By the time Kilsip made his appearance Calton was in a high state of excitement.
“I suppose we’d better go at once,” he said to Kilsip, as he lit a cigar. “That old hag may go off at any moment.”
“She might,” assented7 Kilsip, doubtfully; “but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she pulled through. Some of these old women have nine lives like a cat.”
“Not improbable,” retorted Calton, as they passed into the brilliantly-lighted street; “her nature seemed to me to be essentially8 feline9. But tell me,” he went on, “what’s the matter with her — old age?”
“Partly; drink also, I think,” answered Kilsip. “Besides, her surroundings are not very healthy, and her dissipated habits have pretty well settled her.”
“It isn’t anything catching10, I hope,” cried the barrister, with a shudder11, as they passed into the crowd of Bourke Street.
“Don’t know, sir, not being a doctor,” answered the detective, stolidly12.
“Oh!” ejaculated Calton, in dismay.
“It will be all right, sir,” said Kilsip, reassuringly13; “I’ve been there dozens of times, and I’m all right.”
“I dare say,” retorted the barrister; “but I may go there once and catch it, whatever it is.”
“Take my word, sir, it’s nothing worse than old age and drink.”
“Has she a doctor?”
“Won’t let one come near her — prescribes for herself.”
“Gin, I suppose? Humph! Much more unpleasant than the usual run of medicines.”
In a short time they found themselves in Little Bourke Street, and after traversing a few dark and narrow lanes — by this time they were more or less familiar to Calton — they found themselves before Mother Guttersnipe’s den2.
They climbed the rickety stairs, which groaned14 and creaked beneath their weight, and found Mother Guttersnipe lying on the bed in the corner. The elfish black-haired child was playing cards with a slatternly-looking girl at a deal table by the faint light of a tallow candle.
They both sprang to their feet as the strangers entered, and the elfish child pushed a broken chair in a sullen15 manner towards Mr. Calton, while the other girl shuffled16 into a far corner of the room, and crouched17 down there like a dog. The noise of their entry awoke the hag from an uneasy slumber18 into which she had fallen. Sitting up in bed, she huddled19 the clothes round her. She presented such a gruesome spectacle that involuntarily Calton recoiled20. Her white hair was unbound, and hung in tangled21 masses over her shoulders in snowy profusion22. Her face, parched23 and wrinkled, with the hooked nose, and beady black eyes, like those of a mouse, was poked24 forward, and her skinny arms, bare to the shoulder, were waving wildly about as she grasped at the bedclothes with her claw-like hands. The square bottle and the broken cup lay beside her, and filling herself a dram, she lapped it up greedily.
The irritant brought on a paroxysm of coughing which lasted until the elfish child shook her well, and took the cup from her.
“Greedy old beast,” muttered this amiable25 infant, peering into the cup, “ye’d drink the Yarrer dry, I b’lieve.”
“Yah!” muttered the old woman feebly. “Who’s they, Lizer?” she said, shading her eyes with one trembling hand, while she looked at Calton and the detective.
“The perlice cove3 an’ the swell26,” said Lizer, suddenly. “Come to see yer turn up your toes.”
“I ain’t dead yet, ye whelp,” snarled27 the hag with sudden energy; “an’ if I gits up I’ll turn up yer toes, cuss ye.”
Lizer gave a shrill28 laugh of disdain29, and Kilsip stepped forward.
“None of this,” he said, sharply, taking Lizer by one thin shoulder, and pushing her over to where the other girl was crouching30; “stop there till I tell you to move.”
Lizer tossed back her tangled black hair, and was about to make some impudent31 reply, when the other girl, who was older and wiser, put out her hand, and pulled her down beside her.
Meanwhile, Calton was addressing himself to the old woman in the corner.
“You wanted to see me?” he said gently, for, notwithstanding his repugnance32 to her, she was, after all, a woman, and dying.
“Yes, cuss ye,” croaked33 Mother Guttersnipe, lying down, and pulling the greasy34 bedclothes up to her neck. “You ain’t a parson?” with sudden suspicion.
“No, I am a lawyer.”
“I ain’t a-goin’ to have the cussed parsons a-prowlin’ round ’ere,” growled35 the old woman, viciously. “I ain’t a-goin’ to die yet, cuss ye; I’m goin’ to get well an’ strong, an’ ’ave a good time of it.”
“I’m afraid you won’t recover,” said Calton, gently. “You had better let me send for a doctor.”
“No, I shan’t,” retorted the hag, aiming a blow at him with all her feeble strength. “I ain’t a-goin’ to have my inside spil’d with salts and senner. I don’t want neither parsons nor doctors, I don’t. I wouldn’t ’ave a lawyer, only I’m a-thinkin’ of makin’ my will, I am.”
“Mind I gits the watch,” yelled Lizer, from the corner. “If you gives it to Sal I’ll tear her eyes out.”
“Silence!” said Kilsip, sharply, and, with a muttered curse, Lizer sat back in her corner.
“Sharper than a serpent’s tooth, she are,” whined36 the old woman, when quiet was once more restored. “That young devil ’ave fed at my ’ome, an’ now she turns, cuss her.”
“Well — well,” said Calton, rather impatiently, “what is it you wanted to see me about?”
“Don’t be in such a ’urry,” said the hag, with a scowl37, “or I’m blamed if I tell you anything, s’elp me.”
She was evidently growing very weak, so Calton turned to Kilsip and told him in a whisper to get a doctor. The detective scribbled38 a note on some paper, and, giving it to Lizer, ordered her to take it. At this, the other girl arose, and, putting her arm in that of the child’s, they left together.
“Them two young ’usseys gone?” said Mother Guttersnipe. “Right you are, for I don’t want what I’ve got to tell to git into the noospaper, I don’t.”
“And what is it?” asked Calton, bending forward.
The old woman took another drink of gin, and it seemed to put life into her, for she sat up in the bed, and commenced to talk rapidly, as though she were afraid of dying before her secret was told.
“You’ve been ’ere afore?” she said, pointing one skinny finger at Calton, “and you wanted to find out all about ’er; but you didn’t. She wouldn’t let me tell, for she was always a proud jade39, a-flouncin’ round while ’er pore mother was a-starvin’.”
“Her mother! Are you Rosanna Moore’s mother?” cried Calton, considerably40 astonished.
“May I die if I ain’t,” croaked the hag. “‘Er pore father died of drink, cuss ’im, an’ I’m a-follerin’ ’im to the same place in the same way. You weren’t about town in the old days, or you’d a-bin41 after her, cuss ye.”
“After Rosanna?”
“The werry girl,” answered Mother Guttersnipe. “She were on the stage, she were, an’ my eye, what a swell she were, with all the coves42 a-dyin’ for ’er, an’ she dancin’ over their black ’earts, cuss ’em; but she was allays43 good to me till ’e came.”
“Who came?”
“‘E!” yelled the old woman, raising herself on her arm, her eyes sparkling with vindictive44 fury. “‘E, a-comin’ round with di’monds and gold, and a-ruinin’ my pore girl; an’ how ’e’s ’eld ’is bloomin’ ’ead up all these years as if he were a saint, cuss ’im — cuss ’im.”
“Whom does she mean?” whispered Calton to Kilsip.
“Mean!” screamed Mother Guttersnipe, whose sharp ears had caught the muttered question. “Why, Mark Frettlby!”
“Good God!” Calton rose up in his astonishment45, and even Kilsip’s inscrutable countenance46 displayed some surprise.
“Aye, ’e were a swell in them days,” pursued Mother Guttersnipe, “and ’e comes a-philanderin’ round my gal47, cuss ’im, an’ ruins ’er, and leaves ’er an’ the child to starve, like a black-’earted villain48 as ’e were.”
“The child! Her name?”
“Bah,” retorted the hag, with scorn, “as if you didn’t know my gran’daughter Sal.”
“Sal, Mark Frettlby’s child?”
“Yes, an’ as pretty a girl as the other, tho’ she ’appened to be born on the wrong side of the ’edge. Oh, I’ve seen ’er a-sweepin’ along in ’er silks an’ satins as tho’ we were dirt — an’ Sal ’er ’alf sister — cuss ’er.”
Exhausted49 by the efforts she had made, the old woman sank back in her bed, while Calton sat dazed, thinking over the astounding50 revelation that had just been made. That Rosanna Moore should turn out to be Mark Frettlby’s mistress he hardly wondered at; after all, the millionaire was but a man, and in his young days had been no better and no worse than the rest of his friends. Rosanna Moore was pretty, and was evidently one of those women who — rakes at heart — prefer the untrammelled freedom of being a mistress, to the sedate51 bondage52 of a wife. In questions of morality, so many people live in glass houses, that there are few nowadays who can afford to throw stones. Calton did not think any the worse of Frettlby for his youthful follies53. But what did surprise him was that Frettlby should be so heartless, as to leave his child to the tender mercies of an old hag like Mother Guttersnipe. It was so entirely54 different from what he knew of the man, that he was inclined to think that the old woman was playing him a trick.
“Did Mr. Frettlby know Sal was his child?” he asked.
“Not ’e,” snarled Mother Guttersnipe, in an exultant55 tone. “‘E thought she was dead, ’e did, arter Rosanner gave him the go-by.”
“And why did you not tell him?”
“‘Cause I wanted to break ’is ’eart, if ’e ’ad any,” said the old beldame, vindictively56. “Sal was a-goin’ wrong as fast as she could till she was tuk from me. If she had gone and got into quod I’d ’ave gone to ’im, and said, ‘Look at yer darter! ‘Ow I’ve ruined her as you did mine.’”
“You wicked woman,” said Calton, revolted at the malignity57 of the scheme. “You sacrificed an innocent girl for this.”
“None of yer preachin’,” retorted the hag sullenly58; “I ain’t bin brought up for a saint, I ain’t — an’ I wanted to pay ’im out — ’e paid me well to ’old my tongue about my darter, an’ I’ve got it ’ere,” laying her hand on the pillow, “all gold, good gold — an’ mine, cuss me.”
Calton rose, he felt quite sick at this exhibition of human depravity, and longed to be away. As he was putting on his hat, however, the two girls entered with the doctor, who nodded to Kilsip, cast a sharp scrutinising glance at Calton, and then walked over to the bed. The two girls went back to their corner, and waited in silence for the end. Mother Guttersnipe had fallen back in the bed, with one claw-like hand clutching the pillow, as if to protect her beloved gold, and over her face a deadly paleness was spreading, which told the practised eye of the doctor that the end was near. He knelt down beside the bed for a moment, holding the candle to the dying woman’s face. She opened her eyes, and muttered drowsily59 —
“Who’s you? get out,” but then she seemed to grasp the situation again, and she started up with a shrill yell, which made the hearers shudder, it was so weird60 and eerie61.
“My money!” she yelled, clasping the pillow in her skinny arms. “It’s all mine, ye shan’t have it — cuss ye.”
The doctor arose from his knees, and shrugged62 his shoulders.
“Not worth while doing anything,” he said coolly, “she’ll be dead soon.”
The old woman, mumbling63 over her pillow, caught the word, and burst into tears.
“Dead! dead! my poor Rosanna, with ’er golden ’air, always lovin’ ’er pore mother till ’e took ’er away, an’ she came back to die — die — ooh!”
Her voice died away in a long melancholy64 wail65, that made the two girls in the corner shiver, and put their fingers in their ears.
“My good woman,” said the doctor, bending over the bed, “would you not like to see a minister?”
She looked at him with her bright, beady eyes, already somewhat dimmed with the mists of death, and said, in a harsh, low whisper — ” Why?”
“Because you have only a short time to live,” said the doctor, gently. “You are dying.”
Mother Guttersnipe sprang up, and seized his arm with a scream of terror.
“Dyin’, dyin’ — no! no!” she wailed66, clawing his sleeve. “I ain’t fit to die — cuss me; save me — save me; I don’t know where I’d go to, s’elp me — save me.”
The doctor tried to remove her hands, but she held on with wonderful tenacity67.
“It is impossible,” he said briefly68.
The hag fell back in her bed.
“I’ll give you money to save me,” she shrieked69; “good money — all mine — all mine. See — see — ’ere — suverains,” and tearing her pillow open, she took out a canvas bag, and from it poured a gleaming stream of gold. Gold — gold — it rolled all over the bed, over the floor, away into the dark corners, yet no one touched it, so enchained were they by the horrible spectacle of the dying woman clinging to life. She clutched some of the shining pieces, and held them up to the three men as they stood silently beside the bed, but her hands trembled so that sovereigns kept falling from them on the floor with metallic70 clinks.
“All mine — all mine,” she shrieked, loudly. “Give me my life — gold — money — cuss ye — I sold my soul for it — save me — give me my life,” and, with trembling hands, she tried to force the gold on them. They said no word, but stood silently looking at her, while the two girls in the corner clung together, and trembled with fear.
“Don’t look at me — don’t,” cried the hag, falling down again amid the shining gold. “Ye want me to die, — I shan’t — I shan’t — give me my gold,” clawing at the scattered71 sovereigns. “I’ll take it with me — I shan’t die — G— G— ” whimpering. “I ain’t done nothin’ — let me live — give me a Bible — save me, G— cuss it — G — G—.” She fell back on the bed, a corpse72.
The faint light of the candle flickered73 on the shining gold, and on the dead face, framed in tangled white hair; while the three men, sick at heart, turned away in silence to seek assistance, with that wild cry still ringing in their ears — “G— save me, G—!”
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收听单词发音
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1
labyrinths
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| 迷宫( labyrinth的名词复数 )； （文字，建筑）错综复杂的 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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6
unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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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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shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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12
stolidly
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| adv.迟钝地，神经麻木地 | |
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reassuringly
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| ad.安心，可靠 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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15
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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16
shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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17
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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19
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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20
recoiled
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| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
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21
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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23
parched
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| adj.焦干的；极渴的；v.（使）焦干 | |
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24
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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27
snarled
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的过去式和过去分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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31
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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32
repugnance
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| n.嫌恶 | |
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33
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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greasy
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| adj. 多脂的，油脂的 | |
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35
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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36
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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37
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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38
scribbled
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| v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下 | |
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39
jade
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| n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠 | |
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40
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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41
bin
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| n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件 | |
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42
coves
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| n.小海湾( cove的名词复数 )；家伙 | |
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43
allays
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| v.减轻，缓和( allay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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44
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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45
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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46
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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47
gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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48
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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49
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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50
astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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51
sedate
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| adj.沉着的，镇静的，安静的 | |
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52
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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53
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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54
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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55
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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56
vindictively
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| adv.恶毒地；报复地 | |
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57
malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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58
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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59
drowsily
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| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
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60
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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61
eerie
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| adj.怪诞的；奇异的；可怕的；胆怯的 | |
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62
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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63
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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64
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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65
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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66
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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68
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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69
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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71
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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72
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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73
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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