"If I am to drag on my life for years perhaps as a Russian prisoner, better would it have been, O Lord, that a friendly shot had finished my career for ever. What have I now to live for?" I exclaimed, in the bitterness of my heart, as I struck my hands together.
"You speak thus--you so young?" said Valerie, reproachfully yet softly, as she suddenly laid a hand on my shoulder, while her bright eyes beamed into mine--eyes that could excite emotion by emitting it.
"Life seems so worthless."
"Why?" she asked, in a low voice.
"Can you ask me after what passed between us the other evening, and more especially on yonder terrace, less than an hour ago?"
"But why is existence worthless?"
"Because I have lost you!"
(Had I not thought the same thing about Estelle, and deemed that "he who has most of heart has most of sorrow"?)
"This is folly2, dear friend," said she, looking down; "I never was yours to lose."
"But you lured3 me to love you, Valerie; and now--now you would cast--nay, you have cast--my poor heart back upon itself!"
"I lured you?" asked the gentle voice; "O unjust! How could I help your loving me?"
"Perhaps not; nor could I help it myself."
"Tell me truly--has this--this misplaced passion for me lured you from one who loves you well at home perhaps?"
"From no one," said I, bitterly.
"Thank Heaven for that; and we shall part as friends any way."
"As friends only?"
"Yes."
"But you will ever be more to me, Valerie."
She shook her head and smiled.
A desire for vengeance4 on Tolstoff, for his insulting bearing on one hand, with, the love and admiration5 I had of herself on the other, and the pictured triumph of taking her away from him, and by her aid and presence with me reaching our camp in safety, all prompted me to urge an elopement; nor could I also forget the coquettish admission that she "might" love me; but just as I was about to renew my suit and had taken possession of her hands, she withdrew them, and while glancing nervously6 about her, informed me that the Pulkovnick had sent a mounted messenger to the Baidar Valley for Cossacks, to escort me and Guilfoyle to Kharkoff in the Ukraine; and when I remembered his threats of probable ulterior measures, I felt quite certain that his report would include us both, and thus be framed in terms alike dangerous and injurious to me.
"What is to be done, Valerie?" I asked, in greater perplexity.
"If I cannot love, I can still serve you," said she, smiling with a brightness that was cruel; "it is but just, in gratitude7 for the regard you have borne me."
"That I still bear you and ever shall, beloved Valerie!" said I, with tremulous energy; "but to serve me--how?"
"You must leave this place instantly, for in less than an hour the Cossacks will be here, and Tolstoff may have you killed on the march; the escort may be but a snare8."
"Then come--come with me--let us escape together!"
"Impossible--you do but waste time in speaking thus."
"Why--O why, Valerie, when you know that I love you?"
"Race, religion, ties, all forbid such a step, even were I inclined for it, which fortunately I am not," she replied, lifting for a moment, as if for coolness, the rippling9 masses of her golden hair from her white temples, and letting them fall again; "you might and must spare me more of this! Have I not told you it is useless to speak of love to me, and wrong in me to listen to you?"
"And since when have you been engaged to this" (bear, I was about to say)--"to this man Tolstoff? And by what magic or devilry has he taught you to love him?"
"In what can either concern you, at such a time as this especially, when you have not a moment to lose?" she asked, almost with irritation10. "But hush11--O, hush! here is some one."
At that moment Ivan Yourivitch, with excitement on his usually stolid12 Russian visage, entered the room almost on tiptoe, and whispered something to her in haste, while his eyes were fixed13 the while on me.
"Ah!--thank you, Ivan, thank you--that is well!" she said, and turning to me, she added, hurriedly and energetically, "If you would be free, and choose, it may be, between liberty or death, you have not another instant to lose! Ivan tells me that the crew of an English man-of-war boat is at this moment filling casks with water at the well of St. Basil on the beach yonder. Thrice has that ship been there for the same purpose; and I was watching for her when you came to me on the terrace, as I heard of her being off Alupka this morning."
"Your thoughts, then, were of me?" said I, tenderly.
"For you, rather; but away, and God be with you, sir!"
I lifted the window softly, and across the moonlit park that stretched away towards the seashore she pointed15 to where four tall cypresses16 rose like dark giants against the clear and starry17 sky, and where, at the distance of a mile or little more, the white marble dome18 of the well could be distinctly seen between them, its polished surface shining like a star above a sombre belt of shrubbery.
"There is the sound of hoofs19! The Cossacks, your escort, are coming Away, sir; you cannot miss the well, though you may the boat!" said Valerie, with her hands clasped and her dark eyes dilated20; and as she spoke21 the clank of galloping22 horses coming up the valley (and, as I fancied, the cracking of the whips carried by the Cossacks at their bridles) could be heard distinctly in the clear frosty air.
"If I had but my sword and pistols!" said I, with my teeth clenched23.
"You do not require them. Farewell!
"Adieu, Valerie--adieu!"
I passionately24 kissed her lips and her cheek, too, ere she could prevent me, waved my hand to old Yourivitch, vaulted25 over the window, dropped from the balustrade of the terrace into the park, and at the risk of being seen by some of the household crossed it with all the speed I could exert in the direction that led to where I knew that the well--a structure erected26 by Prince Woronzow--stood on a lonely part of the shore. More than once did I look back at the lofty fa?ade of the beautiful chateau27, with its four towers and onion-shaped domes28 of shining copper29, and all its stately windows that glittered in the light of a cloudless moon; and just as I drew near the belt of shrubbery, I could see the dark figures of mounted men encircling the terrace! A fugitive30, in danger of losing honour and life together! Was this the end of my daydreams31 in Yalta? Once more I turned, and hastened to where the four cypress-trees towered skyward.
"Ahoy! who comes there?" cried a somewhat gruff voice, in English, accompanied by the sound of a slap on the butt32 of a musket33; and then the squat34 sturdy figure of a seaman35, posted as sentinel, appeared among the bushes, with an infantry36 pouch37, belts, and bayonet worn above his short pea-jacket.
"A friend!" I replied, mechanically, yet not without a glow of sincere pleasure.
"Stand there, till I have a squint39 at you," replied Jack38, cocking his musket and giving a glance at the cap; but I was too much excited to parley40 with him, and continued to advance, saying,
"I am an officer--Captain Hardinge, of the 23rd, a prisoner escaping from the enemy."
"All right, sir--glad to see you; heave ahead," he replied, half cocking his piece again.
"Who commands your party?"
"Lieutenant41 Jekyll, sir," said the seaman, saluting42 now, when he saw me fully1 in the moonlight.
"Of what ship?"
"The Southesk, sir, of twenty guns."
"Let me pass to your rear. He must instantly shove off his boat, as the Cossacks are within a mile of us--at yonder house."
In a minute more I reached the party at the well, twelve seamen43 and as many marines under an officer, who had a brace44 of pistols in his belt, and carried his sword drawn45. They were in the act of carrying the last cask of water into a ship's cutter, which lay alongside a ridge46 of rock that ran into the sea, forming a species of natural pier47 or jetty, close by the white marble fountain.
I soon made myself known, and ere long found myself seated among new friends, and out on the shining water, which bubbled up at the bow and foamed48 under the counter as the oarsmen bent50 to their task, and their steadily51 and regularly feathered blades flashed in the silver sheen. The shore receded52 fast; the belt of shrubs53 grew lower and lower; and then the glittering domes of the distant mansion54, which was ever in my mind and memory to be associated with Valerie Volhonski, rose gradually on our view, with the snow-clad range of Yaila in the background. But all were blended in haze55 and distance by the time we came sheering alongside H.M.S. Southesk, the water-tank of which had, fortunately for me, been empty, thus forcing her crew to have recourse to the well of St. Basil, by which circumstance I more than probably escaped the fate that ultimately overtook, but deservedly, the luckless Hawkesby Guilfoyle.
In the morning, under easy sail and half steam, the ship was off Balaclava, where I saw the old Genoese fort that commands its entrance, the white houses of the Arnaouts shaded by tall poplars, and the sea breaking in foam49 upon its marble bluffs56; and there the captain kindly57 put me ashore14 in the first boat that left the ship.
It was not until long after the Crimean war, that by the merest chance, through an exchanged prisoner--a private of our 68th Foot--when having occasion to employ him as a commissionnaire in London, I learned what the fate of Guilfoyle was. En route to Kharkoff, he was run through the heart and killed by the lance of a Cossack of his escort, who alleged58 that he was attempting to escape; but my informant more shrewdly suspected that it was to obtain quiet possession of his ring--the paste diamond which had figured so often in his adventures, real and fictitious59.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
fully
|
|
| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
folly
|
|
| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
lured
|
|
| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
vengeance
|
|
| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
nervously
|
|
| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
gratitude
|
|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
snare
|
|
| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
rippling
|
|
| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
irritation
|
|
| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
hush
|
|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
stolid
|
|
| adj.无动于衷的，感情麻木的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
cypresses
|
|
| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
starry
|
|
| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
dome
|
|
| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
hoofs
|
|
| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
dilated
|
|
| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
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： |
|
|
|
|
22
galloping
|
|
| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
passionately
|
|
| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
vaulted
|
|
| adj.拱状的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
chateau
|
|
| n.城堡，别墅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
domes
|
|
| n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
copper
|
|
| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
fugitive
|
|
| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
daydreams
|
|
| n.白日梦( daydream的名词复数 )v.想入非非，空想( daydream的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
butt
|
|
| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
musket
|
|
| n.滑膛枪 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
squat
|
|
| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
seaman
|
|
| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
infantry
|
|
| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
pouch
|
|
| n.小袋，小包，囊状袋；vt.装...入袋中，用袋运输；vi.用袋送信件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
jack
|
|
| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
squint
|
|
| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
parley
|
|
| n.谈判 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
saluting
|
|
| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的现在分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
seamen
|
|
| n.海员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
brace
|
|
| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
ridge
|
|
| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
pier
|
|
| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
foamed
|
|
| 泡沫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
foam
|
|
| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
receded
|
|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
shrubs
|
|
| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
mansion
|
|
| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
haze
|
|
| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
bluffs
|
|
| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
kindly
|
|
| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
alleged
|
|
| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
fictitious
|
|
| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |