Of things to come.”
—Troilus and Cressida.
FOR a few minutes I sat dazed by the sudden flood of light greeting me from the many open windows; then, as the strongly contrasting features of the scene before me began to impress themselves upon my consciousness, I found myself experiencing something of the same sensation of double personality which years before had followed an enforced use of ether. As at that time, I appeared to be living two lives at once: in two distinct places, with two separate sets of incidents going on; so now I seemed to be divided between two irreconcilable1 trains of thought; the gorgeous house, its elaborate furnishing, the little glimpses of yesterday’s life, as seen in the open piano, with its sheet of music held in place by a lady’s fan, occupying my attention fully2 as much as the aspect of the throng3 of incongruous and impatient people huddled4 about me.
Perhaps one reason of this lay in the extraordinary splendor5 of the room I was in; the glow of satin, glitter of bronze, and glimmer6 of marble meeting the eye at every turn. But I am rather inclined to think it was mainly due to the force and eloquence7 of a certain picture which confronted me from the opposite wall. A sweet picture—sweet enough and poetic8 enough to have been conceived by the most idealistic of artists: simple, too—the vision of a young flaxen-haired, blue-eyed coquette, dressed in the costume of the First Empire, standing9 in a wood-path, looking back over her shoulder at some one following—yet with such a dash of something not altogether saint-like in the corners of her meek10 eyes and baby-like lips, that it impressed me with the individuality of life. Had it not been for the open dress, with its waist almost beneath the armpits, the hair cut short on the forehead, and the perfection of the neck and shoulders, I should have taken it for a literal portrait of one of the ladies of the house. As it was, I could not rid myself of the idea that one, if not both, of Mr. Leavenworth’s nieces looked down upon me from the eyes of this entrancing blonde with the beckoning11 glance and forbidding hand. So vividly12 did this fancy impress me that I half shuddered13 as I looked, wondering if this sweet creature did not know what had occurred in this house since the happy yesterday; and if so, how she could stand there smiling so invitingly,—when suddenly I became aware that I had been watching the little crowd of men about me with as complete an absorption as if nothing else in the room had attracted my attention; that the face of the coroner, sternly intelligent and attentive14, was as distinctly imprinted15 upon my mind as that of this lovely picture, or the clearer-cut and more noble features of the sculptured Psyche16, shining in mellow17 beauty from the crimson-hung window at his right; yes, even that the various countenances18 of the jurymen clustered before me, commonplace and insignificant19 as most of them were; the trembling forms of the excited servants crowded into a far corner; and the still more disagreeable aspect of the pale-faced, seedy reporter, seated at a small table and writing with a ghoul-like avidity that made my flesh creep, were each and all as fixed20 an element in the remarkable21 scene before me as the splendor of the surroundings which made their presence such a nightmare of discord22 and unreality.
I have spoken of the coroner. As fortune would have it, he was no stranger to me. I had not only seen him before, but had held frequent conversation with him; in fact, knew him. His name was Hammond, and he was universally regarded as a man of more than ordinary acuteness, fully capable of conducting an important examination, with the necessary skill and address. Interested as I was, or rather was likely to be, in this particular inquiry23, I could not but congratulate myself upon our good fortune in having so intelligent a coroner.
As for his jurymen, they were, as I have intimated, very much like all other bodies of a similar character. Picked up at random24 from the streets, but from such streets as the Fifth and Sixth Avenues, they presented much the same appearance of average intelligence and refinement25 as might be seen in the chance occupants of one of our city stages. Indeed, I marked but one amongst them all who seemed to take any interest in the inquiry as an inquiry; all the rest appearing to be actuated in the fulfilment of their duty by the commoner instincts of pity and indignation.
Dr. Maynard, the well-known surgeon of Thirty-sixth Street, was the first witness called. His testimony26 concerned the nature of the wound found in the murdered man’s head. As some of the facts presented by him are likely to prove of importance to us in our narrative27, I will proceed to give a synopsis28 of what he said.
Prefacing his remarks with some account of himself, and the manner in which he had been summoned to the house by one of the servants, he went on to state that, upon his arrival, he found the deceased lying on a bed in the second-story front room, with the blood clotted29 about a pistol-wound in the back of the head; having evidently been carried there from the adjoining apartment some hours after death. It was the only wound discovered on the body, and having probed it, he had found and extracted the bullet which he now handed to the jury. It was lying in the brain, having entered at the base of the skull30, passed obliquely31 upward, and at once struck the medulla oblongata, causing instant death. The fact of the ball having entered the brain in this peculiar32 manner he deemed worthy33 of note, since it would produce not only instantaneous death, but an utterly34 motionless one. Further, from the position of the bullet-hole and the direction taken by the bullet, it was manifestly impossible that the shot should have been fired by the man himself, even if the condition of the hair about the wound did not completely demonstrate the fact that the shot was fired from a point some three or four feet distant. Still further, considering the angle at which the bullet had entered the skull, it was evident that the deceased must not only have been seated at the time, a fact about which there could be no dispute, but he must also have been engaged in some occupation which drew his head forward. For, in order that a ball should enter the head of a man sitting erect35 at the angle seen here, of 45 degrees, it would be necessary, not only for the pistol to be held very low down, but in a peculiar position; while if the head had been bent36 forward, as in the act of writing, a man holding a pistol naturally with the elbow bent, might very easily fire a ball into the brain at the angle observed.
Upon being questioned in regard to the bodily health of Mr. Leavenworth, he replied that the deceased appeared to have been in good condition at the time of his death, but that, not being his attendant physician, he could not speak conclusively37 upon the subject without further examination; and, to the remark of a juryman, observed that he had not seen pistol or weapon lying upon the floor, or, indeed, anywhere else in either of the above-mentioned rooms.
I might as well add here what he afterwards stated, that from the position of the table, the chair, and the door behind it, the murderer, in order to satisfy all the conditions imposed by the situation, must have stood upon, or just within, the threshold of the passageway leading into the room beyond. Also, that as the ball was small, and from a rifled barrel, and thus especially liable to deflections while passing through bones and integuments, it seemed to him evident that the victim had made no effort to raise or turn his head when advanced upon by his destroyer; the fearful conclusion being that the footstep was an accustomed one, and the presence of its possessor in the room either known or expected.
The physician’s testimony being ended, the coroner picked up the bullet which had been laid on the table before him, and for a moment rolled it contemplatively between his fingers; then, drawing a pencil from his pocket, hastily scrawled38 a line or two on a piece of paper and, calling an officer to his side, delivered some command in a low tone. The officer, taking up the slip, looked at it for an instant knowingly, then catching39 up his hat left the room. Another moment, and the front door closed on him, and a wild halloo from the crowd of urchins40 without told of his appearance in the street. Sitting where I did, I had a full view of the corner. Looking out, I saw the officer stop there, hail a cab, hastily enter it, and disappear in the direction of Broadway.
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1
irreconcilable
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| adj.（指人）难和解的，势不两立的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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3
throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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4
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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7
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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8
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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9
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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10
meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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11
beckoning
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| adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 ) | |
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12
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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13
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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14
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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15
imprinted
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| v.盖印（imprint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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16
psyche
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| n.精神；灵魂 | |
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17
mellow
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| adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟 | |
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18
countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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19
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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20
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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21
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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22
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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23
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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24
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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26
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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27
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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28
synopsis
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| n.提要，梗概 | |
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29
clotted
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| adj.凝结的v.凝固( clot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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31
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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33
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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34
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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35
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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37
conclusively
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| adv.令人信服地，确凿地 | |
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38
scrawled
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| 乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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40
urchins
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| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
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