He did not see Denise that day, and spent another sleepless4 and horror-stricken night. The next morning it occurred to him, as a means of escaping Denise’s tender and searching eyes, as well as the hateful company of Pierre and Nicolas, that he might possibly sham5 illness and be sent to the hospital. He did not need to sham, however—he was in a high fever and the surgeon swore at him [Pg 273]for not reporting before, so he found a temporary haven6 of refuge in the hospital. There he spent several days. The doctor, who was a clever young fellow, was a good deal puzzled by the case. He could not make out whether Toni was malingering or not. He evidently wished to be considered ill—at the same time there were indications about him of his being really ill. If he had not had the reputation of being an admirable soldier, the doctor would have suspected Toni had done something wrong and was in hiding, as it were, in the hospital.
The sergeant7 called to see him and was rather rough with him considering that nothing was the matter with Toni.
“Do you think I would lie here and take all these nasty messes if there were nothing the matter with me?” cried poor Toni.
There was indeed something very serious the matter with him, but it was a kind of suffering which not all the doctor’s instruments and medicines could reach. Denise, with her aunt, called twice to see him, but both times Toni feigned8 to be asleep as soon as he distinguished9 their voices, and it was against the rules to disturb him.
A week passed, on the second morning of which [Pg 274]he found a long, sharp knife under his pillow, and at the end of that time the doctor turned Toni out of the hospital, much against the latter’s will. He had then to resume his duties, of course, and affect cheerfulness as well as he could. He succeeded rather better in the last respect than might have been expected, and Denise only saw in him the weakness and lassitude which she thought were due to his recent illness.
On the day fortnight after Paul Verney’s wedding, he returned with his bride—the honeymoon10 of a sublieutenant is inevitably12 brief. The very next day the practice march was to begin and Toni did not see Paul Verney until the next morning when the troop was forming in the barracks square.
The regiment13 marched out with colors flying to do a practice march of two days’ duration. Paul was riding at the head of his troop. He was a fine horseman and had a good military air and everything about him was spick and span as becomes an officer.
Toni, who was at the end of the file, got a good look at Paul as he cantered along by the side of the troopers and a look of affectionate intelligence flashed between the two young men. Toni saw that [Pg 275]Paul was truly happy—he was in fact always happy when performing his military duties, because he was born a soldier, apt at obedience14 and ready at command. In the same file with Toni rode Nicolas and Pierre.
They passed out of the town on the dusty highroad, their helmets gleaming in the sun and the steady tramp of their horses’ hoofs15 sounding like thunder on the highroad and raising a great white dust like a pillar of cloud by day. Crowds of people ran out to see them, and cheered them as they passed. The day was bright and warm, but not hot enough to distress16 either the men or the horses. They kept on steadily17 until noon, when there was an hour of rest and refreshment18. Again they took up the line of march. A cool breeze was blowing and it was as pleasant a June day as one could wish for marching. Towards three o’clock, as they were passing the outskirts19 of a wood, Toni put his hand to his head and reeled in his saddle. His horse kept on steadily in the ranks. It was very well simulated and Paul rode up and caught Toni by the arm.
“You had better drop out,” he said, “and rest a while by the roadside and rejoin when you feel bet[Pg 276]ter.” Toni touched his cap and said, “Thank you, sir,” and slipping out of his saddle, led his horse to a grassy20 place under a tree, where he sat down and mopped his face. He looked quite pale and weak, but the surgeon, when he rode up, gave him a sharp look, made him drink some wine and water out of his canteen, and said: “You will be all right in ten minutes,” and rode on.
Ten minutes passed and twenty and thirty. The regiment was out of sight. Toni’s troop was a part of the rear guard. The dull echo of thousands of hoofs still resounded21 afar off, but all else was quiet in that shaded woody spot, with farm-houses basking22 in the sun, the highroad gleaming whitely, and the railway beyond making two streaks23 of steel-blue light in the distance. Toni, with his helmet off, and his horse browsing24 quietly near him, sat on the ground under the shade with the glaring midday light around him and waited for Paul Verney, who he knew would return. No lieutenant11 in the regiment looked so closely after his men as he. Presently Toni heard the galloping25 of a horse and the rattling26 of a saber in its scabbard, and there was Paul riding up. He swung himself off his horse and came up to Toni and said:
[Pg 277]
“I came back to see what was the matter with you. I thought you would have rejoined by this time.”
Toni made no reply, but raised his black eyes to Paul’s blue ones and they were so full of misery27 that Paul involuntarily put his hand on Toni’s shoulder and asked, “What is it?”
Toni tried to speak, but the words would not come. Paul, putting his hand in his breast, drew out a small flask28 of brandy and poured the best part of it down Toni’s throat.
“Now,” he said, “tell me what it is.”
Toni’s vocabulary was not extensive and he hunted around in his mind for language to express the horror of what he was suffering, but he could only find the simplest words.
“Nicolas and Pierre—,” he said, “those scoundrels—have ordered me to kill you. They say if I don’t they will kill me and kill you afterward29 themselves.”
There was silence for a minute or two after this.
Paul knew very well that Toni was neither drunk nor crazy, and he grasped at once all that Toni meant. His face grew pale and his blond mustache twitched30 a little.
[Pg 278]
“So they want to put me out of the way—what for?”
“Because they think you are responsible for their being in trouble so much. They are desperate men, Paul.” Toni used Paul’s name unconsciously, but he was thinking then of Paul as he had known him years ago, an apple-cheeked boy who understood him and even understood Jacques.
Paul took his helmet off and let the cool breeze blow on his close-cropped sandy hair.
“Come, now,” he said, “tell me all about it—how it happened.”
“It is about Count Delorme,” said Toni, gasping31 between his sentences. “You know, Paul, I always was a coward about most things.”
“Yes, I know.”
“And when I was in the circus those two rascals32 used to take me with them sometimes on their robbing expeditions and make me keep watch and help to carry off the stolen things. I was frightened to death at what they made me do—too frightened to refuse to go with them. I never knew of their killing33 anybody, except Count Delorme, but that night they waylaid34 him in the dark, I swear to you—oh! God, I swear to you a million times—I never [Pg 279]touched Count Delorme. I thought they were going to rob him only—I did not dream they were going to kill him. But he resisted when they tried to get his money, and Nicolas struck him a blow and he fell over. And they put a twenty-franc piece in my pocket and swore that I had killed him and robbed him. Then I determined35 to get away from them and so, when I was conscripted, I could have got off because I was the only son of a widow, but I thought if I were in the army I might escape them and I meant then to hunt for you and to tell you all about it. And I thought I had escaped them—oh! how happy I was—but they turned up as you know and I have not had a moment’s peace since. Two weeks ago they forced me to go with them—”
“‘Forced you to go with them!’” said Paul indignantly. “Toni, you are the greatest coward.”
“I know it,” replied Toni. “I always was. And they told me that they meant to kill you and we played a game of cards to determine whether they should do it or I—I—think of it! Of course I lost, and they promised me if I didn’t kill you that I should be killed. And they told me to drop out of the ranks and that you would come after me, [Pg 280]and they put this knife where I could find it.” Toni drew it from his bosom36. It was an ordinary table knife, but of well-tempered steel and as sharp as a razor. “And I was to kill you and leave your body here where it could not be found for several hours—and make the best of my way off. Of course, I should have been caught and guillotined, but what did they care about that?”
Toni turned and threw the knife as far as he could into the bosky thicket37 behind him. Paul Verney, who was as quiet as a lamb and as brave as a lion, looked at Toni sorrowfully.
“I think I can get rid of those two rapscallions in time,” he said, “get them sent to Algiers. But they will have to come back sometime.”
“That’s what I know,” said Toni. “We are under sentence of death, Paul, and it is all my fault.”
The ghost of a smile came into Paul Verney’s face.
“No,” he answered, “not exactly your fault, Toni. You were born that way, so you can’t help yourself.”
“And we are both so happy,” cried Toni, and at this he burst into a passion of tears, sobbing38 as [Pg 281]he had not sobbed39 since he was a small boy and his mother had the rheumatism40 and he thought she was going to die. Paul turned his back and walked up and down in front of Toni for a minute or two, and when he spoke41 his voice was husky.
“Yes,” he said, “we are both very happy, or would be except for those wretches42. But, Toni, you must keep every hint of this from Denise and I shall certainly keep it from my wife.”
“You may be able to,” replied poor Toni, “because you are brave and self-possessed, but you know how I am. I am likely to let it out any time.”
“If you do,” said Paul sternly, “you may look to hear from me. Toni, have you no shame at being such a coward?”
“Not a bit,” replied Toni. “As you say, I was born that way. I am not afraid of horses nor of guns nor of anything that other people are afraid of.”
Paul inspected Toni in wrath43 and sorrow. He was the identical Toni that had enjoyed a ride on the runaway44 horse, and was cowed and terrified by the laughs and jeers45 of a couple of the tailor Clery’s boys, either of whom he was perfectly well able to thrash if he had wished. Paul Verney was [Pg 282]not, physically46, half the man that Toni was, but not all the five Clery boys, with their father at their head, could have frightened him when he was a very small boy himself. Paul would have taken a thrashing from them one day and be ready to repeat it the next, but the mere47 thought of a thrashing frightened Toni out of his wits.
How much more, then, did the thought of being murdered scare him! Yet if Toni had been driven into the forlorn hope—“the last children” as the French picturesquely48 put it—he would have behaved as well as any man in it.
Paul Verney looked around him at the smiling, peaceful landscape basking in the afternoon light, and thought of Lucie at the château. She was probably practising her music at that hour, and then she would go for her afternoon ride with only a groom49 to accompany her. He would be absent from her for two whole days, and Lucie had spent a week in devising schemes for getting rid of the time. Paul was as much in love with her as she was with him, but it never occurred to him that there was any difficulty in getting rid of the time during his absence from her—he had his work to do and he meant to do it well, nor did he let the [Pg 283]thought of Lucie interfere50 in the least with his duty. He had cheerfully given that promise demanded of all lovers, that he would tell Lucie everything. As he had nothing to tell her of the least harm, or of the least consequence, he had laughingly made the promise. But now there was something he must conceal51 from her; something, the mere thought of which would blight52 that merry, beautiful, rose-in-bloom life that Lucie was leading; something which, if it ever came to pass, would blight it altogether.
Paul pulled himself together and turned his mind, as he had the power to do, resolutely53 away from the grisly probability presented to him.
“Toni,” said he, “don’t think about this thing. I believe I can get those two scoundrels out of the way, and I will; so take another pull out of this brandy flask and get on your horse and follow me.”
Toni did as he was told and was soon galloping at Paul Verney’s heels. The thought of Denise was before him. He knew that sometime he should tell her—he could not keep it from her—and what would Denise say, and what would she do?—be scared as he was? Presently they found themselves in the cloud of dust which enveloped54 the regiment [Pg 284]and Toni made his way to his place at the end of the file, Paul Verney cantering past. As Toni reined55 up he looked around the file and saw the red mustache and ferret-like eyes of Nicolas peering out along the line of mustached and helmeted heads. Nicolas gave him an indescribable look—a look with murder in it. Toni had had his chance, and Paul Verney had come back unharmed. That night in the bivouac Nicolas and Pierre came up to Toni and Nicolas whispered in his ear:
“You have two more chances—we will give you three opportunities all together.”
Toni said not a word in reply. He only wondered dumbly, how much of life that meant for him.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
agonized
|
|
| v.使（极度）痛苦，折磨( agonize的过去式和过去分词 )；苦斗；苦苦思索；感到极度痛苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
bugle
|
|
| n.军号，号角，喇叭；v.吹号，吹号召集 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
sleepless
|
|
| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
sham
|
|
| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
haven
|
|
| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
sergeant
|
|
| n.警官，中士 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
feigned
|
|
| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
honeymoon
|
|
| n.蜜月（假期）；vi.度蜜月 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
lieutenant
|
|
| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
inevitably
|
|
| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
regiment
|
|
| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
obedience
|
|
| n.服从，顺从 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
hoofs
|
|
| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
distress
|
|
| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
steadily
|
|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
refreshment
|
|
| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
outskirts
|
|
| n.郊外，郊区 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
grassy
|
|
| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
resounded
|
|
| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
basking
|
|
| v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的现在分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
streaks
|
|
| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
browsing
|
|
| v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
galloping
|
|
| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
rattling
|
|
| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
misery
|
|
| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
flask
|
|
| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
afterward
|
|
| adv.后来；以后 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
twitched
|
|
| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
gasping
|
|
| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
rascals
|
|
| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
killing
|
|
| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
waylaid
|
|
| v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
determined
|
|
| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
thicket
|
|
| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
sobbing
|
|
| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
sobbed
|
|
| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
rheumatism
|
|
| n.风湿病 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
wretches
|
|
| n.不幸的人( wretch的名词复数 )；可怜的人；恶棍；坏蛋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
wrath
|
|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
runaway
|
|
| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
jeers
|
|
| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
physically
|
|
| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
picturesquely
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
groom
|
|
| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
interfere
|
|
| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
conceal
|
|
| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
blight
|
|
| n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
resolutely
|
|
| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
enveloped
|
|
| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
reined
|
|
| 勒缰绳使（马）停步( rein的过去式和过去分词 )； 驾驭； 严格控制； 加强管理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |