Cornish 3 - The Lyre Of Orpheus by Robertson Davies

Author:Robertson Davies [Davies, Robertson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143054900
Publisher: Penguin Books

( 3 )

DARCOURT WAS NOT accustomed to being entertained by women; not, that is to say, entertained in restaurants by women who paid the bill. It was a ridiculous attitude, he knew, as certainly Dr. Gunilla Dahl-Soot would be charging this excellent dinner to the Cornish Trust. But, even though she was a fast, efficient gobbler, whereas he was a patient muncher, the Doctor was a different person as a hostess from the obstreperous guest at Maria's Arthurian dinner. She was considerate, kindly, charming, but not particularly feminine—in a word, thought Darcourt, she is very much man-to-man.

Her notion of conversation, however, was unconventional.

"What sins would you have liked to commit?" she asked.

"Why do you ask that?"

"It is a key to character, and I want to know you. Of course, you are a parson, so I suppose you press down very hard on any sinful ideas you have, but I am sure you have them. Everybody does. What sins? What about sex? You have no wife. Is it men?"

"No indeed. I am extremely fond of women, and I have many women friends; but I am not tormented by sexual desire, if that is what you mean. Or not often. Too busy. If Don Juan had been a professor, and Vice-Warden of his college, a secretary to a large philanthropic trust, and a biographer, we should never have heard of him as a great seducer. It calls for a lot of leisure, does seduction. And a one-track mind. I imagine Don Juan must have been rather a dull dog when he wasn't on the prowl."

"The Freudians think Don Juan really hated women."

"He had a funny way of showing it. I can't imagine sex with somebody I hated."

"You don't always know you hate them till push comes to shove. I speak idiomatically, you understand. I am not talking smuttily."

"Oh, quite."

"I was married once, you know. Less than a week. Ugh!"

"Sorry to hear that."

"Why? We all have to learn. I was a quick learner. It is not my destiny to be Fru Berggrav, I decided. So—divorce, and back to my own life and my own name. Of which I am very proud, let me tell you."

"I'm sure."

"A lot of people here laugh when they hear it."

"Not all names travel well."

"Soot is an honoured name in Norway, where my Soots came from. There was a very good painter in the last century who was a Soot."

"I didn't know."

"The people who laugh at my name have limited social experience."

"Yes, yes.

"Like Professor Raven. Is she a great friend of yours?"

"I know her well."

"A stupid woman. Do you know she has been on the telephone to me?"

"About the libretto?"

"No. About Hulda Schnakenburg. She made an awful muddle of it, but it was clear she thinks I am being very naughty with that child."

"I know. And are you?"

"Certainly not! But I am coaxing her into life. She has lived a life very much—how do I say it?"

"Very much denied?"

"Yes, that's the word. No kindness. No affection. I do not say love.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.