"My puir bairn," Lady Staneholme began brokenly, "I've had an interview with my son, and I've learnt, late, some passages in the past; and I wonder not, but I maun lament12, for I am a widow mother, Nelly, and my only son Adam who did you wrong and showed you no pity, has got his orders to serve with the soldiers in the Low Countries. He has not stayed to think; he has left without one farewell: he is off and away, to wash out the sins of him and his in his young blood. I will never see his face more: but you are a free woman; and, as the last duty he will receive at your hand, he bids you read his words."
Nelly's hand closed tightly over its enclosure. "Who says I told he did me wrang?" she said, proudly, her dilated13 eyes lifted up to the deprecating ones that did not avoid her gaze.
"Na, na, ye never stoopit to blame him. Weary fa' [Page 190]him! Nelly Carnegie," ejaculated honest Lady Staneholme, "although he is my ain that made you his, sair, sair against your woman's will, and so binged up blacker guilt14 at his doorstane, as if the lightest heritage o' sin werena' hard to step ower. But, God forgive me! It's old Staneholme risen up to enter afresh upon his straits, and may He send him pardon and peace in His ain time."
"Nelly" (Staneholme's letter said),—"for my Nelly you'll never be, though the law has given me body and estate,—what garred me love you like life or death? I've seen bonnier, and you're no so good as my mother, or you would have forgiven me long syne15. Why did you laugh, and mock, and scorn me, when I first made up to you among your fine Edinburgh folks? Had you turned your shoulder upon me with still steadfastness16, I might have been driven to the wall—I would have believed you. When you said that you would lie in the grave sooner than in my arms, you roused the evil temper within me; and though I had mounted the Grassmarket, I swore I would make you my wife. What call or title had you, a young lass, to thwart17 your lady mother and the Laird of Staneholme? And when I had gone thus far—oh! Nelly, pity me—there was no room to repent18 or turn back. I dared not leave you to dree alane your mother's wrath19: there was less risk in your wild heart beating itself to death against the other, that would have gladly shed its last drop for its captive's sake. But Heaven punished me. I found, Nelly, that the hand that had dealt the blow could not heal it. How could I approach you with soft words, that had good right to shed tears of blood for [Page 191]my deeds? So, as I cannot put my hand on my breast and die like my father, I'll quit my moors20 and haughs and my country; I'll cross the sea and bear the musquetoon, and never return—in part to atone21 to you, for you sall have the choice to rule with my mother in the routh and goodwill22 of Staneholme, or to take the fee for the dowager lands of Eweford, and dwell in state in the centre of the stone and lime, and reek23, and lords and ladies of Edinburgh; in part because I can hold out no longer, nor bide24 another day in Tantalus, which is the book name for an ill place of fruitless longing25 and blighted26 hope. I'll no be near you in your danger, because when other wives cry for the strong, grieved faces of their gudemen, you will ban the day your een first fell upon me. Nelly Carnegie, why did my love bring no return; no ae sweet kiss; never yet a kind blink of your brown een, that ance looked at me in gay defiance27, and now heavily and darkly, till they close on this world?"
Something more Staneholme raved28 of this undeserved, unwon love, whose possession had become an exaggerated good which he had continued to crave29 without word or sign, with a boy's frenzy30 and a man's stanchness. Nelly lost her power of will: she sat with the paper in her hand as if she had ceased to comprehend its contents—as if its release from bondage31 came too late.
"Dinna ye ken11, Nelly woman, his presence will vex32 you no longer? you're at liberty to go your own gate, and be as you have been—that was his propine," whispered Lady Staneholme, in sorrowful perplexity, but without rousing Nelly from her stupor33. They lifted her on her bed, [Page 192]and watched her until her trial took hold of her. No stand did Nelly make against pain and anguish34. She was sinking fast into that dreamless sleep where the weary are at rest, when Lady Staneholme stood by her bed and laid an heir by her side, bidding her rejoice, in tones that fell off into a faint quivering sob35 of tenderness and woe36; but Nelly's crushed, stunned37 heart had still some hidden spring among its withered38 verdure, and her Benoni called her back from the land of forgetfulness.
点击收听单词发音
1 tedded | |
v.翻晒( ted的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 intruded | |
n.侵入的,推进的v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 );把…强加于 | |
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3 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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4 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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5 encumbered | |
v.妨碍,阻碍,拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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6 hoof | |
n.(马,牛等的)蹄 | |
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7 nag | |
v.(对…)不停地唠叨;n.爱唠叨的人 | |
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8 dread | |
vt.担忧,忧虑;惧怕,不敢;n.担忧,畏惧 | |
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9 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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10 placid | |
adj.安静的,平和的 | |
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11 ken | |
n.视野,知识领域 | |
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12 lament | |
n.悲叹,悔恨,恸哭;v.哀悼,悔恨,悲叹 | |
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13 dilated | |
adj.加宽的,扩大的v.(使某物)扩大,膨胀,张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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15 syne | |
adv.自彼时至此时,曾经 | |
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16 steadfastness | |
n.坚定,稳当 | |
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17 thwart | |
v.阻挠,妨碍,反对;adj.横(断的) | |
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18 repent | |
v.悔悟,悔改,忏悔,后悔 | |
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19 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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20 moors | |
v.停泊,系泊(船只)( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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21 atone | |
v.赎罪,补偿 | |
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22 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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23 reek | |
v.发出臭气;n.恶臭 | |
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24 bide | |
v.忍耐;等候;住 | |
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25 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
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26 blighted | |
adj.枯萎的,摧毁的 | |
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27 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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28 raved | |
v.胡言乱语( rave的过去式和过去分词 );愤怒地说;咆哮;痴心地说 | |
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29 crave | |
vt.渴望得到,迫切需要,恳求,请求 | |
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30 frenzy | |
n.疯狂,狂热,极度的激动 | |
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31 bondage | |
n.奴役,束缚 | |
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32 vex | |
vt.使烦恼,使苦恼 | |
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33 stupor | |
v.昏迷;不省人事 | |
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34 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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35 sob | |
n.空间轨道的轰炸机;呜咽,哭泣 | |
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36 woe | |
n.悲哀,苦痛,不幸,困难;int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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37 stunned | |
adj. 震惊的,惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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38 withered | |
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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