SUCKED within the Maelstrom1, man must go round. Strike at one end the longest conceivable row of billiard balls in close contact, and the furthermost ball will start forth2, while all the rest stand still; and yet that last ball was not struck at all. So, through long previous generations, whether of births or thoughts, Fate strikes the present man. Idly he disowns the blow's effect, because he felt no blow, and indeed, received no blow. But Pierre was not arguing Fixed3 Fate and Free Will, now; Fixed Fate and Free Will were arguing him, and Fixed Fate got the better in the debate.
The peculiarities4 of those influences which on the night and early morning following the last interview with Isabel, persuaded Pierre to the adoption5 of his final resolve, did now irresistibly6 impel7 him to a remarkable8 instantaneousness in his actions, even as before he had proved a lagger.
Without being consciously that way pointed9, through the desire of anticipating any objections on the part of Isabel to the assumption of a marriage between himself and her; Pierre was now impetuously hurried into an act, which should have the effective virtue10 of such an executed intention, without its corresponding motive11. Because, as the primitive12 resolve so deplorably involved Lucy, her image was then prominent in his mind; and hence, because he felt all eagerness to hold her no longer in suspense13, but by a certain sort of charity of cruelty, at once to pronounce to her her fate; therefore, it was among his first final thoughts that morning to go to Lucy. And to this, undoubtedly14, so trifling15 a circumstance as her being nearer to him, geographically16, than Isabel, must have contributed some added, though unconscious influence, in his present fateful frame of mind.
On the previous undetermined days, Pierre had solicitously18 sought to disguise his emotions from his mother, by a certain carefulness and choiceness in his dress. But now, since his very soul was forced to wear a mask, he would wear no paltry19 palliatives and disguisements on his body. He went to the cottage of Lucy as disordered in his person, as haggard in his face.
II.
SHE was not risen yet. So, the strange imperious instantaneousness in him, impelled20 him to go straight to her chamber21-door, and in a voice of mild invincibleness, demand immediate22 audience, for the matter pressed.
Already namelessly concerned and alarmed for her lover, now eight-and-forty hours absent on some mysterious and undisclosable affair; Lucy, at this surprising summons was overwhelmed with sudden terror; and in oblivion of all ordinary proprieties23, responded to Pierre's call, by an immediate assent24.
Opening the door, he advanced slowly and deliberately25 toward her; and as Lucy caught his pale determined17 figure, she gave a cry of groping misery26, which knew not the pang27 that caused it, and lifted herself trembling in her bed; but without uttering one word.
"Decked in snow-white, and pale of cheek, thou indeed art fitted for the altar; but not that one of which thy fond heart did'st dream:—so fair a victim!"
"Pierre!"
"My heart! my heart!"
The girl was no more pale, but white as any leper; the bed-clothes trembled to the concealed32 shudderings of all her limbs; one moment she sat looking vacantly into the blank eyes of Pierre, and then fell over toward him in a swoon.
Swift madness mounted into the brain of Pierre; all the past seemed as a dream, and all the present an unintelligible34 horror. He lifted her, and extended her motionless form upon the bed, and stamped for succor35. The maid Martha came running into the room, and beholding36 those two inexplicable37 figures, shrieked38, and turned in terror. But Pierre's repeated cry rallied Martha from this, and darting39 out of the chamber, she returned with a sharp restorative, which at length brought Lucy back to life.
"Martha! Martha!" now murmured Lucy, in a scarce audible whispering, and shuddering33 in the maid's own shuddering arms, "quick, quick; come to me—drive it away! wake me! wake me!"
"Nay, pray God to sleep again," cried Martha, bending over her and embracing her, and half-turning upon Pierre with a glance of loathing40 indignation. "In God's holy name, sir, what may this be? How came you here; accursed!"
"Accursed?—it is well. Is she herself again, Martha?"
"Thou hast somehow murdered her; how then be herself again? My sweet mistress! oh, my young mistress! Tell me! tell me!" and she bent41 low over her.
Pierre now advanced toward the bed, making a gesture for the maid to leave them; but soon as Lucy re-caught his haggard form, she whisperingly wailed42 again, "Martha! Martha! drive it away!—there—there! him—him!" and shut her eyes convulsively, with arms abhorrently outstretched.
"Monster! incomprehensible fiend!" cried the anew terror-smitten maid—"depart! See! she dies away at the sight of thee—begone! Wouldst thou murder her afresh? Begone!"
Starched44 and frozen by his own emotion, Pierre silently turned and quitted the chamber; and heavily descending45 the stairs, tramped heavily—as a man slowly bearing a great burden—through a long narrow passage leading to a wing in the rear of the cottage, and knocking at Miss Lanyllyn's door, summoned her to Lucy, who, he briefly46 said, had fainted. Then, without waiting for any response, left the house, and went directly to the mansion47.
III.
"Is my mother up yet?" said he to Dates, whom he met in the hall.
"Not yet, sir;—heavens, sir! are you sick?"
"To death! Let me pass."
Ascending48 toward his mother's chamber, he heard a coming step, and met her on the great middle landing of the stairs, where in an ample niche49, a marble group of the temple-polluting Laocoon and his two innocent children, caught in inextricable snarls50 of snakes, writhed51 in eternal torments52.
"Mother, go back with me to thy chamber."
She eyed his sudden presence with a dark but repressed foreboding; drew herself up haughtily53 and repellingly, and with a quivering lip, said, "Pierre, thou thyself hast denied me thy confidence, and thou shall not force me back to it so easily. Speak! what is that now between thee and me?"
"I am married, mother."
"Great God! To whom?"
"Not to Lucy Tartan, mother."
"That thou merely sayest 'tis not Lucy, without saying who indeed it is, this is good proof she is something vile56. Does Lucy know thy marriage?"
"I am but just from Lucy's."
Thus far Mrs. Glendinning's rigidity57 had been slowly relaxing. Now she clutched the balluster, bent over, and trembled, for a moment. Then erected58 all her haughtiness59 again, and stood before Pierre in incurious, unappeasable grief and scorn for him.
"My dark soul prophesied60 something dark. If already thou hast not found other lodgment, and other table than this house supplies, then seek it straight. Beneath my roof, and at my table, he who was once Pierre Glendinning no more puts himself."
She turned from him, and with a tottering61 step climbed the winding62 stairs, and disappeared from him; while in the balluster he held, Pierre seemed to feel the sudden thrill running down to him from his mother's convulsive grasp.
He stared about him with an idiot eye; staggered to the floor below, to dumbly quit the house; but as he crossed its threshold, his foot tripped upon its raised ledge63; he pitched forward upon the stone portico64, and fell. He seemed as jeeringly65 hurled66 from beneath his own ancestral roof.
IV.
PASSING through the broad court-yard's postern, Pierre closed it after him, and then turned and leaned upon it, his eyes fixed upon the great central chimney of the mansion, from which a light blue smoke was wreathing gently into the morning air.
"The hearth-stone from which thou risest, never more, I inly feel, will these feet press. Oh God, what callest thou that which has thus made Pierre a vagabond?"
He walked slowly away, and passing the windows of Lucy, looked up, and saw the white curtains closely drawn67, the white-cottage profoundly still, and a white saddle-horse tied before the gate.
"I would enter, but again would her abhorrent43 wails68 repel54; what more can I now say or do to her? I can not explain. She knows all I purposed to disclose. Ay, but thou didst cruelly burst upon her with it; thy impetuousness, thy instantaneousness hath killed her, Pierre!—Nay, nay, nay!—Cruel tidings who can gently break? If to stab be inevitable69; then instant be the dagger70! Those curtains are close drawn upon her; so let me upon her sweet image draw the curtains of my soul. Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, thou angel!—wake no more to Pierre, nor to thyself, my Lucy!"
Passing on now hurriedly and blindly, he jostled against some oppositely-going wayfarer71. The man paused amazed; and looking up, Pierre recognized a domestic of the Mansion. That instantaneousness which now impelled him in all his actions, again seized the ascendency in him. Ignoring the dismayed expression of the man at thus encountering his young master, Pierre commanded him to follow him. Going straight to the "Black Swan," the little village Inn, he entered the first vacant room, and bidding the man be seated, sought the keeper of the house, and ordered pen and paper.
If fit opportunity offer in the hour of unusual affliction, minds of a certain temperament72 find a strange, hysterical73 relief, in a wild, perverse74 humorousness, the more alluring75 from its entire unsuitableness to the occasion; although they seldom manifest this trait toward those individuals more immediately involved in the cause or the effect of their suffering. The cool censoriousness of the mere55 philosopher would denominate such conduct as nothing short of temporary madness; and perhaps it is, since, in the inexorable and inhuman76 eye of mere undiluted reason, all grief, whether on our own account, or that of others, is the sheerest unreason and insanity77.
The note now written was the following:
"For that Fine Old Fellow, Dates.
"Dates, my old boy, bestir thyself now. Go to my room, Dates, and bring me down my mahogany strong-box and lock-up, the thing covered with blue chintz; strap78 it very carefully, my sweet Dates, it is rather heavy, and set it just without the postern. Then back and bring me down my writing-desk, and set that, too, just without the postern. Then back yet again, and bring me down the old camp-bed (see that all the parts be there), and bind79 the case well with a cord. Then go to the left corner little drawer in my wardrobe, and thou wilt80 find my visiting-cards. Tack81 one on the chest, and the desk, and the camp-bed case. Then get all my clothes together, and pack them in trunks (not forgetting the two old military cloaks, my boy), and tack cards on them also, my good Dates. Then fly round three times indefinitely, my good Dates, and wipe a little of the perspiration82 off. And then—let me see—then, my good Dates—why what then? Why, this much. Pick up all papers of all sorts that may be lying round my chamber, and see them burned. And then—have old White Hoof83 put to the lightest farm-wagon, and send the chest, and the desk, and the camp-bed, and the trunks to the 'Black Swan,' where I shall call for them, when I am ready, and not before, sweet Dates. So God bless thee, my fine, old, imperturbable84 Dates, and adieu!
"Thy old young master, PIERRE.
"Nota bene—Mark well, though, Dates. Should my mother possibly interrupt thee, say that it is my orders, and mention what it is I send for; but on no account show this to thy mistress—D'ye hear? PIERRE again."
Folding this scrawl85 into a grotesque86 shape, Pierre ordered the man to take it forthwith to Dates. But the man, all perplexed87, hesitated, turning the billet over in his hand; till Pierre loudly and violently bade him begone; but as the man was then rapidly departing in a panic, Pierre called him back and retracted88 his rude words; but as the servant now lingered again, perhaps thinking to avail himself of this repentant89 mood in Pierre, to say something in sympathy or remonstrance90 to him, Pierre ordered him off with augmented91 violence, and stamped for him to begone.
Apprising92 the equally perplexed old landlord that certain things would in the course of that forenoon be left for him, (Pierre,) at the Inn; and also desiring him to prepare a chamber for himself and wife that night; some chamber with a commodious93 connecting room, which might answer for a dressing-room; and likewise still another chamber for a servant; Pierre departed the place, leaving the old landlord staring vacantly at him, and dumbly marveling what horrible thing had happened to turn the brain of his fine young favorite and old shooting comrade, Master Pierre.
Soon the short old man went out bare-headed upon the low porch of the Inn, descended94 its one step, and crossed over to the middle of the road, gazing after Pierre. And only as Pierre turned up a distant lane, did his amazement95 and his solicitude96 find utterance97.
"I taught him—yes, old Casks;—the best shot in all the country round is Master Pierre;—pray God he hits not now the bull's eye in himself.—Married? married? and coming here?—This is pesky strange!"
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1
maelstrom
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| n.大乱动；大漩涡 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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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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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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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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impel
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| v.推动；激励，迫使 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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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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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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geographically
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| adv.地理学上，在地理上，地理方面 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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solicitously
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| adv.热心地，热切地 | |
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19
paltry
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| adj.无价值的，微不足道的 | |
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impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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succor
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| n.援助，帮助；v.给予帮助 | |
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36
beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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loathing
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| n.厌恶，憎恨v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的现在分词)；极不喜欢 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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abhorrent
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| adj.可恶的，可恨的，讨厌的 | |
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starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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snarls
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| n.（动物的）龇牙低吼( snarl的名词复数 )；愤怒叫嚷（声）；咆哮（声）；疼痛叫声v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的第三人称单数 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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torments
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| （肉体或精神上的）折磨，痛苦( torment的名词复数 )； 造成痛苦的事物[人] | |
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haughtily
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| adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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repel
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| v.击退，抵制，拒绝，排斥 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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56
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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haughtiness
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| n.傲慢；傲气 | |
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prophesied
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tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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winding
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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jeeringly
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| adv.嘲弄地 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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71
wayfarer
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| n.旅人 | |
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72
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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73
hysterical
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| adj.情绪异常激动的，歇斯底里般的 | |
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perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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78
strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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79
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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80
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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81
tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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82
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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83
hoof
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| n.(马，牛等的)蹄 | |
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84
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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85
scrawl
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| vt.潦草地书写；n.潦草的笔记，涂写 | |
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86
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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88
retracted
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| v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回 | |
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89
repentant
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| adj.对…感到悔恨的 | |
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90
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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91
Augmented
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| adj.增音的 动词augment的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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apprising
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| v.告知，通知( apprise的现在分词 )；评价 | |
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93
commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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94
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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95
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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96
solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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97
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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