And who could have an interest in keeping him far from Tilgate? That was the question. Was there anybody whom his presence there could in any way incommode? Could it be Elma’s father who wanted to send him so quickly away from England?
And what was the meaning of Elma’s profound resolution, so strangely and strongly expressed, never, never to marry him?
A painful idea flitted across the young man’s puzzled brain. Had the Cliffords alone discovered the secret of his birth? and was that secret of such a disgraceful sort that Elma’s father shrank from owning him as a prospective12 son-in-law, while even Elma herself could not bring herself to accept him as her future husband? If so, what could that ghastly secret be? Were he and Guy the inheritors of some deadly crime? Had their origin been concealed13 from them, more in mercy than in cruelty, only lest some hideous14 taint15 of murder or of madness might mar11 their future and make their whole lives miserable16?
When he reached Staple17 Inn, he found Guy and Montague Nevitt already in their joint18 rooms, and arrears19 of three days’ correspondence awaiting him.
A close observer—like Elma Clifford—might perhaps have noted20 in Montague Nevitt’s eye certain well-restrained symptoms of suppressed curiosity. But Cyril Waring, in his straightforward21, simple English manliness22, was not sharp enough to perceive that Nevitt watched him close while he broke the envelopes and glanced over his letters; or that Nevitt’s keen anxiety grew at once far deeper and more carefully concealed as Cyril turned to one big missive with an official-looking seal and a distinctly important legal aspect. On the contrary, to the outer eye or ear all that could be observed in Montague Nevitt’s manner was the nervous way he went on tightening23 his violin strings24 with a tremulous hand and whistling low to himself a few soft and tender bars of some melancholy25 scrap26 from Miss Ewes’s refectory.
As Cyril read through that letter, however, his breath came and went in short little gasps27, and his cheek flushed hotly with a sudden and overpowering flood of emotion.
“What’s the matter?” Guy asked, looking over his shoulder curiously28. And Cyril, almost faint with the innumerable ideas and suspicions that the tidings conjured29 up in his brain at once, said with an evident effort, “Read it, Guy; read it.”
Guy took the letter and read, Montague Nevitt gazing at it by his side meanwhile with profound interest.
As soon as they had glanced through its carefully-worded sentences, each drew a long breath and stared hard at the other. Then Cyril added in a whirl, “And here’s a letter from my own bankers saying they’ve duly received the six thousand pounds and put it to my credit.”
Guy’s face was pale, but he faltered30 out none the less with ashy lips, staring hard at the words all the time, “It isn’t only the money, of course, one thinks about, Cyril; but the clue it seems to promise us to our father and mother.”
“Exactly,” Cyril answered, with a responsive nod. “The money I won’t take. I don’t know what it means. But the clue I’ll follow up till I’ve run to earth the whole truth about who we are and where we come from.”
Montague Nevitt glanced quickly from one to the other with an incredulous air. “Not take the money,” he exclaimed, in cynical31 surprise. “Why, of course you’ll take it. Twelve thousand pounds isn’t to be sneezed at in these days, I can tell you. And as for the clue, why, there isn’t any clue. Not a jot32 or a tittle, a ghost or a shadow of it. The unnatural33 parent, whoever he may be—for I take it for granted the unnatural parent’s the person at the bottom of the offer—takes jolly good care not to let you know who on earth he is. He wraps himself up in a double cloak of mystery. Drummonds pay in the money to your account at your own bank, you see, and while they’re authorized34 to receive your acknowledgment of the sum remitted35, they are clearly NOT authorized to receive to the sender’s credit any return cheque for the amount or cash in repayment36. The unnatural parent evidently intends to remain, for the present at least, strictly37 anonymous38.
“Couldn’t you find out for us at Drummond, Coutts and Barclay’s who the sender is?” Guy asked, with some hesitation39, still turning over in his hand the mysterious letter.
Nevitt shook his head with prompt decision. “No, certainly not,” he answered, assuming an air of the severest probity40. “It would be absolutely impossible. The secrets in a bank are secrets of honour. We are the depositaries of tales that might ruin thousands, and we never say a word about one of them to anybody.”
As for Cyril, he felt himself almost too astonished for words. It was long before he could even discuss the matter quietly. The whole episode seemed so strange, so mysterious, so uncanny. And no wonder he hesitated. For the unknown writer of the letter with the legal seal had proposed a most curious and unsatisfactory arrangement. Six thousand pounds down on the nail to Cyril, six thousand more in a few weeks to Guy. But not for nothing. As in all law business, “valuable consideration” loomed41 large in the background. They were both to repair, on a given day, at a given hour, to a given office, in a given street, where they were to sign without inquiry42, and even without perusal43, whatever documents might then and there be presented to them. This course, the writer pointed44 out, with perspicuous plainness, was all in the end to their own greater advantage.
For unless they signed, they would get nothing more, and it would be useless for them at attempt the unravelling45 of the mystery. But if they consented to sign, then, the writer declared, the anonymous benefactor46 at whose instigation he wrote would leave them by his will a further substantial sum, not one penny of which would ever otherwise come to them.
And Montague Nevitt, as a man of business, looking the facts in the face, without sentiment or nonsense, advised them to sign, and make the best of a good bargain.
For Montague Nevitt saw at once in his own mind that this course would prove the most useful in the end for his own interests, both as regards the Warings and Colonel Kelmscott.
The two persons most concerned, however, viewed the matter in a very different light. To them, this letter, with its obscure half-hints, opened up a chance of solving at last the mystery of their position which had so long oppressed them. They might now perhaps find out who they really were, if only they could follow up this pregnant clue; and the clue itself suggested so many things.
“Whatever else it shows,” Guy said emphatically, “it shows we must be the lawful47 sons of some person of property, or else why should he want us to sign away our rights like this, all blindfold48? And whatever the rights themselves may be, they must be very considerable, or else why should he bribe49 us so heavily to sign ourselves out of them? Depend upon it, Nevitt, it’s an entailed50 estate, and the man who dictated51 that letter is in possession of the property, which ought to belong to Cyril and me. For my part, I’m opposed to all bargaining in the dark. I’ll sign nothing, and I’ll give away nothing, without knowing what it is. And that’s what I advise Cyril to write back and tell him.”
Cyril, however, was revolving52 in his own mind meanwhile a still more painful question. Could it be any blood-relationship between himself and Elma, unknown to him, but just made known to her, that gave rise to her firm and obviously recent determination never to marry him? A week or two since, he was sure, Elma knew of no cause or just impediment why they should not be joined together in holy matrimony. Could she have learned it meanwhile, before she met him in the wood? and could the fact of her so learning it have thus pricked53 the slumbering54 conscience of their unknown kinsman55 or their supposed supplanter56?
They sat there long and late, discussing the question from all possible standpoints—save the one thus silently started in his own mind by Cyril. But, in the end, Cyril’s resolution remained unshaken. He would leave the six thousand pounds in the bank, untouched; but he would write back at once to the unknown sender, declining plainly, once for all, to have anything to do with it or with the proposed transactions. If anything was his by right, he would take it as of right, but he would be no party to such hole-and-corner renunciations of unknown contingencies57 as the writer suggested. If the writer was willing to state at once all the facts of the case, in clear and succinct58 language, and to come to terms thus openly with himself and his brother, why then, Cyril averred59, he was ready to promise they would deal with his claims in a spirit of the utmost generosity60 and consideration. But if this was an attempt to do them out of their rights by a fraudulent bribe, he for one would have nothing to say to it. He would therefore hold the six thousand pounds paid in to his account entirely61 at his anonymous correspondent’s disposition62.
“And as there isn’t any use in my wasting the summer, Guy,” he said, in conclusion, “I won’t let this red-herring, trailed across my path, prevent me from going over at once, as I originally intended, to Dinant and Spa, and fulfilling the commission for those pictures of Dale and Norton’s; You and Nevitt can see meanwhile what it’s possible for us to do in the matter of hunting up this family mystery. You can telegraph if you want me, and I’ll come back at once. But more than ever now I feel the need of redeeming63 the time and working as hard as I can go at my profession.”
“Well, yes,” Guy answered, as if both their thoughts ran naturally in the self-same channel. “I agree with you there. She’s been accustomed to luxury. No man has a right to marry any girl if he can’t provide for her in the comfort and style she’s always been used to. And from that point of view, when one looks it in the face, Cyril, six thousand pounds would come in handy.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
preoccupied
|
|
| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
misgivings
|
|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
sundry
|
|
| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
glade
|
|
| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
dealer
|
|
| n.商人，贩子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
specified
|
|
| adj.特定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
tributaries
|
|
| n. 支流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
chambers
|
|
| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
sketches
|
|
| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
mar
|
|
| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
prospective
|
|
| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
taint
|
|
| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
staple
|
|
| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
joint
|
|
| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
arrears
|
|
| n.到期未付之债，拖欠的款项；待做的工作 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
straightforward
|
|
| adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
manliness
|
|
| 刚毅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
tightening
|
|
| 上紧，固定，紧密 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
strings
|
|
| n.弦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
melancholy
|
|
| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
scrap
|
|
| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
gasps
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
conjured
|
|
| 用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 )； 祈求，恳求； 变戏法； （变魔术般地） 使…出现 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
faltered
|
|
| （嗓音）颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 )； 支吾其词； 蹒跚； 摇晃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
cynical
|
|
| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
jot
|
|
| n.少量；vi.草草记下；vt.匆匆写下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
unnatural
|
|
| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
authorized
|
|
| a.委任的，许可的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
remitted
|
|
| v.免除（债务），宽恕( remit的过去式和过去分词 )；使某事缓和；寄回，传送 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
repayment
|
|
| n.偿还，偿还款；报酬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
strictly
|
|
| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
anonymous
|
|
| adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
hesitation
|
|
| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
probity
|
|
| n.刚直；廉洁，正直 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
loomed
|
|
| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
inquiry
|
|
| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
perusal
|
|
| n.细读，熟读；目测 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
unravelling
|
|
| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的现在分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
benefactor
|
|
| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
lawful
|
|
| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
blindfold
|
|
| vt.蒙住…的眼睛；adj.盲目的；adv.盲目地；n.蒙眼的绷带[布等]； 障眼物，蒙蔽人的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
bribe
|
|
| n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
entailed
|
|
| 使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
dictated
|
|
| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
revolving
|
|
| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
pricked
|
|
| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
slumbering
|
|
| 微睡，睡眠（slumber的现在分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
kinsman
|
|
| n.男亲属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
supplanter
|
|
| 排挤者，取代者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
57
contingencies
|
|
| n.偶然发生的事故，意外事故( contingency的名词复数 )；以备万一 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
succinct
|
|
| adj.简明的，简洁的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
averred
|
|
| v.断言( aver的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；证明…属实；作为事实提出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
generosity
|
|
| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
disposition
|
|
| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
redeeming
|
|
| 补偿的，弥补的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |