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CHAPTER 19. THE LADY RAGES
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 Dora Grayling stood in the doorway1.
 
‘I told your servant he need not trouble to show me in,—and I’ve come without my aunt. I hope I’m not intruding2.’
 
She was—confoundedly; and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell her so. She came into the room, with twinkling eyes, looking radiantly happy,—that sort of look which makes even a plain young woman prepossessing.
 
‘Am I intruding?—I believe I am.’
 
She held out her hand, while she was still a dozen feet away, and when I did not at once dash forward to make a clutch at it, she shook her head and made a little mouth at me.
 
‘What’s the matter with you?—Aren’t you well?’
 
I was not well,—I was very far from well. I was as unwell as I could be without being positively4 ill, and any person of common discernment would have perceived it at a glance. At the same time I was not going to admit anything of the kind to her.
 
‘Thank you,—I am perfectly5 well.’
 
‘Then, if I were you, I would endeavour to become imperfectly well; a little imperfection in that direction might make you appear to more advantage.’
 
‘I am afraid that that I am not one of those persons who ever do appear to much advantage,—did I not tell you so last night?’
 
‘I believe you did say something of the kind,—it’s very good of you to remember. Have you forgotten something else which you said to me last night?’
 
‘You can hardly expect me to keep fresh in my memory all the follies6 of which my tongue is guilty.’
 
‘Thank you.—That is quite enough.—Good-day.’
 
She turned as if to go.
 
‘Miss Grayling!’
 
‘Mr Atherton?’
 
‘What’s the matter?—What have I been saying now?’
 
‘Last night you invited me to come and see you this morning,—is that one of the follies of which your tongue was guilty?’
 
The engagement had escaped my recollection—it is a fact!—and my face betrayed me.
 
‘You had forgotten?’ Her cheeks flamed; her eyes sparkled. ‘You must pardon my stupidity for not having understood that the invitation was of that general kind which is never meant to be acted on.’
 
She was half way to the door before I stopped her,—I had to take her by the shoulder to do it.
 
‘Miss Grayling!—You are hard on me.’
 
‘I suppose I am.—Is anything harder than to be intruded7 on by an undesired, and unexpected, guest?’
 
‘Now you are harder still.—If you knew what I have gone through since our conversation of last night, in your strength you would be merciful.’
 
‘Indeed?—What have you gone through?’
 
I hesitated. What I actually had gone through I certainly did not propose to tell her. Other reasons apart I did not desire to seem madder than I admittedly am,—and I lacked sufficient plausibility8 to enable me to concoct9, on the spur of the moment, a plain tale of the doings of my midnight visitor which would have suggested that the narrator was perfectly sane10. So I fenced,—or tried to.
 
‘For one thing,—I have had no sleep.’
 
I had not,—not one single wink3. When I did get between the sheets, ‘all night I lay in agony,’ I suffered from that worst form of nightmare,—the nightmare of the man who is wide awake. There was continually before my fevered eyes the strange figure of that Nameless Thing. I had often smiled at tales of haunted folk,—here was I one of them. My feelings were not rendered more agreeable by a strengthening conviction that if I had only retained the normal attitude of a scientific observer I should, in all probability, have solved the mystery of my oriental friend, and that his example of the genus of copridae might have been pinned,—by a very large pin!—on a piece—a monstrous11 piece!—of cork12. It was galling13 to reflect that he and I had played together a game of bluff,—a game at which civilisation14 was once more proved to be a failure.
 
She could not have seen all this in my face; but she saw something—because her own look softened15.
 
‘You do look tired.’ She seemed to be casting about in her own mind for a cause. ‘You have been worrying.’ She glanced round the big laboratory. ‘Have you been spending the night in this—wizard’s cave?’
 
‘Pretty well’
 
‘Oh!’
 
The monosyllable, as she uttered it, was big with meaning. Uninvited, she seated herself in an arm-chair, a huge old thing, of shagreen leather, which would have held half a dozen of her. Demure16 in it she looked, like an agreeable reminiscence, alive, and a little up-to-date, of the women of long ago. Her dove grey eyes seemed to perceive so much more than they cared to show.
 
‘How is it that you have forgotten that you asked me to come?—didn’t you mean it?’
 
‘Of course I meant it.’
 
‘Then how is it you’ve forgotten?’
 
‘I didn’t forget.’
 
‘Don’t tell fibs.—Something is the matter,—tell me what it is.—Is it that I am too early?’
 
‘Nothing of the sort,—you couldn’t be too early.’
 
‘Thank you.—When you pay a compliment, even so neat an one as that, sometimes, you should look as if you meant it.—It is early,—I know it’s early, but afterwards I want you to come to lunch. I told aunt that I would bring you back with me.’
 
‘You are much better to me than I deserve.’
 
‘Perhaps.’ A tone came into her voice which was almost pathetic. ‘I think that to some men women are almost better than they deserve. I don’t know why. I suppose it pleases them. It is odd.’ There was a different intonation,—a dryness. ‘Have you forgotten what I came for?’
 
‘Not a bit of it,—I am not quite the brute17 I seem. You came to see an illustration of that pleasant little fancy of mine for slaughtering18 my fellows. The fact is, I’m hardly in a mood for that just now,—I’ve been illustrating19 it too much already.’
 
‘What do you mean?’
 
‘Well, for one thing it’s been murdering Lessingham’s cat.’
 
‘Mr Lessingham’s cat?’
 
‘Then it almost murdered Percy Woodville.’
 
‘Mr Atherton!—I wish you wouldn’t talk like that.’
 
‘It’s a fact. It was a question of a little matter in a wrong place, and, if it hadn’t been for something very like a miracle, he’d be dead.’
 
‘I wish you wouldn’t have anything to do with such things—I hate them.’
 
I stared.
 
‘Hate them?—I thought you’d come to see an illustration.’
 
‘And pray what was your notion of an illustration?’
 
‘Well, another cat would have had to be killed, at least.’
 
‘And do you suppose that I would have sat still while a cat was being killed for my—edification?’
 
‘It needn’t necessarily have been a cat, but something would have had to be killed,—how are you going to illustrate20 the death-dealing propensities21 of a weapon of that sort without it?’
 
‘Is it possible that you imagine that I came here to see something killed?’
 
‘Then for what did you come?’
 
I do not know what there was about the question which was startling, but as soon as it was out, she went a fiery22 red.
 
‘Because I was a fool.’
 
I was bewildered. Either she had got out of the wrong side of bed, or I had,—or we both had. Here she was, assailing23 me, hammer and tongs24, so far as I could see, for absolutely nothing.
 
‘You are pleased to be satirical at my expense.’
 
‘I should not dare. Your detection of me would be so painfully rapid.’
 
I was in no mood for jangling. I turned a little away from her. Immediately she was at my elbow.
 
‘Mr Atherton?’
 
‘Miss Grayling.’
 
‘Are you cross with me?’
 
‘Why should I be? If it pleases you to laugh at my stupidity you are completely justified25.’
 
‘But you are not stupid.’
 
‘No?—Nor you satirical.’
 
‘You are not stupid,—you know you are not stupid; it was only stupidity on my part to pretend that you were.’
 
‘It is very good of you to say so.—But I fear that I am an indifferent host. Although you would not care for an illustration, there may be other things which you might find amusing.’
 
‘Why do you keep on snubbing me?’
 
‘I keep on snubbing you!’
 
‘You are always snubbing me,—you know you are. Some times I feel as if I hated you.’
 
‘Miss Grayling!’
 
‘I do! I do! I do!’
 
‘After all, it is only natural.’
 
‘That is how you talk,—as if I were a child, and you were,—oh I don’t know what.—Well, Mr Atherton, I am sorry to be obliged to leave you. I have enjoyed my visit very much. I only hope I have not seemed too intrusive26.’
 
She flounced—‘flounce’ was the only appropriate word!—out of the room before I could stop her. I caught her in the passage.
 
‘Miss Grayling, I entreat27 you—’
 
‘Pray do not entreat me, Mr Atherton.’ Standing28 still she turned to me. ‘I would rather show myself to the door as I showed myself in, but, if that is impossible, might I ask you not to speak to me between this and the street?’
 
The hint was broad enough, even for me. I escorted her through the hall without a word,—in perfect silence she shook the dust of my abode29 from off her feet.
 
I had made a pretty mess of things. I felt it as I stood on the top of the steps and watched her going,—she was walking off at four miles an hour; I had not even ventured to ask to be allowed to call a hansom.
 
It was beginning to occur to me that this was a case in which another blow upon the river might be, to say the least of it, advisable—and I was just returning into the house with the intention of putting myself into my flannels30, when a cab drew up, and old Lindon got out of it.

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
2 intruding b3cc8c3083aff94e34af3912721bddd7     
v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的现在分词);把…强加于
参考例句:
  • Does he find his new celebrity intruding on his private life? 他是否感觉到他最近的成名侵扰了他的私生活?
  • After a few hours of fierce fighting,we saw the intruding bandits off. 经过几小时的激烈战斗,我们赶走了入侵的匪徒。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 wink 4MGz3     
n.眨眼,使眼色,瞬间;v.眨眼,使眼色,闪烁
参考例句:
  • He tipped me the wink not to buy at that price.他眨眼暗示我按那个价格就不要买。
  • The satellite disappeared in a wink.瞬息之间,那颗卫星就消失了。
4 positively vPTxw     
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实
参考例句:
  • She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
  • The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。
5 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
6 follies e0e754f59d4df445818b863ea1aa3eba     
罪恶,时事讽刺剧; 愚蠢,蠢笨,愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • He has given up youthful follies. 他不再做年轻人的荒唐事了。
  • The writings of Swift mocked the follies of his age. 斯威夫特的作品嘲弄了他那个时代的愚人。
7 intruded 8326c2a488b587779b620c459f2d3c7e     
n.侵入的,推进的v.侵入,侵扰,打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 );把…强加于
参考例句:
  • One could believe that human creatures had never intruded there before. 你简直会以为那是从来没有人到过的地方。 来自辞典例句
  • The speaker intruded a thin smile into his seriousness. 演说人严肃的脸上掠过一丝笑影。 来自辞典例句
8 plausibility 61dc2510cb0f5a78f45d67d5f7172f8f     
n. 似有道理, 能言善辩
参考例句:
  • We can add further plausibility to the above argument. 我们可以在上述论据之外,再进一步增添一个合理的论据。
  • Let us consider the charges she faces, and the legal plausibility of those charges. 让我们考虑一下她面临的指控以及这些指控在法律上的可信性。
9 concoct vOoz0     
v.调合,制造
参考例句:
  • I gave her a tip on how to concoct a new kind of soup.我教她配制一种新汤的诀窍。
  • I began to concoct explanations of my own.我开始思考自己的解释。
10 sane 9YZxB     
adj.心智健全的,神志清醒的,明智的,稳健的
参考例句:
  • He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
  • He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。
11 monstrous vwFyM     
adj.巨大的;恐怖的;可耻的,丢脸的
参考例句:
  • The smoke began to whirl and grew into a monstrous column.浓烟开始盘旋上升,形成了一个巨大的烟柱。
  • Your behaviour in class is monstrous!你在课堂上的行为真是丢人!
12 cork VoPzp     
n.软木,软木塞
参考例句:
  • We heard the pop of a cork.我们听见瓶塞砰的一声打开。
  • Cork is a very buoyant material.软木是极易浮起的材料。
13 galling galling     
adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的
参考例句:
  • It was galling to have to apologize to a man she hated. 令人恼火的是得向她憎恶的男人道歉。
  • The insolence in the fellow's eye was galling. 这家伙的傲慢目光令人恼怒。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
14 civilisation civilisation     
n.文明,文化,开化,教化
参考例句:
  • Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
  • This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。
15 softened 19151c4e3297eb1618bed6a05d92b4fe     
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰
参考例句:
  • His smile softened slightly. 他的微笑稍柔和了些。
  • The ice cream softened and began to melt. 冰淇淋开始变软并开始融化。
16 demure 3mNzb     
adj.严肃的;端庄的
参考例句:
  • She's very demure and sweet.她非常娴静可爱。
  • The luscious Miss Wharton gave me a demure but knowing smile.性感迷人的沃顿小姐对我羞涩地会心一笑。
17 brute GSjya     
n.野兽,兽性
参考例句:
  • The aggressor troops are not many degrees removed from the brute.侵略军简直象一群野兽。
  • That dog is a dangerous brute.It bites people.那条狗是危险的畜牲,它咬人。
18 slaughtering 303e79b6fadb94c384e21f6b9f287a62     
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The Revolutionary Tribunal went to work, and a steady slaughtering began. 革命法庭投入工作,持续不断的大屠杀开始了。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
  • \"Isn't it terrific slaughtering pigs? “宰猪的! 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
19 illustrating a99f5be8a18291b13baa6ba429f04101     
给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 ); 说明; 表明; (用示例、图画等)说明
参考例句:
  • He upstaged the other speakers by illustrating his talk with slides. 他演讲中配上幻灯片,比其他演讲人更吸引听众。
  • Material illustrating detailed structure of graptolites has been etched from limestone by means of hydrofluoric acid. 表明笔石详细构造的物质是利用氢氟酸从石灰岩中侵蚀出来。
20 illustrate IaRxw     
v.举例说明,阐明;图解,加插图
参考例句:
  • The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
  • This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。
21 propensities db21cf5e8e107956850789513a53d25f     
n.倾向,习性( propensity的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • This paper regarded AFT as a criterion to estimate slagging propensities. 文中以灰熔点作为判断煤灰结渣倾向的标准。 来自互联网
  • Our results demonstrate that different types of authoritarian regime face different propensities to develop toward democracy. 本文研究结果显示,不同的威权主义政体所面对的民主发展倾向是不同的。 来自互联网
22 fiery ElEye     
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的
参考例句:
  • She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
  • His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。
23 assailing 35dc1268357e0e1c6775595c8b6d087b     
v.攻击( assail的现在分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对
参考例句:
  • Last-minute doubts were assailing her. 最后一分钟中的犹豫涌上心头。 来自辞典例句
  • The pressing darkness increased the tension in every student's heart, assailing them with a nameless fear. 黑暗压下来,使每个人的心情变得更紧张。 来自汉英文学 - 家(1-26) - 家(1-26)
24 tongs ugmzMt     
n.钳;夹子
参考例句:
  • She used tongs to put some more coal on the fire.她用火钳再夹一些煤放进炉子里。
  • He picked up the hot metal with a pair of tongs.他用一把钳子夹起这块热金属。
25 justified 7pSzrk     
a.正当的,有理的
参考例句:
  • She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
  • The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。
26 intrusive Palzu     
adj.打搅的;侵扰的
参考例句:
  • The cameras were not an intrusive presence.那些摄像机的存在并不令人反感。
  • Staffs are courteous but never intrusive.员工谦恭有礼却从不让人感到唐突。
27 entreat soexj     
v.恳求,恳请
参考例句:
  • Charles Darnay felt it hopeless entreat him further,and his pride was touched besides.查尔斯-达尔内感到再恳求他已是枉然,自尊心也受到了伤害。
  • I entreat you to contribute generously to the building fund.我恳求您慷慨捐助建设基金。
28 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
29 abode hIby0     
n.住处,住所
参考例句:
  • It was ten months before my father discovered his abode.父亲花了十个月的功夫,才好不容易打听到他的住处。
  • Welcome to our humble abode!欢迎光临寒舍!
30 flannels 451bed577a1ce450abe2222e802cd201     
法兰绒男裤; 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Erik had been seen in flannels and an imitation Panama hat. 人们看到埃里克身穿法兰绒裤,头戴仿制巴拿马草帽。
  • He is wearing flannels and a blue jacket. 他穿着一条法兰绒裤子和一件蓝夹克。


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