The Scarlet Letters

Начало книги

Until the fourth year of their marriage, their friends considered Dirk and Martha Lawrence one of the happiest couples in New York.

The lovebirds were invariably described as “nice, interesting young people.” The temporal part of the description puzzled outsiders at first, since both were in their thirties, not the prime youth of the biologists. Besides, Martha was two years older than Dirk. But after people got to know them the description came easily. Dirk was cast in the dark, romantic mold of Bohemian garrets, and Martha had the plump, exquisite look of the pigeon aperch on the sill. That they were interesting and nice was never questioned at all. Dirk was a writer, and to non-writers — who comprised most of the Lawrences’ friends — writers are curiosities from another world, like movie stars and ax-murderers. And Martha was an absolute darling — that is, she was no threat to the other women in their set.

Читать дальше →