So while the minutes of this safety-silence multiplied and there was space for sober after-thought, I fell to casting up the chances of success. Now that Margery was gone, and with her all the fine enthusiasm that such devoted2 souls as hers do always radiate, it was plain enough that nothing less than a miracle could bring success. Tarleton's Legion was made up of veterans schooled well in border warfare3, and though the bivouac seemed but a camp of motionless figures fast manacled in sleep—I could see them strewn like dead men round the smoldering4 fires—I made no doubt the sentries were alert and wakeful. How then was any messenger of Margery's to pass the lines, or, passing them, to come at Jennifer, who by this time would be at Jennifer House, a prisoner in all but name?
Chewing such wormwood thoughts as these, I watched and listened while the measured minutes, circling slow on leaden wings, pecked at my heart in passing, and despair, cold like a winter fog, had chilled me to the bone. For now it came to me that while I would be saving life, mayhap I had been periling5 it again. There was small doubt that if the messenger were taken with my letter, his life would pay the forfeit6. And if the fear of death should make him tell who sent him and to whom he was sent,—I had been careful so to word the letter as to shield my correspondent,—both Margery and Dick would be involved.
'Tis worthy7 of remark how, building on the simplest supposition, we seldom prophesy8 aright. For all my fine-spun theories the manner of the thing that happened was all unlike the forecast. Suddenly, and in silence, out of the ghostly shadows of the trees and into the wan9 moonlight of the open space beneath my window, with neither shout nor crash of sentry10-gun to give me warning, came three figures riding abreast—a man in trooper trappings on either hand, and on the led horse sandwiched in between, a woman.
You may believe my heart went cold at the sight. I knew at once what she had done—this fearless maid who would be loyal to her friend at any cost. Having no messenger she could trust—she knew it well when she had promised me—she had taken the errand upon herself, braving a hazard that would have daunted11 many a man.
I thought the worst had surely now befallen, and wished a hundred times that I had died before it came to this. But there was worse in store. Her captors passed the word while yet I looked and choked with rage and grief; and then the bivouac buzzed alive, and men came running, some with arms and some with torches, these last to flash the light upon her and to jeer12 and laugh. At length—it seemed an age to me—an officer appeared to flog the rabble13 into order; then she was taken from her horse and led into the house.
Anon the windows of the great fore-room flung bands of yellow torchlight out upon the lawn, and I knew that Tarleton's court was set again. At that the pains of hell gat hold upon me and I did pray as I had never prayed before that God would grant me this one boon—to stand beside her in this time of trial; to give me tongue of eloquence14 to tell them all that she was innocent; to give me breath to swear she knew not why she went, or what the message was she carried.
Yours is a skeptic15 age, my dears, and you have learned to scoff16 at things you do not understand. But, so long as I shall live, I must believe that agonizing17 plea was answered. While yet the anguish18 of it wrung19 my soul there came a hasty trampling20 in the corridor, the sentry's challenge, and then a quick unbarring of the door. I turned upon my heel to face a young ensign come with two men at his back to take me to the colonel.
They bound me well and strongly with many wrappings of stout21 cord before they led me down. Nor must you think me broken-spirited because I let them. In any other cause but this I hope I should have fought to die unmanacled; but now I suffered gladly this little, seeing I had made my dear lady suffer so greatly.
When we were come into the room below they let me stand beside her, as I had prayed God they might; and when I stole a glance at her I was fain to think my coming gave her courage and support. For you must know the place was fair alive with men, and flaring22 light with torches; and they had never offered her a chair.
The colonel stood apart, the center of a group of officers, and Falconnet was with him. Hovering23 on the edges of the group, as if afraid to show themselves too boldly in such a coil, were Gilbert Stair and that smooth parchment-visaged knave24, his factor. The while they thrust me forth25 to take my place at Margery's side, the good old priest came and would have joined us; but they would not suffer him.
So we two stood alone together as we had stood before; but now my lady's eyes were downcast, and her lips and cheeks were pale. Yet she was more beautiful than I had ever seen her—so beautiful that I would swear the sum of all the precious gifts in God's great universe might be expressed for me in this; that I might die to save her from this shame and agony.
"'Twas a dastard's trick, my Captain—this tangling27 of the lady in your treason," he began. "How did you get your speech with her?"
"That is none of your affair, Colonel Tarleton," I retorted boldly, thinking that with such a man the shortest word were ever the best. "Yet I may say that the lady knew not what she did, nor why. As for my getting speech with her, she was not any way to blame. I tampered28 with your sentry."
"By God, you lie!" was his comment on this. "She might have tampered with the guard and so got leave to keep a midnight tryst29 with you, but not you." And then to my poor frighted love: "Have you no shame, Mistress Margery Stair?"
Now I have said that she was changeful as any child or April sky, but never had I seen her pass from mood to mood as she did then. One moment she stood a woman tremulous and tearful as any woman caught in desperate deed; the next she became a goddess vilified30, and if her look had been a dagger31 I think her flashing eyes had killed him where he stood.
"You've found a way to make me speak, sir, and I wish you joy of it. 'Twas I who bribed32 your sentry, and I did go to Captain Ireton's room."
"How is this, Sir Francis. Did I not tell you you had thrust an inch or so too high? By God, sir, I think you will come over-late, if ever you do come at all. This captain-emeritus hath forestalled34 you beautifully."
As more than once before in this eventful night, the air went flaming red before my eyes and helpless wrath35 came uppermost. I saw no way to clear her, and had there been the plainest way, dumb rage would still have held me tongue-tied. So I could only mop and mow36 and stammer37, and, when the words were found, make shift to blunder out that such an accusation38 did the lady grievous wrong; that she had come attended and at my beseeching39, to take a message from a dying man to one who was his friend.
For my pains I had a brutal40 laugh in payment; a laugh that, starting with the colonel, went the rounds in jeering41 grins of incredulity. And on the heels of it the colonel swore afresh, cursing me for a clumsy liar42.
"I said it once. She knew not what the message was, nor why I sent it."
I felt her eyes upon me as I spoke44, and turned to find them full of tearful pleading. "Oh, tell the truth!" she whispered. "Don't you see? He has the letter!"
I looked, and sure enough he held it in his hand; and then I understood the flash of irony45 in the sloe-black eyes of him.
"You lie clumsily, Captain Ireton, though it is a gentlemanly lie and does you honor. But we have trapped you fairly and you may as well make a clean breast of it. Your mistress knew very well what you would have her do, and since she is your mistress, went to do it."
While he was speaking I had a thought white-hot from some forge-fire of inspiration—a thought to tip an arrow of conviction and set it quivering in the mark. I would not stop to measure it; to look aside at her or any other lest one brief glance apart should send the arrow wavering from its course. So I looked the colonel boldly in the eye and drew the bow and sped the shaft46.
"You think no other than a mistress would have done this, Colonel Tarleton—that it was done for love? Well, so it was; but with the love there went a duty."
"A duty, say you? How is that?"
"You had forgot that honor is not wholly dead, sir. This lady is my wife."
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1
sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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3
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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smoldering
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| v.用文火焖烧，熏烧，慢燃( smolder的现在分词 ) | |
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periling
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| 置…于危险中（peril的现在分词形式） | |
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6
forfeit
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| vt.丧失；n.罚金，罚款，没收物 | |
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7
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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8
prophesy
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| v.预言；预示 | |
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9
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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jeer
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| vi.嘲弄，揶揄；vt.奚落；n.嘲笑，讥评 | |
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13
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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skeptic
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| n.怀疑者，怀疑论者，无神论者 | |
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scoff
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| n.嘲笑，笑柄，愚弄；v.嘲笑，嘲弄，愚弄，狼吞虎咽 | |
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17
agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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18
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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wrung
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| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
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trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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flaring
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| a.火焰摇曳的，过份艳丽的 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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tangling
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的现在分词 ) | |
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tampered
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| v.窜改( tamper的过去式 )；篡改；（用不正当手段）影响；瞎摆弄 | |
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tryst
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| n.约会；v.与…幽会 | |
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30
vilified
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| v.中伤，诽谤( vilify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dagger
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| n.匕首，短剑，剑号 | |
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bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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33
gibe
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| n.讥笑；嘲弄 | |
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forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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36
mow
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| v.割（草、麦等），扫射，皱眉；n.草堆，谷物堆 | |
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stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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39
beseeching
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| adj.恳求似的v.恳求，乞求（某事物）( beseech的现在分词 ) | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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41
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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42
liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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43
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
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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45
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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46
shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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47
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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