登陆注册
14923400000052

第52章 THE PASSING OF ENRIQUEZ.(2)

With the same glance I had taken in her surroundings, quite as incongruous to her former habits. The furniture, though of old and heavy mahogany, had suffered from careless alien hands, and was interspersed with modern and unmatchable makeshifts, yet preserving the distinctly scant and formal attitude of furnished lodgings. It was certainly unlike the artistic trifles and delicate refinements of her uncle's drawing-room, which we all knew her taste had dictated and ruled. The black and white engravings, the outlined heads of Minerva and Diana, were excluded from the walls for two cheap colored Catholic prints,--a soulless Virgin, and the mystery of the Bleeding Heart. Against the wall, in one corner, hung the only object which seemed a memento of their travels,--a singular-looking upright Indian "papoose-case" or cradle, glaringly decorated with beads and paint, probably an Aztec relic. On a round table, the velvet cover of which showed marks of usage and abusage, there were scattered books and writing materials; and my editorial instinct suddenly recognized, with a thrill of apprehension, the loose leaves of an undoubted manuscript. This circumstance, taken with the fact of Donna Urania's hair being parted on one side, and the general negligee of her appearance, was a disturbing revelation.

My wandering eye apparently struck her, for after the first greeting she pointed to the manuscript with a smile.

"Yes; that is THE manuscript. I suppose Enriquez told you all about it? He said he had written."I was dumfounded. I certainly had not understood ALL of Enriquez's slang; it was always so decidedly his own, and peculiar. Yet Icould not recall any allusion to this.

"He told me something of it, but very vaguely," I ventured to say deprecatingly; "but I am afraid that I thought more of seeing my old friend again than of anything else.""During our stay in Mexico," continued Mrs. Saltillo, with something of her old precision, "I made some researches into Aztec history, a subject always deeply interesting to me, and I thought Iwould utilize the result by throwing it on paper. Of course it is better fitted for a volume of reference than for a newspaper, but Enriquez thought you might want to use it for your journal."I knew that Enriquez had no taste for literature, and had even rather depreciated it in the old days, with his usual extravagance;but I managed to say very pleasantly that I was delighted with his suggestion and should be glad to read the manuscript. After all, it was not improbable that Mrs. Saltillo, who was educated and intelligent, should write well, if not popularly. "Then Enriquez does not begrudge you the time that your work takes from him," Iadded laughingly. "You seem to have occupied your honeymoon practically.""We quite comprehend our respective duties," said Mrs. Saltillo dryly; "and have from the first. We have our own lives to live, independent of my uncle and Enriquez's father. We have not only accepted the responsibility of our own actions, but we both feel the higher privilege of creating our own conditions without extraneous aid from our relatives."It struck me that this somewhat exalted statement was decidedly a pose, or a return of Urania Mannersley's old ironical style. Ilooked quietly into her brown, near-sighted eyes; but, as once before, my glance seemed to slip from their moist surface without penetrating the inner thought beneath. "And what does Enriquez do for HIS part?" I asked smilingly.

I fully expected to hear that the energetic Enriquez was utilizing his peculiar tastes and experiences by horse-breaking, stock-raising, professional bull-fighting, or even horse-racing, but was quite astonished when she answered quietly:--"Enriquez is giving himself up to geology and practical metallurgy, with a view to scientific, purely scientific, mining."Enriquez and geology! In that instant all I could remember of it were his gibes at the "geologian," as he was wont to term Professor Dobbs, a former admirer of Miss Mannersley's. To add to my confusion Mrs. Saltillo at the same moment absolutely voiced my thought.

"You may remember Professor Dobbs," she went on calmly, "one of the most eminent scientists over here, and a very old Boston friend.

He has taken Enriquez in hand. His progress is most satisfactory;we have the greatest hopes of him."

"And how soon do you both hope to have some practical results of his study?" I could not help asking a little mischievously; for Isomehow resented the plural pronoun in her last sentence.

"Very soon," said Mrs. Saltillo, ignoring everything but the question. "You know Enriquez's sanguine temperament. Perhaps he is already given to evolving theories without a sufficient basis of fact. Still, he has the daring of a discoverer. His ideas of the oolitic formation are not without originality, and Professor Dobbs says that in his conception of the Silurian beach there are gleams that are distinctly precious."I looked at Mrs. Saltillo, who had reinforced her eyes with her old piquant pince-nez, but could detect no irony in them. She was prettily imperturbable, that was all. There was an awkward silence. Then it was broken by a bounding step on the stairs, a wide-open fling of the door, and Enriquez pirouetted into the room:

Enriquez, as of old, unchanged from the crown of his smooth, coal-black hair to the tips of his small, narrow Arabian feet; Enriquez, with his thin, curling mustache, his dancing eyes set in his immovable face, just as I had always known him!

He affected to lapse against the door for a minute, as if staggered by a resplendent vision. Then he said:--"What do I regard? Is it a dream, or have I again got them--thees jimjams? My best friend and my best--I mean my ONLY--wife!

Embrace me!"

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 快传之男配攻略系统

    快传之男配攻略系统

    夏尔岚,现代的高级黑客,在一次任务中被传送到一个陌生的世界——由“上神”支配的世界。成功破解网络线后,夏尔岚开始了不断攻略男配升级的路程。
  • 仙帝刽子手

    仙帝刽子手

    大悲帝全陆猎杀仙人,一幅亡仙图用仙人血画了三个纪元还没有结束,他看尽仙人死后的悲只为完成此画,从而引出他的长生祸求得长生。三纪尽头,十二位惨死仙帝像,一百零八位惨死仙君像,千位惨死仙士像,这一纪图将要成了!!吾!大悲帝!仙人的数量吾来控!吾就是你们的劫!突破仙境者,弑!而灵境之下一片世外桃源,众生详和,长生修们不知道他们的长生仙路通往的却不是长生,而是阿鼻死狱!少年禹阳一心求生长,最后他面对的是……长生有三境,灵境,仙境,长生境欢迎来到小虫的玄幻世界
  • 黑子的篮球:眸中星

    黑子的篮球:眸中星

    她是家族企业的唯一继承人,女扮男装,她是小时候赤司心里唯一的一缕晨曦,她是黄濑的新缠上的死党,她是可以察觉黑子的存在,当她来到帝光,会发生什么事呢?时间设定是在帝光初中。
  • 我将带头召唤

    我将带头召唤

    战士的无双勇武,法师的暴力输出,坦克的坚韧不摧、射手的百发百中,刺客的机会主义,辅助的可靠后援……这些强悍的能力陈流都没有,不过他却得到了拥有这一切召唤英雄而孱弱的召唤师职业,也无法阻挡陈流通向巅峰的脚步
  • 玩转古代天下

    玩转古代天下

    集团总裁,葬身茫茫大海,一朝重生,恋上古代皇帝。禁忌之恋又怎么样?爱,超越性别,不需要任何理由。哪怕前路风雨坎坷,但只要爱入骨髓,一定可以见到雨后阳光。正因为爱,所以才会宁愿牺牲自己的快乐来换取对方的幸福,可最后却只换来两败俱伤,明明相爱却彼此伤害,相爱相杀......
  • 火澜

    火澜

    当一个现代杀手之王穿越到这个世界。是隐匿,还是崛起。一场血雨腥风的传奇被她改写。一条无上的强者之路被她踏破。修斗气,炼元丹,收兽宠,化神器,大闹皇宫,炸毁学院,打死院长,秒杀狗男女,震惊大陆。无止尽的契约能力,上古神兽,千年魔兽,纷纷前来抱大腿,惊傻世人。她说:在我眼里没有好坏之分,只有强弱之分,只要你能打败我,这世间所有都是你的,打不败我,就从这世间永远消失。她狂,她傲,她的目标只有一个,就是凌驾这世间一切之上。三国皇帝,魔界妖王,冥界之主,仙界至尊。到底谁才是陪着她走到最后的那个?他说:上天入地,我会陪着你,你活着,有我,你死,也一定有我。本文一对一,男强女强,强强联手,不喜勿入。
  • 武主通天

    武主通天

    以武之名,号令天下!以武之力,驾驭世界!武道天途,武主通天!
  • 笑玲珑二记

    笑玲珑二记

    《笑玲珑》第二部。一本让人笑的书,一份让人腻的爱。职场精英王小毛的暖心之旅,爱恨情仇花千朵,嬉笑怒骂酒一杯。有趣有味,有情有爱,人生得失,尽付一笑。所谓幸福,就是与你爱的人牵手走过春夏秋冬。人生路漫漫,烦了累了,看看《笑玲珑》。
  • 幻世玄皇

    幻世玄皇

    龙无影,易无形,千年修道,怎及一夜成魔?仙,魔,龙,道,究竟哪里才是他的归宿?中原武林,群雄并起,各领风骚几百年,他又如何异军突起,力挽狂澜?侠之大者,唯有武圣。
  • 证治准绳·类方

    证治准绳·类方

    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。