She said with solemn breathlessness that they had seen something very different from what they had hoped to see, and that she for one would never attempt such unholy ceremonies again. “We saw Satan pursuing us with his hour-glass. It was terrible!”
This account being a little incoherent, Giles went forward towards the spot from which the girls had retreated. After listening there a few minutes he heard slow footsteps rustling1 over the leaves, and looking through a tangled2 screen of honeysuckle which hung from a bough3, he saw in the open space beyond a short stout4 man in evening-dress, carrying on one arm a light overcoat and also his hat, so awkwardly arranged as possibly to have suggested the “hour-glass” to his timid observers — if this were the person whom the girls had seen. With the other hand he silently gesticulated and the moonlight falling upon his bare brow showed him to have dark hair and a high forehead of the shape seen oftener in old prints and paintings than in real life. His curious and altogether alien aspect, his strange gestures, like those of one who is rehearsing a scene to himself, and the unusual place and hour, were sufficient to account for any trepidation5 among the Hintock daughters at encountering him.
He paused, and looked round, as if he had forgotten where he was; not observing Giles, who was of the color of his environment. The latter advanced into the light. The gentleman held up his hand and came towards Giles, the two meeting half-way.
“I have lost my way,” said the stranger. “Perhaps you can put me in the path again.” He wiped his forehead with the air of one suffering under an agitation6 more than that of simple fatigue7.
“The turnpike-road is over there,” said Giles
“I don’t want the turnpike-road,” said the gentleman, impatiently. “I came from that. I want Hintock House. Is there not a path to it across here?”
“Well, yes, a sort of path. But it is hard to find from this point. I’ll show you the way, sir, with great pleasure.”
“Thanks, my good friend. The truth is that I decided8 to walk across the country after dinner from the hotel at Sherton, where I am staying for a day or two. But I did not know it was so far.”
“It is about a mile to the house from here.”
They walked on together. As there was no path, Giles occasionally stepped in front and bent9 aside the underboughs of the trees to give his companion a passage, saying every now and then when the twigs11, on being released, flew back like whips, “Mind your eyes, sir.” To which the stranger replied, “Yes, yes,” in a preoccupied12 tone.
So they went on, the leaf-shadows running in their usual quick succession over the forms of the pedestrians13, till the stranger said,
“Is it far?”
“Not much farther,” said Winterborne. “The plantation14 runs up into a corner here, close behind the house.” He added with hesitation15, “You know, I suppose, sir, that Mrs. Charmond is not at home?”
“You mistake,” said the other, quickly. “Mrs. Charmond has been away for some time, but she’s at home now.”
Giles did not contradict him, though he felt sure that the gentleman was wrong.
“You are a native of this place?” the stranger said.
“Yes.”
“Well, you are happy in having a home. It is what I don’t possess.”
“You come from far, seemingly?”
“I come now from the south of Europe.”
“Oh, indeed, sir. You are an Italian, or Spanish, or French gentleman, perhaps?”
“I am not either.”
Giles did not fill the pause which ensued, and the gentleman, who seemed of an emotional nature, unable to resist friendship, at length answered the question.
“I am an Italianized American, a South Carolinian by birth,” he said. “I left my native country on the failure of the Southern cause, and have never returned to it since.”
He spoke16 no more about himself, and they came to the verge17 of the wood. Here, striding over the fence out upon the upland sward, they could at once see the chimneys of the house in the gorge18 immediately beneath their position, silent, still, and pale.
“Can you tell me the time?” the gentleman asked. “My watch has stopped.”
“It is between twelve and one,” said Giles.
His companion expressed his astonishment19. “I thought it between nine and ten at latest! Dear me — dear me!”
He now begged Giles to return, and offered him a gold coin, which looked like a sovereign, for the assistance rendered. Giles declined to accept anything, to the surprise of the stranger, who, on putting the money back into his pocket, said, awkwardly, “I offered it because I want you to utter no word about this meeting with me. Will you promise?”
Winterborne promised readily. He thereupon stood still while the other ascended20 the slope. At the bottom he looked back dubiously21. Giles would no longer remain when he was so evidently desired to leave, and returned through the boughs10 to Hintock.
He suspected that this man, who seemed so distressed22 and melancholy23, might be that lover and persistent24 wooer of Mrs. Charmond whom he had heard so frequently spoken of, and whom it was said she had treated cavalierly. But he received no confirmation25 of his suspicion beyond a report which reached him a few days later that a gentleman had called up the servants who were taking care of Hintock House at an hour past midnight; and on learning that Mrs. Charmond, though returned from abroad, was as yet in London, he had sworn bitterly, and gone away without leaving a card or any trace of himself.
The girls who related the story added that he sighed three times before he swore, but this part of the narrative26 was not corroborated27. Anyhow, such a gentleman had driven away from the hotel at Sherton next day in a carriage hired at that inn.
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1
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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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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3
bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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8
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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9
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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11
twigs
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| 细枝，嫩枝( twig的名词复数 ) | |
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preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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13
pedestrians
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| n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 ) | |
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14
plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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16
spoke
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| 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 | |
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17
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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19
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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20
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dubiously
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| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
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22
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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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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24
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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25
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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26
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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