They had pursued for some time the way which they judged led to the monastery, when the note of the bell returned upon the wind, and discovered to them that they had mistaken their route. After much wandering and difficulty they arrived, overcome with weariness, at the gates of a large and gloomy fabric6. The bell had ceased, and all was still. By the moonlight, which through broken clouds now streamed upon the building, they became convinced it was the monastery they had sought, and the duke himself struck loudly upon the gate.
Several minutes elapsed, no person appeared, and he repeated the stroke. A step was presently heard within, the gate was unbarred, and a thin shivering figure presented itself. The duke solicited7 admission, but was refused, and reprimanded for disturbing the convent at the hour sacred to prayer. He then made known his rank, and bade the friar inform the Superior that he requested shelter from the night. The friar, suspicious of deceit, and apprehensive8 of robbers, refused with much firmness, and repeated that the convent was engaged in prayer; he had almost closed the gate, when the duke, whom hunger and fatigue9 made desperate, rushed by him, and passed into the court. It was his intention to present himself to the Superior, and he had not proceeded far when the sound of laughter, and of many voices in loud and mirthful jollity, attracted his steps. It led him through several passages to a door, through the crevices10 of which light appeared. He paused a moment, and heard within a wild uproar11 of merriment and song. He was struck with astonishment12, and could scarcely credit his senses!
He unclosed the door, and beheld13 in a large room, well lighted, a company of friars, dressed in the habit of their order, placed round a table, which was profusely14 spread with wines and fruits. The Superior, whose habit distinguished15 him from his associates, appeared at the head of the table. He was lifting a large goblet16 of wine to his lips, and was roaring out, 'Profusion17 and confusion,' at the moment when the duke entered. His appearance caused a general alarm; that part of the company who were not too much intoxicated18, arose from their seats; and the Superior, dropping the goblet from his hands, endeavoured to assume a look of austerity, which his rosy19 countenance20 belied21. The duke received a reprimand, delivered in the lisping accents of intoxication22, and embellished23 with frequent interjections of hiccup24. He made known his quality, his distress25, and solicited a night's lodging26 for himself and his people. When the Superior understood the distinction of his guest, his features relaxed into a smile of joyous27 welcome; and taking him by the hand, he placed him by his side.
The table was quickly covered with luxurious28 provisions, and orders were given that the duke's people should be admitted, and taken care of. He was regaled with a variety of the finest wines, and at length, highly elevated by monastic hospitality, he retired29 to the apartment allotted30 him, leaving the Superior in a condition which precluded31 all ceremony.
He departed in the morning, very well pleased with the accommodating principles of monastic religion. He had been told that the enjoyment32 of the good things of this life was the surest sign of our gratitude33 to Heaven; and it appeared, that within the walls of a Sicilian monastery, the precept34 and the practice were equally enforced.
He was now at a loss what course to chuse, for he had no clue to direct him towards the object of his pursuit; but hope still invigorated, and urged him to perseverance35. He was not many leagues from the coast; and it occurred to him that the fugitives36 might make towards it with a design of escaping into Italy. He therefore determined38 to travel towards the sea and proceed along the shore.
At the house where he stopped to dine, he learned that two persons, such as he described, had halted there about an hour before his arrival, and had set off again in much seeming haste. They had taken the road towards the coast, whence it was obvious to the duke they designed to embark39. He stayed not to finish the repast set before him, but instantly remounted to continue the pursuit.
To the enquiries he made of the persons he chanced to meet, favorable answers were returned for a time, but he was at length bewildered in uncertainity, and travelled for some hours in a direction which chance, rather than judgment40, prompted him to take.
The falling evening again confused his prospects41, and unsettled his hopes. The shades were deepened by thick and heavy clouds that enveloped42 the horizon, and the deep sounding air foretold43 a tempest. The thunder now rolled at a distance, and the accumulated clouds grew darker. The duke and his people were on a wild and dreary44 heath, round which they looked in vain for shelter, the view being terminated on all sides by the same desolate45 scene. They rode, however, as hard as their horses would carry them; and at length one of the attendants spied on the skirts of the waste a large mansion46, towards which they immediately directed their course.
They were overtaken by the storm, and at the moment when they reached the building, a peal47 of thunder, which seemed to shake the pile, burst over their heads. They now found themselves in a large and ancient mansion, which seemed totally deserted48, and was falling to decay. The edifice49 was distinguished by an air of magnificence, which ill accorded with the surrounding scenery, and which excited some degree of surprize in the mind of the duke, who, however, fully50 justified51 the owner in forsaking52 a spot which presented to the eye only views of rude and desolated53 nature.
The storm increased with much violence, and threatened to detain the duke a prisoner in his present habitation for the night. The hall, of which he and his people had taken possession, exhibited in every feature marks of ruin and desolation. The marble pavement was in many places broken, the walls were mouldering54 in decay, and round the high and shattered windows the long grass waved to the lonely gale. Curiosity led him to explore the recesses55 of the mansion. He quitted the hall, and entered upon a passage which conducted him to a remote part of the edifice. He wandered through the wild and spacious56 apartments in gloomy meditation57, and often paused in wonder at the remains58 of magnificence which he beheld.
The mansion was irregular and vast, and he was bewildered in its intricacies. In endeavouring to find his way back, he only perplexed59 himself more, till at length he arrived at a door, which he believed led into the hall he first quitted. On opening it he discovered, by the faint light of the moon, a large place which he scarcely knew whether to think a cloister60, a chapel61, or a hall. It retired in long perspective, in arches, and terminated in a large iron gate, through which appeared the open country.
The lighting62 flashed thick and blue around, which, together with the thunder that seemed to rend63 the wide arch of heaven, and the melancholy64 aspect of the place, so awed65 the duke, that he involuntarily called to his people. His voice was answered only by the deep echoes which ran in murmurs66 through the place, and died away at a distance; and the moon now sinking behind a cloud, left him in total darkness.
He repeated the call more loudly, and at length heard the approach of footsteps. A few moments relieved him from his anxiety, for his people appeared. The storm was yet loud, and the heavy and sulphureous appearance of the atmosphere promised no speedy abatement67 of it. The duke endeavoured to reconcile himself to pass the night in his present situation, and ordered a fire to be lighted in the place he was in. This with much difficulty was accomplished68. He then threw himself on the pavement before it, and tried to endure the abstinence which he had so ill observed in the monastery on the preceding night. But to his great joy his attendants, more provident69 than himself, had not scrupled70 to accept a comfortable quantity of provisions which had been offered them at the monastery; and which they now drew forth71 from a wallet. They were spread upon the pavement; and the duke, after refreshing72 himself, delivered up the remains to his people. Having ordered them to watch by turns at the gate, he wrapt his cloak round him, and resigned himself to repose73.
The night passed without any disturbance74. The morning arose fresh and bright; the Heavens exhibited a clear and unclouded concave; even the wild heath, refreshed by the late rains, smiled around, and sent up with the morning gale a stream of fragrance75.
The duke quitted the mansion, re-animated by the cheerfulness of morn, and pursued his journey. He could gain no intelligence of the fugitives. About noon he found himself in a beautiful romantic country; and having reached the summit of some wild cliffs, he rested, to view the picturesque76 imagery of the scene below. A shadowy sequestered77 dell appeared buried deep among the rocks, and in the bottom was seen a lake, whose clear bosom78 reflected the impending79 cliffs, and the beautiful luxuriance of the overhanging shades.
But his attention was quickly called from the beauties of inanimate nature, to objects more interesting; for he observed two persons, whom he instantly recollected80 to be the same that he had formerly81 pursued over the plains. They were seated on the margin82 of the lake, under the shade of some high trees at the foot of the rocks, and seemed partaking of a repast which was spread upon the grass. Two horses were grazing near. In the lady the duke saw the very air and shape of Julia, and his heart bounded at the sight. They were seated with their backs to the cliffs upon which the duke stood, and he therefore surveyed them unobserved. They were now almost within his power, but the difficulty was how to descend83 the rocks, whose stupendous heights and craggy steeps seemed to render them impassable. He examined them with a scrutinizing84 eye, and at length espied85, where the rock receded86, a narrow winding87 sort of path. He dismounted, and some of his attendants doing the same, followed their lord down the cliffs, treading lightly, lest their steps should betray them. Immediately upon their reaching the bottom, they were perceived by the lady, who fled among the rocks, and was presently pursued by the duke's people. The cavalier had no time to escape, but drew his sword, and defended himself against the furious assault of the duke.
