—Milton.
“MR. RAYMOND!”
The voice was low and searching; it reached me in my dreams, waked me, and caused me to look up. Morning had begun to break, and by its light I saw, standing1 in the open door leading into the dining-room, the forlorn figure of the tramp who had been admitted into the house the night before. Angry and perplexed2, I was about to bid her be gone, when, to my great surprise, she pulled out a red handkerchief from her pocket, and I recognized Q.
“Read that,” said he, hastily advancing and putting a slip of paper into my hand. And, without another word or look, left the room, closing the door behind him.
Rising in considerable agitation3, I took it to the window, and by the rapidly increasing light, succeeded in making out the rudely scrawled4 lines as follows:
“She is here; I have seen her; in the room marked with a cross in the accompanying plan. Wait till eight o’clock, then go up. I will contrive5 some means of getting Mrs. B—— out of the house.”
Hannah, then, was in the small back room over the dining-room, and I had not been deceived in thinking I had heard steps overhead, the evening before. Greatly relieved, and yet at the same time much moved at the near prospect7 of being brought face to face with one who we had every reason to believe was acquainted with the dreadful secret involved in the Leavenworth murder, I lay down once more, and endeavored to catch another hour’s rest. But I soon gave up the effort in despair, and contented9 myself with listening to the sounds of awakening10 life which now began to make themselves heard in the house and neighborhood.
As Q had closed the door after him, I could only faintly hear Mrs. Belden when she came down-stairs. But the short, surprised exclamation11 which she uttered upon reaching the kitchen and finding the tramp gone and the back-door wide open, came plainly enough to my ears, and for a moment I was not sure but that Q had made a mistake in thus leaving so unceremoniously. But he had not studied Mrs. Belden’s character in vain. As she came, in the course of her preparations for breakfast, into the room adjoining mine, I could hear her murmur12 to herself:
“Poor thing! She has lived so long in the fields and at the roadside, she finds it unnatural13 to be cooped up in the house all night.”
The trial of that breakfast! The effort to eat and appear unconcerned, to chat and make no mistake,—May I never be called upon to go through such another! But at last it was over, and I was left free to await in my own room the time for the dreaded14 though much-to-be-desired interview. Slowly the minutes passed; eight o’clock struck, when, just as the last vibration15 ceased, there came a loud knock at the backdoor, and a little boy burst into the kitchen, crying at the top of his voice: “Papa’s got a fit! Oh, Mrs. Belden! papa’s got a fit; do come!”
Rising, as was natural, I hastened towards the kitchen, meeting Mrs. Belden’s anxious face in the doorway16.
“A poor wood-chopper down the street has fallen in a fit,” she said. “Will you please watch over the house while I see what I can do for him? I won’t be absent any longer than I can help.”
And almost without waiting for my reply, she caught up a shawl, threw it over her head, and followed the urchin17, who was in a state of great excitement, out into the street.
Instantly the silence of death seemed to fill the house, and a dread8 the greatest I had ever experienced settled upon me. To leave the kitchen, go up those stairs, and confront that girl seemed for the moment beyond my power; but, once on the stair, I found myself relieved from the especial dread which had overwhelmed me, and possessed18, instead, of a sort of combative19 curiosity that led me to throw open the door which I saw at the top with a certain fierceness new to my nature, and not altogether suitable, perhaps, to the occasion.
I found myself in a large bedroom, evidently the one occupied by Mrs. Belden the night before. Barely stopping to note certain evidences of her having passed a restless night, I passed on to the door leading into the room marked with a cross in the plan drawn20 for me by Q. It was a rough affair, made of pine boards rudely painted. Pausing before it, I listened. All was still. Raising the latch21, I endeavored to enter. The door was locked. Pausing again, I bent22 my ear to the keyhole. Not a sound came from within; the grave itself could not have been stiller. Awe-struck and irresolute23, I looked about me and questioned what I had best do. Suddenly I remembered that, in the plan Q had given me, I had seen intimation of another door leading into this same room from the one on the opposite side of the hall. Going hastily around to it, I tried it with my hand. But it was as fast as the other. Convinced at last that nothing was left me but force, I spoke24 for the first time, and, calling the girl by name, commanded her to open the door. Receiving no response, I said aloud with an accent of severity:
“Hannah Chester, you are discovered; if you do not open the door, we shall be obliged to break it down; save us the trouble, then, and open immediately.”
Still no reply.
Going back a step, I threw my whole weight against the door. It creaked ominously25, but still resisted.
Stopping only long enough to be sure no movement had taken place within, I pressed against it once more, this time with all my strength, when it flew from its hinges, and I fell forward into a room so stifling26, chill, and dark that I paused for a moment to collect my scattered27 senses before venturing to look around me. It was well I did so. In another moment, the pallor and fixity of the pretty Irish face staring upon me from amidst the tumbled clothes of a bed, drawn up against the wall at my side, struck me with so deathlike a chill that, had it not been for that one instant of preparation, I should have been seriously dismayed. As it was, I could not prevent a feeling of sickly apprehension28 from seizing me as I turned towards the silent figure stretched so near, and observed with what marble-like repose29 it lay beneath the patchwork30 quilt drawn across it, asking myself if sleep could be indeed so like death in its appearance. For that it was a sleeping woman I beheld31, I did not seriously doubt. There were too many evidences of careless life in the room for any other inference. The clothes, left just as she had stepped from them in a circle on the floor; the liberal plate of food placed in waiting for her on the chair by the door, —food amongst which I recognized, even in this casual glance, the same dish which we had had for breakfast —all and everything in the room spoke of robust32 life and reckless belief in the morrow.
And yet so white was the brow turned up to the bare beams of the unfinished wall above her, so glassy the look of the half-opened eyes, so motionless the arm lying half under, half over, the edge of the coverlid that it was impossible not to shrink from contact with a creature so sunk in unconsciousness. But contact seemed to be necessary; any cry which I could raise at that moment would be ineffectual enough to pierce those dull ears. Nerving myself, therefore, I stooped and lifted the hand which lay with its telltale scar mockingly uppermost, intending to speak, call, do something, anything, to arouse her. But at the first touch of her hand on mine an unspeakable horror thrilled me. It was not only icy cold, but stiff. Dropping it in my agitation, I started back and again surveyed the face. Great God! when did life ever look like that? What sleep ever wore such pallid33 hues34, such accusing fixedness35? Bending once more I listened at the lips. Not a breath, nor a stir. Shocked to the core of my being, I made one final effort. Tearing down the clothes, I laid my hand upon her heart. It was pulseless as stone.
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1
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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2
perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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3
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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4
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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5
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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6
sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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7
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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8
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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9
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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10
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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11
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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12
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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13
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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14
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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15
vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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16
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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17
urchin
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| n.顽童；海胆 | |
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18
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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19
combative
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| adj.好战的；好斗的 | |
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20
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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21
latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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22
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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23
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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24
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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25
ominously
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| adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地 | |
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26
stifling
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| a.令人窒息的 | |
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27
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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28
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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29
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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30
patchwork
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| n.混杂物；拼缝物 | |
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31
beheld
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| 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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32
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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33
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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34
hues
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| 色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点 | |
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35
fixedness
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| n.固定；稳定；稳固 | |
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