I am sitting to-day in a cosy5 armchair (of the old school, no modern fake) talking to my old friend, Theophilus Greenbracket. Filus, as I call him, is a clever man of many parts; he is a great traveller and sportsman, and takes a deep interest in every mortal thing. There is nothing of the kill joy or fossil about Greenbracket; he is up-to-date and true blue.
He is sitting opposite me smoking a gigantic cigar and imbibing6 rum punch, and talking hard; he always talks hard, but is never a bore, and never palls7 on one in the slightest degree. He has an enormous dog at his feet, with a fierce, vindictive8 expression, which belies9 its real nature, as it is gentle with everything and everybody, except cats and rats. Greenbracket is, among many other things, a great spiritualist and visionary, and possesses all kinds of mediumistic appliances, such as pythos, planchettes and ouijas, which he works with his old butler, Amos Bradleigh, who is another spirit hunter.
“By the bye,” said Greenbracket, “I am at present taking lessons in music with Mr Easeboy.” He says this so suddenly that he makes me jump, as we were talking about sea serpents[71] and the probability of their existence.
“Are you indeed, old chap,” I said.
“Yes, thorough bass10, and consecutive11 fifths and harmony and all that sort of thing, you know. He has a pupil, Macbeth Churchtimber, who has just written a thundering pretty waltz called ‘Eleanor Wynne.’”
“I thought Churchtimber,” I mildly suggested, “only played severe classical stuff.”
“Oh, yes,” replied my friend, “but he occasionally touches on a lighter12 theme, and has even written a comic song, called, ‘I lay beside a milestone13 with a sunflower on my brow.’”
“I must try it someday,” I said, “but how about your ghosts? Have you seen any lately?”
“There was one here a few minutes ago,” said Greenbracket, “a tall man in armour14 sitting in that corner over there.”
“What rubbish,” I said, quite crossly, “you dream things, or drink, or eat too much.”
“No I don’t,” said Greenbracket, “do you really mean to tell that you felt no sensation just now, no pricking15 or tingling16 feeling, or a chilly17 sensation down your back?”
“Certainly not, nothing of the kind,” I replied.
“Well, that is queer,” he said, “I know you don’t see these things, but I fancied you would have felt a strange presence in some way. I don’t know who the man in armour was. I have not seen him before, but my butler has, at all events. It was not Sir Roger de Wanklyn.”
“Who the ? is he?” I queried18.
“Oh,” said my host, “he is the earth-bound spirit of an architect who lived in St Andrews at the time that James the Fifth married Mary of Lorraine in the Cathedral; he says he was present at the ceremony and can describe it all. A gay pageant19 it was and much revelry.”
“If you can get all this sort of curious information, which I don’t exactly credit, why on earth can’t you find out something practical and useful, for instance, where the secret underground hiding place is, and where all the tons of valuable ornaments20, papers, and vestments are concealed21?”
“My dear friend,” said Greenbracket solemnly, “these[72] people won’t be pumped; they only tell you what they choose to, or are permitted to reveal.”
“If they really do turn up and talk to you as you say they do, why on earth can’t you get them to talk some useful sense?”
“I really can’t force their confidence,” said Greenbracket, “all they do tell me voluntarily is most interesting and absorbing. This Sir Rodger planned numerous very important structural22 alterations23 in the Cathedral and elsewhere.”
“It is all very odd to me,” I said, “one meets people with strange ideas. I met a man years ago at Aberystwith who was a firm believer in the transmigration of souls. He said he quite remembered being a cab horse in Glasgow, and was certain when he left this planet he would become a parrot in Mars.”
“I don’t understand that sort of thing a bit,” said my extraordinary friend, Greenbracket, “but Sir Rodger de Wanklyn has sometimes to visit the Valley of Fire and Frost, where there are mighty24 furnaces on one side of him and ice and snow on the other and it is very painful.”
“I had that sort of experience the other day,” I remarked, “at a meeting. On one side was a furnace of a fire and on the other a window wide open with a biting frost wind blowing in.”
“Tuts,” said Greenbracket “that’s here; I am talking of the spirit world.”
“Hang! your spirit stuff. Has your butler, Amos Bradleigh, seen any spookey things lately?”
“Yes, he is much annoyed by the spirit of an evil old housekeeper25 here who lost her life by falling downstairs, and she is continually pushing him down my cellar stairs. He is furious.”
“Is this butler of yours any connection of Jeremiah Anklebone?” I asked.
“Yes, he is a cousin,” said Greenbracket; “all that family have second sight, and see and dream strange things.”
“And who,” I asked, “may this housekeeper be who pitched your butler down stairs?”
“Oh,” said Greenbracket, “she’s a badly constituted wraith26, and her name is Annibal Strongthorn. She was housekeeper ages ago to this Sir Roger de Wanklyn in this very old house we are in.”
[73]
“What happened to this Sir Roger? Has he told you?”
“Oh! yes he fell over the cliffs.”
“Bless me, and did this old housekeeper woman push him over. Was she a murderess?”
“Oh, how can I tell,” said Greenbracket peevishly27, “he has told me nothing of the kind.”
“Well, old fellow,” I said, “you really do not get much interesting information out of your ghostly friends, but what I like about you is that all your numerous ghosts come straight to you, straight to head-quarters at once—you don’t go fooling about with chairs and tables and sideboards and other pieces of timber in an idiotic28 way. If, as some people say, they can get chairs and tables and other articles of furniture to follow them about, why don’t they go in for cheap furniture removals at night when the streets are empty?”
“Don’t make a joke of everything,” said Greenbracket, “I do see and converse29 with departed spirits. I do not ask them to come; they come to me, and half of them I have never heard of before or thought of either.”
“May I ask, my good friend Greenbracket, what sort of clothes they wear when they pay you these visits; for instance, what does your latest apparition30, Sir Rodger, clothe himself in?”
“Bless me!” said Theophilus, “why in the dress of his times, of course—a jerken, doublet, and hose, a rapier, and all that sort of thing; sometimes he wears a sort of coarse fustian31 cassock with a double breast.”
“I can’t make out,” I said to my spiritualistic friend, “where these clothes come from. Have they got a sort of theatrical32 wardrobe wherever they are existing? If so, why can’t the ghosts of old world clothes come alone? In such a case you might see a modern suit of evening togs, or armour, or boots and spurs, or military dress walk into your room without anything inside them; or you might, with a stretch of imagination, see a suit of pyjamas33, or a pair of slippers34 going about the place.”
“Shut up talking like that,” said Theophilus, “you don’t possess the sense—I mean the extra sense to see these beings; but read this document I have written out. Surely it will convince[74] you that I really do get valuable inspirations from other worlds, but, mind, keep it a strict secret at present.”
“All right, I promise you,” I murmured placidly35. Then I perused36 carefully the more than extraordinary document he had handed me.
“It is very curious,” I said, “if it be one bit true; and if genuine, might be extremely useful. Mind my lips are sealed. But from whom did you obtain this remarkable37 story?”
“From Sir Rodger de Wanklyn, the Cathedral architect,” he replied, and off I went quite full of my queer friend, Greenbracket, and of Annabel Strongthorn, Amos Bradleigh, and his cousin Anklebone, and particularly Rodger de Wanklyn.
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1
gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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mince
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| n.切碎物；v.切碎，矫揉做作地说 | |
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holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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cosy
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| adj.温暖而舒适的，安逸的 | |
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imbibing
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| v.吸收( imbibe的现在分词 )；喝；吸取；吸气 | |
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palls
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| n.柩衣( pall的名词复数 )；墓衣；棺罩；深色或厚重的覆盖物v.（因过多或过久而）生厌，感到乏味，厌烦( pall的第三人称单数 ) | |
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vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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belies
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| v.掩饰( belie的第三人称单数 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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bass
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| n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴 | |
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consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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13
milestone
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| n.里程碑；划时代的事件 | |
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armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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pricking
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| 刺，刺痕，刺痛感 | |
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tingling
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| v.有刺痛感( tingle的现在分词 ) | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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structural
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| adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的 | |
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alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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housekeeper
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| n.管理家务的主妇，女管家 | |
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wraith
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| n.幽灵；骨瘦如柴的人 | |
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peevishly
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| adv．暴躁地 | |
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idiotic
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| adj.白痴的 | |
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converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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fustian
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| n.浮夸的；厚粗棉布 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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pyjamas
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| n.（宽大的）睡衣裤 | |
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34
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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36
perused
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| v.读（某篇文字）( peruse的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指）细阅；审阅；匆匆读或心不在焉地浏览（某篇文字） | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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