• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 662 0

” And then an unexpected thing happened. Either my mother did not hear what I said, or if she heard it she did not take it in, by which I mean that she was conscious of it as a sound but not of its significance; the fact remains that, after letting her cruelly sparkling eyes rest for a moment upon Cecilia, she hurriedly exclaimed: “Forgive me, I’ll see you later; there’s something I must do now,” and without waiting for an answer she darted off through the crowd with the decision of a shark rushing through the depths of the sea after its prey. I presumed that somebody had arrived; somebody of importance, perhaps; and my mother had not listened to me because, just at the moment when I was introducing Cecilia to her, her eye had caught sight of an eddying movement near one of the doors, the movement caused by an influx of new guests into the crowd at a party.

I took two glasses from a tray handed by a waiter and gave one to Cecilia; then I propelled her across the room into a window. “Well, what do you think about it?” I asked.

“About what?”

I stood for a moment in embarrassed silence. I did not know what it was that I wanted to know from Cecilia; everything, in point of fact, since I knew nothing. I said haphazardly: “About this party.”

“Well—it’s a party.”

“Do you like parties?”

She answered, after a moment, with a slightly troubled air: “Not very much. I don’t like the smoke and the noise.”

“What do you think of all these people?”

“I don’t think anything. I don’t know anybody.”

“Some of the people who are here might be useful to you. If you like, I’ll introduce you.”

“Useful in what way?”

“Socially.”

“What does that mean?”

“Oh well, they might make friends with you, take a liking to you, ask you to parties like this one, or, if they’re men, they might flirt with you. Something useful might come out of any of those things. Lots of people go to parties for that reason. Shall I introduce you, then?”

“No, it doesn’t matter; after all I shall never see them again.”

“Certainly you’ll see them again, since we’re getting married.”

“Well, in that case you can introduce me later on.”

I wanted to turn the conversation to the subject of wealth, but I didn’t know how to manage it. Finally I said: “The people you see here are all very rich.”

“Yes, you can see that.”

“How can you see it?”

“From the ladies’ clothes and jewelry.”

“Would you like to be like them?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“I’m not rich; in order to know whether I’d like to be rich, I’d have to become rich. I could only say if I liked it or not after I’d tried it.”

“But can’t you imagine it?”

“How can you imagine a thing that you don’t know about?”

“But you like money?”

“When I need it, yes.”

“Aren’t you in need of money?”

“Not at present; what you give me is enough.”

“Well, if you married me you’d have plenty of money and you’d become like the ladies you see here; what do you say to that?”

I saw her big, dark eyes moving around over the crowd of guests; and once again I wondered what she saw, and whether what she saw in any way resembled what I saw. Then she said, slowly: “There are no girls here; there are only ladies of your mother’s age.”

“My mother is giving a party for her friends; it’s natural therefore that the ladies here should all be more or less of her own age. But you haven’t yet answered my question. What do you say, then, to the prospect of marrying me and becoming like these ladies here?”

“I can’t tell you, I haven’t thought about it.”

“Think about it now, then.” I saw her look around the room again; then she raised her glass to her lips, took a sip and remained silent. This was one of her ways of eluding me; by silence. “But at any rate,” I insisted, “I should like to know what you’re thinking about.”

Almost brusquely, she replied: “I was thinking that perhaps it might be better for us to go to some quieter place; then I could give you the answer you wanted.”

“Which answer?”

“About getting married.”

“Where would you like to go?”

“It’s all the same to me.”

“Let’s go upstairs. We can be quiet there. And you