“I feel,” she said, “as if I were running away, and had got safe out of reach; though there is nobody pursuing me that I know of,” she added, with a faint laugh of satisfaction.
The wind blew the end of the white wrapper round her throat towards her companion, and he caught it as she had caught the rudder ropes.
“It is I that am pursued,” he said, “and have escaped. I have a feeling that I am safe here. The kind water, and the daylight, and you—but how should you feel it? It must have gone from my mind to yours.”
“The water does not look so very kind,” said Oona, “except that it separates us from the annoyances6 that are on land—when there are annoyances.”
She had never known any that were more than the troubles of a child before.
“There is this that makes it kind. If you were driven beyond bearing, a plunge7 down there and all would be over——”
“Lord Erradeen!”
“Oh, I don’t mean to try. I have no thought of trying; but look how peaceful, how deep, all liquid blackness! It might go down to the mystic centre of the earth for anything one knows.”
He leant over a little, looking down into those depths profound which were so still that the boat seemed to cut through a surface which had solidity; and in doing this put the boat out of trim, and elicited8 a growl9 from Hamish.
It seemed to Oona, too, as if there was something seductive in that profound liquid depth, concealing10 all that sought refuge there. She put out her hand and grasped his arm in the thrill of this thought.
“Oh, don’t look down,” she said. “I have heard of people being caught, in spite of themselves, by some charm in it.” The movement was quite involuntary and simple; but, on second thoughts, Oona drew away her hand, and blushed a little. “Besides, you put the boat out of trim,” she said.
“If I should ever be in deadly danger,” said Walter, with the seriousness which had been in his face all along, “will you put out your hand like that, without reflection, and save me?”
Oona tried to laugh again; but it was not easy; his seriousness gained upon her, in spite of herself.
“I think we are talking nonsense, and feeling nonsense; for it seems to me as if we had escaped from something. Now Hamish is pleased; the boat is trimmed. Don’t you think,” she said, with an effort to turn off graver subjects, “that it is a pity those scientific people who can do everything should not tunnel down through that centre of the earth you were speaking of, straight through to the other side of the world? Then we might be dropped through to Australia without any trouble. I have a brother there; indeed I have a brother in most places. Mamma and I might go and see Rob now and then, or he might come home for a dance, poor fellow; he was always very fond of dancing.”
Thus she managed to fill up the time till they reached the isle11. It lay upon the surface of that great mirror, all fringed and feathered with its bare trees; the occasional colour in the roofs gleaming back again out of the water; a little natural fastness, safe and sure. As Oona was later in returning than had been expected, the little garrison12 of women in the isle was all astir and watching for her coming. Out of one of the upper windows there was the head of a young maid visible, gazing down the loch; and Mrs. Forrester, in her furred cloak, was standing13 in the porch, and Mysie half way down to the beach, moving from point to point of vision.
“They are all about but old Cookie,” said Oona. “It is a terrible business when I am late. They think everything that is dreadful must have happened, and that makes a delightful14 sensation when I get home safe and well. I am every day rescued from a watery15 grave, or saved from some dreadful accident on shore, in my mother’s imagination. She gives herself the misery16 of it, and then she has the pleasure of it,” cried the girl, with the amused cynicism of youth.
“But to-day you bring a real fugitive17 with you—an escaped—what shall I call myself?—escaped not from harm, but from doing harm—which is the most dangerous of the two.”
“You will never do harm to the poor folk,” said Oona, looking at him with kind eyes.
“Never, while I am in my senses, and know. I want you to promise me something before we land.”
“You must make haste, then, and ask; for there is Mysie ready with the boat-hook,” said Oona, a little alarmed.
“Promise me—if it ever occurs that harm is being done in my name, to make me know it. Oh, not a mere18 note sent to my house; I might never receive it like the last; but to make me know. See me, speak to me, think even:—and you will save me.”
“Oh, Lord Erradeen, you must not put such a responsibility on me. How can I, a girl that is only a country neighbour——”
“Promise me!” he said.
“Oh, Lord Erradeen, this is almost tyrannical. Yes, if I can—if I think anything is concealed19 from you. Here I am, Mysie, quite safe; and of course mamma has been making herself miserable20. I have brought Lord Erradeen to luncheon21,” Oona said.
“Eh, my lord, but we’re glad to see you,” said Mysie, with the gracious ease of hospitality. “They said you were going without saying good-bye, but I would never believe it. It is just his lordship, mem, as I said it was,” she called to Mrs. Forrester, who was hastening down the slope.
The mistress of the island came down tripping, with her elderly graces, waving her white delicate hands.
“Oh, Oona, my dear, but I’m thankful to see you, and nothing happened,” she cried; “and ye are very welcome, Lord Erradeen. I thought you would never go away without saying good-bye. Come away up to the house. It is late, late, for luncheon; but there will be some reason; and I never have any heart to take a meal by myself. Everything is ready: if it’s not all spoiled?” Mrs. Forrester added, turning round to Mysie, as she shook hands with the unexpected guest.
“Oh, no fear of that, mem,” said the factotum22, “we’re well enough used to waiting in this house: an hour, half an hour, is just nothing. The trout23 is never put down to the fire till we see the boat; but I maun away and tell cook.”
“And you will get out some of the good claret,” Mrs. Forrester cried. “Come away—come away, Lord Erradeen. We have just been wondering what had become of you. It is quite unfriendly to be at Auchnasheen and not come over to see us. Oona, run, my dear, and take off your things. Lord Erradeen will take charge of me. I am fain of an arm when I can get one, up the brae. When the boys were at home I always got a good pull up. And where did you foregather, you two? I am glad Oona had the sense to bring you with her. And I hope the trout will not be spoiled,” she said with some anxiety. “Mysie is just too confident—far too confident. She is one that thinks nothing can go wrong on the isle.”
“That is my creed24 too,” said Walter with an awakening25 of his natural inclination26 to make himself agreeable, and yet a more serious meaning in the words.
“Oh fie!” said Mrs. Forrester, shaking her head, “to flatter a simple person like me! We have but little, very little to offer; the only thing in our favour is that it’s offered with real goodwill27. And how do you like Auchnasheen? and are you just keeping it up as it was in the old lord’s time? and how is Mary Fleming, the housekeeper28, that was always an ailing29 body?” These questions, with others of the same kind, answered the purpose of conversation as they ascended30 to the house—with little intervals32 between, for Mrs. Forrester was a little breathless though she did not care to say so and preferred to make pauses now and then to point out the variations of the landscape. “Though I know it so well, I never find it two days the same,” she said. None of these transparent33 little fictions, so innocent, so natural, were unknown to her friends, and the sight of them had a curiously34 strengthening and soothing35 effect upon Walter, to whom the gentle perseverance36 of those amiable37 foibles, so simple and evident, gave a sense of reality and nature which had begun to be wanting in his world. His heart grew lighter38 as he watched the “ways” of this simple woman, about whose guiles and pretences39 even there was no mystery at all, and whose little affectations somehow seemed to make her only more real. It gave him a momentary40 shock, however, when she turned round at her own door, and directed his attention to his old castle lying in lines of black and grey upon the glistening41 water. He drew her hastily within the porch.
“It gets colder and colder,” he said; “the wind goes through and through one. Don’t let me keep you out in the chilly42 air.”
“I think you must have caught a little cold,” said Mrs. Forrester, concerned, “for I do not find it so chilly for my part. To be sure, Loch Houran is never like your quiet landward places in England: we are used up here to all the changes. Oona will be waiting for us by this time; and I hope you are ready for your dinner, Lord Erradeen, for I am sure I am. I should say for your lunch: but when it comes to be so far on in the day as this, these short winter days, Oona and me, we just make it our dinner. Oh, there you are, my dear! Lord Erradeen will like to step into Ronald’s room and wash his hands, and then there will be nothing to wait for but the trout.”
When they were seated at the table, with the trout cooked to perfection as fish only is where it is caught, Mrs. Forrester pressing him to eat with old-fashioned anxiety, and even Mysie, who waited at table, adding affectionate importunities, Walter’s heart was touched with a sense of the innocence43, the kindness, the gentle nature about him. He felt himself cared for like a child, regarded indeed as a sort of larger child to be indulged with every dainty they could think of, and yet in some ineffable44 way protected and guided too by the simple creatures round him. The mistress and the maid had little friendly controversies45 as to what was best for him.
“I thought some good sherry wine, mem, and him coming off the water, would be better than yon cauld clairet.”
“Well, perhaps you are right, Mysie; but the young men nowadays are all for claret,” Mrs. Forrester said.
“Just a wee bittie more of the fish, my lord,” said Mysie, in his ear.
“No, no, Mysie,” cried her mistress. “You know there are birds coming. Just take away the trout, it is a little cold, and there’s far more nourishment46 in the grouse47.”
“To my mind, mem,” said Mysie, “there is nothing better than a Loch Houran trout.”
All this had the strangest effect upon Walter. To come into this simple house was like coming back to nature, and that life of childhood in which there are no skeletons or shadows. Even his mother had never been so sheltering, so safe, so real. Mrs. Methven had far more intellect and passion than Mrs. Forrester. It had been impossible to her to bear the failure of her ideal in her boy. Her very love had been full of pain and trouble to both. But this other mother was of a different fashion. Whatever her children did was good in her eyes; but she protected, fed, took care of, extended her soft wings over them as if they still were in the maternal48 nest. The innocence of it all moved Walter out of himself.
“Do you know,” he said at last, “what I have come from to your kind, sheltering house, Mrs. Forrester? Do you know what everybody, even your daughter, thought of me two hours ago?”
“I never thought any harm of you, Lord Erradeen,” said Oona, looking up hastily.
“Harm of him! Dear me, Oona, you are far, very far, from polite. And what was it they thought of you?” asked Mrs. Forrester. “Oona is so brusque, she just says what she thinks; but sure am I it was nothing but good.”
“They thought,” said Walter, with an excitement which grew upon him as he went on, “that I, who have been poor myself all my life, that never had any money or lands till a few weeks ago, that I was going to turn poor women and children out of their houses, out upon the world, out to the wet, cold mountain-side, without a shelter in sight. They thought I was capable of that. An old woman more than eighty, and a lot of little children! They thought I would turn them out! Oh, not the poor creatures themselves, but others; even Miss Oona. Is thy servant a dog—” cried the young man in a blaze of fiery49 agitation, the hot light of pain shining through the involuntary moisture in his eyes. “Somebody says that in the Bible, I know. Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?”
“Oh, my dear!” cried Mrs. Forrester, in her sympathy, forgetting all distinctions, and only remembering that he was very like her Ronald, and was in trouble, “nobody, nobody thought you would do that. Oh no, no, fie no! nobody had such a thought. If I could believe it of Oona I would not speak to her—I would—no, no, it was never believed. I, for one, I knew you would never do it. I saw it,” cried the kind lady, “in your eyes!”
Though Walter had no real confidence in the independent judgment50 which she asserted so unhesitatingly, yet he was consoled by the softness of the words, the assurance of the tone.
“I did not think such things ever happened in Scotland,” he said. “It is Ireland one thinks of: and that it should be supposed I would do it, has hurt me more than I can say—a stranger who had no one to stand up for me.”
“That was just the way of it,” said Mrs. Forrester, soothingly51. “We think here that there is something strange in English ways. We never know how a thing will appear to them—that is how it was. But I said all through that it was impossible, and I just wrote to you last night (you would get my letter?) that you must not do it—for fear you might not have understood how it was.”
“But there is another side to it,” said Oona, “we must not forget, mother. Sometimes it is said, you know, that the poor folk can do no good where they are. We can all understand the shock of seeing them turned out of their houses: but then people say they cannot live there—that it would be better for themselves to be forced to go away.”
“That is true, Oona,” said her mother, facing round: “it is just a kind of starvation. When old Jenny went there first (she was in my nursery when I had one) there was just a perpetual craik about her rent. Her man was one of the Frasers, and a well-doing, decent man, till he died, poor fellow, as we must all do: and since that I have heard little about it, for I think it was just out of her power to pay anything. Duncan Fraser, he is a very decent man, but I remember the minister was saying if he was in Glasgow or Paisley, or some of those places, it would be better for his family. I recollect52 that the minister did say that.”
“So, Lord Erradeen,” said Oona, “without being cruel you might: but I—we all like you ten times better that you couldn’t,” said the girl impulsively53.
“Ay, that we do,” said her mother, ready to back up every side, “that we do. But I am not surprised. I knew that there was nothing unkind either in your heart or your face.”
“There was no time,” said Walter, “to think what was wise, or take into consideration, like a benevolent54 tyrant55, what could be done for their good, without consulting their inclinations56: which is what you mean, Miss Forrester——”
Oona smiled, with a little heightened colour. It was the commencement of one of those pretty duels57 which mean mutual58 attraction rather than opposition59. She said, with a little nod of her head, “Go on.”
“But one thing is certain,” he said, with the almost solemn air which returned to his face at intervals, “that I will rather want shelter myself than turn another man out of his house, on any argument—far less helpless women and children. Did you laugh? I see no laughing in it,” the young man cried.
“Me—laugh!” cried Mrs. Forrester, though it was at Oona he had looked. “If I laughed it was for pleasure. Between ourselves, Lord Erradeen (though they might perhaps be better away), turning out a poor family out of their house is a thing I could never away with. Oona may say what she likes—but it is not Christian60. Oh, it’s not Christian! I would have taken them in, as many as Mysie could have made room for: but I never could say that it was according to Christianity. Oh no, Lord Erradeen! I would have to be poor indeed—poor, poor indeed—before I would turn these poor folk away.”
“There would be no blessing61 upon the rest,” said Mysie, behind her mistress’s chair.
“That is settled then,” said Walter, whose heart grew lighter and lighter. “But that is not all. Tell me, if I were a benevolent despot, Miss Forrester—you who know everything—what should I do now?—for it cannot stop there.”
“We’ll go into the drawing-room before you settle that,” said Mrs. Forrester. “Dear me, it is quite dark; we will want the candles, Mysie. There is so little light in the afternoon at this time of the year. I am sorry there is no gentleman to keep you in countenance62 with your glass of wine, Lord Erradeen. If you had been here when my Ronald or Jamie, or even Rob, was at home! But they are all away, one to every airt, and the house is very lonely without any boys in it. Are you coming with us? Well, perhaps it will be more cheerful. Dear me, Mysie, you have left that door open, and we will just be perished with the cold.”
“Let me shut it,” Walter said.
He turned to the open door with a pleasant sense of taking the place of one of those absent boys whom the mother regretted so cheerfully, and with a lighter heart than he could have thought possible a few hours ago. But at the first glance he stood arrested with a sudden chill that seemed to paralyse him. It was almost dark upon the loch; the water gleamed with that polished blackness through which the boat had cut as through something solid; but blacker now, shining like jet against the less responsive gloom of the land and hills. The framework of the doorway63 made a picture of this night scene, with the more definite darkness of the old castle in the centre, rising opaque64 against the softer distance. Seeing that Lord Erradeen made a sudden pause, Oona went towards him, and looked out too at the familiar scene. She had seen it often before, but it had never made the same impression upon her. “Oh, the light—the light again!” she said, with a cry of surprise. It came up in a pale glow as she was looking, faint, but throwing up in distinct revelation the mass of the old tower against the background. Walter, who seemed to have forgotten what he had come to do, was roused by her voice, and with nervous haste and almost violence shut the door. There was not much light in the little hall, and they could see each other’s faces but imperfectly, but his had already lost the soothed65 and relieved expression which had replaced its agitated66 aspect. He scarcely seemed to see her as he turned round, took up his hat from the table, and went on confusedly before her, forgetting ordinary decorums, to the drawing-room, where Mrs. Forrester had already made herself comfortable in her usual chair, with the intention of for a few moments “just closing her eyes.” Mysie had not brought the lights, and he stood before the surprised lady like a dark shadow, with his hat in his hand.
“I have come to take my leave,” he said; “to thank you, and say good-bye.”
“Dear me,” said Mrs. Forrester, rousing herself, “you are in a great hurry, Lord Erradeen. Why should you be so anxious to go? You have nobody at Auchnasheen to be kept waiting. Toots! you must just wait now you are here for a cup of tea at least, and it will take Hamish a certain time to get out the boat.”
“I must go,” he said, with a voice that trembled: then suddenly threw down his hat on the floor and himself upon a low chair close to her, “unless,” he said, “unless—you will complete your charity by taking me in for the night. Will you keep me for the night? Put me in any corner. I don’t mind—only let me stay.”
“Let you stay!” cried the lady of the isle. She sprang up as lightly as a girl at this appeal, with no further idea of “closing her eyes.” “Will I keep you for the night? But that I will, and with all my heart! There is Ronald’s room, where you washed your hands, just all ready, nothing to do but put on the sheets, and plenty of his things in it in case you should want anything. Let you stay!” she cried, with delighted excitement, “it is what I would have asked and pressed you to do. And then we can do something for your cold, for I am sure you have a cold; and Oona and you can settle all that business about the benevolent tyrant, which is more than my poor head is equal to. Oona, my dear, will you tell Mysie?—where is Mysie? I will just speak to her myself. We must get him better of his cold, or what will his mother think? He must have some more blankets, or an eiderdown, which will be lighter, and a good fire.”
If her worst enemy had asked hospitality from Mrs. Forrester, she would have forgotten all her wrongs and opened her doors wide; how much more when it was a friend and neighbour! The demand itself was a kindness. She tripped away without a thought of her disturbed nap, and was soon heard in colloquy67 with Mysie, who shared all her sentiments in this respect. Oona, who stood silent by the fire, with a sense that she was somehow in the secret, though she did not know what it was, had a less easy part. The pang68 of sympathy she felt was almost intolerable, but she did not know how to express it. The quiet room seemed all at once to have become the scene of a struggle, violent though invisible, which she followed dumbly with an instinct beyond her power to understand. After an interval31 of silence which seemed endless, he spoke69.
“It must be intended that we should have something to do with each other,” he said, suddenly. “When you are there I feel stronger. If your mother had refused me, I should have been lost.”
“It was impossible that she should have refused you, Lord Erradeen.”
“I wish you would not call me by that ill-omened name. It is a horror to me; and then if all that is true——How is it possible that one man should lord it over an entire race for so long? Did you ever hear of a similar case? Oh! don’t go away. If you knew what an ease it is to speak to you! No one else understands. It makes one feel as if one were restored to natural life to be able to speak of it, to ask advice. Nothing,” he cried suddenly, getting up, picking up his hat as if about to leave the house, “nothing—shall induce me to go——”
“Oh, no, no!” she cried, “you must not go;” though she could not have told why.
He put down the hat again on the table with a strange laugh. “I was going then,” he said, “but I will not. I will do exactly as you say.” He came up to her where she stood full of trouble watching him. “I dare say you think I am going wrong in my head, but it is not that. I am being dragged—with ropes. Give me your hand to hold by. There! that is safety, that is peace. You hand is as soft—as snow,” cried the young man. His own were burning, and the cool fresh touch of the girl’s hand seemed to diffuse70 itself through all his being. Oona was as brave in her purity as the other Una, the spotless lady of romance, and would have shrunk from no act of succour. But it agitated her to have this strange appeal for help made to her. She did not withdraw her hand, but yet drew away a little, alarmed, not knowing what to do.
“You must not think,” she said, faltering71, “that any one—has more power over another than—he permits them to have.”
She spoke like one of the oracles72, not knowing what she said; and he listened with a slight shake of his head, not making any reply. After a moment he yielded to the reluctance73 which made itself felt in her, and let her hand go.
“Will you come with me outside?” he said; “not there, where that place is. I think the cold and the night do one good. Can we go out the other way?”
Oona accepted this alternative gladly. “We can go to the walk, where it is always dry,” she said, with an assumption of cheerfulness. “It looks to the south, and that is where the flowers grow best.” As she led the way through the hall, Walter took up Mrs. Forrester’s furred cloak which hung there, and put it round her with a great deal of tenderness and care. The girl’s heart beat as he took this office upon him, as one of her brothers might have done. It was the strangest conjunction. He was not thinking of her at all, she felt, save as affording some mysterious help in those mysterious miseries74: and yet there was a sweetness in the thought he took, even at this extraordinary moment, for her comfort. There could have been no such dangerous combination of circumstances for Oona, whose heart was full of the early thrill of romance, and that inextinguishable pity and attraction towards the suffering which tells for so much in the life of women. A softness and melting of the heart indescribable came over her as she felt his light touch on her shoulders, and found herself enveloped75 as it were, in his shadow and the sentiment of his presence. He was not thinking of her, but only of his need of her, fantastic though that might be. But her heart went out towards him with that wonderful feminine impulse which is at once inferior and superior, full of dependence76, yet full of help. To follow all his movements and thoughts as well as she could with wistful secondariness; yet to be ready to guide, to save, when need was—to dare anything for that office. There had never been aught in Oona’s life to make her aware of this strange, sweet, agitating77 position—the one unchangeable form of conjunction for the two mortal companions who have to walk the ways of earth together. But his mind was pre-occupied with other thoughts than her, while hers were wholly bent78 upon him and his succour. It was dangerous for her, stealing her heart out of her breast in the interest, the sympathy, the close contact involved; but of none of these things was he aware in the pre-occupation of his thoughts.
They walked up and down for a time together, behind the house, along the broad walk, almost a terrace, of the kitchen garden, where there was a deep border filled in summer with every kind of old-fashioned flowers. It was bare now, with naked fruit-trees against the wall, but the moon was hid in clouds, and it was impossible to see anything, except from the end of the terrace the little landing-place below, and the first curves of the walk leading up to the house, and all round the glimmer79 of the loch. The stillness had been broken by the sound of a boat, but it was on the Auchnasheen side, and though Oona strained her eyes she had not been able to see it, and concluded that, if coming to the isle at all, it must have touched the opposite point, where there was a less easy, but possible, landing-place. As they reached the end of the terrace, however, she was startled to see a figure detach itself from the gloom and walk slowly towards the house.
“The boat must have run in under the bushes, though I cannot see it,” she said; “there is some one coming up the walk.”
Walter turned to look with momentary alarm, but presently calmed down. “It is most likely old Symington, who takes a paternal80 charge of me,” he said.
Soon after they heard the steps, not heavy, but distinctly audible, crushing the gravel81, and to Oona’s great surprise, though Walter, a stranger to the place, took no notice of the fact, these footsteps, instead of going to the door, as would have been natural, came round the side of the house and approached the young pair in their walk. The person of the new-comer was quite unknown to Oona. He took off his hat with an air of well-bred courtesy—like a gentleman, not like a servant—and said—
“I am reluctant to interrupt such a meeting, but there is a boat below for Lord Erradeen.”
Walter started violently at the sound of the voice, which was, notwithstanding, agreeable and soft, though with a tone of command in it. He came to a sudden stop, and turned round quickly as if he could not believe his ears.
“There is a boat below,” the stranger repeated, “and it is extremely cold; the men are freezing at their oars82. They have not the same delightful inspiration as their master—who forgets that he has business to settle this final night——”
Walter gave a strange cry, like the cry of a hunted creature. “In God’s name,” he exclaimed, “what have you to do here?”
“My good fellow,” said the other, “you need not try your hand at exorcising; others have made that attempt before you. Is Circe’s island shut to all footsteps save yours? But, even then, you could not shut out me. I must not say Armida’s garden in this state of the temperature——” he said.
“Who is it?” asked Oona in great alarm under her breath.
“Let me answer you,” the intruder said. “It is a sort of a guardian83 who has the first right to Lord Erradeen’s consideration. Love, as even the copybooks will tell, ought to be subordinate to duty.”
“Love!” cried Oona, starting from the young man’s side. The indignant blood rushed to her face. She turned towards the house in sudden anger and shame and excitement. Circe! Armida! Was it she to whom he dared to apply these insulting names.
Walter caught her cloak with both hands.
“Do you not see,” he said, “that he wants to take you from me, to drive you away, to have me at his mercy? Oona! you would not see a man drown and refuse to hold out your hand?”
“This is chivalrous,” said the stranger, “to put a woman between you and that—which you are afraid to meet.”
To describe the state of excited feeling and emotion in which Oona listened to this dialogue, would be impossible. She was surprised beyond measure, yet, in the strange excitement of the encounter, could not take time to wonder or seek an explanation. She had to act in the mean time, whatever the explanation might be. Her heart clanged in her ears. Tenderness, pity, indignation, shame, thrilled through her. She had been insulted, she had been appealed to by the most sacred voice on earth—the voice of suffering. She stood for a moment looking at the two shadows before her, for they were little more.
“And if he is afraid why should not he turn to a woman?” she said with an impulse she could scarcely understand. “If he is afraid, I am not afraid. This isle belongs to a woman. Come and tell her, if you will, what you want. Let my mother judge, who is the mistress of this place. Lord Erradeen has no right to break his word to her for any man: but if my mother decides that you have a better claim, he will go.”
“I will abide84 by every word she says,” Walter cried.
The stranger burst into a laugh.
“I am likely to put forth85 my claim before such a tribunal!” he said. “Come, you have fought stoutly86 for your lover. Make a virtue87 of necessity now, and let him go.”
“He is not my lover,” cried Oona; “but I will not let him go.” She added after a moment, with a sudden change of tone, coming to herself, and feeling the extraordinary character of the discussion. “This is a very strange conversation to occur here. I think we are all out of our senses. It is like the theatre. I don’t know your name, sir, but if you are Lord Erradeen’s guardian, or a friend of his, I invite you to come and see my mother. Most likely,” she added, with a slight faltering, “she will know you as she knows all the family.” Then, with an attempt at playfulness, “If it is to be a struggle between this gentleman and the ladies of the isle, Lord Erradeen, tell him he must give way.”
The stranger took off his hat and made her a profound bow.
“I do so on the instant,” he said.
The two young people stood close together, their shadows confounded in one, and there did not seem time to draw a breath before they were alone, with no sound or trace remaining to prove that the discussion in which a moment before their hearts had been beating so loudly had ever existed at all. Oona looked after the stranger with a gasp88. She clung to Walter, holding his arm tight.
“Where has he gone?” she cried in a piercing whisper. She trembled so after her boldness that she would have fallen but for his sustaining arm. “Who is he? Where has he gone? That is not the way to the beach. Call after him, call after him, and tell him the way.”
Walter did not make any reply. He drew her arm closer threw his, and turned with her towards the house. As for Oona, she seemed incapable89 of any thought but that this strange intruder might be left on the isle.
“He will get into the orchard90 and then among the rocks. He will lose himself,” she cried; “he may fall into the water. Call to him, Lord Erradeen—or stop, we will send Hamish. Here is Hamish. Oh, Hamish! the gentleman has taken the wrong way——”
“It will just be a boat that has come for my lord,” said Hamish. “I tellt them my lord was biding91 all night, but nothing would satisfee them, but I had to come up and get his lordship’s last word.”
“Oh, he is not going, Hamish! but there is a gentleman—”
Walter interrupted her with an abruptness92 that startled Oona.
“Let them see that every one is on board—and return at once,” he said.
“Oh there will just be everybody on board that ever was, for none has come ashore,” said Hamish. “What was you saying about a gentleman, Miss Oona? There will be no gentleman. It is joost Duncan and another man with him, and they cried upon me, Hamish! and I answered them. But there will be no gentleman at all,” Hamish said.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
dispersing
|
|
| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
sullen
|
|
| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
sweeping
|
|
| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
agitation
|
|
| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
strings
|
|
| n.弦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
annoyances
|
|
| n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
plunge
|
|
| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
elicited
|
|
| 引出，探出( elicit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
growl
|
|
| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
concealing
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
isle
|
|
| n.小岛，岛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
garrison
|
|
| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
watery
|
|
| adj.有水的，水汪汪的；湿的，湿润的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
fugitive
|
|
| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
concealed
|
|
| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
luncheon
|
|
| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
factotum
|
|
| n.杂役；听差 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
trout
|
|
| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
creed
|
|
| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
awakening
|
|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
inclination
|
|
| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
goodwill
|
|
| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
housekeeper
|
|
| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
ailing
|
|
| v.生病 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
ascended
|
|
| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
interval
|
|
| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
transparent
|
|
| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
curiously
|
|
| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
soothing
|
|
| adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
perseverance
|
|
| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
amiable
|
|
| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
lighter
|
|
| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
pretences
|
|
| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
momentary
|
|
| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
glistening
|
|
| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
chilly
|
|
| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
ineffable
|
|
| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
controversies
|
|
| 争论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
nourishment
|
|
| n.食物，营养品；营养情况 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
grouse
|
|
| n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
maternal
|
|
| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
judgment
|
|
| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
soothingly
|
|
| adv.抚慰地，安慰地；镇痛地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
recollect
|
|
| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
impulsively
|
|
| adv.冲动地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
benevolent
|
|
| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
tyrant
|
|
| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
inclinations
|
|
| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
duels
|
|
| n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 )；竞争，斗争 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
mutual
|
|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
opposition
|
|
| n.反对，敌对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
blessing
|
|
| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
countenance
|
|
| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
doorway
|
|
| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
opaque
|
|
| adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
soothed
|
|
| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
agitated
|
|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
colloquy
|
|
| n.谈话，自由讨论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
pang
|
|
| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
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： |
|
|
|
|
70
diffuse
|
|
| v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
faltering
|
|
| 犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
oracles
|
|
| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
reluctance
|
|
| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
miseries
|
|
| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
enveloped
|
|
| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
dependence
|
|
| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
agitating
|
|
| 搅动( agitate的现在分词 )； 激怒； 使焦虑不安； （尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而）激烈争论 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
glimmer
|
|
| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
paternal
|
|
| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
gravel
|
|
| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
oars
|
|
| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
guardian
|
|
| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
abide
|
|
| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
forth
|
|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
stoutly
|
|
| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
gasp
|
|
| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
incapable
|
|
| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
orchard
|
|
| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
biding
|
|
| v.等待，停留( bide的现在分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待；面临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
abruptness
|
|
| n. 突然，唐突 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |