Le glaive est contre toi tourne de toutes parties.
La Harpe, “Jeanne de Naples,” Act iv. sc. 4.
(The sword is raised against you on all sides.)
In the mean time Glyndon, after an audience of some length with C—, in which the final preparations were arranged, sanguine1 of safety, and foreseeing no obstacle to escape, bent2 his way back to Fillide. Suddenly, in the midst of his cheerful thoughts, he fancied he heard a voice too well and too terribly recognised, hissing3 in his ear, “What! thou wouldst defy and escape me! thou wouldst go back to virtue4 and content. It is in vain,— it is too late. No, I will not haunt thee; HUMAN footsteps, no less inexorable, dog thee now. Me thou shalt not see again till in the dungeon5, at midnight, before thy doom6! Behold7 —”
And Glyndon, mechanically turning his head, saw, close behind him, the stealthy figure of a man whom he had observed before, but with little heed8, pass and repass him, as he quitted the house of Citizen C—. Instantly and instinctively9 he knew that he was watched,— that he was pursued. The street he was in was obscure and deserted10, for the day was oppressively sultry, and it was the hour when few were abroad, either on business or pleasure. Bold as he was, an icy chill shot through his heart, he knew too well the tremendous system that then reigned11 in Paris not to be aware of his danger. As the sight of the first plague-boil to the victim of the pestilence12, was the first sight of the shadowy spy to that of the Revolution: the watch, the arrest, the trial, the guillotine,— these made the regular and rapid steps of the monster that the anarchists13 called Law! He breathed hard, he heard distinctly the loud beating of his heart. And so he paused, still and motionless, gazing upon the shadow that halted also behind him.
Presently, the absence of all allies to the spy, the solitude14 of the streets, reanimated his courage; he made a step towards his pursuer, who retreated as he advanced. “Citizen, thou followest me,” he said. “Thy business?”
“Surely,” answered the man, with a deprecating smile, “the streets are broad enough for both? Thou art not so bad a republican as to arrogate15 all Paris to thyself!”
“Go on first, then. I make way for thee.”
The man bowed, doffed16 his hat politely, and passed forward. The next moment Glyndon plunged17 into a winding18 lane, and fled fast through a labyrinth19 of streets, passages, and alleys20. By degrees he composed himself, and, looking behind, imagined that he had baffled the pursuer; he then, by a circuitous21 route, bent his way once more to his home. As he emerged into one of the broader streets, a passenger, wrapped in a mantle22, brushing so quickly by him that he did not observe his countenance23, whispered, “Clarence Glyndon, you are dogged,— follow me!” and the stranger walked quickly before him. Clarence turned, and sickened once more to see at his heels, with the same servile smile on his face, the pursuer he fancied he had escaped. He forgot the injunction of the stranger to follow him, and perceiving a crowd gathered close at hand, round a caricature-shop, dived amidst them, and, gaining another street, altered the direction he had before taken, and, after a long and breathless course, gained without once more seeing the spy, a distant quartier of the city.
Here, indeed, all seemed so serene24 and fair that his artist eye, even in that imminent25 hour, rested with pleasure on the scene. It was a comparatively broad space, formed by one of the noble quays26. The Seine flowed majestically27 along, with boats and craft resting on its surface. The sun gilt28 a thousand spires29 and domes30, and gleamed on the white palaces of a fallen chivalry31. Here fatigued32 and panting, he paused an instant, and a cooler air from the river fanned his brow. “Awhile, at least, I am safe here,” he murmured; and as he spoke33, some thirty paces behind him, he beheld34 the spy. He stood rooted to the spot; wearied and spent as he was, escape seemed no longer possible,— the river on one side (no bridge at hand), and the long row of mansions35 closing up the other. As he halted, he heard laughter and obscene songs from a house a little in his rear, between himself and the spy. It was a cafe fearfully known in that quarter. Hither often resorted the black troop of Henriot,— the minions36 and huissiers of Robespierre. The spy, then, had hunted the victim within the jaws37 of the hounds. The man slowly advanced, and, pausing before the open window of the cafe, put his head through the aperture38, as to address and summon forth39 its armed inmates40.
At that very instant, and while the spy’s head was thus turned from him, standing41 in the half-open gateway42 of the house immediately before him, he perceived the stranger who had warned; the figure, scarcely distinguishable through the mantle that wrapped it, motioned to him to enter. He sprang noiselessly through the friendly opening: the door closed; breathlessly he followed the stranger up a flight of broad stairs and through a suite43 of empty rooms, until, having gained a small cabinet, his conductor doffed the large hat and the long mantle that had hitherto concealed44 his shape and features, and Glyndon beheld Zanoni!
1 sanguine | |
adj.充满希望的,乐观的,血红色的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 hissing | |
n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 dungeon | |
n.地牢,土牢 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 reigned | |
vi.当政,统治(reign的过去式形式) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 pestilence | |
n.瘟疫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 anarchists | |
无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 solitude | |
n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 arrogate | |
v.冒称具有...权利,霸占 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 doffed | |
v.脱去,(尤指)脱帽( doff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 plunged | |
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 labyrinth | |
n.迷宫;难解的事物;迷路 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 alleys | |
胡同,小巷( alley的名词复数 ); 小径 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 circuitous | |
adj.迂回的路的,迂曲的,绕行的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 mantle | |
n.斗篷,覆罩之物,罩子;v.罩住,覆盖,脸红 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 serene | |
adj. 安详的,宁静的,平静的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 imminent | |
adj.即将发生的,临近的,逼近的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 quays | |
码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 majestically | |
雄伟地; 庄重地; 威严地; 崇高地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 gilt | |
adj.镀金的;n.金边证券 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 spires | |
n.(教堂的) 塔尖,尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 domes | |
n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 );像圆屋顶一样的东西;圆顶体育场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 chivalry | |
n.骑士气概,侠义;(男人)对女人彬彬有礼,献殷勤 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 fatigued | |
adj. 疲乏的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 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: |
|
|
34 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: |
|
|
35 mansions | |
n.宅第,公馆,大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 minions | |
n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 );走狗;宠儿;受人崇拜者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 jaws | |
n.口部;嘴 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 aperture | |
n.孔,隙,窄的缺口 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 inmates | |
n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 gateway | |
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 suite | |
n.一套(家具);套房;随从人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |