“Steady!”
I am a tainted1 wether of the flock,
Meetest for death; the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me.
You cannot better be employ’d, Bassanio,
Than to live still, and write my epitaph.
Merchant of Venice.
Why linger over the result. Arthur Cumberland’s case was won before Mr. Fox arose to his feet. The usual routine was gone through. The district attorney made the most of the three facts which he declared inconsistent with the prisoner’s innocence2, just as Mr. Moffat said he would; but the life was gone from his work, and the result was necessarily unsatisfactory.
The judge’s charge was short, but studiously impartial3. When the jury filed out, I said to myself, “They will return in fifteen minutes.” They returned in ten, with a verdict of acquittal.
The demonstrations4 of joy which followed filled my ears, and doubtless left their impression upon my other senses; but my mind took in nothing but the apparition6 of my own form taking his place at the bar, under circumstances less favourable7 to acquittal than those which had exonerated8 him. It was a picture which set my brain whirling. A phantom9 judge, a phantom jury, a phantom circle of faces, lacking the consideration and confidence of those I saw before me; but not a phantom prisoner, or any mere10 dream of outrageous11 shame and suffering.
That shame and that suffering had already seized hold of me. With the relief of young Arthur’s acquittal my faculties12 had cleared to the desperate position in which this very acquittal had placed me.
I saw, as never before, how the testimony13 which had reinstated Carmel in my heart and won for her and through her the sympathies of the whole people, had overthrown15 every specious16 reason which I and those interested in me had been able to advance in contradiction of the natural conclusion to be drawn17 from the damning fact of my having been seen with my fingers on Adelaide’s throat.
Mr. Moffat’s words rang in my ears: “Some one entered that room; some one stilled the fluttering life still remaining in that feeble breast; but that some one was not her brother. You must look further for the guilty perpetrator of this most inhuman18 act; some one who had not been a witness to the scene preceding this tragedy, some one —” he had not said this but every mind had supplied the omission,—“some one who had come in later, who came in after Carmel had gone, some one who knew nothing of the telephone message which was even then hastening the police to the spot; some one who had every reason for lifting those cushions and, on meeting life—”
The horror stifled19 me; I was reeling in my place on the edge of the crowd, when I heard a quiet voice in my ear:
“Steady! Their eyes will soon be off of Arthur, and then they will look at you.”
It was Clifton, and his word came none too soon. I stiffened20 under its quiet force, and, taking his arm, let him lead me out of a side door, where the crowd was smaller and its attention even more absorbed.
I soon saw its cause — Carmel was entering the doorway21 from the street. She had come to greet her brother; and her face, quite unveiled, was beaming with beauty and joy. In an instant I forgot myself, forgot everything but her and the effect she produced upon those about her. No noisy demonstration5 here; admiration22 and love were shown in looks and the low-breathed prayer for her welfare which escaped from more than one pair of lips. She smiled and their hearts were hers; she essayed to move forward and the people crowded back as if at a queen’s passage; but there was no noise.
When she reappeared, it was on Arthur’s arm. I had not been able to move from the place in which we were hemmed23; nor had I wished to. I was hungry for a glance of her eye. Would it turn my way, and, if it did, would it leave a curse or a blessing24 behind it? In anxiety for the blessing, I was willing to risk the curse; and I followed her every step with hungry glances, until she reached the doorway and turned to give another shake of the hand to Mr. Moffat, who had followed them. But she did not see me.
“I cannot miss it! I must catch her eye!” I whispered to Clifton. “Get me out of this; it will be several minutes before they can reach the sleigh. Let me see her, for one instant, face to face.”
Clifton disapproved25, and made me aware of it; but he did my bidding, nevertheless. In a few moments we were on the sidewalk, and quite by ourselves; so that, if she turned again she could not fail to observe me. I had small hope, however, that she would so turn. She and Arthur were within a few feet of the curb26 and their own sleigh.
I had just time to see this sleigh, and note the rejoicing face of Zadok leaning sideways from the box, when I beheld27 her pause and slowly turn her head around and peer eagerly — and with what divine anxiety in her eyes — back over the heads of those thronging28 about her, until her gaze rested fully29 and sweetly on mine. My heart leaped, then sank down, down into unutterable depths; for in that instant her face changed, horror seized upon her beauty, and shook her frantic30 hold on Arthur’s arm.
I heard words uttered very near me, but I did not catch them. I did feel, however, the hand which was laid strongly and with authority upon my shoulder; and, tearing my eyes from her face only long enough to perceive that it was Sweetwater who had thus arrested me, I looked back at her, in time to see the questions leap from her lips to Arthur, whose answers I could well understand from the pitying movement in the crowd and the low hum of restrained voices which ran between her sinking figure and the spot where I stood apart, with the detective’s hand on my shoulder.
She had never been told of the incriminating position in which I had been seen in the club-house. It had been carefully kept from her, and she had supposed that my acquittal in the public mind was as certain as Arthur’s. Now she saw herself undeceived, and the reaction into doubt and misery31 was too much for her, and I saw her sinking under my eyes.
“Let me go to her!” I shrieked32, utterly33 unconcerned with anything in the world but this tottering34, fainting girl.
But Sweetwater’s hand only tightened35 on my shoulder, while Arthur, with an awful look at me, caught his sister in his arms, just as she fell to the ground before the swaying multitude.
But he was not the only one to kneel there. With a sound of love and misery impossible to describe, Zadok had leaped from the box and had grovelled36 at those dear feet, kissing the insensible hands and praying for those shut eyes to open. Even after Arthur had lifted her into the sleigh, the man remained crouching37 where she had fallen, with his eyes roaming back and forth38 in a sightless stare from her to myself, muttering and groaning39, and totally unheedful of Arthur’s commands to mount the box and drive home. Finally some one else stepped from the crowd and mercifully took the reins14. I caught one more glimpse of her face, with Arthur’s bent40 tenderly over it; then the sleigh slipped away.
An officer shook Zadok by the arm and he got up and began to move aside. Then I had mind to face my own fate, and, looking up, I met Sweetwater’s eye.
It was quietly apologetic.
“I only wished to congratulate you,” said he, “on the conclusion of a case in which I know you are highly interested.” Lifting his hat, he nodded affably and was gone before I could recover from my stupor41.
It was for Clifton to show his indignation. I was past all feeling. Farce42 as an after-piece never appealed to me.
Would I have considered it farce if I could have heard the words which this detective was at that moment whispering into the district attorney’s ears:
“Do you want to know who throttled43 Adelaide Cumberland? It was not her brother; it was not her lover; it was her old and trusted coachman.”
收听单词发音 |
1
tainted
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| adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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3
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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demonstrations
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| 证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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exonerated
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| v.使免罪，免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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phantom
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| n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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specious
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| adj.似是而非的；adv.似是而非地 | |
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17
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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18
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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stifled
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| （使）窒息， （使）窒闷( stifle的过去式和过去分词 )； 镇压，遏制； 堵 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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hemmed
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| 缝…的褶边( hem的过去式和过去分词 )； 包围 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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disapproved
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| v.不赞成( disapprove的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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curb
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| n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制 | |
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27
beheld
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| 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 | |
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28
thronging
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| v.成群，挤满( throng的现在分词 ) | |
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29
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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35
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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36
grovelled
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| v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的过去式和过去分词 )；趴 | |
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37
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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groaning
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| adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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40
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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stupor
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| v.昏迷；不省人事 | |
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42
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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43
throttled
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| v.扼杀( throttle的过去式和过去分词 )；勒死；使窒息；压制 | |
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