The combat was sustained with much vigour88 and dexterity89 on both sides for some minutes, when the duke received the point of his adversary's sword, and fell. The cavalier, endeavouring to escape, was seized by the duke's people, who now appeared with the fair fugitive37; but what was the disappointment—the rage of the duke, when in the person of the lady he discovered a stranger! The astonishment was mutual90, but the accompanying feelings were, in the different persons, of a very opposite nature. In the duke, astonishment was heightened by vexation, and embittered91 by disappointment:—in the lady, it was softened92 by the joy of unexpected deliverance.
This lady was the younger daughter of a Sicilian nobleman, whose avarice93, or necessities, had devoted94 her to a convent. To avoid the threatened fate, she fled with the lover to whom her affections had long been engaged, and whose only fault, even in the eye of her father, was inferiority of birth. They were now on their way to the coast, whence they designed to pass over to Italy, where the church would confirm the bonds which their hearts had already formed. There the friends of the cavalier resided, and with them they expected to find a secure retreat.
The duke, who was not materially wounded, after the first transport of his rage had subsided95, suffered them to depart. Relieved from their fears, they joyfully96 set forward, leaving their late pursuer to the anguish97 of defeat, and fruitless endeavour. He was remounted on his horse; and having dispatched two of his people in search of a house where he might obtain some relief, he proceeded slowly on his return to the castle of Mazzini.
It was not long ere he recollected a circumstance which, in the first tumult98 of his disappointment, had escaped him, but which so essentially99 affected100 the whole tenour of his hopes, as to make him again irresolute101 how to proceed. He considered that, although these were the fugitives he had pursued over the plains, they might not be the same who had been secreted102 in the cottage, and it was therefore possible that Julia might have been the person whom they had for some time followed from thence. This suggestion awakened103 his hopes, which were however quickly destroyed; for he remembered that the only persons who could have satisfied his doubts, were now gone beyond the power of recall. To pursue Julia, when no traces of her flight remained, was absurd; and he was, therefore, compelled to return to the marquis, as ignorant and more hopeless than he had left him. With much pain he reached the village which his emissaries had discovered, when fortunately he obtained some medical assistance. Here he was obliged by indisposition to rest. The anguish of his mind equalled that of his body. Those impetuous passions which so strongly marked his nature, were roused and exasperated104 to a degree that operated powerfully upon his constitution, and threatened him with the most alarming consequences. The effect of his wound was heightened by the agitation105 of his mind; and a fever, which quickly assumed a very serious aspect, co-operated to endanger his life.
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收听单词发音
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1
bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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3
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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wafted
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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7
solicited
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| v.恳求( solicit的过去式和过去分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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crevices
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| n.（尤指岩石的）裂缝，缺口( crevice的名词复数 ) | |
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uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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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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profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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goblet
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| n.高脚酒杯 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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belied
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| v.掩饰( belie的过去式和过去分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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intoxication
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| n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning | |
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embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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hiccup
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| n.打嗝 | |
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distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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precluded
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| v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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precept
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| n.戒律；格言 | |
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perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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41
prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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42
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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foretold
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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44
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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45
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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46
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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47
peal
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| n.钟声；v.鸣响 | |
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48
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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49
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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50
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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51
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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52
forsaking
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| 放弃( forsake的现在分词 )； 弃绝； 抛弃； 摒弃 | |
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53
desolated
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| adj.荒凉的，荒废的 | |
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54
mouldering
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| v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 )；腐烂，崩塌 | |
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55
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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56
spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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57
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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58
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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perplexed
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| adj.不知所措的 | |
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60
cloister
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| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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lighting
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| n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光 | |
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63
rend
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| vt.把…撕开，割裂；把…揪下来，强行夺取 | |
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64
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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provident
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| adj.为将来做准备的，有先见之明的 | |
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scrupled
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| v.感到于心不安，有顾忌( scruple的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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72
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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73
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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sequestered
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| adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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recollected
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| adj.冷静的；镇定的；被回忆起的；沉思默想的v.记起，想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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margin
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| n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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scrutinizing
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| v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的现在分词 ) | |
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espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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receded
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| v.逐渐远离( recede的过去式和过去分词 )；向后倾斜；自原处后退或避开别人的注视；尤指问题 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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dexterity
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| n.(手的)灵巧，灵活 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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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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avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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joyfully
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| adv. 喜悦地, 高兴地 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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102
secreted
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| v.（尤指动物或植物器官）分泌( secrete的过去式和过去分词 )；隐匿，隐藏 | |
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103
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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104
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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