登陆注册
14816700000003

第3章

For the last year or two the name of Rudolph von Blitzenberg had appeared in the members' list of that most exclusive of institutions, the Regent's Club, Pall Mall; and it was thither he drove on this fine afternoon of July. At no resort in London were more famous personages to be found, diplomatic and otherwise, and nothing would have been more natural than a meeting between the Baron and a European celebrity beneath its roof; so that if you had seen him bounding impetuously up the steps, and noted the eagerness with which he inquired whether a gentleman had called for him, you would have had considerable excuse for supposing his appointment to be with a dignitary of the highest importance.

"Goot!" he cried on learning that a stranger was indeed waiting for him. His face beamed with anticipatory joy. Aha! he was not to be disappointed.

"Vill he be jost the same?" he wondered. "Ah, if he is changed I shall veep!"

He rushed into the smoking-room, and there, instead of any bald notability or spectacled statesman, there advanced to meet him a merely private English gentleman, tolerably young, undeniably good-looking, and graced with the most debonair of smiles.

"My dear Bonker!" cried the Baron, crimsoning with joy. "Ach, how pleased I am!"

"Baron!" replied his visitor gaily. "You cannot deceive me--that waistcoat was made in Germany! Let me lead you to a respectable tailor!"

Yet, despite his bantering tone, it was easy to see that he took an equal pleasure in the meeting.

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Baron, "vot a fonny zing to say! Droll as ever, eh?"

"Five years less droll than when we first. met," said the late Bunker and present Essington. "You meet a dullish dog, Baron--a sobered reveller."

"Ach, no! Not surely? Do not disappoint me, dear Bonker!"

The Baron's plaintive note seemed to amuse his friend.

"You don't mean to say you actually wish a boon companion? You, Baron, the modern Talleyrand, the repository of three emperors' secrets? My dear fellow, I nearly came in deep mourning."

"Mourning! For vat?"

"For our lamented past: I supposed you would have the air of a Nonconformist beadle."

"My friend!" said the Baron eagerly, and yet with a lowering of his voice, "I vould not like to engage a beadle mit jost ze same feelings as me. Come here to zis corner and let us talk! Vaiter! whisky--soda--cigars--all for two. Come, Bonker!"

Stretched in arm-chairs, in a quiet corner of the room, the two surveyed one another with affectionate and humorous interest. For three years they had not seen one another at all, and save once they had not met for five. In five years a man may change his religion or lose his hair, inherit a principality or part with a reputation, grow a beard or turn teetotaler. Nothing so fundamental had happened to either of our friends. The Baron's fullness of contour we have already noticed; in Mandell-Essington, EX Bunker, was to be seen even less evidence of the march of time. But years, like wheels upon a road, can hardly pass without leaving in their wake some faint impress, however fair the weather, and perhaps his hair lay a fraction of an inch higher up the temple, and in the corners of his eyes a hint might even be discerned of those little wrinkles that register the smiles and frowns.

Otherwise he was the same distinguished-looking, immaculately dressed, supremely self-possessed, and charming Francis Bunker, whom the Baron's memory stored among its choicer possessions.

"Tell me," demanded the Baron, "vat you are doing mit yourself, mine Bonker."

"Doing?" said Essington, lighting his cigar.

"Well, my dear Baron, I am endeavoring to live as I imagine a gentleman should."

"And how is zat?"

"Riding a little, shooting a little, and occasionally telling the truth. At other times I cock a wise eye at my modest patrimony, now and then I deliver a lecture with magic-lantern slides; and when I come up to town I sometimes watch cricket-matches. A devilish invigorating programme, isn't it?"

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Baron again; he had come prepared to laugh, and carried out his intention religiously. "But you do not feel more old and sober, eh?"

"I don't want to, but no man can avoid his destiny.

The natives of this island are a serious people, or if they are frivolous, it is generally a trifle vulgarly done. The diversions of the professedly gay-hooting over pointless badinage and speculating whose turn it is to get divorced next--become in time even more sobering than a scientific study with diagrams of how to breed pheasants or play golf. If some one would teach us the simple art of being light-hearted he would deserve to be placed along with Nelson on his monument."

"Oh, my dear vellow!" cried the Baron. "Do I hear zese kind of vords from you?"

"If you starved a city-full of people, wouldn't you expect to hear the man with the biggest appetite cry loudest?"

The Baron's face fell further and Essington laughed aloud.

"Come, Baron, hang it! You of all people should be delighted to see me a fellow-member of respectable society. I take you to be the type of the conventional aristocrat. Why, a fellow who's been travelling in Germany said to me lately, when I asked about you--'Von Blitzenberg,' said he, 'he's used as a simile for traditional dignity. His very dogs have to sit up on their hind-legs when he inspects the kennels!' "

The Baron with a solemn face gulped down his whisky-and-soda.

"Zat is not true about my dogs," he replied, "but I do confess my life is vary dignified. So moch is expected of a Blitzenberg. Oh, ja, zere is moch state and ceremony."

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 金剑天尊

    金剑天尊

    数十万年前,天地异变,邪魔天战神与五行神对立而战。五行神惨败,金道神陨落。但身死之前在灵界留下了崛起的希望。.....金剑天尊,叙述一个不被看好,但却屡屡大放光彩的小家族弟子.林风。他因一次家族之争引发的变故而改变了自己一生,从一个默默无闻的小家族弟子,到后来成就巅峰圣尊,
  • 芳华爱情

    芳华爱情

    上天给与我们各种磨难,挫折,困境,逆境,或是是善意的,它只是希望我们可以从中学会成长,变得成熟。真实事件的叙述,情感生活,爱情之间的那些东西,想抒发一下,不喜勿进,不喜勿喷。
  • 剑铸星尘

    剑铸星尘

    豪氏星家,灭于一夜,剑圣之子,长于小村。少年闯荡大洲,寻求身世之谜。剑寻诸仇,剑灭诸恶。哪怕是踏遍腥风血雨,斗尽天下兵戎,少年也绝不止步。因为,这是他的命,更是他的魂!
  • 千里横黛色

    千里横黛色

    近在咫尺,他与皇位擦肩而过;一念之差,他以筹码错付他人。十六年前,孪生姐妹两地相隔;十六年后,是李代桃僵,还是歪打正着?朝堂纷扰,江湖不宁,孤身一人是否能翻云覆雨?犹忆江南祈调寡,云横江水峰如黛。
  • The Pool in the Desert

    The Pool in the Desert

    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。
  • 诡剑行

    诡剑行

    坎坷一生的学生李锐,重生来到另一个世界。庞杂繁乱的宗门派系,明争暗斗的世家豪族,兵戈扰攘的政治格局,眼花缭乱的庙堂纷争。他该如何在这乱象丛生的世界里,利用他前世的知识智慧,克服困难险阻,踏上修道自强之路。
  • 可知我对你的爱

    可知我对你的爱

    一个是孤女,一个是总裁,原本两个不同世界的不可能有交集的人,就因一个项链联到了一起,而不曾想,原来命运之神早给两人画了圈,在圈里……
  • 倾尽天下只为卿

    倾尽天下只为卿

    他,是无比尊贵的北齐太子殿下;她,是狗血穿越的亡命杀手。父母与师傅的死亡,令自己痛恨的组织,无数次的出逃是终究逃不出“师傅”的魔爪。一朝穿越,成为朔北无比尊贵的公主。什么,什么?穿越夹脑门?一来就惹到了两个上位者!完了完了,这次宴会八成回不来了~~本故事纯属虚构,请勿模仿。
  • 健康人手册

    健康人手册

    本书是迅速提高“健商”的完全讲义。书中健康教育专家从科学保健的角度介绍了怎样衡量、自测健康状况和身体素质;怎样了解自己患某种疾病的可能性有多大,怎样预防:怎样把握生活中的细节,按照健康人的标准不断修正自身的健康状况;怎样挡住生活中的健康杀手,怎样做好健康投资和健康储蓄,提高生命和生活质量,达到健康长寿的具体方法。
  • 若,繁华殆尽

    若,繁华殆尽

    他四年前的消失他四年后的归来这前前后后到底发生了什么