The Golden Bowl Henry James (spicy books to read txt) š
- Author: Henry James
Book online Ā«The Golden Bowl Henry James (spicy books to read txt) šĀ». Author Henry James
āThen itās grave,ā said the Colonel.
She hesitated. āDo you mean grave for me?ā
āOh, that everythingās grave for āyouā is what we take for granted and are fundamentally talking about. Itās graveā āit wasā āfor Charlotte. And itās grave for Maggie. That is it wasā āwhen he did see her. Or when she did see him.ā
āYou donāt torment me as much as you would like,ā she presently went on, ābecause you think of nothing that I havenāt a thousand times thought of, and because I think of everything that you never will. It would all,ā she recognised, āhave been grave if it hadnāt all been right. You canāt make out,ā she contended, āthat we got to Rome before the end of February.ā
He more than agreed. āThereās nothing in life, my dear, that I can make out.ā
Well, there was nothing in life, apparently, that she, at real need, couldnāt. āCharlotte, who had been there, that year, from early, quite from November, left suddenly, youāll quite remember, about the 10th of April. She was to have stayed onā āshe was to have stayed, naturally, more or less, for us; and she was to have stayed all the more that the Ververs, due all winter, but delayed, week after week, in Paris, were at last really coming. They were comingā āthat is Maggie wasā ālargely to see her, and above all to be with her there. It was all alteredā āby Charlotteās going to Florence. She went from one day to the otherā āyou forget everything. She gave her reasons, but I thought it odd, at the time; I had a sense that something must have happened. The difficulty was that, though I knew a little, I didnāt know enough. I didnāt know her relation with him had been, as you say, a ānearā thingā āthat is I didnāt know how near. The poor girlās departure was a flightā āshe went to save herself.ā
He had listened more than he showedā āas came out in his tone. āTo save herself?ā
āWell, also, really, I think, to save him too. I saw it afterwardsā āI see it all now. He would have been sorryā āhe didnāt want to hurt her.ā
āOh, I daresay,ā the Colonel laughed. āThey generally donāt!ā
āAt all events,ā his wife pursued, āshe escapedā āthey both did; for they had had simply to face it. Their marriage couldnāt be, and, if that was so, the sooner they put the Apennines between them the better. It had taken them, it is true, some time to feel this and to find it out. They had met constantly, and not always publicly, all that winter; they had met more than was knownā āthough it was a good deal known. More, certainly,ā she said, āthan I then imaginedā āthough I donāt know what difference it would after all have made with me. I liked him, I thought him charming, from the first of our knowing him; and now, after more than a year, he has done nothing to spoil it. And there are things he might have doneā āthings that many men easily would. Therefore I believe in him, and I was right, at first, in knowing I was going to. So I havenātāā āand she stated it as she might have quoted from a slate, after adding up the items, the sum of a column of figuresā āāso I havenāt, I say to myself, been a fool.ā
āWell, are you trying to make out that Iāve said you have? All their case wants, at any rate,ā Bob Assingham declared, āis that you should leave it well alone. Itās theirs now; theyāve bought it, over the counter, and paid for it. It has ceased to be yours.ā
āOf which case,ā she asked, āare you speaking?ā
He smoked a minute: then with a groan: āLord, are there so many?ā
āThereās Maggieās and the Princeās, and thereās the Princeās and Charlotteās.ā
āOh yes; and then,ā the Colonel scoffed, āthereās Charlotteās and the Princeās.ā
āThereās Maggieās and Charlotteās,ā she went onā āāand thereās also Maggieās and mine. I think too that thereās Charlotteās and mine. Yes,ā she mused, āCharlotteās and mine is certainly a case. In short, you see, there are plenty. But I mean,ā she said, āto keep my head.ā
āAre we to settle them all,ā he inquired, ātonight?ā
āI should lose it if things had happened otherwiseā āif I had acted with any folly.ā She had gone on in her earnestness, unheeding of his question. āI shouldnāt be able to bear that now. But my good conscience is my strength; no one can accuse me. The Ververs came on to Rome aloneā āCharlotte, after their days with her in Florence, had decided about America. Maggie, I daresay, had helped her; she must have made her a present, and a handsome one, so that many things were easy. Charlotte left them, came to England, ājoinedā somebody or other, sailed for New York. I have still her letter from Milan, telling me; I didnāt know at the moment all that was behind it, but I felt in it nevertheless the undertaking of a new life. Certainly, in any case, it cleared that airā āI mean the dear old Roman, in which we were steeped. It left the field freeā āit gave me a free hand. There was no question for me of anybody else when I brought the two others together. More than that, there was no question for them. So you see,ā she concluded, āwhere that puts me.ā She got up, on the words, very much as if they were the blue daylight towards which, through a darksome tunnel, she had been pushing her way, and the elation in her voice, combined with her recovered alertness, might have signified the sharp whistle of the train that shoots at last into the open. She turned about the room; she looked
Comments (0)