The prefect began with some commonplace apology for the unseasonable hour of his visit, condoled6 with Mademoiselle Colomba, touched on the danger connected with strong emotions, blamed the custom of composing funeral dirges7, which the very talent of the voceratrice rendered the more harrowing to her auditors8, skilfully9 slipped in a mild reproof10 concerning the tendency of the improvisation11 just concluded, and then, changing his tone—
“M. della Rebbia,” he said, “I have many messages for you from your English friends. Miss Nevil sends her affectionate regards to your sister. I have a letter for you from her.”
“A letter from Miss Nevil!” cried Orso.
“Unluckily I have not got it with me. But you shall have it within five minutes. Her father has not been well. For a little while we were afraid he had caught one of our terrible fevers. Luckily he is all right again, as you will observe for yourself, for I fancy you will see him very soon.”
“Miss Nevil must have been very much alarmed!”
“Fortunately she did not become aware of the danger till it was quite gone by. M. della Rebbia, Miss Nevil has talked to me a great deal about you and about your sister.”
Orso bowed.
“She has a great affection for you both. Under her charming appearance, and her apparent frivolity12, a fund of good sense lies hidden.”
“She is a very fascinating person,” said Orso.
“I have come here, monsieur, almost at her prayer. Nobody is better acquainted than I with a fatal story which I would fain not have to recall to you. As M. Barricini is still the mayor of Pietranera, and as I am prefect of the department, I need hardly tell you what weight I attach to certain suspicions which, if I am rightly informed, some incautious individuals have communicated to you, and which you, I know, have spurned13 with the indignation your position and your character would have led me to expect.”
“Colomba,” said Orso, moving uneasily to his chair. “You are very tired. You had better go to bed.”
Colomba shook her head. She had recovered all her usual composure, and her burning eyes were fixed14 on the prefect.
“M. Barricini,” the prefect continued, “is exceedingly anxious to put an end to the sort of enmity . . . or rather, the condition of uncertainty15, existing between yourself and him. . . . On my part, I should be delighted to see you both in those relations of friendly intercourse16 appropriate to people who certainly ought to esteem17 each other.”
“Monsieur,” replied Orso in a shaking voice, “I have never charged Barricini with my father’s murder. But he committed an act which must always prevent me from having anything to do with him. He forged a threatening letter, in the name of a certain bandit, or at least he hinted in an underhand sort of way that it was forged by my father. That letter, monsieur, was probably the indirect cause of my father’s death.”
The prefect sat thinking for a moment.
“That your father should have believed that, when his own hasty nature led him into a lawsuit18 with Signor Barricini, is excusable. But such blindness on your part really can not be admitted. Pray consider that Barricini could have served no interest of his own by forging the letter. I will not talk to you about his character, for you are not acquainted with it, and are prejudiced against it; but you can not suppose that a man conversant19 with the law——”
“But, monsieur,” said Orso, rising to his feet, “be good enough to recollect20 that when you tell me the letter was not Barricini’s work, you ascribe it to my father. And my father’s honour, monsieur, is mine!”
“No man on earth, sir, is more convinced of Colonel della Rebbia’s honour than myself! But the writer of the letter is now known.”
“Who wrote it?” exclaimed Colomba, making a step toward the prefect.
“A villain21, guilty of several crimes—such crimes as you Corsicans never pardon—a thief, one Tomaso Bianchi, at present confined in the prison at Bastia, has acknowledged that he wrote the fatal letter.”
“I know nothing of the man,” said Orso. “What can have been his object?”
“He belongs to this neighbourhood,” said Colomba. “He is brother to a man who was our miller22—a scamp and a liar23, unworthy of belief.”
“You will soon see what his interest in the matter was,” continued the prefect. “The miller of whom your sister speaks—I think his name was Teodoro—was the tenant24 of a mill belonging to the colonel, standing25 on the very stream the ownership of which M. Barricini was disputing with your father. The colonel, always a generous man, made very little profit out of the mill. Now Tomaso thought that if Barricini got possession of the stream there would be a heavy rent to pay, for it is well known that Barricini is rather fond of money. In short, to oblige his brother, Tomaso forged the letter from the bandit—and there’s the whole story. You know that in Corsica the strength of the family tie is so great that it does sometimes lead to crime. Please read over this letter to me from the attorney-general. It confirms what I have just told you.”
Orso looked through the letter, which gave a detailed26 relation of Tomaso’s confession27, and Colomba read it over his shoulder.
When she had come to the end of it she exclaimed:
“Orlanduccio Barricini went down to Bastia a month ago, when it became known that my brother was coming home. He must have seen Tomaso, and bought this lie of him!”
“Signorina,” said the prefect, out of patience, “you explain everything by odious28 imputations! Is that the way to find out the truth? You, sir, can judge more coolly. Tell me what you think of the business now? Do you believe, like this young lady, that a man who has only a slight sentence to fear would deliberately29 charge himself with forgery30, just to oblige a person he doesn’t know?”
Orso read the attorney-general’s letter again, weighing every word with the greatest care—for now that he had seen the old lawyer, he felt it more difficult to convince himself than it would have been a few days previously31. At last he found himself obliged to admit that the explanation seemed to him to be satisfactory. But Colomba cried out vehemently32:
“Tomaso Bianchi is a knave33! He’ll not be convicted, or he’ll escape from prison! I am certain of it!”
“I have laid the information I have received before you, monsieur. I will now depart, and leave you to your own reflections. I shall wait till your own reason has enlightened you, and I trust it may prove stronger than your sister’s suppositions.”
Orso, after saying a few words of excuse for Colomba, repeated that he now believed Tomaso to be the sole culprit.
The prefect had risen to take his leave.
“If it were not so late,” said he, “I would suggest your coming over with me to fetch Miss Nevil’s letter. At the same time you might repeat to M. Barricini what you have just said to me, and the whole thing would be settled.”
“Orso della Rebbia will never set his foot inside the house of a Barricini!” exclaimed Colomba impetuously.
“This young lady appears to be the tintinajo[*] of the family!” remarked the prefect, with a touch of irony35.
metaphorically, to any member of a family who guides it in
all important matters.
“Monsieur,” replied Colomba resolutely38, “you are deceived. You do not know the lawyer. He is the most cunning and knavish39 of men. I beseech40 you not to make Orso do a thing that would overwhelm him with dishonour41!”
“Colomba!” exclaimed Orso, “your passion has driven you out of your senses!”
“Orso! Orso! By the casket I gave you, I beseech you to listen to me! There is blood between you and the Barricini. You shall not go into their house!”
“Sister!”
“No, brother, you shall not go! Or I will leave this house, and you will never see me again! Have pity on me, Orso!” and she fell on her knees.
“I am grieved,” said the prefect, “to find Mademoiselle Colomba so unreasonable42. You will convince her, I am sure.”
He opened the door and paused, seeming to expect Orso to follow him.
“I can not leave her now,” said Orso. “To-morrow, if——”
“I shall be starting very early,” said the prefect.
“Brother,” cried Colomba, clasping her hands, “wait till to-morrow morning, in any case. Let me look over my father’s papers. You can not refuse me that!”
“Well, you shall look them over to-night. But at all events you shall not torment43 me afterward44 with your violent hatreds45. A thousand pardons, monsieur! I am so upset myself to-night—it had better be to-morrow.”
“The night brings counsel,” said the prefect, as he went out. “I hope all your uncertainty will have disappeared by to-morrow.”
“Saveria,” Colomba called, “take the lantern and attend the Signor Prefetto. He will give you a letter to bring back to my brother.”
She added a few words which reached Saveria’s ear alone.
“Colomba,” said Orso, when the prefect was gone, “you have distressed46 me very much. Will no evidence convince you?”
“You have given me till to-morrow,” she replied. “I have very little time; but I still have some hope.”
Then she took a bunch of keys and ran up to a room on the upper story. There he could hear her pulling open drawers, and rummaging47 in the writing-desk in which Colonel della Rebbia had kept his business papers.
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1
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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peroration
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| n.（演说等之）结论 | |
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5
flustered
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| adj.慌张的；激动不安的v.使慌乱，使不安( fluster的过去式和过去分词) | |
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6
condoled
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| v.表示同情，吊唁( condole的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
dirges
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| n.挽歌( dirge的名词复数 )；忧伤的歌，哀歌 | |
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8
auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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skilfully
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| adv. (美skillfully)熟练地 | |
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10
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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improvisation
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| n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作 | |
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12
frivolity
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| n.轻松的乐事，兴高采烈；轻浮的举止 | |
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13
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
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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15
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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16
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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17
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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18
lawsuit
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| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
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conversant
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| adj.亲近的，有交情的，熟悉的 | |
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20
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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21
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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miller
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| n.磨坊主 | |
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liar
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| n.说谎的人 | |
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24
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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25
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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26
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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28
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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29
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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30
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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31
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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vehemently
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| adv. 热烈地 | |
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33
knave
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| n.流氓；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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34
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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35
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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36
ram
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| (random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
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37
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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38
resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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39
knavish
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| adj.无赖（似）的，不正的；刁诈 | |
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40
beseech
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| v.祈求，恳求 | |
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41
dishonour
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| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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42
unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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43
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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44
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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45
hatreds
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| n.仇恨，憎恶( hatred的名词复数 )；厌恶的事 | |
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46
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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47
rummaging
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| 翻找，搜寻( rummage的现在分词 )； 海关检查 | |
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