Then Mr Maximilian Bray began to make his plans for the future. He told himself that time enough had elapsed; that he need not certainly give up Ella, but arrange with the landlord that he should be informed directly she was getting better, and then he could come down again—that could be easily managed—and he really was tired out of this. He also made a few other plans; building, too, a few more castles in the air, ending with the determination of going up to town by the first train in the morning, and getting to know how Laura’s affair was progressing.
“At all events, her way’s clear,” said Max, “and, bai Jove, she shall pay me for it by and by.”
“L’homme propose, mais Dieu dispose.” Max Bray arranged all future matters to his entire satisfaction, but again there were contingencies7 that he could not foresee. Sitting there, rolling his cigar in his mouth and reckoning how long it would be to lunch, he had made up his mind to dine the next day at his club; but he did not; neither did other matters turn out quite so satisfactorily as he wished.
The sojourn8 was at a quiet little hotel in a Gloucestershire town that it is unnecessary to name; suffice it if we say that, save on the weekly market-day, the streets, with two exceptions, were silent and deserted9; the two exceptions being the time when the children were set free from the National Schools. Hence, then, any little noise or excitement was unusual, and it was no wonder that Max Bray was startled by a scream above stairs, a cry for help, and the trampling10 of feet; sounds which his coward heart soon interpreted for him to mean an awful termination to his “stratagem,” when, rising hurriedly to his feet, he stood there resting one hand upon the table, and the cold perspiration11 standing12 in great drops upon his pallid13 face.
There were people coming towards his room—they were coming to tell him. “What of it, then?” he cried savagely14. “Could he help it? Had no doctor been obtained? It was her own mad excitement led to this termination.”
“O, sir! O, sir!” exclaimed the landlady15, bursting tearful-eyed into the room, “your poor, dear, sweet lady!”
“Dead?” asked Max in a harsh whisper, his knees shaking beneath him as he spoke16.
“No, sir, not dead. I only left her for a few minutes, and when I came back—”
“Well, what? Speak, woman!” cried Max fiercely.
“She was gone, sir.”
Max Bray stood for a minute as if stunned17, and then leaping at the woman he shook her savagely, before he started off to make inquiries18.
“Had anyone seen her?”
“No, not a soul.” But her clothes that she had worn the day she was borne insensible to the hotel were gone, as was also her little leather reticule-bag.
“Where could she have gone?”
Only one place could strike Max Bray, as he thought of what she would do if sense had returned, and she had mastered her weakness sufficiently19 to enable her to steal from the house unobserved. There was only one place that she could seek with the intention of fleeing from him, and that was the railway station.
“Was their life to be bound up somehow with railways?” he asked himself as he started off in the direction of the station. “Bai Jove!” he seemed to have been always either meeting or inquiring about her at booking-offices; but why had she not been better watched?
Why indeed, unless it was that a chance might be given her for seeking freedom. But the landlady’s few minutes had been a full hour, and, as if in her sleep, Ella had slowly risen, dressed for a journey, taken her reticule in her hand, her shawl over her arm, and then, drawing down her veil, walked—unseen, unchallenged—from the house, and, as if guided by instinct, gone straight to the station.
A train was nearly due—a fast train—and still in the same quiet way she applied20 for a through ticket to London, took her change and walked out on to the platform, to stand there perfectly21 motionless and fixed22 of eye.
No one heeded23 her of the few who were waiting, no one spoke; and at last came the faint and distant sound of the panting train, nearer, nearer, nearer.
Would she escape, or would she be stayed before she could take her place?
It might have been thought that she would feel, if not betray, some excitement; but no; she stood motionless, not even seeming to hear the coming train: it was as though she were moved by some power independent of her own will.
There was the ringing of the bell, the altering of a distance signal, and the train gliding24 up to the platform, as a farming-looking man drew the attention of another to a gentleman running swiftly a quarter of a mile down the road.
“He’ll be too late, safe.”
“Ah!” said the other. “And they won’t wait for him; for they’re very particular here since the row was made about the accident being through the bad time-keeping of the trains.”
“Look at him, how he’s waving his hat!” said the first speaker. “He’s running too, and no mistake. Why, it’s that dandy swell25 fellow that’s staying at Linton’s, where his wife’s ill.”
“Serve him right too,” said the other. “Why wasn’t he in better time? Those swells26 are always behindhand.”
“Now then, all going on!” cried a voice; and the two men stepped into a second-class carriage, against the door of which, and looking towards the booking-office, Ella was already seated, cold, fixed, and apparently27 perfectly insensible to what was going on.
“Cold day, miss,” said the man who took his seat opposite to her; but there was no reply, and the next moment the man’s attention was caught by what took place at the booking-office door.
Max Bray dashed panting up as the guard sounded his whistle, but only to find the glass door fastened, when, evidently half wild with excitement, he beat at the panels, gesticulating furiously as he saw the train begin slowly to move, and Ella seated at one window.
She could have seen him too, for her face was turned towards him; she must have heard his cries for the door to be opened; but she did not start, she did not shrink back; and now, mad almost with rage and disappointment, Max Bray forgot all about telegraphs surpassing trains, everything, in the sight of his prize escaping from within his fingers; and for what? To expose his cruel duplicity.
It would be ruin, he felt, and he must reach her at all hazards.
Turning, then, from the door, he ran along by the station to where a wooden palisade bounded the platform, and as the train was slowly gliding by him, he climbed over to reach the ground before the carriage containing Ella had passed.
“Stop him!” shouted the station-master; and the guard, who had run and leaped into his van, stood pointing out the breaker of rules as he paused for a few moments upon his step.
“Here, hi! You’re too late, sir!” roared a couple of porters running in pursuit; and as Max Bray leaped on to the door-step, and clung to the handle of the compartment28 with his face within a few inches of Ella’s, a porter’s hand was upon his arm; there was a shout, a curse, the words “Bai Jove!” half uttered, and then the speaker felt his hands snatched from their hold; the next moment it was as though a fearful blow was struck him, and he and the porter were rolling upon the platform. But again there was a jerk, a wild shriek29 that froze the bystanders’ blood, and the form of one of the wrestlers was seen to be drawn30 down between the last carriage and the platform; the guard’s break passed on, and Max Bray lay motionless upon the line.
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1
bray
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| n.驴叫声, 喇叭声；v.驴叫 | |
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convalescence
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| n.病后康复期 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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6
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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7
contingencies
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| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
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8
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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9
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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10
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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11
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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12
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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13
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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14
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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15
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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16
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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17
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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18
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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19
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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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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22
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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23
heeded
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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25
swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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26
swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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27
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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28
compartment
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| n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间 | |
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29
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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30
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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