Mr. Jos. Larkin was now moving alone, under the limbs of the Brandon trees. He knew the path, as he had boasted to Lord Chelford, from his boyhood; and, as he pursued his way, his mind got upon the accustomed groove1, and amused itself with speculations2 respecting the vagaries3 of Mark Wylder.
‘I wonder what his lordship thinks. He was very close — very’ ruminated4 Larkin; ‘no distinct ideas about it possibly; and did not seem to wish to lead me to the subject. Can he know anything? Eh, can he possibly? Those high fellows are very knowing often — so much on the turf, and all that — very sharp and very deep.’
He was thinking of a certain noble lord in difficulties, who had hit a client of his rather hard, and whose affairs did not reflect much credit upon their noble conductor.
‘Aye, I dare say, deep enough, and intimate with the Lakes. He expects to be home in two months’ time. He’s a deep fellow too; he does not like to let people know what he’s about. I should not be surprised if he came to-morrow. Lake and Lord Chelford may both know more than they say. Why should they both object merely to receive and fund his money? They think he wants to get them into a fix — hey? If I’m to conduct his business, I ought to know it; if he keeps a secret from me, affecting all his business relations, like this, and driving him about the world like an absconding5 bankrupt, how can I advise him?’
All this drifted slowly through his mind, and each suggestion had its collateral6 speculations; and so it carried him pleasantly a good way on his walk, and he was now in the shadow of the dense7 copsewood that mantles8 the deep ravine which debouches into Redman’s Dell.
The road was hardly two yards wide, and the wood walled it in, and overhung it occasionally in thick, irregular masses. As the attorney marched leisurely9 onward10, he saw, or fancied that he saw, now and then, in uncertain glimpses, something white in motion among the trees beside him.
At first he did not mind; but it continued, and grew gradually unpleasant. It might be a goat, a white goat; but no, it was too tall for that. Had he seen it at all? Aye! there it was, no mistake now. A poacher, maybe? But their poachers were not of the dangerous sort, and there had not been a robber about Gylingden within the memory of man. Besides, why on earth should either show himself in that absurd way?
He stopped — he listened — he stared suspiciously into the profound darkness. Then he thought he heard a rustling11 of the leaves near him, and he hallooed, ‘Who’s there?’ But no answer came.
So, taking heart of grace, he marched on, still zealously12 peering among the trees, until, coming to an opening in the pathway, he more distinctly saw a tall, white figure, standing13 in an ape-like attitude, with its arms extended, grasping two boughs14, and stooping, as if peeping cautiously, as he approached.
The good attorney drew up and stared at this gray phantasm, saying to himself, ‘Yes,’ in a sort of quiet hiss15.
He stopped in a horror, and as he gazed, the figure suddenly drew back and disappeared.
‘Very pleasant this!’ said the attorney, after a pause, recovering a little. ‘What on earth can it be?’
Jos. Larkin could not tell which way it had gone. He had already passed the midway point, where this dark path begins to descend16 through the ravine into Redman’s Dell. He did not like going forward — but to turn back might bring him again beside the mysterious figure. And though he was not, of course, afraid of ghosts, nor in this part of the world, of robbers, yet somehow he did not know what to make of this gigantic gray monkey.
So, not caring to stay longer, and seeing nothing to be gained by turning back, the attorney buttoned the top button of his coat, and holding his head very erect17, and placing as much as he could of the path between himself and the side where the figure had disappeared, marched on steadily18. It was too dark, and the way not quite regular enough, to render any greater speed practicable.
From the thicket19, as he proceeded, he heard a voice — he had often shot woodcocks in that cover — calling in a tone that sounded in his ears like banter20, ‘Mark — Mark — Mark — Mark.’
He stopped, holding his breath, and the sound ceased.
‘Well, this certainly is not usual,’ murmured Mr. Larkin, who was a little more perturbed22 than perhaps he quite cared to acknowledge even to himself. ‘Some fellow perhaps watching for a friend — or tricks, maybe.’
Then the attorney, trying his supercilious23 smile in the dark, listened again for a good while, but nothing was heard except those whisperings of the wind which poets speak of. He looked before him with his eyebrows24 screwed, in a vain effort to pierce the darkness, and the same behind him; and then after another pause, he began uncomfortably to move down the path once more.
In a short time the same voice, with the same uncertain echo among the trees, cried faintly, ‘Mark — Mark,’ and then a pause; then again, ‘Mark — Mark — Mark,’ and then it grew more distant, and sounded among the trees and reverberations of the glen like laughter.
‘Mark — ha — ha — hark — ha — ha — ha — hark — Mark — Mark — ha — ha — hark!’
‘Who’s there?’ cried the attorney, in a tone rather ferocious25 from fright, and stamping on the path. But his summons and the provocation26 died away together in the profoundest silence.
Mr. Jos. Larkin did not repeat his challenge. This cry of ‘Mark!’ was beginning to connect itself uncomfortably in his mind with his speculations about his wealthy client, which in that solitude27 and darkness began to seem not so entirely28 pure and disinterested29 as he was in the habit of regarding them, and a sort of wood-demon, such as a queer little schoolfellow used long ago to read a tale about in an old German story-book, was now dogging his darksome steps, and hanging upon his flank with a vindictive30 design.
Jos. Larkin was not given to fancy, nor troubled with superstition31. His religion was of a comfortable, punctual, business-like cast, which according with his genius — denied him, indeed, some things for which, in truth, he had no taste — but in no respect interfered32 with his main mission upon earth, which was getting money. He had found no difficulty hitherto in serving God and Mammon. The joint33 business prospered34. Let us suppose it was one of those falterings of faith, which try the best men, that just now made him feel a little queer, and gave his thoughts about Mark Wylder, now grown habitual35, that new and ghastly complexion36 which made the situation so unpleasant.
He wished himself more than once well out of this confounded pass, and listened nervously37 for a good while, and stared once more, half-frightened, in various directions, into the darkness.
‘If I thought there could be anything the least wrong or reprehensible38 — we are all fallible — in my allowing my mind to turn so much upon my client, I can certainly say I should be very far from allowing it — I shall certainly consider it — and I may promise myself to decide in a Christian39 spirit, and if there be a doubt, to give it against myself.’
This resolution, which was, he trusted, that of a righteous man, was, I am afraid, the effect rather of fright than reflection, and employed in that sense somewhat in the manner of an exorcism — whispered rather to the ghost than to his conscience.
I am sure Larkin did not himself suppose this. On the contrary, he really believed, I am convinced, that he scouted40 the ghost, and had merely volunteered this salutary self-examination as an exercise of conscience. He could not, however, have doubted that he was very nervous — and that he would have been glad of the companionship even of one of the Gylingden shopkeepers, through this infested41 bit of wood.
Having again addressed himself to his journey, he was now approaching that part of the path where the trees recede42 a little, leaving a considerable space unoccupied at either side of his line of march. Here there was faint moonlight and starlight, very welcome; but a little in advance of him, where the copsewood closed in again, just above those stone steps which Lake and his sister Rachel had mounted together upon the night of the memorable43 rendezvous44, he fancied that he again saw the gray figure cowering45 among the foremost stems of the wood.
It was a great shock. He stopped short — and as he stared upon the object, he felt that electric chill and rising of the hair which accompany supernatural panic.
As he gazed, however, it was gone. Yes. At all events, he could see it no more. Had he seen it there at all? He was in such an odd state he could not quite trust himself. He looked back hesitatingly. But he remembered how very long and dark the path that way was, and how unpleasant his adventures there had been. And although there was a chance that the gray monkey was lurking46 somewhere near the path, still there was now but a short space between him and the broad carriage track down Redman’s Dell, and once upon that he considered himself almost in the street of Gylingden.
So he made up his mind, and marched resolutely47 onward, and had nearly reached that point at which the converging48 screen of thicket again overshadows the pathway, when close at his side he saw the tall, white figure push itself forward among the branches, and in a startling under-tone of enquiry, like a conspirator49 challenging his brother, a voice — the same which he had so often heard during this walk — cried over his shoulder,
‘Mark Wylder!’
Larkin sprung back a pace or two, turning his face full upon the challenger, who in his turn was perhaps affrighted, for the same voice uttered a sort of strangled shriek50, and he heard the branches crack and rustle51 as he pushed his sudden retreat through them — leaving the attorney more horrified52 than ever.
No other sound but the melancholy53 soughing of the night-breeze, and the hoarse54 murmur21 of the stream rising from the stony55 channel of Redman’s Dell, were now, or during the remainder of his walk through these haunted grounds, again audible.
So, with rapid strides passing the dim gables of Redman’s Farm, he at length found himself, with a sense of indescribable relief, upon the Gylingden road, and could see the twinkling lights in the windows of the main street.
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1
groove
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| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
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2
speculations
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| n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断 | |
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3
vagaries
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| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
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4
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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5
absconding
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| v.（尤指逃避逮捕）潜逃，逃跑( abscond的现在分词 ) | |
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6
collateral
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| adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品 | |
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7
dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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8
mantles
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| vt.&vi.覆盖（mantle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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9
leisurely
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| adj.悠闲的；从容的，慢慢的 | |
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10
onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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11
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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12
zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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13
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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14
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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15
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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16
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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17
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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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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19
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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20
banter
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| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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21
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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22
perturbed
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| adj.烦燥不安的v.使（某人）烦恼，不安( perturb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
supercilious
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| adj.目中无人的，高傲的；adv.高傲地；n.高傲 | |
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24
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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25
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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26
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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27
solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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28
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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29
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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30
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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31
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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32
interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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33
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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34
prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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35
habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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36
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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37
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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38
reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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39
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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40
scouted
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| 寻找，侦察( scout的过去式和过去分词 )； 物色（优秀运动员、演员、音乐家等） | |
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41
infested
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| adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于 | |
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42
recede
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| vi.退(去)，渐渐远去；向后倾斜，缩进 | |
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43
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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44
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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45
cowering
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的现在分词 ) | |
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46
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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47
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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48
converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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49
conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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50
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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51
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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52
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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53
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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54
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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55
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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