Reflections in a Golden Eye

You mean,' Captain Penderton said, 'that any fulfilment obtained at the expense of normalcy is wrong, and should not be allowed to bring happiness. In short, it is better, because it is morally honourable, for the square peg to keep scraping around the round hole rather than to discover and use the unorthodox square that would fit?'…'I don't agree

Leonora Penderton feared neither man, beast, nor the devil; God she had never known.

The Captain swallowed his capsules and lay down in the dark with pleasant anticipation. This quantity of the drug gave him a unique and voluptuous sensation; it was as though a great dark bird alighted on his chest, looked at him once with fierce, golden eyes, and stealthily enfolded him in his dark wings.

Az igazság az, hogy Leonora Penderton egy kissé gyengeelmejű volt. Ez a szomorú tény nem tűnt fel sem az estélyeken, sem az istállóban, sem a vacsoraasztalnál. Mindössze hárman voltak tisztában vele: idős apja, akit nagyon aggasztott a helyzet, míg szerencsésen férjhez nem adta; a férje, aki minden negyvenen aluli nő termeszetes állapotának vélte a dolgot; valamint Morris Langdon őrnagy, aki csak annál jobban szerette érte.

Afterward the Captain was to tell himself that in this one instant he knew everything. Actually, in a moment when a great but unknown shock is expected, the mind instinctively prepares itself by abandoning momentarily the faculty of surprise. In that vulnerable instant a kaleidoscope of half-guessed possibilities project themselves, and when the disaster has defined itself there is the feeling of having understood beforehand in some supernatural way.

In his heart there coursed a wild tirade of curses, words of love, supplications, and abuse. But in the end he turned away, still silent.

Cuando se casó con el capitán era virgen. Cuatro noches después de su boda seguía siendo virgen, y a la quinta noche su estado cambió apenas lo suficiente para dejarla intrigada. El resto sería difícil de contar.

And having given up on life, the Captain suddenly began to live. A great mad joy surged through him. This emotion, coming as unexpectedly as the plunge of the horse when he had broken away, was one that the Captain had never experienced. His eyes were glassy and half-open, as in delirium, but he saw suddenly as he had never seen before. The world was a kaleidoscope, and each of the multiple visions which he saw impressed itself on his mind with burning vividness. On the ground half-buried in the leaves there was a little flower, dazzling white and beautifully wrought. A thorny pine cone, the flight of a bird in the blue windy sky, a fiery shaft of sunshine in the green gloom - these the Captain saw as though for the first time in his life. He was conscious of the pure keen air and the felt the marvel of his own tense body, his labouring heart, and the miracle of blood, muscle, nerves, and bones. The Captain knew no terror now; he soared the rare level of consciousness where the mystic feels that the earth is he and that he is the earth. Clinging crabwise to the runaway horse, there was a grin of rapture on his bloody mouth.

Hay momentos en que le mayor anhelo de un hombre es tener alguien a quien amar, algún punto central en que poder concentrar las emociones difusas. Y también hay momentos en que es preciso descargar en odio los disgustos, los desengaños y temores, bullentes e inquietos como espermatozoides. El desgraciado capitán no tenía a quien odiar, y en los últimos mese se había sentido muy triste.

An army post in peacetime is a dull place. Things happen, but then they happen over and over again.

She looked him full in the face with the most amazed expression. Even now he could not think of it without a shudder. And after a horribly long stare Alison had burst out laughing yes, laughing. She laughed so hard that she choked herself and someone had to beat her on the back. Finally she excused herself from the table. And all through that tormenting evening whenever he looked at her she gave him such a mocking smile.