九味书屋 > 文学经管电子书 > [夜与日].(night.and.day).(英)弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙.文字版 >

第116部分

[夜与日].(night.and.day).(英)弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙.文字版-第116部分


按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



forward。 

“You will stay here;” said her father。 

“What are you going to say to him?” she asked。 

“I suppose I may say what I like in my own house?” he 
returned。 

“Then I go; too;” she replied。 

At these words; which seemed to imply a determination 
to go—to go for ever; Mr。 Hilbery returned to his position 
in front of the fire; and began swaying slightly from side 
to side without for the moment making any remark。 

“I understood you to say that you were not engaged to 
him;” he said at length; fixing his eyes upon his daughter。 

“We are not engaged;” she said。 

“It should be a matter of indifference to you; then; 
whether he es here or not—I will not have you listening 
to other things when I am speaking to you!” he 
broke off angrily; perceiving a slight movement on her 
part to one side。 “Answer me frankly; what is your relationship 
with this young man?” 

“Nothing that I can explain to a third person;” she said 

414 



Virginia Woolf 

obstinately。 

“I will have no more of these equivocations;” he replied。 


“I refuse to explain;” she returned; and as she said it 
the front door banged to。 “There!” she exclaimed。 “He is 
gone!” She flashed such a look of fiery indignation at her 
father that he lost his selfcontrol for a moment。 

“For God’s sake; Katharine; control yourself!” he cried。 

She looked for a moment like a wild animal caged in a 
civilized dwellingplace。 She glanced over the walls covered 
with books; as if for a second she had forgotten the 
position of the door。 Then she made as if to go; but her 
father laid his hand upon her shoulder。 He pelled her 
to sit down。 

“These emotions have been very upsetting; naturally;” 
he said。 His manner had regained all its suavity; and he 
spoke with a soothing assumption of paternal authority。 
“You’ve been placed in a very difficult position; as I understand 
from Cassandra。 Now let us e to terms; we 
will leave these agitating questions in peace for the 
present。 Meanwhile; let us try to behave like civilized 

beings。 Let us read Sir Walter Scott。 What d’you say to 
‘The Antiquary;’ eh? Or ‘The Bride of Lammermoor’?” 

He made his own choice; and before his daughter could 
protest or make her escape; she found herself being turned 
by the agency of Sir Walter Scott into a civilized human 
being。 

Yet Mr。 Hilbery had grave doubts; as he read; whether 
the process was more than skindeep。 Civilization had 
been very profoundly and unpleasantly overthrown that 
evening; the extent of the ruin was still undetermined; 
he had lost his temper; a physical disaster not to be 
matched for the space of ten years or so; and his own 
condition urgently required soothing and renovating at 
the hands of the classics。 His house was in a state of 
revolution; he had a vision of unpleasant encounters on 
the staircase; his meals would be poisoned for days to 
e; was literature itself a specific against such 
disagreeables? A note of hollowness was in his voice as 
he read。 

415 



Night and Day 

CHAPTER XXXIII 


Considering that Mr。 Hilbery lived in a house which was 
accurately numbered in order with its fellows; and that 
he filled up forms; paid rent; and had seven more years of 
tenancy to run; he had an excuse for laying down laws for 
the conduct of those who lived in his house; and this 
excuse; though profoundly inadequate; he found useful 
during the interregnum of civilization with which he now 
found himself faced。 In obedience to those laws; Rodney 
disappeared; Cassandra was dispatched to catch the 
eleventhirty on Monday morning; Denham was seen no 
more; so that only Katharine; the lawful occupant of the 
upper rooms; remained; and Mr。 Hilbery thought himself 
petent to see that she did nothing further to promise 
herself。 As he bade her good morning next day 
he was aware that he knew nothing of what she was thinking; 
but; as he reflected with some bitterness; even this 
was an advance upon the ignorance of the previous mornings。 
He went to his study; wrote; tore up; and wrote 
again a letter to his wife; asking her to e back on 

account of domestic difficulties which he specified at 
first; but in a later draft more discreetly left unspecified。 
Even if she started the very moment that she got it; he 
reflected; she would not be home till Tuesday night; and 
he counted lugubriously the number of hours that he would 
have to spend in a position of detestable authority alone 
with his daughter。 

What was she doing now; he wondered; as he addressed 
the envelope to his wife。 He could not control the telephone。 
He could not play the spy。 She might be making 
any arrangements she chose。 Yet the thought did not disturb 
him so much as the strange; unpleasant; illicit atmosphere 
of the whole scene with the young people the night 
before。 His sense of disfort was almost physical。 

Had he known it; Katharine was far enough withdrawn; 
both physically and spiritually; from the telephone。 She 
sat in her room with the dictionaries spreading their wide 
leaves on the table before her; and all the pages which 
they had concealed for so many years arranged in a pile。 
She worked with the steady concentration that is produced 
by the successful effort to think down some un


416 



Virginia Woolf 

wele thought by means of another thought。 Having 
absorbed the unwele thought; her mind went on with 
additional vigor; derived from the victory; on a sheet of 
paper lines of figures and symbols frequently and firmly 
written down marked the different stages of its progress。 
And yet it was broad daylight; there were sounds of knocking 
and sweeping; which proved that living people were 
at work on the other side of the door; and the door; which 
could be thrown open in a second; was her only protection 
against the world。 But she had somehow risen to be 
mistress in her own kingdom; assuming her sovereignty 
unconsciously。 

Steps approached her unheard。 It is true that they were 
steps that lingered; divagated; and mounted with the 
deliberation natural to one past sixty whose arms; moreover; 
are full of leaves and blossoms; but they came on 
steadily; and soon a tap of laurel boughs against the 
door arrested Katharine’s pencil as it touched the page。 
She did not move; however; and sat blankeyed as if waiting 
for the interruption to cease。 Instead; the door opened。 
At first; she attached no meaning to the moving mass of 

green which seemed to enter the room independently of 
any human agency。 Then she recognized parts of her 
mother’s face and person behind the yellow flowers and 
soft velvet of the palmbuds。 

“From Shakespeare’s tomb!” exclaimed Mrs。 Hilbery; 
dropping the entire mass upon the floor; with a gesture 
that seemed to indicate an act of dedication。 Then she 
flung her arms wide and embraced her daughter。 

“Thank God; Katharine!” she exclaimed。 “Thank God!” 
she repeated。 

“You’ve e back?” said Katharine; very vaguely; standing 
up to receive the embrace。 

Although she recognized her mother’s presence; she was 
very far from taking part in the scene; and yet felt it to 
be amazingly appropriate that her mother should be there; 
thanking God emphatically for unknown blessings; and 
strewing the floor with flowers and leaves from 
Shakespeare’s tomb。 

“Nothing else matters in the world!” Mrs。 Hilbery continued。 
“Names aren’t everything; it’s what we feel that’s 
everything。 I didn’t want silly; kind; interfering letters。 I 

417 



Night and Day 

didn’t want your father to tell me。 I knew it from the 
first。 I prayed that it might be so。” 

“You knew it?” Katharine repeated her mother’s words 
softly and vaguely; looking past her。 “How did you know 
it?” She began; like a child; to finger a tassel hanging 
from her mother’s cloak。 

“The first evening you told me; Katharine。 Oh; and thousands 
of times —dinnerparties—talking about books— 
the way he came into the room—your voice when you 
spoke of him。” 

Katharine seemed to consider each of these proof

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的