[The Arrow of Gold by Joseph Conrad]@TWC D-Link bookThe Arrow of Gold CHAPTER II 4/81
There was also there a beautiful sofa upholstered in pink figured silk, an enormous divan with many cushions, some splendid arm-chairs of various shapes (but all very shabby), a round table, and in the midst of these fine things a small common iron stove. Somebody must have been attending it lately, for the fire roared and the warmth of the place was very grateful after the bone-searching cold blasts of mistral outside. Mills without a word flung himself on the divan and, propped on his arm, gazed thoughtfully at a distant corner where in the shadow of a monumental carved wardrobe an articulated dummy without head or hands but with beautifully shaped limbs composed in a shrinking attitude, seemed to be embarrassed by his stare. As we sat enjoying the _bivouac_ hospitality (the dish was really excellent and our host in a shabby grey jacket still looked the accomplished man-about-town) my eyes kept on straying towards that corner.
Blunt noticed this and remarked that I seemed to be attracted by the Empress. "It's disagreeable," I said.
"It seems to lurk there like a shy skeleton at the feast.
But why do you give the name of Empress to that dummy ?" "Because it sat for days and days in the robes of a Byzantine Empress to a painter.
.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|