CONCERNING ISIS AND APHRODITE: WITH A DIGRESSION ON THE SHOCKING
TREATMENT THE LATTER'S FOLLOWERS RECEIVE FROM THE HANDS OF ENGLISH
NOVELISTS
I had read books you had not read,
Yet I was put to shame
To hear the simple words you said,
And see your eyes aflame.
_Forty-two Poems_
And there was Peronella!
Seated at the window charmingly dressed in white and rose, with the sun
on her face and neck and naked arms, with light playing with those said
marvellous arms of hers and making all the little downy hairs on them
sparkle. "Beauty is Truth," says the poet, and Norman, looking on her
with all the passion of a passionate man, longed to believe the poet's
he and banish the disappointments of the mind. There was nothing vulgar
or half-educated about her beauty--lips or hands or eyes. Was she not
perhaps simply a child, a soul asleep, repeating like one in an
hypnotic trance the rubbish she had been forced to learn? Was she not
merely waiting for some violent shock of love or life to dispel the
false personality of the genteel young Miss and unveil the true Woman,
with all the unconquerable nobility of the peasant and the curious
greatness of the South?
Norman sighed as he gazed on the lovely girl and immediately proceeded
to eat an ample meal, washed down with ample wine. We have mentioned
that he was very hungry. He was thirsty, too, and the white wine of that
country is a good wine, if a little sweet. Then he took a book and read
and looked at his mistress, exchanging some sufficiently foolish remarks
from time to time. But he was worried with the strange events of the
fore-noon, impatient to meet his strange mentor again and not knowing
where to find him. Too soon also he became troubled by the philosophical
question, May Beauty be stupid? and altogether he was not in a mood to
be absorbed by any book at all.
Peronella, a few moments later, looking up, saw that his eyes had
wandered, that the little book was on the floor, and that his face
expressed deep thought. One does not often see people thinking in
Alsander, and Peronella wondered if it hurt. Coming to the conclusion
that it must be uncomfortable to wear such a face, she got up and went
to stand by Norman's chair. Such a domestic scene has many an artist of
Holland painted to please the quiet burghers of The Hague. Norman kissed
her somewhat mechanically, and without that intense devotion and fiery
rapture to which she was accustomed.
"What have you been reading that interests you so much and makes you
kiss me in that stupid way?" she cried.
"It is a little Latin book I brought with me from England."
"In Latin? What's it all about? Is it very dull?"
"Sit on my knee and I will tell you all about it. No, don't ruffle my
hair, but attend to lessons. I was reading about a great goddess who
rose up from the sea, whose robe was so black that it shone...."
"But I thought she was quite naked."
"Who?"
"The goddess who came out of the foam."
"Why, who has been telling about the goddess who rose from the foam?"
"Father Algio in one of his Lent sermons told us a great deal about
her."
Father Algio was an old monk with whom Norman had talked once or twice:
a gentle soul, but with an odd fire lurking about his eyes. One realized
that if roused by the trumpet of the Church he would have marched like
a Crusader to uttermost Taprobane, fighting for the Lord.
"What had he to say about the Lady Aphrodite?"
"Aphrodite, yes, that was her name. How clever you are! Oh, the priest
said that he thought the reason why we were so given to the sins of the
flesh was that we were of the old Greek blood, and had never forgotten
the worship of this lady who came from the sea."
"What an intelligent priest it is! O Peronella, you are a true daughter
of Aphrodite."
"Tell me about her, Normano. She was the goddess of Love!"
"Yes, and she has a son called Cupid and is drawn in a chariot by
violet-throated doves. Also, Peronella, she has a little silver broom,
with which she drives away the cobwebs from a man's soul when he has
read too many books."
"And when did she wear the shining black?"
"O! this book is not about Aphrodite, it is about Isis, an Egyptian
goddess."
"Egyptian? That must be interesting. Was she as beautiful as Aphrodite?
Tell me all about her."
"There are different sorts of beauty. Aphrodite was a graceful, careless
and happy woman, rather like you to look at, and very much like you in
character."
"How charming of you to say so!"
"While Isis had all Nature to manage, and the moon and the sea. She was
a terrible goddess, with snakes in her hair, and a great disc between
her breasts. Men loved her none the less; she was the spirit of all
Nature, and required purity and endurance from her worshippers."
"Purity and endurance! And snakes in her hair! Aphrodite must have been
far more pleasant, especially if she was like me. She was the patroness
of our city, the Father said; and Dr Sforelli wrote to the papers once
to say that the image of the Virgin in the Cathedral Church was a
heathen statue that some King put up there and that clothes had been
made for it later. I know that because Father Algio was so furious at
the time that he preached three sermons against the Jews. But why do you
read such rubbish?"
Norman was irritated by the naïveness of the remark, and still more
irritated with himself for being irritated.
"What an ass I am," he said to himself, "to talk to a pretty girl about
the Classics, and what a much larger ass to trouble what she thinks!"
Norman had to learn that education makes prigs of all of us, whether we
will or no. Of wise and learned men only the truly great can keep their
characters free of priggishness, and even then, what of Marcus Aurelius
and William Wordsworth and John Ruskin? What even of Olympian Goethe?
And there she was, shining, shining.
"You mean," said Norman, "why do I read such rubbish when I have you to
look at?"
And still Peronella shone.
"The book of your eyes is the best book," said Norman.
Romance even in her moment could not so fool him that he did not wish he
could have said "the book of your soul."
Peronella shone, and, by an instinct, shone in silence.
"You are the prettiest girl I have ever seen," said Norman.
And the sun shone on Peronella.
Then though indeed for a moment more Norman heard the voice of caution,
it was but a voice fading far away. Some arguments against caution ran
through his mind--pompous self-depreciation and some inverted snobbery
about "good enough for a grocer boy." Then the petty arguments were
needed no longer: his mind faded and went out, and he leapt upon her
like a god from Olympus on some not reluctant spirit of wood or water.
He pressed her to him till he felt as if every inch of the fiery contact
were complete, and he forgot whole oceans of civilization in a moment.
That is what education is made for, some might say, it gives us more to
forget and more to abandon in crucial moments of love or heroism.
He kissed her all round her burning face. He kissed the soft skin behind
her ear where first he kissed her in the dawn--in the best and earliest
hour of all the golden days. He kissed her smooth and naked arms that
bound his neck like a silver chain. He set all the snow of her shoulder
afire with kisses, and on her mouth he forgot the wise advice of
Browning and gave her the bee's kiss first.
The maddening sun still shone on Peronella, on her soft dishevelled robe
whence gleamed what a man might take for a red rosebud; on her dark hair
with the hyacinthine shadows where a man might see all the stars that
shine in a Syrian night--on her cheek and throat and her silver
arms--but not on her eyes, for, heavy with passion, they were all but
closed.
On Norman, too, shone that great and primitive Ball of Fire--on Norman,
as bright an Adonis as ever ran riot in a gallant tale.
But when they paused for breath, as even the bravest lovers must, and
sat together on the little blue divan that graced the barren room; when
Peronella's lips were free to speak, and Norman's mind was free to
meditateif only for a brief, sharp, cruel moment--how swiftly went the
sun behind a cloud!
"When will you marry me?" said Peronella, "and will you take me to
England? O, say you will take me to England, Normano, and when you drive
me round in your carriage all the world will say, 'That woman cannot be
of our town; she is the most beautiful woman that we have ever seen.'"
"Darling," said Norman, "let me think of this moment, of nothing but
this moment, and always of this moment," and he kissed her again.
But the sun shone no more on Peronella! And her lover was not thinking
only of the moment. He was thinking of his life. Her pretty words
pierced him like little darts of ice, and all the comminations of the
sages could not have frightened him more than the maiden's innocent
speech.
He saw in his clear-sighted panic that here was an end of all bright
dreams save this one: and he knew how soon this dream would fade. He saw
Peronella unhappy--a Peronella who could not be afforded a
carriage--sulking behind the counter of the Bon Marché, in the rain. He
saw how her beauty would fade away in England, swiftly, in a few
years--and all in a moment she seemed as she sat there to grow old and
tired before him, wasting away beneath the low, dark northern skies. He
judged her character with Minoan rightness. He knew she would always be
a child, always be silly, querulous, unfaithful, passionate: he knew,
above all, how soon she would kill that spark in him that made him
different from other men--that spark the poet bade him cherish. And he
feared she would bore him at breakfast every morning of his life.
Ah! Peronella was good enough--nay, a prize beyond all dreams!--for a
Blaindon grocer: he knew that. But all the brilliant fantasies and
conquering ambitions which his heart kept so secret that he would not
have spoken of them to his old friend (are there not wild miracles which
we all, even the sanest of us, hope will happen for our benefit and
glory?), all these hidden desires and insane fancies came beating upon
the doors of his soul.
Had he been a southerner himself, of course he would have taken the girl
and left her at his pleasure, the moment the love-glow faded and the
romance grew stale. Her body was his for a kiss, for a smile, at the
worst for a traitor promise ora roseleaf he. But he was an
Englishman--and perhaps only Englishmen can fully understand why Norman,
for all that the thought quivered in his mind, withstood, as we say in
our canting phrase, temptation.
For my part, I think the phrases we use, specially in books, are canting
enough, and the foreigners rightly scorn us. In no tale since _Tom
Jones_ have we had an honest Englishman who makes love because it is
jolly and because he doesn't care. With what a pompous gravity and false
seriousness do we talk, we English men of letters, of a little
lovemaking which in France they pass with a jest and a smile. Think how
our just and righteous novelists fulminate against the miscreants of
their own creation. Think of Becky Sharp and her devilish intrigues, of
Seaforth and his vile deceitfulness. For Thackeray, the Irregular
Unionist (if so we may style those easy livers) is a scourge of high
society: for Dickens, he is an ungodly scoundrel, a scourge of low
society; for Thomas Hardy, he is a noble fellow disregarding the
shackles of convention; while the late George Meredith invariably
punishes the amorous by describing them as intellectual failures. To-day
Mr Shaw would consider Lovelace disreputable owing to his lack of
interest in social problems, while the pale Nietzscheans would worship
him with ecstatic gasps as a monstrous fine blonde beast. Our popular
novelists are entirely unaware that such horrible scoundrels exist, and
our legislators will shortly pass a law which will enable all offenders
against monogamy to be flogged. Their agitation will be called a
"revival of the old Puritan spirit," and their law will be applied with
rigour to the lower classes. The French, I say, call us filthy
hypocrites.
And yet the accusation, if levelled against our race and not only
against our writers, is not a true one, however plausible. We _are_ more
restrained than other races, and that neither because we are less
passionate nor because we are more timorous. Our athletic youths are
purer--do not merely say they are purer, than the diminutive young men
abroad. It is really true there is a special kind of nobility-and
generosity in the way our gentlemen treat women. There is something in
our race that makes us different from other nations. Call our severe
principles a fear of convention, an outworn chivalry, if you like; you
have not accounted for all cases; perhaps it is true that an Englishman
is more likely than any other European to love a woman deeply enough to
be content with her for ever. At all events, it should be remarked how
those Englishmen who through education or travel have most tolerance for
the sins of others and most opportunity for sinning themselves seldom
lose their own traditional scruples. And that is why (to come back to
our hero) Norman, who would never have dreamed of blaming Tom Jones for
his jolly conduct, and who had read with zeal and appreciation
novelists of France who held the most scandalous theories concerning the
unimportance of it all, was nevertheless unable to make love to a girl
whom he intended to desert. Besides, it struck him, the girl had never
yet yielded to a lover. For him the dilemma was clear: he must marry
this girl or leave her, and the thought came over him like that
One clear nice
Cool squirt of water o'er the bust,
The right thing to extinguish lust.
Now had he accepted this dilemma bravely, and fled that very hour from
the siren presence, he would have had only a flirtation and a few kisses
to store up against the hour of remorse. But he fought shy of drastic
measures and sought to gain time like a Turkish diplomat. Perhaps, too,
he wanted to stay in Alsander yet a little longer to inquire into the
mystifications of his tramp guide, and await instructions as to the
promised "career of good works." At all events, there is no doubt that
as far as the procrastination business went, he found suddenly a great
inspiration in the curious parting command which the old poet had given
him. He would weave a mystery about himself. He would thus not only obey
the fantastic injunction of the poet, but find a most practical means of
escape from a perilous position.
He shook himself free of the twining arms, roughly and suddenly, as
though he had just remembered something, and paced up and down the room
as one lost in thought.
"Why, what is it?" said Peronella. She was always alarmed at seeing a
man meditate. Such is the profound instinct of women!
But Norman, intent now on playing his part with thoroughness and
efficiency, made no answer, and going over to the window frowned
gloomily and began to mutter to himself.
"Tell me what is the matter," cried the girl, running over to him. "Are
you ill?"
"Ah!" said Norman. "I wish I could tell you what is the matter. There is
more the matter than you know of, dear, and my heart is as heavy as
lead."
"Why, what ever has happened?" said the girl, and her face grew longer
still.
"Forgive me, Peronella. I should not have spoken."
"You say your heart is heavy as lead. Tell me what is troubling you!"
"Oh! a little secret trouble, that is all."
"What trouble can be secret between you and me?"
"Do not speak of it again, dear. Forget it. I am sorry I hinted that
anything was wrong."
"You are not deceiving me, Normano? You do not love an English girl?"
"No, it is not that."
"Then what is it? You must tell me."
Norman sat on the table and put his hands on the girl's shoulders.
"Well, then, who do you suppose I am?" he asked, with a half-smile.
"Why, an Englishman, of course."
"An Englishman. But what Englishman? And why should I come to Alsander
and live in Alsander?"
"But why not? Other Englishmen have come to Alsander."
"Yes, but to buy and sell."
This crude artifice was quite enough to trouble the wits of Peronella.
"It _is_ very strange," she said, musing, "and Cesano said it was
strange, but who _are_ you, then, by all the Saints?"
"That I cannot tell you, Peronella."
"Well, what have you come for if not to buy and sell? Besides," added
Peronella, passionately, "I love you, and that is enough. What do I care
who you are?"
"If your love were deep, perhaps you would care who I was."
The saying of this sentence was the worst thing Norman ever did in his
life. His conscience haunted him for years and never let him forget
those dozen careless words and their cynical hypocrisy.
Peronella did not understand him, nor attempt to, but blazed out in a
fury, "How dare you come and tell lies and pretend to be what you
aren't and deceive us all? It's all lies, you don't care for me one bit,
and I am a little fool!" cried Peronella, on the brink of tears and
truth.
"How have I deceived you?" said Norman, lamely.
"You never told me who you were. You come and pretend to be what you are
not. You make love to me, and now I see you want to run away."
"You never-asked me. I am not running away," said Norman, breathlessly,
seeing this card-house toppling.
"I ask you now."
"Look here," said the hypocrite. "Listen to me and trust me. No, you
know I am not lying to you. Look into my eyes and see. I ask just one
thing of you. Wait three months and you shall have an answer and know
who I am."
"Don't tell more lies and talk more nonsense, species of brute," said
the girl, savagely.
"Ah, Peronella, I wish I were talking nonsense."
And the infernal fellow put on an air of sorrow and nobility.
"Wait three months," he repeated, "and then see if you want to marry me,
or dare to want to marry me," he added with magniloquence, thoroughly
ashamed of himself but too deep in the mire to get free.
"O, Normano, what do you mean? Shall I kill you or believe you?"
"Wait a little while, dear," he said, bending over her with a not
feigned tenderness. "Wait a little while and you shall see."
Steps were heard on the stair.
"Here is Cesano," said Peronella, and forthwith Cesano came in with an
ineffable air of being on his best behaviour. Norman took his
opportunity and went, and with a bow which his fuming rival took for
supercilious generosity bade them both good-night.
In the loneliness of his bedroom he fell on his bed like a penitent
child and cursed himself for a mean scoundrel. As for Peronella, the
first words she said to Cesano were:
"There is a mystery about my Englishman, I wonder who he is," and
thereupon she repeated to him the whole conversation. True, he had not
told her to keep the secret, but in any case she could not have kept
one. It was to be the first thing Cesano was to tell Petro the cobbler
when he saw him later that evening, and the first thing Petro the
cobbler told Father Algio when he came in for a cup of coffee towards
midnight, and the first thing Father Algio told to all his numerous
acquaintance. Norman woke up next morning famous and a mystery, and was
stared at in the street even more than before. Peronella was perhaps
pleased to pass for the mistress of a mystery, Cesano's hopes revived
and all seemed for the best in the best of all possible worlds--for
three spacious months to come, at least. So thought Norman.