“I have found out where was hid the ‘Lake of Wine.’”
Tuke, withdrawn1 into his dining-hall, was sprung to his feet and faced his serving-man with wide eyes. He, the latter, was all hurried and high-strung. His lips looked as if his teeth were chattering2.
“God forgive me, sir,” he said, “and grant me no break in your favour. I would, in His holy name, the bugbear had not risen again to vex3 us. But so it is, and I must do my duty by acquainting you of the particulars.”
“Why, man, what’s all the to-do? You are not about to convict yourself?”
“Only of carelessness or stupidity, sir, before Heaven. I might have guessed, had I the wit of a mouse. But her cranks and her whimsies4, poor soul, have been little inviting5 to my soberer tastes, and——”
“Whose cranks?”
“My sister Darda’s.”
“Has she revealed the hiding-place?”
“She has known it all along, from near the time when she first brought the deadly thing into her collection.”
“Now, Dennis, will you craze me by assuming so much of intuition on my part? Out with it all, man! To what are you alluding6?”
“Yes, yes,” was the low answer.
“And what of it?”
“It is hid therein.”
A pregnant pause fell between the two.
“Now,” said the master presently, “give me the whole history as plain as you can speak.”
The man looked up appealingly. Some strange knowledge or emotion was impeding10 his every effort at an explanation. But at last he forced himself to speech.
“I have noticed her very strange of late—ever since—I have noticed her very strange, sir. Her soul seemed caught in a deeper thrall11 than she had known before. Somehow there has appeared more of the woman in her eyes and less of madness. To-day, in the dusk afternoon, she came upon me out of your library, sir, where she was at work. ‘Dennis,’ she said, all in a moment, ‘isn’t there a love that can be bribed12 with gifts of jewels?’ I answered the poor wench laughing—‘Oh, yes; no doubt there was.’ ‘Tell him,’ she said—‘tell him, your master, that I know where the great ruby13 is hid. I said so once to him before; but then it was for hate and he should know nothing. Now he shall learn the truth if he will.’”
“I remember something of it. Go on.”
“‘Tell him I said to you,’ she went on, ‘that the chalky dead eye of the skull is the jewel itself, and that the eye-socket is its hiding-place.’”
Tuke drew himself back, uttered a great sigh, and stood staring.
“Oh, sir,” continued the man, “I was as wildly incredulous of it as you. Much more she said, and that I am fain not to injustice14 the poor wench by repeating. But on the main point she was firm.”
“That the very dead eye of the horror was the ‘Lake of Wine’ itself?”
“Yes. And—oh! sir, when at last I came to think of the living highwayman as I knew him; of his resourceful cunning and ingenuity15; of how, in my memory of him, this fixed16 and protruding17 eye, painted into the semblance18 of a real one, stood out horribly, under the nerveless lid, I was forced to the conclusion that she spoke19 right, and had been all these years the solitary20 warder of the secret.”
“Why did she hold, nor ever reveal it? How could she guess it was there? And why, being there, did it not escape when the head fell?”
“Sir, sir, think! She is mad. She would penetrate21 and maintain such a secret with every artifice22. As to the stone’s breaking away, the skin was all contracted and toughened about it like leather.”
“Dennis—this is an insane idea! And yet—why, great God! the skull’s gone!”
He stared blankly at his man.
“Oh!” he murmured in a moment, “if by any chance there is truth in this—if the wild story is no bogle of the girl’s distemper—how my own peevishness23 and cruelty react upon myself!”
He took the other by the shoulder.
“Dennis,” he said, “you have your revenge at last.”
“No, no, no!”
“Then, where is the skull? What have you done with it?”
The man hesitated.
“Did you burn it, destroy it?” cried Tuke. “Speak out, man! I am the only one to blame.”
“I did not destroy it, sir. I——”
“Yes, yes. Oh, out with it, in the devil’s name!”
“I gave it to the woman, and she took it away.”
“The woman? What—? Ah! you mean the gipsy I saw you in talk with.”
“Where is she?” he said faintly. “Do you know where she is?”
“I—yes, sir. I could lead you to the wild place she inhabits.”
“You must do so,” said Tuke eagerly. “I have done an unwitting wrong to a great sufferer. Dennis, you will lead me to her, won’t you? and help me to the recovery of this accursed stone?”
“Sir, it is accursed, I think; but I will lead you to her.”
“Good fellow!—But why did you make her its custodian25? What did she want with it; and has she it still?”
“I will answer for her, with her life, in that.”
He looked strange, and his master as strangely on him.
“What did she want with it?” repeated the latter.
“Sir, sir—how can I say? Perhaps for memory of a great criminal, God forgive him! I implore26 you not to force me to an answer.”
Tuke scarcely seemed to heed27 him, or his obvious distress28. His vision was lost in pre-occupation.
“Wait!” he said, as if talking to himself. “We must take Luvaine into our confidence before we go further. It is his right to know all; and he must judge me fairly. Be quiet and secret, my good fellow, and don’t touch upon this subject again without my invitation.”
He dismissed his servant, and sat for an hour in the red fire-light deeply pondering. The snow pricked29 and rustled30 on the casement31, as he dreamed by the still glowing hearth32. A stealthy noise of mice was behind the wainscot, and through all the house the stealthy tread of unseen things wandering about the ghostly rooms overhead. One of these seemed to reveal itself—here, at his feet. It crept in very quietly, its white bosom33 heaving, its hair like a flame of autumn mist, and put warm lips to his hand as it hung slackly, and seized and held it a moment against its soft neck—and so went silently the way it had come.
By and by he roused himself, and looked up with a smile, half-comic and half-pitiful.
“For a country squire34 of particular morals,” he murmured, “I am quite unduly35 St. Anthonied by these visions. Did ever man so pay the penalty of his weakness?”
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1
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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2
chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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3
vex
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| vt.使烦恼，使苦恼 | |
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whimsies
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| n.怪念头( whimsy的名词复数 )；异想天开；怪脾气；与众不同的幽默感 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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6
alluding
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| 提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 ) | |
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7
gallows
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| n.绞刑架，绞台 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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9
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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impeding
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| a.(尤指坏事)即将发生的，临近的 | |
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thrall
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| n.奴隶；奴隶制 | |
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bribed
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| v.贿赂( bribe的过去式和过去分词 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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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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protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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18
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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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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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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21
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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artifice
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| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
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peevishness
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| 脾气不好；爱发牢骚 | |
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recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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custodian
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| n.保管人，监护人；公共建筑看守 | |
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implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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27
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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29
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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rustled
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| v.发出沙沙的声音( rustle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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31
casement
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| n.竖铰链窗；窗扉 | |
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32
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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33
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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34
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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35
unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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