290 A L D 0 U S 'H U X L E Y What had she said about passion and the elements? Some- thing absurdly s ね厄 , but true, true. There she was, a cloud black-bosomed and charged with thunder, and he, like some absurd little Benjamin Franklin, had sent up a kite into the heart ofthe menace. Now he was complaining that his toy had drawn the lightning. She was probably still kneeling by that chair ⅲ the loggia, crymg ・ But why hadn't he been able to keep up the game? Why had his irresponsibility de serted him, leaving him suddenly sober ⅲ a cold world? There were no answers to any ofhis questions. One idea burned steady and luminous ⅲ his mind, the idea of flight. He must get away at once. "What are you thinking about, Teddy Bear?" - ・ "N0thing. " There 、 a silence. 、 fr.. Hutton remained motionless, his elbows on the parapet ofthe terrace, his chin in his hands, 100k - ing down over Florence. He had taken a villa on one ofthe hill- tops tO the south Of the city. From a little raised terrace at the end of the garden one looked down a long fertile valley on to the town and beyond it to the bleak mass ofMonte Morello and, eastward of it, to the peopled hill of FiesoIe, dotted with white houses. Everything was clear and luminous ⅲ the September sunshine. 。、 Are you worried about anything?" "NO, thank you. ' "TeII me, Teddy Bear. " "But, my dear, there's nothing to fell." Mr. Hutton turned round, smiled, and patted the girl's hand. think you'd better go ⅲ and have your siesta. lt's t00 h0t for you here. ' "Very well, Teddy Bear. Are you coming t00 ? " "When l've finished my cigar. "AII right. But do hurry 叩 and finish it, Teddy Bear. " Slowly, reluctantly, she descended the steps of the terrace and walked toward the house. Mr. Hutton continued his contemplation of Florence. He

M A I N C U R R E N T S 0 F A M E R I C A N T H 0 U G H T 481 kicked the top step and a little piece of dried mud Ⅱ 0 the spiked shoes. "No, Andrew. " His mother was talking ⅲ her asklng-for- money voice. "lt's for a dress. She can't go without a new dress, She says. There's a man there She'S after. " 。、 She won't get him, dress or no dress," Andrew said. "Your daughter's a very plain girl. " "I know," his mother's hands waved a little, helpless and sad. "But it's better ifshe at least does the best she can. I feel so sorry for her, Andrew. "Everyb0dy comes t0 me!" Andrew yelled, his V01ce sud- denly high. "N0b0dy leaves me alone! Not for a minute!" He was crymg now and he turned t0 hide it 仕 om his mother. She looked at him, surprised, shaking her head. She put her arms around him. "Just d0 what you want t0 do, Andrew, that's all. Don't do anything you don't want to do. ' "Yeah," Andrew said. "Yeah. l'm sorry. l'll give you the money. l'm sorry I yelled at you. " "Don't give it tO me if you don't want tO, Andrew. " His mother was saymg this honestly, believing it. He laughed a little. "I want to, Mom, I want to. ' He patted her shoulder and went down toward the baseball 升 eld, leaving her standing there puzzled at the top ofthe steps. The sun and the breeze lt good on the baseball field, and he forgot for an hour, but he moved slowly. His arm 石 u れ at the shoulder when he threw, and the boy playing second base called him Mister, which he wouldn't have done even last year, when Andrew was twenty-four.

272 A L D 0 U S H U X L E Y long. " He sat back ⅲ the 10W seat; a cherishmg warmth en- veloped him. "Teddy Bear... " and with a sigh ofcontentment a charming little head declined onto Mr. Hutton's shoulder. he looked down sideways at the round, babyish face. "DO you ow , Dons, you 100k 1 e the pictures of Louise de Kerouaille. " He passed his fingers through a mass of curly hair. 、 'Who's Louise de Kera-whatever-it-is?" Dons spoke 丘 om remote distances. "She was, alas! Fuit. We shall all be 'was' one ofthese days. Meanwhile. Mr. Hutton covered the babyish face with kisses. The car rushed smoothly along. M'Nab's back t ou the front win- dOW was stonily impassive, the back ofa statue. " hands," Doris wh1spered."Oh, you mustn't touch me. They give me electric shocks. " Mr. Hutton adored her for the virgin imbecility ofthe words. HOW late ⅲ one's eXIStence one makes the discovery of one's body ! "The electricity isn't ⅲ me, it's ln you. " He kissed her agam, whlspenng her name several times: Doris, Doris, Doris. The scientific appellation 0f the sea mouse, he was thlnking as he kissed the throat she offered him, white and extended like the throat 0f a victim awaiting the sacrificial kni . The sea mouse was a sausage 、 M1th iridescent fur: very peculiar. Or 、 Doris the sea cucumber, which turns itself inside out ⅲ mo- ments 0f alarm? He would really have to go to NapIes agam, Just tO see the aquanum. These sea creatures were fabulous, un- believably fantastic. "Oh, Teddy Bear!" (More zoology; but he was only a 1 明 d animal. His poor little jokes!) "Teddy Bear, l'm so happy. ' "SO am I; ” said Mr. Hu れ 0 Ⅱ . Was it true? "But I wish I knew ifit were right. Tell me, Teddy Bear, is it right or wrong?" "Ah, my dear, that's just what l've been wondenng for the last thirty years. " "Be serious, Teddy Bear. I want t0 know ifthis is right; ifit's

