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The Aspern Papers-Part15_HENRY JAMES(1843-1916)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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"Well, you are a nice person to have professed things!"



But historic truth compels me to declare that Tita Bordereau's

countenance expressed unqualified pleasure in seeing her late



aunt's lodger. That touched him extremely, and he thought

it simplified his situation until he found it did not.



I was as kind to her that evening as I knew how to be,

and I walked about the garden with her for half an hour.



There was no explanation of any sort between us; I did not ask

her why she had not answered my letter. Still less did I repeat



what I had said to her in that communication; if she chose to let

me suppose that she had forgotten the position in which Miss



Bordereau surprised me that night and the effect of the discovery

on the old woman I was quite willing to take it that way:



I was grateful to her for not treating me as if I had

killed her aunt.



We strolled and strolled and really not much passed between us

save the recognition of her bereavement, conveyed in my manner



and in a visible air that she had of depending on me now,

since I let her see that I took an interest in her.



Miss Tita had none of the pride that makes a person wish

to preserve the look of independence; she did not in the least



pretend that she knew at present what would become of her.

I forebore to touch particularly on that, however, for I certainly



was not prepared to say that I would take charge of her.

I was cautious; not ignobly, I think, for I felt that her



knowledge of life was so small that in her unsophisticated

vision there would be no reason why--since I seemed to pity her--



I should not look after her. She told me how her aunt had died,

very peacefully at the last, and how everything had been done



afterward by the care of her good friends (fortunately, thanks

to me, she said, smiling, there was money in the house;



and she repeated that when once the Italians like you they

are your friends for life); and when we had gone into this



she asked me about my giro, my impressions, the places

I had seen. I told her what I could, making it up partly,



I am afraid, as in my depression I had not seen much;

and after she had heard me she exclaimed, quite as if she



had forgotten her aunt and her sorrow, "Dear, dear, how much

I should like to do such things--to take a little journey!"



It came over me for the moment that I ought to propose some tour,

say I would take her anywhere she liked; and I remarked



at any rate that some excursion--to give her a change--

might be managed: we would think of it, talk it over.



I said never a word to her about the Aspern documents; asked no

questions as to what she had ascertained or what had otherwise



happened with regard to them before Miss Bordereau's death.

It was not that I was not on pins and needles to know, but that I



thought it more decent not to betray my anxiety so soon after

the catastrophe. I hoped she herself would say something, but she



never glanced that way, and I thought this natural at the time.

Later however, that night, it occurred to me that her silence



was somewhat strange; for if she had talked of my movements,

of anything so detached as the Giorgione at Castelfranco, she might



have alluded to what she could easily remember was in my mind.

It was not to be supposed that the emotion produced by her aunt's



death had blotted out the recollection that I was interested

in that lady's relics, and I fidgeted afterward as it came



to me that her reticence might very possibly mean simply

that nothing had been found. We separated in the garden



(it was she who said she must go in); now that she was alone

in the rooms I felt that (judged, at any rate, by Venetian ideas)



I was on rather a different footing in regard to visiting her there.

As I shook hands with her for goodnight I asked her if she



had any general plan--had thought over what she had better do.

"Oh, yes, oh, yes, but I haven't settled anything yet,"



she replied quite cheerfully. Was her cheerfulness explained

by the impression that I would settle for her?



I was glad the next morning that we had neglected practical questions,

for this gave me a pretext for seeing her again immediately.



There was a very practical question to be touched upon.

I owed it to her to let her know formally that of course I did not expect



her to keep me on as a lodger, and also to show some interest in her

own tenure, what she might have on her hands in the way of a lease.






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