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- Уильям Сомерсет Моэм
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- Стр. 154/193
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I
do
not
know
why
Captain
Nichols
first
left
England
.
It
was
a
matter
upon
which
he
was
reticent
,
and
with
persons
of
his
kind
a
direct
question
is
never
very
discreet
.
He
hinted
at
undeserved
misfortune
,
and
there
is
no
doubt
that
he
looked
upon
himself
as
the
victim
of
injustice
.
My
fancy
played
with
the
various
forms
of
fraud
and
violence
,
and
I
agreed
with
him
sympathetically
when
he
remarked
that
the
authorities
in
the
old
country
were
so
damned
technical
.
But
it
was
nice
to
see
that
any
unpleasantness
he
had
endured
in
his
native
land
had
not
impaired
his
ardent
patriotism
.
He
frequently
declared
that
England
was
the
finest
country
in
the
world
,
sir
,
and
he
felt
a
lively
superiority
over
Americans
,
Colonials
,
Dagos
,
Dutchmen
,
and
Kanakas
.
But
I
do
not
think
he
was
a
happy
man
.
He
suffered
from
dyspepsia
,
and
he
might
often
be
seen
sucking
a
tablet
of
pepsin
;
in
the
morning
his
appetite
was
poor
;
but
this
affliction
alone
would
hardly
have
impaired
his
spirits
.
He
had
a
greater
cause
of
discontent
with
life
than
this
.
Eight
years
before
he
had
rashly
married
a
wife
.
There
are
men
whom
a
merciful
Providence
has
undoubtedly
ordained
to
a
single
life
,
but
who
from
wilfulness
or
through
circumstances
they
could
not
cope
with
have
flown
in
the
face
of
its
decrees
.
There
is
no
object
more
deserving
of
pity
than
the
married
bachelor
.
Of
such
was
Captain
Nichols
.
I
met
his
wife
.
She
was
a
woman
of
twenty
-
eight
,
I
should
think
,
though
of
a
type
whose
age
is
always
doubtful
;
for
she
cannot
have
looked
different
when
she
was
twenty
,
and
at
forty
would
look
no
older
.
She
gave
me
an
impression
of
extraordinary
tightness
.
Her
plain
face
with
its
narrow
lips
was
tight
,
her
skin
was
stretched
tightly
over
her
bones
,
her
smile
was
tight
,
her
hair
was
tight
,
her
clothes
were
tight
,
and
the
white
drill
she
wore
had
all
the
effect
of
black
bombazine
.
I
could
not
imagine
why
Captain
Nichols
had
married
her
,
and
having
married
her
why
he
had
not
deserted
her
.
Perhaps
he
had
,
often
,
and
his
melancholy
arose
from
the
fact
that
he
could
never
succeed
.
However
far
he
went
and
in
howsoever
secret
a
place
he
hid
himself
,
I
felt
sure
that
Mrs
.
Nichols
,
inexorable
as
fate
and
remorseless
as
conscience
,
would
presently
rejoin
him
.
He
could
as
little
escape
her
as
the
cause
can
escape
the
effect
.
The
rogue
,
like
the
artist
and
perhaps
the
gentleman
,
belongs
to
no
class
.
He
is
not
embarrassed
by
the
sans
gene
of
the
hobo
,
nor
put
out
of
countenance
by
the
etiquette
of
the
prince
.
But
Mrs
.
Nichols
belonged
to
the
well
-
defined
class
,
of
late
become
vocal
,
which
is
known
as
the
lower
-
middle
.
Her
father
,
in
fact
,
was
a
policeman
.
I
am
certain
that
he
was
an
efficient
one
.
I
do
not
know
what
her
hold
was
on
the
Captain
,
but
I
do
not
think
it
was
love
.
I
never
heard
her
speak
,
but
it
may
be
that
in
private
she
had
a
copious
conversation
.
At
any
rate
,
Captain
Nichols
was
frightened
to
death
of
her
.
Sometimes
,
sitting
with
me
on
the
terrace
of
the
hotel
,
he
would
become
conscious
that
she
was
walking
in
the
road
outside
She
did
not
call
him
;
she
gave
no
sign
that
she
was
aware
of
his
existence
;
she
merely
walked
up
and
down
composedly
.
Then
a
strange
uneasiness
would
seize
the
Captain
;
he
would
look
at
his
watch
and
sigh
.
"
Well
,
I
must
be
off
,
"
he
said
.
Neither
wit
nor
whisky
could
detain
him
then
.
Yet
he
was
a
man
who
had
faced
undaunted
hurricane
and
typhoon
,
and
would
not
have
hesitated
to
fight
a
dozen
unarmed
niggers
with
nothing
but
a
revolver
to
help
him
.
Sometimes
Mrs
.
Nichols
would
send
her
daughter
,
a
pale
-
faced
,
sullen
child
of
seven
,
to
the
hotel
.
"
Mother
wants
you
,
"
she
said
,
in
a
whining
tone
.
"
Very
well
,
my
dear
,
"
said
Captain
Nichols
.
He
rose
to
his
feet
at
once
,
and
accompanied
his
daughter
along
the
road
.
I
suppose
it
was
a
very
pretty
example
of
the
triumph
of
spirit
over
matter
,
and
so
my
digression
has
at
least
the
advantage
of
a
moral
.
