登陆注册
19594700000023

第23章

Carl had changed, Alexandra felt, much less than one might have expected. He had not become a trim, self-satisfied city man. There was still something homely and wayward and definitely personal about him. Even his clothes, his Norfolk coat and his very high collars, were a little unconventional. He seemed to shrink into himself as he used to do; to hold him-self away from things, as if he were afraid of being hurt. In short, he was more self-con-scious than a man of thirty-five is expected to be. He looked older than his years and not very strong. His black hair, which still hung in a triangle over his pale forehead, was thin at the crown, and there were fine, relentless lines about his eyes. His back, with its high, sharp shoulders, looked like the back of an over-worked German professor off on his holiday.

His face was intelligent, sensitive, unhappy.

That evening after supper, Carl and Alex-andra were sitting by the clump of castor beans in the middle of the flower garden. The gravel paths glittered in the moonlight, and below them the fields lay white and still.

"Do you know, Alexandra," he was saying, "I've been thinking how strangely things work out. I've been away engraving other men's pictures, and you've stayed at home and made your own." He pointed with his cigar toward the sleeping landscape. "How in the world have you done it? How have your neighbors done it?""We hadn't any of us much to do with it, Carl. The land did it. It had its little joke. It pretended to be poor because nobody knew how to work it right; and then, all at once, it worked itself. It woke up out of its sleep and stretched itself, and it was so big, so rich, that we sud-denly found we were rich, just from sitting still.

As for me, you remember when I began to buy land. For years after that I was always squeez-ing and borrowing until I was ashamed to show my face in the banks. And then, all at once, men began to come to me offering to lend me money--and I didn't need it! Then I went ahead and built this house. I really built it for Emil. I want you to see Emil, Carl. He is so different from the rest of us!""How different?"

"Oh, you'll see! I'm sure it was to have sons like Emil, and to give them a chance, that father left the old country. It's curious, too; on the outside Emil is just like an American boy,--he graduated from the State University in June, you know,--but underneath he is more Swed-ish than any of us. Sometimes he is so like father that he frightens me; he is so violent in his feel-ings like that."

"Is he going to farm here with you?"

"He shall do whatever he wants to," Alex-andra declared warmly. "He is going to have a chance, a whole chance; that's what I've worked for. Sometimes he talks about studying law, and sometimes, just lately, he's been talk-ing about going out into the sand hills and tak-ing up more land. He has his sad times, like father. But I hope he won't do that. We have land enough, at last!" Alexandra laughed.

"How about Lou and Oscar? They've done well, haven't they?""Yes, very well; but they are different, and now that they have farms of their own I do not see so much of them. We divided the land equally when Lou married. They have their own way of doing things, and they do not alto-gether like my way, I am afraid. Perhaps they think me too independent. But I have had to think for myself a good many years and am not likely to change. On the whole, though, we take as much comfort in each other as most brothers and sisters do. And I am very fond of Lou's oldest daughter.""I think I liked the old Lou and Oscar better, and they probably feel the same about me. Ieven, if you can keep a secret,"--Carl leaned forward and touched her arm, smiling,--"Ieven think I liked the old country better. This is all very splendid in its way, but there was something about this country when it was a wild old beast that has haunted me all these years. Now, when I come back to all this milk and honey, I feel like the old German song, 'Wo bist du, wo bist du, mein geliebtest Land?'--Do you ever feel like that, I wonder?"

"Yes, sometimes, when I think about father and mother and those who are gone; so many of our old neighbors." Alexandra paused and looked up thoughtfully at the stars. "We can remember the graveyard when it was wild prairie, Carl, and now--""And now the old story has begun to write itself over there," said Carl softly. "Isn't it queer: there are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before;like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.""Oh, yes! The young people, they live so hard. And yet I sometimes envy them. There is my little neighbor, now; the people who bought your old place. I wouldn't have sold it to any one else, but I was always fond of that girl. You must remember her, little Marie Tovesky, from Omaha, who used to visit here?

When she was eighteen she ran away from the convent school and got married, crazy child!

同类推荐
  • THE CLASS STRUGGLES IN FRANCE

    THE CLASS STRUGGLES IN FRANCE

    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。
  • Ban and Arriere Ban

    Ban and Arriere Ban

    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。
  • 佛说大方广菩萨十地经

    佛说大方广菩萨十地经

    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。
  • 书谱

    书谱

    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。
  • 直隶河渠志

    直隶河渠志

    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。
热门推荐
  • 诡事

    诡事

    我是一个地质勘探队员,曾经隶属于煤炭地质总局下属地质队,在那个红色疯狂的岁月中,我们幸运又不幸的游离于革命风暴之外,穿行于中国的大山河川之中,寻找那深埋在地底的财富。 在枯燥的大山之内,其实隐藏着很多神秘的东西,我们经历了极端的枯燥与艰苦,也遇到过许多匪夷所思,惊骇莫名的事情。而这些事情,你永远也不可能在档案资料中看到,那都是一些“不应该存在的”事实,被永远的封存起来了。 有一些,就算你穷尽大脑的想象力,也无法理解。。。。。。
  • 高血压食疗菜谱

