Miss Lake declined the carriage to-night. Her brother was to see her home, and there was a leave-taking, and the young ladies whispered a word or two, and kissed, after the manner of their kind. To Captain Lake, Miss Brandon’s adieux were as cold and haughty2 as her greeting.
‘Did you see that?’ said Wylder in my ear, with a chuckle3; and, wagging his head, he added, rather loftily for him, ‘Miss Brandon, I reckon, has taken your measure, Master Stanley, as well as I. I wonder what the deuce the old dowager sees in him. Old women always like rascals4.’
And he added something still less complimentary5.
I suppose the balance of attraction and repulsion was overcome by Miss Lake, much as he disliked Stanley, for Wylder followed them out with Lord Chelford, to help the young lady into her cloak and goloshes, and I found myself near Miss Brandon for the first time that evening, and much to my surprise she was first to speak, and that rather strangely.
‘You seem to be very sensible, Mr. De Cresseron; pray tell me, frankly6, what do you think of all this?’
‘I am not quite sure, Miss Brandon, that I understand your question,’ I replied, enquiringly.
‘I mean of the — the family arrangements, in which, as Mr. Wylder’s friend, you seem to take an interest?’ she said.
‘There can hardly be a second opinion, Miss Brandon; I think it a very wise measure,’ I replied, much surprised.
‘Very wise — exactly. But don’t these very wise things sometimes turn out very foolishly? Do you really think your friend, Mr. Wylder, cares about me?’
‘I take that for granted: in the nature of things it can hardly be otherwise,’ I replied, a good deal startled and perplexed7 by the curious audacity8 of her interrogatory.
‘It was very foolish of me to expect from Mr. Wylder’s friend any other answer; you are very loyal, Mr. De Cresseron.’
And without awaiting my reply she made some remark which I forget to Lady Chelford, who sat at a little distance; and, appearing quite absorbed in her new subject, she placed herself close beside the dowager, and continued to chat in a low tone.
I was vexed9 with myself for having managed with so little skill a conversation which, opened so oddly and frankly, might have placed me on relations so nearly confidential10, with that singular and beautiful girl. I ought to have rejoiced — but we don’t always see what most concerns our peace. In the meantime I had formed a new idea of her. She was so unreserved, it seemed, and yet in this directness there was something almost contemptuous.
By this time Lord Chelford and Wylder returned; and, disgusted rather with myself, I ruminated11 on my want of general-ship.
In the meantime, Miss Lake, with her hand on her brother’s arm, was walking swiftly under the trees of the back avenue towards that footpath12 which, through wild copse and broken clumps13 near the park, emerges upon the still darker road which passes along the wooded glen by the mills, and skirts the little paling of the recluse14 lady’s garden.
They had not walked far, when Lake suddenly said —
‘What do you think of all this, Radie — this particular version, I mean, of marriage, à-la-mode, they are preparing up there?’ and he made a little dip of his cane15 towards Brandon Hall, over his shoulder. ‘I really don’t think Wylder cares twopence about her, or she about him,’ and Stanley Lake laughed gently and sleepily.
‘I don’t think they pretend to like one another. It is quite understood. It was all, you know, old Lady Chelford’s arrangement: and Dorcas is so supine, I believe she would allow herself to be given away by anyone, and to anyone, rather than be at the least trouble. She provokes me.’
‘But I thought she liked Sir Harry16 Bracton: he’s a good-looking fellow; and Queen’s Bracton is a very nice thing, you know.’
‘Yes, so they said; but that would, I think, have been worse. Something may be made of Mark Wylder. He has some sense and caution, has not he? — but Sir Harry is wickedness itself!’
‘Why — what has Sir Harry done? That is the way you women run away with things! If a fellow’s been a little bit wild, he’s Beelzebub at once. Bracton’s a very good fellow, I can assure you.’
The fact is, Captain Lake, an accomplished17 player, made a pretty little revenue of Sir Harry’s billiards18, which were wild and noisy; and liking19 his money, thought he liked himself — a confusion not uncommon20.
‘I don’t know, and can’t say, how you fine gentlemen define wickedness: only, as an obscure female, I speak according to my lights: and he is generally thought the wickedest man in this county.’
‘Well, you know, Radie, women like wicked fellows: it is contrast, I suppose, but they do; and I’m sure, from what Bracton has said to me — I know him intimately — that Dorcas likes him, and I can’t conceive why they are not married.’
‘It is very happy, for her at least, they are not,’ said Rachel, and a long silence ensued.
Their walk continued silent for the greater part, neither was quite satisfied with the other. But Rachel at last said —
‘Stanley, you meditate21 some injury to Mark Wylder.’
‘I, Radie?’ he answered quietly, ‘why on earth should you think so?’
‘I saw you twice watch him when you thought no one observed you — and I know your face too well, Stanley, to mistake.’
‘Now that’s impossible, Radie; for I really don’t think I once thought of him all this evening — except just while we were talking.’
‘You keep your secret as usual, Stanley,’ said the young lady.
‘Really, Radie, you’re quite mistaken. I assure you, upon my honour, I’ve no secret. You’re a very odd girl — why won’t you believe me?’
Miss Rachel only glanced across her mufflers on his face. There was a bright moonlight, broken by the shadows of overhanging boughs22 and withered23 leaves; and the mottled lights and shadows glided24 oddly across his pale features. But she saw that he was smiling his sly, sleepy smile, and she said quietly —
‘Well, Stanley, I ask no more — but you don’t deceive me.’
‘I don’t try to. If your feelings indeed had been different, and that you had not made such a point — you know —’
‘Don’t insult me, Stanley, by talking again as you did this morning. What I say is altogether on your own account. Mark my words, you’ll find him too strong for you; aye, and too deep. I see very plainly that he suspects you as I do. You saw it, too, for nothing of that kind escapes you. Whatever you meditate, he probably anticipates it — you know best — and you will find him prepared. You have given him time enough. You were always the same, close, dark, and crooked25, and wise in your own conceit26. I am very uneasy about it, whatever it is. I can’t help it. It will happen — and most ominously27 I feel that you are courting a dreadful retaliation28, and that you will bring on yourself a great misfortune; but it is quite vain, I know, speaking to you.’
‘Really, Radie, you’re enough to frighten a poor fellow; you won’t mind a word I say, and go on predicting all manner of mischief29 between me and Wylder, the very nature of which I can’t surmise30. Would you dislike my smoking a cigar, Radie?’
‘Oh, no,’ answered the young lady, with a little laugh and a heavy sigh, for she knew it meant silence, and her dark auguries31 grew darker.
To my mind there has always been something inexpressibly awful in family feuds32. Mortal hatred33 seems to deepen and dilate34 into something diabolical35 in these perverted36 animosities. The mystery of their origin — their capacity for evolving latent faculties37 of crime — and the steady vitality38 with which they survive the hearse, and speak their deep-mouthed malignities in every new-born generation, have associated them somehow in my mind with a spell of life exceeding and distinct from human and a special Satanic action.
My chamber, as I have mentioned, was upon the third storey. It was one of many, opening upon the long gallery, which had been the scene, four generations back, of that unnatural39 and bloody40 midnight duel41 which had laid one scion42 of this ancient house in his shroud43, and driven another a fugitive44 to the moral solitudes45 of a continental46 banishment47.
Much of the day, as I told you, had been passed among the grisly records of these old family crimes and hatreds48. They had been an ill-conditioned and not a happy race. When I heard the servant’s step traversing that long gallery, as it seemed to the in haste to be gone, and when all grew quite silent, I began to feel a dismal49 sort of sensation, and lighted the pair of wax candles which I found upon the small writing table. How wonderful and mysterious is the influence of light! What sort of beings must those be who hate it?
The floor, more than anything else, showed the great age of the room. It was warped50 and arched all along by the wall between the door and the window. The portion of it which the carpet did not cover showed it to be oak, dark and rugged51. My bed was unexceptionably comfortable, but, in my then mood, I could have wished it a great deal more modern. Its four posts were, like the rest of it, oak, well-nigh black, fantastically turned and carved, with a great urn-like capital and base, and shaped midway, like a gigantic lance-handle. Its curtains were of thick and faded tapestry52. I was always a lover of such antiquities53, but I confess at that moment I would have vastly preferred a sprightly54 modern chintz and a trumpery55 little French bed in a corner of the Brandon Arms. There was a great lowering press of oak, and some shelves, with withered green and gold leather borders. All the furniture belonged to other times.
I would have been glad to hear a step stirring, or a cough even, or the gabble of servants at a distance. But there was a silence and desertion in this part of the mansion56 which, somehow, made me feel that I was myself a solitary57 intruder on this level of the vast old house.
I shan’t trouble you about my train of thoughts or fancies; but I began to feel very like a gentleman in a ghost story, watching experimentally in a haunted chamber. My cigar case was a resource. I was not a bit afraid of being found out. I did not even take the precaution of smoking up the chimney. I boldly lighted my cheroot. I peeped through the dense58 window curtain there were no shutters59. A cold, bright moon was shining with clear sharp lights and shadows. Everything looked strangely cold and motionless outside. The sombre old trees, like gigantic hearse plumes60, black and awful. The chapel61 lay full in view, where so many of the, strange and equivocal race, under whose ancient roof-tree I then stood, were lying under their tombstones.
Somehow, I had grown nervous. A little bit of plaster tumbled down the chimney, and startled me confoundedly. Then some time after, I fancied I heard a creaking step on the lobby outside, and, candle in hand, opened the door, and looked out with an odd sort of expectation, and a rather agreeable disappointment, upon vacancy62.
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1
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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complimentary
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| adj.赠送的，免费的，赞美的，恭维的 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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ruminated
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| v.沉思( ruminate的过去式和过去分词 )；反复考虑；反刍；倒嚼 | |
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footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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recluse
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| n.隐居者 | |
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cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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billiards
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| n.台球 | |
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liking
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| n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢 | |
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uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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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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24
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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crooked
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| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
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conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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retaliation
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| n.报复，反击 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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surmise
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| v./n.猜想，推测 | |
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auguries
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| n.（古罗马）占卜术，占卜仪式( augury的名词复数 )；预兆 | |
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feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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diabolical
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| adj.恶魔似的，凶暴的 | |
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perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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scion
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| n.嫩芽，子孙 | |
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43
shroud
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| n.裹尸布，寿衣；罩，幕；vt.覆盖，隐藏 | |
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44
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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45
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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continental
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| adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的 | |
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banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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48
hatreds
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| n.仇恨，憎恶( hatred的名词复数 )；厌恶的事 | |
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49
dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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50
warped
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| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
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51
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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52
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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54
sprightly
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| adj.愉快的，活泼的 | |
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trumpery
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| n.无价值的杂物；adj.（物品）中看不中用的 | |
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56
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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