Domestic fiction; Family -- England -- Midlands -- Fiction; Midlands (England) -- Fiction
She did not turn to her husband, for him to lead her. He was apart from
her, with her, according to her different conceptions of him. The child
she might hold up, she might toss the child forward into the furnace,
the child might walk there, amid the burning coals and the incandescent
roar of heat, as the three witnesses walked with the angel in the fire.
Soon, she felt sure of her husband. She knew his dark face and the
extent of its passion. She knew his slim, vigorous body, she said it
was hers. Then there was no denying her. She was a rich woman enjoying
her riches.
And soon again she was with child. Which made her satisfied and took
away her discontent. She forgot that she had watched the sun climb up
and pass his way, a magnificent traveller surging forward. She forgot
that the moon had looked through a window of the high, dark night, and
nodded like a magic recognition, signalled to her to follow. Sun and
moon travelled on, and left her, passed her by, a rich woman enjoying
her riches. She should go also. But she could not go, when they called,
because she must stay at home now. With satisfaction she relinquished
the adventure to the unknown. She was bearing her children.
There was another child coming, and Anna lapsed into vague content. If
she were not the wayfarer to the unknown, if she were arrived now,
settled in her builded house, a rich woman, still her doors opened
under the arch of the rainbow, her threshold reflected the passing of
the sun and moon, the great travellers, her house was full of the echo
of journeying.
She was a door and a threshold, she herself. Through her another soul
was coming, to stand upon her as upon the threshold, looking out,
shading its eyes for the direction to take.
Chapter VII.
THE CATHEDRAL
During the first year of her marriage, before Ursula was born, Anna
Brangwen and her husband went to visit her mother’s friend, the Baron
Skrebensky. The latter had kept a slight connection with Anna’s mother,
and had always preserved some officious interest in the young girl,
because she was a pure Pole.
When Baron Skrebensky was about forty years old, his wife died, and
left him raving, disconsolate. Lydia had visited him then, taking Anna
with her. It was when the girl was fourteen years old. Since then she
had not seen him. She remembered him as a small sharp clergyman who
cried and talked and terrified her, whilst her mother was most
strangely consoling, in a foreign language.
The little Baron never quite approved of Anna, because she spoke no
Polish. Still, he considered himself in some way her guardian, on
Lensky’s behalf, and he presented her with some old, heavy Russian
jewellery, the least valuable of his wife’s relics. Then he lapsed out
of the Brangwen’s life again, though he lived only about thirty miles
away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account