"Am I never to succeed," she muttered to herself, "in finding one with whom I can make my escape from this sea of horrors that surrounds me? Am I, notwithstanding I have so fully4 accomplished5 all I wished to accomplish, by—by"—she shuddered6 and paused.—"Well, well, the time will come—I must go alone. Let Todd go alone, and let me go alone. Why should he wish to trammel my actions? He cannot surely think, for a moment, that with him I will consent to pass the remainder of my life!"
The scornful curl of the lip, and the indignant toss of the head, which accompanied these words, would have been quite sufficient to convince Todd, had he seen them, of the hopelessness of any such notion.
"No," she added, after a pause, "I shall be alone in the world, or, if I make ties, they shall be made in another country. There it is possible I may be—oh, no, no—not happy; but I may be powerful, and have cringing8 slaves about me, who, finding that I am rich, will tell me that I am beautiful, and I shall be able to drink deeply of the intoxicating9 cup of pleasure, in some land where prudery, or what is called propriety10, has not set up its banner as it has in this land of outward virtue11. As for Todd—I—I will try to be assured that he is a corpse12 before I breathe freely; and if I fail in that, I will hope that we shall be thousands of leagues asunder13."
A shadow passed the window. Mrs. Lovett started to her feet.
"Ah! who comes? 'Tis he—no—God! 'tis Todd."
For a moment she pressed her hands upon her face, as though she would squeeze out the traces of passion from the muscles, and then her old set smile came back again. Todd entered the shop. For a few moments they looked at each other in silence, and then Todd said—
"Alone?"
"Quite," she replied.
He gave one of his peculiar14 laughs, and then glided15 into the parlour behind the shop. Mrs. Lovett followed him.
"News?" he said.
"None."
"The time to leave off this—"
"Yes. The time to quit business, Mrs. Lovett. All goes well—swimmingly. Ha! ha!"
She shuddered as she said—
"Do not laugh."
"Let those laugh who win," replied Todd. "How old are you, Sarah?"
"Old?"
"Yes, or to shape the question perhaps more to a woman's liking16, how young are you? Have you yet many years before you in which to enjoy the fruits of our labours? Have you the iron frame which will enable you to say—'I shall revel17 for years in the soft enjoyments18 of luxury stolen from a world I hate?' Tell me."
Mrs. Lovett fell into a musing19 attitude, and Todd thought she was reflecting upon her age; but at length she said—
"I sometimes think I would give half of what is mine if I could forget how I became possessed20 of the whole."
"Indeed!"
"Yes, Todd. Has no such feeling ever crossed you?"
"Never! I am implacable. Fate made me a barber, but nature made me something else. In the formation of man there is a something that gives weakness to his resolves, and makes him pause upon the verge21 of enterprise with a shrinking horror. That is what the world calls conscience. It has no hold of me. I have but one feeling towards the human race, and that is hatred22. I saw that while they pretended to bow down to God, they had in reality set up another idol23 in their heart of hearts. Gold! gold! Tell me—how many men there are in this great city who do not worship gold far more sincerely and heartily24 than they worship Heaven?"
"Few—few."
"Few? None, I say, none. No. The future is a dream—an ignis fatuus—a vapour. The present we can grasp—ha!"
"What is our wealth, Todd?"
"Hundreds of thousands."
He shaded his eyes with his hands, and peered from the parlour into the shop.
"Who is that keeps dodging25 past the window each moment, and peeping in at every convenient open space in the glass that he can find?"
Mrs. Lovett looked, and then, after an effort, she said—
"Todd, I was going to speak to you of that man."
"Ah!"
"Listen; I suspect him. For some days past he has haunted the shop, and makes endeavours to become acquainted with me. I did not think it sound policy wholly to shun26 him, but gave him such encouragement as might supply me with opportunities of judging if he were a spy or not."
"Humph!"
"I think him dangerous."
"Should he come into your shop to be shaved, Todd—"
"Ha! ha!"
The horrible laugh rang through the place, and Mrs. Lovett's lover, with the moustache, sprung to the other side of Bell Yard, for the unearthly sound even reached his ears as he was peeping through the window to catch a glimpse of the charming widow.
"You understand me, Todd?"
"Perfectly—perfectly—I shall know him again. Ah, my dear Mrs. Lovett, how dangerous it is to be safe in this world. Even our virtue cannot escape detraction28; but we will live in hopes of better times. You and I will show the world, yet, what wealth is."
"Yes—yes."
Todd crept close to her, and was about to place his arm round her waist, but she started from him, exclaiming—
"No—no, Todd—a thousand times no. Have we not before quarrelled upon this point. Do not approach me, or our compact, infernal as it is, is at an end. I have sold my soul to you, but I have not bartered29 myself."
The expression of Todd's countenance30 at this juncture31 was that of an incarnate32 fiend. He glared at Mrs. Lovett as though with the horrible fascination33 of his ugliness he would overcome her, and then slowly rising, he said—
"Her soul—ha! She has sold her soul to me—ha! I will call to-morrow."
He left the shop, and as he passed the gent who, by force of his moustache, hoped to win the affections of Mrs. Lovett, he gave him such a look that he terrified him and the gent found himself in the shop before he was aware.
"Bless me, what a horrid34 looking fellow! I swear by my courage and honour I never saw such a face. Ah, my charmer! Who was that left your charming presence just now?"
"Some one who came for a pie."
"'Pon honour, he's enough to poison all the pies! Oh, you beauty, yo—ou—ou—ou—"
The gallant35's mouth was so full of a veal36 pie that he had stuffed into it that for some few moments he could not produce an intelligible37 sound. When he had recovered, he walked into the parlour and sat down, saying—
"Now, Mrs. Lovett, here am I, 'pon honour, your humble38 servant, and stop my breath if I'd say as much to the commander-in-chief. When's the happy day to be?"
"Do you really love me?"
"Do I love you? Do I love fighting? Do I love honour—glory? Do I love eating and drinking? Do I love myself?"
"Ah, Major Bounce, you military men are so gallant."
"'Pon honour we are. General Cavendish used to say to me—'Bounce,' says he, 'if you don't make your fortune by war, which you ought to do, Bounce, 'pon honour, you will make it by love.' 'General,' says I—now I was always ready for a smart answer, Mrs. Lovett—so 'General,' says I, 'the same to you!'"
"Very smart."
"Yes, wasn't it. 'Pon honour it was, and 'pon soul you looks more and more charming every day that I see you."
"Oh you flatterer!"
"No—no. Bar flattering—bar flattering. His Majesty39 has often said, 'Talk of flattery. Oh dear, Bounce is the man for me. He is right down—straight up-off handed. And no sort of mistake, on—on—on.'"
"But major, I'm afraid that you will regret marrying me. If I convert all I have into money"—the major pricked42 up his ears—"I could not make of it more than fifty thousand pounds."
"Fifty—fift—fif.—Say it again!"
"Fifty thousand pounds."
The major rose and embraced Mrs. Lovett. Tears actually came into his eyes, and gulping44 down the pie, he cried—
"You have fifty thousand charms. Only let me be your slave, your dog, damme—your dog, Mrs. Lovett, and I shall consider myself the luckiest dog in the world, but not for the money—not for the money. No, as the Marquis of Cleveland once said, 'If you want a thoroughly45 disinterested46 man, go to Bounce.'"
"Well, major, since we understand each other so well, there are two little things that I must name as my conditions."
"Name 'em—name 'em. Do you want me to bring you the king's eye-tooth, or her majesty's wig47 and snuff-box—only say the word."
"One is, that I will leave England. I have a private reason for so doing."
"Damme, so have I. That is a-hem! If you have a reason, that is a reason to me, you know."
"Exactly. In some other capital of Europe we may spend our money and enjoy all the delights of existence. Do you speak French?"
"Ah-hem! Oh, of course. I never tried particularly, but as Lord North said to the Duke of Bridgewater, 'Bounce is the man if you want anything done of an out of-the-way character.'"
"Very well, then. My next condition is, that you shave off your moustache."
"What?"
"Shave off your moustache; I have the greatest possible aversion to moustache, therefore I make that a positive condition without which I shall say no more to you."
"My charmer, do you think I hesitate? If you were to say to me, 'Bounce, off with your head,' in a moment it would roll at your feet."
"Go, then, to Mr. Todd's, the barber, in Fleet-street, and have them taken off at once, and then come back to me, for I declare I won't speak another word to you while you have them on."
"But, dear creature—"
Mrs. Lovett shook her head.
"'Pon honour!"
She shook her head again.
"I'll go at once then, 'pon soul, and have 'em taken off. I'll be back in a jiffy, Mrs. Lovett. Oh, you duck, I adore you. Confound the cash! It's you I knuckle48 under to. Man doats on Venus, and I love Lovett. Bye, bye; I'll get it done and soon be back. Fifty thousand—fifty—fif.—Oh, lor' why Flukes, your fortune is made at last."
These last words did not reach the ear of Mrs. Lovett. That lady threw herself into a chair, where the gallant major had left her.
"Another!" she said. "Another! Why did he try to deceive me? The fool, to pitch upon me, of all persons, to make his victim. I must have found him out, and poisoned him, if I had married him. It is better that Todd should take vengeance49 for me, and then the time shall come when he shall fall. Yes, so soon as I can, by cajollery or scheming, get sufficient of the plunder50 into my own hands, Todd's hours are numbered."
After this, Mrs. Lovett fell into a train of musing, and her face assumed an expression so different from that with which she was wont51 to welcome her customers in the shop, that not one of them would have known her. But we must look at Todd. It was upon his return home from several calls, the last of which had been this recent visit to Mrs. Lovett, that he had heard the noise in his house, which had terminated in his going up stairs, and being so terrified by Crotchet. It will be recollected52 that he fell insensible upon the staircase, and that Crotchet took that opportunity of making good his retreat. How long he lay there, he, Todd, had no means of knowing, for all was profound darkness upon the staircase, but his first sensation consisted of a tingling53 in his feet and hands, similar to the sensation which is properly called "your limbs going to sleep." Then a knocking noise came upon his sense of hearing.
"What's that? Where am I?" he cried. "No—no. Don't hang me. Where's Mrs. Lovett? Hang her. She is guilty!"
Knock!—knock!—knock!
Knock! knock! knock! came again with increased violence at the door of the shop below.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
perfidy
|
|
| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
flaunting
|
|
| adj.招摇的，扬扬得意的，夸耀的v.炫耀，夸耀( flaunt的现在分词 )；有什么能耐就施展出来 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
disconsolate
|
|
| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
accomplished
|
|
| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
shuddered
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
hem
|
|
| n.贴边，镶边；vt.缝贴边；(in)包围，限制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
cringing
|
|
| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
intoxicating
|
|
| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
propriety
|
|
| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
corpse
|
|
| n.尸体，死尸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
asunder
|
|
| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
glided
|
|
| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
liking
|
|
| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
revel
|
|
| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
enjoyments
|
|
| 愉快( enjoyment的名词复数 )； 令人愉快的事物； 享有； 享受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
musing
|
|
| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
hatred
|
|
| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
idol
|
|
| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
dodging
|
|
| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
shun
|
|
| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
glistened
|
|
| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
detraction
|
|
| n.减损；诽谤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
bartered
|
|
| v.作物物交换，以货换货( barter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
juncture
|
|
| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
incarnate
|
|
| adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
veal
|
|
| n.小牛肉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
intelligible
|
|
| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
majesty
|
|
| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
oratory
|
|
| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
grunt
|
|
| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
pricked
|
|
| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
pint
|
|
| n.品脱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
gulping
|
|
| v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的现在分词 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
thoroughly
|
|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
disinterested
|
|
| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
wig
|
|
| n.假发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
knuckle
|
|
| n.指节；vi.开始努力工作；屈服，认输 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
vengeance
|
|
| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
plunder
|
|
| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
recollected
|
|
| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
tingling
|
|
| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
hush
|
|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |