"Do you want me to write a note for you saying you can't come?" said Roy.
"No, no. I must go," replied Sydney.
"But you can't," Roy was about to answer. Then he checked himself, and said instead: "Well, perhaps you will be well enough to go to-night. Is it far?" for there was no address given in the letter.
"No, not very. It is right in the city here. But you can't write for me. The old lady mustn't know that you've seen her letter. She'd notice the difference in the handwriting. But midnight! What a queer time to appoint. It's just like her, though. Now I will try and get some sleep so as to help prepare myself for to-night."
The receipt of the letter appeared to have eased Sydney's mind somewhat, for he slept until well on in the afternoon, and then he woke feeling somewhat better.
"I can go to-night, Roy, after all," he said to his brother cheerfully.
But Roy did not see how he could go. Still he thought it was best not to say anything till the time came.
Just before night, Sydney called Roy to the bedside.
"Order a coupé for me to be here at half past eleven to-night," he said.
"But you are not fit to go, Syd," the other could not help but respond.
"I will be when the time comes," was the reply. "You will see. Say nothing to the others about it."
"Then let me go with you," suggested Roy.
"Well, perhaps you may, but you will sit in the carriage. Now go out and order it, please."
Roy felt somewhat burdened with a secret to keep from the family. But he trusted Sydney fully1, so he felt that it was all right The patient grew a little better in the evening.
At half past eight he called Roy to him and whispered: "You had better lie down and get some rest now. Take my alarm clock and put it at quarter past eleven."
But Roy knew it was no use to take the clock. He was sure he could not sleep. He was far too anxious and excited for that. He lay down on the sofa in his own room and tried to read. But he did not see a word on the page. He was thinking of Sydney.
Presently Rex came in. He flung himself down on the bed, exclaiming: "Roy, I feel exactly as if something was going to happen. I can't get to sleep, so there's no use in my going to bed. I'm worried about Syd. There is something mighty2 queer about him."
"Oh, he's much better to-night," Roy responded encouragingly.
"Yes, I know; but it's his actions all through this thing that I'm worried about. Do you know that I sometimes think, Roy--" here Rex sat up on the bed and lowered his voice impressively--"I sometimes think that perhaps there was a touch of insanity3 in Syd's family. You know we are always forgetting that he isn't one of us."
"Is it anything in particular makes you think that, Reggie?" said Roy, wondering what Rex would say if he knew about that night's expedition.
"Well, yes, one thing taken with a lot of other things," and he proceeded to tell of what Sydney had said to him at the office when he went down there the previous night.
"He seems to have the idea that he has committed some crime," Rex went on. "I really think that we ought to watch him carefully."
"It doesn't seem to me to be as serious as that," responded Roy. "But as you say, we ought to watch him carefully."
Rex lay quiet for a time. Roy's thoughts were disturbing ones. Reginald, too, was worrying over Sydney's condition. But that note from Hannah Fox was something tangible4. There was no chimera5 of the imagination about that.
Perhaps it was a real anxiety that was preying6 on Syd's mind. Very likely something connected with his parentage.
Roy had not thought of this before. He was about to suggest it to relieve his brother's mind when he looked up and saw that Rex was asleep.
Then he glanced at the clock on the bureau and saw that it pointed7 to five minutes to eleven.
"I'll let him sleep on now," he decided8, "or he'll be sure to be around when we go, and I'm sure Syd doesn't want him to know."
Roy went across the hall to his elder brother's room.
He found him sitting on the side of the bed, looking very pale.
"I guess you'll have to help me dress, Roy," he said with a sorry sort of smile.
"Perhaps you'd better send a telegram," Roy rejoined. "There won't be any handwriting to recognize on that."
"No, no, I must go myself. You will understand some day, very soon, why I feel this way, and then, Roy, you may pity me and forgive me if you can."
Roy thought of his brother's theory. Sydney's talk was very strange, but not stranger than this midnight proceeding9. Well, he would wait until he had seen this last through before deciding whether or not he ought to report to his mother.
He helped Sydney on with his clothes, then went to the window to see if the carriage was there. He saw it standing10 in the glare of a street lamp. It was just half past eleven. He started to his own room to get his coat.
"Be careful to make no noise, Roy," Sydney cautioned him.
But when Roy entered his own apartment, there was Rex sitting up on the bed, rubbing his eyes.
Roy hoped he would go at once to his room, but he began to talk about the strangeness of his having fallen asleep in that way, and then when he saw what time it was, wanted to know why Roy hadn't gone to bed.
"How could I when you were in the way?" Roy answered smilingly, and just then Sydney called to him softly from down the hall, "Roy, aren't you coming?"
There was no help for it. Roy went to the closet and took down his overcoat.
"Why, where are you going this time of night, Roy Pell?" demanded Rex.
"Just out for a little while; good night, old fellow. You'd better go straight to bed."
"But look here, Roy." Rex was following him out into the hall. "This is mighty queer, your going off this way. Does mother know about it?"
Rex ceased abruptly11. He had come face to face with Sydney, all dressed for the street.
"Reggie, what are you doing up?" Sydney asked, and to Rex his voice sounded cold and stern.
"I fell asleep on Roy's bed. But where are you two going? You're not fit to be out of bed, Syd," as the latter reeled and made a quick clutch at the bannisters.
"Rex, help me down stairs with him and don't make any noise." Roy spoke12 in an authoritative13 tone, and Rex meekly14 obeyed.
"Perhaps Rex had better come along, too. I ordered a coach, so that you could put your feet up. There'll be plenty of room."
Roy whispered this in Sydney's ear as they went slowly down the stairs.
"All right; just as you say. I suppose it won't make much difference how soon you all know now."
"Rex, you may come along if you like," said Roy, when they reached the lower hall, and Sydney was sitting on the settee. "Run up quickly and get your coat."
Rex eagerly seized the opportunity, and in five minutes they were all in the carriage, and the driver had started for Seventh Street.
Sydney was considerably15 exhausted16 by the effort he had already made. He lay back in the seat breathing heavily.
"Do you know where we are going and what for?" Rex leaned forward to whisper in Roy's ear.
"It's a mystery to me, too, but we want to watch out carefully that no harm comes to Syd," Roy whispered back.
When the carriage halted before the little dwelling17 where Mrs. Fox lived Roy started to get out, but Sydney drew him back.
"No, I must be alone," he said. "Have the carriage wait here till I come out."
But he had scarcely taken a step from the carriage when his weakness overpowered him. He tottered18, and would have fallen had not Rex sprung out and caught him. Roy was at his other side in an instant, and together the two boys supported him.
"You will have to help me up to the door, I guess," he whispered faintly; "but don't ring; knock lightly."
There was no one passing at the moment, nor did any light shine from the interior of the place, Roy knocked against the glass in the door, and the latter was opened on the merest crack.
"Who's there?" came the demand in a quivering old woman's voice.
"Sydney Pell. I am ill, but I was bound to come. My two brothers are with me. Can't they help me in to a seat? They will then go away again."
"No, no; they can't come in," was the quick response. "There must be no noise. It's a risk to have you here."
"Then can you open the door wide enough to help me in?" returned Sydney.
The answer was the swinging back of the door and the reaching out of the old lady's arm.
"Go back to the carriage, boys, and wait," said Sydney, and the next instant he had disappeared within the mysterious dwelling.
收听单词发音 |
1
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
insanity
|
|
| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
tangible
|
|
| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
chimera
|
|
| n.神话怪物；梦幻 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
preying
|
|
| v.掠食( prey的现在分词 )；掠食；折磨；（人）靠欺诈为生 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
decided
|
|
| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
proceeding
|
|
| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
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： |
|
|
|
|
13
authoritative
|
|
| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
meekly
|
|
| adv.温顺地，逆来顺受地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
tottered
|
|
| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |