[夜与日].(night.and.day).(英)弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙.文字版-第14章
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name as Katharine Hilbery; I’m afraid。”
They both looked out of the window; first up at the
hard silver moon; stationary among a hurry of little grey
blue clouds; and then down upon the roofs of London;
with all their upright chimneys; and then below them at
the empty moonlit pavement of the street; upon which
the joint of each pavingstone was clearly marked out。
Mary then saw Katharine raise her eyes again to the moon;
with a contemplative look in them; as though she were
setting that moon against the moon of other nights; held
in memory。 Some one in the room behind them made a
joke about stargazing; which destroyed their pleasure in
it; and they looked back into the room again。
Ralph had been watching for this moment; and he instantly
produced his sentence。
“I wonder; Miss Hilbery; whether you remembered to
get that picture glazed?” His voice showed that the question
was one that had been prepared。
“Oh; you idiot!” Mary exclaimed; very nearly aloud; with
a sense that Ralph had said something very stupid。 So;
after three lessons in Latin grammar; one might correct a
fellow student; whose knowledge did not embrace the
ablative of “mensa。”
“Picture—what picture?” Katharine asked。 “Oh; at home;
you mean—that Sunday afternoon。 Was it the day Mr。
Fortescue came? Yes; I think I remembered it。”
The three of them stood for a moment awkwardly silent;
and then Mary left them in order to see that the
great pitcher of coffee was properly handled; for beneath
all her education she preserved the anxieties of one who
owns china。
Ralph could think of nothing further to say; but could
one have stripped off his mask of flesh; one would have
seen that his willpower was rigidly set upon a single
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Night and Day
object—that Miss Hilbery should obey him。 He wished
her to stay there until; by some measures not yet apparent
to him; he had conquered her interest。 These states
of mind transmit themselves very often without the use
of language; and it was evident to Katharine that this
young man had fixed his mind upon her。 She instantly
recalled her first impressions of him; and saw herself again
proffering family relics。 She reverted to the state of mind
in which he had left her that Sunday afternoon。 She supposed
that he judged her very severely。 She argued naturally
that; if this were the case; the burden of the conversation
should rest with him。 But she submitted so far as
to stand perfectly still; her eyes upon the opposite wall;
and her lips very nearly closed; though the desire to laugh
stirred them slightly。
“You know the names of the stars; I suppose?” Denham
remarked; and from the tone of his voice one might have
thought that he grudged Katharine the knowledge he attributed
to her。
She kept her voice steady with some difficulty。
“I know how to find the Pole star if I’m lost。”
“I don’t suppose that often happens to you。”
“No。 Nothing interesting ever happens to me;” she said。
“I think you make a system of saying disagreeable things;
Miss Hilbery;” he broke out; again going further than he
meant to。 “I suppose it’s one of the characteristics of your
class。 They never talk seriously to their inferiors。”
Whether it was that they were meeting on neutral ground
tonight; or whether the carelessness of an old grey coat
that Denham wore gave an ease to his bearing that he
lacked in conventional dress; Katharine certainly felt no
impulse to consider him outside the particular set in which
she lived。
“In what sense are you my inferior?” she asked; looking
at him gravely; as though honestly searching for his meaning。
The look gave him great pleasure。 For the first time
he felt himself on perfectly equal terms with a woman
whom he wished to think well of him; although he could
not have explained why her opinion of him mattered one
way or another。 Perhaps; after all; he only wanted to
have something of her to take home to think about。 But
he was not destined to profit by his advantage。
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Virginia Woolf
“I don’t think I understand what you mean;” Katharine
repeated; and then she was obliged to stop and answer
some one who wished to know whether she would buy a
ticket for an opera from them; at a reduction。 Indeed;
the temper of the meeting was now unfavorable to separate
conversation; it had bee rather debauched and
hilarious; and people who scarcely knew each other were
making use of Christian names with apparent cordiality;
and had reached that kind of gay tolerance and general
friendliness which human beings in England only attain
after sitting together for three hours or so; and the first
cold blast in the air of the street freezes them into isolation
once more。 Cloaks were being flung round the shoulders;
hats swiftly pinned to the head; and Denham had
the mortification of seeing Katharine helped to prepare
herself by the ridiculous Rodney。 It was not the convention
of the meeting to say goodbye; or necessarily even
to nod to the person with whom one was talking; but;
nevertheless; Denham was disappointed by the pleteness
with which Katharine parted from him; without any
attempt to finish her sentence。 She left with Rodney。
CHAPTER V
Denham had no conscious intention of following Katharine;
but; seeing her depart; he took his hat and ran rather
more quickly down the stairs than he would have done if
Katharine had not been in front of him。 He overtook a
friend of his; by name Harry Sandys; who was going the
same way; and they walked together a few paces behind
Katharine and Rodney。
The night was very still; and on such nights; when the
traffic thins away; the walker bees conscious of the
moon in the street; as if the curtains of the sky had been
drawn apart; and the heaven lay bare; as it does in the
country。 The air was softly cool; so that people who had
been sitting talking in a crowd found it pleasant to walk
a little before deciding to stop an omnibus or encounter
light again in an underground railway。 Sandys; who was a
barrister with a philosophic tendency; took out his pipe;
lit it; murmured “hum” and “ha;” and was silent。 The
couple in front of them kept their distance accurately;
and appeared; so far as Denham could judge by the way
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Night and Day
they turned towards each other; to be talking very constantly。
He observed that when a pedestrian going the
opposite way forced them to part they came together
again directly afterwards。 Without intending to watch
them he never quite lost sight of the yellow scarf twisted
round Katharine’s head; or the light overcoat which made
Rodney look fashionable among the crowd。 At the Strand
he supposed that they would separate; but instead they
crossed the road; and took their way down one of the
narrow passages which lead through ancient courts to
the river。 Among the crowd of people in the big thoroughfares
Rodney seemed merely to be lending Katharine
his escort; but now; when passengers were rare and the
footsteps of the couple were distinctly heard in the silence;
Denham could not help picturing to himself some
change in their conversation。 The effect of the light and
shadow; which seemed to increase their height; was to
make them mysterious and significant; so that Denham
had no feeling of irritation with Katharine; but rather a
halfdreamy acquiescence in the course of the world。 Yes;
she did very well to dream about—but Sandys had sud
denly begun to talk。 He was a solitary man who had made
his friends at college and always addressed them as if
they were still undergraduates arguing in his room; though
many months or even years had passed in some cases
between the last sentence and the present one。 The
method was a little singular; but very restful; for it seemed
to ignore pletely all accidents of human life; and to
span very deep abysses with a few simple words。
On this occasion he began; while they waited for a
minute on the edge of the Strand:
“I hear that Bent has given up his theory o