Robert Audley took the thunder and lightning with the same composure with which he accepted all the other ills of life. He lay on a sofa in the sitting-room1, ostensibly reading the five-days-old Chelmsford paper, and regaling himself occasionally with a few sips2 from a large tumbler of cold punch. But the storm had quite a different effect upon George Talboys. His friend was startled when he looked at the young man's white face as he sat opposite the open window listening to the thunder, and staring at the black sky, rent every now and then by forked streaks3 of steel-blue lightning.
"George," said Robert, after watching him for some time, "are you frightened of the lightning?"
"But, dear boy, some of the most courageous5 men have been frightened of it. It is scarcely to be called a fear: it is constitutional. I am sure you are frightened of it."
"No, I am not."
"But, George, if you could see yourself, white and haggard, with your great hollow eyes staring out at the sky as if they were fixed6 upon a ghost. I tell you I know that you are frightened."
"And I tell you that I am not."
"George Talboys, you are not only afraid of the lightning, but you are savage7 with yourself for being afraid, and with me for telling you of your fear."
"Robert Audley, if you say another word to me, I shall knock you down," cried George, furiously; having said which, Mr. Talboys strode out of the room, banging the door after him with a violence that shook the house. Those inky clouds, which had shut in the sultry earth as if with a roof of hot iron, poured out their blackness in a sudden deluge8 as George left the room; but if the young man was afraid of the lightning, he certainly was not afraid of the rain; for he walked straight down-stairs to the inn door, and went out into the wet high road. He walked up and down, up and down, in the soaking shower for about twenty minutes, and then, re-entering the inn, strode up to his bedroom.
Robert Audley met him on the landing, with his hair beaten about his white face, and his garments dripping wet.
"Are you going to bed, George?"
"Yes."
"But you have no candle."
"I don't want one."
"But look at your clothes, man! Do you see the wet streaming down your coat-sleeves? What on earth made you go out upon such a night?"
"I am tired, and want to go to bed—don't bother me."
"You'll take some hot brandy-and-water, George?"
Robert Audley stood in his friend's way as he spoke9, anxious to prevent his going to bed in the state he was in; but George pushed him fiercely aside, and, striding past him, said, in the same hoarse10 voice Robert had noticed at the Court:
"Let me alone, Robert Audley, and keep clear of me if you can."
Robert followed George to his bedroom, but the young man banged the door in his face, so there was nothing for it but to leave Mr. Talboys to himself, to recover his temper as best he might.
"He was irritated at my noticing his terror of the lightning," thought Robert, as he calmly retired11 to rest, serenely13 indifferent to the thunder, which seemed to shake him in his bed, and the lightning playing fitfully round the razors in his open dressing-case.
The storm rolled away from the quiet village of Audley, and when Robert awoke the next morning it was to see bright sunshine, and a peep of cloudless sky between the white curtains of his bedroom window.
It was one of those serene12 and lovely mornings that sometimes succeed a storm. The birds sung loud and cheerily, the yellow corn uplifted itself in the broad fields, and waved proudly after its sharp tussle14 with the tempest, which had done its best to beat down the heavy ears with cruel wind and driving rain half the night through. The vine-leaves clustering round Robert's window fluttered with a joyous15 rustling16, shaking the rain-drops in diamond showers from every spray and tendril.
Robert Audley found his friend waiting for him at the breakfast-table.
He shook Robert by the hand with something of that hearty18 manner for which he had been distinguished19 before the one affliction of his life overtook and shipwrecked him.
"Forgive me, Bob," he said, frankly20, "for my surly temper of last night. You were quite correct in your assertion; the thunderstorm did upset me. It always had the same effect upon me in my youth."
"Poor old boy! Shall we go up by the express, or shall we stop here and dine with my uncle to-night?" asked Robert.
"To tell the truth, Bob, I would rather do neither. It's a glorious morning. Suppose we stroll about all day, take another turn with the rod and line, and go up to town by the train that leaves here at 6.15 in the evening?"
Robert Audley would have assented21 to a far more disagreeable proposition than this, rather than have taken the trouble to oppose his friend, so the matter was immediately agreed upon; and after they had finished their breakfast, and ordered a four o'clock dinner, George Talboys took the fishing-rod across his broad shoulders, and strode out of the house with his friend and companion.
But if the equable temperament22 of Mr. Robert Audley had been undisturbed by the crackling peals23 of thunder that shook the very foundations of the Sun Inn, it had not been so with the more delicate sensibilties of his uncle's young wife. Lady Audley confessed herself terribly frightened of the lightning. She had her bedstead wheeled into a corner of the room, and with the heavy curtains drawn25 tightly round her, she lay with her face buried in the pillow, shuddering26 convulsively at every sound of the tempest without. Sir Michael, whose stout27 heart had never known a fear, almost trembled for this fragile creature, whom it was his happy privilege to protect and defend. My lady would not consent to undress till nearly three o'clock in the morning, when the last lingering peal24 of thunder had died away among the distant hills. Until that hour she lay in the handsome silk dress in which she had traveled, huddled28 together among the bedclothes, only looking up now and then with a scared face to ask if the storm was over.
Toward four o'clock her husband, who spent the night in watching by her bedside, saw her drop off into a deep sleep, from which she did not awake for nearly five hours.
But she came into the breakfast-room, at half-past nine o'clock, singing a little Scotch29 melody, her cheeks tinged30 with as delicate a pink as the pale hue31 of her muslin morning dress. Like the birds and the flowers, she seemed to recover her beauty and joyousness32 in the morning sunshine. She tripped lightly out onto the lawn, gathering33 a last lingering rosebud34 here and there, and a sprig or two of geranium, and returning through the dewy grass, warbling long cadences35 for very happiness of heart, and looking as fresh and radiant as the flowers in her hands. The baronet caught her in his strong arms as she came in through the open window.
"My pretty one," he said, "my darling, what happiness to see you your own merry self again! Do you know, Lucy, that once last night, when you looked out through the dark-green bed-curtains, with your poor, white face, and the purple rims36 round your hollow eyes, I had almost a difficulty to recognize my little wife in that terrified, agonized-looking creature, crying out about the storm. Thank God for the morning sun, which has brought back the rosy37 cheeks and bright smile! I hope to Heaven, Lucy, I shall never again see you look as you did last night."
She stood on tiptoe to kiss him, and then was only tall enough to reach his white beard. She told him, laughing, that she had always been a silly, frightened creature—frightened of dogs, frightened of cattle, frightened of a thunderstorm, frightened of a rough sea. "Frightened of everything and everybody but my dear, noble, handsome husband," she said.
She had found the carpet in her dressing-room disarranged, and had inquired into the mystery of the secret passage. She chid38 Miss Alicia in a playful, laughing way, for her boldness in introducing two great men into my lady's rooms.
"And they had the audacity39 to look at my picture, Alicia," she said, with mock indignation. "I found the baize thrown on the ground, and a great man's glove on the carpet. Look!"
"She held up a thick driving glove as she spoke. It was George's, which he had dropped looking at the picture.
"I shall go up to the Sun, and ask those boys to dinner," Sir Michael said, as he left the Court upon his morning walk around his farm.
Lady Audley flitted from room to room in the bright September sunshine—now sitting down to the piano to trill out a ballad40, or the first page of an Italian bravura41, or running with rapid fingers through a brilliant waltz—now hovering42 about a stand of hot-house flowers, doing amateur gardening with a pair of fairy-like, silver-mounted embroidery43 scissors—now strolling into her dressing-room to talk to Phoebe Marks, and have her curls rearranged for the third or fourth time; for the ringlets were always getting into disorder44, and gave no little trouble to Lady Audley's maid.
My dear lady seemed, on this particular September day, restless from very joyousness of spirit, and unable to stay long in one place, or occupy herself with one thing.
While Lady Audley amused herself in her own frivolous45 fashion, the two young men strolled slowly along the margin46 of the stream until they reached a shady corner where the water was deep and still, and the long branches of the willows47 trailed into the brook48.
George Talboys took the fishing-rod, while Robert stretched himself at full length on a railway rug, and balancing his hat upon his nose as a screen from the sunshine, fell fast asleep.
Those were happy fish in the stream on the banks of which Mr. Talboys was seated. They might have amused themselves to their hearts' content with timid nibbles49 at this gentleman's bait without in any manner endangering their safety; for George only stared vacantly in the water, holding his rod in a loose, listless hand, and with a strange, far-away look in his eyes. As the church clock struck two he threw down his rod, and, striding away along the bank, left Robert Audley to enjoy a nap which, according to that gentleman's habits, was by no means unlikely to last for two or three hours. About a quarter of a mile further on George crossed a rustic50 bridge, and struck into the meadows which led to Audley Court.
The birds had sung so much all the morning, that they had, perhaps, by this time grown tired; the lazy cattle were asleep in the meadows; Sir Michael was still away on his morning's ramble51; Miss Alicia had scampered52 off an hour before on her chestnut53 mare54; the servants were all at dinner in the back part of the house; and my lady had strolled, book in hand, into the shadowy lime-walk; so the gray old building had never worn a more peaceful aspect than on that bright afternoon when George Talboys walked across the lawn to ring a sonorous55 peal at the sturdy, iron-bound oak door.
The servant who answered his summons told him that Sir Michael was out, and my lady walking in the lime-tree avenue.
He looked a little disappointed at this intelligence, and muttering something about wishing to see my lady, or going to look for my lady (the servant did not clearly distinguish his words), strode away from the door without leaving either card or message for the family.
It was full an hour and a half after this when Lady Audley returned to the house, not coming from the lime-walk, but from exactly the opposite direction, carrying her open book in her hand, and singing as she came. Alicia had just dismounted from her mare, and stood in the low-arched doorway56, with her great Newfoundland dog by her side.
"Send that horrid58 animal away, Alicia," Lady Audley said, impatiently. "The brute59 knows that I am frightened of him, and takes advantage of my terror. And yet they call the creatures generous and noble-hearted! Bah, Caesar! I hate you, and you hate me; and if you met me in the dark in some narrow passage you would fly at my throat and strangle me, wouldn't you?"
My lady, safely sheltered behind her step-daughter, shook her yellow curls at the angry animal, and defied him maliciously60.
"Do you know, Lady Audley, that Mr. Talboys, the young widower61, has been here asking for Sir Michael and you?"
Lucy Audley lifted her penciled eyebrows62. "I thought they were coming to dinner," she said. "Surely we shall have enough of them then."
She had a heap of wild autumn flowers in the skirt of her muslin dress. She had come through the fields at the back of the Court, gathering the hedge-row blossoms in her way. She ran lightly up the broad staircase to her own rooms. George's glove lay on her boudoir table. Lady Audley rung the bell violently, and it was answered by Phoebe Marks. "Take that litter away," she said, sharply. The girl collected the glove and a few withered63 flowers and torn papers lying on the table into her apron64.
"What have you been doing all this morning?" asked my lady. "Not wasting your time, I hope?"
"No, my lady, I have been altering the blue dress. It is rather dark on this side of the house, so I took it up to my own room, and worked at the window."
The girl was leaving the room as she spoke, but she turned around and looked at Lady Audley as if waiting for further orders.
Lucy looked up at the same moment, and the eyes of the two women met.
"Phoebe Marks," said my lady, throwing herself into an easy-chair, and trifling65 with the wild flowers in her lap, "you are a good, industrious66 girl, and while I live and am prosperous, you shall never want a firm friend or a twenty-pound note."
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
sitting-room
|
|
| n.（BrE）客厅，起居室 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
sips
|
|
| n.小口喝，一小口的量( sip的名词复数 )v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
streaks
|
|
| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
curtly
|
|
| adv.简短地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
courageous
|
|
| adj.勇敢的，有胆量的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
deluge
|
|
| n./vt.洪水，暴雨，使泛滥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
hoarse
|
|
| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
retired
|
|
| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
serenely
|
|
| adv.安详地，宁静地，平静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
tussle
|
|
| n.&v.扭打，搏斗，争辩 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
joyous
|
|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
rustling
|
|
| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
hearty
|
|
| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
frankly
|
|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
temperament
|
|
| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
peals
|
|
| n.（声音大而持续或重复的）洪亮的响声( peal的名词复数 )；隆隆声；洪亮的钟声；钟乐v.（使）（钟等）鸣响，（雷等）发出隆隆声( peal的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
peal
|
|
| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
shuddering
|
|
| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
huddled
|
|
| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
scotch
|
|
| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
tinged
|
|
| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
hue
|
|
| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
joyousness
|
|
| 快乐，使人喜悦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
gathering
|
|
| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
rosebud
|
|
| n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
cadences
|
|
| n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
rims
|
|
| n.（圆形物体的）边( rim的名词复数 )；缘；轮辋；轮圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
rosy
|
|
| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
chid
|
|
| v.责骂，责备( chide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
audacity
|
|
| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
ballad
|
|
| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
bravura
|
|
| n.华美的乐曲；勇敢大胆的表现；adj.壮勇华丽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
hovering
|
|
| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
embroidery
|
|
| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
disorder
|
|
| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
frivolous
|
|
| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
margin
|
|
| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
willows
|
|
| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
nibbles
|
|
| vt.& vi.啃，一点一点地咬（nibble的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
ramble
|
|
| v.漫步，漫谈，漫游；n.漫步，闲谈，蔓延 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
scampered
|
|
| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
chestnut
|
|
| n.栗树，栗子 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
mare
|
|
| n.母马，母驴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
sonorous
|
|
| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
growl
|
|
| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
brute
|
|
| n.野兽，兽性 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
maliciously
|
|
| adv.有敌意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
widower
|
|
| n.鳏夫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
eyebrows
|
|
| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
withered
|
|
| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
apron
|
|
| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
trifling
|
|
| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
industrious
|
|
| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |