Blisskatherine mansfield.docx

1、Blisskatherine mansfieldBLISSALTHOUGH Bertha Young was thirty she still had moments like this when she wanted to run instead of walk, to take dancing steps on and off the pavement, to bowl a hoop, to throw something up in the air and catch it again, or to stand still and laugh atnothingat nothing, s

2、imply. What can you do if you are thirty and, turning the corner of your own street, you are overcome, suddenly by a feeling of blissabsolute bliss!as though youd suddenly swallowed a bright piece of that late afternoon sun and it burned in your bosom, sending out a little shower of sparks into ever

3、y particle, into every finger and toe? . . . Oh, is there no way you can express it without being drunk and disorderly ? How idiotic civilisation is! Why be given a body if you have to keep it shut up in a case like a rare, rare fiddle? No, that about the fiddle is not quite what I mean, she thought

4、, running up the steps and feeling in her bag for the keyshed forgotten it, as usualand rattling the letter-box. Its not what I mean, becauseThank you, Maryshe went into the hall. Is nurse back? Yes, Mm. And has the fruit come? Yes, Mm. Everythings come. Bring the fruit up to the dining-room, will y

5、ou? Ill arrange it before I go upstairs. It was dusky in the dining-room and quite chilly. But all the same Bertha threw off her coat; she could not bear the tight clasp of it another moment, and the cold air fell on her arms. But in her bosom there was still that bright glowing placethat shower of

6、little sparks coming from it. It was almost unbearable. She hardly dared to breathe for fear of fanning it higher, and yet she breathed deeply, deeply. She hardly dared to look into the cold mirrorbut she did look, and it gave her back a woman, radiant, with smiling, trembling lips, with big, dark e

7、yes and an air of listening, waiting for something . . . divine to happen . . . that she knew must happen . . . infallibly. Mary brought in the fruit on a tray and with it a glass bowl, and a blue dish, very lovely, with a strange sheen on it as though it had been dipped in milk. Shall I turn on the

8、 light, Mm? No, thank you. I can see quite well. There were tangerines and apples stained with strawberry pink. Some yellow pears, smooth as silk, some white grapes covered with a silver bloom and a big cluster of purple ones. These last she had Page 118 bought to tone in with the new dining-room ca

9、rpet. Yes, that did sound rather far-fetched and absurd, but it was really why she had bought them. She had thought in the shop: I must have some purple ones to bring the carpet up to the table. And it had seemed quite sense at the time. When she had finished with them and had made two pyramids of t

10、hese bright round shapes, she stood away from the table to get the effectand it really was most curious. For the dark table seemed to melt into the dusky light and the glass dish and the blue bowl to float in the air. This, of course, in her present mood, was so incredibly beautiful. . . . She began

11、 to laugh. No, no. Im getting hysterical. And she seized her bag and coat and ran upstairs to the nursery. Nurse sat at a low table giving Little B her supper after her bath. The baby had on a white flannel gown and a blue woollen jacket, and her dark, fine hair was brushed up into a funny little pe

12、ak. She looked up when she saw her mother and began to jump. Now, my lovey, eat it up like a good girl, said nurse, setting her lips in a way that Bertha knew, and that meant she had come into the nursery at another wrong moment. Has she been good, Nanny? Shes been a little sweet all the afternoon,

13、whispered Nanny. We went to the park and I sat down on a chair and took her out of the pram and a big dog came along and put its head on my knee and she clutched its ear, tugged it. Oh, you should have seen her. Bertha wanted to ask if it wasnt rather dangerous to let her clutch at a strange dogs ea

14、r. But she did not dare to. She stood watching them, her hands by her side, like the poor little girl in front of the rich girl with the doll. The baby looked up at her again, stared, and then smiled so charmingly that Bertha couldnt help crying: Oh, Nanny, do let me finish giving her her supper whi

15、le you put the bath things away. Well, Mm, she oughtnt to be changed hands while shes eating, said Nanny, still whispering. It unsettles her; its very likely to upset her. How absurd it was. Why have a baby if it has to be keptnot in a case like a rare, rare fiddlebut in another womans arms? Oh, I m

16、ust! said she. Very offended, Nanny handed her over. Now, dont excite her after her supper. You know you do, Mm. And I have such a time with her after! Thank heaven! Nanny went out of the room with the bath towels. Now Ive got you to myself, my little precious, said Bertha, as the baby leaned agains

