None spoke6; all seemed waiting; and all were silent but the captain, whose vulgar champing reached me through the crazy lattice, as I stood spellbound and petrified7 without.
They say that a drowning man lives his life again before the last; but my own fight with the sea provided me with no such moments of vivid and rapid retrospect8 as those during which I stood breathless outside the lighted windows of Kirby Hall. I landed again. I was dogged day and night. I set it down to nerves and notoriety; but took refuge in a private hotel. One followed me, engaged the next room, set a watch on all my movements; another came in by the window to murder me in my bed; no party to that, the first one nevertheless turned the outrage9 to account, wormed himself into my friendship on the strength of it, and lured10 me hither, an easy prey11. And here was the gang of them, to meet me! No wonder Rattray had not let me see him off at the station; no wonder I had not been followed that night. Every link I saw in its right light instantly. Only the motive12 remained obscure. Suspicious circumstances swarmed13 upon my slow perception: how innocent I had been! Less innocent, however, than wilfully14 and wholly reckless: what had it mattered with whom I made friends? What had anything mattered to me? What did anything matter—
I thought my heart had snapped!
Why were they watching that door, Joaquin Santos and the young squire? Whom did they await? I knew! Oh, I knew! My heart leaped, my blood danced, my eyes lay in wait with theirs. Everything began to matter once more. It was as though the machinery15 of my soul, long stopped, had suddenly been set in motion; it was as though I was born again.
How long we seemed to wait I need not say. It cannot have been many moments in reality, for Santos was blowing his rings of smoke in the direction of the door, and the first that I noticed were but dissolving when it opened—and the best was true! One instant I saw her very clearly, in the light of a candle which she carried in its silver stick; then a mist blinded me, and I fell on my knees in the rank bed into which I had stepped, to give such thanks to the Almighty16 as this heart has never felt before or since. And I remained kneeling; for now my face was on a level with the sill; and when my eyes could see again, there stood my darling before them in the room.
Like a queen she stood, in the very travelling cloak in which I had seen her last; it was tattered17 now, but she held it close about her as though a shrewd wind bit her to the core. Her sweet face was all peeked18 and pale in the candle-light: she who had been a child was come to womanhood in a few weeks. But a new spirit flashed in her dear eyes, a new strength hardened her young lips. She stood as an angel brought to book by devils; and so noble was her calm defiance20, so serene21 her scorn, that, as I watched and listened; all present fear for her passed out of my heart.
The first sound was the hasty rising of young Rattray; he was at Eva's side next instant, essaying to lead her to his chair, with a flush which deepened as she repulsed22 him coldly.
“You have sent for me, and I have come,” said she. “But I prefer not to sit down in your presence; and what you have to say, you will be good enough to say as quickly as possible, that I may go again before I am—stifled!”
It was her one hot word; aimed at them all, it seemed to me to fall like a lash19 on Rattray's cheek, bringing the blood to it like lightning. But it was Santos who snatched the cigarette from his mouth, and opened upon the defenceless girl in a torrent23 of Portuguese24, yellow with rage, and a very windmill of lean arms and brown hands in the terrifying rapidity of his gesticulations. They did not terrify Eva Denison. When Rattray took a step towards the speaker, with flashing eyes, it was some word from Eva that checked him; when Santos was done, it was to Rattray that she turned with her answer.
“He calls me a liar25 for telling you that Mr. Cole knew all,” said she, thrilling me with my own name. “Don't you say anything,” she added, as the young man turned on Santos with a scowl26; “you are one as wicked as the other, but there was a time when I thought differently of you: his character I have always known. Of the two evils, I prefer to speak to you.”
“He calls me a liar,” she continued; “so may you all. Since you have found it out, I admit it freely and without shame; one must be false in the hands of false fiends like all of you. Weakness is nothing to you; helplessness is nothing; you must be met with your own weapons, and so I lied in my sore extremity29 to gain the one miserable30 advantage within my reach. He says you found me out by making friends with Mr. Cole. He says that Mr. Cole has been dining with you in this very room, this very night. You still tell the truth sometimes; has that man—that demon—told it for once?”
“And poor Mr. Cole told you that he knew nothing of your villany?”
“I found out that he knew absolutely nothing—after first thinking otherwise.”
“Suppose he had known? What would you have done?”
Rattray said nothing. Santos shrugged32 as he lit a fresh cigarette. The captain went on with his supper.
“Ashamed to say!” cried Eva Denison. “So you have some shame left still! Well, I will tell you. You would have murdered him, as you murdered all the rest; you would have killed him in cold blood, as I wish and pray that you would kill me!”
The young fellow faced her, white to the lips. “You have no right to say that, Miss Denison!” he cried. “I may be bad, but, as I am ready to answer for my sins, the crime of murder is not among them.”
Well, it is still some satisfaction to remember that my love never punished me with such a look as was the young squire's reward for this protestation. The curl of the pink nostrils, the parting of the proud lips, the gleam of the sound white teeth, before a word was spoken, were more than I, for one, could have borne. For I did not see the grief underlying33 the scorn, but actually found it in my heart to pity this poor devil of a Rattray: so humbly fell those fine eyes of his, so like a dog did he stand, waiting to be whipped.
“Yes; you are very innocent!” she began at last, so softly that I could scarcely hear. “You have not committed murder, so you say; let it stand to your credit by all means. You have no blood upon your hands; you say so; that is enough. No! you are comparatively innocent, I admit. All you have done is to make murder easy for others; to get others to do the dirty work, and then shelter them and share the gain; all you need have on your conscience is every life that was lost with the Lady Jermyn, and every soul that lost itself in losing them. You call that innocence34? Then give me honest guilt35! Give me the man who set fire to the ship, and who sits there eating his supper; he is more of a man than you. Give me the wretch36 who has beaten men to death before my eyes; there's something great about a monster like that, there's something to loathe37. His assistant is only little—mean—despicable!” Loud and hurried in its wrath38, low and deliberate in its contempt, all this was uttered with a furious and abnormal eloquence39, which would have struck me, loving her, to the ground. On Rattray it had a different effect. His head lifted as she heaped abuse upon it, until he met her flashing eye with that of a man very thankful to take his deserts and something more; and to mine he was least despicable when that last word left her lips. When he saw that it was her last, he took her candle (she had put it down on the ancient settle against the door), and presented it to her with another bow. And so without a word he led her to the door, opened it, and bowed yet lower as she swept out, but still without a tinge40 of mockery in the obeisance41.
He was closing the door after her when Joaquin Santos reached it.
“Diablo!” cried he. “Why let her go? We have not done with her.”
“That doesn't matter; she is done with us,” was the stern reply.
“It does matter,” retorted Santos; “what is more, she is my step-daughter, and back she shall come!”
“She is also my visitor, and I'm damned if you're going to make her!”
An instant Santos stood, his back to me, his fingers working, his neck brown with blood; then his coat went into creases42 across the shoulders, and he was shrugging still as he turned away.
“Your veesitor!” said he. “Your veesitor! Your veesitor!”
Harris laughed outright43 as he raised his glass; the hot young squire had him by the collar, and the wine was spilling on the cloth, as I rose very cautiously and crept back to the path.
Already I was accustomed to the thought that she still lived, and to the big heart she had set beating in my feeble frame; already the continued existence of these villains45, with the first dim inkling of their villainy, was ceasing to be a novelty in a brain now quickened and prehensile46 beyond belief. And yet—but a few minutes had I knelt at the window—but a few more was it since Rattray and I had shaken hands!
Not his visitor; his prisoner, without a doubt; but alive! alive! and, neither guest nor prisoner for many hours more. O my love! O my heart's delight! Now I knew why I was spared; to save her; to snatch her from these rascals47; to cherish and protect her evermore!
All the past shone clear behind me; the dark was lightness and the crooked48 straight. All the future lay clear ahead it presented no difficulties yet; a mad, ecstatic confidence was mine for the wildest, happiest moments of my life.
I stood upright in the darkness. I saw her light!
It was ascending49 the tower at the building's end; now in this window it glimmered50, now in the one above. At last it was steady, high up near the stars, and I stole below.
“Eva! Eva!”
There was no answer. Low as it was, my voice was alarming; it cooled and cautioned me. I sought little stones. I crept back to throw them. Ah God! her form eclipsed that lighted slit51 in the gray stone tower. I heard her weeping high above me at her window.
“Eva! Eva!”
There was a pause, and then a little cry of gladness.
“Is it Mr. Cole?” came in an eager whisper through her tears.
“Yes! yes! I was outside the window. I heard everything.”
“They will hear you!” she cried softly, in a steadier voice.
“No-listen!” They were quarrelling. Rattray's voice was loud and angry. “They cannot hear,” I continued, in more cautious tones; “they think I'm in bed and asleep half-a-mile away. Oh, thank God! I'll get you away from them; trust me, my love, my darling!”
In my madness I knew not what I said; it was my wild heart speaking. Some moments passed before she replied.
“Will you promise to do nothing I ask you not to do?”
“Of course.”
“My life might answer for it—”
“I promise—I promise.”
“Then wait—hide—watch my light. When you see it back in the window, watch with all your eyes! I am going to write and then throw it out. Not another syllable52!”
She was gone; there was a long yellow slit in the masonry53 once more; her light burnt faint and far within.
I retreated among some bushes and kept watch.
The moon was skimming beneath the surface of a sea of clouds: now the black billows had silver crests54: now an incandescent55 buoy56 bobbed among them. O for enough light, and no more!
In the hall the high voices were more subdued57. I heard the captain's tipsy laugh. My eyes fastened themselves upon that faint and lofty light, and on my heels I crouched58 among the bushes.
The flame moved, flickered59, and shone small but brilliant on the very sill. I ran forward on tip-toe. A white flake60 fluttered to my feet. I secured it and waited for one word; none came; but the window was softly shut.
I stood in doubt, the treacherous61 moonlight all over me now, and once more the window opened.
“Go quickly!”
And again it was shut; next moment I was stealing close by the spot where I had knelt. I saw within once more.
Harris nodded in his chair. The nigger had disappeared. Rattray was lighting62 a candle, and the Portuguese holding out his hand for the match.
“Did you lock the gate, senhor?” asked Santos.
“No; but I will now.”
As I opened it I heard a door open within. I could hardly let the latch63 down again for the sudden trembling of my fingers. The key turned behind me ere I had twenty yards' start.
Thank God there was light enough now! I followed the beck. I found my way. I stood in the open valley, between the oak-plantation and my desolate64 cottage, and I kissed my tiny, twisted note again and again in a paroxysm of passion and of insensate joy. Then I unfolded it and held it to my eyes in the keen October moonshine.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
squire
|
|
| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
hovered
|
|
| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
heartily
|
|
| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
gulps
|
|
| n.一大口（尤指液体）( gulp的名词复数 )v.狼吞虎咽地吃，吞咽( gulp的第三人称单数 )；大口地吸（气）；哽住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
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： |
|
|
|
|
7
petrified
|
|
| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
retrospect
|
|
| n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
outrage
|
|
| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
lured
|
|
| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
prey
|
|
| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
motive
|
|
| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
swarmed
|
|
| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
wilfully
|
|
| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
machinery
|
|
| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
almighty
|
|
| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
tattered
|
|
| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
peeked
|
|
| v.很快地看( peek的过去式和过去分词 )；偷看；窥视；微露出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
lash
|
|
| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
defiance
|
|
| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
repulsed
|
|
| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
Portuguese
|
|
| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
liar
|
|
| n.说谎的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
scowl
|
|
| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
humbly
|
|
| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
nostrils
|
|
| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
extremity
|
|
| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
underlying
|
|
| adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
innocence
|
|
| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
guilt
|
|
| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
wretch
|
|
| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
loathe
|
|
| v.厌恶，嫌恶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
eloquence
|
|
| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
tinge
|
|
| vt.(较淡)着色于，染色；使带有…气息；n.淡淡色彩，些微的气息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
obeisance
|
|
| n.鞠躬，敬礼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
creases
|
|
| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
outright
|
|
| adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
rogues
|
|
| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
villains
|
|
| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
prehensile
|
|
| adj.（足等）适于抓握的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
rascals
|
|
| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
crooked
|
|
| adj.弯曲的；不诚实的，狡猾的，不正当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
ascending
|
|
| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
glimmered
|
|
| v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
slit
|
|
| n.狭长的切口；裂缝；vt.切开，撕裂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
syllable
|
|
| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
masonry
|
|
| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
crests
|
|
| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
incandescent
|
|
| adj.遇热发光的， 白炽的，感情强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
buoy
|
|
| n.浮标；救生圈；v.支持，鼓励 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
crouched
|
|
| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
flickered
|
|
| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
flake
|
|
| v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
treacherous
|
|
| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
lighting
|
|
| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
latch
|
|
| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
desolate
|
|
| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |