How easy is a bush suppos’d a bear!”
Willy did not come home till dinner-time, when he reappeared in exceedingly good humour. I, on the contrary, felt the vague ill-temper of a person who has spent a wet Sunday afternoon in solitude1, and I found dinner long and dull. In the drawing-room after dinner, I sought the resource of music to raise my spirits; but I was debarred from even this last consolation2, for Willy implored3 me to “let the piano{90} alone,” as his father disapproved4 of music on Sunday.
We finally settled down in armchairs by the fire, and I discovered that Willy possessed5 in a high degree the feminine faculty6 of sitting over a fire and talking about nothing in particular. He pretended to no superiority to the minor7 gossip which forms the ripples8 in the current of country life, and he had quite a special gift of recounting small facts with accuracy and detail, and without any endeavour to exalt9 his talent as a story-teller. His tales had, in consequence, a certain intrinsic freshness and merit, and till bedtime we maintained a desultory10, but on the whole interesting conversation.
When I got up to my room, I found it full of smoke and extremely cold. The window had been opened to let out the smoke, and the chintz curtains rustled11 and{91} flapped in the draught12. Making up my mind after a few minutes that even turf smoke was preferable to the cold disquiet13 of the wind, I went to the window to close it, and noticed with a good deal of amusement that, the pulley being broken, the housemaid had supported the sash with one of my brushes.
There was something in this misplaced ingenuity14 which was eminently15 characteristic of the slipshod manner of life at Durrus, and by force of contrast my thoughts travelled back to my mother’s orderly household. I leaned against the shutter16 and looked out, beset17 by poignant18 recollections of a time when life without my mother seemed an impossibility, and when Durrus was no more to me than a place in a fairy story.
The wind had blown away most of the fog, and the rain had ceased, but a thin{92} haze19 still blunted the keenness of the moonlight. I gazed at the dark shapes of the trees in the shrubbery till I lost the sense of their reality, and they came and went like dreams in the uncertain light. In my ears was still the throb20 and tremor21 which seven days and nights spent in listening to the screw of the Alaska had imprinted22 on my brain, and my thoughts and surroundings seemed alike hurrying on in time to its pulsations. I was at length roused to realities by a sound which at first seemed part of the light chafing23 of the laurel leaves, but which in a few moments became detached and distinct from the vague noises of the autumn night.
It came nearer, and gave the impression of some stealthy advance in the wet grass under the trees. At length, at the verge24 of their shadow, just opposite my window, I heard the gravel25 crunch26 under a soft{93} footstep. The next instant a woman’s figure slid into the dim light, and came out across the broad gravel sweep with a rhythmical27 swaying gait, as though moving to music.
Half-way to the house she stopped, and, raising her arms above her head with a wild gesture, she began to step to and fro with jaunty28 liftings and bendings of her body, as though she were taking part in a dance. Backwards29 and forwards she paced with measured precision; then, placing her hands on her hips30, she danced with fantastic lightness and vigour31 some steps of an Irish jig32. Suddenly, however, she checked herself; she knelt down, and, turning a pale face to the sky, she crossed her hands on her breast and remained motionless.
Her absolute stillness had in it an intensity33 almost more dreadful than the strange movements she had previously{94} gone through, and I stood staring in inert34 terror at the grey kneeling figure, with a face as white as that which was still turned rigidly35 skywards in what appeared to be the extremity36 of supplication37. Just then the moon shone sharply out, hardening and fixing in a moment the limits of light and darkness, and, as if with a sudden movement, it flung the shadow of the praying woman on the ground before her. She started, and slowly rose to her feet, and, with her hands still crossed on her bosom38, turned her face towards me. I saw the moonlight glisten39 in her wide-open eyes, which were fixed40, not on me, but on the window of the room next to mine. Then opening her arms wide, she let them fall to her side with an extravagant41 obeisance42, and sidled back into the impenetrable shadow of the trees.
There was I know not what unearthly{95} suggestion about this weird43 dance and agonized44 devotion, that seemed to paralyze my mind, and render it incapable45 of any thought except fear. I stood bewilderedly looking at the spot where the darkness had swallowed up her figure; but before I had time to collect my ideas, she reappeared at a little distance, and, as well as I could see, turned up a path which led through the shrubbery in the direction of the lodge46.
As she passed out of sight, I suddenly remembered what Willy had said to me about Anstey’s half-witted mother. This strange dancer was, then, no ghost nor dream-creature, sent on a special errand to me, as I had first feared, and then, with returning courage, had almost hoped might be the case.
She was only “old Moll Hourihane.” It was a simple explanation, and perhaps a humiliating one; but, in spite of my anxiety{96} to possess a ghost-story of my own, I accepted it with relief. I shut the window and locked my door, and, though still trembling all over with cold and excitement, I went to bed, thankful that “Mad Moll” had introduced herself to me from without, instead of first appearing to me within the walls of Durrus.
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1
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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3
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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7
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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8
ripples
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| 逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 ) | |
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9
exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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desultory
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| adj.散漫的，无方法的 | |
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11
rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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13
disquiet
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| n.担心，焦虑 | |
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14
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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15
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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16
shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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17
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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18
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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20
throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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21
tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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22
imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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23
chafing
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| n.皮肤发炎v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的现在分词 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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24
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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26
crunch
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| n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声 | |
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27
rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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28
jaunty
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| adj．愉快的，满足的；adv.心满意足地，洋洋得意地；n.心满意足；洋洋得意 | |
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29
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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30
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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32
jig
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| n.快步舞（曲）；v.上下晃动；用夹具辅助加工；蹦蹦跳跳 | |
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33
intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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inert
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| adj.无活动能力的，惰性的；迟钝的 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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37
supplication
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| n.恳求，祈愿，哀求 | |
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38
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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39
glisten
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| vi.（光洁或湿润表面等）闪闪发光，闪闪发亮 | |
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40
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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41
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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42
obeisance
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| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
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43
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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44
agonized
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| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
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45
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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46
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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