She sat up a little, then leaned back, and taking her hands from her face, pressed both of them to her breast as if moved to the heart by seeing him there looking at her with a black, horror-struck curiosity. He would have pitied her, if the triumphant6 expression of her face had not given him a shock which destroyed the balance of his feelings. She spoke7 with an accent of wild joy:
“I knew you would come back in time! You are safe now. I have done it! I would never, never have let him —” Her voice died out, while her eyes shone at him as when the sun breaks through a mist. “Never get it back. Oh, my beloved!”
He bowed his head gravely, and said in his polite. Heystian tone:
“No doubt you acted from instinct. Women have been provided with their own weapon. I was a disarmed8 man, I have been a disarmed man all my life as I see it now. You may glory in your resourcefulness and your profound knowledge of yourself; but I may say that the other attitude, suggestive of shame, had its charm. For you are full of charm!”
The exultation9 vanished from her face.
“You mustn’t make fun of me now. I know no shame. I was thanking God with all my sinful heart for having been able to do it — for giving you to me in that way — oh, my beloved — all my own at last!”
He stared as if mad. Timidly she tried to excuse herself for disobeying his directions for her safety. Every modulation10 of her enchanting11 voice cut deep into his very breast, so that he could hardly understand the words for the sheer pain of it. He turned his back on her; but a sudden drop, an extraordinary faltering12 of her tone, made him spin round. On her white neck her pale head dropped as in a cruel drought a withered13 flower droops14 on its stalk. He caught his breath, looked at her closely, and seemed to read some awful intelligence in her eyes. At the moment when her eyelids15 fell as if smitten16 from above by an the gleam of old silver familiar to him from boyhood, the very invisible power, he snatched her up bodily out of the chair, and disregarding an unexpected metallic17 clatter18 on the floor, carried her off into the other room. The limpness of her body frightened him. Laying her down on the bed, he ran out again, seized a four-branched candlestick on the table, and ran back, tearing down with a furious jerk the curtain that swung stupidly in his way, but after putting the candlestick on the table by the bed, he remained absolutely idle. There did not seem anything more for him to do. Holding his chin in his hand he looked down intently at her still face.
“Has she been stabbed with this thing?” asked Davidson, whom suddenly he saw standing19 by his side and holding up Ricardo’s dagger20 to his sight. Heyst uttered no word of recognition or surprise. He gave Davidson only a dumb look of unutterable awe21, then, as if possessed22 with a sudden fury, started tearing open the front of the girls dress. She remained insensible under his hands, and Heyst let out a groan23 which made Davidson shudder24 inwardly the heavy plaint of a man who falls clubbed in the dark.
They stood side by side, looking mournfully at the little black hole made by Mr. Jones’s bullet under the swelling25 breast of a dazzling and as it were sacred whiteness. It rose and fell slightly — so slightly that only the eyes of the lover could detect the faint stir of life. Heyst, calm and utterly26 unlike himself in the face, moving about noiselessly, prepared a wet cloth, and laid it on the insignificant27 wound, round which there was hardly a trace of blood to mar28 the charm, the fascination29, of that mortal flesh.
Her eyelids fluttered. She looked drowsily30 about, serene31, as if fatigued32 only by the exertions33 of her tremendous victory, capturing the very sting of death in the service of love. But her eyes became very wide awake when they caught sight of Ricardo’s dagger, the spoil of vanquished34 death, which Davidson was still holding, unconsciously.
“Give it to me,” she said. “It’s mine.”
Davidson put the symbol of her victory into her feeble hands extended to him with the innocent gesture of a child reaching eagerly for a toy.
“For you,” she gasped35, turning her eyes to Heyst. “Kill nobody.”
“No,” said Heyst, taking the dagger and laying it gently on her breast, while her hands fell powerless by her side.
The faint smile on her deep-cut lips waned36, and her head sank deep into the pillow, taking on the majestic37 pallor and immobility of marble. But over the muscles, which seemed set in their transfigured beauty for ever, passed a slight and awful tremor38. With an amazing strength she asked loudly:
“What’s the matter with me?”
“You have been shot, dear Lena,” Heyst said in a steady voice, while Davidson, at the question, turned away and leaned his forehead against the post of the foot of the bed.
“Shot? I did think, too, that something had struck me.”
Over Samburan the thunder had ceased to growl39 at last, and the world of material forms shuddered40 no more under the emerging stars. The spirit of the girl which was passing away from under them clung to her triumph convinced of the reality of her victory over death.
“No more,” she muttered. “There will be no more! Oh, my beloved,” she cried weakly, “I’ve saved you! Why don’t you take me into your arms and carry me out of this lonely place?”
Heyst bent41 low over her, cursing his fastidious soul, which even at that moment kept the true cry of love from his lips in its infernal mistrust of all life. He dared not touch her and she had no longer the strength to throw her arms about his neck.
“Who else could have done this for you?” she whispered gloriously.
“No one in the world,” he answered her in a murmur42 of unconcealed despair.
She tried to raise herself, but all she could do was to lift her head a little from the pillow. With a terrible and gentle movement, Heyst hastened to slip his arm under her neck. She felt relieved at once of an intolerable weight, and was content to surrender to him the infinite weariness of her tremendous achievement. Exulting43, she saw herself extended on the bed, in a black dress, and profoundly at peace, while, stooping over her with a kindly44, playful smile, he was ready to lift her up in his firm arms and take her into the sanctuary45 of his innermost heart — for ever! The flush of rapture46 flooding her whole being broke out in a smile of innocent, girlish happiness; and with that divine radiance on her lips she breathed her, last triumphant, seeking for his glance in the shades of death.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dodge
|
|
| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
veranda
|
|
| n.走廊；阳台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
accomplices
|
|
| 从犯，帮凶，同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
dread
|
|
| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
triumphant
|
|
| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
spoke
|
|
| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
disarmed
|
|
| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
exultation
|
|
| n.狂喜，得意 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
modulation
|
|
| n.调制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
enchanting
|
|
| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
faltering
|
|
| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
droops
|
|
| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
eyelids
|
|
| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
smitten
|
|
| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
metallic
|
|
| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
clatter
|
|
| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
dagger
|
|
| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
awe
|
|
| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
groan
|
|
| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
shudder
|
|
| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
swelling
|
|
| n.肿胀 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
insignificant
|
|
| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
mar
|
|
| vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
fascination
|
|
| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
drowsily
|
|
| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
fatigued
|
|
| adj. 疲乏的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
exertions
|
|
| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
vanquished
|
|
| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
gasped
|
|
| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
waned
|
|
| v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
majestic
|
|
| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
tremor
|
|
| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
growl
|
|
| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
shuddered
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
murmur
|
|
| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
exulting
|
|
| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
sanctuary
|
|
| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
rapture
|
|
| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |