CHAPTER XIV THE PROFESSOR IS MAIMED

 I went back and told my friends of the afternoon’s incident.

“I must confess to feeling a little doubtful about them,” I said. “I can’t make the girl out at all; she is a most queer young woman, but of course Professor Seemarsh is a well-known man in England.”

“You are sure you have heard of him?” Szalay asked.

“Oh, yes. I know the name well. After all, it is quite likely that he would be grubbing about here for specimens¹. These scientific fellows know of every likely place in Europe for a find.”

A day or two passed, and I saw no more of my new acquaintances, for the reason that I did not walk that way. Miss Seemarsh, it is true, rather provoked my curiosity by her strangeness, but not sufficiently² to induce me to run after her. We had noticed nothing suspicious since the episode of poor Fritz, and the strain of apprehending³ the enemy’s next move was rather trying. One afternoon I thought I would stroll down to the landslip and see if the Professor and his daughter were there. Action of some sort seemed absolutely necessary to keep one’s nerves in order; although we had determined⁴ to make a dash within the next few days.

I had gone but a very short way towards the village when I saw coming towards me the pair whom I was [Pg 87]going to seek. “Hullo!” said I, “this is suspicious. What are they doing up here?”

As they drew near I noticed that the Professor carried his arm in a sling⁵.

“I am so glad we have met you,” Miss Seemarsh exclaimed as we greeted each other. “My father has met with an accident. Tumbled over one of his beloved rocks yesterday, cut his hand and sprained⁶ his wrist. So he cannot quarry⁷ in the landslip, poor dear. And as he absolutely refuses to lose a day and be idle, we were coming up to ask if we might see the ruins of the old castle.”

The request could hardly be refused, and we turned back together, in spite of a remonstrance⁸ on the Professor’s part that he was spoiling my walk, and that he could see all he wished without dragging me back. But it need hardly be said, I was not likely to fall in with that suggestion.

“My work,” the Professor said, in his quick jerky way, “is not by any means the easy-going business most people think it. I am sometimes hanging in a cradle for hours over a chasm⁹ perhaps a thousand feet deep. The best places for finds are often the sides of a perpendicular¹⁰ wall, which can only be reached by a rope above. The worst bit of this slip is comparatively child’s play, although not free from a degree of danger, as I have proved.”

We soon reached the house and had the Professor at work on the walls of the old castle.

“Very interesting remains¹¹, very interesting,” he commented. “Of course your friend has a history of the old place? Yes? I should like to see it.”

“These fragments do not tell you much?”

“Everything, up to a certain point. But scarcely the names and deeds of the early inhabitants.”

When the inspection¹² was over, and there was not much to see, it seemed to me the height of inhospitality [Pg 88]not to show some little civility to my own country folk. They had walked all the way from Eisenhalm, and were going to walk back. One could hardly omit to ask them to come in and rest; as for the danger, my suspicions, vague enough, were fast evaporating. When I asked them to come indoors, the Professor rather demurred¹³. “Your friend is ill, you say. We had better not disturb him. Some other day, perhaps.”

But I felt constrained¹⁴ to press the invitation, and the Professor yielded. The usual elaborate German tea was brought in, and I left the room to tell Von Lindheim of my visitors. He looked rather disquieted¹⁵.

“They are all right,” I assured him. “He is a well-known English savant, as I told you. And after all, supposing he is not, what can these two do against us. Come in. It will amuse you.”

He came in. The Professor sympathetically inquired as to his health, and we sat for a good while chatting over our tea. Some of the Sch?nvalhof archives were produced to gratify our visitors’ interest in the place. Miss Seemarsh asked all sorts of questions; how we liked being buried in the country, if we did not have many visitors to keep us in touch with the outer world, and how long we proposed to stay before returning to Buyda. All these very natural questions were interspersed¹⁶ with na?ve comments and comparisons between such a life and that of a London savant of many engagements and an unquenchable thirst for investigation¹⁷.

Suddenly something appeared to have gone wrong with the Professor’s injured hand. He made an expression of pain, saying his wound had been troubling him for some little time. His daughter was full of a somewhat rueful solicitude¹⁸.

“Oh, I do wish it would get well quickly,” she [Pg 89]half murmured to me. “It is a trial when father can’t work. I would far rather it had been my own hand. Father, hadn’t you better let me dress it for you again? I have brought the ointment¹⁹ and the bandages in my pocket.” She pulled out a little parcel.

“If we might ask to have a little warm water taken into a dressing-room, Gertrude might make things more comfortable for me,” her father said, holding the arm as though in pain.

I jumped up and said I would see to it myself. So accustomed to suspicion was I that my watch over my friends had become almost automatic.

I led the way to a chamber²⁰, with a balcony commanding a lovely view across the valley.

I left them and waited in the hall till they should come down. After a while it struck me that it would, perhaps, be as well to warn Szalay that the strangers were near him. His room, where he spent most of his time, adjoined Von Lindheim’s. We had done all we could to prevent his presence in the house being known to any one outside it, and I thought it just as well that he should keep close and not be seen even by these English people, who might be questioned by Rallenstein’s spies.

So I ran quickly upstairs. When I reached the corridor leading to the principal bedrooms, I was rather surprised to see the door of the room in which I had left the Seemarshes standing²¹ half-open. I knocked. No answer, I looked in; the room was empty. I went out to the head of the stairs; they were not to be seen. As I hurried along the corridor in search of them they came quickly round a corner and met me.

“Oh, there you are,” cried the Professor. “You can guide us back. We mistook the turning to the stairs and lost our way. What a labyrinth²² this house is.”

 

It was not quite easy to see how the way downstairs could have been missed.

“I hope you are easier?” I said.

“Thank you, the fomentation and re-dressing have done wonders. It pains me very little now. I shall even hope to be at work on the slip again to-morrow. Will you come and learn the rudiments²³ of a delightful²⁴ science? It is all I have to offer in return for your kindness, but to me it is much, and I think I dare promise to interest you. No, thank you, we can stay no longer. We have already trespassed²⁵ too much on your friend’s hospitality. Now, shall we see you on the rocks to-morrow?”

“Yes, do come,” the girl urged, and, more from curiosity than anything else, I promised.

1 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

3 apprehending   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• China has not been totally unsuccessful apprehending corruption suspects. 在逮捕腐化分子方面，中国并非毫无进展。
• Apprehending violence is not an easy task. 惧怕暴力不是一件容易的事。

4 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

5 sling   

vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓

参考例句：

• The boy discharged a stone from a sling.这个男孩用弹弓射石头。
• By using a hoist the movers were able to sling the piano to the third floor.搬运工人用吊车才把钢琴吊到3楼。

6 sprained   

v.&n. 扭伤

参考例句：

• I stumbled and sprained my ankle. 我摔了一跤，把脚脖子扭了。
• When Mary sprained her ankles, John carried her piggyback to the doctors. 玛丽扭伤了足踝，约翰驮她去看医生。

7 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

8 remonstrance   

n抗议，抱怨

参考例句：

• She had abandoned all attempts at remonstrance with Thomas.她已经放弃了一切劝戒托马斯的尝试。
• Mrs. Peniston was at the moment inaccessible to remonstrance.目前彭尼斯顿太太没功夫听她告状。

9 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。

10 perpendicular   

adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The two lines of bones are set perpendicular to one another.这两排骨头相互垂直。
• The wall is out of the perpendicular.这墙有些倾斜。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

13 demurred   

v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• At first she demurred, but then finally agreed. 她开始表示反对，但最终还是同意了。
• They demurred at working on Sundays. 他们反对星期日工作。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

15 disquieted   

v.使不安，使忧虑，使烦恼( disquiet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• People are disquieted [on tenterhooks]. 人心惶惶。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The bad news disquieted him. 恶讯使他焦急不安。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

16 interspersed   

adj.[医]散开的；点缀的v.intersperse的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The grass was interspersed with beds of flowers. 草地上点缀着许多花坛。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

17 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

18 solicitude   

n.焦虑

参考例句：

• Your solicitude was a great consolation to me.你对我的关怀给了我莫大的安慰。
• He is full of tender solicitude towards my sister.他对我妹妹满心牵挂。

19 ointment   

n.药膏，油膏，软膏

参考例句：

• Your foot will feel better after the application of this ointment.敷用这药膏后，你的脚会感到舒服些。
• This herbal ointment will help to close up your wound quickly.这种中草药膏会帮助你的伤口很快愈合。

20 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

21 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

22 labyrinth   

n.迷宫；难解的事物；迷路

参考例句：

• He wandered through the labyrinth of the alleyways.他在迷宫似的小巷中闲逛。
• The human mind is a labyrinth.人的心灵是一座迷宫。

23 rudiments   

n.基础知识，入门

参考例句：

• He has just learned the rudiments of Chinese. 他学汉语刚刚入门。
• You do not seem to know the first rudiments of agriculture. 你似乎连农业上的一点最起码的常识也没有。

24 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

25 trespassed   

（trespass的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Here is the ringleader of the gang that trespassed on your grounds. 这就是侵犯你土地的那伙人的头子。
• He trespassed against the traffic regulations. 他违反了交通规则。