"MADEMOISELLE DORIAN!" cried Stuart joyously1, advancing with outstretched hand. She leaned back against the table watching him—and suddenly he perceived the open drawer. He stopped. His expression changed to one of surprise and anger, and the girl's slim fingers convulsively clutched the table edge as she confronted him. Her exquisite2 colour fled and left her pallid3, dark-eyed and dismayed.
"So," he said bitterly—"I returned none too soon, Mlle.—Dorian"
"Oh! she whispered, and shrank from him as he approached nearer.
"Your object in selecting an obscure practitioner4 for your medical adviser5 becomes painfully evident to me. Diagnosis6 of your case would have been much more easy if I had associated your symptoms with the presence in my table drawer of"—he hesitated—"of something which you have taken out. Give me whatever you have stolen and compose yourself to await the arrival of the police."
He was cruel in his disillusionment. Here lay the explanation of his romance; here was his disguised princess—a common thief! She stared at him wildly.
"I take nothing!" she cried. "Oh, let me go! Please, please let me go!"
"Pleading is useless. What have you stolen?"
"Nothing—see." She cast the little gold ornament7 on the table. "I look at this, but I do not mean to steal it."
She raised her beautiful eyes to his face again, and he found himself wavering. That she had made his acquaintance in order to steal the fragment of the golden scorpion8 was impossible, for he had not possessed9 it at the time of her first visit. He was hopelessly mystified and utterly10 miserable11.
"How did you open the drawer?" he asked sternly.
She took up the bunch of keys which lay upon the table and naively12 exhibited that which fitted the lock of the drawer. Her hands were shaking.
"Where did you obtain this key; and why?"
She watched him intently, her lips trembling and her eyes wells of sorrow into which he could not gaze unmoved.
"If I tell you—will you let me go?"
"I shall make no promises, for I can believe nothing that you may tell me. You gained my confidence by a lie—and now, by another lie, you seem to think that you can induce me to overlook a deliberate attempt at burglary—common burglary." He clenched13 his hands. "Heavens! I could never have believed it of you!"
"Oh, please listen to me," she whispered. "At first I tell you a lie, yes."
"And now?"
"Now—I tell you the truth."
"That you are a petty thief?"
"Ah! you are cruel—you have no pity! You judge me as you judge—one of your Englishwomen. Perhaps I cannot help what I do. In the East a woman is a chattel16 and has no will of her own."
"A chattel!" cried Stuart scornfully. "Your resemblance to the 'chattels17' of the East is a remote one. There is Eastern blood in your veins18, no doubt, but you are educated, you are a linguist19, you know the world. Right and wrong are recognizable to the lowest savage20."
"And if they recognize, but are helpless?"
Stuart made a gesture of impatience21.
"You are simply seeking to enlist22 my sympathy," he said bitterly. "But you have said nothing which inclines me to listen to you any longer. Apart from the shock of finding you to be—what you are, I am utterly mystified as to your object. I am a poor man. The entire contents of my house would fetch only a few hundred pounds if sold to-morrow. Yet you risk your liberty to rifle my bureau. For the last time—what have you taken from that drawer?"
She leaned back against the table, toying with the broken piece of gold and glancing down at it as she did so. Her long lashes23 cast shadows below her eyes, and a hint of colour was returning to her cheeks. Stuart studied her attentively—even delightedly, for all her shortcomings, and knew in his heart that he could never give her in charge of the police. More and more the wonder of it all grew upon him, and now he suddenly found himself thinking of the unexplained incident of the previous night.
"You do not answer," he said. "I will ask you another question: have you attempted to open that drawer prior to this evening?"
"I try twice before," she confessed, "and cannot open it."
"Ah! And—has someone else tried also?"
Instantly her colour fled again, and she stared at him wide-eyed, fearful.
"Someone else?" she whispered.
"Yes—someone else. A man … wearing a sort of cowl——"
"Oh?" she cried and threw out her hands in entreaty25. "Do not ask me of him! I dare not answer—I dare not!"
"You have answered," said Stuart, in a voice unlike his own; for a horrified26 amazement27 was creeping upon him and supplanting28 the contemptuous anger which the discovery of this beautiful girl engaged in pilfering29 his poor belongings30 had at first aroused.
The mystery of her operations was explained—explained by a deeper and a darker mystery. The horror of the night had been no dream but an almost incredible reality. He now saw before him an agent of the man in the cowl; he perceived that he was in some way entangled31 in an affair vastly more complex and sinister32 than a case of petty larceny33.
And in the eyes of his beautiful captive he read the answer. She flinched again as she had done when he had taunted35 her with being a thief; but he pressed his advantage remorselessly.
"So you were concerned in the death of Sir Frank Narcombe!" he said.
"I was not!" she cried at him fiercely, and her widely opened eyes were magnificent. "Sir Frank Narcombe is——"
She faltered—and ceased speaking, biting her lip which had become tremulous again.
"Sir Frank Narcombe is?" prompted Stuart, feeling himself to stand upon the brink36 of a revelation.
"I know nothing of him—this Sir Frank Narcombe."
Stuart laughed unmirthfully.
"Am I, by any chance, in danger of sharing the fate of that distinguished37 surgeon?" he asked.
His question produced an unforeseen effect. Mlle. Dorian suddenly rested her jewelled hands upon his shoulders, and he found himself looking hungrily into those wonderful Eastern eyes.
"If I swear that I speak the truth, will you believe me?" she whispered, and her fingers closed convulsively upon his shoulders.
He was shaken. Her near presence was intoxicating38. "Perhaps," he said unsteadily.
"Listen, then. Now you are in danger, yes. Before, you were not, but now you must be very careful. Oh! indeed, indeed, I tell you true! I tell you for your own sake. Do with me what you please. I do not care. It does not matter. You ask me why I come here. I tell you that also. I come for what is in the long envelope—look, I cannot hide it. It is on the fire!"
Stuart turned and glanced toward the grate. A faint wisp of brown smoke was arising from a long white envelope which lay there. Had the fire been actually burning, it must long ago have been destroyed. More than ever mystified, for the significance of the envelope was not evident to him, he ran to the grate and plucked the smouldering paper from the embers.
As he did so, the girl, with one quick glance in his direction, snatched her cloak, keys and bag and ran from the room. Stuart heard the door close, and racing39 back to the table he placed the slightly charred40 envelope there beside the fragment of gold and leapt to the door.
"Damn!" he said.
His escaped prisoner had turned the key on the outside. He was locked in his own study!
Momentarily nonplussed41, he stood looking at the closed door. The sound of a restarted motor from outside the house spurred him to action. He switched off the lamps, crossed the darkened room and drew back the curtain, throwing open the French windows. Brilliant moonlight bathed the little lawn with its bordering of high privet hedges. Stuart ran out as the sound of the receding42 car reached his ears. By the time that he had reached the front of the house the street was vacant from end to end. He walked up the steps to the front door, which he unfastened with his latch-key. As he entered the hall, Mrs. M'Gregor appeared from her room.
"I did no' hear ye go out with Miss Dorian," she said.
"That's quite possible, Mrs. M'Gregor, but she has gone, you see."
"No—I am afraid I cannot say that I did, Mrs. M'Gregor," replied Stuart patiently. "I feel sure you must be very tired and you can justifiably44 turn in now. I am expecting no other visitor. Good-night."
Palpably dissatisfied and ill at ease, Mrs. M'Gregor turned away.
"Good-night, Mr. Keppel," she said.
Stuart, no longer able to control his impatience, hurried to the study door, unlocked it and entered. Turning on the light, he crossed and hastily drew the curtains over the window recess45, but without troubling to close the window which he had opened. Then he returned to the writing-table and took up the sealed envelope whose presence in his bureau was clearly responsible for the singular visitation of the cowled man and for the coming of the lovely Mlle. Dorian.
The "pibroch of the M'Gregors": He remembered something—something which, unaccountably, he hitherto had failed to recall: that fearful wailing46 in the night—which had heralded47 the coming of the cowled man!—or had it been a signal of some kind?
He stared at the envelope blankly, then laid it down and stood looking for some time at the golden scorpion's tail. Finally, his hands resting upon the table, he found that almost unconsciously he had been listening—listening to the dim night sounds of London and to the vague stirrings within the house.
"Now, you are in danger. Before, you were not…."
Could he believe her? If in naught48 else, in this at least surely she had been sincere? Stuart started—then laughed grimly.
A clock on the mantel-piece had chimed the half-hour.
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
joyously
|
|
| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
exquisite
|
|
| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
pallid
|
|
| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
practitioner
|
|
| n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
adviser
|
|
| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
diagnosis
|
|
| n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
ornament
|
|
| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
scorpion
|
|
| n.蝎子，心黑的人，蝎子鞭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
possessed
|
|
| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
utterly
|
|
| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
miserable
|
|
| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
naively
|
|
| adv. 天真地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
clenched
|
|
| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
flinched
|
|
| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
averted
|
|
| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
chattel
|
|
| n.动产；奴隶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
chattels
|
|
| n.动产，奴隶( chattel的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
veins
|
|
| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
linguist
|
|
| n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
impatience
|
|
| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
enlist
|
|
| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
lashes
|
|
| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
rosily
|
|
| adv.带玫瑰色地，乐观地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
25
entreaty
|
|
| n.恳求，哀求 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
horrified
|
|
| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
amazement
|
|
| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
supplanting
|
|
| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
29
pilfering
|
|
| v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的现在分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
belongings
|
|
| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
entangled
|
|
| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
sinister
|
|
| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
larceny
|
|
| n.盗窃（罪） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
abruptly
|
|
| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
taunted
|
|
| 嘲讽( taunt的过去式和过去分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
brink
|
|
| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
distinguished
|
|
| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
intoxicating
|
|
| a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
racing
|
|
| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
charred
|
|
| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
nonplussed
|
|
| adj.不知所措的，陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
receding
|
|
| v.逐渐远离( recede的现在分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
wail
|
|
| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
justifiably
|
|
| adv.无可非议地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
recess
|
|
| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
wailing
|
|
| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
heralded
|
|
| v.预示( herald的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
naught
|
|
| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |