Tony stopped before her, seeing everything she brought up, but only the more helpless in his pity. “It was the only little minute in all the years that you had been forced to fail her. She was always more yours than mine.”
Jean could only look out through her storm-beaten window. “ It was just because she was yours that she was mine. It was because she was yours from the first hour that I!” She broke down again;
she tried to hold herself; she got up. “ What could I do, you see? To you I couldn’t be kind.” She was as exposed in her young, pure woe25 as a bride might have been in her joy.
Tony looked as if he were retracing26 the saddest story on earth. “ I don’t see how you could have been kinder.”
She wondered with her blinded eyes. “ That wasn’t what thought I was it couldn’t be, ever, ever. Didn’t I try not to think of you? But the child was a beautiful part of you the child I could take and keep. I could take her altogether, without thinking or remembering. It was the only thing I could do for you, and you let me, always, and she did. So I thought it would go on, for wasn’t it happiness enough? But all the horrible things I didn’t know them till today! There they were so near to us; and there they closed over her, and oh!” She turned away in a fresh wild spasm27, inarticulate and distracted.
They wandered in silence, as if it made them more companions; but at last Tony said: “ She was a little radiant, perfect thing. Even if she had not been mine you would have loved her.” Then he went on, as if feeling his way through his thickest darkness: “ If she had not been mine she wouldn’t be lying there as I’ve seen her. Yet I’m glad she was mine!” he said.
“She lies there because I loved her and because I so insanely showed it. That’s why it’s I who killed her!” broke passionately28 from Jean.
He answered nothing till he quietly and gently answered: “ It was I who killed her.”
She roamed to and fro, slowly controlling herself, taking this at first as a mere29 torment30 like her own. “We seem beautifully eager for the guilt31! ”
“It doesn’t matter what any one else seems. I must tell you all now. I’ve taken the act on myself.”
She had stopped short, bewildered. “ How have you taken it? ”
“To meet whatever may come.”
She turned as white as ashes. “ You mean you’ve accused yourself? ”
“Any one may accuse me. Whom is it more natural to accuse? What had she to gain? My own motive32 is flagrant. There it is,” said Tony.
Jean withered33 beneath this new stroke. “ You’ll say you did it? ”
“I’ll say I did it.”
Her face grew old with terror. “ You’ll lie? You’ll perjure34 yourself? ”
“I’ll say I did it for you.”
She suddenly turned crimson35. “Then what do you think Til say? ”
Tony coldly considered. “ Whatever you say will tell against me.”
“Against you? ”
“If the crime was committed for you.”
“ ‘For’ me?” she echoed again.
“To enable us to marry.”
“Marry? we?” Jean looked at it in blighted36 horror.
“It won’t be of any consequence that we shan’t, that we can’t: it will only stand out clear that we can” His sombre ingenuity37 halted, but he achieved his demonstration38. “ So I shall save whom I wish to save.”
Jean gave a fiercer wail2. “ You wish to save her? ”
“I don’t wish to hand her over. You can’t con4 ceive it?”
“I?” The girl looked about her for a negation39 not too vile18. “ I wish to hunt her to death! I wish to burn her alive!” All her emotion had changed to stupefaction; the flame in her eyes had dried them. “You mean she’s not to suffer? ”
“You want her to suffer all? ”
She was ablaze40 with the light of justice. “ How can anything be enough? I could tear her limb from limb. That’s what she tried to do to me! ”
Tony lucidly41 concurred42. “ Yes what she tried to do to you.”
But she had already flashed round. “ And yet you condone43 the atrocity44? ”
Tony thought a moment. “ Her doom45 will be to live.”
“But how will such a fiend be suffered tfo live when she went to it before my eyes?” Jean stared at the mountain of evidence; then eagerly: “And Mr. Vidal her very lover, who’ll swear what he knows what he saw! ”
Tony stubbornly shook his head. “ Oh, Mr. Vidal! ”
“To make me,” Jean cried, “seem the mon ster —! ”
Tony looked at her so strangely that she stopped. “She made it for the moment possible
She caught him up. “ To suspect me? ”
“I was mad and you’re weren’t there.” With a muffled46 moan she sank down again; she covered her face with her hands. “ I tell you all I tell you all,” he said. “ He knows nothing he saw nothing he’ll swear nothing. He’s taking her away.”
Jean started as if he had struck her. “She’s here?” .
Tony wondered. “ You didn’t know it? ”
“She came back?” the girl panted.
“You thought she had fled? ”
Jean hung there like a poised47 hawk48. “ Where is she? ”
Tony gave her, with a grave gesture, a long, absolute look before which, gradually, her passion fell. “ She has gone. Let her go.”
She was silent a little. “ But others: how will they? ”
“There are no others.” After a moment he added: “ She would have died for me.”
The girl’s pale wrath49 gave a flare50. “So you want to die for her?”
“I shan’t die. But I shall remember.” Then, as she watched him, “ I must tell you all,” he said once more. “ I knew it I always knew it. And I made her come.”
“You were kind to her as you’re always kind.”
“No; I was more than that. And I should have been less.” His face showed a rift51 in the blackness. “I remember.”
She followed him in pain and at a distance. “You mean you liked it? ”
“I liked it while I was safe. Then I grew afraid.”
“Afraid of what?”
“Afraid of everything. You don’t know but we’re abysses. At least I’m one!” he groaned52. He seemed to sound this depth. “There are other things. They go back far.”
“Don’t tell me all,” said Jean. She had evidently enough to turn over. “ What will become of her? ” she asked.
“God knows. She goes forth53.”
“And Mr. Vidal with her? ”
“Mr. Vidal with her.”
Jean gazed at the tragic54 picture. “ Because he still loves her? ”
“Yes,” said Tony Bream.
“Then what will he do?”
“Put the globe between them. Think of her torture,” Tony added.
Jean looked as if she tried. “ Do you mean that?”
He meant another matter. “ To have only made us free.”
Jean protested with all her woe. “ It’s her triumph that our freedom is horrible! ”
Tony hesitated; then his eyes distinguished55 in the outer dusk Paul Beever, who had appeared at the long window which in the mild air stood open to the terrace. “ It’s horrible,” he gravely replied.
Jean had not seen Paul; she only heard Tony’s answer. It touched again the the source of tears; she broke again into stifled56 sobs. So, blindly, slowly, while the two men watched her, she passed from the room by the door at which she had entered.
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收听单词发音
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1
wailed
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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3
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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4
con
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| n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的 | |
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bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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7
sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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extinction
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| n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种 | |
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erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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11
remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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12
harried
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| v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 )；不断烦扰；一再袭击；侵扰 | |
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13
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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14
precipitated
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| v.（突如其来地）使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 )；促成；猛然摔下；使沉淀 | |
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15
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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17
reviled
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| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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19
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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21
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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22
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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23
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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24
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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25
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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26
retracing
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| v.折回( retrace的现在分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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27
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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28
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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29
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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30
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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31
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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32
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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33
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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34
perjure
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| v.作伪证；使发假誓 | |
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35
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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36
blighted
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| adj.枯萎的，摧毁的 | |
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37
ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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38
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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39
negation
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| n.否定；否认 | |
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40
ablaze
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| adj.着火的，燃烧的；闪耀的，灯火辉煌的 | |
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41
lucidly
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| adv.清透地，透明地 | |
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42
concurred
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| 同意（concur的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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43
condone
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| v.宽恕；原谅 | |
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44
atrocity
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| n.残暴，暴行 | |
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45
doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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46
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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47
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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48
hawk
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| n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员 | |
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49
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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50
flare
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| v.闪耀，闪烁；n.潮红；突发 | |
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51
rift
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| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
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52
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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53
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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54
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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55
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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56
stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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