神鸟电子书 > 文学名著电子书 > [夜与日].(night.and.day).(英)弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙.文字版 >

第10部分

[夜与日].(night.and.day).(英)弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙.文字版-第10部分


按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



not。 She was beautifully adapted for life in another pla。 
But the natural genius she had for conducting affairs there 
was of no real use to her here。 Her watch; for example; 
was a constant source of surprise to her; and at the age 
of sixtyfive she was still amazed at the ascendancy which 
rules and reasons exerted over the lives of other people。 
She had never learnt her lesson; and had constantly to 
be punished for her ignorance。 But as that ignorance was 
bined with a fine natural insight which saw deep 
whenever it saw at all; it was not possible to write Mrs。 
Hilbery off among the dunces; on the contrary; she had a 
way of seeming the wisest person in the room。 But; on 
the whole; she found it very necessary to seek support in 
her daughter。 

Katharine; thus; was a member of a very great profession 
which has; as yet; no title and very little recognition; although 
the labor of mill and factory is; perhaps; no more 
severe and the results of less benefit to the world。 She 
lived at home。 She did it very well; too。 Any one ing to 
the house in Cheyne Walk felt that here was an orderly 

34 



Virginia Woolf 

place; shapely; controlled—a place where life had been 
trained to show to the best advantage; and; though posed 
of different elements; made to appear harmonious 
and with a character of its own。 Perhaps it was the chief 
triumph of Katharine’s art that Mrs。 Hilbery’s character predominated。 
She and Mr。 Hilbery appeared to be a rich background 
for her mother’s more striking qualities。 

Silence being; thus; both natural to her and imposed 
upon her; the only other remark that her mother’s friends 
were in the habit of making about it was that it was 
neither a stupid silence nor an indifferent silence。 But to 
what quality it owed its character; since character of some 
sort it had; no one troubled themselves to inquire。 It was 
understood that she was helping her mother to produce a 
great book。 She was known to manage the household。 
She was certainly beautiful。 That accounted for her satisfactorily。 
But it would have been a surprise; not only to 
other people but to Katharine herself; if some magic watch 
could have taken count of the moments spent in an entirely 
different occupation from her ostensible one。 Sitting 
with faded papers before her; she took part in a 

series of scenes such as the taming of wild ponies upon 
the American prairies; or the conduct of a vast ship in a 
hurricane round a black promontory of rock; or in others 
more peaceful; but marked by her plete emancipation 
from her present surroundings and; needless to say; 
by her surpassing ability in her new vocation。 When she 
was rid of the pretense of paper and pen; phrasemaking 
and biography; she turned her attention in a more legitimate 
direction; though; strangely enough; she would 
rather have confessed her wildest dreams of hurricane 
and prairie than the fact that; upstairs; alone in her room; 
she rose early in the morning or sat up late at night to … 
work at mathematics。 No force on earth would have made 
her confess that。 Her actions when thus engaged were 
furtive and secretive; like those of some nocturnal animal。 
Steps had only to sound on the staircase; and she 
slipped her paper between the leaves of a great Greek 
dictionary which she had purloined from her father’s room 
for this purpose。 It was only at night; indeed; that she 
felt secure enough from surprise to concentrate her mind 
to the utmost。 

35 



Night and Day 

Perhaps the unwomanly nature of the science made her 
instinctively wish to conceal her love of it。 But the more 
profound reason was that in her mind mathematics were 
directly opposed to literature。 She would not have cared 
to confess how infinitely she preferred the exactitude; 
the starlike impersonality; of figures to the confusion; 
agitation; and vagueness of the finest prose。 There was 
something a little unseemly in thus opposing the tradition 
of her family; something that made her feel wrongheaded; 
and thus more than ever disposed to shut her 
desires away from view and cherish them with extraordinary 
fondness。 Again and again she was thinking of some 
problem when she should have been thinking of her grandfather。 
Waking from these trances; she would see that her 
mother; too; had lapsed into some dream almost as visionary 
as her own; for the people who played their parts 
in it had long been numbered among the dead。 But; seeing 
her own state mirrored in her mother’s face; Katharine 
would shake herself awake with a sense of irritation。 Her 
mother was the last person she wished to resemble; much 
though she admired her。 Her mon sense would assert 

itself almost brutally; and Mrs。 Hilbery; looking at her 
with her odd sidelong glance; that was half malicious 
and half tender; would liken her to “your wicked old Uncle 
Judge Peter; who used to be heard delivering sentence of 
death in the bathroom。 Thank Heaven; Katharine; I’ve 
not a drop of HIM in me!” 

36 



Virginia Woolf 

CHAPTER IV 


At about nine o’clock at night; on every alternate Wednesday; 
Miss Mary Datchet made the same resolve; that she 
would never again lend her rooms for any purposes whatsoever。 
Being; as they were; rather large and conveniently 
situated in a street mostly dedicated to offices off the 
Strand; people who wished to meet; either for purposes 
of enjoyment; or to discuss art; or to reform the State; 
had a way of suggesting that Mary had better be asked to 
lend them her rooms。 She always met the request with 
the same frown of wellsimulated annoyance; which presently 
dissolved in a kind of halfhumorous; halfsurly 
shrug; as of a large dog tormented by children who shakes 
his ears。 She would lend her room; but only on condition 
that all the arrangements were made by her。 This fortnightly 
meeting of a society for the free discussion of 
everything entailed a great deal of moving; and pulling; 
and ranging of furniture against the wall; and placing of 
breakable and precious things in safe places。 Miss Datchet 
was quite capable of lifting a kitchen table on her back; 

if need were; for although wellproportioned and dressed 
beingly; she had the appearance of unusual strength 
and determination。 

She was some twentyfive years of age; but looked older 
because she earned; or intended to earn; her own living; 
and had already lost the look of the irresponsible spectator; 
and taken on that of the private in the army of workers。 
Her gestures seemed to have a certain purpose; the 
muscles round eyes and lips were set rather firmly; as 
though the senses had undergone some discipline; and 
were held ready for a call on them。 She had contracted 
two faint lines between her eyebrows; not from anxiety 
but from thought; and it was quite evident that all the 
feminine instincts of pleasing; soothing; and charming 
were crossed by others in no way peculiar to her sex。 For 
the rest she was browneyed; a little clumsy in movement; 
and suggested country birth and a descent from 
respectable hardworking ancestors; who had been men 
of faith and integrity rather than doubters or fanatics。 

At the end of a fairly hard day’s work it was certainly 
something of an effort to clear one’s room; to pull the 

37 



Night and Day 

mattress off one’s bed; and lay it on the floor; to fill a 
pitcher with cold coffee; and to sweep a long table clear 
for plates and cups and saucers; with pyramids of little 
pink biscuits between them; but when these alterations 
were effected; Mary felt a lightness of spirit e to her; 
as if she had put off the stout stuff of her working hours 
and slipped over her entire being some vesture of thin; 
bright silk。 She knelt before the fire and looked out into 
the room。 The light fell softly; but with clear radiance; 
through shades of yellow and blue paper; and the room; 
which was set with one or two sofas resembling grassy 
mounds in their lack of shape; looked unusually large and 
quiet。 Mary was led to think of the heights of a Sussex 
down; and the swelling green circle of some c

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的