“Sleep of the common sort is evidently not allowed in this house.” With that remark the gentleman entered the room, and stood revealed as the original owner of the card numbered Fourteen.
Viewed by the clear lamplight, he was a tall, finely-made man, in the prime of life, with a florid complexion1, golden-brown hair, and sparkling blue eyes. Noticing Madame Lagarde, he instantly checked the flow of his satire2, with the instinctive3 good-breeding of a gentleman. “I beg your pardon,” he said; “I have a great many faults, and a habit of making bad jokes is one of them. Is the servant right, madam, in telling me that I have the honor of presenting myself here at your request?”
Madame Lagarde briefly4 explained what had passed.
The florid gentleman (still privately5 believing it to be all “humbug”) was delighted to make himself of any use. “I congratulate you, sir,” he said, with his easy humor, as he passed the visitor who had become possessed6 of his card. “Number Fourteen seems to be a luckier number in your keeping than it was in mine.”
As he spoke7, he took Doctor Lagarde’s disengaged hand. The instant they touched each other the sleeper8 started. His voice rose; his face flushed. “You are the man!” he exclaimed. “I see you plainly now!”
“What am I doing?”
“You are standing9 opposite to the gentleman here who is holding my other hand; and (as I have said already) you have met to fight a duel10.”
The unbeliever cast a shrewd look at his companion in the consultation11.
“Considering that you and I are total strangers, sir,” he said, “don’t you think the Doctor had better introduce us, before he goes any further? We have got to fighting a duel already, and we may as well know who we are, before the pistols go off.” He turned to Doctor Lagarde. “Dramatic situations don’t amuse me out of the theater,” he resumed. “Let me put you to a very commonplace test. I want to be introduced to this gentleman. Has he told you his name?”
“No.”
“Of course, you know it, without being told?”
“Certainly. I have only to look into your own knowledge of yourselves, while I am in this trance, and while you have got my hands, to know both your names as well as you do.”
“Introduce us, then!” retorted the jesting gentleman. “And take my name first.”
“Mr. Percy Linwood,” replied the Doctor; “I have the honor of presenting you to Captain Bervie, of the Artillery12.”
With one accord, the gentlemen both dropped Doctor Lagarde’s hands, and looked at each other in blank amazement13.
“Of course he has discovered our names somehow!” said Mr. Percy Linwood, explaining the mystery to his own perfect satisfaction in that way.
Captain Bervie had not forgotten what Madame Lagarde had said to him, when he too had suspected a trick. He now repeated it (quite ineffectually) for Mr. Linwood’s benefit. “If you don’t feel the force of that argument as I feel it,” he added, “perhaps, as a favor to me, sir, you will not object to our each taking the Doctor’s hand again, and hearing what more he can tell us while he remains14 in the state of trance?”
“With the greatest pleasure!” answered good-humored Mr. Linwood. “Our friend is beginning to amuse me; I am as anxious as you are to know what he is going to see next.”
Captain Bervie put the next question.
“You have seen us ready to fight a duel—can you tell us the result?”
“I can tell you nothing more than I have told you already. The figures of the duelists have faded away, like the other figures I saw before them. What I see now looks like the winding15 gravel-path of a garden. A man and a woman are walking toward me. The man stops, and places a ring on the woman’s finger, and kisses her.”
Captain Bervie opened his lips to continue his inquiries—turned pale—and checked himself. Mr. Linwood put the next question.
“Who is the happy man?” he asked.
“You are the happy man,” was the instantaneous reply.
“Who is the woman?” cried Captain Bervie, before Mr. Linwood could speak again.
“The same woman whom I saw before; dressed in the same color, in pale blue.”
Captain Bervie positively16 insisted on receiving clearer information than this. “Surely you can see something of her personal appearance?” he said.
“I can see that she has long dark-brown hair, falling below her waist. I can see that she has lovely dark-brown eyes. She has the look of a sensitive nervous person. She is quite young. I can see no more.”
“Look again at the man who is putting the ring on her finger,” said the Captain. “Are you sure that the face you see is the face of Mr. Percy Linwood?”
“I am absolutely sure.”
Captain Bervie rose from his chair.
“Thank you, madam,” he said to the Doctor’s mother. “I have heard enough.”
He walked to the door. Mr. Percy Linwood dropped Doctor Lagarde’s hand, and appealed to the retiring Captain with a broad stare of astonishment17.
“You don’t really believe this?” he said.
“I only say I have heard enough,” Captain Bervie answered.
Mr. Linwood could hardly fail to see that any further attempt to treat the matter lightly might lead to undesirable18 results.
“It is difficult to speak seriously of this kind of exhibition,” he resumed quietly. “But I suppose I may mention a mere19 matter of fact, without meaning or giving offense20. The description of the lady, I can positively declare, does not apply in any single particular to any one whom I know.”
Captain Bervie turned round at the door. His patience was in some danger of failing him. Mr. Linwood’s unruffled composure, assisted in its influence by the presence of Madame Lagarde, reminded him of the claims of politeness. He restrained the rash words as they rose to his lips. “You may make new acquaintances, sir,” was all that he said. “You have the future before you.”
Upon that, he went out. Percy Linwood waited a little, reflecting on the Captain’s conduct.
Had Doctor Lagarde’s description of the lady accidentally answered the description of a living lady whom Captain Bervie knew? Was he by any chance in love with her? and had the Doctor innocently reminded him that his love was not returned? Assuming this to be likely, was it really possible that he believed in prophetic revelations offered to him under the fantastic influence of a trance? Could any man in the possession of his senses go to those lengths? The Captain’s conduct was simply incomprehensible.
Pondering these questions, Percy decided21 on returning to his place by the Doctor’s chair. “Of one thing I am certain, at any rate,” he thought to himself. “I’ll see the whole imposture22 out before I leave the house!”
He took Doctor Lagarde’s hand. “Now, then! what is the next discovery?” he asked.
The sleeper seemed to find some difficulty in answering the question.
“I indistinctly see the man and the woman again,” he said.
“Am I the man still?” Percy inquired.
“No. The man, this time, is the Captain. The woman is agitated23 by something that he is saying to her. He seems to be trying to persuade her to go away with him. She hesitates. He whispers something in her ear. She yields. He leads her away. The darkness gathers behind them. I look and look, and I can see no more.”
“Shall we wait awhile?” Percy suggested, “and then try again?”
Doctor Lagarde sighed, and reclined in his chair. “My head is heavy,” he said; “my spirits are dull. The darkness baffles me. I have toiled24 long enough for you. drop my hand and leave me to rest.”
Hearing those words, Madame Lagarde approached her son’s chair.
“It will be useless, sir, to ask him any more questions to-night,” she said. “He has been weak and nervous all day, and he is worn out by the effort he has made. Pardon me, if I ask you to step aside for a moment, while I give him the repose25 that he needs.”
She laid her right hand gently on the Doctor’s head, and kept it there for a minute or so. “Are you at rest now?” she asked.
“I am at rest,” he answered, in faint, drowsy26 tones.
Madame Lagarde returned to Percy. “If you are not yet satisfied,” she said, “my son will be at your service to-morrow evening, sir.”
“Thank you, madam, I have only one more question to ask, and you can no doubt answer it. When your son wakes, will he remember what he has said to Captain Bervie and to myself?”
“My son will be as absolutely ignorant of everything that he has seen, and of everything that he has said in the trance, as if he had been at the other end of the world.”
Percy Linwood swallowed this last outrageous27 assertion with an effort which he was quite unable to conceal28. “Many thanks, madam,” he said; “I wish you good-night.”
Returning to the waiting-room, he noticed the money-box fixed29 to the table. “These people look poor,” he thought to himself, “and I feel really indebted to them for an amusing evening. Besides, I can afford to be liberal, for I shall certainly never go back.” He dropped a five-pound note into the money-box, and left the house.
Walking toward his club, Percy’s natural serenity30 of mind was a little troubled by the remembrance of Captain Bervie’s language and conduct. The Captain had interested the young man in spite of himself. His first idea was to write to Bervie, and mention what had happened at the renewed consultation with Doctor Lagarde. On second thoughts, he saw reason to doubt how the Captain might receive such an advance as this, on the part of a stranger. “After all,” Percy decided, “the whole thing is too absurd to be worth thinking about seriously. Neither he nor I are likely to meet again, or to see the Doctor again—and there’s an end of it.”
He never was more mistaken in his life. The end of it was not to come for many a long day yet.
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1
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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2
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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5
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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7
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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8
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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9
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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10
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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11
consultation
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| n.咨询；商量；商议；会议 | |
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12
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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13
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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14
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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15
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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16
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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18
undesirable
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| adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子 | |
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19
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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imposture
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| n.冒名顶替，欺骗 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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24
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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25
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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27
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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28
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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29
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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serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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