in a hurry. Without any preliminary questions, he said, 「Take my card to Mrs. Gallilee.」
「My mistress is out, sir.」
The music-master looked impatiently at the hall-clock. The hall-clock answered him by striking the half hour after five.
「Do you expect Mrs. Gallilee back soon?」
「We don’t know, sir. The footman had his orders to be in waiting with the carriage, at five.」
After a moment of irritable reflection, Mr. Le Frank took a letter from his pocket. 「Say that I have an appointment, and am not able to wait. Give Mrs. Gallilee that letter the moment she comes in.」 With those directions he left the house.
The page looked at the letter. It was sealed; and, over the address, two underlined words were written:—「Private. Immediate.」 Mindful of visits from tradespeople, anxious to see his mistress, and provided beforehand with letters to be delivered immediately, the boy took a pecuniary view of Mr. Le Frank’s errand at the house. 「Another of them,」 he thought, 「wanting his money.」
As he placed the letter on the hall-table, the library door opened, and Benjulia appeared — weary already of waiting, without occupation, for Mrs. Gallilee’s return.
「Is smoking allowed in the library?」 he asked.
The page looked up at the giant towering over him, with the envious admiration of a short boy. He replied with a discretion beyond his years: 「Would you please step into the smoking-room, sir?」
「Anybody there?」
「My master, sir.」
Benjulia at once declined the invitation to the smoking-room. 「Anybody else at home?」 he inquired.
Miss Carmina was upstairs — the page answered. 「And I think,」 he added, 「Mr. Null is with her.」
「Who’s Mr. Null?」
「The doctor, sir.」
Benjulia declined to disturb the doctor. He tried a third, and last question.
「Where’s Zo?」
「Here!」 cried a shrill voice from the upper regions. 「Who are You?」
To the page’s astonishment, the giant gentleman with the resonant bass voice answered this quite gravely. 「I’m Benjulia,」 he said.
「Come up!」 cried Zo.
Benjulia ascended the stairs.
「Stop!」 shouted the voice from above.
Benjulia stopped.
「Have you got your big stick?」
「Yes.」
「Bring it up with you.」 Benjulia retraced his steps into the hall. The page respectfully handed him his stick. Zo became impatient. 「Look sharp!」 she called out.
Benjulia obediently quickened his pace. Zo left the schoolroom (in spite of the faintly-heard protest of the maid in charge) to receive him on the stairs. They met on the landing, outside Carmina’s room. Zo possessed herself of the bamboo cane, and led the way in. 「Carmina! here’s the big stick, I told you about,」 she announced.
「Whose stick, dear?」
Zo returned to the landing. 「Come in, Benjulia,」 she said — and seized him by the coat-tails. Mr. Null rose instinctively. Was this his celebrated colleague?
With some reluctance, Carmina appeared at the door; thinking of the day when Ovid had fainted, and when the great man had treated her so harshly. In fear of more rudeness, she unwillingly asked him to come in.
Still immovable on the landing, he looked at her in silence.
The serious question occurred to him which had formerly presented itself to Mr. Mool. Had Mrs. Gallilee repeated, in Carmina’s presence, the lie which slandered her mother’s memory — the lie which he was then in the house to expose?
Watching Benjulia respectfully, Mr. Null saw, in that grave scrutiny, an opportunity of presenting himself under a favourable light. He waved his hand persuasively towards Carmina. 「Some nervous prostration, sir, in my interesting patient, as you no doubt perceive,」 he began. 「Not such rapid progress towards recovery as I had hoped. I think of recommending the air of the seaside.」 Benjulia’s dreary eyes turned on him slowly, and estimated his mental calibre at its exact value, in a moment. Mr. Null felt that look in the very marrow of his bones. He bowed with servile submission, and took his leave.
In the meantime, Benjulia had satisfied himself that the embarrassment in Carmina’s manner was merely attributable to shyness. She was now no longer an object even of momentary interest to him. He was ready to play with Zo — but not on condition of amusing himself with the child, in Carmina’s presence. 「I am waiting till Mrs. Gallilee returns,」 he said to her in his quietly indifferent way. 「If you will excuse me, I』ll go downstairs again; I won’t intrude.」
Her pale face flushed as she listened to him. Innocently supposing that she had made her little offer of hospitality in too cold a manner, she looked at Benjulia with a timid and troubled smile. 「Pray wait here till my aunt comes back,」 she said. 「Zo will amuse you, I’m sure.」 Zo seconded the invitation by hiding the stick, and laying hold again on her big friend’s coattails.
He let the child drag him into the room, without noticing her. The silent questioning of his eyes had been again directed to Carmina, at the moment when she smiled.
His long and terrible experience made its own merciless discoveries, in the nervous movement of her eyelids and her lips. The poor girl, pleasing herself with the idea of having produced the right impression on him at last, had only succeeded in becoming an object of medical inquiry, pursued in secret. When he companionably took a chair by her side, and let Zo climb on his knee, he was privately regretting his cold reception of Mr. Null. Under certain conditions of nervous excitement, Carmina might furnish an interesting case. 「If I had been commonly civil to that fawning idiot,」 he thought, 「I might have been called into consultation.」
They were all three seated — but there was no talk. Zo set the example.
「You haven’t tickled me yet,」 she said. 「Show Carmina how you do it.」
He gravely operated on the back of Zo’s neck; and his patient acknowledged the process with a wriggle and a scream. The performance being so far at an end, Zo called to the dog, and issued her orders once more.
「Now make Tinker kick his leg!」
Benjulia obeyed once again. The young tyrant was not satisfied yet.
「Now tickle Carmina!」 she said.
He heard this without laughing: his fleshless lips never relaxed into a smile. To Carmina’s unutterable embarrassment, he looked at her, when she laughed, with steadier attention than ever. Those coldly-inquiring eyes exercised some inscrutable influence over her. Now they made her angry; and now they frightened her. The silence that had fallen on them again, became an unendurable infliction. She burst into talk; she was loud and familiar — ashamed of her own boldness, and quite unable to control it. 「You are very fond of Zo!」 she said suddenly.
It was a perfectly commonplace remark — and yet, it seemed to perplex him.
「Am I?」 he answered.
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