Frederick looked like a man thoroughly1 exhausted2 when the final echo of this hateful voice died away on the hillside. For the last twenty hours he had been the prey3 of one harrowing emotion after another, and human nature could endure no more without rest.
But rest would not come. The position in which he found himself, between Amabel and the man who had just left, was of too threatening a nature for him to ignore. But one means of escape presented itself. It was a cowardly one; but anything was better than to make an attempt to stand his ground against two such merciless antagonists4; so he resolved upon flight.
Packing up a few necessaries and leaving a letter behind him for his father, he made his way down the stairs of the now darkened house to a door opening upon the garden. To his astonishment5 he found it unlocked, but, giving little heed6 to this in his excitement, he opened it with caution, and, with a parting sigh for the sheltering home he was about to leave forever, stepped from the house he no longer felt worthy7 to inhabit.
His intention was to take the train at Portchester, and that he might reach that place without inconvenient8 encounters, he decided9 to proceed by a short cut through the fields. This led him north along the ridge10 that overlooks the road running around the base of the hill. He did not think of this road, however, or of anything, in fact, but the necessity of taking the very earliest train out of Portchester. As this left at 3.30 A.M., he realised that he must hasten in order to reach it. But he was not destined11 to take it or any other train out of Portchester that night, for when he reached the fence dividing Mr. Sutherland’s grounds from those of his adjoining neighbour, he saw, drawn12 up in the moonlight just at the point where he had intended to leap the fence, the form of a woman with one hand held out to stop him.
It was Amabel.
Confounded by this check and filled with an anger that was nigh to dangerous, he fell back and then immediately sprang forward.
“What are you doing here?” he cried. “Don’t you know that it is eleven o’clock and that my father requires the house to be closed at that hour?”
“And you?” was her sole retort; “what are you doing here? Are you searching for flowers in the woods, and is that valise you carry the receptacle in which you hope to put your botanical specimens13?”
With a savage14 gesture he dropped the valise and took her fiercely by the shoulders.
“Where have you hidden my money?” he hissed15. “Tell me, or ——”
“Or what?” she asked, smiling into his face in a way that made him lose his grip.
“Or — or I cannot answer for myself,” he proceeded, stammering16. “Do you. think I can endure everything from you because you are a woman? No; I will have those bills, every one of them, or show myself your master. Where are they, you incarnate17 fiend?”
It was an unwise word to use, but she did not seem to heed it.
“Ah,” she said softly, and with a lingering accent, as if his grasp of her had been a caress18 to which she was not entirely19 averse20. “I did not think you would discover its loss so soon. When did you go to the woods, Frederick? And was Miss Halliday with you?”
He had a disposition21 to strike her, but controlled himself. Blows would not avail against the softness of this suave22, yet merciless, being. Only a will as strong as her own could hope to cope with this smiling fury; and this he was determined23 to show, though, alas24! he had everything to lose in a struggle that robbed her of nothing but a hope which was but a baseless fabric25 at best; for he was more than ever determined never to marry her.
“A man does not need to wait long to miss his own,” said he. “And if you have taken this money, which, you do not deny, you have shown yourself very short-sighted, for danger lies closer to the person holding this money than to the one you vilify26 by your threats. This you will find, Amabel, when you come to make use of the weapon with which you have thought to arm yourself.”
“Tut, tut!” was her contemptuous reply. “Do you consider me a child? Do I look like a babbling27 infant, Frederick?”
Her face, which had been lifted to his in saying this, was so illumined, both by her smile, which was strangely enchanting28 for one so evil, and by the moonlight, which so etherialises all that it touches, that he found himself forced to recall that other purer, truer face he had left at the honeysuckle porch to keep down a last wild impulse toward her, which would have been his undoing29, both in this world and the next, as he knew.
“Or do I look simply like a woman?” she went on, seeing the impression she had made, and playing upon it. “A woman who understands herself and you and all the secret perils30 of the game we are both playing? If I am a child, treat me as a child; but if I am a woman ——”
“Stand out of my way!” he cried, catching31 up his valise and striding furiously by her. “Woman or child, know that I will not be your plaything to be damned in this world and in the next.”
“Are you bound for the city of destruction?” she laughed, not moving, but showing such confidence in her power to hold him back that he stopped in spite of himself. “If so, you are taking the direct road there and have only to hasten. But you had better remain in your father’s house; even if you are something of a prisoner there, like my very insignificant32 self. The outcome will be more satisfactory, even if you have to share your future with me.”
“And what course will you take,” he asked, pausing with his hand on the fence, “if I decide to choose destruction without you, rather than perdition with you?”
“What course? Why, I shall tell Dr. Talbot just enough to show you to be as desirable a witness in the impending33 inquest as myself. The result I leave to your judgment34. But you will not drive me to this extremity35. You will come back and —”
“Woman, I will never come back. I shall have to dare your worst in a week and will begin by daring you now. I—”
But he did not leap the fence, though he made a move to do so, for at that moment a party of men came hurrying by on the lower road, one of whom was heard to say:
“I will bet my head that we will put our hand on Agatha Webb’s murderer to-night. The man who shoves twenty-dollar bills around so heedlessly should not wear a beard so long it leads to detection.”
It was the coroner, the constable36, Knapp, and Abel on their way to the forest road on which lived John and James Zabel.
Frederick and Amabel confronted each other, and after a moment’s silence returned as if by a common impulse towards the house.
“What have they got in their heads?” queried37 she. “Whatever it is, it may serve to occupy them till the week of your probation38 is over.”
He did not answer. A new and overwhelming complication had been added to the difficulties of his situation.
收听单词发音 |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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antagonists
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| 对立[对抗] 者，对手，敌手( antagonist的名词复数 )； 对抗肌； 对抗药 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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stammering
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的现在分词 ) | |
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incarnate
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| adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的 | |
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caress
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| vt./n.爱抚，抚摸 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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suave
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| adj.温和的；柔和的；文雅的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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vilify
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| v.诽谤，中伤 | |
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babbling
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| n.胡说，婴儿发出的咿哑声adj.胡说的v.喋喋不休( babble的现在分词 )；作潺潺声（如流水）；含糊不清地说话；泄漏秘密 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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36
constable
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| n.(英国)警察，警官 | |
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37
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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