CHAPTER XXV.

She was not to remain long in suspense¹.

 

"In the first place," began Sally, slowly, "I wish to know what your relations are, Bernardine Moore, with Doctor Jay Gardiner. I must and will know the truth."

 

She saw that the question struck the girl as lightning strikes a fair white rose and withers² and blights³ it with its awful fiery⁴ breath.

 

Bernardine was fairly stricken dumb. She opened her lips to speak, but no sound issued from them. She could not have uttered one syllable⁵ if her life had depended on it.

 

"Let me tell you how the case stands. I will utter the shameful⁶ truth for you if you dare not admit it. He is your lover in secret, though he would deny you in public!"

 

Hapless Bernardine had borne all she could; and without a word, a cry, or even a moan she threw up her little hands, and fell in a lifeless heap at her cruel enemy's feet.

 

For a moment Sally Pendleton gazed at her victim, and thoughts worthy⁷ of the brain of a fiend incarnate⁸ swept through her.

 

"If she were only dead!" she muttered, excitedly. "Dare I——"

 

The sentence was never finished. There was a step on the creaking stairs outside, and with a guilty cry of alarm, Miss Pendleton rushed from the room and out into the darkened hall-way.

 

She brushed past a woman on the narrow stairs, but the darkness was so dense⁹ neither recognized the other; and Sally Pendleton had gained the street and turned the nearest corner, ere Miss Rogers—for it was she—reached the top landing.

 

As she pushed open the door, the first object that met her startled eyes was Bernardine lying like one dead on the floor.

 

Despite the fact that she was an invalid¹⁰, Miss Rogers' nerves were exceedingly cool. She did not shriek¹¹ out, or call excitedly to the other inmates¹² of the house, but went about reviving the girl by wetting her handkerchief with water as cold as it would run from the faucet¹³, and laving her marble-cold face with it, and afterward¹⁴ rubbing her hands briskly.

 

She was rewarded at length by seeing the great dark eyes slowly open, and the crimson¹⁵ tide of life drift back to the pale, cold cheeks and quivering lips.

 

A look of wonder filled Bernardine's eyes as she beheld¹⁶ Miss Rogers bending over her.

 

"Was it a dream, some awful dream?" she said, excitedly, catching¹⁷ at her friend's hands and clinging piteously to them.

 

"What caused your sudden illness, Bernardine?" questioned Miss Rogers, earnestly. "You were apparently¹⁸ well when I left you an hour since."

 

Still Bernardine clung to her with that awful look of agony in her beautiful eyes, but uttering no word.

 

"Has she gone?" she murmured, at length.

 

"Has who gone?" questioned Miss Rogers, wondering what she meant.

 

"The beautiful, pitiless stranger," sobbed²⁰ Bernardine, catching her breath.

 

Miss Rogers believed that the girl's mind was wandering, and refrained from further questioning her.

 

"The poor child is grieving so over this coming marriage of hers to Jasper Wilde that I almost fear her mind is giving way," she thought, in intense alarm, glancing at Bernardine.

 

As she did so, Bernardine began to sob¹⁹ again, breaking into such a passionate²¹ fit of weeping, and suffering such apparently intense grief, that Miss Rogers was at a loss what to do or say.

 

She would not tell why she was weeping so bitterly; no amount of questioning could elicit²² from her what had happened.

 

Not for worlds would Bernardine have told to any human being her sad story—of the stranger's visit and the startling disclosures she had made to her.

 

It was not until Bernardine found herself locked securely in the seclusion²³ of her own room that she dared look the matter fully²⁴ in the face, and then the grief to which she abandoned herself was more poignant²⁵ than before.

 

In her great grief, a terrible thought came to her. Why not end it all? Surely God would forgive her for laying down life's cross when it was too heavy to be borne.

 

Yes, that is what she would do. She would end it all.

 

Her father did not care for her; it caused him no grief to barter²⁶ her, as the price of his secret, to Jasper Wilde, whom she loathed²⁷.

 

It lacked but one day to that marriage she so detested²⁸.

 

Yes, she would end it all before the morrow's sun rose.

 

1 suspense   

n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑

参考例句：

• The suspense was unbearable.这样提心吊胆的状况实在叫人受不了。
• The director used ingenious devices to keep the audience in suspense.导演用巧妙手法引起观众的悬念。

2 withers   

马肩隆

参考例句：

• The girl's pitiful history would wring one's withers. 这女孩子的经历令人心碎。
• "I will be there to show you," and so Mr. Withers withdrew. “我会等在那里，领你去看房间的，"威瑟斯先生这样说着，退了出去。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

3 blights   

使凋萎( blight的第三人称单数 )； 使颓丧； 损害； 妨害

参考例句：

• The crops suffered from frequent blights. 农作物经常遭受病虫害。
• New England was accustomed to didacticism in its literature, and unmitigated didacticism blights the novel. 新英格兰习惯于在文学里说教，可是一味说教，小说就要完蛋。

4 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

5 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

6 shameful   

adj.可耻的，不道德的

参考例句：

• It is very shameful of him to show off.他向人炫耀自己，真不害臊。
• We must expose this shameful activity to the newspapers.我们一定要向报社揭露这一无耻行径。

7 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

8 incarnate   

adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的

参考例句：

• She was happiness incarnate.她是幸福的化身。
• That enemy officer is a devil incarnate.那个敌军军官简直是魔鬼的化身。

9 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

10 invalid   

n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的

参考例句：

• He will visit an invalid.他将要去看望一个病人。
• A passport that is out of date is invalid.护照过期是无效的。

11 shriek   

v./n.尖叫，叫喊

参考例句：

• Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
• People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧，气愤或疼痛而尖叫。

12 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 faucet   

n.水龙头

参考例句：

• The faucet has developed a drip.那个水龙头已经开始滴水了。
• She turned off the faucet and dried her hands.她关掉水龙头，把手擦干。

14 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

15 crimson   

n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色

参考例句：

• She went crimson with embarrassment.她羞得满脸通红。
• Maple leaves have turned crimson.枫叶已经红了。

16 beheld   

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

参考例句：

• His eyes had never beheld such opulence. 他从未见过这样的财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soul beheld its features in the mirror of the passing moment. 灵魂在逝去的瞬间的镜子中看到了自己的模样。 来自英汉文学 - 红字

17 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

18 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

19 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

20 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

21 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

22 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

23 seclusion   

n.隐遁，隔离

参考例句：

• She liked to sunbathe in the seclusion of her own garden.她喜欢在自己僻静的花园里晒日光浴。
• I live very much in seclusion these days.这些天我过着几乎与世隔绝的生活。

24 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

25 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

26 barter   

n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• They have arranged food imports on a barter basis.他们以易货贸易的方式安排食品进口。

27 loathed   

v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢

参考例句：

• Baker loathed going to this red-haired young pup for supplies. 面包师傅不喜欢去这个红头发的自负的傻小子那里拿原料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! 因此，他厌恶不幸的自我尤胜其它！ 来自英汉文学 - 红字

28 detested   

v.憎恶，嫌恶，痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They detested each other on sight. 他们互相看着就不顺眼。
• The freethinker hated the formalist; the lover of liberty detested the disciplinarian. 自由思想者总是不喜欢拘泥形式者，爱好自由者总是憎恶清规戒律者。 来自辞典例句