No lady closer.”
Henry IV.
Whose edge is sharper than the sword whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile.”
Cymbeline.
THE door was opened by Molly. “You will find Miss Eleanore in the drawing-room, sir,” she said, ushering3 me in.
Fearing I knew not what, I hurried to the room thus indicated, feeling as never before the sumptuousness4 of the magnificent hall with its antique flooring, carved woods, and bronze ornamentations:—the mockery of things for the first time forcing itself upon me. Laying my hand on the drawing-room door, I listened. All was silent. Slowly pulling it open, I lifted the heavy satin curtains hanging before me to the floor, and looked within. What a picture met my eyes!
Sitting in the light of a solitary5 gas jet, whose faint glimmering6 just served to make visible the glancing satin and stainless7 marble of the gorgeous apartment, I beheld8 Eleanore Leavenworth. Pale as the sculptured image of the Psyche9 that towered above her from the mellow10 dusk of the bow-window near which she sat, beautiful as it, and almost as immobile, she crouched11 with rigid12 hands frozen in forgotten entreaty13 before her, apparently14 insensible to sound, movement, or touch; a silent figure of despair in presence of an implacable fate.
Impressed by the scene, I stood with my hand upon the curtain, hesitating if to advance or retreat, when suddenly a sharp tremble shook her impassive frame, the rigid hands unlocked, the stony15 eyes softened16, and, springing to her feet, she uttered a cry of satisfaction, and advanced towards me.
“Miss Leavenworth!” I exclaimed, starting at the sound of my own voice.
She paused, and pressed her hands to her face, as if the world and all she had forgotten had rushed back upon her at this simple utterance17 of her name.
“What is it?” I asked.
Her hands fell heavily. “Do you not know? They—they are beginning to say that I—” she paused, and clutched her throat. “Read!” she gasped18, pointing to a newspaper lying on the floor at her feet.
I stooped and lifted what showed itself at first glance to be the Evening Telegram. It needed but a single look to inform me to what she referred. There, in startling characters, I beheld:
THE LEAVENWORTH MURDER
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MYSTERIOUS CASE
A MEMBER OF THE MURDERED MAN’S OWN FAMILY
STRONGLY SUSPECTED OF THE CRIME
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN NEW YORK UNDER A CLOUD
PAST HISTORY OF MISS ELEANORE LEAVENWORTH
I was prepared for it; had schooled myself for this very thing, you might say; and yet I could not help recoiling19. Dropping the paper from my hand, I stood before her, longing20 and yet dreading21 to look into her face.
“What does it mean?” she panted; “what, what does it mean? Is the world mad?” and her eyes, fixed22 and glassy, stared into mine as if she found it impossible to grasp the sense of this outrage23.
I shook my head. I could not reply.
“To accuse me” she murmured; “me, me!” striking her breast with her clenched24 hand, “who loved the very ground he trod upon; who would have cast my own body between him and the deadly bullet if I had only known his danger. Oh!” she cried, “it is not a slander they utter, but a dagger25 which they thrust into my heart!”
Overcome by her misery26, but determined27 not to show my compassion28 until more thoroughly29 convinced of her complete innocence30, I replied, after a pause:
“This seems to strike you with great surprise, Miss Leavenworth; were you not then able to foresee what must follow your determined reticence31 upon certain points? Did you know so little of human nature as to imagine that, situated32 as you are, you could keep silence in regard to any matter connected with this crime, without arousing the antagonism33 of the crowd, to say nothing of the suspicions of the police?”
“But—but——”
I hurriedly waved my hand. “When you defied the coroner to find any suspicious paper in your possession; when”—I forced myself to speak—“you refused to tell Mr. Gryce how you came in possession of the key—”
“Don’t,” she whispered, looking in terror about her. “Don’t! Sometimes I think the walls have ears, and that the very shadows listen.”
“Ah,” I returned; “then you hope to keep from the world what is known to the detectives?”
She did not answer.
“Miss Leavenworth,” I went on, “I am afraid you do not comprehend your position. Try to look at the case for a moment in the light of an unprejudiced person; try to see for yourself the necessity of explaining——”
“But I cannot explain,” she murmured huskily.
“Cannot!”
I do not know whether it was the tone of my voice or the word itself, but that simple expression seemed to affect her like a blow.
“Oh!” she cried, shrinking back: “you do not, cannot doubt me, too? I thought that you—” and stopped. “I did not dream that I—” and stopped again. Suddenly her whole form quivered. “Oh, I see! You have mistrusted me from the first; the appearances against me have been too strong”; and she sank inert35, lost in the depths of her shame and humiliation36. “Ah, but now I am forsaken37!” she murmured.
The appeal went to my heart. Starting forward, I exclaimed: “Miss Leavenworth, I am but a man; I cannot see you so distressed38. Say that you are innocent, and I will believe you, without regard to appearances.”
Springing erect39, she towered upon me. “Can any one look in my face and accuse me of guilt40?” Then, as I sadly shook my head, she hurriedly gasped: “You want further proof!” and, quivering with an extraordinary emotion, she sprang to the door.
“Come, then,” she cried, “come!” her eyes flashing full of resolve upon me.
Aroused, appalled41, moved in spite of myself, I crossed the room to where she stood; but she was already in the hall. Hastening after her, filled with a fear I dared not express, I stood at the foot of the stairs; she was half-way to the top. Following her into the hall above, I saw her form standing42 erect and noble at the door of her uncle’s bedroom.
“Come!” she again cried, but this time in a calm and reverential tone; and flinging the door open before her, she passed in.
Subduing43 the wonder which I felt, I slowly followed her. There was no light in the room of death, but the flame of the gas-burner, at the far end of the hall, shone weirdly44 in, and by its glimmering I beheld her kneeling at the shrouded46 bed, her head bowed above that of the murdered man, her hand upon his breast.
“You have said that if I declared my innocence you would believe me,” she exclaimed, lifting her head as I entered. “See here,” and laying her cheek against the pallid47 brow of her dead benefactor48, she kissed the clay-cold lips softly, wildly, agonizedly, then, leaping to her feet, cried, in a subdued49 but thrilling tone: “Could I do that if I were guilty? Would not the breath freeze on my lips, the blood congeal50 in my veins51, and my heart faint at this contact? Son of a father loved and reverenced52, can you believe me to be a woman stained with crime when I can do this?” and kneeling again she cast her arms over and about that inanimate form, looking in my face at the same time with an expression no mortal touch could paint, nor tongue describe.
“In olden times,” she went on, “they used to say that a dead body would bleed if its murderer came in contact with it. What then would happen here if I, his daughter, his cherished child, loaded with benefits, enriched with his jewels, warm with his kisses, should be the thing they accuse me of? Would not the body of the outraged53 dead burst its very shroud45 and repel54 me?”
I could not answer; in the presence of some scenes the tongue forgets its functions.
“Oh!” she went on, “if there is a God in heaven who loves justice and hates a crime, let Him hear me now. If I, by thought or action, with or without intention, have been the means of bringing this dear head to this pass; if so much as the shadow of guilt, let alone the substance, lies upon my heart and across these feeble woman’s hands, may His wrath55 speak in righteous retribution to the world, and here, upon the breast of the dead, let this guilty forehead fall, never to rise again!”
An awed56 silence followed this invocation; then a long, long sigh of utter relief rose tremulously from my breast, and all the feelings hitherto suppressed in my heart burst their bonds, and leaning towards her I took her hand in mine.
“You do not, cannot believe me tainted57 by crime now?” she whispered, the smile which does not stir the lips, but rather emanates58 from the countenance59, like the flowering of an inner peace, breaking softly out on cheek and brow.
“Crime!” The word broke uncontrollably from my lips; “crime!”
“No,” she said calmly, “the man does not live who could accuse me of crime, here.”
For reply, I took her hand, which lay in mine, and placed it on the breast of the dead.
Softly, slowly, gratefully, she bowed her head.
“Now let the struggle come!” she whispered. “There is one who will believe in me, however dark appearances may be.”
点击收听单词发音
1 secrecy | |
n.秘密,保密,隐蔽 | |
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2 slander | |
n./v.诽谤,污蔑 | |
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3 ushering | |
v.引,领,陪同( usher的现在分词 ) | |
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4 sumptuousness | |
奢侈,豪华 | |
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5 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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6 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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7 stainless | |
adj.无瑕疵的,不锈的 | |
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8 beheld | |
v.看,注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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9 psyche | |
n.精神;灵魂 | |
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10 mellow | |
adj.柔和的;熟透的;v.变柔和;(使)成熟 | |
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11 crouched | |
v.屈膝,蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12 rigid | |
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的 | |
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13 entreaty | |
n.恳求,哀求 | |
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14 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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15 stony | |
adj.石头的,多石头的,冷酷的,无情的 | |
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16 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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17 utterance | |
n.用言语表达,话语,言语 | |
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18 gasped | |
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要 | |
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19 recoiling | |
v.畏缩( recoil的现在分词 );退缩;报应;返回 | |
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20 longing | |
n.(for)渴望 | |
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21 dreading | |
v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的现在分词 ) | |
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22 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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23 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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24 clenched | |
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25 dagger | |
n.匕首,短剑,剑号 | |
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26 misery | |
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦 | |
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27 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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28 compassion | |
n.同情,怜悯 | |
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29 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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30 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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31 reticence | |
n.沉默,含蓄 | |
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32 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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33 antagonism | |
n.对抗,敌对,对立 | |
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34 pall | |
v.覆盖,使平淡无味;n.柩衣,棺罩;棺材;帷幕 | |
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35 inert | |
adj.无活动能力的,惰性的;迟钝的 | |
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36 humiliation | |
n.羞辱 | |
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37 Forsaken | |
adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词 | |
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38 distressed | |
痛苦的 | |
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39 erect | |
n./v.树立,建立,使竖立;adj.直立的,垂直的 | |
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40 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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41 appalled | |
v.使惊骇,使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的;丧胆的 | |
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42 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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43 subduing | |
征服( subdue的现在分词 ); 克制; 制服; 色变暗 | |
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44 weirdly | |
古怪地 | |
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45 shroud | |
n.裹尸布,寿衣;罩,幕;vt.覆盖,隐藏 | |
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46 shrouded | |
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密 | |
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47 pallid | |
adj.苍白的,呆板的 | |
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48 benefactor | |
n. 恩人,行善的人,捐助人 | |
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49 subdued | |
adj. 屈服的,柔和的,减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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50 congeal | |
v.凝结,凝固 | |
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51 veins | |
n.纹理;矿脉( vein的名词复数 );静脉;叶脉;纹理 | |
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52 reverenced | |
v.尊敬,崇敬( reverence的过去式和过去分词 );敬礼 | |
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53 outraged | |
a.震惊的,义愤填膺的 | |
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54 repel | |
v.击退,抵制,拒绝,排斥 | |
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55 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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56 awed | |
adj.充满敬畏的,表示敬畏的v.使敬畏,使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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57 tainted | |
adj.腐坏的;污染的;沾污的;感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 );使污染;败坏;被污染,腐坏,败坏 | |
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58 emanates | |
v.从…处传出,传出( emanate的第三人称单数 );产生,表现,显示 | |
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59 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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