So dreadful as an injured friend?—Rokeby.
"Strange," thought Vinal, "that I hear nothing from him."
It was three days since he had written to Speyer; and his chief anxiety was, lest his note should have miscarried. Pain and long confinement1 had wrought2 heavily upon him. Every emotion, every care, thrilled with a morbid3 keenness upon his brain and nerves; but hitherto he had ruled his sensitive organism with an iron self-control, and calmed its perturbations with a fortitude4 which in a better man would have been heroic.
His wife was in the room, and, as his eye rested on her, it kindled5 with a kind of troubled delight, for he loved her strongly, after his fashion. He had remarked of late a singular assiduity and tenderness in her devotion to him. Her position, in fact, was not unlike that of one who, broken and overborne by some irreparable sorrow, had renounced6 the world and its happiness, to embrace a new life, and build up for herself a new hope in the calm sanctuary7 of a convent. In the same spirit, Edith Leslie, bidding farewell to her girlish dream of life, its morning rose tint8, and cloud draperies of gold and purple, gave herself to the practical duties before her, and sought, in their devoted9 fulfilment, to strengthen herself against the flood which for a time had overwhelmed her.
Vinal, who, acute as he was, could not understand the state of mind from which her peculiar10 kindness of manner towards him rose, pleased himself with the idea that his rival's return was not so great a shock to her as he had at first feared, and that, after all, she was more fond of him than of Morton. This notion consoled his disturbed thoughts not a little. Still he was abundantly anxious and harassed13.
"If Morton should suspect! He has not come to see me; but that is natural enough, under the circumstances. And if he does suspect, he can have no proof. No one here suspects me. They say it was strange that my European correspondent should have made such a mistake; but that is all. No one dreams that I had a hand in it; and why should they? No one knew of Edith's engagement to him, except herself, her father, and her confidantes. I suppose she has confidantes—all girls have them. I wish their epitaphs were written, whoever they are. Well,
'Come what come may,
Time and the hour run through the roughest day.'
But this is a dangerous business—a cursed business. Why does not Speyer write?"
As his thoughts ran in this strain, he looked up, and his eye caught that of his wife. She was struck with his troubled expression.
"You look anxious and care-worn. Are you ill?"
"Come to me, Edith," said Vinal, with a faint smile.
She came to the side of his chair, and he took her hand.
"Edith, I am not well to-day. My head swims. This long confinement is eating away my life by inches."
"In a week more, I trust, you will be able to move again. The country air will give you new life. But why do you look so troubled?"
"Dreams, Edith,—bad dreams, like Hamlet's, I suppose. It is very strange,—I cannot imagine why it is,—but to-day I have felt oppressed, weighed down, shadowed as if a cloud hung over me. I am not myself. A man is a mere14 slave to his nervous system, and when that is overthrown15, his whole soul is shaken with it. The country is my hope, Edith. We will go there together, soon, and begin life anew."
A knock at the door interrupted him.
"Come in," cried Vinal, in his usual quick, decisive tone.
A servant entered.
"Well, what is it?"
"A gentleman wishes to see you, sir."
"Did he give his name?"
"Mr. Edwards, sir."
"Ask him to come up."
"A man whom I expected this morning on business," he said, in explanation to his wife, as the servant closed the door. "I wish he were any where but here. And so you are going away."—She was dressed to go out.—"He will be here only a moment; do not be gone long."
"No, I will be with you again in an hour."
"Do not forget," said Vinal, pressing her hand, "for when you leave the room, Edith, it is as if a sunbeam were shut out."
As Vinal, sick in body and mind, thus leaned in his distress16 on the victim of his villany, he cast into her face a look that was almost piteous. She, seeing nothing but his love for her, warmed towards him with compassion17; the more so since, till that moment, she had known him as a calm, firm man, a model, to her eyes, of masculine self-government. A mind tortured with suspense18, acting19 upon a weak and morbidly20 sensitive body, had betrayed him into this unwonted imbecility.
The step of the visitor sounded in the passage; and returning the pressure of his hand, his wife went out at the door of a small adjoining room, opening upon the side passage by which she commonly entered and left the hotel.
After a few minutes' interview, Edwards took his leave, and Vinal, left alone, fell into his former train of thought. In a moment, he was again interrupted by a knock at the door, quite unlike the hasty rap of the hotel servant.
"Come in," cried Vinal.
The door opened, and Vassall Morton entered. He had learned from the retiring visitor that Vinal was alone.
"My dear fellow!" exclaimed Vinal, his face beaming with a transport of welcome. "My dear fellow!"
But Morton stood without taking his proffered22 hand. The smile remained frozen on Vinal's face, and cold drops of doubt and fear began to gather on his forehead.
"There is another friend of yours in the passage," said Morton.—"Come in, Speyer."
Speyer entered, bowing with his usual composure. Vinal sank back in his chair, collapsing23 like a man withered24 with a palsy stroke.
"Vinal," said Morton, after a silence of some moments, "you have a cool way of receiving your acquaintances."
He made no answer, but still sat, or rather crouched25, in the depths of his easy chair, where the thick bounding of his heart almost choked him. Morton stood for some time longer, looking at him. He had not reached such a point of Christian27 forgiveness as not to find pleasure in his enemy's tortures, and he saw that his silence tortured him more than words.
"Vinal," he said at length, "I used to know you in college for a liar11 and a coward; and since then you have grown well in both ways. You have hatched into a full-fledged villain28; and now that I have found you out, you crouch26 like a whipped cur."
No answer was returned, and Morton's anger began to yield to a different feeling. If he could have seen the condition of Vinal's mind and body, he might, between pity and contempt, have spared him.
"I came to upbraid29 you with your knaveries30; but I find you hardly worth the trouble. Do you see this letter? It is the same that you wrote to this man at Marseilles, instructing him to forge a story that I was dead, and that he had seen my gravestone, with my mother's family device upon it. Will you dare deny that you wrote it? You will not! I thought as much. I have unravelled31 you from first to last. Five years ago, you bribed32 Speyer, here, to compromise me with the Austrian police. Pretending to be my friend, you gave me letters which betrayed me into a prison, where you hoped that I would end my days; and, next, you contrived33 this trickery to prove me dead. Is there any name in the English tongue too vile34 to mark you?"
Vinal sat as if stricken dumb.
"I know your reputation," pursued Morton. "You are in high feather here. You pass for a man of virtue35, integrity, and honor. You make speeches at public meetings; Fourth of July orations36; Phi Beta orations; charity harangues—any thing that smacks37 of philanthropy and goodness; any thing that will varnish38 you in the public eye. Why am I not bound to lay bare this whitewashed39 lie? What withholds40 me from grinding you like a scorpion41 under my boot-heel, or flinging you on the pavement to be stared at like a scotched42 viper43? A word from me, and you are ruined. You need not fear it. Stay, and enjoy your honors as you can; but my foot shall be on your neck. This letter of yours is the spell by which I will rule you, body and soul."
Here he paused again; but Vinal's tongue was powerless.
"I tell you again, for I would not have you desperate, that I do not mean to ruin you. Bear yourself wisely, and you are safe, at least from me. Have you lost your speech? Are you turned dumb?"
Vinal muttered inarticulately.
"There is another danger which I have done my best to ward12 off from you. This man, who had you at his mercy, has sworn to leave the country, and never to return; on which score you will please to pay him the money you offered him for the purchase of your letters."
Vinal seemed confused and stupefied, and Morton was forced to be more explicit44 in his demands. At length, the former signed a note for the amount, though not without stammering45 objections to his name appearing on it in connection with Speyer's. Morton, however, turned a deaf ear to these remonstrances46.
"Here is your pay," he said to Speyer. "Any bank will discount this for you. Now, to what place do you mean to go?"
"To Venezuela. I have a friend there in the army. He will get a commission for me."
"Very well. See that you stay there; or, at all events, do not come back to the United States. If you do, you will perjure47 yourself. Now, go; I have done with you. Vinal, I will leave you to your reflections; and when you can sleep in peace, free from Speyer's persecutions, remember to whom you owe it."
Vinal sat like a withered plant, his head sinking between his shoulders, while his hand, still unconsciously holding the pen, rested on the arm of his chair. There was something in his appearance at once so abject48 and so piteous, that a changed feeling came over Morton as he looked on him. By a sudden impulse, akin21 to pity, he stepped towards him, and took his wrist. The pen dropped from his pale fingers, which quivered like an aspen bough49; and as Morton stood gazing on him, Vinal's upturned eyes met his, as if riveted50 there by a helpless fascination51.
"You unhappy wretch52! You are burning already with the pains of the damned. Flint and iron could not see you without softening53. I have saved you,—not out of mercy, nor forgiveness,—not for your sake;—but I have saved you. I have pushed away the sword that hung over you by a hair. You are free now to be happy."
But as he spoke54 this last word, so fierce a pang55 shot into his heart, remembering what he had lost, and what Vinal had won, that his pity was scattered56 like mist before a thunder squall. He flung back the passive hand against the breast of its terrified owner, turned abruptly57, and left the room.
No sooner had the door closed behind him, than the door of the anteroom opposite was flung open, and Edith Leslie, rushing in, stood before Vinal with the wild look of one who gasps58 for breath. She attempted to speak, but broken words and inarticulate sounds were all her lips would utter. Strength failed her in the effort, and pressing her hands to her forehead, she sank fainting to the floor.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
confinement
|
|
| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
wrought
|
|
| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
morbid
|
|
| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
fortitude
|
|
| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
kindled
|
|
| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
renounced
|
|
| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sanctuary
|
|
| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tint
|
|
| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
liar
|
|
| n.说谎的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
ward
|
|
| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
harassed
|
|
| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
overthrown
|
|
| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
compassion
|
|
| n.同情，怜悯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
suspense
|
|
| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
acting
|
|
| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
morbidly
|
|
| adv.病态地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
akin
|
|
| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
proffered
|
|
| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
collapsing
|
|
| 压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
withered
|
|
| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
crouched
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
crouch
|
|
| v.蹲伏，蜷缩，低头弯腰；n.蹲伏 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
villain
|
|
| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
upbraid
|
|
| v.斥责，责骂，责备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
knaveries
|
|
| n.流氓行为( knavery的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
31
unravelled
|
|
| 解开，拆散，散开( unravel的过去式和过去分词 )； 阐明； 澄清； 弄清楚 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
bribed
|
|
| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
contrived
|
|
| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
vile
|
|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
orations
|
|
| n.（正式仪式中的）演说，演讲( oration的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
smacks
|
|
| 掌掴（声）( smack的名词复数 )； 海洛因； （打的）一拳； 打巴掌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
varnish
|
|
| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
whitewashed
|
|
| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
withholds
|
|
| v.扣留( withhold的第三人称单数 )；拒绝给予；抑制（某事物）；制止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
scorpion
|
|
| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
scotched
|
|
| v.阻止( scotch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止（车轮）转动；弄伤；镇压 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
viper
|
|
| n.毒蛇；危险的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
explicit
|
|
| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
stammering
|
|
| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
remonstrances
|
|
| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
perjure
|
|
| v.作伪证；使发假誓 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
abject
|
|
| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
bough
|
|
| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
riveted
|
|
| 铆接( rivet的过去式和过去分词 )； 把…固定住； 吸引； 引起某人的注意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
softening
|
|
| 变软，软化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
pang
|
|
| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
gasps
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的第三人称单数 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |