Henry James: Complete Stories 1864-1874 (42 page)

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Page 243
conscious of my existence. I would conform to any regulations, any restrictions if they would only let me enjoy the garden. Moreover I should be delighted to give her references, guarantees; they would be of the very best, both in Venice and in England as well as in America.
She listened to me in perfect stillness and I felt that she was looking at me with great attention, though I could see only the lower part of her bleached and shrivelled face. Independently of the refining process of old age it had a delicacy which once must have been great. She had been very fair, she had had a wonderful complexion. She was silent a little after I had ceased speaking; then she inquired, If you are so fond of a garden why don't you go to
terra firma,
where there are so many far better than this?
Oh, it's the combination! I answered, smiling; and then, with rather a flight of fancy, It's the idea of a garden in the middle of the sea.
It's not in the middle of the sea; you can't see the water.
I stared a moment, wondering whether she wished to convict me of fraud. Can't see the water? Why, dear madam, I can come up to the very gate in my boat.
She appeared inconsequent, for she said vaguely in reply to this, Yes, if you have got a boat. I haven't any; it's many years since I have been in one of the gondolas. She uttered these words as if the gondolas were a curious far-away craft which she knew only by hearsay.
Let me assure you of the pleasure with which I would put mine at your service! I exclaimed. I had scarcely said this however before I became aware that the speech was in questionable taste and might also do me the injury of making me appear too eager, too possessed of a hidden motive. But the old woman remained impenetrable and her attitude bothered me by suggesting that she had a fuller vision of me than I had of her. She gave me no thanks for my somewhat extravagant offer but remarked that the lady I had seen the day before was her niece; she would presently come in. She had asked her to stay away a little on purpose, because she herself wished to see me at first alone. She relapsed into silence and I asked myself why she had judged this necessary and what was coming yet; also whether I might venture on some judicious re-
 
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mark in praise of her companion. I went so far as to say that I should be delighted to see her again: she had been so very courteous to me, considering how odd she must have thought mea declaration which drew from Miss Bordereau another of her whimsical speeches.
She has very good manners; I bred her up myself! I was on the point of saying that that accounted for the easy grace of the niece, but I arrested myself in time, and the next moment the old woman went on: I don't care who you may beI don't want to know; it signifies very little to-day. This had all the air of being a formula of dismissal, as if her next words would be that I might take myself off now that she had had the amusement of looking on the face of such a monster of indiscretion. Therefore I was all the more surprised when she added, with her soft, venerable quaver, You may have as many rooms as you likeif you will pay a good deal of money.
I hesitated but for a single instant, long enough to ask myself what she meant in particular by this condition. First it struck me that she must have really a large sum in her mind; then I reasoned quickly that her idea of a large sum would probably not correspond to my own. My deliberation, I think, was not so visible as to diminish the promptitude with which I replied, I will pay with pleasure and of course in advance whatever you may think it proper to ask me.
Well then, a thousand francs a month, she rejoined instantly, while her baffling green shade continued to cover her attitude.
The figure, as they say, was startling and my logic had been at fault. The sum she had mentioned was, by the Venetian measure of such matters, exceedingly large; there was many an old palace in an out-of-the-way corner that I might on such terms have enjoyed by the year. But so far as my small means allowed I was prepared to spend money, and my decision was quickly taken. I would pay her with a smiling face what she asked, but in that case I would give myself the compensation of extracting the papers from her for nothing. Moreover if she had asked five times as much I should have risen to the occasion; so odious would it have appeared to me to stand chaffering with Aspern's Juliana. It was queer enough to have a
 
Page 245
question of money with her at all. I assured her that her views perfectly met my own and that on the morrow I should have the pleasure of putting three months' rent into her hand. She received this announcement with serenity and with no apparent sense that after all it would be becoming of her to say that I ought to see the rooms first. This did not occur to her and indeed her serenity was mainly what I wanted. Our little bargain was just concluded when the door opened and the younger lady appeared on the threshold. As soon as Miss Bordereau saw her niece she cried out almost gaily, He will give three thousandthree thousand to-morrow!
Miss Tita stood still, with her patient eyes turning from one of us to the other; then she inquired, scarcely above her breath, Do you mean francs?
Did you mean francs or dollars? the old woman asked of me at this.
I think francs were what you said, I answered, smiling.
That is very good, said Miss Tita, as if she had become conscious that her own question might have looked over-reaching.
What do
you
know? You are ignorant, Miss Bordereau remarked; not with acerbity but with a strange, soft coldness.
Yes, of moneycertainly of money! Miss Tita hastened to exclaim.
I am sure you have your own branches of knowledge, I took the liberty of saying, genially. There was something painful to me, somehow, in the turn the conversation had taken, in the discussion of the rent.
She had a very good education when she was young. I looked into that myself, said Miss Bordereau. Then she added, But she has learned nothing since.
I have always been with you, Miss Tita rejoined very mildly, and evidently with no intention of making an epigram.
Yes, but for that! her aunt declared, with more satirical force. She evidently meant that but for this her niece would never have got on at all; the point of the observation however being lost on Miss Tita, though she blushed at hearing her history revealed to a stranger. Miss Bordereau went on, addressing herself to me: And what time will you come tomorrow with the money?
 
Page 246
The sooner the better. If it suits you I will come at noon.
I am always here but I have my hours, said the old woman, as if her convenience were not to be taken for granted.
You mean the times when you receive?
I never receive. But I will see you at noon, when you come with the money.
Very good, I shall be punctual; and I added, May I shake hands with you, on our contract? I thought there ought to be some little form, it would make me really feel easier, for I foresaw that there would be no other. Besides, though Miss Bordereau could not to-day be called personally attractive and there was something even in her wasted antiquity that bade one stand at one's distance, I felt an irresistible desire to hold in my own for a moment the hand that Jeffrey Aspern had pressed.
For a minute she made no answer and I saw that my proposal failed to meet with her approbation. She indulged in no movement of withdrawal, which I half expected; she only said coldly, I belong to a time when that was not the custom.
I felt rather snubbed but I exclaimed good-humouredly to Miss Tita, Oh, you will do as well! I shook hands with her while she replied, with a small flutter, Yes, yes, to show it's all arranged!
Shall you bring the money in gold? Miss Bordereau demanded, as I was turning to the door.
I looked at her a moment. Aren't you a little afraid, after all, of keeping such a sum as that in the house? It was not that I was annoyed at her avidity but I was really struck with the disparity between such a treasure and such scanty means of guarding it.
Whom should I be afraid of if I am not afraid of you? she asked with her shrunken grimness.
Ah well, said I, laughing, I shall be in point of fact a protector and I will bring gold if you prefer.
Thank you, the old woman returned with dignity and with an inclination of her head which evidently signified that I might depart. I passed out of the room, reflecting that it would not be easy to circumvent her. As I stood in the sala again I saw that Miss Tita had followed me and I supposed that as her aunt had neglected to suggest that I should take
 
Page 247
a look at my quarters it was her purpose to repair the omission. But she made no such suggestion; she only stood there with a dim, though not a languid smile, and with an effect of irresponsible, incompetent youth which was almost comically at variance with the faded facts of her person. She was not infirm, like her aunt, but she struck me as still more helpless, because her inefficiency was spiritual, which was not the case with Miss Bordereau's. I waited to see if she would offer to show me the rest of the house, but I did not precipitate the question, inasmuch as my plan was from this moment to spend as much of my time as possible in her society. I only observed at the end of a minute:
I have had better fortune than I hoped. It was very kind of her to see me. Perhaps you said a good word for me.
It was the idea of the money, said Miss Tita.
And did you suggest that?
I told her that you would perhaps give a good deal.
What made you think that?
I told her I thought you were rich.
And what put that idea into your head?
I don't know; the way you talked.
Dear me, I must talk differently now, I declared. I'm sorry to say it's not the case.
Well, said Miss Tita, I think that in Venice the
forestieri,
in general, often give a great deal for something that after all isn't much. She appeared to make this remark with a comforting intention, to wish to remind me that if I had been extravagant I was not really foolishly singular. We walked together along the sala, and as I took its magnificent measure I said to her that I was afraid it would not form a part of my
quartiere.
Were my rooms by chance to be among those that opened into it? Not if you go above, on the second floor, she answered with a little startled air, as if she had rather taken for granted I would know my proper place.
And I infer that that's where your aunt would like me to be.
She said your apartments ought to be very distinct.
That certainly would be best. And I listened with respect while she told me that up above I was free to take whatever I liked; that there was another staircase, but only from the
 
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floor on which we stood, and that to pass from it to the garden-story or to come up to my lodging I should have in effect to cross the great hall. This was an immense point gained; I foresaw that it would constitute my whole leverage in my relations with the two ladies. When I asked Miss Tita how I was to manage at present to find my way up she replied with an access of that sociable shyness which constantly marked her manner.
Perhaps you can't. I don't seeunless I should go with you. She evidently had not thought of this before.
We ascended to the upper floor and visited a long succession of empty rooms. The best of them looked over the garden; some of the others had a view of the blue lagoon, above the opposite rough-tiled housetops. They were all dusty and even a little disfigured with long neglect, but I saw that by spending a few hundred francs I should be able to convert three or four of them into a convenient habitation. My experiment was turning out costly, yet now that I had all but taken possession I ceased to allow this to trouble me. I mentioned to my companion a few of the things that I should put in, but she replied rather more precipitately than usual that I might do exactly what I liked; she seemed to wish to notify me that the Misses Bordereau would take no overt interest in my proceedings. I guessed that her aunt had instructed her to adopt this tone, and I may as well say now that I came afterwards to distinguish perfectly (as I believed) between the speeches she made on her own responsibility and those the old lady imposed upon her. She took no notice of the unswept condition of the rooms and indulged in no explanations nor apologies. I said to myself that this was a sign that Juliana and her niece (disenchanting idea!) were untidy persons, with a low Italian standard; but I afterwards recognised that a lodger who had forced an entrance had no
locus standi
as a critic. We looked out of a good many windows, for there was nothing within the rooms to look at, and still I wanted to linger. I asked her what several different objects in the prospect might be, but in no case did she appear to know. She was evidently not familiar with the viewit was as if she had not looked at it for yearsand I presently saw that she was too preoccupied with something else to pretend to care for it. Suddenly she saidthe remark was not suggested:

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