登陆注册
19689000000021

第21章 CHAPTER VII.(2)

A large group of buyers stood round the auctioneer, or followed him when, between his pauses, he wandered on from one lot of plantation produce to another, like some philosopher of the Peripatetic school delivering his lectures in the shady groves of the Lyceum. His companions were timber-dealers, yeomen, farmers, villagers, and others; mostly woodland men, who on that account could afford to be curious in their walking-sticks, which consequently exhibited various monstrosities of vegetation, the chief being cork-screw shapes in black and white thorn, brought to that pattern by the slow torture of an encircling woodbine during their growth, as the Chinese have been said to mould human beings into grotesque toys by continued compression in infancy. Two women, wearing men's jackets on their gowns, conducted in the rear of the halting procession a pony-cart containing a tapped barrel of beer, from which they drew and replenished horns that were handed round, with bread-and-cheese from a basket.

The auctioneer adjusted himself to circumstances by using his walking-stick as a hammer, and knocked down the lot on any convenient object that took his fancy, such as the crown of a little boy's head, or the shoulders of a by-stander who had no business there except to taste the brew; a proceeding which would have been deemed humorous but for the air of stern rigidity which that auctioneer's face preserved, tending to show that the eccentricity was a result of that absence of mind which is engendered by the press of affairs, and no freak of fancy at all.

Mr. Melbury stood slightly apart from the rest of the Peripatetics, and Grace beside him, clinging closely to his arm, her modern attire looking almost odd where everything else was old-fashioned, and throwing over the familiar garniture of the trees a homeliness that seemed to demand improvement by the addition of a few contemporary novelties also. Grace seemed to regard the selling with the interest which attaches to memories revived after an interval of obliviousness.

Winterborne went and stood close to them; the timber-merchant spoke, and continued his buying; Grace merely smiled. To justify his presence there Winterborne began bidding for timber and fagots that he did not want, pursuing the occupation in an abstracted mood, in which the auctioneer's voice seemed to become one of the natural sounds of the woodland. A few flakes of snow descended, at the sight of which a robin, alarmed at these signs of imminent winter, and seeing that no offence was meant by the human invasion, came and perched on the tip of the fagots that were being sold, and looked into the auctioneer's face, while waiting for some chance crumb from the bread-basket. Standing a little behind Grace, Winterborne observed how one flake would sail downward and settle on a curl of her hair, and how another would choose her shoulder, and another the edge of her bonnet, which took up so much of his attention that his biddings proceeded incoherently; and when the auctioneer said, every now and then, with a nod towards him, "Yours, Mr. Winterborne," he had no idea whether he had bought fagots, poles, or logwood.

He regretted, with some causticity of humor, that her father should show such inequalities of temperament as to keep Grace tightly on his arm to-day, when he had quite lately seemed anxious to recognize their betrothal as a fact. And thus musing, and joining in no conversation with other buyers except when directly addressed, he followed the assemblage hither and thither till the end of the auction, when Giles for the first time realized what his purchases had been. Hundreds of fagots, and divers lots of timber, had been set down to him, when all he had required had been a few bundles of spray for his odd man Robert Creedle's use in baking and lighting fires.

Business being over, he turned to speak to the timber merchant.

But Melbury's manner was short and distant; and Grace, too, looked vexed and reproachful. Winterborne then discovered that he had been unwittingly bidding against her father, and picking up his favorite lots in spite of him. With a very few words they left the spot and pursued their way homeward.

同类推荐
  • 三侠五义

    三侠五义

    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。
  • The Man Who Could Not Lose

    The Man Who Could Not Lose

    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。
  • 西湖佳话

    西湖佳话

    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。
  • 溪山琴况

    溪山琴况

    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。
  • 得无垢女经

    得无垢女经

    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。
热门推荐
  • 微伤初恋:秋天别来

    微伤初恋:秋天别来

    进入大学的何秋奈意料之外、却又情理之中地遇见了自己的初恋。初恋是美好的,也是深刻的。只是和大多数的初恋一样,客观现实以及不成熟的性格,给何秋奈的初恋也蒙上了阴影。在百转千回、分分合合之后,她最终忍着痛为自己的初恋画上了一个不完美的句点。--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 鬼孕

    鬼孕

    带你走进,恐怖的中古世纪吸血家族:藤蔓植物爬满伯爵的坟墓,古堡里一片荒芜……不会骑扫把的女巫,用拉丁文念咒语啦呜,她养的黑猫笑起来像哭。水晶球占卜,教堂里的救赎,黑曼巴蛇咬着狼人和蝙蝠。古堡主人威廉二世满脸的落腮胡,吸完血睁着眼睛打呼。管家是一只会说法语举止优雅的猪,吸血前会念约翰福音做为弥补。蓝眼睛的凯萨琳公主,专吃AB血型的公老鼠……
  • 回到最初:你我还在

    回到最初:你我还在

    一开始都还很天真,可到最后,我们都想要回到最初的时候,没有烦恼,没有社会阴险,只有最初的我们,仅此而已。。。。。。。
  • 我欲为大帝

    我欲为大帝

    前世我是大帝,却被同级群殴打爆身体,被迫轮回。今生我在你眼中,只是一个蝼蚁,可你等着,我会一步一步登向顶峰,到那时,我定会捏死你们!金鳞岂是池中物,一遇风云便化龙。
  • 网游之永恒幻想

    网游之永恒幻想

    “不管多狼狈,不管变什么模样,我都不会向命运低头!我一定要拿回属于我的东西!”一名少年曾这么哭喊著,在别人的陷害下,他失去了所有东西,也失去了相依为命的妹妹。在他不得不放弃的时候,一道清脆的声音响起。“那么,我就给你一个机会吧!”
  • 月经病患者怀孕指南

    月经病患者怀孕指南

    本书为指导月经病育龄女性怀孕及妊娠期防治月经病的通俗科普读物。作者以丰富的临床经验和独到的笔触,以问答形式介绍了女性生理特征和月经病的基本知识,从医学理论与临床实践的结合上阐述了育龄女性常见月经病的发病原因、临床表现、检查与诊断、常用药物、中西医治疗方法以及对胎儿健康的影响与应对措施,同时介绍了人工授精、试管婴儿等辅助生育技术的内容和应用前景。内容丰富实用,叙述通俗易懂,语言生动形象。适于患有月经病的育龄女性及其家属,各级医院妇产科医务人员、基层人员和医学院校学生阅读参考。
  • 爆笑地主:妖夫倒插门

    爆笑地主:妖夫倒插门

    因一声呼唤,竟倒栽了到了举目无亲的异时空……别人养鸡下蛋,养狗看家,她却要养个吃银钱的胎记……某男:你问我多大,是不是想嫁给我?某女:嫁你个大头鬼,就是看你长的顺眼,才问问你是不是个老怪物。某男:晴儿,你现今芳龄几何?某女:嗯?你这样问,是想娶我呢,还是想嫁我啊?某男:卖给你吧。(情节虚构,切勿模仿)欢迎点击新文:绝色医女:师兄,借个种
  • 特种兵混迹在上古

    特种兵混迹在上古

    你们已经缔造过了传奇,而新的传奇将有我来演绎。
  • 倾城美人竟是王!

    倾城美人竟是王!

    男友要结婚,新娘却不是唐颜,好老套的剧情。可同样老套的是,去泰国旅游,也会因为走错房间而穿越。第一欠见到白慕秋,她还以为是个倾城的大美女,不仅主动跟他同乘一辆马车,还浑然不知的脱到只剩内衣,最让人想撞墙的是,她有一个坏习惯,哪就是睡觉的时候习惯抱着娃娃睡觉。“如果这是你勾引我的招术,哪么你成功了”一个邪肆的声音响起。“你是,,,,男人”?“莫非你还以为本王是女人不成”想逃,却为时已晚!一夜欢愉,他眼都不眨的把她贬最低贱的奴!“这就是你爬床的代价”。本以为奴婢好当,想不到这变态的,时不时的刁难她。“过来,给本王宽衣”。“奴婢这就来”。半个时辰过去了,衣服纹丝不动,她气馁的抬头“这衣服怎么解”。王气绝当中。。。。。“过来,给本王洗脸”。“奴婢来了”。“这是在洗脸还是擦桌子”。王在次气绝。“过来,给本王梳头”。“没问题,这奴婢会”。“做不要剁了你手指”结果,二个时辰飘过。。。。。。。王脸色铁青,站起来真接宣布让她断食。
  • TFBoys,我爱你

    TFBoys,我爱你

    帅,阳光,酷,吃货......所有的形象在他(她)们身上展现。