Her youth was a surprise to the American. At first sight he had fancied her three or four-and-99twenty, but he was satisfied now that she could not be more than eighteen. Her figure was distinctly girlish.
She was all in white, from her great ostrich-plumed hat of Leghorn straw to her tiny canvas bottines, because, young as she was, she entertained prejudices against conventional mourning, and exercised them. It was a question, however, whether in black or white she was more beautiful. In the death-chamber Grey had seen her sombre-robed and had pronounced her rarely lovely, and now in raiment immaculately snowy she was equally alluring6. Her expression was naturally pensive7 and her recent sorrow had given to her big, deep-set, long-lashed blue eyes a pathos8 that awoke the tenderest emotions. As the American gazed at her across the table he experienced a thrill of sentiment that was undeniable, and he had but to glance at Lindenwald to see in his contemplation the same fervency9 of soul.
“I should like it,” Grey said to her when the dinner was about over and he was burning his cognac over his coffee, “if you would take a trip with me tomorrow into the country. We will100 start early and have déjeuner at some inn, under the trees. It will do you a world of good.”
Something very like a frown gathered on Lindenwald’s brow, but it passed before he spoke10.
“Do not forget my warning, Herr Arndt,” he interjected. “It would perhaps be safer for me to accompany Fraülein von Altdorf.”
“I will chance it,” Grey replied, decisively. “I feel that I, too, need a little outing.”
“It will be lovely, Uncle Max,” the girl responded, with more animation than she had previously11 shown. “Let us go to Versailles. I have never been, and I have read so much about it.”
“Versailles it shall be, my dear,” he answered, lighting12 a cigarette, while Lindenwald brushed his hand across his brow to hide a scowl13.
Grey’s broken, unrefreshing, dreamful slumber14 of the night before, followed by a tiresome15, distressing16 day, resulted early in the evening in a drowsiness17 that he could not shake off. For a while he dozed18 in a chair by an open window, but when the clock had struck eleven he arose and prepared for bed, and in a little while he was sleeping soundly behind his blue velvet19 curtains.
101 The night, however, was warm and close after the rain of the day, and, as the hours wore on, the sleeper20 grew restless and turned uneasily from side to side, by-and-by waking at each turning and seeking a cool spot between the sheets. At length sleep forsook21 him altogether, and he lay quite wide awake peering into the darkness in an effort to distinguish objects. But the night was very black and the room was enveloped22 in a pall23 of ink, save where the reflection from the street lamps spread patches of dim yellow light on wall and ceiling. The stillness, too, was oppressive. The boulevard was dead, and within doors no sound except the monotonous24 ticking of the clock on the mantel-shelf was audible.
He waited longingly25 for the clock to strike that he might know how many hours must elapse before the dawn; and as he waited, his senses alert, there broke softly on the silence the stealthy tread of feet in the passage on the other side of the wall near which he lay. No sooner had he heard the footsteps than they ceased, and the sound was succeeded by a muffled26, metallic27 clicking from the direction of his door. With Lindenwald’s warning102 in mind he had turned the key in the lock before retiring, and he recalled this now with a sense of satisfied security; but even as he did so he was conscious of the door being pushed slowly but creakingly ajar, and then the tread that he had heard without he heard within. He held his breath, not in affright, for he was, he realised, wonderfully composed, but lest he scare away the intruder before the object of his visit was made plain.
Another second and a figure had crossed in the dim light that came from one of the windows. It was a rather undersized figure, Grey thought, but its attitude was crouching28, almost creeping, and he might be deceived. Quickly a hand went to the cord loops at either side of the casements29 and dropped the curtains, and now the room was devoid30 of even the dim illumination from the street lamps. Then again, for a heart-beat, there was a blade of light visible as the visitor’s arm shot quickly between the lowered window hangings and drew cautiously together the open sashes, first one and then the other.
The steps now approached the bed—very slowly, haltingly, as though the intruder stopped103 at each footfall to listen. Grey waited, with every muscle tense, his nerves a-strain, wondering, speculating as to this night prowler’s next move. For a little while his approach ceased and the suspense31 grew maddening. The man had evidently halted in the centre of the room. Then there came the faintest tinkle32 of glass touched to glass, so faint that the ticking of the clock made question whether it was not imagination; and then the stealthy stepping was resumed, but more nearly silent than before, until the man in the bed, with heart pounding, teeth shut tight and breath indrawn and held, knew that the other was there beside him—leaning in over him, between the curtains, with a hand outstretched....
Blindly, into the pitch dark, with all its power of nerve and muscle, Grey’s clenched33 fist shot upward just as a cloth, wet with a liquid so suffocatingly34 volatile36 as to stagger him for the instant, dropped on his face. He heard a startled cry, half moan, half groan37, and then a crash as a body reeled backward and, losing its balance, toppled over a chair. On his feet in a flash, Grey made haste to follow up his advantage. His foot touched his104 fallen assailant and he flung his full weight down upon him, groping wildly in the dark to find his arms and pinion38 them. But the fellow wriggled39 like a worm—twisting agilely40, squirming from under his clutch—and his arms evaded41 capture. Locked in a desperate embrace they rolled over and over, now half rising to their knees, now thrown back again, upsetting tables and chairs, pounding their heads stunningly42 on floor and wall, clutching at each other’s hair, gripping each other’s throats—a wrestling match in which science had neither time nor place; a struggle for capture on the part of one, and for escape on the part of the other.
Grey was the stronger of the two, the heavier, the more muscular, but his foe44 was all elasticity45, wiry, resilient, untiring, indomitable. The minutes passed without any apparent advantage to either. The smaller man was swearing in four languages and Grey was breathing hard. The noise they were making, as they rose and fell and overturned furniture, was thunderous. Each moment Grey expected the house would be awakened46 and assistance would arrive. Perspiration47 was105 pouring from his every pore; his pyjamas48 were in ribbons, his body and limbs half naked. Vainly he strove to strike and stun43 his adversary49. His blows were dodged50 as if by instinct and his knuckles51 were bleeding where they had come in contact with the floor.
At length he succeeded in laying hold of the fellow’s face, his nose and mouth in his iron grasp, but instantly the jaws52 wrenched53 open and then closed savagely54 with Grey’s finger between viciously incisive55 teeth. A cry of pain escaped him as for the smallest moment a wave of faintness swept over him, and then he felt his antagonist56 slipping sinuously57 from under him and he grabbed wildly for a fresh hold. He caught a wrist and tried to cling to it, but the teeth were cutting to the bone, grinding on the joint58, and the wrist slid through his grasp and the head followed in a twinkling. He rolled over and lunged out again, but the steely jaws had at that instant released his mangled59 finger, and even as he was striving to reach, struggling pantingly to his knees, he heard the door open quickly and he knew that he was alone.
106 He sank back to a sitting posture60, breathing hard and deeply, but the air seemed suddenly to have grown thick and foul61 and choking, and he clambered to his feet and sought in the darkness for a window. Presently the touch of the curtains rewarded him. He thrust them frantically62 aside, pushed open the sashes and then dropped down again with his head and shoulders far out over the balcony, drinking in the cool, fresh air of the very early morning.
And it was here, in this position, a minute later that Johann, who had after considerable deliberation decided63 to investigate the cause of the disturbance64, found him pale and exhausted65, with the remnants of his pyjamas spattered with blood from his bleeding finger.
“Oh, Herr Arndt,” he cried, in perturbation, “what has happened? Have you tried to kill yourself? Oh, it is suffocating35 here! The gas—the room is full of gas.”
Johann helped Grey to his feet, sat him in a chair by the window, and having discovered the four gas jets of the chandelier which depended from the ceiling in the centre of the room turned107 full on, he turned them off, opened the other window and threw wide the door to effect a draft. Then he lighted the candles and returned to make an inventory66 of his master’s injuries.
“I’m not very much hurt, Johann,” Grey assured him; “but it was a pretty tough scrimmage while it lasted, and the brute67 did give my finger a biting. He had teeth like a saw and jaws like a vise. His original idea was asphyxiation68, I suppose. He fancied I was asleep and that he would make it my last. By the way, look in the bed over there. You’ll find a chloroformed handkerchief, I think.”
“And was it for robbery, do you imagine, Herr Arndt, that he came?” Johann asked, as he went toward the bed.
“God knows,” Grey answered. “It looks rather professional when a fellow unlocks your door with a pair of nippers. The key was in the lock, you see.”
“You did not see his face, Herr Arndt? You would not know him?”
“I’m not a cat, Johann, and I cannot see in the dark.”
108 Then the valet hastened away to investigate, but returned without any information worth the calling. He had aroused the portier only to learn that the street door had not been opened in two hours either for ingress or egress69. Whoever the depredator was he must either have come in early and remained hidden or have entered through some unbarred window in the rear of the hotel, probably escaping by the same means. Having made his report Johann bathed and bound Grey’s finger, drew a bath for him, got out clean nightwear, remade the bed, and, just as the clock struck the half-hour after four, left him once more alone, still with the chloroformed handkerchief in his hand, which he was examining carefully for the third time. But it was merely a square piece of fine hemstitched linen70 without any distinguishing mark whatever. In that, certainly, there was no clue to his visitor.
But just as he was about to blow out his candles his foot trod on something hard, and he stooped and picked up a seal ring. It was very heavy and richly chased, and it bore an elaborately engraved71 coat of arms. In that last despairing clutch at the109 fellow’s hand he had evidently stripped this from his finger—this which could not but prove damaging evidence of his identity. The heraldic device was to Grey unfamiliar72, but it would be a comparatively easy matter to learn to what family it belonged. Indeed, he had a vague recollection of having noticed a ring of this pattern on the little finger of Baron73 von Einhard’s ungloved hand the afternoon before in the hotel reading-room; but the pattern was not uncommon74, and— but it was preposterous75 to fancy that a man of his position, no matter what Lindenwald had said, no matter what his reputation for chicanery76, craft, and cunning, would personally undertake a deliberate attempt at homicide. Such impossible characters might figure in melodramas77, but in real life they were out of the question. And then he looked at the ring again, turning it over and inspecting it very minutely in the light of the candle flame.
Captain Lindenwald, when he was told of the affair, was quite sure it was von Einhard even before he was shown the ring, and when that was forthcoming he was willing to swear to it. The arms, he declared, were the von Einhard arms,110 and the ring could have been worn by no one save the Baron himself. He was for putting the matter in the hands of the police and thus avoiding future dangers, but after a little deliberation he realised that such a course would be impracticable. For the present it was absolutely necessary, he knew, to reveal nothing as to his and his charge’s whereabouts. Too much was known already; and general publicity78, even though it put von Einhard where he could do no personal harm, would more greatly imperil the carrying out of the plans that were indispensable.
This, at least, was the impression he conveyed to Grey, though he was, as usual, most guarded in his choice of words. Never yet, the American observed, had he directly spoken of his mission, nor had he once so much as intimated to him that he knew him as other than Herr Max Arndt. That he was a crown prince en route to the bedside of his dying sire Captain Lindenwald had zealously79 refrained from uttering save to a third party under stress of unusual circumstance, and then in a tone so low that he could not reasonably be expected to hear.
111 “If I may be permitted,” the Captain requested, “I will keep this ring for a little. I may run across von Einhard, and I should like to give him this one hint that his attempt on your life is known to us.”
But for some reason which he could not define Grey demurred80.
“I have a whim81 to wear it,” he said, replacing it upon his finger; and Lindenwald made no further plea.
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收听单词发音
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1
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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valiantly
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| adv.勇敢地，英勇地；雄赳赳 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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jocose
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| adj.开玩笑的，滑稽的 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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fervency
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| n.热情的；强烈的；热烈 | |
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10
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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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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12
lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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13
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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14
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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15
tiresome
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| adj.令人疲劳的，令人厌倦的 | |
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16
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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drowsiness
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| n.睡意；嗜睡 | |
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18
dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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20
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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21
forsook
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| forsake的过去式 | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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24
monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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25
longingly
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| adv. 渴望地 热望地 | |
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26
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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27
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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28
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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casements
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| n.窗扉( casement的名词复数 ) | |
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30
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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31
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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32
tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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33
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
suffocatingly
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| 令人窒息地 | |
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35
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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36
volatile
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| adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质 | |
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37
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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pinion
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| v.束缚；n.小齿轮 | |
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39
wriggled
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等） | |
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40
agilely
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| adv.敏捷地 | |
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41
evaded
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| 逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出 | |
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42
stunningly
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| ad.令人目瞪口呆地；惊人地 | |
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43
stun
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| vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹 | |
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44
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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45
elasticity
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| n.弹性，伸缩力 | |
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46
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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47
perspiration
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| n.汗水；出汗 | |
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48
pyjamas
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| n.（宽大的）睡衣裤 | |
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49
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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50
dodged
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| v.闪躲( dodge的过去式和过去分词 )；回避 | |
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51
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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52
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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53
wrenched
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| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
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54
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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55
incisive
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| adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的 | |
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56
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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57
sinuously
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| 弯曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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58
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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59
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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60
posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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61
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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62
frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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63
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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64
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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65
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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66
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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67
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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68
asphyxiation
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| n. 窒息 | |
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69
egress
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| n.出去；出口 | |
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70
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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71
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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72
unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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73
baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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74
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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75
preposterous
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| adj.荒谬的，可笑的 | |
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76
chicanery
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| n.欺诈，欺骗 | |
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77
melodramas
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| 情节剧( melodrama的名词复数 ) | |
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78
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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79
zealously
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| adv.热心地；热情地；积极地；狂热地 | |
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80
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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81
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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