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Will could not resist this imperturbable temper , and the cloud in his face broke into sunshiny laughter . “ Come now , my friend — you will help ? ” said Naumann , in a hopeful tone . “ No ; nonsense , Naumann ! English ladies are not at everybody’s service as models . And you want to express too much with your painting . You would only have made a better or worse portrait with a background which every connoisseur would give a different reason for or against . And what is a portrait of a woman ? Your painting and Plastik are poor stuff after all . They perturb and dull conceptions instead of raising them . Language is a finer medium . ” “ Yes , for those who can’t paint , ” said Naumann . “ There you have perfect right . I did not recommend you to paint , my friend . ” The amiable artist carried his sting , but Ladislaw did not choose to appear stung . He went on as if he had not heard . “ Language gives a fuller image , which is all the better for being vague . After all , the true seeing is within ; and painting stares at you with an insistent imperfection . I feel that especially about representations of women . As if a woman were a mere colored superficies ! You must wait for movement and tone . There is a difference in their very breathing : they change from moment to moment . — This woman whom you have just seen , for example : how would you paint her voice , pray ? But her voice is much diviner than anything you have seen of her . ” “ I see , I see . You are jealous . No man must presume to think that he can paint your ideal . This is serious , my friend ! Your great - aunt ! ‘ Der Neffe als Onkel ’ in a tragic sense — ungeheuer ! ” “ You and I shall quarrel , Naumann , if you call that lady my aunt again . ” “ How is she to be called then ? ” “ Mrs . Casaubon . ” “ Good . Suppose I get acquainted with her in spite of you , and find that she very much wishes to be painted ? ” “ Yes , suppose ! ” said Will Ladislaw , in a contemptuous undertone , intended to dismiss the subject . He was conscious of being irritated by ridiculously small causes , which were half of his own creation . Why was he making any fuss about Mrs . Casaubon ? And yet he felt as if something had happened to him with regard to her . There are characters which are continually creating collisions and nodes for themselves in dramas which nobody is prepared to act with them . Their susceptibilities will clash against objects that remain innocently quiet . CHAPTER XX . “ A child forsaken , waking suddenly , Whose gaze afeard on all things round doth rove , And seeth only that it cannot see The meeting eyes of love . ” Two hours later , Dorothea was seated in an inner room or boudoir of a handsome apartment in the Via Sistina . I am sorry to add that she was sobbing bitterly , with such abandonment to this relief of an oppressed heart as a woman habitually controlled by pride on her own account and thoughtfulness for others will sometimes allow herself when she feels securely alone . And Mr . Casaubon was certain to remain away for some time at the Vatican .
Назад Сторінка 143 з 637 Сторінка 143 з 637 Вперед Читайте далі з перекладом Створіть безкоштовний акаунт: 7 днів Pro, далі 20 перекладів слів на день або платний тариф.
