He was awakened2 on the first morning of his sojourn3 in the establishment of Ho-Pin by the loud ringing of an electric bell immediately beside his bed. He sprang upright with a catching4 of the breath, peering about him at the unfamiliar5 surroundings and wondering, in the hazy6 manner of a sleeper7 newly awakened, where he was, and how come there. He was fully8 dressed, and his strapped-up grip lay beside him on the floor; for he had not dared to remove his clothes, had not dared to seek slumber9 after that terrifying interview with Mr. King. But outraged10 nature had prevailed, and sleep had come unbeckoned, unbidden.
The electric light was still burning in the room, as he had left it, and as he sat up, looking about him, a purring whistle drew his attention to a speaking-tube which protruded11 below the bell.
Soames rolled from the bed, head throbbing12, and an acrid13 taste in his mouth, and spoke14 into the tube:
“Hullo!”
“You will pwrepare for youwr duties,” came the metallic15 gutturals of Ho-Pin. “Bwreakfast will be bwrought to you in a quawrter-of-an-hour.”
He made no reply, but stood looking about him dully. It had not been a dream, then, nor was he mad. It was a horrible reality; here, in London, in modern, civilized16 London, he was actually buried in some incredible catacomb; somewhere near to him, very near to him, was the cave of the golden dragon, and, also adjacent—terrifying thought—was the doorless library, the rose-scented haunt where the beautiful Eurasian spoke, oracularly, the responses of Mr. King!
Soames could not understand it all; he felt that such things could not be; that there must exist an explanation of those seeming impossibilities other than that they actually existed. But the instructions were veritable enough, and would not be denied.
Rapidly he began to unpack17 his grip. His watch had stopped, since he had neglected to wind it, and he hurried with his toilet, fearful of incurring18 the anger of Ho-Pin—of Ho-Pin, the beetlesque.
He observed, with passive interest, that the operation of shaving did not appreciably19 lighten the stain upon his skin, and, by the time that he was shaved, he had begun to know the dark-haired, yellow-faced man grimacing20 in the mirror for himself; but he was far from being reconciled to his new appearance.
Said peeped in at the door. He no longer wore his chauffeur's livery, but was arrayed in a white linen21 robe, red-sashed, and wore loose, red slippers22; a tarboosh perched upon his shaven skull23.
Pushing the door widely open, he entered with a tray upon which was spread a substantial breakfast.
“Hurryup!” he muttered, as one word; wherewith he departed again.
Soames seated himself at the little table upon which the tray rested, and endeavored to eat. His usual appetite had departed with his identity; Mr. Lucas was a poor, twitching24 being of raw nerves and internal qualms25. He emptied the coffee-pot, however, and smoked a cigarette which he found in his case.
Said reappeared.
“Ta'ala!” he directed.
Soames having learnt that that term was evidently intended as an invitation to follow Said, rose and followed, dumbly.
He was conducted along the matting-lined corridor to the left; and now, where formerly26 he had seen a blank wall, he saw an open door! Passing this, he discovered himself in the cave of the golden dragon. Ho-Pin, dressed in a perfectly28 fitting morning coat and its usual accompaniments, received him with a mirthless smile.
“Good mowrning!” he said; “I twrust your bwreakfast was satisfactowry?”
“Quite, sir,” replied Soames, mechanically, and as he might have replied to Mr. Leroux.
“Said will show you to a wroom,” continued Ho-Pin, “where you will find a gentleman awaiting you. You will valet him and perfowrm any other services which he may wrequire of you. When he departs, you will clean the wroom and adjoining bath-wroom, and put it into thowrough order for an incoming tenant29. In short, your duties in this wrespect will be identical to those which formerly you perfowrmed at sea. There is one important diffewrence: your name is Lucas, and you will answer no questions.”
The metallic voice seemed to reach Soames' comprehension from some place other than the room of the golden dragon—from a great distance, or as though he were fastened up in a box and were being addressed by someone outside it.
“Yes, sir,” he replied.
Said opened the yellow door upon the right of the room, and Soames followed him into another of the matting-lined corridors, this one running right and left and parallel with the wall of the apartment which he had just quitted. Six doors opened out of this corridor; four of them upon the side opposite to that by which he had entered, and one at either end.
These doors were not readily to be detected; and the wall, at first glance, presented an unbroken appearance. But from experience, he had learned that where the strips of bamboo which overlay the straw matting formed a rectangular panel, there was a door, and by the light of the electric lamp hung in the center of the corridor, he counted six of these.
Said, selecting a key from a bunch which he carried, opened one of the doors, held it ajar for Soames to enter, and permitted it to reclose behind him.
Soames entered nervously30. He found himself in a room identical in size with his own private apartment; a bathroom, etc., opened out of it in one corner after the same fashion. But there similarity ended.
The bed in this apartment was constructed more on the lines of a modern steamer bunk31; that is, it was surrounded by a rail, and was raised no more than a foot from the floor. The latter was covered with a rich carpet, worked in many colors, and the wall was hung with such paper as Soames had never seen hitherto in his life. The scheme of this mural decoration was distinctly Chinese, and consisted in an intricate design of human and animal figures, bewilderingly mingled32; its coloring was brilliant, and the scheme extended, unbroken, over the entire ceiling. Cushions, most fancifully embroidered33, were strewn about the floor, and the bed coverlet was a piece of heavy Chinese tapestry34. A lamp, shaded with silk of a dull purple, swung in the center of the apartment, and an ebony table, inlaid with ivory, stood on one side of the bed; on the other was a cushioned armchair figured with the eternal, chaotic35 Chinese design, and being littered, at the moment, with the garments of the man in the bed. The air of the room was disgusting, unbreathable; it caught Soames by the throat and sickened him. It was laden36 with some kind of fumes37, entirely38 unfamiliar to his nostrils39. A dainty Chinese tea-service stood upon the ebony table.
For fully thirty seconds Soames, with his back to the door, gazed at the man in the bed, and fought down the nausea40 which the air of the place had induced in him.
This sleeper was a man of middle age, thin to emaciation41 and having lank27, dark hair. His face was ghastly white, and he lay with his head thrown back and with his arms hanging out upon either side of the bunk, so that his listless hands rested upon the carpet. It was a tragic42 face; a high, intellectual brow and finely chiseled43 features; but it presented an indescribable aspect of decay; it was as the face of some classic statue which has long lain buried in humid ruins.
Soames shook himself into activity, and ventured to approach the bed. He moistened his dry lips and spoke:
“Good morning, sir”—the words sounded wildly, fantastically out of place. “Shall I prepare your bath?”
Soames forced himself to touch one of the thrown-back shoulders. He shook it gently.
The man on the bed raised his arms and dropped them back again into their original position, without opening his eyes.
“They... are hiding,” he murmured thickly... “in the... orange grove45.... If the felucca sails... closer... they will”...
Soames, finding something very horrifying46 in the broken words, shook the sleeper more urgently.
“Wake up, sir!” he cried; “I am going to prepare your bath.”
“Don't let them... escape,” murmured the man, slowly opening his eyes—“I have not”...
He struggled upright, glaring madly at the intruder. His light gray eyes had a glassiness as of long sickness, and his pupils, which were unnaturally47 dilated48, began rapidly to contract; became almost invisible. Then they expanded again—and again contracted.
“Who—the deuce are you?” he murmured, passing his hand across his unshaven face.
“My name is—Lucas, sir,” said Soames, conscious that if he remained much longer in the place he should be physically49 sick. “At your service—shall I prepare the bath?”
“The bath?” said the man, sitting up more straightly—“certainly, yes—of course”...
He looked at Soames, with a light of growing sanity50 creeping into his eyes; a faint flush tinged51 the pallid52 face, and his loose mouth twitched53 sensitively.
“Then, Said,” he began, looking Soames up and down... “let me see, whom did you say you were?”
“Lucas, sir—at your service.”
“Ah,” muttered the man, lowering his eyes in unmistakable shame—“yes, yes, of course. You are new here?”
“Yes, sir. Shall I prepare your bath?”
“Yes, please. This is Wednesday morning?”
“Wednesday morning, sir; yes.”
“Of course—it is Wednesday. You said your name was?”
“Lucas, sir,” reiterated54 Soames, and, crossing the fantastic apartment, he entered the bathroom beyond.
This contained the most modern appointments and was on an altogether more luxurious55 scale than that attached to his own quarters. He noted56, without drawing any deduction57 from the circumstance, that the fittings were of American manufacture. Here, as in the outer room, there was no window; an electric light hung from the center of the ceiling. Soames busied himself in filling the bath, and laying out the towels upon the rack.
“Fairly warm, sir?” he asked.
“Not too warm, thank you,” replied the other, now stumbling out of bed and falling into the armchair—“not too warm.”
“If you will take your bath, sir,” said Soames, returning to the outer room, “I will brush your clothes and be ready to shave you.”
“Yes, yes,” said the man, rubbing his hands over his face wearily. “You are new here?”
Soames, who was becoming used to answering this question, answered it once more without irritation58.
“Yes, sir, will you take your bath now? It is nearly full, I think.”
The man stood up unsteadily and passed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Soames, seeking to forget his surroundings, took out from a small hand-bag which he found beneath the bed, a razor-case and a shaving stick. The clothes-brush he had discovered in the bathroom; and now he set to work to brush the creased59 garments stacked in the armchair. He noted that they were of excellent make, and that the linen was of the highest quality. He was thus employed when the outer door silently opened and the face of Said looked in.
“Gazm,” said the Oriental; and he placed inside, upon the carpet, a pair of highly polished boots.
The door was reclosed.
Soames had all the garments in readiness by the time that the man emerged from the bathroom, looking slightly less ill, and not quite so pallid. He wore a yellow silk kimono; and, with greater composure than he had yet revealed, he seated himself in the armchair that Soames might shave him.
This operation Soames accomplished60, and the subject, having partially61 dressed, returned to the bathroom to brush his hair. When his toilet was practically completed:
“Shall I pack the rest of the things in the bag, sir?” asked Soames.
The man nodded affirmatively.
Five minutes later he was ready to depart, and stood before the ex-butler a well-dressed, intellectual, but very debauched-looking gentleman. Being evidently well acquainted with the regime of the establishment, he pressed an electric bell beside the door, presented Soames with half-a-sovereign, and, as Said reappeared, took his departure, leaving Soames more reconciled to his lot than he could ever have supposed possible.
The task of cleaning the room was now commenced by Soames. Said returned, bringing him the necessary utensils62; and for fifteen minutes or so he busied himself between the outer apartment and the bathroom. During this time he found leisure to study the extraordinary mural decorations; and, as he looked at them, he learned that they possessed63 a singular property.
If one gazed continuously at any portion of the wall, the intertwined figures thereon took shape—nay, took life; the intricate, elaborate design ceased to be a design, and became a procession, a saturnalia; became a sinister64 comedy, which, when first visualized65, shocked Soames immoderately. The horrors presented by these devices of evil cunning, crowding the walls, appalled66 the narrow mind of the beholder67, revolted him in an even greater degree than they must have revolted a man of broader and cleaner mind. He became conscious of a quality of evil which pervaded68 the room; the entire place seemed to lie beneath a spell, beneath the spell of an invisible, immeasurably wicked intelligence.
His reflections began to terrify him, and he hastened to complete his duties. The stench of the place was sickening him anew, and when at last Said opened the door, Soames came out as a man escaping from some imminent69 harm.
“Di,” muttered Said.
He pointed70 to the opened door of a second room, identical in every respect with the first; and Soames started back with a smothered71 groan72. Had his education been classical he might have likened himself to Hercules laboring73 for Augeus; but his mind tending scripturally, he wondered if he had sold his soul to Satan in the person of the invisible Mr. King!
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1
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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2
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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hazy
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| adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的 | |
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7
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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8
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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9
slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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10
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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11
protruded
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
throbbing
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| a. 跳动的,悸动的 | |
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acrid
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| adj.辛辣的，尖刻的，刻薄的 | |
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14
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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15
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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16
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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17
unpack
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| vt.打开包裹（或行李），卸货 | |
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18
incurring
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| 遭受，招致，引起( incur的现在分词 ) | |
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19
appreciably
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| adv.相当大地 | |
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20
grimacing
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| v.扮鬼相，做鬼脸( grimace的现在分词 ) | |
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21
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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22
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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23
skull
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| n.头骨；颅骨 | |
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24
twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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25
qualms
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| n.不安；内疚 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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lank
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| adj.瘦削的；稀疏的 | |
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28
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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29
tenant
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| n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用 | |
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30
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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31
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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32
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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33
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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34
tapestry
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| n.挂毯，丰富多采的画面 | |
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35
chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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36
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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37
fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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38
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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39
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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40
nausea
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| n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶) | |
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41
emaciation
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| n.消瘦，憔悴，衰弱 | |
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42
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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43
chiseled
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| adj.凿刻的，轮廓分明的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 ) | |
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44
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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45
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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46
horrifying
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| a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的 | |
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47
unnaturally
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| adv.违反习俗地；不自然地；勉强地；不近人情地 | |
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48
dilated
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| adj.加宽的，扩大的v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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50
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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51
tinged
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| v.（使）发丁丁声( ting的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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53
twitched
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| vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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54
reiterated
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| 反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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56
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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57
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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58
irritation
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| n.激怒，恼怒，生气 | |
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59
creased
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| （使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的过去式和过去分词 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹； 皱皱巴巴 | |
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60
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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61
partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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62
utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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63
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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64
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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65
visualized
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| 直观的，直视的 | |
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66
appalled
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| v.使惊骇，使充满恐惧( appall的过去式和过去分词)adj.惊骇的；丧胆的 | |
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67
beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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68
pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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70
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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71
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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72
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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73
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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