第137页
《简·爱(英文版)》章节:第137页,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
anything: nothing put her out. She was never cross with us; was she,
Louisa?'
'No, never: we might do what we pleased; ransack her desk and her
workbox, and turn her drawers inside out; and she was so good-natured,
she would give us anything we asked for.'
'I suppose, now,' said Miss Ingram, curling her lip
sarcastically, 'we shall have an abstract of the memoirs of all the
governesses extant: in order to avert such a visitation, I again
move the introduction of a new topic. Mr. Rochester, do you second
my motion?'
'Madam, I support you on this point, as on every other.'
'Then on me be the onus of bringing it forward. Signior Eduardo,
are you in voice to-night?'
'Donna Bianca, if you command it, I will be.'
'Then, signior, I lay on you my sovereign behest to furbish up your
lungs and other vocal organs, as they will be wanted on my royal
service.'
'Who would not be the Rizzio of so divine a Mary?'
'A fig for Rizzio!' cried she, tossing her head with all its curls,
as she moved to the piano. 'It is my opinion the fiddler David must
have been an insipid sort of fellow; I like black Bothwell better:
to my mind a man is nothing without a spice of the devil in him; and
history may say what it will of James Hepburn, but I have a notion, he
was just the sort of wild, fierce, bandit hero whom I could have
consented to gift with my hand.'
'Gentlemen, you hear! Now which of you most resembles Bothwell?'
cried Mr. Rochester.
'I should say the preference lies with you,' responded Colonel
Dent.
'On my honour, I am much obliged to you,' was the reply.
Miss Ingram, who had now seated herself with proud grace at the
piano, spreading out her snowy robes in queenly amplitude, commenced a
brilliant prelude; talking meantime. She appeared to be on her high
horse to-night; both her words and her air seemed intended to excite
not only the admiration, but the amazement of her auditors: she was
evidently bent on striking them as something very dashing and daring
indeed.
'Oh, I am so sick of the young men of the present day!' exclaimed
she, rattling away at the instrument. 'Poor, puny things, not fit to
stir a step beyond papa's park gates: nor to go even so far without
mama's permission and guardianship! Creatures so absorbed in care
about their pretty faces, and their white hands, and their small feet;
as if a man had anything to do with beauty! As if loveliness were
not the special prerogative of woman- her legitimate appanage and
heritage! I grant an ugly woman is a blot on the fair face of
creation; but as to the gentlemen, let them be solicitous to possess
only strength and valour: let their motto be:- Hunt, shoot, and fight:
the rest is not worth a fillip. Such should be my device, were I a
man.'
'Whenever I marry,' she continued after a pause which none
interrupted, 'I am resolved my husband shall not be a rival, but a
foil to me. I will suffer no competitor near the throne; I shall exact