Late one evening Cleopatra, with a cunning expression, showed her a key.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked.
"It is a key."
"It is the key of this door."
"How did you get it?"
Upon this point the queen would give no information. But she lowered her voice and whispered:
"Mark Antony is waiting for me outside. He is going to carry me away."
It was useless to question her delusion2, and Mrs. Kenyon contented3 herself with asking:
"Do you mean to leave this house?"
"Yes," said Cleopatra. "Antony expects me. Will you go with me? I will make you one of my maids of honor."
"Do you think we can get out?" asked Mrs. Kenyon dubiously4. "The outer door is locked."
"I know where to find the key. Time presses. Will you go?"
Believing in the death of her son, Mrs. Kenyon had supposed herself indifferent to liberty, but now that the hope of escape was presented a wild desire to throw off the shackles5 of confinement6 came to her. What her future life might be she did not care to ask; but once to breathe the free air, a free woman, excited and exhilarated her.
"Yes; I will go," she said quickly. "Come!"
The two women dressed themselves hurriedly, softly they opened the door of their room, went downstairs, and from under the mat in the unlighted hall Cleopatra stooped down and drew out the key of the outer door.
"See!" she said exultantly7.
"Quick! Open the door!" exclaimed Mrs. Kenyon nervously8.
The key turned in the lock with a grating sound which she feared might lead to discovery, but fortunately it did not. A moment and they stood on the outside of their prison-house.
Now Mrs. Kenyon assumed the lead.
"Come," she said.
"Do you know where to find Mark Antony?" asked Cleopatra.
"Yes; follow me."
They did not venture to take the highway. The chances of discovery were too great. Neither knew much about the country, but Mrs. Kenyon remembered that a colored woman, sometimes employed at the asylum9, lived in a lonely hut a mile back from the road. This woman—old Nancy—she had specially10 employed by permission of Dr. Fox, and to her hut she resolved to go.
Cleopatra, no longer self-reliant, followed her confidingly11. Just on the verge12 of a wood, with no other dwelling13 near at hand, dwelt the old black woman. It was a rude cabin, dark and unpainted. Cleopatra looked doubtfully at it.
"Where are you going?" she asked, standing14 still. "Antony is not here."
It was not a time to reason, nor was the assumed queen a person to reason with. There was no choice but to be positive and peremptory15.
"No," she answered, "Antony is not here, but here he will meet you. It is a poor place, but his enemies lie in wait for him, and he wishes to see you in secret."
This explanation suited Cleopatra's humor.
She nodded her head in a satisfied way and said:
"I know it. Augustus would murder my Antony if he could."
"Then you must not expose him to danger. Come with me."
Mrs. Kenyon advanced, not without some misgivings16, since Nancy was unaware17 of her visit. She could hear the old woman snoring, and was compelled to knock loudly. At last old Nancy heard, and awoke in a great fright.
"Who's there?" she called out, in a quavering voice.
"It's I, Nancy. It's Mrs. Kenyon."
This only seemed to alarm the old woman the more. She was superstitious18, like most of her race, and straightway fancied that it was some evil spirit who had assumed Mrs. Kenyon's voice.
"Go away, you debbil!" she answered, in tremulous accents. "I know you. You's an evil sperrit. Go away, and leave old Nancy alone."
Had her situation been less critical, Mrs. Kenyon would have been amused at the old woman's alarm, but in the dead of night, a fugitive19 from the confinement of a mad-house, she was in no mood for amusement.
"Don't be frightened, Nancy," she said, "I have escaped from the asylum with Cleopatra, and we want you to hide us for to-night. I will give you ten dollars if you will open your door and help us."
Now, avarice20 was a besetting21 weakness in old Nancy's character, and though Mrs. Kenyon did not know it, she had unwittingly made the right appeal to the old woman. Ten dollars was an immense sum to Nancy, who counted her savings22 by the smallest sums. She drew back the bolt, and opened her door, not wholly without fear that her first suspicions might be correct, and her nocturnal visitors turn out to be emissaries of Satan.
"Are you sure you aint bad sperrits?" she asked, through a narrow crevice23.
"Don't be foolish, Nancy. You know me well enough, and Cleopatra, too. Open the door wider, and let us in."
Reassured24 in a degree by the testimony25 of her eyes, Nancy complied and the two entered.
"Laws, missus, it's you shure nuff," she said, "and Clopatry, too." (This was as near as she ever got to the name of the royal Egyptian.) "Who'd a thought to see you this time o' night?"
"We've run away, Nancy. You won't let Dr. Fox know?"
"I reckon not, missus. He's a drefful mean man, the old doctor is. I won't give you up to him nohow."
Luckily for Mrs. Kenyon old Nancy had some months before had a quarrel with Dr. Fox about some money matter in which she felt he had cheated her. So she was glad of this opportunity to do him an ill turn.
"Is Antony here, Nancy?" asked Cleopatra, looking about her with an air of expectation.
Nancy was about to reply in the negative, when she caught a significant look from Mrs. Kenyon, and altered her intended answer.
"He aint here yet, missus, but I expect him in the morning sure."
"Likely he's her man," thought Nancy, who was entirely26 unacquainted with that episode in Roman history in which Cleopatra figured. "Likely he's her man, though she do look old to have one."
The cabin consisted of one room on the ground floor, but overhead was a loft27 covered with straw, and used partly as a lumber-room by the old woman. A pallet filled with straw lay in one corner of the lower room, this being old Nancy's bed, from which she had hastily risen when she heard the knocking at the outer door.
"Lie down there, honeys," she said with generous hospitality, proposing to resign her own bed to her unexpected guests.
But the position was too exposed for Mrs. Kenyon.
Looking up she espied28 the loft and said:
"No, Nancy, we would rather go up there. Then if Dr. Fox comes for us he won't discover us."
To this arrangement both Nancy and Cleopatra assented29, and a rude ladder was brought into requisition. When they had reached the loft Cleopatra looked around her with discontent.
"Am I to lie here?" she asked.
"Yes; we will lie down together."
"But this is no fit couch for a great queen," she complained. "What will Mark Antony—what will my courtiers say?"
"They will praise you for sacrificing your royal state for your lover," answered Mrs. Kenyon, who was quick-witted, and readily understood the warped30 mind she had to deal with.
"Then I will be content," said Cleopatra, evidently pleased with the suggestion, "if you think Antony will approve."
"There is no doubt of it. He will love you better than ever."
Cleopatra reclined upon the straw, and was soon in a profound slumber31. Mrs. Kenyon was longer awake. She was anxious and troubled, but at length she, too, yielded to sleep.
She awoke to find old Nancy bending over her.
"Don't be frightened, honey," she said; "but the old doctor is ridin' straight to the door. Don't you move or say a word, and I'll send him off as wise as he came."
Nancy had scarcely got downstairs and drawn32 the ladder after her, when the smart tap of a riding-whip was heard on the outer door.
Mrs. Kenyon trembled in anxious suspense33.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
submission
|
|
| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
delusion
|
|
| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
contented
|
|
| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
dubiously
|
|
| adv.可疑地，怀疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
shackles
|
|
| 手铐( shackle的名词复数 )； 脚镣； 束缚； 羁绊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
confinement
|
|
| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
exultantly
|
|
| adv.狂欢地，欢欣鼓舞地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
nervously
|
|
| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
asylum
|
|
| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
specially
|
|
| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
confidingly
|
|
| adv.信任地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
verge
|
|
| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
peremptory
|
|
| adj.紧急的，专横的，断然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
misgivings
|
|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
unaware
|
|
| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
superstitious
|
|
| adj.迷信的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
fugitive
|
|
| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
avarice
|
|
| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
besetting
|
|
| adj.不断攻击的v.困扰( beset的现在分词 )；不断围攻；镶；嵌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
savings
|
|
| n.存款，储蓄 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
crevice
|
|
| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
reassured
|
|
| adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
testimony
|
|
| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
loft
|
|
| n.阁楼，顶楼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
espied
|
|
| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
assented
|
|
| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
warped
|
|
| adj.反常的；乖戾的；（变）弯曲的；变形的v.弄弯，变歪( warp的过去式和过去分词 )；使（行为等）不合情理，使乖戾， | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
slumber
|
|
| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
drawn
|
|
| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
suspense
|
|
| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |