In a state little, if at all, short of distraction1, Sir Henry Ashwoode threw himself from his horse at Morley Court. That resource which he had calculated upon with absolute certainty had totally failed him; his last stake had been played and lost, and ruin in its most hideous2 aspect stared him in the face.
Spattered from heel to head with mud—for he had ridden at a reckless speed—with a face pale as that of a corpse3, and his dress all disordered, he entered the great old parlour, and scarcely knowing what he did, dashed the door to with violence and bolted it. His brain swam so that the floor seemed to heave and rock like a sea; he cast his laced hat and his splendid peruke (the envy and admiration4 of half the petit maîtres in Dublin) upon the ground, and stood in the centre of the room, with his hands clutched upon the temples of his bare, shorn head, and his teeth set, the breathing image of despair. From this state he was roused by some one endeavouring to open the door.
"Who's there?" he shouted, springing backward and drawing his sword, as if he expected a troop of constables5 to burst in.
Whoever the party may have been, the attempt was not repeated.
"What's the matter with me—am I mad?" said Ashwoode, after a terrible pause, and hurling6 his sword to the far end of the room. "Lie there. I've let the moment pass—I might have done it—cut the Gordian knot, and there an end of all. What brought me here?"
He stared about the room, for the first time conscious where he stood.
"Damn these pictures," he muttered; "they're all alive—everything moves towards me." He flung himself into a chair and clasped his fingers over his eyes. "I can't breathe—the place is suffocating7. Oh, God! I shall go mad!" He threw open one of the windows and stood gasping8 at it as if he stood at the mouth of a furnace.
"Everything is hot and strange and maddening—I can't endure this—brain and heart are bursting—it is HELL."
In a state of excitement which nearly amounted to downright insanity9, he stood at the open window. It was long before this extravagant10 agitation11 subsided12 so as to allow room for thought or remembrance. At length he closed the window, and began to pace the room from end to end with long and heavy steps. He stopped by a pier-table, on which stood a china bowl full of flowers, and plunging13 his hands into it, dashed the water over his head and face.
"Let me think—let me think," said he. "I was not wont14 to be thus overcome by reverse. Surely I can master as much as will pay that thrice-accursed bond, if I could but collect my thoughts—there must yet be the means of meeting it. Let that be but paid, and then, welcome ruin in any other shape. Let me see. Ay, the furniture; then the pictures—some of them valuable—very valuable; then the horses and the dogs; and then—ay, the plate. Why, to be sure—what have I been dreaming of?—the plate will go half-way to satisfy it; and then—what else? Let me see. The whole thing is six thousand four hundred and fifty pounds—what more? Is there nothing more to meet it? The plate—the furniture—the pictures—ay, idiot that I am, why did I not think of them an hour since?—my sister's jewels—why, it's all settled—how the devil came it that I never thought of them before? It's very well, however, as it is—for if I had, they would have gone long ago. Come, come, I breathe again—I have gotten my neck out of the hemp15, at all events. I'll send in for Craven this moment. He likes a bargain, and he shall have one—before to-morrow's sun goes down, that d——d bond shall be ashes. Mary's jewels are valued at two thousand pounds. Well, let him take them at one thousand five hundred; and the pictures, plate, furniture, dogs, and horses for the rest—and he has a bargain. These jewels have saved me—bribed the hangman. What care I how or when I die, if I but avert16 that. Ten to one I blow my brains out before another month. A short life and a merry one was ever the motto of the Ashwoodes; and as the mirth is pretty well over with me, I begin to think it time to retire. Satis edisti, satis bipisti, satis lusisti, tempus est tibi abire—what am I raving17 about? There's business to be done now—to it, then—to it like a man—while we are alive let us be alive."
Craven liked his bargain, and engaged that the money should be duly handed at noon next day to Sir Henry Ashwoode, who forthwith bade the worthy18 attorney good-night, and wrote the following brief note to Gordon Chancey, Esq.:—
"Sir,
"I shall call upon you to-morrow at one of the clock, if the hour suit you, upon particular business, and shall be much obliged by your having a certain security by you, which I shall then be prepared to redeem19.
"I remain, sir, your very obedient servant,
"Henry Ashwoode."
"So," said Sir Henry, with a half shudder20, as he folded and sealed this missive, "I shall, at all events, escape the halter. To-morrow night, spite of wreck21 and ruin, I shall sleep soundly. God knows, I want rest. Since I wrote that name, and gave that accursed bond out of my hands, my whole existence, waking and sleeping, has been but one abhorred22 and ghastly nightmare. I would gladly give a limb to have that d——d scrap23 of parchment in my hand this moment; but patience, patience—one night more—one night only—of fevered agony and hideous dreams—one last night—and then—once more I am my own master—my character and safety are again in my own hands—and may I die the death, if ever I risk them again as I have done—one night more—would—would to God it were morning!"
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1
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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2
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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3
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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4
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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5
constables
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| n.警察( constable的名词复数 ) | |
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6
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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7
suffocating
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| a.使人窒息的 | |
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8
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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9
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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10
extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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11
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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12
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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13
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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14
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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15
hemp
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| n.大麻；纤维 | |
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16
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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17
raving
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| adj.说胡话的；疯狂的，怒吼的；非常漂亮的；令人醉心[痴心]的v.胡言乱语(rave的现在分词)n.胡话；疯话adv.胡言乱语地；疯狂地 | |
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18
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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19
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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20
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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21
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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22
abhorred
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| v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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23
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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