For the rest of the week, however, they were undisturbed, the only thing that excited any attention being the continual renewal1 of the blood-stain on the library floor. This certainly was very strange, as the door was always locked at night by Mr. Otis, and the windows kept closely barred. The chameleon-like colour, also, of the stain excited a good deal of comment. Some mornings it was a dull (almost Indian) red, then it would be vermilion, then a rich purple, and once when they came down for family prayers, according to the simple rites2 of the Free American Reformed Episcopalian Church, they found it a bright emerald-green. These kaleidoscopic3 changes naturally amused the party very much, and bets on the subject were freely made every evening. The only person who did not enter into the joke was little Virginia, who, for some unexplained reason, was always a good deal distressed5 at the sight of the blood-stain, and very nearly cried the morning it was emerald-green.
The second appearance of the ghost was on Sunday night. Shortly after they had gone to bed they were suddenly alarmed by a fearful crash in the hall. Rushing downstairs, they found that a large suit of old armour6 had become detached from its stand, and had fallen on the stone floor, while, seated in a high-backed chair, was the Canterville ghost, rubbing his knees with an expression of acute agony on his face. The twins, having brought their pea-shooters with them, at once discharged two pellets on him, with that accuracy of aim which can only be attained7 by long and careful practice on a writing-master, while the United States Minister covered him with his revolver, and called upon him, in accordance with Californian etiquette8, to hold up his hands! The ghost started up with a wild shriek9 of rage, and swept through them like a mist, extinguishing Washington Otis’s candle as he passed, and so leaving them all in total darkness. On reaching the top of the staircase he recovered himself, and determined10 to give his celebrated11 peal12 of demoniac laughter. This he had on more than one occasion found extremely useful. It was said to have turned Lord Raker’s wig13 grey in a single night, and had certainly made three of Lady Canterville’s French governesses give warning before their month was up. He accordingly laughed his most horrible laugh, till the old vaulted14 roof rang and rang again, but hardly had the fearful echo died away when a door opened, and Mrs. Otis came out in a light blue dressing-gown. ‘I am afraid you are far from well,’ she said, ‘and have brought you a bottle of Dr. Dobell’s tincture. If it is indigestion, you will find it a most excellent remedy.’ The ghost glared at her in fury, and began at once to make preparations for turning himself into a large black dog, an accomplishment15 for which he was justly renowned16, and to which the family doctor always attributed the permanent idiocy17 of Lord Canterville’s uncle, the Hon. Thomas Horton. The sound of approaching footsteps, however, made him hesitate in his fell purpose, so he contented18 himself with becoming faintly phosphorescent, and vanished with a deep churchyard groan19, just as the twins had come up to him.
On reaching his room he entirely20 broke down, and became a prey21 to the most violent agitation22. The vulgarity of the twins, and the gross materialism23 of Mrs. Otis, were naturally extremely annoying, but what really distressed him most was, that he had been unable to wear the suit of mail. He had hoped that even modern Americans would be thrilled by the sight of a Spectre In Armour, if for no more sensible reason, at least out of respect for their national poet Longfellow, over whose graceful24 and attractive poetry he himself had whiled away many a weary hour when the Cantervilles were up in town. Besides, it was his own suit. He had worn it with great success at the Kenilworth tournament, and had been highly complimented on it by no less a person than the Virgin4 Queen herself. Yet when he had put it on, he had been completely overpowered by the weight of the huge breastplate and steel casque, and had fallen heavily on the stone pavement, barking both his knees severely25, and bruising26 the knuckles27 of his right hand.
For some days after this he was extremely ill, and hardly stirred out of his room at all, except to keep the blood-stain in proper repair. However, by taking great care of himself, he recovered, and resolved to make a third attempt to frighten the United States Minister and his family. He selected Friday, the 17th of August, for his appearance, and spent most of that day in looking over his wardrobe, ultimately deciding in favour of a large slouched hat with a red feather, a winding-sheet frilled at the wrists and neck, and a rusty28 dagger29. Towards evening a violent storm of rain came on, and the wind was so high that all the windows and doors in the old house shook and rattled30. In fact, it was just such weather as he loved. His plan of action was this. He was to make his way quietly to Washington Otis’s room, gibber at him from the foot of the bed, and stab himself three times in the throat to the sound of slow music. He bore Washington a special grudge31, being quite aware that it was he who was in the habit of removing the famous Canterville blood-stain, by means of Pinkerton’s Paragon32 Detergent33. Having reduced the reckless and foolhardy youth to a condition of abject34 terror, he was then to proceed to the room occupied by the United States Minister and his wife, and there to place a clammy hand on Mrs. Otis’s forehead, while he hissed35 into her trembling husband’s ear the awful secrets of the charnel-house. With regard to little Virginia, he had not quite made up his mind. She had never insulted him in any way, and was pretty and gentle. A few hollow groans36 from the wardrobe, he thought, would be more than sufficient, or, if that failed to wake her, he might grabble at the counterpane with palsy-twitching fingers. As for the twins, he was quite determined to teach them a lesson. The first thing to be done was, of course, to sit upon their chests, so as to produce the stifling37 sensation of nightmare. Then, as their beds were quite close to each other, to stand between them in the form of a green, icy-cold corpse38, till they became paralysed with fear, and finally, to throw off the winding-sheet, and crawl round the room, with white bleached39 bones and one rolling eye-ball, in the character of ‘Dumb Daniel, or the Suicide’s Skeleton,’ a r?le in which he had on more than one occasion produced a great effect, and which he considered quite equal to his famous part of ‘Martin the Maniac40, or the Masked Mystery.’
At half-past ten he heard the family going to bed. For some time he was disturbed by wild shrieks41 of laughter from the twins, who, with the light-hearted gaiety of schoolboys, were evidently amusing themselves before they retired42 to rest, but at a quarter past eleven all was still, and, as midnight sounded, he sallied forth43. The owl44 beat against the window panes45, the raven46 croaked47 from the old yew-tree, and the wind wandered moaning round the house like a lost soul; but the Otis family slept unconscious of their doom48, and high above the rain and storm he could hear the steady snoring of the Minister for the United States. He stepped stealthily out of the wainscoting, with an evil smile on his cruel, wrinkled mouth, and the moon hid her face in a cloud as he stole past the great oriel window, where his own arms and those of his murdered wife were blazoned49 in azure50 and gold. On and on he glided51, like an evil shadow, the very darkness seeming to loathe52 him as he passed. Once he thought he heard something call, and stopped; but it was only the baying of a dog from the Red Farm, and he went on, muttering strange sixteenth-century curses, and ever and anon brandishing53 the rusty dagger in the midnight air. Finally he reached the corner of the passage that led to luckless Washington’s room. For a moment he paused there, the wind blowing his long grey locks about his head, and twisting into grotesque54 and fantastic folds the nameless horror of the dead man’s shroud55. Then the clock struck the quarter, and he felt the time was come. He chuckled56 to himself, and turned the corner; but no sooner had he done so, than, with a piteous wail57 of terror, he fell back, and hid his blanched58 face in his long, bony hands. Right in front of him was standing59 a horrible spectre, motionless as a carven image, and monstrous60 as a madman’s dream! Its head was bald and burnished61; its face round, and fat, and white; and hideous62 laughter seemed to have writhed63 its features into an eternal grin. From the eyes streamed rays of scarlet64 light, the mouth was a wide well of fire, and a hideous garment, like to his own, swathed with its silent snows the Titan form. On its breast was a placard with strange writing in antique characters, some scroll65 of shame it seemed, some record of wild sins, some awful calendar of crime, and, with its right hand, it bore aloft a falchion of gleaming steel.
Never having seen a ghost before, he naturally was terribly frightened, and, after a second hasty glance at the awful phantom66, he fled back to his room, tripping up in his long winding-sheet as he sped down the corridor, and finally dropping the rusty dagger into the Minister’s jack-boots, where it was found in the morning by the butler. Once in the privacy of his own apartment, he flung himself down on a small pallet-bed, and hid his face under the clothes. After a time, however, the brave old Canterville spirit asserted itself, and he determined to go and speak to the other ghost as soon as it was daylight. Accordingly, just as the dawn was touching67 the hills with silver, he returned towards the spot where he had first laid eyes on the grisly phantom, feeling that, after all, two ghosts were better than one, and that, by the aid of his new friend, he might safely grapple with the twins. On reaching the spot, however, a terrible sight met his gaze. Something had evidently happened to the spectre, for the light had entirely faded from its hollow eyes, the gleaming falchion had fallen from its hand, and it was leaning up against the wall in a strained and uncomfortable attitude. He rushed forward and seized it in his arms, when, to his horror, the head slipped off and rolled on the floor, the body assumed a recumbent posture68, and he found himself clasping a white dimity bed-curtain, with a sweeping-brush, a kitchen cleaver69, and a hollow turnip70 lying at his feet! Unable to understand this curious transformation71, he clutched the placard with feverish72 haste, and there, in the grey morning light, he read these fearful words:—
YE OLDE GHOSTE
Ye Onlie True and Originale Spook.
Beware of Ye Imitationes.
All others are Counterfeite.
The whole thing flashed across him. He had been tricked, foiled, and outwitted! The old Canterville look came into his eyes; he ground his toothless gums together; and, raising his withered73 hands high above his head, swore, according to the picturesque74 phraseology of the antique school, that when Chanticleer had sounded twice his merry horn, deeds of blood would be wrought75, and Murder walk abroad with silent feet.
Hardly had he finished this awful oath when, from the red-tiled roof of a distant homestead, a cock crew. He laughed a long, low, bitter laugh, and waited. Hour after hour he waited, but the cock, for some strange reason, did not crow again. Finally, at half-past seven, the arrival of the housemaids made him give up his fearful vigil, and he stalked back to his room, thinking of his vain hope and baffled purpose. There he consulted several books of ancient chivalry76, of which he was exceedingly fond, and found that, on every occasion on which his oath had been used, Chanticleer had always crowed a second time. ‘Perdition seize the naughty fowl,’ he muttered, ‘I have seen the day when, with my stout77 spear, I would have run him through the gorge78, and made him crow for me an ’twere in death!’ He then retired to a comfortable lead coffin79, and stayed there till evening.
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1
renewal
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| adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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kaleidoscopic
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| adj.千变万化的 | |
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virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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wig
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| n.假发 | |
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vaulted
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| adj.拱状的 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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18
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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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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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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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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materialism
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| n.［哲］唯物主义，唯物论；物质至上 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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bruising
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| adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式) | |
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27
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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28
rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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detergent
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| n.洗涤剂；adj.有洗净力的 | |
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abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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35
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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36
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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40
maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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41
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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42
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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panes
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| 窗玻璃( pane的名词复数 ) | |
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46
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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47
croaked
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| v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说 | |
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48
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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49
blazoned
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| v.广布( blazon的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布；夸示；装饰 | |
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50
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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51
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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52
loathe
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| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
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53
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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54
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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55
shroud
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| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
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56
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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58
blanched
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| v.使变白( blanch的过去式 )；使（植物）不见阳光而变白；酸洗（金属）使有光泽；用沸水烫（杏仁等）以便去皮 | |
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59
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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60
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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61
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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62
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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63
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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65
scroll
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| n.卷轴，纸卷；(石刻上的)漩涡 | |
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66
phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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67
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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68
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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69
cleaver
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| n.切肉刀 | |
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70
turnip
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| n.萝卜，芜菁 | |
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71
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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72
feverish
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| adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的 | |
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73
withered
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| 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 | |
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74
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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75
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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76
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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78
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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79
coffin
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| n.棺材，灵柩 | |
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