Читать книгу Hamlet had an Uncle - James Branch Cabell - Страница 8
ОглавлениеINGRID GOES INTO THE WOODS
'I am not sure,' says Fengon, 'whether my dear son be insane or, more simply, intractable. I do not know what he plans. But I do know he distrusts his own father. That is not as it should be. That indeed is a situation which wrings my heart. It wrings my heart unendurably. For the boy's own good, I must get his confidence.'
Grieved Fengon sent for Corambus of Elling, so as to confer with that learned counseller; and Corambus, in turn, conferred with the daughter of Corambus. This noble maiden was called Ingrid; and if some persons carpingly debated her chastity, none questioned her beauty or her intelligence. The latter prompted her to make the most of the former. She did.
She assented, with a proper filial deference, to the task of gaining young Hamlet's confidence; and she thus met the Prince--by the most astounding sort of coincidence, to which the lovely blonde girl could not deny its fit tribute of vocal wonder--just after Hamlet had parted from a lame grey gentleman in the wood of Sundby.
Ingrid, however--let it be explained in defence of her moral principles--had not any need to trouble her fair head as to the propriety of her being alone in this forest. She knew well that, behind an elm tree, her learned father squatted in watchful attendance, so that he might report to King Fengon as to the doings and words of Hamlet. And Corambus did as much, in due course.
The dear child (reported Corambus) spoke with that frankness which one might expect in an always dutiful daughter. She confessed that for weeks she had regarded Hamlet with a pure and unbounded affection; she trusted he would not look upon her candour as unmaidenly, but would continue to respect the integrity of her intentions and the purity of her past life thitherto, even in case of an outcome which she was too modest to put into words, but illuminated with a fond blush; she referred with enthusiasm to his manly beauty, to the rare charm of his conversation, and to his intimidating nobility in quarters which to Corambus, in his concealment, remained invisible; she mentioned the circumstance that upon this bank of soft cool moss, which was really not unlike a bed, they were quite alone, with nobody within miles of them, even were she to scream for aid never so loudly; and she suggested, in brief, through every possible polite provocative, that not merely her affections were at Hamlet's disposal.
Hamlet sighed; and the surprised girl asked the cause of his sorrow in a situation so highly agreeable.
Says Hamlet: 'I grieve because I must compel my heart to listen to my head. You are a charming person with whom it would be a pleasure to cast prudence to the winds. I am cordially pleased that you should find me to be heroic and attractive and--as I believe you mentioned likewise--quick-witted and entertaining, in an unexampled degree. Hah, but no one, you must let me assure you, my dear Ingrid, shall ever know about your infatuation except only ourselves.'
'Why, then----' says Ingrid.
'For the rest, I am still young,' Hamlet continued, with a becoming diffidence. 'As I advance in life, I shall meet other ladies, who may admire me equally on account of my heroism and attractiveness and quick wits. When I have come to be wooed by these other gentlewomen, with honourable intentions and under the sanction of propriety, and when I have had a chance to perceive how strong is the fascination I exert over all these gentlewomen, then I may be wholly glad I have no illicit past under these bushes to bring out sorrowfully into the open. It might grieve a large number of these fond gentlewomen. I owe it to them to consider in due season their natural anguish. I ought to forestall their anguish.'
'But----' Ingrid said.
'And besides that,' Hamlet went on, with a continuing air of reflection, 'immoral conduct very often assumes a serious aspect, should the offence become generally known. No matter how cautious and respectable a young man may be, there is no way of telling whether or not the woman with whom he strays into folly will protect his good name. Beautiful blonde women, in particular, cannot ever know the value of discreet speech. How can they well esteem reticence, with so little experience of it as they enjoy, do these beautiful blonde women with whom no man upon the livelier side of his dotage is able to talk sanely?'
'Still----' said Ingrid.
'Nor should we fail to weigh the possibility of a yet darker outcome,' Hamlet resumed. 'Many a fine young man through one moment's unwisdom has found himself unbuttoned into fatherhood and a compulsion of marriage and the curtailing of his liberty. He has been misled, by unbridled passion, into years of self-respect and thrift and praiseworthy behaviour, at a time when he would prefer to be dissolute and to enjoy life. Is not the small heartache which I feel just now, in preserving my personal purity, to be chosen rather than any of these harsh possibilities? I think so; and I think too, dear Ingrid, that I shall not wring your neck--at all events, not this morning.'
Ingrid said, 'Hah!'
Hamlet answered her: 'I may be wrong in believing that a young man, among such idyllic surroundings, may do well to preserve his virtue rather than to put faith in a sleek, lying, cuddling bitch. Yet I do not think I am wrong when I consider the many insects which infest elm trees. And this thesis I stand ready to argue against all persons, no matter how learned they may be--even against Socrates and Solomon and Corambus of Elling--that a judicious nephew ought now and then to compel his heart to listen to his head.'
Then Hamlet began to crow like a cock; and he ran away from fair Ingrid, laughing madly, and bellowing, and grunting, and squealing also, in an unbecoming fashion.
All this did Corambus report; and he added that, howsoever gratifying one, of course, found it to hear oneself associated with the leading sages of Greece and Judea, one could not but regret Prince Hamlet's backwardness in chivalry.
'--For to what,' says Corambus, 'is the younger generation coming, when even in the presence of an unprotected fond girl a young man can thus openly talk about his own personal purity, and maintain it too, without shame? Matters were not like this in the better times of our youth, my lord King, when at all costs the needs of a gentlewoman were honoured.'
'You speak truth, my wise counseller,' returned Fengon, 'and the world worsens. Yet in my opinion, Hamlet also has found some counsellor or another. He did not voice the native sentiments of a descendant of Gervendile Cut-Throat; nor are these well-rounded periods in the manner of Hamlet's blunt jerky way of speaking. I would very much like to know more about that lame grey person of whom your daughter had a glimpse. Meanwhile, we must endeavour, through some other agency, to gain the boy's confidence.'
