IN spite of Alice’s warning, in spite of the deadly peril1 that surrounded him, Clancarty lingered at his wife’s side. It was hard to say farewell, hard to leave her, and though her heart was filled with misgivings2 and anxieties, Lady Betty could not urge him to go; indeed, she clung to him, weeping at the thought of a parting that involved such perils3 and hardships for him and such sorrow for her. Moreover, there was much to talk of and to plan. They did not mean to be separated long; she was to go with him to the Continent or to Ireland, and there were a thousand details to arrange, a thousand hopes and fears to strengthen or allay—and they were lovers, and when did lovers ever learn to watch the tedious hand of time?
The ball at Lord Bridgewater’s was forgotten, Spencer was forgotten, all the world, in fact, while Betty—lovely with happiness, glowing[Pg 236] and smiling in her splendid gown—thought of no one but her husband, and desired no admiration4 but his.
“Ah, my darling,” he whispered, looking down at her as her face lay against his breast, “can you give up all this?” he touched her lace and jewels, “and this?” he pointed5 at the luxurious6 room, “and all you have and are—to follow a poor exile into poverty and obscurity?”
She smiled divinely.
“To follow my beloved even to the ends of the earth,” she said, “‘for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, until death do us part,’” she murmured tenderly.
“Amen!” he said, and laid his face against her soft hair, moved—how deeply she could not know; her utter trust, her fondness touched him to the heart. This splendid woman, with every gift of nature and of fortune, willing to renounce7 all for him—he held her close and his eyes dimmed.
“Ah,” he said, “’tis worth living, dear heart, for your sake! When I thought you scorned my poverty and would rather be the wife of Savile than mine, I cared not if I died—but now! Ah, Betty, you could make a dungeon9 paradise.”
[Pg 237]“Nay,” she replied, “it shall not be a dungeon, but a home, my husband, somewhere—even where these quarrelling kings cannot disturb our paradise. Faith, my politics grow strangely mixed,” she added, with a smile.
“Love knows no politics,” he answered, smiling too, “you and I shall not quarrel over our principles, sweetheart.”
“Oh, my lady,” she cried, “there’s something wrong—I hear strange voices below, there are men upon the stairs! My lord must hide.”
Betty sprang to her feet.
“Quick!” she cried, “Donough, there is the other door!”
“’Tis useless,” cried Alice; “they come from both sides—I saw them!”
For an instant he hesitated; he, too, heard the heavy feet in the gallery, then he shook his head.
“No, Betty, dear,” he said, “I cannot be hunted like a rat in a hole; I must face them like a man, like your husband.”
[Pg 238]“Oh, the window, my lord!” she cried, “there is a balcony!”
“Too late, my girl,” Lord Clancarty replied calmly, the light flashing in his gray eyes, his head erect14; “no, no, I’ve never let an enemy see my back—I can’t learn to run now.”
Betty looked up at him and caught her breath; here was a man after her own heart. She felt his hand go to his sword and she, too, looked toward the door. They had not even thought of barring it, but it would have been useless, for it was thrown wide open by a sheriff’s deputy, who was followed by a guard of stout15 yeomen from the Tower.
“Is Donough Macarthy, Earl of Clancarty, here?” demanded the sheriff, fixing his eyes on the earl as he stood there, with his wife clinging to him.
“I am Clancarty,” he replied proudly. Resistance would have been worse than useless, and he only pressed his dear Betty closer to his heart; he knew that separation was inevitable16.
“I have a warrant to seize the body of the Earl of Clancarty and carry him to the Tower, on the charge of high treason,” said the officer, producing the parchment and reading the warrant aloud in the king’s name.
[Pg 239]“I do not acknowledge the authority of the Prince of Orange,” said Clancarty calmly, “but I must submit to superior numbers,” he added, with a scornful glance at the six stout yeomen who had filed into the room and stood gaping17 at Lady Clancarty. “You have arrested me in the apartments of my wife. I came to London solely18 to see the Countess of Clancarty, but I will go with you without further protest.”
The officer bowed to Lady Clancarty.
“I am reluctant to part you, my lord,” he said grimly, “but we have no time to lose; my orders are explicit20.”
“You might find a better office, sir,” said Lady Betty, withering21 him with a look, and then breaking down when her husband kissed her farewell.
“Have comfort, dear heart,” he whispered, though he knew the case was desperate; “bear up for my sake—now!”
But she clung to him in a passion of grief, begging to go with him to the Tower until it wrung his heart anew to leave her. Even the soldiers glanced away in grim silence, and she was half unconscious when Clancarty unclasped her hands from his neck and laid her in Alice’s arms.
[Pg 240]“Care for her, Alice,” he said, in a tone of deep but restrained emotion, “guard her tenderly, do not leave her in this hour of trial—for they will tear me from her! My poor darling—my poor wife!”
He lingered to kiss her again, to push the soft hair back from her forehead, and it was only a final order from the sheriff that took him from her side.
The guards had escorted him out at last, or rather he had walked out proudly with them, though his heart was aching for her. They were already at the lower door when Lady Clancarty, recovering consciousness, sprang up to come face to face with Spencer. Then the truth flashed upon her and she stood before him with a terrible face.
“You—you betrayed him!” she cried, “you sent those men here to drag him away!”
Lord Spencer took it as a compliment.
“I did,” he said piously22; “I delivered the traitor23 to his fate; I would do it were he my own flesh and blood. No sacrifice is too great for truth and justice.”
“You hypocrite!” cried Lady Betty passionately24; “you have broken your sister’s heart for the sake of your pride—your[Pg 241] politics! You have murdered my husband—my husband!” she wrung her hands in agony.
“I have done my duty,” he replied coldly.
“Your duty?” she cried bitterly; “was it then your duty to betray your sister’s husband? To force an officer and his guard into your sister’s rooms—to trample25 on her tenderest feelings—to mortify26 and crush her? Duty!” she repeated scornfully, “then may no man henceforth do his duty! Such virtue27 is more vile8 than vice—such courage worse than cowardice28! How dare you face me or look at me? An injured woman! I mark your white face, sir, and I marvel29 at its pallor; it should burn with shame.”
“How dared I?” she repeated, “how dared I have my husband with me? Whom should I have with me if not my husband?”
She paused for breath; her bosom31 rose and fell, she put her hands to her throat as if she choked. It was a moment before she could speak.
“What have you done?” she went on passionately, her slender figure towering, her eyes[Pg 242] on fire; “you have torn him from my arms, you have sent him to his death, but you cannot tear him from my heart! While that beats, while the blood runs through these veins32, I will love him—love him! And he is my husband—my husband, do you hear, you coward? I bear his name, I am his, his flesh and blood, his very own—you cannot separate us! Even if you kill him, our souls are one; you cannot part them any more than you can rend33 the sky asunder34! I am not your sister—I am Clancarty’s wife.”
“Shame on you, madam,” said Spencer bitterly, his face like ashes, gray and white; “shame on you to declare yourself so passionately enamoured of a Jacobite—a reprobate—a—”
“Your husband,” he mocked; “are you sure that he is your lawful35 husband? A sneaking36 rogue37 who crept to your room by a back-stair—who would not face your family like a man of honor!”
“What insult more have you for me?” she cried; “’tis you who dared not face him; you crept behind him like a coward, you—you Judas!”
[Pg 243]She caught her breath, her hands at her throat again.
“Sit down, madam,” said his lordship coldly; “your fury suffocates38 you. It will not avail,” he laughed, “to set the rogue free!”
She looked at him strangely.
“Are you human?” she asked, “are you like other men?—or some monster, some abortive39 creature, cast upon the earth to wreck40 the lives of others? How could any woman marry you? I think you are not human—though we are of the same mother!”
Spencer laughed bitterly.
“Quite human, Elizabeth,” he said sneering41, “as human as my termagant sister—as the rogue they are carrying now to the Tower, where, I trust, he’ll rest well—and safe.”
She recoiled42 half way across the room and stared at him wildly, as if her very senses were bewildered.
“To the Tower?” she repeated, like a child who had a lesson by rote19, “the great gloomy Tower yonder?”
“Would you have preferred Newgate?” my lord asked maliciously43, beginning to find some joy in a situation that had not been without humiliation44.
[Pg 244]“They carry my husband to the Tower!” Lady Betty cried wildly, clasping her hands to her bosom as if to still the tumult45 there, “and I stand here talking to the Judas who betrayed him! Go hang yourself, my lord,—surely you cannot want to live,” she went on, mad with her despair; “let me see your face no more. The very air you breathe poisons me. Never, never shall the same roof shelter us again! I go, sir, your sister no longer, but the beggar’s wife. I go to share his fate, to starve with him, to die for him or with him! But to see you no more forever and forever!”
She rushed past him, sweeping46 her skirts aside that they might not so much as touch him, and ran wildly out of the room.
Fleeing through the long galleries and down the stairs, in her splendid dress, and heedless of the gaping servants and of the bitter cold she went out, bareheaded, into the night.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
peril
|
|
| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
misgivings
|
|
| n.疑虑，担忧，害怕；疑虑，担心，恐惧( misgiving的名词复数 )；疑惧 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
perils
|
|
| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
luxurious
|
|
| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
renounce
|
|
| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
vile
|
|
| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
dungeon
|
|
| n.地牢，土牢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
spoke
|
|
| 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 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
catching
|
|
| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
wrung
|
|
| 绞( wring的过去式和过去分词 )； 握紧（尤指别人的手）； 把（湿衣服）拧干； 绞掉（水） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
lash
|
|
| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
gaping
|
|
| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
solely
|
|
| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
rote
|
|
| n.死记硬背，生搬硬套 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
explicit
|
|
| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
withering
|
|
| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
piously
|
|
| adv.虔诚地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
traitor
|
|
| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
passionately
|
|
| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
trample
|
|
| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
mortify
|
|
| v.克制，禁欲，使受辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
virtue
|
|
| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
cowardice
|
|
| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
marvel
|
|
| vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
saucy
|
|
| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
bosom
|
|
| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
rend
|
|
| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
asunder
|
|
| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
lawful
|
|
| adj.法律许可的，守法的，合法的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
sneaking
|
|
| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
rogue
|
|
| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
suffocates
|
|
| （使某人）窒息而死( suffocate的第三人称单数 )； （将某人）闷死； 让人感觉闷热； 憋气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
abortive
|
|
| adj.不成功的，发育不全的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
wreck
|
|
| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
sneering
|
|
| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
recoiled
|
|
| v.畏缩( recoil的过去式和过去分词 )；退缩；报应；返回 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
maliciously
|
|
| adv.有敌意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
humiliation
|
|
| n.羞辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
tumult
|
|
| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
sweeping
|
|
| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |