A Cup of Tea
ROSEMARY FELL was not exactly beautiful. No, you couldn't have called her beautiful. Pretty ? Well, if you took her to pieces . .. But why be so cruel as to take anyone to pieces ? She was young, brilliant, extremely modern, exquisitely well dresd, amazingly well read in the newest of the new books, and her parties were the most delicious mixture of the really important artists—quaint creatures, discoveries of hers, some of them too terrifying for words, but others quite prentable and amusing.
goldeagleRomary had been married two years. She had a duck of a boy. No, not Peter—Michael. And her husband absolutely adored her. They were rich, really rich, not just comfortably well off, which is odious and stuffy and sounds like one's grandparents. But if Romary wanted to shop she would go to Paris as you and I would go to Bond Street. If she wanted to buy flowers, the car pulled up at that perfect shop in Regent Street, and Romary inside the shop lazy是什么意思PAGE 25just gazed in her dazzled, rather exotic way, and said: " I want tho and tho and tho. Give me four bunches of tho. And that jar of ros. Yes, I'll have all the ros in the jar. No, no lilac. I hate lilac. It's got no shape." The attendant bowed and put the lilac out of sight, as though this was only too true; lilac was dreadfully shapeless. " Give me tho stumpy little tulips. Tho red and white ones." And she was followed to the car by a thin shopgirl staggering under an immen white paper armful that looked like a baby in
One winter afternoon she had been buying something in a little antique shop in Curzon Street. It was a shop she liked. For one thing, one usually had it to onelf. And then the man who kept it was ridiculously fond of rving her. He beamed whenever she came in. He clasped his hands ; he was so gratified he could scarcely speak. Flattery, of cour. All the same, there
" You e, madam," he would explain in his low respectful tones, " I love my things. I would rather not part with them than ll them to someone who does not appreciate them, who has not that fine feeling which is " And, breathing deeply he unrolled a tiny square of blue velvet and presd it on the glass counter with his pale finger-tips.blacken
To-day it was a little box. He had been keeping it for her. He had shown it to nobody PAGE 26消防工程师证报考条件是什么as yet. An exquisite little enamel box with a glaze so fine it looked as though it had been baked in cream. On the lid a minute creature stood under a flowery tree, and a more minute creature still had her arms round his neck. Her hat, really no bigger than a geranium petal, hung from a branch ; it had green ribbons. And there was a pink cloud like a watchful cherub floating above their heads. Romary took her hands out of her long gloves. She always took off her gloves to examine such things. Yes, she liked it very much. She loved it; it was a great duck. She must have it. And, turning the creamy box, opening and shutting it, she couldn't help noticing how charming her hands were against the blue velvet. The shopman, in some dim cavern of his mind, may have dared to think so too. For he took a pencil, leant over the counter, and his pale bloodless f
ingers crept timidly towards tho rosy, flashing ones, as he murmured gently : " If I may venture to point out to madam, the flowers on the little lady's bodice."
奇迹 英语
" Charming! " Romary admired the flowers. But what was the price ? For a moment the shopman did not em to hear. Then a murmur reached her. " Twenty-eight guineas, madam."
" Twenty-eight guineas." Romary gave no sign. She laid the little box down ; she buttoned her gloves again. Twenty-eight PAGE 27guineas. Even if one She looked vague. She stared at a plump tea-kettle like a plump hen above the shopman's head, and her voice was dreamy as she answered: " Well, keep it for me—will you ? "日语一级二级
But the shopman had already bowed as though keeping it for her was all any human being could ask. He would be willing, of cour, to keep it for her for ever.
cosplayerThe discreet door shut with a click. She was outside on the step, gazing at the winter afternoon. Rain was falling, and with the rain it emed the dark came too, spinning down like ashes. There was a cold bitter taste in the air, and the new-lighted lamps looked sad. Sad were the lights in the hous opposite. Dimly they burned as if regretting something. And people hurried by, hidden under their hateful umbrellas. Romary felt a strange pang. She presd her muff against her breast; she wished she had the little box, too, to cling to. Of cour, the car was there. She'd only to cross the pavement. But still she waited. There are moments, horrible moments in life, when one emerges from shelter and looks out, and it's awful. One oughtn't to give way to them. One ought to go home and have an extra-special tea. But at the very instant of thinking that, a young girl, thin, dark, shadowy—where had she come from ?—was standing at Romary's elbow and a voice like a sigh, almost like a sob, PAGE 28
relationship是什么意思breathed : " Madam, may I speak to you a moment ? "
english song" Speak to me ? " Romary turned. She saw a little battered creature with enormous eyes, someone quite young, no older than herlf, who clutched at her coat-collar with reddened hands, and shivered as though she had just come out of the water.
" M-madam," stammered the voice. " Would you let me have the price of a cup of tea ? "
" A cup of tea ? " There was something simple, sincere in that voice ; it wasn't in the least the voice of a beggar. " Then have you no money at all ? " asked Romary.
" None, madam," came the answer.
" How extraordinary ! " Romary peered through the dusk, and the girl gazed back at he
r. How more than extraordinary! And suddenly it emed to Romary such an adventure. It was like something out of a novel by Dostoevsky, this meeting in the dusk. Supposing she took the girl home ? Supposing she did do one of tho things she was always reading about or eing on the stage, what would happen ? It would be thrilling. And she heard herlf saying afterwards to the amazement of her friends : " I simply took her home with me," as she stepped forward and said to that dim person beside her : " Come home to tea with me."
The girl drew back startled. She even PAGE 29stopped shivering for a moment. Romary put out a hand and touched her arm. " I mean it," she said, smiling. And she felt how-simple and kind her smile was. " Why won't you ? Do. Come home with me now in my car and have tea."
" You—you don't mean it, madam," said the girl, and there was pain in her voice.
" But I do," cried Romary. " I want you to. To plea me. Come along."
dothan
The girl put her fingers to her lips and her eyes devoured Romary. " You're—you're not taking me to the police station ? " she stammered.
" The police station ! " Romary laughed out. " Why should I be so cruel ? No, I only want to make you warm and to hear— anything you care to tell me."
Hungry people are easily led. The footman held the door of the car open, and a moment later they were skimming through the dusk.