    高血压食疗菜谱

    《常见病食疗菜谱丛书》是为常见病患者及其家庭精心策划的一套食疗养生菜谱丛书,其10本。《高血压食疗菜谱》精选了近60种对高血压具有一定的辅助疗效和预防作用的日常食材,详细、全面、科学地介绍其基础知识,并配备了近120道菜例,还包括一些高血压的常识,让读者在享受美食的同时,轻松抵抗疾病威胁,健康生活每一天。
  • 重生之沐月玦

    重生之沐月玦

    她说,其实我是一个演员,但为你落泪的那一刻,我是真心的,他说,这一世我不能执你的手,只是为了修万万年的相守,缘份,就象杯具,碎了,爱的记忆,就象美玉,化为玦!这真是造化弄人呢!
  • 追梦录

    追梦录

    “柳逆,生活在一个貌似普通家庭中的反抗,不,有为青年。暂时和好友同居,爸爸是化工厂的技术顾问,妈妈自己在市郊开了个托儿所,依稀的记忆中,自己还有一个奶奶,不过在自己很小的时候就离开了家,从此这个家中再也没有出现过类似“奶奶”的生物。”
  • 祸国妖后谋天下:权色巅峰

    祸国妖后谋天下:权色巅峰

    夜里,靠在她的胸口,惊愕的起身,“你怎么没有心跳。”“因为我是一只冤鬼!”女子幽幽道,黑夜之下显得狰狞恐怖!前世,她为了他筹谋划略,为他谋取江山,换来的却是满门抄斩。今生,改头换面,魅惑苍生,重新归来,她的目的只有一个,那便是:血洗天下!********心跳静止,灵魂残缺,靠食人精血犹如活死人般活在此世。短暂的寿命皆浪费在了报仇雪恨之上,无视所有人对她的感情。他为她逆天改命,手上沾满了鲜血,辜负所有,只因爱她。他身为帝王,活在属于和她的记忆中,残忍的对待着任何人。他走遍江湖,放下身份,却只为保护着她可是,好像在仇恨的道路上,她失去了所有,包括爱人,回首时,是否还能找见属于的她唯一??!!
  • 进化狗的战争

    进化狗的战争

    进化狗是一个群体,他们拥有超越人类的智力和能力。他们原本独立在人类社会之外,过着隐士一般的生活,传承着自己的文明。但有一天,一派以“丑王博士”为代表的进化狗决意改变这一切,他认为动物生而平等,其它动物从来都不是人类的奴隶。而人类恃强凌弱,杀害动物,破坏环境,将大家共有的地球置于毁灭的边缘。他们发表宣言要求人类尊重他们的权利,要求在地球上建立自己的国家。如若不然,他就带领进化动物发动战争,推翻人类的统治。还有一派以“智狗王”为代表的进化动物,认为进化动物可以用更加温和的方式与人类合作。屌丝程序员“唐冰”和他家的进化狗“泰格”无意间卷入了这场战争,他们能阻止这场战争吗?
  • 宦海风云

    宦海风云

    自信天道酬勤,不甘命运摆布,咬牙誓将困难揉碎!军人出身的国企员工秦天一,在单位努力工作数年,未得到领导的重视和关照,总在为他人作嫁衣裳。他立志要改变现状。因为抓住一次升职机遇,开始在官场中驰聘,并奉承做官如同做人,而做人最重要的要懂得低调处事,才能左右逢源,扶摇直上,游刃有余……看宦海风云,暧昧把舵,你争我夺,但我却云淡风轻,进退自如。
  • 狂神天下

    狂神天下

    神让他死!他不想死!————————————————他要竭尽所能地抵抗神的杀伐!————————————————没有钱不要怕,他有一只能下金蛋的鸭子,据说美丽的女巫师帮助他把鸭子克隆了!————————————————真元要提升————————————————飞剑要升级————————————————队伍要强大————————————————机甲要改进————————————————当《九九真诀》逆九之时————————————————他自创了一套修行体系——《机甲真诀》————————————————他这才知道逆天弑神并无不可!————————————————此书未必11,未必YY,只是一部为了生存而战的小说!
  • 重生之豪门婚姻手册

    重生之豪门婚姻手册

    陆柠十九岁跟了秦攸,一直以为自己只是他众多情人中不起眼的一个,却不知全世界都在盛传,秦氏总裁将一个女人捧在手心,如珠如宝。重生一回,她以为自己可以跳出原本的命运,却猝不及防的被这个男人逼了婚。秦攸:“秦太太,嫁入豪门的感觉如何?”陆柠:“跟以前好像也没什么区别。”
  • 倾世妖孽:别惹废材小姐

    倾世妖孽:别惹废材小姐

    她,是21世纪初最腹黑的杀手,没有之一,小时候一场意外中,父母双亡的她,被组织救走,从小训练的她,天赋极强,到7岁就已经学会了用毒,易容还有伪装...她在组织有一个和她最亲近的人,灵玖,在她面前她从不会伪装,可是,让她万万没有想到的是,她最信任的一个人,竟然,背叛了她...从而穿到了古代第一废材的身上他,是云落大陆最受人敬仰和仰慕的晋王爷,一张脸长得妖娆倾城,让无数女子为此倾慕的他,腹黑精明,无人能敌,却偏偏拜倒在了那个天下第一废材的石榴裙下,他只为她动心,只对她一人展示他最美好的一面,可是,事实真是这样么?两人碰撞在一起,又会发生什么不一般的火花呢?让我们拭目以待吧~