17、t her. She ate delightfully, holding up her lips for the spoon and then waving her hands. Sometimes she wouldnt let the spoon go; and sometimes, just as Bertha had filled it, she waved it away to the four winds. When the soup was finished Bertha turned round to the fire. Youre niceyoure very nice! s

18、aid she, kissing her warm baby. Im fond of you. I like you. And indeed, she loved Little B so muchher neck as she bent forward, her exquisite toes as they shone transparent in the firelightthat all her feeling of bliss came back again, and again she didnt know how to express itwhat to do with it. Yo

19、ure wanted on the telephone, said Nanny, coming back in triumph and seizing her Little B. Down she flew. It was Harry. Oh, is that you, Ber? Look here. Ill be late. Ill take a taxi and come along as quickly as I can, but get dinner put back ten minuteswill you? All right? Yes, perfectly. Oh, Harry!

20、Yes? What had she to say? Shed nothing to say. She only wanted to get in touch with him for a moment. She couldnt absurdly cry: Hasnt it been a divine day! What is it? rapped out the little voice. Nothing. Entendu, said Bertha, and hung up the receiver, thinking how much more than idiotic civilisati

21、on was. They had people coming to dinner. The Norman Knightsa very sound couplehe was about to start a theatre, and she was awfully keen on interior decoration, a young man, Eddie Warren, who had just published a little book of poems and whom everybody was asking to dine, and a find of Berthas calle

22、d Pearl Fulton. What Miss Fulton did, Bertha didnt know. They had met at the club and Bertha had fallen in love with her, as she always did fall in love with beautiful women who had something strange about them. The provoking thing was that, though they had been about together and met a number of ti

23、mes and really talked, Bertha couldnt make her out. Up to a certain point Miss Fulton was rarely, wonderfully frank, but the certain point was there, and beyond that she would not go. Was there anything beyond it? Harry said No. Voted her dullish, and cold like all blonde women, with a touch, perhap

24、s, of anaemia of the brain. But Bertha wouldnt agree with him; not yet, at any rate. No, the way she has of sitting with her head a little on one side, and smiling, has something behind it, Harry, and I must find out what that something is. Most likely its a good stomach, answered Harry. He made a p

25、oint of catching Berthas heels with replies of that kind . . . liver frozen, my dear girl, or pure flatulence, or kidney disease, . . . and so on. For some strange reason Bertha liked this, and almost admired it in him very much. She went into the drawing-room and lighted the fire; then, picking up

26、the cushions, one by one, that Mary had disposed so carefully, she threw them back on to the chairs and the couches. That made all the difference; the room came alive at once. As she was about to throw the last one she surprised herself by suddenly hugging it to her, passionately, passionately. But

27、it did not put out the fire in her bosom. Oh, on the contrary! The windows of the drawing-room opened on to a balcony overlooking the garden. At the far end, against the wall, there was a tall, slender pear tree in fullest, richest bloom; it stood perfect, as though becalmed against the jade-green s

28、ky. Bertha couldnt help feeling, even from this distance, that it had not a single bud or a faded petal. Down below, in the garden beds, the red and yellow tulips, heavy with flowers, seemed to lean upon the dusk. A grey cat, dragging its belly, crept across the lawn, and a black one, its shadow, tr

29、ailed after. The sight of them, so intent and so quick, gave Bertha a curious shiver. What creepy things cats are! she stammered, and she turned away from the window and began walking up and down. . . . How strong the jonquils smelled in the warm room. Too strong? Oh, no. And yet, as though overcome

30、, she flung down on a couch and pressed her hands to her eyes. Im too happytoo happy! she murmured. And she seemed to see on her eyelids the lovely pear tree with its wide open blossoms as a symbol of her own life. Reallyreallyshe had everything. She was young. Harry and she were as much in love as

31、ever, and they got on together splendidly and were really good pals. She had an adorable baby. They didnt have to worry about money. They had this absolutely satisfactory house and garden. And friendsmodern, thrilling friends, writers and painters and poets or people keen on social questionsjust the

32、 kind of friends they wanted. And then there were books, and there was music, and she had found a wonderful little dressmaker, and they were going abroad in the summer, and their new cook made the most superb omelettes. . . . Im absurd. Absurd! She sat up; but she felt quite dizzy, quite drunk. It must have been the spring. Yes, it was the spring. Now she was so tired she could not drag herself upstairs to dress. A white dress,