CHAPTER XI. HOW THE LETTER WAS MAILED.

S EVERAL months passed, and Mrs. Kenyon remained in confinement¹. She was not badly treated, except in being vigilantly² guarded, and prevented from making her escape. Dr. Fox always treated her with suavity³, but she felt that though covered with velvet⁴ his hand was of iron, and that there was little to hope for from him. He never made any objection to her writing letters, but always insisted on their being handed to him.

It was not long before she began seriously to doubt whether the letters thus committed to him were really mailed, since no answers came. One day she asked him abruptly⁵:

"Why is it, Dr. Fox, that I get no answers to my letters?"

"I suppose," he answered, "that your friends are afraid you may be excited, and your recovery retarded⁶, by hearing from them."

"Has my—has Mr. Kenyon reported that I am insane?"

"Undoubtedly⁷."

"False and treacherous⁸!" she exclaimed bitterly. "Why was I ever mad enough to marry him?"

Dr. Fox shrugged⁹ his shoulders.

"Really," he said, "I couldn't pretend to explain your motives¹⁰, my dear madam. Women are enigmas¹¹."

"Are my letters regularly mailed, Dr. Fox?" asked Mrs. Kenyon searchingly.

"How can you ask such a question? Do you not commit them to me?"

"So does Cleopatra," said Mrs. Kenyon, who had fallen into the habit of addressing her room-mate by the name she assumed. "Do you forward her letters to Mark Antony?"

"Does she doubt it?" asked the doctor, bowing to the mad queen.

"No, doctor," replied Cleopatra promptly¹². "I have the utmost faith in your loyalty¹³, and it shall be rewarded. I have long intended to make you Lord High Baron¹⁴ of the Nile. Let this be the emblem¹⁵."

In a dignified¹⁶ manner Cleopatra advanced toward Dr. Fox, and passed a bit of faded ribbon through his button-hole.

"Thanks, your Majesty," said the doctor. "Your confidence is not misplaced. I will keep this among my chief treasures."

Cleopatra looked pleased, and Mrs. Kenyon impatient and disgusted.

"He deceives me as he does her, without doubt. It is useless to question him further."

From this time she sedulously¹⁷ watched for an opportunity to write a letter and commit it to other hands than the doctor's. But, that he might not suspect her design, she also wrote regularly, and placed the letters in his hands.

One day the opportunity came. A young man, related to Cleopatra, visited the institution. He understood very well the character of his aunt's aberration¹⁸, but was surprised to be told that the quiet lady who bore her company was also crazy.

"What is the nature of her malady¹⁹?" he enquired²⁰ of the doctor. "Is she ever violent?"

"Oh, no."

"She seems rational enough."

"So she is on all points except one."

"What is that?"

"She thinks her husband has confined her here in order to enjoy her property. In point of fact she has no property and no husband."

"That is curious. Why, then, does she require to be confined?"

"Probably she will soon be released. She has improved very much since she came here."

"I am glad my aunt has so quiet a companion."

"Yes, they harmonize very well. They have never disagreed."

During one of Mr. Arthur Holman's visits Mrs. Kenyon managed to slip into his hands a sealed letter.

"Will you have the kindness," she asked quickly, "to put this into the post-office without informing the doctor?"

"I will," he answered readily.

"Poor woman!" he thought to himself. "It will gratify her, and her letter will do no harm."

"I shall have to be indebted to your kindness for a postage-stamp," she said. "I cannot obtain them here."

"Oh, don't mention it," he said.

"You will be sure not to mention this to the doctor?" said Mrs. Kenyon earnestly.

"On my honor as a gentleman."

"I believe you," she said quietly.

This was the letter, directed to Oliver, which found its way into the hands of Mr. Kenyon, and occasioned him so much uneasiness.

1 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

2 vigilantly   

adv.警觉地，警惕地

参考例句：

• He was looking ahead vigilantly. 他警惕地注视着前方。 来自互联网
• Why didn't they search more vigilantly? 那他们为什么不再仔细地搜一搜呢？ 来自互联网

3 suavity   

n.温和；殷勤

参考例句：

• He's got a surface flow of suavity,but he's rough as a rasp underneath.他表面看来和和气气的，其实是个粗野狂暴的恶棍。
• But the well-bred,artificial smile,when he bent upon the guests,had its wonted steely suavity.但是他哈着腰向宾客招呼的那种彬彬有礼、故意装成的笑容里，却仍然具有它平时那种沉着的殷勤。

4 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

5 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

6 retarded   

a.智力迟钝的，智力发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• The progression of the disease can be retarded by early surgery. 早期手术可以抑制病情的发展。
• He was so slow that many thought him mentally retarded. 他迟钝得很，许多人以为他智力低下。

7 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

8 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

9 shrugged   

vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Sam shrugged and said nothing. 萨姆耸耸肩膀，什么也没说。
• She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. 她耸耸肩，装出一副无所谓的样子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

11 enigmas   

n.难于理解的问题、人、物、情况等，奥秘( enigma的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The last words of Night Haunter stand as one of the great enigmas of Imperial history. 暗夜幽魂最后的临死前的话成为了帝国历史上的最大谜团之一。 来自互联网
• Heraclitus saith well in one of his enigmas, Dry light is ever the best. 赫拉克里塔斯在他的隐语之一中说得很好，“干光永远最佳”。 来自互联网

12 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

13 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

14 baron   

n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王

参考例句：

• Henry Ford was an automobile baron.亨利·福特是一位汽车业巨头。
• The baron lived in a strong castle.男爵住在一座坚固的城堡中。

15 emblem   

n.象征，标志；徽章

参考例句：

• Her shirt has the company emblem on it.她的衬衫印有公司的标记。
• The eagle was an emblem of strength and courage.鹰是力量和勇气的象征。

16 dignified   

a.可敬的，高贵的

参考例句：

• Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中，他始终沉默以保持尊严。
• He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。

17 sedulously   

ad.孜孜不倦地

参考例句：

• In this view they were sedulously abetted by their mother, aunts and other elderly female relatives. 在这方面，他们得到了他们的母亲，婶婶以及其它年长的女亲戚们孜孜不倦的怂恿。
• The clerk laid the two sheets of paper alongside and sedulously compared their contents. 那职员把两张纸并排放在前面，仔细比较。

18 aberration   

n.离开正路，脱离常规，色差

参考例句：

• The removal of the chromatic aberration is then of primary importance.这时消除色差具有头等重要性。
• Owing to a strange mental aberration he forgot his own name.由于一种莫名的精神错乱，他把自己的名字忘了。

19 malady   

n.病，疾病(通常做比喻)

参考例句：

• There is no specific remedy for the malady.没有医治这种病的特效药。
• They are managing to control the malady into a small range.他们设法将疾病控制在小范围之内。

20 enquired   

打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问

参考例句：

• He enquired for the book in a bookstore. 他在书店查询那本书。
• Fauchery jestingly enquired whether the Minister was coming too. 浮式瑞嘲笑着问部长是否也会来。