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Chapter 24
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MATTHEWS WORDS HIT ME like a stone wall, collapsing1 over me. A son...

For three years Sophie and I had tried to conceive, to no result. We had wanted a child more than anything. We even spoke2 of it that last night we were together.I had left her , and never even knew I had a son.

I turned toward Matthew, a flicker3 of hope alive in my heart.

He isdead , Hugh. He wasn't even a year old. The bastards4 killed him that same night. They tore him from Sophie's arms as she tried to flee.

A wall of tears rushed at my eyes. A son... A son I would never know or hold. I had been through the fiercest battles, the worst of all horrors. But nothing could have prepared me for this.

How? I muttered. How did my son die?

I can't even say it. Matthew's face was ashen5. Just believe me when I say that he is dead.

I repeated my question, this time fixed6 upon his eyes.How ?

His voice was so quiet. As they threw Sophie's lifeless body over his mount, the leader said, We have no room for such a toy. Toss him in the flames.'

I felt a pressure building up, an anger clawing at me as if my insides were ripping through my skin. God had smiled on us after all that time. He had blessed us with a son. Now He spat7 at me with the sharpest mockery.

How could I have left them? How could I still be alive if they were dead?

I looked at Matthew and asked, What was his name?

Matthew swallowed. She named him Phillipe.

I felt a lump catch in my throat. Phillipe was the name of the goliard who had raised me. It was her tribute to me.Sweet Sophie ,you are gone. My son too... I felt the urge to die right there amid the charred8 ash, the ruins of my old life.

Hugh, Matthew said, lifting me up, you have to come. He led me up the trail to a knoll9 where I had just stood over the town. A small slate10 stone marked my son's grave.

I sat down under a shroud11 of tall poplars. Phillipe De Luc, son of Hugh and Sophie, was scratched into the stone. Year of our Lord MXCVIII.

I laid my head on the earth and wept. For my sweet Phillipe, whom I would never see, not even once in my life. For my wife, who was surely dead.

Was this why I was spared? Was this why the Turk had not swung his murderous sword? So I would live to see all that I loved lost? Was this why the laughter had saved me? So God could laugh at me now?

I took off the pouch12 that contained the things I had brought back for Sophie: a perfume box, some ancient coins, the scabbard, the golden cross-and I dug a hole next to my baby's grave. I gently placed my treasures in it. They were worthless to me now. They belong to you, I whispered to Phillipe. My sweet baby.

I smoothed out the earth and once more laid my head on the ground.I'm so sorry, Phillipe and Sophie. Slowly my grief began to harden into rage. I knew Baldwin had ordered this. And Norcross had carried it out. But why? Why?

I'm just an innkeeper, I thought. I am nothing. Just a serf.

But a serf who will see you dead.


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 collapsing 6becc10b3eacfd79485e188c6ac90cb2     
压扁[平],毁坏,断裂
参考例句:
  • Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
  • The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。
2 spoke XryyC     
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。
3 flicker Gjxxb     
vi./n.闪烁,摇曳,闪现
参考例句:
  • There was a flicker of lights coming from the abandoned house.这所废弃的房屋中有灯光闪烁。
  • At first,the flame may be a small flicker,barely shining.开始时,光辉可能是微弱地忽隐忽现,几乎并不灿烂。
4 bastards 19876fc50e51ba427418f884ba64c288     
私生子( bastard的名词复数 ); 坏蛋; 讨厌的事物; 麻烦事 (认为别人走运或不幸时说)家伙
参考例句:
  • Those bastards don't care a damn about the welfare of the factory! 这批狗养的,不顾大局! 来自子夜部分
  • Let the first bastards to find out be the goddam Germans. 就让那些混账的德国佬去做最先发现的倒霉鬼吧。 来自演讲部分
5 ashen JNsyS     
adj.灰的
参考例句:
  • His face was ashen and wet with sweat.他面如土色,汗如雨下。
  • Her ashen face showed how much the news had shocked her.她灰白的脸显示出那消息使她多么震惊。
6 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
7 spat pFdzJ     
n.口角,掌击;v.发出呼噜呼噜声
参考例句:
  • Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
  • There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。
8 charred 2d03ad55412d225c25ff6ea41516c90b     
v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式);烧焦
参考例句:
  • the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
  • The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 knoll X3nyd     
n.小山,小丘
参考例句:
  • Silver had terrible hard work getting up the knoll.对于希尔弗来说,爬上那小山丘真不是件容易事。
  • He crawled up a small knoll and surveyed the prospect.他慢腾腾地登上一个小丘,看了看周围的地形。
10 slate uEfzI     
n.板岩,石板,石片,石板色,候选人名单;adj.暗蓝灰色的,含板岩的;vt.用石板覆盖,痛打,提名,预订
参考例句:
  • The nominating committee laid its slate before the board.提名委员会把候选人名单提交全体委员会讨论。
  • What kind of job uses stained wood and slate? 什么工作会接触木头污浊和石板呢?
11 shroud OEMya     
n.裹尸布,寿衣;罩,幕;vt.覆盖,隐藏
参考例句:
  • His past was enveloped in a shroud of mystery.他的过去被裹上一层神秘色彩。
  • How can I do under shroud of a dark sky?在黑暗的天空的笼罩下,我该怎么做呢?
12 pouch Oi1y1     
n.小袋,小包,囊状袋;vt.装...入袋中,用袋运输;vi.用袋送信件
参考例句:
  • He was going to make a tobacco pouch out of them. 他要用它们缝制一个烟草袋。
  • The old man is always carrying a tobacco pouch with him.这老汉总是随身带着烟袋。


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