"Bon jour," he said, with his debonair5 smile that seemed to light the gloomy place like a beam of sunshine. "How goes it, mon ami?"
A gleam of pleasure shone faintly over his friend's haggard features.
[Pg 110]
"Is it you, Carl?" he said; "I thought you had deserted6 me!"
"Ingrate7, could you think it?" responded Carl. "I was busy yesterday trying to find out some particulars of this mysterious affair, and they would not admit me last night. I came this morning as soon as they would let me in."
"Thanks Carl; I might have known you were true as steel. And yet there is so much falsity and treachery on earth, how could I be sure of your loyalty8? Have you learned anything?"
"Your accuser is the American, Colonel Carlyle," was the startling reply.
"My God!" exclaimed Leslie Dane, with a violent start; and then he added in a passionate9 tone, and half to himself: "Has he not already wronged me beyond all forgiveness?"
"He seems to have pushed it forward with the greatest malignity," continued Carl. "There are other countrymen of yours here in this city who declare they knew of the foul10 charge against you, yet they say that the verdict against you was given on purely11 circumstantial evidence, and that, such being the case, they did not intend to molest12 you, believing that you might after all be innocent of the crime. But Colonel Carlyle has pushed the affair in a way that seems to indicate a personal spite against you."
Leslie's broad, white brow clouded over gloomily.
"It is true, then, that there is such a charge against me. I fancied there must be some mistake. The whole affair seemed too monstrous13 for belief, yet you say it is a stern fact. It is so inexplicable14 to me, for I swear to you, Carl, that up to the very moment of my arrest yesterday I did not know that Francis Arnold was dead."
"And I believe you, Leslie, as firmly as I believe in the purity of my mother away off in my beloved Germany. I know you never could have been guilty of such a foul crime."
"A thousand thanks for your noble confidence, Carl. Now I know that I have at least one true friend on earth. I was rather cynical15 in such matters before. A sad experience had taught me to distrust everyone," exclaimed Leslie, as he warmly grasped the young German's hand. "But what reason do they assign for my alleged16 commission of the crime?"
"They told me," said Carl, hesitatingly, "that you were poor and unknown, and aspired17 to the hand of the millionaire's beautiful and high-born niece. Mr. Arnold, they said, declined your suit for the young lady's hand, and you became enraged18 and left him, uttering very abusive language coupled with threats of violence. He was murdered while sleeping in his arm-chair that night on his piazza19, and it was supposed that you had stealthily returned and wreaked20 your vengeance21 upon him."
"My God!" said Leslie Dane, "they have made out a black case against me, indeed. But upon whose circumstantial evidence was my conviction based?"
"Mrs. Arnold, the wife of the murdered man, and his step-daughter, Miss Herbert, heard and witnessed the altercation22 from their drawing-room windows. Their evidence convicted you, it is said."
[Pg 111]
"My soul!" exclaimed the unhappy prisoner to himself. "Bonnibel was there; she at least knew my innocence23, yet she spoke24 no word to clear me from that most foul aspersion25! And yet I could have sworn that she loved me as her own life. Oh, God! She was falser than I could have dreamed. But, oh, that angel face; those beguiling26 lips—how can they cover a heart so black?"
"Come, come, mon ami, don't give up like this," said Carl, distressed27 by the sight of his friend's uncontrollable emotion. "It is a monstrous thing, I know, and will involve no end of time and worry before you get clear, of course, but, then, there is no doubt of your getting off—you have only to prove your innocence, and you can easily do that, you know. So let's take it as a joke, and bear it bravely. Do you know I mean to cross the ocean with you, and see the farce28 played out to the end? Then you shall take me around, and do the honors of your native land."
Leslie looked at the bright, buoyant face of the German artist as he spoke so cheerily, and a suspicious moisture crept into his dark eyes. He dashed his hand across them, deeming it unmanly weakness.
"Oh! Carl," he exclaimed, remorsefully29, "how little I have valued your friendship, yet how firm and noble it has proved itself in this dark and trying hour! Forgive me, my friend, and believe me when I say that I give you the sole affection and trust of a heart that heretofore has trusted nothing of human kind, so basely had it been deceived. I thank, I bless you for that promise to stand by me in my trial! And now I will do what I should have done long ago if I had known the value of your noble heart. I will tell you my story, and you shall be my judge."
Word for word, though it gave him inexpressible pain to recall it, he went over the story of his love for Bonnibel Vere, and her uncle's rejection30 of his suit, and the high words that passed between them. He passed lightly over their farewell, omitting but one thing. It was the story of their moonlight sail and secret marriage. That story was sealed within his breast. He would have died before he would have revealed Bonnibel's fatal secret to any living soul.
"I left Cape31 May, where they were summering, on the midnight train," he concluded, "and the next day I sailed from New York for Europe. I never heard from Francis Arnold or his niece again. She had promised to be faithful to our love, but though I wrote to her many times I never received one line in return until that fatal note which you remember. In it she wrote me that she loved another."
"Perfidious32 creature!" muttered Carl.
"I never heard of her again," continued Leslie, "until, to my unutterable surprise, I met her as the wife of Colonel Carlyle."
"And it is for one so false and cruel that you rest under this dreadful charge," exclaimed the German. "But, please God, you will soon be cleared from it. Of course you will have no difficulty in proving an alibi33. That is all you need to clear you."
But Leslie did not answer, and his friend saw that he was pale as death.
[Pg 112]
"Of course you can prove an alibi—cannot you, Leslie?" he asked, with a shade of anxiety in his tone.
But Leslie looked at him with a gleam of horror in his dark eyes, and his voice shook with emotion as he answered:
"No, Carl, I cannot!"
Carl Muller started as though a bullet had struck him.
"Leslie you jest," he exclaimed, hoarsely34. "Of course you can prove where you were at that exact time when the murder took place. Your safety all hinges upon that. Do you not remember where you were at that time?"
"Ah, Heaven, do I not remember? Every moment of that time is indelibly stamped upon my memory," groaned35 the unhappy prisoner.
"Then why do you talk so wildly, my dear fellow? All you have to do is to tell where you were at that time, and produce even one competent witness to prove it."
"I cannot do it!" Leslie answered, gravely.
"But, good Heavens, man, your life may have to pay the forfeit36 if you fail to establish an alibi at the trial."
"I must pay the forfeit, then. Carl, I choose death rather than the only available alternative," was the inscrutable and final reply.
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1
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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rigors
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| 严格( rigor的名词复数 )； 严酷； 严密； （由惊吓或中毒等导致的身体）僵直 | |
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incarceration
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| n.监禁，禁闭；钳闭 | |
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sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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debonair
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| adj.殷勤的，快乐的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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ingrate
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| n.忘恩负义的人 | |
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loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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molest
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| vt.骚扰，干扰，调戏 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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piazza
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| n.广场；走廊 | |
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wreaked
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| 诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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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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aspersion
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| n.诽谤，中伤 | |
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beguiling
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| adj.欺骗的，诱人的v.欺骗( beguile的现在分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等） | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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remorsefully
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| adv.极为懊悔地 | |
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rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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perfidious
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| adj.不忠的，背信弃义的 | |
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alibi
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| n.某人当时不在犯罪现场的申辩或证明；借口 | |
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hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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