-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Джеймс Барри
-
- Белая птичка
-
- Стр. 1/132
white bird
Sometimes
the
little
boy
who
calls
me
father
brings
me
an
invitation
from
his
mother
:
"
I
shall
be
so
pleased
if
you
will
come
and
see
me
,
"
and
I
always
reply
in
some
such
words
as
these
:
"
Dear
madam
,
I
decline
.
"
And
if
David
asks
why
I
decline
,
I
explain
that
it
is
because
I
have
no
desire
to
meet
the
woman
.
"
Come
this
time
,
father
,
"
he
urged
lately
,
"
for
it
is
her
birthday
,
and
she
is
twenty-six
,
"
which
is
so
great
an
age
to
David
,
that
I
think
he
fears
she
can
not
last
much
longer
.
"
Twenty-six
,
is
she
,
David
?
"
I
replied
.
"
Tell
her
I
said
she
looks
more
.
"
I
had
my
delicious
dream
that
night
.
I
dreamt
that
I
too
was
twenty-six
,
which
was
a
long
time
ago
,
and
that
I
took
train
to
a
place
called
my
home
,
whose
whereabouts
I
see
not
in
my
waking
hours
,
and
when
I
alighted
at
the
station
a
dear
lost
love
was
waiting
for
me
,
and
we
went
away
together
.
She
met
me
in
no
ecstasy
of
emotion
,
nor
was
I
surprised
to
find
her
there
;
it
was
as
if
we
had
been
married
for
years
and
parted
for
a
day
.
I
like
to
think
that
I
gave
her
some
of
the
things
to
carry
.
Were
I
to
tell
my
delightful
dream
to
David
's
mother
,
to
whom
I
have
never
in
my
life
addressed
one
word
,
she
would
droop
her
head
and
raise
it
bravely
,
to
imply
that
I
make
her
very
sad
but
very
proud
,
and
she
would
be
wishful
to
lend
me
her
absurd
little
pocket
handkerchief
.
And
then
,
had
I
the
heart
,
I
might
make
a
disclosure
that
would
startle
her
,
for
it
is
not
the
face
of
David
's
mother
that
I
see
in
my
dreams
.
Has
it
ever
been
your
lot
,
reader
,
to
be
persecuted
by
a
pretty
woman
who
thinks
,
without
a
tittle
of
reason
,
that
you
are
bowed
down
under
a
hopeless
partiality
for
her
?
It
is
thus
that
I
have
been
pursued
for
several
years
now
by
the
unwelcome
sympathy
of
the
tender-hearted
and
virtuous
Mary
A
--
--
.
When
we
pass
in
the
street
the
poor
deluded
soul
subdues
her
buoyancy
,
as
if
it
were
shame
to
walk
happy
before
one
she
has
lamed
,
and
at
such
times
the
rustle
of
her
gown
is
whispered
words
of
comfort
to
me
,
and
her
arms
are
kindly
wings
that
wish
I
was
a
little
boy
like
David
.
I
also
detect
in
her
a
fearful
elation
,
which
I
am
unaware
of
until
she
has
passed
,
when
it
comes
back
to
me
like
a
faint
note
of
challenge
.
Eyes
that
say
you
never
must
,
nose
that
says
why
do
n't
you
?
and
a
mouth
that
says
I
rather
wish
you
could
:
such
is
the
portrait
of
Mary
A
--
--
as
she
and
I
pass
by
.
Once
she
dared
to
address
me
,
so
that
she
could
boast
to
David
that
I
had
spoken
to
her
.
I
was
in
the
Kensington
Gardens
,
and
she
asked
would
I
tell
her
the
time
please
,
just
as
children
ask
,
and
forget
as
they
run
back
with
it
to
their
nurse
.
But
I
was
prepared
even
for
this
,
and
raising
my
hat
I
pointed
with
my
staff
to
a
clock
in
the
distance
.
She
should
have
been
overwhelmed
,
but
as
I
walked
on
listening
intently
,
I
thought
with
displeasure
that
I
heard
her
laughing
.
Her
laugh
is
very
like
David
's
,
whom
I
could
punch
all
day
in
order
to
hear
him
laugh
.
I
dare
say
she
put
this
laugh
into
him
.
She
has
been
putting
qualities
into
David
,
altering
him
,
turning
him
forever
on
a
lathe
since
the
day
she
first
knew
him
,
and
indeed
long
before
,
and
all
so
deftly
that
he
is
still
called
a
child
of
nature
.
When
you
release
David
's
hand
he
is
immediately
lost
like
an
arrow
from
the
bow
.
No
sooner
do
you
cast
eyes
on
him
than
you
are
thinking
of
birds
.
It
is
difficult
to
believe
that
he
walks
to
the
Kensington
Gardens
;
he
always
seems
to
have
alighted
there
:
and
were
I
to
scatter
crumbs
I
opine
he
would
come
and
peck
.
This
is
not
what
he
set
out
to
be
;
it
is
all
the
doing
of
that
timid-looking
lady
who
affects
to
be
greatly
surprised
by
it
.
He
strikes
a
hundred
gallant
poses
in
a
day
;
when
he
tumbles
,
which
is
often
,
he
comes
to
the
ground
like
a
Greek
god
;
so
Mary
A
--
--
has
willed
it
.
But
how
she
suffers
that
he
may
achieve
!
I
have
seen
him
climbing
a
tree
while
she
stood
beneath
in
unutterable
anguish
;
she
had
to
let
him
climb
,
for
boys
must
be
brave
,
but
I
am
sure
that
,
as
she
watched
him
,
she
fell
from
every
branch
.
David
admires
her
prodigiously
;
he
thinks
her
so
good
that
she
will
be
able
to
get
him
into
heaven
,
however
naughty
he
is
.
Otherwise
he
would
trespass
less
light-heartedly
.
Perhaps
she
has
discovered
this
;
for
,
as
I
learn
from
him
,
she
warned
him
lately
that
she
is
not
such
a
dear
as
he
thinks
her
.
