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the new machiavelli-第42章

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cheek until I rescued him and her; and left him free to congratulate 

the new Lady Snape on her husband's K。 C。 B。



I took Margaret down。  We achieved no feats of mutual expression; 

except that it was abundantly clear we were both very pleased and 

interested to meet again; and that we had both kept memories of each 

other。  We made that Misterton tea…party and the subsequent 

marriages of my cousins and the world of Burslem generally; matter 

for quite an agreeable conversation until at last Altiora; following 

her invariable custom; called me by name imperatively out of our 

duologue。  〃Mr。 Remington;〃 she said; 〃we want your opinion〃 in 

her entirely characteristic effort to get all the threads of 

conversation into her own hands for the climax that always wound up 

her dinners。  How the other women used to hate those concluding 

raids of hers!  I forget most of the other people at that dinner; 

nor can I recall what the crowning rally was about。  It didn't in 

any way join on to my impression of Margaret。



In the drawing…room of the matting floor I rejoined her; with 

Altiora's manifest connivance; and in the interval I had been 

thinking of our former meeting。



〃Do you find London;〃 I asked; 〃give you more opportunity for doing 

things and learning things than Burslem?〃



She showed at once she appreciated my allusion to her former 

confidences。  〃I was very discontented then;〃 she said and paused。  

〃I've really only been in London for a few months。  It's so 

different。  In Burslem; life seems all business and gettingwithout 

any reason。  One went on and it didn't seem to mean anything。  At 

least anything that mattered。 。 。 。  London seems to be so full of 

meaningsall mixed up together。〃



She knitted her brows over her words and smiled appealingly at the 

end as if for consideration for her inadequate expression; 

appealingly and almost humorously。



I looked understandingly at her。  〃We have all;〃 I agreed; 〃to come 

to London。〃



〃One sees so much distress;〃 she added; as if she felt she had 

completely omitted something; and needed a codicil。



〃What are you doing in London?〃



〃I'm thinking of studying。  Some social question。  I thought perhaps 

I might go and study social conditions as Mrs。 Bailey did; go 

perhaps as a work…girl or see the reality of living in; but Mrs。 

Bailey thought perhaps it wasn't quite my work。〃



〃Are you studying?〃



〃I'm going to a good many lectures; and perhaps I shall take up a 

regular course at the Westminster School of Politics and Sociology。  

But Mrs。 Bailey doesn't seem to believe very much in that either。〃



Her faintly whimsical smile returned。  〃I seem rather indefinite;〃 

she apologised; 〃but one does not want to get entangled in things 

one can't do。  Oneone has so many advantages; one's life seems to 

be such a trust and such a responsibility〃



She stopped。



〃A man gets driven into work;〃 I said。



〃It must be splendid to be Mrs。 Bailey;〃 she replied with a glance 

of envious admiration across the room。



〃SHE has no doubts; anyhow;〃 I remarked。



〃She HAD;〃 said Margaret with the pride of one who has received 

great confidences。







6





〃You've met before?〃 said Altiora; a day or so later。



I explained when。



〃You find her interesting?〃



I saw in a flash that Altiora meant to marry me to Margaret。



Her intention became much clearer as the year developed。  Altiora 

was systematic even in matters that evade system。  I was to marry 

Margaret; and freed from the need of making an income I was to come 

into politicsas an exponent of Baileyism。  She put it down with 

the other excellent and advantageous things that should occupy her 

summer holiday。  It was her pride and glory to put things down and 

plan them out in detail beforehand; and I'm not quite sure that she 

did not even mark off the day upon which the engagement was to be 

declared。  If she did; I disappointed her。  We didn't come to an 

engagement; in spite of the broadest hints and the glaring 

obviousness of everything; that summer。



Every summer the Baileys went out of London to some house they hired 

or borrowed; leaving their secretaries toiling behind; and they went 

on working hard in the mornings and evenings and taking exercise in 

the open air in the afternoon。  They cycled assiduously and went for 

long walks at a trot; and raided and studied (and incidentally 

explained themselves to) any social 〃types〃 that lived in the 

neighbourhood。  One invaded type; resentful under research; 

described them with a dreadful aptness as Donna Quixote and Sancho 

Panzaand himself as a harmless windmill; hurting no one and 

signifying nothing。  She did rather tilt at things。  This particular 

summer they were at a pleasant farmhouse in level country near 

Pangbourne; belonging to the Hon。 Wilfrid Winchester; and they asked 

me to come down to rooms in the neighbourhoodAltiora took them for 

a month for me in Augustand board with them upon extremely 

reasonable terms; and when I got there I found Margaret sitting in a 

hammock at Altiora's feet。  Lots of people; I gathered; were coming 

and going in the neighbourhood; the Ponts were in a villa on the 

river; and the Rickhams' houseboat was to moor for some days; but 

these irruptions did not impede a great deal of duologue between 

Margaret and myself。



Altiora was efficient rather than artistic in her match…making。  She 

sent us off for long walks togetherMargaret was a fairly good 

walkershe exhumed some defective croquet things and incited us to 

croquet; not understanding that detestable game is the worst 

stimulant for lovers in the world。  And Margaret and I were always 

getting left about; and finding ourselves for odd half…hours in the 

kitchen…garden with nothing to do except talk; or we were told with 

a wave of the hand to run away and amuse each other。



Altiora even tried a picnic in canoes; knowing from fiction rather 

than imagination or experience the conclusive nature of such 

excursions。  But there she fumbled at the last moment; and elected 

at the river's brink to share a canoe with me。  Bailey showed so 

much zeal and so little skillhis hat fell off and he became 

miraculously nothing but paddle…clutching hands and a vast wrinkled 

browthat at last he had to be paddled ignominiously by Margaret; 

while Altiora; after a phase of rigid discretion; as nearly as 

possible drowned herselfand me no doubt into the bargainwith a 

sudden lateral gesture of the arm to emphasise the high note with 

which she dismissed the efficiency of the Charity Organisation 

Society。  We shipped about an inch of water and sat in it for the 

rest of the time; an inconvenience she disregarded heroically。  We 

had difficulties in landing Oscar from his frail craft upon the ait 

of our feasting;he didn't balance sideways and was much alarmed; 

and afterwards; as Margaret had a pain in her back; I took him in my 

canoe; let him hide his shame with an ineffectual but not positively 

harmful paddle; and towed the other by means of the joined painters。  

Still it was the fault of the inadequate information supplied in the 

books and not of Altiora that that was not the date of my betrothal。



I find it not a little difficult to state what kept me back from 

proposing marriage to Margaret that summer; and what urged me 

forward at last to marry her。  It is so much easier to remember 

one's resolutions than to remember the moods and suggestions that 

produced them。



Marrying and getting married was; I think; a pretty simple affair to 

Altiora; it was something that happened to the adolescent and 

unmarried when you threw them together under the circumstances of 

health; warmth and leisure。  It happened with the kindly and 

approving smiles of the more experienced elders who had organised 

these proximities。  The young people married; settled down; children 

ensued; and father and mother turned their minds; now decently and 

properly disillusioned; to other things。  That to Altiora was the 

normal sexual life; and she believed it to be the quality of the 

great bulk of the life about her。



One of the great barriers to human understanding is the wide 

temperamental difference one finds in the values of things relating 

to sex。  It is the issue upon which people most need training in 

charity and imaginative sympathy。  Here are no universal standards 

at all; and indeed for no single man nor woman does there seem to be 

any fixed standard; so much do the accidents of circumstances and 

one's physical phases affect one's interpretations。  There is 

nothing in the whole range of sexual fact that may not seem 

supremely beautiful or humanly jolly or magnificently wicked or 

disgusting or trivial or utterly insignificant; according to the eye 

that sees or the mood that colours。  Here is somethin
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