CHAPTER LVIII. NEARING THE END.

Rene Lalage made his way blindly up to the roof, where he lay breathless under the shadow of a chimney. It was too dark to study any further plan of escape, and too dark for a free dash for liberty. A false step and he might be dashed to the ground. Better be caught and taken back to gaol¹ than that.

He waited for what seemed a long time, but was only a few minutes after all. Then there were voices coming nearer and nearer, one with a hoarse² note of triumph as the ladder leading to the roof was found.

"This is the way," another gruff voice said. "He's here for any money."

A police helmet appeared cautiously above the skyline, followed by a bulky body. Then a lane of light played all over the roof. Closer and closer René nestled up in the shadow of the chimney. He was in the centre of the gleaming light now, and presently his figure grew distinct and clear.

"Come out of it, my lad," said the gruff one good-humouredly. "We've got you."

René rolled down the roof to a long ledge³ that the light had shown him. If he could run along that he could gain the next house, and go a deal further. Then he might slip down another ladder, and so through a sleeping household to safety. He rocked unsteadily over on the ledge with his feet hanging perilously⁴ over the parapet; the next instant one of the police officers, at the risk of his neck, was upon him. René would have wriggled⁵ for his knife, but he dared not move.

"Come quietly," the officer suggested. "If you want to commit suicide go on acting⁶ like that. And if you drag me down that won't save your life."

Lalage saw the beautiful force of the argument. Besides, he was not anxious to die yet. His own bitter regret was that he had not completed his mission. If he had only known that his dalliance with opportunity had proved his own undoing⁷ he would have been moved to a deeper and fiercer anger.

"I'll come quietly," he said between his teeth. "Have you got the woman?"

The officer shook his head in a puzzled kind of way. He knew nothing about any woman. Perhaps those below had accounted for her. There were lights all over the house when Lalage was led down with the handcuffs on his wrists.

"Have you got the woman?" he asked again.

Nobody had seen anything of any woman. A light began to dawn upon René.

"I'm coming quietly," he said. "To show my friendly feeling, I don't mind telling you that you have made an important capture. Now, during the last hour have you heard anything of an escape from Holloway?"

The sergeant⁸ in charge of the party had heard all about that.

"Party of the name of Lalage?" he said. "What do you know about him?"

The prisoner struck his breast theatrically⁹.

"Simply because I am that distinguished¹⁰ individual," he said. "I tell you that because in any case you must have found that out before long. My liberty comes to me in a way that is likely to prove useful. I came here to take a great revenge. Pah, I may be what you call criminal, but I am not a burglar. I have not sunk to that yet. I came here to see a woman. Have you got her?"

"Seen nothing of a woman," growled¹¹ the sergeant.

"Oh, then I begin to have still deeper suspicions. How did you know I was here? I was certain that I was never tracked."

"Somebody in the house," the sergeant explained sketchily¹². "Caretaker or something of that kind, or so we imagined. Call on the telephone."

René broke out into sudden exultation¹³. He saw it all now. He had been lulled¹⁴ into a false position of security, and Leona had slunk away and called for assistance on the telephone. He had not known that there was such a thing in the house. How she must have smiled at him in her sleeves all the time, knowing that his capture was certain, and that she had her own avenue of escape.

"What's this about a woman?" the sergeant asked.

René checked himself. He grew suddenly calm, but the effort threw him into a violent perspiration¹⁵. Well, his time should come yet.

"Take me back to Holloway," he said, sullenly¹⁶, "and ask your Prout to see me in the morning. Say it will be worth his while."

Prout came up smiling in the course of the next afternoon. He was disposed to chaff¹⁸ his prisoner in a mild kind of way.

"The experience was worth the money," the latter said. "My friend had arranged everything. I got our dear Balmayne in our clutches within an hour. And I said to him, 'Dog, where is Leona Lalage?' And he professed¹⁹ not to know. But we had means of our own, you understand, to make him speak. And he spoke²⁰ at last. He told me where to find her. And where do you think it was?"

"Well," Prout said thoughtfully, "seeing that you were traced to Lytton Avenue, I suppose that you found her there?"

"I did. So you see that she has not escaped from London. Perhaps you knew that before you came here. Anyway I have told you. And I'll tell you more if you are not aware of it already. Leona Lalage and the Spanish gipsy of the Corner House are one and the same woman."

Prout nodded. All this was no news to him. Lalage paced up and down the cell fiercely. His eyes were full of sullen¹⁷ fire.

"And she killed my brother," he said. "Oh, yes, there is no doubt about that. If I had not been a fool I should have been avenged²¹ last night."

"And spoilt my game," Prout said coolly. "Oh, you are going to have all you need in the way of revenge, but in a legitimate²² way. Within a few hours London is going to learn the mystery of the Corner House."

1 gaol   

n.(jail)监狱；(不加冠词)监禁；vt.使…坐牢

参考例句：

• He was released from the gaol.他被释放出狱。
• The man spent several years in gaol for robbery.这男人因犯抢劫罪而坐了几年牢。

2 hoarse   

adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的

参考例句：

• He asked me a question in a hoarse voice.他用嘶哑的声音问了我一个问题。
• He was too excited and roared himself hoarse.他过于激动，嗓子都喊哑了。

3 ledge   

n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁

参考例句：

• They paid out the line to lower him to the ledge.他们放出绳子使他降到那块岩石的突出部分。
• Suddenly he struck his toe on a rocky ledge and fell.突然他的脚趾绊在一块突出的岩石上，摔倒了。

4 perilously   

adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地

参考例句：

• They were perilously close to the edge of the precipice. 他们离悬崖边很近，十分危险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It'seemed to me that we had come perilously close to failure already. 对我来说，好像失败和我只有一步之遥，岌岌可危。 来自互联网

5 wriggled   

v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的过去式和过去分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）

参考例句：

• He wriggled uncomfortably on the chair. 他坐在椅子上不舒服地扭动着身体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A snake wriggled across the road. 一条蛇蜿蜒爬过道路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

7 undoing   

n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭

参考例句：

• That one mistake was his undoing. 他一失足即成千古恨。
• This hard attitude may have led to his undoing. 可能就是这种强硬的态度导致了他的垮台。

8 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

9 theatrically   

adv.戏剧化地

参考例句：

• He looked theatrically at his watch. 他夸张地看看表。 来自柯林斯例句

10 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

11 growled   

v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说

参考例句：

• \"They ought to be birched, \" growled the old man. 老人咆哮道：“他们应受到鞭打。” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He growled out an answer. 他低声威胁着回答。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 sketchily   

adv.写生风格地，大略地

参考例句：

• Christoffel's major concern was to reconsider and amplify the theme already treated somewhat sketchily by Riemann. Christoffel主要关心的是重新考虑和详细论述Riemann已经稍为粗略地讨论过的题目。 来自辞典例句
• The dishes were only sketchily washed. 盘子仅仅是大致地洗了一下。 来自互联网

13 exultation   

n.狂喜，得意

参考例句：

• It made him catch his breath, it lit his face with exultation. 听了这个名字，他屏住呼吸，乐得脸上放光。
• He could get up no exultation that was really worthy the name. 他一点都激动不起来。

14 lulled   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• They lulled her into a false sense of security. 他们哄骗她，使她产生一种虚假的安全感。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The movement of the train lulled me to sleep. 火车轻微的震动催我进入梦乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 perspiration   

n.汗水；出汗

参考例句：

• It is so hot that my clothes are wet with perspiration.天太热了，我的衣服被汗水湿透了。
• The perspiration was running down my back.汗从我背上淌下来。

16 sullenly   

不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地

参考例句：

• 'so what?" Tom said sullenly. “那又怎么样呢？”汤姆绷着脸说。
• Emptiness after the paper, I sIt'sullenly in front of the stove. 报看完，想不出能找点什么事做，只好一人坐在火炉旁生气。

17 sullen   

adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的

参考例句：

• He looked up at the sullen sky.他抬头看了一眼阴沉的天空。
• Susan was sullen in the morning because she hadn't slept well.苏珊今天早上郁闷不乐，因为昨晚没睡好。

18 chaff   

v.取笑，嘲笑；n.谷壳

参考例句：

• I didn't mind their chaff.我不在乎他们的玩笑。
• Old birds are not caught with chaff.谷糠难诱老雀。

19 professed   

公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的

参考例句：

• These, at least, were their professed reasons for pulling out of the deal. 至少这些是他们自称退出这宗交易的理由。
• Her manner professed a gaiety that she did not feel. 她的神态显出一种她并未实际感受到的快乐。

20 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。

21 avenged   

v.为…复仇，报…之仇( avenge的过去式和过去分词 )；为…报复

参考例句：

• She avenged her mother's death upon the Nazi soldiers. 她惩处了纳粹士兵以报杀母之仇。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Indians avenged the burning of their village on〔upon〕 the settlers. 印第安人因为村庄被焚毁向拓居者们进行报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。