of
The Dream-Woman.
Chapter i.
I HAD not been settled much more than six weeks in my country practice when I was sent for to a neighboring town, to consult with the resident medical man there on a case of very dangerous illness.
My horse had come down with me at the end of a long ride the night before, and had hurt himself, luckily, much more than he had hurt his master. Being deprived of the animal’s services, I started for my destination by the coach (there were no railways at that time), and I hoped to get back again, toward the afternoon, in the same way.
After the consultation1 was over, I went to the principal inn of the town to wait for the coach. When it came up it was full inside and out. There was no resource left me but to get home as cheaply as I could by hiring a gig. The price asked for this accommodation struck me as being so extortionate, that I determined2 to look out for an inn of inferior pretensions3, and to try if I could not make a better bargain with a less prosperous establishment.
I soon found a likely-looking house, dingy4 and quiet, with an old-fashioned sign, that had evidently not been repainted for many years past. The landlord, in this case, was not above making a small profit, and as soon as we came to terms he rang the yard-bell to order the gig.
“Has Robert not come back from that errand?” asked the landlord, appealing to the waiter who answered the bell.
“No, sir, he hasn’t.”
“Well, then, you must wake up Isaac.”
“Wake up Isaac!” I repeated; “that sounds rather odd. Do your hostlers go to bed in the daytime?”
“This one does,” said the landlord, smiling to himself in rather a strange way.
“And dreams too,” added the waiter; “I shan’t forget the turn it gave me the first time I heard him.”
“Never you mind about that,” retorted the proprietor5; “you go and rouse Isaac up. The gentleman’s waiting for his gig.”
The landlord’s manner and the waiter’s manner expressed a great deal more than they either of them said. I began to suspect that I might be on the trace of something professionally interesting to me as a medical man, and I thought I should like to look at the hostler before the waiter awakened6 him.
“Stop a minute,” I interposed; “I have rather a fancy for seeing this man before you wake him up. I’m a doctor; and if this queer sleeping and dreaming of his comes from anything wrong in his brain, I may be able to tell you what to do with him.”
“I rather think you will find his complaint past all doctoring, sir,” said the landlord; “but, if you would like to see him, you’re welcome, I’m sure.”
He led the way across a yard and down a passage to the stables, opened one of the doors, and, waiting outside himself, told me to look in.
I found myself in a two-stall stable. In one of the stalls a horse was munching7 his corn; in the other an old man was lying asleep on the litter.
I stooped and looked at him attentively8. It was a withered9, woe-begone face. The eyebrows10 were painfully contracted; the mouth was fast set, and drawn11 down at the corners.
The hollow wrinkled cheeks, and the scanty12 grizzled hair, told their own tale of some past sorrow or suffering. He was drawing his breath convulsively when I first looked at him, and in a moment more he began to talk in his sleep.
“Wake up!” I heard him say, in a quick whisper, through his clinched13 teeth. “Wake up there! Murder!”
He moved one lean arm slowly till it rested over his throat, shuddered15 a little, and turned on his straw. Then the arm left his throat, the hand stretched itself out, and clutched at the side toward which he had turned, as if he fancied himself to be grasping at the edge of something. I saw his lips move, and bent16 lower over him. He was still talking in his sleep.
“Light gray eyes,” he murmured, “and a droop17 in the left eyelid18; flaxen hair, with a gold-yellow streak19 in it — all right, mother — fair white arms, with a down on them — little lady’s hand, with a reddish look under the finger nails. The knife — always the cursed knife — first on one side, then on the other. Aha! you she-devil, where’s the knife?”
At the last word his voice rose, and he grew restless on a sudden. I saw him shudder14 on the straw; his withered face became distorted, and he threw up both his hands with a quick hysterical20 gasp21. They struck against the bottom of the manger under which he lay, and the blow awakened him. I had just time to slip through the door and close it before his eyes were fairly open, and his senses his own again.
“Do you know anything about that man’s past life?” I said to the landlord.
“Yes, sir, I know pretty well all about it,” was the answer, “and an uncommon22 queer story it is. Most people don’t believe it. It’s true, though, for all that. Why, just look at him,” continued the landlord, opening the stable door again. “Poor devil! he’s so worn out with his restless nights that he’s dropped back into his sleep already.”
“Don’t wake him,” I said; “I’m in no hurry for the gig. Wait till the other man comes back from his errand; and, in the meantime, suppose I have some lunch and a bottle of sherry, and suppose you come and help me to get through it?”
The heart of mine host, as I had anticipated, warmed to me over his own wine. He soon became communicative on the subject of the man asleep in the stable, and by little and little I drew the whole story out of him. Extravagant23 and incredible as the events must appear to everybody, they are related here just as I heard them and just as they happened.
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1
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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3
pretensions
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| 自称( pretension的名词复数 )； 自命不凡； 要求； 权力 | |
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dingy
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| adj.昏暗的，肮脏的 | |
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proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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6
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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7
munching
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| v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 ) | |
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8
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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9
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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10
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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11
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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12
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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13
clinched
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| v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的过去式和过去分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议） | |
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14
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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15
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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16
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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17
droop
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| v.低垂，下垂；凋萎，萎靡 | |
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18
eyelid
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| n.眼睑，眼皮 | |
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19
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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20
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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21
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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22
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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23
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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