Lady Janet’s temper had hardly been allowed time enough to subside4 to its customary level.
“Very remarkable, I dare say,” she answered, “to people who feel any doubt of this pitiable lady of yours being mad. I feel no doubt — and, thus far, I find your account of yourself, Julian, tiresome5 in the extreme. Go on to the end. Did you lay your hand on Mercy Merrick?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything of her?”
“Nothing. Difficulties beset6 me on every side. The French ambulance had shared in the disasters of France — it was broken up. The wounded Frenchmen were prisoners somewhere in Germany, nobody knew where. The French surgeon had been killed in action. His assistants were scattered7 — most likely in hiding. I began to despair of making any discovery, when accident threw in my way two Prussian soldiers who had been in the French cottage. They confirmed what the German surgeon told the consul, and what Horace himself told me— namely, that no nurse in a black dress was to be seen in the place. If there had been such a person, she would certainly (the Prussians inform me) have been found in attendance on the injured Frenchmen. The cross of the Geneva Convention would have been amply sufficient to protect her: no woman wearing that badge of honor would have disgraced herself by abandoning the wounded men before the Germans entered the place.”
“In short,” interposed Lady Janet, “there is no such person as Mercy Merrick.”
“I can draw no other conclusion,” said Julian, “unless the English doctor’s idea is the right one. After hearing what I have just told you, he thinks the woman herself is Mercy Merrick.”
Lady Janet held up her hand as a sign that she had an objection to make here.
“You and the doctor seem to have settled everything to your entire satisfaction on both sides,” she said. “But there is one difficulty that you have neither of you accounted for yet.”
“What is it, aunt?”
“You talk glibly8 enough, Julian, about this woman’s mad assertion that Grace is the missing nurse, and that she is Grace. But you have not explained yet how the idea first got into her head; and, more than that, how it is that she is acquainted with my name and address, and perfectly9 familiar with Grace’s papers and Grace’s affairs. These things are a puzzle to a person of my average intelligence. Can your clever friend, the doctor, account for them?”
“Shall I tell you what he said when I saw him this morning?”
“Will it take long?”
“It will take about a minute.”
“You agreeably surprise me. Go on.”
“You want to know how she gained her knowledge of your name and of Miss Roseberry’s affairs,” Julian resumed. “The doctor says in one of two ways. Either Miss Roseberry must have spoken of you and of her own affairs while she and the stranger were together in the French cottage, or the stranger must have obtained access privately11 to Miss Roseberry’s papers. Do you agree so far?”
Lady Janet began to feel interested for the first time.
“Perfectly,” she said. “I have no doubt Grace rashly talked of matters which an older and wiser person would have kept to herself.”
“Very good. Do you also agree that the last idea in the woman’s mind when she was struck by the shell might have been (quite probably) the idea of Miss Roseberry’s identity and Miss Roseberry’s affairs? You think it likely enough? Well, what happens after that? The wounded woman is brought to life by an operation, and she becomes delirious12 in the hospital at Mannheim. During her delirium13 the idea of Miss Roseberry’s identity ferments14 in her brain, and assumes its present perverted15 form. In that form it still remains16. As a necessary consequence, she persists in reversing the two identities. She says she is Miss Roseberry, and declares Miss Roseberry to be Mercy Merrick. There is the doctor ‘s explanation. What do you think of it?”
“Very ingenious, I dare say. The doctor doesn’t quite satisfy me, however, for all that. I think —”
What Lady Janet thought was not destined17 to be expressed. She suddenly checked herself, and held up her hand for the second time.
“Another objection?” inquired Julian.
“Hold your tongue!” cried the old lady. “If you say a word more I shall lose it again.”
“Lose what, aunt?”
“What I wanted to say to you ages ago. I have got it back again — it begins with a question. (No more of the doctor — I have had enough of him!) Where is she —your pitiable lady, my crazy wretch18 — where is she now? Still in London?”
“Yes.”
“And still at large?”
“Still with the landlady19, at her lodgings20.”
“Very well. Now answer me this! What is to prevent her from making another attempt to force her way (or steal her way) into my house? How am I to protect Grace, how am I to protect myself, if she comes here again?”
“Is that really what you wished to speak to me about?”
“That, and nothing else.”
They were both too deeply interested in the subject of their conversation to look toward the conservatory21, and to notice the appearance at that moment of a distant gentleman among the plants and flowers, who had made his way in from the garden outside. Advancing noiselessly on the soft Indian matting, the gentleman ere long revealed himself under the form and features of Horace Holmcroft. Before entering the dining-room he paused, fixing his eyes inquisitively22 on the back of Lady Janet’s visitor — the back being all that he could see in the position he then occupied. After a pause of an instant the visitor spoke10, and further uncertainty23 was at once at an end. Horace, nevertheless, made no movement to enter the room. He had his own jealous distrust of what Julian might be tempted24 to say at a private interview with his aunt; and he waited a little longer on the chance that his doubts might be verified.
“Neither you nor Miss Roseberry need any protection from the poor deluded25 creature,” Julian went on. “I have gained great influence over her — and I have satisfied her that it is useless to present herself here again.”
“I beg your pardon,” interposed Horace, speaking from the conservatory door. “You have done nothing of the sort.”
(He had heard enough to satisfy him that the talk was not taking the direction which his Suspicions had anticipated. And, as an additional incentive26 to show himself, a happy chance had now offered him the opportunity of putting Julian in the wrong.)
“Good heavens, Horace!” exclaimed Lady Janet. “Where did you come from? And what do you mean?”
“I heard at the lodge27 that your ladyship and Grace had returned last night. And I came in at once without troubling the servants, by the shortest way.” He turned to Julian next. “The woman you were speaking of just now,” he proceeded, “has been here again already — in Lady Janet’s absence.”
Lady Janet immediately looked at her nephew. Julian reassured28 her by a gesture.
“Impossible,” he said. “There must be some mistake.”
“There is no mistake,” Horace rejoined. “I am repeating what I have just heard from the lodge-keeper himself. He hesitated to mention it to Lady Janet for fear of alarming her. Only three days since this person had the audacity29 to ask him for her ladyship’s address at the sea-side. Of course he refused to give it.”
“You hear that, Julian?” said Lady Janet.
No signs of anger or mortification30 escaped Julian. The expression in his face at that moment was an expression of sincere distress31.
“Pray don’t alarm yourself,” he said to his aunt, in his quietest tones. “If she attempts to annoy you or Miss Roseberry again, I have it in my power to stop her instantly.”
“How?” asked Lady Janet.
“How, indeed!” echoed Horace. “If we give her in charge to the police, we shall become the subject of a public scandal.”
“I have managed to avoid all danger of scandal,” Julian answered; the expression of distress in his face becoming more and more marked while he spoke. “Before I called here to-day I had a private consultation32 with the magistrate33 of the district, and I have made certain arrangements at the police station close by. On receipt of my card, an experienced man, in plain clothes, will present himself at any address that I indicate, and will take her quietly away. The magistrate will hear the charge in his private room, and will examine the evidence which I can produce, showing that she is not accountable for her actions. The proper medical officer will report officially on the case, and the law will place her under the necessary restraint.”
Lady Janet and Horace looked at each other in amazement34. Julian was, in their opinion, the last man on earth to take the course — at once sensible and severe — which Julian had actually adopted. Lady Janet insisted on an explanation.
“Why do I hear of this now for the first time?” she asked. “Why did you not tell me you had taken these precautions before?”
Julian answered frankly35 and sadly.
“Because I hoped, aunt, that there would be no necessity for proceeding36 to extremities37. You now force me to acknowledge that the lawyer and the doctor (both of whom I have seen this morning) think, as you do, that she is not to be trusted. It was at their suggestion entirely38 that I went to the magistrate. They put it to me whether the result of my inquiries39 abroad — unsatisfactory as it may have been in other respects — did not strengthen the conclusion that the poor woman’s mind is deranged40. I felt compelled in common honesty to admit that it was so. Having owned this, I was bound to take such precautions as the lawyer and the doctor thought necessary. I have done my duty — sorely against my own will. It is weak of me, I dare say; but I can not bear the thought of treating this afflicted41 creature harshly. Her delusion42 is so hopeless! her situation is such a pitiable one!”
His voice faltered43. He turned away abruptly44 and took up his hat. Lady Janet followed him, and spoke to him at the door. Horace smiled satirically, and went to warm himself at the fire.
“Are you going away, Julian?”
“I am only going to the lodge-keeper. I want to give him a word of warning in case of his seeing her again.”
“You will come back here?” (Lady Janet lowered her voice to a whisper.) “There is really a reason, Julian, for your not leaving the house now.”
“I promise not to go away, aunt, until I have provided for your security. If you, or your adopted daughter, are alarmed by another intrusion, I give you my word of honor my card shall go to the police station, however painfully I may feel it myself.” (He, too, lowered his voice at the next words ) “In the meantime, remember what I confessed to you while we were alone. For my sake, let me see as little of Miss Roseberry as possible. Shall I find you in this room when I come back?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
He laid a strong emphasis, of look as well as of tone, on that one word. Lady Janet understood what the emphasis meant.
“Are you really,” she whispered, “as much in love with Grace as that?”
Julian laid one hand on his aunt’s arm, and pointed45 with the other to Horace — standing46 with his back to them, warming his feet on the fender.
“Well?” said Lady Janet.
“Well,” said Julian, with a smile on his lip and a tear in his eye, “I never envied any man as I envy him!”
With those words he left the room.
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1
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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subside
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| vi.平静，平息；下沉，塌陷，沉降 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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6
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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7
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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8
glibly
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| adv.流利地，流畅地；满口 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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10
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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ferments
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| n.酵素( ferment的名词复数 )；激动；骚动；动荡v.（使）发酵( ferment的第三人称单数 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
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15
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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16
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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conservatory
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| n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的 | |
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inquisitively
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| 过分好奇地； 好问地 | |
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uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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25
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incentive
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| n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机 | |
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27
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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28
reassured
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| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
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29
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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38
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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40
deranged
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| adj.疯狂的 | |
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41
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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43
faltered
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| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
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44
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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45
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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