“In about half an hour,” I replied.
“Breakfast is served at 9.30 if you wish, sir,” continued Manoel, “but the ladies rarely come down. Would you prefer to breakfast in your room?”
“What is Mr. Harley doing?”
“He tells me that he does not take breakfast, sir. Colonel Don Juan Menendez will be unable to ride with you this morning, but a groom5 will accompany you to the heath if you wish, which is the best place for a gallop6. Breakfast on the south veranda7 is very pleasant, sir, if you are riding first.”
“Good,” I replied, for indeed I felt strangely heavy; “it shall be the heath, then, and breakfast on the veranda.”
Having drunk a cup of tea and dressed I went into Harley’s room, to find him propped8 up in bed reading the Daily Telegraph and smoking a cigarette.
“I am off for a ride,” I said. “Won’t you join me?”
“Not a bit of it, Knox,” he replied, “I find exercise to be fatal to concentration.”
“I grant you the beautiful morning, Knox, but here you will find me when you return.”
I knew him too well to debate the point, and accordingly I left him to his newspaper and cigarette, and made my way downstairs. A housemaid was busy in the hall, and in the courtyard before the monastic porch a negro groom awaited me with two fine mounts. He touched his hat and grinned expansively as I appeared. A spirited young chestnut11 was saddled for my use, and the groom, who informed me that his name was Jim, rode a smaller, Spanish horse, a beautiful but rather wicked-looking creature.
We proceeded down the drive. Pedro was standing12 at the door of the lodge13, talking to his surly-looking daughter. He saluted14 me very ceremoniously as I passed.
Pursuing an easterly route for a quarter of a mile or so, we came to a narrow lane which branched off to the left in a tremendous declivity15. Indeed it presented the appearance of the dry bed of a mountain torrent16, and in wet weather a torrent this lane became, so I was informed by Jim. It was very rugged17 and dangerous, and here we dismounted, the groom leading the horses.
Then we were upon a well-laid main road, and along this we trotted18 on to a tempting19 stretch of heath-land. There was a heavy mist, but the scent20 of the heather in the early morning was delightful21, and there was something exhilarating in the dull thud of the hoofs22 upon the springy turf. The negro was a natural horseman, and he seemed to enjoy the ride every bit as much as I did. For my own part I was sorry to return. But the vapours of the night had been effectively cleared from my mind, and when presently we headed again for the hills, I could think more coolly of those problems which overnight had seemed well-nigh insoluble.
We returned by a less direct route, but only at one point was the path so steep as that by which we had descended23. This brought us out on a road above and about a mile to the south of Cray’s Folly24. At one point, through a gap in the trees, I found myself looking down at the gray stone building in its setting of velvet25 lawns and gaily26 patterned gardens. A faint mist hovered27 like smoke over the grass.
Five minutes later we passed a queer old Jacobean house, so deeply hidden amidst trees that the early morning sun had not yet penetrated28 to it, except for one upstanding gable which was bathed in golden light. I should never have recognized the place from that aspect, but because of its situation I knew that this must be the Guest House. It seemed very gloomy and dark, and remembering how I was pledged to call upon Mr. Colin Camber that day, I apprehended29 that my reception might be a cold one.
Presently we left the road and cantered across the valley meadows, in which I had walked on the previous day, reentering Cray’s Folly on the south, although we had left it on the north. We dismounted in the stable-yard, and I noted30 two other saddle horses in the stalls, a pair of very clean-looking hunters, as well as two perfectly31 matched ponies32, which, Jim informed me, Madame de Stämer sometimes drove in a chaise.
Feeling vastly improved by the exercise, I walked around to the veranda, and through the drawing room to the hall. Manoel was standing there, and:
“Your bath is ready, sir,” he said.
I nodded and went upstairs. It seemed to me that life at Cray’s Folly was quite agreeable, and such was my mood that the shadowy Bat Wing menace found no place in it save as the chimera33 of a sick man’s imagination. One thing only troubled me: the identity of the woman who had been with Colonel Menendez on the previous night.
However, such unconscious sun worshippers are we all that in the glory of that summer morning I realized that life was good, and I resolutely34 put behind me the dark suspicions of the night.
I looked into Harley’s room ere descending35, and, as he had assured me would be the case, there he was, propped up in bed, the Daily Telegraph upon the floor beside him and the Times now open upon the coverlet.
“Good,” he returned, treating me to one of his quizzical smiles. “It is delightful to know that someone is happy.”
Manoel had removed my unopened newspapers from the bedroom, placing them on the breakfast table on the south veranda; and I had propped the Mail up before me and had commenced to explore a juicy grapefruit when something, perhaps a faint breath of perfume, a slight rustle39 of draperies, or merely that indefinable aura which belongs to the presence of a woman, drew my glance upward and to the left. And there was Val Beverley smiling down at me.
“Good morning, Mr. Knox,” she said. “Oh, please don’t interrupt your breakfast. May I sit down and talk to you?”
“I should be most annoyed if you refused.”
She was dressed in a simple summery frock which left her round, sun-browned arms bare above the elbow, and she laid a huge bunch of roses upon the table beside my tray.
“I am the florist40 of the establishment,” she explained. “These will delight your eyes at luncheon41. Don’t you think we are a lot of barbarians42 here, Mr. Knox?”
“Why?”
“Well, if I had not taken pity upon you, here you would have bat over a lonely breakfast just as though you were staying at a hotel.”
“Delightful,” I replied, “now that you are here.”
“Ah,” said she, and smiled roguishly, “that afterthought just saved you.”
“But honestly,” I continued, “the hospitality of Colonel Menendez is true hospitality. To expect one’s guests to perform their parlour tricks around a breakfast table in the morning is, on the other hand, true barbarism.”
“I quite agree with you,” she said, quietly. “There is a perfectly delightful freedom about the Colonel’s way of living. Only some horrid43 old Victorian prude could possibly take exception to it. Did you enjoy your ride?”
“Immensely,” I replied, watching her delightedly as she arranged the roses in carefully blended groups.
Her fingers were very delicate and tactile44, and such is the character which resides in the human hand, that whereas the gestures of Madame de Stämer were curiously45 stimulating46, there was something in the movement of Val Beverley’s pretty fingers amidst the blooms which I found most soothing47.
“I passed the Guest House on my return,” I continued. “Do you know Mr. Camber?”
She looked at me in a startled way.
“No,” she replied, “I don’t. Do you?”
“I met him by chance yesterday.”
“Really? I thought he was quite unapproachable; a sort of ogre.”
“On the contrary, he is a man of great charm.”
“Oh,” said Val Beverley, “well, since you have said so, I might as well admit that he has always seemed a charming man to me. I have never spoken to him, but he looks as though he could be very fascinating. Have you met his wife?”
“No. Is she also American?”
My companion shook her head.
“I have no idea,” she replied. “I have seen her several times of course, and she is one of the daintiest creatures imaginable, but I know nothing about her nationality.”
“She is young, then?”
“Very young, I should say. She looks quite a child.”
“The reason of my interest,” I replied, “is that Mr. Camber asked me to call upon him, and I propose to do so later this morning.”
“Really?”
Again I detected the startled expression upon Val Beverley’s face.
“That is rather curious, since you are staying here.”
“Why?”
“Well,” she looked about her nervously48, “I don’t know the reason, but the name of Mr. Camber is anathema49 in Cray’s Folly.”
“Colonel Menendez told me last night that he had never met Mr. Camber.”
Val Beverley shrugged50 her shoulders, a habit which it was easy to see she had acquired from Madame de Stämer.
“Perhaps not,” she replied, “but I am certain he hates him.”
“Hates Mr. Camber?”
“Yes.” Her expression grew troubled. “It is another of those mysteries which seem to be part of Colonel Menendez’s normal existence.”
“That I cannot say, since I have never met Mr. Camber.”
“And Madame de Stämer, does she share it?”
“Fully, I think. But don’t ask me what it means, because I don’t know.”
She dismissed the subject with a light gesture and poured me out a second cup of coffee.
“Must you really go?”
“I must really.”
“Then tell me something before you go.”
She gathered up the bunches of roses and looked down at me with a wistful expression.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Did you detect those mysterious footsteps again last night?”
The look of wistfulness changed to another which I hated to see in her eyes, an expression of repressed fear.
“No,” she replied in a very low voice, “but why do you ask the question?”
Doubt of her had been far enough from my mind, but that something in the tone of my voice had put her on her guard I could see.
“I am naturally curious,” I replied, gravely.
“No,” she repeated, “I have not heard the sound for some time now. Perhaps, after all, my fears were imaginary.”
There was a constraint53 in her manner which was all too obvious, and when presently, laden54 with the spoil of the rose garden, she gave me a parting smile and hurried into the house, I sat there very still for a while, and something of the brightness had faded from the coming, nor did life seem so glad a business as I had thought it quite recently.
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收听单词发音
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1
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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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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enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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propped
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| 支撑，支持，维持( prop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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14
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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15
declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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torrent
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| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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18
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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25
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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28
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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29
apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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30
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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32
ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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33
chimera
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| n.神话怪物；梦幻 | |
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34
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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36
ravenously
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| adv.大嚼地，饥饿地 | |
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37
maliciously
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| adv.有敌意地 | |
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38
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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39
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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40
florist
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| n.花商；种花者 | |
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41
luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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42
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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43
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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44
tactile
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| adj.触觉的，有触觉的，能触知的 | |
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45
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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46
stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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47
soothing
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| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
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48
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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49
anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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50
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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51
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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52
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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53
constraint
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| n.(on)约束，限制；限制(或约束)性的事物 | |
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54
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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