The smell of Thane’s pipe was still in the air when he arrived at the place where the fight had taken place. A thing of white in the grass drew his eye. He picked it up and got a bad start. It was a tiny handkerchief. By the light of a match he made out the initials A. G. embroidered4 in one corner. Looking further he found a scarf that he instantly recognized. He had particularly noticed it on their way to the party. Now in a panic he began to examine the ground closely and discovered extensive evidence of a human struggle. Running up and down the path a short distance each way he came on the Cornishman’s shirt a little to one side where the groggy5 owner had tossed it away. To John’s disgust it was slimy with something that came off in his hands; as this proved to be blood his disgust gave way to horror.
Without actually formulating6 the thought, because it was too dreadful to be true, he acted under the[169] tyranny of a fixed8 idea, which was that Agnes had met with a foul9 disaster. The possibility was real. Lately there had come to New Damascus a group of mill hands whose ways and morals were alien to the community. They were bestial10 drinkers and had been making a great deal of trouble.
In a state of frenzy11 he explored the mountain side, calling her name. His panic rising, it occurred to him to ask at the mill among the men who continually used the path. He found several who had been over it within a hour or so. Someone was missing, he told them. Something unknown had happened. Had they seen or heard anything unusual. They became individually contemplative, made him say it all over again, repeated it after him, thought very hard and shook their heads. Nobody had seen or heard the least thing strange. But somebody did, by a freak of intelligent association, remember the Cornishman. He was out there under the water tank, speechless and weeping, not caring whether Enoch saw him or not. Maybe something had happened to him.
John found him as indicated, with his face in his hands, water dripping on his naked back.
“What happened to you?” John asked, shaking him.
“Gotten m’dam head knocked off,” he groaned12, without moving. It was a refrain running through him. John’s attack had made it once audible.
“Up there in the path?”
[170]
“Who was it?”
Faintly, though very definitely, the Cornwall beauty expressed a passionate14 desire to be let alone.
“Was there a girl?” John asked.
“Huh!” said the hulk, instantly penetrated15 by the sound of that word.
John repeated the question.
The Cornishman stirred painfully, sat up, turned a stupidly grinning face and nodded—yes.
“Who took her away?” John asked, thumping16 the body to keep the mind afloat. “Tell me,” he said, shaking him by the hair. “Where did they go?” he asked, kicking him in the shins.
But the Cornishman was either slyer or more stupefied than one could imagine. He relapsed. Nothing more could be got out of him.
There now was but one rational thing to do—report to Enoch and raise a general alarm.
From running hard with a load of dread7 John was almost spent when he arrived at the mansion gate. It was shut and barred; the house was dark and where he had expected to find alarm and commotion17 everything was strangely still. Foreboding assailed18 him. Thinking it might be quicker to open the gate than to climb the wall he put his hand through and began to fumble19 with the latch20 bar inside. He was so intent upon the effort that a certain indefinable sense one may have of another’s invisible proximity21 failed to warn him of Enoch’s presence.
There was a swift, noiseless movement in the darkness[171] and a hand clutched him powerfully by the wrist. The physical disadvantage of his position made him helpless. Over the vertical22 bars of the gate ran a pattern of wrought23 iron ornamentation in the form of vine and leaves; the interstices were irregular, with sharp edges. It was impossible to use his free arm defensively because there was no other opening through which he could reach far enough in. Besides, if he resisted Enoch could instantly snap the bones of his trapped arm. He was utterly24 bewildered by the circumstances. Enoch’s gesture was menacing, even terrifying in its sinister25 precision, and yet John could scarcely imagine that his intentions were destructive. So he submitted his arm passively to the old man’s dangerous grip and spoke26.
“It is I,” he said. His voice betrayed his spirit, which was at the verge27 of panic. Enoch did not speak. His hold tightened28. “I was trying to let myself in to save time,” said John. “Agnes is lost. That is, I can’t find her. I was coming to tell you.”
Enoch still did not speak.
“Perhaps she is home,” said John. “Have you seen her? If you haven’t I’m afraid something has happened to her.”
The old man’s continued silence was unnatural29 and ominous30. Slowly, purposefully, he drew John’s arm further in, to almost the elbow; it came to him unresistingly and bare, the cuffs31 of the coat and shirt having caught on the vine work outside. Then he began to explore it upward from the wrist, feeling[172] through the flesh for the edges of the radius32 and ulna bones, passing them an inch at a time between his thumb and forefinger33 as if searching for something he was afraid to find. John’s arm had once been broken in a football game at school. There was a perceptible ridge34 in the radius bone at the point of fracture. On this ridge Enoch’s fingers stopped, lost their strength and began to tremble. At the same time the grip of his other hand around John’s wrist began to relax in a slow, involuntary manner.
The next instant John’s arm was free and there was the sound of a body falling on the gravel36 inside the gate.
Now John scaled the wall. He stopped to make sure Enoch was breathing and to ease his form on the ground; then he ran to the mansion. His furious alarm brought a stolid37, dark woman to the door, holding a small oil light over her head.
“Is Miss Gib at home?” he asked.
The woman shook her head.
“Does anyone know where she is?”
In a dull manner the woman shook her head again.
“Mr. Gib has fallen at the front gate,” said John. “Go to him at once and send someone for the doctor.”
The woman put the lamp down on the floor where she stood and started alone down the driveway, running.
“Call the servants,” said John. “You may have to carry him in.”
[173]
But she went only faster. He followed her. Before he could overtake her she met Enoch. He could see them both clearly in the light streaming from the doorway38. The woman looked at Enoch anxiously and made as if to touch him, solicitously39. He did not exactly ignore her; he seemed not to see her at all and walked steadily40 on.
John turned out of the light and passed unobserved in the darkness. Then he ran headlong off the grounds, feeling at each step that his knees would let him down. His emotional state was almost unmanageable. The episode with Enoch at the gate had been not only very mysterious but fraught41 with some ghastly inner meaning to which he had no clue whatever. He knew nothing of Enoch’s obsession42 that he, John, was Aaron reincarnated43. He had never heard of that boyhood contest in which Enoch broke Aaron’s arm. Therefore he could not know what it meant in Enoch’s troubled brain to find in the arm of Aaron’s son the scar of a similar fracture at almost precisely44 the corresponding place. To him it was the same scar in the same arm. It was the last thing needed to fix his hallucination and the discovery had momentarily overwhelmed his senses.
In that instant he had called John by his father’s name,—Aaron!
What did it mean? Intuitively John knew that here was the key to the riddle45. But he could not apply it. He could see that in taking Esther, his mother, away from Enoch his father had brought upon himself[174] Enoch’s undying hatred46. He could understand how such hatred might naturally be transferred to the son. Only, in that case, how could he explain the fact that until now Enoch’s attitude toward him had been friendly or indifferent?
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1
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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2
inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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3
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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4
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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groggy
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| adj.体弱的；不稳的 | |
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6
formulating
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| v.构想出( formulate的现在分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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7
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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8
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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9
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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10
bestial
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| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
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11
frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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12
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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13
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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14
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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15
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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16
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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17
commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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18
assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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19
fumble
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| vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索 | |
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20
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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21
proximity
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| n.接近，邻近 | |
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vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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23
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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24
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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25
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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26
spoke
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| 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 | |
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27
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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28
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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29
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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30
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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31
cuffs
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| n.袖口( cuff的名词复数 )v.掌打，拳打( cuff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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32
radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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33
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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34
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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35
awesomely
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| 赫然 | |
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36
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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37
stolid
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| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
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38
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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39
solicitously
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| adv.热心地，热切地 | |
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40
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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41
fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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42
obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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43
reincarnated
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| v.赋予新形体，使转世化身( reincarnate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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45
riddle
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| n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜 | |
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46
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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