But brave Flora3, knowing the look was no longer in the eyes alone but had for days eaten into her visage as age had for decades into the grandam's, made no vain effort to paint it out with smiles but accepted and wore it in show of a desperate solicitude4 for Anna. Yet this, too, was futile5, and before Doctor Sevier had exchanged five words with her she saw that to him the make-up was palpable and would be so to Greenleaf. Poor Flora! She had wrestled6 her victims to the edge of a precipice7, yet it was she who at this moment, this dazzling September morning, seemed doomed8 to go first over the brink9. Had not both Hilary and Anna met again this Greenleaf and through him found answer for all their burning questions? She could not doubt her web of deceptions10 had been torn to shreds11, cast to the winds. Not one of the three could she now hope to confront successfully, much less any two of them together. To name no earlier reason--having reached town just as Kincaid was being sent out of it, she had got him detained on a charge so frivolous12 that how to sustain it now before Greenleaf and his generals she was tortured to contrive13.
Yet something must be done. The fugitive14 must be retaken and retained, the rival deported15, and, oh, Hilary Kincaid! as she recalled her last moment with you on that firing-line behind Vicksburg, shame and rage outgrew16 despair, and her heart beat hot in a passion of chagrin17 and then hotter, heart and brain, in a frenzy18 of ownership, as if by spending herself she had bought you, soul and body, and if only for self-vindication would have you from all the universe.
"The last wager19 and the last card," she smilingly remarked to her kinswoman, "they sometimes win out," and as the smile passed added, "I wish I had that bread-knife."
To Doctor Sevier her cry was, "Oh, yes, yes! Dear Anna! Poor Anna! Yes, before I have to see any one else, even Colonel Greenleave! Ah, please, Doctor, beg him he'll do me that prizelezz favor, and that for the good God's sake he'll keep uz, poor Anna and me, not long waiting!"
Yet long were the Valcours kept. It was the common fate those days. But Flora felt no title to the common fate, and while the bustle20 of the place went on about them she hiddenly suffered and, mainly for the torment21 it would give her avaricious22 companion, told a new reason for the look in her eyes. Only a few nights before she had started wildly out of sleep to find that she had dreamed the cause of Anna's irreconcilable23 distress24 for the loss of the old dagger25. The dream was true on its face, a belated perception awakened26 by bitterness of soul, and Madame, as she sat dumbly marvelling27 at its tardiness28, chafed29 the more against each minute's present delay, seeing that now to know if Kincaid, or if Anna, held the treasure was her liveliest hankering.
Meantime the captive Anna was less debarred than they. As Greenleaf and the Doctor, withdrawing, shut her door, and until their steps died away, she had stood by her table, her wide thought burning to know the whereabouts, doings, and plight30 of him, once more missing, with whom a scant31 year-and-a-half earlier--if any war-time can be called scant--she had stood on that very spot and sworn the vows32 of marriage: to know his hazards now, right now! with man; police, informer, patrol, picket33, scout34; and with nature; the deadly reptiles35, insects, and maladies of thicketed swamp and sun-beaten, tide-swept marsh36; and how far he had got on the splendid mission which her note, with its words of love and faith and of patriotic37 abnegation, had laid upon him.
Now eagerly she took her first quick survey of the room she knew so well. Her preoccupied38 maid was childishly questioning the busy Israel as he and the man out on the basement ladder removed bricks from the edges of the ragged39 opening between them.
"Can't build solid ef you don't staht solid," she heard the old coachman say. She glided40 to the chimney-breast, searching it swiftly with her eyes and now with her hands. Soilure and scars had kept the secret of the hidden niche41 all these months, and neither stain, scar, nor any sign left by Hilary or Flora betrayed it now. Surely this was the very panel Flora had named. Yet dumbly, rigidly42 it denied the truth, for Hilary, having reaped its spoil, had, to baffle his jailors, cunningly made it fast. And time was flying! Tremblingly the searcher glanced again to the door, to the screen, to the veranda43 windows--though these Israel had rudely curtained--and then tried another square, keenly harkening the while to all sounds and especially to the old negro's incessant44 speech:
"Now, Mr. Brick-mason, ef you'll climb in hyuh I'll step out whah you is and fetch a bucket o' warteh. Gal45, move one side a step, will you?"
While several feet stirred lightly Anna persisted in her trembling quest--not to find the treasure, dear Heaven, but only to find it gone. Would that little be denied? So ardent46 was the mute question that she seemed to have spoken it aloud, and in alarm looked once more at the windows, the door, the screen--the screen! A silence had settled there and as her eye fell on it the stooping mason came from behind it, glancing as furtively48 as she at windows and door and then exaltedly49 to her. She stiffened50 for outcry and flight, but in the same instant he straightened up and she knew him; knew him as right here she had known him once before in that same disguise, which the sad fortunes of their cause had prevented his further use of till now. He started forward, but with beseeching51 signs and whispers, blind to everything between them but love and faith, she ran to him. He caught her to his heart and drew her behind the screen under the enraptured52 eyes of her paralyzed maid. For one long breath of ecstasy53 the rest of the universe was nothing. But then--
"The treasure?" she gasped54. "The dagger?"
He showed the weapon in its precious scabbard and sought to lay it in her hands, but--"Oh, why! why!" she demanded, though with a gaze that ravished his,--. "Why are you not on your way--?"
"Am!" he softly laughed. "Here, leave me the dirk, but take the sheath. Everything's there that we put there long ago, beloved, and also a cypher report of what I heard last night in the garden--never mind what!--take it, you will save Mobile! Now both of you slip through this hole and down the ladder and quietly skedaddle--quick--come!"
"But the guards?"
"Just brass55 it out and walk by them. Victorine's waiting out behind with all her aunt's things at a house that old Israel will tell you of--listen!" From just outside the basement, near the cisterns56, a single line of song rose drowsily57 and ceased:
"Heap mo' dan worteh-million juice--"
"That's he. It means come on. Go!" He gathered a brick and trowel and rang them together as if at work. The song answered:
"Aw 'possum pie aw roasted goose--"
The trowel rang on. Without command from her mistress the maid was crouching58 into the hole. In the noise Anna was trying to press an anxious query59 upon Hilary, but he dropped brick and tool and snatched her again into his embrace.
"Aw soppin's o' de gravy60 pan--"
called the song. The maid was through!
"But you, Hilary, my life?" gasped Anna as he forced her to the opening.
"The swamp for me!" he said, again sounding the trowel. "I take this"--the trowel--"and walk out through the hall. Go, my soul's treasure, go!"
Anna, with that art of the day which remains61 a wonder yet, gathered her crinoline about her feet and twisted through and out upon the ladder. Hilary seized a vanishing hand, kissed it madly, and would have loosed it, but it clung till his limy knuckles62 went out and down and her lips sealed on them the distant song's fourth line as just then it came:
"De ladies loves de ladies' man!"
As mistress and maid passed in sight of the dark singer he hurried to them, wearing the bucket of water on his turban as lightly as a hat. "Is you got to go so soon?" he asked, and walked beside them. Swiftly, under his voice, he directed them to Victorine and then spoke47 out again in hearing of two or three blue troopers. "You mus' come ag'in, whensomeveh you like."
They drew near a guard: "Dese is ole folks o' mine, Mr. Gyuard, ef you please, suh, dess a-lookin' at de ole home, suh."
"We were admitted by Colonel Greenleaf," said Anna, with a soft brightness that meant more than the soldier guessed, and he let them out, feeling as sweet, himself, as he tried to look sour.
"Well, good-by, Miss Nannie," said the old man, "I mus' recapitulate63 back to de house; dey needs me pow'ful all de time. Good luck to you! Gawd bless you!... Dass ow ba-aby, Mr. Gyuard--Oh, Lawd, Lawd, de days I's held dat chile out on one o' dese ole han's!" He had Flora's feeling for stage effects.
Toiling64 or resting, the Southern slaves were singers. With the pail on his head and with every wearer of shoulder-straps busy giving or obeying some order, it was as normal as cock-crowing that he should raise yet another line of his song and that from the house the diligent65 bricklayer should reply.
Sang the water-carrier:
"I's natch-i-ully gallant66 wid de ladies,--"
and along with the trowel's tinkle67 came softly back,
"I uz bawn wid a talent fo' de ladies."
For a signal the indoor singer need not have gone beyond that line, but the spirit that always grew merry as the peril68 grew, the spirit which had made Kincaid's Battery the fearfulest its enemies ever faced, insisted:
"You fine it on de map o' de contrac' plan,
I's boun' to be a ladies' man!"
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收听单词发音
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1
placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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entanglement
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| n.纠缠，牵累 | |
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flora
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| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
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solicitude
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| n.焦虑 | |
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futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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wrestled
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| v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤 | |
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precipice
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| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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deceptions
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| 欺骗( deception的名词复数 )； 骗术，诡计 | |
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shreds
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| v.撕碎，切碎( shred的第三人称单数 )；用撕毁机撕毁（文件） | |
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frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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deported
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| v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止 | |
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outgrew
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去式 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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wager
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| n.赌注；vt.押注，打赌 | |
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bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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22
avaricious
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| adj.贪婪的，贪心的 | |
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irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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26
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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27
marvelling
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| v.惊奇，对…感到惊奇( marvel的现在分词 ) | |
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28
tardiness
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| n.缓慢；迟延；拖拉 | |
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29
chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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30
plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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31
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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32
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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picket
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| n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫 | |
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scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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35
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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36
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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38
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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39
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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gal
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| n.姑娘，少女 | |
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ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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47
spoke
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| 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 | |
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48
furtively
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| adv. 偷偷地, 暗中地 | |
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49
exaltedly
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| 得意忘形地 | |
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50
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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51
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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52
enraptured
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| v.使狂喜( enrapture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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55
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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56
cisterns
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| n.蓄水池，储水箱( cistern的名词复数 )；地下储水池 | |
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drowsily
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| adv.睡地，懒洋洋地，昏昏欲睡地 | |
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crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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gravy
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| n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快 | |
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61
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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62
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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63
recapitulate
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| v.节述要旨，择要说明 | |
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64
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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diligent
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| adj.勤勉的，勤奋的 | |
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66
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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67
tinkle
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| vi.叮当作响；n.叮当声 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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