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第28章

dream days-第28章

小说: dream days 字数: 每页4000字

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〃Here's something with sharp corners;〃 said Harold; presently。 

〃Must be Leotard; I think。  Better let HIM go。〃



〃Oh; yes; we can't save Leotard;〃 assented Charlotte;

limply。



Poor old Leotard!  I said nothing; of course; I was not on in

this piece。  But; surely; had Leotard heard and rightly

understood all that was going on above him; he must have sent up

one feeble; strangled cry; one faint appeal to be rescued from

unfamiliar little Annies and retained for an audience certain to

appreciate and never unduly critical。



〃Now I've got to the Noah's Ark;〃 panted Harold; still groping

blindly。



〃Try and shove the lid back a bit;〃 said Charlotte; 〃and pull out

a dove or a zebra or a giraffe if there's one handy。〃



Harold toiled on with grunts and contortions; and presently

produced in triumph a small grey elephant and a large beetle with

a red stomach。



〃They're jammed in too tight;〃 he complained。  〃Can't get any

more out。  But as I came up I'm sure I felt Potiphar!〃  And down

he dived again。



Potiphar was a finely modelled bull with a suede skin; rough

and comfortable and warm in bed。  He was my own special joy and

pride; and I thrilled with honest emotion when Potiphar emerged

to light once more; stout…necked and stalwart as ever。



〃That'll have to do;〃 said Charlotte; getting up。  〃We dursn't

take any more; 'cos we'll be found out if we do。  Make the box

all right; and bring 'em along。〃



Harold rammed down the wads of paper and twists of straw he had

disturbed; replaced the lid squarely and innocently; and picked

up his small salvage; and we sneaked off for the window most

generally in use for prison…breakings and nocturnal escapades。  A

few seconds later and we were hurrying silently in single file

along the dark edge of the lawn。



Oh; the riot; the clamour; the crowding chorus; of all silent

things that spoke by scent and colour and budding thrust and

foison; that moonlit night of June!  Under the laurel…shade all

was still ghostly enough; brigand…haunted; crackling; whispering

of night and all its possibilities of terror。  But the open

garden; when once we were in ithow it turned a glad new face to

welcome us; glad as of old when the sunlight raked and searched

it; new with the unfamiliar night…aspect that yet welcomed us as

guests to a hall where the horns blew up to a new; strange

banquet!  Was this the same grass; could these be the same

familiar flower…beds; alleys; clumps of verdure; patches of

sward?  At least this full white light that was flooding them was

new; and accounted for all。  It was Moonlight Land; and Past…Ten…

o'clock Land; and we were in it and of it; and all its other

denizens fully understood; and; tongue…free and awakened at last;

responded and comprehended and knew。  The other two; doubtless;

hurrying forward full of their mission; noted little of all

this。  I; who was only a super; had leisure to take it all in;

and; though the language and the message of the land were not all

clear to me then; long afterwards I remembered and understood。



Under the farthest hedge; at the loose end of things; where the

outer world began with the paddock; there was darkness once

againnot the blackness that crouched so solidly under the

crowding laurels; but a duskiness hung from far…spread arms of

high…standing elms。  There; where the small grave made a darker

spot on the grey; I overtook them; only just in time to see Rosa

laid stiffly out; her cherry cheeks pale in the moonlight; but

her brave smile triumphant and undaunted as ever。  It was a tiny

grave and a shallow one; to hold so very much。  Rosa once in;

Potiphar; who had hitherto stood erect; stout…necked; through so

many days and such various weather; must needs bow his head

and lie down meekly on his side。  The elephant and the beetle;

equal now in a silent land where a vertebra and a red circulation

counted for nothing; had to snuggle down where best they might;

only a little less crowded than in their native Ark。



The earth was shovelled in and stamped down; and I was glad that

no orisons were said and no speechifying took place。  The whole

thing was natural and right and self…explanatory; and needed no

justifying or interpreting to our audience of stars and flowers。 

The connexion was not entirely broken nowone link remained

between us and them。  The Noah's Ark; with its cargo of sad…faced

emigrants; might be hull down on the horizon; but two of its

passengers had missed the boat and would henceforth be always

near us; and; as we played above them; an elephant would

understand; and a beetle would hear; and crawl again in

spirit along a familiar floor。  Henceforth the spotty horse would

scour along far…distant plains and know the homesickness of alien

stables; but Potiphar; though never again would he paw the arena

when bull…fights were on the bill; was spared maltreatment by

town…bred strangers; quite capable of mistaking him for a cow。 

Jerry and Esmeralda might shed their limbs and their stuffing; by

slow or swift degrees; in uttermost parts and unguessed corners

of the globe; but Rosa's book was finally closed; and no worse

fate awaited her than natural dissolution almost within touch and

hail of familiar faces and objects that had been friendly to her

since first she opened her eyes on a world where she had never

been treated as a stranger。



As we turned to go; the man in the moon; tangled in elm…boughs;

caught my eye for a moment; and I thought that never had he

looked so friendly。  He was going to see after them; it was

evident; for he was always there; more or less; and it was no

trouble to him at all; and he would tell them how things were

still going; up here; and throw in a story or two of his own

whenever they seemed a trifle dull。  It made the going away

rather easier; to know one had left somebody behind on the spot;

a good fellow; too; cheery; comforting; with a fund of anecdote;

a man in whom one had every confidence。







End 

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