The communication sank deep into Gertrude's mind. Her nature wasrather a timid one; and probably of all remedies that the whitewizard could have suggested there was not one which would havefilled her with so much aversion as this, not to speak of theimmense obstacles in the way of its adoption1.
Casterbridge, the county-town, was a dozen or fifteen miles off; andthough in those days, when men were executed for horse-stealing,arson2, and burglary, an assize seldom passed without a hanging, itwas not likely that she could get access to the body of the criminalunaided. And the fear of her husband's anger made her reluctant tobreathe a word of Trendle's suggestion to him or to anybody abouthim.
She did nothing for months, and patiently bore her disfigurement asbefore. But her woman's nature, craving3 for renewed love, throughthe medium of renewed beauty (she was but twenty-five), was everstimulating her to try what, at any rate, could hardly do her anyharm. 'What came by a spell will go by a spell surely,' she wouldsay. Whenever her imagination pictured the act she shrank in terrorfrom the possibility of it: then the words of the conjuror4, 'Itwill turn your blood,' were seen to be capable of a scientific noless than a ghastly interpretation5; the mastering desire returned,and urged her on again.
There was at this time but one county paper, and that her husbandonly occasionally borrowed. But old-fashioned days had old-fashioned means, and news was extensively conveyed by word of mouthfrom market to market, or from fair to fair, so that, whenever suchan event as an execution was about to take place, few within aradius of twenty miles were ignorant of the coming sight; and, sofar as Holmstoke was concerned, some enthusiasts6 had been known towalk all the way to Casterbridge and back in one day, solely7 towitness the spectacle. The next assizes were in March; and whenGertrude Lodge8 heard that they had been held, she inquiredstealthily at the inn as to the result, as soon as she could findopportunity.
She was, however, too late. The time at which the sentences were tobe carried out had arrived, and to make the journey and obtainadmission at such short notice required at least her husband'sassistance. She dared not tell him, for she had found by delicateexperiment that these smouldering village beliefs made him furiousif mentioned, partly because he half entertained them himself. Itwas therefore necessary to wait for another opportunity.
Her determination received a fillip from learning that two epilepticchildren had attended from this very village of Holmstoke many yearsbefore with beneficial results, though the experiment had beenstrongly condemned9 by the neighbouring clergy10. April, May, June,passed; and it is no overstatement to say that by the end of thelast-named month Gertrude well-nigh longed for the death of afellow-creature. Instead of her formal prayers each night, herunconscious prayer was, 'O Lord, hang some guilty or innocent personsoon!'
This time she made earlier inquiries11, and was altogether moresystematic in her proceedings12. Moreover, the season was summer,between the haymaking and the harvest, and in the leisure thusafforded him her husband had been holiday-taking away from home.
The assizes were in July, and she went to the inn as before. Therewas to be one execution--only one--for arson.
Her greatest problem was not how to get to Casterbridge, but whatmeans she should adopt for obtaining admission to the jail. Thoughaccess for such purposes had formerly13 never been denied, the customhad fallen into desuetude14; and in contemplating15 her possibledifficulties, she was again almost driven to fall back upon herhusband. But, on sounding him about the assizes, he was souncommunicative, so more than usually cold, that she did notproceed, and decided16 that whatever she did she would do alone.
Fortune, obdurate17 hitherto, showed her unexpected favour. On theThursday before the Saturday fixed18 for the execution, Lodge remarkedto her that he was going away from home for another day or two onbusiness at a fair, and that he was sorry he could not take her withhim.
She exhibited on this occasion so much readiness to stay at homethat he looked at her in surprise. Time had been when she wouldhave shown deep disappointment at the loss of such a jaunt19.
However, he lapsed20 into his usual taciturnity, and on the day namedleft Holmstoke.
It was now her turn. She at first had thought of driving, but onreflection held that driving would not do, since it wouldnecessitate her keeping to the turnpike-road, and so increase bytenfold the risk of her ghastly errand being found out. She decidedto ride, and avoid the beaten track, notwithstanding that in herhusband's stables there was no animal just at present which by anystretch of imagination could be considered a lady's mount, in spiteof his promise before marriage to always keep a mare22 for her. Hehad, however, many cart-horses, fine ones of their kind; and amongthe rest was a serviceable creature, an equine Amazon, with a backas broad as a sofa, on which Gertrude had occasionally taken anairing when unwell. This horse she chose.
On Friday afternoon one of the men brought it round. She wasdressed, and before going down looked at her shrivelled arm. 'Ah!'
she said to it, 'if it had not been for you this terrible ordealwould have been saved me!'
When strapping23 up the bundle in which she carried a few articles ofclothing, she took occasion to say to the servant, 'I take these incase I should not get back to-night from the person I am going tovisit. Don't be alarmed if I am not in by ten, and close up thehouse as usual. I shall be at home to-morrow for certain.' Shemeant then to privately24 tell her husband: the deed accomplished25 wasnot like the deed projected. He would almost certainly forgive her.
And then the pretty palpitating Gertrude Lodge went from herhusband's homestead; but though her goal was Casterbridge she didnot take the direct route thither26 through Stickleford. Her cunningcourse at first was in precisely27 the opposite direction. As soon asshe was out of sight, however, she turned to the left, by a roadwhich led into Egdon, and on entering the heath wheeled round, andset out in the true course, due westerly. A more private way downthe county could not be imagined; and as to direction, she hadmerely to keep her horse's head to a point a little to the right ofthe sun. She knew that she would light upon a furze-cutter orcottager of some sort from time to time, from whom she might correcther bearing.
Though the date was comparatively recent, Egdon was much lessfragmentary in character than now. The attempts--successful andotherwise--at cultivation28 on the lower slopes, which intrude29 andbreak up the original heath into small detached heaths, had not beencarried far; Enclosure Acts had not taken effect, and the banks andfences which now exclude the cattle of those villagers who formerlyenjoyed rights of commonage thereon, and the carts of those who hadturbary privileges which kept them in firing all the year round,were not erected30. Gertrude, therefore, rode along with no otherobstacles than the prickly furze bushes, the mats of heather, thewhite water-courses, and the natural steeps and declivities of theground.
Her horse was sure, if heavy-footed and slow, and though a draughtanimal, was easy-paced; had it been otherwise, she was not a womanwho could have ventured to ride over such a bit of country with ahalf-dead arm. It was therefore nearly eight o'clock when she drewrein to breathe the mare on the last outlying high point of heath-land towards Casterbridge, previous to leaving Egdon for thecultivated valleys.
She halted before a pool called Rushy-pond, flanked by the ends oftwo hedges; a railing ran through the centre of the pond, dividingit in half. Over the railing she saw the low green country; overthe green trees the roofs of the town; over the roofs a white flatfacade, denoting the entrance to the county jail. On the roof ofthis front specks31 were moving about; they seemed to be workmenerecting something. Her flesh crept. She descended32 slowly, and wassoon amid corn-fields and pastures. In another half-hour, when itwas almost dusk, Gertrude reached the White Hart, the first inn ofthe town on that side.
Little surprise was excited by her arrival; farmers' wives rode onhorseback then more than they do now; though, for that matter, Mrs.
Lodge was not imagined to be a wife at all; the innkeeper supposedher some harum-skarum young woman who had come to attend 'hang-fair'
next day. Neither her husband nor herself ever dealt inCasterbridge market, so that she was unknown. While dismounting shebeheld a crowd of boys standing21 at the door of a harness-maker'sshop just above the inn, looking inside it with deep interest.
'What is going on there?' she asked of the ostler.
'Making the rope for to-morrow.'
She throbbed33 responsively, and contracted her arm.
''Tis sold by the inch afterwards,' the man continued. 'I could getyou a bit, miss, for nothing, if you'd like?'
She hastily repudiated34 any such wish, all the more from a curiouscreeping feeling that the condemned wretch's destiny was becominginterwoven with her own; and having engaged a room for the night,sat down to think.
Up to this time she had formed but the vaguest notions about hermeans of obtaining access to the prison. The words of the cunning-man returned to her mind. He had implied that she should use herbeauty, impaired35 though it was, as a pass-key. In her inexperienceshe knew little about jail functionaries36; she had heard of a high-sheriff and an under-sheriff; but dimly only. She knew, however,that there must be a hangman, and to the hangman she determined37 toapply.
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adoption
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| n.采用，采纳，通过；收养 | |
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arson
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| n.纵火，放火 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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conjuror
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| n.魔术师，变戏法者 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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enthusiasts
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| n.热心人，热衷者( enthusiast的名词复数 ) | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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desuetude
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| n.废止，不用 | |
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contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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obdurate
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| adj.固执的，顽固的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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jaunt
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| v.短程旅游；n.游览 | |
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lapsed
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| adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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strapping
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| adj. 魁伟的, 身材高大健壮的 n. 皮绳或皮带的材料, 裹伤胶带, 皮鞭 动词strap的现在分词形式 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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repudiated
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| v.（正式地）否认( repudiate的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝接受；拒绝与…往来；拒不履行（法律义务） | |
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impaired
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| adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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functionaries
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| n.公职人员，官员( functionary的名词复数 ) | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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