A Dill Pickle
Katherine Mansfield
1.And then, after six years, she saw him again. He was seated at one of those little bamboo tables decorated with a Japanese vase of paper daffodils. He was peeling an orange.
2.He must have felt that shock of recognition in her for looked up and met her eye! Incredible! He didn't know her. She smiled, he frowned. She came towards him. He closed his eyes an instant, but opening them his face lit up as though he had struck a match in a dark room. He laid down the orange and pushed back his chair.
3."Vera!" he exclaimed. "How strange. Really, for a moment I didn't know you. Won't you sit down Won't you have some coffee"
4."Yes, I'd like some coffee." And she sat down opposite him.
5."You've changed. You've changed very much," he said, staring at her with eager, lighted look. "You look so well. I've never seen you look so well before."
6."Really" She raised her veil and unbuttoned her high fur collar. "I don't feel very well. I can't bear this weather, you know."
7."Ah, no. You hate "
8."Loathe it." She shuddered. "And the worst of it is that the older "
9.He interrupted her. "Excuse me," and tapped on the table for waitress.
"Please bring some coffee and cream." To her:" You are sure you won't eat anything"
10."No, thanks. Nothing."
11."Then that's settled." And smiling he took up the orange again. "You were saying--the older one grows--"
12."The colder," she laughed. But she was thinking how well she remembered that trick of his--the trick of interrupting her--and of how it used to exasperate her six years ago.
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13."The colder," he echoed her words, laughing too. "Ah, ah. You still say the same things and there is another thing about you that is not changed at all-- your beautiful voice. I don't know what it is-- I've often wondered--that makes your voice such a -- Do you remember that first afternoon we spent together at Kew Garden You were so surprised because I did not know the names of any flowers. I am still just as ignorant for all your telling me. But whenever it's very fine and warm, and I see some bright colour I hear your voice saying:' Geranium, marigold, and verbena,’ You remember that afternoon"
14." Oh, yes, very well." She drew a long, soft breath. Yet, what had remained in her mind of that particular afternoon was an absurd scene. A great many people taking tea in a Chinese pagoda, and he behaving like a maniac about the wasps--waving them away, flapping at them with his straw hat, serious and infuriated out of all proportion to the occasion. How she had suffered.
15.But now, as he spoke, that memory faded. His was the truer.
16.Yes, it had been a wonderful afternoon, full of flowers and --warm sunshine. Her thought
s lingered over the last two words. And in the warmth, as it were, another memory unfolded. She saw herself sitting on a lawn. He lay beside her, and suddenly, he rolled over and put his head in her lap.
17."I wish," he said in a low, troubled voice," I wish that I had taken poison and were about to die-- here now!"
18.She leaned over him.
19."Ah, why do you say that"
20.But he gave a kind of soft moan, and taking her hand he held it to his cheek.
21."Because I know I am going to love you too much. And I shall suffer so terribly, Vera, because you never, never will love me."
22.He was certainly far better looking now than he had been then. He had lost all that dreamy vagueness and indecision. Now he had the air of a man who has found his place in
life. He must have made money, too. His clothes were admirable, and at that moment he pulled a Russian cigarette case out of his pocket.
23."Won't you smoke"
24."Yes, I will." She hovered over them. "They look very good."
25."I get them made for me by a little man in St James's Street. I don't smoke very much, but when I do, they must be delicious. Smoking isn't a habit with me; it's a luxury--like perfume. Are you still so fond of perfumes Ah, when I
"
26.She broke in:"You've really been to Russia"
27."Oh, yes. I was there for over a year. Have you forgotten how we used to talk of going there"
28."No, I've not forgotten."
29.He gave a strange half laugh and leaned back in his chair.
30."Isn't it curious I have really carried out all those journeys that we planned.
In fact, I have spent the last three years of my life travelling all the time. Spain, Corsica, Siberia, Russia, Egypt. The only country left is China, and I mean to go there, too, when the war is over."
31.As he spoke, so lightly, tapping the end of his cigarette against the ashtray, she felt the strange beast that had slumbered so long within her bosom stir, stretch itself, yawn, prick up its ears, and suddenly bound to its feet, and fix its longing, hungry stare upon those far away places. But all she said was, smiling gently:"How I envy you."