There are some parts of the world where it would be drawing no natural picture of human nature to represent a son as believing conscientiously2 that an offense3 against life and the laws of hospitality, secretly committed by his father, rendered him, though innocent of all participation4 in it, unworthy to fulfill5 his engagement with his affianced wife. Among the simple inhabitants of Gabriel’s province, however, such acuteness of conscientious1 sensibility as this was no extraordinary exception to all general rules. Ignorant and superstitious6 as they might be, the people of Brittany practiced the duties of hospitality as devoutly7 as they practiced the duties of the national religion. The presence of the stranger-guest, rich or poor, was a sacred presence at their hearths9. His safety was their especial charge, his property their especial responsibility. They might be half starved, but they were ready to share the last crust with him, nevertheless, as they would share it with their own children.
Any outrage10 on the virtue11 of hospitality, thus born and bred in the people, was viewed by them with universal disgust, and punished with universal execration12. This ignominy was uppermost in Gabriel’s thoughts by the side of his grandfather’s bed; the dread13 of this worst dishonor, which there was no wiping out, held him speechless before Perrine, shamed and horrified14 him so that he felt unworthy to look her in the face; and when the result of his search at the Merchant’s Table proved the absence there of all evidence of the crime spoken of by the old man, the blessed relief, the absorbing triumph of that discovery, was expressed entirely16 in the one thought which had prompted his first joyful17 words: He could marry Perrine with a clear conscience, for he was the son of an honest man!
When he returned to the cottage, Francois had not come back. Perrine was astonished at the change in Gabriel’s manner; even Pierre and the children remarked it. Rest and warmth had by this time so far recovered the younger brother, that he was able to give some account of the perilous18 adventures of the night at sea. They were still listening to the boy’s narrative19 when Francois at last returned. It was now Gabriel who held out his hand, and made the first advances toward reconciliation20.
To his utter amazement21, his father recoiled22 from him. The variable temper of Francois had evidently changed completely during his absence at the village. A settled scowl23 of distrust darkened his face as he looked at his son.
“I never shake hands with people who have once doubted me,” he exclaimed, loudly and irritably24; “for I always doubt them forever after. You are a bad son! You have suspected your father of some infamy25 that you dare not openly charge him with, on no other testimony26 than the rambling27 nonsense of a half-witted, dying old man. Don’t speak to me! I won’t hear you! An innocent man and a spy are bad company. Go and denounce me, you Judas in disguise! I don’t care for your secret or for you. What’s that girl Perrine doing here still? Why hasn’t she gone home long ago? The priest’s coming; we don’t want strangers in the house of death. Take her back to the farmhouse28, and stop there with her, if you like; nobody wants you here!”
There was something in the manner and look of the speaker as he uttered these words, so strange, so sinister29, so indescribably suggestive of his meaning much more than he said, that Gabriel felt his heart sink within him instantly; and almost at the same moment this fearful question forced itself irresistibly30 on his mind: might not his father have followed him to the Merchant’s Table?
Even if he had been desired to speak, he could not have spoken now, while that question and the suspicion that it brought with it were utterly31 destroying all the re-assuring hopes and convictions of the morning. The mental suffering produced by the sudden change from pleasure to pain in all his thoughts, reacted on him physically32. He felt as if he were stifling33 in the air of the cottage, in the presence of his father; and when Perrine hurried on her walking attire34, and with a face which alternately flushed and turned pale with every moment, approached the door, he went out with her as hastily as if he had been flying from his home. Never had the fresh air and the free daylight felt like heavenly and guardian35 influences to him until now!
He could comfort Perrine under his father’s harshness, he could assure her of his own affection, which no earthly influence could change, while they walked together toward the farmhouse; but he could do no more. He durst not confide36 to her the subject that was uppermost in his mind; of all human beings she was the last to whom he could reveal the terrible secret that was festering at his heart. As soon as they got within sight of the farmhouse, Gabriel stopped; and, promising37 to see her again soon, took leave of Perrine with assumed ease in his manner and with real despair in his heart. Whatever the poor girl might think of it, he felt, at that moment, that he had not courage to face her father, and hear him talk happily and pleasantly, as his custom was, of Perrine’s approaching marriage.
Left to himself, Gabriel wandered hither and thither38 over the open heath, neither knowing nor caring in what direction he turned his steps. The doubts about his father’s innocence39 which had been dissipated by his visit to the Merchant’s Table, that father’s own language and manner had now revived—had even confirmed, though he dared not yet acknowledge so much to himself. It was terrible enough to be obliged to admit that the result of his morning’s search was, after all, not conclusive—that the mystery was, in very truth, not yet cleared up. The violence of his father’s last words of distrust; the extraordinary and indescribable changes in his father’s manner while uttering them—what did these things mean? Guilt40 or innocence? Again, was it any longer reasonable to doubt the death-bed confession41 made by his grandfather? Was it not, on the contrary, far more probable that the old man’s denial in the morning of his own words at night had been made under the influence of a panic terror, when his moral consciousness was bewildered, and his intellectual faculties42 were sinking? The longer Gabriel thought of these questions, the less competent—possibly also the less willing—he felt to answer them. Should he seek advice from others wiser than he? No; not while the thousandth part of a chance remained that his father was innocent.
This thought was still in his mind, when he found himself once more in sight of his home. He was still hesitating near the door, when he saw it opened cautiously. His brother Pierre looked out, and then came running toward him. “Come in, Gabriel; oh, do come in!” said the boy, earnestly. “We are afraid to be alone with father. He’s been beating us for talking of you.”
Gabriel went in. His father looked up from the hearth8 where he was sitting, muttered the word “Spy!” and made a gesture of contempt but did not address a word directly to his son. The hours passed on in silence; afternoon waned43 into evening, and evening into night; and still he never spoke15 to any of his children. Soon after it was dark, he went out, and took his net with him, saying that it was better to be alone on the sea than in the house with a spy.
When he returned the next morning there was no change in him. Days passed—weeks, months, even elapsed, and still, though his manner insensibly became what it used to be toward his other children, it never altered toward his eldest44 son. At the rare periods when they now met, except when absolutely obliged to speak, he preserved total silence in his intercourse45 with Gabriel. He would never take Gabriel out with him in the boat; he would never sit alone with Gabriel in the house; he would never eat a meal with Gabriel; he would never let the other children talk to him about Gabriel; and he would never hear a word in expostulation, a word in reference to anything his dead father had said or done on the night of the storm, from Gabriel himself.
The young man pined and changed, so that even Perrine hardly knew him again, under this cruel system of domestic excommunication; under the wearing influence of the one unchanging doubt which never left him; and, more than all, under the incessant46 reproaches of his own conscience, aroused by the sense that he was evading47 a responsibility which it was his solemn, his immediate48 duty to undertake. But no sting of conscience, no ill treatment at home, and no self-reproaches for failing in his duty of confession as a good Catholic, were powerful enough in their influence over Gabriel to make him disclose the secret, under the oppression of which his very life was wasting away. He knew that if he once revealed it, whether his father was ultimately proved to be guilty or innocent, there would remain a slur49 and a suspicion on the family, and on Perrine besides, from her approaching connection with it, which in their time and in their generation could never be removed. The reproach of the world is terrible even in the crowded city, where many of the dwellers50 in our abiding-place are strangers to us—but it is far more terrible in the country, where none near us are strangers, where all talk of us and know of us, where nothing intervenes between us and the tyranny of the evil tongue. Gabriel had not courage to face this, and dare the fearful chance of life-long ignominy—no, not even to serve the sacred interests of justice, of atonement, and of truth.
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1
conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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conscientiously
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| adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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participation
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| n.参与，参加，分享 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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devoutly
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| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
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hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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hearths
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| 壁炉前的地板，炉床，壁炉边( hearth的名词复数 ) | |
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outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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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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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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irritably
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| ad.易生气地 | |
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infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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rambling
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| adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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29
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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30
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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34
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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36
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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37
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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38
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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40
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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41
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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42
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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43
waned
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| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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44
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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45
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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46
incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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47
evading
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| 逃避( evade的现在分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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48
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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49
slur
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| v.含糊地说；诋毁；连唱；n.诋毁；含糊的发音 | |
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50
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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