-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Уильям Сомерсет Моэм
-
- Луна и грош
-
- Стр. 10/193
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
The
dining
-
room
was
inconveniently
crowded
.
There
was
a
K
.
C
.
and
his
wife
,
a
Government
official
and
his
wife
,
Mrs
.
Strickland
’
s
sister
and
her
husband
,
Colonel
MacAndrew
,
and
the
wife
of
a
Member
of
Parliament
.
It
was
because
the
Member
of
Parliament
found
that
he
could
not
leave
the
House
that
I
had
been
invited
.
The
respectability
of
the
party
was
portentous
.
The
women
were
too
nice
to
be
well
dressed
,
and
too
sure
of
their
position
to
be
amusing
.
The
men
were
solid
.
There
was
about
all
of
them
an
air
of
well
-
satisfied
prosperity
.
Everyone
talked
a
little
louder
than
natural
in
an
instinctive
desire
to
make
the
party
go
,
and
there
was
a
great
deal
of
noise
in
the
room
.
But
there
was
no
general
conversation
.
Each
one
talked
to
his
neighbour
;
to
his
neighbour
on
the
right
during
the
soup
,
fish
,
and
entree
;
to
his
neighbour
on
the
left
during
the
roast
,
sweet
,
and
savoury
.
They
talked
of
the
political
situation
and
of
golf
,
of
their
children
and
the
latest
play
,
of
the
pictures
at
the
Royal
Academy
,
of
the
weather
and
their
plans
for
the
holidays
.
There
was
never
a
pause
,
and
the
noise
grew
louder
.
Mrs
.
Strickland
might
congratulate
herself
that
her
party
was
a
success
.
Her
husband
played
his
part
with
decorum
.
Perhaps
he
did
not
talk
very
much
,
and
I
fancied
there
was
towards
the
end
a
look
of
fatigue
in
the
faces
of
the
women
on
either
side
of
him
.
They
were
finding
him
heavy
.
Once
or
twice
Mrs
.
Strickland
’
s
eyes
rested
on
him
somewhat
anxiously
.
At
last
she
rose
and
shepherded
the
ladies
out
of
one
room
.
Strickland
shut
the
door
behind
her
,
and
,
moving
to
the
other
end
of
the
table
,
took
his
place
between
the
K
.
C
.
and
the
Government
official
.
He
passed
round
the
port
again
and
handed
us
cigars
.
The
K
.
C
.
remarked
on
the
excellence
of
the
wine
,
and
Strickland
told
us
where
he
got
it
.
We
began
to
chat
about
vintages
and
tobacco
.
The
K
.
C
.
told
us
of
a
case
he
was
engaged
in
,
and
the
Colonel
talked
about
polo
.
I
had
nothing
to
say
and
so
sat
silent
,
trying
politely
to
show
interest
in
the
conversation
;
and
because
I
thought
no
one
was
in
the
least
concerned
with
me
,
examined
Strickland
at
my
ease
.
He
was
bigger
than
I
expected
:
I
do
not
know
why
I
had
imagined
him
slender
and
of
insignificant
appearance
;
in
point
of
fact
he
was
broad
and
heavy
,
with
large
hands
and
feet
,
and
he
wore
his
evening
clothes
clumsily
.
He
gave
you
somewhat
the
idea
of
a
coachman
dressed
up
for
the
occasion
.
He
was
a
man
of
forty
,
not
good
-
looking
,
and
yet
not
ugly
,
for
his
features
were
rather
good
;
but
they
were
all
a
little
larger
than
life
-
size
,
and
the
effect
was
ungainly
.
He
was
clean
shaven
,
and
his
large
face
looked
uncomfortably
naked
.
His
hair
was
reddish
,
cut
very
short
,
and
his
eyes
were
small
,
blue
or
grey
.
He
looked
commonplace
.
I
no
longer
wondered
that
Mrs
Strickland
felt
a
certain
embarrassment
about
him
;
he
was
scarcely
a
credit
to
a
woman
who
wanted
to
make
herself
a
position
in
the
world
of
art
and
letters
.
It
was
obvious
that
he
had
no
social
gifts
,
but
these
a
man
can
do
without
;
he
had
no
eccentricity
even
,
to
take
him
out
of
the
common
run
;
he
was
just
a
good
,
dull
,
honest
,
plain
man
.
One
would
admire
his
excellent
qualities
,
but
avoid
his
company
.
He
was
null
.
He
was
probably
a
worthy
member
of
society
,
a
good
husband
and
father
,
an
honest
broker
;
but
there
was
no
reason
to
waste
one
’
s
time
over
him
.
The
season
was
drawing
to
its
dusty
end
,
and
everyone
I
knew
was
arranging
to
go
away
.
Mrs
.
Strickland
was
taking
her
family
to
the
coast
of
Norfolk
,
so
that
the
children
might
have
the
sea
and
her
husband
golf
.
We
said
good
-
bye
to
one
another
,
and
arranged
to
meet
in
the
autumn
.
But
on
my
last
day
in
town
,
coming
out
of
the
Stores
,
I
met
her
with
her
son
and
daughter
;
like
myself
,
she
had
been
making
her
final
purchases
before
leaving
London
,
and
we
were
both
hot
and
tired
.
I
proposed
that
we
should
all
go
and
eat
ices
in
the
park
.
I
think
Mrs
.
Strickland
was
glad
to
show
me
her
children
,
and
she
accepted
my
invitation
with
alacrity
.
They
were
even
more
attractive
than
their
photographs
had
suggested
,
and
she
was
right
to
be
proud
of
them
.
I
was
young
enough
for
them
not
to
feel
shy
,
and
they
chattered
merrily
about
one
thing
and
another
.
They
were
extraordinarily
nice
,
healthy
young
children
.
It
was
very
agreeable
under
the
trees
.
When
in
an
hour
they
crowded
into
a
cab
to
go
home
,
I
strolled
idly
to
my
club
.
I
was
perhaps
a
little
lonely
,
and
it
was
with
a
touch
of
envy
that
I
thought
of
the
pleasant
family
life
of
which
I
had
had
a
glimpse
.
They
seemed
devoted
to
one
another
.
They
had
little
private
jokes
of
their
own
which
,
unintelligible
to
the
outsider
,
amused
them
enormously
.
Perhaps
Charles
Strickland
was
dull
judged
by
a
standard
that
demanded
above
all
things
verbal
scintillation
;
but
his
intelligence
was
adequate
to
his
surroundings
,
and
that
is
a
passport
,
not
only
to
reasonable
success
,
but
still
more
to
happiness
.
Mrs
.
Strickland
was
a
charming
woman
,
and
she
loved
him
I
pictured
their
lives
,
troubled
by
no
untoward
adventure
,
honest
,
decent
,
and
,
by
reason
of
those
two
upstanding
,
pleasant
children
,
so
obviously
destined
to
carry
on
the
normal
traditions
of
their
race
and
station
,
not
without
significance
.
They
would
grow
old
insensibly
;
they
would
see
their
son
and
daughter
come
to
years
of
reason
,
marry
in
due
course
—
the
one
a
pretty
girl
,
future
mother
of
healthy
children
;
the
other
a
handsome
,
manly
fellow
,
obviously
a
soldier
;
and
at
last
,
prosperous
in
their
dignified
retirement
,
beloved
by
their
descendants
,
after
a
happy
,
not
unuseful
life
,
in
the
fullness
of
their
age
they
would
sink
into
the
grave
.
That
must
be
the
story
of
innumerable
couples
,
and
the
pattern
of
life
it
offers
has
a
homely
grace
.
It
reminds
you
of
a
placid
rivulet
,
meandering
smoothly
through
green
pastures
and
shaded
by
pleasant
trees
,
till
at
last
it
falls
into
the
vasty
sea
;
but
the
sea
is
so
calm
,
so
silent
,
so
indifferent
,
that
you
are
troubled
suddenly
by
a
vague
uneasiness
.
Perhaps
it
is
only
by
a
kink
in
my
nature
,
strong
in
me
even
in
those
days
,
that
I
felt
in
such
an
existence
,
the
share
of
the
great
majority
,
something
amiss
.
I
recognised
its
social
values
,
I
saw
its
ordered
happiness
,
but
a
fever
in
my
blood
asked
for
a
wilder
course
.
There
seemed
to
me
something
alarming
in
such
easy
delights
.
In
my
heart
was
a
desire
to
live
more
dangerously
.
I
was
not
unprepared
for
jagged
rocks
and
treacherous
shoals
if
I
could
only
have
change
—
change
and
the
excitement
of
the
unforeseen
.
