FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   305  
306   307   308   309   310   311   312   313   314   315   316   317   318   319   320   321   322   323   324   325   326   327   328   329   330   >>   >|  
m that she suspected to whom he was going--the temptation to make a clean breast, speaking without restraint. "Yes it is," said Grandcourt, enfolding her hand. "I will put off going. And I will travel at night, so as only to be away one day." He thought that he knew the reason of what he inwardly called this bit of temper, and she was particularly fascinating to him at this moment. "Then don't put off going, but travel at night," said Gwendolen, feeling that she could command him, and finding in this peremptoriness a small outlet for her irritation. "Then you will go to Diplow to-morrow?" "Oh, yes, if you wish it," said Gwendolen, in a high tone of careless assent. Her concentration in other feelings had really hindered her from taking notice that her hand was being held. "How you treat us poor devils of men!" said Grandcourt, lowering his tone. "We are always getting the worst of it." "_Are_ you?" said Gwendolen, in a tone of inquiry, looking at him more naively than usual. She longed to believe this commonplace _badinage_ as the serious truth about her lover: in that case, she too was justified. If she knew everything, Mrs. Glasher would appear more blamable than Grandcourt. "_Are_ you always getting the worst?" "Yes. Are you as kind to me as I am to you?" said Grandcourt, looking into her eyes with his narrow gaze. Gwendolen felt herself stricken. She was conscious of having received so much, that her sense of command was checked, and sank away in the perception that, look around her as she might, she could not turn back: it was as if she had consented to mount a chariot where another held the reins; and it was not in her nature to leap out in the eyes of the world. She had not consented in ignorance, and all she could say now would be a confession that she had not been ignorant. Her right to explanation was gone. All she had to do now was to adjust herself, so that the spikes of that unwilling penance which conscience imposed should not gall her. With a sort of mental shiver, she resolutely changed her mental attitude. There had been a little pause, during which she had not turned away her eyes; and with a sudden break into a smile, she said-- "If I were as kind to you as you are to me, that would spoil your generosity: it would no longer be as great as it could be--and it is that now." "Then I am not to ask for one kiss," said Grandcourt, contented to pay a large price for this new kind of lo
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288   289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   302   303   304   305  
306   307   308   309   310   311   312   313   314   315   316   317   318   319   320   321   322   323   324   325   326   327   328   329   330   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Grandcourt

 

Gwendolen

 
mental
 

consented

 

command

 

travel

 

ignorance

 
nature
 
stricken
 

perception


received

 

checked

 

conscious

 
chariot
 

suspected

 

generosity

 

turned

 
sudden
 

longer

 

contented


adjust

 

spikes

 

unwilling

 

confession

 

ignorant

 

explanation

 
penance
 

conscience

 

shiver

 

resolutely


changed

 

attitude

 

imposed

 

justified

 

speaking

 

irritation

 

breast

 

outlet

 

finding

 

peremptoriness


Diplow

 
careless
 

assent

 

morrow

 

restraint

 
feeling
 

reason

 

inwardly

 

thought

 

called