He is Exposed to a Most Perilous1 Incident in the Course of His Intrigue2 with the Daughter.
He was rejoiced to find her so easily satisfied in such a momentous3 concern, for the principal aim of the intrigue was to make her necessary to his interested views, and even, if possible, an associate in the fraudulent plans he had projected upon her father; consequently he considered this relaxation5 in her virtue6 as an happy omen4 of his future success. All the obstacles to their mutual7 enjoyment8 being thus removed, our adventurer was by his mistress indulged with an assignation in her own chamber9, which, though contiguous to that of her stepmother, was provided with a door that opened into a common staircase, to which he had access at all hours of the night.
He did not neglect the rendezvous10, but, presenting himself at the appointed time, which was midnight, made the signal they had agreed upon, and was immediately admitted by Wilhelmina, who waited for hire with a lover’s impatience11. Fathom12 was not deficient13 in those expressions of rapture14 that are current on those occasions; but, on the contrary, became so loud in the transports of self-congratulation, that his voice reached the ears of the vigilant15 stepmother, who wakening the jeweller from his first nap, gave him to understand that some person was certainly in close conversation with his daughter; and exhorted16 him to rise forthwith, and vindicate18 the honour of his family.
The German, who was naturally of a phlegmatic19 habit, and never went to bed without a full dose of the creature, which added to his constitutional drowsiness20, gave no ear to his wife’s intimation, until she had repeated it thrice, and used other means to rouse him from the arms of slumber21. Meanwhile Fathom and his inamorata overheard her information, and our hero would have made his retreat immediately, through the port by which he entered, had not his intention been overruled by the remonstrances22 of the young lady, who observed that the door was already fast bolted, and could not possibly be opened without creating a noise that would confirm the suspicion of her parents; and that over and above this objection he would, in sallying from that door, run the risk of being met by her father, who in all probability would present himself before it, in order to hinder our hero’s escape. She therefore conveyed him softly into her closet, where she assured him he might remain with great tranquillity23, in full confidence that she would take such measures as would effectually screen him from detection.
He was fain to depend upon her assurance, and accordingly ensconced himself behind her dressing-table; but he could not help sweating with apprehension24, and praying fervently25 to God for his deliverance, when he heard the jeweller thundering at the door, and calling to his daughter for admittance. Wilhelmina, who was already undressed, and had purposely extinguished the light, pretended to be suddenly waked from her sleep, and starting up, exclaimed in a tone of surprise and affright, “Jesu, Maria! what is the matter?”—“Hussy!” replied the German in a terrible accent, “open the door this instant; there is a man in your bedchamber, and, by the lightning and thunder! I will wash away the stain he has cast upon my honour with the schellum’s heart’s-blood.”
Not at all intimidated26 by this boisterous27 threat, she admitted him without hesitation28, and, with a shrillness29 of voice peculiar30 to herself, began to hold forth17 upon her own innocence31 and his unjust suspicion, mingling32 in her harangue33 sundry34 oblique35 hints against her mother-in-law, importing, that some people were so viciously inclined by their own natures, that she did not wonder at their doubting the virtue of other people; but that these people despised the insinuations of such people, who ought to be more circumspect36 in their own conduct, lest they themselves should suffer reprisals37 from those people whom they had so maliciously38 slandered39.
Having uttered these flowers of rhetoric40, which were calculated for the hearing of her step-dame, who stood with a light at her husband’s back, the young lady assumed an ironical41 air, and admonished42 her father to search every corner of her apartment. She even affected43 to assist his inquiry44; with her own hands pulled out a parcel of small drawers, in which her trinkets were contained; desired him to look into her needlecase and thimble, and, seeing his examination fruitless, earnestly intreated him to rummage45 her closet also, saying, with a sneer46, that, in all probability, the dishonourer would be found in that lurking-place. The manner in which she pretended to ridicule47 his apprehensions48 made an impression upon the jeweller, who was very well disposed to retreat into his own nest, when his wife, with a certain slyness in her countenance49, besought50 him to comply with his daughter’s request, and look into that same closet, by which means Wilhelmina’s virtue would obtain a complete triumph.
Our adventurer, who overheard the conversation, was immediately seized with a palsy of fear. He trembled at every joint51, the sweat trickled52 down his forehead, his teeth began to chatter53, his hair to stand on end; and he, in his heart, bitterly cursed the daughter’s petulance54, the mother’s malice55, together with his own precipitation, by which he was involved in an adventure so pregnant with danger and disgrace. Indeed, the reader may easily conceive his disorder56, when he heard the key turning in the lock, and the German swearing that he would make him food for the beasts of the field and the fowls57 of the air.
Fathom had come unprepared with weapons of defence, was naturally an economist58 of his person, and saw himself on the brink59 of forfeiting60 not only the promised harvest of his double intrigue, but also the reputation of a man of honour, upon which all his future hopes depended. His agony was therefore unspeakable, when the door flew open; and it was not till after a considerable pause of recollection, that he perceived the candle extinguished by the motion of the air produced from the German’s sudden irruption. This accident, which disconcerted him so much as to put a full stop to his charge, was very favourable61 to our hero, who, summoning all his presence of mind, crept up into the chimney, while the jeweller stood at the door, waiting for his wife’s return with another light; so that, when the closet was examined, there was nothing found to justify62 the report which the stepmother had made; and the father, after having made a slight apology to Wilhelmina for his intrusion, retired63 with his yoke-fellow into their own chamber.
The young lady, who little thought that her papa would have taken her at her word, was overwhelmed with confusion and dismay, when she saw him enter the closet; and, had her lover been discovered, would, in all probability, have been the loudest in his reproach, and, perhaps, have accused him of an intention to rob the house; but she was altogether astonished when she found he had made shift to elude64 the inquiry of her parents, because she could not conceive the possibility of his escaping by the window, which was in the third storey, at a prodigious65 distance from the ground; and how he should conceal66 himself in the apartment, was a mystery which she could by no means unfold. Before her father and mother retired, she lighted her lamp, on pretence67 of being afraid to be in the dark, after the perturbation of spirits she had undergone; and her room was no sooner evacuated68 of such troublesome visitants, than she secured the doors, and went in quest of her lover.
Accordingly, every corner of the closet underwent a new search, and she called upon his name with a soft voice, which she thought no other person would overhear. But Ferdinand did not think proper to gratify her impatience, because he could not judge of the predicament in which he stood by the evidence of all his senses, and would not relinquish69 his post, until he should be better certified70 that the coast was clear. Meanwhile, his Dulcinea, having performed her inquiry to no purpose, imagined there was something preternatural in the circumstance of his vanishing so unaccountably, and began to cross herself with great devotion. She returned to her chamber, fixed71 the lamp in the fireplace, and, throwing herself upon the bed, gave way to the suggestions of her superstition72, which were reinforced by the silence that prevailed, and the gloomy glimmering73 of the light. She reflected upon the trespass74 she had already committed in her heart, and, in the conjectures75 of her fear, believed that her lover was no other than the devil himself, who had assumed the appearance of Fathom, in order to tempt76 and seduce77 her virtue.
While her imagination teemed78 with those horrible ideas, our adventurer, concluding, from the general stillness, that the jeweller and his wife were at last happily asleep, ventured to come forth from his hiding-place, and stood before his mistress all begrimed with soot79. Wilhelmina, lifting up her eyes, and seeing this sable80 apparition81, which she mistook for Satan in propria persona, instantly screamed, and began to repeat her pater-noster with an audible voice. Upon which Ferdinand, foreseeing that her parents would be again alarmed, would not stay to undeceive her and explain himself, but, unlocking the door with great expedition, ran downstairs, and luckily accomplished82 his escape. This was undoubtedly83 the wisest measure he could have taken; for he had not performed one half of his descent toward the street, when the German was at his daughter’s bedside, demanding to know the cause of her exclamation84. She then gave him an account of what she had seen, with all the exaggerations of her own fancy, and, after having weighed the circumstances of her story, he interpreted the apparition into a thief, who had found means to open the door that communicated with the stair; but, having been scared by Wilhelmina’s shriek85, had been obliged to retreat before he could execute his purpose.
Our hero’s spirits were so wofully disturbed by this adventure, that, for a whole week, he felt no inclination86 to visit his inamorata, and was not without apprehension that the affair had terminated in an explanation very little to his advantage. He was, however, delivered from this disagreeable suspense87, by an accidental meeting with the jeweller himself, who kindly88 chid89 him for his long absence, and entertained him in the street with an account of the alarm which his family had sustained, by a thief who broke into Wilhelmina’s apartment. Glad to find his apprehension mistaken, he renewed his correspondence with the family, and, in a little time, found reason to console himself for the jeopardy90 and panic he had undergone.
1 perilous | |
adj.危险的,冒险的 | |
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2 intrigue | |
vt.激起兴趣,迷住;vi.耍阴谋;n.阴谋,密谋 | |
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3 momentous | |
adj.重要的,重大的 | |
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4 omen | |
n.征兆,预兆;vt.预示 | |
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5 relaxation | |
n.松弛,放松;休息;消遣;娱乐 | |
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6 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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7 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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8 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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9 chamber | |
n.房间,寝室;会议厅;议院;会所 | |
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10 rendezvous | |
n.约会,约会地点,汇合点;vi.汇合,集合;vt.使汇合,使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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11 impatience | |
n.不耐烦,急躁 | |
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12 fathom | |
v.领悟,彻底了解 | |
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13 deficient | |
adj.不足的,不充份的,有缺陷的 | |
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14 rapture | |
n.狂喜;全神贯注;着迷;v.使狂喜 | |
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15 vigilant | |
adj.警觉的,警戒的,警惕的 | |
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16 exhorted | |
v.劝告,劝说( exhort的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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18 vindicate | |
v.为…辩护或辩解,辩明;证明…正确 | |
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19 phlegmatic | |
adj.冷静的,冷淡的,冷漠的,无活力的 | |
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20 drowsiness | |
n.睡意;嗜睡 | |
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21 slumber | |
n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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22 remonstrances | |
n.抱怨,抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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23 tranquillity | |
n. 平静, 安静 | |
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24 apprehension | |
n.理解,领悟;逮捕,拘捕;忧虑 | |
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25 fervently | |
adv.热烈地,热情地,强烈地 | |
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26 intimidated | |
v.恐吓;威胁adj.害怕的;受到威胁的 | |
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27 boisterous | |
adj.喧闹的,欢闹的 | |
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28 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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29 shrillness | |
尖锐刺耳 | |
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30 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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31 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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32 mingling | |
adj.混合的 | |
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33 harangue | |
n.慷慨冗长的训话,言辞激烈的讲话 | |
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34 sundry | |
adj.各式各样的,种种的 | |
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35 oblique | |
adj.斜的,倾斜的,无诚意的,不坦率的 | |
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36 circumspect | |
adj.慎重的,谨慎的 | |
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37 reprisals | |
n.报复(行为)( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
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38 maliciously | |
adv.有敌意地 | |
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39 slandered | |
造谣中伤( slander的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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40 rhetoric | |
n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
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41 ironical | |
adj.讽刺的,冷嘲的 | |
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42 admonished | |
v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 );训诫;(温和地)责备;轻责 | |
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43 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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44 inquiry | |
n.打听,询问,调查,查问 | |
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45 rummage | |
v./n.翻寻,仔细检查 | |
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46 sneer | |
v.轻蔑;嘲笑;n.嘲笑,讥讽的言语 | |
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47 ridicule | |
v.讥讽,挖苦;n.嘲弄 | |
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48 apprehensions | |
疑惧 | |
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49 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
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50 besought | |
v.恳求,乞求(某事物)( beseech的过去式和过去分词 );(beseech的过去式与过去分词) | |
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51 joint | |
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 | |
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52 trickled | |
v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 );淌;使)慢慢走;缓慢移动 | |
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53 chatter | |
vi./n.喋喋不休;短促尖叫;(牙齿)打战 | |
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54 petulance | |
n.发脾气,生气,易怒,暴躁,性急 | |
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55 malice | |
n.恶意,怨恨,蓄意;[律]预谋 | |
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56 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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57 fowls | |
鸟( fowl的名词复数 ); 禽肉; 既不是这; 非驴非马 | |
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58 economist | |
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人 | |
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59 brink | |
n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘,边沿 | |
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60 forfeiting | |
(因违反协议、犯规、受罚等)丧失,失去( forfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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61 favourable | |
adj.赞成的,称赞的,有利的,良好的,顺利的 | |
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62 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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63 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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64 elude | |
v.躲避,困惑 | |
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65 prodigious | |
adj.惊人的,奇妙的;异常的;巨大的;庞大的 | |
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66 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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67 pretence | |
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
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68 evacuated | |
撤退者的 | |
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69 relinquish | |
v.放弃,撤回,让与,放手 | |
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70 certified | |
a.经证明合格的;具有证明文件的 | |
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71 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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72 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
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73 glimmering | |
n.微光,隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光,发微光( glimmer的现在分词 ) | |
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74 trespass | |
n./v.侵犯,闯入私人领地 | |
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75 conjectures | |
推测,猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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76 tempt | |
vt.引诱,勾引,吸引,引起…的兴趣 | |
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77 seduce | |
vt.勾引,诱奸,诱惑,引诱 | |
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78 teemed | |
v.充满( teem的过去式和过去分词 );到处都是;(指水、雨等)暴降;倾注 | |
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79 soot | |
n.煤烟,烟尘;vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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80 sable | |
n.黑貂;adj.黑色的 | |
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81 apparition | |
n.幽灵,神奇的现象 | |
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82 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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83 undoubtedly | |
adv.确实地,无疑地 | |
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84 exclamation | |
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词 | |
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85 shriek | |
v./n.尖叫,叫喊 | |
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86 inclination | |
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好 | |
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87 suspense | |
n.(对可能发生的事)紧张感,担心,挂虑 | |
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88 kindly | |
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地 | |
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89 chid | |
v.责骂,责备( chide的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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90 jeopardy | |
n.危险;危难 | |
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