After breakfast I was in my room preparing an equipment for the day’s sport when the inn servant announced that a gentleman was asking for me below. I naturally supposed it was Strode, who had come over instead of waiting at the appointed meeting-place. What was my surprise on running downstairs to find myself face to face with Count Furello.
Count Furello in sporting garb5, a gun in his hand, and a dog at his heels. He greeted me effusively6.
“My dear Mr. Tyrrell! You! This is unkind of you to keep me in ignorance of your being within reach of my hospitality. I hear to-day, by accident, that an Englishman is staying here. I hasten to offer my services, and I find—you! Well, and how do you like our Geierthal? Is it not picturesque7 [Pg 161]enough for you? I hope your stay will not be as short as most of your countrymen would make it.”
With a flow of polite chatter8 he followed me into the coffee-room. I had recovered from the effect of his unexpected visit and was now on the alert.
“You, too, are for sport to-day,” he continued, having declined my offer of refreshment9. “You shall come with me to my preserves. I can promise you some sport. You can have found but rough shooting on the common land here.”
Now, needless to say, my distrust of this man was absolutely unmitigated. I knew that his tone and his professions were utterly10 false; that the real object of his call was, in all probability, of a far more sinister11 nature than to show hospitality or afford me sport. Nevertheless, having no fear for myself and an intense desire to penetrate12 the mystery of Fr?ulein von Winterstein’s fate, I rather welcomed the Count’s appearance. It might at least give me a chance of action, of mere13 watching to no purpose I had had enough.
So after a moment’s thought I resolved to accept Furello’s invitation, a decision he received with a satisfaction which was assuredly the only genuine sentiment he had expressed during the interview. Under pretence14 of making a change in my clothes, I ran up to my room and scribbled15 a note of excuse to Strode, which the innkeeper undertook to have conveyed to him forthwith. I had my reasons for keeping Strode and Furello apart, at any rate for that day, and had I mentioned my engagement I thought the Count would have insisted on his joining us. Also it will be obvious that there was Von Lindheim’s absence to be accounted for.
I changed my coat, rejoined Furello, and we set out. As I anticipated, he presently remarked, “You have a companion staying with you. Would he not care [Pg 162]to join us?” He stopped as though to turn back.
“He is away,” I answered; “staying with a friend some distance from here.”
“Ah!” We walked on. “Your friend is not a countryman of your own?”
“Oh, no,” I returned in a tone of frank confidence; “it is our friend Von Lindheim, of Buyda. He has been dangerously ill, and we thought a change of air and scene would set him up again.”
“No doubt.”
I could not help thinking that my companion was turning over in his mind certain plans for neutralizing17 the vivifying effect of the Geierthal’s air.
“Your friend returns soon? Yes?”
“I expect him to be with me in a day or two,” was my disingenuous18 answer; pardonable, I hope, under the circumstances.
“In the meantime I shall hope to supply, however unworthily, his place of companion to you.”
I seemed to catch a feline19 look in the face beside me, and thought that the unworthiness on which he had insisted so prettily20 might not be wide of the mark. We soon reached the private woods of the estate, and as the Count showed me the way and pointed4 out the view of the Monastery I wondered whether he knew how familiar I already was with it all. For I had come to be surprised at nothing in that network of spies and assassins.
Sport was plentiful21; black game, ptarmigan, pheasants and hares fell in dozens before our guns. A pic-nic luncheon22 was brought out to us on the hills, and afterwards, when we had lighted our cigars, the Count chatted away gaily23 as though he had nothing more heinous24 than the death of a pheasant on his conscience. He explained how it was that his intended stay of but one day in the Geierthal had been prolonged. His sister, who lived at the Monastery [Pg 163]with him, had been ill, and did not like being left alone in that out-of-the-way spot.
“You as a bachelor, my dear Herr Tyrrell,” he said, “are perhaps scarcely in a position to realize the subtle influence which womenkind exercise on our movements. Had I to choose men for a dangerous, a critical enterprise, I would take care to reject all those about whom I might suspect any feminine tie or entanglement25. Most of the successful men who have made history have been those who either by nature or experience were able to take love as a mere episode, an interlude, to be swept off the stage when the scene was set for the next act of the real drama of their lives. Pardon me if I speak too strongly. You English are noted26 for a nice cultivation27 of the domestic virtues28.”
“And yet we have made history.”
“True. But your greatest men would come under my category. And the very fact that Englishwomen are so domesticated29 shows that they have been kept in their proper place and not allowed to interfere30 in their husbands’ or lovers’ careers. You are men of action, and I fancy are often roused to it from a longing31 for change from the monotony of the very virtues on which you pride yourselves.”
I laughed and did not contradict him.
“Now you, my dear friend,” he went on, “your love of movement and adventure is, I venture to say, untinged by the thought of any woman.”
The green eyes were on me. He was watching me narrowly.
“Is it?” The mouth was drawn33 back and the eyes glittered with a vicious sneer34, at least so it seemed to me.
“Is it not?” I rejoined with a laugh. “Are we [Pg 164]not all too full of commercial common sense now-a-days?”
“I have not heard of one. Perhaps your experience, Count, is more interesting than mine.”
“I can well believe you,” was my mental comment.
“And,” he continued in a tone of polite, but, to me, somewhat repulsive37 banter38, “my imagination could easily construct of you, my young friend, a wandering knight seeking adventures.”
“At least, it is on my own account,” I laughed.
“Ah, yes. The motive39 now-a-days is less illogical than formerly40, if quite as unprofitable. You, now, might be earning a name for yourself at home in one of the professions, but you prefer to wander about in out-of-the-way corners of Europe for what? For the pleasures of a roving life and the excitement of not knowing when you wake what the day may bring forth16.”
“Holiday!” He looked incredulous. “Scarcely a holiday in the sense in which most men understand the term. You are tied, I presume, by no limit of time or means; is it not rather the business of your life now to rove where you will, answerable to no one, cut off from all ties, your very family in total ignorance of your whereabouts?”
“Perhaps so,” I answered unthinkingly, for the man’s manner rather irritated me. “We English hate the idea of dependence42 and supervision43; our freedom is absolute, in effect as well as in name.”
I had reason before many hours were over to realize the rashness of that speech. But at the moment [Pg 165]disgust for the hideous44 methods of a despotic government were so strong within me that I did not weigh the possible effect of my words, or see the trick which had led me to make the admission.
The Count rose. “I think, if you are rested, we may turn our faces homewards now. We have an hour’s walk, and I wager45 shall flush some game on our way. I hope, Herr Tyrrell, that you will do me the honour of joining us at dinner. We dine sans cérémonie to-night, and in her state of health my sister will be glad if we all renounce46 full dress.”
The invitation was, I felt, one which on the score of my personal safety it was madness to accept. But my great desire was to get inside the Monastery, since from without I could do nothing. It was for that I had spent the day with a man I loathed47; to accept his hospitality was entirely48 repugnant to me; but I was fighting against odds49 to save a human life: I had to avail myself of every advantage I might get, and could not be squeamish. The risk, I knew, was fearful; no greater, though, to me a strong man than her danger to the imprisoned50 girl. I had my wits about me, my revolver in my pocket; I felt that the path here divided, and I had to choose between that of duty and that of cowardice51. The chance I had prayed for had come. At the worst it was but another grave in the wood for a man who had done his duty.
I accepted.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
monastery
|
|
| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
vaguely
|
|
| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
loom
|
|
| n.织布机，织机；v.隐现，(危险、忧虑等)迫近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
garb
|
|
| n.服装，装束 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
effusively
|
|
| adv.变溢地，热情洋溢地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
chatter
|
|
| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
refreshment
|
|
| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
penetrate
|
|
| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
pretence
|
|
| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
scribbled
|
|
| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
neutralizing
|
|
| v.使失效( neutralize的现在分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
disingenuous
|
|
| adj.不诚恳的，虚伪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
feline
|
|
| adj.猫科的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
prettily
|
|
| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
plentiful
|
|
| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
luncheon
|
|
| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
gaily
|
|
| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
heinous
|
|
| adj.可憎的，十恶不赦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
entanglement
|
|
| n.纠缠，牵累 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
noted
|
|
| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
cultivation
|
|
| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
virtues
|
|
| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
domesticated
|
|
| adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
longing
|
|
| n.（for）渴望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
knight
|
|
| n.骑士，武士；爵士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
sneer
|
|
| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
shrug
|
|
| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
repulsive
|
|
| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
banter
|
|
| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
formerly
|
|
| adv.从前，以前 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
humdrum
|
|
| adj.单调的，乏味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
dependence
|
|
| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
supervision
|
|
| n.监督，管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
wager
|
|
| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
renounce
|
|
| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
loathed
|
|
| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
odds
|
|
| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
imprisoned
|
|
| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
cowardice
|
|
| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |