Пропустити текст статті
After shaking hands with Dorothea , he bowed as slightly as possible to Ladislaw , who repaid the slightness exactly , and then going towards Dorothea , said — “ I must say good - by , Mrs . Casaubon ; and probably for a long while . ” Dorothea put out her hand and said her good - by cordially . The sense that Sir James was depreciating Will , and behaving rudely to him , roused her resolution and dignity : there was no touch of confusion in her manner . And when Will had left the room , she looked with such calm self - possession at Sir James , saying , “ How is Celia ? ” that he was obliged to behave as if nothing had annoyed him . And what would be the use of behaving otherwise ? Indeed , Sir James shrank with so much dislike from the association even in thought of Dorothea with Ladislaw as her possible lover , that he would himself have wished to avoid an outward show of displeasure which would have recognized the disagreeable possibility . If any one had asked him why he shrank in that way , I am not sure that he would at first have said anything fuller or more precise than “ That Ladislaw ! ” — though on reflection he might have urged that Mr . Casaubon’s codicil , barring Dorothea’s marriage with Will , except under a penalty , was enough to cast unfitness over any relation at all between them . His aversion was all the stronger because he felt himself unable to interfere . But Sir James was a power in a way unguessed by himself . Entering at that moment , he was an incorporation of the strongest reasons through which Will’s pride became a repellent force , keeping him asunder from Dorothea . CHAPTER LV . Hath she her faults ? I would you had them too . They are the fruity must of soundest wine ; Or say , they are regenerating fire Such as hath turned the dense black element Into a crystal pathway for the sun . If youth is the season of hope , it is often so only in the sense that our elders are hopeful about us ; for no age is so apt as youth to think its emotions , partings , and resolves are the last of their kind . Each crisis seems final , simply because it is new . We are told that the oldest inhabitants in Peru do not cease to be agitated by the earthquakes , but they probably see beyond each shock , and reflect that there are plenty more to come . To Dorothea , still in that time of youth when the eyes with their long full lashes look out after their rain of tears unsoiled and unwearied as a freshly opened passion - flower , that morning’s parting with Will Ladislaw seemed to be the close of their personal relations . He was going away into the distance of unknown years , and if ever he came back he would be another man . The actual state of his mind — his proud resolve to give the lie beforehand to any suspicion that he would play the needy adventurer seeking a rich woman — lay quite out of her imagination , and she had interpreted all his behavior easily enough by her supposition that Mr . Casaubon’s codicil seemed to him , as it did to her , a gross and cruel interdict on any active friendship between them .
Назад Сторінка 412 з 637 Сторінка 412 з 637 Вперед Читайте далі з перекладом Створіть безкоштовний акаунт: 7 днів Pro, далі 20 перекладів слів на день або платний тариф.