270 A L D 0 U S H U X L E Y tO say that women with weak dlgestions ought not to marry; but the remark was t00 cruel, and he didn't really believe it. Janet Spence, moreover, was a believer ⅲ eternal flames and spintual attachments. "She hopes to be well enough," he added, "to see you at luncheon tomo な ow. Can you come? DO?" He smiled persuasively."lt's my invitatlon t00 , you know. ' She dropped her eyes, and Mr. Hutton almost thought that detected a certain reddening ofthe cheek. lt was a tribute; he stroked his mustache. 当 should like to come if you think Emily's really well enough tO have a visitor,. ' "Of course. You'Il do her good. You'II do us bo 市 good. ln married life three is often better company than two. ” "Oh, you're cymcal. ' lvfr.. Hutton always had a desire to say "Bow-wow-wow' whenever that last word was spoken. lt irritated him more than any other word ⅲ the language. But instead ofbarking he made haste tO protest. 'No, no. l'm only speaking a melancholy truth. Reality doesn't always come up to the ideal, you know.. But that doesn't make me believe any the less ⅲ the ideal. lndeed, I believe ⅲ it passionately: the ideal 0f a matnmony between two people ⅲ perfect accord. I think it's realizable. l'm sure it is. ' He paused significantly and looked at her with arch ex- pression. A V1rgin 0f thirty-six, but still unwithered; she had her charms. And there was something really rather emgmatrc about her. Miss Spence made no reply, but continued tO smile. There were times when Mr. Hutton got rather bored with the Gioconda. He stood up. "I must really be going れ ow. Farewell, mysterious Gioconda. ' The smile grew intenser, focused el it were, ln a narrower snout. Mr. Hutton made a Cinquecent0 gesture, and kissed her extended hand. lt was the 升 t time he had done such a thmg; the actlon seemed not tO be resented. "1100k forward tO tomorrow. ' "DO you?" For answer Mr. Hutton once more kissed her h 4 then turned t0 go. Miss Spence accompanied him t0 the porch. "Where's yo 町 car?" she asked.

H 0 W B E A U T I F U L W I T H S H O E S ァれ / な″ 0 ro Ⅷイ go 況 which wa 厩 e 〃 375 r, コな″ん e 叩 w んな訪 0 ァ two わな 0 尾″れア 04 〃 g roes 砒 れ加 S. Mare had not been t0 church since she was a little girl, when her mother's black dress wore out. "No no ! ” she walled under her breath. "You're awful t0 say such awful things." She might have shouted it; nothlng could have shaken the man now, rapt ⅲ the lmmo れ al , passionate periods 0f S010mon's song ・ .. れ ow な 0 ァ e な訪 0 ″ be c ん e e vine, 0 れイ the smell ー 0 ″ 02 . ' " Hotness touched Mare's face for the first time. "Aw, no, don't ね lk SO P' " 図れイ the ro ァ 0 ん″ the わ e w 加 e ド川ァ わ elo 元イ .. ca 加 g the lips e 川 4 ね 平 ea た ' He had ended. His expression changed. Ecstasy gave place t0 anger, love t0 hate. And Mare lt the change ⅲ the weight 0f the fingers in her hair. "What do you mean, I mustn't say itlike that?" But it was not to her his spoke for he answered himself straightaway ・ "Like poetry, Mr,. Jewett; I won't have blasphemy around my school.' 。、 Poetry! My God! if that isn't poetry—if that isn't mu- "lt's Bible, Jewett. What you're paid t0 teach here is SIC— ″セ ra ル尾 . ” "Doctor Ryeworth, you're the blasphemer and you're 皿 ig- norant m . ".. 、 "And yo 町 Principal. And I won't have you go- mg around reading sacred allegory like earthly love. " "Ryeworth, you're an 01d man, a dull man, a dirty man' and you'd be better dead. " Jewett's hand had slid down 仕 om Mare's head. "Then I went

H 0 W B E A U T I F U L W I T H S H 0 E S She shook her head, without vehemence or anxiety. 363 "Who's that?" She hearkened up the ro "PuIl yo team 0u4 ' she added, aFord came ⅲ sight aroundthebend above 市 0 house, driven at speed. 。℃ eddap!" she said t0 the mules herself. But the car came tO a halt near them, and one ofthe five men crowded ⅲ it cal 厄 4 。℃ ome on, Ruby, climb ⅲ . They's a loony 100Se out 0 ' Dayville Asylum, and they got him trailed over somewheres on Split Ridge and Judge North phoned up to Slosson's store for ever'body come help circle him—come on, hop the runnin'-board!" Ruby hesitated, an eye on his team. "Scared, Ruby?" The driver raced his engine."They say this boy's a killer. ” "Mare, take the team ⅲ and tell pa. " The car was already movmg when Ruby jumped ⅲ . A moment after it had sounded on the bridge it was out 0f sight. "Amarantha, Amarantha, why don't you come, Amarantha?" Returning from her errand, fifteen minutes later, Mare heard the plaint lifted ⅲ the twilight. The sun had dipped behind the back ridge, and though the sky was still bright with day, the dusk began to smoke up out ofthe plowed field like a ground- 応 g. The girl had returned through it, got the milk, and started toward the well-house before the widow saw her.. "Daughter, seems tO me you might!" she expostulated with- out change 0f key. "Here's some young man friend 0 ' yourn stopped t0 say howdy, and I been rackm' my lungs out after you.. . Put that milk ⅲ the C001 and come!" Some young man friend? But there was no good to be got 丘 om puzzling. Mare poured the milk ⅲ the pan ⅲ the dark 0f the 10W house over the well, and as she came out, stooping, she saw a figure waiting for her, black in silhouette against the yel- lowing sky. " ′ ho are you?" she asked, a native trmidity makmg her sound sulky. "Amarantha!" the Ⅱ ow mused. "That's poetry. " And she knew then that she did not ow him. She walked past, her arms straight down and her eyes 仕 ont. Strangers always affected her with a kind 0f muscular terror

A H A U N T E D H 0 U S E 383 good farmer's sleeve, spotted with milkmg. He put his hands on her; he was used t0 handling animals."Hey, you, warm up a little, reckon l'm goin' to do all the 10V ⅲ ' ? " "Ruby, lea' me be!" She was 叩 , twisting. He was up, pu 甲厄・ "What's ailin' you, Mare? What you bawlin' about?" 'Nothin'—only go 'way!" She pushed him t0 the door and through it with all her strength, and closed it ⅲ his face, and st00d with her weight against it, crymg,"G0 'way! GO 'way! Lea' me be!" A HAUNTED HOUSE* BY VIRGINIA WOOLF HATEVER HOUR you woke there was a door shut- ting. From room t0 room they went, hand ⅲ h 4 ⅱル lng here, opening there, making sure—a ghostly couple. "Here we le 代 it," she said. And he added, 。、 Oh , but here t00 ! " "lt's upstairs," she murmured. "And ⅲ the garden," he whispered. 'Quietly," they said, "or we shall wake them. " But it wasn't that you woke us. Oh, no. "They're100king for it; they're drawing the curtain; ” one might say, and SO read on a page or two. 'NOW they've found it," one would be certain, stopping the pencil on the margin. And then, tired 0f reading one might rise and see for oneself, the house all emptY' the doors standing open, only the wood pigeons bubbling with content and the hum 0f the threshing machine sounding 仕 om the farm "What did I come ⅲ here for? What did I want t0 find?" My hands were empty. "Perhaps it's upstairs then?" The

A U T H 0 R ー N D E X ( 1899 ー 1985 ) American. な Sex Necessary? (with James 571 Thurber, 1929 ) ; The Fox 2e0 〃 ac ん ( 1938 ) ; 0 市襯 ? ( 1939 ) ; editor (with K. S. White), / 尾 4 図川 e ca 〃 ″ 4 川 ( 1942 ) ; 0 Man 3 Meat ( 1942 ) ; & Ⅷ石な ( 1945 ) Wilson, Edmund The Man Who Shot Snapping TurtIes 254 ( 1895 ー 1972 ) American. Axel's C ( 19 引 ) ; The ル 励加な ( 1938 ) ; The ル 6 Ⅷイイビ Bow ( 1941 ) ; Me 襯 0 沁 Hecate Co Ⅷ ( 1946 ) ; C / 4 れイ C ひ襯襯 e 尾な ( 195 の Wolfe, Thomas OnIy the Dead Know BrookIyn ( 190g1938 ) American. ん 00 た〃 0 襯 e ルイ , Angel ( 1929 ) ; 0 / 石襯 e 0 〃イ the ( 1935 ) ; 0 川 Death ね慨 0 川加 g ( 1935 ) ; The ル 2 わ 0 れ d the 火 oc た ( 1939 ) ; 施 4 Ca れ Go 〃 0 襯 e / ga 加 132 ( 1940 ) Woolf, Virginia A Haunted House 383 ( 1882 ー 1941 ) British. M . Da ″ ow ( 1925 ) ; ル the g んん 0 e ( 1927 ) ; The ル ( 19 引 ) ; The 施 4 ( 1936 ) ; ビ Co 襯 0 〃 Reader (lst series, 1925 ; 2nd series, 1932 ) 4

282 A L D 0 U S H U X L E Y the ⅱ 0f MiIton. There was no particular reason why he should have chosen MiIton; it was the book that first came to hand, that was all. lt was after midnight when he had finished. He got up 仕 om his armchair, unbolted the French windows, and stepped out ont0 the little paved terrace. The night was quiet and clear. Mr. Hutton 100ked at the stars and at the holes between them, dropped his eyes to the dim lawns and hueless flowers of the garden, and let them wander over the farther landsc 叩 e, black and gray under the moon. He began to think with a kind of confused violence. There were the stars, there was Milton. A man can be somehow the peer Of stars and night. Greatness, nobility. But is there serl- ously a difference between the noble and the nob 厄 ? Milton, the stars, death, and himself, himselfe The soul, the body; the higher and the lower nature. Perh 叩 s there was something in it, after all. Mi lton had a god on his side and righteousness. What had he? Nothing, nothing whatever. There were only Doris's little breasts. What was the point of it all? Milton, the stars, death, and Emily ⅲ her grave. Doris and himself—always him- self.. Oh, he was a futile and disgusting be ing. Everything con- vinced him 0f it. lt was a solemn moment. He spoke aloud: "I will, I will. " The sound ofhis own voice in the darkness was 叩 - palling; it seemed t0 him that he had sworn that infernal oath which binds even the gods: "I will, I will. " There had been New Year's Days and solemn anniversanes ⅲ the past, when he had felt the same contritions and recorded similar resolutions. They had all thinned away, these resolutions, like smoke, into noth- lngness. But this was a greater moment and he had pronounced a more fearful oath. ln the future it was to be different. Yes, he would live by reason, he would be industrious, he would curb h1S appetites, he would devote his life t0 some good purpose. lt was resolved and it would be so. ln practice he saw himself spending his mormngs ⅲ agn- cultural pursuit, riding round with the bailiff, seeing that his land was farmed ⅲ the best modern way, silos and artificial manures and continuous cropping, and all that. The remainder 0f the day should be devoted to senous study. There was that

288 A L D 0 U S H U X L E Y the cleverest man in the world. And actually, really, he was what? Who knows? "My heart went out to you. I could understand; I was lonely, t00. " Miss Spence laid her hand on his knee."You were so pa- tient. " Another flash. She was still aimed, dangerously. 、、 u never complained. But I could guess, I could guess. " "HOW 、 vonderful Of you!" SO he 、 an 襯ビ加 co 川アな e. "Only a woman's intuition. The thunder crashed and rumbled, died away, and only the sound 0f the rain was le 化 The thunder was his laughter, mag- nified, externalized. Flash and crash, there it was again, right on top ofthem. "Don't you feel that you have within you something that is akin t0 this storm?" He could imagine her leaning forward as she uttered the word. 、 'Passion makes one the equal ofthe ele- ments. ' What was his gambit now? 市 y , obviously, he should have said, "Yes," and ventured on some unequivocal gesture. But Mr. Hutton suddenly took fright. The ginger beer in him had gone flat. The 、、 senous—terribly serrous. He 、 appalled. Passion? 、、 No ゞ ' he desperately answered. "I am without pas- S10n. But his remark was either unheard or unheeded, for Miss Spence went on with a growing exaltation, speakmg SO r 叩 idly, however, and in such a burningly intimate whisper that Mr. Hutton found it very diffcult t0 distinguish what she was say- ing. She was telling him, as far as he could make out, the story ofher li . The lightning was less frequent now, and there were long intervals 0f darkness. But at each flash he saw her still aiming toward him, still yearning forward with a terrifying ⅲ - tensity. Darkness, the rain, and then flash! her face was there, close at hand. A pale mask, greenish white; the large eyes, the narrow barrel 0fthe mouth, the heavy eyebrows. Agnppina, or wasn't it rather—yes, wasn't it rather George R0bey? He began devising absurd plans for escaping. He might sud- denly jump 叩 , pretending he had seen a burglar—Stop thiefl stop thief!—and dash 0 代 intO the night ⅲ pursuit. Or should