Anne packed for a space, then gave it up. She couldn’t go on with it, she wanted to be down-stairs, not lose one minute of the last evening at Gull1 Island. Her spirits, oppressed by Joe’s behavior, began to bubble again, foam2 up in sparkling effervescence. You couldn’t pack clothes in a trunk when you felt like dancing and the hour was too beautiful for belief and your lover might be waiting for you in the garden. She slipped off her negligée and chose her most becoming dress, leaf-green crêpe that made her look slim as a reed and turned her skin to ivory. She smoothed the black satin of her hair and hung round her neck the chain of green beads3 she had bought for a dollar but you’d never guess it. And she figured in front of the glass, studying her reflection this way and that, trying to see herself with new eyes [Pg 94]and judge if she was a girl a man might be proud of.
While thus engaged she heard the chug-chug of the launch. It must be Joe going, and anxious to see the departure of that darkling and uncomfortable spirit she went to the window. It looked out across the slant4 of roofs that covered the kitchen wing and commanded a side-view of the channel. Across the swift-sweeping current the boat came into view, skimming forward like a home-faring bird. Anne leaned over the sill, following it with startled eyes—where was Joe? There was Gabriel in front at the wheel, but in the back—she stretched her neck trying to see to the bottom of the cock-pit, there certainly was no one on the seat.
“Oh, could he have missed it?” she groaned5 and cast up her eyes as if invoking6 the protection of Heaven against such a calamity7.
But he couldn’t have, he wanted to go, it was his holiday and he thought Gull Island was a beastly hole. He must have been where she [Pg 95]couldn’t see him. It was difficult to think where this might be—but he might have been bending down to put something in his suit-case. A chair could have hidden him. She remembered what he had said about leaving his baggage at the living-room entrance. If it was still there then he had missed the boat and she ran down-stairs, hoping with a prayerful earnestness that she would not find it. It was not there. “Then he is gone,” she said to herself with a satisfied nod and drew a freer breath. The weight lifted, she went across to the garden where she might find Bassett, and as she covered the space between the doors the picture of the launch rose on her inner vision with Gabriel the only visible occupant.
Bassett was not in the garden, but Shine was, sauntering into view from the balcony end. He’d been loafing about he said, just come up from the Point. He’d been all round it, wonderful down there now and going to be more wonderful, and he pointed8 to a pale glow on the horizon where the moon was rising. They strolled about on the [Pg 96]lanes of turf between the massed colors of parterre and border, the air languishingly9 sweet with the scent10 of the closing flowers. Then they went in, luxuriously11 embedding12 themselves in two vast armchairs. Bassett found them here and tried to look genial13 at the sight of Shine. He’d been writing some letters in his own room and he dropped into a third armchair with the sigh of well-earned rest.
They talked about the moon and moonlight effects. Shine wanted to take some photographs after supper, get the pines against the sea and the silvered bulk of the Point, and he spoke14 of his flashlight picture which they’d have as a remembrance of Gull Island. Anne said that was a jolly idea, but she didn’t think they’d need a picture to remind them of their stay, and she and Bassett exchanged a smile.
It was still on their lips when a sound came from outside, a single sharp detonation15. It fell upon the evening’s tranquil16 hush17, sudden and startling, like something alien and unrelated.
[Pg 97]
“What was that?” said Anne.
“Sounds like a shot,” Shine thought.
“It couldn’t be!” Bassett got up. “Nobody has a pistol here and if he had he couldn’t use it—one of the special stipulations Driscoll made when he lent us the place.”
He moved to the land entrance and looked out.
“What could it have been?” Anne looked questioningly at Shine, who, having no other suggestion to offer, shrugged18 and shook his head.
The door of Mrs. Cornell’s room opened on the gallery and Miss Pinkney emerged, Mrs. Cornell behind her.
“Mr. Bassett,” she cried, a hand on the railing. “Where’s Mr. Bassett?”
Bassett drew out from under the gallery and looked up at her:
“Did you hear that?”
“Do you think that was a shot?”
“Well, what else was it?”
[Pg 98]
This drew a snort from Miss Pinkney:
“How’d a motor get here—swim or fly?” Then to Bassett: “Mr. Driscoll’s very strict about that. He won’t have the wild game or the gulls21 disturbed and——”
Bassett interrupted her:
“That’s all right, Miss Pinkney. We were given those orders and we’ve obeyed them. And none of us could shoot here if he wanted to—there’s not a pistol in the outfit22. Don’t you know it’s against the law to carry one?”
