The Translation of a Savage, CompleteParker, Gilbert
General
The Translation of a Savage, Complete
Parker, Gilbert
England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Indians of North America -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction
The cigars and liquors were beside him, but he did not touch them. He
seemed very far away from the ordinary details of his life: he knew
he had before him hard travel, and he was not confident of the end. He
could not tell how long he sat there.--After, a time the ticking of
the clock seemed painfully loud to him. Now and again he heard a cab
rattling through the Square, and the foolish song of some drunken
loiterer in the night caused him to start painfully. Everything jarred
on him. Once he got up, went to the window, and looked out. The moon was
shining full on the Square. He wondered if it would be well for him to
go out and find some quiet to his nerves in walking. He did so. Out in
the Square he looked up to his wife’s window. It was lighted. Long time
he walked up and down, his eyes on the window. It held him like a charm.
Once he leaned against the iron railings of the garden and looked
up, not moving for a time. Presently he saw the curtain of the window
raised, and against the dim light of the room was outlined the figure of
his wife. He knew it. She stood for a moment looking out into the night.
She could not see him, nor could he see her features at all plainly,
but he knew that she, like him, was alone with the catastrophe which his
wickedness had sent upon her. Soon the curtain was drawn down again,
and then he went once more to the house and took his old seat beside
the table. He fell to brooding, and at last, exhausted, dropped to a
troubled sleep. He woke with a start. Some one was in the room. He heard
a step behind him. He came to his feet quickly, a wild light in his
eyes. He faced his brother Richard.
Late in the afternoon Marion had telegraphed to Richard that Frank was
coming. He had been away visiting some poor and sick people, and when he
came back to Greyhope it was too late to catch the train. But the horses
were harnessed straightway, and he was driven into town, a three-hours’
drive. He had left the horses at the stables, and, having a latch-key,
had come in quietly. He had seen the light in the study, and guessed who
was there. He entered, and saw his brother asleep. He watched him for a
moment and studied him. Then he moved away to take off his hat, and, as
he did so, stumbled slightly. Then it was Frank waked, and for the first
time in five years they looked each other in the eyes. They both stood
immovable for a moment, and then Richard caught Frank’s hand in both of
his and said: “God bless you, my boy! I am glad you are back.”
“Dick! Dick!” was the reply, and Frank’s other hand clutched Richard’s
shoulder in his strong emotion. They stood silent for a moment longer,
and then Richard recovered himself. He waved his hand to the chairs. The
strain of the situation was a little painful for them both. Men are shy
with each other where their emotions are in play.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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