CHAPTER XX FAREWELL

 The night was far spent. For hours Peter had sat by his table with writing materials before him, and at length his letter was written, ended.

 

“It is the last time I shall write to you, but I ask you to condone¹ my conduct—at least, sufficiently² to read what I have written. I know I have no excuse to make. To say that my deception³ arose from the knowledge that if you once knew Peter the Piper and Robin⁴ Adair as one and the same I should lose your letters is of course none. I deceived you deliberately⁵, and broke the compact that our identities should remain unknown to each other. Though I did not first break it, nor was it broken of my will. Being broken by fate, however, I should have told you.

 

“And by now you will have realized that you extended the hand of friendship to one who had entirely⁶ forfeited⁷ the right to it. Is it, perhaps, any compensation to you to know that your letters, your kindness, have at least been received with humble⁸ gratitude⁹, with the most intense and overwhelming pleasure by one however unworthy to receive them?

 

“I shall leave this cottage at daylight. My presence here longer would, I know, be distasteful to you. I have no right to ask your forgiveness, yet if one day you could extend it to me, and think less hardly of me, I should be glad. The one thing I can do, and believe you would wish me to do, is to destroy your letters. I cannot destroy the memory of them—that is impossible, and I dare to hope that in your generosity¹⁰ you will not grudge¹¹ it to me.

 

“Presently I shall try to write again, and if ever fate should throw my work in your path, and you deign¹² to read it, then know that whatever in it is of worth, whatever is in the smallest degree of good, has been inspired by the thought of you.

 

“For all your blessed kindness, for the fact that you are you and are in the world, I shall throughout my life be grateful.

 

 

“Perhaps one day I may get the chance to atone¹³.

 

“Peter Carden.”

The letter written, Peter got up from his chair and crossed to the fireplace. In a few moments a flame sprang up, and some bluish papers twisted and shrivelled in its heat. Presently nothing was left but a small heap of grey ashes.

 

Peter sat very still. There was a lump in his throat, and he swallowed hard once or twice, but his eyes were dry. A bird chirped¹⁴ in the bushes outside the cottage; it was answered by another and another. The air became full of a chorus of twitterings and chirpings.

 

Peter roused himself. He picked up his hat and a bundle from the table and went to the cottage door. In the east the sky was flushing to rose and lavender. Peter went down the path. He opened the little gate. A moment later it had swung to behind him, and he was walking down the dusty road.

 

1 condone   

v.宽恕；原谅

参考例句：

• I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
• I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。

2 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

3 deception   

n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计

参考例句：

• He admitted conspiring to obtain property by deception.他承认曾与人合谋骗取财产。
• He was jailed for two years for fraud and deception.他因为诈骗和欺诈入狱服刑两年。

4 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

5 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

6 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

7 forfeited   

（因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Because he broke the rules, he forfeited his winnings. 他犯规，所以丧失了奖金。
• He has forfeited the right to be the leader of this nation. 他丧失了作为这个国家领导的权利。

8 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

9 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

10 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

11 grudge   

n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做

参考例句：

• I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
• I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。

12 deign   

v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事)

参考例句：

• He doesn't deign to talk to unimportant people like me. 他不肯屈尊和像我这样不重要的人说话。
• I would not deign to comment on such behaviour. 这种行为不屑我置评。

13 atone   

v.赎罪，补偿

参考例句：

• He promised to atone for his crime.他承诺要赎自己的罪。
• Blood must atone for blood.血债要用血来还。

14 chirped   

鸟叫，虫鸣( chirp的过去式 )

参考例句：

• So chirped fiber gratings have broad reflection bandwidth. 所以chirped光纤光栅具有宽的反射带宽，在反射带宽内具有渐变的群时延等其它类型的光纤光栅所不具备的特点。
• The crickets chirped faster and louder. 蟋蟀叫得更欢了。