The Wings of the Dove Henry James (android based ebook reader TXT) đ
- Author: Henry James
Book online «The Wings of the Dove Henry James (android based ebook reader TXT) đ». Author Henry James
âIt was what I tried to make out before I went. I must tell you moreover that I had no doubt of its really being to give me, as you say, a chance. She believed, I suppose, that I might deny; and what, to my own mind, was before me in going to her was the certainty that sheâd put me to my test. She wanted from my own lipsâ âso I saw itâ âthe truth. But I was with her for twenty minutes, and she never asked me for it.â
âShe never wanted the truthââ âKate had a high headshake. âShe wanted you. She would have taken from you what you could give her and been glad of it, even if she had known it false. You might have lied to her from pity, and she have seen you and felt you lie, and yetâ âsince it was all for tendernessâ âshe would have thanked you and blessed you and clung to you but the more. For that was your strength, my dear manâ âthat she loves you with passion.â
âOh my âstrengthâ!â Densher coldly murmured.
âOtherwise, since she had sent for you, what was it to ask of you?â And thenâ âquite without ironyâ âas he waited a moment to say: âWas it just once more to look at you?â
âShe had nothing to ask of meâ ânothing, that is, but not to stay any longer. She did to that extent want to see me. She had supposed at firstâ âafter he had been with herâ âthat I had seen the propriety of taking myself off. Then since I hadnâtâ âseeing my propriety as I did in another wayâ âshe found, days later, that I was still there. This,â said Densher, âaffected her.â
âOf course it affected her.â
Again she struck him, for all her dignity, as glib. âIf it was somehow for her I was still staying, she wished that to end, she wished me to know how little there was need of it. And as a manner of farewell she wished herself to tell me so.â
âAnd she did tell you so?â
âFace-to-face, yes. Personally, as she desired.â
âAnd as you of course did.â
âNo, Kate,â he returned with all their mutual consideration; ânot as I did. I hadnât desired it in the least.â
âYou only went to oblige her?â
âTo oblige her. And of course also to oblige you.â
âOh for myself certainly Iâm glad.â
âââGladâ?ââ âhe echoed vaguely the way it rang out.
âI mean you did quite the right thing. You did it especially in having stayed. But that was all?â Kate went on. âThat you mustnât wait?â
âThat was really allâ âand in perfect kindness.â
âAh kindness naturally: from the moment she asked of you such aâ âwell, such an effort. That you mustnât waitâ âthat was the point,â Kate addedâ ââto see her die.â
âThat was the point, my dear,â Densher said.
âAnd it took twenty minutes to make it?â
He thought a little. âI didnât time it to a second. I paid her the visitâ âjust like another.â
âLike another person?â
âLike another visit.â
âOh!â said Kate. Which had apparently the effect of slightly arresting his speechâ âan arrest she took advantage of to continue; making with it indeed her nearest approach to an enquiry of the kind against which he had braced himself. âDid she receive youâ âin her conditionâ âin her room?â
âNot she,â said Merton Densher. âShe received me just as usual: in that glorious great salone, in the dress she always wears, from her inveterate corner of her sofa.â And his face for the moment conveyed the scene, just as hers equally embraced it. âDo you remember what you originally said to me of her?â
âAh Iâve said so many things.â
âThat she wouldnât smell of drugs, that she wouldnât taste of medicine. Well, she didnât.â
âSo that it was really almost happy?â
It took him a long time to answer, occupied as he partly was in feeling how nobody but Kate could have invested such a question with the tone that was perfectly right. She meanwhile, however, patiently waited. âI donât think I can attempt to say now what it was. Some dayâ âperhaps. For it would be worth it for us.â
âSome dayâ âcertainly.â She seemed to record the promise. Yet she spoke again abruptly. âSheâll recover.â
âWell,â said Densher, âyouâll see.â
She had the air an instant of trying to. âDid she show anything of her feeling? I mean,â Kate explained, âof her feeling of having been misled.â
She didnât press hard, surely; but he had just mentioned that he would have rather to glide. âShe showed nothing but her beauty and her strength.â
âThen,â his companion asked, âwhatâs the use of her strength?â
He seemed to look about for a use he could name; but he had soon given it up. âShe must die, my dear, in her own extraordinary way.â
âNaturally. But I donât see then what proof you have that she was ever alienated.â
âI have the proof that she refused for days and days to see me.â
âBut she was ill.â
âThat hadnât prevented herâ âas you yourself a moment ago saidâ âduring the previous time. If it had been only illness it would have made no difference with her.â
âShe would still have received you?â
âShe would still have received me.â
âOh well,â said Kate, âif you knowâ â!â
âOf course I know. I know moreover as well from Mrs. Stringham.â
âAnd what does Mrs. Stringham know?â
âEverything.â
She looked at him longer. âEverything?â
âEverything.â
âBecause youâve told her?â
âBecause she has seen for herself. Iâve told her nothing. Sheâs a person who does see.â
Kate thought. âThatâs by her liking you too. She as well is prodigious. You see what interest in a man does. It does it all round. So you neednât be afraid.â
âIâm not afraid,â said Densher.
Kate moved from her place then, looking at the clock, which marked five. She gave her attention to the tea-table, where Aunt Maudâs huge silver kettle, which had been exposed to its lamp and which she had not soon enough noticed, was hissing too hard. âWell, itâs all most wonderful!â she exclaimed as she rather too profuselyâ âa sign her friend noticedâ âladled tea into the pot. He watched her a moment at this occupation, coming nearer the table while she put in the steaming water. âYouâll
Comments (0)