Lightly they stepped over the snow that lay upon the broad steps, and entering the door saw the dim figure of their sister, already in the large and faintly-lighted hall. One candle in the hand of her scared maid, and one burning on the table, leaving the distant parts of that great apartment in total darkness, touched the figures with the odd sharp lights in which Schalken delights; and a streak1 of chilly2 moonlight, through the open door, fell upon the floor, and was stretched like a white sheet at her feet. Lady Mardykes, with an exclamation3 of agitated4 relief, threw her arms, in turn, round the necks of her sisters, and hugging them, kissed them again and again, murmuring her thanks, calling them her “blessed sisters,” and praising God for his mercy in having sent them to her in time, and altogether in a rapture5 of agitation6 and gratitude7.
Taking them each by a hand, she led them into a large room, on whose panels they could see the faint twinkle of the tall gilded8 frames, and the darker indication of the old portraits, in which that interesting house abounds9. The moonbeams, entering obliquely10 through the Tudor stone-shafts of the window and thrown upon the floor, reflected an imperfect light; and the candle which the maid who followed her mistress held in her hand shone dimly from the sideboard, where she placed it. Lady Mardykes told her that she need not wait.
“They don’t know; they know only that we are in some great confusion; but — God have mercy on me!— nothing of the reality. Sit down, darlings; you are tired.”
She sat down between them on a sofa, holding a hand of each. They sat opposite the window, through which appeared the magnificent view commanded from the front of the house: in the foreground the solemn trees of Snakes Island, one great branch stretching upward, bare and moveless, from the side, like an arm raised to heaven in wonder or in menace towards the house; the lake, in part swept by the icy splendour of the moon, trembling with a dazzling glimmer11, and farther off lost in blackness; the Fells rising from a base of gloom, into ribs12 and peaks white with snow, and looking against the pale sky, thin and transparent13 as a haze14. Right across to the storied woods of Cloostedd, and the old domains15 of the Feltrams, this view extended.
Thus alone, their mufflers still on, their hands clasped in hers, they breathlessly listened to her strange tale.
Connectedly told it amounted to this: Sir Bale seemed to have been relieved of some great anxiety about the time when, ten days before, he had told her to invite her friends to Mardykes Hall. This morning he had gone out for a walk with Trevor, his under-steward, to talk over some plans about thinning the woods at this side; and also to discuss practically a proposal, lately made by a wealthy merchant, to take a very long lease, on advantageous16 terms to Sir Bale as he thought, of the old park and chase of Cloostedd, with the intention of building there, and making it once more a handsome residence.
In the improved state of his spirits, Sir Bale had taken a shrewd interest in this negotiation17; and was actually persuaded to cross the lake that morning with his adviser18, and to walk over the grounds with him.
Sir Bale had seemed unusually well, and talked with great animation19. He was more like a young man who had just attained20 his majority, and for the first time grasped his estates, than the grim elderly Baronet who had been moping about Mardykes, and as much afraid as a cat of the water, for so many years.
As they were returning toward the boat, at the roots of that same scathed21 elm whose barkless bough22 had seemed, in his former visit to this old wood, to beckon23 him from a distance, like a skeleton arm, to enter the forest, he and his companion on a sudden missed an old map of the grounds which they had been consulting.
“We must have left it in the corner tower of Cloostedd House, which commands that view of the grounds, you remember; it would not do to lose it. It is the most accurate thing we have. I’ll sit down here and rest a little till you come back.”
The man was absent little more than twenty minutes. When he returned, he found that Sir Bale had changed his position, and was now walking to and fro, around and about, in what, at a distance, he fancied was mere24 impatience25, on the open space a couple of hundred paces nearer to the turn in the valley towards the boat. It was not impatience. He was agitated. He looked pale, and he took his companion’s arm — a thing he had never thought of doing before — and said, “Let us away quickly. I’ve something to tell at home,— and I forgot it.”
Not another word did Sir Bale exchange with his companion. He sat in the stern of the boat, gloomy as a man about to glide26 under traitor’s-gate. He entered his house in the same sombre and agitated state. He entered his library, and sat for a long time as if stunned27.
At last he seemed to have made-up his mind to something; and applied28 himself quietly and diligently29 to arranging papers, and docketing some and burning others. Dinner-time arrived. He sent to tell Lady Mardykes that he should not join her at dinner, but would see her afterwards.
“It was between eight and nine,” she continued, “I forget the exact time, when he came to the tower drawing-room where I was. I did not hear his approach. There is a stone stair, with a thick carpet on it. He told me he wished to speak to me there. It is an out-of-the-way place — a small old room with very thick walls, and there is a double door, the inner one of oak — I suppose he wished to guard against being overheard.
“There was a look in his face that frightened me; I saw he had something dreadful to tell. He looked like a man on whom a lot had fallen to put some one to death,” said Lady Mardykes. “O, my poor Bale! my husband, my husband! he knew what it would be to me.”
Here she broke into the wildest weeping, and it was some time before she resumed.
“He seemed very kind and very calm,” she said at last; “he said but little; and, I think, these were his words: ‘I find, Janet, I have made a great miscalculation — I thought my hour of danger had passed. We have been many years together, but a parting must sooner or later be, and my time has come.’
“I don’t know what I said. I would not have so much minded — for I could not have believed, if I had not seen him — but there was that in his look and tone which no one could doubt.
“‘I shall die before tomorrow morning,’ he said. ‘You must command yourself, Janet; it can’t be altered now.’
“‘O, Bale,’ I cried nearly distracted, ‘you would not kill yourself!’
“‘Kill myself! poor child! no, indeed,’ he said; ‘it is simply that I shall die. No violent death — nothing but the common subsidence of life — I have made up my mind; what happens to everybody can’t be so very bad; and millions of worse men than I die every year. You must not follow me to my room, darling; I shall see you by and by.’
“His language was collected and even cold; but his face looked as if it was cut in stone; you never saw, in a dream, a face like it.”
Lady Walsingham here said, “I am certain he is ill; he’s in a fever. You must not distract and torture yourself about his predictions. You sent for Doctor Torvey; what did he say?”
“I could not tell him all.”
“O, no; I don’t mean that; they’d only say he was mad, and we little better for minding what he says. But did the Doctor see him? and what did he say of his health?”
“Yes; he says there is nothing wrong — no fever — nothing whatever. Poor Bale has been so kind; he saw him to please me,” she sobbed30 again wildly. “I wrote to implore31 of him. It was my last hope, strange as it seems; and O, would to God I could think it! But there is nothing of that kind. Wait till you have seen him. There is a frightful32 calmness about all he says and does; and his directions are all so clear, and his mind so perfectly33 collected, it is quite impossible.”
And poor Lady Mardykes again burst into a frantic34 agony of tears.
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streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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chilly
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| adj.凉快的，寒冷的 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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glimmer
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| v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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animation
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| n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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scathed
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| v.伤害，损害（尤指使之枯萎）( scathe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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beckon
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| v.(以点头或打手势)向...示意，召唤 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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31
implore
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| vt.乞求，恳求，哀求 | |
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32
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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33
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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