13. Exit Victoria Johnson

Thirteen
E XIT V ICTORIA J OHNSON
T he evening was drawing to a close. The steel band was at last relaxing its efforts. Tim stood by the dining roomlooking over the terrace. He extinguished a few lights on tables that had been vacated.
A voice spoke¹ behind him. “Tim, can I speak to you a moment?”
Tim Kendal started.
“Hallo, Evelyn, is there anything I can do for you?”
Evelyn looked round.
“Come to this table here, and let’s sit down a minute.”
She led the way to a table at the extreme end of the terrace. There were no other people near them.
“Tim, you must forgive me talking to you, but I’m worried about Molly.”
His face changed at once.
“What about Molly?” he said stiffly.
“I don’t think she’s awfully² well. She seems upset.”
“Things do seem to upset her rather easily just lately.”
“She ought to see a doctor, I think.”
“Yes, I know, but she doesn’t want to. She’d hate it.”
“Why?”
“Eh? What d’you mean?”
“I said why? Why should she hate seeing a doctor?”
“Well,” said Tim rather vaguely³, “people do sometimes, you know. It’s — well, it sort of makes them feelfrightened about themselves.”
“You’re worried about her yourself, aren’t you, Tim?”
“Yes. Yes, I am rather.”
“Isn’t there anyone of her family who could come out here to be with her?”
“No. That’d make things worse, far worse.”
“What is the trouble—with her family, I mean?”
“Oh, just one of those things. I suppose she’s just highly strung and—she didn’t get on with them—particularly hermother. She never has. They’re—they’re rather an odd family in some ways and she cut loose from them. Good thingshe did, I think.”
Evelyn said hesitantly—“She seems to have had blackouts, from what she told me, and to be frightened of people.
Almost like persecution⁴ mania⁵.”
“Don’t say that,” said Tim angrily. “Persecution mania! People always say that about people. Just because she—well—maybe she’s a bit nervy. Coming out here to the West Indies. All the dark faces. You know, people are ratherqueer, sometimes, about the West Indies and coloured people.”
“Surely not girls like Molly?”
“Oh, how does one know the things people are frightened of? There are people who can’t be in the room with cats.
And other people who faint if a caterpillar⁶ drops on them.”
“I hate suggesting it—but don’t you think perhaps she ought to see a—well, a psychiatrist⁷?”
“No!” said Tim explosively. “I won’t have people like that monkeying about with her. I don’t believe in them.
They make people worse. If her mother had left psychiatrists⁸ alone….”
“So there was trouble of that kind in her family—was there? I mean a history of—” she chose the word carefully—“instability.”
“I don’t want to talk about it—I took her away from it all and she was all right, quite all right. She has just got intoa nervous state … But these things aren’t hereditary⁹. Everybody knows that nowadays. It’s an exploded idea. Molly’sperfectly sane¹⁰. It’s just that—oh! I believe it was that wretched old Palgrave dying that started it all off.”
“I see,” said Evelyn thoughtfully. “But there was nothing really to worry anyone in Major Palgrave’s death, wasthere?”
“No, of course there wasn’t. But it’s a kind of shock when somebody dies suddenly.”
He looked so desperate and defeated that Evelyn’s heart smote¹¹ her. She put her hand on his arm.
“Well, I hope you know what you’re doing, Tim, but if I could help in any way—I mean if I could go with Mollyto New York—I could fly with her there or Miami or somewhere where she could get really first-class medicaladvice.”
“It’s very good of you, Evelyn, but Molly’s all right. She’s getting over it, anyway.”
Evelyn shook her head in doubt. She turned away slowly and looked along the line of the terrace. Most people hadgone by now to their bungalows¹². Evelyn was walking towards her table to see if she’d left anything behind there,when she heard Tim give an exclamation¹³. She looked up sharply. He was staring towards the steps at the end of theterrace and she followed his gaze. Then she too caught her breath.
Molly was coming up the steps from the beach. She was breathless with deep, sobbing¹⁴ breaths, her body swayed toand fro as she came, in a curious directionless run. Tim cried:
“Molly! What’s the matter?”
He ran towards her and Evelyn followed him. Molly was at the top of the steps now and she stood there, bothhands behind her back. She said in sobbing breaths:
“I found her … She’s there in the bushes … There in the bushes … And look at my hands—look at my hands.”
She held them out and Evelyn caught her breath as she saw the queer dark stains. They looked dark in the subduedlighting but she knew well enough that their real colour was red.
“What’s happened, Molly?” cried Tim.
“Down there,” said Molly. She swayed on her feet. “In the bushes….”
Tim hesitated, looked at Evelyn, then shoved Molly a little towards Evelyn and ran down the steps. Evelyn put herarm round the girl.
“Come. Sit down, Molly. Here. You’d better have something to drink.”
Molly collapsed¹⁵ in a chair and leaned forward on the table, her forehead on her crossed arm. Evelyn did notquestion her any more. She thought it better to leave her time to recover.
“It’ll be all right, you know,” said Evelyn gently. “It’ll be all right.”
“I don’t know,” said Molly. “I don’t know what happened. I don’t know anything. I can’t remember. I—” sheraised her head suddenly. “What’s the matter with me? What’s the matter with me?”
“It’s all right, child. It’s all right.”
Tim was coming slowly up the steps. His face was ghastly. Evelyn looked up at him, raising her eyebrows¹⁶ in aquery.
“It’s one of our girls,” he said. “What’s-her-name—Victoria. Somebody’s put a knife in her.”

1 spoke   

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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

3 vaguely   

adv.含糊地，暖昧地

参考例句：

• He had talked vaguely of going to work abroad.他含糊其词地说了到国外工作的事。
• He looked vaguely before him with unseeing eyes.他迷迷糊糊的望着前面，对一切都视而不见。

4 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

5 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。

6 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

7 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

8 psychiatrists   

n.精神病专家，精神病医生( psychiatrist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They are psychiatrists in good standing. 他们是合格的精神病医生。 来自辞典例句
• Some psychiatrists have patients who grow almost alarmed at how congenial they suddenly feel. 有些精神分析学家发现，他们的某些病人在突然感到惬意的时候几乎会兴奋起来。 来自名作英译部分

9 hereditary   

adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的

参考例句：

• The Queen of England is a hereditary ruler.英国女王是世袭的统治者。
• In men,hair loss is hereditary.男性脱发属于遗传。

10 sane   

adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的

参考例句：

• He was sane at the time of the murder.在凶杀案发生时他的神志是清醒的。
• He is a very sane person.他是一个很有头脑的人。

11 smote   

v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand that smote him. 打个比方说，他是不能认敌为友。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• \"Whom Pearl smote down and uprooted, most unmercifully.\" 珠儿会毫不留情地将这些\"儿童\"踩倒，再连根拔起。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

12 bungalows   

n.平房( bungalow的名词复数 )；单层小屋，多于一层的小屋

参考例句：

• It was a town filled with white bungalows. 这个小镇里都是白色平房。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We also seduced by the reasonable price of the bungalows. 我们也确实被这里单层间的合理价格所吸引。 来自互联网

13 exclamation   

n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词

参考例句：

• He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
• The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号，以引起读者的注意。

14 sobbing   

<主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的

参考例句：

• I heard a child sobbing loudly. 我听见有个孩子在呜呜地哭。
• Her eyes were red with recent sobbing. 她的眼睛因刚哭过而发红。

15 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

16 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。