It was an especially dreary16 place at the[36] moment at which it demands our attention. Surrounded by a high wall, nothing can be seen of the house from the main road but its sloping roof and the gable windows beneath it. At the side of the large gateway17 that makes an entrance for the carriage-path leading up to the mansion is a small cottage that serves as a modest lodging18 for the Rexanian, Rudolph Smolenski, in whose charge the Strongs’ homestead had been placed some years previous to the opening of this story.
It is one o’clock in the morning. The day has made a tempestuous19 entrance. Lightning flashes across the waters of the Sound, and deep peals20 of thunder make the ground tremble with their force. The rain, after long delay, has come at last, and beats down upon the mansion and the lodge21 as though it would wash them clean of all relics22 of the past. It leaks through cracks that time has made, and adds to the moist discomfort23 of rooms that are never wholly dry. But there are unwonted signs of cheer in the mansion and at the lodge. There are gleams of moving lights that meet the storm as it beats against the shuttered windows of the old house, and a steady ray defeats the darkness in front of the decaying lodge.
Let us enter the smaller structure first. Two men are seated at a table in the front room on the ground floor. An oil lamp dimly illuminates24 the barely furnished apartment and casts weird25 shadows across the uncarpeted floor. One of these men we have met before. It is the impetuous little Ludovics, whose patriotism26 is as indiscreet as it is enthusiastic. His bright beady eyes gleam in[37] the half light: his thin face is flushed, partially from excitement, but in a larger degree from the brandy he has drunk.
His companion is Rudolph, the lodge-keeper, a flabby-faced, thickset man, with heavy features and the look of one who enjoys soft places and hard liquor. They are bending forward, listening.
“It’s queer they don’t come,” Rudolph remarked, musingly27. “I hear no sound of wheels. Here, man, have another drop to keep you awake.” He filled Ludovics’ glass from the bottle, and then replenished28 his own. Rudolph drank like one who needs renewed vigor29, Ludovics like a man trying to quench30 the fires of impatience31.
“I hope,” said the latter, looking searchingly at Rudolph, “that they haven’t got too much of this stuff up at the house.”
“Only one bottle, this size,” answered Rudolph, fingering the bottle lovingly. “One quart won’t do much harm among five men. And they’ll need it, I tell you. That old house takes water like a sponge on a night like this. I’ve done what I could to make it comfortable for you all, but I wasn’t prepared for a flood like this.”
“They’re in your head, Ludovics,” remarked Rudolph, jocosely33. He had picked up a good deal of slang from the Westchester urchins34 who haunted the lodge gate. “Come, light a cigar. In a storm like this it’s a hard drive after they leave the bridge. I don’t expect them for an hour yet.”
They puffed35 in silence for a time. Finally[38] Ludovics said, with suppressed excitement in his voice:
“Rudolph, you’re a man of sense, and you love the cause. Do you realize the full significance of this night’s work?”
“No, Ludovics; and nobody does. It’ll probably cost me my job.”
Ludovics waved his hand impatiently.
“I don’t mean that. If we are cautious, I don’t see how you can get into trouble. What I mean is this: we are to have the whole political future of our fatherland, the fate of dear old Rexania, right here in our grasp. No power on earth can despoil37 us of our absolute grip upon a nation’s destiny so long as the crown prince is within our control. It is an awful responsibility that comes to us to-night, Rudolph.”
The speaker glanced searchingly at his companion. He would have given a great deal to know how much of an impression he was making on the phlegmatic38 Rexanian, who continued to drink brandy without growing one whit8 more demonstrative. Finally Rudolph said, as a tremendous crash of thunder died away in bounding echoes across the Sound:
“What are you driving at, Ludovics? Can’t you leave the brunt of the business to Posadowski?”
The excitable little Rexanian controlled his agitation39 with an effort. “He’s so damned conservative, Rudolph!” he cried. “I believe he thinks he can persuade Prince Carlo to abdicate40, even if the king does not die while[39] his heir-apparent is cooped up here.” Then he jumped from his chair and strode nervously up and down the room. “It’s all nonsense! Trying to compromise with a monarchy41 is like giving your wife your purse: you get the leather back and she keeps the money. Rudolph,”—and here the little man stood still and glanced piercingly at his companion—“no monarchy in Europe can be turned into a republic unless somebody, somewhere, uses heroic measures.”
The lodge-keeper smiled cautiously.
“Don’t you call kidnapping a traveller in this part of the world using heroic measures?”
Ludovics flushed angrily. “Only fools,” he cried, “use heroic measures that are not quite heroic enough. Don’t be stupid, Rudolph. You understand me. Pish! how I hate half-baked patriots42! We’d have won our fight ten years ago, if we hadn’t had among us men who didn’t dare take advantage of the power they had grasped. The Rexanian republic must never be lost again because we revolutionists aren’t equal to the crisis that confronts us. Do you think,” he cried, again standing43 in front of Rudolph and gesticulating wildly, “do you think I care for my liberty or my life if I can do something that will give my country freedom? I hate all kings, Rudolph. Who dare say to me that a king deserves mercy at my hands? Did not a king kill my father and banish44 me from the land of my birth? Did not a king seize my patrimony45 and leave me a pauper46, an outcast, a man without a country and without a hope? Mercy? I would sooner give meat to a dog that bit my shins than[40] grant life to a king whose breast was at my dagger’s end. Do you know me now, Rudolph? Do you read my heart? I tell you, man, the night outside is not blacker than my soul when I think of kings. Kings! Kings! They say God made them! Then, by God, the devil shall destroy them. Give me more brandy, Rudolph. The storm is working in my blood! Ha, but that was a glorious flash! The sky’s own fireworks light the coming of our prince to our little dove-cot.”
A wild crash of thunder seemed to applaud the madman’s words.
“Keep quiet,” cried Rudolph, jumping up and placing his fat, yellowish hand on Ludovics’ arm. “I hear the sound of wheels. Yes, yes, man, I am right. They are here.”
A carriage stopped outside, and a blow that echoed through the cottage fell on the iron gate that blocked the roadway.
点击收听单词发音
1 haughtily | |
adv. 傲慢地, 高傲地 | |
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2 succumbing | |
不再抵抗(诱惑、疾病、攻击等)( succumb的现在分词 ); 屈从; 被压垮; 死 | |
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3 mansion | |
n.大厦,大楼;宅第 | |
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4 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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5 elegance | |
n.优雅;优美,雅致;精致,巧妙 | |
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6 dispensed | |
v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 );施与;配(药) | |
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7 piazza | |
n.广场;走廊 | |
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8 whit | |
n.一点,丝毫 | |
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9 jutting | |
v.(使)突出( jut的现在分词 );伸出;(从…)突出;高出 | |
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10 labyrinth | |
n.迷宫;难解的事物;迷路 | |
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11 partially | |
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲 | |
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12 dismantled | |
拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 ); 拆卸; 废除; 取消 | |
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13 negligence | |
n.疏忽,玩忽,粗心大意 | |
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14 lustre | |
n.光亮,光泽;荣誉 | |
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15 iconoclastic | |
adj.偶像破坏的,打破旧习的 | |
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16 dreary | |
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的 | |
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17 gateway | |
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法 | |
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18 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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19 tempestuous | |
adj.狂暴的 | |
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20 peals | |
n.(声音大而持续或重复的)洪亮的响声( peal的名词复数 );隆隆声;洪亮的钟声;钟乐v.(使)(钟等)鸣响,(雷等)发出隆隆声( peal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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21 lodge | |
v.临时住宿,寄宿,寄存,容纳;n.传达室,小旅馆 | |
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22 relics | |
[pl.]n.遗物,遗迹,遗产;遗体,尸骸 | |
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23 discomfort | |
n.不舒服,不安,难过,困难,不方便 | |
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24 illuminates | |
v.使明亮( illuminate的第三人称单数 );照亮;装饰;说明 | |
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25 weird | |
adj.古怪的,离奇的;怪诞的,神秘而可怕的 | |
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26 patriotism | |
n.爱国精神,爱国心,爱国主义 | |
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27 musingly | |
adv.沉思地,冥想地 | |
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28 replenished | |
补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 ); 重新装满 | |
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29 vigor | |
n.活力,精力,元气 | |
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30 quench | |
vt.熄灭,扑灭;压制 | |
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31 impatience | |
n.不耐烦,急躁 | |
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32 nervously | |
adv.神情激动地,不安地 | |
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33 jocosely | |
adv.说玩笑地,诙谐地 | |
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34 urchins | |
n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 );淘气鬼;猬;海胆 | |
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35 puffed | |
adj.疏松的v.使喷出( puff的过去式和过去分词 );喷着汽(或烟)移动;吹嘘;吹捧 | |
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36 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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37 despoil | |
v.夺取,抢夺 | |
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38 phlegmatic | |
adj.冷静的,冷淡的,冷漠的,无活力的 | |
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39 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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40 abdicate | |
v.让位,辞职,放弃 | |
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41 monarchy | |
n.君主,最高统治者;君主政体,君主国 | |
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42 patriots | |
爱国者,爱国主义者( patriot的名词复数 ) | |
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43 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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44 banish | |
vt.放逐,驱逐;消除,排除 | |
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45 patrimony | |
n.世袭财产,继承物 | |
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46 pauper | |
n.贫民,被救济者,穷人 | |
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