“Lila — Lila!”
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Depriv’d thee of!— Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in my arms.
Hamlet.
“Let us enter by the side door,” suggested Sweetwater, as the two moved towards the house. “And be sure you place me where I can see without being seen. I have no wish to attract attention to myself, or to be identified with the police until the necessity is forced upon me.”
“Then we won’t go in together,” decided2 Hexford. “Find your own place; you won’t have any difficulty. A crowd isn’t expected. Miss Cumberland’s condition forbids it.”
Sweetwater nodded and slid in at the side door.
He found himself at once in a narrow hall, from the end of which opened a large room. A few people were to be seen in this latter place, and his first instinct was to join them; but finding that a few minutes yet remained before the hour set for the services, he decided to improve them by a rapid glance about this hall, which, for certain reasons hardly as yet formulated4 in his own mind, had a peculiar5 interest for him.
The most important object within view, according to his present judgment6, was the staircase which connected it with the floor above; but if you had asked his reason for this conclusion, he would not have told you, as Ranelagh might have done, that it was because it was the most direct and convenient approach to Carmel Cumberland’s room. His thoughts were far from this young girl, intimately connected as she was with this crime; which shows through what a blind maze7 he was insensibly working. With his finger on the thread which had been put in his hand, he was feeling his way along inch by inch. It had brought him to this staircase, and it led him next to a rack upon which hung several coats and a gentleman’s hat.
He inspected the former and noted8 that one was finished with a high collar; but he passed the latter by — it was not a derby. The table stood next the rack, and on its top lay nothing more interesting than a clothes-brush and one or two other insignificant9 objects; but, with his memory for details, he had recalled the keys which one of the maids had picked up somewhere about this house, and laid on a hall table. If this were the hall and this the table, then was every inch of the latter’s simple cloth-covered top of the greatest importance in his eyes.
He had no further time for even these cursory10 investigations11; Hexford’s step could be heard on the verandah, and Sweetwater was anxious to locate himself before the officer came in. Entering the room before him, he crossed to the small group clustered in its further doorway12. There were several empty chairs in sight; but he passed around them all to a dark and inconspicuous corner, from which, without effort, he could take in every room on that floor — from the large parlour in which the casket stood, to the remotest region of the servants’ hall.
The clergyman had not yet descended13, and Sweetwater had time to observe the row of little girls sitting in front of the bearers, each with a small cluster of white flowers in her hand. Miss Cumberland’s Sunday-school class, he conjectured14, and conjectured rightly. He also perceived that some of these children loved her.
Near them sat a few relatives and friends. Among these was a very, very old man, whom he afterwards heard was a great-uncle and a centenarian. Between him and one of the little girls, there apparently15 existed a strong sympathy; for his hand reached out and drew her to him when the tears began to steal down her cheeks, and the looks which passed between the two had all the appeal and all the protection of a great love.
Sweetwater, who had many a soft spot in his breast, felt his heart warm at this one innocent display of natural feeling in an assemblage otherwise frozen by the horror of the occasion. His eyes dwelt lingeringly on the child, and still more lingeringly on the old, old man, before passing to that heaped-up mound16 of flowers, under which lay a murdered body and a bruised17 heart. He could not see the face, but the spectacle was sufficiently18 awe-compelling without that.
Would it have seemed yet more so, had he known at whose request the huge bunch of lilies had been placed over that silent heart?
The sister sick, the brother invisible, there was little more to hold his attention in this quarter; so he let it roam across the heads of the people about him, to the distant hall communicating with the kitchen.
Several persons were approaching from this direction, among them Zadok. The servants of the house, no doubt, for they came in all together and sat down, side by side, in the chairs Sweetwater had so carefully passed by. There were five persons in all: two men and three women. Only two interested him — Zadok, with whom he had already made a superficial acquaintance and had had one bout3; and a smart, bright-eyed girl with a resolute19 mouth softened20 by an insistent21 dimple, who struck him as possessing excellent sense and some natural cleverness. A girl to know and a girl to talk to, was his instantaneous judgment. Then he forgot everything but the solemnity of the occasion, for the clergyman had entered and taken his place, and a great hush22 had fallen upon the rooms and upon every heart there present.
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
Never had these consoling words sounded more solemn than when they rang above the remains23 of Adelaide Cumberland, in this home where she had reigned24 as mistress ever since her seventeenth year. The nature of the tragedy which had robbed the town of one of its most useful young women; the awful fate impending26 over its supposed author,— a man who had come and gone in these rooms with a spell of fascination27 to which many of those present had themselves succumbed28 — the brooding sense of illness, if not of impending death, in the room above; gave to these services a peculiar poignancy29 which in some breasts of greater susceptibility than the rest, took the form of a vague expectancy30 bordering on terror.
Sweetwater felt the poignancy, but did not suffer from the terror. His attention had been attracted in a new direction, and he found himself watching, with anxious curiosity, the attitude and absorbed expression of a good-looking young man whom he was far from suspecting to be the secret representative of the present suspect, whom nobody could forget, yet whom nobody wished to remember at this hallowed hour.
Had this attitude and this absorption been directed towards the casket over which the clergyman’s words rose and fell with ever increasing impressiveness, he might have noted the man but would scarcely have been held by him. But this interest, sincere and strong as it undoubtedly31 was, centred not so much in the services, careful as he was to maintain a decorous attitude towards the same, but in the faint murmurs32 which now and then came down from above where unconsciousness reigned and the stricken brother watched over the delirious33 sister, with a concentration and abandonment to fear which made him oblivious34 of all other duties, and almost as unconscious of the rites35 then being held below over one who had been as a mother to him, as the sick girl herself with her ceaseless and importunate36 “Lila! Lila!” The detective, watching this preoccupied37 stranger, shared in some measure his secret emotions, and thus was prepared for the unexpected occurrence of a few minutes later.
No one else had the least forewarning of any break in the services. There had been nothing in the subdued38 but impressive rendering39 of the prayers to foreshadow a dramatic episode; yet it came, and in this manner:
The final words had been said, and the friends present invited to look their last on the calm face which, to many there, had never worn so sweet a smile in life. Some had hesitated; but most had obeyed the summons, among them Sweetwater. But he had not much time in which to fix those features in his mind; for the little girls, who had been waiting patiently for this moment, now came forward; and he stepped aside to watch them as they filed by, dropping as they did so, a tribute of fragrant40 flowers upon the quiet breast. They were followed by the servants, among whom Zadok had divided his roses. As the last cluster fell from the coachman’s trembling hand, the undertaker advanced with the lid, and, pausing a moment to be sure that all were satisfied, began to screw it on.
Suddenly there was a cry, and the crowd about the door leading into the main hall started back, as wild steps were heard on the stairs and a young man rushed into the room where the casket stood, and advanced upon the officiating clergyman and the astonished undertaker with a fierceness which was not without its suggestion of authority.
“Take it off!” he cried, pointing at the lid which had just been fastened down. “I have not seen her — I must see her. Take it off!”
It was the brother, awake at last to the significance of the hour!
The clergyman, aghast at the sacrilegious look and tone of the intruder, stepped back, raising one arm in remonstrance41, and instinctively42 shielding the casket with the other. But the undertaker saw in the frenzied43 eye fixed44 upon his own, that which warned him to comply with the request thus harshly and peremptorily45 uttered. Unscrewing the lid, he made way for the intruder, who, drawing near, pushed aside the roses which had fallen on the upturned face, and, laying his hand on the brow, muttered a few low words to himself. Then he withdrew his hand, and without glancing to right or left, staggered back to the door amid a hush as unbroken as that which reigned behind him in that open casket. Another moment and his white, haggard face and disordered figure would be blotted46 from sight by the door-jamb.
The minister recovered his poise47 and the bearers their breath; the men stirred in their seats and the women began to cast frightened looks at each other, and then at the children, some of whom had begun to whimper, when in an instant all were struck again into stone. The young man had turned and was facing them all, with his hands held out in a clench48 which in itself was horrible.
“If they let the man go,” he called out in loud and threatening tones, “I will strangle him with these two hands.”
The word, and not the shriek49 which burst irrepressibly from more than one woman before him, brought him to himself. With a ghastly look on his bloated features, he scanned for one moment the row of deeply shocked faces before him, then tottered50 back out of sight, and fled towards the staircase. All thought that an end had come to the harrowing scene, and minister and people faced each other once more; when, loud and sharp from above, there rang down the shrill51 cry of delirium52, this time in articulate words which even the children could understand:
“Break it open, I say! break it open, and see if her heart is there!”
It was too awful. Men and women and children leaped to their feet and dashed away into the streets, uttering smothered53 cries and wild ejaculations. In vain the clergyman raised his voice and bade them respect the dead; the rooms were well-nigh empty before he had finished his appeal. Only the very old uncle and the least of the children remained of all who had come there in memory of their departed kinswoman and friend.
The little one had fled to the old man’s arms before he could rise, and was now held close to his aged25 and shaking knees, while he strove to comfort her and explain.
Soon these, too, were gone, and the casket was refastened and carried out by the shrinking bearers, leaving in those darkened rooms a trail of desolation which was only broken from time to time by the now faint and barely heard reiteration54 of the name of her who had just been borne away!
“Lila! Lila!”
收听单词发音 |
1
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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2
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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3
bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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4
formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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5
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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6
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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7
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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8
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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9
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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10
cursory
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| adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的 | |
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11
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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12
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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13
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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14
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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15
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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16
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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17
bruised
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| [医]青肿的，瘀紫的 | |
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18
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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19
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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20
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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21
insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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22
hush
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| int.嘘，别出声；n.沉默，静寂；v.使安静 | |
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23
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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24
reigned
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| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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25
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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26
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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27
fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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28
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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29
poignancy
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| n.辛酸事，尖锐 | |
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30
expectancy
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| n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额 | |
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31
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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32
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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33
delirious
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| adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的 | |
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34
oblivious
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| adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的 | |
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35
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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36
importunate
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| adj.强求的；纠缠不休的 | |
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37
preoccupied
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| adj.全神贯注的，入神的；被抢先占有的；心事重重的v.占据（某人）思想，使对…全神贯注，使专心于( preoccupy的过去式) | |
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38
subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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39
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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40
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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41
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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42
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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43
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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44
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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45
peremptorily
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| adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地 | |
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46
blotted
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| 涂污( blot的过去式和过去分词 )； （用吸墨纸）吸干 | |
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47
poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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48
clench
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| vt.捏紧（拳头等），咬紧（牙齿等），紧紧握住 | |
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49
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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50
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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51
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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52
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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53
smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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54
reiteration
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| n. 重覆, 反覆, 重说 | |
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