It was the Count de St. Alyre, who had been, as I have told you, reported to me to be, for some considerable time, on his way to Pèe la Chaise. He stood before me for a moment, with the frame of the doorway4 and a background of darkness enclosing him like a portrait. His slight, mean figure was draped in the deepest mourning. He had a pair of black gloves in his hand, and his hat with crape round it.
When he was not speaking his face showed signs of agitation5; his mouth was puckering6 and working. He looked damnably wicked and frightened.
“Well, my dear Eugenie? Well, child — eh? Well, it all goes admirably?”
“Yes,” she answered, in a low, hard tone. “But you and Planard should not have left that door open.”
This she said sternly. “He went in there and looked about wherever he liked; it was fortunate he did not move aside the lid of the coffin.”
“Planard should have seen to that,” said the Count, sharply. “Ma foi! I can’t be everywhere!” He advanced half-a-dozen short quick steps into the room toward me, and placed his glasses to his eyes.
“Monsieur Beckett,” he cried sharply, two or three times, “Hi! don’t you know me?”
He approached and peered more closely in my face; raised my hand and shook it, calling me again, then let it drop, and said: “It has set in admirably, my pretty mignonne. When did it commence?”
The Countess came and stood beside him, and looked at me steadily7 for some seconds. You can’t conceive the effect of the silent gaze of those two pairs of evil eyes.
The lady glanced to where, I recollected8, the mantel piece stood, and upon it a clock, the regular click of which I sharply heard. “Four — five — six minutes and a half,” she said slowly, in a cold hard way.
“Brava! Bravissima! my beautiful queen! my little Venus! my Joan of Arc! my heroine! my paragon9 of women!”
He was gloating on me with an odious10 curiosity, smiling, as he groped backward with his thin brown fingers to find the lady’s hand; but she, not (I dare say) caring for his caresses11, drew back a little.
“Come, ma chère, let us count these things. What is it? Pocket-book? Or — or — what?”
“It is that!” said the lady, pointing with a look of disgust to the box, which lay in its leather case on the table.
“Oh! Let us see — let us count — let us see,” he said, as he was unbuckling the straps12 with his tremulous fingers. “We must count them — we must see to it. I have pencil and pocket-book — but — where’s the key? See this cursed lock! My —! What is it? Where’s the key?”
He was standing13 before the Countess, shuffling14 his feet, with his hands extended and all his fingers quivering.
“I have not got it; how could I? It is in his pocket, of course,” said the lady.
In another instant the fingers of the old miscreant15 were in my pockets; he plucked out everything they contained, and some keys among the rest.
I lay in precisely16 the state in which I had been during my drive with the Marquis to Paris. This wretch17, I knew, was about to rob me. The whole drama, and the Countess’s r?le in it, I could not yet comprehend. I could not be sure — so much more presence of mind and histrionic resource have women than fall to the lot of our clumsy sex — whether the return of the Count was not, in truth, a surprise to her; and this scrutiny18 of the contents of my strong box, an extempore undertaking19 of the Count’s. But it was clearing more and more every moment: and I was destined20, very soon, to comprehend minutely my appalling21 situation.
I had not the power of turning my eyes this way or that, the smallest fraction of a hair’s breadth. But let anyone, placed as I was at the end of a room, ascertain22 for himself by experiment how wide is the field of sight, without the slightest alteration23 in the line of vision, he will find that it takes in the entire breadth of a large room, and that up to a very short distance before him; and imperfectly, by a refraction, I believe, in the eye itself, to a point very near indeed. Next to nothing that passed in the room, therefore, was hidden from me.
The old man had, by this time, found the key. The leather case was open. The box cramped24 round with iron was next unlocked. He turned out its contents upon the table.
“Rouleaux of a hundred Napoleons each. One, two, three. Yes, quick. Write down a thousand Napoleons. One, two; yes, right. Another thousand, write!” And so on and on till the gold was rapidly counted. Then came the notes.
“Ten thousand francs. Write. Then thousand francs again. Is it written? Another ten thousand francs: is it down? Smaller notes would have been better. They should have been smaller. These are horribly embarrassing. Bolt that door again; Planard would become unreasonable25 if he knew the amount. Why did you not tell him to get it in smaller notes? No matter now — go on — it can’t be helped — write — another ten thousand francs — another — another.” And so on, till my treasure was counted out before my face, while I saw and heard all that passed with the sharpest distinctness, and my mental perceptions were horribly vivid. But in all other respects I was dead.
He had replaced in the box every note and rouleau as he counted it, and now, having ascertained26 the sum total, he locked it, replaced it very methodically in its cover, opened a buffet27 in the wainscoting, and, having placed the Countess’ jewel-case and my strong box in it, he locked it; and immediately on completing these arrangements he began to complain, with fresh acrimony and maledictions of Planard’s delay.
He unbolted the door, looked in the dark room beyond, and listened. He closed the door again and returned. The old man was in a fever of suspense28.
“I have kept ten thousand francs for Planard,” said the Count, touching29 his waistcoat pocket.
“Will that satisfy him?” asked the lady.
“Why — curse him!” screamed the Count. “Has he no conscience? I’ll swear to him it’s half the entire thing.”
He and the lady again came and looked at me anxiously for a while, in silence; and then the old Count began to grumble30 again about Planard, and to compare his watch with the clock. The lady seemed less impatient; she sat no longer looking at me, but across the room, so that her profile was toward me — and strangely changed, dark and witch-like it looked. My last hope died as I beheld31 that jaded32 face from which the mask had dropped. I was certain that they intended to crown their robbery by murder. Why did they not dispatch me at once? What object could there be in postponing33 the catastrophe34 which would expedite their own safety. I cannot recall, even to myself, adequately the horrors unutterable that I underwent. You must suppose a real night-mare — I mean a night-mare in which the objects and the danger are real, and the spell of corporal death appears to be protractible at the pleasure of the persons who preside at your unearthly torments35. I could have no doubt as to the cause of the state in which I was.
In this agony, to which I could not give the slightest expression, I saw the door of the room where the coffin had been, open slowly, and the Marquis d’Harmonville entered the room.
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1
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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puckering
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的现在分词 )；小褶纹；小褶皱 | |
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7
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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caresses
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| 爱抚，抚摸( caress的名词复数 ) | |
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straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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13
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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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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miscreant
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| n.恶棍 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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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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scrutiny
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| n.详细检查，仔细观察 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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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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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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cramped
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| a.狭窄的 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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buffet
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| n.自助餐；饮食柜台；餐台 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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grumble
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| vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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postponing
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| v.延期，推迟( postpone的现在分词 ) | |
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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