CHAPTER X AN ASYLUM

 As may be imagined, we returned to Von Lindheim’s in a very different state of mind from that in which we had set out. Our friend’s surprise at seeing Szalay, whom he had already looked upon as a dead man, was only equalled by his delight. But we realized that Szalay’s providential escape had only increased the danger of the situation. No time was to be lost now in forming a plan of escape. We agreed that it must be effected that morning, before Rallenstein might have time to set his emissaries of death on our track. Both the result of the duel¹ and the pretence² of illness would give colour to a precipitate³ move from Buyda. As a dying man, Von Lindheim was to be conveyed to a country house he had at Sch?nval, some twenty miles from the capital. And indeed, if he was really to die, he would prefer that the blow should fall there; and in that stronghold we felt we might turn at bay and at least gain time, if flight out of the country, too dangerous now, should subsequently seem feasible. Then came the question—what was to become of poor Szalay? He stood in equal danger. We could not, for humanity’s sake, leave him to his fate. If we did he would most assuredly be a dead man within twenty-four hours. But how to get him away under the lynx eyes of Rallenstein and his creatures? After many plans we decided⁴ upon doing the best we could to disguise [Pg 63]him as a servant, and so taking him down to Sch?nval with us.

He was a fair-faced man with reddish hair and beard. We made him shave, blackened his hair and eyebrows⁶, found some paint and gave his complexion⁷ a ruddy tinge⁸; then we dressed him in an extra suit of Pabst’s, and flattered ourselves the disguise would pass even under Count Furello’s eye. Anyhow, when he finally saw himself in the glass he hardly recognized his own identity, and behind his effective mask began to take courage. But it was an anxious time for all of us. I was too concerned for the awful peril⁹ in which my friends stood to appreciate fully¹⁰ the adventurous¹¹ side of the business. Fighting against these underhand methods of assassination¹² was not quite to my taste. Still, the danger was real enough, and that had to be met.

Having come to a decision, we sent hastily for Dr. Rothmer. After our anxious vigil Von Lindheim looked pale and drawn¹³ enough to support his pretended symptoms. When we mentioned his desire to be taken to his country home, the doctor, as we foresaw, strongly objected to any such move. He was not going to lose fees if he could help it.

We appeared rather to fall in with his views, intending all the same to make a start when he had gone, and simply mentioning the matter for the sake of plausibility¹⁴. Von Lindheim lay groaning¹⁵, with a stimulated¹⁶ quick respiration¹⁷ and signs of collapse¹⁸ in which we had coached him. The doctor looked grave, shook his head at the difficulty of combating ptomaine poisoning, and finally, having impressed upon us the patient’s extremely critical state, went off, promising¹⁹ to send another draught²⁰, which might relieve the symptoms.

No sooner had he left us than we began to prepare for our flight. We had settled that the first part of [Pg 64]the journey should be made by road, for the reason that by railway we should be more open to observation. So we proposed driving to a country station about eight miles distant, and then catching²¹ a train to our destination.

The move was carried out successfully; at least without hindrance²². Half an hour sufficed to make our preparations and have a roomy carriage at the door; our pseudo-invalid²³ was borne out and laid in it, Szalay, in his new guise⁵, helping²⁴ in the work. So we started, leaving the faithful Pabst to answer inquiries²⁵; our departure and manner of travelling being plausible²⁶ enough.

So far as we could tell, our move had been quite unobserved. The street was comparatively deserted²⁷, as it would be at that early hour, and as we drove off and got clear of the city, we congratulated ourselves that, so far, we had given the slip to the Jaguar²⁸, and at least had a good start of any pursuit. It was a bright morning, and as we rolled along over the country roads lined with dew-sparkling hedges, the gloom of the situation seemed to have lifted with that of the night. The brilliancy of the day seemed to give the two despairing men a new zest²⁹ for life, and with that came courage. Even poor Szalay could discuss his position calmly and more hopefully; we could have laughed at the absurd alteration³⁰ in his appearance but for the thought that he had taken a man’s life that day. We presently slackened our pace, that we might arrive at the wayside station just when the train was due. This we hit off very successfully, and carried our invalid tenderly, with anxious faces, into an empty compartment³¹. No other passengers were at the station, with the exception of a couple of old market women, and we felt sure they were genuine. An attentive³² guard found us a carriage and assisted us, rather officiously, it seemed; but then first-class [Pg 65]passengers were rare at those little stations. At each stoppage he came to look after us, and at the end of the short but tedious journey, he helped us out and bustled³³ about us with rather more assiduity than was agreeable. However, before we were able to leave the station for Sch?nval we had seen him whistle the train off and depart with it.

“I didn’t quite like that guard,” Von Lindheim said as we drove away.

I reasoned with him against his uneasiness.

“Ah, you forget,” he answered, “our railways are state property. The man may very well be in the Chancellor’s employ.”

“Anyhow,” I said, “he is miles away by this.”

“And here we are at home,” he exclaimed with a sigh of relief. “Safe so far.”

1 duel   

n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争

参考例句：

• The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
• Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。

2 pretence   

n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰

参考例句：

• The government abandoned any pretence of reform. 政府不再装模作样地进行改革。
• He made a pretence of being happy at the party.晚会上他假装很高兴。

3 precipitate   

adj.突如其来的；vt.使突然发生；n.沉淀物

参考例句：

• I don't think we should make precipitate decisions.我认为我们不应该贸然作出决定。
• The king was too precipitate in declaring war.国王在宣战一事上过于轻率。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 guise   

n.外表，伪装的姿态

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors.他们假装成视察员进了学校。
• The thief came into the house under the guise of a repairman.那小偷扮成个修理匠进了屋子。

6 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

7 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

8 tinge   

vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息

参考例句：

• The maple leaves are tinge with autumn red.枫叶染上了秋天的红色。
• There was a tinge of sadness in her voice.她声音中流露出一丝忧伤。

9 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

11 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

12 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

13 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

14 plausibility   

n. 似有道理, 能言善辩

参考例句：

• We can add further plausibility to the above argument. 我们可以在上述论据之外，再进一步增添一个合理的论据。
• Let us consider the charges she faces, and the legal plausibility of those charges. 让我们考虑一下她面临的指控以及这些指控在法律上的可信性。

15 groaning   

adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• She's always groaning on about how much she has to do. 她总抱怨自己干很多活儿。
• The wounded man lay there groaning, with no one to help him. 受伤者躺在那里呻吟着，无人救助。

16 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

17 respiration   

n.呼吸作用；一次呼吸；植物光合作用

参考例句：

• They tried artificial respiration but it was of no avail.他们试做人工呼吸，可是无效。
• They made frequent checks on his respiration,pulse and blood.他们经常检查他的呼吸、脉搏和血液。

18 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

19 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

20 draught   

n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计

参考例句：

• He emptied his glass at one draught.他将杯中物一饮而尽。
• It's a pity the room has no north window and you don't get a draught.可惜这房间没北窗，没有过堂风。

21 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

22 hindrance   

n.妨碍，障碍

参考例句：

• Now they can construct tunnel systems without hindrance.现在他们可以顺利地建造隧道系统了。
• The heavy baggage was a great hindrance to me.那件行李成了我的大累赘。

23 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

24 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

25 inquiries   

n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending further inquiries. 他获得保释，等候进一步调查。
• I have failed to reach them by postal inquiries. 我未能通过邮政查询与他们取得联系。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

26 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

27 deserted   

adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的

参考例句：

• The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
• The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。

28 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

29 zest   

n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣

参考例句：

• He dived into his new job with great zest.他充满热情地投入了新的工作。
• He wrote his novel about his trip to Asia with zest.他兴趣浓厚的写了一本关于他亚洲之行的小说。

30 alteration   

n.变更，改变；蚀变

参考例句：

• The shirt needs alteration.这件衬衣需要改一改。
• He easily perceived there was an alteration in my countenance.他立刻看出我的脸色和往常有些不同。

31 compartment   

n.卧车包房，隔间；分隔的空间

参考例句：

• We were glad to have the whole compartment to ourselves.真高兴，整个客车隔间由我们独享。
• The batteries are safely enclosed in a watertight compartment.电池被安全地置于一个防水的隔间里。

32 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。

33 bustled   

闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促

参考例句：

• She bustled around in the kitchen. 她在厨房里忙得团团转。
• The hostress bustled about with an assumption of authority. 女主人摆出一副权威的样子忙来忙去。