Hilda was also working; slowly, however, and with marvellous care. She was engaged upon a more artistic3 production than ever came from Molly's work-basket. Once she consulted Mrs. Carew about the colour of a skein of wool, but otherwise showed no inclination4 to avoid topics in any manner connected with Christian, despite the fact that these were obviously distasteful to her family. In all that she said, indifference5 was blended in a singular way with imperturbable6 cheerfulness.
Thus they waited until after midnight, pretending bravely to work and read as if there were no such feeling as suspense7 in the human heart. Then Mrs. Carew persuaded the young people to go to bed. She had letters to write, and would not be ready for hours. If Christian did not appear by the time that she was sleepy, she would wake Sidney. After all, she acted her part better than they. She was old at it—they were new. She was experienced in stage-craft and made her points skilfully8; above all, she did not over-act.
The three young people kissed their mother and left the room, assuring each other of their conviction that they would find Christian at the breakfast table next morning. Molly's room was at the head of the stairs. With a smile and a nod she closed her door while Hilda and Sidney walked slowly down the long passage together. Arrived at the end, Sidney kissed his sister. She turned the handle of her door and stood with her back to him for a few moments without entering the room, as if to give him an opportunity of speaking if he had aught to say. He stood awkwardly behind her, gazing mechanically at her hair, which reflected the light from the candle that he was holding all awry10, while the wax dripped upon the carpet.
“Yes, dear, I know it will,” she replied.
And then she passed into the room without closing the door, and he walked on with loudly-creaking shoes.
Hilda crossed her room and set the candle upon the dressing-table. She waited there till Sidney's footsteps had ceased, and then she turned and walked uprightly to the door, which she closed. She looked round the room with a strange, vacant look in her eyes, and then she made her way unsteadily towards the bed, where she lay staring at the wavering candle and its reflection in the mirror behind until daylight came to make its flame grow pale and yellow.
There were four watchers in the house that night. Downstairs, Mrs. Carew sat by the shaded lamp in her upright armchair. She was not writing, but had re-opened the large black Bible. Molly was courting sleep in vain, having resolutely12 blown out her candle. Sidney made no pretence13. He was fully9 dressed, and seated at his rarely-used writing-table. Before him lay a telegraph-form bearing nothing but the address—
He was gazing mechanically at the blank spaces waiting to be filled in, and through his mind was passing and repassing the same question that occupied the thoughts of his mother and sisters. What could be the explanation of the whistle heard by Molly? The want of this alone sufficed to overthrow15 the most ingenious of consolatory16 explanations. All four looked at it from different points of view, and to each the signal-whistle calling Christian into the garden was an insurmountable barrier to every explanation.
Before it was wholly light Hilda moved wearily to the window. She threw it open, and sat with arms resting on the sill and her chin upon her hands, mechanically noting the wonders of the sunrise. A soft white mist was rising from the thick pasture, wholly obscuring the sea and filling the atmosphere with a damp chill. Seated there in her thin evening dress, she showed no sign of feeling the cold. At times physical pain is almost a pleasure. The glistening17 damp rested on every blade of grass, on every leaf and twig18, while the many webs stood whitely against the shadows, some hanging like festoons from tree to tree, others floating out in mid-air without apparent reason or support. In and among the branches lingered little secret deposits of mist waiting the sun's warmth to melt them all away.
The suppressed creak of Sidney's door attracted Hilda's attention, but she did not move, merely turning to look at her own door as her brother passed it with awkward caution. A dull instinct told her that he was going to the moat again. Presently he passed beneath her window and across the dewy lawn, leaving a trailing mark upon the grass. The whole picture seemed suddenly to be familiar to her. She had lived through it all before—not in another life, not in years gone by, not in a dream, but during the last few hours.
The air was very still, and she could hear the clank of the chain as Sidney unmoored the old punt, rarely used except by the gardener to clean the moat when the weeds died down in autumn. The quiet was rendered more remarkable19 by the suddenness of its advent20. All night it had been blowing a wild gale21, which dropped at dawn, and from the soft land the mist rose instantly.
Prompted by a vague desire to be doing something, Hilda presently turned from the window, and, after a moment's indecision, chose from the shelf a novel fresh from the brain of the king of writers. With it she returned to her low chair and listlessly turned over the leaves for some moments. She raised her head and sought in vain the tiny form of a lark22 trilling out his morning hymn23 far up in the blue sky. Then she resolutely commenced to read uninterruptedly.
She read on until Sidney's firm step upon the gravel24 beneath the window roused her. A minute later he knocked softly at her door. The water was glistening on his rough shooting-boots as he entered the room, and upon the brown leather gaiters there was a deeper shade showing where the wet grass had brushed against his legs. His honest, immobile face showed but little surprise at the sight of Hilda still in evening dress, but she saw that he noticed it.
She rose from her low chair and laid aside the book, but no sort of greeting passed between them.
“I have been all round again,” he said quietly, “by daylight, and—and of course there is no sign.”
She nodded her head, but did not speak.
“I have been thinking,” he continued somewhat shyly, “as to what is to be done. First of all, no one must be told. Mother, Molly, you, and I know it, and we must keep it to ourselves. We will tell Stanley that Christian has gone off suddenly in connection with his work, and the same excuse will do for the neighbours and servants. I will telegraph this morning to Mr. Bodery, the editor of the Beacon, and await his instructions. I think that is all that we can do in the meantime.”
She was standing25 close to him, with one hand on the table, resting upon the closed volume of “Vanity Fair,” but instead of looking at her brother she was gazing calmly out of the window.
“Yes,” she murmured, “I think that is all that we can do in the meantime.”
Sidney moved awkwardly as if about to leave the room, but hesitated still.
She was still looking out of the window—still standing motionless near the table with her hand upon Thackeray's “Vanity Fair.”
“Then will you see mother and Molly in their rooms and forewarn them to say nothing—nothing that may betray our anxiety?”
“Yes, I will see them.”
Sidney walked heavily to the door. Grasping the handle, he turned round once more.
“It is nearly half-past seven,” he said, with more confidence in his tone, “and Mary will soon be coming to awake you. It would not do for her to see you in that dress.”
Hilda turned and raised her eyes to his face.
“No,” she said, with a sudden smile; “I will change it at once.”
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1
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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2
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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3
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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4
inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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5
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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6
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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7
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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8
skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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9
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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10
awry
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| adj.扭曲的，错的 | |
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11
unevenly
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| adv.不均匀的 | |
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12
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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13
pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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14
beacon
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| n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔 | |
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15
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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16
consolatory
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| adj.慰问的，可藉慰的 | |
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17
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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18
twig
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| n.小树枝，嫩枝；v.理解 | |
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19
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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20
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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21
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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22
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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23
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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24
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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25
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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26
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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