混混小说网

手机浏览器扫描二维码访问

第13部分(第1页)

roof that will leak; for the tree that will fall。 There was always a warm corner for the old shepherd in the kitchen; always food for the hungry; always their goblets were polished; though they lay sick; and their windows were lit though they lay dying。 Lords though they were; they were content to go down into obscurity with the molecatcher and the stone–mason。 Obscure noblemen; forgotten builders—thus he apostrophized them with a warmth that entirely gainsaid such critics as called him cold; indifferent; slothful (the truth being that a quality often lies just on the other side of the wall from where we seek it)—thus he apostrophized his house and race in terms of the most moving eloquence; but when it came to the peroration—and what is eloquence that lacks a peroration?—he fumbled。 He would have liked to have ended with a flourish to the effect that he would follow in their footsteps and add another stone to their building。 Since; however; the building already covered nine acres; to add even a single stone seemed superfluous。 Could one mention furniture in a peroration? Could one speak of chairs and tables and mats to lie beside people’s beds? For whatever the peroration wanted; that was what the house stood in need of。 Leaving his speech unfinished for the moment; he strode down hill again resolved henceforward to devote himself to the furnishing of the mansion。 The news—that she was to attend him instantly—brought tears to the eyes of good old Mrs Grimsditch; now grown somewhat old。 Together they perambulated the house。

The towel horse in the King’s bedroom (’and that was King Jamie; my Lord;’ she said; hinting that it was many a day since a King had slept under their roof; but the odious Parliament days were over and there was now a Crown in England again) lacked a leg; there were no stands to the ewers in the little closet leading into the waiting room of the Duchess’s page; Mr Greene had made a stain on the carpet with his nasty pipe smoking; which she and Judy; for all their scrubbing; had never been able to wash out。 Indeed; when Orlando came to reckon up the matter of furnishing with rosewood chairs and cedar–wood cabis; with silver basins; china bowls; and Persian carpets; every one of the three hundred and sixty–five bedrooms which the house contained; he saw that it would be no light one; and if some thousands of pounds of his estate remained over; these would do little more than hang a few galleries with tapestry; set the dining hall with fine; carved chairs and provide mirrors of solid silver and chairs of the same metal (for which he had an inordinate passion) for the furnishing of the royal bedchambers。

He now set to work in earnest; as we can prove beyond a doubt if we look at his ledgers。 Let us glance at an inventory of what he bought at this time; with the expenses totted up in the margin—but these we omit。

‘To fifty pairs of Spanish blankets; ditto curtains of crimson and white taffeta; the valence to them of white satin embroidered with crimson and white silk。。。

‘To seventy yellow satin chairs and sixty stools; suitable with their buckram covers to them all。。。

‘To sixty seven walnut tree tables。。。

‘To seventeen dozen boxes containing each dozen five dozen of Venice glasses。。。

‘To one hundred and two mats; each thirty yards long。。。

‘To niy seven cushions of crimson damask laid with silver parchment lace and footstools of cloth of tissue and chairs suitable。。。

‘To fifty branches for a dozen lights apiece。。。’

Already—it is an effect lists have upon us—we are beginning to yawn。 But if we stop; it is only that the catalogue is tedious; not that it is finished。 There are niy–nine pages more of it and the total sum disbursed ran into many thousands—that is to say millions of our money。 And if his day was spent like this; at night again; Lord Orlando might be found reckoning out what it would cost to level a million molehills; if the men were paid tenpence an hour; and again; how many hundredweight of nails at fivepence halfpenny a gill were needed to repair the fence round the park; which was fifteen miles in circumference。 And so on and so on。

The tale; we say; is tedious; for one cupboard is much like another; and one molehill not much different from a million。 Some pleasant journeys it cost him; and some fine adventures。 As; for instance; when he set a whole city of blind women near Bruges to stitch hangings for a silver canopied bed; and the story of his adventure with a Moor in Venice of whom he bought (but only at the sword’s point) his lacquered cabi; might; in other hands; prove worth the telling。 Nor did the work lack variety; for here would e; drawn by teams from Sussex; great trees; to be sawn across and laid along the gallery for flooring; and then a chest from Persia; stuffed with wool and sawdust。 from which; at last; he would take a single plate; or one topaz ring。

At length; however; there was no room in the galleries for another table; no room on the tables for another cabi; no room in the cabi for another rose–bowl; no room in the bowl for another handful of potpourri; there was no room for anything anywhere; in short the house was furnished。 In the garden snowdrops; crocuses; hyacinths; magnolias; roses; lilies; asters; the dahlia in all its varieties; pear trees and apple trees and cherry trees and mulberry trees; with an enormous quantity of rare and flowering shrubs; of trees evergreen and perennial; grew so thick on each other’s roots that there was no plot of earth without its bloom; and no stretch of sward without its shade。 In addition; he had imported wild fowl with gay plumage; and two Malay bears; the surliness of whose manners concealed; he was certain; trusty hearts。

All now was ready; and when it was evening and the innumerable silver sconces were lit and the light airs which for ever moved about the galleries stirred the blue and green arras; so that it looked as if the huntsmen were riding and Daphne flying; when the silver shone and lacquer glowed and wood kindled; when the carved chairs held their arms out and dolphins swam upon the walls with mermaids on their backs; when all this and much more than all this was plete and to his liking; Orlando walked through the house with his elk hounds following and felt content。 He had matter now; he thought; to fill out his peroration。 Perhaps it would be well to begin the speech all over again。 Yet; as he paraded the galleries he felt that still something was lacking。 Chairs and tables; however richly gilt and carved; sofas; resting on lions’ paws with swans’ necks curving under them; beds even of the softest swansdown are not by themselves enough。 People sitting in them; people lying in them improve them amazingly。 Accordingly Orlando now began a series of very splendid entertainments to the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood。 The three hundred and sixty–five bedrooms were full for a month at a time。 Guests jostled each other on the fifty–two staircases。 Three hundred servants bustled about the pantries。 Banquets took place almost nightly。 Thus; in a very few years; Orlando had worn the nap off his velvet; and spent the half of his fortune; but he had earned the good opinion of his neighbours。 held a score of offices in the county; and was annually presented with perhaps a dozen volumes dedicated to his Lordship in rather fulsome terms by grateful poets。 For though he was careful not to consort with writers at that time and kept himself always aloof from ladies of foreign blood; still; he was excessively generous both to women and to poets; and both adored him。

But when the feasting was at its height and his guests were at their revels; he was apt to take himself off to his private room alone。 There when the door was shut; and he was certain of privacy; he would have out an old writing book; stitched together with silk stolen from his mother’s workbox; and labelled in a round schoolboy hand; ‘The Oak Tree; A Poem’。 In this he would write till midnight chimed and long after。 But as he scratched out as many lines as he wrote in; the sum of them was often; at the end of the year; rather less than at the beginning; and it looked as if in the process of writing the poem would be pletely unwritten。 For it is for the historian of letters to remark that he had changed his style amazingly。 His floridity was chastened; his abundance curbed; the age of prose was congealing those warm fountains。 The very landscape outside was less stuck about with garlands and the briars themselves were less thorned and intricate。 Perhaps the senses were a little duller and honey and cream less seductive to the palate。 Also that the streets were better drained and the houses better lit had its effect upon the style; it cannot be doubted。

One day he was adding a line or two with enormous labour to ‘The Oak Tree; A Poem’; when a shadow crossed the tail of his eye。 It was no shadow; he soon saw; but the figure of a very tall lady in riding hood and mantle crossing the quadrangle on which his room looked out。 As this was the most private of the courts; and the lady was a stranger to him; Orlando marvelled how she had got there。 Three days later the same apparition appeared again; and on Wednesday noon appeared once more。 This time; Orlando was determined to follow her; nor apparently was she afraid to be found; for she slackened her steps as he came up and looked him full in the face。 Any other woman thus caught in a Lord’s private grounds would have been afraid; any other woman with that face; head–dress; and aspect would have thrown her mantilla across her shoulders to hide it。 For this lady resembled nothing so much as a hare; a hare startled; but obdurate; a hare whose timidity is overe by an immense and foolish audacity; a hare that sits upright and glowers at its pursuer with great; bulging eyes; with ears erect but quivering; with nose pointed; but twitching。 This hare; moreover; was six feet high and wore a head–dress into the bargain of some antiquated kind which made her look still taller。 Thus confronted; she stared at Orlando with a stare in which timidity and audacity were most strangely bined。

First; she asked him; with a proper; but somewhat clumsy curtsey; to forgive her her intrusion。 Then; rising to her full height again; which must have been something over six feet two; she went on to say—but with such a cackle of nervous laughter; so much tee–heeing and haw–hawing that Orlando thought she must have escaped from a lunatic asylum—that she was the Archduchess Harriet Griselda of Finster–Aarhorn and Scand–op–Boom in the Roumanian territory。 She desired above all things to make his acquaintance; she said。 She had taken lodging over a baker’s shop at the Park Gates。 She had seen his picture and it was the image of a sister of hers who was—here she guffawed—long since dead。 She was visiting the English court。 The Queen was her Cousin。 The King was a very good fellow but seldom went to bed sober。 Here she tee–heed and haw–hawed again。 In short; there was nothing for it but to ask her in and give her a glass of wine。

