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eugene pickering-第6章

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acted?〃



〃Never in public; but Madame Blumenthal tells me that she had it

played at her own house in Berlin; and that she herself undertook the

part of the heroine。〃



Pickering's unworldly life had not been of a sort to sharpen his

perception of the ridiculous; but it seemed to me an unmistakable

sign of his being under the charm; that this information was very

soberly offered。  He was preoccupied; he was irresponsive to my

experimental observations on vulgar topicsthe hot weather; the inn;

the advent of Adelina Patti。  At last; uttering his thoughts; he

announced that Madame Blumenthal had proved to be an extraordinarily

interesting woman。  He seemed to have quite forgotten our long talk

in the Hartwaldt; and betrayed no sense of this being a confession

that he had taken his plunge and was floating with the current。  He

only remembered that I had spoken slightingly of the lady; and he now

hinted that it behoved me to amend my opinion。  I had received the

day before so strong an impression of a sort of spiritual

fastidiousness in my friend's nature; that on hearing now the

striking of a new hour; as it were; in his consciousness; and

observing how the echoes of the past were immediately quenched in its

music; I said to myself that it had certainly taken a delicate hand

to wind up that fine machine。  No doubt Madame Blumenthal was a

clever woman。  It is a good German custom at Homburg to spend the

hour preceding dinner in listening to the orchestra in the Kurgarten;

Mozart and Beethoven; for organisms in which the interfusion of soul

and sense is peculiarly mysterious; are a vigorous stimulus to the

appetite。  Pickering and I conformed; as we had done the day before;

to the fashion; and when we were seated under the trees; he began to

expatiate on his friend's merits。



〃I don't know whether she is eccentric or not;〃 he said; 〃to me every

one seems eccentric; and it's not for me; yet a while; to measure

people by my narrow precedents。  I never saw a gaming table in my

life before; and supposed that a gambler was of necessity some dusky

villain with an evil eye。  In Germany; says Madame Blumenthal; people

play at roulette as they play at billiards; and her own venerable

mother originally taught her the rules of the game。  It is a

recognised source of subsistence for decent people with small means。

But I confess Madame Blumenthal might do worse things than play at

roulette; and yet make them harmonious and beautiful。  I have never

been in the habit of thinking positive beauty the most excellent

thing in a woman。  I have always said to myself that if my heart were

ever to be captured it would be by a sort of general gracea

sweetness of motion and toneon which one could count for soothing

impressions; as one counts on a musical instrument that is perfectly

in tune。  Madame Blumenthal has itthis grace that soothes and

satisfies; and it seems the more perfect that it keeps order and

harmony in a character really passionately ardent and active。  With

her eager nature and her innumerable accomplishments nothing would be

easier than that she should seem restless and aggressive。  You will

know her; and I leave you to judge whether she does seem so!  She has

every gift; and culture has done everything for each。  What goes on

in her mind I of course can't say; what reaches the observerthe

admireris simply a sort of fragrant emanation of intelligence and

sympathy。〃



〃Madame Blumenthal;〃 I said; smiling; 〃might be the loveliest woman

in the world; and you the object of her choicest favours; and yet

what I should most envy you would be; not your peerless friend; but

your beautiful imagination。〃



〃That's a polite way of calling me a fool;〃 said Pickering。  〃You are

a sceptic; a cynic; a satirist!  I hope I shall be a long time coming

to that。〃



〃You will make the journey fast if you travel by express trains。  But

pray tell me; have you ventured to intimate to Madame Blumenthal your

high opinion of her?〃



〃I don't know what I may have said。  She listens even better than she

talks; and I think it possible I may have made her listen to a great

deal of nonsense。  For after the first few words I exchanged with her

I was conscious of an extraordinary evaporation of all my old

diffidence。  I have; in truth; I suppose;〃 he added in a moment;

〃owing to my peculiar circumstances; a great accumulated fund of

unuttered things of all sorts to get rid of。  Last evening; sitting

there before that charming woman; they came swarming to my lips。

Very likely I poured them all out。  I have a sense of having

enshrouded myself in a sort of mist of talk; and of seeing her lovely

eyes shining through it opposite to me; like fog…lamps at sea。〃  And

here; if I remember rightly; Pickering broke off into an ardent

parenthesis; and declared that Madame Blumenthal's eyes had something

in them that he had never seen in any others。  〃It was a jumble of

crudities and inanities;〃 he went on; 〃they must have seemed to her

great rubbish; but I felt the wiser and the stronger; somehow; for

having fired off all my gunsthey could hurt nobody now if they hit…

…and I imagine I might have gone far without finding another woman in

whom such an exhibition would have provoked so little of mere cold

amusement。〃



〃Madame Blumenthal; on the contrary;〃 I surmised; 〃entered into your

situation with warmth。〃



〃Exactly sothe greatest!  She has felt and suffered; and now she

understands!〃



〃She told you; I imagine; that she understood you as if she had made

you; and she offered to be your guide; philosopher; and friend。〃



〃She spoke to me;〃 Pickering answered; after a pause; 〃as I had never

been spoken to before; and she offered me; formally; all the offices

of a woman's friendship。〃



〃Which you as formally accepted?〃



〃To you the scene sounds absurd; I suppose; but allow me to say I

don't care!〃  Pickering spoke with an air of genial defiance which

was the most inoffensive thing in the world。  〃I was very much moved;

I was; in fact; very much excited。  I tried to say something; but I

couldn't; I had had plenty to say before; but now I stammered and

bungled; and at last I bolted out of the room。〃



〃Meanwhile she had dropped her tragedy into your pocket!〃



〃Not at all。  I had seen it on the table before she came in。

Afterwards she kindly offered to read German aloud with me; for the

accent; two or three times a week。  'What shall we begin with?' she

asked。  'With this!' I said; and held up the book。  And she let me

take it to look it over。〃



I was neither a cynic nor a satirist; but even if I had been; I might

have been disarmed by Pickering's assurance; before we parted; that

Madame Blumenthal wished to know me and expected him to introduce me。

Among the foolish things which; according to his own account; he had

uttered; were some generous words in my praise; to which she had

civilly replied。  I confess I was curious to see her; but I begged

that the introduction should not be immediate; for I wished to let

Pickering work out his destiny alone。  For some days I saw little of

him; though we met at the Kursaal and strolled occasionally in the

park。  I watched; in spite of my desire to let him alone; for the

signs and portents of the world's action upon himof that portion of

the world; in especial; of which Madame Blumenthal had constituted

herself the agent。  He seemed very happy; and gave me in a dozen ways

an impression of increased self…confidence and maturity。  His mind

was admirably active; and always; after a quarter of an hour's talk

with him; I asked myself what experience could really do; that

innocence had not done; to make it bright and fine。  I was struck

with his deep enjoyment of the whole spectacle of foreign lifeits

novelty; its picturesqueness; its light and shadeand with the

infinite freedom with which he felt he could go and come and rove and

linger and observe it all。  It was an expansion; an awakening; a

coming to moral manhood。  Each time I met him he spoke a little less

of Madame Blumenthal; but he let me know generally that he saw her

often; and continued to admire her。  I was forced to admit to myself;

in spite of preconceptions; that if she were really the ruling star

of this happy season; she must be a very superior woman。  Pickering

had the air of an ingenuous young philosopher sitting at the feet of

an austere muse; and not of a sentimental spendthrift dangling about

some supreme incarnation of levity。







CHAPTER II。







Madame Blumenthal seemed; for the time; to have abjured the Kursaal;

and I never caught a glimpse of her。  Her young friend; apparently;

was an interesting study; and the studious mind prefers seclusion。



She reappeared; however; at last; one evening at the opera; where

from my chair I perceived her in a box; looking extremely pretty。

Adelina Patti was singing; and after the rising
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