In a splendid chamber1, surrounded by every comfort and luxury that dollars could buy, and attended by liveried servants, Mr. Taine was dying.
The physician who met Mrs. Taine at the door, answered her look of inquiry2 with; "Your husband is very near the end, madam." Beside the bed, sat Louise, wringing3 her hands and moaning. James Rutlidge stood near. Without speaking, Mrs. Taine went forward.
The doctor, bending over his patient, with his fingers upon the skeleton-like wrist, said, "Mr. Taine, Mr. Taine, your wife is here."
In response, the eyes, deep sunken under the wrinkled brow, opened; the loosely hanging, sensual lips quivered.
The physician spoke4 again; "Your wife is here, Mr. Taine."
A sudden gleam of light flared5 up in the glazed6 eyes. The doctor could have sworn that the lips were twisted into a shadow of a ghastly, mocking smile. As if summoning, by a supreme7 effort of his will, from some unguessed depths of his being, the last remnant of his remaining strength, the man looked about the room and, in a hoarse8 whisper, said, "Send the others away--everybody--but her."
"O papa, papa!" exclaimed poor Louise, protestingly.
"Never mind, daughter," came the whispered answer from the bed. "Try to be game, girl--game as your father. Take her away, Jim."
As the physician passed Mrs. Taine, who had thus far stood like a statue, seemingly incapable9 of thought or feeling or movement, he said in a low tone, "I will be just outside the door, madam; easily within call."
When only the woman was left in the room with her husband, the dying man spoke again; "Come here. Stand where I can see you."
Mechanically, she obeyed; moving to a position near the foot of the bed.
After a moment's silence, during which he seemed to be rallying the very last of his vital forces for the effort, he said, "Well--the game is played--out. You think--you're the winner. You're--wrong--damn you--you're wrong. I wasn't--so drunk to-night that--I couldn't see." His face twisted in a hideous10, malicious11 grin. "You--love--that artist fellow. Your--interest in his art is--all rot. It's _him_ you want--and you--you have been thinking--you'd get him--with my money--the same as I got you. But you won't. You've--lost him already. I'm glad--you love him--damn glad--because--I know that after--what he's seen of me--even if he didn't love--that mountain--girl, he wouldn't wipe--his feet on you. You've tortured me--you've mocked--and sneered12 and laughed--at me--in my suffering--you fiend--and I've--tried my damnedest--to pay you back. What I couldn't do--the man you love--will--do for me. You'll suffer--now in earnest. You thought you'd be a--sure winner--as soon--as I was out of--the game. But you've lost--you've lost--you've lost! I saw your love for him--in your--face to-night--as I have seen--it every time--you two were together. I saw his love--for the girl--too--and I--saw--that you--saw it. I--I--wouldn't--wouldn't die--until I'd told you--that I knew." He paused to gather his strength for the last evil effort of his evil life.
The woman--who had stood, frozen with horror, her eyes fixed13 upon the face of the dying man, as though under a dreadful spell--cowered before him, livid with fear. Cringing14, helpless--as though before some infernal monster--she hid her face; while her husband, struggling for breath to make her hear, called her every foul15 name he could master--derided her with fiendish glee--mocked her, taunted16 her, cursed her--with words too vile17 to print. With an oath and a profane18 wish for her future upon his lips, the end came. The sensual mouth opened--the diseased wasted limbs shuddered--the insane light in the lust-worn eyes went out.
With a scream, Mrs. Taine sank unconscious upon the floor beside the bed.
From the lower part of the house came the faint sounds of the few remaining revelers.
* * * * *
When Aaron King and Conrad Lagrange left the house on Fairlands Heights that night, they walked quickly, as though eager to escape from the brilliantly lighted vicinity. Neither spoke until they were some distance away. Then the novelist, checking his quick stride, pointed19 toward the shadowy bulk of the mountains that heaved their mighty20 crests21 and peaks in solemn grandeur22 high into the midnight sky.
"Well, boy," he said, "the mountains are still there. It's good to see them again, isn't it?"
Reaching home, the older man bade his friend good night. But the artist, declaring that he was not yet ready to turn in, went, with pipe and Czar for company, to sit for a while on the porch.
Looking away over the dark mass of the orange groves23 to the distant peaks, he lived over again, in his thoughts, those weeks of comradeship with Sibyl Andres in the hills. Every incident of their friendship he recalled--every hour they had spent together amid the scenes she loved--reviewing every conversation--questioning searching, wondering, hoping, fearing.
Later, he went out into the rose garden--her garden--where the air was fragrant25 with the perfume of the flowers she tended with such loving care. In the soft, still darkness of the night, the place seemed haunted by her presence. Quietly, he moved here and there among the roses--to the little gate in the Ragged26 Robin27 hedge, through which she came and went; to the vine-covered arbor28 where she had watched him at his work; and to the spot where she had stood, day after day, with hands outstretched in greeting, while he worked to make the colors and lines upon his canvas tell the secret of her loveliness. He remembered how he had felt her presence in those days when he had laughingly insisted to Conrad Lagrange that the place was haunted. He remembered how, even when she was unknown to him, her music had always moved him--how her message from the hills had seemed to call to the best that was in him.
So it was, that, as he recalled these things,--as he lived again the days of his companionship with her and realized how she had come into his life, how she had appealed always to the best of him, and satisfied always his best needs,--he came to know the answer to his questions--to his doubts and fears and hopes. There, in the rose garden, with its dark walls of hedge and vine and grove24, in the still night under the stars, with his face to the distant mountains, he knew that the mountain girl would not deny him--that, when she was ready, she would come to him.
In the hour when Mr. Taine, with the last strength of his evil life, profanely29 cursed the woman that his gold had bought to serve his licentious30 will--and cursing--died; Aaron King--inspired by the character and purity of the woman he loved, and by whom he knew he was loved, and dreaming of their comradeship that was to be--dedicated himself anew to the ministry31 of his art and so entered into that more abundant life which belongs by divine right to all who will claim it.
But it was not given Aaron King to know that before Sibyl Andres could come to him he must be tested by a trial that would tax his manhood's best strength to the uttermost. In that night of his awakened32 love, as he dreamed of the days of its realization33, the man did not know that the days of his testing were so near at hand.
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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3
wringing
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| 淋湿的，湿透的 | |
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spoke
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| 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 | |
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Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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glazed
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| adj.光滑的，像玻璃的；上过釉的；呆滞无神的v.装玻璃( glaze的过去式)；上釉于，上光；（目光）变得呆滞无神 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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sneered
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| 讥笑，冷笑( sneer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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cringing
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| adj.谄媚，奉承 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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taunted
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| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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crests
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| v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的第三人称单数 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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arbor
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| n.凉亭；树木 | |
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profanely
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| adv.渎神地，凡俗地 | |
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licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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32
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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33
realization
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| n.实现；认识到，深刻了解 | |
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