Chapter 45 The End Of The Manuscript

FINAL P.S. BY M.T.

THE dawn was come when I laid the Manuscript aside. The rain had almost ceased, the world was gray and sad, the exhausted¹ storm was sighing and sobbing² itself to rest. I went to the stranger's room, and listened at his door, which was slightly ajar. I could hear his voice, and so I knocked. There was no answer, but I still heard the voice. I peeped in. The man lay on his back in bed, talking brokenly but with spirit, and punctuating³ with his arms, which he thrashed about, restlessly, as sick people do in delirium⁴. I slipped in softly and bent⁵ over him. His mutterings and ejaculations went on. I spoke⁶ -- merely a word, to call his attention. His glassy eyes and his ashy face were alight in an instant with pleasure, gratitude⁷, gladness, welcome:

"Oh, Sandy, you are come at last -- how I have longed for you! Sit by me -- do not leave me -never leave me again, Sandy, never again. Where is your hand? -- give it me, dear, let me hold it -- there -- now all is well, all is peace, and I am happy again -WE are happy again, isn't it so, Sandy? You are so dim, so vague, you are but a mist, a cloud, but you are HERE, and that is blessedness sufficient; and I have your hand; don't take it away -- it is for only a little while, I shall not require it long...... Was that the child?...... Hello-Central!...... she doesn't answer. Asleep, perhaps? Bring her when she wakes, and let me touch her hands, her face, her hair, and tell her good-bye...... Sandy! Yes, you are there. I lost myself a moment, and I thought you were gone...... Have I been sick long? It must be so; it seems months to me. And such dreams! such strange and awful dreams, Sandy! Dreams that were as real as reality -- delirium, of course, but SO real! Why, I thought the king was dead, I thought you were in Gaul and couldn't get home, I thought there was a revolution; in the fantastic frenzy⁸ of these dreams, I thought that Clarence and I and a handful of my cadets fought and exterminated⁹ the whole chivalry¹⁰ of England! But even that was not the strangest. I seemed to be a creature out of a remote unborn age, centuries hence, and even THAT was as real as the rest! Yes, I seemed to have flown back out of that age into this of ours, and then forward to it again, and was set down, a stranger and forlorn in that strange England, with an abyss of thirteen centuries yawning between me and you! between me and my home and my friends! between me and all that is dear to me, all that could make life worth the living! It was awful -awfuler than you can ever imagine, Sandy. Ah, watch by me, Sandy -- stay by me every moment -DON'T let me go out of my mind again; death is nothing, let it come, but not with those dreams, not with the torture of those hideous¹¹ dreams -- I cannot endure THAT again...... Sandy?......"

He lay muttering incoherently some little time; then for a time he lay silent, and apparently¹² sinking away toward death. Presently his fingers began to pick busily at the coverlet, and by that sign I knew that his end was at hand with the first suggestion of the death-rattle in his throat he started up slightly, and seemed to listen: then he said:

"A bugle¹³?...... It is the king! The drawbridge, there! Man the battlements! -- turn out the --"

He was getting up his last "effect"; but he never finished it.

THE END

1 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

2 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

3 punctuating   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Finally, it all came to a halt, with only Leehom's laboured breathing punctuating the silence. 最后，一切静止，只剩力宏吃力的呼吸，打破寂静。 来自互联网
• Li, punctuating the air with her hands, her fingernails decorated with pink rose decals. 一边说着，一边用手在空中一挥，指甲上还画了粉红玫瑰图案。 来自互联网

4 delirium   

n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋

参考例句：

• In her delirium, she had fallen to the floor several times. 她在神志不清的状态下几次摔倒在地上。
• For the next nine months, Job was in constant delirium.接下来的九个月，约伯处于持续精神错乱的状态。

5 bent   

n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的

参考例句：

• He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
• We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。

6 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：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

8 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

9 exterminated   

v.消灭，根绝( exterminate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It was exterminated root and branch. 它被彻底剪除了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The insects can be exterminated by spraying DDT. 可以用喷撒滴滴涕的方法大量杀死这种昆虫。 来自《用法词典》

10 chivalry   

n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤

参考例句：

• The Middle Ages were also the great age of chivalry.中世纪也是骑士制度盛行的时代。
• He looked up at them with great chivalry.他非常有礼貌地抬头瞧她们。

11 hideous   

adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的

参考例句：

• The whole experience had been like some hideous nightmare.整个经历就像一场可怕的噩梦。
• They're not like dogs,they're hideous brutes.它们不像狗，是丑陋的畜牲。

12 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

13 bugle   

n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集

参考例句：

• When he heard the bugle call, he caught up his gun and dashed out.他一听到军号声就抓起枪冲了出去。
• As the bugle sounded we ran to the sports ground and fell in.军号一响，我们就跑到运动场集合站队。