"Did you get back yesterday, Rose?" he inquired, after shaking hands.
"No, not until this afternoon. Rennet kept me. I saw him when I drove there yesterday: but he was then preparing to go out of town for the rest of the day on business, and it was impossible for him to do what was wanted before this morning. So I had to wait in town."
"I wonder we did not chance to travel down together, then!" observed Karl. "I did not return until this afternoon. Would you like to take my arm, Rose, while you walk?"
"Thank you," she answered, and took it. She had on the black dress she had worn in London, and her golden hair gleamed with all its beauty in the moonlight. Karl remarked that she leaned upon him somewhat heavily.
"You are tired, Rose!"
"I felt very tired when I got home. But Ann Hopley preaches to me so much about the necessity of taking exercise, that I thought I would walk about here for half-an-hour. I have had scarcely any walking
to-day; I was so fatigued3 with the journey and with the shopping yesterday that I had to keep as still as I could this morning. But there was a good deal to do; what with Rennet and some errands I had left."
"Where's Adam?"
"In-doors. He is complaining of that sensation of pain again. I do not like it at all, Karl."
"And while he is lying concealed4 here he cannot have medical advice. At least I don't see how it would be possible."
"It would not be possible," said Rose, decisively. "Oh, but I
forgot--I have to tell you something, Karl. Whom do you think I travelled with from Basham to Foxwood?"
"I don't know."
"Your wife."
"My wife!"
"It is true. I was in the ladies' carriage alone all the way from London. At Basham a young and elegant lady in pearl-grey silk and white bonnet5, with the daintiest parasol I ever saw was put in. An old gentleman--she called him 'General'--and some ladies were with her on the platform. We were alone in the carriage, she and I; and I think we looked at each other a good deal. What she thought of me I don't know; but I thought that she had one of the sweetest and gentlest faces my eyes ever rested on. She had a sweet voice, too, for we spoke6 a little just as we got to Foxwood."
"But did you know her?--did she know you?" interrupted Karl.
"No, no. I should have had no idea who she was, but that there arose some question about the one fly waiting there, and some one said it had been brought for Lady Andinnian. Karl, if ever I felt startled in my life, it was then."
"Why were you startled?"
"Don't you see? 'Lady Andinnian!' I took it at the moment to mean myself, and I felt my face turn white at the danger. Fear is quiet; and I am living in it always, Karl. What I thought was, that Adam had sent that fly for me, supposing I might come by that train; and that, in his incaution, or perhaps out of bravado7, he had given my true name. Of course nothing could have been more absurd than this fancy of mine--but it was what arose to me. Almost at once I recognized my mistake, and saw how it was--that she was the Lady Andinnian meant, Sir Karl's wife. I think I said something to her, but I was so confused I hardly know. I only have wondered since that I did not guess who she was at first, from her attire8 and her beauty."
"Lucy did not tell me of this."
"Oh dear no, she would not be likely to recall it, or to know me from any other stranger one may meet in travelling. Adam says you love her to excess: I am sure, Karl, I don't wonder at it."
He made no answer. Yes, he loved his wife with a wondrous9 love: but just now she was trying that love sharply.
"And about the matter you went up upon?" resumed Mrs. Grey. "Did you succeed in learning anything of Philip Salter?"
"Not much. I joined you on the grass here to tell you what I did learn, before going in to Adam. Salter has never been retaken: and the police have an idea that he is still in concealment10 in England. There's a reward of five hundred pounds out against him."
"Why do they think he is in England?" asked Rose, quickly.
"I don't know. They would not tell me."
"You communicated with the police, then, Karl. You were not afraid?"
"Not with the police as a body, but with one of their private detectives: a Mr. Burtenshaw. Plunkett and Plunkett gave me a note to him. It was he who said he believed Salter to be still in the country: but the reason for believing it he would not give me."
"And did you get him described?"
"Yes, by the very man who let him escape: a policeman named Grimley: Burtenshaw sent for him. In nearly every particular his description tallies11 with Smith."
"Oh, Karl! he is certainly Salter."
"Does Smith wear his own hair?"
"Yes. At least," she added, less decisively, "if it were false I think I should not have failed to notice it. It is very dark; his whiskers are nearly black and his hair is only a shade lighter12."
"Just so. But--I should say Smith was forty."
"About that."
"Well, Salter, they say, would be now only five-and-thirty. I don't attach much importance to the disparity!" added Karl: "Salter's trouble may have prematurely13 aged14 him."
"What shall you do in it?" she resumed after a pause. "It seems to me that if we could get Smith removed so as to leave Adam, in that sense, free, the half of our dreadful trouble would be over."
"I don't know what I shall do," replied Karl. "It will not do to stir an inch, as to the bringing it home to Smith, unless I am sure and certain. At present, Rose, it seems to be for me only another care added to the rest."
"Karlo, old fellow, is that you?" interrupted a voice from the passage window over the porch. "What on earth do you stay chattering15 to the wife for? I want you."
Karl looked up, nodded to his brother, and went in. Adam was in his customary evening attire, and just as gay as usual. He waited for Karl at the head of the stairs and they went together into the sitting-room16 that was always used at night. This sitting-room had a second door; one in the paneling, not visible to a casual observer. It communicated with a passage that nothing else communicated with; the passage communicated with a spiral staircase, and that with nobody knew what or where. Had Adam Andinnian been surprised in his retreat by his enemies, it was by that private door he would have made his escape, or tried to do it.
"Rose says you are not very well, Adam: that you are feeling the pain again," began Karl. "What do you think it is?"
"Goodness knows: I don't," returned Adam. "My opinion is, that I must in some way have given my inside a deuce of a wrench17. I don't tell Rose that: she'd set on and worry herself."
"I hope it is nothing serious--that it will soon pass off. You see, Adam, the cruel difficulty we should be in, if you were to require medical advice."
"Oh, bother!" cried Adam.
"Why do you say 'bother?'"
"Because it is bother, and nothing else. When did I ever want medical advice? In general health, I'm as strong as a horse."
"When we were young men at home, they used to say I had twice the constitution that you had, Adam, in spite of your strong looks."
"Home fallacy!" said Adam lightly. "It was the father used to say that, I remember. For the most part, the preaching that people make over 'constitution' is worth no more than the breath wasted on it. The proof of a pudding is in the eating: and the proof of a sound constitution lies in a man's good strength. I am stronger than you, Karl."
"As regards muscular strength, you are."
"And what's muscular strength a proof of, pray, but constitutional strength? Come, old wise-acre!"
To argue with Adam Andinnian had been always about as profitable as to tell a ship to sail against the wind. So Karl said no more about strength.
"The chance that such a necessity may arise, Adam, and the difficulty and danger that would attend it----"
"What necessity?" interrupted Adam.
"Of your requiring a medical man. Your wife will want one; but that's different: she is supposed to live here alone, and you will of course take care to keep out of the way at that time. But the other thought does cross my mind anxiously now and again."
"Karlo, old man, you were always one of the anxious ones. I am content to leave problems alone until they arise. It is the best way."
"Sometimes it may be; not always. Of course all these thoughts turn round to one point, Adam--the urgent expediency18 there exists for your quitting the Maze."
"And I am not going to quit it."
"The advance of those people on Saturday night; the studied tramp, as I thought it, of policemen, gave me a fright, Adam. Let us suppose such a thing for a moment as that they were coming after you! No earthly aid could have shielded you."
"But they were not coming after me, you see; they were but carrying some poor dead man to his home on my estate. The same fear may apply wherever I go."
"No, it could not. It could apply to nowhere as it does to here. In some place abroad, Adam, you would be comparatively secure and safe. I am convinced that this locality is, of all, the most dangerous."
"If I were already at the same place you mention, wherever that may be--an inaccessible19 island in the icy seas, say--I should undoubtedly20 be more out of the reach of English constables21 and warders than I am now: but as matters stand, Karl, I am safer here, because the danger to me would lie in getting away. I shall not attempt to do it."
Karl paused for a few minutes before he resumed. His brother, sitting near the shaded lamp, was turning over the pages of the "Art Journal," a copy of which Mrs. Grey had brought from London.
"How came you to know Smith, Adam?"
"How came I to know Smith!" repeated Sir Adam. "To tell you the truth, Karl, Smith saved me. But for his sheltering me in the time you know of, I should not be at liberty now; probably not in life. Until then he was a stranger."
"And for saving you he exacts his black mail."
"Little blame to him for it," returned Sir Adam, with a half laugh.
"I believe that the man is keeping you here," continued Karl; "that you dare not go away unless he lifts his finger."
"Naturally he is anxious for my safety, Karl; for the sake of his own self-interest."
"Precisely22 so. He would rather keep you here in danger than suffer you to escape to freedom. Do you know anything of his antecedents?"
"Nothing. For all I can tell, as to who or what the man was before that night he rescued me, he might have dropped from the moon."
"And since then it has been the business of your life to conciliate him, Adam!"
"What would you? The man knows that I am Adam Andinnian: and, knowing it, he holds a sword over me. Is it worth my while, or not, to try to keep it from falling?"
Karl sighed deeply. He saw all the intricacies of the case; and, what was worse, he saw no outlet23 from them. If only he could but feel that his brother was passably safe at the Maze, he would have been less uneasy: but a secret instinct, that he surely believed was a prevision, warned him of danger.
"I wish, with my whole heart, Adam, that you had never come here!" broke from him, in his dire24 perplexity, the reiterated25 cry.
Sir Adam threw down the "Art Journal," and turned to confront his brother, leaning a little forward in his chair. His face was flushed, his voice took a tone of passion, even his beautiful teeth looked stern.
"Karl, did you ever try to realize to yourself all the horrors of my position at Portland!" he asked. "I, a gentleman, with a gentleman's habits--and a man to whom freedom of will and of limb was as the very, essence of life--was condemned26 for ever to a manacled confinement27; to mate with felons28; to be pointed30 at as one of a herd31 of convict labourers. A felon29 myself, you will perhaps say; but I do not recognize it. Had I been guilty of aught disgraceful? No. What I did, in shooting that man Scott, I was perfectly32 justified33 in doing, after my solemn warning to him. Remember, it was my wife he insulted that evening; not simply, as the world was allowed to believe, my young neighbour, Miss Rose Turner. What should you feel if some low reprobate34 seized your wife, Lucy, before your eyes, and pressed his foul35 kisses on her innocent face! Your blood would be up, I take it."
"Adam, since I knew she was your wife I have almost held you justified."
"To go on. Can you realize a tithe36 of what it was for me on Portland Island!"
"From the time you went there until I heard of your death, I never ceased to realize it in my own soul night or day."
"Karl, I believe it. I remember what your sensitively tender nature always used to be. And we did care for each other, old fellow."
"Ay, and do."
"Well, compare that life I escaped from with this that I lead now. Here I am, so to say, a free man, at perfect liberty within these small bounds, my wife for my companion, my table at my command, master on my own estate, the revenues of which I divide with you that you may be the baronet to the world and keep up Foxwood. As fate has fallen, Karl, I could not be so happy anywhere as here."
"I know; I know. But it is the risk I fear."
"There must be some risk everywhere."
"Answer me truly--as you would to your own heart, Adam. If by some miracle you could be transported safely to a far-off land, would you not feel more secure there than here?"
"Yes. And for Rose's sake I would go if I could; she is just as apprehensive37 here as you. But I can't. When Smith says I must not attempt to get away, he is right. I feel that he is. The man's interest lies in my safety, and I believe he thinks my safety lies in my remaining here."
"Just so," said Karl. "Smith is the stumbling-block."
"Well, he holds the reins38, you see. It is no use trying to fight against his opinion: besides, I think he is right. However that may be, I can't afford to come to a rupture39 with him. Good heavens, Karl! fancy his sending me back in irons to Portland! That will never be, however," added Sir Adam more calmly, "for I would not be taken alive. I or my capturers should fall."
He put his hand inside his white waistcoat, and showed the end of a pistol. One he kept close to him night and day, always loaded, always ready. Karl's arguments failed him, one by one. As he was helpless to combat the decisions of his wife, so was he helpless here.
And so the interview ended in nothing, just as others had ended.
A black cloud, threatening thunder, had come over the summer's night when Karl went out. It did not seem to him half so dark as the trouble at his own heart. He would have given his life freely, to purchase security for his brother.
END OF VOL. I.
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1
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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accost
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| v.向人搭话，打招呼 | |
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fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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bonnet
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| n.无边女帽；童帽 | |
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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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bravado
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| n.虚张声势，故作勇敢，逞能 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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9
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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11
tallies
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| n.账( tally的名词复数 )；符合；（计数的）签；标签v.计算，清点( tally的第三人称单数 )；加标签（或标记）于；（使）符合；（使）吻合 | |
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12
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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13
prematurely
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| adv.过早地，贸然地 | |
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14
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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15
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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sitting-room
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| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
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wrench
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| v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受 | |
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expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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felons
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| n.重罪犯( felon的名词复数 )；瘭疽；甲沟炎；指头脓炎 | |
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felon
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| n.重罪犯；adj.残忍的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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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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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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reprobate
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| n.无赖汉；堕落的人 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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38
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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