Indoors; her manners regained the hauteur natural to a Roumanian Archduchess; and had she not shown a knowledge of wines rare in a lady; and made some o

丛林战争  现在,发现你的优势  要塞-中世纪领主  亮剑精神  我的苦难我的大学  冷血悍将  演讲论辩技巧  双子变变变  在中国做事(全文阅读) - 黄夏君  女性经理人打造术:跟王熙凤学管理  东北黑旋风  五胡烽火录  蹉跎岁月女人花  血色使命  草包英雄  梨园往事  红色之翼  生活要懂点博弈学 作 者: 王宇  民国演义  销售人员职业教程  

热门小说推荐
一吻定情:恶魔少爷的专属女友

一吻定情:恶魔少爷的专属女友

一吻定情恶魔少爷的专属女友简介emspemsp关于一吻定情恶魔少爷的专属女友现在全校都知道你是我的女人了,我看谁还敢要你!他狠狠地吻上她的唇,霸道地宣誓着主权。他是贵族学院最尊贵的恶魔少爷,她是受人排挤的平民转校生。一场意外,她被他缠...

病弱大佬靠我走上人生巅峰

病弱大佬靠我走上人生巅峰

病弱大佬靠我走上人生巅峰简介emspemsp关于病弱大佬靠我走上人生巅峰生母被渣爹害死,外祖父被囚禁,谢青棠身负血海深仇,出山准备救人兼报仇。但是她没钱没势没地位,计划不能开展怎么办?谢青棠摸着下巴琢磨了一下,决定去找自己那个据说定了娃...

穿成大反派的团宠闺女

穿成大反派的团宠闺女

穿书团宠腹黑小娇包别人穿书都是穿成公主皇后妃子,偏偏季裳初穿成了一个跟剧情毫不相干的人?毫不相干也就罢了,穿过去的第一天还经历了了屠村,父母双亡?季裳初郁闷。为了好好活下去,她自然是要抱个好大腿。战无不胜能文能武风姿绰约的晟王便成了她的亲爹首要人选。从此,晟王身后多了一个小娇包爹爹长,爹爹短,爹爹的养老初初管。太后哀家的孙女真可爱。皇帝朕的小侄女真可爱。闻太师本座的孙媳妇真可爱。楚尧???晟王爷千防万防,防得了近贼,却没防住远贼。医蛊少年宋玄卿,历尽天下冷暖,过眼风情万千,却独独败在了西楚小郡主的石榴裙下。数年之前,季裳初机缘巧合拾得一块血玉麒麟,数年之后,她被蛊神宋玄卿逼至墙角,那人如同皎皎天上仙般不染凡尘,邪魅一笑便足以勾魂。小郡主可知,您身上佩戴的血玉麒麟,乃是宋家儿郎的定亲之物,小郡主佩戴此物多年,那宋某,也就只能认下小郡主这未婚之妻了。季裳初!!!如果您喜欢穿成大反派的团宠闺女,别忘记分享给朋友...

我老婆真的很漂亮

我老婆真的很漂亮

我老婆真的很漂亮简介emspemsp公司一夜间破产,最信任的兄弟竟然背叛,在我最需要老婆支持的时候,她却更┆多┆书┇籍woo18vipWoo18vip...

不败战神在都市

不败战神在都市

不败战神在都市简介emspemsp关于不败战神在都市三年前,他被逐出叶家,成为整个苏杭上流圈的笑柄。三年后,他成立战神殿,峥嵘岁月,成为不败战神。当他王者归来,整个苏杭,更是暗潮涌动。许久未见的恋人,被赶出家族的苦衷。原来这一切,另有隐情。...

丹武尊圣

丹武尊圣

丹武尊圣简介emspemsp丹武尊圣是真剑的经典玄幻魔法类作品,丹武尊圣主要讲述了宗门弃子江无忧意外被人打死,却触发了神秘青铜头颅的秘密!从此真剑最新鼎力大作,年度必看玄幻魔法。海棠屋(haitangshuwucom)提供丹武尊圣最新章节全文免费阅读!。...

每日热搜小说推荐