The Golden Bowl Henry James (spicy books to read txt) đ
- Author: Henry James
Book online «The Golden Bowl Henry James (spicy books to read txt) đ». Author Henry James
She understood, but it was as if she wished to have it from him. âTill theyâve been here, you mean?â
âYes, till theyâve gone. Till theyâre away.â
She kept it up. âTill theyâve left the country?â She had her eyes on him for clearness; these were the conditions of a promiseâ âso that he put the promise, practically, into his response. âTill weâve ceased to see themâ âfor as long as God may grant! Till weâre really alone.â
âOh, if itâs only thatâ â!â When she had drawn from him thus then, as she could feel, the thick breath of the definiteâ âwhich was the intimate, the immediate, the familiar, as she hadnât had them for so longâ âshe turned away again, she put her hand on the knob of the door. But her hand rested at first without a grasp; she had another effort to make, the effort of leaving him, of which everything that had just passed between them, his presence, irresistible, overcharged with it, doubled the difficulty. There was somethingâ âshe couldnât have told what; it was as if, shut in together, they had come too farâ âtoo far for where they were; so that the mere act of her quitting him was like the attempt to recover the lost and gone. She had taken in with her something that, within the ten minutes, and especially within the last three or four, had slipped away from herâ âwhich it was vain now, wasnât it? to try to appear to clutch or to pick up. That consciousness in fact had a pang, and she balanced, intensely, for the lingering moment, almost with a terror of her endless power of surrender. He had only to press, really, for her to yield inch by inch, and she fairly knew at present, while she looked at him through her cloud, that the confession of this precious secret sat there for him to pluck. The sensation, for the few seconds, was extraordinary; her weakness, her desire, so long as she was yet not saving herself, flowered in her face like a light or a darkness. She sought for some word that would cover this up; she reverted to the question of tea, speaking as if they shouldnât meet sooner. âThen about five. I count on you.â
On him too, however, something had descended; as to which this exactly gave him his chance. âAh, but I shall see youâ â! No?â he said, coming nearer.
She had, with her hand still on the knob, her back against the door, so that her retreat, under his approach must be less than a step, and yet she couldnât for her life, with the other hand, have pushed him away. He was so near now that she could touch him, taste him, smell him, kiss him, hold him; he almost pressed upon her, and the warmth of his faceâ âfrowning, smiling, she mightnât know which; only beautiful and strangeâ âwas bent upon her with the largeness with which objects loom in dreams. She closed her eyes to it, and so, the next instant, against her purpose, she had put out her hand, which had met his own and which he held. Then it was that, from behind her closed eyes, the right word came. âWait!â It was the word of his own distress and entreaty, the word for both of them, all they had left, their plank now on the great sea. Their hands were locked, and thus she said it again. âWait. Wait.â She kept her eyes shut, but her hand, she knew, helped her meaningâ âwhich after a minute she was aware his own had absorbed. He let her goâ âhe turned away with this message, and when she saw him again his back was presented, as he had left her, and his face staring out of the window. She had saved herself and she got off.
XLIILater on, in the afternoon, before the others arrived, the form of their reunion was at least remarkable: they might, in their great eastward drawing-room, have been comparing notes or nerves in apprehension of some stiff official visit. Maggieâs mind, in its restlessness, even played a little with the prospect; the high cool room, with its afternoon shade, with its old tapestries uncovered, with the perfect polish of its wide floor reflecting the bowls of gathered flowers and the silver and linen of the prepared tea-table, drew from her a remark in which this whole effect was mirrored, as well as something else in the Princeâs movement while he slowly paced and turned. âWeâre distinctly bourgeois!â she a trifle grimly threw off, as an echo of their old community; though to a spectator sufficiently detached they might have been quite the privileged pair they were reputed, granted only they were taken as awaiting the visit of Royalty. They might have been ready, on the word passed up in advance, to repair together to the foot of the staircaseâ âthe Prince somewhat in front, advancing indeed to the open doors and even going down, for all his princedom, to meet, on the stopping of the chariot, the august emergence. The time was stale, it was to be admitted, for incidents of magnitude; the September hush was in full possession, at the end of the dull day, and a couple of the long windows stood open to the balcony that overhung the desolationâ âthe balcony from which Maggie, in the springtime, had seen Amerigo and Charlotte look down together at the hour of her return from the Regentâs Park, near by, with her father, the Principino and Miss Bogle. Amerigo now again, in his punctual impatience, went out a couple of times and stood there; after which, as to report that nothing was in sight, he returned to the room with frankly nothing else to do. The Princess pretended to read; he looked at her as he passed; there hovered in her own sense the thought of other occasions
Comments (0)