登陆注册
5591000000043

第43章

At their places in the procession Mrs. Wainwright and Marjory were animatedly talking to Nora and the old lady on the little pony. They had at first suffered great amazement at the voluntary presence of the old lady, but she was there really because she knew no better. Her colossal ignorance took the form, mainly, of a most obstreperous patriotism, and indeed she always acted in a foreign country as if she were the special commissioner of the President, or perhaps as a special commissioner could not act at all. She was very aggressive, and when any of the travelling arrangements in Europe did not suit her ideas she was won't to shrilly exclaim: " Well ! New York is good enough for me." Nora, morbidly afraid that her ex-pense bill to the Daylight would not be large enough, had dragged her bodily off to Greece as her companion, friend and protection. At Arta they had heard of the grand success of the Greek army. The Turks had not stood for a moment before that gallant and terrible advance; no; they had scampered howling with fear into the north. Jannina would fall-well, Jannina would fall as soon as the Greeks arrived. There was no doubt of it. The correspondent and her friend, deluded and hurried by the light-hearted confidence of the Greeks in Arta, had hastened out then on a regular tourist's excursion to see Jannina after its capture. Nora concealed from her friend the fact that the editor of the Daylight particularly wished her to see a battle so that she might write an article on actual warfare from a woman's point of view.

With her name as a queen of comic opera, such an article from her pen would be a burning, sensation.

Coleman had been the first to point out to Nora that instead of going on a picnic to Jannina, she had better run back to Arta. When the old lady heard that they had not been entirely safe, she was furious with Nora. "The idea!" she exclaimed to Mrs. Wainwright. "They might have caught us! They might have caught us ! "" Well," said Mrs. Wainwright. " I verily believe they would have caught us if it had not been for Mr. Coleman."" Is he the gentleman on the fine horse?"" Yes; that's him. Oh, he has been sim-plee splendid. Iconfess I was a little bit-er-surprised. He was in college under my husband. I don't know that we thought very great things of him, but if ever a man won golden opinions he has done so from us."" Oh, that must be the Coleman who is such a great friend of Nora's.""Yes?" said Mrs. Wainwright insidiously. "Is he? I didn't know. Of course he knows so many people." Her mind had been suddenly illumined by the old lady and she thought extravagantly of the arrival of Nora upon the scene. She remained all sweetness to the old lady. "Did you know he was here? Did you expect to meet him? I seemed such a delightful coincidence." In truth she was being subterraneously clever.

" Oh, no; I don't think so. I didn't hear Nora mention it. Of course she would have told me. You know, our coming to Greece was such a surprise. Nora had an engagement in London at the Folly Theatre in Fly by Night, but the manager was insufferable, oh, insufferable. So, of course, Nora wouldn't stand it a minute, and then these newspaper people came along and asked her to go to Greece for them and she accepted. I am sure Inever expected to find us-aw-fleeing from the Turks or Ishouldn't have Come."

" Mrs. Wainwright was gasping. " You don't mean that she is--she is Nora Black, the actress."

" Of course she is," said the old lady jubilantly.

" Why, how strange," choked Mrs. Wainwrignt. Nothing she knew of Nora could account for her stupefaction and grief.

What happened glaringly to her was the duplicity of man.

Coleman was a ribald deceiver. He must have known and yet he had pretended throughout that the meeting was a pure accident She turned with a nervous impulse to sympathist with her daughter, but despite the lovely tranquillity of the girl's face there was something about her which forbade the mother to meddle. Anyhow Mrs. Wainwright was sorry that she had told nice things of Coleman's behaviour, so she said to the old lady:

" Young men of these times get a false age so quickly. We have always thought it a great pity, about Mr. Coleman.""Why, how so ? " asked the old lady.

"Oh, really nothing. Only, to us he seemed rather --er-prematurely experienced or something of that kind.

The old lady did not catch the meaning of the phrase.

同类推荐
  • 供养护世八天法

    供养护世八天法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 华严原人论发微录

    华严原人论发微录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 诗概

    诗概

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 台湾割据志

    台湾割据志

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 华严经章

    华严经章

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 老公凶凶来袭

    老公凶凶来袭

    渣男出轨,小三将艳照发给家人,父亲心脏病发,一夜之间,她的世界天崩地裂,在她最孤立无援的时候,霸道总裁总裁却频频示好,摇身一变,她成为他的天价宠妻,翻手为云覆手为雨,虐渣男,灭小三。她以为自己觅到真命天子,殊不知掉进精心布置的陷阱。"顾城,你到底要怎样才能放过我?"她忍无可忍的吼道。“这辈子你生是我的人,死也只能死在我怀里,绝不允许你离开半步。”他猩红着双目,掐上她的下巴…
  • 娶个蛊女做老婆

    娶个蛊女做老婆

    阴差阳错上了女友的闺蜜竟然中蛊了,之后我走向了一条逆袭之路。
  • 美女总裁之超品高手

    美女总裁之超品高手

    【无敌爽文,每日十更!】超品高手归来,我回来不是想证明我有多强,只是想告诉他人,是我的,终究是我的!
  • 佐助的二次元之旅

    佐助的二次元之旅

    一个关于拥有一位资深宅男记忆的佐助在二次元世界里搞事情的故事。(死神——fgo——妖精的尾巴等世界。)
  • 凰医帝临七神

    凰医帝临七神

    (原名《焚尽七神:狂傲女帝》)前世,她贵为巅峰女帝,一夕之间局势逆转,沦为废材之质。魂灵双修,医毒无双,血脉觉醒,一御万兽。天现异象,凰命之女,自此归来,天下乱之。这一次,所有欺她辱她之人必杀之!他自上界而来,怀有目的,却因她动摇内心深处坚定的道义。“你曾说,你向仰我,你想像我一样,步入光明,是我对不起你,又让你重新回到黑暗。”“你都不在了,你让我一个人,怎么像向仰你?!”爱与不爱,从来都是我们自己的事,与他人无关。带走了所有的光明与信仰。
  • 契约兽降临

    契约兽降临

    小渡的妈妈的精灵?那小渡的爸爸呢?这是一个人与魔兽相结合的大陆,每个人都扮演着不同的角色。记得双击,么么哒!
  • 解密北京大案

    解密北京大案

    一鹤的法制纪实作品名声越来越大。最近的一个例子是他关于某演艺圈名人案件的报导,引起湖北与广东两家大刊编辑的争抢,以致他不得不承诺为放弃的一家另写两篇稿子才算平息。从《名幻杂志》为一鹤同志做责编大概有十个年头了罢。这其间,文坛中太多起承转合,波诡云橘了。而一鹤一步一个脚印地走来,由一个青涩的山东汉子,成长为深具洞察力的法坛卫士。人类灵魂工程师,自有其独特的理想与追求。
  • 帝王恋:月妃倾天下

    帝王恋:月妃倾天下

    她,不惜穿越时空,寻找前世纠葛;万蛇之王,等她千年,终于盼得她的魂魄归来,红尘滚滚,千年痴尽一生;他,轮回千年,只为一世得到她的爱,却不知伤她最深的人便是他自己;前世的救命之恩,回报的是给予她的真爱,不离亦是不弃;嗜血的帝王、温润如玉的帝王、万蛇敬仰的王;她,到底为谁而来?她,前世真相到底是什么?
  • 梦醒一城钟于一人i

    梦醒一城钟于一人i

    你是否做过一场梦,到过一座城,遇见一个人多看了一眼,如此,便是一生......
  • 花之星曜

    花之星曜

    人们的世界由许多的大陆构成,当天坠之星降临人间,他会遇到怎样的人和事?他又将如何抉择去或留?