“Then some one’s taken mine,” she exclaimed, and straightening up with an air of battle, “I’m coming down.”
She left the gallery for the rear stairs, Mrs. Cornell in her wake.
“What does she mean—hers?” Anne asked.
“I don’t know what she means,” Bassett looked irritated. “It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”
“I don’t see what there was to shoot at anyhow,”[Pg 99] came from Shine. “Looked to me when I was out there as if all the gulls had gone to bed.”
Miss Pinkney, entering, focussed their attention.
“What’s this about a pistol of yours?” Bassett asked.
She answered as she walked across the room to a desk under the gallery:
“It’s the one Mr. Driscoll gave me, thinking it might be useful when I was here alone, opening or closing the house. I was to keep it loaded and have it handy, but I’d trust my tongue to get rid of any man and here it’s lain with the poker23 chips.” She pulled out a side-drawer of the desk. “There!” she exclaimed, turning on them in gloomy triumph, “What did I tell you! It’s gone.”
Bassett looked into the drawer:
“You’re sure it was here?”
“Didn’t I see it this morning when I put away the counters you were playing with last night?”
“Umph!” Bassett banged the drawer shut in [Pg 100]anger. “I’ll see that this is explained to Mr. Driscoll. And whoever’s taken it, they’ll get what’s coming to them. A damned fool performance! To get us in wrong just as we were leaving——”
The hall door opened and Stokes entered.
“That’s just what we want to know. Where were you?”
“Sitting out on the balcony.”
“See anybody?”
“No. I’ve been looking about. I went down the path to the pine grove25 and round the house but I didn’t see a soul.”
“Why, who could it be?” said Anne. “Aren’t we all”—she looked over the standing26 figures—“No, we’re not all here. Who’s outside?”
“Mrs. Stokes is.” Shine spoke up. “I saw her walking along the ocean bluffs27 as I came up from the Point.”
“Sybil is, too,” Mrs. Cornell added. “She went [Pg 101]out just a few minutes ago. I saw her from my window.”
“It can’t be either of them.” Bassett’s vexation had given place to a sudden uneasiness. “I don’t understand. Nobody could have come over from the mainland with the tide up. I’ll go out there——”
A sound from outside stopped him. It was a cry in a woman’s voice, close by.
“What’s that?” some one said, and before an answer could come, the cry rose again—a high wailing28 scream carrying words:
“Sybil! Sybil! Sybil’s dead—Sybil’s killed!”
A clamorous29 mingling30 of voices rose from the group, combined in a single up-swelling note of horror. The men rushed for the entrance and met Flora31 Stokes. She burst in between them, white as the ghost of Cæsar, with her opened mouth a dark cavity.
Bassett shouted at her, “Where?”
[Pg 102]
And she waved an arm toward the channel.
“There—from the Point. She’s gone—she’s dead! She went over into the water. On the top of the cliff. She’s murdered—dead—murdered!”
As if she were dead, too, and of no more consequence, they fled past her—a line of people streaming out into the serene33 evening that held a hideous34 catastrophe35. Only Anne stayed, her face as if overlaid by a coating of white paint. She went to Flora and seized her by the arm.
“Who was it?” she whispered. “Who did it?”
The woman looked at her at first as if not knowing who she was. Then jerking her arm free, clasped her hands against the sides of her head and went across the room staring upward and crying out:
“I don’t know. I didn’t see—— It’s God’s truth, I don’t know.”
Anne ran out after the others.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
gull
|
|
| n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
foam
|
|
| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
beads
|
|
| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
slant
|
|
| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
invoking
|
|
| v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
calamity
|
|
| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
pointed
|
|
| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
languishingly
|
|
| 渐渐变弱地，脉脉含情地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
luxuriously
|
|
| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
embedding
|
|
| 把…嵌入，埋入( embed的现在分词 )； 植入； 埋置； 包埋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
genial
|
|
| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
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： |
|
|
|
|
15
detonation
|
|
| n.爆炸；巨响 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
tranquil
|
|
| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
hush
|
|
| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
shrugged
|
|
| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
premises
|
|
| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
auto
|
|
| n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
gulls
|
|
| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
outfit
|
|
| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
poker
|
|
| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
taboo
|
|
| n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
grove
|
|
| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
bluffs
|
|
| 恐吓( bluff的名词复数 )； 悬崖； 峭壁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
wailing
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
clamorous
|
|
| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
mingling
|
|
| adj.混合的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
flora
|
|
| n.(某一地区的)植物群 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
gasp
|
|
| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
serene
|
|
| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
hideous
|
|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
catastrophe
|
|
| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |