Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Part one - IX
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life but fasten mother’s and Sophy’s buttons at the back.”
She could manage all but two, and she allowed Gram to
help her with them. As she stood by him in the sunshine while
he fastened her dress, he became aware of the faint, mild
fragrance of her hair and her body. He noticed one or two
small rents in the silk, which were carefully darned, and the
sight of it filled his heart with an infinite tenderness towards
her.
“Do you think Helge a nice name?” he asked, when they
were having lunch at an osteria far out on the Campagna.
“Yes; I like it.”
“Do you know that it is my Christian name?”
“Yes; I saw you had written it in the visitors’ book at the
club.” She blushed slightly, thinking he might believe that
she had looked it up on purpose.
“I suppose it is nice. On the whole, there are few names
that are nice or ugly in themselves; it all depends if you like
the people or not. When I was a boy we had a nurse called
Jenny; I could not bear her, and ever since I thought the name
was hideous and common. It seemed to me preposterous that
you should be called Jenny, but now I think it so pretty; it gives
one an idea of fairness. Can you not hear how delicately fair
it sounds? — Jenny — a dark woman could not be called that,
not Miss Jahrman, for instance. Francesca suits her capitally,
don’t you think? It sounds so capricious, but Jenny is nice
and bright.”
“It is a name we’ve always had in my father’s family,” she
said, by way of an answer.
“What do you think of Rebecca, for instance?”
“I don’t know. Rather harsh and clattering, perhaps, but
it is pretty, though.”
“My mother’s name is Rebecca,” said Helge. “I think it
sounds hard, too. My sister’s name is Sophy. She married
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