"I can't go back to town and leave Flora1 here by herself. We've got to find her!"
He nodded; they were both of them entirely2 at ease. That tense consciousness of a few minutes before had disappeared.
"I'm worried," Fred said, again; "she was awfully3 low-spirited because—because somebody hadn't written to her."
"Oh, she's all right. She'll be back in a few minutes."
"But where has she gone?"
"Perhaps she walked into Laketon."
"What for? Besides, it's nearly five miles!" They were standing4 in the kitchen doorway5; Zip pushed past them and went out into the mist; smelled about, stretching first his front legs, then his hind6 legs. The motor loomed7 like a black monster under the tree. Zip gave a bored look at the lingering guest.
"Flor-a-a!"
No answer; just the lake, sighing and rippling8 in the sedge.
"Could she have gone down to the water?" Howard[Pg 210] said; "have you got such a thing as a lantern? I'll go out and look."
"No; but light that lamp on the center-table—a candle might blow out."
He went into the other room, and she heard him scratch a match and fumble9 with the lamp-chimney. In that minute, alone, listening all the while for Flora's returning step, her mind leaped back to that moment in front of the fire. His look—astounded, incredulous, shocked—was burned into her memory; his distressed10 words rung in her ears. She was not conscious of any pain because he did not love her. She was simply stunned11 by the jolt12 of suddenly and unexpectedly stepping down into the old, irrational13 modesties14....
Her face began to scorch15. She went out on the porch and called again, mechanically; some water dripping from the eaves on her bare head ran down one blazing cheek; the coolness gave her an acute sense of relief that struggled through the medley16 of tearing emotions; she was saying to herself: "Where can she be? She hasn't washed the dishes! (He refused me.)"
Howard, holding the lamp over his head, came up behind her and went down the steps into the mist. Fred followed him, Zip lumbering17 along at her heels.
"She must have left the house this way; we know that," she said.
"Come down to the beach," he said.
"Yes; sometimes she used to sit on that big rock," Frederica remembered.
He walked ahead of her; the light, shining through the[Pg 211] solferino lamp-shade, made a rosy18 nimbus about his bare head, but scarcely penetrated19 the fog. They went thus, all three, single file, along the path to the rickety wooden pier20; at the end of it, they stood staring out into the mist. Twice he called, loudly, "Flora!"...
"Not a sound!" he said. "Is there any possible place in the house where she could have hidden herself? I mean, gone to sleep, or anything?"
"Not a place! I've looked everywhere. (He refused me.)"
They turned silently to go back. Just as they reached the path again Howard stopped—so abruptly21 that the lamp sent a jarring gleam into the white darkness.
"Fred—?"
She looked where he was looking, and caught her breath.
"No!" she said; "oh, no—no! It can't be!"
"Hold the lamp. I'll go and see—"
He climbed down the little bluff22 and waded23 into the sedge. The swaying mass that had looked like a stone until a larger wave stirred it, came in nearer the shore, caught on the shoaling beach, rolled, and was still. Frederica saw him bend over it, then try, frantically24, to lift it in his arms. She put the lamp on the wharf25. ("Don't touch it, Zip!"), slid, catching26 at tufts of grass, and bending branches—down the crumbling27 bank, plunged28 into the water up to her knees, and together, half pulling, half carrying that sodden29 bundle, they stumbled over the oozy30 bottom and through the sedges. The lifting it up the bluff was terrible; the dripping figure, sagging31 and bending, was so heavy!
[Pg 212]
"We must get her into the house," Frederica panted. And, somehow or other, they did it, Howard taking the shoulders, and Fred the feet. They were gasping32 with the strain of it when they laid her on the floor of the living-room.
"Is she dead?" he said.
Frederica thrust her hand into the bosom33 of Flora's dress—and held her breath.
"I can't tell; we mustn't stop to find out! You know what to do? Pull her arms up, this way!"
They stood over her, Howard following Fred's short, sharp directions, and, even in the horror of the moment, conscious of a wondering admiration34 at her efficiency. But no quiver of life came into the still face.
"We ought to get a doctor!" Fred said, at last, panting.
"I'll go instantly!"
"No, the quickest way will be to take her to a doctor, not bring a doctor to her!"
"But if she is dead we ought not to move her! That's the law."
"Law? I don't care anything about the law! Life is what I'm thinking of! We don't know whether she's dead or not. Crank your car! I'll get some blankets—"
He hurried out, and she rushed up-stairs for blankets. She was folding them about Flora when he came in, the car chugging loudly at the door. Again, lifting and straining, they carried her out, and got her into the tonneau. Then Frederica saw the lamp down on the wharf, burning steadily35 in the mist.
"Put it out! Put it out! Hurry!" she commanded;[Pg 213] and while he ran to do it she darted36 back to blow out the candles in the living-room and snap the lock of the front door—"never mind about taking the lamp into the house. Leave it on the porch!" she said. Then she got in the car and, sitting down, put an arm about the crumpling37, sodden form. Zip, fearful of being left, jumped on the front seat, and glanced wonderingly back at his mistress.
"Fred," Howard said, agitatedly38, "I think she's—dead."
"So do I; but hurry! Don't lose a minute!" Then, through the noise of the clutch, she screamed at him: "Doctor Emma Holt! In Laketon!" And the car jerked forward.
"But that's a woman doctor," he called, over his shoulder.
Just for a moment the habit of revolt asserted itself: "Why not?" Then, "Hurry! Hurry!"
Dr. Emma Holt was five miles away. "I felt," Howard Maitland used to say, afterward39, "as if she were fifty miles away!"
The fog was so thick it was impossible to speed with safety, so they sped without it, and tore bumping along through the white smother40. Twice he looked around, and saw Fred sitting there, rigid41, with that face, open-mouthed, open-eyed, gray under its brown skin, wabbling, and dripping on her shoulder.
"She is magnificent!" he thought. "I couldn't do it."
The second time he looked, some reflection from the lamps, gleaming in the fog, flickered42 on that set face, and it seemed as if the eyes closed, then opened again. The horror of it made his hand jerk on the wheel, and there[Pg 214] was a skid43 out of the ruts that frightened him into carefulness.
When he sprang out at the house of the "woman doctor," he dared not glance back into the tonneau. Hammering on the panels of the door, and keeping his thumb on the bell, he called up to an opening window on the second floor:
"Doctor! Hurry! A woman has got drowned! Hurry!"
"Where is she?" came a laconic44 voice from the window.
"Here! In my car! Hurry!"
The window slammed down; a minute later the electric lights were snapped on in the sleeping house, and hurrying feet came along the hall.
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收听单词发音
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1
flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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8
rippling
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| 起涟漪的，潺潺流水般声音的 | |
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fumble
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| vi.笨拙地用手摸、弄、接等，摸索 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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jolt
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| v.（使）摇动，（使）震动，（使）颠簸 | |
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irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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modesties
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| n.谦虚，谦逊( modesty的名词复数 ) | |
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scorch
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| v.烧焦，烤焦；高速疾驶；n.烧焦处，焦痕 | |
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16
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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lumbering
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| n.采伐林木 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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pier
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| n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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frantically
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| ad.发狂地, 发疯地 | |
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wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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29
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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oozy
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| adj.软泥的 | |
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sagging
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| 下垂[沉，陷]，松垂，垂度 | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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33
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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35
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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crumpling
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| 压皱，弄皱( crumple的现在分词 )； 变皱 | |
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38
agitatedly
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| 动摇，兴奋； 勃然 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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41
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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42
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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43
skid
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| v.打滑 n.滑向一侧；滑道 ，滑轨 | |
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44
laconic
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| adj.简洁的；精练的 | |
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